Still Being Random

Have you ever wondered why some people are able to take a comment and turn it into an argument? And then they get pissed off when you point out that you were merely stating a fact and not starting said argument. I've done the former but I've always managed to avoid the latter. Probably because with some people, especially those I regard as friends, I just prefer not to start an argument. It wastes my energy and breath and I'd just as soon not bother.

On the other hand, when you take the passive route and politely ask,"Really?", they gloat. Can't win in this world we live in.

Anyway, here are some pictures my sister took at Beauty and the Beast. I had to adjust some of it because it was very shaky.

Human Again scene

We liked this photo because Lumiere's flame was finally caught

I adjusted the size of the photos because I didn't want it to interfere with my blog's width. But you get the idea.

I went to KL last weekend just to watch Beauty and the Beast:the Broadway musical.

As far as musical goes, this one was good. I've watched more serious ones like Cats, Grease, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and even M. Butterfly. So, to compare them to Beauty and the Beast would be unfair.

Beauty and the Beast is geared for children although the children need to be very well-disciplined to watch even a musical based on a cartoon. The musical tried to be entertaining to the adults as well as the children but some adults and children just aren't ready to appreciate this sort of entertainment just yet.

The one thing anybody in theatre knows is that a performance is always susceptible to technical faults and breakdown. In fact, any thinking being would understand this and be tolerant.

However, for that performance I went to, some people (and I'm sorry to say they were in the cheaper seats than I was) began making a big issue out of the delay. Granted, it was an hour late but technical delays cannot be solved within a few seconds. It did not warrant yelling and shouting from the balcony for refunds. One guy even started yelling for the Beast. He probably thought he was being very clever but it only made him look very homosexual and silly. Most of the yells sounded like they came from young adults, most likely college students who could only afford the RM100-RM200 seats.

I'm not being snobbish or anything but what they did was really uncalled for. And I figured if they felt that strongly about the delay, they could have walked out, although walking out would have meant forfeiting the money they paid. Then again, if you feel that strongly about something, what's a little money in comparison?

These people were very rowdy and uncouth. Not only did they dress very casually, they didn't even have the manners or the tolerance for which we Malaysians are supposedly famous for. I was ashamed of them, really. And if they claimed to be educated, where or when was this education shown in their manner? In additon to their behaviour, they also took numerous photos using flash during most of the performance and they started whistling and cheering. Very uncalled for.

Overall, I found the musical pretty good. I wasn't hoping for very much anyway and it delivered even that.

My sister did manage to take some photos but only after she switched off the flash and the viewer lights. I'll see if I could post them up later today or tomorrow.

It was generally worth it despite the crowd and shallowness of it. (What do you expect from a Disney production? No epiphanies there) I was pleasantly surprised by the children. Either they actually sat down and shut up or the songs and my focus managed to drown them out.

However, I do need to mention what I called the dancing werewolves. I know they were supposed to be the wolves that attacked Belle's father and later Belle and the Beast. But it was funny watching them dancing on two legs covered in faux wolf fur. So I called them the dancing werewolves.

And it was good to watch real theatre after so long where people actually realise it's a stage production and adjust appropriately.

I believe I've become a fan of Idina Menzel.

I first recognised her voice in her single Brave. Then I realised she was in Rent, playing Maureen, and tonight I recognised her voice in Wicked, playing Elphaba. She acted in the movie version of Rent, reprising her role of Maureen. She also played Nancy in the movie Enchanted but she didn't sing.

I just really find her voice very recognisable and I enjoy how she sing,

That was one of the best songs in that movie! The movie was so dark literally and figuratively but that song made it so much fun.

I know Gette kept warning about the cuts but she was just preparing people for the worst, in my opinion. The cuts, literally and figuratively again, occured the most in only one song. And even then, I found them very tolerable despite the fact that I'm always first to criticise them. Hey! I was in the US which has very, very little censorship compared to a lot of countries, even Western and Westernised ones.

Oh yeah, the cuts. Because Sweeney Todd was a very swift cutter (for want of a better word!), the censorship hardly lasted more than one word. Some of it was half a word. Johnny Depp would start singing the word 'star' and only the first half of the sung word would disappear for a very split second. So he ended up sounding like 'St...ar!' Only an idiot would not figure out what he just sang.

But, as far as I am concerned, Sweeney Todd was a good movie. Now that one I will call good. This was a slasher flick plus musical. Only thing is I don't enjoy slasher flicks because it's mindless killing. It's like a child with a temper tantrum. If you like slasher flicks, you might find the singing disturbing. If you like musicals, the slashing might be disturbing. But put them together and Sweeney Todd is morbid fascinating entertainment.

I'll wait for the original DVD to watch it again not because of the censorship (it was a blink-and-you'll-miss'the-censorship thing too!) but because I know there are other songs in the original stage musical and I'd love it if they have deleted singing scenes.

I hope Misato, who went with us, will agree to do some of the songs with us. Even if she might never eat pies again.

Last night, Misato took out the one songbook I've been dreading yet hoping for. She took out Phantom of the Opera. Rather gleefully, I might add.

Then, she started pointing out the songs she wants us to do. The Angel of Music and All I Ask of You. The Angel of Music is for all three of us: Gette, Henrick and myself. All I Ask of You will be a duet for me and Henrick. Of course, I get to do all the Christine bits. Which makes it more scary.

The other song Henrick has to do is A Little Fall of Rain with Gette but, at least Gette has been singing that song on her own for the past month anyway.

So yeah, if I suddenly go into a Phantom craze again, this is why. The one musical I seem to feel the need to live up to and Misato hits me with it now. It doesn't help that this is the musical that got me started on all other musicals. So if I screw this up, I am so not worthy!

I went crazy! Digitizing crazy.

When I was done with Forever...Friends, I ran around my room looking for more cassettes to digitize.

Last night, while lying on Shook's bed, I suddenly thought of my ultimate favourite vinyl record. Not many people will remember these big black round things that used to be our source of music but I still have a few of those, legacy of my parents.

One of my very, very favourite ones is an album by Richard Harris. Yes, good ole' Dumbledore himself, bless his soul. We have an album of his titled My Boy. The album is awesome. It's a narration of a man's idea of an ideal life. The album begins with him singing about his perfect woman to his marriage to her and, subsequently, to the birth of their son and eventually to their divorce.

It's a whole movie in one LP. The romantic in me found it beautiful. The cynic in me today finds it sappy at certain points.

And how do I know it's sappy? I'm listening to it right now. Apparently, I had transeferred the whole album to cassette at some point before going to KL to study. And, in my hunt, I found the cassette moments ago. So I now have Richard Harrus belting his heart out on my computer. The only thing, which I have no control over at this point, is the scratchy sounds of the record itself. But I can ignore the sound. Besides, the sound is rather nostalgic. I rather like it.

The album's older than I am. It's from 1971. Cool, huh?

After years and years of lamenting the fact that I can neither preserve my favourite songs that are on cassette nor play them without the fear of spoiling the tapes, I have finally gotten round to turning them into MP3s.

Thanks to Lifehacker for this page, I am, at this very moment of typing this post out, digitising some songs from a cassette that is, fortunately, still is good condition. Haha! To be honest, for the sake of the first experiment, I grabbed The Best of Village People. So I now have In The Navy, Go West, YMCA and Macho Man on MP3.

The sound quality of course depends on the cassette itself. But it's relatively clean and in stereo. There was a bit of tweaking and downloading of plug-ins.

But it works! I can now work on the one reason I started this. My Friends Forever cassette. It's the only Christian album I have. And it is one of my absolute favourites.