Pirates 4

So much for posting more than once in a single week. Alas, life always seems to get in the way. I promised a Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides blog, and here it is. I may be late, but I usually come through.

I had pretty low expectations for Pirates 4. I loooove Curse of the Black Pearl, didn’t mind whatever 2 was called, and really didn’t like 3 and thought it was confusing and a waste of my time. I can’t even tell you what happened in the second and third movies of this series. I just know I wasn’t taken with them, and therefore predicted that I wouldn’t be taken with this one. I really only went because Jenn had invited me and I had nothing else to do with my Sunday night.

I arrived at the theatre on time, and expected Jenn to be pacing around, freaking out because I wasn’t early enough (Jenn insists upon being at least 40 minutes early for any movie. She is ridiculous). However, she and David had yet to arrive, so I went over to the Chapters beside Strawberry Hill and perused the literary fiction. I came across a follow up to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, which I promptly bought before heading over to meet my friendies.

I met up with Dave and Jenn, and the three of us met up with Jenn’s friend Anne (who is very lovely). We then bought hot dogs and pop and nachos for dinner before proceeding towards the theatre. I was very very excited, because I loves me some movie themed hot dogs. After Jenn got impatient with me for taking too long putting on my condiments (I am strongly against leaving ketchup packets under theatre seats), we finally made it to the theatre.

I know it was the May long weekend, but I still expected a Sunday 7:00 showing of any movie to be completely dead. Not so with the Pirates crowd, who are super intense and will follow Johnny Depp into any number of strange viewing times. Basically, I was surprised to find a fairly full theatre even though we were insanely early.

Jenn had chosen to buy tickets for the 3D showing of this film. I was wary because the only films I’ve ever seen in 3D are Toy Story 3 and Step Up: 3D. Toy Story 3 was obviously animated, so seeing it in 3D was really cool, but Step Up: 3D was live action AND a poorly conceived film. Let’s just say that the only thing it had going for it was that it was 3D, and they made a point of showcasing it. In the process, they kind of ruined any hope of it being an enjoyable movie experience because the 3D was so in your face that it wasn’t believable at all. In short, I don’t trust live action 3D as a rule.

Pirates 4 was quite a bit different. The 3D was a little intense in the very beginning, but once it started rolling along, it was less showy and kind of just enhanced the graphics. It was actually really really cool to watch this movie in 3D.

As far as the actual film goes, I quite liked it. The story was easy to follow but still interesting, they had some new characters but kept some of the old favorites (Minus Orlando Bloom though. Which obviously makes sense but was sad just the same, seeing as I loved him in my youth and you know how I love to get my nostalgia on). The music was amazing, as per usual with a film scored by the great Hans Zimmer, who just so happens to be my favorite contemporary composer. And of course, Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow was mesmerizing. All in all, my expectations were wildly exceeded.

I think that’s the key to movies sometimes. I was so excited to see Bridesmaids that I felt disappointed by it, and I have no hopes for this movie and was pleasantly surprised. I think I’m on to something here. Perhaps I’ve unlocked the secret to Jenn’s love of EVERY movie no matter how bad it is. I’ll have to test it out, but I think there’s something to it.

Bridesmaids

This past weekend, I saw Bridesmaids with Ashley, Danica and obviously Jenna, who shall henceforth be referred to as Jemma. Jemma is probably my absolute favorite person to see movies with because she is probably the funniest person I know. She always has the best comments to half-mumble under her breath. I know she’s all fashionable and everything, but she seriously SHOULD make a career out of writing.

Anyways, I saw Bridesmaids. I was really excited about it because 1. I loves me some wedding stuff and 2. I loves me some Judd Apatow. Remember good old Judd? He’s been grinding out (at times underrated) hits since the 90’s. He’s made so many great “funny-men” famous, and in the past decade he’s put out a lot of hilarious movies. It is also fitting that I saw this film Jemma because she introduced me to Apatow in high school care of many a hilarious Undeclared marathon.

In anticipation of seeing this film, I started following Apatow on Twitter. For the next week, all I saw was RT’s of people gushing over how good Bridesmaids was and how hilarious it was. So many RT’s that I finally got annoyed and unfollowed Apatow on principle. I don’t care for people clogging up my newsfeeds.

But this constant stream of praise meant that my expectations were pretty darn high. We arrived at the theatre, and I feel like I did a fair job of covering up my excitement. In order to accommodate Danica (because she is such a damn diva), we decided against seeing the movie at a decent theatre and ended up once again at the Criterion 4 White Rock, which I hate with a fiery passion. I paid $9.50 to get into this movie at this effing theatre when I had really wanted to see it at Strawberry Hill on a decent screen with no one breathing down my neck, which I should have figured was some sort of omen.

Once we got to the seats that Jemma and Ashley had picked out while Danica and I got reinforcements (Pop, popcorn, rollos. The usual), I sat down and swear I almost hit the floor because my seat was broken. Obviously. We were seeing a film at the Criterion 4, obviously my seat was as broken down as the rest of the theatre.

Anyways, we shifted down one, and the movie began. I was so excited. The previews were really good (previews are always my favorite part of any film. Sometimes, I just watch trailers on youtube when I have nothing else to do. I’m intrigued by the way films market themselves) and they even had one for HP: The Deathly Hallows II to which I almost peed my pants over I was so excited. Then the film started.

I really like Kristen Wiig, she is hilarious. I want to point to her and say “Jemma! You can do this! Kristen Wiig is making it cool to be a funny girl! Follow in her footsteps!”. Her relationship with Maya Rudolph’s character was really nicely portrayed, and I loved the chemistry between Wigg and the guy who plays Rhodes. Favorite part was when Wiig goes crazy at the bridal shower and falls over a giant cookie, and throws grass into a chocolate fountain. Also when she is trying to get Rhodes to talk to her so she does crazy irresponsible shit with her car. Side note, the guy who played Rhodes was adorable. I loved him. What else…. Loved the fashion. Really liked the music. Laughed a fair amount. The cupcake that Wiig makes is insane. The only thing I really didn’t like was the scene where everyone gets food poisoning and throws up on one another/ shits into a sink. Terrible stuff.

I probably really liked this film, considering the only thing I didn’t like about it was the potty humor. However, stupid Judd Apatow and his silly RTing gave me extremely high expectations for this film and I feel like they weren’t met. Which is actually the opposite of what happened when I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides the day after I saw Bridesmaids. But that’s another blog for another day.

Up'n'comers

Well, I now have a rousing 3 followers. I mean, obviously people creep my blog from time to time (Jillian, for example, outed herself a couple of days ago), but 3 people officially follow it. When there were only 2, I didn't feel so bad about not posting. So now I feel bad.

I have no time at this exact moment to write a real blog because I need to be at work pretty promptly. However. I have time tonight to kick something out, so I thought I'd give you a little bit of a heads up about what's to come in the next week or so. This way, you will know that I WILL in fact be posting, and I will feel pressured to actually do it.

This past weekend, I saw Bridesmaids and Pirates 4. Reviews on both of those films will be comin' round the mountain when she comes. In addition, I'm reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro right now (loooove) and when I'm done I might do a comparison between it and the movie adaptation, which I will be watching the moment I'm finished the book. I might even throw in a review of Game of Thrones too, because some of you crazies don't seem to understand why I love that show so much (Spoilers: Because it is awesome).

So that is that business all taken care of. Now fingers crossed I actually get around to doing it all.

Explanation

I only have time for a short one again today. I haven't posted in a while. My mother had a heart attack, and I'm back to working almost full-time, and this past weekend was choir tour. I'm exhausted from being the useful engine that I am.

My blog is called "Not A Henry James Novella". When people hear that, they tend to give me a polite "What the fuck?" look. To which I say, read a book once in a while please.

You may remember Henry James from such works as Daisy Miller, Portrait of a Lady and The Beast in the Jungle. He was a 19th century writer and an important figure in literary realism. He was also a very sad, sad man.

James was a man who never really got what he wanted out of life. His was a life of unrequited love and unfulfilled passions. He was constantly striving for the greatness he was capable of, but he was never able to make that one connection, that gesture, that makes all of your efforts worth it.

Insert literary realism. A lot of James's works mirror his own life. In both of the James texts I read in school this past year, a man desperately loves a fabulous woman who is desperately in love with him. The man, mostly from fear of ambiguity, is unable to make it happen. And then, the woman dies. It's ridiculous and makes me horribly upset.

I'm afraid that I'm going to let my life become a Henry James novella. I'm afraid that I'm going to be too afraid to ask for the things that I want out of life. I'm afraid that I'm just going to let things happen instead of going out and making things happen. I'm afraid of waking up one day and realizing that I am in love with someone who JUST died of bone cancer. So at this point, my goal is not letting my life becoming a series of missed becomings.

And that is why my blog is called "Not A Henry James Novella".

Starkid/Starship

Team Starkid is a production company and theatre troupe formerly based out of the University of Michigan, now based in Chicago. They are perhaps best known for their connection to Darren Criss, of recent Glee fame. As far as I am concerned, Starkid is revolutionizing the way theatre is consumed.

A couple of years back, some UMich students decided to write and produce a Harry Potter parody musical. In something like 2 weeks, they wrote, scored and performed the show at their university. In order to make the footage easily accessible to cast members and their families, the performance was uploaded onto youtube.

Thus began a bit of an internet phenomenon. The success of A Very Potter Musical allowed the production team to write, score and produce Me and My Dick, as well as A Very Potter Sequel. This past February, they debuted their newest musical Starship in Chicago and after it was edited, it was uploaded to youtube at the end of April.

I’ve been pretty good. I’ve only watched it once. Albeit, mostly because I’ve practically been living out of my car this week. But still, I’ve been good. When I first saw AVPM, I watched it 3 times in a row, I loved it so much. And AVPM isn’t even necessarily that good. I mean, it’s hilarious and impressive as all hell, but the production value is low and it’s apparent that Darren Criss hadn’t memorized his lines before opening night. While the production value has increased with each self-produced musical, I love watching Starkid shows mostly because they are inspiring.

I’m not talking about them actually being inspirational musicals, like Thoroughly Modern Milly, kind of, if you can ignore all the racism. I mean that the fact that a group of friends, united in their love for theatre, who started a production company dedicated to writing and performing original musicals and making theatre cool, is an inspiration. Basically, they are kids who are doing what they love any way they can. Which is cool, right?

So I love them. And I really love Starship. It’s the story of a bug named Bug who lives on a distant planet who dreams of one day becoming a Starship Ranger. He spends most of his time in an old crashed Starship aircraft, watching the Captain’s logs and whatnot. But the needs of the many bugs outweigh the needs of the few bugs, and Bug must be assigned to a job that benefits the hive. On his first day implanting eggs into the chests of mammals, he comes across a beautiful, if not incredibly stupid, Starship Ranger named February who has been sent to the bug world in order to collect data. Bug helps her to her Starship, and in an effort to see her again, strikes a deal with the evil Pincer in order to obtain human form. The usual chaos ensues, as some people turn out to be evil, and robots have the chips that prevent their uprising removed.

Highlight include Joe Moses playing a character that isn’t Severus Snape (though he plays it so well), Joey Richter’s adorably crooked jaw, Lauren Lopez playing a man once more, and Joe Walker’s ill-concealed joke at the expense of Darren Criss’s role on Glee. My absolute favorite though as getting to hear Dylan Saunders sing in a regular voice, because he is in fact amazing.

With every show, Starkid outdoes what they’ve done before. The production value gets higher, the music gets better, and the ensemble remains delightful. So everyone should take some time out to watch Starship on youtube, and here’s hoping that DCriss is around this summer for them to perform A Very Potter Threequel. 

Spring Concert

Last Friday was our Spring concert. I had every intention of blogging about it, but I'm sick and now I don't feel like it.