Saturday, December 25, 2004
The Phantom
Went to watch the Phantom with Lz today.. Got to admit that although the production was lavish ( the sets were eye popping) and the female lead was not bad.. it juz coudlnt' live up to the on stage musical. It's a bit hard to reproduce Christine Daae's fascination with the Angel of Music in a movie. She just comes across to me as a gal who simply couldn't make up her goddamn mind. Thank goodness the music saved the show ( and me from falling asleep) Webber's music was the show's saving grace. but mr phantom couldn't really sing. ( he was yelling half the time). the gal playing christine was not bad. She brought out teh vulnerability in young christine well and her voice was not bad ( not as powerful as Sarah brightman , but ok lah)
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
For the uninitiated , the phantom of the opera is a tale about a disfigured genius who lives in teh bowels of the paris opera house. Rejected by society because of his horrifying looks, he loses every inch of humanity in his soul. He thinks nothing of killing, bribing and blackmailing to get wat he wants. He was a talented composer, architect and musician, blessed with teh voice of an angel. He took young orphan Christine Daee under his wing and coached her to become a great opera singer. But as expected ( even for a guy twice her age) he fell for her. He did everything he could to launch her career.. tho' his methods were pretty questionable. However, Christine had her own little blossoming romance with her childhood sweetheart raoul. So the jealous phantom swore revenge at her so called betrayal and made life hell for everyone int eh opera house ( one wonders why christin just didn't pack up and run) . But neway, at the end, Christine managed to convince the Phantom to let them off, by giving him the one thing he never knew.. dignity.
I felt so sorry for the Phantom as he knelt in front of the musical monkey and sang "Masquerade" after he let the lovers off. When Christine approached him again, he lifted his head, hoping that she had come back to him, but Christine just came back to pass him back his ring. Sobz.. i'm a hopeless romantic..
I 've never managed to get thru the original novel by some french dude. but i have read Susan Kay's version of Phantom where she introduces us the the Phantom's tortured childhood, the gyspy fair, his adventures in persia ( where he mastered the use of the punjab lasso) . But the story has a more bitter sweet ending. But one thing i never reallly got was Christine's feelings for the Phantom. Did she love him? Or was she just enchanted by his darkenss, his genius and his voice. ? THe phantom himself is still my fav character :P .. and that book is one of my favs too.. go read it!
Neway,
Went for hiphop fesitval with lz.. It was not bad, the dancing and beatboxing .. only thing was that the dancers relaly lacked energy. I felt kinda tired for them. Ok.. lz' scomments.. tey were just going thru the moves.. with technique ( no dobut) but zero energy. I can hear Rhoisin's words in my head.. " Wat is MY FAV WORD???" and all of uz in the hip hop class would half heartedly sigh.. " urgh" .
and she would shake her head and yell " URGH!!!" ( complete with some butt shaking and boob trusting>) gosh she looks so sexy doing it, i look like a complete dork. sigh. i miss her classes.. i can't find any hiphop teacher who can equate her passion, her drive and her butt shaking.. hope i've time to rejoin flare dance next year. I think i wanna take up salsa too. and get in touch with my butt shaking side
Went to Hilda's house for Xmas dinner. :) Yay!! the gal is BACK!!!
Fortunatley 'uncle jack's son wasn't around.. c'mon hilda, even if he was around, he coudln't handle the 2 of uz at one go..:P
haha.. but i got to meet lotsa really really cool ppl. Ther were 3 doctors from china .. so you coudl imagine the whole conversation was in CHINESE. ( complete with beijing accent) I am reminded yet again how inadequate i am in my mother tongue. :P but with good food, good company, lotsa smiling, I had a wonderful time. I had the honour of holding an conversation with Gu yi sheng's wife. She was a really really lovely lady. Hilda and I were asking her about the cultural revolution and she obliged, giving us an excellent recount of her experiences. Her husband was a red guard! imagine that! She herself had to go for the re-education scheme where she had to rough it out in the country side during her school years. It reminded me how blessed I was to be reborn in Singapore, in this era, and into a loving family who could provide me with my needs. After reading Jung Chung's Wild Swans, the horrors of the Cultural revolution, THe great Leap forward and the hardships the pple went thru still remained nothing more than words in a book. But when you actually hear these events being recounted personally, it leaves a much deeper impression.
THe food.. oh the food.. roast chicken, potato salad, ham, fried rice, chocs!, brownies, some yummy spring roollls... ahhhhhhhhhhhh.. SO YUMMILICIOUS!!!!!thanks gal for the invite :P
anyone noe the chinese equivalent for 'hemiplagia?" lol
Went to watch the Phantom with Lz today.. Got to admit that although the production was lavish ( the sets were eye popping) and the female lead was not bad.. it juz coudlnt' live up to the on stage musical. It's a bit hard to reproduce Christine Daae's fascination with the Angel of Music in a movie. She just comes across to me as a gal who simply couldn't make up her goddamn mind. Thank goodness the music saved the show ( and me from falling asleep) Webber's music was the show's saving grace. but mr phantom couldn't really sing. ( he was yelling half the time). the gal playing christine was not bad. She brought out teh vulnerability in young christine well and her voice was not bad ( not as powerful as Sarah brightman , but ok lah)
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
For the uninitiated , the phantom of the opera is a tale about a disfigured genius who lives in teh bowels of the paris opera house. Rejected by society because of his horrifying looks, he loses every inch of humanity in his soul. He thinks nothing of killing, bribing and blackmailing to get wat he wants. He was a talented composer, architect and musician, blessed with teh voice of an angel. He took young orphan Christine Daee under his wing and coached her to become a great opera singer. But as expected ( even for a guy twice her age) he fell for her. He did everything he could to launch her career.. tho' his methods were pretty questionable. However, Christine had her own little blossoming romance with her childhood sweetheart raoul. So the jealous phantom swore revenge at her so called betrayal and made life hell for everyone int eh opera house ( one wonders why christin just didn't pack up and run) . But neway, at the end, Christine managed to convince the Phantom to let them off, by giving him the one thing he never knew.. dignity.
I felt so sorry for the Phantom as he knelt in front of the musical monkey and sang "Masquerade" after he let the lovers off. When Christine approached him again, he lifted his head, hoping that she had come back to him, but Christine just came back to pass him back his ring. Sobz.. i'm a hopeless romantic..
I 've never managed to get thru the original novel by some french dude. but i have read Susan Kay's version of Phantom where she introduces us the the Phantom's tortured childhood, the gyspy fair, his adventures in persia ( where he mastered the use of the punjab lasso) . But the story has a more bitter sweet ending. But one thing i never reallly got was Christine's feelings for the Phantom. Did she love him? Or was she just enchanted by his darkenss, his genius and his voice. ? THe phantom himself is still my fav character :P .. and that book is one of my favs too.. go read it!
Neway,
Went for hiphop fesitval with lz.. It was not bad, the dancing and beatboxing .. only thing was that the dancers relaly lacked energy. I felt kinda tired for them. Ok.. lz' scomments.. tey were just going thru the moves.. with technique ( no dobut) but zero energy. I can hear Rhoisin's words in my head.. " Wat is MY FAV WORD???" and all of uz in the hip hop class would half heartedly sigh.. " urgh" .
and she would shake her head and yell " URGH!!!" ( complete with some butt shaking and boob trusting>) gosh she looks so sexy doing it, i look like a complete dork. sigh. i miss her classes.. i can't find any hiphop teacher who can equate her passion, her drive and her butt shaking.. hope i've time to rejoin flare dance next year. I think i wanna take up salsa too. and get in touch with my butt shaking side
Went to Hilda's house for Xmas dinner. :) Yay!! the gal is BACK!!!
Fortunatley 'uncle jack's son wasn't around.. c'mon hilda, even if he was around, he coudln't handle the 2 of uz at one go..:P
haha.. but i got to meet lotsa really really cool ppl. Ther were 3 doctors from china .. so you coudl imagine the whole conversation was in CHINESE. ( complete with beijing accent) I am reminded yet again how inadequate i am in my mother tongue. :P but with good food, good company, lotsa smiling, I had a wonderful time. I had the honour of holding an conversation with Gu yi sheng's wife. She was a really really lovely lady. Hilda and I were asking her about the cultural revolution and she obliged, giving us an excellent recount of her experiences. Her husband was a red guard! imagine that! She herself had to go for the re-education scheme where she had to rough it out in the country side during her school years. It reminded me how blessed I was to be reborn in Singapore, in this era, and into a loving family who could provide me with my needs. After reading Jung Chung's Wild Swans, the horrors of the Cultural revolution, THe great Leap forward and the hardships the pple went thru still remained nothing more than words in a book. But when you actually hear these events being recounted personally, it leaves a much deeper impression.
THe food.. oh the food.. roast chicken, potato salad, ham, fried rice, chocs!, brownies, some yummy spring roollls... ahhhhhhhhhhhh.. SO YUMMILICIOUS!!!!!thanks gal for the invite :P
anyone noe the chinese equivalent for 'hemiplagia?" lol
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