Thursday, February 19, 2004
One Week Till Rhapsody
Ok. I just got back from a rehearsal for the school circus. The final show is next week; the 26th and 27th. The final title: RHAPSODY. The sub-title: PLAY IT LIVE. Now, this was decided a while ago, and I'm still annoyed about it. First of all, Rhapsody doesn't have much to do with the theme of the circus. However, I can tolerate it. Play It Live, on the other hand....to be blunt, that just sucks. What kind of title is that? Does it even make sense? The other proposed sub-titles weren't great either, but they were a whole lot better than that.
Conclusion: We can't even think of a decent title. If this foreshadows anything, it's that our circus is going to be bad. Really bad. Now, I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, and be optimistic, but the simple fact is that right now I don't have much faith in it.
I'm in two of the dances. The first one has a Matrix twist to it, with fight moves, dodging bullets, agents, Neo, the works. This had incredible potential. It could have been awesome. It could have been grand. So I showed up to rehearsal and here's what the final product is: we have a short little sketch that involves our "Neo" pretending to dodge bullets. Then in come a bunch of Agents. There are 3 "good guys". Basically, they block a lot of kicks and punches and kick some butt. Then I and some others come in as yet some more Agents. We do this weird little dance in a circle around the three guys, then take turns attacking him. What the heck was the choreographer thinking? When you've got someone surrounded by 5 opponents, you don't have them attack one by one. You have them go in as groups. It makes for improved choreography and overall a much cooler fight - who wouldn't rather see a guy fighting three people at once instead of just one? Anyway, I go in, try for a kick, which is blocked, and then I end up on the floor.
And that's it for the fighting. Just as it was starting to get good, they stop it. The track changes to a different Matrix tune, and we all get up, stand in lines, and do some more "organized" dancing that makes me want to puke. So my part in the dance has basically been reduced to:
1. Run in.
2. Walk around in a circle making strange gestures.
3. Attempt a kick.
4. Fall down.
5. Get up and do some stupid dance moves.
Wow. How exciting. The dance has been ruined.
After rehearsing that, we rehearsed the big finale. Now pay attention: We have one week until the show, and we just now chose the music for the finale. The dance begins with just guys, and that's what we practiced tonight. Basically, it involves us shaking what God gave us and doing some really fast stuff. I'm definitely going to have to practice by myself if I'm ever going to get the timing right. But the fact that we just started working on it tonight bothers me. If this is the kind of organization that has been put into the two dances I'm in, I don't even want to think about what the other dances or the final product are going to be like.
Enough about that. The team came, and from what I hear things went great. They leave tomorrow, which is good because it means I no longer have to ride a taxi home from school. Plus, they brought in my Amazon order. Now I have 4 new DVDs to watch and write reviews for. Speaking of which, I think I'd better make a list of the movies I need to review once I see them. Just to remind myself:
El Mariachi
Wings of Desire
Raising Arizona
The Truman Show (maybe)
Fearless (maybe)
And it's a long weekend (no school tomorrow or Monday) so I should be able to watch most of those and have time to post a few reviews. That is if circus rehearsals don't take up all of my time.
On another note: Less than a week until The Passion of the Christ! This movie's going to do well at the box office just because of the amount of controversy it's receiving. If a lot of non-Christians go to see it because of this, it's going to be huge. It might even make back it's $25 million budget on the first weekend. I just hope it makes it to El Salvador soon.
A few days after its release, we have the Academy Awards. This year, I actually agree with most of the nominations. But of course, the Academy can be really stupid, and there's one thing that really gets on my nerves. It involves the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Now, if you asked me which movie of 2003 had the best special/visual effects, I would immediately say: the Matrix sequels. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they deserve Best Picture or anything, but when it comes to visual effects they are King. The big Kahuna. Especially Matrix: Revolutions - that movie had me gaping in awe throughout the final Zion battle sequence. However, the members of the Academy once again were morons and did not even nominate one of them. Now, it would be okay if one of them was nominated but didn't win - it would still be stupid, but much less so. However, to not even nominate them is just pure idiocy. The three nominees were:
1. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - This deserves to be nominated. Although some effects looked extremely fake, overall it was some top-notch work. And besides, Gollum was in it - that won The Two Towers an Oscar for Visual Effects last year, so it's only logical that the sequel at least be nominated.
2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - I haven't seen this one yet (I might go this weekend), so I can't comment. However, from the trailers I've seen, the visuals aren't anything special. Then again, maybe I'm wrong.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean - Yes, I'll admit that those skeleton pirates looked pretty good, but are they more worthy of an Oscar than the Matrix movies? Absolutely not.
Other than that, however, I pretty much agree with the nominations. We all know that Lord of the Rings is going to win Best Picture, and Peter Jackson will snag Best Director. However, if the Academy pulls a fast one and they don't win...I will seriously consider boycotting the Oscars next year. There's a limit as to how much stupid decision-making I can handle.
Well, I'd write more but I don't have the time. Adios. For now.
Conclusion: We can't even think of a decent title. If this foreshadows anything, it's that our circus is going to be bad. Really bad. Now, I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, and be optimistic, but the simple fact is that right now I don't have much faith in it.
I'm in two of the dances. The first one has a Matrix twist to it, with fight moves, dodging bullets, agents, Neo, the works. This had incredible potential. It could have been awesome. It could have been grand. So I showed up to rehearsal and here's what the final product is: we have a short little sketch that involves our "Neo" pretending to dodge bullets. Then in come a bunch of Agents. There are 3 "good guys". Basically, they block a lot of kicks and punches and kick some butt. Then I and some others come in as yet some more Agents. We do this weird little dance in a circle around the three guys, then take turns attacking him. What the heck was the choreographer thinking? When you've got someone surrounded by 5 opponents, you don't have them attack one by one. You have them go in as groups. It makes for improved choreography and overall a much cooler fight - who wouldn't rather see a guy fighting three people at once instead of just one? Anyway, I go in, try for a kick, which is blocked, and then I end up on the floor.
And that's it for the fighting. Just as it was starting to get good, they stop it. The track changes to a different Matrix tune, and we all get up, stand in lines, and do some more "organized" dancing that makes me want to puke. So my part in the dance has basically been reduced to:
1. Run in.
2. Walk around in a circle making strange gestures.
3. Attempt a kick.
4. Fall down.
5. Get up and do some stupid dance moves.
Wow. How exciting. The dance has been ruined.
After rehearsing that, we rehearsed the big finale. Now pay attention: We have one week until the show, and we just now chose the music for the finale. The dance begins with just guys, and that's what we practiced tonight. Basically, it involves us shaking what God gave us and doing some really fast stuff. I'm definitely going to have to practice by myself if I'm ever going to get the timing right. But the fact that we just started working on it tonight bothers me. If this is the kind of organization that has been put into the two dances I'm in, I don't even want to think about what the other dances or the final product are going to be like.
Enough about that. The team came, and from what I hear things went great. They leave tomorrow, which is good because it means I no longer have to ride a taxi home from school. Plus, they brought in my Amazon order. Now I have 4 new DVDs to watch and write reviews for. Speaking of which, I think I'd better make a list of the movies I need to review once I see them. Just to remind myself:
El Mariachi
Wings of Desire
Raising Arizona
The Truman Show (maybe)
Fearless (maybe)
And it's a long weekend (no school tomorrow or Monday) so I should be able to watch most of those and have time to post a few reviews. That is if circus rehearsals don't take up all of my time.
On another note: Less than a week until The Passion of the Christ! This movie's going to do well at the box office just because of the amount of controversy it's receiving. If a lot of non-Christians go to see it because of this, it's going to be huge. It might even make back it's $25 million budget on the first weekend. I just hope it makes it to El Salvador soon.
A few days after its release, we have the Academy Awards. This year, I actually agree with most of the nominations. But of course, the Academy can be really stupid, and there's one thing that really gets on my nerves. It involves the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Now, if you asked me which movie of 2003 had the best special/visual effects, I would immediately say: the Matrix sequels. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they deserve Best Picture or anything, but when it comes to visual effects they are King. The big Kahuna. Especially Matrix: Revolutions - that movie had me gaping in awe throughout the final Zion battle sequence. However, the members of the Academy once again were morons and did not even nominate one of them. Now, it would be okay if one of them was nominated but didn't win - it would still be stupid, but much less so. However, to not even nominate them is just pure idiocy. The three nominees were:
1. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - This deserves to be nominated. Although some effects looked extremely fake, overall it was some top-notch work. And besides, Gollum was in it - that won The Two Towers an Oscar for Visual Effects last year, so it's only logical that the sequel at least be nominated.
2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - I haven't seen this one yet (I might go this weekend), so I can't comment. However, from the trailers I've seen, the visuals aren't anything special. Then again, maybe I'm wrong.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean - Yes, I'll admit that those skeleton pirates looked pretty good, but are they more worthy of an Oscar than the Matrix movies? Absolutely not.
Other than that, however, I pretty much agree with the nominations. We all know that Lord of the Rings is going to win Best Picture, and Peter Jackson will snag Best Director. However, if the Academy pulls a fast one and they don't win...I will seriously consider boycotting the Oscars next year. There's a limit as to how much stupid decision-making I can handle.
Well, I'd write more but I don't have the time. Adios. For now.
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 2/19/2004 09:41:00 PM 
