After Seeing Les Mis a Second Time…

Like I mentioned, my friend L and I went to see Les Mis for her birthday {January birthdays holla!} and here are some more thoughts. {Note: read my first impressions here first-they’re more complete.}

Javert

So the biggest change is my attitude about Javert. I think because I was SO disappointed the first time, my expectations were not high at all for the second round, and then I was pleasantly surprised. Not all the time… I didn't think wow, that was a completely different performance and I was so wrong before. Nah. I thought this song isn't as bad as I thought…neither is this one…oh, that one still is bad. The first few songs I really liked him; from “Stars” on I think he flopped. I don’t know if the order of filming had anything to do with it or what, but this is my adjusted opinion.

Thenardiers in the Inn

Several people have commented and said that they liked the movie except for the scene at the inn with the Thenardiers. I agree. That part is realllly raunchy and gross and not attractive at all. And I think that’s the point. They’re not redeemed characters; they’re deceitful and thieving and manipulative and selfish. And gross. Definitely gross. But you’re not supposed to like them.

In the theater performances I've seen, the inn scene is about 1/3 of the movie on the raunchiness scale. It’s portrayed as an awful place for Cosette and as a horrible inn, and it is limited by what can be shown on the theater stage. The movie directors just took it where it couldn't go on a stage, I think. Did they add more sexual things? Yes. Does the theater have those things to an extent? Yes.

The prostitution scene{s} with Fantine were also more graphic in the movie compared to the theater, simply because of what you can do in the movies. But people aren't complaining about that. I think it’s because Fantine prostituting herself a) is not glorified and b) she is rescued out of it. I think people have a problem with the inn scene because the Thenardiers embrace and celebrate their way of life.

Confession: I think the movie does that because the theater does that, and I think the theater puts it in to make just one scene of the performance something to be laughed about; otherwise, it’s a mostly sad or serious theater. Think about it! We go from prison to his redemption, from prostitution and death to a duel and escape, insert laughter at the inn here, then some love songs that are tainted because of Eponine and the upcoming revolution, shooting shooting death, escape, suicide, redemption and then death. If we didn't laugh with and at the Thenardiers, we would be crying THE WHOLE TIME. And in case you didn't hear, it’s a three-hour-long musical.

Am I condoning the perversion in the scene? No. Am I glad the filmmakers put it in? No, I think they could have left out quite a few things and still made the audience feel grimy after watching. So I think they should show us how twisted the Thenardiers’ lifestyle was without subjecting us to everything that they did.

One Last Note

After watching it the first time, my dad pointed out that the man who wrote the lyrics to Les Miserables was an atheist, yet practically every other song he wrote was a prayer to God. And as several writers have pointed out, everyone who went to see this movie also saw the Gospel. Can’t complain about that.
Here is a great post about the movie, God, and the arts. It’s short, I promise!

Final Thoughts

As I finish this post, I’m listening to a recording of Anne Hathaway’s “I Dreamed a Dream” and I have to say, if I didn't know this was her singing, I wouldn't think it was her singing because it’s so good. Well done, Anne, well done.

If you want to argue debate discuss this, welcome! I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share, and I promise not to bite. I can’t promise not to break into song, though. Consider yourselves warned.
Peace out!

New Year

As you saw in my last post, I'm back in the Midwest chilling with the grandparents. Totes awesome. I hope your Christmas and New Year's celebrations were all fabulous and wonderful. Mine were.

And now, on to business.
You might remember my blogging goals for 2012 and I think that overall I accomplished these goals! Woot! Pat on the back for Bek! So now I want to make some new ones for 2013, and I want to advance, not retreat. So here they are, and these are not just blogging goals. There are also some life updates thrown in here for good measure. So here goes.

Blogging Goals

1. Blog at least twice a week. One will be funny {I'm trying to institute Funny Friday, but I'm not promising that a) funny things only happen on Friday or b) that I can remember funny things until Friday. So we'll go for one funny a week.} and one will have more depth. 
2. I'd like to spend some time writing down different experiences, different stories that have happened and that I will want to remember sometime. These might be humorous, but they won't count as the funny post. There are just some cool, random, odd, etc. things that have happened & I want to document them. Nothing big or serious that I can think of right now, but I want to give y'all a head's up. So there. Keep your head up. 
3. Do you have any ideas? I'm willing to try new ideas, so if you got em, share em! Have questions for me? I'll answer them as best I can. 

Life...Updates:

• Two of my favorite people ever are joining me in a Made to Crave journey. Made to Crave is a book by Lysa TerKeurst {check out her blog here} about craving God more than we crave food. AJ read this book first, then I read it, and now AJ's sis Tisa is in on it. The three of us are holding each other accountable to a new way of eating and to our personal exercise plans. It's pretty awesome. So far, so good! I'll probably be posting updates about this, so you guys can hold me accountable too! Keep it positive; we're here for encouragement. 
• Fun goal for this year? Go on a trip with my friend Dahlia! We've been planning a trip to Prince Edward Island for almost two years, and we're hoping that this summer is the time to go. Any suggestions for our trip? Have you been there? Is there some thing or place that we MUST see? Let us know, pretty please! 

Well, I think that's all. Stay tuned for updated & revised comments on Les Miserables since my friend L and I saw it for her birthday. 

Peace out, readers. 

Grandparent Hysterics

Scene: dinner is over and Grammie is doing the dishes. She loads the last dish and then sets the empty, rinsed-out milk carton on the floor. Then she steps on it, with both feet, to squish it for recycling. It is garbage night.

Grandpa, to me as an aside: “She gets a kick outta that.”
Me: “It’s the tallest she’s been all day.”
Grammie: “I get a kick out of it?! I’m the only one who does it!”
Grandpa: “We save them for you because we know you get a kick out of doing it!”

Later, after the milk carton is sufficiently squished…
Grammie: “Well, are you going to take the garbage out?”
Grandpa: “I was gonna pay you 50 cents to do it.”
Grammie: “Let’s see your money.”
Grandpa: “Does it have to be cash?”
Grammie: “Are you going to write me a check?!”

 

Oh yes. I’m back with the grandparents. Let the laughter commence.

Dare I Voice Thoughts About Les Mis?

Do I dare? You bet!

If you haven't seen Les Miserables, you don't have to read this. You could go watch the trailer instead. Don't ever say I didn't give you options.

I'd like to break this down by character and comment on both the person development and the musical ability in one fell swoop. If you don't like the way I do it, then do it yourself...unless you haven't seen the movie, because that would just be futile. So in that case, you can read someone else's opinion. Options.

Jean Valjean: Hugh Jackman did a GREAT job. I think the adjusted lyrics and the added songs really helped portray the depth of his transformation, his fear of Javert, and his love for Cosette. His singing was good...not as good as a theater performance, but for an actor who sings, very satisfying.
The final scene when he dies {oops, spoiler alert!} was beautiful. Perfection.

Javert: Ugh. First of all, I am a Russell Crowe fan. Most of the time. But not here. He seemed really stiff, which I guess is a part of Javert's character, but he just fell short of showing any depth. It seemed that Crowe had recently had Botox and could not move his face. Also, the singing was so disappointing. Javert usually has the best voice of the entire cast, but Crowe's was weak. His two solos were very weak and airy, instead of deep, strong, and intense. In terms of character, there were two distinct moments where I thought the moviemakers did it wrong. First, after the barricade has fallen and the bodies are lying out, Javert bends down and puts his badge on Gavroche. Totally out of character! Javert loves the law; there is no mercy or sympathy in the law. Bad form. Secondly, when Javert catches Valjean exiting the sewer with Marius and Javert threatens to shoot and then doesn't, that scene is weak and doesn't fully portray what's happening in either character.

Fantine: Hello. If you haven't heard yet, Anne Hathaway stole the show. Wow. Amazing. Everything about her performance was incredible. I love that what we watched and what we heard so complemented and completed each other. We see her being thrown out onto the streets, we see her sell herself in order to aid her child, and we hear her regret and still her love for her child. Wow. It was all incredible.

The Thenardiers: The fact that these two made me uncomfortable whenever they were on screen tells me that they did a marvelous job. The Master of the House song made me cringe several times, and I must commend the cinematography for adding things that are simply impossible to add in an on-stage performance. Well done. Singing was great, characters were great, make-up and costumes were perfect, and the details were right.

Cosette: Cosette didn't have as much screen-time as I thought she would have, but it was alright. We didn't see her too much or too little. I think her character development assumed just a little that you were familiar with the story, but I liked how she kept asking Valjean about his past because she had never been told. Her voice was very warbley {nice word, eh?} but since it was consistently warbley, I'm going to give the film makers the benefit of the doubt that they wanted it that way.

Marius: Let's go visual then audio. DANG. Attractive. British. Moving on.
Singing was iffy until his solo after the barricades. That sealed the deal for me; well done! In earlier songs, I was disappointed that Marius sang and would usually end with a high note, or he would sing in a higher octave than the theater actors. But Empty Chairs at Empty Tables completely transformed the way I thought of his singing, because he got that song right. I really liked the scene between Marius and Valjean when the latter tells the former of his criminal past and then leaves to protect Cosette. That scene was well done; Marius matured in that scene.

Eponine: My favorite character. The actress is the same Eponine on stage, so the singing was of course fabulous. I thought they did a great job showing her infatuation with Marius and how she loved him and he took it as friendship or teasing. During Eponine's solo On My Own, I thought the music overtook her voice, which was not necessary for her. It helped Javert's solos, but the music should enhance, not overwhelm Eponine's voice. However, the scenery was great during that song, and other times it was nice to have a movie set instead of the limited theater set.

Other items: This film encompassed many more details than either film or theater productions have done in the past, and as someone who has read the unabridged book, I really appreciated those!
The sets were incredible. There is so much more you can do with a movie set, and they went all out, but they still managed to keep the feel of theater. I don't know if that's cinematography or the sets themselves, but I loved it.
Costumes were gorgeous. Make-up was fabulous.
The minor characters were all perfect. The priest who initiated the change in Valjean was wonderful in both voice and character. The revolutionary boys were perfect; they acted and sang beautifully. The women in the factory with Fantine allowed more depth into the scene, which was fantastic. The common people who sang At the End of the Day really portrayed to a new level what they were living in, in such a way that can only be done in the movies.

This is a stand-alone comment: it was interesting how during several of the solos, the camera would stay on the character's face for almost the duration of the song, sometimes with only short breaks or different angles. At first I thought it was for intensity, which is definitely true in I Dreamed a Dream, but then I thought it might be for a more theater-like experience; when the camera is continuously on the singer, there is more of a stage feel to it than a movie feel, simply because your focus is the character and the song and little else. If that's what the director was going for, cool. If not, well that's what happened, so yeah.

Alright, I'm done geeking out. I don't consider myself to be either a movie buff or a theater buff, but I do consider myself a Les Miserables fan{atic?} and I had to process these thoughts somehow. And I'd love to hear your thoughts! Do you agree with me or not? What would you change if you were making the film? Do you like the stage or the film version{s} better {and what have you seen before this?}?

Happy Friday!

Funny Friday

Tonight my family is going out to our favorite downtown area. We will enjoy a dinner of tapas {Spain's dinner style} and then ride the merry-go-round. There might also be shopping involved; it depends on Dad's tolerance for all things female :)

Anyway, my sisters and I usually ask "how fancy is it?" and then we ask "what time do we have to leave?" and then we go and try on several outfits and raid each others' closets and take turns with the straightener and things like that. Sometimes we like to get Dad's opinion or advice on an outfit. This afternoon witnessed the following exchange:

Sister: Dad, what should I wear?
Dad: Clothes.
Sister: No, really, what should I wear?
Dad: I don't care.
Sister: Dad, really. Should I wear pants or a skirt?
Dad: Pants. I always wear pants. 

In the midst of all these going-ons, sometimes an article of clothing is misplaced. Voices are raised, fingers are pointed, drawers and closets are rummaged through, and Dad makes hysterical comments without even looking up from his book. He's been doing this father-daughters thing a long time. But I digress.

Sister: Guys! I'm missing my nice black shirt! Has anyone seen it?
*general silence reigns*
Sister {more urgently}: Sisters! This is my nice, long-sleeved, soft black shirt. Has anyone seen it?
Dad: Oh yeah, I think I wore that shirt for pajamas last night. 

Anyway, that's my Funny Friday. Merry Christmas, everyone!

What to Say, What to Say

For my fellow bloggers out there, do you ever struggle with deciding what gets written and what stays private? I'm not talking about names and locations and things like that; security is important! I'm talking about  topics. What do you ponder in your heart and what do you process on the world wide web? What do you keep between you and God and what do you share with others? I'd love to hear ideas.

Today my lovely discipler and I met for coffee. Sarah disciples me, and it is the most incredible thing ever. She is so, so lovely and discerning, and her heart for the Lord just teems from her every word! When we meet, I catch her up on life and then sit back and listen; she is so wise and insightful, and she knows how to speak exactly to the core of a matter. I love her, and I love hearing the Lord's heart from her. So good.

She told me about love and how love is a sacrifice and love is sacrificial. Wow. Emotions and feelings are fine, but love is higher. Love cannot be wasted; love is an eternal investment.
let's just sit here and let that sink in...

You Thought I Forgot...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, in the space of 12 days, I've lived in 3 states. Left my Midwest home with the grandparents and went to my Other Home in the South, spent a fabulous 10 days there, and then flew to my Home in the Northwest. Oh, and in case my body's time zones wasn't completely screwed up yet, I went to see the midnight showing of the Hobbit. Yup. Totes awesome.

At home, 3 of the 4 of us offspring are reunited under one roof. And we are raising said roof with laughter. Can I just say that I'm super grateful that my family likes each other and that we enjoy being together? This is not always true for everyone, and I'm glad it's true for my family most of the time. What's better than laughing with your sisters? So anyway, here are a few examples of the hysterical antics going on around here:

Scene: J is going to braid my hair. I'm in a text conversation but the phone is plugged in and is just out of reach.
Phone: *ring!*
Me: I've got a text.
J: Leave it and hold still.
Me: What if it's a marriage proposal?
J: Say no. Anyone who proposes over text is not worthy.

Scene: I'm working on a craft; it's a canvas with letters and glittery paper.
J: you should make that into confetti.
Me: that's weird...but let me try it.
*a few minutes later, I have made it into confetti.*
Me: J, come and look at this!
J: that's not what I was going for.
Me: I didn't ask for your opinion; I told you to look at it.
J: *raises her eyebrows* oooooh, ahhhh.

There will be more antics as soon as Sister E gets home tomorrow. Stay tuned!