The Last 5 Years - Album Review

Still Hurting, a song from the Jason Robert Brown

musical The Last 5 Years

Jason Robert Brown's The Last 5 Years was an Off-Broadway musical that involves two characters, Cathy and Jamie, who were once in love, but their marriage detoriorated. The musical opens with the song above, Still Hurting, and continues to show snapshots of their life from the last five years. The music is only really sung by both the characters, but it involves a number of different styles. Even if you don't like Broadway, or Off-Broadway, music, this album is generally very good. The songs are good and well-sung. 

Enjoy! :)

Movie/Musical Review - Rent

Rent is a story about love, about hope, and about forgetting regret. The musical was based off of Puccini's La Boheme, which is an opera about young Bohemians living in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Rent is similarly structured. A group of 7 friends living in poverty in New York City can't seem to find work or pay their rent. Mark and Roger are the two roommates; their former roommate, Benny, is now their landlord, and demands their rent or they will be evicted, and the musical continues from there.

Along the way you meet Mimi, who's strong-willed and difficult to deter, and she falls in love with Roger. You get to meet Mark's ex, Maureen, a performance artist who left him for a lawyer named Joanne. You meet Collins, Mark and Roger's former rommate, who is a part-time philosophy professor at NYU and an anarchist. And you meet Angel, the wonderful street performer who has AIDS but is living every day like it's her last.

A wonderful thing about this musical is all the representation it holds in the media. Angel is a black trans* woman, and Maureen is a lesbian who's dating a black lesbian lawyer. And Mimi is a strong, Hispanic young woman. So much representation! It's not close to what we need in every day media, but the thing about this was that it showcased real people, living in New York City, struggling with being HIV positive but also learning to live each moment as their last.

Rent is a story about hope. It's a story about love, and it's a story about people "living with, living with, living with, not dying from disease". If you have the chance, watch Rent. It's a truly beautiful movie. The stage musical is better, but it's not on Broadway anymore. Even the soundtracks, both Original Broadway Cast and Original Movie Soundtrack are wonderful. 

"Let he among us without sin be the first to condemn la vie boheme" :)

Rent movie trailer

La Vie En Rose - A Quick Movie Review

The film La Vie en Rose is a French film made in 2007 about the life of the very famous French Pop singer Édith Piaf. Édith Piaf was a singer in the 1940s and 50s in France, but her popularity there spread throughout the world. This film, starring Marion Cotillard as the famous singer was one that one her an Academy Award, even though the movie is entirely in French.

I understand that might deter you from watching, but it truly is an amazingly acted and produced movie. The music in it is all music by Édith Piaf, and it makes the movie more interesting as her songs are intertwined with the movie itself. The title comes from the song La Vie en Rose, one of Piaf's most famous songs. The movie describes her life from childhood to her death at just age 47. 

Even if you don't speak French, it truly is a great movie! I hope you at least consider watching.

La Vie en Rose Movie Trailer

La Vie en Rose song

Joyeux écoutant! :)

Prompt #3: Through Space and Time

“Erica, I’m not sure how I feel about this job this time.”

Erica stared, dumbfounded at the man who called himself her boss. The man who had given her all sorts of immoral jobs, all sorts of strange jobs, all sorts of messed up jobs was now telling her not to take this one. Erica continued to stare down Dr. Anderson, her eyes angry and unwilling to let go. Dr. Anderson just stared right back. They continued down this route for what felt like hours until Erica finally broke.

“But I don’t understand why not? I mean you’ve sent me back to ensure that Pearl Harbor was never stopped--”

“And now I’m telling you that I don’t want you taking it. And that’s the end of it.” Dr. Anderson looked at her pointedly for a half a second, and then turned his back to leave.

Erica, defeated, glared daggers at Dr. Anderson’s back as he left the room. She knew she had a weird job...it involved time travel. Sort of. Erica’s job was a top secret government job that sent her back in time to make sure key events in history still happened. Erica knew, of course, that there were time periods that were accessible to her that she shouldn’t access; that one time with the dinosaurs had proved that enough. But this...this one was the opportunity of a lifetime. This would allow her to meet with one of the most influential legends in history. This would be the historical opportunity she had been waiting for.

Erica knew she had an interesting job. It was only to make money to finish her doctorate in History, but at some point, not only had she become attached, she’d become good at it. Her job involved her making money by going back through history and witnessing certain events, making sure that they still occurred, and writing about them later in a journal for Dr. Anderson, who was still testing his time travel theory. Erica wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about this job. The cover was that she was writing historical studies and journal’s for Oxford’s university science magazine. The real answer was that she was a full fledged M16 agent and worked under an extremely secret department that wasn’t allowed to be talked about by anyone including herself in case people who would want to also take part in this wouldn’t take part in it. Erica knew at some point that she would need to convince Dr. Anderson of her brilliant plan. This time era, she knew, would be the opportunity she had been waiting for.

As soon as Dr. Anderson exited the room, Erica found herself wandering his spacious office, looking for any way to propel herself back in time without her boss’s help. She knew she would need an assistant, and that she would need to find clothing, and that she would need to be very, very prepared. If Dr. Anderson wouldn’t let her do this, Erica would do it herself. Despite all this, the nagging feeling in Erica’s head wouldn’t go away. She wanted to know, but if Dr. Anderson was saying this was a bad idea, then maybe it truly was a bad idea. She plopped into his desk chair, head in hands. She sat there a few moments, before picking her head back up with  fresh determination. She would do this, so help her God (and maybe an assistant).

Erica strode confidently out of Dr. Anderson’s office and started down the hallway with a new spring in her step. Her feet slammed the concrete as she walked toward the lab, knowing exactly who she needed to find. When the door slammed behind her, her assistant (well, he would be her assistant in a second) gulped loudly, eyes widening like mad.

“Bruce, I need your help,” Erica grinned wildly. “I need you to send me back to the Middle Ages.”

Mental Illness is No Joke

The Stand Up Kid, by Time for Change, Sept. 12, 2012

This video is so important.

Mental illness is defined as "a medical condition that disrupts a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning" by the National Alliance on Mental Illness website. Mental illness is very serious. Some people experience it in a way that they can cope with it daily. Others experience it in such a way that it defines their entire life, and they feel powerless to stop it. Mental illness is as real as your cold you had the other day, or the flu that you had over Christmas, and it is absolutely not attention seeking.

This video is so important. It details what depression for this kid feels like and why he'd been gone. His teacher and the other students had been giving him a hard time. He felt alone, but it was the last straw.

Most kids with mental illness don't do this the way this kid did. But many kids feel this way. This video is important for awareness for mental illness. Awareness is important. Get educated.

The Islands of Aunios

  She gasped with excitement and shouted over the noise of the propeller: "The islands in the clouds are real!!"

  Colin snuck a look at her; she gazed in awe at her surroundings. Colin slowly glanced around and took in the atmosphere. He was truly amazed; they were real. The islands were real.

~~~~~~~~

  A week ago, Colin and his group of friends found themselves sitting in their dorm lounge at around 2 am, just laughing and sharing funny stories. Anna and Katie had begun a childhood story about the "islands in the clouds" that every child from their hometown had heard about. The story went like this:

Long ago, in the old land of Canibri*, there lived a peaceful people. These people 

were kind and true, and did not cause war or harm to their people. They often told

a story of the island in the clouds, or their version of heaven. Their heaven consisted

of a group of islands that were joined together by bridges that connected each land,

and that is where you went to die. No mortal being could see the Islands of Aunios*;

if you could, you were dead or dying. 

However, many years later, the people of the land of Ercoriobri* launched an 

attack on the people of Canibri. The citizens tried to fight back, but were forced to 

retreat. As they retreated into the woods, it is said that an ancient sorceress descended on the earth to take them to their sacred island in the clouds. For when the people of 

Ercoriobri reached the woods, the citizens of Canibri had disappeared. It is said that

the people and the magic of Canibri live on today, in the Islands of Aunios in the clouds.

    Colin and his roommate, Ben, found this story a bit preposterous. How could this possibly be true? Islands in the clouds couldn't possibly exist! Colin found himself telling Katie the next day that it couldn't be possible; magic and floating islands just couldn't be real. But Katie was adamant; the islands were real, and she and Anna would find them, no matter what it took. 

  Colin shook his head and gave a small smile to Katie's retreating back. Colin wanted to believe in them too; it wasn't just Anna and Katie's hometown that heard this story, it was his, too. He, Ben, and their friends Alex and Ginny had grown up on this as well. The story of the Islands of Aunios was a childhood story everywhere, not just for Katie and Anna. He just knew it couldn't be possible. With everything that happened in his childhood, he would have rather believed that the islands weren't real.

  Alas, in the group's next meeting at 2 am in the dorm lounge, Alex decided to inform the group that he, Katie, and Anna would be travelling in a plane to try and find the islands in the clouds. Colin look at Ben; Ben was looking at him with an terror-filled expression. No matter the risk, absolutely no one had ever attempted to find the Islands of Aunios.

  "Alex, don't you think this is a little risky? I mean, this is a gamble, here," Ginny questioned. 

  "Ginny, don't you think that I know that?" Alex countered. "I mean, guys. We all grew up on these stories. We've all thought about it. All of us know magic once existed. If magic was real, why can't the islands be real either?"

  "Well, that's just it." Colin was too worried about his friends. He didn't want them attempting this and finding out it wasn't real, or even dying to try and find the islands. "If magic was real. 'Was' being past tense. Maybe the islands were real. 'Were' also being past tense--"

  "You obviously don't have to come, Colin," Ben stated resolutely. Colin looked incredulously at his best friend. He and Ben had a silent conversation, which ended in Colin saying, "I obviously do, who else would look out for you guys?"

  Alex grinned widely, and Colin felt a nervous pit form in his stomach.

~~~~~~~

  The plane was leaving, and Colin wasn't ready. He didn't feel ready, he didn't look ready, and he would probably never be ready. Ben had a death grip on his arm to keep him from jumping ship now, but Colin had never been so ready to jump out of an airplane.

  "Do you just not think this is a bad idea?!" Colin hissed. "I mean, we're going to our deaths, man!"

  "And do you want to be the one to tell Alex that?" Ben countered right back. "He knows. You can see it in his face. He's only doing this for Katie and Anna. They believe in it, they want to go, and we're gonna go to make sure that they don't die today." Colin took a look at Ben's face; resolve was there, but no regret. Colin sat back, a little mollified. They would probably be okay. There would probably be nothing, and they would probably be fine. Probably.

  And probably flew out the window the second the storm hit.

  The pilot claimed he had the plane under control, but he didn't. Everything was spiraling out of Colin's grasp. His stomach was clenching and unclenching as the plane pushed on in the storm. It was, absolutely, the most terrifying thing Colin had ever experienced. Ben grabbed his hand.

  Just as he was sure he was going to die, the plane landed.

  Katie and Anna ran past a still shaking Colin and Ben. Alex and Ginny were following very closely behind, grins on their faces. Colin and Ben took a look at each other and disentangled themselves from each other, but kept a hold on their hands. They stepped out of the plane and the pilot just eyed them as if saying 'I told you I'd get you here'. 

  Katie looked back at Colin, excitement in her ice blue eyes. She gasped with excitement and shouted over the noise of the propeller: "The islands in the clouds are real!!" Colin snuck a look at her; she gazed in awe at her surroundings. Colin slowly glanced around and took in the atmosphere. He was truly amazed; they were real. The islands were real.

  Ginny, Alex, and Anna went one way to explore, and Colin, Ben, and Katie went the opposite way. They had agreed to meet back at the plane when they were done with the exploration. Colin and Ben were still dumbstruck, but Katie just looked at them smugly.

  The islands in the clouds were real.