Glee: Because I Can

So I know that a lot of people don't like the TV show. Maybe because of the inconsistencies, too many guest stars, characters, or people don't think a show about a glee club is macho enough for them. I can see where these people are coming from, but I am still completely in love with glee. This quote from Darren Criss sums it up for me, "[Glee] has become a wonderful culture celebrating the underdog and glorifying individuality." That's what I like the most about it.

Mercedes is my favorite part of this picture

People say that Glee ruins songs. There is probably some truth in that HOWEVER, whenever an artist does a cover of a song, they will create their own interpretation. Isn't that what glee club is about? To make a song your own, to be different. Stuff like this however...

stoppp. :(

No doubt Glee has butchered some songs, but I am not going to focus on that. I'm going to focus on MY favorites. Because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want.

"Rose's Turn" from Gypsy

Someone tell me when is it my turn

don't I get a dream for myself

starting now it's gonna be my turn

gang way world, get off of my runway

So I really don't like the original of this song, because it's sung by Ethel Merman, whom I have a hard time appreciating. But I LOVE this version of it. It's one of my top favorites. Kurt is a beast. 

"Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson

So Annie are you okay?

Are you okay Annie?

I would like to remind people that this whole episode was a tribute to Michael Jackson. I think they did a good job with it. After I saw this version for the first time I looked up the original. I absolutely loved the original, but I had a hard time hearing the lyrics honestly. I promise I'm not bashing MJ, he's a music god and would smite me with his dance moves. I like the Glee version because I can understand the words, but my favorite part about it is the cello dudes. I watch them the whole time. They're all INTENSITY the entire time. In fact, they're what makes this version awesome for me. Also there were a few moments that I really thought Sebastian and Santana were going to murder each other. That would have been a twist.

"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane

I walked across an empty land

I knew the pathway like the back of my hand

I love Darren Criss, and was a fan of his before he was on Glee. This is my favorite song that he has sung on Glee so far. It makes me want to cry, it's so beautiful.

"School's Out" by Alice Cooper. 

School's out for summer

school's out forever

Umm can we please talk about Puck?! Every song he has sung has been phenomenal. I would much rather have him sing all the solos instead of Rachel...actually I would split the solos between Puck and Mercedes.

Lea Michele has a huge amount of talent, I'm not denying that, but she gets SO MANY solos. It irks me. However when she sang "Cry" by Kelly Clarkson, I got goosebumps and almost, ALMOST, cried.

I'm not going to end this with a Rachel solo, because I want my favorite to be last. Kurt singing "Not The Boy Next Door" from The Boy From Oz

For those of you thinking, "this proves my point, Glee isn't macho at all." ARE YOU SAYING HUGH JACKMAN, THE WOLVERINE, IS NOT MACHO? That same man was Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz and even won a Tony for it.

Mr. Hugh Jackman

loves musical 

theater

So you have no excuse.

Support the arts.

Nerd Archive 5/18/2012

       You can ignore this one. I just wanted to save all the pictures that I had on the side of my blog, but I also wanted to change them, and get more of my nerdness onto the internet.

the wild party

Dead Poet's Society

Cat Stevens

Moulin Rouge

The King and I

The Phantom of the Opera

Hair

Leonard Nimoy

Sweet Charity

Billy Elliot

Dick Van Dyke

Threepenny Opera

Carl Anderson

The Bennet's

Victor Garber

Kirk and Spock

William Daniels

Merry and Pippin

Gene Kelly

"Remember, you’re the brave one, you’re the honest one. You’re the one who knows who you are! They’re the scared uninformed self-deceiving cowards. Be yourself and that’s good enough"

-Alan Cumming

"Music expresses that which cannot remain silent and that which cannot be put into words"

-Victor Hugo

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
-Oscar Wilde

"I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through"

-Jules Verne

"Fiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life"

-Robert Louis Stevenson

"Our true nationality is mankind."

-H.G. Wells

Taboo

I'm not familiar with the plot of this musical at all, despite my diligent research. All I know, is it's about Boy George, with music and lyrics by Boy George, actually has a character of Boy George, and Boy George is in it, but not as Boy George. That's really all I know about it. I'm making a post about it anyways.

Why I like Taboo even though I have no clue what it's about.

1. Euan Morton

2. Raul Esparza

Both of these men are FANTASTIC singers. They also both happen to have the most beautiful songs in Taboo.

"Pretty Lies" sung by Euan Morton

If you see all the hurt in my eyes

Will you laugh? Will you run? Will you carry me?

"Petrified" sung by Raul Esparza

Hate the way you look at me

Like you can tell so much about my life

There is also a harsh side of the music as well...

"I See Through You"

I see through youAnd all the tears I criedI see through youNo, you're not God on highSo goodbye

Cool confrontation scene, I just wish I knew what it was about. I really cannot find a good synopsis of this musical. It's just like "Boy George before and after he's famous and the night club Taboo." Not specific at all. lame.

Other songs I really like from Taboo: Stranger In This World, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, and Out Of Fashion.

Euan Morton as Boy George with Boy George

see you dudes later

SCHOOL'S OUT

Read

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” 

This will be a rant.

I do not understand why many people do not read in their spare time. I mean like, books. And it doesn't make sense to me when people say "I don't like to read." My response to that is that everyone loves to read, but you have to find the right books for you. There is SO MUCH out there, and I cannot read enough of it. 

There are those that say that they would rather watch the movie version of the book anyways. What good is that? With a book you use your imagination, things can look, sound, smell, the way YOU want them to. Movies do all of that for you. You don't have a say. With a book, you often are let inside the minds of the characters, and you learn what they learn.

Another thing, DO NOT judge a book if you have not read it. I mean that about everything. Even Twilight. You are not allowed to have an opinion until you have read something. I have read Twilight, I'm allowed to say I don't like it. Don't come to me and say that you hate Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings, or any other book ever if you have not read it. If you have, then you have the right to an opinion. I had to write about that because people act like that quite a lot.

Please Read Something

“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad." -William Faulkner

I doesn't care what it is. Read Dr. Seuss, read a haiku with me everyday a la http://hikeoo.blogspot.com/, read magazines, read my blog ;). Reading is the greatest thing ever. If you don't know which books to read, here are some of my favorites in no particular order.

1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

This is a murder mystery, the best of it's kind. Every time I have read this, I have read it in one sitting. Literally, it was like if I put the book down, one of the characters would be murdered and I would miss it or I would forget a really important detail. You will be kept guessing until the last sentence of the book. My brain exploded when I finally found out who the murderer was. If you've seen the play, it's a totally different ending! So it hasn't been spoiled for you at all.

2. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Honestly, this is not a children's book at all. Don't let the cover fool you. It's actually pretty graphic and makes you cry and stuff. To warn people who are protectively religious, Philip Pullman is an outspoken atheist and leans on it heavily in this series and writes about homosexuality, direct opposition to the Magisterium, the death of God ("the Authority"), among other things.  However, Pullman's motive is NOT to condemn religion. He is quoted saying,

"My point is that religion is at it's best-it does most good-when it is farthest away from political power, and that when it gets hold of the the power to (for example) send armies to war or to condemn people to death, or to rule every aspect of our lives, it rapidly goes bad. Sometimes people think that if something is done in the name of faith or religion, it must be good. Unfortunately, that isn't true; some things done in the name of faith or religion, it must be good. That was what I was trying to describe in my story."

To me this story is about friendship, love, adventure, and intellectual curiosity. OMG AND TALKING POLAR BEARS. Good things if you ask me. I love love LOVE it. The whole series is excellent.

3. Harry Freakin' Potter

Everyone knows the basic idea behind this one, so I'm just going to say this. Do not be intimidated by the size of the books. If you force yourself to read the first one, I swear that you will love it and you will continue through the series and then when it ends, you will wish that there was more. I swear to you. Harry Potter has changed my life and has made me a better person. I wish that everyone would experience Harry Potter. It is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Please just try it. Don't just watch the movies. There is so much more to the story.

4. Fan fiction. While going through Harry Potter withdrawal after the last movie, I started looking at fan fiction. There is actually a lot of good stuff. There was a really good one about how George and Harry used a time-turner to save Fred. I cried everywhere. Anyways there is a lot of cool ones if you're willing to look.

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”

 -Oscar Wilde 

4. Huckleberry Finn

Feeling devious? Try out some banned books. I kid you not, Huckleberry Finn is a banned book. There were recently plans to actually censor it actually. I'm not sure if they went through with it though. The plan was to take out the "N word." What for? To make white people feel better about themselves? I don't know. Censoring it just irks me. It takes away from what the slaves went through and also takes away from the culture of the time. It's not a pleasant word, but it doesn't make sense to distort the truth and pretend it didn't happen. 

Anyways, this book is AMAZING. Mark Twain is a god. Tom Sawyer is a good book too, but it's aimed more for a younger audience. Huckleberry Finn is a very very good read, and isn't too challenging. Go try it.

I'm going to end this rant for now. 

Please. Read. Something. There are so many other worlds out there, many better than our own.

May Musings

I'm really hyper right now because I aced an exam and passed my scale jury today.

I ALSO HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT SUGAR. Forrealsies. No auto correct, not "forensically." Get out.

So this is going to be another random post of stuff that has no meaning as a whole. First, I dare you to  "listen" to this "song" that I had to study about for my music history class.

My initial reaction...

Joey Richter

And then I was angry. It supposedly represents the ending of classical music, but that poor violin. It is an interesting concept, but I would not pay for a ticket to see a concert like that. Would you?

I might pay to see the one where the performer brings a bale of hay and water onto stage to feed the piano. The composition ends when the piano decides to eat, or to not to...

.................

This week, I read the book Stardust by Neil Gaiman. 

“Well, you know what they say,” whispered Quintus, in the wistful tones of the dead, which sounded, on that day, like the lapping of distant waves upon the shingle, “a man who is tired of looking over his shoulder for Septimus is tired of life.”

For like, the first time in my life, I like the movie better than the book...for one, the book was too short. Two, the book could have been written without the brothers, and the story would not have been much affected. They basically just all kill each other and then aren't mentioned again.

I really liked Septimus in the movie and in the book, but in the book he just dies, and then he turns into a ghost and the brothers are like, "well there's no reason for us to stay" and then they just aren't in the story anymore. I dunno. It's just kind of pointless. 

HOWEVER, I do recommend the book, I liked reading it and it only took me a few hours. I also recommend the movie. It's super awesome and Mark Strong makes a fantastic Septimus. He's on the right and you can't see his face. But trust me, he's super cool.

"Do what I say, and we may stand a chance"

"Wait, how do I know you can be trusted?"

"You don't. Why, Do you have a choice?"

"No."

"Well then, let's go"

not to mention he has a super cool theme song

it really is very cool. listeeeeen.

TRANSITION

I remembered something else that bothered me about the last Harry Potter movie.

THAT AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN HARRY WAS SUPPOSED TO FIX HIS OWN WAND WITH THE ELDER WAND BUT HE DESTROYED THE ELDER WAND INSTEAD SO NOW HE'S TOTALLY SCREWED.

I could really use some candy

That's all I've got for now.