Issue 119

News/Review: Sweeney Todd: I Lovett!!
Earlier in the week, I went to the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago to see Sweeney Todd as part of a requirement to see two plays for a drama class I'm taking for school. I say front-row centre, by the way. I have known Sondheim's musical through four forms: First is the traditional version (see the original Cast album or the1982 television special with George Hearn), Second is The Concert Version (see the 2000 television special also with George Hearn), Third is the movie (starring Johnny Depp), and finally this version, where all the actors perform as the orchestra when not singing (represented only by a truncated cast album, alas, which omits a significant portion of the final sequence). I must say that David Hess' performance is somewhat lacking in Hearn's ability and Depp's intensity, and I was personally miffed that (unlike in the Broadway run of this fourth Version) the actor playing Sweeney did not play guitar. The real treat for this play was the actor who played Tobias (and the violin). The twist that this version added was that the play was told as a flashback by the visibly disturbed Edmund Bagnell, who seems to visibly remind me of a somewhat shorter Brad Dourif in his role as Billy Bibbit, although he even acts his part of a disturbed young boy even while accompanying on the violin, and I must say that the actress playing Pirelli (a male character, but one with a high range) was no match for Sascha Baron-Cohen in this version. All in all, I would recommend this play, and this version thereof. You can see it now or wait until this version is properly represented with a full cast album or yet another PBS special, or else there may even be a bootleg version flying around. I got the tie-in T-shirt (but not the tie-in Apron, though), in lieu of a recording and I hope to wear it frequently over the summer.

Band Name of the Day: The Sin Busters. Maybe there's some CCM Band who's probably taken the band name by now.

Film Idea of the Day: I Got Nothing.

Quote of the Day: "We Got a nice respectable business now!"
__________Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Link of the Day: Here's Some More Chick Dissections for ya.

Tract Review: Movin on Up. Jack creates what he may see as a child-oriented satire on Evolution, but to anybody who reads it with any knowledge whatsoever of evolution should know that most if not all of what Jack claims about the theory (That science knows or claims to know everything, evolution is a religion which promotes the idea of a "master race", or precludes the existence of a deity [outside of self-deification] or morality) is completely false. It's just a facet of Biology explaining the inheritance of traits and nothing more. The manufactured controversy over it is totally unnecessary.

Issue 118

News: Wot??!!&,:;%${} has been accepted for performance... almost.
In Issue 30 (Feb 20, 2006), I announced that I finished writing a play in the vein of Becket entitled Wot??!!&,:;%${} (pronounced simply "What"). I originally wrote it for my school's previous drama teacher, who apparently no longer has his job, despite still hanging around the school occasionally, which is actually a more common thing than one may expect for a high school. Anyway, the original teacher liked the play, but thought there was one flaw with the play: it would very likely go way over the heads of the audience. But a few years have passed, and after adding a few more Monty Python refs, including a spoof of the "Get on with it" scene from Holy Grail, and, most importantly, a new drama teacher, this new teacher actually loves the play. As a matter of fact, she said that if she had been given the play earlier, she would have decided to perform the play, instead of the usual slew of shorter one-act plays, and better yet, would have allowed me to direct the play myself to bring my vision to the stage in what may be the most public exhibition of my work in fiction since I had the treatment for my film about the lesbian schoolgirls read aloud in class (the two short stories I had published in the school's literary magazine and the one pending publication notwithstanding). Of course, I had to get it to her after she finalized the one-act performances. Oh, well. At this rate, the play will most likely get its first performance when I'm at Oakton.

Band Name/Film Idea of the Day: H*R*M*N*Y. It is going to be about the misadventures of a boy band named with the above title. After the five members of the band (Harry, Ronnie, Mark, Nicky, and CjaY) were discovered auditioning for American Idol, a talent scout discovered them standing next to each other in line, and without first knowing whether they had any actual talent, signed them up. The show itself focuses on their misadventures touring and recording the follow-up to their platinum-selling eponymous debut album, as well as their often antisocial behavior, particularly from Harry, a Chickian fundamentalist, and CJay, whose voice provides the low end and whose personality is best described as a combination between Patrick Bateman and any boy band singer, who often hints at committing several crimes, and is also recording a Rain Dogs-like solo album.

Film Review of the Day: The Royal Tenenbaums. As you may know, J.D. Salinger has become famous for not allowing his work to be transferred to the silver screen, a fact which has not prevented me from writing out a screenplay based upon The Catcher in the Rye. Even the two facts that this movie is probably the closest thing we have to a film adaptation of his Glass Family stories, with its focus upon the dysfunctional family life of a family full of child prodigies, and its soundtrack, one of the best I've ever heard in a film, are enough reasons for me to encourage you, the reader, to buy it or rent it.

Quote of the Day: The quote is in this video. Believe it or not, I've actually had conversations with my dad like this one.

Link of the Day: This is the first example of a prose fanfic (as opposed to a rehash of the visuals with new dialogue) based upon a Chick Tract I have ever come across. Quite possibly, this may be the only example.

Issue 117

News: You didn't think you'd be rid of me that easily, did you?
It took a while, but I must tell you, that the message I posted a few days back was a hoax. Since I didn't, as usual, post a message to let you know that this year's April Fool's Day entry wasn't real or indicative of any change, and partially because I don't have much else to work with, I feel obligated to tell you that the message was a hoax. As a matter of fact, much of the essay was appropriated from a monologue in the movie Pump Up The Volume where the main character announces his decision to keep on doing the radio show, after tragic events happen relating to the show, which are different from "Last Week's Tragic Events In Hawaii" (which not only did not happen, but come a line I took directly from an episode of South Park). Come to think of it, the song I linked to was a bowdlerized version of "Kick Out The Jams", the same song which played after the monologue in the movie, although in the film it was done by Rollins band, although the link had the original artist, The MC5, albeit with the (in)famous opening line changed to "Kick Out The Jams, Brothers and Sisters", which doesn't violate Carlin's Seven like the original did. From Now on, Here's a rule of thumb: If something which sounds false was written on April Fool's Day, until further notice, assume it is until somebody says something about it after April 2.

Band Name of the Day: CureBurger in Paradise. This comes from a South Park episode where money is discovered to be the cure for AIDS. Jimmy Buffett (or a semi-reasonable facsimile thereof) sings a song of this title.

Film Idea of the Day: None this week.

Film Review of the Day: Shine a Light. After using Rolling Stones music in virtually every movie he's made since Mean Streets, and creating several documentaries about the Blues and Bob Dylan's first 23 years, he finally managed to film a concert with The Stones. Notably, the increasingly haggard skin of Mick and Keef is even more apparent with the high-definition Imax screen, and the contrast between how comparatively well Scorsese himself, a few months older than the Stones (except for Charlie), looks in comparison to the Stones is quite surprising indeed. This film introduced me to some of the better, albeit more obscure songs that the band has done, especially "Far Away Eyes" and "Champagne and Reefer".

Quote of the Day: "Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mank ind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words- "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind."
_________Jack Handey

Link of the Day: An e-museum devoted to famous hoaxes. Note: It's amusing to know that the creator of the most famous proponent of Deductive Logic of all time believed in Faeries.
And Now, here's your moment of Zen.

A Special Message

I never planned it like this. My dad got me this blog account so I could just speak to my friends back east, but I couldn't reach anybody, I thought I was talking to nobody. I imagined that nobody was listening. Maybe I imagined one person out there, anyway one day I woke up and I realized I was never going to be normal and so I said forget it, I said so be it and Honorificabilitudinitatibus be S-Y-What? was born.

You hear about somebody who did something stupid, something desperate. What possessed him. How could he do such a terrible thing? Look at Last Week's Tragic Events in Hawaii. It's really quite simple actually. Consider life. You have people telling you what to do. You have the media telling you what to do. But deep down, you know what you have to do. Your job, your purpose, is to get accepted and think up something great to do with the rest of your life. What if you're confused and can't imagine a career? This is what precipitated the Tragic Events in Hawaii.

What happened is wrong, but the interesting thing about it is how simple it seems. No now they're going to say I said what happened in Hawaii is simple, but no, no, no, no, it's not simple. It's like everything else: you have to read the fine print. Suppose what happened there happened on a much larger scale. How would we know there's anything to do afterwards? Now people are weeping over the events, crying, people the victims never knew are saying, "Why? Why? Why?" and there's a huge mess. That's the way I see it.

I don't mind being rejected, but I'm not going to be ashamed about it. You know, even this isn't much else but white text on a black screen. I'm just like anybody. You see, I'm just as worried as the rest of you. They say I'm disturbing. Well, of course I am. So are the rest of us, and if we're not, why not? Doesn't all this want to make you do something outrageous? Then why not? It makes a lot more sense than Last Week's Tragic Events in Hawaii. Go nuts, go crazy, get creative! You got problems? Make'em think you're crazy, make'em think you might snap! Come on, go nuts, get crazy. That's why this is my last entry. I'm doing more now!
Mark Hunter.



PSYCHE!!!!!!!!!