High school visit, Phantom of the Opera
Jan. 28th, 2005 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirBlair Hall Apts., on the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
I visited the old psychiatric testing facility, better known as our high school, yesterday. I spent most of the time talking with Mr. Randolph and visiting the science fair--sorry I missed you,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fadedcliche--and learning about the ridiculous changes made by the now soon-to-retire Dr. Laurenson. >_< Apparently they now have double lunch periods, one starting at 10:30 for the sevens, eights and nines, and another at the usual time for the upper termers. There's a 15-minute overlap called the "common period" but clearly club meetings and activities are no longer their usual robust selves. Also, no drinking or eating is allowed in the hallways anymore, and anyone caught in violation of this rule is put in...wait for this...detention. Um. Since when did Hunter have detention? Seriously, it's frightening. No one knows why Dr. Laurenson has been "forced to retire", but in light of all these ridiculous changes, I'm not too surprised.
But in better news, Hunter has an Intel STS finalist this year (there were three semifinalists!), and Stuyvesant has none. School rivalry vindicated! Hah! ::feels smug::
I'm all caught up now on the gossip about other former lab rats, thanks to Mr. Randolph, who treated me out to lunch. ^_^ Rather nice, since I haven't kept in touch with too many non-Hallway friends. He's also promised to try and visit this month, which would be a nice opportunity for a reunion.
Afterwards, I (barely) made it in time to watch Phantom of the Opera with Tryogeru. Christine had a nice voice--still a little untrained at points, but really quite nice--and Raoul looked like a neanderthal football jock, but I suppose Raoul is a neanderthal football jock, so the casting was appropriate. Phantom on the other hand was terribly disappointing. ;_; He seemed to think that singing all his lines loudly would make up for the lack of expression and help him reach notes that were out of his range. I also hated the way he cut his notes short. I think that Phantom of the Opera doesn't work as well as a movie because the inconsistencies are more glaring on screen. One makes allowances for lack of realism when one can't see closeups. Also found the extraneous scenes and spoken lines annoying. >_> But it wasn't a terrible movie, as all the critics seem to insist. The masquerade scene was beautifully done, and I quite liked the parade of costumes. The opera house itself was gorgeous, and I thought all the supporting characters were well-cast. I would have forgiven everything if the Phantom had a better voice. (I think I've been spoiled; I have seen Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, so it's not that I can't handle a non-Crawford voice in the role. But the time I went, the actor who played Phantom had the most beautiful, gorgeous, haunting voice--I would even go so far to say that I would prefer it to Crawford although the actor didn't have the same level of technical skill or range. Also, the voice was very different from Crawford's but still of a lyrical timbre. Unfortunately, the actor who played Phantom in the movie had anything but a lyrical voice.)
Tryogeru lent me the BBC production of Neverwhere on DVD, so last night I watched about two-thirds of the miniseries. It's kind of mindboggling how excellent it is despite the total lack of special effects (which I thought would have been essential to portraying the story). I suppose it just goes to show that what really makes or breaks any fictional production is the writing after all. Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandermar were exactly how I imagined them. And Marquis de Carabas is perfect, mannerisms, coat and all. My parents cut me off just as I got to my favorite part: the ordeal at Blackfriars station. -_- Will try to finish it tonight, although my mother is more excited about watching Farewell My Concubine and my father wants to watch Silmido. (See what happens when you lend me too many movies at once, Tryogeru?) I wish I had more opportunities to watch BBC series; the ones I've watched so far have always been thoroughly amazing (Pride and Prejudice, Gormenghast, etc.). Oh well.
Yours &c.
I visited the old psychiatric testing facility, better known as our high school, yesterday. I spent most of the time talking with Mr. Randolph and visiting the science fair--sorry I missed you,
fadedcliche--and learning about the ridiculous changes made by the now soon-to-retire Dr. Laurenson. >_< Apparently they now have double lunch periods, one starting at 10:30 for the sevens, eights and nines, and another at the usual time for the upper termers. There's a 15-minute overlap called the "common period" but clearly club meetings and activities are no longer their usual robust selves. Also, no drinking or eating is allowed in the hallways anymore, and anyone caught in violation of this rule is put in...wait for this...detention. Um. Since when did Hunter have detention? Seriously, it's frightening. No one knows why Dr. Laurenson has been "forced to retire", but in light of all these ridiculous changes, I'm not too surprised.But in better news, Hunter has an Intel STS finalist this year (there were three semifinalists!), and Stuyvesant has none. School rivalry vindicated! Hah! ::feels smug::
I'm all caught up now on the gossip about other former lab rats, thanks to Mr. Randolph, who treated me out to lunch. ^_^ Rather nice, since I haven't kept in touch with too many non-Hallway friends. He's also promised to try and visit this month, which would be a nice opportunity for a reunion.
Afterwards, I (barely) made it in time to watch Phantom of the Opera with Tryogeru. Christine had a nice voice--still a little untrained at points, but really quite nice--and Raoul looked like a neanderthal football jock, but I suppose Raoul is a neanderthal football jock, so the casting was appropriate. Phantom on the other hand was terribly disappointing. ;_; He seemed to think that singing all his lines loudly would make up for the lack of expression and help him reach notes that were out of his range. I also hated the way he cut his notes short. I think that Phantom of the Opera doesn't work as well as a movie because the inconsistencies are more glaring on screen. One makes allowances for lack of realism when one can't see closeups. Also found the extraneous scenes and spoken lines annoying. >_> But it wasn't a terrible movie, as all the critics seem to insist. The masquerade scene was beautifully done, and I quite liked the parade of costumes. The opera house itself was gorgeous, and I thought all the supporting characters were well-cast. I would have forgiven everything if the Phantom had a better voice. (I think I've been spoiled; I have seen Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, so it's not that I can't handle a non-Crawford voice in the role. But the time I went, the actor who played Phantom had the most beautiful, gorgeous, haunting voice--I would even go so far to say that I would prefer it to Crawford although the actor didn't have the same level of technical skill or range. Also, the voice was very different from Crawford's but still of a lyrical timbre. Unfortunately, the actor who played Phantom in the movie had anything but a lyrical voice.)
Tryogeru lent me the BBC production of Neverwhere on DVD, so last night I watched about two-thirds of the miniseries. It's kind of mindboggling how excellent it is despite the total lack of special effects (which I thought would have been essential to portraying the story). I suppose it just goes to show that what really makes or breaks any fictional production is the writing after all. Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandermar were exactly how I imagined them. And Marquis de Carabas is perfect, mannerisms, coat and all. My parents cut me off just as I got to my favorite part: the ordeal at Blackfriars station. -_- Will try to finish it tonight, although my mother is more excited about watching Farewell My Concubine and my father wants to watch Silmido. (See what happens when you lend me too many movies at once, Tryogeru?) I wish I had more opportunities to watch BBC series; the ones I've watched so far have always been thoroughly amazing (Pride and Prejudice, Gormenghast, etc.). Oh well.
Yours &c.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-29 03:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-29 04:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-29 04:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-30 01:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-30 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-30 01:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-29 04:37 am (UTC)Oooh, I need to watch phantom...
OMG NEVERWHERE!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-30 09:12 am (UTC)People tell me that the events in Silmudo are )(generally) true. True/False?
O.o
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-30 01:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-30 09:13 am (UTC)Sorry.
O.o
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-30 01:46 pm (UTC)Heh, I know not of these FAO Schwartz-visiting people, but it is definitely one of the places mentioned when talking about NYC. And yes, NEVERWHERE! Is awesome! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-31 02:30 am (UTC)O.o
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-31 08:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-31 10:13 pm (UTC)::sniff:: All those missed FSTs...;_;
O.o
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-01 05:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-01 08:12 pm (UTC)My bogu came!
O.o
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-01 08:14 pm (UTC)POTO
Date: 2005-02-02 04:13 am (UTC)P.S. We must start our ribosome community now :)