Today I went to Philly and saw Les Mis at the Academy of Music. It was PHENOMENAL. Every time I see this show I love it even more...and cry a little harder. :P
David and I got all dressed up (I voted us best-looking couple of the day, haha) and drove down to Philly to get to the theater around 12:15. As soon as we got off the highway and onto Broad Street we parked in the first parking garage we saw cause last time we were in the city finding parking was a bit of a hassle. So we got $5 parking (WOOT WOOT) and then walked to get to the theater. When we got out of the car, I mentioned to David that he has a GPS on his phone so we could use that to navigate our way, but he was sure we could find our way on our own. AND HE WAS RIGHT! I feel so proud of us that we found our way around Philly...aka read street signs. :P
We got to the theater at EXACTLY 12:15 and then waited for everybody else to show up. We planned this trip with a group back in September, but they decided to ride the train in. WELL. Apparently the train doesn't run on the weekends, which they found out once they waited 30 minutes at the train station, so they had to quick drive into Philly and find us before the show started at 1:00. It worked out pretty well though. They got there around 12:45 and we got to our seats just in time. Speaking of our seats...we were on the very top balcony and the view is RIDICULOUS. Like...it is such a steep drop. I'm not the type of person afraid of heights but it is REALLY freaky climbing down those stairs.
Then the show started! First of all, gotta say, LOVE the live orchestra. I probably miss some stuff on stage cause of the amount of time I spend watching the musicians. :P Second, the cast for this production was SO great.
Jean Valjean: Flawless. Crazy range. Super talented.
Javert: Classic Javert. Powerhouse. Commanded the attention of the stage.
Fantine: Fantastic voice. My favorite Fantine I've ever seen on stage.
Marius: PURE VOICE. Really really great. Also my favorite Marius I've ever seen.
Cosette: Good voice. I just dislike her character.
Enjolras: Wonderful. Emotional.
Gavroche: Adorable. Perfect.
Eponine: LOVED her voice and how she played the character.
It was all just so good...and the staging and sets are amazing and the transitions are PERFECT and and AND! For this production, they also upped the tempo a bit for some of the songs, and I really liked how they turned out.
This show is SO good. The story is incredibly powerful and moving. It had a good transition to screen but there is NOTHING like sitting in a theater hearing actors pour their hearts out on stage in a live performance.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Adorable!
Totally adorable. I'd say yes if this was how David proposed! Then again, I'd say yes no matter how he proposed. :P
Speaking of me and David and proposed...this holiday season both our families and close friends kept making "engaged" jokes about us. Which we really don't mind but it got funny after awhile because EVERYONE kept making side comments.
We called his grandma (on his dad's side) to see if she wanted to go out to eat with us. She immediately asked if it was for a *cough cough* special occasion...
We went to visit Mr. O and the jazz band and as we were leaving, Mr. O said "Goodbye David Kile! Goodbye Rachel Kile!"
And then one Sunday my mom came home from church and told me David's mom had approached her after church and told her, "I think we're going to be in-laws soon!"
According to my mom, everyone's realized that he went to college...didn't "stray"...now I'm at college...didn't "stray"...so it's like, guess they're gonna end up together! :)
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Adventure of the Day
I cut my own hair!!!
I got six inches off last month and I asked them to angle the front...well, they didn't. It's been really bugging me for awhile so today I decided to do what any Internet-savvy person who's not loving their hair would do...google how to cut your own hair.
And voila! After showering, combing out my hair, and spending ten minutes cutting it (sounds like a long time but only cause I went slowly to make sure I didn't mess up) I have the haircut I want! It actually turned out really well and I'm a little bit proud of myself... :)
I got six inches off last month and I asked them to angle the front...well, they didn't. It's been really bugging me for awhile so today I decided to do what any Internet-savvy person who's not loving their hair would do...google how to cut your own hair.
And voila! After showering, combing out my hair, and spending ten minutes cutting it (sounds like a long time but only cause I went slowly to make sure I didn't mess up) I have the haircut I want! It actually turned out really well and I'm a little bit proud of myself... :)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Whale? Or mermaid?
A while back, at the entrance of a gym, there was a picture of a very thin and beautiful woman. The caption was "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"
The story goes, a woman (of clothing size unknown) answered the following way:
"Dear people, whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, seals, curious humans), they are sexually active and raise their children with great tenderness.
They entertain like crazy with dolphins and eat lots of prawns. They swim all day and travel to fantastic places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea or the coral reefs of Polynesia.
They sing incredibly well and sometimes even are on cds. They are impressive and dearly loved animals, which everyone defend and admires.
Mermaids do not exist.
But if they existed, they would line up to see a psychologist because of a problem of split personality: woman or fish?
They would have no sex life and could not bear children.
Yes, they would be lovely, but lonely and sad.
And, who wants a girl that smells like fish by his side?
Without a doubt, I'd rather be a whale.
At a time when the media tells us that only thin is beautiful, I prefer to eat ice cream with my kids, to have dinner with my husband, to eat and drink and have fun with my friends.
Reading Buccaneers Weekend
This past weekend I was at the Reading Buccaneers. It's the third camp I've been to and every time I go I fall more in love with the music, the staff, and the organization as a whole. It's such an amazing organization and a great experience. But I have to admit...I am POOPED. Exhausted and sore...it was a rough weekend.
Saturday practice starts at 9:00AM and goes until 6:00PM, slightly longer than the average band camp day and SO much more intense! We started in brass ensemble with stretching, breathing exercises, singing, buzzing, and then playing through our warm up repertoire. Then it was on to sub sectionals, so all the mellophones were in one classroom (we rehearse at a high school) and we broke down show music. Saturday we also had evaluations. Kind of like auditions, but MUCH less formal. For my evaluation, I went into this room with one of the staff members, we talked for a couple of minutes about my musical background, I shared that I've only been playing for six months and he asked me more about that...good conversation. Then I played GABC for him...then played that again. Then CDEF...then again. And then I played through Exercise #1 from our Bucs book and I was done. I then went on to my marching evaluation: marched forward, marched backward, did a front slide, did a back slide. Easy peasy stuff. My visual part went great and my music evaluation was just average...didn't do my best but I didn't suck.
Then lunch time! Yum. :) Afterwards was visual block. This was where the day really sucked for me. We started back up technique this camp and the way they back up at Bucs is SO COMPLTELY OPPOSITE of everything I've ever been taught. It was incredibly frustrating for me. Typically, when I march backing up, your first step you leave most of your weight on the front foot and then you follow through with the natural pendulum motion of your other leg...keeping your weight mostly forward and you're up on your platforms. OH NO. That's called the 'old' way at Bucs. Instead, we're supposed to march with all of our weight on our BACK foot, with our heels BARELY off the ground and our front ankle needs to be completely extended. It's bizarre. Like...I just could not get the feel of it Saturday. So I was getting really frustrated with the technique and myself and then on TOP of that I got called out for being too high on my platforms. Well DER that's what I was taught and now all of a sudden in two minutes I have to change everything. BLEGH. It was rough. Though what's funny is on Sunday I got complimented for having the best back up technique...so confusing.
The rest of the day was spent in brass ensemble, which is SO MUCH FUN. It's all the brass standing in a huge arch in the cafeteria and we just work through the show music. It's fantastic hearing the other parts and other sections, and then we put it all together and you can't help but feeling like a complete badass. ;D
Sunday we had practice 9:00AM to 4:15PM. Same day essentially, just broken down differently. We started with visual block in the gym and we were there for two hours, then went to sectionals for an hour, then lunch, then more sectional time, then brass ensemble, then FULL ENSEMBLE. Full ensemble is the shiz. The entire hornline wrapped around the perimeter of the auditorium behind the pit, with the battery on-stage. YEAH BUDDY. Oh my word...oh my word oh my word OH. MY. WORD. It's heaven. A very loud in your face ready to conquer the world heaven. Ahhh...I love drum corps so much. :)
The stressful thing about this weekend (other than the stupid back up technique...grrrr!) was Paul (the brass caption head) talking to the mellophones about the reality of getting a spot to march. They're allowed to march 12 mellophones. There are 21 mellophones going for those spots. And 10 of them are vets. YIKES. But...I know a little birdy who's a five year vet and gets all the inside info and she told me I got a spot and even beat out some of the vets...WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
I'm just a little excited... :)
Saturday practice starts at 9:00AM and goes until 6:00PM, slightly longer than the average band camp day and SO much more intense! We started in brass ensemble with stretching, breathing exercises, singing, buzzing, and then playing through our warm up repertoire. Then it was on to sub sectionals, so all the mellophones were in one classroom (we rehearse at a high school) and we broke down show music. Saturday we also had evaluations. Kind of like auditions, but MUCH less formal. For my evaluation, I went into this room with one of the staff members, we talked for a couple of minutes about my musical background, I shared that I've only been playing for six months and he asked me more about that...good conversation. Then I played GABC for him...then played that again. Then CDEF...then again. And then I played through Exercise #1 from our Bucs book and I was done. I then went on to my marching evaluation: marched forward, marched backward, did a front slide, did a back slide. Easy peasy stuff. My visual part went great and my music evaluation was just average...didn't do my best but I didn't suck.
Then lunch time! Yum. :) Afterwards was visual block. This was where the day really sucked for me. We started back up technique this camp and the way they back up at Bucs is SO COMPLTELY OPPOSITE of everything I've ever been taught. It was incredibly frustrating for me. Typically, when I march backing up, your first step you leave most of your weight on the front foot and then you follow through with the natural pendulum motion of your other leg...keeping your weight mostly forward and you're up on your platforms. OH NO. That's called the 'old' way at Bucs. Instead, we're supposed to march with all of our weight on our BACK foot, with our heels BARELY off the ground and our front ankle needs to be completely extended. It's bizarre. Like...I just could not get the feel of it Saturday. So I was getting really frustrated with the technique and myself and then on TOP of that I got called out for being too high on my platforms. Well DER that's what I was taught and now all of a sudden in two minutes I have to change everything. BLEGH. It was rough. Though what's funny is on Sunday I got complimented for having the best back up technique...so confusing.
The rest of the day was spent in brass ensemble, which is SO MUCH FUN. It's all the brass standing in a huge arch in the cafeteria and we just work through the show music. It's fantastic hearing the other parts and other sections, and then we put it all together and you can't help but feeling like a complete badass. ;D
Sunday we had practice 9:00AM to 4:15PM. Same day essentially, just broken down differently. We started with visual block in the gym and we were there for two hours, then went to sectionals for an hour, then lunch, then more sectional time, then brass ensemble, then FULL ENSEMBLE. Full ensemble is the shiz. The entire hornline wrapped around the perimeter of the auditorium behind the pit, with the battery on-stage. YEAH BUDDY. Oh my word...oh my word oh my word OH. MY. WORD. It's heaven. A very loud in your face ready to conquer the world heaven. Ahhh...I love drum corps so much. :)
The stressful thing about this weekend (other than the stupid back up technique...grrrr!) was Paul (the brass caption head) talking to the mellophones about the reality of getting a spot to march. They're allowed to march 12 mellophones. There are 21 mellophones going for those spots. And 10 of them are vets. YIKES. But...I know a little birdy who's a five year vet and gets all the inside info and she told me I got a spot and even beat out some of the vets...WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
I'm just a little excited... :)
Movie Reviews
I have seen a LOT of movies recently! I think I've been to the movie theater three times in the past two weeks...crazy stuff. But after seeing all of them I figured I'd write out what I thought of each movie.
Wreck-it Ralph: FANTASTIC MOVIE. I absolutely loved it. It's kind of like Toy Story, but with arcade games instead and it was so well-made. Completely original, great story line...one of those that you leave the theater and just feel wonderful about life. And it was SO funny! The best part about the humor was that it was straightforward enough that kids got it, but there were some one-line zingers that referenced things that adults encountered when they were kids, like older video games. Perfect family movie that everyone can watch. I think I definitely want it on DVD when it comes out.
Les Mis: I was really impressed with how they did this film...everything from the live singing, to how they incorporated scenes from the book that weren't in the original Broadway musical, to the creativity of the camera angles, to how they changed some lyrics/songs and it really added to the movie. My first reaction after the movie was over is that Anne Hathaway is my absolute favorite actress. She was...what's a word that means 'better than phenomenal'? YEAH. SO GOOD. My second reaction was that I hated Russell Crowe as Javert. My dad's seen the movie (he and I are MAJOR Broadway buffs) and he actually didn't mind him, but I just couldn't get past the fact that he really didn't have the vocal chops. He could sing, yes. But was it on the same level as the others? Absolutely not. And you could tell singing wasn't his strong suit because I felt like he didn't act that much. I didn't get any emotion out of his performance...felt like he was concentrating too hard on hitting the right notes to really get into character. But that's just me and my angry rantings because I expected more. :P Sidenote: I'm seeing the stage version of Les Mis this upcoming weekend in Philly and I'll get to have my powerful Javert then, so I'm looking forward to that. :) Other comments about the movie...Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean I adored. I feel like he really carried the movie, both with his singing and the emotion he brought to the screen. He was great. And I cried so much...like three times during the movie. The story is just so amazing..it gets me every time.
The Hobbit: I LOVED THIS MOVIE. I know some critics were disappointed with it as it compared to the original trilogy of the Lord of the Rings, but I thought it was amazing. And yeah, it is different than the first three but that's because it's a totally different story, with completely different characters, and set in a different time period. DER. They did SUCH a phenomenal job with it. Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins was pure brilliance. He BECAME that character and had a flawless performance. And I loved the dwarves...and what was great was they all had their own personality, which I imagine was hard to do since there's so many of them! The filming was extraordinary, and even though some of the CGI was over the top, it was understandable with the sequences they had to film. Great movie, can't wait to see it again and for the others to come out.
Wreck-it Ralph: FANTASTIC MOVIE. I absolutely loved it. It's kind of like Toy Story, but with arcade games instead and it was so well-made. Completely original, great story line...one of those that you leave the theater and just feel wonderful about life. And it was SO funny! The best part about the humor was that it was straightforward enough that kids got it, but there were some one-line zingers that referenced things that adults encountered when they were kids, like older video games. Perfect family movie that everyone can watch. I think I definitely want it on DVD when it comes out.
Les Mis: I was really impressed with how they did this film...everything from the live singing, to how they incorporated scenes from the book that weren't in the original Broadway musical, to the creativity of the camera angles, to how they changed some lyrics/songs and it really added to the movie. My first reaction after the movie was over is that Anne Hathaway is my absolute favorite actress. She was...what's a word that means 'better than phenomenal'? YEAH. SO GOOD. My second reaction was that I hated Russell Crowe as Javert. My dad's seen the movie (he and I are MAJOR Broadway buffs) and he actually didn't mind him, but I just couldn't get past the fact that he really didn't have the vocal chops. He could sing, yes. But was it on the same level as the others? Absolutely not. And you could tell singing wasn't his strong suit because I felt like he didn't act that much. I didn't get any emotion out of his performance...felt like he was concentrating too hard on hitting the right notes to really get into character. But that's just me and my angry rantings because I expected more. :P Sidenote: I'm seeing the stage version of Les Mis this upcoming weekend in Philly and I'll get to have my powerful Javert then, so I'm looking forward to that. :) Other comments about the movie...Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean I adored. I feel like he really carried the movie, both with his singing and the emotion he brought to the screen. He was great. And I cried so much...like three times during the movie. The story is just so amazing..it gets me every time.
The Hobbit: I LOVED THIS MOVIE. I know some critics were disappointed with it as it compared to the original trilogy of the Lord of the Rings, but I thought it was amazing. And yeah, it is different than the first three but that's because it's a totally different story, with completely different characters, and set in a different time period. DER. They did SUCH a phenomenal job with it. Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins was pure brilliance. He BECAME that character and had a flawless performance. And I loved the dwarves...and what was great was they all had their own personality, which I imagine was hard to do since there's so many of them! The filming was extraordinary, and even though some of the CGI was over the top, it was understandable with the sequences they had to film. Great movie, can't wait to see it again and for the others to come out.
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