More Faces....

Ladies and gentlemen, Patrick Wilson. Wilson was born in Virginia, in 1973. Now Patrick is known for other movies such as Insidious, rather than the iconic role or Raoul. I'm sensing the trend of multi-talented actresses and actors. Realizing now that I know more of the cast than I realized, this is quite insane. Earlier I mentioned the soprano lead who just doesn't know when to stop. Well this lady is the magnificent Minnie Driver. Miss Driver is quite an iconic person in herself. I first became acquainted with her in Anne Hathaway's movie Ella Enchanted. I love her, she is insanely talented. Thus proving my point of the multi-talented cast.

Names for Faces...

Hey Y'all, today I am here to give you names for those in the Phantom of the Opera musical movie, so you can put names to the faces. First, we have Christine. Christine I played by non other than Emmy Rossum. You may ask who this fresh faced lady is. Rossum, is a native New Yorker. Born in 1986 she is really known for playing Christine in the Phantom of the Opera. She has been involved in other productions but she is really not known for other movies. The man below Emmy is the one and only, Gerard Butler, you can thank me later. Gerard unlike Emmy, in known as being the strong, muscular one in those action movies in which your hubby may have dragged you to. I never knew Butler sang so for me finding out he played the Phantom made me love the Phantom more than Raoul. I would chose Gerard Butler over some new guy they got to play Raoul. Now Butler is Scottish, so that accent. He makes any girl swoon. Now that we all know he sings, let's just take time to appreciate his amazingness. Asian Out!

 

Apologies....

So, I've been gone for the last couple of weeks, my bad. I should really learn to do my homework. Anyways, I've decided to write about.....The Phantom of the Opera. Showers of rainbows and sunshine everywhere. Sadly, this musical is not all fun and games. This musical was created in 1986 and was put into movie form in 2004. The movie version was quite successful despite its lesser known cast. Nominated for three Oscars, you could say that this movie moved many mountains. First we have Christine, the young aspiring singer. She is mentored by the Phantom, by whom of which she has no idea is in love with her. To Christine, the most important thing in the world is to perform on the main stage, to the Phantom it is to make Christine the happiest she can be. You might say his motivation is caused by love, he doesn't care who he hurts as long as she is happy. This is evident when he drives the woman who is on the center stage crazy so that Christine can have her chance to shine. Christine, falls in love with a man named Raoul. This in turn causes problems for the Phantom. How is Christine supposed to love him if she if falling for another man? The Phantom, in turn sees a new opportunity to take the one he loves for himself. I have a hard time believing that Christine would ever willing go along with the Phantom's plan. What is the Phantom's plan? Oh just your basic I'm kidnapping you because I love you plan...wait, what?! Yes, you heard correctly, the Phantom wants to kidnap Christine and keep her for himself....forever. Cue scary music now. Now you ask why would Christine go off with him. Sometimes I think that Christine cares for him to, but alas, she only wants Raoul. Eventually, though a series a sad, twisted events, Christine eventually ends up with the best man for her. Who, is this individual you ask? Well, that's another thing I love to leave you with, mystery. So with that, Asian Out!

La Boheme

I am quite conflicted in how to approach this topic, considering the fact that opera theater is hard to understand. One reason opera is so hard to understand is the language. Not only is opera very formal but many times it is in, Italian, German, or French. La Boheme is in Italian, and me not being a fluent Italian speaker needed some help when I witnessed this amazing opera. Rodolfo is a poor poet, who lives in an apartment with three other artists. While the others are out, Mimi, a seamstress who lives in the same building, knocks on Rodolfo's door for her candle has blown out and it is very cold. The second their eyes meet it is love at first sight (I kid you not). This is the whole basis for this story. As these two fall more in love, disaster strikes and threatens to break them apart for good.  This is the part of the story where everyone is hooked because no one knows  what will happen to the lovers. We are all on the edge of our seats because we all want them to be together. As this unseen force seems to pull them apart and hope seems lost, we see the light at the end of tunnel, for now. As these two seem to be more in love, Marcello, who lives with Rodolfo, and his old flame Musette seem to be more and more spiteful towards each other. All these two know how to do is fight. Musette is a very flashy person. She wants Marcello to be jealous of her and her "new" life. Sadly, she is mistaken. She really wants Marcello back because he was so sweet to her. Back to Rodolfo and Mimi, every love story always has a tragic ending whether happy or sad or even bittersweet. Their story is very bittersweet and reminiscent of what could have been. I believe these two teach the lesson of don't wonder what if, just do. They seem to always let things get in the way with them, and tend to  cause a lot of confusion within themselves. Often times they ask, what should I do better or should I have said something else. Showing that they really do care about each other, which is something we all need to strive for in each other. We need to be strong in our actions. We need to genuinely care for those around us because too many times what we feel may change or they may be gone and out of our lives before we can even recognize what happened.

That's All For Now Folks!!

I find myself at odds on how to end this crazy character series. Les Mis is one of my favorite musicals of all time and I hope you now think highly of it now. Too many times we fail to see the big picture and I think this musical does a fantastic job of presenting smaller story lines within one huge monumental story. Les Mis is so impactful because of the time event it centers around.  This musical will always have a special part in my heart; see I'm good at rhyming too. Reiterating my point of how much life means to me, you see the real pattern of how life affects those around it, not just the one person it happens to change. Not saying you have to be super empathetic, but this movie really shows how emotions really take over the people and show through in their actions. People are motivated by different things; money, happiness, other peoples' wants. Les Mis has all different types of people motivated by different things. Life motivates you one way or another. Just like life, there are different types of stories with different motivational messages. Now you may think I am sounding rather religious but to be honest, religion has nothing to do with most motivational stories. Everyone loves an underdog story. I, personally, like stories where the girl is the one accomplishing the hard tasks, not waiting for her "prince" to come save her. Stories can take you anywhere you want to go. They are good at creating images of themselves withing themselves. I encourage you to take a bite of out Les Mis just because of its life lessons. All in all Les Mis is one fantastic storyline, whether you like the older version or the new, we all have a different way of viewing it. For now, Asian Out!!

My Name is Marius...Pontmercy

Marius, the one name that instills love into your hearts. He is of the upper class society during the French Revolution. He lives among the poorer class society because he is choosing the lower class against his own. He believes in equality and freedom which makes him the main beacon of hope. Falling in love with Cosette was never his plan. She threw a unforeseen plot twist into the Barricade side. Portrayed by Eddie Redmayne, Marius is a very effective character, in that  he shows the real raw emotion. While realizing the cost that people give to get freedom, he decided that he is going to go fight. With Cosette being gone, Marius finds that he doesn't care if he lives or dies because his "love of his life" is gone. Just having watched this movie on Sunday morning, I  found myself this time not enjoying Marius so much. He acts like a child in the way he handles things. "Losing" Cosette makes him seem little because he doesn't care what happens to him. You should care about your life no matter who or what goes on in it. Life is precious and all Marius can think about is how Cosette left him. He needs to see the bigger picture. For goodness sakes the French Revolution is happening around him. If you are going to forsake the riches of your at least pretend that you care what is really going on. He later wakes up to find that he is a part of something bigger and should honor that promise he made to his friend Enjolras. As Marius, comes to the end of the musical we see how much he is of an empathetic person. I hope that through the progress Marius makes, it is very much similar to our own. Life seems to have its way with people, shifting, and changing the dynamic in which we view the world. Just like Marius, we all have those things we charish and hold dear. Moving forward I wish for you to believe in what you want and strive for a better purpose. For now, Asian Out!!

Epicnine

As mentioned before, Eponine is the girl you seem to relate to in high school. The one who wants to be noticed by the boy she loves, and the one who always seems to have the misfortune. Eponine was brought up alongside Cosette. She lives in poverty with her parents while Cosette is thriving with Valjean. The tables have turned and she has become a girl who lives in the shadows. Fun Fact of the blog post today is: Samantha Bark, the girl who portrays Eponine in the movie, is part of the cast in which made up a broadway production of Les Mis. Obviously this girl has got it going on. Samantha is such a creative person in that she really plays Eponine well. By this I mean really really well. I don't know if it's because of her broadway experience but she takes into account the surroundings she faces. Eddie Redmayne, who plays Marius, and Samantha have an undeniable chemistry that makes you believe in their love, but sadly Marius falls for Cosette, by which does not know that she used to live with his best friend. Eponine is one of the tragedies of the musical, like many of the barricade members she dies. Which makes our hearts melt because who doesn't want a little Team Marius/Eponine action. You can see the full effects of Marius' love towards her. He looks upon her as if there was a love that could've happend or a love that happend and passed. Eponine will always be a tear-jerking character because she represents the dream that has died. Whether you want that for yourself, or it has already happend she shows the real emotion that you feel. Samantha does an excellent job of portraying Eponine as her view shifts from wanting to love Marius to wanting to help Marius find love. She is the good in all of us and certainly the brave we all want to be. I believe that she will always be one of my favorite characters just simply because she is a light in the dark and her being a Thenardier the good egg amongst the bad. For now, Asian Out!!

More French People from That One Musical......

Today is a day unlike other days...I am covering two characters at once. Drum roll please!!! The Thenardiers!!! Yay!! These two distasteful, vile people are important to Les Mis because they are the "keepers" of Cosette until Valjean comes and saves, I mean, picks her up. Played by two very prevalent people, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Carter is best known for playing very strange characters in her husband, Tim Burton's films. She is most known, in my opinion, as Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series. Although I am not fully aware of Cohen's work I do know he recently made The Dictator, which many people would find funny but me not seeing the film have no further content to elaborate on. Monsieur Thenardier and Mademoiselle Thenardier are pit pocketing thieves who steal from the towns folks who stay in their inn. They have one main song in the movie called Master of the House, in which you see the different ways in which they steal from those who are unfortunate enough to encounter these people. When Valjean gets their to take Cosette away they cheat him out of a nice sum of money. At first you are thinking, what are you doing! why are you letting them take your money! You soon after realize that Valjean knows what they are doing but chooses to be compassionate and give them the money anyway. He is just glad to have Cosette and be on his way. Though Cosette doesn't receive fair treatment from the Thenardiers, who are much too focused on their little girl Eponine, we see later that her life is the exact opposite of what the Thenardiers wanted for her. Whether you like a good bad character or just are looking for some comedy in what may seem like the saddest musical of all time, the Thenardiers never disappoint. They are very good at being bad, and are the real villains in a musical where you don't know which way is right. For now, Asian Out!!