Good Ol’ Girls at Hollins Theatre–A Review

Going to the Little Theatre to watch any performance is exhilarating, but musical especially. There’s something about the way the actors, the set, and the musicians come together that can let you know the style of the director as well as his or her teaching style. Ernie teaches his actors while he works with them. They don’t notice at first, but after a while its obvious. I should know, I was in Goodnight Moon in Fall 2011.

Good Ol’ Girls is a montage of different stories of the Good Ol’ Girls of the south. It has a Nashville, TN style of music that demands a twang to your voice. The girls are sassy, young, old, crazy, easy, in love, out of love, beaten, and even more. They go through birth, death, first love, last love, and so much more. The musical made me laugh, cry and my heart burst.

The story line is just that its a tribute to the good ol’ girls who go through so much. Its a montage of music and monologues that show who and what a good ol’ girl is.

“A Good Ol’ Girl…speaks her mind. Just ask them ol’ boys who crossed her one time.”

We see this throughout the musical.

The actors were phenomenal. Their voices fit together better than the lime and the coconut. The set looked like they took months to build, but I know it was shorter than that and for the first time the band was up on stage. I’ve never seen the band actually on the set. Above, yes. Below, yes. Offstage, yes. It was nice and the actors played to each member. It was like they were actors as well. It made things amazing.

I only had a few issues. Okay, ’twas only two.

1. There were a few technical difficulties. Mics cut off suddenly mid-line only to come back again. That was all the TD, but it was still annoying. Really important scenes were ruined because I couldn’t hear the girl’s voice.

2. I couldn’t understand half the songs’ lyrics. I understand there’s that twang, but I know its possible to sing in a way to be understood with the southern twang. Country stars who don’t act can do it. Why can’t actors. Alright, I’m being hard, but that’s because Ernie accepts nothing less than perfection. Most of these girls don’t naturally have southern accents, but its easy to learn the accent in Roanoke. Southern accent hotbed, people.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. I really wanted to give five stars, but it wasn’t meant to be. I do appreciate how hard these girls worked though. There are encore performances in May and June, so you should really really check it out and buy tickets.

I Am

I am an Artist.

Colors swirling in my brain

Blending and contrasting with no shame.

My light source is to the right

And my pencil is in my hand.

 

I am a Writer.

Words flit about my head

Like little birds trying to take flight.

A keyboard under my fingers

And word vomit spews forward.

 

I am a Singer.

Notes fly out of my mouth

To the sky to drift away.

Soprano highs and Alto lows

All in a song.

 

I am an Artist.

I am a Writer.

I am a Singer.

I am.

Cirque du Soleil Quidam~A Review

So when I told people I had never been to the circus, I received a lot of perplexed stares. This was no different when last Thursday a friend of mine found out I had never gone. She then began to ask me why there was a lack of circus in my life. She’s from North Carolina, where some circuses are free, but not in Richmond, Virginia. We had to pay for the fun of circus life and my legal guardians could afford to take me. My friend went on to describe Cirque du Soleil as being “the circus on acid.” I kept that in mind when I took my roommate and best friend for her  birthday. She’ll be twenty-one in June.

We went Friday night and couldn’t believe our eyes or sides. The announcer said that we were watching Cirque du Soleil Quidam, which my friend’s marching band performed for their audiences in Ionia, and a little girl and her family were suddenly on stage. The little girl tried to get her father’s attention while it rained outside and started to settle down when a knock came to the door. A headless man in a trench coat with a blue bowler’s hat and umbrella comes to the house and throws his hat at her. Pretty much forcing her to pick it up and transition into the little girl exploring the circus.

There were acrobatics that caused gasps in shock and comedic routines that made you gasp for air as you died of laughter. To quote a friend, “There are worse ways to go.”

I hope everyone will get a chance to see such an amazing sight and to tell you the truth, I want the soundtrack. The performance was absolutely amazing to the point that there are no words to describe what my friend and I saw.

Another bright side: Snow Cones were more like Snow Cups and only costed $5.

I give Cirque du Soleil Quidam 5 out of 5 stars.

Cheater Cheater

I got friends in this town,

They told me what I need to know,

I know what you did.

 

The three girls in the motel,

The blond at Ernie’s Bar,

Did you think I wouldn’t know?

 

It ain’t complicated.

You’re unfaithful.

Why didn’t you say no?

 

How do we handle this?

Here’s a bombshell just for you,

Just stop fooling around.

 

I have a lot of questions,

but there’s one thing for sure.

I got friends in this town.

Smash Fail–A Review

Smash is a show about creating a Broadway hit from complete scratch by two prominent writers. There are some major cliches in the entire thing (the sweet, naive girl from the south, the as–prick of a director, the seemingly innocent vixen who can’t keep her hands off the hunky singer) as well as somewhat original characters (the straight gay man). Including some major drama that should be shown on stage instead of behind curtains, I’m still not sure how to feel about this show.

The main character of Smash is Karen Cartwright, the naive and dreaming girl hoping to break out in some musicals. Okay, honey, you need to brush up on the jargon before you head into a big workshop where you’ll only be paid about $200 a week. I mean, really? And where the hell are your priorities? A major record owner wants you to meet him for a recording session, you don’t blow it off for a workshop you, again, only receive $200 for! I mean, seriously? Even a small town, legit inbred redneck would have passed on Marilyn the Musical. I would have. The only redeeming quality you have is that you refused to sleep your way to the top, though you could just bribe Derek with how much money your fiancee makes.

Sorry, way off point.

Karen auditions for the aforementioned musical and goes throughepisodes long of tension of whether or not she’ll get the part. And yes, there was more than one episode devoted to it.

Speaking of Derek… Derek Wills is a hotshot director, working on Marilyn because he has a personal friendship with Eileen (who’s going through her own shit). He is harsh and not well like by the only gay male main character who has any depth outside of sports. He tries to sleep with Karen and gets REJECTED. Seriously hard. She might have well dug her heels into his boner. He had that “I-got-kneed-in-the-balls-by-someone-in-eighteen-inch-heels” look on his face. It was pain. He finally gave the part to Ivy (whose a total sl–sexually minded female) because she had sex with him. I’m not sure who the bigger man-whore is really.

Eileen Rand is a producer for Broadway who just so happens to be divorcing her business partner. She’s an interesting character, mostly because she constantly douses her soon-to-be ex with a martini (snicker). Other than that, she really has no depth. I feel sorry for the actress.

Ivy Lynn is a former ensemble member who is a total slu–I mean sexually minded woman. She auditioned, same as Karen, and slept with Derek, obvious knowing that she was having sex with him for the part. I obviously disliked her, because she was keeping what she’d done from her friends. “Rumor Has It” alright, Adele.

There are two writers, who aren’t strong characters past their stereotypes. I wouldn’t bet on them. There are a few minor-ish characters who are only as deep as a piece of rice paper.

I’ve waited seven or eight episodes before I wrote this review, because I was waiting so long for the story to develop into something better. The only things that keeps me watching are the phenomenal vocal talents and the music. I understand that this is just the first season, so there will be some footing that still need to be cemented, but still. It isn’t working for me. Its like a bad fairy tale.

Anjelica Huston, what did you get yourself into? I mean, come on. You have a history of great stories and roles. I mean you were Morticia Addams!

Smash gets 2 out of 5 stars.

 

Mesmerizer Toolkit

Eye staring, other plane

not deactivated, spinning spinning spinning

something calling, brushing hand

fingertips vibrate

energy spark

prongs, spinning

comb comb spirits ghosts

calling

medallion swing

eye cat eye Lord of the Rings.

spinning magnet. Draw closer

spinning spinning spinning

hands reaching

spirit help

need help

disconnet disconnet

spinning spinning spinning.

Cleaning out the Fridge.

Something lurks inside of there,

Sitting in some Tupperware,

It sits, waiting to be released from the refrigerator,

Pretending its an elevator

To get to the human realm,

Putting on its helm,

Ready for the battle that will give them a feast

Of human flesh. Should we fear the beast?

It is naught but mold,

Which we will throw out in the fold.

Though it shall explode

And break its code.

The Story of Delusions: “Sucker Punch” 2011

 

I got a Sucker Punch that knocked me from my seat. Hehe. Okay, seriously now.

Sucker Punch opens to Babydoll as she sits on a stage, in the bed. A nice segue takes us into her bedroom as she waits to find something out. Next thing we see is a doctor, who shakes his head. We find out that someone had died, her and her sister’s mother by the look of things. A man checks the mother’s Last Will and Testament and doesn’t like what he sees. He locks Babydoll in her room before going to her sister. She runs in a closet and then the man breaks in. We don’t know what he was going to do because Babydoll breaks out of her room and tries to shoot the guy. She kills her sister instead. When she had a chance to kill the man, she ran.

Somehow they find her at a grave, maybe of her father’s, and bring her to an asylum. He checks off all these things on his this form before we meet Blue. We don’t stay long in the asylum because as soon as she hears Mistress Gorski speak to one of the other patients. We spend the entire movie in Babydoll’s delusion of being forced into prostitution.  Blue is in charge of the club, giving the girls to the clients and Madame Gorski teaches them to dance. Babydoll sinks into a delusion while she is dancing, so it’s like Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Dream Within a Dream.” She develops a plan through the delusion and convinces the other girls to help. We meet Sweet Pea, Rocket, Amber, and Blondie through two different means towards the beginning of the film.

Abbie Cornish did a good job playing such a clichéd character who doesn’t care about anyone, but her sister, Rocket. However, the character and the acting were both mediocre because Sweet Pea was written that way. Its more than a little disturbing how much like other characters Sweet Pea is like. Maybe giving her a deeper reason than just being over protective might’ve given Cornish something to go off of.

Rocket was an interesting character as was her hair. Unfortunately for Jena Malone, the most of the movie was spent staring at her hair as it changed rapidly. What I did gather from her performance was that I’m looking forward to something that has a bit more depth. Rocket’s only depths were her sister and the cook trying to have sex with her.

Venessa Hudgens impressed me. Having been forced to see all three High School Musicals, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing her performance, because of how cliché HSM and her former character were. I was afraid that she wouldn’t be as good playing someone with quite a bit more depth. I’m not worried about that anymore. I am worried, however, that despite Sucker Punch she might be type-casted to only take clichéd roles.

Amber was a clichéd cheerleader-like character played by Jamie Chunq. While Chunq did a good job portraying such a role, there are still a few issues. Amber, the character, is beyond cliché.

Oscar Isaac did a mediocre job of portraying someone’s whose supposed to be a tough cracker without being cliched. He fell short in the performance because it reminded me of a movie I had never seen, but is talked about by my significant other all the time. Blue was not entertaining.

Carla Guqine started out being quite cliché. The doctor  who takes interest in each patient and the strict dance instructor. It deteriorates so that its obvious that there’s a slight attraction between Gorski and Blue before its blatantly explained that her role was to teach the girls to survive Blue. This shows that she has a lot more depth.

Babydoll (played by Emily Browning) was a splendedly played character. Browning knew that the delusions were just in her imagination, but she made it seem like the character didn’t know the difference until the end. She was believable and I couldn’t find many cliched things about her. The fact that she’s the naïve “child” of the film, is a cliché.

The acting over all was well done, though it could have been better. Ican’t believe how many times I’ve typed “cliché” in this review, but it’s the best I could come up with when it came to the actors. The cinematography was superb. It’s a shame that a well shot film with an amazing plot, and decent dialogue had so many cliched characters. It pains me that a film of the quality of Sucker Punch would be brought down by the idiocy of unoriginal characters that weren’t even reinvented.

Sucker Punch is a good film that I more than recommend you either check it out from the library or rent it if you can. Its definitely a buy, though, for those of you who can afford it.

Sucker Punch receives 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Dying a Skeptic–Death of a Ghost Hunter Film Review

 

Death of a Ghost Hunter starts slowly, where we see the murders of the family and a girl in the house by the wife. Then it switches to the ghost hunter who is talking on her journal.  After meeting with the house’s owner she gets a team to investigate. They are there for a while and the characters go as follows:

Seth Masterson, the owner of the house. He calls Carter and refuses to enter the house. He was in maybe all of three scenes, so getting a clear idea of Cordan Clark’s abilities is impossible.

Yvette Sandoval, the slutty writer who gets high with the camera man. She’s there to write a little story about the entire thing for the local paper. Davina Joy did a decent job showing a writer’s curiousity and obsession with knowledge.

Mary Young Mortenson, an overly religious girl who isn’t all that believable. She comes across as being overly religious, but is said to be a fanatic. The acting in this girl’s case was under done. I would have gone a step further. Lindsay Page could have done a better job.

Colin Green, the camera man who hopes for a glimpse at the supernatural. Mike Marsh did a phenomenal job playing a sinful man who smokes and does pot. I think that he did a good job.

Carter Simms, a investigator into all things supernatural. She’s one of the skeptical ghost hunters and she makes it clear from the very beginning. Patti Tindall does a good job showing fear and curiosity, but I really do think that she needed to step down a notch during the fight scene. She could have also been mistaken for the fanatic if she hadn’t been talking about things in her field. Leave that out and you have a fanatic of sorts.

The set was well done. It was obviously someone’s actual house because they had such a low budget, but it was well done. Getting pictures made up would be easy enough, as would some of the props. The chains looked real in coloring, but on closer inspection they looked like they might be foam. The sex helmet would be easy to build and set up as well as make a shallow book.

The music was suspenseful when it’s perfect timing and unassuming when it was necessary. The special effects were obviously cheap, but well done. It was so amazingly well done that I actually had to take a closer look at the special effects. The blurred out apparitions was a little obviously played with in photoshop, however.

Timing had a bit of an issue. It took too long to get into the important actions. When you are establishing a timeline in a movie, especially in the last two decades, you show what happened in the past. Then, you show your main character and get a bit of the backgrounds. Afterwards, you get everyone together immediately. Having Carter interview the housekeeper before the group got there was too soon.

The characters had one major flaw: they trusted Mary Young’s words. Carter should have double checked everybody’s names with Seth because a true skeptic would not take anyone at their words. Later, when its obvious, they don’t actually call the police like they should have. They should have also paid more attention to the girl who had obviously become possessed by Mary Beth. As soon as she started acting weirder than she had been before they should have gotten the hell out of there. Of course it was possible that hindsight after she died, as hindsight is twenty-twenty.

The ending was incredibly predictable. I mean it was obviously residual hauntings going on and it was obvious that Mary Young was the daughter of Miranda and the father of the family. As soon as Miranda came in and there was a mention of the baby in the police reports (I think). It was obvious to us, anyway. Dramatic irony for the win, by the way.

I give Death of a Ghost Hunter 4 out of 5 stars.

Breaking through Writer’s Block

The following tips are a combination of the best techniques online as well as what helps me out.

Listening to music

1. I find that if I can’t figure out what to write I will often pull of Pandora and just listen to the kind of music my characters would listen to. Sometimes I make a list of what bands who would like who.

                                                              i.      i.e: Li-On likes Halestorm, Linkin Park, Seether, Puddle of Mudd, Paramore, and Evanescene.

                                                            ii.      i.e: Hyun prefers Seether, Evanescene, Christina Aguilera, and BoA.

An Outline

1. I know that everyone says to use a full outline, but I’ve found that it doesn’t really help. A set outline doesn’t help me write, which is why I’ve often just waited until I’ve finished a paper in school to write one. However I have found that if I can’t write something I do skip a head with a few chapters, staying two or three ahead and have two things I want to happen mentioned in brief details. Patty gave me this idea.

                                                              i.      i.e: Chapter Eleven-Rehabilitation of Hyun and Li-On + August Jones makes an appearance.

1. Writing Excercises
   1. Noticing that I often grow tired of writing my novel, I’ll take a chance to take a breather and write something else. I did that yesterday, actually. I wrote a review of the new show Alcatraz and put it up on my online writing portfolio.  I found that I wasn’t bored with writing my novel any more.
   2. www.wordclay.com says to “Take a few minutes, step away from the project that has you sweating, and write something for fun. These exercises can range anywhere from using a word randomly selected to detailing the dream you had the previous evening to the quirky how-did-this-green-umbrella-get-in-this-room explanations.”

                                                              i.      I’m giving you homework to relax by:

                                                                         i. Take the following words and create a piece with them:

                                                                                1. Bicycle,

                                                                                2. Pizza,

                                                                               3. Needle,

                                                                               4. Cow,

                                                                               5. Boo

Your Audience

1. If you haven’t picked who you’re writing to, you might want to figure it out. Your audience (or in my case my roommate) wants to find out what’s going to happen just as much as you do. If its not fun, then they aren’t going to find it fun, so yes add the random brothel until absolutely necessary. You’ll be able to figure it out.

Set Reasonable Writing Goals

1. On the days you have absolutely no inspiration, don’t set your goals quite so high. Don’t expect to get ahead on those days. Just try to get the 1667 words you need or if it’s less to get to the next day’s goal, reach that. Don’t try to write 3000 words if you just aren’t inspired.

Move Around

1. As writers, we end up spending about 95% of the time sitting in front of a computer, staring into the screen. Try getting up and moving around. Even a few minutes to walk around the local park or garden can get your blood moving. The more blood you move around your body, the more gets sent to your brain.

Rest Hours!

1. Since this is a nanowrimo sort of class, you can’t really give it a rest for a day or two, instead take a couple of hours and do something fun. Do something that’ll get your blood pumping or cooled, depending on what you’re writing.

A Buddy System

1. Just like when you were on a field trip and needed a “buddy” you need one on the road to the finished product. Use another writer or a critique group (coughcoughourclasscoughcough) to push through the block. You need someone who will be professional about your work, so friends don’t work unless they are also hardcore writers.

Warm Up

1. Takes some time—outside of class and before you start your night writing—to free-write. Its just taking some time to put down whatever comes to mind. Its warm-up and might only be used as such, but you might write something that’ll give you a boost in your novel.

Flexibility

1. You have to be absolutely willing to scratch out or burn ideas, sections, or even chapters that aren’t working. This can help you break the block and start writing again.

Thank you for reading and if you want more information my sources are below.