"From here on in, I shoot without a script."
The
Rock Opera "RENT" defined a portion of my life. It led me to an understanding of the
world around me, and of myself, that may have taken me years longer to come to on my own.
Silly and trite as it seems to feel this connected to a musical, the abstraction of themes
and emotions
through music allows you to imprint
on a story in ways that you simply can't with words alone.
Everyone affected by RENT has their own stories, and feels their own personal connection to
the words, the music, and the feelings that they evoke. It's as much a story about love and
life, as it is about grief and loss. It's also a connection to who you were when you
first really heard it, and first felt these things with the characters.
Not your average musical.
Over the years, I've drifted from the theatre, especially from the musical theatre, and
RENT has become somewhat of a footnote in my past.
When I heard that the movie was being made, 9 years late, I was more than just miffed. I
was virulently angry. They'd taken a young, twenty-something cast and let them become
thirty somethings. They'd replaced the spit-fire Mimi and left everyone else in, trying to
play "young." I'm
still a big fan of Anthony Rapp and Taye
Diggs, but Adam Pascal is the
consumate tool now; a Broadway pretty boy.
So when I watched the trailer
tonight, I was not expecting this. I was not expecting to be
taken back 10 years.
I was not expecting to be moved.
They'd taken moments, tiny moments from the show, and expanded them into heart-wrenching images.
The loss is so
tangible, so real, even in just these 2 minutes, that you can't help but feel for this
little family.
Watching some of the videos on the rent blog I
suddenly understood why so many of the original cast were returning. They simply couldn't
let this story go. They had so much to say, so much to bring to it, that they had to see it
through. For the first time in 9 years, they were finally able to finish the story that
Jonathan Larson left unwritten when he passed.
The cast has been documenting the process on the
blog the entire way through shooting, and
hearing them talk about their characters and what they hoped to accomplish with this film
has brought me full circle. I am now more excited about this than any other movie in the
next year.
Add to that the fact that listening to RENT has been synonymous with Thanksgiving for my
best friend and I since 1996 (and he is *not* a fan of musicals) and that the movie is
coming out November 23rd. I will see this movie the day before thanksgiving,
barring an act of god.
11:00 am | permalink |
/technology/film |
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How Eric Got His Game Back
Okay. I'll admit it. I don't play video games.
There. I said it.
I'm a supergeek who hates halo. I'm the sole square-enix fan that has
yet to finish Final Fantasy 7 let alone any of the games that
followed. I'm the only dork more likely to win the Olympic gold in
high-jumping* than to frag someone in quake deathmatch.
I just don't have the time.
I live to create, to be productive. If
I'm sitting in front of a 70 hour RPG, I know exactly where those 70
hours are going, and the sound of the "Toilet of Lost Time" flushing
haunts me every minute I play.
If I'm in front of my computer, at least then I'm
trying to get something done, even if it doesn't always work out that
way.
The first game I ever loved.
This isn't the way it's always been. I grew up loving every game I could
get my hands on. It didn't matter if it was even fun, I played it for
the sheer love of playing. I spent a great deal of my childhood in
front of my 8-bit altar, and my first true geek "call-for-help" was to
walk a friend through the second quest of the Legend of Zelda.
Sometimes I miss the hours spent in front of my games with no thoughts
of what I could, or should be doing. Don't get me wrong, I still love a
good game when there is company around, but then it's a social activity,
something to do while hanging out.
No, if I was going to really enjoy solitary gaming again, I needed to
find some time that was already wasted and idle. Time when I really had
nothing better to do.
How much does it cost to get your childhood back?
Eighty
Dollars.
I got a Game Boy Advance SP last Christmas, and I've played it every day
on the subway
since. I've got absolutely nowhere to be, except on that train. No one
is waiting, there's noting better I could be doing. It's the perfect
subway pastime.
The games I had were good, and they kept me occupied. I enjoyed the
Mario RPG
and grew to understand why the original Pokemon game was so addictive
that it spawned a TV show and a multi-billion** dollar empire. I
played through the new metroid and regained my uncanny knack for
working the D-pad and the B and A buttons.
These were
fun diversions, but they weren't quite what I missed.
And then Nintendo released "The
Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap"
This is
how games are supposed to be. For the past month, I've
poured
myself into this game, struggling with puzzles, searching dungeons over
and over until I found the one hidden corner I missed. I've spent days
thinking
about what I could try next to beat a mid-way boss and then found myself
giddy when I figured it out. This wasn't just hacking up octorocks and
tectites with my sword. This game actually required you to be smart and
think of things in new ways. This game was enriching.
Zelda's updated
look is clean and fun, but familiar.
I have yet to finish the quest, and I don't mind telling you that I'm
stuck again. This game is damn hard. But it's damn good too. Possibly
the best
single player game ever made for any console, and coming from an 8-bit
connoisseur, that's not a statement I make lightly.
If any of you grew up loving Zelda, or simply spend your days waiting
for your train to bring you home, seriously, drop the $80 and pick up
a GBA SP and this game. Your train rides will never be the same.
*I should note that I have zero aptitude for high-jumping.
**I also have no idea how much Pokemon has made for Nintendo, between
the game, the shows, the cards, and the toys. Billions doesn't seem
impossible.
1:21 am | permalink |
/technology/games |
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