Quick recs

Tue, Sep. 29th, 2015 11:17 pm
oyceter: (bleach parakeet of doom!)
First, I am sure everyone has heard about this by now, but just in case you haven't or have but didn't check it out yet: Hamilton Original Cast Recording Spotify playlist (or if Spotify doesn't work for you, YouTube). I've been dying to see or listen to this musical since I heard about it a few weeks ago, and now that the soundtrack is out, I can at least listen to it. Lin-Manuel Miranda's mix of hip hop and Broadway and other pastiches (the BritPop!) is amazing, and it reminded me of the excitement of listening to Rent for the first time in the 90s after only having heard Andrew Lloyd Webber and Les Mis. The recitative bits sounds a little like Rent to me, but other than that, Hamilton is entirely its own thing. Also, Thomas Jefferson sports natural hair and purple velvet.

I also saw East Side Sushi over the weekend, a cute indie film about a Latina woman who gets a job in a sushi restaurant and decides to become a sushi chef. The plot is pretty much what you would expect—opposition from her more traditional father, racism and sexism from the Japanese owner, a competition where she Proves Herself—and it sometimes felt a little clunky, but it's extremely charming and features Mexican-Japanese fusion food. It's also filmed in Oakland by a local director, so I got a ton of enjoyment out of seeing familiar places on screen as well.

And I (FINALLY) played through Hatoful Boyfriend, aka the pigeon dating sim, thanks to [personal profile] bluerabbit. Although to be accurate, it's more a piece of post-apocalyptic science fiction masquerading as a pigeon dating sim, which was not what I was expecting. Also, you date pigeons (and other birds). If this interests you and you're generally not into video games, I'd give this a try. It's a visual novel, so there's not that much game play involved aside from making some decisions about who to talk to and etc., and it's worth it to go through all the storylines.

I also mean to rec N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season and Zen Cho's Sorceror to the Crown, but I am still holding out hope that I will write actual entries on them.
oyceter: (godchild evil parrot of DOOM)
Summary: LOVE.

Slightly longer summary, with the caveat that I have only listened to the score a few times and watched the DVD of the George Hearn/Angela Lansbury version. I love the show, but from more of a distance than people who are longtime Sondheim and/or Sweeney fans:

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman singing do not make me want to shoot myself and are actually good at times, though you definitely notice the difference between them and the people who play Anthony, Johanna and Toby. All three of the former have some trouble with the high notes, though they deal mostly by fading away instead of wavering or squeaking.

I am amazed that the movie is only a little over two hours. It moves very quickly and I never felt like I was being shuffled from plot point to plot point via horrific exposition, like I do for many book-to-movie adaptations (*cough*GoldenCompass*cough*). I was very satisfied with what they cut and what they kept, though I do miss the factory whistle.

Tim Burton also remembers that this is a movie; I think it is one of the better or the best adaptations from Broadway to film that I've seen, but again, I'm speaking very much as an amateur watching. For purposes of comparison, I love the Chicago adaptation but not as much as this because it takes away Velma's voice, and while I like Rent, I like it because it is basically the show on film (it's hard for me to compare others like West Side Story, My Fair Lady and etc., since I've only seen the film versions).

Cut for length and spoilers )

So, has anyone else posted on this? I am dying to read more commentary, particularly from people who know Sondheim better than me!
oyceter: Pea pod and peas with text "peas please" (peas)
Argh! My computer ate my first post!

I'm still behind on comments and behind on LJ; I suspect I will be for a good few months, as real life has started to get very busy.

Avenue Q )

Max Brenner, take two )

After lunch, my sister persuaded me that buying (yet more) peas at the Union Square market and lugging them around while shopping would be a very bad idea. Given that we got home around 7, I think she was right. Though I still miss the peas...

We wandered around Soho because I wanted to visit Purl Soho (a yarn store) and stopped by around 18 different clothing stores along the way. I didn't manage to find any clothes that I liked, but I did find a pair of ten-dollar flats that I got. I think I can wear them dancing. Also, they are pink!

We also managed to trudge over to BookOff at the very end of a long afternoon. Yay Bookoff! Sadly, I couldn't find more cheap $1 manga that I wanted, but I did manage to get some other stuff. I also persuaded my sister to get Emma vols. 3 and 4, so I feel the trip was rather successful.

Stanton Social )

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