12 Days of Rickman

Watching Alan Rickman's movies over the holidays inspired one family to fulfill a quest... of sorts.

See ya....

Lovett or Leave It

For someone who pales at the thought of cinematic blood and gore, my viewing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street sounds like a torture I would avoid at all costs. I easily eschew the much esteemed Coen brothers, hide from all Halloween and Jason type slashers as well as miss many well done films because of their violent and bloody content.

I have a hunch there may be some other's like myself who will choose to be bold and attend the tale of Sweeney Todd. It is not for the popular Johnny Depp that I brave this genre rather Stephen Sondheim. I am thrilled that more and more musicals are making their way to the screen and wanted to see first hand how it was presented.

I was dubious as to how it would come across. Although Burton was a natural choice as director his transparent nepotism in casting Helena Bonham Carter and crony Johnny Depp made me want to pocket a razor just in case their acting drove me to slicing my own thrown in the middle of the film. The roles of Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd are meaty (pun intended) and require depth as well as amazing singing voices. Depp and Carter have never struck me as good actors and imagining them singing was the more frightening than the fate of Judge Turpin himself. Casting for all other roles promised to be much better. Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin (mea maaaaxima culpa!), Timothy Spall as the Beadle (perfect!), and Sacha Baron Cohen and Adolfo Pirelli (how cool is that!?) had me hoping that I wouldn't be wasting my time.

Many reviews warned of two things; it was a real blood splattering arterial spray film and that lovers of musical theater were cautioned to go into the film with an open mind. Depp and Carter are no Lansbury and Cariou and no CG on the big screen was going to magically make them sound like broadway stars. To prepare myself, I viewed as many trailers and video clips of the new movie as possible. As to avoiding the gore, I relied on my memorization of the original libretto.

Although all of the characters were markedly less passionate in Burton's bleak London most of them did a fine job with the singing. All of them could carry a tune and Sweeney even turned out to have some Deppth of character. The caution that some songs were cut or edited was really unnecessary, each editing or omission was thoughtfully done. The ballad which typically opens the opera was used as the main score during the initial credits. During the time when the giant butcher block of a set would have been rotated to change the venue from sea port to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop, Burton gives us a scuttling rat's view of the streets of London. It was a perfect screen adaptation for this transition.

Highlights of the film (or what I saw of it) were the younger actors. Child actor Ed Sanders was chosen to play Toby and sings a flawless Not While I'm Around. Perfect casting for Turpin's ward Johanna (Jayne Wisener) and sailor boy Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower). Well done new comers! Just a month ago I was forced to watch Borat so was not surprised that Cohen could pull off a foreign accent (or two) as Pirelli. What did surprise me was how well rounded he was able to flesh out (pun yet again) this character in the brief time he interacts while with Depp during the blackmail scene. Bravo Mr. Cohen!

The biggest disappointment of the show is Carter's two dimensional Mrs. Lovett. Weilding her cleavage as opposed to a cleaver she failed as the entrepreneurial shop keeper. The only thing flatter than her sorry meat pies was Carter's two dimensional performance. Goth and a bit too evil to be lovable at all, she should saved the Bellatrix Lestrange gaze for the next Harry Potter film.

My knowledge of the the stage version was a help and a hinderance. It was enough to allow me to close my eyes (and ears, good God!) at the critical moments without missing the rest of the film but made me long for some real vocal quality to back up that amazing score or humor to season those pies. Over all a job well done in representing and amazing Sondheim musical.






1996 - Ravenboy as Sweeney Todd

Pivotal Moments

This weekend is the beginning of winter and the length of daylight will slowly increase everyday from that point until the middle of June. I haven't noticed the like of sunlight this much as in years past. I have had plenty to distract me. I have missed the longer days but the overly warm late autumn must have helped me this year.

With the returning of the the sun is the returning of our son. Tomorrow we will travel to NYC for our 23rd anniversary and to pick up our son. There are still a lot of unknowns in his situation. Paperwork delays have not allowed him to get an MRI yet but his physical therapist has allowed him to start working and putting weight on his leg since he has no pain. The work is very limited until swelling subsides; there is serious risk of re-injury until then.

Thank you to all of our friends who have sent well wishes and prayers for him. He has a lot of work ahead of him but we will at least be spending some time together at home. We feel very fortunate for all that we have and happily face the winter ahead.

Thanks to Janila for sharing this inspiring video.

Crayola Posse Winter Wishes

Have a Merry Yule!

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Superstitions

In times of elevated stress I have been known to try to tip fate's scales in my direction by trying to manipulate my physical environment. I have looked around me and tried not to repeat anything that surrounds me during moments that have been traumatic. At it's most tame, it's like wearing a lucky shirt but at it's worst it can be like an OCD person making sure things are just so to keep the universe from coming apart at the seams.

Back in 1999, there was a terrible day while I worked in my son's ballet studio office. I came running when someone yelled for me that something was wrong and saw my son lying in a crumpled mass on the studio floor. His body was lying at a really odd angle and for the longest second of my life, I thought he was dead. He soon shifted a little to his side when one of his class mates became hysterical seeing the twisted angle at which his leg stuck out. His knee was dislocated and, because of it's shape, the patella was stuck near the side of his leg. This was a horrible moment that I will never forget and never wanted to repeat. I could never again wear the same sweater I wore on 12/2, it felt like I would be tempting fate to do so.

When he had an almost identical injury with his other leg four months later, it got worse for me. Although his first injury hadn't required surgery, the recovery had been difficult over those months. I was a nervous wreck and irrationally started looking for coincidences that linked the events. Both times he hadn't really been focusing on what he was doing, he was goofing around to a certain extent, pushing his limits as teen athletes will do. I became extreme in demanding that he never lose focus as to repeat any injuries. Another thing I fixated on was the date, 4/4. For some reason I started to dread dates like 5/5 or 6/6. Wasn't 12/2 pretty much the same thing? The patterns and coincidences haunted me sometimes.

The final year he lived at home was stressful on a lot of levels. His training was progressing to a level of competency that was difficult to accommodate outside of a school geared to training professionals. This caused frustration and urgency that he secure a scholarship in a prestigious school and remain injury free while doing so. It was his hard work that got him just that, all of my superstitious angst was certainly wasted energy.

Years passed and my son secured the job with the company he had always wanted to be in. Living a dream, lesser injuries came and went along with the frustrations of each. Over the last few years I learned to take things in stride more or less. When we got a phone call last night, it was not to the normally cheerful son we know. He had seriously dislocated his right knee again at work. This time he is surrounded by the best dance orthopedic surgeons, dance therapy and dance medicine in the country because of where he works. He is also supported by a close network of friends and people.

It is upsetting for us not knowing what the doctors will tell him today and frustrating on his part knowing, no matter what is determined, he has a lot physical therapy lying ahead of him. Although he knows I will be there for him if he needs me, he assures me things are fine at the moment. He doesn't want to be an inconvenience to anyone and is trying to take care of himself.

So where is my head at? Do I worry that he should have been more focused to have prevented injuring? Yeah, but there isn't to much I can do about that. As to the date, 12/12, I can't do too much about that either.

Twisted Traditions

Having Ravenboy home for a week was very special. He finally got to meet Miles and helped us decorate for the upcoming holidays.

We have many family traditions, most of them silly and origins so obscure that they are hard to explain. One is playing cassette tapes of old Christmas LPs while we decorate our home for the upcoming Yule Tide. Many readers can probably relate to that tradition and having been raised as Christians, RGBisMe and I have plenty of great childhood memories of the tunes. Ravenboy, however, was raised in an eclectic neopagan home and will raise a questioning eyebrow at some of the traditional lyrics.

Over 2 decades ago, one lively holiday medley became the victim of an oddly choreographed dance. I don't know what possessed me to start doing this high stepping jig that looks more like a fit than anything graceful. It is so aerobic that I swear that no matter how many times that I hear it in a season, I will only perform it once. As the years passed, I added the rule that it would be only the first time I heard it during the holiday season. My annual performance is usually in the privacy of our living room but fate has also required me to perform at Toolman Luke & Maga11's. Then there was a year that I heard the strains of the medley very early in the season in a department store! Not wishing to break the tradition nor experience public humiliation, I quickly exited even though I was alone.

I think the next twist in the tradition was influenced by the recent ease of recording the event. Disposable cameras at the ready, my family would anticipate the event with glee. Digital cameras and eventually the ease of digital movies with sound made each year a little more um... humorous. I resorted to trying to put off the performance for as long as possible. One year, I hid the tapes to delay the inevitable. The next year, I hid just the tape with the energetic music. Next time I switched the labels on the tapes. Their one weakness is they forgot which tape it is every year. It always amazes me because I certainly remember. Each year the tapes are hunted out and all the songs played through until the right tape has sent me into my annual cardiac workout.

Last year, I went to great lengths. I secretly duped the tape then copied a song (I could only find on VHS)that Ravenboy hates over the original tune. Mouths gaped as they thought the song was lost forever. I pulled out the duped tape and began my performance with a grin, knowing I had "got" them.

I had no great ideas this year, no grand schemes. I was at a loss as to how to put off jumping around my living room until my chest wanted to explode. We had limited time to decorate and celebrate, RGBisMe was taking the afternoon off with that in mind. Just before he came home, Ravenboy jumped into the shower. Finally and idea came to me. I popped the offending cassette into the player and fast forwarded it to just beyond the song I wanted to avoid. The moment the shower ended, I started the tape and gently turned up the music. RGBisMe came in all smiles and our afternoon of family fun started.

When the side of the tape ended, Ravenboy made his move to flip the side and noted what tape it was. After that, both sides had seemingly played completely through. As the afternoon progressed, their annual realization that they had forgotten which tape it was played to my advantage. Ravenboy tried to logically deduce which tape it was on by looking at which labels I had erased one year. He narrowed it down to 2 tapes. I tried not to flinch when he insisted on playing the on tape again. He eyed me carefully and put in the correct tape.

I tried to make a graceful exit to get into my costume (Did I mention there is a costume?) as my family smirked in victory. I did not sprain my ankle this year, I am not in as good shape as I was last year but my heart didn't explode. They smiled down onto my prone sweating form and congratulated me on a year well danced. I love our holiday traditions.

Steppin' Out & Stayn' In

The past couple of weeks have been busy. RGBisMe and I have been on the road a lot but our down time has been spent happily at home. We have found a few letterboxes and are trying not to "ReLive Stress" on trail or off.


A couple of weeks ago, RGBisMe and I made a trip to Pittsburgh for an alumni reception at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. One of his recent works was featured nicely at the showing of alumni work and we went out to celebrate the event. We arrived a bit early to try a few of the new letterboxes in town. Although we found many of the landmarks the clues made reference to, we came away with no new stamp images.

The early evening was an enjoyable time to walk around his old stomping grounds. RGBisMe lived on the North Side and trekked across the 6th Street bridge to get to and from school during all seasons. It was near the Byahm Theater that we got a call from Ravenboy to let us know that he was able to swap out house duties and could get away the next day. We were glad to know that because of an impending ice storm that weekend.

It was pleasant meeting some of the staff that RGBisMe knew from years ago. We hope to tour the school sometime in the upcoming months.

Ravenboy did come home for a week. We had a great time visiting at home before his rehearsal schedule required him to return to the city. Our return trip included our regular stop for food and fuel at Wawa. When we got into the city, we got a look at the new Apple store on the corner of 9th and 14th.

A final funny moment on street near Ravenboy's house was a cross walk sign that had both the stop and go signs lighted up at the same time. One might be confused with it's message but we turned it into a good joke.

On the Cutting Room Floor

Some of the most interesting stuff can be found on the proverbial cutting room floor. Mistakes, things that aren't relative to the big picture and excesses can be extremely interesting when viewed by themselves or with the knowledge of where they had fit into the grand scheme of things.

My recent hair cut has left all but a smudge of my vibrantly colored hair literally on the cutting room floor. A radical edit visually but needed change allows my hair to actually fully dry in these cold months. My long hair, almost always pulled back, never seemed to dry and blow drying was out of the question for my wild mane.

Now an inch long in the back and face framing in the front, I am sporting the 'do that I have known for most of my life. The change has reduced my shower time by 75% . Although trim maintenance will increase greatly, time allocated for hair styling in the morning has been reduced by the same amount.

It has been just the past 15 years in which my locks were longer. During that time I have met a lot of folks who have only known me with long hair. Last night I got together with my good friend, DaBraLady, who has known me since we were in junior high school. She smiled broadly and told me it made me look younger. A more humorous reaction came from her 19 year old son. His eyes popped and he said, "Wow!"

My family was with me for the big change. I could see RGBisMe behind me through the salon mirror supportively beaming with every snip. Ravenboy sat looking through the styling books at the beautiful young ladies with meticulously coiffured cuts. As my own style took shape, I glanced sheepishly at myself in the mirror. "I remember a much younger face sporting that style," I mused. A few more snips, a quick blow dry and a little product were the finishing touches. "I like it," I smiled. RGBisMe returned my grin and Ravenboy said, "You are beautiful."

It might not be the final release of my production but I thought I would share the current work in progress.

Jennifer Alexander

Ravenboy's coworker, Jennifer Alexander was killed yesterday and her husband, Julio Bragado-Young, was critically injured in a multi-car pileup amid icy conditions on Route 3 in East Rutherford, NJ. They were returning to their residence in New York City after performing in a Nutcracker production in Williamsport, PA. Newspaper article here.

Please keep Julio in your thoughts. He loved Jennifer very much.