Emrelove: 2012

Monday, October 1, 2012

So, I haven't been around in awhile. Sorry about that, things were a little crazy.

But...

I'M MARRIED!!!

EEEEEEE!!!!!

So happy and in love. Hope you're all doing wonderfully!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

This is seriously fascinating!!!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2017557140_nicole21m.html

'Oklahoma' seen in a new light

The response to this production of "Oklahoma!" has moved Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong to schedule a series of panel discussions.

Nicole Brodeur

Seattle Times staff columnist

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David Armstrong

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"Dancing, singing, sets," Dolores Murphy said as she settled in for the Saturday matinee of the 5th Avenue Theatre's "Oklahoma!"

"I'm in heaven."

Oh, but this "Oklahoma!" is not just cowpokes and petticoats, beautiful mornings and a girl who cain't say no.

The casting of the African-American actor Kyle Scatliffe as antagonist Jud Fry has turned this production into a debate over race, creative license, and how far we've really come since the corn grew high as an elephant's eye.

The response to this production of "Oklahoma!" has moved Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong to schedule a series of panel discussions that kicked off this past weekend and will be held after the 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, the 1:30 p.m. matinee on Sunday and at 7 p.m. on March 5 at the theater.

Casting "colorblind" is nothing new for the 5th. I have seen an Asian-American Cinderella and an interracial couple as her prince's parents. I always notice the change from what I remember, but then I'm usually swept away by song and story and talent. As it should be.

But this production has some audience members squirming in their seats. Not only are they struggling with their memories of, and expectations for the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, they're seeing on stage one of the ugliest stereotypes in our history: an imposing black man ravaging a petite white woman.

There is also a scene in which the white hero, a cowpoke named Curly, all but urges Jud to hang himself — and even pantomimes the act. Some see a clear reference to lynching.

But the most provocative scene, Armstrong acknowledged, is the "Dream Ballet," in which the female lead, Laurey, falls asleep, and conjures up a malevolent overtaking by Jud.

The dance is bathed in purple and blue lights — the antithesis of the bright, golden haze that opened the show. Laurey tries to fight Jud off while cowpokes and cabaret girls thrust their hips and ply her with booze until Jud finally drags her off through the smoke.

"Wow," I heard Murphy say in the row behind me as the lights came up for intermission. Her daughter, Nora, said she wanted to cover her mother's eyes and take out her hearing aid.

The Dream Ballet has always been a disturbing scene. In fact, original choreographer Agnes de Mille defended it by saying that young girls dream "dirty dreams."

In choreographer Donald Byrd's hands, the ballet is drawn out and seems more sexual and sinister. He's built a reputation for "political-psycho-sexual dance," according to the program, which should serve as a warning.

After the show, about 100 audience members moved to the front of the theater, where Armstrong was joined by Byrd and Scatliffe.

One man cut to the chase and asked of Scatliffe's casting: "Why'd you do it?"

Byrd said he researched the Oklahoma of 1907, the year in which the musical is based and noted the role of African Americans in that society. He wanted an African-American presence on the stage.

"That contributed to the casting," said Byrd, who is African American. "But it does bring up the issue of race, and we can't ignore the fact that it occurs to us."

Well, it's more than just race. It's violence: white on black, with the lynching allusion; and black on white, with Jud's pursuit of Laurey.

And there is likely some license taken when an African-American farmhand is allowed to escort a white woman to the box dance, as Jud does in the play.

Armstrong meant the casting to be colorblind, and at most, that people would see it as "bold" or "interesting." He did not imagine a Facebook page filled with enough comments to prompt these post-performance talks.

"I had no idea that we would get this kind of reaction," Armstrong said. "I saw (Scatliffe) as an actor."

Maybe he gave us too much credit.

Said Scatliffe, "I'm just as shocked as everyone else."

Clearly, it was too much for those who expected the stuff of the very vanilla 1955 film and countless high-school and community productions.

"I want to be entertained," one man said of Scatliffe's casting. "I didn't come here for a message."

But the 5th didn't change a thing, Armstrong said. Just the color of one main character's face.

This is the same "Oklahoma!" that debuted in 1943, he said. Not a word was changed in the songs or the script.

"People are coming to see an 'Oklahoma!' that 'Oklahoma!' never was."

Maybe some people weren't ready for that, and left with not so much a song in their head, but a question in their heart.

And isn't that part of what theater is supposed to do?

Sunday, February 19, 2012

28.

I had a wonderful birthday. My sister is so amazing. I got the cutest pair of jeans at her Vault Denim party and got to hang with some of my favorite ladies in the world.

Not sure if I posted here, I'm going to be playing Ruth in a college production of Pirates of Penzance. I am so beyond excited and honored. What an amazing role. Rehearsal has been so much fun.

It's been great having Peter here. The wedding is coming up quick. I need to get invitations made. Need someone to hire me so I can afford our wedding. Starting to understand why people elope. lol

Seems some of the more negative people in my life have made their own way out. More power to them. I hope they are able to find the light that once was alive in them, and find their way out of the darkness.

Off to see a kids production of The Jungle Book with the family tonight. So glad for the amazing people here I get to see every day.

Dad has surgery on Friday. I leave for Jaye's wedding on Saturday. lol. So that's stressful, but between Peter, Eliot, Sara and my sister they have everything covered so I shouldn't have to worry. Not like I'll be able to afford to call home more then once either. Well, I'd rather be poor and happy then rich and bitter. :)

Friday, February 3, 2012

Ugh.

I feel like such a jerk.

I just got a call from one of my best friends asking if her and one of my other best friends are still bridesmaids.

Omg. How could they even wonder!?! I suck so much. :(

Things are just crazy right now. My dad is no longer driving and has a 70% blockage and I'm freaking out about his surgery and how he's going to get back and forth.

This means I have to get my license. I'm freaking out.

Just had to change the date of the wedding to the 14th, because someone else scheduled our date before we did. *bangs head against wall*

Dealing with some stuff for Drew for school too, and trying desperately to find a job.

Just trying not to drag anyone else down with me. I do this turtle thing and pop back into my shell when I get freaked out about stuff.. and I'm freaked out.

Thank God for Peter. He keeps me mentally stable, I swear.

Friday, January 20, 2012

7 years.

Without my Mom. I can't believe she's been gone this long.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Some IMDB fun

Twenty upcoming movies I found that I didn't know about and want to see either due to the plot or the actors involved. All found while searching IMDB through other actors or films. ;)

1. Little Red Wagon - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614430/

With nothing more than a blazing spirit of philanthropy and his beat-up red wagon, Zach sets out to help homeless children in America. In the process, he sweeps his fractured family - and ultimately the entire country - along with him.

2. Sighting - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1985196/

King's Ransom Winery is one of the most haunted places in America, with a long history of bizarre suicides. Six ghost hunters have been given the rare opportunity to conduct a paranormal investigation. What they discover terrifies them.

3. Elsa & Fred - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2113659/

The story of two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it's never too late to love and make dreams come true. Elsa is 82 years old and for the past 60 years, she's dreamt of a moment that Fellini had already envisaged: the scene in 'La Dolce Vita' at the Fontana di Trevi. The same scene without Anita Ekberg in it, but with Elsa instead. Without Marcello Mastroiani but with that love that took so long to arrive. Fred is a bit younger than Elsa and has always been a good man who did everything he was supposed to do. After losing his wife, he feels disturbed and confused and his daughter decides that it would be best if he moves into a smaller apartment where he ends meeting Elsa. From that moment on, everything changes. Elsa bursts into his life like a whirlwind, determined to teach him that the time he has left to live - be it more or less - is precious and that he should enjoy it as he pleases. Fred surrenders to Elsa's frenzy, to her youth, to her boldness, to her beautiful madness. And this is how Fred learns how to live. When he learns about Elsa's terminal illness, he decides to make her dream come true and takes Elsa to Rome to reenact with her the famous scene at the Fontana di Trevi.

4. Chronicle : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706593/

Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery. Soon, though, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides.

5. The 4th Reich - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1456940/

During the early hours of June 6th 1944 a bloody but victorious offensive took place in occupied Western Europe that would claim thousands of lives. Codenamed 'Operation Overlord' the armies of the combined allied forces would begin their long push to Berlin, with the aim of bringing down the despised Nazi regime. But the chilling realities of Hitler's true intentions are exposed, to create a force that can never be beaten, a 4th Reich - The New World Order. A team of Nazi doctors and scientists were charged with generating a superior race. Their experiments and research would produce unspeakable evil and change the face of humanity forever. A small select brigade of soldiers from the British 3rd Infantry Division, under the command of the battle hardened Captain Bathurst embark on a dangerous quest to liberate Europe. Fighting their way through the French countryside, villages and war ravaged towns. Every advance they discover increasingly strange events until they reach an abandoned research facility where the true horrors begin.

6. Zombie Hamlet - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778940/

Desperate filmmaker Osric Taylor dreams of making his civil war Hamlet but when production funding dries up, he agrees to take southern matron Hester Beauchamps offer to fund the film if he throws some zombies in it to make their money back. But when Hester dies in mid shoot, Osric dresses up as Hester to cash the last check and awakens the suspicions of both the local police and ambitious local news reporter Shine Reynolds. Inspired by an actual incident.

7. Kill Bill Vol. 3 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1521225/

No description yet, but eeeee!!!

8. 16 South - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2064707/

In the late 1800's and well into the twentieth century, many farmers and ranchers in Texas lost their homes and land to the more powerful landowner. Families were threatened, mercilessly burned from their homes, and in some instances, killed for the small piece of land they owned. This is the story of two men who spend their entire lives feuding over a tragic incident they both witnessed as young boys. George Baker (Randy Travis) is a man who has witnessed the horror of losing his family at the hands of a brutal killer, John Champion. Throughout his life, he must also put up with the humiliation of being thought of as cowardly and spineless, because he can't retaliate in order to keep his family safe from harm. To complicate matters, his daughter Katie is in love with Daniel, the son of his nemesis. Spanning several generations of two families, it is an unforgettable story of evil and hatred paralleling a story of devoted love and undeniable passion.

9. Starbright - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742179/

A young orphan escapes the realities of her life by fantasizing about and then entering a fairy tale world.

10. Finding Hope - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1835965/

Fact: There are 1 million to 3 million runaway (throwaway) and homeless kids living on the streets in the United States. 80% of runaway and homeless girls reported having been sexually or physically abused.

Young girls trapped in abusive homes have two choices: surrender or escape. Fear of reprisal, fear of endangering other loved ones, serves to keep the girls in line. But for the ones like Esmee Johnson, who will not give in or give up, escape is the only way. And so Esmee runs. Pursued by the cult she escapes, persecuted by the government who wants to use her as a witness, and wanted by the pimps who conned her into seeking refuge with them -- Esmee runs to stay alive. She becomes a teen fugitive in her quest for FINDING HOPE.

11. Silent Life - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099209/

The year is 1926. While on tour promoting his latest movie "Son Of The Sheik", Rudolph Valentino, the Hollywood silent screen icon, suffers a sudden collapse and is hospitalized at the New York Polyclinic Hospital. After the emergency surgery, Valentino loses his grip of reality and begins to see the recollection of his life in Hollywood from a perspective of a coma - as a silent film shown at a movie palace, the magical portal between life and eternity, between reality and illusion... Dubbed "The Great Lover" around the world, Valentino plays dashing and virile Sheiks on the screen and drives his female audience into hysteria. However, his private life is a complete failure - the Sheik cannot satisfy even his own domineering wife. Snapping back to reality, Valentino finds himself abandoned, alone and stricken with illness. Pam, a young deaf-mute Valentino's fan, who works as a nurses' aid at the hospital, will show the God of Love for the first time in his life what love can truly mean.

12. Austenland - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1985019/

Obsessed with the BBC production of "Pride and Prejudice", a woman travels to a Jane Austen theme park in search for her perfect gentleman.

13. Undertow - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727554/

Toby, an ambitious young lawyer, gets on the wrong boat when she serves papers to a man who has a deadly vendetta against her father. He kidnaps her and takes her out to the middle of the ocean, while deliberating his options. Meanwhile, her father must sort out what's happened to his daughter, and how to save her, before it's too late.

14. September Run Red - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1941645/

Taylor Evans, a successful, pretty modern day woman is finding her world rapidly collapsing around her as a sudden and unexplained phobia to water grips her psyche, shattering her fragile world. In desperation to save herself, Taylor reaches out to Dr. John Cane, a cast out phobia specialist, and ally of the worst kind. Dr. Cane, a notorious psychiatrist whose recent prominence and rise in the medical community is linked to a successful but controversial behavior analysis treatment he's pioneered on a desolate island. Reluctantly, Dr. Cane agrees to treat Taylor's irrational fear of water but on the sole condition the treatment take place on the remote island for her safety and wellbeing. Once on the secluded island, Taylor begins to suspect that Dr. Cane might not be giving her the whole truth, and that a terrible fate will befall her if she doesn't find a way off the island. Complicating matters further, Taylor learns Dr. Cane has a collaborator and a secret he's been hiding for more than thirty years, a secret he desperately wants to keep concealed at all cost. Driven to escape the island and the eerie Doctor, Taylor must face the demons within and enter the dark creepy lake water to reclaim the strength she desperately needs to salvage her being and escape the island alive. On the island nothing is ever what it seems.

15. The Studio Club -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2105022/

Intrigue and suspense plays out during Hollywood's golden era. Studio execs and aspiring actresses clash in this dramatic mystery thriller.

16. Unfair and Imbalanced - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1910658/

An outrageous right-wing talk show host becomes compassionate and reasonable, and the network does everything it can to bring him back to his old ways.

17. Invisible Cities - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1344400/

Inspired by the Italo Calvino novel, "Invisible Cities", the film explores the notion of returning home. A New York-based artist struggling with success abruptly leaves the city to return to his hometown. His main goal: to find inspiration and salvation in his past. But returning home isn't quite so easy and the artist quickly finds himself unable to re-establish old connections he once hastily abandoned. A film split into 5 stories (each of which explores a different aspect his past), "Invisible Cities" is a film about loss and one person's attempt to reconcile this loss. The film is a mix of several genres and is at times funny and romantic while also exploring nightmarishly dark areas as well. In the end, the film asks this question: Once you leave home, are you ever really able to return?

18. Sirk! - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954828/

Sirk! is the musical about a young clown that finds his rightful place in a Creole circus troupe in 1930's New Orleans.

19. Painless - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757769/

Set in Catalonia, Painless weaves two stories: in one, starting during the Spanish Civil War and running through to the '60s, an asylum attempts to rehabilitate children who feel no pain, by teaching them physical suffering. In the second, in the present time, a brilliant neurosurgeon who needs a bone marrow transplant, discovers this dark past when he searches for his biological parents.

20. ParaNorman - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623288/

A misunderstood boy who can speak with the dead, takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.

Emrelove