We’re coming close to Halloween, meaning we’re getting close to Halloween parties. My favorite part of any party is almost always the soundtrack– but Halloween doesn’t have quite the same selection as Christmas. Whether it’s a for a few friends or a whole house full of people, here’s some tracks for your playlist that will help everyone get into the spirit.
The Phantom of the Opera
10/15/2016
10 Songs for Your Halloween Playlist
valeriemclean1919 Blue Oyster Cult, Bobby Pickett, David Bowie, Fall Out Boy, Gene Wilder, Halloween, JS Bach, Metallica, Music, The Phantom of the Opera, Thomas Dolby About Music 0 Comments
04/22/2016
My Desert Island Soundtrack
valeriemclean1919 about me, Bayside, Billy Joel, Charles Bubeck, David Bowie, Denny Stokes, Desert Island Soundtrack, Disney, Elton John, Hillary Duff, Music, Puffy AmiYumi, The Phantom of the Opera About Me, About Music 3 Comments
Let’s talk about music.
The English language is interesting in the fact that I can say both “I did band in high school” and “In high school, I did band”, and yet find that the second statement is far more accurate. Not that band was the totality of my existence, I had school work and such courtesy of the IB program, but when I wasn’t doing school stuff, I was probably doing something music related. Usually involving one of the three bands I was in. Of course, I’ve also been playing piano outside of band since I was in Kindergarten, plus there was my involvement in my church’s music program. So music is a big part of my life.
I’m not sure where the idea of a desert island playlist comes from (there’s a British radio show that does something like it, but I’m not sure that’s where it started), but the basic concept is that you pick a few albums that you would take with you to a desert island if you had to live there for the rest of your life. Some go by songs, especially after the decline of the album in the past decade, but I’m a traditionalist so albums it is. These are ten albums that I would be able to listen to for the rest of my life.
04/10/2016
The Case for Phantom
valeriemclean1919 Lindsay Ellis, Movie Musicals, Movies, Musicals, The Nostalgia Critic, The Phantom of the Opera About Film, About Other Art 0 Comments
In the past few weeks, I have watched two different video reviews of Joel Schumacher’s The Phantom of the Opera. The first was made by the crew of the Nostalgia Critic in conjunction with Shark Jumping, and can be found here. The other was made by Lindsay Ellis, and can be found here. My first experience with Phantom was in late elementary school (maybe the fifth grade? I distinctly remember understanding who Micheal Crawford was when Chad mentioned him in High School Musical the first time I saw it), and I was somewhat obsessed with it for about a year and a half. My mom had the two-disc Original London Cast album and I would listen to it constantly. It was kind-of my Twilight. I was able to get my hands on an English copy of the book, which I also greatly enjoyed. And then there was the movie. I knew immediately that it was bad. And I knew that it was bad beyond just “Gerard Butler cannot sing” (though Gerard Butler can not sing). But as a high schooler I didn’t have the language to explain why.
10/23/2017
Tales From the Script
valeriemclean1919 Dr. Faustus, Macbeth, Shakespeare, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Phantom of the Opera, The Rocky Horror Show, Theater, Titus Andronicus About Other Art 0 Comments
Horror as a genre isn’t quite as popular on stage. There’s a few reasons for this– the immediacy of the actors in theater, the limitations of theater effects, the audience’s expectations for what theater should be– but ultimately, Horror simply stuck to film better than it did theater. But there are some great shows that are also excellent examples of the Horror genre.
Now, this being me, the types of theater that I am most familiar with are Early Modern five-act English theater and 20th century musicals, so that’s where I’m pulling my examples from, but there’s a lot of theater out there to try, so it certainly doesn’t end here.
Let’s go hear a play.
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