It didn’t take a month

Only 3 weeks!

I have been up to a lot in those weeks. I absorbed some culture, saw some lame crap, went on a short trip to reconnect with friends, became a jock, and saw some thankfully awesome flickering lights.

I will start with the culture bit.

I went to see a performance of Cinderella (La Cenerentola) presented by the Canadian Opera Company. This was the idea of a good friend of mine who is much more cultured than i am and who originally told me this was a ballet but was mistaken as it was an opera. I had never been to the opera but was expecting something a bit dark. As you can see from the image above the show itself was quite vibrant. It was filled with colour, humour, and fun making it interesting to see. I liked it for the most part. I found it a bit tedious around the end of the first act as that is the area where the vocal acrobatics are put on display and the story slows to a crawl. If I remember correctly it was sung in Italian but subtitles were provided so the audience wouldn’t get lost. I have a feeling somethings must have been lost in translation as the English words seemed very lame and lacked the drama of what was on stage. The songs were beautifully sung exploring the range of each performers abilities.

Talking about the opera also gives me an excuse to post this as it is what first pops into my head when I hear the word “opera”

Poor Willy.

That is closely followed by “Seinfeld” and “Il Pagliacci”

Soon after i had to ruin all that by indulging in the antithesis of what you would call culture. Here’s the lame crap.

So before I saw this movie I had a few confusing conversations. They went like this:

Person: Hey Tra, what’s going on? Seeing anything interesting this weekend.

Me: Yeah. You know me, gotta get my celluloid fix. I may go see that new Paul Bettany movie Legion.

Person: Which one is that? Isn’t that an old movie?

Me: No. Its coming out this weekend. He plays this badass guy with tattoos who bring the pain to some vampires.

Person: OH that one. Isn’t that called like Pope or something?

Me: Priest! Sorry. I keep getting those movies mixed up.

Person: That looks like crap. Don’t see it.

I really should have taken that person’s advice.

Priest has the same director as Legion which also starred Paul Bettany and even looks the same. Except in this he is a priest fighting vampires. The director tries even harder, too hard I would say, trying to make this movie something that it is not, good. There are scenes where Bettany dramatically dismounts from his rocket bike, takes slow determined steps, stoops down grabbing a handful of dirt letting it run through his fingers dispersing into the wind, as he stares forth into the barren dusty wasteland in front of him and in a deep raspy voice says “They were here” (or something). All that scene needed was a stamp that said “EPIC” across it and a blinking border that read “I am trying really hard.”

Skip it.

The next weekend I went on a trip. It was only to Kingston but it was to see my friends from Tasmania so I was glad to go. It was for the Canadian reception for their wedding that was in December. I couldn’t go cuz I just started working but the thing is if I wasn’t working I wouldn’t have had the money to go. It was all very frustrating.

Anyways, I decided not to drive down and got on the Megabus. I heard it was cheap, comfy, and better than driving for 3 hours by myself. But I have to say the people who ride the Megabus are assholes.

When a bus is packed with people and there are very few seats left, move your crap. Also don’t tell a person who asks you politely for the seat, “No. You can sit over there.” and then point to an area that is completely filled with people while you give them a look like they are the retarded one. And when the bus has begun to move and a person politely asks you for a seat don’t leave your hand bag on the seat and say you are saving it for a friend. ARG!

It was fun to catch up with friends. And I did get a tour of Kingston cuz it had never been a destination. It was always a place I drove past. I got to see the prisons. Fun. The party was good too. It was much swankier than I thought it was going to be but maybe that is just because I am a generally casual person. I was very happy I brought 2 options for the evenings attire.

So recently with the weather getting warmer and my butt getting wider I have decided to start living a more active lifestyle. Just to generally get myself moving and into a shape. Maybe an oval, rectangle, rhombus even I just don’t want to be the blob anymore. So as a first step I joined the office softball team. This is where I became a jock. Sorry that should be in quotations, “jock”.

I haven’t played softball or baseball since high school which was far to long ago for me to admit. I liked playing the game but I didn’t have anyone to play with after then. So I just never did. I haven’t really played any sport with an ounce of seriousness since my college days. So this is a real step for me.

I am pleased to say i am not as bad as I thought I would be. I can catch for the most part. Throw but definitely not as far as I used to. And I can hit. Not out of the park or anything but I am making contact. I have to say I am impressed with myself.

We had our second game yesterday. We lost (It was a really close game) but it was a good time. The team we played was awesome. They were out to have a good time like us which made the experience so much better than the first game. I gotta say those guys were real douches.

There was a week in there where I didn’t see a movie. It was supposed to be Hangover 2 but things just got in the way and haven’t made it out to see it. This week I almost missed out too but I was not having any of that. Even though I am paying for it right now I went out last night to go see the flickering lights that was X-Men First Class. And I am so glad that I did.

The movie is about how the X-men got started and how Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto became enemies. It takes place mainly in the 60s during the Cuban Missile Crisis with introductions to characters as far back as the 1940s.

The main characters were awesome. James McAvoy as Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Erik were perfect choices. They were really the stars of the show. They became these characters and understood that there is an unspoken understanding and trust between the two of them that made them friends and the worst of enemies. Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw almost stole the show. You believed his malice and his ability to instill fear in an individual with just a look. I really liked Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast. He managed to pull off humble genius all covered in sweetness.

With that said, if those 4 people did not step up and perform the movie would have really sucked. The secondary characters were either wasted talents or didn’t have talent to waste. Even with the well scripted, complex, layered story it would have fallen apart if some of the acting wasn’t to par. January Jones should not have been cast as Emma Frost. The character is supposed to be stoic not wooden. It seemed for her whole performance Jones just read off of cue-cards. I also had a problem with Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique. She was just so bland. There was also Zoe Kravitz as Angel Salvadore. I am sorry to say the girl can’t act and is absolutely not sexy. The character she played is supposed to be innocent but sultry at the same time. She just looked really bored and sleepy for most of it.

Then there were talented people like Oliver Platt and Jason Flemying who were completely wasted in the roles they were given. Platt was a man in black that played an important role but had a few mediocre lines and wasn’t there for long but he acted better than the 3 previous people that I mentioned. Flemying, as Azazel, was in the whole movie, covered in thick layers of makeup making him unrecognizable (not the real issue) he just stood around in the background most of the time just scowling. You only need a mean faced thug for that. There are also a couple of fun, unexpected cameos in the movie that are a treat for the audience.

Even though some of the performances are lack luster the overall product is great. It is a much more interesting story, good script and better effects, than any of the previous movies in the X-Men movie franchise. It is sad that it had a relatively small opening because this deserves to be seen.

Well that is what I have been up to for the most part. I think I got all the “important” things in there.

Tra