A quick word about my previous posts

1. "Adult Parties and Why I Hate Them":  I went to another adult party yesterday.  After reading The Catcher in the Rye, I know exactly how to describe the way I feel.  They are all PHONIES.  I cannot stand it.  I do not want to become that.  I resent the phoniness.  Yet it somehow feels as if there is no way to become an adult without embracing the phoniness.  I really feel like Holden.  I do not want to be a child, but I do not want to be a phony.  Why are sincerity and sensitivity childish?
2. "Music that I Like": The Hobbit soundtrack.  Radagast the Brown, The Hidden Valley, and The Adventure Begins are some good tracks.  Also, the Game of Thrones main theme is ear candy.
3. "My Dog": I look back on that post with a sad sort of irony.
4. "Rowing Crew: Parts 1,2, & 3": Wow, those posts were long.  They're where I got a lot of my views.  Apparently people are quite interested in how rowing works.  Maybe that's because it doesn't get a lot of coverage in the mainstream media.  Hmm.  There was a Mythbusters episode featuring crew, though!  They were testing if you could waterski behind an eight.  Spoiler: you can!
5. "Sexism in the Media": I would really love to delve into feminism in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones.  It takes place in a very sexist setting, but there are so many strong female characters in so many different roles.  (Can you say Brienne of Tarth, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Catelyn Stark, the Sand Snakes, Cersei Lannister, and especially DAENERYS TARGARYEN, Daenerys Stormborn, Khaleesi of the Dothraki, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons?) It makes me really happy and I highly recommend the series.  You know what?  I'm going to do a post about just Daenerys next week.  Just because I can and just because she is so awesome.
6. "High School is Awful": This continues to be a true statement.  I am so done with school.  I cannot wait for summer break.
7. "Homestuck": To clarify, the goal of the game is to create a new universe by breeding the Genesis Frog.  Defeating the denizen is necessary to advance to the seventh gate, and advancing to the seventh gate and Skaia is necessary to defeat the Black King & Queen, who are bent on destroying the Genesis Frog.  Reaching godtier is not necessarily a goal of the game but is highly useful.  Also, a warning: Homophobes beware Homestuck.  The most successful ship right now is two girls, one troll and one human.  (Rose/Kanaya <3 OTP) Troll culture does not even have a word for homosexuality.
8. "Cosplay for Those Who've Never Heard the Word": There are so many great cosplays out there, and people love to post pictures of themselves in their cosplays.  Is there a character you like?  Chances are there's a cosplay of that character out there somewhere.  Google it.  Also, if you like cosplaying, I encourage you to try roleplaying.  It sounds dumb and so stereotypically nerdy but it's basically just improv acting, and if you can find other people to roleplay with, that makes it so much fun.
9. "The Castle: A Fairy Tale": Sorry, but I probably won't post the ending to this.  I'm sort of taking it in a direction that I do not think is appropriate for this blog.  If you want to take this idea and run with it in your own direction, go ahead! Just let me know in a comment or something.
10. "Shakespeare Wrote the Best Romantic Comedies": Still true.  Though as a second best, there's a trailer out there for a (nonexistent) retelling of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as a romantic comedy and it's pretty hilarious. Mostly it's hilarious because that book was the most romcom-like of all the Harry Potter books.

I hope some or all of that was useful or interesting.

Next week I fangirl about Daenerys Targaryen because KHALEESI.

Alice in Wonderland: Character Parallels and Excellent Music

It's been two and a half years since Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland film adaptation came out, so this may seem a bit out of place.  I think about the randomest things, and while I was thinking about this during this week, I decided to write a blog post about it.


First, a recap for those who didn't see it.  MAJOR SPOILERS if you haven't seen it.  For my purposes, I'll be focusing more on characters than plot, but still.

The movie begins in late 19th century London, as Alice's father discusses a risky trade move with his business partners, but leaves to comfort Alice after she has one of her recurring dreams of the classic Alice in Wonderland adventures: falling down a rabbit hole, the white rabbit, and such.  He comforts her worries of madness with "I'm afraid so.  Mad.  Bonkers.  'Round the bend.  But I'll tell you a secret: all the best people are."  He started the "believe in six impossible things before breakfast" theme.

Fast-forward ten years, and Alice is a teen with a rebellious attitude ("What if it were agreed that 'proper' meant wearing a codfish on your head? Would you wear it?" "Alice..." "To me, a corset is like a codfish.").  Her father died during the interval.  Her mother conforms to societal norms and wants Alice to do the same, but loves Alice more than most.

Alice and her mother arrive at a party, where a middle-aged couple greet them.  The wife, Lady Ascot, an aggressive, controlling socialite, hates rabbits and despises the idea of ugly grandchildren.  The husband, Lord Ascot, was an old associate of Alice's father's and is far kindlier.

Twin girls at the party, last name Chattaway, spoil to Alice that the party is Alice's engagement party; the couple's unpleasant son, Hamish, will ask for her hand.  Alice's sister walks in, scolds the two for spoiling the surprise, and walks off, explaining to Alice that "Your life will be perfect.  It's already decided!"  A little while later, Alice walks in on her sister's husband, Lowell, kissing some girl behind a hedge.  He sweet-talks his way away, but Alice is unimpressed.  

The only remaining important characters before Wonderland are Hamish and Aunt Imogen.  Hamish is the son of the couple and heir to the title of Lord Ascot.  Hamish is spoiled, almost stupidly conformist, and missing on many social cues.  Aunt Imogen is an old maid, and when we see her she talks of her delusion that she's engaged to a prince.

That's all the "normal-life" characters.  

Follow the White Rabbit!  Does anyone else love the music that starts at 0:50?

The Wonderland characters are more well-known and need less introduction, so I'll use bullet points.

• The White Rabbit: even more nervous than traditional White Rabbit characters, and with more sense of propriety.
• Mallymkun:  The Dormouse.  In the same group as the Mad Hatter and March Hare, but has mad skills with her tiny rapier and quite a bit of attitude.  Starts the movie disliking Alice, but ends up as an ally.
• Absolem:  The Caterpillar.  (Voiced by Alan Rickman; all I could think the whole movie was "who transfigured Snape into a caterpillar?")  Less unpleasant than the original caterpillar; bristly, but intending to help Alice find herself by herself.
• Tweedledee and Tweedledum:  Twin boys, round and shy, who argue nonsensically and finish each other's sentences.
• Cheshire Cat: Same as usual.  "The Alice?" "There seems to be some debate about that." "I never get involved in politics." ...  "All this talk of blood and slaying has put me off my tea."
• The Mad Hatter: played by Johnny Depp, occasionally takes on a Scottish accent, repeatedly asks why a raven is like a writing desk, and recites the "Jabberwock" poem.  Alice's best ally in Wonderland.
• Bayard: a talking bloodhound prisoner of the Red Queen's.  She has his wife and pups, and falsely promises to set them all free if Bayard finds Alice.  This makes him do as she says, but his loyalty is to Wonderland.
• The White Queen: eccentric, graceful, slightly psycho.  Sort-of mentor to Alice, and sister of the Red Queen.
• The Red Queen: Helena Bonham Carter.  Who else could play the evil, petulant Red Queen?  "Off with his head!"
• The Knave: Knight and lover of the Red Queen (well, sort of), spearheading her reign of terror.  He has eyes for Alice more than for the Queen; guess what happens next.  In the end, when he is forced into exile with her, he tries to kill her, unsuccessfully.

So what's so special about all this?  I've always been intrigued by the implications of this line at the end, when Alice is confronting everyone at the party, to the Chattaway girls:

"You two remind me of some funny boys I met in a dream."

Spoilers again: It's all a dream. Not kidding. (I thought this was a strange choice on the part of the writers, but wwhatevver.)


Anyway, I have been wondering which Wonderland characters correspond to which Victorian characters. In some movies where it's All Just A Dream (or more commonly TV episodes) the same actors/actresses play the corresponding dream characters as play the real-life characters they take after, but this is not the case in Alice. So, I decided to puzzle this out for myself.

We can start with the Chattaway Sisters = Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Next, Lady Ascot is obviously the Red Queen. Her quotes, "I despise rabbits. I do enjoy setting the dogs on them," and "Imbeciles! I specifically asked for red roses!" make this obvious before Alice even goes down the rabbit hole.

The Mad Hatter is probably Alice's father.  He and his trade scheme were described as mad, and he told Alice that all the best people are.  It would make sense that the Mad Hatter, closest in Wonderland to Alice, would parallel the real-life character closest to her: her father.

Alice's mother is the white rabbit.  "You're not properly dressed" dialogue parallels the "You're not the real Alice" debate that permeates most of Alice's time in Wonderland.  Both the rabbit's and Alice's mother's sense of propriety further the parallel.

The Knave is Lowell, Alice's sister's cheating husband.  The Knave tries to seduce Alice, but when he fails, he tells the Red Queen that Alice did so to him.  Lowell was cheating on his wife, and when Alice runs in on them, the two have the following dialogue:

"She's an old friend."

"I can see you're very close."

"You won't tell Margaret, will you?"

"I don't know.  I'm confused."

"You wouldn't want to ruin our marriage, would you?"
"But I'm not the one sneaking around..."

Lowell's cheating and blaming it on Alice are very much like the Knave's attempting to cheat and blaming it on Alice.

(It could also be argued that the Knave is a darker, more competent Hamish.  His attraction to Alice, upholding of the Red Queen's reign, and status as her favorite could definitely be argued as parallel to Hamish's proposal to Alice, upholding of his mother's extreme Victorian values, and status as his mother's favorite; but since the Red Queen fancies the Knave, I don't think it would be ok to parallel the two to a mother and son. Squick.)

Absolem shows up at the end as a blue butterfly, proving that Alice isn't the only character who can travel between the two worlds.  (Ok, actually, it's probably just a blue butterfly that Alice says Hello to in order to prove to the audience that she remembers her time in Wonderland at all.  But I'm going to take the slightly more whimsical explanation.)

I'm not entirely sure about more than that.  Any suggestions from those who have seen the movie?  I'm still not sure about who the White Queen represents, if anyone.  Comment below!



And in a bit of an afternote: the music in this movie is excellent.  Say what you like about how well it stuck to the book, or whatever you want, but the music was awesome.  Just listen to the music in that video above.  Or, you could listen to one of these:

"Alice's Theme" Excellent.

"Going to Battle" Features a more dramatic, intense version of the main Alice theme.

"Alice Reprise #5" Alice's theme gets 5 reprises, and this is the fifth.

Music That I Like

There is one thing you need to know about me: I'm a bit of a weirdo.  If that wasn't apparent from my geeky references, now you know.  I like a wide range of geeky things, from Doctor Who to Harry Potter to Star Wars to Lord of the Rings.  I enjoy reading.  I do not shop at name brand stores, nor do I shop at little boutique stores or thrift shops.  I do not change my wardrobe every time the fashions change; I go shopping for clothes only a few times a year.  Instead, I spend my money on online gaming, and one thing that is quite weird about me: my favorite music.

Now, if you were to ask me about any Top 40 songs, I'd probably know the top 10.  Maybe.  I know several that were popular when I was in 6th and 7th grade, and I don't live under a rock, so I know super popular songs like Gangnam Style, What Makes You Beautiful, and such.  I have many friends who could regale me about the minutia of the different styles of pop artists.  But I usually don't care.

I'm not a hipster; I don't consider myself above the mainstream.  I don't listen to bands that no one's ever heard of, or oddly specific genres, or foreign artists.  In fact, most people have heard the music that I enjoy.  They just don't realize that they're listening to it, because they're too focused on what else is going on at the time.  There are others like me, but we make a small percentage of the music consumer population.  Sometimes people notice, and a piece of music becomes iconic - but only a phrase or two, never the entire song.

I am talking about wordless, orchestral movie soundtracks.  Well, TV show soundtracks too.  Anyone can hum the Star Wars theme, especially the Imperial March, but not as many could tell me the composer - fewer could name his other works, fewer still could tell me the names of the tracks on the album.  Some people like One Direction or P!nk, I like Michael Giacchino, John Williams, and Alan Silvestri.  Some people like "We Are Young" or "Want U Back," I like "Main Title/Rebel Blockade Runner" and "The Quidditch Match."

Granted, I like pop music too.  Most of the pop songs I've names, I can only name because they're on my iPod right now.  But I just like them.  Like I've said before, I'm a nerd.  One of the things that defines nerds is that when we like stuff, we really like stuff.  I am ambivalent about pop music.  I love soundtrack music.

The reason soundtrack music was created at all was to make the audience feel a certain emotion.  When I was little, I watched the behind-the-scenes of an animated movie.  One of the features was about the score.  At one point, they played a certain scene without music.  Then they played it again with the music.  The effect was incredible - it went from slightly amusing to thrilling.  This effect is one of the reasons I enjoy soundtrack music.  The ability of music to manipulate human psychology is astounding.  Music can sound like heartbeats, talking, screaming, birds singing, or anything that appeals to our instincts to make us feel the way the composer wants us to.

When music plays from my favorite movies, I can usually tell where in the movie it is.  I can quote the movie at the right points while listening, as any of my friends will tell you.  I can relive the movie or TV show without wasting battery or requiring 100% of my time and energy.

I also love the orchestra side of this music.  To be a musician in an orchestra would be amazing, if I was actually musically talented, knew how to play an instrument, and found an orchestra to be in.  I love listening to the different layers of the music, relishing the deep sounds of the cellos or the sweet singing of the flutes.  Every time I listen to a song, I can hear a new part of it, some quiet instrument that makes the whole song sound better.

Sometimes I pretend that I am conducting the orchestra.  Some people do the air guitar; I do the air baton.

This has been a post.

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Convinced of the merits of Soundtrack Music?  Don't know where to find any? Here are the highlights of my favorite albums (these will be heavy in the action-y music and light on the romantic or sad, since that's how I like it):

• How to Train Your Dragon, soundtrack by John Powell: 
• "Test Drive" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IBlQj2U5kU  Maybe it was because this was accompanied by excellent animation and [the animation equivalent of] cinematography, and was a positive turning point in the plot, but this is probably my favorite of all time.
• "See You Tomorrow" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4o5-f6dGAg Immediately, the lighthearted theme from this montage makes the listener smile.  I certainly always do.

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, soundtrack by Nicholas Hooper: 
• "Fireworks" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRVVeMZdVZQ I have four words for you: Fred and George Weasley.  A mischievous, victorious song, good enough by itself - and then the electric guitar starts.
• "Dumbledore's Army" (start this one at 1 minute in, it's pretty boring before then) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfiryQrX0BU  Whimsical, magical, hopeful, this reflects the scene and the franchise from which it came.

• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, soundtrack by John Williams: 
• "The Throne Room/End Title" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5N6_NWtVxY  A beautiful , victorious ending topped with the main themes and a flourish.  Sounds like a parade.

• Avatar: the Last Airbender, soundtrack by The Track Team: 
• "Into the Earth Kingdom" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDYNpssqz_U The music to a fight scene.  Begins slow as the group of heroes plans and heads to the fight; when they get there, the music can only be described as awesome.
• "Final Agni Kai" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFnnNijn_OI This scene would have been emotional enough without the music.  Sister and brother, the prodigy princess now slipping into insanity and the banished scarred prince, duel for the throne in the series finale.  Listen to this song for instant sadness.  For the full scene, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCXHi0kFucc

• The Legend of Korra, soundtrack by The Track Team: 
• "The Rally" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0095lSk0g8 Starts low, slow, and creepy.  Becomes mysterious, suspenseful, and thrilling.  I dare you to listen to this and not become curious about The Legend of Korra.
• "Firebending Training" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuJOWh8aZ6U This is how we meet Korra: taking the test for the official title of Firebending Master.  The music is as light-footed and powerful as the acrobatic fire-blasting stunts she displays in the sequence.

• Doctor Who, soundtrack by Murray Gold and the BBC Orchestra:
• "Doctor Who Theme" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CYDgezeQas Sounds like a Sonic Screwdriver and as iconic as the Doctor himself.  Futuristic, positive, and a little crazy, it reflects the show and the main character - which is reason enough for me to love it.
• "Martha's Theme" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REwOudgPQTI  To describe this in two words, I would say "hauntingly beautiful."  I find myself humming this at the randomest times.  

• The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams: 
• "The Blitz, 1940" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0i99VyZCg8 I talked earlier about music evoking other sounds.  This is the best example: racing heartbeats, air raid sirens, passing planes, and a military march comprise this piece from the movie adaptation of Narnia.
• "The Battle" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zoAhKNwnfQ&feature=relmfu Another action sequence, this one is best described as a grand, epic fanfare to the heroes taking their country back from the White Witch.  Goosebump-worthy.

• The Incredibles, soundtrack by Michael Giacchino:
• "Missile Lock" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N2RFMtJ8Xc This song is from a very intense scene and sounds accordingly.  The drumbeat, brass and strings crying the urgency of the situation make this an excellent song.
• "100 Mile Dash" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IekwaN1xCaU&NR=1 This one is from a chase scene.  It follows one of two superhero siblings: the super fast runner.  This song, like the rest of the soundtrack, channels James Bond in sound.