Crippie Reviews Les Mis!

Happy Holidays Y'all!

I hope everyone has been having an awesome Christmas week. I spent Christmas Day in the manner that any Jew would... at the movies. I saw Les Miserables with my family. Figured I might as well give a review for you guys.

First off... I've seen the show on Broadway, and my family is mainly comprised of theatre nerds. Now on to the review!

Holy crap this movie was long. 2 hours and 40 minutes to be exact... but it was a long ass show too, so it kinda comes with the territory. That being said I LOVED the movie. It stayed pretty damn true to show, which I approve of. I think the story transitioned to the screen relatively well... it was a little confusing at times... but then again so was the show. Most of the acting was incredible. Hugh Jackman was a convincing Jean Valjean, even though he couldn't hit all of the notes in "Bring Him Home" it was still passable. Amanda Seyfried and Samantha Barks played the parts Cosette and Eponine well... even though there really was never a whole lot to their characters. Oh well, Eponine didn't screw up "On My Own" so that's all that really matters. Eddie Redmayne was rather adorable as Marius, and he freaking nailed "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" (one of my favorite songs from the show). Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter played the Thenardier's in a delightful fashion. When I saw the show I thought those characters were really stupid and very forced comic relief. "Master of the House" was a surprisingly entertaining number in the movie, one I didn't particularly care for in the show. Of course Anne Hathaway was fan-freaking-tastic as Fantine. She added so much depth and realism to the part, it's amazing. When I saw the show I wasn't all that impressed with Fantine's character. I was like "ok, she's a prostitute... and now she's sad". Her performance was definitely a highlight. Also, the kids who played young Cosette and Gavroche were surprisingly good. Child actors can be hit and miss, but these guys sang and acted very well. Also, all of the student revolutionaries were adorable and I want to cuddle them all.

As far as acting goes, as awesome as everyone else was... RUSSELL CROWE SUCKED SO FREAKING MUCH! His voice was just not suited for Javert. Not at all. Most of his songs were terrible. Also, it appears that he cannot act and sing at the same time. Which is a problem. On the bright side, he didn't completely mess up "Confrontation" (my favorite song from the show). Hey Russell, take a cue from and NPH and put a little feeling into the role.

One of the great things about the movie versa the show is that in the movie the actors were allowed to make the songs more "realistic" and less "pretty". Definitely brought more emotion into the story as a whole (EXCEPT FOR RUSSELL CROWE DAMN IT). The thing was visually stunning also. Lots of interesting shots and camera angles. Not to mention the pretty typography whenever they had a time change.

Overall, if you enjoy musical theatre and Les Mis in general... GO SEE IT! TOTALLY WORTH IT! If thought the movie was about the French Revolution and some whores, well... then you might wanna skip it. My dad saw it was us and he HATED IT... SO MUCH. He had no idea what was going on, or what the point of it was. He may forgive us eventually for making him go ;)

In the meantime I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week. I'll be spending tomorrow in a car, going on a road trip to see some family and a few cripples! I should be able to post while I'm away.

Crippie's Tippie - If you don't like musicals... don't see Les Mis... YOU WILL HATE IT

A Grand Day For Driving

Yo!

Happy July everybody!!! I hope everyone had a lovely Sunday. My day went very well. I saw a local production of "A Grand Night For Singing", which is a revue of Rogers & Hammerstein songs. The production was fantastic and I enjoyed every minute of it. I also have to mention that I DROVE TO AND FROM THE THEATRE!!! YAY CRIPPIE!!! I know it might not seem like a huge deal but I had never driven on those roads before. I managed the to drive both ways without a panic attack and with only minor swearing! Granted, they're were people in the car with me, so that helped my anxiety of not knowing where I was... although it heightened my anxiety about killing everyone in the car in a fiery blaze. Maybe after a few more trips to this location I'll be comfortable enough to drive there by myself!

While I am making strides in lessening my driving anxiety, there is still a loooooooooooot of room for improvement. I'm trying to figure out the best way lessen my anxieties. Technically I know how to drive on highways and all that jazz... so it's not like I need to take lessons. Maybe I should just go driving with a GPS one day and see where that takes me. I drove today because I was forced to do so. Perhaps necessity will drive me to suck it up and drive to new places? Do any of my awesome readers have any tippies for driving anxiety?

I asked Nellie what she thought about my driving situation, her response was this...

"Why yes I would love some watermelon! Wait... that wasn't what you asked me? Oh well, everything sounds like 'would you like watermelon' to me. Speaking of which, I really want watermelon"

All of the piggies have been in "GIVE ME SOME DAMN WATERMELON" mode for the past couple of days. We kinda have to be careful. If someone in the house opens the fridge at 2am for some late night nosh, one of the pigs *coughAGGIEcough* starts screaming bloody murder. That one pig triggers all of the pigs to start screaming. As much as it breaks their little hearts, we cannot give them watermelon whenever they want it. If we did that they'd be conditioned to scream whenever they "need" watermelon, which is always ;). 

Crippie's Tippie - Necessity is the mother of learning how to suck it up

It's Getting Hot In Here...

Howdy!

Holy moly it's really freakin' hot. Crippie hopes that all of my lovely readers are keeping cool this weekend. I usually don't mind the heat, but it's become a bit of nuisance since I've been using heat packs. It's like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place... without the heat pack I'm achy and cool, with the heat pack I'm in less pain but overheating. *Sigh* I've decided that the overheating problem was easier to treat... so I just drink cold beverages and things of that nature to compensate. 

This weather has not been agreeing with the tumors either, Fanny in particular. She's been making my hip ache like a mofo. Have you ever had something ache to a point where it becomes really painful? That's Fanny. My hip almost constantly has a dull aching feeling. I eagerly await to find out when this bastard will be removed. 

Apart from this lovely weather, Crippie's been having a good weekend thus far. I was actually a social creature today. A friend came over for a pizza and Daria marathon. Daria is one of my all time favorite TV shows, people compare me to the main character all the time :D. So Crippie had a lovely time with that. Tomorrow (today, whatever) Crippie is going to see another show! Gotta love theatre season! I'm going to see Summerstar Theatre's production of  "A Grand Night For Singing". Crippie loves living in an area with such wonderful community theatre companies. All of my local readers should totally go see this show, I hear it's wonderful. And all of my non-local readers should support their local community theatre troups! 

In sleeping news, last night I tried taking online surveys to get tired. Worked pretty well if I do say so myself. They're boring as hell and you can earn a few extra bucks. It's like being paid to fall asleep! I was going to do likewise tonight, but Crippie got distracted with pictures of cats. I should be able to fall asleep after I finish posting this.

Before I leave y'all for the night, my guinea pigs have a quick piggie tippie for beating the heat... WATERMELON. My piggies love watermelon more than life itself and devour it like it's laced with crack or something. It's also great for hot weather because it's cold and refreshing. Here's a little video to prove my point. (I don't give my pigs this much watermelon, they get tiny pieces)

Crippie's Tippie - SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL THEATRES!!!! 

Crippie is a Model of a Modern Major General

Ohai!

How are all of my comrades today? Crippie has had a very busy day. Before I go into detail, Helen has been very angry with me and she wants me to make a correction to my last post. Crippie didn't mention that Helen helped me with that little photo shoot of my stuff. Don't believe me? See it for yourself...

Hey, helping Crippie out is hard work. Moving on, Crippie's day was super eventful because I got to see my sister in a local production of "The Pirates or Penzance". It's a hilarious show about special Pirates. For all my local readers, Crippie 110% recommends this show. The actors are amazing, the production is incredible, and it's in a fabulous black-box theatre with a pizza parlor in the lobby! You can't beat that! Seriously y'all... I've had to see my fair share of shows because my sister was in 'em and this is definitely in the upper echelon of shows. I'm probably going to be seeing the show several times this weekend. If any of you guys are in the Newburgh, NY area you should totally come!

Crippie's Tippie - SEE THE SHOW!

Crippie The Theatre Nerd

Ohai

First off... CRIPPIE MISSED THE LAST THE DAY OF PASSOVER...  I'M SORRRYYYYYY. Crippie's lack of sleep usually catches up with her on Saturdays. This was literally Crippie's thought process yesterday "Must... blog... last day of passover... must post... more Prince of Egypt songs..." and then I passed out for the night. Fun fact: Crippie dreamed that she posted the last Prince of Egypt song and then a bunch of lawyers came to my door and told me to stop posting Prince of Egypt songs. I told them "BUT IT'S PASSOVER!" and since they were all Jews they let me go with a warning. I guess I'm kinda a racist in my dreams ;)
Moving on, Crippie had a super awesome fun day. My mom and sister were performing in a fundraiser for a local theatre company. Apart from the general awesomeness of seeing them sing Crippie also got to see some Broadway and Off-Broadway actors sing! I even got to talk to some of them! My family entire family had a very pleasant conversation with someone who played Javert in "Les Miserables". I took some videos and photos but I don't think I can legally share them with you guys :(
Crippie absolutely loves days like this because, well, Crippie loves the theatre. It's probably because damn near everyone in Crippie's family is a broadway dork, from my Grandma who took classes with Lehmen Engel all the way to my 13-year-old cousin who has memorized the soundtrack "The Book of Mormon". It really is a shame that Crippie has zero talent when it comes to the stage. Don't believe me? Well, I'll make you all a deal... once I reach 50 followers on Google Friend Connect I will post a video of me singing show tunes with a guinea pig. Deal? *Shakes on it*

 In the meantime, here's a quick little survey of Crippie's Favorite Broadway things...
Favorite Show - Assassins (I just love the general idea of "LET'S MAKE A MUSICAL ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO SHOOT PRESIDENTS!")
Least Favorite Show - Carousel ("That was a really nice clam bake" REALLY!?!?!)
Favorite Composer/Lyricist - Stephen Sondheim
Least Favorite Composer/Lyricist - Andrew Lloyd Weber (the only good thing he did was Evita)
Favorite Broadway Actor - NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, and Mandy Patinkin
Favorite Broadway Actress - Bernadette Peters and Angela Lansbury
Favorite Broadway Song - waaaaaaayyyy to many to chose but I love "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music"
Favorite Broadway Show That Was Turned Into A Movie - The movie/musical version of "Hairspray" was fabulous, it cut out all the unnecessary camp
Least Favorite Show That Was Turned Into A Movie - Mamma Mia... nuff said
Favorite Movie Turned Into A Show - Once (probably because I kinda know one of the kid's in the show)
Least Favorite Movie Turned Into A Show - Sister Act (I LOVE SISTER ACT II... DON'T RUIN THIS STUFF FOR ME)
Favorite Tony Host - Neil Patrick Harris

Crippie's Tippie - Support "Just Off Broadway", they're a brilliant theatre troop!