Hamlet
I went to an awesome production of Hamlet at an outdoor amphitheater with a group of women from my ward. It was such a fun time!! We had a picnic dinner before the play and then the play itself was very cool. I loved the set design (there were these huge glass boxes filled with smoke that would light up with different colors and moved around during the different scenes - you probably would have to see it to get the effect). I thought the whole thing was very creative. Hamlet was a wack-a-do
odle from the very beginning. The guy who played him is named Jeffrey Carlson and he had the weirdest/wackiest voice - to me it was a cross between Laurence Olivier and Bobcat Goldthwait if you can imagine that! I had to wikipedia this guy when I got home to see what his country of origin was because his voice was that strange and I found out he grew up in Long Beach, CA which is about 5 minutes from where I grew up so there really is no logical reason for him to sound the way he does - other than the fact that he's a wack-a-doodle! I thought his crazy voice added to the psychology of the play and thought as an actor that he did a great job. Ophelia was very good too - her whole "gone crazy" scene actually brought tears to my eyes. I went to Loves Labors Lost last year by this same Shakespeare company and am amazed by how contemporary and creative they make all their productions. Impressive.The Host (p
ossible spoiler alert)Okay, so I finally finished The Host by Stephenie Meyers and I'm not going to sugar coat it - it really wasn't stellar in my opinion. You must take into account that I am not a sci-fi fan and contrary to what anyone tells you it is oh-so-sci-fi. When I first started reading, say the first 20 pages or so, I thought I wasn't going to finish it... Then I got to the word "cryotank" and started laughing and put the book down. I seriously didn't read anymore for a couple of weeks. In that time Adrian read the whole thing and enjoyed it - he loves sci-fi. So at his urging that I would like it once I got "into it" I picked the book back up a few days ago and trudged through the first 100 pages... Then it got tolerable. By about page 250 I was actually interested and wanted to finish it and stayed up late on Friday night doing just that. So it did grab me in the last half. I don't want to give anything away, but I am a little concerned that Stephenie Meyers might have some sort of father-figure issue. I got creeped out by the ages of some of her romantic figures. With the whole Twilight series you don't think too much about Bella's age in comparison to Edward because he is technically 17 (and a gorgeous dreamy vampire) and it's also a book geared toward young adults. In this one I just wondered why in the world she couldn't just make every one's ages be socially acceptable. I mean it's not as if these are real people she is writing about; she could have made the ages anything she wanted to. Probably 'nuff said on that. Overall the writing was more story-tellingish to me and the world she created was not my favorite place to be. I love Forks and Edward and that's why I spend lots of time reading the Twilight series. I did not love The Host world - it reminded me of The Giver by Lois Lowry (another sci-fi non-favorite that I have read) with some lessons on food storage thrown in. Bottom line I guess is that it was not the book for me, but if you like sci-fi you just might enjoy it.
8 comments:
Yeah, I liked The Host well enough but it's not a world I'd want to keep revisiting. Who did you think was too old for the women? I thought the boys were each in their twenties. I found myself staying up late to read it, but I haven't thought about it at all since I finished reading it. Not like Twilight, which I couldn't get out of my head!
I'm sorry, the phrase wack-a-doodle slays me. I love you Jenni and I wish I'd been seeing that wack-a-doodle with you. NEXT YEAR!~~~
Thanks for your review on The Host. I think I'll reread Twilight again. So glad you had fun with your wack-a-doodle actor. Sounds like a great time.
Oh man, I am going to have a hard time reading it now. I am so sad that I didn't go to the Hamlet thing. My husband actually got off work early enough that I could have joined you, but decided not to wear him out completely. Should have done it... oh well. Sounds like the wack a doodle was a little over the top anyway. :-)
Ummm . . .no thanks on The Host. Also, I'm glad Hamlet was good! I am sad I had to miss it this year. Seems like everyone has said that. Who went??? Crazy. Anyway, I really did want to see Hamlet. I would have cried with you Jenni. But there are mother figure issues in that, and what with S.M.'s father figure issues, oh dear. Lots of issues!
Bummer about The Host. I've been undecided about whether to read it or not, so maybe I won't rush out to get it. I'll save my eyes for more Edward to August. :)
Thanks for the heads up on The Host! I have been wondering about it and was ify on wiether or not I would like it. I don't have my hopes up, not a big fan of sci-fi either. I find that I either blog or read and have a hard time doing both.
thanks for the hamlet review. i never got around to writing one, but if i had, i would have mentioned his voice too! even by the end of the play, it still surprised me! it just didn't fit his face. but it was so fun to see and have some time to chat with you, too!
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