Dead Man's Chest

[lady_karelia]

The weather sux. It's downright oppressive, with about 70% humidity, rain and thunderstorm lingering nearby but not quite reaching here. And it's damn hot still, although it's supposed to cool down a little bit over the next few days. We'll see.

We went to see Dead Man's Chest last night. I don't think it was due to the heat of the cinema (no a/c) that I did not like it. Johnny Depp has always held both fascination and repulsion, although when I learned that Nestlé were heavily involved with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I really lost any interest in him. In this latest of his, I simply found I can't be bothered to find any reason to like him, and his acting skills really didn't persuade me on this occasion. Keira Knightley? Who let her loose on Hollywood??? *shakes_head* And Orlando Bloom was somehow just misplaced. Maybe it was the director who didn't do as well as he could have done, I don't know. There were no acting skills nor any plot that had me raise my eyebrow. Not a movie I'll bother watching again. But then, I'm not really a movie watching person. I tend to prefer plot over action, and even more so, acting skills over action, any day.

There are, of course, some movies I'm looking forward to watching. One is, naturally, The Perfume. I read the book when it came out, and it was at a time when I still enjoyed reading German, so I read it in its original version. I was captivated entirely, to this day it is one of the most riveting reads I can think of. Another that has grabbed my attention recently is Freedom To Fascism. Anyone who is not already a complete sheep should see it, I think.

And now I'll return to melting some more.

Comments

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

By the way, I love that you're listening to the vengance aria. Gives me goosebumps every time I hear it!

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

:-) You know, I only have one RL friend who appreciates it, and you're the first internet friend who does. Which version(s) do you like? The one I have on the computer now is Wilma Lipp. It's good enough to listen to over and over again, as is O Isis and Osiris sung by Kurt Böhme from the same CD. My favourite one is one I saw/heard at the London Colliseum in the mid-90s. It had a wonderful stage, very ancient Egypt set, and the most perfect Queen of the Night yet. I also still vividly remember visiting the puppet version of The Magic Flute in Salzburg when I was about 10; the only one I remember from that was Fischer-Dieskau and I'm not even sure if it's spelled correctly, lol. *looks_sheepish* Yeah, I've seen it fourteen times altogether in about four different countries.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Oddly, one of the best queens I've heard is on the film of "Amadeus," though you only get to hear a snippet of it in the film. Neither of my recordings (Vienna, NY) have a highly memorable queen, and the live versions I've seen (Chicago, LA, San Diego x 2) have had amazing and precise coloratura, but never enough weight in the lower register for my taste. I must look up Ms. Lipp! The one performance that stands out for me has to be Florence Foster Jenkins's unforgettable rendition (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003F97/sr=1-1/qid=1154132285/ref=sr_1_1/002-4406172-9154443?ie=UTF8&s=music). Hee hee.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

FFJ is too much, LOL. I don't know how on earth she could be on a CD.

If you want the Lipp version, I'd be happy to email it to you. Just let me know your email addy.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

FFJ was sort of like the William Hung of her day. This biography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins) is pretty good.

Oh yes, please send me some Mozart! My e-mail (unsurprisingly) is mundungus42@yahoo.com Thnk you so much! If you do, I'll send you the Happy Chouffe Song!