V5.0 "Life is a lot like jazz. It's best when you improvise." --George Gershwin

scream_the_song @ 2005-04-21T22:15:00

2005-04-22T02:16:06Z

MOVED TO _the_audacity

ADD IT, PLEASE! This journal will no longer be used. SIGNING OFF!

scream_the_song @ 2005-04-21T21:36:00

2005-04-22T01:37:18Z

I'm sick again. Boo.

There are lots of things going on, but alas, I am too drowsy to speak of any of it at the moment.

This is my last entry in this journal. I'm making a new one. Check back for my new username, plz. =)

scream_the_song @ 2005-04-17T20:09:00

2005-04-18T01:03:23Z

Well, I never expected to spend four days in Virginia Beach and not even set one toe on the actual beach.

Luckily, however, we ended up having enormous amounts of fun, regardless of our lack of beach time. I started writing a detailed, day-by-day synopsis of our trip, but I figured that a) It's not really necessary, and b) It was all way too much fun to live it all over again. It wouldn't be the same. Anyways, suffice it to say that the performances rocked, Busch Gardens was phenomenal, and we kicked some major posterior region as far as awards go. I screamed myself hoarse and laughed way too much, but it was unbelievably worth the efforts.

I just can't believe it's over. Our last spring trip, ever.

The class of '05 is truly on its way out.

scream_the_song @ 2005-04-12T23:09:00

2005-04-13T03:21:25Z

Four birthday cakes. FOUR. People are too nice.

Aside from the plethora of cake (which I still haven't gotten sick of, and don't think I ever will, as I am a raging cake addict), the birthday weekend was enjoyable. Thanks to all for the cakes, cards, wishes, and other forms of good will.

Anyhoo, prom. Yeah, it's pretty complex. Angela and I typed up an actual itinerary today, and it looked like the battle plan for a covert military operation. Then again, it's me we're talking about, and I do have this slight tendency to beat the snot out of every little detail, especially with large-scale events such as prom. With about three weeks left, though, I think we'll be able to pull it together. Let's just hope that our group can avoid any major blowouts between dates that would result in the disintegration of all our reservations and proper planning.

AND........

(dot dot dot)

We're going to Virginia Beach on Thursday! WOOT WOOT!

In case you're new to my life, our music department goes on an annual "Spring Trip" in order to compete in an out-of-state festival competition and win lots of trophies, while managing to have lots of good, not-so-clean fun. (Just kidding about the not-so-clean part.) And when I say "music department", I mean EVERYONE: the choir, the orchestra (multiple ensembles), and all the various bands. Pretty hefty bunch. Which equates to TONS of fun. This year we're going to Virginia Beach for four days, and I'll be sharing a hotel room with three of the craziest females in the universe (crazy in a good way, of course): Kelly, Angela, and Jena. It promises to be a ridiculously good time, so hang tight for copious amounts of photographs and horrifying anecdotes upon my return.

scream_the_song @ 2005-04-07T19:18:00

2005-04-07T23:21:17Z

Well, I've had an interesting week so far. And by interesting, I mean RIDICULOUSLY STRESSFUL AND EXASPERATING.

To be fair, everything was all right once I pulled two all-nighters in a row to finish my senior portfolio project. I cannot express how relieved I am that it's out of the way, finally.

Today, I watched Napoleon Dynamite for the thousandth time with Danny and Angela. Ah, what a piece of cinematic genius.

And tomorrow is my day of birth, whoo hoo! Later, friends.

scream_the_song @ 2005-04-04T16:26:00

2005-04-04T20:26:56Z

Spring break is over.

RIP Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

His funeral is on my birthday. =(

scream_the_song @ 2005-03-30T16:13:00

2005-03-30T21:19:20Z

Excerpt of the AIM convo I just had with Emily (who's in France for spring break):

huahineblue: so how's spring break?
goldeneye 4888: stressful
goldeneye 4888: surprising, i know :-/
huahineblue: :-/
huahineblue: doesn't your robot control center have a break mode?
huahineblue: lol
goldeneye 4888: hah
goldeneye 4888: you'd think that, wouldn't you

Well, I've finished the back side of five t-shirts. The bad news is that they need to be completed by next Wednesday, and I still have my senior portfolio to finish. Sleeping is overrated anyway.

I pinched this off Danny again.

scream_the_song @ 2005-03-28T15:45:00

2005-03-28T20:54:04Z

I have been most effective in combatting this whole deluge of spring break homework. So far I've basically completed my research presentation tri-fold. I still have to do my senior portfolio presentation, which should take ALOT longer than the first tri-fold, as well as make 20 drumline tshirts for our performance next Wednesday.

The good thing about that is that I can have a new tshirt for myself too--WOOT!

About this whole senior portfolio presentation. For those of you who are interested, this is what the project entails: basically, we have to make a tri-fold board that represents a thematic element of our high school career. This element has to essentially define our journey through high school. As you can imagine, this leaves us with a lot of leeway. Don't ask what my idea is, because I haven't come up with one yet that I don't hate. In addition, we have to make a 5-7 minute presentation explaining the board. There's also some guff about artifacts and reflections, but I don't remember the specifications exactly and the rubric is in my binder in the other room, and plus it's quite boring, really.

Now that I've thrown a horrendous run-on sentence your way, I believe I'm going to go practice some snare technique with my newly recovered sticks (which were for some reason in the Lost-and-Found in the band room--I suspect that one of the Tenor Twins took them without telling me and left them on the floor).

EDIT: I updated my West Side Story photo album: right heah. That's all the WSS pics I have, so there it is.

scream_the_song @ 2005-03-20T21:27:00

2005-03-21T02:25:22Z

And is it weird that I'm not looking forward to spring break at all?

scream_the_song @ 2005-03-20T18:07:00

2005-03-21T02:22:48Z

I believe a weekend update is in order.

On Friday, our band went to the District Band Festival, which is an adjudicated performance that is basically the biggest event of our wind ensemble year. To offer a little bit of background, our band had never done spectacularly at festival prior to Dr. Fischer's debut (and keep in mind that I'm putting things mildly--we've done ABYSMALLY in the past). The way that scores work is like this: three judges award you a rating from I to IV based on a thousand different factors, and if you get an overall rating of I, you qualify for the state band festival and everybody throws you a party and sacrifices babies in your favor. Well, not really, but it's a really big accomplishment.

So that's festival in a nutshell. Anyway, we've been working our derrieres off and finally managed to earn an overall rating of I on Friday.

My senior year rules so far.

Thank you.

scream_the_song @ 2005-03-15T20:33:00

2005-03-16T01:37:19Z

Well, it's over.

We sold out every showing.

We freakin' kick ass.

I'm too drained to make any intelligent remarks, so please check out my updated photo album here and take a look at the "West Side Story" album.

ME WANTS ICE CREAM! Goodbye.

scream_the_song @ 2005-03-11T15:17:00

2005-03-11T20:21:46Z

Time for a quick update:

Opening night was phenomenal. The house was completely packed; I think we might have sold out basically before the doors were opened. And not only were the Cappies there, so was the Lieutenant Governor!

Now, I'm not a big fan of Republicans, but I was in awe. He even addressed the entire group after the show and told us how impressed he was. I took pictures like a crazy person the whole time.

This is shaping up to be an incredible experience. If you live within 300 miles, you need to make it a point to come check it out. Theater doesn't get any better than this, kids.

scream_the_song @ 2005-03-05T22:01:00

2005-03-06T03:08:15Z

Hello, still here and truckin'. Hope everyone's lives are going well.

The other day at rehearsal, we got bored from all the down time and started making signs. I made one that said "Hi Mr. Twigg (a.k.a. 'Uncle Rico')", one that said "Hi Dr. Fischer (a.k.a. 'Daddyo')", one that simply said "WOOT", and one that said "How's the action on your mother's mattress?"

(That's a line from the show. I unfortunately did not make that up myself.)

That last one posed a problem, as I made the mistake of flashing it at Amy Lather at one point. Amy is, most upsettingly, the orchestra teacher's daughter and it was therefore in retrospect a most unfortunate decision to direct that sign towards her, as Ms. Lather is also playing in the pit orchestra and was seated merely two seats from Amy. One can only hope that Ms. Lather didn't see. *crosses fingers*

Much else has happened, but this will suffice for now.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-28T22:00:00

2005-03-01T03:08:55Z

Ah, snow. Nothing like going to bed after a puzzling and perplexing Oscar night and waking up to find everything covered in snow.

(Brief aside: Okay, so who know that Million Dollar Baby would take Best Picture? Not. Freaking. I. The other big wins were pretty predictable, and a big YAY for Jamie Foxx!)

Today it snowed for basically the whole day, which was fun and exciting. Especially fun and exciting was the snowball fight I had with my sister. I would like to say that I won, except for the fact that my dad made a surprise appearance and pelted both Tara and myself without mercy, so it's pretty safe to say that my dad took the snowball fight trophy this evening.

Still, I hope we get back to school at some point in the near future. Our West Side Story rehearsal situation is getting desperate, with the show just ten days away. This will in all likelihood be my last coherent entry for the next two weeks or so, since I have a minimum of three hours of WSS time, in addition to school, every day from now until the show ends. Don't think for a moment that I'm not happy about that. (That wasn't sarcasm.)

I also watched Shrek 2 today (anyone's guess why I hadn't seen it until now; it's so my kind of movie). I LOVED it. I have vowed to a buy a cat, despite my allergies, and dress it up like Puss-in-Boots.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-26T18:57:00

2005-02-27T00:00:43Z

I just installed the most worthless software on my computer. I was looking through the box belonging to my dad's digital camera, and I was delighted to see a disc labelled "Photoshop". Thinking that at last I would have access to a decent photo-editing program, I installed it--only to have my hopes severely dashed upon finding that it was version TWO POINT OH. How unbelievably discouraging. It basically only allows cropping, auto levels fix, and red eye modification. Joyful.

Ugh.

I really, really, really need to get over this blasted flu. I haven't left my house. SINCE. TUESDAY. GRRR.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-24T15:44:00

2005-02-24T20:54:34Z

I am both pleased and sorry to bring back the Harry Potter Pants Game for your viewing pleasure/displeasure. I was honestly laughing out loud at some of these.

P.S. These only make sense if you've read the Harry Potter books at least once.

Now the burning feeling was in his pants too. He wished Ron would look away.
--Goblet of Fire

Ron was muttering to himself, 'Take its pants off.'
--Prisoner of Azkaban

"You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody," he [Snape] said, in a soft and dangerous voice, "as you've searched my pants pretty thoroughly yourself."
--Goblet of Fire

Hermione looked sadly at her tiny pants.
--Goblet of Fire

"What did the Dark Lord take from you?" said Moody. "Pants," said Harry...
--Goblet of Fire

"You see, the Dementor only lowers its pants to use its last and worst weapon."
--Lupin, from Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry had no idea how long a bath it would take to work out the secret of the golden Pants.
--Goblet of Fire

They returned their books to their Pants, Ron looking excited.
--Goblet of Fire

"I'll take a look inside your Pants and tell where you belong!"
--The Sorting Hat, from Sorceror's Stone

Harry gulped. "I just wondered if I could have my pants back."
--Harry to Snape, from Sorceror's Stone

"Professor Snape couldn't bear being in your father's pants."
--Dumbledore, from Sorceror's Stone

"I have form only when I can share another's pants...but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and pants."
--Voldemort, from Sorceror's Stone

"Ah, starting Divination, are you?", said the manager, stripping off his pants and leading Harry into the back of the shop.
--WTF?! From Prisoner of Azkaban

"Well he should have some chocolate at the very least",said Madam Pomfrey,who was now trying to peer into Harry`s pants.
--Prisoner of Azkaban

"Now untie him, Wormtail, and give him back his pants."
--Goblet of Fire

"I seem to remember telling you two that we would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," Said Dumbledore... "Which just goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our pants!"
--Chamber of Secrets

Harry had taken up his place wizard school, where he and his pants were famous...
--Chamber of Secrets

Harry started stuffing everything feverishly into his ripped pants, desperate to get away before Malfoy could hear his musical valentine.
--Chamber of Secrets

"You could be great, you know, it's all here in your pants..."
--The Sorting Hat, from Chamber of Secrets

"Can't hurt to have a poke around,' said Harry, dropping his pants and getting to his hands and knees."
--OH MY! From Chamber of Secrets

"Go - cupboard - stay - no pants."
--Uncle Vernon, from Sorceror's Stone

And, my personal favorite:
Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry's pants.
--From Prisoner of Azkaban

That's that. I can never resist the pants game. Until next time, kids.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-24T14:18:00

2005-02-24T19:26:24Z

I feel as if little hobgoblins with pickaxes have bombarded the epithelium of my throat cavity and released torrents of flaming mucous into my sinuses.

Flu = EVIL.

I missed school yesterday, after suffering through a miserable day on Tuesday (and giving up before the end of the day--I missed a West Side Story rehearsal, AND a drumline rehearsal yesterday). Today was, thankfully, a snow day--FIRST ONE THIS YEAR, and most likely the last--so that should ease up the makeup work load. I won't be seen NEAR that school, regardless of the weather, at least until Monday.

The bad news is that I won't be able to come to Exposure at Nation on Saturday. I was really looking forward to seeing it. Blast and bebother. The good news is that starting next week, I'll actually be able to drive to and park at school. FINALLY. I have to be the LAST senior at my school to get my license, but then I am also the youngest, so no worries.

That is all. I'm currently taking a brief snack break during my obligatory sick-day viewing of Return of the King. Leave me comments to make me smile, because I have had little contact with the outside world for the past two days and am starting to feel like a Cloister Monk.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-20T19:02:00

2005-02-21T00:22:01Z

Can I just say that if you are not planning to or have no method of seeing West Side Story performed by my school on March 10-13, you need to find a way to rectify that. Immediately. It is going to be unbelievable.

Yesterday we rehearsed with the cast on stage and, although it was rocky at times, it's obvious that the whole thing is really starting to come together. Even for the people who aren't absolutely head-over-heels insanely in love with the music and the overall production as I am, the energy and the level of talent is so intense and inspiring that it's hard not to enjoy every second of the experience.

Anyway, I am now providing a slightly more detailed update as promised (or threatened, depending on how you look at it). On Tuesday, we had the inductions ceremony for NHS. This basically required most of the officers to sit on the stage with the administrators while Ashley (the president) and a few others made lots of boring speeches. Then each of the preliminary members had to walk across the stage, shake about 98 people's hands, and get their certificates/membership cards/other NHS paraphernalia. I am sorry to say that throughout this entire experience Joel and I were consumed with laughing fits. We simply could not contain ourselves. The event was very solemn and highbrow, but neither of us could resist whispering snarky remarks to Ashley in an attempt to make her laugh, or interjecting with our own additions during Mr. Ryan's speech. How mature. In my defense, I had to make a speech towards the end, so all the laughing fits helped me relax. So I delivered my own boring speech and then we all went and ate food while listening to the jazz combo that I was supposed to obtain yet forgot to follow up on. It was for all intensive purposes a miracle that they were there, so THANK YOU, JAZZ COMBO!

Wednesday was Danny/Angela/Rhea day, as was last Wednesday (the day of the infamous merry-go-round incident). We went to Danny's house and made brownies. Danny tripped over his dog several times. Then we went back to school and attempted to watch Napoleon Dynamite on Angela's laptop, but failed due to technical difficulties. This caused much consternation, but we got over it and went to drumline rehearsal, where the usual tomfoolery occurred.

Thursday. Not much to say, mostly because I am becoming bored with myself. Same goes for Friday. I fell asleep almost as soon as I got home (around 6) due to sheer exhaustion. Saturday, as you know, I took my license test and passed! So yay. Finally, took me long enough, etc, etc. Many other things have happened, but as I make it an effort to restrain from delving too deeply into my more personal thoughts whilst the entire world is able to view them, I shall leave it at that. I do believe it will snow tonight, WOOT! I bid you all adieu.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-20T09:46:00

2005-02-20T14:48:03Z

Well, hello. This week has been quite--and when I say quite, I'm grossly understating--busy/exhausting. No time for a lengthy update, but here's the synopsis: NHS Inductions went well, Napoleon Dynamite is awesome, West Side Story is going to kick ass, and I GOT MY LICENSE!

More later, friends.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-14T21:55:00

2005-02-15T03:43:38Z

I consumed about forty-five pounds of chocolate today. How amazing is that, especially considering that I'm quite violently allergic to it. My tongue is about nine times as big as it should be right now.

For dinner, I put on a very cute outfit and went to Champp's with Vivienne, Angela, Kelly, Tiffani, Tara (not my sister Tara, but Jena's little sister) and Angela & Tiffani's eight-year-old brother, Cailean. Now the idea was to have a girl's night out and bring Cailean along as our "date", because let me tell you, this kid is hilarious. So we ended up having the time of our lives (on Valentine's Day, who knew?) The waiter must have thought we were insane--think six teenage girls plus a little boy, all very dressed up, in a SPORTY restaurant on Valentine's Day--but it was so worth it.

Since Danny randomly brought his camera to school today, I'm making this another picture entry. I had to steal some of these because they're classic.

Woohoo! A normal-looking picture of us. But wait...

Only half normal this time. Check out Danny's face.

Okay, so now we're back to the freaky pictures. Note the determined expression on Ryan's face as he diligently bites his balloon.

Jason with an expression of sadistic glee as he does something most likely obscene to a Hershey's Kiss.

I look like I'm about to bite into a 32-layer sandwich.

And these pictures, my friends, just about summarize what Valentine's Day is like in our little mafia family. But wait! There will be more, once I obtain the pictures from dinner. (Including Tiffani hitting on Tara while Vivienne looks on, utterly appalled. Yeah.)

Back to cranking out a sincere and earnest-sounding speech for NHS Inductions tomorrow. WOOT.

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-14T00:35:00

2005-02-14T06:04:24Z

So, it's around 12:30 a.m. I just returned from having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with my family (it was near this ridiculously awesome mall in White Flint...where the hell is White Flint, anyway?) Yeah, wonderful place. I ate so much that it's a miracle I was able to walk to the car rather than simply roll. And now, I have just remembered that I have a teeny tiny Biotech assignment to do. Whoops.

That can only mean one thing: GOOGLE SEARCH FOR THE WEIRDEST MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS!

(Note: I started looking up weird instruments after reading a post recently made by johnlennon812, which alluded to a contrabassoon. Then I thought, "Hey, I wonder what a contra bass saxophone looks like?" And so, here we are now.)

This puppy is called a bass fanfare horn. It's kind of cute, but this gets better.

We all know that such things as bass flutes exist, but this is what it looks like. It's like an uber long flute that makes a U-TURN. I NEED ONE OF THESE!!

Here's what it looks like when someone actually plays the bass flute. Pretty darn ridiculous. I still want one. *adds to birthday list*

Okay, the picture says it all. The contra bass saxophone is freakin' ridiculous; it's over six feet tall. You can fit the entire rest of the saxophone family INSIDE it. Who invented this monster?

HOLY CRAP. THAT THING IS A BEAST.

I can't get enough of it. No other saxophone will ever live up, in my mind.

This thing is called a tubax. Cool name. It plays in the same octave as the bass sax (not the contra bass sax), but with a different timbre.

Speaking of cool names, here we have the contrabassophone. Nice name for my first born kid. Has a very charming ring to it. Not sure what people were thinking when they invented this.

This, I'm sorry to say, is a pocket trumpet. I wanted to find a picture that better illustrated the relative size (or lack thereof) of this musical travesty, but rest assured, it is about six inches long. Once again, not sure what the thought process was behind this invention.

These are what you would call sarrusophones. They were invented for military style bands to replace the double reed instruments (bassoon and oboe) that were less practical for mobility. One would imagine that they were named after a guy named Sarrus.

So there's your lesson for the day. Buy me a bass flute for my birthday. And stay away from pocket trumpets. *barfs*

Interviews went well, glad that's all over with. Big week coming up. NHS Inductions on Tuesday, more West Side rehearsals, and license test on Saturday. And isn't tomorrow Valentine's Day?

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-12T07:43:00

2005-02-12T17:12:21Z

Ugh. I wonder whose brilliant idea it was to schedule TWO college interviews in the space of one weekend.

It was probably mine, now that I think of it.

Today I'll be going to goodness knows where (some place called Susquehanna Farms, actually) to be interviewed by some bloke from Georgetown. Tomorrow, I have a driving lesson (yes, an extra driving lesson...long story) and then an interview with some bloke from Harvard. This is a catalyst for much resume-fluffing and hardcore ironing of the classy black business suit.

Speaking of driving lessons, I came to a revelation last night. This revelation was that I am frankly sick and tired of having to be driven around by both my family members and friends whenever I need to get somewhere. Maybe I am an absurdly young senior, but I'm more than ready to get my license by now, and this complete transportational dependency is just not necessary. Fortunately, my driving test is this Saturday. Hence the driving lesson. I came to the conclusion long ago that, despite the good intentions of my parents, asking them to accompany me while I practice driving was not exactly going to work. Wonderful people, but rather high-strung when their kids get behind the wheel. So in order to get parallel parking down pat, I'm going to have to call up good old Mr. Dunni (Emily knows...ah, how long ago driver's ed was, when we would sit in complete confusion as Mr. Dunni talked about parking cars in other people's trunks...)

Friday was a morning West Side Story rehearsal day. Thursday was even more fun, because we had an evening rehearsal with the pros. Consequently, we sounded quite decent. Maybe there is hope for the orchestra after all.

Earlier on Thursday afternoon, I went to Andy's house along with Ben, Danny, and Joe. Danny and Andy made pasta, which was an amusing yet surprisingly successful experience. We all watched Ray, and, as is inevitable, I have a lengthy review for your reading pleasure.

I went in to Ray KNOWING that it would be a good movie, since a) it was about a musical genius, and b) it already had critical accolades coming out the wazoo. Like any good movie, it needed to be viewed more than once in order to be appreciated fully. To summarize my findings after two viewings, Ray is a spectacular, profound film with one of the most compelling lead performances in the history of cinema. And yes, surprisingly enough, it lived up to all my preconceived notions.

It was fortunate for the filmmakers that Ray Charles had such an interesting life story, and that Ray himself was so stylistically and personally unique. I appreciated the candor of the scriptwriters when depicting Ray. They made no false attempts to paint him as flawless or one-dimensional; the ugliest aspects of his marital infidelity, drug abuse, and ruthless business tactics were exposed in a raw and candid fashion that forced the reader to accept Ray Charles as a human being rather than merely an icon.

One thing that initially came across as a distracting film technique, but I later embraced as a genius approach to storytelling, was the overall pacing between the chronological progression and the flashbacks to Ray's childhood. The scenes that depicted young Ray growing up with his sharecropping mother in the segregated South were beautifully crafted and integrated within the story. I was absolutely blown away by the depth of these scenes: the recurring allusion to certain images, the last images that Ray ever saw, and the accidental drowning of his younger brother were nothing short of cinematic genius. His mother's words continue to inspire him and remind him of his promise to her, to never let anyone make him into a "cripple". She remains a constant influence in his life; I found that one of the most touching sequences was the birth of Ray's first son, when we see him cry with happiness. As he does so, he remembers a time when he was beginning to go completely blind at the age of seven. The young Ray runs into his house and trips, suddenly becoming disoriented and terrified. He calls for his mother, who is only in the next room, yet she refuses to come to his aid in order to train him to look out for himself. Ray, upon realizing that his mother either couldn't or wouldn't help him, begins to gather his bearings by feeling and listening for familiar objects and sounds. He eventually makes his way over to his mother, simply by listening for the sound of her breathing. He then asks her why she's crying, and she replies: "Because I'm happy."

This is just one example of a sequence that draws a well-constructed parallel between Ray's childhood and his present life. Other sequences serve similar purposes, constantly reminding Ray of the struggles he endured and the two things that enabled him to achieve success: music, and his mother. He is a complex and troubled individual: he has an independent fervor born of his handicap, yet he is hopelessly addicted to heroin; he loves his wife Della Bea, yet he constantly becomes sexually involved with women on tour; he is easy to admire for his talents and his strength yet equally easy to deplore for his addiction and arrogance. The audience doesn't know whether to love him or hate him.

Which brings me to Jamie Foxx's performance. If you've ever seen the late Ray Charles perform or speak, you would immediately be struck over the head with the most uncanny impersonation of his distinctive mannerisms channeled through Foxx's phenomenal portrayal. For two and a half hours, Jamie Foxx ceases to exist and Ray Charles comes back to life. I kid you not. All his tricks of speech; his characteristic ear-to-ear grin, his distinct limping gait, the sensitive movement of his fingers on the piano--Foxx captures them all with mind-boggling precision. His facial features even LOOK almost exactly like Ray himself. I don't know how this was accomplished, but I can honestly say that there is no other actor that deserves the Best Actor award at the Oscars this year. Leondardo, I didn't see you in The Aviator, but you're gonna have a tough time living up to this piece of work in my mind, buddy. And hopefully in the minds of the Academy as well.

As far as minor qualms go, I wouldn't have minded seeing more of Ray's musical development and less of the business aspects of his journey through the music industry. Not that it wasn't interesting to see his progression as a recording artist and all the drama that happened in the studio, because it definitely was. However, as a musician, I particularly enjoyed the scenes that emphasized his genius as a performer and composer. There is one scene in which Ray's manager informs that he has twenty minutes left to perform at his venue, according to his contract. Even though they've played through every song in the book, Ray begins to improvise, telling his band to "just follow along". For the next twenty minutes, they jam totally off the top of their heads, and the result is a wildly popular hit single. That's the kind of stuff that I was hoping to see more of in a movie about one of the greatest musicians of all time.

This is an important film, one that I hope gets all the credit it deserves come Oscar night. It exemplifies everything that's great about biopics: a truly GOOD story, full of conflict, struggles, triumphs, and tragedy--a story that's actually TRUE. Who knew that in this age of bloated, cliched Hollywood spectacles that such a rare masterpiece could be created. My hat goes off to Jamie Foxx, Taylor Hackford, and to Ray Charles Robinson. May he rest in peace.

"Baby, when I walk out that door I walk out alone in the dark. I'm trying to do something ain't nobody ever done in music and business. But I can't do it if I'm alone everywhere I go. I don't wanna be alone, Bea."

That is all. I'm off to practice ass-kissing for my interviews (just kidding).

(No, really, I'm kidding.)

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-09T23:23:00

2005-02-10T05:06:28Z

Yes, well, today was actually a wonderful day (despite the fact that I wore the most uncomfortable shoes to school...idiot). After school, I went to Starbucks with Danny and Angela. Angela had the brilliant idea of going on the merry-go-round in the mall, which we did, after purchasing a camera in order to preserve the moment for posterity. And what a moment it was. I never imagined that a merry-go-round could be that intense. I honestly feared that I was going to barf, and another ten seconds would have been the end for Angela. It didn't help that the three of us had crammed into a ridiculously small, circular, tea-cup type thingy that SPUN IN CIRCLES at an obscene speed. Wow. Those things should come with warning signs.

But it was great fun. I hope to have pictures up of this experience sometime soon, because it was insane.

Speaking of insane, I had the pleasure of sitting in on one of the West Side Story rehearsals, after we got back from Starbucks. They were working on the Rumble scene (which, in case any of you don't know West Side Story well, is the ginormous fight sequence in which two of the main characters get killed). And it was absolutely incredible. The energy and intensity from the cast just blew me away. It was evident that each cast member was investing 110%, judging by the fact that those of us who were watching were completely engaged in the moment (Angela and I were literally on the edge of our seats each time they ran through it). It was inspiring enough to give me hope for tomorrow's orchestra rehearsal, of which I was severely lacking due to the fact that we haven't made nearly as much progress as the cast has and as of now, we're not sounding too hot.

Then we had drumline rehearsal, which was way too much fun. WAY too much fun. I thought my face was going to fall off because I was laughing so much. Read Danny's LJ if you want to know why, because I'm tired and stuff is happening that has sort of made my day not so nice, but this is not the time or place.

UNICORNS ROCK!

scream_the_song @ 2005-02-08T19:30:00

2005-02-09T00:41:28Z

We had tappings today for NHS. The term "tappings", for those of you who don't know, refers to the systematic humiliation of new members of an honor society in front of their entire first (or second) period class. So I (I'm the secretary) commissioned Andy to put on a snare drum and Danny to grab his trumpet while I, the principal, and a few other officers walked around to each class containing preliminary members and formally invited them to be inducted into NHS. This whole tapping thing is great fun; if you've never seen one happen, you're missing out. People are sitting in their classes, minding their own business, when suddenly they hear this massive drum roll and this obnoxiously loud trumpet fanfare right outside the classroom door. More likely than not, one or two people scream while others quietly piss their pants. Then Mr. Ryan (the principal) comes charging in, calling for whatever poor soul that it is that's being inducted, and I follow behind obediently with the nice little personalized invitation. The poor soul is summoned forth as Mr. Ryan coerces the class into giving them a round of applause, basically mortifying them for all eternity while I shake the poor soul's hand and congratulate him/her on being inducted in the Ass-Kissing Society of America, a.k.a. NHS.

So that's tapping in a nutshell. We had the pleasure of interrupting Symphonic Band at one point, and Mr. Fischer (who, curiously enough, already had his trumpet out and was playing along with the kids when we walked in--one could assume that he had expected us) had a trumpet battle with Danny. And by that I mean, Danny played his bugle tones and Mr. Fischer came back with some bugle tones of his own, and they sort of went back and forth until glass started shattering. Good times.

Right, so I've been up since 4:30 (officers had to get in early to get stuff ready for tappings), and I'm a little on the tired side. No worries, man. Things could be worse. I could be being eaten by a rabid emu.

Good day to you all.

Huzza!

2005-02-05T23:19:16Z

Done in less than an hour. Check it out (clean and simple, as promised): scream_the_song