Yes, we're still doing movie musicals--my affirmative answer to my own question of May I Have Some Music?
I remember reading somewhere that most directors think of the music last, if only in the sense that they give it the smallest slice of the budget. Putting the music first, so that everything else is built on it, is much tougher: a director of a musical would benefit from an experienced crew who know their stuff. This is probably why the best musicals come out of the same studios all the time, like M-G-M and Disney. Today's featured film is an exception, although it's cute to note (with Wikipedia) that it is "jokingly regarded as the first (and only) M-G-M musical made at Paramount Studios."
Is it so awful to think of art and religion as vehicles for making money? The professional apologist whom I have been most critical of told me that if what he produced did not break any commandments and had a market willing to buy it, then he had every right to make his living that way. Although I didn't realise it at the time, what really bothered me about that argument was not what it said, but what it didn't say.
It wasn't really until I got through all nine episodes of The Big Reunion that I was able to see what was missing. But don't worry that I'll make you sit through all nine with me as well. =P May I Have Some Music? month will feel complete even if I never live blog more than the first three episodes. So let's get started, aye?
As hard as it may be to believe, there is an inner logic to my blogging madness this May. My interest in the ITV2 Reality show The Big Reunion happens to be rooted in a current theme in my life--one which is bigger than, and you might say gave birth to, the May I Have Some Music? motif for the month.
Last Sunday, I explained what selling records has to do with my word-resolution for 2013, which is CLOSE, but this post can be traced further back to 2009, when running into a mega shark in the Catholic blogo-sea convinced me not to swim in those waters any longer.
For someone like me, what better way to come to terms with the convert-driven Catholic apologetics industry (the challenge-within-a-challenge of my first post of the month) than to reflect on the pop music industry? Everything one professional apologist told me about his livelihood could have been said by a member of a manufactured boyband. Which, now that I realise it, raises my estimation of professional apologists.
And there is even a connection to the Starship Troopers readalong, the final meeting for which was opened just yesterday. The only difference between Basic training at Camp Currie and "celebrity bootcamp" is what the recruits in each group are expected to do afterwards. There really are deep psychological effects from this sort of thing that you cannot just walk away from after you must rejoin civilian society.
Fourthly, and incidentally, there is also music. So let me tell you more about the show . . .
It would have been so wonderful to have ended the Starship Troopers readalong yesterday, which was, for me, Election Day. But despite a weekend of reading, rereading and brainstorming, this post refused to be either forced out early or backdated. Besides, I've been so wrapped up in the spirited discussion from Meeting 53 that it was harder than usual to make this one its own separate entity.
Now I'd like to thank Belfry Bat, Bob, Darwin, Dauvit, LTG, and Sheila for helping this readalong be as fantastic as it has been, and for making the theme In Space, No One Can Hear You Blog an irony rather than a self-fulfilling prophecy. My life is less lonely because of you!
So let's get on with it now, aye? =)
"Mr. Salomon, can you give me a reason--not historical nor theoretical but practical--why the franchise is today limited to discharged veterans?"
"Uh, because they are picked men, sir. Smarter."
"Preposterous . . . Service men are not brighter than civilians. In many cases, civilians are much more intelligent . . ."
. . . "Uh, service men are disciplined, sir."
Major Reid was gentle with him. "Sorry. An appealing theory not backed up by facts. You and I are not permitted to vote as long as we remain in the Service, nor is it verifiable that military discipline makes a man self-disciplined once he is out; the crime rate of veterans is much like that of civilians. And you have forgotten that in peacetime most veterans come from non-combatant auxiliary services and have not been subjected to the rigours of full military discipline . . ."
I may have quit reading for several days after getting to Chapter 12, because it was "just" History and Moral Philosophy again . . . but when I got back to the text and finished the chapter, I was flat out impressed at the answer to Major Reid's question. In an ideal world, it really would make sense . . .
The Voice of Ireland has just wrapped Series 2, but I didn't get too into it this year. Something about it just felt so 2012. (Remember this 2012 post?) Yet it is a comment from the newest judge Jamelia which makes the perfect introduction to my 2013 Reality show passion, one of the highlights of May I Have Some Music? month.
During the Blind Auditions stage, when the Superstar was making a pitch to a contestant she really wanted to coach, she and Bressie had a bit of a spat which revealed what each of them was looking for in an act.
Jamelia: "You want to have people who are going sell records now, not people who--" Bressie: "It's not just about selling records--" Jamelia:"Of course it is!" Bressie: "So for you, the height . . . Success is selling records: that's it? That's what you put it down to?" Jamelia: "Yes . . . What else is it? . . . Seriously, what else is it?"
For the third year in a row, May is our month for movie settings. This year, thanks to this month's greater theme May I Have Some Music?, the twist is they are also all musical.
After I decided that May's theme would be May I Have Some Music?, I did a quick scan of my bookshelves for novels with musical characters . . . and came up surprisingly short. Whether it's the print medium that isn't very friendly to sound or just my unfortunate book buying patterns, I don't know. But from the looks of it, my musical interests and my literary tastes don't overlap at all.
I managed to find about four characters whom I'd be happy to feature this month, but whether I will get to them all is the question. All of them will require a bit of rereading, so I'll do what I can and just hope for the best. Today's character is the first one I thought of . . .
Check the specs, grab the badge, and link up a post of your own this weekend! This month, we drop the books in order to do our third year of May at the Movies!
This is the code I usually use . . .I recommend this one if the first code gives you a blurry badge . . .
