Sunday 24 March 2013

San Francisco...Here I Come!

Well, for spring break, my family and I will be travelling to San Francisco. We will be seeing some of the top tourist attractions like Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, and the Golden Gate Bridge. It's going to be packed with activities. I am really looking forward to taking in some arts and culture and maybe even a shows! I am most excited to taste the food there. I have heard from many people that San Francisco has some of the best restaurants. So, when I get back from my trip, I will be blogging about my experiences and adventures that I had. Hopefully I'll come back with some great stories. Bon Voyage!

Life Is a Cabaret

Wow! Cabaret was AMAZING! I was very moved by the story and very entertained by the powerful voices of Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey. I especially thought that Joel Grey's character was expertly developed. His portrayal of the MC had the perfect balance of mystery, flamboyancy, quirkiness, and truth. However, the real standout was Liza. She made me laugh and cry with everything that she did. Her character Sally Bowles inspires me to make sure that I enjoy life as it is. Sally Bowles represents the young and free part of society. I think that her character teaches us an important lesson: Life is short, so we need to enjoy it while it lasts. As the Beatles say: "Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend".

The most powerful part of the film was the scene at the picnic. A young adult begins to sing a beautiful melody. I was rather enjoying the song. As the camera panned out, we can see that this singer is wearing a swastika. The tone of the song immediately changed for me. The message was the same: Tomorrow belongs to me. But, the meaning was different. Soon, more and more people join in to the singing of the nazi anthem. Eventually, everyone is chanting the words as though they have just been brought in to the nazi movement.

My favourite song in this musical was the finale song "Life Is a Cabaret," sung by Liza Minnelli. The reason I found this song so great was because of how true the message was. Life really is like a cabaret. You never know who is going to enter your life and you never know what is going to happen in your life. A cabaret club is a very rough place where anything can happen. Liza sings the lyrics to this song so stunningly and surprisingly cheerfully. She takes the excitement and mystery of life and turns them into positive energy. That is why her performance is so perfect. Her performance is one of the most treasured performances in musical history. Her final song really caps off her expert performance on a good note (literally). Her performance was filled with so much truth and power that it was impossible not to realize what she meant.

Overall, I give this film two thumbs up. Liza Minnelli definitely deserved that academy award. The message that this movie conveys is a lesson that I will take to heart. I will try my best to convey that message to the rest of the world by always following it. This film is a classic that will always be a gem in the world of musicals.


Monday 18 March 2013

CABARET!

This week is the first week of spring break! I have a lot of time on my hands so I have decided to watch as many movie musicals as I can in the next two weeks. I love movie musicals and there are so many popular ones that I have never seen so I am really looking forward to this challenge!

The first one that I will watch is Cabaret. This Oscar winning movie stars Joel Grey and Liza Minneli. The film is largely set in a nightclub with a larger than life MC brilliantly portrayed by Joel Grey. The movie expertly symbolizes the conflicts in Germany and the rest of the world in the 1930's with the growing Nazi Party.

From what I have heard, this movie is superb and very thought provoking. It is masterfully scored by Kander and Ebb (Tony Award winning composers and lyricists for Chicago) and directed by the great Bob Fosse. I am really excited to watch this film and I will report back my thoughts and feelings of the film next week. Wish me luck!

What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Put down the knitting,
The book and the broom.
Time for a holiday.
Life is Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Come taste the wine,
Come hear the band.
Come blow your horn,
Start celebrating;
Right this way,
Your table's waiting

No use permitting
soem prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away.
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret!

I used to have a girlfriend
known as Elsie
With whom I shared
Four sordid rooms in Chelsea

She wasn't what you'd call
A blushing flower...
As a matter of fact
She rented by the hour.

The day she died the neighbors
came to snicker:
"Well, thats what comes 
from to much pills and liquor."

But when I saw her laid out like a Queen
She was the happiest...corpse...
I'd ever seen.

I think of Elsie to this very day.
I'd remember how'd she turn to me and say:
"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret."

And as for me,
I made up my mind back in Chelsea,
When I go, I'm going like Elsie.

Start by admitting
From cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Only a Cabaret, old chum,
And I love a Cabaret!

Monday 11 March 2013

Symbaloo

So another component of the PLE project is that we must create our own personal dashboard. A dashboard is basically a conglomerate of website streams and links that is central to you PLN. I used a program called Symbaloo to make my dashboard. Symbaloo uses a button interface to set up links that take you to certain websites. I find Symbaloo to be very useful. I have made my home page of Safari set to Symbaloo because it makes internet surfing a lot more efficient. I use Symbaloo every day. I think that a dashboard is very important in a PLN because it ties everything together. I strongly suggest using Symbaloo or other dashboard systems if you visit many websites on the internet. Symbaloo made my life so much simpler!

Here is the link to Symbaloo:

http://www.symbaloo.com/

Happy Spring!