Another One Bites the Dust

Yesterday was a splendid, albeit long, day.
As I have mentioned before, one of my buddies decided to get married next Friday, so of course we had to throw him a bachelor party.
6.30 We opened their front door with a key he himself lent us, cranked up the volume on the instruments and had some buddies on the outside fire up the cans of calcium carbide. Two moderate explosions and one angry next door neighbour later the soon-to-be happy couple was awake and downstairs to the soothing sounds of our cacophony. After some pancakes and eggs sunny side up for breakfast, our bachelor was in a merry mood and at nine o' clock we were off with a band of fifteen merry men.
First stop, a recording studio where he was to record his first solo single.
A couple of takes later we were off to a couple of exhilarating games of laser tag, which left us drenched and parched.
Then off to lunch and the beer tasting. Some very bad jokes, a lot of glasses of beer and some sodas (for those of us who actually had to transport the others) we headed towards our penultimate activity: dinner.
Two hours of all-you-can-eat buffet seemed like a good idea at the time. And it proved to be so.
Then we hit the bars and clubs, busting some moves on the dance floor, kicking it back at another bar, shouting along to the songs being played at yet a third. At the end of the night his blushing bride-to-be joined us, along with a copule of her friends and the merriment continued until we finally dropped our party boy off at his home, where we would meet hime less than 12 hours later for our next rehearsal.
If we keep up this trend, we will actually party for an entire week once the last of the band members gets hitched.

Here goes to my voice returning within the hour. (T minus 6 days)

And She's Hotter Than Reality By Far

Just a small message this time.
The people from The Guild have posted their music video online to celebrate the start of season three tomorrow.
The Whedonesque fan in me is giddy with glee, as Jed Whedon works his magic once again, making me unable to wipe that silly grin off of my face whilst viewing the video.

So, without further ado here is:

Indulging in the Pleasures of This World

I am back again from the week that rocked.
Five days of semi-non stop promotional activities, lots and lots of liquids to keep from dehydration and an even larger group of first year students trying to immerse themselves in the recreational melting pot that is introduction week.
It was heaps of fun, introducing all the youngsters to roleplaying games and Japanese culture, some more reluctant than others. Luckily, most of them participated, or at the least, kept up a façade of interest throughout the demos we ran.
And then came the partying. Not many things can ruin the mood when you put together lots of students, drinks and music. And of course, none did.
Karaoke, late nights, early mornings and barely any sleep depravation might have made my week a little more tiring than others, but I would do it over again in a heartbeat.

To top it all off, this weekend's rehearsals were a cut above the rest. The final song of our repertoire took a couple of hours, but with the aid of some additional singers, it will sound terrific. (T minus 12 days and counting)

God Knows

I have been botching up rehearsals lately. Some of the new songs for the upcoming show are really getting to me. I miss the cue on Everybody Needs Somebody to Love and do not even get me started on The Wild Rover. The latter usually has me pause for too long, whereas the alternative, no pauses whatsoever and an equal amount of breathing space, might actually improve the song.
Fortunately, the musicians are actually picking up the slack, with the brass and reed section getting their parts just right and the ersatz drummer kicking the bass drum like never before. Amidst this all, the strings section (guitar, keyboards and bass) is doing some of best performance since the inception of the band.
Which leaves me the weakest link. Time to pick up the pace and practice at home as well as during the weekly sessions, as the clock is ticking. (T-minus 19 days and counting)

Luckily, time for books is still present.

Nagaru Tanigawa - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

If you are not familiar with Suzumiya Haruhi, you are either not into japanese animation or you have been hiding under a very, very big rock for the past couple of years. If any series has rekindled the the fanboys out there, it most certainly is this one. And at last the starting novel is available in a language I can read without referring to a dictionary every couple of lines.
A pity that it was not a more interesting book to wait for. The story is a bit bland, with most of the high school harem genre jokes making an appearance in the first couple of chapters. As with every light novel I have read so far, the twists were omnipresent, but none were surprising. Maybe it was the lack of depth to any character in the book or perhaps I lack the 'enlightenment' of those who have watched the anime, but it just did not float my boat.
Then again, when a writer has to compete with Kouhei Kadono, Kazuki Sakuraba, Keiichi Sigsawa and NisiOisiN, you might get disappointed a bit sooner than you would expect.

Now I am off for a week of introducing the new arrivals at Eindhoven to a wondrous world of roleplaying, served with a side dish of Japanese culture, whilst making sure their inebriated caretakers do not teeter too menacingly towards flights of stairs or poke their eyes out on deceptively soft pillows.

The Sauna Substitution

Another scorching afternoon marked the next rehearsal with the band. Our strings section was newly returned from holiday abroad, but unfortunately some of us had some bad luck as well.
Our percussionist was supposed to head out for rollerblading in Marseille tomorrow, but an unfortunate skating accident last week left him with a broken wrist and some very nice nurses taking care of him, whilst we were stuck without a drummer.
Well, he is still the drummer, but his arm will not be healed in time for the next couple of gigs.

Fortunately two persons were ready to jump into the fray.
So most of the time was spent going through the percussion schematics for each song with both of them, quarreling whom should play along with which song. Satisfactory arrangements were made and after a couple of hours the brass and reed section joined us for renditions of our all time favourites. Things are looking up as far as the repertoire is concerned, now if we could fit in some creative writing for this year's Carnaval song, all would be splendid.

Shake a Tail Feather

Yesterday I went to the Efteling again with some friends and their five year old niece. Suffice to say that the girl can be a handful to walk around with. But she was on her best behaviour all day. Then again, we had as much fun as she did on all the rides. Nothing beats strolling past all the fairy tales and taking in the atmosphere.
It also marked the date of my first ride on the Python. Squeamish as I am about roller coasters of the loop-de-loop kind, my friends persuaded me to go on it. Even though my irrational fear of being stuck upside down in the middle might not go away as easily as that ride, it at least made me realize that I can get on roller coasters and have a good time even while hanging upside down in the process.
(Now if only that pesky fear of heights would not be so persistent)

Chaos Reconstruction II

Vacation seems to take up most of my time with reading, watching movies and playing games. Business as usual. And as such, some reviews were in order.


Brick

I have waxed lyrically on Rian Johnson's other film, The Brothers Bloom, in one of my earlier posts. This movie is based on the same principle. Take two styles of movies and mash them up into an amalgamation of both. And Brick does that in spades.
Imagine a high school setting with your typical stereotypes: the jock, the spoiled little rich girl, the 'outcasts', the geek and the wise-ass protagonist. All of which are thrust into film noir cinematography, as the lingo and the plot twists soon reveal. Nothing is what it might seem and the entire movie just sweeps you off your feet. Kudos to mr. Johnson, I will be downloading your scripts and read them from cover to cover.



Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange

From cinematics to the bibliophilic. Burgess' novel was a lot easier to get into than when I last read it. (a good ten years and a lot less experience with English novels ago)
The book takes some getting used to, with the lingo up the bazoomny on every page.
But after a couple of chapters you get the hang of whatever it is they're saying, no matter the situation. I must say I quite enjoyed the story, grim and grimy as it is, as well as the full circle storytelling that happens.


Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

From books again to cinematics, of an animated kind this time.
Studio Ghibli released their latest creation, an adaptation of the Little Mermaid.
In lovely pastels and water colors, the Ghibli magic does its work once more.
Although the story is a bit childish and the imagery might have been a bit better, but I quite enjoyed it. Bring your little brothers/sisters, they will love it.




J.K. Rowling - The Tales of Beedle the Bard

To finish the final part of J.K. Rowling's saga, this little booklet gives you every little bed time story you want to read to aspiring witches and wizards (who should be in bed by seven, of course)
But it did prompt me, along with the Half-Blood Prince movie, to reread book six in the series. Hopefully I can find the lapses in the story.