RENT Cost me Only $29.99 This Month!

So I figure that everyone knows what I’ve been doing for the last few days.  It wasn’t laundry or dishes or anything constructive.  It was… “Listening to the Rent soundtrack.”  Yeah.  You know.

Let me back it up and tell you about my Tuesday.  It was pretty much one of my greatest days in recent memory.  I got up at about eight because I just couldn’t sleep anymore.  I was that excited.  It was like the day before Christmas fifteen years ago.  I started calling all the stores in town that sold CD’s and-gasp- Wal-Mart and K-Mart weren’t selling the Rent soundtrack!  Undeterred, I called the (more expensive) music stores in the malls and got two yeses.  Joy!  I got right in my car (I did put on clothes and deodorant first) and drove right to the music store in the mall where I work, because the man who answered the phone told me he would give me a 5% mall employee discount.  When I got there, the man working the counter (I think he was the manager) was waiting for me with the CD out and the discount sheet already on the counter.  I thanked him profusely and ran out of the store without waiting for him to put it in a bag.  I then proceeded to rip the plastic off the package before I even unlocked my car.  I called my roommate, Danielle and screamed, “I got it!” at her into the phone.  She said (far more calmly than I had) for me to come to visit her at work, which I did.  I looked at all the pictures in the CD book before I started my car (I would have done it while driving, but that borders on psychotic.)  Danielle and I listened to the first half of the soundtrack in her office (she’s the boss, she has her own office) and then I went to do some of my other errands.  I had to pay some bills and go to the bank and I was supposed to take a movie back to the video store (Fever Pitch, very cute) but I had forgotten it in my Rent-induced frenzy.  It’s still sitting on our living room floor, two days later.

Wow.  I’m working on my seventh time listening to the CD in the last two days.  That means that I have basically been listening to it nonstop since I got it.  I literally haven’t listened to anything else.  I normally do listen to other music in addition to Rent, so I’m not quite as big of a freak as I must sometimes sound.  
     
The CD is great, if you haven’t gleaned that from my effusions.  The arrangements of the songs rock.  I mean, they literally rock.  The music is so much fuller and fleshed out from the original Broadway cast recording from nearly ten years ago.  It adds so much.  And the new performances are spot-on.  They are different, especially Adam Pascal’s Roger (he’s my favorite,) but they work.  Adam’s performance is so much more emotional and gut-wrenching.  Don’t get me wrong, he was great before, but now I can really feel where his character is coming from emotionally.  Songs that I skipped over on the other soundtrack I now listen to in full.  The new cast members (Rosario Dawson as Mimi and Tracie Thoms as Joanne) have fantastic voices and should finally put speculations about their fitting in with the original cast to rest.  I especially love how Rosario has embraced her role and made it her own.  Her performance is nothing like Daphne Rubin-Vega’s (the woman who originated the role on Broadway) and I like it that way.  She’s a totally different actress with a much different voice.  Rosario brings out a gentler side of Mimi, and I think that works great, especially on a song like “Another Day.”  (In that song, Mimi has just come up to Roger and Mark’s loft to ask Roger to take her out.  He gets mad, yells at her, and throws her out.  It also cuts to the Life Support group singing their credo about how you should live each ay like it’s your last.)  Roger’s part is harsh and angry, and Adam plays it like Roger’s just coming unhinged.  Mimi’s response is far more melodic, and she introduces the “there is no future… there is no past” theme that is repeated elsewhere in the show.  Rosario’s gentler voice makes this almost sound like a lullaby, like she sees how broken Roger is and is trying to comfort him.  On the OBC recording, the Life Support group sang with Mimi while Roger tried to justify his treatment of her, but in the movie version, it’s Mark, Angel, and Collins singing with Mimi.  All the people who love Roger are singing to him, “give in to love or live in fear,” and it’s like they’re begging with him to finally give in and start healing (remember, Roger has stayed in his apartment for a year, ever since his girlfriend committed suicide and he found out he had AIDS.)  It makes the song much more meaningful to me.  Maybe I’m just reading too much into it, but it makes me love it even more than I already did (one of my favorites out of the show.)

I also love, love, what they have done with “Goodbye Love.”  This takes place right after Angel’s funeral- the group of friends has fallen apart (Joanne and Maureen broke up; Mimi and Roger broke up; Angel died; Roger’s heading for Santa Fe) and they’re all yelling at each other.  It moves to Mark and Roger alone (I think they’re back at the loft, but I’m not sure) and Mark is trying to persuade Roger to stay in New York.  It sounds much more believable now, it sounds like they have been crying for three days and they’re both so upset and emotionally drained that they’re finally saying all the things to each other they have always thought, but have never wanted to hurt the other with.  A huge performance from Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp (he plays Mark, and his voice has just gotten leaps and bounds better than it used to be.  Now he’s a real singer, instead of an actor who could also sing.  It’s great.)

Okay.  I know that this is the longest post in the history of the internet, but you know… passionate about the Rent.  I could go on so much longer and analyze the whole freaking CD song by song, but I won’t.  Run, do not walk to the nearest place that sells this CD and buy it!  Please, for your own musical development.  Thanks for enduring,

Brianne <><

RENT Soundtrack Day

Holy crap.  That’s all I can say.

Anyone who has been following my blog since I started it knows what a rabidly obsessive Rent fan I am.  Today the original movie soundtrack came out.  It is beautiful.  I am listening to the “I’ll Cover You” Reprise and it is devastating.  Devastating as in take my heart out, stomp on it, then gather up the remains and scatter them across the earth and send me looking for them, all the while, the Rent soundtrack is playing in the background.  I can’t type anymore.  “Goodbye Love” just came on and I’m afraid that I will burst into tears.  More later,

Brianne <><

Ketchup

Well, I know I haven’t posted in a long while, and for that I am sorry.  Our internet connection has been temperamental again.  Lots has happened since last time I posted, so let’s see if I can recap.

Lost premiered on Wednesday night, and holy crap.  I was pretty much blown away.  It was like watching a particularly creepy horror movie.  We found out what was in the hatch, Kate went down inside and promptly disappeared in a flash of light, Locke went inside after her, and then Jack followed them and he met what was inside, and realized that he had seen what was in there before.  We also learned how Jack met his wife in some particularly touching flashbacks.  Not to mention Shannon seeing what seemed like an apparition of Walt in the jungle.  He was soaking wet and looked very creepy.  I am being intentionally vague because I don’t want to spoil things for anyone who might not have watched it yet (read: Danielle) but it was amazing and suffice it to say that I sat on my couch with my hands in my mouth, saying, “Oh no, oh no.”

This weekend I went to a youth leaders retreat with Travis, Erin, Emma (their daughter) and our new interns from the Kanakuk Institute.  It was nice getting to meet them in an environment that wasn’t church, and hopefully they’ll fit in nicely with our ministry this year.  We also had a lock-in at church on Saturday night, but I left early to get some sleep.  I was originally supposed to audition for Annie on Sunday and that was why I was going home, but I ended up singing for Danielle and Alison and Morgan and Rhetta on Saturday night.  I still went home, though, because I didn’t have any clothes to wear for the next day.  The good news out of all that was that I still got to connect with a couple of girls despite leaving early- one of them called me after I had gotten home.

I mentioned Annie auditions.  Danielle is the musical director for the show, and she is already doing an amazing job.  I know that there are going to be six thousand little girls and their overbearing stage mothers come and audition (and they all want to be Annie herself,) and Dani and the rest of the production team are doing a great job of dealing with all of them.  They’ve been having auditions at the church all weekend, and the way I ended up auditioning on Saturday was that I stuck my head in to talk to Danielle for a second and I had my music with me, so they just asked me to sing right there.  I looked terrible (I had been on the lake all afternoon and was still wearing my swimsuit under my sweater and my jeans) and I didn’t sound that great, but it’s not like they’ve never heard me sing.  I live with Danielle, Morgan and I had classes together at the Cofo, Alison has been involved in almost all of the TLC shows I have been in (she sat out of Bye Bye Birdie, which was probably a smart move on her part) and Rhetta produced Big River last year.  They are all familiar with my big mouth.  So, I should find out how I did tonight when Dani gets home tonight, and I’ll let you know.  Wish me luck!

What I am really excited about is the fact that the Rent soundtrack is coming out tomorrow!!!!  I added three extra exclamation points because I am excited three times more than a normal person should be about this CD coming out.  Actually, I am going to call Kmart this morning and find out if they are getting it and how much it costs.  I want to get it at Kmart because it’s closer to my house, but if I have to go to Wal-Mart, I will, dang it.  I don’t even have anything else to do tomorrow, but I am going out to get that CD.  I had a dream last night that I was in the ensemble of the new Rent movie and I had to be in the same room as Idina Menzel and Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp and I was completely scared and intimidated.  Adam talked to me and I like, stammered out a reply.  This is exactly how I would act in real life.  It’s pathetic.  It’s especially pathetic that I’m still having dreams about it.

Anyway, I don’t have much to do today except sit around, to my laundry, and attempt to clean my house a little bit.  Tonight, I think I’ll watch Arrested Development and Kitchen Confidential.  Tomorrow: Danielle’s Birthday Extravaganza.  Today is her birthday, but we’re celebrating tomorrow because of Annie auditions today.  So if you see her, wish her a happy birthday!  Adios,

Brianne <><

Anticipation

Well, how do you like the new layout of the blog?  I was getting so sick of the way it looked before.  I’m much more pleased with this layout.  My motive behind changing it is the same one behind how, every couple of months, I have to change around the pictures on the walls of my apartment.  I’m not a whore for change, or anything, I just get sick of the way things look.  And my blog was starting to make me feel ill every time I looked at it.  Now it’s the same as my friend, Jessica’s, except hers is pink.  (If you know Jess, you’re saying “Of course!”  with a smile. ()  I like the way hers looks.  And now I like the way mine looks.  (I have a link to her blog in my sidebar- it’s “Scope for Imagination.”)

I’m sitting here listening to Danielle’s favorites list on her computer.  She has her favorite songs from every musical she owns on here, and I started with Aida.  Aida has some great music sung by my favorite male Broadway star (Adam Pascal) and two of my favorite women (Heather Headley and Sherie Renee Scott.)  The story/script isn’t that great, but the music is fantastic, and the soundtrack is unbelievable- it won a Grammy.  Then I moved on to Bright Lights, Big City.  I didn’t know anything about this show until Dani got the CD, and it took me a little while to get used to it.  It also doesn’t have a great story, but I have grown fond of the music.  It’s definitely not for kids or the faint of heart- there is a lot of drug abuse and foul language in it.  (There’s a “Parental Advisory” Warning on the front of the CD case, for the love of Pete.)  However, there is some really beautiful stuff in it, too- the main character (Jamie) and his brother (Michael) grieving their mother’s death, and remembering the things she used to say to them.  There’s one gorgeous song that “Mom” sings called “Are you Still Holding My Hand?” that I want to sing for an audition sometime.  I really love the actors who were in it- Patrick Wilson, Sherie Rene Scott (again,) Jesse L. Martin (Tom Collins from Rent), and Gavin Creel.  I just love hearing that man sing.  I haven’t even seen or heard him in anything else, but in this he is really good- he has a pure tenor voice, but it’s not wishy-washy at all, it sounds like he has some life experience beneath the purity of his tone.

It’s been a rather lazy day.  I was supposed to work at my job that is not the bookstore today, but they didn’t need me.  This is a frequent occurrence there, by the way.  I’ve been on the schedule several times in the last few weeks, but they haven’t used me more than once or twice.  It’s kind of frustrating- I could have worked at my other job today, or at the church, but I couldn’t make any plans because there was the possibility that I could have to work.  So I’m stuck sitting here at home.

We were supposed to have an apartment inspection today, but so far nobody’s come by.  I stayed up until two last night cleaning, but so far, it’s been for naught.  Now I almost hope that they do come by, because it looks all right in here.  And my bathroom is down right pretty- I even dusted the back of the toilet where the cat used to sit (you could still see her foot and butt prints, even though we gave her back to her rightful owner a month ago.)  Apartment inspections are something that we put up with because we live in low-income housing.  When you’re paying the sinfully low rent that we’re paying, you accept the fact that someone is going to come by once a year to make sure you’re not running a meth lab in your walk-in closet.

My plans for tonight are pretty tame- Danielle and I are doing our weekly Library trip/McAllister’s feeding frenzy tonight because it’s the only night that we both have free.  That means that we have to tape House.   There’s no way can miss it- we have to support our Hugh Laurie, especially in the face of his bitter defeat at the Emmys the other night.  I’m still a little upset by that.  He was robbed!

Speaking of TV, my obsession begins anew tomorrow at eight with the season premiere of Lost.  What’s in that freaking hatch?  Who are the other survivors on the island?  Do the raft boys all survive?  Where did the Others take Walt?  Will Charlie take the heroin that he found in the plane?  Holy crap!  I don’t think I can take it- the anticipation is killing me.  

All this anticipation in my life.  Tomorrow, Lost, next week, the Rent soundtrack.  My “waiting with baited breath” sounds ridiculous, I know.  I know that I already have the original Broadway cast recording of the show and most of the original cast members are in the movie.  The anticipation is about the new arrangements of the songs, the new instrumentations on the songs, the new cast members (I already know they can sing, and they knock the songs out of the park) and whether or not anything was changed to make it more “movie acceptable.”  It’s sort of like a preview to the movie- and I’m really hoping for some nice production photos on the inside of the CD.

Well, that’s it.  Via con Dios!

Brianne <><

"It's Gonna Be a Boring, Boring, Boring, Boring Day..."

Apparently, it’s my internet connection’s time of the month again. It’s been doing that logging on then kicking us off thing that it did shortly after we changed internet service providers. Our old one didn’t work very well, either, but this is almost worse. That one wouldn’t log on at all. This one just teases us.

So I’ll make this brief. Nothing really interesting has happened in the last few days. I worked, I spent a lot of time at church. There was a youth event at the Track last night, so I got all stinky and gross out there. Then I came home and watched the Emmys.

Oh, the Emmys. It was truly “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” for me. The thrill of victory was that Lost won best directing and best dramatic series, and that House won for best writing. The agony of defeat was the fact that neither Terry O’Quinn nor Naveen Andrews won best supporting actor. They gave it to William Shatner. Oh, the humanity. Nothing, however, upset me as much as Hugh Laurie not winning best actor. I almost cried. I also vandalized James Spader’s face in the Entertainment Weekly ballot to try to make me feel better. It didn’t work. In fact, I didn’t feel better until I watched this tape of Adam Pascal singing “Seasons of Love” from Rent and “Elaborate Lives” from Aida. That always makes me feel better. This morning I watched Hugh Laurie on a DVD of Jeeves and Wooster, a really funny British comedy from the seventies or eighties. Hugh is extremely cute in it.

So that is my last few days. Like I said, not interesting. And you know what? I can guarantee that it’s not going to get any more interesting any time soon. That’s why the blog is titled “Brianne’s Mundane Life.” It’s totally true. Oh, and one last thing: The Rent movie soundtrack is coming out in exactly one week from tomorrow! Yay! Forever obsessed,

Brianne <><

P.S. The title of this post refers to the song, “Lonely Day” by Phantom Planet. Love those guys.

Life-Changing Music

Okay, as promised, here are the five albums that changed my life.  In chronological order:

1. Hootie and the Blowfish, Cracked Rear View.  I’m sort of ashamed of this one, but here it is.  Say what you want about Hootie, but this was the first album that my parents didn’t like (probably for good reason, but cut me some slack.  I was fourteen, for Pete’s sake.)  The year was 1994 and I wore out my cassette tape right where “Let her Cry,” “Hold my Hand,” and “Only Wanna be with You” played back-to-back-to-back.  The point is, it was the first time that I asserted my own musical tastes, however misguided they may be.  But you know what?  Whenever I hear “Hold my Hand” on the radio, I still get a little pang of nostalgia.


2. Alison Krauss and Union Station, Now that I Found You: A Collection.  This was my first ever actual CD- up until then I had only had cassette tapes.   It was also my first taste of bluegrass music.  I had bought the CD because “When you Say Nothing at All” was the last song on there, and ended up realizing that it wasn’t the best song on the CD.  There are so many stand outs- story songs like “Broadway” and “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met my Baby;” the achingly bittersweet “Sleep On” and “Every Time You Say Goodbye;” the terrific cover of the Beatles’ “I Will” (with Jerry Douglas;) and the two gospel songs- the upbeat “When God Dips His Pen of Love in Your Heart” and the quiet, understated “In the Palm of Your Hand.”  Kind of redeems my Hootie madness, doesn’t it?


3. Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Soundtrack.  I had paid attention to movie music before, but I had never heard anything like this.  Hearing the soundtrack a month before the movie came out, I wept through the last part of the score, ending with the exquisite “Into the West,” performed by Annie Lennox.  Never has a movie soundtrack so thoroughly ingrained itself into my psyche.  And even now, two years later, my heart starts to beat a little bit faster when I hear the “Minas Tirith” theme.


4. David Gray, White Ladder.  Before I heard this album, James Taylor was what I always listened to when I had a bad day.  There was something about his smooth tones that made me feel better.  Then I stumbled across White Ladder.  I had never thought that anything could take Sweet Baby James’s place, but Mr. David Gray did.  The songwriting is haunting and deep, and the music is sparse and exactly what the lyrics need.  My personal favorite?  “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.”  It’s an eight-minute-long anthem to an ending love, and even the title of the song is apt- the two were close when they said hello, but they were far away when they waved goodbye.  It’s the most heartbreaking, bittersweet song I have ever had the privilege to listen to.


5. Damien Rice, O.  Finally, the penultimate, the most amazing album I have ever heard.  This album truly did change my life.  I had never heard music that so fully expressed what my heart wanted to hear- acoustic music with full and rich arrangements, tender, open, sometimes painful songwriting, and top-notch musicianship.  It expresses every hurt, every joy.  If I could talk to Damien Rice right now, I would thank him profusely for the music that he makes.  

There you have it- my diatribe on music.  I’m not going to presume that I have to corner on quality music (remember, Hootie is in there.)  These are just albums that have meant a lot to me over the years.  I fully expect to run across something else that changes my life- Iron and Wine’s Our Endless Numbered Days and a whole lot of stuff by Ben Harper come awfully close.  And of course, Rent, but I think that might fall under the category of musicals that changed my life, and that is an entirely different category altogether, with vastly different stories.  Anyway.  Enough of my obsessing.  Tomorrow is another day at the bookstore, and I should go to sleep soon.  Adios,

Brianne <><

Wierd Wednesday

Ahh, Thursdays.  I find myself looking forward to Thursdays now, because they’re my definitive day off.  I get to sleep as late as I can and sit around in my PJ’s until the afternoon hours.  Today it’s sort of rainy and gloomy outside here, but I like it.  It’s the perfect day to stay inside and cook some chicken, which is what I’m planning on doing later.  
     
It’s also nice that my day off comes after Wednesday, because Wednesday is my biggest day of the week.  I usually have to work 8-4:30, and then go to church to help prepare for youth until nine o’clock or so.  A busy day.  When I was at work yesterday, all I could think was, “I get to sleep in tomorrow.  I get to sleep in tomorrow.”

The last few weeks, there haven’t been that may weird customers at work.  Yesterday, I found out why: because they were all waiting to come on September 14, 2005.  Here is my list of weirdness.

1. A man lifted his shirt and scratched his flabby, white belly right in front of me.  Why?  Why do I always have to see stuff like that?  Is there no sense of personal pride in this world?

1. A man walked in who was wearing a blatant toupee.  I’m talking, his hair was two different colors here.  It really was sad.

1. An old lady farted while she was talking to me.  Twice.

1. A hearse pulled up into the parking lot behind the Samsonite store.  No foolin’.  I wonder what they were buying?

1. A big old nasty man asked me where our “adult books” were.  Ew.  This guy wasn’t asking because he was getting a gag gift for a bachelor party.  He concerned with his own “personal enjoyment.”  Branson has a city ordinance saying that no store in the city limits can sell erotica or anything else blatantly sexual in nature.  This means that we can have books about sex, but we can’t have books with photographs of people having sex in them, or books with pictures of naked people in them.  Hollister, the town that borders Branson, has no such ordinance, so people can buy whatever they want at the local sex shop there.  I suppose that I could have referred this man to Elvira’s, but I was so personally grossed out by everything about him that I kept my mouth shut.  Ew.

1. Literally, the ugliest person I have ever seen in my life.  I am not kidding.  I know that I always make fun of the customers who come into my store on this site, but this person was ugly.  And it wasn’t things that she couldn’t change, like some sort of infirmity.  I’m not into making fun of people who can’t help it.  This woman could.  She had the most sour look on her face.  It was this flat, mean look that looked like she hadn’t smiled since the seventies and her face had stuck that way.  Seeing her made me want to walk around with a smile on my face all the time, just so my face doesn’t stick that way.  (I have a little bitty mouth that sort of turns down naturally, inherited from my mother.  The look on that woman’s face could happen to me if I don’t take preventative measures now.)  On top of the sour expression, she was wearing Kewpie-esque makeup.  You know, the fake eyelashes and too much blush in the wrong place.  And oh my Lord, the shortest shorts I have seen on a person since Magnum, P.I. went off the air.  The whole effect was really quite horrifying.   This woman looked like she eats trick-or-treaters who come to her house looking for candy on Halloween.

All this happened in one day.  Everyone was nice, but it was just a lot of weirdness to happen in one day.  

Tomorrow: I discuss the CD’s that changed my life.  I made a list.  

Brianne <><

"How we gonna..." sleep?

I didn’t post yesterday simply because my yesterday was so incredibly boring.  I’m talking unparalleled boredom.  I had to work at the bookstore, and business was not exactly booming.  We did all right as far as sales went, but there just weren’t that many customers to help.  

A good thing was that when there weren’t any customers in the store, I was able to read.  I read The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen again.  I know that I am 25 years old and technically too old to be reading YA fiction, but I just love Sarah Dessen.  Her books are so clever and well written.  Plus, she really captures the voice of her narrators and other characters.  The Truth About Forever is her most recent book and my favorite- I don’t know how many times I’ve read it since it came out last year. I can’t wait until she comes out with something new.

I was also supposed to talk to my friend, Jessica on the phone last night, but I was so pooped by the time I got home and made myself some supper (tuna salad sandwich, mmm) that I just went to bed instead of talking.  The funny thing was that I sent her a text asking if we could postpone and she sent me one at virtually the same time saying virtually the same thing.  It’s like our brains work in perfect harmony despite her living in Pittsburgh and me living in Branson.  If we had talked on the phone, we would have been at it until the wee hours in the morning, and I just couldn’t take staying up that late last night.  

I would think that I was turning into an old woman if I didn’t remember that I’ve sort of always been this way.  I didn’t used to be able to stay up late at all.  If anything, it’s kind of reversed now that I’ve been done with school for a couple of years- I find myself working on stuff until two in the morning and still making full and complete sentences.  I think it’s because my system is so out of whack that I can’t get a decent night’s sleep anymore.  I have an, ahem, fluid schedule (a nice way of saying that I never know from week to week what I’ll be doing) and this definitely affects my sleeping and eating habits.  Plus, I’m a light sleeper, so these things tend to wake me up: 1) a car driving by outside; 2) my neighbor walking by my bedroom window; 3) any voices within several hundred feet, including people talking down in the parking lot; 4) the light right outside my window blinking on or off; 5) The phone ringing; 6) any sort of “apartment noises” like the building creaking or the air conditioner/heat kicking on or off.  Having an uncanny sense of hearing does not bode well for the light sleeper.  Also, I have trouble getting to sleep, so when I’m laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, I tend to play the “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” game with the Rent cast- thinking of any actor and linking them to a member of the Rent cast.  But this tends to keep me up longer, especially if I get stuck on someone.  (I got stuck on Heath Ledger one night until I realized that I was being stupid- Heath Ledger was in Ten Things I Hate About You with Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, who was on Third Rock From the Sun with John  Lithgow, who was in Dirty Rotten Scoudrels on Broadway with Norbert Leo Butz, who has two connections with Rent- he was an understudy in the original Broadway cast, but he was also in Wicked on Broadway with Idina Menzel, who was Maureen in Rent.  Talk about having too much free time on my hands.  I could do anybody.  Try me.)

Anyway, this post has finally made it back around to Rent, so I guess that it’s time for me to sign off.  Only two weeks until the movie soundtrack comes out, and then I’ll have a whole new spate of things to obsess over!  A bientot,

Brianne <><

Would You Like us to Wash your Windshield with that New Service?

Today was the start of our new worship service at church. Going into it, I felt like a little kid on the first day of school- I was excited, and nervous, and there was all this stuff that I had to do. For me personally, one of the coolest things was that I was partially responsible for planning the service. I like that I’m on the leadership team for this service, I like planning things and helping them move smoothly. It didn’t go perfectly- we went a little over on time, and the video we were going to show at the end didn’t work. But the teaching was sound and the music went well. We (the team) met with some of the families that came to the service to get feedback from them, to take suggestions about what will best aid them. People were being a little reticent to share, but I know that that will change as the time goes by.

Tonight our church hosted a dinner for the people living in Branson who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. I didn’t get to go to help out, but they were expecting 200 or so people. Apparently, there are a number of families living in Branson who have nowhere else to go. All the churches are trying to help out, the Salvation Army and some of the other charities in town are working overtime to aid the needy. We already had several charities in place to help those who need because during the wintertime, everything closes down and a lot of people who live here year-round are out of jobs. Right now, we need a lot of help in town because there’s never enough help during the summer, but in the winter, it gets really slow. I guess it’s the curse of living in a tourist town. (By the way, we need help at the bookstore. We’ve been down a person for a month.)

Pop culture moment of the day: Danielle’s brother, Jon came to visit this weekend and brought Indecision 2004 with him- you know The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’s coverage of the election last year. I swear, it’s one of the funniest things I have ever seen. They completely make a mockery of the election process. It’s really quite humorous. I have America: the Book and I laughed the whole way through it (except for the page with all the naked Supreme Court justices on it. Ew.) My interest in politics started in 1992, when Clinton became president for the first time. I was twelve and in 6th grade. My friend, Jonce was “a Democrat.” I was “undecided.” Since then, it’s been a healthy interest, not an all-consuming passion (like Jonce, who I think has political aspirations. He’s a lawyer, and I’m sure that he dreams about waking up in the White House.)

I haven’t listened to any Rent today, but the night is still young. I did watch a video I had downloaded, one of the cast on Access Hollywood. Apparently Access Hollywood went to the set while they were filming “La Vie Boheme.” The first time I watched it, I got the chills, it looked so good. Everyone singing, dancing on the tables, jumping off things. It looked great. They also interviewed Jesse, Anthony, Adam, Taye, Idina, and Rosario and they all had positive things to say (I especially liked Anthony defending Rosario’s singing voice. Some of what he said had to be bleeped out, but the effect was “that girl can sing!” It’s true. Go listen to the audio clips on the official site if you don’t believe me. She tears “Out Tonight” up.) Maybe I’ll watch my Today show video again- the cast sang “Seasons of Love” and Adam and Anthony sang “What you Own,” one of my favorites. However, my Today show video is kind of jumpy and distorted. I guess you take what you can get.

Well, I think that’s about it. Talking about Rent makes me want to go and feed my inner “Renthead.” Except it’s not really an “inner Renthead” anymore, it’s more of a fully realized and manifest “Renthead” now. So, “viva la vie boheme!”

Brianne <><

"Gives me the Jibblies"

Today was another slow day at work. It gave me plenty of time to think about things.

The other night I came home from work to find my roommate, Danielle making her top ten lists- her favorite things. The only thing was that most of her lists had more than ten things in them. She had made them ridiculously specific, too. “Favorite non-American Actors,” (25 items;) “Favorite Broadway actors” (11 items.) But you know, I can identify with her. I tried making my top fives a while ago and none of them had five things in them. Some of them had four, some of them had six. I figured that “top five” was just a vague guideline.

So today, I was thinking about top tens and top fives while I was bored at work. Primarily, I was trying to think of all the things that scare me the most. A partial list:

1. Clowns. Clowns don’t really horrify me as much as the make me uneasy. If there were like, 600 clowns in one place, then that would horrify me. One clown just makes me uneasy.


2. Puppets. Any kind of puppets. Those big-mouthed puppets that they use in puppet ministries at churches, sock puppets, marionettes. Ewww, marionettes.


3. Precious Moments paraphernalia. Truly horrifying. The paintings of the kids with the big, sad eyes? Jenn, from work, said that one of her friends made the comment, “They make those after dead kids.” This friend thought that that made the phenomenon even worse. Did you know that one of those freaking figurines cost like, 800 dollars? Did you know that there’s a place called the “Precious Moments Chapel” in Carthage, Missouri? It’s true. It’s this whole place devoted those creepy little buggers. The worst part was this path you have to walk down with little statues lining it. It was like some sort of twisted graveyard.


4. Food in the shapes of animals/people. Especially animal crackers and gingerbread men. Ewww, gingerbread men. I don’t know why this bothers me so much. Maybe it’s because of the way you always eat one of these things- you know, you gnaw off the arms and legs, then eat the torso? It’s making me shudder. Moving on.


5. Oprah. Seriously. How scary is this woman? She has more control over American culture than anyone in recent history. She basically tells Americans what to read, what facial moisturizers to use, which perfume is best, even what the best kinds of sheets to have on your bed, and people eat it up. Don’t listen to her, America! Don’t be sheep! Go against the grain!


6. Richard Dreyfuss. I don’t know why. I just get a general weird feeling from him. Mr. Holland’s Opus? Krippendorf’s Tribe? Auugh!

Anyway, that’s just a few of the things that bother me. I know that there must be more, but I can’t think of any right now. I know that this list gives you a disturbing look into my psyche. A revoir,

Brianne <><

Rude Musical Theatre

As I sit here, I am being voluntarily offended. I’m listening to Eric Idle Sings Monty Python. I don’t know why I put the CD in. At the beginning of the recording, Eric Idle says that he’s an “equal opportunity offender,” and that if you haven’t been offended yet, then to wait your turn. It really is the most extraordinary example of rudeness that I have ever been… er, privileged to listen to. There’s a song called “Every Sperm is Sacred.” I think I’m going to go turn the CD player down so my neighbors don’t hear what I’m listening to. They think I’m normal.

That’s better. I’ve just been in a comedy mood this morning. First I listened to the soundtrack from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which I didn’t know much about until Danielle got the CD this week. It’s got Norbert Leo Butz from Wicked in it, and let’s just say that he plays a completely different character than he did in Wicked. His character in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a small-time hustler, not a romantic lead like in Wicked. In Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, he sings this song called “Great Big Stuff” about all the junk he’ll buy when he’s stinking rich. He’ll have a “mansion with a moat” and Hugh Heffner will invite him over to the Playboy mansion for a game of “naked Twister.” He’ll buy his “own personal Zamboni!” and get “lots of unnecsissary surgery!” I can’t explain it very well, but it really is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. Danielle and I were laughing so hard in the car that we kept on having to run the CD back and listen to things we missed because we were laughing so hard.

I’ve been trying to abstain from Rent as of late, because having a dream that I was living in Rent was truly disturbing. I mean, the actual dream wasn’t disturbing, but the fact that I had it was. It’s kind of the benchmark of a true obsessive, you know? I actually have had dreams like this before- when Lost was running in its regular season last year, I had several dreams that I was living on the island. Speaking of Lost, I mentioned that Danielle got the first season on DVD. I spent the entire morning watching extras and generally ruining my brain. Guess what I will dream about tonight? That’s right, I’ll be back on the island, except Mark and Roger and Mimi will be there with me.

Today is Thursday, which means that I have praise team/worship team today. Sunday is our very first new service, and I’m “excited and a little bit scared” (to quote Into the Woods.) I’m looking forward to it, but it’s going to be a completely new chapter for our church. Which is good, it’s just sort of daunting. I’m going to have lots of responsibility in this service, because I’m on the team that’s planning it and I’m on the praise team- I think all that responsibility is what’s so daunting. Sometimes I want to go to church and just be a regular person in the congregation, you know? Good thing that that urge doesn’t come that often, or I would be stressed out all the time.

Well, it’s after noon, and I’m still in my jammies. I’d better go get dressed. This awful Monty Python CD is almost over, anyway… maybe I’ll listen to Rent. Feeding the addiction, I know. Till next time,

Brianne <><

Obsession

Today I realized that my obsession with Rent has reached epic porportions.  I had a dream that I was living in the show.  I mean, that Rent was real life and I was a part of it.  Not that I was cast in the production, but that it was real.  Excuse me, how is this normal?  I think I need help- Rent detox.  Wait, that would mean that I would have to give it up.  No!  I mean, wait.   "I can stop whenever I want!"  Yeah.  That's right.

Today was a long day before noon.  I had that seven a.m. meeting this morning, which was interesting.  (that's all I'm going to say about that.)  I worked at the church this morning after the meeting, putting up a bulletin board because our school year kick-off is tomorrow night.  And then I went in to work at my job that is not the bookstore, only to find that one of my managers had called that morning to tell me that I didn't need to come in because they were cutting hours.  (Remember my comments yesterday about how gas prices are ruining my life?  This is one example.)  A good thing is that since I was at the mall that my bookstore is not in, I went to another bookstore that is part of the same chain.  (I know, confusing.  I'm still not going to put out the name of my other job or any distinguishing details about it, because I'm afraid that I may say something bad about it sometime.)  And at this bookstore, I found Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.  What a neat book.  I got it from the library last month and basically tore through it- it was fantastic.  Mr. Foer creates such distinctive narrators, and the way he imparts information (in little spurts) builds suspense without being manipulative.  He bounces all over the map when it comes to time frame- you could be looking at something now, or five minutes ago, or a year ago, or forty years ago.  Everything is Illuminated (now a movie) is like that, too.  These are two books that I highly recommend.

So I came home and sacked out on the couch for some serious lazy time.  It seems like that's all I do, isn't it?  I assure you, my life is full and busy.  I just treasure the time I get to spend relaxing because it is so rare.  Today I ate tortilla chips and watched an episode of Felicity that I had on DVD, then I took a nap until I was rudely awakened by my blessed roommate, Danielle.   I say rudely because being awakened bythe phone is always rude, isn't it?  Even if your cell phone rings "Don't Panic" by Coldplay, like mine does.

We went to Springfield today and Danielle bought the Holy Grail of DVD's:  the Lost season 1 DVD.  It is a beautiful thing.  I ripped the plastic off the case in the car so I could ogle the photos, and they are magnificent.  Then we watched some of the extras (a whole disk of extras!!) and I thought I might die.  Seriously.  Like I said, a beautiful thing.  Maybe this will keep my mind off Rent for a while.  (Probably not.)

Anyway, that's all I have for today.  Stay tuned for tomorrow, when my life goes crazy (another meeting at 7 a.m., work 8-4:30, youth from 5-whenever we get done.)  It's a typical Wednesday!  Adios,

Brianne <><

Labor day. It was truly Labor day for me, because I had to work. There is no rest when it comes to retail. The most interesting (and horrifying) thing that happened today was that someone farted right when I was ringing up his books, and then he made a quick getaway. I was trapped. There was nowhere to flee from the raunch.

The rest of the day passed in mind-numbing boredom. It was the slowest Labor day I have ever worked in Branson. Nobody wants to drive or spend money because of the gas prices being so high, so our business has been atrocious, which means that I haven't been working as much at my job that is not the bookstore. This means that I haven't been making as much money, so instead of going out to eat with my friends all the time, I stay in my house and look up news stories about Rent on the internet. So in short, the high gas prices are ruining my life.

I'm tired but I can't sleep, and I have a meeting tomorrow morning at 7 am. I hope that the other people on the youth ministry team don't mind seeing me in my pajamas. Hee hee.

My sister, Jenny called to brag about her Labor day- she got to spend the day with her friends, cooking out, swimming, and going out on someone's boat. I spent it with messy, farty customers. Not that my life is a tragedy, and I realize that I sound very whiny right now. It's just been a long day.

There's really nothing else that I have to talk about. Tomorrow: Library run and McAlister's FatFest. And oh, oh! The Lost season 1 DVD comes out. Be still my beating heart- there is something to be excited about. Until then,

Brianne <><

Well, today was just an average Sunday. I went to church this morning, then work this afternoon. I worked at my job that is not the bookstore today. Mostly what I do there is work in the stock room and move product out to the sales floor, so I don't have a lot of contact with people. Which is nice. There are times when you just don't want to have to look another snivelling tourist in the face and answer their question (that usually, a fourth grader could answer just as easily.) However, time seems to move rather glacially there, making a four hour shift feel like an eternity (only not as nice as eternity will be for me.) We didn't have youth tonight because of the Labor Day weekend- we encouraged kids to spend time with their families.

Yesterday I had a day off from work, so I cleaned the house. Mostly because I didn't want my roommate to kill me in my sleep. She is a lot more fastidious than I am and gets fed up with all my mess. Sometimes I feel like PigPen from Peanuts- you know, a cloud of mess followed him wherever he went. (Coincidentally, one of my friends from college, Jon, had a shirt with PigPen on it. It was brown and it said "Got Dirt?" Hee hee.) This is a strange phenomenon because I am more or less an organized person. I mean, my DVD's and CD's are in alphebetical order, but there were clothes and papers all over my room to the extent that you literally could not see the floor. I am a freak of nature. But yesterday I cleaned the kitchen and the living room and my bathroom, and I picked up all the junk and clothes in my room. I felt like a little homemaker (better than a homewrecker, right?)

I also got to talk to two of my friends from college yesterday, Laura (she and her husband live in Kentucky) and Bud (who is in seminary in Pennsylvania.) In both conversations, we talked about the hurricane and the atrocities that were happening in New Orleans. It was good to talk through how I felt about what I was seeing on TV- footage that was so horrifying that I was sitting in front of the TV crying Thursday night. I've been sort of shell-shocked the last few days. All three of us asked, "how could this happen in the U.S.?" Laura made the comment that it looked like scenes from Somalia, or something- street warfare. Thankfully, the people who survived the convention center and the Superdome have for the most part been evacuated, but there were horrors happening there that were beyond the scope of comprehension. You've all seen the footage, so I won't go into it. I've been shell-shocked this week. Please keep praying for our brothers and sisters in New Orleans- now, more than ever, we are called to be a "brotherhood of man." (PC advocates unite against me, but it's an expression.)

Anyway, that's all for tonight. It seems shallow to be thinking about pop culture at a time like this, but Rent makes me smile so that's why I listen to it. I'm going to try to get Adam Pascal's video blog to download- it hasn't worked until now. Shallow escapism... I love it. So until later,

Brianne <><

I'm sitting here watching TV and there was just a Verizon commercial on. They were advertising their video phones and they were playing that song "Video Killed the Radio Star" in the background. I don't know... I had always thought of that song as having a rather negative message, like video was bad. I wonder how many other people get the same connotations from that song as I do.

I'm watching Jimmy Kimmel Live because he is funny and because Sarah Silverman is going to be on there in a few minutes. She is in that movie The Aristocrats but she is also playing "Alexi Darling" in Rent, so I'm hoping that she will say something about it. I know. Pathetic. Danielle and I were just singing along to some of the songs and I was dancing around the living room to La Vie Boheme. This is the song where they're all at the Life Cafe after Maureen's show and dancing on the tables and stuff. While I was prancing around the living room, shaking my tailfeather, I caught a glance of myself reflected in the window and realized, "When I try to dance the way they do in Rent, I don't look nearly as good as they do. I wonder why that is." Then I realized that it's partially because I'm by myself and I'm not dancing on a table, and partially because I'm awkward and uncoordinated. Actually, it wouldn't matter if I was dancing with all the rest of them on the table. I would still be awkward and uncoordinated, and I would probably stick out like a sore thumb. (The director would ask, "Would we still be able to hear you if you sang from the wings?")

By the way, Sarah Silverman said nothing about Rent. But she was awfully funny.

I've read a couple of different blogs today. The first one was on the Nickel Creek website (they are my favorite band.) Their guitar player made a point about some Christian songs being watered down and I totally agreed with him. Then I read my friend, Jessica's blog and she posted about virtually the same thing. (You can read both of these entries by going to the corresponding links in my sidebar.) I have very strong views about the place of Christians in the media, and reading these articles written by people I agree with and trust has stirred me up again.

I am a Christian, relatively conservative, and yet I enjoy the full scope of mainstream culture. I am not ashamed of this fact. God has brought me on quite a journey to this point. If you haven't guessed, I truly love music. It is one of my great passions in life. I was even a music major in college. I didn't always enjoy the eclectic tastes I do now; there were a few years in college when I didn't buy a single CD outside the Christian market. Then something happened- it stopped satisfying me. I needed something deeper. I was already a Christian, and Christian music didn't satisfy me! So I branched out a little. (I credit my friend, Daniel with part of the branching out- he introduced me to the sublime sounds of James Taylor and Ben Folds.) And I realized that I didn't feel guilty about it. My heart had finally found music that spoke its language.

I realized that God uses books, movies, music and yes, even TV to speak to me. For example:
1. Even though Rent is at times offensive and several of the characters lead lifestyles that do not fit into my worldview, the over-arching theme of the musical is love. What speaks the most is that the characters are all searching for something more to this life. In my favorite song, "One Song, Glory," Roger sings about his desire to leave something behind, one great song for people to remember after he's dead. He wants immortality, eternity.
2. In Sarah Dessen's book, The Truth About Forever, the main character (Macy) lost her father to a freak heart attack. Her reaction: to embark upon this massive search for perfection, even down to a perfectly straight part in her hair. She has to control every aspect in her life. In fact, she felt like she started to heal only after letting loose of some of that control and letting the unexpected into her life. This is a powerful message- it never works to try to heal yourself.
3. Damien Rice's music has changed my life. I never knew that there was someone who could write the exact kind of music that touches my soul, but he has done it. This is a man who has basically set his journal to music- he is so utterly transparent about his inadequacies that sometimes I actually hurt for him. His song, "Cannonball," speaks to the paradoxes of loving someone- "Stones taught me to fly/love taught me to lie/life taught me to die/so it's not hard to fall/when you float like a cannonball." That's perfection in songwriting, people! And his music... there are times when it's just him and a guitar, and then he'll pull out these amazing string parts, and a chello solo, and end it all up with an opera singer on the album's final track, "Eskimo." I am blown away by the beauty of his music, and I thank God that he gave Damien Rice this talent and that I was introduced to it.

None of these things take the place of the Word, prayer, or fellowship with other believers. I am not advocating skipping church to watch Alias (even though I have been tempted at times, especially when it was on Sunday nights.) But they are conduits to God for me. I know that it's not that way for a lot of people, and that the media can be a stumbling block to others. I mean no malice toward those who do not share my love of popular culture. There was a time when it was very hard for me to watch a movie with profanity in it. (Mostly, this is because I used to curse like a sailor.) I am still sensitive to it, and it is still hard for me to take when it's gratuitous, but I can confidently say that I enjoy Good Will Hunting every time I sit down to watch it. Will I take the fifteen-year-old girls I hang out with at the church youth group to see Rent when it comes out? Not a chance. It's not appropriate. It wouldn't have been appropriate for me when I was fifteen. But I'm older now and confident in my beliefs, so I can enjoy something like that for what it is and not be swayed by the things that may run contrary to what I believe. I had a friend last year say that you have to run everything through your "Worldview filter." I feel like I am constantly doing that, and cutting things out of my life that get stuck in that filter. There are some things that do get stuck there, believe it or not. But that is a story for "another day..."

Anyway, that is just my take on that subject. Like I said, it sort of ended up being the subject of the day on the blogs I read. This has turned into my manifesto on Christians and culture, so I'll take this opportunity to sign off. Go to "Scope for Imagination" to read more- Jessica says it much better than I do, anyway! That's all for now. Aloha,

Brianne <><

My roommate, Danielle and I are having a junk-foodathon tonight. Drug of choice: Bugles. I obviously have not gotten very far into reading the Morgan Spurlock book yet.

Danielle is watching episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD, but there is only so much of that stuff that I can take before I feel like I should scrape my brain clean, you know? Don't get me wrong, I love those guys. And they have completely warped my sense of humor. (It was warped before I was introduced to their psychosis, but now things are even worse.) There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Especially if the good thing is something as twisted as the Pythons.

Speaking of Danielle, she got promoted recently. So if you see her on the street, say, "I'm proud of you!" Last night she told me that if she works more than 44 hours a week, then she'll actually be making less than she does now, and that's with getting a raise along with the promotion. She has worked more than 44 hours a week before, so this is not that much of a stretch.

Today I sort of had a day off. I got to sleep in, which was nice. When I got up, I sat around the house, ate leftover mashed potatoes for breakfast/lunch, and listened to the entire Rent soundtrack from beginning to end. I have pathetic news to report: I have worn out my CD for Act 2. "Seasons of Love" and "Happy New Year A" completely do not work. Isn't that sad? I had to skip over those two, which throws me off for the entire second act. I realize that the fact that I have worn out my CD and am this upset about it makes me a bona-fide freak, but I don't care. "La vie Boheme!" and all that jazz.

I also went to Amazon. com to find out about the soundtrack (date, price, etc.) and they had a list of all the tracks on the new movie soundtrack. I almost pooped in my pants, you guys. It was like seeing a blueprint for the movie. I found out that they cleared up the timeline a little by putting "You'll See" (the scene where Benny comes to talk to Roger and Mark about the rent) before "One Song, Glory" and "Light my Candle" (Roger sings, and he and Mimi meet for the first time.) They also cut out my least favorite song in the show ("Contact," which is basically the big sex scene in the stage version) and left in all my favorites ("One Song, Glory," "Light My Candle," "Another Day," and "What You Own.") "Seasons of Love," which is probably the most popular song from the show, is now at the very beginning. I suspect that they're going to use that over the credits to establish the mood of the movie. I think that's great. In the stage verson, it's at the beginning of Act 2, and that's basically what it does there. In the stage version, the company is just lined up across the procenium singing in true musical theatre style. Actually, I'll bet that the original Broadway cast is sick to death of singing that freaking song. Any time there's going to be a live performance from the cast of Rent, I know that's what they're going to sing. Why not "Rent" or "Finale B?" They're both big company numbers and they, for the most part, don't have any questionable stuff in them (Not like "La Vie Boheme," where they talk about "anything taboo" in graphic terms, or "Tango: Maureen" where Mark drops the F-bomb several times.) Anyway, that's just one of those things about which I like to speculate. I was happy that when they were on the Today show, Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal got to sing "What you Own." It really is one of my favorites. (When Danielle and I sing along to that in the car, she sings Mark's part and I sing Roger's part.)

By the way, talking about Rent this much made me have to go to the website and turn on the music player. It starts off with Adam Pascal singing "One Song, Glory." There is so much emotion in his voice. I've always thought that Roger felt defeated in this scene, because his future looks so bleak and he's lost so much. In this new version of this song, you can just feel the desperation in his voice. It's extremely powerful.

Jessica was disappointed that she didn't know anything about the show because for the most part, we obsess about all the same things. Lost, Alias, the Harry Potter books, lots of music, Lord of the Rings, etc. So she went to the website and listened to the songs, and she watched the trailers. And I spent about twenty minutes running the show down for her, beginning to end. I tried to keep my comments about the individual motivations of the characters to a minimum.

Anyway, I'm going to stop obsessing about that As for the rest of the day, I had to go up to church for praise team practice and worship team meeting. (I almost typed the word committee, but we're trying to get away from that term.) We're working hard on planning our new service. I'm so excited about it. We're doing something new! We're going somewhere that out church has never gone. We're actually stirring up the way church is done, the way the congregation thinks about church, and we're providing an alternative to the ordinary for those of us who despise the ordinary. I know that what we're doing is not new when it comes to the Church in general, but it's new and exciting for First Presbyterian, Branson.

Our first new service is on Sept 11, which I think I have mentioned before. It's hard to say "September 11" without cringing, isn't it? Even when it's not "9/11" or "September 11, 2001." My friend, Aaron's birthday is on the 11th, and ever since 2001, it's been hard for him. That day was supposed to be a joyous, 21st birthday celebration for him, and instead we were crying and lighting candles and holding prayer vigils for the dead. I'm not going to get into a discussion about what I was doing on September 11, because it's looking backwards. We can all remember what we were doing that day. Instead, I'm really glad that we're starting our new service on that day. Maybe it will make a new, joyous memory for us.

I have good news in that Travis told me today that he has talked to our friend, Trey and he is safe and sound. Trey lives in Louisiana and I didn't know what his proximity was to the hurricane. So, Trey, if you're reading this, I'm glad you're okay! Everyone please pray for the residents of New Orleans. There are a lot of people still stuck down there in very poor conditions- shelters that are unsafe, not enough food or water, no communications. Not to mention the water flooding the majority of the city- that will spread disease like wildfire. It really is like a war zone down there. I don't even know what to pray for, but God does- it's just up to me to petition on others' behalf.

It's time for me to sign off, so Adios! Until tomorrow,

Brianne <><