5 on Friday -- Set 227

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.

Enjoyed a wonderful concert last Sunday, featuring my friend Michael Downie and three other singers.

Michael is at the far left.

We've been friends since junior high school, becoming close when we both were members of our high school choir, the Prince Andrew Chorus. My mom and I sat with Shelley, also from those magical choir days.

Shelley, me and my mom at the concert

When yet another of our choir friends, John, commented on Facebook that he remembered Michael singing A New Town is a Blue Town from our grade eleven musical The Pajama Game, he gave me the spark for today's set.

Here are five of my favorite songs from the three musicals produced by my high school choir while I was a student there. 

1 - The Brothers Come to Egypt/Grovel, Grovel -- Donny Osmond and the cast of the 1999 filmed version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Our version was performed in the spring of 1980, when I was in grade 10.

I'm including the song that follows this one, because they make more story sense together.

Who's the Thief?

I was lucky enough to work as an usher at the Hummingbird Theatre in Toronto, the summer that Donny Osmond's touring production of Joseph played from May to September. Yes, he really was amazing.

2 - A New Town is a Blue Town -- Harry Connick Jr. -- The Pajama Game

My friend Michael has a baritone voice, so when he was cast as the lead Sid Sorokin, the tenor part had to be transposed to accommodate Michael's voice.

Our version was performed in the spring of 1981, when I was in grade 11.

3 - Hey There -- Harry Connick Jr. -- The Pajama Game

4 - People Will Say We're in Love -- Shirley Jones as Laurie, and Gordon MacRae as Curley

Michael once again played the lead in our graduating production of Oklahoma!

Our version was performed in the spring of 1982, when I was in grade 12.

This is a shot taken by my dad from one of our performances. That's Michael at left center, Heather in the blue and me in the green at right. I played Ado Annie.

We're in the midst of the 14-minute dream ballet sequence, which Heather and I co-choreographed. We didn't let a little thing like 'that's crazy!' stop us from tackling such a monumental challenge. It worked out pretty well.

Here's the entire dream ballet sequence as performed by Josefina Gabrielle and Hugh Jackman from the 1998 filmed version of the London's West End production.

5 - Dream Ballet sequence -- Oklahoma! 1998

5 on Friday - Set 169

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day!

To celebrate, I'm holding a month-long giveaway for e-copies of my Dark Ages vampire superhero story, SAINT SANGUINUS here on my blog. Stop by tomorrow to sign in for the giveaway.

I'll be dropping by at all the local comic book shops here in Halifax and Dartmouth--meanwhile, here at my blog I'll be celebrating superheroes. Hugh Jackman insists upon it.

An extra-special surprise also awaits...more tomorrow.

Until then, let's get into superhero mode with this week's set.  

1 - We Don't Need Another Hero - Tina Turner

2 - Boy Wonder - Big Pig 

3 - Everyday Superhero - Smash Mouth

4 -Hero - Nickleback

5 - Wonderboy - Tenacious D

My Fourth Blogiversary / 5 on Friday - Set 52

Wow - a double anniversary! Four years of A Piece of My Mind, and 52 full weeks of spinning the tunes for Travis' 5 on Friday Meme.

To begin the celebrations, let's look up...wa-a-a-y up...and catch the signature maneuver of Canada's Snowbirds Demonstration Team - 431 Squadron - as they perform the Maple Split outside Quebec City. Accompanying the aerial acrobatics is a section of Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.



Next up - Welsh harpist Glenda Clwyd plays the instrument I would chose to most closely express the inner me. I adore the harp, and this piece - Arrival of the Queen of Sheba - was on an old baroque harp cassette tape which I listened to until it wore out.



How could I celebrate anything without inviting dancers to join the party? For those of you who caught my review of Black Swan, or for those who have seen Black Swan but are not familiar with Swan Lake, here is American Ballet Theatre's Gillian Murphy with her How-to-dance-the-Black-Swan performance.



*clapping* Her wonderfully passionate partner is Angel Corella.

To continue the very-me mix of gothic celebration, here is a clip from a German production of Carmina Burana, a choral piece I was lucky enough to perform while at university.



Following my January-is-Elvis-Month series of 5 on Friday's, here's one more tune that expresses my renewed faith in the power of dreams coming true.



I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for making this blog such a joy for me. ((hugs)) to my blog friends far and near!

Here's to Year 5 for A Piece of My Mind. Mr. Jackman, take it away...

Through the Opera Glasses - 43 - Carousel Sing Off

Last Friday my mom and I chanced upon a broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel on TV, so I ended a tiring work week with an unexpected joy.

I was completely crushing on Gordon MacRae, who played carnival barker Billy Bigelow.

On the weekend, I found several versions of If I Loved You on You Tube and ooo-ed and aahh-ed over all of them - which gave me the idea to have a sing-off here at my Through the Opera Glasses post.

First up:

Patrick Wilson, shown here at an intimate performance space in New York known as Seth's Broadway Chatterbox.



Next, we have Hugh Jackman in concert at Carnegie Hall. Keep in mind the audio recording leaves something to be desired. If I Loved You begins at the 2:50 mark:



Our final contender - Gordon MacRae, from the 1956 film. His version starts at 5:08 (with a sigh-worthy kiss preceded by a gaze of desire starting at 7:21) :



What say you?

Janet says I love the last one. But Hugh Jackman? Sigh! Can't decide between the two.

Yousei Hime says Personally, I vote for Hugh Jackman. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Julianne MacLean says I gotta vote for Patrick here. I felt the deep pain and angst, and that's what always gets me, as you know :). Such an intimate performance. Go Patrick go!

UPDATE

And the winner is....Hugh Jackman! Thanks for voting.

Identifying Life Patterns - The Richard Armitage Way

Welcome to my second installment of Identifying Life Patterns. I've long noticed that actors and actresses seem to be attracted to repeat certain types of roles in their careers. In my new blog feature, I'll be looking at different life issues found in the repetitive choices of actors and actresses.

What can we as audience members learn from this?

All of us can identify with certain life issues that seem to haunt us. For example, we may have been stuck with a teacher who never seemed to notice our accomplishments in favor of a star pupil. In our work life, we may find we work for a succession of managers who don't give us credit for our hard work. We may feel trapped by this frustrating cycle of not being acknowledged. We may have kids who take us for granted, a partner who forgets anniversaries. Are we invisible?

"As long as a person continues replaying the pains of yesterday, they keep designing experiences to repeat the pain. They will keep going back to situations that feed the pain.

The feelings you bring from past experiences create the understandings you have for today. Only when you find the positive lessons in the event, can you move beyond it." - Richard Flint, Breaking Free

The problem will not go away until we see it, recognize it and deal with it. And sometimes it's easier to recognize these painful life patterns when we watch a movie, read a book or hear a song on the radio.

Last week, I looked at a repeating pattern of grief I've noticed in Hugh Jackman's film roles. He's played the same scene over and over. No matter how big and strong a man his character is, he is unable to prevent the woman he loves from dying.

How could an audience member benefit from noticing this repetitive pattern in Hugh Jackman's films?

Well, sooner or later we will all come to that moment when we have to say goodbye to a loved one. Maybe we've already done so. Maybe repeatedly, like Jackman's characters. Perhaps we weren't ready at one time to hear the message these scenes give us.

But for some reason, we sit in a theatre watching one of these films and all of a sudden something clicks for us. We realize that death is a part of life, and no amount of running from it or bargaining with God against it will prevent it from happening.

For today's Identifying Life Patterns, I'm taking a look at a repetitive theme that runs through many of the TV series in which British actor Richard Armitage has appeared.

Here are stills from five of his TV series or mini-series. What is going on in these scenes? What is the dominant problem reoccurring again and again? And how would a person go about releasing this pattern once it was recognized?



















Apprentice Writer says I'm not familiar with this actor but he certainly seems to inspire a lot of devotion among the bloggers I've visited!

Shelley Munro says I'm not sure, but I'd guess and say he's not a black and white character. He's always a half-step away from being a baddie, yet he struggles with this at times.

Sandy Carlson says I think that in life we run the risk of being typecast, as actors can be--we are comfortable in a particular role and we play it all the time.

Identifying Life Patterns - the Hugh Jackman Way

In my most recent poem, I examined my natural attractions and repulsions to people, things and situations. It's a starting point when learning to identify patterns in a person's life, especially with regards to past life trauma and the quest to meet the life challenges presented this time around.

It's often noted in present-life therapy that people repeat negative patterns as a subconscious means of trying to deal with underlying issues. Once the 'student' is ready, a 'teacher' will come. For example, a child from an alcoholic home will often grow into adulthood choosing romantic partners that mirror the alcoholic parent. Once the adult version of that wounded child is ready, a situation will present itself - most often painfully - to allow that person to make a new choice. This choice represents the giant internal shift for that former child to rewrite his or her story into a positive outcome at long last.

These breakthroughs are never easy. The path to the breakthrough can sometimes leave collateral damage. So why is this inner knowledge so hard to find?

In my view, the greater the value and significance of the ah-ha moment, the higher the price tag.

No pain, no gain.

And there's no escaping it, either. The longer a person tries to put off learning an important soul message/lesson, the more curve balls life will throw at you. Repetitive curve balls, ones that will hopefully become obvious after awhile.

I keep my eyes and heart open to recognize the negative patterns in my own life. When I realize what's going on, I make a real effort to understand why the pattern is there, what I'm supposed to learn from it, and then to transcend my previous pattern.

I've been actively doing this for the past twenty years. Is my life in perfect harmony? No.

But I have made a lot of progress in several key areas. When dealing with trauma from a single life, it's hard enough. When dealing with past life trauma, that's baggage I've been carrying around for a lo-o-o-ong, long time. So I give myself a break and realize that any progress made is hitting the spiritual jackpot.

It's taken me two years to reveal my belief in reincarnation here on my blog. Is my fear of revealing this tied to a problem I had as an earlier version of myself? Absolutely.

Now where does Hugh Jackman come into all of this?

As a film-lover, it's easy to notice patterns emerge in the film choices made by actors and actresses. I've often thought that these repeating patterns are likely an attempt by the Universe to get the attention of the actor or actress. I presume that the issue behind these patterns is likely the dominant life challenge brought into this life by that person.

I'm going to start another feature here at A Piece of My Mind. It won't be an every-week kind of post, but will return on a regular basis.

For Identifying Life Patterns, I'll highlight the pattern I've noticed in the performances of actors and actresses. I invite readers to guess what the life challenge is for that person, based upon the issue we can observe.

Why do this? Well, I find that fiction is a safe sounding board for painful truth. It's easier to weep over a movie than it is to face things inside oneself. But fiction can also be a key that unlocks answers to questions we can't verbalize to ourselves. Recognizing patterns in films helps me to identify my own patterns when they crop up in real life.

So let's Identify Life Patterns - the Hugh Jackman Way.

Here are stills from five of his films. What is going on in these scenes? What is the dominant problem reoccurring again and again? And how would a person go about releasing this pattern once it was recognized?

























Films: Van Helsing, X-Men3: The Last Stand, The Fountain, The Prestige and X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Bobbi says Wow, Julia, this is a deep topic. You've certainly given me food for thought this beautiful Saturday morning. I look forward to more of these posts!

Apprentice Writer says I hear you on the 'sometimes easier to deal with/work through hard emotions in fiction' thing.

Thomma Lyn says Some people catch the curve balls, others miss them, and yet others pretend they don't see the curve balls at all, even when they're being pitched at their heads!

Through the Opera Glasses - 17 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I've been waiting to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine since the first glimpse of this character in the first X-Men film.














You know the scene. His back to us in the cage fight sequence.


















My husband Brad and I are big superhero fans, and on Saturday mornings in the 90's when I was getting ready to work the matinees at the performing arts theatre in Toronto, X-Men: The Animated Series was always on our TV. I just loved the opening credits music. We both loved waiting for Cyclops to yell, "Jean! No!" at some point during the episode. So I was already familiar with the character of Wolverine when we gratefully sat in our seats at the movie theatre in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 2000 for the first X-Men movie (we lived there for two years.)

Hugh Jackman hooked me with Wolverine the moment he turned in that cage with his raised eyebrow and his keep-away persona. Of course he was a badass. Of course he couldn't turn his back on runaway teenage Rogue. No! He's my perfect kind of male character. Because lurking there somewhere was the revelation that came in X-Men 2: X-Men United. Wolverine had endured a hideous physical transformation that gave him those claws. And he had the disturbed repressed memories to prove it.









When he stumbles upon the scene of the crime in X-Men 2, Wolverine flashes back to the top-secret military experiment that resulted in him.









These flash backs came to us as they came to him. Horrible scenes of agony, thrashing in a tank of liquid, breaking free of the perpetrators, trying to make sense of what had been done to him.









But they were only flashes, and Wolverine blocked them out as soon as he could.

Knowing an origins film was in the works simmered in the back of my mind for what has seemed like an endless torment. Not as tormented as Wolverine, mind you. But close.

Finally, finally X-Men Origins: Wolverine opened on May 1st. At last I could find out how he got in that tank, could brace myself to see the awful truth for myself.

Except that I couldn't. My personal hell of migraine plague was raging. This winter has been my worst on record, and by May 1st my endurance level was hitting critical failure. The Wolverine origins film was sure to be flashy and loud. No Wolverine for me.

I read reviews which said:

The movie is somewhat limited in its denouement in that as a prequel, Sabretooth and Stryker must live to play another day (in X-Men and X2) and Wolverine must remember to forget these events. Nonetheless, it’s engaging action, and a spur to watch X2 again on DVD. - David MacDonnell, Starlog

Which begs the question - why do I want to see an origin story so badly when I already know what happens to this character in the future?









This past Friday, all systems were go. My head was bugging me but not so badly that I couldn't grit my teeth and bare the flashy parts. And the explosion parts.

I met up with Brad and we greeted the long weekend finally sitting down in a theatre to see how Wolverine got to that opening cage fight scene back in X-Men.









For me, the irresistable call of the origin story is going through the transformation along with the character. Instead of having zero interest level because I already know what's going to happen to him in the future, for me this moment shown above is so much more gripping and heart-crushing because I know so much about Wolverine.

He readies himself for something we already know will be excruxiating in the extreme. It will change almost everything about him. The true transformation of one incarnation into another is my favorite type of story - a thread that runs through all of my own stories.













The echo of transformation resonates so strongly in us because so many of us experience its painful process.

We leave home, move to a strange city, experience hard times and must rely on ourselves to get through it. The new being that emerges has some battle scars, but stands straighter, taller.

A woman goes into labour and emerges as a new being - a mother. The transformation is painful. But the new persona created by that event provides the baby with its own personal superhero, someone who can push past the boundaries of the previous woman who existed before the birth transformation took place.

The chrysalis mythos is a basic element of the human condition. Without transformation, there is no growth. Without growth, there is no life.









When Wolverine endures the inevitable, I endure it with him - gladly. It reminds me that all the days that absolutely suck are not just meaningless torture. They are part of my chrysalis.









When Wolverine erupts out of the tank roaring with new life, a lean mean fighting machine, it reminds me of the way in which I meet my own personal pain, my own personal Black Moment. It's really my cue to show my true character. The transformation changes almost everything. The thing that remains is character.









The opening credits show this as Wolverine and his brother Sabretooth ennact their version of the Universal Soldier. A really nice sequence. Sabretooth's true nature is uncovered by each successive battle they're in.

And having Sabretooth portrayed by Liev Schreiber only adds to the joy for me.











Because I write about vampires, this scene above where the two brothers, Sabretooth and Wolverine are about to be executed by firing squad - when they and the audience are aware that they have the ability to regenerate and will now have witnesses to their unexplained ability - sets up a delicious anticipation.


One of the complaints about the film is the inclusion of various Marvel Comics characters without giving fan-favorites enough screen time. Because the X-Men stories are really about a team of beings that work together, I don't see how you could tell an X-Men story without them.

My favorite of the new characters is Gambit, played by Taylor Kitsch.








I really liked his wizard-y fighting staff.




















And Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool gets particular flack from fanboys and I assume fangirls because of mysterious retooling of the character's basic elements. His wisecracking personality, to be specific. Not being one of these, I enjoyed Reynolds performance and his swirling katana swords. You know I love me some swords.

Travis says It sounds great when you analyze it. But for me, I'd have to give the film a B-.

Ms Snarky Pants says I did always kind of have a crush on Gambit, though, so my expectations may just be a bit high. LOL Every other aspect of the film, however, I found absolutely delightful.

Bobbi says My youngest daughter is not a fan of X-Men, she went to see the movie just for the Hugh Jackman factor!!

Through the Opera Glasses - 6 - Australia Releases on DVD Tuesday

Brad and I watched Baz Luhrmann's Australia on Sunday. My husband works at Blockbuster and brings home the new releases a week early. A big perk for us!


Both of us loved Australia. Baz Lurhmann is a favorite director of ours, even though he's only done four films so far: Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Australia (2008.)





David Gulpilil as King George













Young Brandon Walters is the film's heart as Nullah, a half-aboriginal, half-white boy trying to keep one step ahead of authorities trying to ship him off to the Mission School. He lives on the cattle station known as Faraway Downs.













Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) travels from England to Australia to sell her late husband's property. When she arrives Down Under, she discovers the neighboring cattleman, King Carney plans to absorb her station into his own. King Carney is played by one of my absolute favorite Australian actors, Bryan Brown.













The film is gorgeously shot by Mandy Walker. Look at this movie-star entrance into the film for Hugh Jackman.













Nicole Kidman gets to show some grit during a cattle drive, where Lady Ashley comes face to face with the lengths King Carney will go to maintain his cattle monopoly.

















But Australia really shines when The Drover strides onscreen. Hugh Jackman's rugged cattleman activates every feminine cell in a woman's body.


















I really enjoyed the magical realism of the boy's storyline, whose affinity for the land and its secrets is woven strongly throughout the film.


And the romance - did I mention the romance?



























How about the chaos of Japanese attacks on Australia in this WWII setting? Isn't it hard enough to realize how one feels about a love interest? Bombing raids out of nowhere really throw a wrench into the works.











Another favorite Australian actor, David Wenham plays an ambitious man who works for King Carney.

Here's the trailer for Australia. Enjoy!