it's an illusion

m. and I recently watched The Illusionist and The Prestige, about a day apart from each other. I enjoyed both, and was pleasantly surprised that they are only similar insofar as they feature 1. old timeyness 2. magicians 3. their adapted nature (Steven Millhauser and Christopher Priest, respectively). Otherwise, they are about different things. The Illusionist is more of a simple love story, while The Prestige is a story about obsession and love and fame and etc. etc.

I could take my time here talking about how Hugh Jackman can look like 3 different people seemingly without prosthetic makeup, how Christian Bale reminded me of Eric Bana in Chopper, or how Edward Norton's goatee was the strangest I'd ever seen. However, I would like instead to put a question to you all: does it bother you or does it please you when historical figures are used in fiction/fantasy? I think that both sides are legitimate. When it happens, I tend to like the story more--as long as the historical figures are portrayed as real characters and not as foils to point out that This Is History (see: Forrest Gump). But it annoys m. because (and I'm paraphrasing) it takes him out of the story. I ask this because Nikola Tesla is a character in The Prestige.

I don't know how many of y'all go to concerts, I know I don't go very frequently, but when I do go, I have noticed an annoying trend: people talking incessantly. I do not understand why you would pay money to go somewhere and talk over music that is usually pretty loud. The worst I've experienced was at Andrew Bird in Cleveland. Several girls and a guy or two had been over at the bar apparently for quite some time, but decided to come stand behind us right as the set started. I don't think they stopped talking once throughout the show. At one point one girl was yelling something about Cirque de Soleil and my blood was boiling. I asked them to be quiet once, but they obviously did not care about anyone around them (later they spilled a beer everywhere and just laughed about it). I am still mad about this even though it happened back in January. My anger is renewed every time I listen to an otherwise fabulous live Andrew Bird set that features some very familiar jabber jaws. The set is gorgeous but that same blood boiling feeling comes back when I hear the obnoxious voices from the audience. I don't think that some people realize that the parts of a song without singing are part of the song, especially in the case of someone like Andrew Bird who is a classically trained violinist. I've also noticed this at movie theaters more frequently in the last few years.

Have I just never noticed this before? Have people always been this inedibly rude to fellow concertgoers and the musicians? In my ideal world there would be chatter police who would go around and ducktape shut the mouths of people who can't seem to shut up despite the glares and requests of those around them. These same police would also make sure that tall people wouldn't stand in front of short people, they would remove the jerks who push there way in front of other people to the front of the stage and they would escort those who have traveled more than an hour to get to the venue to the front (because, come on, those are the dedicated fans!)

It could happen.



mcworld