Newsies on Broadway – Better Than the Movie?

When you love something as much as I love the 1992 movie, Newsies, you don’t want a single, minute detail changed.

So naturally I was apprehensive for the Broadway adaptation.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to see it or not (would I hate it? Love it? Hate that I loved it?). In the end, I entered my name in the Newsies ticket lottery and let the outcome decide.

I won. So I saw it.

Original Concerns

When I heard all the theatre buzz, my two main concerns were Jack’s transformation from cowboy to artist, and the reporter who’d followed the strike being a woman instead of a guy.

Actually sitting through the show, those weren’t the issues I had at all.

Although, if you’re going to make Jack an artist (a change which I don’t think was necessary, by the way), why make one of Pulitzer’s lines be:

“Time’s running out kid, so what do you say/Cowboy or convict, I win either way.”

Cowboy or convict.

Cowboy or convict.

Actors

I gotta say kudos to Jeremy Jordan (pictured below) for playing such a great Jack. He’s charismatic, cheeky, a natural leader, and quite sympathetic. As a huge fan of Christian Bale in this movie, I think Jeremy stepped into the role very well.

My friend and me with Jeremy Jordan aka Jack Kelly

The same can’t be said for Ben Fankhauser, playing David. I’d never even stopped

Tags: 1899, 1992, actor, adaptation, alex, artist, bale, ben, breslin, broadway, brooklyn, can, casella, change, changes, christian, convict, cowboy, crutchie, crutchy, dance, dave, davey, david, day, denton, difference, dvd, Fankhauser, fansies, fe, girl, headline, jack, jeremy, jordan, journalist, katherine, kelly, les, lyrics, max, medda, mill, moscow, Movie, Musical, new, Newsies, newspaper, pape, paper, play, playhouse, pulitzer, race, racetrack, rally, reporter, ryan, santa, script, seize, show, so, Song, spot, Strike, sun, theatre, think, wong, world, york, you

Killing is OK

This is a rant. I warned you there’d be some of these.

Picture this:

You and the girl you’re kinda into (except-let’s-keep-it-in-the-subtext) are running across the planet in a bid to find safety. The crazy, murderous preacher who’s tried to kill you both before is coming after you. In a climactic moment, he catches up with you and tries, yet again, to kill you. Somehow you get the upper hand. You don’t kill him. Instead you keep running.

Rinse and repeat three (or is it four?) times.

That’s pretty much the plot of Chaos Walking, a trilogy by Patrick Ness.

Chaos Walking actually has an interesting premise: In the future when Earth is inevitably ruined by careless, violent humans, other humans seek a new life on other planets. One group lands on New World, a planet where the natives (Spackle) communicate telepathically. Pretty soon, the newly-arrived men find that, like the Spackle, their thoughts are being transmitted aloud for all to hear. They call this “Noise.” Women, for some reason, aren’t affected.

Like I said, it’s an interesting and original idea. Leaves lots of room for discussion.

However. There were multiples times when I wanted to reach into those pages and shake the characters till their teeth rattled in their imbecilic heads.

Namely, whenever

Tags: and, answer, ask, ben, Book, chaos, crazy, defense, device, earth, go, haven, insane, kill, knife, lesson, letting, mayor, moral, murder, ness, never, new, noise, of, patrick, planet, plot, preacher, prentiss, prentisstown, president, rant, Review, self, spackle, the, todd, torture, Trilogy, viola, walking, women, world

4 Awesome Starter Books You Should Read

These four awesome books were originally listed on a static page (like the pages above), but I figured it was out of place there and should have a home with the rest of my book recommendations.

So I’ve decided to make a post of it.

I call them “starter books” for lack of a better term (if you know of one, let me know!). Three are the first books in their respective series; one of the books being not part of a series, but an introduction into the kinds of books the author writes.

The Thief By: Megan Whalen Turner
The Thief is the first book in a fantasy quartet. The thief in question is the main character, Eugenides (nicknamed Gen). It’s tough with a series like this to review a single book. There are so many plot twists that I’m not quite sure what I’m giving away. There are thieves, political intrigue, love, and more, all set in an ancient Greek/Byzantine-like setting. The stories revolve around the countries of Eddis, Attolia, and Sounis and all involve Gen. Interestingly, they’re all written in different points of view which allows for an in-depth look into Gen’s character.  I read the books slightly out of sequence, but they’re amazing in any order.

Friday’s Child By: Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer’s historical romances are different from every other historical romance. I admit to

Tags: Adventure, amelia, apprentice, archeology, assassin's, attolia, author, awesome, bastard, Book, byzantine, child, conspiracy, crocodile, dig, eddis, egypt, egyptology, Elizabeth, emerson, england, eugenides, fantasy, farseer, fitz, fitzchivalry, fool, foundling, friday's, gen, georgett, greek, heyer, historical, hobb, humor, intrigue, king, kings, liveship, Love, Magic, magus, man, megan, Mystery, on, peabody, peters, political, quartet, queen, ramses, recommendation, regency, robin, romance, royal, sandbank, series, sounis, tawny, the, Thief, traders, Trilogy, turner, whalen

Learning to Speak Portuguese

I prepared for three weeks to create this video – memorizing and practicing every chance I got! Enjoy

Check out my other YouTube videos here, or visit my channel, AlizaOnline.

Tags: beginner, brazil, brazilian, language, learn, lesson, memorize, monologue, mother, portuguese, Practice, rosetta, spanish, stone, translate, video, Vlog, YouTube

Check Out The Coolest Pictures Ever

There’s a brilliant up and coming photographer who takes the coolest pictures ever.

His name is Jacob J. Scheiner, and he happens to be my brother.

If you like looking at pretty pictures (and who doesn’t?), then you must check out his awesome photo blog at http://themomentthatwas.tumblr.com. It’s full of pictures of his travels, near and far, and interspersed throughout with meaningful quotes.

Sample pics:

Source: themomentthatwas.tumblr.com

Source: themomentthatwas.tumblr.com

Source: themomenthatwas.tumblr.com

Source: themomentthatwas.tumblr.com

Check out the blog for more awesomeness. Follow it, pin it, comment, and share it.

It’s that cool.

Tags: Blog, catcher, eye, graffiti, jacob, moment, photo, photographer, pic, picture, Pretty, scenery, scenic, that, the, travels, tumblr, was

What Would You Title This Blog?

Image via Wikipedia

I was very eager to start this blog.

I’d just finished a Lord of the Rings marathon; I read all the books and then watched each movie (twice).

So you can imagine my mind was a bit preoccupied with LOTR at the time. I needed a blog title, and “I Know What Hunts You” is – you guessed it – a Lord of the Rings reference.

Specifically when Aragorn asks Frodo if he’s frightened – Frodo replies, “Yes,” to which Aragorn says, “Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you.”

Bah dah dah dum.

It might have been a good title for a blog post, but it wasn’t the smartest choice for my blog name and URL, which is not as easily changeable.

Still, I’m seriously considering changing my blog name, maybe relocating my blog, and I’d like your help! If you have any ideas for a blog name that fits the scope of my blog, please let me know. Nothing’s too silly or obvious, so leave your thoughts in the comments, or contact me directly.

If I end up using your idea, you’ll get a special mention!!

Tags: address, andy, Aragorn, astin, baggins, bean, bilbo, billy, blanchett, Blog, bloom, boromir, boyd, Brandybuck, cate, change, Dominic, elf, elijah, fellowship, Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo, gamgee, Gandalf, Gollum, Hobbit, ian, idea, king, Legolas, lord, Lord of the Rings, LOTR, marathon, mckellan, Meriadoc, Merry, Monaghan, mortensen, Movies, name, orlando, Peregrin, Pippin, return, rings, sam, samwise, sean, serkis, Sir, tolkien, Took, towers, Trilogy, two, url, viggo, wood, wordpress

Is The Hunger Games Movie Better Than the Book?

Back in November, I wrote about my excitement for the Hunger Games movie, and my hope that it wouldn’t be a total flop or butcher the story too much.

I went to see  it on Wednesday.

It was a very interesting experience for me because though I read the books, it’s been a while. I only had a vague memory of the general storyline, but as I watched, the scenes came back to me like a half-remembered dream (apologies for the cliche, but that’s how it felt).

I didn’t like Katniss Everdeen in the book version. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that I actively disliked her. I don’t remember why, but it might have had something to do with her prickly personality. Katniss, as portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, is much more likable. Possibly because the audience can’t tell what she’s thinking. The reaping scene where she screams, “I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!” gives me chills every time I watch it.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen

Peeta Mellark was probably the most

Tags: abernathy, amandla, arrow, Banks, bentley, better, between, Book, bow, Caesar, capitol, cast, cinna, Claudius, collins, comparison, Crane, difference, district, donald, drunk, effie, Elizabeth, everdeen, fire, Flickerman, gale, games, girl, harrelson, hawthorne, haymitch, hemsworth, hunger, hutcherson, jennifer, jones, josh, katniss, kravitz, lawrence, lenny, liam, mellark, Movie, peeta, president, primrose, rue, Seneca, Shields, snow, stanley, stenberg, sutherland, suzanne, Templesmith, toby, tribute, Trilogy, trinket, tucci, twelve, wes, Willow, woody