Nessun Dorma, Jessie Cullum and Mamma Mia

The great aria, Puccini's Nessun Dorma, is playing in the background, being sung by the most wonderful tenor of all time, Luciano Pavarotti. I can imagine him, a stout little man who seemed anything but little and stout, in a black tuxedo, white shirt, handkerchief in hand, black hair and beard, head facing skyward, mouth so wide open all his teeth show, while these incredible, inhumanly beautiful sounds escape his throat and float out into the air where we can hear them and where they enter our ears and our hearts and our stomachs and our arms and our legs and I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face and a lump in my throat as big as a boiled egg, because of the other-wordly beauty of the song and the voice that is singing it. This happens to me every. single. time. I hear this aria, sung by this man and I crumble.

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J.J. Abrams, who has given those of us who love inpenetrable mysteries, LOST, is about to give us another delicious TV program, titled FRINGE. I'm looking forward to it, but the reason I bring it up here is that he is quoted as saying:

"This(Fringe) was really about saying, 'What are the things we love? How do we make a show that lets us play with these toys?' "

I think that's exactly what we should be asking ourselves, all the time. What do we love? How can we construct a job, a life, a retirement that lets us play with these toys???

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Here is a quote that's worth repeating (I think I used it in another blog post way back when):

Jamie Cullum in his song Photograph says:

"As I look back at my ordinary, ordinary life

I see so much magic, though I missed it at the time."

Look back at your ordinary, ordinary life and find the magic. It's there. Trust me.

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Jamie Cullum is worth listening to. He is very young--British--sounds a little like Paul McCartney and he has a wonderful way with lyrics. Sometimes he sings his own compositions and sometimes he sings old songs like "I Only Have Eyes for You" and that means, to me, that he has great respect for the old music as well as what's new. "Photograph" and 13 other songs that I love are on Jamie Cullum Cathing Tales http://www.amazon.com/Catching-Tales-Jamie-Cullum/dp/B000AXWHRG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1217459359&sr=8-2

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My Mom and my best friend and I went to see Mamma Mia on Monday. My Mom loved the movie unreservedly, absolutely, happily. When I asked her what her favorite part was she said she couldn't name a best part because she loved the whole thing.

Well, best friend and I had different reactions. The first thing I said to her, in the darkened theater after the movie had started was: "This could have been a good story, maybe, without the MUSIC." The second thing I said was: "I hate ABBA music". She liked Christine Baranski who she said made a bad song better. I agree. Baranski was THE ONLY ONE who looked relaxed in this movie. All her years on the stage prepared her for this movie, all her work in musicals allowed her to let her body move normally with the music, plus she has a big voice. I think Streep's other friend, Julie Waters I think her name is, has had lots of stage experience, too, but still, she didn't look comfortable either. And Streep? Oh baby, she should not have done it. She should have had second, third and fourth thoughts about this. She can sing, but she can't sing big. I leaned over to my friend and whispered: "It makes me long for Streisand when Meryl sings." And I really haven't longed for Streisand in a loooonnng time. Even Celine Dion, whom I pretty much can't stand, would have been better. She would have SOLD the songs, but Meryl, I'm sorry, no. And she flapped her arms and legs around in a way that was nearly spastic! What was she thinking???!!!!!

I liked the guys better, because they weren't supposed to sing that well. I like the Swedish actor, Stellan Skarsgard, best, and I liked the other two, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan, too, because they were in an uncomfortable position, plot-wise, and they looked and acted uncomfortable, as they should have. Pierce was the worst singer and people in the audience, besides us, laughed when he began to bellow like a sick bull, but I kind of liked that he isn't perfect, because he is awfully good-looking and it's not fair to be that good-looking and a good singer, too. Firth has a pleasant, folksy voice and Skarsgard was okay vocally, too, and my friend and I agreed, the most attractive of the three.

Greece was the backdrop for this movie and somehow the director, cinematographer, or someone, made Greece look bad, too! I've been there four times, to many of the islands, and the islands are breathtaking--I can't explain what they did, but it was as though they took paints and intensified and neonized the colors. The colors of Greek islands are already pretty intense, so what was the point? There were also lots of red, orange, purple printed fabrics and shiny costumes which distracted from the beautiful blue, white and green natural surroundings, so that Greece itself actually faded. Very strange. If you ever go to Greece you will see what I mean. The colors of nature are so lovely in themselves that people don't try to compete with them, they only compliment them.

Here is one of my favorite review phrases:

"Unless you buy into this ersatz jubilance and its grim determination to make you feel good, you're apt to long for a tranquilizer gun by the 20-minute mark."

Ken Hanke on Rotten Tomatoes

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So much for today and music! Long live it, but don't let Meryl sing outside her own shower.