Friday, February 24, 2006

Night of Celebration 4

It was there again, the NOC...

It all started with a presentation about cancer and reminded us of what the blessing to be alive - which just about clashed horribly with my own views. Donation boxes where then passed around, which made me go "oh, so that's why its free". They then screened "the making of NOC4" which is totally irrelevent but comical. Although I would be more impressed if the the characters were the leads

The Chapters of Life...

Oh, that's the title by the way...

tells a tale of faith, friendship and forgiveness. Featuring Abigail, a graceful leader of a dance, and Violet, her best friend and assistant. Despite the seemingly perfect person, Abigail suffers from leukemia. Chris, Abigail’s brother and Sean, another friend were naturally concerned for her, Chris being Abigail’s protective brother and Sean as Abigail’s secret admirer/lover.

The storyline and cast of characters are rather much predictable, but then again, there exist very few storyline left unexplored, so I would not harp on that.

Chris is an unbeliever, or rather, he thinks god as some dood who is too lazy to care about the world (infested, you reading this?) Chris thinks that if god had so much as cared, his sister would not have had leukemia. The fact that Abigail died shorty after receiving news of a suitable bone marrow transplant did not help matters either, although he blames himself too for driving recklessly.

Sean, the outcast, of the family, of the world. He is also essentailly an unbeliever, having prayed and been denied disclosure. According to the story, he only true friend was Abigail, and he is secretly in love with her. Having spilled his feelings on the night Abigail died, Sean blamed Chris for killing her. After the incident Sean lived a life of denial, changing into a playboy, seeking to soothe his aching heart.

Violet is a typical movie character, where as best friend to a talented mate, feels sidelined and of course very jealous of Abigail. Also secretly in love with Sean... (you know where this is headed, no need for me to explain, bleh). After Abigail's death, Violet struggles to fill in Abi's shoes and suffered bouts of inconfidence and stuff, and still tried to capture Sean's attention.

Now Abigail... "live life to the fullest" or so it seems to be her motto. Despite her condition, she practices on the dance floor almost with zealous fervor. and also in love with Sean (what the heck? now that I put it in words it seems so... cliche >_< )Abigail died on the night where hope shined through, presenting with it a suitable marrow transplant. Giving her a chance at a normal life. Another death of the innocent, the nice person. (people who die always seem to be the good guys eh?)

A thing that must be mentioned is the heavy Christian undertones. Though they might have had a place in the play, they sat uncomfortably with certain members of the audience. Notably me, else I wouldn't be mentioning this, bleh!

On the flip side the music was exceptional and inspired. The live orchestration lent to the play the heart and emotion, and although the singing itself might not be entirely remarkable, it was above what could be expected from us university students (which is already better than SOME artises out there...)

Taking a different direction from the previous Nights of Celebrations which revolved around the true meaning of Christmas, this year's production team brought instead a story of a life lived to the very fullest which they purported would "lead us in search for a true reason to live".

The only reason I'm actually content with the show is probably my own bitterness towards life, and a general tendency towards unjudgementalness (is there such a word?). But where the heart can be mended, and the mind can be cured, a soul that had died can never be reborn, nor the fire that had extinguished rekindled.
 

Monday, February 13, 2006

Prophets Pictures: Blasphemy; Solution: Bludgeoning

Righteous Fury

Right...

Really, if people can just be less sensitive.

The world would end.

No, serious. If everyone is as uncaring as me, there will be no life as we know today. But of course there will also be no conflict, mainly cause no one would believe in anything.

Logically though, we can view it as such:

Since one can't have Prophet Muhammad's picture taken, no one now would know HOW he looks like. So, one can take solace in the fact that the picture CAN'T be his real picture. Unless of course some original picture exist in the 1st place, but then its blasphemy to have his picture! So...

What the hell?

and...

"Hit them where it hurts, which is the economy" says some dood.

Sorry, won't work, your economy is the mone more likely to suffer. Think of it, Denmark and all the other European countries have already a stable economy, with exports all over the world, while the guys who are making these absurd demands are from DEVELOPING countries, whose economy is even MORE fragile.

You'll be destroying yourselves, much to the joy of anti-muslims.