The King’s Speech

broderic on January 23, 2011

The King’s Speech tells the fascinating tale of Young Prince Albert who became King George VI father to Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. He stutters which is not good for aspiring to be King. Yet, it is hinted that his stuttering is because he doesn’t want to be King. Guy Pearce even doesn’t want to be King, and he wishes that he wouldn’t become King replacing Dumbledore. So he abdicates to sleep with that harpie from the colonies. Prince Albert assumes the kingship and must be regal. Will his speech impediment hinder him?

This movie is the story of Albert trying to live up to being royalty and to meet the challenges of the changing world. It follows his relationship with the speech therapist, Lionel Logue. The Prince wants a cure. The therapist wants the Prince to be true to himself and act as kingly as possible. They clash in styles. High-low. Commoner-king. Teacher-student. Patient-doctor.

The reluctance of the Prince to take on the mantle of the heir apparent manifests in his stuttering. The pressure is great on him. He must be great and rise up to the challenges that were facing England and the world in 1930s. The weight of the world is on the stuttering fool. He will recover with the help of the speech therapist.

I liked it. I liked that it was something in the Prince to overcome: being afraid. I liked Geoffery Rush as the Prince’s speech therapist. His character didn’t care if it was the King he was helping. They were all of the same caste. I guess it takes an Australian to not be too concerned for the social station.

I also liked the fact that Helena Bonham Carter acted. You forget that she can because she’s always directed to be over the top. As Queen mother, she is the rock base for the Prince. She loves him and wants him to be as good, as great, as she believes him to be. The love helps him. Bonham Carter makes it believable. Dial her down a notch and she becomes watchable.

You know this rating is going to bite me next January, but I really dug this film while watching it. Very well told story, good acting, and clear direction. It’s been some time that I’ve doled out the max, so here it is. Because it is all true.

5 of 5 stars

Link of the Day [1.22.11]

broderic on January 22, 2011

As of this moment, I was reading my archives trying to gauge how well I wrote. I also followed a few links from these old posts just to see if they were still linking to something and if their owners were active. Unfortunately, I find out #!usr/bin/girl has stopped writing since 2009. She’s probably switched platforms and URL. On her front page, we find today’s link.

It goes to some dude giving tips to taking pictures of cute, small, plastic figures. Hey, I do that, too! All his tips are valid, but I think I’ve already discovered them out on my own using trial and error.

I’m posting this link though to remind my readers that my hobby collecting nendoroids and anime figures is not as weird as you think. There are other peopled doing the same. Other people who are not crazy otaku.

At least this link gives me the motivation to make my shots of nendoroids better. I wish the dude had some tips on setting up a model shoot indoors. What lighting to use. What backdrops to use. I want to stage a photo shoot of each of my nendoroids and make them look awesome. Trial and error may work.

http://chris.pirillo.com/tips-for-taking-pictures-of-small-plastic-things-for-the-amateur-photographer/

Doors of Perception

broderic on January 21, 2011

As promised, here’s that nutty version of Hokago Tea Time’s (K-ON!) “Don’t Say Lazy” done by Scandal with Shoko-tan. A cover of a 2D schoolgirl band done by a live schoolgirl band. My mind asplodes thinking about how awesome this is.

Link of the Day [1.20.11]

broderic on January 20, 2011

Oh, you’re still here? I thought that you would be off following the music break video and surfing the related YouTube videos spending the hours upon hours lost in the world of anime song covers.

You didn’t? Well, good.

Let me send you on another journey into the land of the rising sun. This one is another excursion into its music scene. I wonder if this is J-POP or J-Rock? Who knows but since I wanted to see K-ON! videos. Here’s a real live all school girl band. Well, they’re not school girls anymore. They’re rockers! (In school girl outfits!! Yes!)

http://www.scandal-4.com/

Diamond Cravasse Duet (with piano)

broderic on January 20, 2011

Surfing around YouTube last night because I was really, really, really wanting to hear more K-ON!. As you know how it goes, you find a video, then follow the related videos and follow and follow and follow. Next thing you know a couple of hours have gone out the window. Wait, I was looking for K-ON! covers and now I’m listening to “Diamond Cravasse” sung by Ranka and Sheryl (Megumi & May’n) accompanied by the great Yoko Kano. How’d that happen when a few videos back there was that awesome May’n cover of “God Knows?” And that SCANDAL cover of “Don’t Say You Are Lazy” with Shoko-tan? When are these going to be music breaks?

Don’t worry all in due time.

Anyhow, this is a sweet performance of “Diamond Cravasse” from Macross Frontier. Perhaps the best song from that anime. It’s usually sung by May’n but with the help of Ranka’s voice actress, Megumi-chan, a duet of great sadness. Hit me up in comments to show your appreciation. Count this song as number 7.6 in the “You Should Be Watching Anime” list.

2B || !2B

broderic on January 20, 2011

The seed wonders aloud why he blogs. He mutters something about cheese sandwiches and Mac forums, but finds that he doesn’t really have anything to add to the conversation that is on the intertubes.

I beg to differ.

Check out this simple list of reasons on why to blog. You’ll find some things there that can fit the niche the seed has carved out for himself. Why skimming that list, I know that the seed has shared his expertise on video recording and editing. He’s currently updating his list of hotties, so that puts him into engaging a debate with total strangers. And one thing, his blog will always represent him on the intertubes, facebook not withstanding. So it’s not completely worthless.

When I look at that list, my main motivation in writing the blog is to create a permanent record of things that are important to me at particular time. I’ll let the google hive mind index it which allows me to remember all of it better. Second motivation on the list is that I really enjoy leading my readers to content that I think (and hope) you would like. Why do you think that my number one tag has been the “Link of the Day?”

Not to go all meta on you, but I did start another post about those “Link of the Day” posts and why I do them, but couldn’t write about it prosaically. Thanks, seed for this opportunity to write something. Actually, that would be the third reason from that list as to why I blog. I like the art of writing, even when I am so terrible at it.

It is totally worth writing a blog. And twitter, too. But you have to be on it to understand. It ain’t 100% junk. It’s another form of conversation. Now about facebook…..