Hi there
He beamed right on back, and waved me over to his monitor. Oh, no, I thought, what am I wearing that's betraying me? My rings? Ear-rings? The sequins on my sweater?
"Hey, come and see how happy you look". The guy pointed to the screen.
Um... I peered at the screen.
It was just the outline of a figure. No detail at all.
"Gotcha!" He grinned.
This guy made my day. I tripped merrily away, in such a good mood to start my holiday
Hi there
above: "The Colour Purple". Picture taken from Neon streaming platform. No mention of It being a musical.
It truly annoys me when movie-makers love to disguise that their movies are musicals. I guess they must think that if actors were seen singing and dancing throughout the trailers, then audiences would run screaming away from their upcoming movie.
Take "Wicked", for instance: the stage musical has been a success all around the world. For years. It's beloved (actually, not beloved that much by me, but I appreciate other people's opinions). The song "Defying Gravity" is a show-stopper. Theatre audiences are enthralled when the young witch astride her broomstick soars above their heads. Wow...
"Wicked" is being turned into a movie. The first trailer is out...
But we don't see any singing. The only song we hear is dubbed over an action sequence.
It's one more movie that doesn't reveal it's musical heart in the trailer.
There are other modern movie-makers who have used this same tactic, they will try all sorts of ways not to show singing and dancing in a trailer:
Wonka
The Colour Purple
Mean Girls
Anything to pretend these movies are not musicals. It's as if those faceless Hollywood guys are ashamed of their product. Or they think that the audiences will be.
So, what do they get instead?: a grumpy audience who think they're going to see see a normal movie, ie, one without songs.
Musical fans, too, are irate because they realise they've missed a musical that had been right under their noses at their local cinema complex.
When a musical show on the stage is advertised, it will usually have the words " - a musical" written alongside the title, eg
The Colour Purple - the musical
Mean Girls - the musical
Wicked - the musical
Legally Blonde - the musical
Hairspray - the musical
etc...etc...etc...
But what about "Lala Land"? It was a tremendous success and trumpeted as a musical. Okay, so "Lala Land was a straight-to-movie musical that had never been anywhere near a stage. But didnt this success show that there was an opening for the movie musical to be out and proud?
No, those movie-makers still want to disguise musicals in their trailers. No wonder "The Colour Purple" musical and "Mean Girls" musical only lasted in cinemas a week or two. The wrong audience had been notified via the trailers. Imagine the horror to fans who thought they had booked for an unvarnished remake of a much-loved movie only to get to the theatre and find it had been turned into a - gasp! - musical. Here, in Aotearoa-New Zealand and most other countries, audiences don't know that "Mean Girls" and "The Colour Purple" have been West End and Broadway stage musicals for some time...
... Why on earth does Hollywood buy a successful stage musical and not want to tell the world it's true nature? Search me....
*In NZ, the word is spelt "colour". In USA, it's "color"
Hi there
I bought some Skechers shoes last month. I fell instantly in love with the above Walk shoes.
Miracle of miracles, Skechers have invented a way for my feet to slip easily into the new inventive high-back shoes without my having to bend down to fiddle around down on the floor. Wow, no more head rushes. Thank you, Skechers, I love you.
Oh wait! - I'm wondering what advantage I've gained -
I'm still having to bend down to tie up the shoelaces.....
Hi there
About two weeks ago I was browsing through the website of the Manchester Unity Ohope holiday home units. Both units were booked up for months. But, hey, wait - There was one week clear. Odd, it was for the second week of the school holidays. That should have been booked out months ago. Oh, well, someone must have pulled out. So last week I had a surprise holiday in Ohope...
I hired a car to drive the eight hours up to Ohope. When my own car is parked at my own house, she is closeted away in a nice warm garage. Nowadays if she takes me anywhere on holiday she absolutely refuses to wake up on cold mornings, and there is no under-cover parking at Ohope. So....
The hired car people gave me a Toyota. Goodness, I had a terrible time driving that car. So different from my little blue baby. The automatic gear shift may as well have been a manual shift because of all the trouble and swearing I went through on my week's holiday. The car's bonnet was shaped so badly that I couldn't see over the sides of it. The first time I tried to reverse, I pressed the pedal hard and almost shot through the back fence of my holiday home. Quick thinking and a quick reflex on the foot pedal stopped me about a quarter-of-a-metre from that fence
The weather was perfect. Sun-bathing Spring weather, as high as 20c, and no wind. Every day I walked along the beach which was in front of the MU holiday home. Many people walked their dogs. Most of the dogs were cute little things -
One fox terrier-type raced toward me, barking like a rabid monster. As my four readers will remember, it's only been over the last few years that I've started to lose some of my fear over dogs.
I froze as this particular dog screeched to a halt about a metre away from my Crocs, still barking his lungs out, baring his teeth, and quivering with emotion.
I was terrified. What to do?-what to do?
The tv programme about Barbara Woodhouse, the dog trainer, flashed into my mind -
"S-s-sit,"* I hesitantly whispered.
The dog barked louder, moved closer.
"SIT-T!" I bellowed. Barbara had told we viewers that the heavy 'T' at the end of the word 'sit' was essential, as was determination in the voice.
And, my goodness. Guess what?
The suddenly-silent dog.... SAT!!!!
...........
The photo above is of Moutohora Island Sanctuary (commonly known as Whale Island). I took the photo from Ohope Beach. Moutohora used to be the also-ran island to see, after White Island. But then the volcano on Whakaari/White Island erupted, responsible for injuries and tourist deaths (see Netflix documentary). It was heart-breaking. The island is now closed. The tour companies go to Moutohora instead, a beautiful trip apparently, seeing bird life, breath-taking greenery, walk tracks, and a hot water beach. I've never been there, even though I keep telling myself I will visit 'next time'. I did go previously to White Island where I had to wear a gas mask as I peered across into the mouth of the steaming volcano. White Island can also be seen from Ohope Beach.
*Barbara Woodhouse's way of dog training was lampooned in the movie "Octopussy" when James Bond ordered a tiger to "sit-t!", and it did.
Hi there
I went into a clothing store the other day. I had been attracted by the huge sign that took up all of the front window: "20% Off Everything!!!"
Wow, I was in! Literally.
More "20% Off Everything" signs inside. Everywhere. On the walls. On the clothing racks. On the counter. There was even a huge "20% Off Everything!!!" peel-off sign on the floor.
As I stood under one sign, looking across at another, and surrounded by many more, an assistant made a beeline for me. "Did you know that we have a "20%-off-everything sale? " she whispered confidentially to me.
Like it was a big secret.
"No," I said. " Really? I hadn't a clue... "
Hi there
When New Zealand switched over to dollars and cents instead of British pounds-shillings-and-pence in 1967, we were told that our dollar sign would have one stroke line running from top to bottom through it, whereas the United States dollar had two strokes.
Nowadays the US have all but forsaken those two strokes for the one stroke, though I believe it's still okay there to use both.
The first time I went to Las Vegas I got caught up in a similar Zealand vs America situation -
Before leaving home I had booked a night-time tour around the city, but I was required to confirm it on arrival. Via phone. The automated voice gave me several options for extension numbers at the company. "Please press pound for confirmation of tours," said the robot.
Um. What?
Pound? What was pound? Was it like the old-fashioned pounds-shillings-and-pence? Or pounds (lbs) as in a person's weight that was never now used in NZ? I frantically searched the phone's dial pad.
below: a money pound sign, British
Zilch. Nada. Zero. Nothing on the phone pad looked anything remotely like a British pound sign.
I had to ask at hotel reception what a 'pound' was. The kind lady - hiding a smirk - pointed it out to me -
HASH -
# # # # # # #
Oh, my goodness... All New Zealand automated messages ask us to "please press hash" - # - to get through to the proper extension. No wonder I was confused. Same keyboard sign, not same name....
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Oh, I must tell you that the cafe (the Annexe), on the 1st floor* at Whitcoulls Lambton Quay surely has the best hot chips in Wellington. No, the best in New Zealand. The world? Their caramel muffins are pretty good too.
*2nd floor, if you're American.
Hi there
When I holidayed with my mum in Sydney, Australia, in the early 1960s, we went on a bus tour around the city. I was absolutely agog when the courier told everyone that the population of Sydney was well over a million. At the time, the population of the whole of New Zealand was just over 2 million. How could so many people fit into Sydney? A population of a million in one city was just too populous a number for me to understand.
Nowadays, the population of Sydney is five million, and the population of New Zealand is just over 4 million. When I go to Sydney for a musical show, I'm jammed in with people everywhere throughout the city. It's mainly tourists of which I am one. I guess Sydney shouldn't be such a desirable place to visit.
above: Sydney Harbour Bridge 2023
