That, my friends, is a line from Mamma Mia. I believe it's from Knowing Me, Knowing You.
I don't really know when it started, but I'll just blame it on Katie...I love musicals :) I've seen a lot of them live in Toronto, and I've seen a few in movies. For me, the people involved in the actual presentation of these productions are like the Renaissance people of music, meaning they are painstakingly talented. Admittedly, I'm jealous. Imagine if you had the opportunity to sing, dance, and act all day, my jealousy is understandable right? Unfortunately, showbiz is unarguably one of those things where you need both talent and connections, neither of which I have :( Don't worry I'm the realistic one, and I never considered that as a potential career path, but what's stopping me from admiring from afar?
Pretty much all the musicals I've seen live were thanks to Katie. What can I say, she makes my life worth living. This humble list includes: Mamma Mia, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, and Cats. I enjoyed every single one. Oh and I also like the costumes and makeup. There's just something about going to a musical in a big theatre. It makes me feel really special, possibly because I feel like those old fashioned women in a Jane Austen society going out to a high class opera or something. In fact, the tickets are pretty expensive. Other musicals that I've watched as a movie include: Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, The Producers, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Rent, and The Sound of Music.
Speaking of music, I have been told it's difficult to diagnose my music taste. You never really know if I'll like a song until I hear it. Of course the beat and actual music are important, but the lyrics also make/break a song for me. To be honest, although it's not like I ever lie on my blog, I'm kind of tired of all the mushy love songs, and I don't like rap because it's full of profanity, sexual content, and basically unnecessary drama (e.g. money, relationships, affairs, women, etc.). Another zone I avoid is country music because it feels too "stringy" and hmm...well old fashioned. I'd rather listen to actual old fashioned music like Carlie Simon or Don McLean if I was ever in that kind of mood. Techno is a rather grey area, as I can have any reaction ranging from being obsessed with a single song or getting a headache. It can be overly repetitive, but it's really "danceable" music, hehe. Too bad I'm not that big of a dancer. Rock. This musical genre holds great memories from my elementary school days. It was the only music I would ever listen to. I suspect this is mainly because the radical, rebellious lyrical content of the majority of songs appealed to a rough maturation phase I was experiencing at the time. My childhood rebellion days are a story for another time. ;)
As you probably predicted, I pretty much completely avoid metal or any other form of hardcore music...including all that Satanic stuff (e.g. Marilyn Manson). Just not my thing. R&B probably started appealing to me in grade...10? Sometime around the time when I drove down to the States with Katie's family, and we played the same songs over and over on her iPod. You could say, I acquired the taste and opened up to more songs of that genre. One of the early appealing characteristics of that music was that many songs had funny, entertaining lyrics that I never thought someone would write a song about. Sure I'd heard of the Milkshake song, but the songs that pulled me in were "My Humps", "Beep", "Touch my Body", etc. Btw, if I am confusing songs with genres, I am sorry. I just kind of mix everything I like into the "Christie genre" because I like songs randomly out of the blue. Eventually, I was able to appreciate some of the more normally lyricized songs for other reasons.
Most recently, I have been tragically drawn into kPop. My first year university roommate was a proud Chinese girl from my high school. Btw, I had no problems living with her, and I have a feeling she cannot say the same for me...again, other stories, which I hope never to divulge. Well yeah, she knew I was pretty out of touch with my cultural roots, so she, my other friend Sandra, John, and Ryan all kind of tried to "Azn-ize" me. Sadly, I have to admit it worked. Now I have Rain, Jewelry, Namolla Family, Lee Hyori, Wonder Girls, 2NE1 (NOT LOLLIPOP) + more permanently living in my iPod playlist. Too bad it's busted; yeah the buttons stopped working, so I have to listen to the iPod in order, all the way through from the beginning. Yeah, I know, life sucks, especially since all my Korean music is at the end of the list. You're right, I can't understand it, but I like the music and overall attitude of Korean music.
Btw, all the music I like is not based on bands or whatever. People have their ups and downs, so I just randomly like songs that I've heard or have had recommended to me. I don't really understand why people develop loyalty to certain bands. It kind of puts pressure on them to overproduce songs, and the quality just goes downhill from there. Also, I do not care much about their statistics or current love life status. I'm just interested in their music.
Well yeah, exam in...4 hours. Hopefully my mom knows how to get there. Oh and I just realized that on this "exam outline" thing my prof sent out, he recommends studying lectures, course notes, and the textbook. I have studied the lectures, the textbook, and my own notes (which I just wrote up from the lectures). It would be hilarious if my life got screwed up because I didn't buy the full version of some random course notes. Pray for me...4 hours...
I know what you mean about the people in musicals. Man, it must be so hard to sing, dance and act all at once, how many people can really do that? I feel like in North America people need to be so much less talented than in other countries. It seems like everywhere else, people need to be multi-talented, whereas here, if you can sing AND dance, it's seen as like a bonus or something. Whereas in Korea, if you can't dance, you pretty much can't become a singer.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sorry about the rant on your blog :P.
I love your music taste. It actually makes me laugh so much.
I love musical theatre too! Christina is my musical buddy, and I really need to see more shows. I also like to fantasize about being in a musical though I’m not talented enough but I am considering auditioning for my university musical productions as it is not as competitive to get in.
ReplyDeleteLol Marilyn Manson’s music is not satanic! I’m not always a huge fan but he’s often misunderstood as a satanist. He is quite interesting I find and people like to paint him as the reason for Columbine etc. Here is a link to an essay he wrote on that matter which is kinda interesting.
And khjlee, not to be a know it all cause i really don't know much about korean pop culture, I've heard of some successful artists, albeit not as famous as that big bang group, who are just good musicians and don't dance really. Okay, I only know of one, (a band called Nell), but I just think that being able to sing and dance is just good for pop music in general (ex. britney, madonna, backstreet boys etc as the north American counterparts who are much more famous than those who just stick to music).
Well, even if Marilyn Manson is not Satanic, I find that his image attracts primarily that kind of crowd.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my Asian friends who are quite knowledgeable about the Korean pop culture, Koreans usually have to be able to both sing and dance. Some minor exceptions to this generalization would apply to larger (e.g. 5) member groups where some members are stronger singers than dancers or vice versa. But the overall image of the group has to portray multiple talents.
Going back to my "Asian post", the Korean music industry also emphasizes appearance. I forget who it was, but some currently famous singer (Boa maybe?) got rejected and had trouble getting herself out there initially just because she wasn't considered to be pretty enough. Then again, I suppose this applies for almost any entertainment industry.
Also, if you watch some youtube videos of Korean concerts (not that I am encouraging this method of time-wasting), it's quite different from American concerts where the stage is quite elaborate and the effects are really "pretty"... anyhow, I just feel like the performers are more into dancing than the current popular American performers. Besides, can we really call some of Britney's performances "dancing"?
Sinthu, I strongly recommend you check out the Wondergirls' Nobody dance. It's so popular that so many people have taken time out of their precious lives to learn it and post it on youtube, which can be quite painful yet entertaining to watch. :P
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ReplyDeleteHaha ya i don’t like pop music that much to be honest... like some it is good but some of the stuff is kinda bad :p and you’re right about the pretty factor... even fans are like that too! “ohh that girl from Wonder girls, she’s not pretty anymore” blah blah blah
ReplyDeleteOh I remember another Korean singer who was half black but was raised in korea... she was pretty good.. do you know her name? I wish I remembered.
haha i youtubed the dance and saw a compilation of fan submissions, wow so popular.
BTW, that title is actually from the Mamma Mia song, "The Winner Takes it All". I figured this out when I watched the Mamma Mia movie on TV at the hotel during my Grove City trip.
ReplyDeleteBtw, Sinthu, I'm not sure if she was Korean or Jap but you may have been referring to Crystal Kay?
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