Well, that would explain it

[hobgoblinn]

Some random observations for a random night.

First - Wow. Alan Rickman can sing.

I haven’t seen Sweeney Todd yet, but enough conversations on my flist and elsewhere have caused me to seek out some clips, and there’s a behind the scenes clip that has Depp and Rickman meeting and singing about love and -- other things-- as the demon barber prepares to give his nemesis a very close shave indeed. Excellent diction, as well. Sondheim is my all time favorite Broadway composer, for lots of reasons I will go into in another post, later.



Second - Outlines. Use them, love them, embrace them as the path to salvation itself.

I finally decided to make one of my bogged down sequel to “Lost Boys” and discovered some serious imbalances of POV, and total lack of coherent structure. I’m starting to cut scenes and reallocate POV and rethink my half-baked ideas of who’s where when. Where “Lost Boys” was from Snape’s POV until Harry entered, then mostly from Harry’s with some returns to Snape in key moments, this one has to be from David’s and Snape’s alternating points of view. Which means they need parallel journeys when they get separated - Snape with the villain who’s stolen his body for a dark ritual, and David with his grandmother Petunia Dursley. David needs some material at least as compelling as the already shared scene between Minerva and Snape that includes the flashback.



Third - the project for K is starting to come together, and I think we’re going to be getting the husband involved in the thing, as censor for content he wants his son to see and as having some very cool stories of his own he’ll want to make sure get placed in the book. I’ve been pleased so far with the contributions and more with the promises of more to come from several individuals.

Mostly, I just need to get disciplined about sitting down and writing Every Day No Matter What. I have 3 stories bouncing around my brain and they all need to get finished before Nano next year. 4 if you count my original novel idea. Which could probably also benefit from a preliminary outline.

So, my pre-NewYear resolution will be to write every day for at least an hour, which will be lunch if nothing else. More’s fine, but at least that long. May have to adjust it if it gets too daunting, just to get me started. wrisomifu was 10 minutes-- just enough time, usually, to get me past the pain and into something interesting. We’ll see how it works out.

ETA: Clips from Sweeney Todd here:
http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3789&Itemid=99

The second "Behind the scenes" has the singing; Alan is also featured in "You gandered at my ward" where he is at his creepy and menacing best. Enjoy.

Comments

[whitestar-alpha.livejournal.com]

Where did you see the clips of Alan singing? I'd love to hear them :)

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

here you go: http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3789&Itemid=99

The one with Alan is the second part of the behind the scenes. "You gandered at my ward" is a movie clip without singing with Alan at his creepy, menacing best. I'll add the link to the original post. Enjoy.

[whitestar-alpha.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll check the link out later today :)

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

I saw the movie and enjoyed it. Alan Rickman doesn’t do much singing compare to the others. I don’t have an ear for singing but I did enjoy all the performances, especially the little boy’s and Helen’s.

When it comes to writing I still have some trepidation which I have to tell myself to get over. I need to also make that my New Year’s resolution to write everyday, even if it isn’t any good. Ten minutes sounds like a good idea because once I start I keep going.

I know I will have to write since I’m taking a screen writing class. Hopefully I won’t regret it. Sometimes I spend more time taking a writing class than actual writing.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

What impressed me most about Alan was-- it's Hard to sing harmony if you haven't the ear for it-- there's a place just before Sweeney puts the shaving cream on the Judge where they end up in thirds for a couple of bars-- you either nail that or-- not. Most non-singers get caught on stuff like that, having to stick to a part when someone's singing something else, more so than in solo work. Have a look at "Once More, with Feeling", the season 6 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to see what I mean. Sarah and Nicholas in particular are non-singers, though they have some natural ability, and it shows every once in a while.

Timothy Spall was another surprise, vocally. And of course, Johnny and Helena were great. I can't wait to see it all. I love the show.

[heron-pose.livejournal.com]

You really need to go -- Burton did an amazing job of translating the show to film ... the performances really are first rate.

Also? AR sang in "Truly Madly Deeply" -- in fact, he and Juliet Stevenson did a lovely duet that totally took me by surprise and made me love them both forever and ever amen. If you haven't seen it, run, don't walk.

Also, I keep meaning to say, I really wish I read HP fic, 'cuz I love your writing, but, sigh. Just not a world that speaks to me, but I wish it did, so I could enjoy more Hobbie goodness.

[whitestar-alpha.livejournal.com]

I forgot Alan sang in TMD, now that you mention it :) I loved his character ^_^

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

I saw it Twice yesterday, and I agree with you completely. I'll have to find a dvd of TMD somewhere-- the clips on youtube were interesting.

And thanks for the kind words on Hobbie goodness. I'm bummed you haven't read my HP stuff, though, because I'm getting better, and it really shows there. I still do have a Buffyverse piece (the 06 Nano Novel) to dust off in the new year, but a lot of its shape and content are set, and maybe not in the best way. But I do have the lovely gillo to correct my deficiencies in Britspeak, plot, and geography. If I could just write some decent Ending, it would help.

But I have the sequel to Lost Boys and another HP fic that's been eating away at me to bang out first. Sorry for that. Funny, the HP world didn't speak to me in a fanfic way until I'd actually read some of it and saw the possibilities JKR kind of fumbled. And of course, anything that has me dreaming about Alan Rickman, in any capacity, can only be a Good Thing. I think I got into Buffy fanfic more or less the same way-- in both cases, I was waiting for more of the real thing to become available, and stumbled upon it while searching the internet for "what happens next" information (I think everything had aired, but DVDs were not out for the last season. Might have been better if they never had come out, really....)

Anyway, if you ever change your mind, I occasionally post recs when I run across something really outstanding. Try it out in your infinite spare time. And happy last day of 2007.