'words' part 7 // Les Miserables Movie Cast {guest post by Ally}

Hello, everyone! I’m Alexandra, and Michaela (known to me as Flip) very kindly asked if I would guest post this week!

She asked me to post my opinion on the cast of the upcoming film version of the musical Les Miserables, which I’m sure you’re all pretty familiar with (or at least by now! J). Now, she and I have discussed this topic many times over email, and we do have some differing opinions (now comes the time for those scrolling credits you see before a documentary about “how the opinions expressed here are not necessarily the views of So-and-So who made the movie…”), but she oh-so-graciously allowed me to put my opinions here on her blog. What a nice thing to do.

Anyway. After twenty-five years, it seems that Les Miserables is finally coming to the big screen as a musical. There are multiple film adaptations of the actual story, but none so far of the blockbuster musical, and the 10^th and 25^th anniversary concert versions are to this point all we have. However, keeping in mind the recent film adaptations of big-name musicals that frankly were flops of their stage predecessors (everyone has a different point of view but since this is my blog post…hehehe), many people are rather leery of a film adaptation, and we’ve all been watching for the cast as the rumors and confirmations come trickling in. We’ve seen before what happens – talent gets tossed aside for big-name actors, resulting in mediocre music…which kind of ruins the whole thing, especially in the case of Les Miserables where the whole thing is sung. Anyway. 

So without further ado, here are the so-far-casting and my opinions…(and I’m not going to into the plot/who the characters are…I’m assuming everyone’s familiar with it…)

Hugh Jackman as Valjean – this is one of those that Flip and I disagree on. J Ok, so his voice isn’t incredible, but at least he can singperiod…more than I can say for other big-name actors that have been cast in musical leads in recent films. You can find clips of his singing inOklahoma on YouTube…and what’s more, he looks rugged enough (IMO) to play the convict. I am wondering how they’ll do on aging him…Valjean does age…what, thirty years or so?...over the course of the story. The one thing I am worry about is if they’ll transpose some of his songs down…which will be the death right there. It’s just admitting that he’s not good enough for the role. But a high B flat isn’t something that anyone can just pick up and do…soooooo we’ll see! But I’m hopeful for this role.

I can’t say the same for Russell Crowe, who’s been cast as Javert. (I wanted Paul Bettany, who was rumored to have been in contention for the role before Crowe was cast, so Crowe’s all ready got bad points going for him.) Apparently he was in a rock band or something early in his life, which instantly sends red flags flying for me, as another lead in another musical-turned-to-film was a rock singer…and ruined the role he was cast in. I was reading through comments when he was cast and one person asked, “Can he sing??” Another commenter replied, “Well, he can always talk-sing, like Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.” To which the other replied, “You can’t talk-sing Javert’s role.” Honestly…both ideas are noooooot good. Belting out Stars won’t work, and neither will talk-singing. Can you imagine Rex Harrison talk-singing the song? “You are the sentinels! Silent…and sure!” Nooooope, not working for me. Of course, he may turn around and do great. But this is one of the roles I’m really freaked out about. And not in a good way. 

Anne Hathaway as Fantine,
on the other hand, is one that I am rather looking forward to. I’ve really enjoyed the work I’ve seen Hathaway in…she’s a really good dramatic actress, which is of course what’s most important for this role. And apparently she can sing…she was originally a contestant for the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera…and if you’ve heard any songs from POTO, you know that you have to be a decent singer to be able to manage Christine’s part. I’ve never actually heard her sing anything, but I am looking forward to seeing her interpretation of my favorite character in the musical. I do wonder if they’re going to make her a blonde?

Amanda Seyfried as Cosette is an iffy one. I’ve never actually seen her in anything or heard her sing…she supposedly studied with an operatic group, which hopefully means she’ll at least be able to manage Cosette’s part, the one soprano role in the musical. I’ve seen her all over the place though…magazine covers and the “latest release” films at the store…and honestly, I’m wondering how well she’s going to translate to a period film…she just doesn’t quite have the look. Plus she looks nothing like Anne Hathaway, which isn’t a big deal, I guess, but since she’s her daughter…minor quibble there. And she looks too old for the part, which could of course depend on the way they make her up. (My personal dream was to see Emmy Rossum in this role…sigh, oh well…). Soooo we’ll see with this one.

Samantha Barks as Eponine – Samantha appeared as Eponine in the 25^th anniversary concert, and though I wasn’t crazy about her performance (but then, who can beat Lea Salonga, the best Eponine IMO?), she is ten million times better than the rumored Taylor Swift! I’ll take Samantha any day. So I was soooo relieved to hear that Taylor wasn’t cast after all. J Of course (and I may be stepping on some toes here), a lot of my dissatisfaction with Samantha was her scenes with Nick Jonas as Marius…the Little Fall of Rain number (one of my favorite songs in the musical) was flat as anything. But I recently found a clip of her singing it with Gareth Gates in an actual production on stage, and I was favorably impressed in that. Soooo there’s hope for Samantha. Barely there, but hope anyway. 

 I have to say that I know nothing about Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Sacha Baron Cohen (Monsieur Thenardier),  or Aaron Tveit (Enjo) other than the latter has done a lot of Broadway shows. But other than that…nothing. So I cannot give my informed opinion other than Marius looks scary. And that’s about it.

On the other hand, I’m thrilled to death about the casting of Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thenardier. Helena Bonham Carter is one of my top favorite actresses period, and she’s incredible. Soooo looking forward to seeing what she does with the character. Yes, yes, yes.

And I have to give a shout-out to my beloved Colm Wilkinson, the Valjean forever and ever...who's been given the bit part of the Bishop in the beginning of the story. It’s so lovely to see them giving a bit of homage to his part…and since even this huge Colm/Valjean fan has to admit that he is just a tad too old to actually play Valjean…I’m happy that he at least gets to be in the film. Hoorah!

I have to say I’m soooo excited to see how it looks on film…while I’m sure there’ll be a lot of content in the film (thankfully we have a filter!), it’ll be neat to see the interpretation of the story onto a film setting…I can’t wait to see what they do with One Day More. And I Dreamed a Dream. And Do You Hear the People Sing. And Come to Me/Confrontation. And Who am I. And…ok, yikes. I’m getting just the teeeeeeeniest tiniest bit excited. Just a teeniest. This is not good.   

And that concludes this very biased, rather nonsensical little mini-commentary on the upcoming film. I am interested in seeing how it progresses as more casting comes to light and production starts! I suppose we shall see! Soooo…what’s your opinion on the film? The cast?

Thanks again for letting me post, Flip! Hope you have a great time and can’t wait to see you on here again!    

                

Alexandra is  twenty-two years old and passionate about everything in life! She is a Christian, a daughter, sister, and piano teacher, and her obsessions include reading voraciously (classics are my specialty), singing, playing the piano, anything and everything British, The Scarlet Pimpernel, great films (especially costume dramas…the more romantic, the better), talking, costume reproduction, musical theatre and historical stuff in general. She blog's about costume dramas, musicals, costume reproduction, classic literature and everything historical related at Of Trims and Frills and Furbelows. She also contribute to The Day Dream, the most awesome Scarlet Pimpernel blog around, and blog about everything else in her life (yes, I do have one) at The Value of One.

'words' part 6 // A Crisis. . .{guest post by Nathaniel}

. . .of Contextual Consensus

How long were the children of Israel in Egypt?  I always was taught, based on Genesis 15:13, that it was 400 years. However if you look elsewhere, scripture says the bondage of Israel was 430 years, (Exo 12:40, Gal 3:17) yet, when I started digging deeper, using the genealogies in Genesis, I found it couldn’t possibly be more than 350 years.  Why does the Bible seem to have different time periods? This apparent contradiction can be fairly confusing, and is generally ignored by pastors and theologians all over the globe. They take what appears to be an open and shut case (Gen 15:13) and ignore other passages that contradict it.  There are a couple of problems with this; first, they are taking verses out of context, or completely ignoring the context.  Secondly, they refuse to dig a little deeper for something that isn’t even hidden; a simple surface reading of the context is required.

My purpose is to show that just because you’ve been taught something, it doesn’t make it true. And more importantly, we should always follow the truth, no matter where it takes us. 

I’ll start by laying down some ground rules:   
                  

•   First, truth rules over all
•   Second, God’s word IS truth.
•   Third, God’s word CANNOT contradict itself.
•   Fourth, if something does appear to contradict, we simply do not understand it properly.

Now, how can we solve this apparent problem?  We’ll look up what the genealogies the Bible gives us and see what the maximum possible time of bondage would be:  Kohath, Levi’s son, lived 133 years (Exo 6:18) His son, Amram lived 137 years. (Exodus 6:20)And Moses, Amram’s son, was 80 years old when the Exodus started. (Exo 7:7) 133+137+80 = 350

If you were to look at the genealogies given in Genesis 5:3-29; 7:6; 11:10-26, and add up all the dates, you’d find that Abraham was born in the year 1948 AM (Anno Mundi - Year of the Earth’s creation.)

Abraham's Birth	1948 AM
Isaac's Birth (Gen 21:5)	2048 AM
Jacob's Birth (Gen 25:26)	2108 AM
Jacob was 130 years old when they entered Egypt (Gen 47:9)	2238 AM

Ok, now we can start uncovering some truths:

Galatians 3:16   Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.  17  And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

What was Paul trying to say? Well, from the time of Abraham’s covenant with God to the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai was 430 years. My opinion is the “His Seed-but as of One” is talking about Isaac. Here’s the verse about that covenant,

GENESIS 12:1  Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (NKJV)

Ok, you might be thinking, ‘Oh! Abram was 75 when the covenant was established.’  But that’d be wrong. The verse says; Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Not, “He was seventy five when he received the covenant.”  So, how old was he? Well, in other places in scripture, (Genensis 11:13, 15:7, Nehemiah   9:7) it tells us that God brought Abram out of Ur before he brought him out of Haran.  This fact wasn’t lost on the earliest members of the early church. Stephen said,

ACTS 7:2 And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, BEFORE he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, 'Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.'"                                                                                                                      

Ok, that’s all well and good, but does the Bible tell us how long Abram’s stay in Haran lasted? Thankfully, Genesis 15 helps us understand the answer,

GENESIS 15:13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.

Now, you’re probably thinking, ‘But wait, where’d those thirty years go to?’   Who was Abraham’s heir to the covenant? Isaac was,(Gen 17:19) he was the child by whom God continued the covenant. So, the starting period of the phrase, “Your descendants will be strangers in a land not theirs”, starts with Isaac’s birth. Not the enslavement of Israel. If Isaac was born 2048 AM, and Abraham was 100 years old when he was born, then the thirty “missing years” aren’t missing at all, God gave the covenant when Abram was about seventy, and then reaffirmed it thirty years later, but He was still talking about the same point in the future, when he would give the law on mount Sinai.

So, let’s count 400 years from Isaac’s birth to Mount Sinai that gives us the year 2448 AM.  So, that takes care of the “400 Vs. 430” problem.  But we’re left with another problem; how long were the children of Israel actually in Egypt?  As we saw above Jacob and his family entered Egypt in 2238 AM.  So subtracting 2238 AM from 2448 AM, and that gives us 210 years!  This reconciles all the “apparent” contradictions.

Sadly, a lot of Christians don’t take the time to dig deeper into God’s scriptures, instead they rely on Pastors or Priests to tell them what God “really said” or what he actually “meant.”  It’s like we’re in a Revived “Dark Age”, except we have enough information and technology to where we no longer have an excuse.

Now, more than ever, the church has truly become a conglomeration of sheep. We follow every wind of doctrine, We go by what feels right and what will cause the least amount of controversy. We need to grow past this spiritual funk we’re in; we’ve forgotten what really matters, and who really is in charge. We get so hung up on manmade traditions and doctrines; we’ve become a dysfunctional family.  All that matters is what God says about his word, not what your pastor thinks, not what the Televangelist preaches, not what your Friends feel, not what your parents say,  not  even what you believe.  God said it that settles it. Do we really want to go against The Almighty creator? Are we that stupid? Well, I once was, I don’t want to go back. Will you wise up, or stay stupid?

Nathaniel is what might be called "An Odd Sort", and he wears that title as a badge of honor. He's a hyper-conservative; basically, he's three shades shy of crazy old mountain hermit man. He prefers the company of his close friends rather than a crowded party. He lives in a little mansion, surrounded by mountains and guarded by highly trained, flying, fire breathing turduckens that live in caves of-
Oh, you meant in real life...That's a closely guarded secret... ;)
In truth, he wants nothing more than to be a novelist; which would be why he could be called "Slightly Insane", He prefers the term. "Highly creative, original personality".

'words' part 5 // Backseat Driver {guest post by Lucia}

Backseat driver. You know what those are, right? Yeah. The annoying (and most often license-less) personage who is best known for phrases such as, “go!” “turn!” “hurry up!” and  “STOP!”

All from the backseat of the car, a good six feet from the wheel.  

Never been guilty? Think again.

Sometimes, life feels exactly like New York City in the middle of rush hour. Everyone rushing this way and that, horns honking impatiently at me as I lumber along, lost and bewildered and just wanting to get home. I'm hustled and jostled along with a sea of frenzied traffic, and then--all of a sudden, just as I thought I was getting somewhere, life comes to a halt like a red light blocking my path.

Sigh.  Why does life always do that? Deceive us and disappoint us, I mean? And why are people always honking their horns at me when they can see I’m just as stuck as they are? And where did I take a wrong turn? And why am I here when I’m supposed to be…there?

Wait. Hit pause. Um, okay, that’s easy to do—I'm not going anywhere right now, anyways.

Something tells me that I'm forgetting the true purpose of my time here, on this earth, in my little corner of the universe.  I have been so busy trying to read the map myself and pretend I know exactly where I’m going that I’ve begun to miss the whole point of this road trip called life. And guess what, Lucia: it’s because you were never  intended to be the driver in the first place.

Uh-oh. Here stands a backseat driver, guilty as charged. And I had pledged never to be one.

Friends, life is short. You know that, and I know that, but just the same, we take it for granted. And we make mistakes. Why? Because we try to drive ourselves through the maze of people and places and feelings and heartaches and heartbreaks, not knowing what we’re doing and becoming just as dangerous as a four-year-old driving a pickup truck.  The halt in life that we merely passed off as a “red light” is really us overturned in a ditch.

        So? What now?

Simple. We can sit in the car with the airbags in our face, screaming and squirming and trying to figure out how we'll get out alive this time, or we can be still and know that He is God. We can put the mangled wheel in His hands, and let Him lift us free.  

Jesus, drive this car, because I’m going nowhere without You. This backseat driver just let go of the wheel. 

Lucia is a small-town Northwest girl with a passion for writing, Jesus, and photography. She blogs at Lucia, Etc., where she strives to encourage and entertain through many photos, ramblings, and the occasional "deep thought."