Color By Number

Chapter 6 has released their sixth album! I expected to buy it myself, but I got it for Christmas. It's almost three years since I reviewed their last album, which I said was "more adult, mature" than their previous albums. (Which I have not reviewed.)

Like With the Windows Down, Color By Number is in a digipak but this time, there is a picture of the group on the front. It unfolds to the group logo, as well as other photos of the band running along the liner notes (lyrics are included only for the original songs). And I gotta remark, for an album entitled Color By Number, it's not a very colorful cover. Ah, well. Let's look at the tracks now.

• "Intro" - The band warms up and sings the word "Intro." And it sets the tone for the album. We're not going to be quite as mature as the last album.
• "Rainbow Connection" - A.D. Stonecipher leads the band in an energetic, jazzy rendition of the song made famous by Kermit the Frog. I liked it, and if fact, found myself listening to it again shortly after my listen.
• "Reverb" - A.D. leads the band again in a parody of the song "Fever." I saw a live performance of it five years ago. They mentioned it was inspired by a visit to a concert where they felt poor vocals were masked by synthesized echoes. So, the song parodies that by using a lot of reverb on the vocals, and in one part, A.D. is literally singing with himself, or rather, his echo. It's a humorous song that is quite wonderful.
• "Harold's House of Jazz" - I believe John Musick leads this cover, which is jazzy and energetic.
• "Interlude I, I Dream of Jeannie" - The famous I Dream of Jeannie theme song extended by the melody from the show. (Yes, I did watch the entire series again earlier this year.) Done with human voices only. Kind of random!
• "Penny Lane" - A charming and well done Beatles cover! I think Luke Menard leads.
• "Pure Imagination" - Chuck Bosworth leads the band in a whimsical, whistling take on the popular song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Their take makes me think of how easy it is to lose your imaginative outlook on life when you become an adult and how precious it is if you can retain it.
• "James Bond Meets The Sugar Plum Fairy" - The band vocally harmonizes the James Bond theme along with "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from Tchaikovsky's score of The Nutcracker ballet. Does it work... Yes. Weird!
• "Interlude II, I'm Looking It Up Online" - This is a quick little original song about how easy it is to look for information online, comparing it to finding someone to ask your question to and mailing a letter to them. Internet, here is your Chapter 6 tribute.
• "Let's Stay Together" - A cover of the Al Green song, a solemn harmonic take with all members singing at once.
• "Left Handers Unite!" - I do believe this is Mark Grizzard singing an original song about people who are left-handed. It's actually pretty catchy...
• "Interlude III, Invention" - Another Grizzard original, this is a lyric-less piece that's beautiful in it's own peaceful way.
• "Fairest Lord Jesus" - The only Christian track on the album, an energetic yet reverent take on the hymn.
• "Rhapsody in Blue" - The Gershwin melody seems to be possibly too big for just the guys' vocal chords and they are assisted by a piano. It works well!

Overall, a great album, and a nice return to the form that was seen in Swing Shift, Chapter 6 Live, and A Cappella 101. (Not that With the Windows Down was bad, it was just different. See above linked review.) Here's hoping for another album eventually.

The Adventures of Tintin - Review

There once was a Belgian man named Georges Prosper Remi who, under the pen name of Hergé, wrote and drew comic adventures of a boy reporter named Tintin and his dog Snowy. The series ran for many years and was collected into graphic novel-style "albums." (The actual "graphic novel" idea didn't come around until years later, so these were the forerunners of it.) These albums have since been translated into many languages around the world and sold well.

Over the years, Tintin was adapted for film as a stop-motion animated film, two live action films, two different animated television shows, and some animated films.

In the early 1980s, Steven Spielberg was given the blessing to make a Tintin film by Hergé himself. Now, almost 30 years later, the film has finally arrived.

The Adventures of Tintin is animated with motion capture. The characters are CG, looking like actual people, but with exaggerated features based on their original comic appearances.

The story is based on three of Hergé's albums: The Crab With The Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure. The first draft of the script was by current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, and it was later revised by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. (Moffat dropped out because he was offered Who.)

The music is by John Williams, and while it helps the film flow well, the score isn't very memorable.

The story finds Tintin buying a model ship in an open-air market. It's based on the ship The Unicorn, and Tintin is surprised when two men offer to buy it from him. Taking it home, his dog, Snowy, and a wandering cat accidentally damage the ship.

Tintin goes to research The Unicorn and discovers it was a cargo ship captained by a Sir Francis Haddock, and it was said to have had a secret cargo. It was boarded by pirates and sunk one night, the only survivor being Sir Francis.

Tintin returns home to find his ship missing. He goes after one of the men who tried to buy it from him, and finds a model of The Unicorn in Mr. Sakharine's possession, but it's not broken. Returning home again, Tintin's home has been ransacked. He goes downstairs where the other man who tried to buy the ship tries to warn him about something but is shot before he can do anything.

Enter detectives Thompson and Thomson, who look almost identical (Thompson has a flared moustache). The bumbling detectives are on the case of a pickpocket who manages to steal Tintin's wallet which contains a scroll that fell out of The Unicorn model when it broke and was unnoticed by the thieves. Going back home, Tintin is suddenly kidnapped and taken aboard The Karaboudjan, a ship Sakharine has chartered to go to the port of Bagghar in Morocco.

Escaping his prison (with help from stowaway Snowy), Tintin meets the drunk captain, Archibald Haddock. He reveals he is the last of the Haddock line, descended from Sir Francis, who he knows he doesn't live up to.

Now, all Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock have to do is figure out what Sakharine's scheme is, foil it, and maybe recover the reputation of the Haddocks. And what is the secret of The Unicorn?

The plot is action-filled, and definitely deserves the word Adventures in the title. It's quite an exhilarating film from start to finish. There may, however, be too much action in the film. I can see this criticism. Suddenly, Tintin's life is in danger because he purchased a model ship. It is a bit of a stretch, even if you're familiar with the source material. And when it feels like the film is going to give you a break, we're suddenly given the story of Sir Francis and the last night on The Unicorn. The action isn't necessarily bad, but a solid break or two from it would have been nice. Hergé's original stories are not that action filled and are full of many silly outcomes from it, some of which are retained in the film.

The plot is a loose adaptation. The opening is from The Secret of the Unicorn, and then it goes to The Crab With The Golden Claws, and at the end, there's a touch of Red Rackham's Treasure. There's also some original plot points not from Hergé's work at all. The plot tells a nice story, but some may wonder just how strong it is. Moffat himself has proved himself to be a master storyteller on Doctor Who, but as his draft was just the first, I begin to suspect Cornish and Wright of tampering a bit too much. Perhaps it would have been better if Spielberg, Second Unit Director Peter Jackson, and maybe Jackson's wife Fran Walsh had finished the script themselves. (They were two of the writers for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, come on!)

One of the best developments in the plot is Captain Haddock's character. He begins as an oafish, layabout drunk who tells himself he'll never amount to anything, but Tintin's influence helps him actually get back on his feet and get his life back on track.

The characterizations were all spot-on, considering the film is aimed at today's audience (the original Tintin stories began in 1929, times have changed). The only one not like his character from Hergé's comics is the villainous Mr. Sakharine. In the original stories, Mr. Sakharine was a ship collector who already had one of The Unicorn models. Later, Tintin and Captain Haddock find him knocked unconscious and his model of The Unicorn broken, and that's all there is to him. The Bird brothers were the villains there, but here, I suppose, they felt a single villain would be better to handle, and instead of using two, they just wholly reinvented a relatively minor character. Bianca Castafiore, it should also be noted, does not sing her signature song from the comics, but considering the plot, it is possible she was asked to sing a different piece.

The animation, I have seen people complain about. I didn't spot anything really inconsistent or unnatural as some people have complained of. People have also complained about the "uncanny valley," in which a character looks so human that their imperfections make them creepy. This is mostly noted in the eyes which don't light up correctly, or the pupils fail to dilate. To me, because the characters were still stylized (the noses), it didn't bother me. In fact, I want a Tintin action figure. However, this form of animation has yet to master completely realistic eyes.

The film was also released in 3D, which I saw it in. The 3D doesn't pop out of the screen, meaning it's not distracting, and adds a nice layer of depth to the film. However, I felt like I still could have enjoyed the film just as well in 2D. I would have done so, but there were fewer showings of the 2D version.

So, The Adventures of Tintin is a great film that brings Hergé's beloved characters to life. The film is worth seeing, though it is not absolutely perfect. Next time, don't get comedians to finish the script, pace it a bit better, and work some more on getting the animation right. And as a sequel has been greenlit already, we might very well hope that they improve in those areas.

Top 5 Nutcrackers

E.T.A. Hoffman

Top 5 best adaptations of The Nutcracker story
These adaptations are, I feel, the most entertaining versions that also show great respect for the themes of the original story.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1. The Nutcracker Prince
Not only did this version stay faithful to Hoffman's story, it also deftly used Tchaikovsky's music to great effect, as well as not being so in love with the story to make a few changes for a contemporary audience.
2. The Nutcracker (Jetlag)
Although this version adheres to Hoffman's story, it is well-produced for its budget and moves along at a quick pace.

Alexandre Dumas

3. Щелкунчик (1973)
Though it's a re-imagined plot, the dreamy quality of Hoffman is carried over wonderfully, as well as the essence of the story. Also, it manages to not use dialogue, meaning that people of any language can understand it.

Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa

4. Nutcracker Fantasy
A highly re-imagined plot managed to still feature the important themes of Hoffman's story. The production quality is excellent and the music is incredible.
5. Le Fiabe più Belle. — Lo Schiaccianoci
Another anime that adheres to the book at a fast pace. It ranks this low only because there's no English version.

Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky

Top 5 worst adaptations
These adaptations, I feel, completely blew it. Some may be entertaining on their own, but as a representation of the original story, I feel they failed miserably.

1. The Nutcracker in 3D/The Untold Story
Hoffman is not even acknowledged in this gloomy, saccharine CG-filled mess.
2. The Nuttiest Nutcracker
A re-imagined plot causes more questions than answers. The characters are too silly. A few songs brighten up this pitiful adaptation.
3. Barbie in the Nutcracker
Another re-imagined plot leaves critical logic questions unanswered. Hoffman's dreamy story becomes a "save the kingdom!" tale with a contrived reveal of Clara's magic powers at the end.
4. Щелкунчик (2004)
 In the English version, too many jokes ruin the tone of this film. The re-animated portions mar otherwise beautiful animation. The plot carries too few of Hoffman's themes.
5. The Secret of the Nutcracker
Touches from the story of the Nutcracker enter a story about a family missing their father in WWII, a compelling enough tale on its own. The fantasy elements feel like they're stretching out what could have been a really good non-fantasy tale.

And as we finish, let's remember who was responsible for The Nutcracker becoming the classic it is. Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann wrote the original story, and then Alexandre Dumas père rewrote it in French. Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky commissioned Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to compose an opera and ballet double bill, and it was Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa who chose The Nutcracker story to become a ballet, doing the original choreography. Five people, many of whom are often forgotten, who created a Christmas classic.

The Nutcracker and Me

As you can guess, the story of Hoffman's Nutcracker is very dear to me. I forget how I was introduced to the story as a child. Maybe I loved the music of Tchaikovsky, or maybe I'd seen a production on television. Maybe someone had read me the story or I'd learned it at school.

My earliest memory was when I was given the Ralph Manheim translation of Hoffman's story and a red wooden Nutcracker for a gift one Christmas. I still have the book somewhere, but I own a paperback edition of it as well now. My original hardcover has little notes and sketches in it. The nutcracker is now long gone after heavy use. Wooden nutcrackers are only decorative these days. However, I now have this little guy:

I've posted the past 18 days about various versions of the story, some I enjoy more than others. I largely opted to ignore variants of the ballet as single blogs. As I mentioned, I did see a live production of the ballet. I can't remember too much about it, except that Fritz "broke" the Nutcracker by throwing it on the floor and standing over it, clenching his fists. The Nutcracker Prince started looking uncomfortable during the coffee dance, left, then appeared as one of the Peppermint dancers, left, and accompanied Mother Ginger as she did her dance.

Something was up with that prince...

I drew lots of Nutcracker pictures, even did a plastic canvas craft, so yes, I loved the story a lot. I even had a Nutcracker cloth design on a shirt, and when I grew out of it, I had my mom apply it to another Nutcracker shirt I had with a cast list for a local production on the back. That shirt vanished years ago.

I would often get annoyed by people pointing out people dressed as toy soldiers to me and saying "It's a Nutcracker!" No, it wasn't. It was a toy soldier. Big difference.

As I got older, I began to restrict my enjoyment of The Nutcracker to Christmastime. Then, I gave it up altogether. I didn't make a point to discard anything and everything I had related to it, I just didn't think of it so much. After my father presented me with the aforementioned paperback of Manheim's translation for Christmas 2008, I decided I'd read it again next year. Well, when I did, I'd also dug up some old picture books I had (Warren Chappell and another more modern one), and re-read those as well. At Christmas 2010, I'd gotten a recording of Tchaikovsky's score from eMusic with a free trial, and also decided I'd check out what visual adaptations I could. And goodness, there were many. I even wound up finding some after Christmas.

So, this year, remembering The Nutcracker a bit earlier, I decided I'd write these blogs. Sadly, unless I got an offer to work on some adaptation of the story, I don't see myself doing much more for The Nutcracker in future years, aside from continuing to enjoy and attempt to share Hoffman's story.

However, ballet companies still create their Nutcrackers year after year, and every now and then, some studio decides to make some sort of film interpretation of the story. It was rumored a couple years back that Bob Zemeckis is attempting a CG-animated version.

Maybe someday, someone will do a live action-CGI adaptation that will do full justice to the Hoffman story.

Merry Christmas!

BBC Radio's The Nutcracker and The Mouse King

BBC Radio has been widely recognized as one of the best producers of audio dramas. High quality productions with superb acting, sound effects and music.

So, imagine them taking on The Nutcracker. And Brian Sibley writing to boot! The guy who'd adapted The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings for them!

So, the adaptation was broken up into four episodes airing from December 27 to the 30th, 2010. The episodes were titled "Christmas Eve," "The Great Battle," "Mouseykins' Revenge," and "Uncle and Nephew."

And how does it stick to the book? Quite faithfully. Next to nothing is omitted. However, there are a couple odd points. First off is that the Nutcracker himself speaks and makes remarks. It's through him that we get a description of Drosselmeyer. This kind of ruins the mystery that the Nutcracker is an enchanted person. He has a sarcastic, droll sense of humor. The other odd bits are the name changes. Marie and Fritz have become Mary and Fred. I suppose they Anglicized it for a British audience. Madame Mouserinks is renamed Madame Mouseykins. Instead of fat in Pirlipat's mother's sausages, it is described as bacon as some translations have it.

The major problem I had was the pacing. The story plays at a gentle pace until after the story of Pirlipat ends in Part 4. It started in Part 2 (ending with Mouseykins and her mice enjoying the bacon), goes through Part 3 (ending with clockmaker Drosselmeyer overhearing his nephew cracking nuts) and ended in Part 4. Then, the rest of the entire story is crammed into the remaining time in the half hour episode. It seems to me that Pirlipat's story should have been told at a quicker pace and the rest of the story should have had at least an entire half hour to play out. Still, it doesn't miss any beats.

A worthy entry in Hoffman's Nutcracker adapted for audio, however, it hasn't been released commercially in any form: CD or digital audio download. (How did I hear it? My little secret.)

The Nutcracker in 3D/The Untold Story

I really hope director Andrei Konchalovsky wasn't serious when he said his take on The Nutcracker had been his dream project for 20 years. At a $90 million budget, it was a severe failure when it only took in less than $15 million, most of that not from U.S. sales. It was filmed in 2007, set for release in 2009, then held back another year while they converted it into 3D. Critics gave it severely negative criticism.

So, what could it be that made this movie flop? Could it be the inept acting from the child actors? The wretched songs lifted from Tchaikovsky's score for the ballet? Maybe Nathan Lane's character repeatedly breaking the fourth wall? What about the plot?

In 1920s Vienna, Uncle Albert (Einstein, oh brother...) visits his niece and nephew Mary and Max. He presents them with a dollhouse full of clockwork dolls, and a Nutcracker he calls "NC for short." (I just have to wonder at who would find the word "nutcracker" to be a mouthful.) NC is turned over to Mary, but as they leave for dinner, Max attempts to cram NC's mouth full of walnuts, breaking his lower jaw off. Uncle Albert repairs NC, but that night, NC comes to life and takes Mary downstairs where she finds the room has become immense: the Christmas tree towers to the stars!

The dolls in the dollhouse are now alive, and as they climb the Christmas tree, Mary finds the Snow Fairy (played by the same actress as her mother), who manages to turn NC back into a prince (after Mary has a plot-stopping dance with the snowflakes). But the Rat King who plans to enslave the human world is aware of what happened and has his mother renew her curse on the prince. (I have to mention that the Rat Queen is played by the same woman who plays Mary's family's housekeeper. Please, stop cribbing from MGM's Wizard of Oz when you write your fantasies...) The rat king has mechanical dogs bite into the base of the Christmas tree, knocking it over.

When Mary's parents return home from a concert, they find their tree (now normal sized) knocked over. The father blames the children quite angrily, even though Max is seen looking at the tree's base which has obviously been cut into. Mary refuses to hand over the Nutcracker and goes upstairs. Meanwhile, a visit from Uncle Albert helps soothe Mary's father.

That night, Mary and NC are joined by Max in their campaign against the Rat King, who quickly imprisons NC and the clockwork people from the doll house. After taking Max with him, a doll who managed to escape the Rat King takes Mary through a mirror to NC's world, where the Rat King has been having children's toys burnt to block out the sun. ("Who Shot Mr. Burns?" anyone?) Max refuses to help the Rat King, who thought he enjoyed breaking toys, because Max doesn't believe in breaking other people's toys.

Mary escapes into the place where they bulldoze all the toys before they are thrown into a furnace. She finds the Clockwork Dolls and a broken and lifeless NC. While the Dolls distract the guards (with a terrible song set to the March theme), Mary saves NC from the conveyor belt that would have taken him to the fire. She manages to revive him with a tear (yay, another fantasy cliche), which also restores him to his Prince form permanently. This causes a revolt in the slave workers, who quickly beat up the rats.

The Rat Queen suggests flight this time and thinks her son is abandoning her when Max offers to fly the flying machine for her. Which he can't do. The Rat King takes Mary to the flying machine and attempts to knock the Prince off a building, but it results in him and one of the Clockwork dolls getting onboard the machine as well. While these two help overpower the Rat King, Max crashes the flying machine, which he didn't want to do.

Seeing they are defeated, the Rat Queen and King turn into regular rats (they were humans with ratlike faces) and escape into the sewers. While the people rejoice, Mary is told she must go back home by the Snow Fairy. The Prince promises her she'll see him soon.

When she awakes in her own bed, Mary is told she has a visitor. Uncle Albert introduces him as his new neighbor, Nicholas Charles. The two go ice skating together.

The problem with this Nutcracker is that it tries to be a fantasy action movie being way too gloomy and sometimes scary for children to enjoy. Okay, I take back "scary." A kid might get shocked at the Rat King suddenly having a wide mouth and fangs or one of the Clockwork doll's heads removed and tossed around, but that's about it. Really, the plot makes no sense. A bunch of Nazi-looking rat people who are never seen physically hurting any regular people try to take over the human world? I suppose this dream world has never heard of poison. So, that's it. It's too somber for children, too silly for adults.

As an adaptation of the Nutcracker story, it fails. The trailer credits only Tchaikovsky as the creator of the Nutcracker story, a very inaccurate statement indeed. He wrote the music for the ballet, not the libretto or the choreography. No other credit to the creator of the original work was seen in the credits of the film. So, not only does this film only have the barest, slightest resemblance to Hoffman's original story, it doesn't even acknowledge him. As a result, I almost wish I could have excluded it from my reviews. However, it would be a wasted effort after trying to hunt it down for almost a year.

"Based on the story by Tchaikovsky" my foot. Hoffman wrote the original book, Dumas rewrote it in French, Marius Pepita adapted Dumas for the story for the ballet, and had Tchaikovsky write the music. Crediting Tchaikovsky for the Nutcracker story is like saying Judy Garland is responsible for The Wizard of Oz.

It's really a shame because $90 million could really have done Hoffman's story justice. Unfortunately, the creative talent (both words used loosely) behind this film didn't even know who he was.

The Secret of the Nutcracker

The Secret of the Nutcracker was an odd one. I could find next to nothing about it, only that it was made in Canada for a 2007 release. Stateside, it was only released on DVD and Blu-Ray. Wikipedia has no pages about it, only scant mentions. There's no reviews on Amazon, however, a product description gives us some information:

Adapted from E.T.A. Hoffman's classic novel, The Secret of the Nutcracker features the talents of Brian Cox (The Escapist, The Water Horse) as Drosselmeyer and introduces Janelle Jorde as Clara in a charming union of fantasy and reality that captures the true essence of Christmas.
This delightful holiday tale follows 12-year-old Clara's mystical journey on Christmas Eve to find her father, who is captive in a World War II Prisoner of War camp. Worried and longing to see her father, she receives unexpected help from the mysterious Drosselmeyer, who befriends Clara and brings her the gift of magic and hope when she needs it most.
The Secret of the Nutcracker features the soaring music of Tchaikovsky performed by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Four exquisite dance spectacles by the world-renowned Alberta Ballet are woven throughout to create Clara's wondrous dream world.

Okay... Let's give this a shot.

Yes, the movie follows a young girl named Clara who lives in a cabin in Alberta, Canada with her two brothers and her mother. As stated in the product description, her father is in a POW camp. ... In Germany.

Wrap your head around that. The Nutcracker originated in Germany. And now we go to a place and time when Germany is seen as an enemy. Odd.

Every day, Clara goes to the post office hoping for a letter from her father. One arrives while she was out getting some candy for her brothers at her mother's request. Clara hurries home and meets a strange old German man who calls himself Uncle Dross. He visits their home for dinner and gives the children presents and says many strange things that either comfort or mystify Clara's family.

That night, Clara seems to dream she's out in the woods and attacked my mice men. A boy resembling the boy at the Post Office and the Nutcracker Dross gave her leads her brothers and mother to fight the mice men. Clara defeats them by hurling a crystal doll (once again provided by Dross, who said it was Clara, so I suppose it represents her courage?) at the leader of the mice men, who is crystallized and shatters.

Dross arrives and he and Clara fly in a war plane to Germany, where they find Clara's father's POW camp and take him to a hall where Clara dances with the Nutcracker boy. Her father sits out and says it's not his dream. Dross tells him how brave his family has had to be for each other in his absence. Clara's father is even shown a miniature of the cabin, where observes his family asleep. As the dream ends, he is taken by the Germans.

Clara and her family begin to note a lack of letters from their father. Clara goes to an abandoned house, where she sees the Nutcracker boy point out a window. She goes to the place where he points. There, she sees someone walking towards her. It appears to be her father. But she's not sure, she's seen so many dreamy things lately. It takes awhile for her to realize it IS him and her family runs out and they are all reunited.

And while her father hugs Clara's mother and her brothers, she sees Dross and the Nutcracker boy behind a tree. Dross has the boy move out. He walks towards Clara, unfurls two large red wings that enclose him, turning him into a regular boy. Clara hugs him. Dross turns into an owl.

While the story bears little resemblance to the original Hoffman story, it's actually a good one. However, the story of Clara's family longing to be reunited with their father is made so compelling that when touches from The Nutcracker appear (in score and in dance scenes), they feel out of place. That's really the big weakness of the production. It's not really Nutcracker-y enough.

So, not bad, just really different. If you're interested, go ahead and give it a shot.