Let's Play: "Name That Hero"

Okie Dokie...I want you all to guess who this is, or in a sense, was.

Have a great time racking your brains out!

-Britten

Imogen Heap

For the past few weeks I've been listening to a new album entitled "Speak For Yourself" by Imogen Heap. Cool name, huh? I love her voice - at first I couldn't make out whether the songs on this album were sung by a male or female until I did further research, the only thing I knew is that I loved the music this artist made and I knew I had heard it before...

...It's the voice that pulls on the edges of the mind to just "Let Go" during the unforgetable theatrical trailer to Garden State, or the voice that brings back memories of the eighties in the remake of the classic "Holding Out For A Hero" during the end credits to Shrek 2, and it's the ethereal nightengalic strains in the song "Can't Take It In" which is heard as the door to the wardrobe is reopened at the end of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe calling for us to engage in another adventure. "It can not be any more beautiful". You can hear samples of her stuff at iTunes. She's also the music and voice behind the album Details by Frou Frou. Imogen likes to harmonize with her own voice much like my beloved Tori. Her music is considered electro pop and she's proud to say that she's a "nerd who sits for hours trying out new things on her synthesizer". I totally did this when I was like 13 or something and I would still be doing it if I could find my ol' synth...must be in a box somewhere.

*Runs off to dig in the garage*

But really...there's something very catchy about her melodies and beats and sometimes the lyrics seem out of place with the music, but that's part of why I like her. Listen to a couple of her songs on Pandora and see what I mean. You'll be boppin' down the street before you know it!

-Britten

I Heart Heroes

So Andy and I went to see Superman Returns a couple weeks ago and I just have to say that it was SUPERB, for lack of a better word. It’s just too bad it was overshadowed by the release of Pirates.

I’m a sucker for those hero movies…they get me every time, but this one radiated a special light the others lacked, like the recent renditions of Spiderman and Batman (even though I totally love those too). The whole movie had that special “Superman feel” to it that I felt twenty-some-odd years ago watching Christopher Reeve’s Superman carry Louis Lane through the night air over Metropolis. At that time, being a little girl still, I was endeared to Christopher Reeve as superman, maybe because he looked a little like my dad (and we all know how little girls think their Daddies are Superman) or maybe it was just because Reeve made for a very likeable Man of Steel. Whenever he would get hurt by the bad guy it hurt me in a very personal way in which I really can’t put my finger on, but it just made me want to step through the screen and give him a great, big hug. Kind of like when you’re watching The Lamb of God and Jesus is being hurt repeatedly and you want to give him a great, big hug. Am I a total weirdo?

Oh, come on! There are great similarities between Superman and Christ….humor me, if you will: Superman is a God from another world sent to live as a man among mortals to save them. Hello! He has special powers, is a universal symbol of humankind’s ideal, his virtue, his integrity, yadda, yadda…. And there are paintings of Christ wearing a red coat….coat/cape…okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. Mary Magdalene, Louis Lane, secret love, a royal birthline, superman’s son….yes, you can keep on stretching, but that may be taking it a little too far (but that’s *my brain* for you). There's even this book I found, The Gospel According to the World's Greatest Superhero . I might just have to read that along with finish "Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters".

And lets just back up for a moment: Superman’s Son!!!!! Holy tug-my-heartstrings, Batman! I was completely and pleasantly surprised with that turning point. I just LOVE how the passage from Kal-El’s Father, Jor-El, in the Fortress of Solitude took on a whole new meaning when he quotes it to his sleeping little boy. That was so precious and poignant.

“They can be a great people Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all - their capacity for good – I have sent them you…my only son.”

Or when Superman is dead in the hospital and little Jacen gives him a quick kiss on the forehead as he leaves with his mother who we assume has just told Superman that Jacen is his son….yes, again, so sweet.

All in all, the actor, Brandon Routh, reminded me sooooo much of Christopher Reeve (sometimes his voice was very eerily Christopher), yet at the same time, he also brought his own “flavor” to the character. This being his big-screen debut, from here on out he will always be known as Superman no matter what other roles he takes on….I don’t think he minds though.

And here’s a little bit of trivia – he, Brandon, grew up in a Midwestern town much like Clark Kent that wasn’t too far from where the original T.V. superman, George Reeves, was from. Yes, that’s “Reeves” much like “Christopher Reeve” – who would also make his big screen debut as Superman. Destiny has a way of linking things together like that. Just like how Hayden Christensen’s shadowy profile on the side of the Tatooine Homestead garage in AOTC looks like Darth Vader, which was neither doctored nor recognized until the director and producers were sitting around making the commentary for the DVD. These directors who scour the world over for the perfect person to be picked out from thousands to fit the part…until he finally walks into the room to be interviewed and they just know in an instant, “It’s *HIM*”.

Men truly born to play these iconic figures.


Peace Out,

-Britten

Look Who's Blogging!

If you look at my links to the left, you may notice there has been an addition. My beautiful sister Breena is Blogging! Give it a whirl, Shirl @ Dancing Toad

Now, not only do I get to communicate via blog with Kim, Lori, Chris and the Jones sistas, etc….I get to blog with my actual sister!! Yipeee!

Oh, and btw…Breena’s pregnant!

-Britten