Discoveries of the Weekend

First, Juno:

I'm not going to lie. I anticipated this movie, in a good way. I'm sort of intrigued by Diablo Cody, who does lots of things that I don't do, like graduate from Catholic school and strip and write screenplays.

I also liked critics, and most of them seemed to like the movie.

And it was merely okay. I should have paid more attention to Entertainment Weekly's review.

The script vacillated between pretentious and promising. I'd be interested to see what kind of screenplays Diablo would write in five years.

Ellen Page was good. Michael Cera's character was ridiculously underdeveloped, which isn't fair--his character has a good shot at being really appealing.

Second, MOZART!

It's one of those musicals I never knew existed, probably because it is Austrian. Austria hasn't done a musical since Sound of Music. This weekend, I discovered it, and proceeded to do the dorkiest thing ever, which is to procrastinate on my schoolwork by doing (wait for it...) research.

And, thanks to the Sweeney Todd trick of including a crazy child, it is creepy as all-get out. This one is even eerier thanks to the powdered wig. I'm going to have nightmares of a tee-tiny Amade coming after me in my sleep with a sonata and a fountain pen.

I think it helps that I know only three German words--weltanshaaung, zeitgeist, and schadenfreude.

So, when Drew Sarich, who is a singing tree who wears armbands and fedoras (read: newfound love), sings Wie Wird Man Seinen Schatten Los?, I have no way of knowing how cliche the show could be. I'm just looking at his flowy hair and listening to a really psycho ensemble sing background vocals.

And I'm ok with that.




Like, a-ok with that.