Monthly Archives: October 2012

Fleeting: What is in a Name? (Part Two of Two)

So about a week ago I mentioned a bit about the history of how my name came to be… and how originally I was going to have a Vietnamese first name and a Westernized middle name. However my parents flipped it favoring the first name to be Westernized in order to help me become more acclimated within the United States.

However, the online community knows me more by the pseudonym: Marianya Klis. So what does Kabalarians say about that?

First Name

Your name Marianya has made you strong willed and self-sufficient. You do not depend on others for encouragement, but you respond to appreciation and enjoy being the centre of attention. You thrive on interacting with people when you can implement your original ideas. You could be inventive and ingenious along practical lines. You enjoy new ideas and new projects, but have difficulty in following through if once you find the novelty of an activity has worn off. New ideas hold your interest, but you become restless when boredom or monotony sets in. However, once you make up your mind that something is going to work, you persevere until it is accomplished.

As your independence and freedom are very important, you will seldom tolerate limitations. You tend to scatter your efforts and to avoid those activities that require concentration, system and order, and attention to detail. You like to act spontaneously, but impulsive decisions and poor judgment can occasionally lead you into unsettling circumstances which spoil the success of your undertakings. Seldom planning ahead, you undertake projects and work out the details as circumstances arise.

Surname

The surname of Klis gives those using it a genuine love for their fellow man and the desire to assume responsibility for others. They are warm-hearted and sincere in manner. They will often participate actively in community affairs. People tend to seek their advice, for their judgment is sound in both business and personal matters, and they usually exemplify stability in their own personal lives. They like the settled environment of a home and family. Natural parents, they respect parenthood as a serious responsibility. They are usually a very close-knit family, and can enjoy one another’s association, although there could be a tendency to be over-possessive. Self-sufficient and independent, they are happiest when in business for themselves, or when managing a business. They would make good teachers, doctors, lawyers, or real estate sales people. Although quite practical in nature, they can enjoy music and the arts and could become musical themselves. They are decisive and reliable, although they do take life too seriously and worry too much. Although this name has many fine qualities, the degree of harmony in the family will depend greatly upon the characteristics created by the first names of individual members in the family.

But how did I, personally, decide upon this name?
Continue reading

Entertainment: Games / Toys turning into Movies

So, as this old news, what surprise is there in that Hasbro is looking into turning some of their other properties into potential movies? After Transformers, G.I.Joe, and Battleship what else could possibly be turned into a movie?

Plenty as it would appear…

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Hasbro, has signed a deal with independent production and finance company Emmett/Furla Films to make movies based on the board games Hungry Hungry Hippos and Monopoly and the toy Action Man.

Rhode Island-headquartered Hasbro, which has a film production office at the Universal Pictures lot, announced the three-picture deal Thursday and confirmed that the first movie will be “Monopoly,” which the two companies hope to start production on in 2013.

Hmm… oook. I have a morbid curiosity as to how this is going to work out… as I read through the article I noticed that there were other properties in the pipeline for movie-dom:

Along with sequels to “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” at Paramount, Hasbro has other properties set up around Hollywood, including Candyland at Sony Pictures and Stretch Armstrong at Relativity Media.

Continue reading

Review: The Voice of Việt Nam (Live Rounds – Trần Lập Edition)

As I did with the Thu Minh Edition… I will look into what happened with Trần Lập’s team and how they got whittled down from seven to five. If you do not remember how the breakdown happened go to the post of the Live Round Edition – Whittling Seven Down to Five.

Looking at Thu Minh’s team there is a massive run away winner in the public vote. In the case of Trần Lập’s team there were three member that got the lion’s share of the public vote with everyone one else trailing a bit behind them. The top two of the three got an automatic in via the public vote:

Nguyễn Thùy Linh (31.7%) who sang “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”

Trần Thi Kim Loan (31.63%) who sang “Và ta đã thấy mặt trời” (Finally I Saw the Sun)

Continue reading

Review: Phantom of the Opera – 25th Anniversary Stage Recording

After watching Love Never Dies with a friend of mine months ago… I realized that I never got around to watching the 25th Anniversary Concert / Production of Phantom of the Opera. So I borrowed her DVD completely forgetting two things:
1: her version was a non-U.S. DVD region
2: I already purchased my own DVD in the U.S. region

So since I had already watched Love Never Dies with the Australian cast… I had a bad habit of comparing the Australian cast to their Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary counterpart roles. Interesting thing to note is that three of the roles in the 25th Anniversary Production of Phantom of the Opera were portrayed by the same actors that were in the original West End production of Love Never Dies when it opened:

CHARACTER ACTOR / ACTRESS
The Phantom Ramin Karimloo
Christine Daaé Sierra Boggess
Madame Giry Liz Robertson

There is no denying it, Ramin and Sierra are absolutely amazing vocally and character-wise in their respective roles. Sierra’s voice is absolutely exquisite as Christine, she gives that innocent iridescence to the role and provides the growth necessary as she makes a choice between the two men that she had come to realized that she has loved in her young life.

Here is Sierra as Christine as she slowly acclimates herself as the lead soprano in the aria “Think of Me”

And again when she runs to her father’s family tomb to “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”

Ramin is strong and powerful and is able to give that sense of vulnerability when the one thing he has ever wanted he realizes that he would never have and let’s Christine go in the end. There is something about Ramin that is just absolutely mesmerizing and there is no denying it.
Continue reading

Review: The Voice of Việt Nam (Live Rounds – Thu Minh Edition)

With the second round of two teams of seven participating in the second Live Show from teams Hồ Ngọc Hà and Đàm Vĩnh Hưng, let’s look and see how the first two teams fared in the first set of Live Shows. In case you do not know how the teams are whittled from teams of seven to a team of five head to my post: Live Round – Whittling Seven Down to Five.

Taking a look at the online list of how the public vote was separated, Thu Minh’s team had a clear winner in the popular vote running away with more than half of the votes that were called in and everyone else just trailing behind.

The Public Vote winners of Thu Minh’s team were:
“Phạm Thị Hương Tràm” who sang “Anh” (You). According to statistics she apparently earned the lion’s share (57.23%) of the public vote from her team.

… in case you did not know, she sang a Whitney Houston classic during her blind audition.

As for her team mate Dương Trần Nghĩa he sang Bay which translates to Fly (mind you Bay is the Vietnamese word, not the English word). He got about 11.09% of the vote.

Continue reading

Reflection: Zenobia the Original Musical Production Coming 2013

This was released for public viewing not that long ago:

According to YouTube:

A promotional video for the original musical, “Zenobia,” being premiered in Bolingbrook, IL in 2013 by Theatre-on-the-Hill, a not-for-profit community theatre. Book and lyrics by Lorrisa Julianus, music by Angela Salvaggione. Comments have been deactivated to discourage abuse, but if you are interested in participating in any capacity or attending, please contact us at www.tothbolingbrook.com.

Overview: Zenobia – who was sold into slavery upon birth – is a slave in the household of Danathus, King of Palmyra. While there she falls in love with the young prince: Alexander, who chooses the rebellion against the Roman oppressors which pushes her into the arms of his uncle, Danathus. Together, Danathus and Zenobia expand the empire until his untimely death where she continues the expansion at the chagrin of the Roman Emperor: Aurelian.

How to describe this musical? Epic… that is the best way to describe it.
Continue reading

Review: The Voice of Việt Nam (Live Round – Whittling Seven Down to Five)

So I was catching up with The Voice of Việt Nam, Việt Nam’s version of the United States hit The Voice.

A lot of the premise is still the same, but there are some things that I found to be rather interesting.

First let’s go back to what I mentioned about reality television in Việt Nam in general

I didn’t realize this show existed until I was chatting with family in Việt Nam and noticed a news article on Yahoo.co.vn site about a contestant on Việt Nam’s version of The Voice… also known as “The Voice of Việt Nam”. Complete with a Facebook Page, “The Voice of Việt Nam” is similar to that of the first two seasons of America’s version of The Voice. The blind auditions, the battle rounds, then the live rounds.

Each judge/coach has to comprise teams of fourteen vocalists from the blind auditions, then during the battle rounds those fourteen are whittled down to seven. As of this past Monday (September 24) the Live Rounds have begun.

The judging / coaching panel includes:
Thu Minh: Dance, Pop Ballad
Trần Lập: Rock, hardrock
Hồ Ngọc Hà: Pop, R&B, Ballad, Dance
Đàm Vĩnh Hưng: Việt Nam Pop

Unlike the United States version of The Voice, the judging / coaching panel tend to stay more in the similar realms and don’t really stretch out that much.

So it has been two weeks and already there are changes between the Việt Nam version and what we know in the United States:
Continue reading

Fleeting: What is in a Name? (Part One of Two)

So while I was in Việt Nam, I found out (and I don’t remember how) that when I came home from that hospital over thirty-odd years ago… originally my “given name” or rather “first name” was my Vietnamese Name (which is now my “middle name”).

Say what?

Without revealing my entire name… right now it looks like this:

FIRST MIDDLE LAST
Westernized Vietnamese Surname/Family

Whileas when I was borne it was originally this:

FIRST MIDDLE LAST
Vietnamese Westernized Surname/Family

Interesting. Mind you my mother was having this conversation about names in the car with various other relatives and the question of changing names came up and she mentioned that if you need to make a name change you just go to city hall. When asked more about it she told them that she did it for me when I was a baby. (I may not speak Vietnamese, but I definitely understand it… don’t I make a good spy? :D)

When I asked her about it, she mentioned that she did it within a year after I born to make it easier for me to live and survive in the United States. Makes sense… Now I am wondering how much would my life have changed if my name was different… and trust me, we may not place a lot of emphasis on names… but a direct change like that does change a person’s outlook on life.

Out of curiosity one day I decided to look into the meaning of my (names) and this was what I was able to discover:

WESTERNIZED VIETNAMESE SURNAME/FAMILY NAME
Who is Like God Noble – Intellectual Brightness (unknown believed to be “lake”)

So what is the meaning of my name? Well… let’s look at Kabalarians for the hell of it:
Continue reading

Reflection: Việt Nam Death Rituals… a Look Back

According to Vietnamese anthropologist Phạm Công Sơn (1996):

Death is not the end but is the final stage of one life to be transformed into another.

Two years ago I went to Việt Nam for a spell, to visit family while my paternal grandfather (ông nội) was still alive and ended up connecting with my paternal grandmother (bà nội). As my family and I were getting ready to leave for the states my paternal grandfather’s health made a turn for the worse and suddenly my father asked if I would be willing to stay behind to watch over my grandfather and keep everyone up-to-date in the states.

For a few minutes I was tempted… more than tempted really. However in the end I decided against it and went home, only for my grandfather’s health to deteriorate to the point that my parents and all my dad’s siblings flew back to Việt Nam to bury their father. I stayed home… wondering if perhaps I should have stayed in Việt Nam… I never got a chance to see the burial process, I was unaware of the traditions involved…

Over Labor Day weekend my father’s side of the family suffered a devastating loss… only two years after the passing of my ông nội (essentially the patriarch in the family)… The loss of the matriarch. This time I had a front seat view of the traditions since the timing was as such that within hours of setting foot in Sài Gòn my family and I would be saying goodbye to my bà nội.

Since this is my first time going through all the Vietnamese death rituals and traditions it is still kind of hard to describe a lot of what I just went though – being a first-generation in America I only know so much – so I scoured the internet for some thing that would go into enough detail of what I experienced and I could just add in my thoughts along the way… eventually I did.

At Ethonomed.com there is a very thorough article to goes step by step of what happened within that family and the rituals they have undergone and most of it is very accurate to what I have gone through.

Originally I was going to add photos to this to give an idea of some of the sights through my eyes, but on second thought those are very private photos and photos that I personally would not feel comfortable showing to a public audience. So instead the photos here are those of a similar nature that is a reflection of what I went through, but not exact. This is to protect the privacy of my family and relations not only stateside but in Việt Nam as well.
Continue reading

Entertainment: Into the Woods film reading

It would appear that Into the Woods is getting into the Hollywood game as there was a reading done recently involving a “who’s who” list from Broadway. According to Broadway.com here was who was in attendance:

CHARACTER ACTOR PREVIOUS / CURRENT CREDITS
Baker’s Wife Nina Arianda Broadway: Venus in Fur (Tony win), Born Yesterday (Tony nom)
Stepmother Christine Baranski Broadway: The Real Thing and Rumors (Tony win); TV: The Good Wife
Florinda Tammy Blanchard Broadway: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Gypsy (Tony noms)
Cinderella’s Mother/Granny/Giant Victoria Clark Broadway: The Light in the Piazza (Tony win) and Sister Act
Baker James Corden Broadway: One Man, Two Guvnors (Tony win) and The History Boys
Wolf Ivan Hernandez Off-Broadway: Cinderella’s Prince and the Wolf in the 2012 Central Park staging of Into the Woods
Lucinda Megan Hilty Broadway: 9 to 5; TV: Smash
Rapunzel’s Prince Cheyenne Jackson Broadway: Xanadu, Finian’s Rainbow and currently The Performers
Jack’s Mother Allison Janney Broadway: A View from the Bridge (Tony nom) and 9 to 5
Cinderella Anna Kendrick Broadway: High Society (Tony nom); Film: Up in the Air (Oscar nom)
Steward/Baker’s Father Michael McGrath Broadway: Nice Work If You Can Get It (Tony win) and Spamalot (Tony nom)
Witch Donna Murphy Broadway: Sondheim’s Passion and The King and I (both Tony wins); The People in the Picture, Lovemusik and Wonderful Town (all Tony noms)
Rapunzel Laura Osnes Broadway: Bonnie & Clyde (Tony nom) and currently in Cinderella
Jack Taylor Trensch Off-Broadway: upcoming Bare
Little Red Riding Hood Casey Whyland Broadway: Billy Elliot
Cinderella’s Prince Patrick Wilson Broadway: Oklahoma! and The Full Monty (both Tony noms)
Screenplay Narrator David Garrison Broadway: A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine (both Tony nom), also of Wicked and Silence!

Continue reading

Entertainment News: The Miss Saigon film adaptation Wish List

With the buzz surrounding Les Miserables and the anticipated release on Christmas Day… Musical and Film insiders have their sets on another Cameron Mackintosh production that has potential for the big screen: Miss Saigon.

When reading my RSS feed earlier, Playbill goes into detail of the various parties that have been rumored to be involved with the potential production.

Even Cameron Mackintosh tossed this little nugget to the feeders:

If Les Mis is a success then Miss Saigon will be made into a film. It isn’t confirmed at this point but there are many people sniffing around and offers coming in.

There were reports going on for the past few years that working on Miss Saigon was on “Precious” director Lee Daniels’ wish list. There were also rumors circulating that film producer Paula Wagner was working on a deal with Mackintosh for a spell.

According to Broadway.com recent American Idol contestant Jessica Sanchez has been floating around as a possible star.

Schönberg and Boublil collaborated with Richard Maltby, Jr. on the 1989 musical Miss Saigon, which took inspiration from the Puccini opera Madama Butterfly. Set during the fall of Vietnam, the musical centers on an American G.I. and a young Vietnamese prostitute who fall in love against the backdrop of the war. When Saigon falls and the Americans pull out, the young woman is left behind.

But… for someone like myself who is Vietnamese-American, I will be watching and scrutinizing every piece of news of this potential production with bated breath (ok… maybe not that extreme).

Why? Simple, because I want this to be done right, and not just via the eyes of the Americans (or other foreigners) but I would love to see this done right via the eyes of the Vietnamese that have actually lived through the war. This is afterall as much as Kim’s journey as it is Chris’ journey.

So as a Vietnamese-American I have a very specific wishlist of what I would love to see happen in any potential film production of Miss Saigon… ideas and wishes that I believe would not only enhance the film as a whole, but would bring the struggles of the Vietnamese to light. Afterall who better to describe what caused unease for the Vietnamese-Americans and the Vietnamese refugees when the production of Miss Saigon came to light?

THE ULTIMATE MISS SAIGON WISH LIST FOR THE FILM ADAPTATION
1: Potential Actors / Actresses
Continue reading

Review: NBCs the Voice (Updates)

Before I begin here is one vocalist rendition of a Whitney Houston classic from “The Voice of Vietnam”

So NBCs the Voice has been on the airwaves for the past several weeks starting with the Blind Auditions on September 10th and 11th. The blind auditions have continued on for the next three weeks with the last set being October 1 / 2. Afterwards are the Battle Rounds. What is interesting is that tickets to watch the Battle Rounds live were issued for early August… so by this point in time those that are awaiting to be seen in the Live Rounds have been working on their bits for almost two months.

Blind Auditions:
– September 10 / 11 / 12
– September 17 / 18
– September 24 / 25
– October 1 / 2

I will provide commentary, information, thoughts sporadically once the Battle Rounds start over at the Pure TV Network blog. I have also been watching The Voice of Vietnam and will be posting a little bit about that (if it relates to the United States in anyway) over at that blog as well. Anything that is dealing strictly about The Voice of Vietnam you can find here on my personal blog.
Continue reading

Review: Profiles Theatre’s Sweet and Sad (Understudy Performance)

Earlier this month (Monday, October 1) I went to the soon to be closed production of Sweet and Sad at the Profiles Theatre in Chicago. With this particular production there was a performance on a Monday Night where all the roles were played by the understudies as opposed to the original cast members.

First the cast (original and understudy):

CHARACTER ORIGINAL CAST UNDERSTUDY CAST
Richard Apple Darrell W. Cox Jeff Gamlin
Uncle Benjamin Apple Robert Breuler Scott Stockwell
Marian Apple Kristin Ford Jaimelyn Gray
Barbara Apple Kate Harris Michelle McKenzie-Voigt
Jane Apple Harmony France Angela DeMarco
Tim Andrews Eric Burgher Anthony Venturini

Typically when you have an understudy in the role you can kind of tell where they can improve their performance, particularly when they are with the original cast members and sometimes with other understudies… however with this particular understudy performance, in general, the understudy cast knocked it out of the ballpark.

So why see the understudy performance? Simple… my friends and I came to support a friend of mine for a professional gig that meant a lot to him and his wife. How could you not want to support a friend that spent his lifetime to this point trying to balance building his own theatre company as well as trying to pursue his own professional acting career?

But before I go more into the performances let’s talk about the show itself. First the synopsis from the Profiles Theatre Website:

Profiles Theatre’s Midwest premiere of Sweet and Sad by Richard Nelson opens the company’s 2012-2013 season. Sweet and Sad, directed by Joe Jahraus and featuring Co-Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox, is now playing through October 7, 2012. Performances are held at Profiles newest venue, The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway.

With Sweet and Sad, Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Nelson continues his series of plays exploring the immediate present as well as the ever-changing state of the nation. Over Sunday brunch on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the members of the Apple Family finds themselves talking about loss, remembrance and the family struggle to maintain its moral equilibrium in a world that no longer reflects its values.

Wait? “Series of Plays”? Indeed… it would appear that Sweet and Sad is the second of a series of plays by playwright: Richard Nelson (the first being That Hopey Changey Thing). This series of plays surrounds the Apple Family as they get together first for Election Night in the first play and in the current play the anniversary of 9/11.
Continue reading

Reflection: Việt Nam Food in Pictures (Summary)

My little sister arrived in Việt Nam about a week after I returned to the states and in less than eight hours since her arrival (approximately 10pm Việt Nam time zone which would make it 10am Central US time zone) she has had three full meals, leftovers for a snack and a glass of coffee. Not only that she was going through my Facebook albums of Việt Nam Food that I had posted, asking my mother what each dish was…

I think the irony is that the word on the street is that she wants to have a few chicken dishes made using the neighbor’s rooster as the meat source… I share her sentiments considering the damn rooster starts crowing at 4:00am every morning without fail and every hour on the hour since then… but that’s a different story.

All that aside below are a small sample selection of some of my favorites dishes from Việt Nam over the years. Including those made at “home”… because my family has the best hired cook in Việt Nam. 🙂
Continue reading

Reflection: Việt Nam Wake Up Call

Yesterday I posted up a summary of “Việt Nam in Pictures“, but my sister managed to get the one picture that I was unable to capture myself.

So she decided to post the following on her Facebook Page:

I didn’t think that people actually woke up by a crowing rooster anymore. I obviously was very wrong. 4:30 EVERY morning. Somebody needs to tell them the definition of “vacation.”

Don’t believe her? Here is something that may convince you:

She has managed to take a picture of the roosters… I haven’t even been able to do that!

Mind you, this is the middle of Sài Gòn… which is a city with lots of people and the homes are compressed against one another. There are barely any green let alone yards.

Waking up by the crowing of the rooster became normal for me while in Việt Nam… so as much as I hate to admit it, I miss it… a lot. 😀 Ah well.

Be lucky you darn Westerners / Americans… you have no idea how good you got it here. 😛