Really?

I have found a new purpose for this blog - Ranting!
Today I'm bothered by something a bit more legitimate than actors that can't sing. Today I am bothered by insensitive people. I am not someone who takes too many things personally. I'm generally pretty good at just letting things pass buy. But, I do have a few hot button topics. Unfortunately, one of them is singleness. When 23 year olds whine about being single, I roll my eyes at them and do not feel bad for their plight in life. But, when people are getting close to 30 or have passed that milestone and are, against their desires, still single, I feel that isn't something to be taken lightly. I don't want people to feel sorry for me for the way my life is but I do appreciate when they recognize that it may be a bit of a sensitive issue and not something that should be ignored.
Here's what happened today to set me off just a bit. Very good friends of mine have a beautiful little girl that just turned 1 this weekend. This couple hosts a dinner almost every week as a kind of family dinner and are some amazing friends. One woman who regularly comes to dinner sent out an email asking if anyone wanted to go in on a group gift for the little girl so that we could get something really nice and fun. She suggested it because about a year ago we all went in on a gift for her son that he absolutely loves to this day. Super sweet suggestion and within five minutes she had several people say they would love to go in on it - including me. After people responded, she sent an email thanking everyone for their quick response and letting people know how much they should contribute based on the number of people that responded. She listed the people that responded with the following note (paraphrased) - "That comes out to about $16 per person (couples count as 1) so just get me the money whenever you can. Really, whatever you want to contribute is fine."
Here's the thing, the list was all couples except for me and my friend M. Now, M and I are kind of used to being the only single people in what has become a very large group of couples so we joke on a semi regular basis about being a couple (we are not). But, we both bristled at this just a bit. I had to go to a meeting right after this email was sent out so I didn't reply. I got back to my desk and had a note from him that said 'I hope I didn't speak out of turn' and then I saw the email from him that said, 'Liz and I would like to be considered a couple since all the rest of you are also dual income couples.' Now, I would have replied slightly nicer than that but basically would have said the same thing, so no, he did not speak out of turn. I even relayed this story to a married co-worker of mine and she couldn't believe that someone would think that way. If the entire list is couples, that's fine, divide it that way. But, if you have a mixed list, count individuals.
The kicker was that I saw her tonight and gave her money and all she did was make a little joke about how M and I didn't need to pay full price if we didn't want to. No reference to the fact that she might have been a little insensitive in what she wrote. I could have brought something up, but really, it's not worth the energy. Note, this has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of money that was asked. I am totally happy to contribute $16 towards a gift for people that host me for dinner once a week.
I don't expect everyone to understand everything that I am going through all the time, but I do expect my friends to be the tiniest bit sensitive. I promise, I will try to do the same.

*This has nothing to do with the four of you that read this - you are all pretty cool about this.

Les Mis

This is one of those times where I need to express my very strong opinions on relatively unimportant topics.
Earlier this week I finish reading Les Miserable - all 1195 pages of it. It was beautiful. It took me three months to finish (I started right before Christmas). When I started the book, I couldn't put it down for hours on end. As with most novels that are extremely long, the middle of the book gets a little slow. There are 100 pages or so describing the battle of Waterloo just so you get the full backstory to one fairly small detail that is needed later on. At the end, I knew some of those characters better than I know some of my friends. It is an absolutely stunning piece of literature. I don't usually do a whole lot of research before picking out a book but for this one, there are fairly drastic differences in opinion on the book depending on the translation that was read. I ended up with a newer translation by Julie Rose and was very happy with it.
Tonight I finally saw the most recent movie version of the musical of Les Mis. I never got around to seeing it in the theatre but I watch it at home this evening. I love the musical version. I think that it helps to not consider the book and the musical the same thing. The basic story is the same but beyond that, they aren't the same. When you don't think they are the same, there is room to love them both. I saw the stage version many years ago in LA. I own and have memorized the Broadway cast recording. I really enjoyed the movie version. I think they did an excellent job with it.
Here's where the really random strong opinion comes in.
I strongly believe that if you couldn't have gotten yourself casted in the Broadway production of Les Miserable, you shouldn't be in the movie version either.
There were several offenders in the movie but the worst offenders were Russell and Anne. Sure, Anne did a good job of acting Fantine and I really felt her pain, but she annoys me. Russell is just a bad singer and a bad actor. Oddly enough, he hit the few really big notes really well but then butchered everything else. Seriously, with most of the leads, the vibrato was out of control. Based on every Broadway show I have ever seen, they could have easily found people to play these rolls who could both sing and act.
So, there you have my opinion. Even though you are making it into a movie, a musical is still first and foremost a musical. Don't believe me? See the movie. See the Broadway production. Compare. While you are at it, read the book.