15th April, 2008
All I Ask of You
I have just finished recording “All I Ask of You” on the piano, and although it is riddled with errors, I just don’t have the energy to record it again.
If you have any comments, please don’t hesitate to leave it. Just know that I have only been playing for two years, so don’t laugh!
All I Ask Of You played by André Gerber
Posted at 10:02 pm | Comment (0)
13th April, 2008
The Holiday…
I haven’t posted in a very long time, and I think I can attribute that to my own laziness. I suppose I just didn’t have the motivation.
Anyway, the past three weeks I have been on holiday, and in true holiday spirit, I have done absolutely nothing productive or of consequence. In fact, I do believe the most productive thing I have managed to do is to determine the maximum amount of time on can possibly sleep.
All right, I may be exaggerating. To be fair, I have completed my end-of-year drama practical exam play. It has been completed since the beginning of the year, but I have now removed some old songs, and inserted a few new ones. The dialogue has also been cleaned up. I have also finally written a new scene which I have been planning for a long time, but only now has come to light: The main character’s parents now get a scene of their own in order to further elaborate on her relationship with them and to add further motivation to the character.
It was a surprisingly easy scene to write, and the first scene in the entire play where the two main characters sing two different melody lines at the same time.
On the piano front, I have finally finished learning “All I ask of you”, even though I never really liked the song. It frustrates me to no end, to be honest. Way back when (in 2005) I was in a revue and I sang chorus for that song. Now, I promised myself I will never listen to it again, and lo and behold: I am playing it. Anyway, I will upload a video shortly.
Moving on, school starts again tomorrow and I am still deciding how much I want that to happen. At the moment I just miss the one act play and my friends, but the moment I get another homework assignment, I know I am going to wish for another holiday.
Anyway, it’s time now for “Are you smarter than a 5th grader.” Gotta run!
Posted at 6:09 pm | Comment (0)
22nd November, 2007
I am in (one of) 2008’s one act play
The copious amount of readers that I have (that was a joke) must all know by now that I was in 2007’s one act play (the puppets).
Well, I went through 2 rounds of auditions and came out the other side a better person. I have never learnt lines so fast in my entire life. Anyway, I got a part in ONE OF the plays that our school is doing this year to compete in the many competitions.
Yes, “one of”.
You see, our directors thought it might be nice to do not one, not two, not three, but FOUR plays this year. That means that, as one of the top schools concerning drama at teenage level, we essentially have to compete against not only other schools, but against ourselves.
I am in the piece called, “This is just to say”. It is written by Hennie van Greunen and translated to Afrikaans by one of our directors. Anyway, during the translating, it changed names. I suppose that the direct translation of the current title would be, “Between you and me…”
Regardless of the title, I am in it. The other cast members are probably some of the best actors one could wish for. They are really a superb ensemble of players. I could not have wished for a better group of people.
Anyway, all of those plays are excellent. We have strict competition next year (and I won’t even mention the other schools).We will all do our best, and I really hope that every one act for 2008 gets as much praise and attention as it deserves. Good luck, everyone.
Posted at 5:59 pm | Comment (0)
6th November, 2007
Soooo…Ubuntu Linux?
Yes, this is going to another one of those “I converted to Ubuntu” posts, but rest assured - it will not be a “Microsoft is evil” post, though.
A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to try Ubuntu Linux out. See what comes of it. My knowledge of computers is by no means insignificant - I know my way around the block. I have tried Ubuntu before, and indeed many other distributions. Mandriva, PCLinuxOS and even OpenSuse. Every time though, I found myself going back to Windows for whatever reason.
Let me set the record straight, though: I don’t HATE Microsoft or Windows. I have mutual feelings regarding them: On the one hand, they did make computers very user friendly and popular to use in daily life. On the other hand, they are a bunch of deceiving lunatics. But I digress.
So, I installed Ubuntu again just when Gusty came out. I wanted to see what happened in the time I was locked into Windows. And was I surprised!
Bar for the colour scheme (which looks like steaming poo, to be honest), it has evolved tremendously.Previously, these were the things I could not do and how they were corrected:
- I could not print.
- Not only can I print now, but I can print double sided, different paper sizes, print many pages on a single page and change the paper feed. In fact, I can do more with my printer now than I can on Windows. My Windows machine refuses to print because it insists that I have no black ink. However, Linux told me once that I don’t have ink, and after I told it to go ahead anyway, it printed without hassle. In fact, I have printed many, many documents from my alleged empty inktank.
- I could not change the screen resolution.
- Also a thing of the past. I can now change it to anything my heart desires, instead of the default value.
- I could not play midi files and edit music notation.
- This is something that is very important to me. I can do it with Rosegarden (and it works, albeit not completely to my liking) but I can also do it with Sibelius. Not only can Linux read my musical keyboard that Windows refuses the recognize, but I can edit notation much more productively than I could in Windows. Why? Because Sibelius used to run like a snail on Windows but in Linux it’s a dream.
- My router and Linux didn’t seem to like each other
- I got a new router in the meantime, and now in Linux my internet connection seems to be snappier than it was in Windows. Someone told me that it was because Linux has no background applications stealing your bandwidth like Microsoft’s patented “Secret Update” and so forth. I don’t really know what to make of this, since it could be that there was just something wrong with my Windows machine.
It appears that many things have been fixed, but there are a few things that I still can’t seem to get over:
- I still can’t scan with my CanoScan LiDE 500F.
- I don’t have Office 2007, and that is one of my most important tools - OpenOffice just doesn’t cut it and I couldn’t bare to go back to Office 2003
- Its default colour scheme is still horrific.
- Audio on Linux is still sub-par and unprofessional. All this JACK and ALSA nonsense - I just want things to work.
As far as I understand, most of these things are being worked on. The audio situation is slated to be addressed in the next Ubuntu release, and the default theme will be modified to (let me puke) black and orange. Excuse me while I go melt my eyes - it will be less painful than looking at that colour scheme. A tip: Don’t make a colour scheme you wouldn’t walk around with in the mall without being embarrassed the default for an operating system. So, unless they are going for the Halloween look, I suggest they look into something else.
As far as the scanner is concerned, I know we should blame Canon. I also know that Microsoft is to blame for the Office situation, but this is getting a little ridiculous. Linux excels in many ways, but there are still many things that don’t work for me yet.
For now, Ubuntu will stay my default OS. I can actually run it for a long time without it slowing down noticeably. I can at least still dual boot into Windows for my other needs. For now, I think the Ubuntu team did a fine job. I can’t wait for their next release (I won’t even type the name of the release because I am sure that they will have to change it eventually - it’s horrible).
Posted at 9:32 pm | Comment (1)
4th November, 2007
Dumbledore is gay. So what!?
It is already old news that Harry Potter author, J. K. Rowling, has revealed that Dumbledore was gay and had a crush on Grindelwald.
Even after all this time, people are still making a fuss about it. People are saying things such as, “I can never look at Dumbledore the same way again.” Other people insist that Dumbledore is a paedophile because he spent so much time alone with Harry and that this revelation makes him less of a great wizard because their vision of him as a grandfather-type has been crushed.
I have one thing I would like to say to these pathetic individuals: It should not matter whether Dumbledore was gay, straight, bi or an apple. It doesn’t change a thing about what he did and how he helped Harry. He remains a great wizard because it is written black on white! You can’t argue with that.
There are still other people that refuse to believe this and they believe that this is a fabrication of J. K. Rowling’s imagination. News flash: Harry Potter is a figment of her imagination. Secondly, everyone knows that a good writer plans a book before she writes. She will plan out every single detail of a character, even if she does not write it all out specifically.
She would know if Dumbledore liked apples, oranges, how many purple robes he wore, what is favourite band was and what his Transfiguration teacher’s husband’s aunt’s grandmother (twice removed) cat’s kitten was called. To say that she pulled this information out of thin air is preposterous. There is many evidence in the book to support this: The fact that he had an extremely close relationship with Grindelwald AND the fact that he always wore flamboyant purple robes that inspired stares. Come on! That screams “Gay!”
But all of this is irrelevant. He is gay. JK’s word is law and nothing you think hope can change it. Perhaps in your own homophobic world you can choose to ignore it, but as someone on the HPB IMDB forum so eloquently said: “Gay is the new straight, after all.”
Get over it.
Posted at 10:03 pm | Comment (1)
19th October, 2007
And you call yourself a Christian?
I have to confess that I do not agree with everything that Christianity preaches, but surely if you claim to be a Christian, should you act as the Bible dictates?
I know this has been covered to the point of becoming boring, but I have recently noticed oddities that I feel I need to point out.
In my school, kids walk around the school preaching the word of God to every Tom, Dick and Harry (I may be exaggerating, but that doesn’t disprove the point). Every second person will sing the Christian songs as if it is the last song they will ever sing. However (and that’s the problem)…
The next moment you hear them saying (and I quote): “I can’t believe we have that f***ing subject with that motherf***ing teacher next period. She’s such a c***. Did you do your homework?”
At which point the other would reply, “F*** no, dude. I don’t even f***ing care anymore.”
I marvel at the creative use of descriptive language and the various meanings one can apply to a single word, but let us take a moment to review the situation: A moment ago they were singing praises to their superior being (in this case, God), and God told them in many places in the Bible that you are not allowed to swear (even casually).
For instance:
Matthew 12:34-36: “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”
Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”
Matthew 5:37: “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
I find it hilarious that people can say they believe in what the Bible says, and yet they probably don’t even know of the existence of these lines.
And then there are people who have the audacity to say: “Oh, but sh** isn’t a swearword.”
Profanity has nothing to do with “this word is bad” and “this word is good”. It has to do with the general connotation of the word and what you are trying to say with it. Ask yourself then: How do you know that f*** is and c*** are swearwords, and yet sh** is not? If that doesn’t say anything to you, try this exercise: Since you are a Christian, you must believe in Heaven. If that is true, you will be judged by God before you may enter it. When that day comes, I dare you to stand in front of God and tell him, “I need to go sh**,” or perhaps, “you are the sh**.”
I am certain that you would not do that, and that is where your definition of what profanity is should come from. Any word that you can say without shame or fear in front of your God is pure, yet any word you would not dare say in front of Him is profanity.
Now, as I’ve said, I am not connected to any religion at the moment. I just think that if people say they believe in something, they should believe more than little bits and pieces of it (and try to convince themselves that they believe it fully).
Posted at 3:31 pm | Comment (0)
18th October, 2007
What’s with all the fuss about being in Matric?
So, next year I’ll be in my final year of high school (uni comes next!), but ever since the previous grade twelves left, the school and everyone in it started making a huge fuss about us being in matric.
Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is. Yes, it is your final year, but you know: Get over yourself. I can understand the free gift baskets, the pizzas, the casual days, the special treatment, but there is one thing I cannot stand: People that think they are better than others.
This past week should be an example for everyone. Now that we are the big guys in the school (oh whoopie), the younger kids either grovel at our majesty or try and knock us off our high-horse. Personally, I don’t blame either of those parties because, frankly, it comes from years of tradition. But is it right?
People tell me: “André! Be happy that it is your final year of school and you can order the younger kids around.”
I just think to myself: “Excuse me while I find a container for my joy…”
Regardless, I think we should reconsider all this matric-I-am-holier-than-thou-nonsense. Just because it is your final year, doesn’t make you a better person or make someone else inferioir to you.
Posted at 5:18 pm | Comment (0)
14th October, 2007
Broadway musicals and movies?
Hollywood has finally, after years of abandoning the Broadway musical, rediscovered the medium of musical movies and, more importantly, that audiences like them.
Shows such as Hairspray, Chicago, Dreamgirls (and to an extent, Phantom of the Opera) have been met with critical and commercial success. Sweeney Todd is next in line, and its limited release is in December, followed by it’s wide release in January.
Many fans have been eagerly awaiting the Sweeney Todd trailer, and when it was released a brand new interest and audience in the show has been formed. Already predicted to be a serious Oscar contender, and yet we have only seen one trailer.
But there are many other musicals that deserve a Hollywood movie version. But which ones? I have made my list of shows I would like to see made into movies:
1. Wicked. This show has seen success everywhere it has been performed. Those who have seen it will know that it is a megamusical spectacle. In order to achieve that same effect in a movie, it will have to be a grand, big budget bonanza with a great director and a major script rewrite to accommodate the medium. I think it might work best to rework the story to bring back some of the darker themes in the book which were eliminated from the musical. The script gave the story a distinct Disney-ish feeling, which might not work that well since you won’t be able to use your megamusical-get-out-of-jail-for-free card to save the story. (Chance of becoming a movie: 8/10)
2. Jekyll and Hyde. I confess that this musical isn’t the best one out there, but it has potential. It has struggled from having bad actors play the lead role, and if it is not done right it becomes laughable. It is a volatile situation, but it can work. This movie is in the works already, but as yet no studio wants to touch it. (Chance of becoming a movie: 7/10)
3. Into the Woods. A Stephen Sondheim fairytale-musical for adults. It is a wonderful show and can work really well on screen, if done in a similar style to “The Brothers Grimm”. The show is a bit long to just transfer directly to screen, so many songs will need to be cut or shortened. If Sweeney Todd does well, I think this musical might get greenlit. (Chance of becoming a movie: 6/10)
4. Sunday in the Park with George. This is a difficult musical to do. In order to make it a movie, you will have to COMPLETELY rewrite the script. You can get away with it by keeping it in its current state, but the second act won’t work, just as it barely worked on stage. They could always just cut the second act entirely, but then you loose two of the most beautiful songs in the show: Children and Art and Move On. (Chance of becoming a movie: 5/10)
5. Avenue Q. This movie will never happen, but I have it on the list because it is a fun musical. Just imagine for a moment what this will look like? Whatever studio takes this should not expect to make any money, but should just do it for the fun. But…look at it from another point of view: This musical was spawned from a TV show, which is a film medium. (Chance of becoming a movie: 1/10)
Posted at 12:36 pm | Comment (0)
2nd September, 2007
This is even more surprising…
The past week, various schools’ One Act Plays have been competing in the Cape Regional Semi-Finals for the ATKV. Every night this past week, four to five productions were shown every night. Our One Act Play performed on Thursday.
Friday night, four schools were picked to perform on Saturday, which were the Regional Finals. Those four productions were:
- Brackenfell High School with “Die Spinner” (Translation: The Spinner)
- Tygerberg High School with “Afskeid” (Translation: Farewell)
- Jan van Riebeeck High School with “Janblom Dans ‘n Masurka” (Translation: Janblom dances a Mazurka)
- Durbanville High School (my school) with “En Toe Dans Die Poppe” (Translation: And Then The Puppets Danced”)
The school who won Saturday would go to the national competition. The competition was very strict, that I have to admit.
“Die Spinner” is about this army-soldier-person who has a split personality and was at the border. It is a difficult piece to follow, because there is very little actual story line. I also don’t think they had cast the right guy for the role. It is a one man play.
“Afskeid” is about a boy who is in his final year of school and he has to ask a girl to the Matric Farewell. He eventually does this, but when it is time for them to have some fun by the river, it is discovered that he only used the girl so that he can wear her dress. It is a nice story, but a little messy and there is no real emotion.
“Janblom Dans ‘n Masurka” is the classic story of the frog who turned into a prince and then back into a frog. It was given a little twist, though. It incorporated a sub-plot of a beauty pageant being held and the winner would get the prince. It was a beautiful piece to watch - every single detail was precisely planned out. It is painstakingly perfect, but because it is so perfect, it doesn’t have any heart. It is as cold as ice.
“En Toe Dans Die Poppe” is about two groups of puppets who live in a storage room: The Crash Test Dummies and the Shop Manikins. The two groups hate each other, however, Vincent and Dolla fall in love. The only problem is that Vincent is a manikin and Dolla is a Crash Test Dummy. Their love is forbidden by both groups, but they eventually find a way to love each other by Vincent’s death at the end. The whole play is a metaphor of Apartheid in South Africa a few years ago. I play a Crash Test Dummy - number four.
Anyway, so we all performed again on Saturday and the judges announced the piece that won the regional finals. I have to say that it was very surprising: Our piece won!
Of course, we are all overblown with joy and elation, but now the hard work lies ahead. We have to make our piece even better so that we can do our best at the nationals!
Posted at 5:17 pm | Comment (0)
26th August, 2007
What I hate about the modern church
In the past few weeks I have been noticing things. Things that irritate me so much, that I felt that I had to make a post about it. It is about our modern Christian Church.
People who know me will know that I give any excuse I can just to stay out of the church. Recently, though, the exhaustion from the one act play and the musical has been enough of an excuse. Why, though, do I make all these excuses? Because I cannot stand to be inside the church.
I go to the N. G. Church in Durbanville.
The pastor always has this uncontrollable urge to scream at us whenever he preaches. What makes it even worse, though, is the fact that my grandparents (with whom I live) feel compelled to sit right in front. The problem now is that the minister screams at us over a microphone and sprays his spit all over our faces. These days I take an umbrella along just save myself the time of cleaning up later.
But why do people avoid the church? Surely the ministers don’t squeal of excitement in every church? No, I think the problem lies in the content and length of the service.
These days, our time is restricted more and more. The church’s reasoning is that God only asks an hour of your time a week. I disagree with that. The Bible never mentions one hour of church a week, does it? In this day and age we only have Sundays in which we can truly relax (if we don’t have work to do for Monday). Church services at that time of the morning doesn’t give you much chance to do anything else on your day off. That leads me to the content of the sermon.
The pastor feels that he must say the same sentence in seven different ways. At the end of every Sunday we walk out of the church with the same message: “Believe in God, love everyone and be a good little boy ’till next Sunday.” So, if that is the message, why not just say that instead of spending an hour beating around the bush to come to that point anyway?
I don’t always have money on me to put into the money-bag-thing. The whole giving the church money affair has been blown out of proportion. They expect of you to put money into the bag and if you don’t, you are a bad Christian. The old ladies sitting close to you send you either a look of disgust or a look of “this poor child is going to rot in hell”. I wish they would stop with this “give us money, and if you don’t we will play on your conscience nonsense.”
Also, I am a practical person. I cannot stand to passively take in something if it not engaging and interesting. I can sit in a good movie for 3 hours, but an uninteresting movie kills me softly. The same goes for church. If they must have their hour-long sermon, the preacher must make sure that he has a message that will engage the audience for that period of time. I say “audience” for a reason. People who go to church are merely an audience to the farce that is happening at the front. If they make a more engaging service by means of audience participation, then surely we won’t die of boredom every time.
HOWEVER, I do not mean this happy-clappy nonsense that has taken over. That is even worse. I am a music lover, and being that I can enjoy music that is, at least, somewhat challenging. In these happy-clappy churches they sing that same song over and over and over and over again. It is enough to send me to the loony-bin. The song repeats the same simple melodies so many times, with one or two variations, that I can’t stand it.
And then those happy-clappy churches in which you to stand on your two feet for half an hour while you sing the same song over and over. But don’t dare sit down in the middle of the singing if your feet get sore, because surely then you haven’t been touched by the majesty of the song for hundredth time you have sung it. The glory of God surely hasn’t shown on you. They all stare at you as if you have been possessed by the Satan, the devil himself.
So, now we sit with two extremes: boring church and too-happy church. Both of them won’t last very long if they continue on the same road which they are on right now. We need a comfortable middle way. What does my perfect church look like?
Firstly, the service is between 30 and 45 minutes long. Secondly, the minister keeps his/her service concise and to the point. He engages the audience by practical methods, for instance a play or by incorporating audience participation. Thirdly, the minister must remember that he is using a microphone, so it is not necessary to scream at us. And finally, the band should stop recycling songs and either write new ones or not sing the same one three hundred times in a row.
That is what we need in this world. Church wasn’t about pleasing the masses in the past, but they have to realize that if they want to keep the Church of God alive, they really need to rethink their strategy.
Posted at 4:18 pm | Comment (1)
