My friend asked the girls, "Hey, would you all like to see Hairspray next week?"
I asked, "Who's starring in it?"
She said, "John Travolta."
"Oh, I don't like watching John Travolta!" I sighed ... chatter, chatter, chatter ...
I ended up going with the flow and there I was at the Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) in One Utama the week after. I wondered what the movie was about but didn't have time to find out.
The lead character Tracy Turnblad (played by newcomer Nikki Blonsky), a "plesantly plump" teenager comes on. She reminded me of the character from Ugly Betty - not as ugly but not the typical Hollywood beauty on the silverscreens either; although her bubbly personality and powerful voice made the movie come alive!
They used a lot of hairspray to create big hair and add extra inches to their height ... I guess that's why the movie was called Hairspray!
The 60s set reminded me of the musical film Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, and Grease 2, starring Maxwell Caufield and Michelle Pfeiffer. Both Travolta and Pfeiffer starred in the musical film Hairspray. They were young adults back in the Grease old days, and now they played parental roles in Hairspray ... I was a teenager back then, and now ...!
Some five minutes into the show, I was trying to recall if I had had any conversation with my friends with regards to the movie, what it's about and who's starring in it. I remembered John Travolta and began looking out for him. I didn't seem to spot him all that easily.
A ginormous woman comes on the screen. Super-sized knockers ... did they say it was 45 DD or 54 EEE? I don't remember, but whatever that number was, I don't remember selling any of those bra sizes while I worked part-time at Victoria's Secret during my dancing days back in the early 90s.
As you probably already guessed, this plus-sized woman named Edna Turnblad (Tracy Turnblad's mother) was played by John Travolta. A surprisingly interesting choice of character for Travolta ... he was awesome in this role - so big, so sweet, so cute, and so obesely graceful!
In the midst of the movie, I also had one of those revelations; I suddenly understood why it had to be a guy like Travolta playing an oversized woman in this movie. I don't think the producers would have been able to cast a more talented actor/actress with such great height, width and depth for a musical role such as Edna Turnblad. I loved it!
Hairspray is without doubt one of the corniest movies I have seen. But I thoroughly enjoyed it and it certainly has topped my list of favorite movies. There's even a local TV show in the movie called "The CORNY Collins Show." You've just got to see this movie to believe how corny but tasteful a movie can get!
I asked, "Who's starring in it?"
She said, "John Travolta."
"Oh, I don't like watching John Travolta!" I sighed ... chatter, chatter, chatter ...
I ended up going with the flow and there I was at the Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) in One Utama the week after. I wondered what the movie was about but didn't have time to find out.
The lead character Tracy Turnblad (played by newcomer Nikki Blonsky), a "plesantly plump" teenager comes on. She reminded me of the character from Ugly Betty - not as ugly but not the typical Hollywood beauty on the silverscreens either; although her bubbly personality and powerful voice made the movie come alive!
They used a lot of hairspray to create big hair and add extra inches to their height ... I guess that's why the movie was called Hairspray!
The 60s set reminded me of the musical film Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, and Grease 2, starring Maxwell Caufield and Michelle Pfeiffer. Both Travolta and Pfeiffer starred in the musical film Hairspray. They were young adults back in the Grease old days, and now they played parental roles in Hairspray ... I was a teenager back then, and now ...!
Some five minutes into the show, I was trying to recall if I had had any conversation with my friends with regards to the movie, what it's about and who's starring in it. I remembered John Travolta and began looking out for him. I didn't seem to spot him all that easily.
A ginormous woman comes on the screen. Super-sized knockers ... did they say it was 45 DD or 54 EEE? I don't remember, but whatever that number was, I don't remember selling any of those bra sizes while I worked part-time at Victoria's Secret during my dancing days back in the early 90s.
As you probably already guessed, this plus-sized woman named Edna Turnblad (Tracy Turnblad's mother) was played by John Travolta. A surprisingly interesting choice of character for Travolta ... he was awesome in this role - so big, so sweet, so cute, and so obesely graceful!
In the midst of the movie, I also had one of those revelations; I suddenly understood why it had to be a guy like Travolta playing an oversized woman in this movie. I don't think the producers would have been able to cast a more talented actor/actress with such great height, width and depth for a musical role such as Edna Turnblad. I loved it!
Hairspray is without doubt one of the corniest movies I have seen. But I thoroughly enjoyed it and it certainly has topped my list of favorite movies. There's even a local TV show in the movie called "The CORNY Collins Show." You've just got to see this movie to believe how corny but tasteful a movie can get!
On a more serious note, the movie addressed racial segregation and how it takes a few gutsy folks like the Turnblads to make a difference. The other reason I enjoyed the movie was because I believe in a colorful world made up of different peoples and nations, each bringing to bear the talents that God has given them and using such gifts to bless all those around them.
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Have you ever experienced a situation where you were looking so intently for "something," and you immediately zoomed into the smaller details in search of that "something," when all this while it's been starring right in your face.
It happened to me when I dove Manado last year. We went muck diving in Lembeh and suddenly, everyone dove towards this huge, yellow blob that looked like a sponge. My dive instructor seemed to wave his pointer around the area of a black spot within the yellow blob. I went closer towards the black dot and wondered what I was supposed to be looking at. Thank God I didn't go too close or dive into the yellow sponge-looking thing ... it turned out that the "something" we were supposed to be looking at was a giant yellow frog fish (very poisonous) and the black spot was its eye.
The moral of the story is for us to know what the big picture is before zooming into the details. Otherwise, you would completely miss the point in life and end up wondering why the day-to-day details are the way they are in the first place.
I was reminded of this experience while seeing Hairspray. Tracy Turnblad discovers her purpose by being who she naturally was - someone who embraced being different and seeking to do the right thing despite the difficulties that come along with being different. Her purpose - to be a catalyst to disintegrating segregation and integrating the different people groups. The bigger picture was about the need to recognize and respect the many peoples who exist, all of whom had unique things to offer.
If only we can accept people for who they are, respect and embrace them for all they are meant to be, the world would be a much nicer and peaceful place to live.
I must learn to be less judgmental and give others the benefit of doubt more often than not because ...
"People who are different, their time is coming ... to shake things up!"
It happened to me when I dove Manado last year. We went muck diving in Lembeh and suddenly, everyone dove towards this huge, yellow blob that looked like a sponge. My dive instructor seemed to wave his pointer around the area of a black spot within the yellow blob. I went closer towards the black dot and wondered what I was supposed to be looking at. Thank God I didn't go too close or dive into the yellow sponge-looking thing ... it turned out that the "something" we were supposed to be looking at was a giant yellow frog fish (very poisonous) and the black spot was its eye.
The moral of the story is for us to know what the big picture is before zooming into the details. Otherwise, you would completely miss the point in life and end up wondering why the day-to-day details are the way they are in the first place.
I was reminded of this experience while seeing Hairspray. Tracy Turnblad discovers her purpose by being who she naturally was - someone who embraced being different and seeking to do the right thing despite the difficulties that come along with being different. Her purpose - to be a catalyst to disintegrating segregation and integrating the different people groups. The bigger picture was about the need to recognize and respect the many peoples who exist, all of whom had unique things to offer.
If only we can accept people for who they are, respect and embrace them for all they are meant to be, the world would be a much nicer and peaceful place to live.
I must learn to be less judgmental and give others the benefit of doubt more often than not because ...
"People who are different, their time is coming ... to shake things up!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have you been Hairspray-ed?
Have you been Hairspray-ed?
If not, I highly recommend you go see it soon.
2 comments:
once again, i enjoyed reading your post :)
and i love john travolta, grease and all his movies (ok! except the one where john woo was the director) but i didn't expect him to play a woman!
i gotta get hairsprayed!
thanks tracy. it was quite an enlightening moment for me ... LOL. if you liked Grease, i think you will most likely enjoy hairspray.
you were on my mind last week ... trust everything is going well in China. we must try to meet up the next time you are home. cheers!
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