My SIL and I saw it yesterday. 2 people with no previous experience-neither of us had seen a theatrical performance, or a previous movie. I vaguely knew what the plot was, she vaguely knew it had been released as a film sometime awhile ago. So. Neither of us liked it much. Sorrysorrysorry, but this is a very honest reaction from a non-Les Mis fan. We didn't quite realize it was literally a filming of a musical theatrical production. So the fact that there was almost no spoken dialogue, that the sets were clearly CGI generated, and that there was an utter lack of any film-style narrative, character development, or explanation of backstory meant that for us, it was mostly a very long couple of hours listening to a lot of singing of songs we didn't know interspersed with trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the plot. We both thought Anne Hathaway was fantastic, but again had no idea that her role was, in film terms, little more than an extended cameo. She was brought in, sacked, humiliated, mutilated (although how come she had her front teeth back in when she sang the Dream song?!?!?), belted out a showstopper, and died. It was nice to see her later as a ghost, especially with her hair combed. The other performers: Hugh Jackman is adorable and sang well. Russell Crowe was in the opinion of my SIL pretty sexy. Amanda Seyfrid's singing voice is SOOOO high pitched; I kept waiting for her to veer off into Minnie Riperton territory. Neither of us really understood what the heck was wrong with Javert; at one point my SIL whispered to me 'that dude needs to get a hobby or some therapy'. Why did he suddenly appear out of uniform toward the end? What was that group of young guys fighting about? How did Jean Valjean become a mayor, and then where the heck did he hide out all that time? How could Cosette and Marius fall in love just by looking at each other? Why was Eponine suddenly in drag? When will it be over? Oops, last question was rhetorical. However, unfortunately the report from this Les Miz virgin is a pretty frank thumbs down. I truly don't mean to offend the fans, but neither of us were impressed. Oh wait, we did enjoy the Helena Bonham Carter/Sacha Baron Cohen characters; now that was some funny stuff. It did accomplish one of my goals, which is to see as many of the presumptive award nominee films as possible. So there is that to report :). Ann

Sorry Frieda, I didn't mean to digress from the main topic! 'Love' was too strong a word. I really like the Victorian era, but I like a great many other time periods too. Anything not of my own time I like; I find escape in books from other places and times. The oversentimentality is what really estranges me from Dickens work. I am, unfortunantly, not one of those people who can 'look on the bright side' of things. I haven't read a great deal by him (only on my fourth now), but I do seem to prefer his later/darker work (said to be produced in his 'maturity'). Much of that dreadful optimisim seems to have cooked out of him by that time. That is why I liked Bleak House too; it was darker. Little Dorrit seems, so far, to have some of those same qualities about it, which I so like. ;-) It also bothers me how he keeps repeating themes and in his books. It's like he found a pattern that turned out to be popular so he kept repeating it, with just small changes made from book to book. And his characters are sometimes absurdly unrealistic. They seem to be more like personifications than real persons, if you get my meaning. re: 'Feeble and Vapid Females': I have to wonder if they (like most of his characters) were all based on a person Dickens knew? I don't think he meant to make all the women seem so empty. I think I read somewhere that these sort of characters were based on his sister-in-law, with whom he had a close relationship. I don't mind feeble and vapid females at all. Maybe because I know one and am close with her (at least she is not headless, lol!). "Actually, the more I know about Dickens the man, the less I want to reread his works -- sometimes ignorance is bliss." Why exactly? I think I know what you mean. I recently found out that he was paid by the section for his serialized stories. So he wasn't just long-winded? He wrote because of the money? It saddens and annoys me when I hear an author is only in it for the money and doesn't really want to contribute to literature or create any legacy/history for posterity. CMK

One day in LA (my only time there), within the span of about 2 hours, we saw Sean Hayes in a diner. I stood 2' away from him while I waited for the (single, unisex) rest room -- DH was in there and when he opened the door I pushed him back in, closed the door, and said much too loudly I'm sure, "OMG you'll never believe who's right outside this door!" I was a babbling idiot. Then we walked down the street to a Starbucks. My DS, who was probably 18 at the time, was standing in line for the rest room behind the musician Ryan Adams. Maybe two months before this, we had taken DS with us to a Ryan Adams concert in Boston, so he recognized him right away. When Ryan came out of the men's room and handed DS the key, DS chatted with him for a few minutes. Ryan was really nice to him. I was outside and knew nothing until DS2 came out to tell me what was happening. I ran in, again like a big idiot, and stood watching while Ryan got a straw for his iced coffee, then I went back outside to wait for him, fully intending to ask him for a photo, but he escaped out the back door. So sad. THEN, in the next store we visited, we saw "Janice" -- Chandler's girlfriend from Friends. This may have been the best day of my life. I am a total dork about celebrities (in case you can't tell). I love, love the singer Lori McKenna. Maybe no one here has heard of her but she is local from MA and does a lot of performing and song writing in Nashville as well. We have seen her in concert probably 12 times. She plays a couple times a year at a very small concert venue in the Boston area, and we always go. The first time I spoke to her it was because we, and our friends, were among the last to leave and Lori came out from backstage to get her guitar. My friend asked if she would take a pic with me, and she did, and we chatted for a minute. The second time I met her, it was at the same concert venue, and I had brought a CD for her to sign. After the show, I managed to be standing right in front of a door she was coming out of, and I asked her to sign my CD. She said 'yes, but a bunch of people are about to come out of there (the concert area), so come with me' -- she grabbed my hand and brought me backstage. She signed my CD, then had her DH take a bunch of pics of us. She was super nice.

I met many celebrities in a job I had in the theatre business during the 70's and 80's, when the stars finished their London or Broadway run, and toured with the production, to other cities. 'Star' cast members usually have clauses added to their 'green room/dressing room' contracts, that fulfill any personal requirements they demand. Shortly after arrival, I'd meet them to get their signature on the green room contract, and occasionally for a future signature, if a new issue arose that needed amendment. Some were a short 'greet and sign' while others could be chatty. Many of them are now deceased, and I won't include more personal opinions, such as being slovenly unhygienic, or 'fidelity challenged' (only one listed here, but I knew of several 'stars' who clearly 'dabbled when they travelled.') I'll just refer to my impressions regarding any short conversations I had with them. I know I'm forgetting many, but these ones are perhaps most well known. Yul Brynner- articulate, outrageously arrogant, boorish...(one specific memory is that his dressing room had to be repainted 3 times, until he was satisfied with the shade of 'chocolate' brown.) Peter O'Toole - intelligent, vulgar Richard Harris - gregarious, warm Laurence Olivier - surprisingly soft spoken, considering his forte was acting Katharine Hepburn - gracious Audrey Hepburn - sweet, polite, elegant Elizabeth Taylor - funny, loud, brash Richard Burton - same as Elizabeth (I guess they were too much alike) Rex Harrison - charming Maggie Smith - lovely, impeccable manners Vanessa Redgrave - kind, warm Julie Andrews - same as Vanessa Christopher Reeve - congenial, chivalrous Margot Kidder - rudely presumptuous Liberace - humourous, generous, stubborn