My iMovie projects have primarily been made up of still photos. But I knew that I’ll have to learn to edit videos eventually. So when the iMovie bug bit tonight, I gave videos a try. Unfortunately, I don’t have a big library of home videos, just some random clips I took here and there. After some trial and errors, here’s my very first almost-a-video project!

Photos and videos taken at Glen Onoko Falls (Jim Thorpe, PA)
Music: I Believe (by Kokia)

Top Ten things I like about Les Miserables

10. I’m close enough to the stage that I can actually see the actors’ faces/expressions and I was able to differentiate the numerous characters. Compared to my previous Broadway shows where I was sitting up in the balcony towards the back….forget about facial expressions, sometimes I couldn’t even differentiate who is who.

9. The turntable stage. A big part of the stage floor is a turntable that can spin around. So the prop people can actually set up the props on the turntable towards the back of the stage and then spin the props to the front of the stage. And when someone dies at the front of the stage, the turntable will spin and bring the “body” to the back of the stage and the “body” can get off the stage in the dark. Hard to describe actually. Just imagine a CD with miniature people and props, put that CD on the table and spin it slowly and you’ll sort of get what I mean.

8. The major props. Big gigantic wooden structures that came out from the sides to form the ghetto in one scene and then later those same structures were spunned around to form the barricade in the battle scene. Very ingenious.

7. The music. Live orchestra and actor-singers.

6. The ensemble of actors. All the actors giving their very best. Fighting on stage, messing around on stage, dying on stage.

5. The for-comedic-relief actors. The innkeeper and his wife made everyone laughed. It was good that they added some funny parts in this otherwise too intense show.

4. The story. A very remarkable story. The self-righteous Javert unmercilessly pursuing Jean Valjean who skipped parole after spending twenty years in jail/hard labor for stealing bread. Later when Jean Valjean spared Javert’s life, Javert couldn’t accept the fact that he’s indebted to a “crook”, so he committed suicide. Also, the young revolutionaries fighting and dying for justice was quite inspiring.

3.The suicide scene. They lowered a platform bridge and Javert was standing on it and then he climbed over the bridge. As soon as he jumped off the bridge, the platform was pulled up to the ceiling quickly (indicating Javert was falling deeper and deeper into the water) and only one spotlight (almost like moonlight underwater) was focused on Javert who was rolling on the floor “struggling” in the water.

2. Lea Salonga. She’s the main reason I went to see Les Miserables. Without her in the show, I probably would have gone to the Museum of Modern Art instead. I got her autograph after the show

1. The actor who played Jean Valjean. He was really good. I cried when Jean Valjean died.

Random observations and minor unsubstantiated critiques:
1. I’m glad I was in the fifth row. From where I sat, I could see sprays of spit flying out of the actors’ mouth blessing the people in the first row. I think it’s the orchestra conductor who got the most blessing. Not that the actors were purposefuly spitting, the microdroplets of spit just came out naturally when they had to sing strongly and loudly.

2. I found the very soprano-ey voice of the actor playing Cossette rather irritating.

3. Lea’s voice was lower and harder compared to her voice in Miss Saigon. I was surprised by that.

4. I thought the actor playing Eponine didn’t have strong stage presence, but she sang very well.

5. An understudy (replacement for the main actor) played Marius (a major character) in that show. So when this actor came out of the theater, many people asked for his autograph. I wonder if anyone will ask for his autograph on the days that he plays a lesser character. Because I noticed when many of the lesser character actors came out of the theater, people hardly even glanced at them.

6. Did you know that top Broadway stars earn around $30K a week?

I finally made a trip to see Apple’s Fifth Avenue store. I expected it to stand out but it was rather inconspicuous. I almost missed it. Saw and handled all the new iGadgets. Unfortunately, I had to rush off to get a quick lunch and then to the Broadway theater to catch Les Miserables (I paid too much to miss a single minute of it), so no time for me to tinker with the stuff. Check out more photos here.

Lea Salonga

I bought a Broadway ticket to watch Lea Salonga in Les Miserables this Saturday. I’ve been a fan of hers since Miss Saigon, and that’s in the early 1990s. Now I finally get to see her perform live. I also paid big bucks to get a seat that’s 5 rows from the stage. My previous two Broadway shows, I was up in the balcony, way in the back…cheap grad student tickets. I hope this will be my most memorable Broadway experience.

Unlike Musikfest 2006, I didn’t really do Musikfest this year. I only managed to watch the finale fireworks with a friend. She has been in Bethlehem for 6 years and never once attended Musikfest!

We were at the south-side of the Fahy bridge which was not crowded at all. At the north-end of the bridge, some people already “jom-ed” (reserved) a spot since morning. They would place a big blanket on the ground to reserve the spot. This practice seems so Asian/Malaysian/Malaysian-Chinese. When I commented about the practice to my friend, she said it’s the same in India, except that people will remove your blanket reservation and place their own blanket on the same spot. “It’s not your grandfather’s spot, you know!”

After 1.7miles along the Appalachian trail from Newfound Gap, we reached the junction between the AT and the Sweat Heifer Creek Trail. Took a picture here, ate a granola bar, then hiked back to Newfound Gap where the car was parked. Got caught in the rain on the way back.

With this post, I end my Smokies adventure series.

I was all excited to hike the Appalachian trail. I realized later that the trail does go through Pennsylvania, the nearest point is like an hour to the north of Bethlehem, so I didn’t need to make the 10 hour drive down to Tennessee to hike it. But I think this stretch of the trail is almost the highest point along the whole Appalachian trail. The highest point is Clingmans Dome (6643 feet or 2025m).

This one room school house was built around 125 years ago. When the area became the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, people around this area had to move away so the school closed down. Now there are volunteers who sort of teach visitors here on certain days.

It was a cloudy, rainy and dreary day. Not a good time to take pictures with “lauyah” disposable camera. Anyway here is one view from the top.

I was telling Becky that lightning must have struck all those bare dead trees near the top of the mountains. It was only later that I learned that it was actually some bugs called adelgids, that was brought in from Europe, that killed all those fir trees.