24 August 2011 New In which Noah and his canon come to an enchanted place and we leave them there.
A long six months it has been since I’ve posted in the Canon! Life has changed. Senior year ended with a rather anticlimactic hurrah. Summer came and went, bringing all manner of adolescent cliches. Warm grass under my feet and green dye in my hair. The whole shebang. And now college stretches before me like a rolling hillside. I look forward to rolling down this hill.
I am the type of person that will always feel like the youngest and least prepared in any situation, and this one is no exception. I look around and see college students, and I feel like a little kid on bring your kid to work day. Watching all the grown ups. Hopefully I’ll never feel like a grown up. Anyway, I like college. I like my classes thus far. I like people. All systems are go.
I’m listening to Amy Winehouse and looking out my dorm window. The night feels soft. My dreams are warm and fragile in the Alabama heat. I’ve had pizza for almost every meal since arriving in this place, and I regret nothing. Amy is such a fucking good singer. Thank you for bearing with my stream of consciousness.
Okay, business. I’m closing down Noah’s Canon for the time being. It’s time for me to reinvent and renew. I fully intend on writing more, preferably in blog format and preferably a lot more regularly. I will be back, but for now I’d just like to say thanks for the past three and a bit years. I started writing this blog at Westminster school when I’d just moved to Birmingham, and it has seen me through different schools and friends and houses and hobbies. It’s been a lovely adventure.
As always, I will continue to torment you all on Twitter and Facebook. I look forward to blogging again very soon.
Peace out, cub scout.
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23 February 2011 Noah’s 100% Reliable Oscar Predictions 2011.
Aight kids I only missed 4 categories last year, but this year will not be as peachy. I can guarantee you that. At any rate, here are my thoughts. Use them at your own risk.
BEST PICTURE
Will win: [god help me] The Social Network
Should win: probably The Social Network
Upset: The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Animal Kingdom
This is seriously the worst prediction I’ve made for anything ever. I think I know in my brain that The King’s Speech will win on Sunday night, but I can’t bring my heart to terms with this. The Social Network is a LANDMARK of American cinema and will be remembered long after The King’s Speech fades away. Plus, Social Network dominated the critic’s awards and won the WGA and ACE. So if you know what’s good for you, predict King’s Speech.
LEADING ACTOR
Will win: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Should win: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Upset: None.
Should’ve been nominated: Eh, actually a pretty solid category.
Colin Firth will win this. Tell your friends.
LEADING ACTRESS
Will win: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Should win: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Upset: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Should’ve been nominated: Hailee Steinfeld in the correct category.
Portman will win her first and very deserved oscar. Which, I might add, is no small feat since every single one of the nominees is SO GOOD [particularly Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lawrence].
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Will win: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Should win: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Upset: Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
I hear talk that the King’s Speech lovejuice may overflow into Geoffrey Rush’s cup [what] but Bale is too good to be ignored, methinks.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Will win: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Should win: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Upset: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Should’ve been nominated: Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Leo’s recently put out some pretty embarrassing For Your Consideration ads that she’s personally financed, which could very well lose her some votes. Plus, Kailee Steinfeld is the lead in her film and people really like True Grit. But, at the end of the day I think Leo will still win.
DIRECTOR
Will win: David Fincher, The Social Network
Should win: David Fincher, The Social Network
Upset: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: I’m not even a Nolan fanboy, but seriously CHRISTOPHER NOLAN.
I know Tom Hooper will probably win. He won the DGA, and it is a RARE occasion when oscar and DGA don’t match. But I can’t. I just can’t.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Will win: David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Should win: The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
Upset: Christopher Nolan, Inception
Should’ve been nominated: BLACK SWAN. [Seriously y'all.]
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Will win/Should win/Upset/The end: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Should’ve been nominated: Scott Pilgrim vs the World
ANIMATED FILM
Will win/Should win: Toy Story 3
Upset: How to Train Your Dragon
Should’ve been nominated: Tangled
DOCUMENTARY
Will win: Inside Job
Should win: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Upset: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Should’ve been nominated: The Lottery
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Will win/Should win: Biutiful
Upset: In a Better World
EDITING
Will win: The Social Network
Should win: 127 Hours
Upset: The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Inception [the last hour of which is a masterpiece of perfect editing]
ART DIRECTION
Will win: Alice in Wonderland
Should win: Inception
Upset: The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Black Swan
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Will win: Inception
Should win: The Social Network
Upset: The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Harry Potter 7a
COSTUME DESIGN
Will win: Alice in Wonderland
Should win: I Am Love [shame it's too contemporary for this race]
Upset: The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Black Swan
MAKEUP
Will win/Should win: Barney’s Version
Upset: The Wolfman
Should’ve been nominated: Black Swan
ORIGINAL SCORE
Will win/Should win: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Social Network
VERY LIKELY Upset: Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Alexandre Desplat, Harry Potter 7a
ORIGINAL SONG
Will win/Should win: If I Rise, 127 Hours
ANOTHER VERY LIKELY Upset: We Belong Together, Toy Story 3
Should’ve been nominated: NEVER! SAY! NEVERRRR! [No I'm totally kidding.]
ANIMATED SHORT
Will win/Should win: Day and Night
Upset: Let’s Pollute
LIVE ACTION SHORT
Will win: Wish 143
Should win: God of Love
Upset: God of Love
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Will win: Sun Come Up
Should win: I HAVE NO IDEA.
SOUND EDITING
Will win: Inception
Should win: True Grit
Upset: True Grit
Should’ve been nominated: Harry Potter 7a
SOUNDS MIXING
Will win: Inception
Should win: The Social Network
Upset: The King’s Speech
Should’ve been nominated: Black Swan
VISUAL EFFECTS
Will win: Inception
Should win: Harry Potter 7a
Upset: Alice in Wonderland
Should’ve been nominated: Scott Pilgrim vs the World
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29 January 2011 Relay for Life 2011.
Cancer sucks. I’ve seen close friends and family members deal with the effects of cancer, and there’s really no simpler way to put it. Cancer sucks, and everyone is affected by it.
This year I’ve decided to participate in Relay for Life, an event organized by the American Cancer Society that raises money and awareness to help create a world with, as they put it, less cancer and more birthdays. The ACS helps by providing resources for families and funding research to find a cure for this horrible disease.
On April 1, I will be camping out all night at Homewood Park, walking laps and fundraising with other teams from our community at the Homewood Relay for Life. As a team leader, my goal is to raise $250 for the ACS. Please help me by donating as much as you see fit to this amazing cause! Click here to donate.
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5 January 2011 Movies that were awesome in 2010.
Things you should see/rent in the coming months, culled from the 49 movies I saw this year. Subject to change depending on my mood. Before we begin, EXTREMELY honorable mention to the following:
The Town, for its impressive ensemble cast [especially Chris Cooper, Blake Lively, and Jon Hamm], and poignant screenplay. The kind of action movie Hollywood should be making.
Inception, for its puzzling layers of exposition and [again] strong ensemble. Perhaps the most truly revolutionary film of the year. Deserves mention simply for the zero gravity hallway fight.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, for achieving a sense of pure exhilaration in its endlessly creative story and joyous direction. Michael Cera’s one persona finally fits somewhere.
Okay, enough of that. On to the 10…
3 January 2011 An urgent plea.
I have an older sister named Grace. She is awesome. Funny, kind, humble, and disgustingly talented. She has been singing in choral groups for over 10 years, and this June her college choir, The Erskine College Choraleers, are going on tour in Europe. Grace has shown remarkable dedication to music, and this group in particular. She is graduating with an education degree this spring, and I want her to join her choir on tour SO MUCH.
Which brings us to the ‘plea’ part.
Going on tour in Europe comes with a not insignificant price tag. I want to help my sister get to her goal amount in any way I can, so I’m turning to you all. If you’ve been even mildly entertained by my mindless ramblings over the years, PLEASE donate whatever you can to help Grace get to Europe. I’ve set up a PayPal account [link] specifically for this purpose.
I want to do a kind of bribery deal, in which I perform various silly tasks on here as money is raised. The first benchmark will be 50 dollars. We can do that, right? If you have any ideas about what I should do as money is raised, please please leave a comment. Think embarrassing and/or mundane.
CLICK HERE TO HELP GRACE CANNON GET TO EUROPE!
Thanks guys.
27 November 2010 In praise of David Yates.
Now that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I has been released for over a week and I have seen it… well let’s just leave it at ‘several’ times, I feel I’m qualified to register my opinions. Many have been throwing around phrases like ‘best in the series’ or ‘not the best in the series’ but I’m honestly having trouble even comparing film seven to any of the previous six. Kind of a cop out, I know, but it’s just so wildly different in structure, tone, and direction.
In my eyes, the Harry Potter films can be divided into 3 different legs. 1 [Sorcerer's Stone] and 2 [Chamber of Secrets] were children’s films which remained almost painfully faithful to the novels while taking way too many liberties with the tone of the story. The day they replaced Chris Columbus as director was a massive step forward for the series.
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14 November 2010 November Life Update.
- Despite the particularly angsty post in October, I was cast in the ensemble of Children of Eden, a musical based on the book of Genesis. And then a bunch of people dropped out so I’ve been upgraded to Shem, eldest son of Noah and father of the Jewish race. At any rate, the show goes up in February and I will dutifully pimp it on here as much as I’m able.
- I’ve made the somewhat firm decision to major in music composition in college, and hope to further pursue a masters in music composition for the screen, although that decision can wait. I would ideally like to compose music for film and television. I feel like it’s a career for which I’m well-suited and ably-equipped, or will be anyway.
- School school school. Noah Noah Noah. Laziness laziness laziness. Senior year senior year senior year. Draw your own conclusion.
- Harry Potter 7 part I comes out Thursday at midnight, thus Noah is reaching proportionate levels of crunkness. My spell check just tried to correct ‘crunkness’ to ‘crunchiness’ which got me equally crunk.
Apologies for lack of recent updates. I’m sure it’s been eating away at your heart. Until next time, peace out cub scout.
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5 October 2010 In which Noah is so criminally untalented, we might as well not even call him back.
Largely self-explanatory, but goshdarnit I’m going to rant anyway.
May 2010: Homewood Drama Guy [who shall remain unnamed] informs me that HHS will be doing Little Shop of Horrors in the fall with me in the Seymour role. I’d be lying if I said this didn’t influence my decision to return to Homewood.
August 2010: I am told that HHS will be doing no such thing, but rather a murder mystery improv play that no one’s heard of.
September 2010: I wake up on the day of auditions and start vomiting. Thus, I stay home from school and am informed by a classmate that Homewood Drama Guy will let me audition the next day.
Plot twist: I return to school the next day to find the show cast, and Homewood Drama Guy decidedly unwilling to answer any of my questions. Two of which were “Is there a reason you didn’t want me to audition?” and “Who the hell do you think you are?” Homewood Drama Guy later tells me that I’m the strongest male performer he has. So yeah, all his behavior makes total sense.
October 2010: As I do absolutely nothing in Theatre class [since I'm not in the play] I find out that I haven’t received a callback for a show I auditioned for in August. In all fairness, I didn’t receive a callback for the same program last year and was still cast, but this pretty much means that I’m not even being considered for anything more than a menial ensemble role at best.
Conclusion: I love everyone. I do. I’m happy to be alive and all that crap, but seriously. It’s times like these that I thank the lord that I haven’t put all of my stock in theatre.
PS: The spring musical Homewood’s doing this year? It’s a jukebox show written for a touring company in Australia called Back to the 80s. Yes, that’s right. We’re not even doing a real musical. Roll tide.
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16 September 2010 Talking with…
In ‘Talking With,’ which opens tonight at Birmingham Festival Theatre, eleven women of different ages and backgrounds tell their stories. Ranging from light-hearted to tragic, each story unfolds in a way that puts the audience right in the middle of the situation. There are few shows which use props to such visceral effect. Written by the pseudonymous Jane Martin, the play expertly avoids becoming too sugary, too inaccessible, or too repetitive. Each segment presents a unique narrative with its own heart and complexities.
The cast of eleven actresses is so strong; it’s difficult to single out any stand out performers. Directed by Chris Larson, this is likely the most consistent cast I’ve seen on the Birmingham stage. In a play that almost invites one-sided misinterpretations [if done incorrectly of course], they never falter, effortlessly communicating the emotional resonance of each piece.
For me, Talking With served as a kind of reminder that there is more to life than what we see. A cliche, maybe, but truth nonetheless. It is so easy to disregard the small, the mundane, the beautiful and to be distracted by the expectations of life. Talking With reminds us that the real experiences in life are sometimes found simply in the haunting sound of a rolling marble, the ethereal spinning of a baton, or the warming glow of a lamp.
Talking With runs from 9/16 to 10/2 at Birmingham Festival Theatre [in Five Points behind Golden Temple]. LINK.
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13 September 2010 Noah’s declassified guide to popularity.
On my way to school this splendid [and dare I say autumnal..?] morning, I stopped to purchase lunch materials for the week. I walked out of the Publix with A) a jar of Nutella B) a loaf of Wonder Bread and C) a six pack of Pellegrino. Yes, that’s right. Pellegrino comes in six packs. Hide yo kids.
Anyway I couldn’t even get through the front door of Homewood High School without being stopped by an administrator.
‘Young man what are those bottles you’re carrying?’
‘It’s pellegrino.’
‘It’s what?!’
‘It’s sparkling water.’
‘Sparkling what exactly?!’
‘IT’S AICH TWO BLOODY OH.’
Similarly, a kid can’t even bring a jar of Nutella to his lunch table without all of a sudden being everyone’s best friend. I had people putting my hazelnut breakfast spread on granola bars, apples, their hands, and other places you’d probably not like to hear about.
Moral of the story: If you want to be popular, bring Nutella to school. Or white cheddar Cheezits.
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