"I like to be a free spirit. Some don't like that, but that's the way I am." - Princess Diana

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Emmy Rossum


Author's Note: I've always had a special connection with the character Christine from The Phantom Of The Opera. Call me crazy! I just have always felt like I related to her and even the first Christine that I saw, Emmy Rossum. Emmy was just a little older than me when she achieved the role of Christine in the 2004 movie version and it inspires me to dream about performing like her. Her story inspires me and her voice is amazing. Here is a snip it of a biography of her life, trying to focus on her time when she was Christine. This is for my research goal. Thank you:) 

Learning that you have talent, can always be an exciting thing. When you are discovering this so young, you know that something good can become of it. Emmy Rossum, even at so young an age, displayed that talent and that spark within which helped her achieve greatness.

Born on September 12, 1986, in New York City to a single woman named Cheryl Rossum, her mother always knew that Emmy was gifted. (Keep in mind that The Phantom of The Opera also came out in 1986.) When she was only 7, she could sing in all of the twelve musical keys which landed her a spot in NYC Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. Rossum achieve greatly in this opera and sang in many different languages with various well known opera singers. At the age of twelve, Emmy grew too old for the children’s chorus and decided to take up acting. Aside from acting she was in attendance at Spence School, a private, Manhattan schooling district. Emmy later received her high school diploma at the age of 15 through a Stanford program that is for the gifted youth so she could focus on her performing career. Wow. So far, this young girl has had such an dream life! Just look at her! She is so gifted and beautiful that what the future has in store for her could just be amazing.Through her life, Emmy had been acting and singing not just for fun, but professionally, too. Before she was even 15, she received numerous awards and claimed many on-screen roles, but when she was 16, her life took a complete turn for the awesome.

Andrew Lloyd Webber; a famous musician, composer, and musical man wanted to make a movie based off of his world famous musical, “The Phantom Of The Opera", which is the longest running musical in history. Having opened in 1986 in London,  the beautifully acclaimed musical still is performed around the world and still on Broadway till this day. Lloyd Webber wanted to make a movie version, so he could show detail and let his audience at home see his work. He had many leading ladies in mind for the main role of Christine. Emmy was one of the last people the directors and Lloyd Webber had in thought for the role of Christine. Emmy even missed her screen test for the role, but Andrew saw something in her.  Her audition was actually private, in Lloyd Webber’s home in New York. Emmy walked through his door and all he said was, “Shall we?” She sang for him and she thought it was a one in a million chance for her being awarded with  this role. As a 16 year old, they usually don’t give such a big role, but when she landed the role, she didn't disappoint.

Emmy who was only a sixteen year old along side her Phantom who was at thirty seven year old man with the Hollywood name of Gerard Butler. There is supposed to be an age difference between the Phantom and Christine, but this one just takes the cake! Emmy exclaims in an interview that it was not awkward between them because they became very good friends and they just played their roles. It definitely seemed natural and no uncomfort between them in a movie. Rossum just played her part and she came out on top.

This young girl won and was nominated for many awards that went along with her outstanding performance as Christine. Emmy was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2005 for Best Performing Actress in a Musical or Comedy and she even won the Best Young Actress award for the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Emmy knew that this event would change her life forever, but "The Phantom of The Opera" could very well not be the biggest role Emmy has landed. She has been in other movies such as “The Day After Tomorrow”, “Mystic River”, and now “Beautiful Creatures”. Her latest album release,“Sentimental Journey”, was released in 2013 and she currently stars in the hit HBO show, "Shameless".  I do not think there is any slowing down for our young Christine anytime soon.

Emmy knew that she was talented and is sharing her talent with the world. Growing up in New York City, the possibilities were endless. She took them and made the best of these opertunities. Emmy is a role model to all who want to dream and achieve not just in the performing arts, but within life.

Epilogue:
The role of Christine has always touched me in a sense that it is a role that I want to be and that I would love to perform. Emmy was the first Christine that I had ever seen perform when I was only 4 and she made the biggest impact on me. She took this role to a whole new level and demonstrated it in way that I could understand or even relate to. Also people tell me I look like her which is always a plus.:) I have always adored the name “Emmy” as well. (Even asked my parents, everything I had had to be named Emmy!) Emmy Rossum made an impact and a connection with me that will stay with me for a lifetime.

(Sources)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Daa%C3%A9  
http://www.emmyrossum.com/about  
http://www.girl.com.au/phantom-of-the-opera-emmy-rossum-pf.htm
http://www.blackfilm.com/20041217/features/emmyrossum.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Rossum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_(1986_musical)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002536/

Monday, March 18, 2013

America's Tongue, Why Has It Changed? My Thoughts On Old-Word English In This Modern World.

Author's Note: Most of the ancestors of Americans come from European countries, right? If you look at America's people timeline, you will see that a lot of Brits came over (Mayflower, Revolutionary War, ect.) and they also took their language with them. In modern time, we refer to it as "Old-World English" which is commonly known as proper English or British. Now, when did we break off from this language and develop our own and why? This is my thoughts on this change in speech. ( I did do research, but after further examination I realized it was not really a research piece, but perceive it as you will.:)


Taking a look at literature and the way things used to be. The way people used to speak, write, communicate all used to be so proper. Why isn't our society still like that? You can blame it on entertainment and rule breakers who want to be so individual, but why don’t we still use that same, poise, that same courtesy? I’d like to live in a world where people had a little bit more respect for each other, like back in the 1800s. Now I am not saying I want to live in the 1800s, (I probably would not survive!), but I would like people to speak with that same type of poise and respect.

Talking with respect and smart word choice could ultimately make us smarter, right? Really thinking about what we are speaking and what we write could make us use broader vocabulary and or also use proper English. They say, “Reading Shakespeare will make you smarter!” Well, then how come Shakespeare isn't helping me write or speak? Sure reading it would help widen my vocabulary and in a sense Shakespeare helps test my brain, but if I am not going to use it within my speaking, why read it? Same goes for any English literature that we read or study. I know it can help us understand what the literature and speech used to be like, but why did it have to change? If I can’t use it in my speech, why read it?

I know we can never get back to that type of proper English ever again. It is merely impossible! Unless you live in the England or The United Kingdom if you will, you will probably never hear Old-World English in our modern society ever again. Our Americans before us broke off from the proper British English to American English around the mid 18th-century. Our speech has changed and developed over the years into this type of English “slang”. We might not all talk in “slang”, but compared to Old-Word English, this is “slang”. This started around the Revolutionary War.  Again, this all comes with our centuries evolving and developing into this modern age America. It is said with the new-age Americans and even Brits there are still language changes and speech differences. I still would like to enjoy everything our modern age offers, but I wish we would still have that proper English that was used so long ago.

Also, you have to put into perspective all of the different accents that American’s have developed over the years. It all depends on where you live, really. If you grow up down south, you develop more of a southern accent. In the north half of the U.S, you have more of a normal American accent. It all depends on where you live and how the people talk there. Now I am not saying everyone in the north talks like the north and the south people talk in southern, but most percentage of them do. Now through the centuries we haven’t just spun-off of British- English, now we have spun-off of American-English! Just look at “Honey-Boo-Boo”! I truly hope when people think of America or even Southerners they do not think of this “Honey-Boo-Boo Child”. (In my opinion that world is completely repulsive, but that is a whole different topic.)  This is just a demonstration of how us Americans have just developed and spun off from our own language. If you live in the South and go to the North, people will talk a lot differently. Same as if you went from the West coast, to the East coast. We all still speak English, it is just a little different in their own ways.

I genuinely wish we all still spoke with the same respect and poise that was used but American’s and Brit’s so long ago, but that shall never be in existence in our modern day and age again. Even though we will never talk in that proper Old-World, English, tongue again, I believe that the American language will still grow in change within the modern literature that we demonstrate today.



http://dialectblog.com/2011/06/13/americans-talking-britis/

http://flavorwire.com/171612/fyi-reading-shakespeare-makes-you-smarter