A Weekend of Drama and Dancing

This last weekend was probably the most eventful weekend for me this year. As a member of the "
Drama Club" at Provo High school, I spent most of this weekend at the annual State Drama Festival/Competition. This is a time of the year when the drama geeks get together and compete in a variety of events that range from pantomimes to dramatic monologues.

Because I was a member of The One Act Ensemble Scene, I got to miss school on Friday and go to Mountainview High School, where I acted... and stuff. I forgot to take a camera with me on Friday, so they are no available pictures of One Act. Sorry.

On Friday we spent two and a half hours doing everyone's make up. If you are not aware, our scene that we entered into the competition with was Shakespeare's Richard III, done in the style of theater known as Kabuki. Kabuki is a Japanese style of theater, and it is one of my favorites.

The judges loved our scene, they called it a "visual feast." I don't know why, but apparently it was really cool visually. If you want to see the scene you'll have to come to the Night of One Acts at Provo High. I'll update my blog later with more details on that.

Anyways, Provo High's Ensemble Scene walked away from the competition with Straight Superiors. The result was a very happy drama class, and this nice plaque.

Yeah, I know that it's wrapped in plastic... Mr. Bauer wouldn't let me unwrap it.

So that's what happened on Friday this weekend. On Saturday Provo High School returned to Mountainview for more revenge... or dominion? Something like that... we went back to get more awards.

These are some pictures I took of the people that I hung out with on Saturday:

Maren, Maddie, Facundo and two other kids I don't know all eat lunch. Maren and Maddie performed an amazing scene from "Top Girls." Facundo performed with McKenna and received straight superiors.

I spent a lot of time with these two as I waited to watch their scene. They did amazing, even though they don't agree.

The group of kids I ate lunch with. Or at least some of them.


More pictures of our lunch break.

A lot of the students forgot to bring lunch money, so our amazing bus driver bought us fruit and veggies.

To make an already amazing weekend even better, my Lovely Christina and I went to Prom together for the second year in a row. We went in a small group with Dexter Tapahe and Emily Williams. (I wish I had a picture of them.) I think we had a lot of fun. I know that I did.

Year of the Black Rainbow

If you know me, then you know that I love Coheed and Cambria. Although many people don't like this progressive rock band, I adore their unique lyrics, sound, and insane guitars. Their last album was released in January 2007, and it was fantastic. I've been waiting for over three years for this new album, and you can't help but beg the question, "Is it any good?"

The truth is that the newest album from Coheed and Cambria, entitled, "Year of the Black Rainbow," is just as epic as we fans have come to expect. Like every album before it, it not only contains a title that is as wacky and trippy as anything you've heard before, but it also manages to completely change the sound of the band.

If you are unfamiliar with Coheed and Cambria, then let me give you a brief explanation. All of the band members of Coheed and Cambria are really big geeks/dorks, like me. The lead guitarist/vocalist, Claudio Sanchez, is the author to a geeky Sci-fi comic series known as, "The Armory Wars." The two main characters to this popular comic book series are Coheed and Cambria. (That explains the band's strange name.) Every album that the band releases is based off the latest edition to the series. (The first album is based on the first book, the second is about the second book, etc.) No World For Tomorrow, which was released in 2007 was the conclusion to the series. No World For Tomorrow was an amazing album that is one of my all time favorite albums.

No World For Tomorrow was released in 2007. It was the conclusion to The Armory Wars series.

Three years later we have The Year of the Black Rainbow, which is a prequel to the series. So far this prequel is sounding pretty good. I've been listening to Year of the Black Rainbow all day, and I love it. If you love Progressive Rock, or you just want to hear something unlike anything you've ever heard before, be sure to check out Coheed and Cambria's newest album, The Year of the Black Rainbow.

Concept art for Coheed and Cambria.

I'm a little shocked by the content of this album. The songs are a lot less violent, dark, depressing and disturbing. While previous songs from previous albums have sung about burying people alive (Welcome Home) this album features several softer more love-like songs. Either way, it still sounds fantastic, and it does have its share of dark songs that we fans have come to love.

I don't think that Year of the Black Rainbow is their best album, but it is definitely one of the best from them.

Now that I think about it, their third album has the longest album title I have ever heard of. It's called: "Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Volume I: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness." I dare someone to find a longer album title than that.

I know that this blog post was all over the place, but I don't care. I just wanted to quickly post my thoughts about one of my favorite bands newest albums.