Wicked

June 15, 2010: My choir class saw Wicked at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco. Most people know the story of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, but do they know the real story of the so called "Wicked Witch?" Wicked centers on Elphaba--later known as the Wicked Witch of the West--and her friendship with Glinda (the Good).

Wicked is a masterpiece: everything from the acting to the special effects to the songs. For anyone who hasn't yet seen this theatrical wonder, buy your tickets today!

Virtual Choir

I was looking at the "blogs of note" when I came across "The Blog That Ate Manhattan." The current post was of this. It read: "Composer/conductor Eric Whitacre has created a virtual choir. He videotaped himself conducting, then asked singers to record themselves singing their respective parts and send it on to him. He then merged their voices and videos electronically. The end result is the amazing recording above - 185 singers making exquisitely beautiful music together." I think it is absolutely astounding!

Addition to the Uglies Trilogy: by Scott Westerfield

The addition to the Uglies Trilogy is Extras (2007, 417 pages).

A few years after Tally took down Dr. Cable and the whole Uglies/Pretties/Specials categorization fell apart, the world is rocked by a cultural "rebirth:"

~"Techheads" show off their latest gadgets

~"Kickers" spread the latest gossip and trends

~"Surge Monkeys" are all about extreme plastic surgery

Everything and everyone are monitored constantly on cameras. Whoever does the craziest stunts, starts the newest trends, or says the most shocking thing gets the most buzz and the most votes. Votes=Popularity=Power

Aya is a fifteen-year-old nobody with her rank being 451,369. Desperate to gain popularity, she needs to find a great story...and then she meets the Sly Girls. The Sly Girls pull insane tricks but are all very secretive about what they do. However, they seem to be hiding something more than their stunts. In kicking their story, Aya will become famous, popular, and powerful, but there might be consequences no one is prepared for.

Extras is an exciting addition to the Uglies Trilogy. It tells of the internal struggle between the want for power and fame versus sacrificing for something even more important. Extras is creatively written with the interesting addition of new vocabulary words such as "techheads," "kickers," and "surge monkeys." The story is very imaginative and at the same time, easy to relate to. Very few people have not wanted attention, popularity, acknowledgement, or fame sometime in their lives.

5 out of 5 stars

Uglies Trilogy (book three): by Scott Westerfield

The third book in the Uglies Trilogy is Specials (2006, 372 pages).

The story begins two months after Tally is made a Special: an advanced "superhuman" with extreme strength, agility, and reflexes. Along with Shay and the other Cutters (who were all made specials too), they crash an uglies' party in hopes of finding the cure dealer and to search for members of New Smoke. Tally successfully finds a girl handing out the pills that cure the pretties' brain lesions. Tally, Shay, and the Cutters attempt to capture the girl but she escapes on a hoverboard with the help of David. While in pursuit, the Cutters are ambushed by the Smokies and Fausto (one of the Cutters) is injured.

Tally visits her boyfriend Zane in the hospital, but finds herself repulsed by his physical condition. In order to prove Zane's worth as a Special to Dr. Cable, Tally and Shay break form a plan. They break into the armory to get a tool that would remove Zane's tracking collar. They succeed, but end up setting off alarms.

With Zane's tracking collar, the girls track Zane and the Cutters' progress to New Smoke. Tally meets up with Andrew Simpson Smith and eventually ends up in the city of Diego.

The city of Diego was known for harboring runaways and had accepted the pretty cure. The surgery was also rejected, allowing citizens to look however they wanted to.

However, the Specials are looked upon as a threat and are kidnapped and forced into surgery to reverse the effects of being a Special. However, Shay rescues Tally before her surgery takes place so that Tally can confront Dr. Cable about the break-in at the armory.

Although Dr. Cable knew all along that it was Tally and Shay who caused the trouble, she blamed it on the city of Diego as a way to take control. Tally tricks her into injecting herself with the cure but is then imprisoned. After a month, Dr. Cable loses all power over the city and Tally escapes. Instead of reversing the effects of the Special surgery, she and David hide in the wilderness and prevent cities from damaging nature.

While Specials was a satisfying conclusion to the Uglies trilogy, I don't believe it was quite as superb or attention-grabbing as the first two books: Uglies and Pretties. However, all three books are nearly impossible to put down! If you are looking for an interesting and fascinating read, check out this trilogy.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Uglies Trilogy (book two): by Scott Westerfield

The second book in the Uglies Trilogy is Pretties (2005, 384 pages).

The story begins after Tally undergoes surgery. As a new pretty, she lives in New Pretty Town, partying it up, wearing beautiful clothes, and pulling stunts. Then, one of the parties Tally attends gets crashed by Croy, a Smokie she knew from her time at the Smoke. With the help of Zane, the leader of the Crims clique-and her crush-Tally follows Croy's instructions. At the top of a building, she and Zane find two pills-the cure to lesions in the brain caused by the pretty surgery.

To avoid the Specials, they each take one pill. The pills effectively cure them both, but Zane starts to get crippling headaches. Realizing that something's up, the Specials put tracking cuffs on both Zane and Tally in order to spy on them. In order not to draw more attention to their behavioral changes, Tally and Zane encourage the other Crims to act "bubbly" using caffeine and adrenalin. This results in a huge prank that makes the Crims clique famous. When a "bubbly" Shay remembers that Tally betrayed the Smoke, she breaks off their friendship and forms the "Cutters" clique that centers around self-harm (well, cutters).

A few days later, Zane and Tally take a trip to "Uglytown" where they meet up with some Smokies who take them to see Shay.

Suddenly, Zane collapses from one of his headaches and Tally takes him to the hospital. Realizing that Zane needs to be treated by Maddy, they form a plan to go to the Smoke. After Zane, in a fit of desperation, threatens to use an industrial tool to cut off his cuffs, he and Tally discover that heat causes the cuffs to expand. Using heat-proof gloves, they are able to remove the cuffs. The Crims steal a hot-air balloon to take them to the Smoke. However, when Paris distracts Tally by deciding not to go at the last possible moment, she is on her own.

Although she overcomes many obstacles, Tally still might not be able to save the people she cares about.

Pretties draws attention to the struggle of putting other people before oneself. It also reflects that impact one person's actions can make on an entire society...and the consequences of those actions.

5 out of 5 stars

Uglies Trilogy (book one): by Scott Westerfield

The first book in the trilogy is Uglies (2005, 434 pages).

Uglies takes place in a world where normal looks are considered, well, ugly. At the age of sixteen, people undergo surgery to look "pretty." Before hand, the teenagers may choose to "custom design" their own face (choose the color of their eyes, face shape, etc). After surgery, the new "pretties" are allowed to live in "new pretty town," a place off-limits to all uglies.

The story focusses on Tally Youngblood, who has waited her whole life to get the surgery. Being the youngest in her group of friends, Tally has watched as each member of her group received the surgery and abandoned her. Just recently, her best friend Paris underwent the procedure.

Then Tally meets Shay, who also is the youngest in her own group. Shay teaches Tally how to ride a hoverboard and opens her mind to new experiences. However, while Tally can't wait for her surgery, Shay is trying to avoid hers.

As the surgery approaches, Shay confides in Tally the existence of Smokies: uglies who never received the procedure and instead worked the land (hunting, fishing, growing crops). Shay wants to run away to the Smoke...and wants Tally to join her.

As it becomes clear that Tally does not want to leave, Shay runs away alone but leaves a set of coded instructions for Tally to follow her. But when Special Circumstances (cruel pretties in charge of the city's security) try to convince Tally to use those instructions to hunt down, not just Shay, but all the Smokies, Tally must choose between friendship and loyalty or the surgery she's been waiting her entire life for.

This is one of my favorite books (and favorite series) of all time. It is wonderfully written with a shocking view of a society's emphasis on physical beauty. Uglies reflects the emotional and physical changes an adolescent goes through on a journey to find herself.

5 out of 5 stars