Skyscraper is the latest Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson disaster movie. I went with my Dad and Nephew last night knowing very little about the movie other than the obvious. It clearly looked like a cross between the Towering Inferno and Die Hard. I went in to the movie under no illusions that this would be anything more than a popcorn fest, despite the fact I don’t usually bother with popcorn.

There will of course be spoilers below.

The premise of the movie is pretty simple on the face of it. Bad guys set the tallest building in the world on fire and The Rock has to save his family. Of course setting it on fire isn’t good enough, they also storm the building in order to get what they came for.

As plot holes go, this movie must be up there with the best of them in terms of the number of them but let’s start with the one that was the most obvious to me. The Rock’s character, Will Sawyer is hired to test the building security for an insurance company. For some reason, the whole building’s security is controlled by a single tablet which has been bio-metrically locked to Will’s face using facial recognition. Will’s old friend has ensured that he gets the insurance gig so he can betray him by distracting him and his family for the bad guys to steal said tablet.

The bad guys perform their duty and steal his bag, assuming it contains the tablet. That was the entire root of their plan. Steal the tablet from him. Will should have been safe. Will’s family was supposed to be at the zoo and not in the building. With me so far? So no one in Will’s family was supposed to be hurt and the tablet simply stolen in order for the bad guys to use it to do bad things with the building. Here’s the problem, since their plan was to simply steal the tablet, how were they meant to unlock it? It was bio-metrically locked to Will! He needed to unlock it first.

The plot holes go downhill from there I’m afraid.

The movie is preposterous but here’s the thing, it’s not really trying to be anything more than what it is. It’s an action movie full of spectacle. It’s a rare movie where the main hero is a cripple. Will lost a leg when he was an FBI agent so the movie makes great use of his prosthetic limb. It has a tendency to fall off. I’m only disappointed he didn’t pick it up off the ground and beat a bad guy over the head with it.

If we inevitability compare this movie with Die Hard, we can see why Die Hard has endured all this time and Skyscraper will be forgotten. Bruce Willis as the hero is far more inspiring. He’s one man with no shoes in a building he’s never been in before trying to save his wife from the bad guys. Bad guys I might add who have a normal reason for being there. Simple greed and theft. I still don’t fully understand what the bad guys were trying to do in Skyscraper. It involved some odd master USB key which much like the ring of power in Lord of the rings, seems to control a bunch of other USB keys with incriminating information on them. One USB key to rule them all doesn’t have the same poetic ring to it though.

Unlike John McClane, Will Sawyer knows the building inside and out. The only person who knows it better is the person who designed it. That means the bumbling bad guys never really stood a chance against their one-legged antagonist.

Oh, and did I mention the duct tape? From fixing gaping wounds to helping him stick to the side of the building before elaborately jumping through spinning wind turbine blades so he can, wait for it, open a locked door? Duct tape can do it all, except to patch all the plot holes in this movie of course.

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I have been a fan of Sarah Brightman for many years. Probably from the time she released the single Time to say Goodbye with Andrea Bocelli back in 1996. I then bought her album Timeless followed by Eden and La Luna as well as the Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection. I fell in love with the music of Phantom of the Opera, so much so that I brought my partner to see it in London last year for her birthday since she also loves it. We are since engaged by the way, just saying.

For Christmas, she returned the gesture by bringing me to Hamburg to see Sarah Brightman and her Royal Christmas Gala. It took place on Sunday gone at the Mehr! Theater, Grossmarkt just outside the city centre.

The Venue

The Mehr! Theater is about a 20 minute walk from the central train station or a short bus or train journey. It’s in an industrial area and is simply located inside one section of an old market building. It’s the largest capacity theatre in Hamburg but I didn’t feel it was well laid out. The main issue is that immediately upon entering, you are essentially forced to queue for the cloakroom where they charge €2 per item. It’s bad enough when entering but it takes about 20 minutes of aimless queuing to retrieve your items with no real queuing system in place. The other problem was that once we headed in to the theatre, Pauline was stopped and told her luggage was too big! Her luggage was her handbag which wasn’t large and would have sat on her lap. No amount of arguing would allow her in with it so she had to pay another €2 and remove all valuables. It was as if Ryanair were running the place. The fact that you had to also queue at the bar upon leaving to retrieve your deposit for your glass also added to the insult.

The seating itself was comfortable and wasn’t cramped but it is all flat which means if someone tall is sitting in front, you can’t see the stage since the stage is quite low down. It’s also pretty industrial inside e so perhaps doesn’t have the best acoustics.

From Sarahbrightman.com

The Show

The first half of the show starts with Gregorian doing monk like chanting with a modern twist. At one point, a girl in black came out looking a bit like Sarah but it certainly wasn’t her. She was dressed like Maleficent. At no point during the entire show was she credited anywhere, all the other artists were introduced and had their names on stage. This girl came out a few more times during the show. You can see her in the right of the official image above. It took some Google detective work but it turns out that it’s Amelia Brightman, Sarah’s younger sister. She’s the same age as myself, born in 1979 and is a regular with Gregorian it would seem. Perhaps she needed no introduction and it was just my ignorance but I still thought it was a little weird she wasn’t named.

There are also two tenors, Mario Frangoulis and Fernando Varela. Both were excellent and different. Mario brought a mix of musical performance that could have come from Broadway or London’s West End. Fernando brought a more contemporary pop twist before breaking in to a wonderful rendition of Nessun Dorma. And then there’s Narcis who has the voice of an angel. It’s even higher pitched than a choirboy such as the kid (Peter Auty) who sang in “The Snowman” animated movie which incidental was part of the show and performed by Gregorian. It’s not Christmas to me without watching The Snowman or at the very least, listening to it.

There were a couple of ballet dancers performing The Nutcracker Suite which was grand but I’ve never been in to ballet beyond the music itself. There was also an amazing 14 year old harpist who came out to perform a solo.

After the interval, Sarah came on stage. If the first half was excellent, the second was magical. Apart from a mix of Christmas songs, Sarah sang some of her hits like Pie Jesu which was written for her to sing by Andrew Lloyd Webber as well as Nella Fantasia. The hightlight for me of course was when she did the theme to Phantom which was kicked off by Gregorian and Mario sang the part of Erik, The Phantom. She also of course sang Time to say Goodbye. I had hoped she would have brought Fernando out to sing that one with her as he had the perfect voice for it but alas, she did it solo. That ended the main part of the show until the inevitable encore a few minutes later.

The show was amazing and Sarah’s voice is still amazing after all this time. You haven’t lived until you hear Gregorian singing Fairytale of New York, chanting monk style. we found that bit hilarious, though perhaps we shouldn’t have.

I would say that the production in this particular theatre seemed lacking compared to the videos I have seen elsewhere. There were no amazing backdrops like you see in the promo video on the official website or here. I put that down to a failing of the venue itself though rather than the show. Walking out of the theatre and into the snow made for a magical Christmas experience where we quickly jumped on a bus back towards the train station before heading to the Paulaner Miraculum bar next to our hotel for a few pints of Zwickel bier before bed.

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Before modern digital filters like Instagram and the like, photographers used physical filters to generate the results that they want. Even today, the best images are produced using traditional lens filters. To get into landscape photography, a filter is pretty essential so it was about time I invested in some. Up until now, the only filter I have had was a standard UV filter for my expensive 17-55mm lens. All that really does is provide protection for the lens and perhaps reduce a little glare.

Background

To give some background, I have a Canon EOS 700D which is also known as a Rebel T5i in the US. While I still have the 18-55mm kit lens it came with, I have since purchased a number of others. The first thing I did was get a telephoto lens. I went for a Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II.

Next, I replaced my everyday lens and purchased a Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM which is about the highest quality cropped sensor lens you can get for a canon. It can keep f2.8 throughout its zoom range which is why it’s so expensive. Most lenses will lose a couple of f stops as you zoom in. For instance, if you look above to my 55-250mm lens, you will see it’s f4-5.6 so at 55mm it can open up to f4 but by the time it gets to 250mm, the widest it aperture will be f5.6 so less light can get in to the lens. Make sense?

I also wanted a wide angle lens so I went for a Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM. It’s not a fish eye but does allow for nice wide angle shots of buildings.

The only basic type of lens I lack now is a macro lens for close up shots of insects and the like.

All of my lenses are EF-S only so if I upgrade to a more expensive, full frame camera in the future, I can’t use these lenses. Then again, the kit will always be useful as a secondary kit or travel kit if I do invest money in spendy new gear.

Filters

I ordered two filters and they arrived today.

The first is a Hoya 77 mm Pro ND 1000 Filter. This essentially blocks 10 stops of light. Why is that useful? On a bright day, it allows me to slow my shutter speed and reduce operture down when using a tripod. That will allow stationary objects to come out sharp but moving objects like clouds and water to become blurred. It’s actually a bit like how the original photographers had to take their images. All photography used to require long exposure.

The second filter is a HOYA PRO1 Digital Filter Circular Polarizer. This type of filter is adjustable and is used to darken skies and reduce glare. It’s essentially like putting a pair of polarising sun glasses on. I won’t need a tripod to use that type of filter so it’s a better all rounder.

Filter Size

One thing I learned before ordering filters is this. Always order filters for the largest size lens you own. For me, it’s my 77mm diameter EF-S 17-55mm. So the two filters are 77mm. I then ordered a set of Genus 77mm step up rings so I can use my 77mm filters with my narrower lenses. Much cheaper than buying filters for each type of lens diameter. You can get cheaper rings by the way but because I have 3 different diameter lenses, I went for the genus pack. The cheaper sets tend to screw in to each other to get the desired diameter and I suspect that could cause some image issues as well as just being fiddly.

Since the filters and adaptor rings just arrived today, I have yet to use them. I’ll likely do a little testing and write an article with the results.

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I have loved the music from Phantom of the Opera since I was a teenager and in particular, the Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford renditions. In fact, I have most of Sarah’s albums as well as some Andrew Lloyd Webber albums and it has always been the songs from Phantom that I loved the most*.
If you don’t know the story, here’s a very brief synopsis. The story is similar to The Hunchback of Notre Dame and to a lesser degree, Beauty and the Beast. The idea of a deformed man fighting for the affections of a beautiful woman. It’s a story of unrequited love. Erik, the phantom, lives in the catacombs under a theatre that has just be bought by a couple of businessmen who know nothing about the theatre business. After a little backstage sabotage from the phantom, the main star, Carlotta does a runner as she can’t be expected to perform under these circumstances. Carlotta is currently played by the stunning Megan Llewellyn. Enter Christine Daaé, a lowly chorus girl who has been noticed as a possible replacement. It seems that Christine had been getting singing lessons from a mysterious tutor whom she believed to be the Angel of music that her father had told her about. Of course, the Angel is really the Phantom who has become obsessed with Christine. There’s a bit of kidnapping and blackmail along with a murder or two and then a somewhat happy ending, though not necessarily for poor Erik. For more, go see the production.

In nearly 20 years of loving the music of Phantom, I had never actually seen the musical itself. This changed a few weeks ago when I brought my girlfriend to London to see Phantom. You see, she also loves the musical and is also a big fan of Michael Crawford’s depiction. By the way, if you don’t know the name Michael Crawford but are old enough to remember, he played Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. Yes, the same actor that played the hapless Frank Spencer of “Oooh Betty” fame in a voice that could only be described as camp, went on to sing on the West End and Broadway as the first Phantom of The Opera and did so for two and a half years winning a number of awards along the way. So, while I never seen Phantom, I had grown up listening to the music of Sarah and Michael and I was a little worried I would be disappointed by the 2016 version.

Myself and Pauline

I needn’t have been worried though because as soon as I the show started, I realised that not only was this a quality production, the voices might equal and possibly surpass the original cast in my view. The current cast has Ben Forster in the role of Erik, the Phantom and he does an amazing job. His voice has a wonderful range and is especially good in Music of the Night.

It was Lisa-Anne Wood as Christine that stole the show for me though. It turns out that she’s the alternate with Celinde Schoenmaker playing the lead role. Not having seen Celinde’s version, I can’t really compare but I find it hard to believe she was as perfect as Lisa-Anne to be honest. She doesn’t even have the look I expect from Christine.

Nadim Naaman plays Christine’s other love interest, Raoul and I have to say, he was perfect as the character and he has an amazing voice.

Two of my favourite characters were the purchasers of the theatre, Monsieur Firmin played by Michael Matus and Monsieur André played by Christopher Dickins. They brought a wonderful level of comedy to the show.

Photo by Gerónimo Rauch – Former Phantom

One other character both of us were impressed by was the the girl in the monkey costume during the masquerade scene. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is to bang those symbols and keep that smile while standing on one foot with another leg perfectly straight. It took some doing but I believe her name is Zoe Arshamian who is credited in show as The Ballet Chorus of the Opéra Populaire.

I would very much love to see it again and it’s the first musical I have seen in London’s West End so I reckon I will be back but I’ll have to check out some musicals in Dublin too. The last time I had even been at a play was in 2013. We actually had great seats to my mind, I booked well in advance so I got front row seats, just a few seats to the left of the conductor so the orchestra was in the pit right in front of us and the chandelier flew right over our head but the conductor himself didn’t block our view. The only issue was the complete lack of leg room though I’m not sure it’s much better in any other rows. Due to being at the lowest point, I think we miss a slight angular advantage in one or two scenes such as the boat ride but being so close to the action more than makes up for that I reckon. I just see that a cast change has been announced from next week. Siôn Lloyd as Monsieur Firmin, Mark Oxtoby as Monsieur Andre and considering they were two of my favourite characters, I’m not sure what to make of that. Also, Paul Ettore Tabone as Piangi and Daisy Hulbert as Meg.

I know what my next Halloween costume is going to be. I should have bought the mask for £10 when I was there but I can always order from the internet.

I wonder what my next musical will be? I’m a cat person so probably Cats.

*Apart from Con te partirò / Time to say goodbye.

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