Lots to Talk About

Whew, that was a busy week.

I posted my first YouTube episode! You can see it here.

I also went to Salt Lake FanX. It used to be Salt Lake Comic Con, but then San Diego got hissy about Salt Lake using their name. As far as I know, they haven't attacked New York, so I feel like it's about something other than the name, but that's just me.

And yes, much shade was thrown at San Diego at this year's FanX.

I only went on Thursday, so it was a relaxed kind of con year. Thursday had a lot of the voice actors, so I saw Vic Mignogna (of Fullmetal Alchemist and pretty much every other anime ever) and he was a super-nice, friendly guy. He was driving his handlers crazy trying to get him to places on time, since he just wanted to talk to his fans.

So go him.

I also got to see a panel with Paige O'Hara and Robbie Benson, who were the voices for Belle and the Beast in the animated Beauty and the Beast. They're great. I came out of there really admiring Paige O'Hara and thinking she is a great person. She shared a story about how starstruck she was when she met Julie Andrews (!) and, I don't know, she just seemed very grounded and relatable.

I'm starting to feel like the celebrities who are voice actors or who have more of a niche fandom are a bit more down-to-earth than others. Anyway, FanX 2018 was overall very wholesome. And such great cosplays! Here are only a couple.

I also cosplayed. Here's me and my sister taking our picture next to Han Solo:

I'm not a zombie (I was asked). I'm Jekyll and Hyde; my right side is Jekyll and my left is Hyde. It was my Halloween costume last year. I'm very proud. And, you know, it kept me from being one of a zillion Links, so there you go.

I also got to go down to St. George and see The Prince of Egypt (stage musical) with my siblings and grandfather.

This wasn't a picture from our performance, by the way. That was banned.

But here's a video from it!

It was good! The staging was amazing; the Tuacahn is an open-air theatre set in a canyon, so they could use fireworks, live animals, light projections on the cliffs behind, and water features like flooding the stage.

And they used all of it. The Plagues song was stunning to watch.

Plot wise, I liked the movie better. I think this a watered-down version of the movie, which has so much power in it. This was a nice story, with good music, but I think it lacked that same power.

Partially because the burning bush scene was greatly diminished. Just a few seconds instead of getting this:

So great.

The musical focuses more on the love Moses and Ramses have for each other as brothers, and for more of the family dynamics. Again, it made for a good story. Our Ramses did a great job; I really liked his performance. There were also some added songs, like "Footprints in the Sand," that I thought were beautiful.

But to me, the movie is a classic. Nothing can beat it, although my grandfather, not seeing the movie before, liked the musical better when we did show him the movie.

So, I do recommend it, especially of an example of phenomenal staging that uses every possibility. Still, I think it won't replace the movie anytime soon.

This week, I'm posting another video. Last week I made a retrieval puzzle, so this week it's the Beccas of the world's turn with a detective puzzle.

It's challenging to make up these puzzles, but I'm having fun. I hope others do, too.