Latest news with #TheHunchbackofNotreDame
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Theatre crew raring for first production
There's nothing like a heartfelt musical drama to bond a group of theatre enthusiasts from all over the region, each with their own unique skillsets. Wānaka's newest theatre group, Onstage Wānaka, is counting down the days till the curtain opens on their first musical, Blood Brothers. Originally created by Willy Russell, the musical follows the story of fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who are separated at birth and raised in juxtaposing environments. Onstage Wānaka secretary Andrea Beryl said the crew behind the musical were responsible for the experience being enjoyable and successful. "It needs a very good group of people to get it all happening," she said. "So we've got a strong committee ... This one's been awesomely organised. Everyone's been amazing." One of the highlights for Ms Beryl was having a team with a diverse performing background, with some being longtime local performers and others taking to the spotlight for the first time. One of the group's goals was to expand the town's performing arts by opening the doors to all locals who dared to be a little dramatic. Cast member Tatum Montecastillo is set to play the lead role as blood brother Mickey, bringing a wealth of experience to the role. The stage is a familiar setting for the Queenstown-based electrician, who has been performing since childhood. Born in the Philippines, Montecastillo moved to Dunedin when he was 15 but no matter where he was, performing seemed to be in his blood. Starting out in pageants, he then went on to form a high school band and take part in theatre. "I can't do a year without theatre," he said. ". . . it's my happy outlet and I find when I'm on stage, I'm at my best." When he moved to Queenstown for work, one of his priorities was finding a theatre community. It did not take long for Montecastillo to find creative work; his last acting endeavour was in the Waiata Theatre Company's production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Now that Onstage Wānaka has hit the ground running, he was thrilled to have another outlet allowing him to express his lifelong passion with a like-minded group. "I think the main part of that is the community of it all," he said. "I found, even though I'm not from Wānaka, I can feel the community and camaraderie of having one singular goal to work towards." Natasha Kay Senior found a similar sense of belonging when she was cast to play one of the main supporting characters, Linda, who marries one of the brothers. Senior also had a lifelong passion for the stage and had studied acting in the United Kingdom. After doing some theatre in Auckland, she moved to Wānaka but found opportunities to act were scarce. Just when she had begun contemplating a move out of town, Onstage Wānaka was formed, and she found an opportunity to get back into acting. "I was finally desperate and I'm thinking to myself, I might have to move out of Wānaka here because I need to get back on stage," she said. To make it even better, Senior had a love for the Blood Brothers musical, having seen it several times. She was looking forward to not only acting in it but also being able to share it with the Wānaka community. "I think people who don't think they like musical theatre or have never seen it, I think it's going to really open up that world for them." The diverse cast also included members who had never set foot on a stage in this capacity before. Lindsey Schofield is a valuable part of the musical's ensemble but had never performed before. She was no stranger to the local arts community, having once been the general manager of the Festival of Arts and supporting her son in his own theatre ambitions throughout school. "... I've never done it myself and always wanted to and just never had the opportunity because we haven't had a musical theatre group in Wānaka." There were certainly no regrets in this new adventure for Schofield as she expressed her superb experience and excitement leading up to the opening night. Tickets are on sale and the musical will run from August 8-16 at Lake Wānaka Centre.
Yemenat
21-06-2025
- General
- Yemenat
Shyness, Anxiety, and Alienation
I was intensely shy and profoundly introverted afflicted with a terrifying, crippling social phobia. This is how I first knew myself upon awakening to my own consciousness. True, I did not emerge from my first birth silent—I came with a birth cry I can imagine cleaving through the delivery room in our old house. And true, I was mischievous in childhood, perhaps in some stages of life. Yet none of this lessened the crushing weight of my shyness and withdrawal, which bore down heavily on my existence. The nightmares of my anxiety seized my tranquility, haunted my days and nights, clung to my presence, and pursued my escapes. My shame, above all, became the heaviest burden, the greatest impediment to my aspirations. I was consumed by a dense conviction that my shyness crippled me, that I was unfit for anything in this life, and that my future would be scarred by this disability—inescapable, inevitable, woven into my very destiny. With every failure, I felt the cause lay in my affliction. Often, I sensed my existence was superfluous, that there was no wisdom in what exceeded its necessity. Existence itself seemed at times absurdly indifferent to need. I lived my absence, my alienation in this clamorous world that bore no resemblance to my withdrawal, my shame, my dread, and had no need for my redundant, tiresome presence. Later, when I read Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I felt that the hump borne by its hero upon his back—I had long carried it upon mine. That hump reminded me of my shame and phobia, which weighed down my shoulders, denied me countless opportunities, deprived me of so much, and repeatedly confiscated my rights—even as my very presence felt like a burden upon existence itself. True, at times I committed acts that seemed bold, rebellious, or mischievous. But most often, my shame accompanied me like my shadow; sometimes its overwhelming tyranny engulfed me, leaving no breathing room, no space to retreat. My bones shattered in narrow straits where neither light nor expanse could penetrate. This withdrawal and shame wasted countless opportunities in my life—a life wearied by paths of loss, which I found myself captive to, or which exposed me to dangers, countless hardships, and innumerable embarrassing situations. At times, it birthed in me a thick sense of failure, profound disappointment, and inadequacy reaching the point of regret or annihilation. The feeling of intense phobia and shame made me believe fate had struck me with an inherent imbalance, a flaw in my very makeup—rendering me incomplete, abnormal.. I felt an affliction washing over me, inseparable from my being, inseparable from the feeling of it. An affliction that made me inwardly rage against the fate that diminished me, that caused this deep-rooted malady and fracture within the soul. They used to say angels have a role in shaping the fetus and perfecting it in the mother's womb. As a child, I would ask my mother: 'Why does so-and-so have a cleft lip?! She would reply: 'The angels forgot to seal that cleft..' Then she would scold me, forbidding me to belittle her, lest my own future children be born cleft-lipped like her when I grew up and married and had sons! Then questions would churn within me, and I felt filled with flaws and imbalance.. Deep down, I blamed the angels whose neglect had marred so much of me—my brain, my nervous system, my eyes. My shyness, my introversion, my feelings of phobia and embarrassment—were they not but a great negligence and failure on their part? Deserving of grief and reproach, and more if possible. As I grew older and gained more knowledge of existence, of the human and political reality we inhabit, I discovered many deeper, more pernicious forms of imbalance and affliction plaguing the lives of peoples and societies.. I discovered that the true monstrosities are the tyrants, the autocrats, the corrupt, the warlords and merchants of war. I became certain that these grotesques are the burden upon this life, upon humanity, upon this existence weighed down by them. * * * My phobia silenced my voice, buried it alive, heaping earth upon it.. tearing and scattering it until it dissolved like vapor.. choking it with an iron fist before it could rise to my mouth.. swallowing my tongue from its root, anchored in a throat gagged by shame. Phobia—a tyranny exercising its crude authority over a life burdened by its own suffering. I was still young, still tender in years, while my phobia and shame had grown larger than me—many times my weight and my lean years. I was pulverized by my shyness and phobia with relentless persistence, with repetition knowing no fatigue.. Disappointment and bitterness washed over me each time I fell prey to their nets, powerless to resist. I lived captive to my introversion, to the modesty that clamped both hands over my muffled mouth—soundproofed, preventing me from voicing a need, a plea for salvation or rescue. One can imagine the depth of my shame—a shame so profound one would prefer destruction over uttering a word no longer than two letters: 'Stop.' How can a person be ashamed of their own voice, their own company, and then commit an act bordering on folly? Preferring potential danger to letting others hear their cry? How can someone, driven by modesty, shame, and overwhelming phobia, leap from a vehicle hurtling like a storm—without even asking the driver to stop? It is a phobia akin to suicide. * * * I was always ashamed of my voice as a child.. Even when voice recorders reached us, my own voice brought me no pleasure; I may have even once railed against the Lord of this voice.. Perhaps I plunged too deep into rebellion in moments of passion and abandon… Its reins slipped from my grasp, galloping to the farthest horizons. I resist compulsion in all its forms, its authority, its force. But sometimes my rebellion veers off course, reaching what is extreme and distant.. I remember a day when my father struck me with his shoe—twice, three times—merely for being late to bring water for ablutions before the Maghrib prayer for a relative (may God have mercy on him). In a fit of rage and stupidity, I relieved myself in the bowl before pouring water over it, then gave it to the man to perform his ablutions—while my eyes swam in tears I fought to hold back. My anger and agitation subsided, and perhaps a strange smile mingled with my tears as I watched him rinse his mouth, sniff water, and wash his face and countenance.. My foolishness had struck an innocent victim of the shoe-beating—even if I sensed at the time he was partly deserving of punishment. The paradox is vast: between one who dares such an act, and in another context, is ashamed to let others hear his voice.. Strange paradoxes sometimes unite the un-unitable. Perhaps my state resembles, in these days of ours, those who claim to have 'resisted seventeen destinies' while trembling in terror at a word or a social media post. This can only happen due to a flaw and imbalance in the brain and essence of the claimant—a foundation of overwhelming fears, preventing exposure of errors and grave sins: corruption, violation, and a lack of confidence a thousand times greater than what I suffered in my youth and tender years… Thus life appeared to me, teeming with parallels and wonders, replete with contradictions, paradoxes, and fears. * * * I was likely less than fifteen years old at the time… Abu Shanab stopped his Land Rover when I signaled for him to halt and allow me to board – what we used to call 'hitching a ride.' Abu Shanab, the man of the people, was exceedingly kind-hearted and accustomed to students 'hitching rides,' those without a penny to their name. He would ferry them without taking a fare, especially if he found you walking along the road and you shyly beseeched him with a wave of your hand to take you along. The driver was returning to the area of 'Dhawka,' while I was bound for 'Shi'b Al-A'la,' hastening to my village in Al-Qabeyta.. The vehicle was crowded with passengers. The driver stopped for me, and I clambered onto its running boards, securing a small perch at the very rear… Shortly after, I was dismayed to discover the vehicle was heading away from my destination. I had assumed that one or more of the passengers would ask the driver to stop so they could alight, perhaps their destination matching mine. But disappointment swiftly overtook me as I realized everyone was heading in the opposite direction of my intended path. All were bound for 'Dhawka'.. Paralyzed by shyness and an overwhelming sense of dread, I couldn't muster the courage to cry out or even request a stop to get off the speeding vehicle. It devoured the distance with greedy haste, surging relentlessly towards its goal. Driven by panic, I resolved to jump rather than ask it to halt… It nearly proved the saying true: 'Shame kills.' I leaped from the car.. My body slammed onto the ground. In that first instant, I thought my frame had shattered like glass… My chin struck the earth with brutal force. My teeth clashed violently together. The jaws collided upon each other until I could no longer distinguish upper from lower.. I felt my head explode and scatter like shrapnel from a bomb. Sparks seemed to fly from my eyes, tumbling in every direction.. The impact made me feel like scattered wreckage, impossible to reassemble or gather; while the passengers inside screamed, startled by the sudden fall of one of their number, unaware I had leapt by my own will, driven by terror and shame.. The driver halted the vehicle at their cries to see what had happened? My body bore multiple injuries.. Blood streamed from scrapes and scratches scattered across my limbs.. My shirt was torn in places, my trousers now dust-covered and soiled. Dirt and grime were most evident, as if I'd emerged from the vehicle's exhaust pipe.. Blood flowed from the abrasions, some trickling from beneath my chin. The driver descended from the cab to investigate. Meanwhile, wrestling against the shock of the collision and the sparks of pain, an even fiercer wave of embarrassment and shame forced me to gather my strength. With a defiance unknown to youth, I struggled to my feet to signal to those in the stopped vehicle that I was unharmed and all was well. The driver, for his part, looked like the survivor, not me.. My defiant, rapid rise, spurred by shame, was potent and absolute, achieved without uttering a single word… I bore the appearance of one assuming full and unmitigated responsibility for the incident. After great hardship and battling the pain, I reached our home in Sharar. The first thing I saw when I looked at my face in the mirror was my wounded chin.. I saw an asymmetry beneath it – one side protruded, the other was recessed, jarringly out of alignment. The symmetry and evenness were gone. This imbalance, this flaw, remains noticeable to this day, visible to anyone who looks closely. Today, we have grown, and we and our homeland cry out at the top of our voices.. The vehicle carrying us hurtles recklessly – no brakes, no headlights, no doors.. A vehicle wrestled over by drivers without licenses, devoid of skill or mastery.. Madmen of war, incapable even of reckoning profit from loss.. The vehicle careens at maximum speed and madness.. Jumping from it has become impossible for us.. Now it races headlong towards the precipice.. The fate of us all, and of the homeland, has become unknown and terrifying. I conclude here with a reminder: silence, perhaps, also holds a meaning and a voice more profound and resonant than the clamor we hear.. And if our fears overwhelm us at times, and our silence grows louder than the noise, perhaps even this holds wisdom, lessons, and insight. What we need is a world, an environment, that understands it. For Shams Tabrizi once said: Silence, too, has a voice, but it needs a soul to understand it.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
33 "Before And After" Photos That Are Just So Interesting To Look At
1.A Ken doll from 1985 next to a Ken doll from a few years ago: 2.A modern tomato next to a tomato grown from 150-year-old seeds: a building in New York before and after being power washed: 4.A box of Nerds candy from 1984 (discovered under someone's floorboard) and a box from recent years: 5.A stack of dollar bills after being in circulation vs. a stack of brand new ones: hundred dollar bills from 1977, 2003, and 2017: Ancient Greek stadium before and after it was excavated by archaeologists: 8.A historical medical journal documenting the before and after of a tumor removal in the 17th century: — much more recently — two MRIs of someone's brain before and after surgery to remove a tumor from their temporal lobe: chocolate chips vs. older ones (the change in color is called blooming and comes from being exposed to warm still fine to eat!): Related: I Hate To Say It, But I'm Pretty Sure Half Of Americans Won't Be Able To Pass This Extremely Easy Citizenship Test 11.A reservoir in Glossop, England in 2022 (during a drought) and the same reservoir in 2023 after heavy rainfall: a college student's notes before and after they started taking ADD medication: 13.A new sewing needle vs. one used for four months: 14.A 300-year-old sword before and after being restored: — wow! — a viking axe before and after being restored: 16.A new TV remote vs. one used by a smoker: Related: 19 Things Society Glorifies That Are Actually Straight-Up Terrible, And We Need To Stop Pretending Otherwise 17.A stuffed animal loved on for years vs. a brand new version of the same stuffed animal: a dog before and after getting groomed: 19.A well-worn key vs. a freshly cut one for the same vehicle: actor in Turkey before and after putting on makeup for a play version of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Iskenderun, Turkey on February 5, 2023 after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and a year later: 22.A 1988 Toyota Hilux and the 2012 version of the same truck (it really shows you how much larger trucks have gotten over the years): camera size of an original iPhone (right) vs. an iPhone 13 Pro: one terabyte of external hard drive storage in 2009 vs. in 2022: 25.A baseball cap after being worn while working outdoors for a year vs. a brand new one: 26.A week before someone's wisdom teeth extraction vs. one week after: 27.A transparent phone cover after four years of use vs. a brand new one: aged shopping cart wheel next to a brand new one: a guy's room before and after a girl said she would come over, LOL: 30.A five-year-old wok vs. a new version of the same brand: 31.A cat before and after being rescued off the street: Bubbles, a neglected Labrador Retriever with a skin condition before and after he was brought into a shelter and given some love and treatment: Also in Internet Finds: 15 Facebook Marketplace Items You'll Wish, From The Depths Of Your Soul, You Could Unsee Also in Internet Finds: People Are Confessing Their Absolute Pettiest "Revenge Served Cold" Stories, And It's Deliciously Entertaining Also in Internet Finds: 51 People Who Quickly Discovered Why Their Hilariously Clueless Partner Was Single Before Meeting Them
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
33 "Before And After" Photos That Are Just So Interesting To Look At
1.A Ken doll from 1985 next to a Ken doll from a few years ago: 2.A modern tomato next to a tomato grown from 150-year-old seeds: a building in New York before and after being power washed: 4.A box of Nerds candy from 1984 (discovered under someone's floorboard) and a box from recent years: 5.A stack of dollar bills after being in circulation vs. a stack of brand new ones: hundred dollar bills from 1977, 2003, and 2017: Ancient Greek stadium before and after it was excavated by archaeologists: 8.A historical medical journal documenting the before and after of a tumor removal in the 17th century: — much more recently — two MRIs of someone's brain before and after surgery to remove a tumor from their temporal lobe: chocolate chips vs. older ones (the change in color is called blooming and comes from being exposed to warm still fine to eat!): Related: I Hate To Say It, But I'm Pretty Sure Half Of Americans Won't Be Able To Pass This Extremely Easy Citizenship Test 11.A reservoir in Glossop, England in 2022 (during a drought) and the same reservoir in 2023 after heavy rainfall: a college student's notes before and after they started taking ADD medication: 13.A new sewing needle vs. one used for four months: 14.A 300-year-old sword before and after being restored: — wow! — a viking axe before and after being restored: 16.A new TV remote vs. one used by a smoker: Related: 19 Things Society Glorifies That Are Actually Straight-Up Terrible, And We Need To Stop Pretending Otherwise 17.A stuffed animal loved on for years vs. a brand new version of the same stuffed animal: a dog before and after getting groomed: 19.A well-worn key vs. a freshly cut one for the same vehicle: actor in Turkey before and after putting on makeup for a play version of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Iskenderun, Turkey on February 5, 2023 after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and a year later: 22.A 1988 Toyota Hilux and the 2012 version of the same truck (it really shows you how much larger trucks have gotten over the years): camera size of an original iPhone (right) vs. an iPhone 13 Pro: one terabyte of external hard drive storage in 2009 vs. in 2022: 25.A baseball cap after being worn while working outdoors for a year vs. a brand new one: 26.A week before someone's wisdom teeth extraction vs. one week after: 27.A transparent phone cover after four years of use vs. a brand new one: aged shopping cart wheel next to a brand new one: a guy's room before and after a girl said she would come over, LOL: 30.A five-year-old wok vs. a new version of the same brand: 31.A cat before and after being rescued off the street: Bubbles, a neglected Labrador Retriever with a skin condition before and after he was brought into a shelter and given some love and treatment: Also in Internet Finds: 15 Facebook Marketplace Items You'll Wish, From The Depths Of Your Soul, You Could Unsee Also in Internet Finds: People Are Confessing Their Absolute Pettiest "Revenge Served Cold" Stories, And It's Deliciously Entertaining Also in Internet Finds: 51 People Who Quickly Discovered Why Their Hilariously Clueless Partner Was Single Before Meeting Them
Buzz Feed
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
The Most Unlikable Movie Characters Of All Time
Recently I asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us which movie characters they absolutely hate. From pure-evil villains to characters who people think should be classified as villains, here are their answers: Cal Hockley from Titanic "He's so manipulative and abusive. He puts Rose down every time we see them together in the movie (like when they talk about artwork). Also spoilers, but him claiming the child he found crying during the sinking as his own kid just so he could get on a lifeboat is such a cowardly move. Hands down my most hated character of all time."—17, US Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter movies "She really and truly did not have a single redeeming quality. I couldn't even feel bad for her after she had been taken by the centaurs. I loathed her more than Voldemort."—jjchambers1986 Mr. Ewell from To Kill a Mockingbird "Wrongful accusal of a Black man in 1930s Alabama, always creeping around, and attacking two small children. He was awful."—strcar Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame "He's so creepy! They didn't even need to give him any crazy Disney supervillain magic powers; he's just pure evil (which somehow makes him even more terrifying)."—buttercupbailey Albert Johnson from The Color Purple "I despised that character so much that I swore off anything Danny Glover played in after it."—kelleym4168683f2 Scar from The Lion King "He killed his own brother, tried to kill his nephew, then made his nephew feel guilty about killing his father."—bubblysedan70 Percy Wetmore from The Green Mile "Absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He's cruel, he's mean, and he's a coward to boot. Prolonging the torture of a prisoner like that? Disgusting. Watching him in the hospital losing his mind was so satisfying because that could easily be a fate worse than death. He deserved it."—morgan_le_slay Warden Norton from The Shawshank Redemption "He was a 'God-fearing Christian man' who believed in discipline and the Bible. In reality, he was a bully, overlooked physical and sexual abuse, cheated legitimate business owners, and exploited his workers. He had no remorse, no redeeming values, and had an army behind him to make sure he was undisputed, all while playing the benevolent leader of prison reform."—mommacat123 Frank Booth from Blue Velvet "He is so creepy in the scene where Baby wants blue velvet, I can barely watch! Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl. So much so that just seeing him in another role is hard to take."—37, California President Alma Coin from The Hunger Games movies "I hate her way more than I hate Snow. She used Katniss and a very traumatized Peeta for views. Then she killed a bunch of children. So, yeah, I hate her."—16, Colorado Mary from Precious "She absolutely made my skin crawl and my blood boil."—minitree232 Johnny from The Karate Kid "He was so smug and conceited I can see why Allie broke up with him. I would've too, but first I would've clocked him harder than she did for being such a jerk."—smellytortoise841 Charles McCarter from Diary of a Mad Black Woman "He was so cruel to his wife. The way he belittled her was so evil. Even after he changed his life around in the end, I still found him unforgivable!"—30, Chicago Professor Callahan from Legally Blonde "He spends the entire year ogling this 22-year-old girl who didn't ask for his attention, takes advantage of the internship to get her closer to him, demeans her and the other girl on the team in the most misogynistic way possible having them get food and coffee and discounting her case-defining discovery, then praises her when it suits him. I'm glad the movie ended with her sticking it to him, but I would have liked a little more retribution. Maybe a nice sexual harassment conviction and some jail time or disbarment."—22, New York Jasper from The Holiday "Random one, but the way he kept poor Iris on the hook even after getting engaged and then had the *audacity* to show up on her vacation only to toy with her again. He doesn't need to be some sort of supervillain to be the straight-up WORST."—buttercupbailey The Prime Minister, Harry, and Mark from Love Actually... "I don't know how people see that movie as romantic but all of these characters' story arcs are just not it. The Prime Minister dates his subordinate while everyone calls her fat when she's not. Harry was straight up just cheating on his wife and she finds out by seeing him buying beautiful jewelry for his mistress, which she at first mistakingly believes is for her. And then there's Mark, the creepy stalker guy who stalks this bride all through her wedding because he 'loves' her, and then confesses this outside her front door."—toot-toot-mcgee Mayor Larry Vaughn from Jaws As far as movies go, I don't think there's anyone who, as a reasonable person, can say that the mayor from Jaws is in any way likable. In order to keep those tourist dollars coming into Amity, he not only suppresses all information about the shark and shark attacks, but he actively encourages people to go into the ocean. Unapologetically awful thanks to great screenwriting and acting."—42, Japan Gordon Gecko from Wall Street "Pure narcissism."—67, Arizona Captain Vidal from Pan's Labyrinth "He was such a psychopath. Violent and controlling. The scene with the father and son was so shocking that I still think about it."—cheesemonster Hans from Frozen "I was watching it with my grandchildren the other day and he pissed me off so much that I had to skip the scenes with him in them."—88, Texas And finally, this take on Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory "GRANDPA JOE LET HIS FAMILY STARVE BUT THEN HOPPED UP AND DID A LITTLE JIG FOR FREAKING CHOCOLATE! AND HE MADE HIS FAMILY FUND HIS TOBACCO HABIT FOR DECADES! WAS THE FLOOR TOO COLD FOR YOU TO QUIT SMOKING MONEY, JOE? Also, from a scientific point of view, his muscles would've atrophied if he'd been bedridden for a long time. He's been getting up for little midnight strolls. The man is a con artist and a scammer and I want him to choke on an everlasting gobstopper for starving his family and forcing his child to run in the snow with broken shoes at night just so he could smoke a pipe and do nothing all day. Freaking Joe."—19, US Do you have any other movie characters you think are incredibly unlikable? Let us know in the comments!
