i finished it last night. omgosh, talk about crying jags. i was a total mess after reading it. don't worry, i won't give anything away. for those who haven't read it yet, be prepared with a box of tissues.
some parts did feel like i was invading into someone's diary. i'm really glad he was so open with his writing but i dunno, i felt a lil uncomfortable reading about some of the really personal stuff.
overall, i'm really happy i read it. it's really beautiful and touching
Hey guys! I'm so glad you all are liking the book. I do have (yet another) question though. On the first anthony rapp thread, someone posted a link you could go to to watch a video of Anthony at the Open House dvd release party. Does anyone still have this link at all? (I'm trying to search through the pages of posts on the first message board but I think I'm going insane from doing so) If anybody could help me out, that would be great!
As a RENT fan since age 11, I definately agree with those saying that the themes and subject matter of both RENT and "Without You" shouldn't necessicarily be censored just due to the age of the audience. That being said, both of my parents definately knew about my RENT obsession and didn't try to stop me from listening to it. I think it all comes down to the question of maturity, not a specific age or number. When I was 11, my aunt committed suicide, my father was an alcoholic, and my grandmother had been bedridden ever since I was a baby; that being said, I was sort of already used to things like drug use, illness, and death that sort of come up in both RENT and (now, much later lol) in "Without You." I think you parents are right in making the decisions of letting your kids be exposed to these things; like someone else already said, kids can't stay kids forever.
I still haven't gotten very far in the book. It's amazingly written, I'm just having too much fun savouring it. I doubt I'll have time to read it tonight (it's too big to fit into my purse) as I'm going to see some play with my mom (I should find out which one).
I think that parents should be aware of what younger kids are reading, just to make sure that it's age-appropriate. 'Cause there are things that my parents wouldn't let me watch (ahem... The Simpsons) because they didn't think it was good for me to watch when I was 7. Though that was more language related, as I grew up watching Star Trek, Hercules, Sinbad, and Xena, so I was always like "hey... she chopped his head off... awesome!". I just think that there are some things that kids shouldn't read. ::shrugs::
Welcome newbies!
Backbeat the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
See, my mother's method was, if she had any concerns about something I wanted to watch, she would watch it herself first, and then decide whether or not it was appropriate for me. She never just flat-out said "no" to something without first examining it and then explaining to me why she did or did not approve of my watching it. I feel that this was a good method, because I appreciated the fact that she took the time to examine the facts and give me an explanation, instead of just forbidding me to see something, and I never really felt the need to rebel or go behind her back about stuff like that.
RENThead414, You are so right about the maturity thing, especially when it comes to life experience. Unfortunately, we lost an Uncle to AIDS when the children were very young, so his sexuality and his disease have always been discussed in normal conversation in our home. My children aren't phased by it, where some people may consider it sensitive subject matter. I mean my kids don't bat an eye at the Collins/Angel relationship, where I can definitely see other kids their age being slightly confused. It's just something they've always known about, so it's not exactly shocking or even all that different to them.
I think that many times you, or I should say parents, can't be too general with what they allow and forbid their children to watch,read,etc. In many cases, there are 12 year olds that are MUCH more mature than 16 year olds. Someone 3 years younger than someone else could be more mature when exposed to ideas and issues presented in the media, and more capable of handling such nature. That's why I think, secondstar, that what your mother did is a great method in handling the censorship of certain entertainment with children. It's important parents know how mature their child is, and know that pg-13 may be fine for their 10 year old, or a little too much for their 15 year old.
Yeah, it all depends on the child in question. There's things that I watch now (I'm 17) that my parents come in while I'm watching and they're just like "we-ell" but they know I'm going to watch them anyway. They just worry.
Backbeat the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
My parents didn't really censor me. My dad did, but I think that was more for his own comfort. He still gets squeamish around me when sex is on tv. He's got issues with girly things or something. I just remember him fast-forwarding through Jenny playing the guitar naked in Forrest Gump. I was able to talk him into letting me rent Rated R movies when I started high school though, I think as long as he didn't have to watch it with me he didn't care. I would always tell him "it's just swearing, and I hear that at school." "I know about sex from school." He also used to turn the volume down during Les Mis's Master of the House for "raise it up the Master's ass". Sometimes he'd forget. He also told me that Fantine's husband died (which he now denies, I just found out when I went to see it in October that in fact she was not married, and he just left her).
I think these are the ones but he didnt have shoelaces and were like sewn together. Do you think he had them made like that? Or can you like buy converse like that?
I'm Mary ( :
I <33 Anthony rapp and Kristoffer Cusick!
Anyone want to buy a book from me? I was under the impression that you could bring outside books to booksmith, so I got two from other sources . I will sell my unopened amazon copy for $25. (I got one to read, and one for Anthony to sign. Am keeping the one with pizza stains!) I have no other huge fans of Rent in my life, so PM me, if you want a copy.
On another note, VERY glad that I will be able to take snapshots at the reading. I can get a pic with the imfamous Whiteboy Spice. I thought video would be prohibited anyway. Plus, I have trouble using my handds, so wouldn't be able to do video anyway. Now what other item to bring? my Remt, other cd, or the poster I got for Christmas. Decisions, decisions! However, I totally get why he can only do one other item, as he would be at the store until the next day otherwise!
Heeeyy, Anth was wearing those shoes at the Interlochen screening too...
Were you surprised at all by the fans who showed up, especially in light of the context of the book's content? I'm thinking particularly of the groups of 11-year-old girls.
I'm kind of a mixed thing on that. I was a bit surprised to see younger fans there, but didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing. I think it all depends, person-to-person.
My own parents didn't censor me too much within my own life and I think I turned out relatively okay XD
My mother knows I know about this kinda stuff(I mean, hello- even if you're extremely sheltered, in public high school you hear about just about anything), so I didn't have a problem handing the book off to her to read, and I know she's just gotten past the slightly higher rated content stuff, and she had one or two minor comments but she didn't chastise me for reading it or anything.
More than anything I want her to read the book so not only she can share why I admire Anthony, but because she had to watch her mother go through dialysis, and I've watched my mom go through chemotherapy and may very well watch it again.
I went off on a bit of a tangent... hmm.
ANYWAY- for the signing. Had a blast, met up with a few people that I met at the Interlochen screening, one or two BWW people(Thanks Mariel again for helping with my damn camera!), and the girl who was in Amneris in Aida with me. After a while of standing in the line Jonathan pulled out his phone and there was a singalong with us and some people we didn't know. Fun times XD
One of the funniest moments of the night, near the end when we were standing around and across the store there was this huge crash, and there was dead silence for a second, broken by Anthony yelling "IS EVERYONE ALL RIGHT?"
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