Burning Light

A Phantastic Night

Ben — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:13:45 +0000

I gave you my music, made your song take wing.
And now, how you’ve repaid me,
denied me and betrayed me.
He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing.
Christine, Christine.

Say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you
Share each day with me, each night, each morning…

You will curse the day
you did not do all that the Phantom asked of you!

The date is september 23, 1909.
A book appears on the shelves written by the french journalist Gaston Leroux.
He speaks of a young man he knew. A man named Erik.

November 25, 1925
A silent film depicts Erik as one of film history ghastliest monsters.
But this character, a phantasm portrayed by Lon Chaney, was anything but a monster

September 27, 1986
Andrew Lloyd Webber introduces us to Erik once again as he lets Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford sing a duet of mystery, terror and Love and from that moment on the whole world knows who Erik is

The Phantom of The Opera

It is a story over a century old, but tells a tale of a love that never dies.
Last night was a special occasion however for the rendition that was given to us bt Andrew Lloyd Webber.
On October 2, 2011 The Royal Albert Hall in London celebrated the 25th Anniversary of this marvelous musical.
But not only the patrons of the Royal Albert hall were privy to this showing. The event was broadcast live to various theatres and cinemas around the world and i was fortunate enough to see it the beautiful Pathe Buitenhof Theatre.
The oldest movie theatre of my hometown, The Hague.

I and Suzanne, my companion for the night, were treated to a night of glamour and style as the chandelier would light up and Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess once again told the tale of Erik, Christine and their doomed Love. We saw a Masquerade get interupted by a Red Death and heard the music of the night.
It truly was an experience to remember.

I recall the first time I ever saw the musical in the San Fransisco Orpheum Theatre. I must have been 12 years old.
I did not know what to expect. ‘Till that day I had never been to a musical and we were tucked away on a highrise balcony which was quite far from the stage.
It all started real timid as certain items got auctioned off at the old Paris Opera. I litteraly was thinking “great, this is gonne be boring as hell”. But then the auction reached lot number 666. A broken chandelier with a curtain draped over it. In it’s day it had crashed down to the Opera floor and mysterious circumstances surrounded it’s fall. Apparantly a ghost had caused it to crush the floor in a fit of rage. And with auctioneers final words the drape was pulled of and music be to roar. The destroyed chandelier rose to the ceiling of the orpheum and lights illuminated ghastly figures in the rafters.
I was sold. This was anything but boring.
It would take me some years however to appreciate the gravity of the story.

But I digress.
Like I already said it was an event unlike any other.
Though not in the actual Royal Albert Hall, the live broadcast gave us a showing much closer than people in the front row of the RAH were able to see.
After all the song and dance had passed. and only a mask was left to be found. The mystery ended…. or did it.
As with every musical the actors did their customary bows. First the dancers, than the backing vocals etc. etc. leading up to the main cast and as it ended with titular character, Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom making his final bow and taking his co-actors by the hand, I trult thought it had ended.
But all of a sudden, a hidden panel on the stage opens and a figure walks out of the darkness.

As this figure reaches the light we all instantly recognize the man.
It was none other than Andrew Lloyd Webber. He gave a speech and his thanks to everyone who has helped make the phantom a succes over the years including the lovely guests. He had some surprises of himself however. He was not the only Guest Appearance on stage.
The original Phantom from Andrew’s first show, Michael Crawford, graced the stage with his pressence. And Andrew could ofcourse not resist introducing us to his “Angel of Music”, the lovely Sarah Brightman.

Though these were not the actors I had seen in the show i was at as a child, i would never have guessed that Sarah would grace us with a song.
She made her way center stage as the organs began to roar once more and from the darkness four men joined her.

It were Anthony Warlow, John Owen-Jones, Colm Wilkinson and Peter Joback. All of them had portrayed the Phantom at one time or another. The Overture reached it’s end as each Phantom demanded the original Christine to sing, a fifth phantom joined them. It was the current phantom Ramin Karimloo hiding still behind the mask.

We were eventually treated to one last song by the Five Phantom’s as they sent us back into the night with their music. The Music of the night.
and they would remind us that life is a masquerade, and that every face has a different shape. Perhaps we should live in a world where we look beyond the masks we all wear everyday.

The Phantom Of the Opera still plays till this day and is without a doubt the longest running musical ever.
If you ever get the chance, go see it. And if you still haven’t had enough. Sir Webber has graced the world with a continuation of story and it’s name says it all about the love the Phantom and Christine shared and I choose to end this blog with those very words

“Love Never Dies”

Subb7 – Brand New Worlds Showreel

Ben — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:27:11 +0000

In the beginning of 2011 Burning Light and BVG-Inside were hired to make a Showreel detailing the main aspects of what subbseven is all about

Subbseven is The First Brand Museum and Social Brand Mall of The World. An interactive playground showcasing the best domestic and global Lifestyle Brands, Green Brands and the coolest Sustainable Projects of The World.

Another thing we are really proud of is Subbseven Shopping Channel, world’s first official Brand Mall. Users easily zap from one brand store to another within the same easy to use environment. With only one payment and one checkout, shopping the brands is becoming more fun than ever.

Subbseven launches in the year 2012 containing 150 brands at startup, with a live content-count over 70.000 unique shareable pieces. Subbseven is full of brands you know; you love and you haven’t seen anywhere else. It’s a place you like to wonder around whenever you have a spare second. Take a stroll through the life of your favorite brands. Get inspired, enjoy and be really excited.

Curious? Like to know more? Feel free to contact subbseven at anytime and checkout their showreels at:

www.subbseven.biz
www.subbseven.com
www.subbseven.com/reels

Split Second

Ben — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:10:12 +0000

Elizabeth “Liz” Lancaster, a professional thief for hire, has to find this out the hard way when she and her longtime friend, Nathan Shephard, are sent out to steal a set of diamonds from a philantropic organisation known
as the Chapel Foundation….
But this final heist is shrouded in secrets. The kind of secrets Liz has yet to uncover and will change everything.

And what She and Nate had planned to be their last job, might end up being the last thing they will ever do.
However…

…Anything can change!

As of the moment that I am writing this, “Split Second” is the largest project I am working on.
It’s an interactive story written by myself and co-directed by me and my partner in crime Bob van Gemert.

Carefully crafted with live action, 3d graphics and visual effects and music provided by artists such as Travis Terrell
Split second is a labour of passion where each piece of the story is considered and investigated from every angle.

To put it simple, anything that will happen in this story is all within the realm of possibility.
From the factual science to the mysteries in history.

Keep an eye on it. You won’t be dissapointed
Head over to the website now to check it all out

Basia Konkel – In Loving Memory

Ben — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 09:40:02 +0000

Rest In Peace, My dearest mother

My Mother, Basia Konkel, who has been ever hopeful and full of strength against the struggle with her disease. Even during this time and until the very last moment has she stood for the care of her family. Sooner then we had expected, she passed away in the morning of Januari 23rd

In Loving Memory

Basia Konkel
12 October 1951 — 23 Januari 2011

Our Center of Gravity

Webb’s Spider-Man, A Non-Reboot Reboot

Ben — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:05:13 +0000

Well it seems like things are starting to get into gear for this movie on the promotional end.
This weeks Entertainment Weekly has an article revealing some of the new details that most of us already knew.

One of the main things that has grabbed my attention about this movie thus far is the fact that Mark Webb and Marvel
have been claiming that this movie is not a reboot. Apparently this movie takes place somewhere within the timeline that Peter Parker is still in High-School and dealing with his new found spidey-isseus while balancing that with the bullying of Flash Thompson.

It might take some getting used to, the fact that this Spiderman movie is different in so many ways yet claiming not be a reboot.I have to admit, even though the original trilogy wasn’t bad I thought tobey and Kirsten and some other fodder character were poorly cast and that some of these characters were dramaticized to a way to far extent of their persona.

But spidey’s going back to school, and so is Webb with his take on the story which is likely to be more true to the true marvel origin. So considering that this is not a reboot, that would make this installment the fourth in the series. Does this movie then count as a prequel???

If so some weird things happened within this time-line.
Let’s have a look shall we?

Spidey is now apparenty Attending Midtown Science High School a.k.a. MSHS.
I find it odd that a boy such as peter with the looks, wardrobe and haircut of mister Andrew Garfield still ends up being a the outcast geek nerd on a Highschool which specialises in science.

This is where he meets his first true love intrest, a character who will truly define the character of peter parker in events to come, the lovely and blond Gwen Stacy. Gwen is portrayed however by the Redheaded Emma Stone (They cast a blond to play redheaded MJ in the original three) a recast, since we already got introduced to Gwen as a new character in Spiderman 3, where she was portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard. And according to that mythology, Peter and Gwen had met at university after his relationship with Mary Jane had started.

And guess what??? Uncle Ben still lives!!!! Poor Martin Sheen, his nephew is a masked wrestler with pubecent problems and his chances to be in any follow-up movies are slim. Why did daddy Sheen’s agent get him a role where the character is worth much more to story and the hero dead, then he is alive. Oh well, At least we have some “you’re body is going through some changes” jokes to look forward to again.

His big enemy this time around is the Lizard. His beloved science teacher Dr. Curt Conners. Wasn’t he also his University Science Teacher in the original 3? Guy with no arm? Guess he made a promotion. What bugs me though is that in these 3 original movies, not once is there a mention that the Doc turned into a humanoid rampaging Lizard. All us Comic-Scholars ofcourse understood that this character was an easter egg in the Raimi movies. But after their big battle in the prequel no-one remembers it afterward?

And now comes the most odd thing about this Non-Reboot Prequel.
Spiderman has mechanical webshooters. Didn’t tobey’s spiderbite give him organic webshooters?
Not that I mind, it’s more close to the roots of our true friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Now he only just needs to work on perfecting that outfit until we get our beloved outfit back.

With all this ranting said and done. I would like to point you out to the fact that this is my first real blog post.
I had fun writing it. And maybe… Just maybe, I’ll end up enjoying this blogging

I gotta though,
My princess is in another castle!

Ben

Pictures Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly

Mobile Blogging

Ben — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:23:57 +0000

Well since this is my first real attempt at blogging I decided to check out some apps on the AppStore that supported wordpress.

I always like apps straight from the source instead of thirdparty developer apps, so I was happy to find out that WP had it’s very own app.

Now let’s get some blogging done

The Dark Knight Rises

Ben — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:02:25 +0000

With only two images for “The Dark Knight Rises” released so far it already promises to be a dark and gritty spectacle.

Nolan delivers with this intelligent bat design within a crumbling city.

Can’t Wait for the trailer

Typography: Blink 182 – Online Songs

Ben — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:58:27 +0000

Kinetic Typography rarely needs an explanation. In the case of this awesome Blink 182 song I intend to uphold that tradition.

Have Fun

R.U.N. – Runner Unit Nero

Ben — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:51:32 +0000

In the near end of the 21st century the primitive collective mind of the human race has finally faced the innevitable.
It destroyed the civilization we had embraced and left us without any stable form of law.

There are those who call it their ultimate freedom….

…Others call it hell

Glamour Retouching – Megan Fox

Ben — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:44:40 +0000

Even beauty needs a little help some times, here I show off my skill in photo-retouching a.k.a. Glamour-Retouché.

I try to keep skin texture in tact but wisp away imperfections. I find this make the work more believable to the viewer as opposed to a skin that almost glows and reflects because of over-retouching