Sci-Fi Goodness

[icepixie]

Squonk Opera's Astrorama looks so, so cool. I'm tempted to buy the DVD, and I would totally go see it if it came anywhere near here. (Check out the videos! The whole story overview is worthwhile, and of the three full-length numbers, "Searching" is by far my favorite. So pretty.) Ooooh, if I do buy the DVD, maybe I could use it for my sci-fi class! *contemplates*

If you go to the archives, you can see a video from a musical they did based on Dante's Inferno set in Centralia, Pennsylvania (the town with the mine fire underground). I think I'm in love.

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Inferno?

In CENTRALIA???

That is either the most brilliant idea I've ever heard, or the stupidest. I doubt there's any in between. (I also doubt that standing on the ground in Centralia will melt your shoes. I doubt it quite strongly since I've been there, and it didn't.) They're also characterizing the town like it's still a viable community, which it's not. It's a ghost town, with roads over the worst of the fire damage blocked off because the state finally concluded that paving over the cracks time and again wasn't actually solving the problem. But they are right about the trees turning to ash (remarkably, still tree-shaped and upright--they burn up from the inside out and believe me, there's little freakier than the sight of an ash-white tree with autumn leaves hanging off it, or giant cracks in the road and the hillside with smoke pouring out of them).

If they really wanted to scare the snot out of people, they'd be better off getting rid of melting shoes and going with "a place where your grandchild can disappear into a cavern of fire that wasn't in the middle of your backyard five minutes ago," which is more shocking and also has the advantage of being true. That was the event that finally made people, including the state, sit up and say, "Hey, living here? Not really so good for your health. Might be time to move."

Sorry. Centralia always sets me off. I'm intrigued, though, I gotta say...

[icepixie]

That is either the most brilliant idea I've ever heard, or the stupidest. I doubt there's any in between.

Heh heh. Given the clips on the website, I'll have to go with "brilliant."

As far as the semi-unrealistic depiction of the town...well, all I can say is "artistic license." :D They're from Pittsburgh, so I imagine the deviations from reality are deliberate and not just a result of being uninformed.

I just bought the Astro-rama DVD, and apparently at the moment they're giving away a free CD of the Inferno songs along with it, so I may be able to give a somewhat more detailed description later this week...