The Legendary Actor - Chapter 51

The three-minute video was soon over, and William himself settled down in his chair, yet it was his thoughts that couldn’t settle down at all.

A wonderful emotion stirred in his chest, some loss, some loneliness, some regret.

“I won’t be late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life

And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I’ll be on time”

The words, like poetry, softly struck the heart. They reverberated in the depths of the soul like a drumbeat, and the suffocating sorrow spread slowly.

Each of us is a Cleopatra, in the script written by God, wearing a costume, playing a role in the eyes of others, becoming a supporting character in someone else’s story, but gradually losing ourselves, forgetting the original shape of ours. As a result, we have missed our dreams, our freedom, and the love of our lives, and we have stood there in dismay, letting our regrets gnaw at our hearts. Still might be wanting to make some changes, shaking our fists, but eventually letting go. Not sure how long one can go on doing this.

Somehow, William’s eyes got wet, but the corners of his mouth curved in a shallow curve, and the mixture of crying and laughing was so absurd, but so real.

Before his brain reacted, William clicked the play button again, and then leaned back quietly, absentmindedly looking at the computer screen, just enjoying the performance, as if his fingertips could touch the floating shadow of time flowing, magnificent, yet delicate and graceful. The flying musical notes, fluttering their wings, landed lightly on his shoulders, somewhat fearing that they might disturb the lonesome nature of his thoughts.

The video ended, William still sat quietly, on the screen Renly was holding the guitar, with a wisp of a calm and easy smile on his lips, fingertips resting on the strings, the lazy orange light seemed incomparably warm, even the time became unreal.

“Do you think …” came the voice of Graham, who paused hesitantly for a moment, “Do you think, it’s young master speaking out his mind?”

William was stunned, and suddenly smiled in delight, thinking that Graham had captured that charm accurately, but it was fleeting, and he shook his head firmly, “No, it should be said that Renly did have the young master’s shadow, but it was much more than that, his temperament …” William tried to find the right words to describe it, but found the language so pale that the words could only stop here, “It is just not the same!”

He couldn’t tell if he liked the song because of Renly or if he liked Renly more and more because of the song, but he was sure that tonight’s “The Pacific” had indeed brought new discoveries indeed.

“Who the hell do you think just sang that song?” William inquired curiously about the song, which had the power to move the heart and make one want to sink into it, savoring every note, every word.

Graham shrugged his shoulders, “Isn’t there a name for it? Just search and see.” Seeing William open Google and ready to search, Graham stopped him, “”Cleopatra” is the name of Cleopatra, you can’t search it directly, go to Amazon or iTunes and search for it.”

While watching William get busy, Graham thought of something else, “No wonder this video just didn’t get many hits, it’s a ballad.”

Right now in 2010, even the country market is shrinking further, not to mention the genres of jazz, soul, bluegrass, and folk. Look at the Billboard singles chart now, and country is still a huge dominant force, with fifteen or even twenty of the top one hundred songs on the chart being country. But the highest ranking may be not higher than twentieth and winning the top is almost impossible.

So, there is no market for folk songs at all. Renly put this video on YouTube, and in the blink of an eye it was flooded with video streams, so how could anyone find it.

“Found it!” William made a sound of surprise, “It’s actually Renly’s own original!” William points to the single on iTunes, and the profile says very clearly, “Lyrics, Renly Hall; Composition, Renly Hall; Arrangement, Vacant.” This was clearly a single recorded by the independent musician himself, without even being arranged by a sound engineer.

Without hesitation, William paid 99 cents for the download. He was so excited that he started rubbing his palms together, but was still unable to express his excitement, “I’m going to share it, share it with the rest of the post.”

Quickly back to the Yahoo community post, just now the page count was just more than 800, yet in the blink of an eye it had already exceeded 2,000. The rate of increase was really frightening. This can be attributed to tonight’s “The Pacific” premiere triggering the heated discussions.

The first thing that William did was to open a separate post, “”The Pacific” – young master: Renly Hall”, and then briefly described his findings in the post, and attached a link to the video on YouTube. The post was sent out which immediately made the duo satisfied.

Surprisingly, people actually joined the discussion just after the post was published.

“I was just searching for this young master’s information, but I didn’t expect it to be here!”

“This is the young master who couldn’t join the army because of a heart problem, right? His eyes are so beautiful, a look and a smile are all heart wrenching, it’s so rare!”

“Oh my God, oh my God! Finally some info!”

“He can even sing? What the hell? So is he a singer or an actor?”

“There’s nothing on the Internet about this new guy. Where did he come from?”

“Does he have any backing? Did both Hanks and Spielberg praise him at the premiere yesterday? Is he a family member of an entertainer?”

“Who? Who are you talking about? Which] young master? Why don’t I remember any of this, are you talking about John Basilone?”

…

The discussion quickly began to spread, and the night of “The Pacific” was just beginning to ferment.

After the first episode of “The Pacific” was aired, it became the hottest topic of discussion for the next seventy-two hours without a doubt.

Even the discussion post about Renly received more than 10,000 comments in just three days, and the heat was really scorching.

However, viewers were more reserved about the launch of “The Pacific”, criticizing the slow pacing, fragmented clues, and the vague theme, especially given the reputation of “Band of Brothers”, which reached a peak after the first episode.

The instant IMDB score is a perfect reflection of this, with nearly 6,000 people rating the episode, leaving “The Pacific” at 7.7 in comparison to 9.5 of “Band of Brothers”. It didn’t even cross 8, which is definitely a sign of Waterloo.

This is only for the first episode, of course, especially the premiere where many people’s impulsive venting reviews are often less objective than what the subject of criticism deserves, and this score is bound to change as the episodes progress.

In contrast to the word-of-mouth, the professional critics’ praise was positive, with 32 media outlets giving an overall rating of 86, which not only equaled the 86 of “Band of Brothers”, but also gave a slight lead in terms of breakdown – 27 media outlets gave positive reviews, five gave mixed reviews, and none gave negative reviews, two fewer than the original rating of “Band of Brothers”.

Time” magazine gave it a perfect score of 100, “This is a brutal and nuanced work that shows incredible depth in its characterization, unlike “Band of Brothers” which had a strong focus on the fate of the community and the lives of its members. “The Pacific” will plunge the audience into the life of each and every soldier: what should they do after returning from the battlefield? The premise being that they come back.”

“The New York Times rated it a 90 out of 100, “This is not a perfect episode, but it is ambitious, taut and slightly jumbled up, though it still shows in a subtle and profound way the grand blueprint for a war that is not just about life and death, but about the torment every soul experiences. The reunion of Spielberg and Hanks reveals their thoughts on the different dimensions of war.”

It’s worth noting that “Entertainment Weekly” focused on the actors.

“Clearly, this is a work about soldiers, and all three leads were chosen with great care. The psychological shock of Robert Leckie, as shown in the first episode, makes one wonder where he will go next. And what will John Basilone and Eugene Sledge experience? Among the three actors’ first appearances, the inexperienced Renly Hall delivers a stunning performance that doesn’t fail to raise expectations.

“Entertainment Weekly” gave the production a rating of 86.

As one can see, the subtle difference in opinion between the audience and the media has drawn more attention to “The Pacific”, and one can’t help but wonder what the rest of the production will be like. Will audience and media perspectives change? Will the three lead actors bring any surprises?

Among them, the name “Renly Hall” was highlighted by Tom and Steven on the night of the premiere, and managed to stand out, although his impact was not obvious at first due to his very limited role in the first episode; but as time went on, the name was mentioned more and more often, and things were going off the rails in a way that even Tom, who was pushing for the acception of Renly, did not expect.

The impact, it has silently arrived!