sigelphoenix

Obligatory Avengers feels post

Tue, 08 May 2012 05:23:26 GMT

I have to say, I'm not entirely sure how I became so obsessively excited about The Avengers. Sure, I grew up on Marvel comics, but they were pretty much entirely X-Men; I knew of Cap and the other Avengers, but sort of ignored them as boring. (Oops.) Partly, I blame Captain America, because the adorable bastard really sucked me into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his movie, when I had previously seen (and greatly enjoyed) the Iron Man movies without dissolving into a puddle of feels.

In addition to that, though, I think a good chunk of my excitement comes from the fact that this is a superhero team movie, and the superhero team genre is my favorite of the comic book medium. Even though I love the Batman books - and even though I'm going to see The Dark Knight Rises and expect that it will be very fun - it's that core dynamic of the disparate personalities coming together as a supportive (if snarky) family who work together to do hero stuff that I really love best. (Of course, the Bat-family has this dynamic, but the Nolan movies are more about Batman-the-dark-angsty-urban-legend-loner.) The Avengers is more about that than any other superhero movie that's come out recently (including X-Men: First Class, I'd say), and it made me feel like it was 2000 and I was squeeing over the first X-Men film again.

So I saw The Avengers at midnight on Friday, and then again on Sunday (with different people! so it's totally justified! :P) and loved the shit out of it. (And have been largely useless since then.)

( Spoilers within (to be safe, assume spoilers for previous MCU movies and speculation about future movies) )

Now that I've gotten all that out of my system, maybe I can finally go back to being functional ... or maybe I'll just go obsessively hunt down news about Iron Man 3/Thor 2/Captain America 2/whatever else they announce next. :P

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Lea Salonga

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 01:06:24 GMT

I got to see Lea Salonga in concert last night, and she was amazing - sassy and gorgeous and in charge of the stage. I just wanted to wrap myself in her voice like a blanket. I have recordings of her that must be 20 years old, and I've been listening to them for over 10, and she just sounds even more vibrant and rich singing live.

The audience was wild about her too - she came out on stage and immediately went to the mike for her opening number ("Feeling Good" from The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, though her rendition sounded more like the Muse cover), but people kept whooping and cheering. Her response was, "It's the tux." XD (And she did indeed look hot in her sleek, black, neckline-down-to-here tuxedo.) Some people came in late, getting led by the usher's flashlight, and when she ribbed them they made a dig at Filipino time. XD

Lea performed numbers from her most iconic roles, like "I'd Give My Life For You" from Miss Saigon, "On My Own" from Les Miserables (which was also her audition piece for Miss Saigon), and "Reflection" from Mulan. And speaking of "Reflection," there was a very enthusiastic audience member who hollered for it while Lea was introducing another song ("Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal," the title song from her first movie, which sadly was the only Tagalog song she performed), and Lea proceeded to sass him about it the entire night. In fact, she said that she needed a volunteer to sing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, and rather than ask for a volunteer she said "Reflection Boy" had to do it.

Well, it turned out that "Reflection Boy" was an actor who had just played Jafar in an Aladdin dinner theater production (I think?), and he was positively giddy to sing with her. He shook her hand when he got on stage, but she insisted he give her a hug so he swept her off her feet in a bear hug. Then, despite his giddiness (and the fact that he didn't know the lyrics that well), he really hammed it up and made Lea burst into laughter mid-song.

Lea did a couple more Broadway numbers at the end: "For Good" from Wicked, dedicated to the audience for changing her for the better; and "Everybody Says Don't" from Anyone Can Whistle, in defiance of the naysayers (such as those who said to her - before she embarked on her 20+ year Broadway career - that she couldn't do it because she's Asian). It was at that point that she mentioned she was sick, to explain why she wouldn't sing "Defying Gravity" ... which kind of blows my mind. I could ... maybe hear where a couple of high notes sounded thin, maybe, but not anything that was anywhere near bad.

It wasn't all Showtunes and Disney, though. At one point she broke out a lounge-y rendition of "Poker Face," which she then finished up at the original Lady Gaga tempo. Then, for her encore, she sang an original song ("The Journey") and then finished up with Cee Lo Green's "Forget You." XD

In conclusion, Lea Salonga is awesome. XD Next month I get to see Kristin Chenoweth in concert, then Idina Menzel in June, so my little musical-loving heart is quite happy.

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New Rurouni Kenshin anime!!1!

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:15:25 GMT

A new, unspecified "anime project" has been green-lit. It's been years since I watched Kenshin, but this takes me back to my teenaged fannish days and fills me with all sorts of nostalgic glee.

Also, I'm linking to this page instead of the original announcement because the poster added a piece of fanart by Julie Dillon, who is awesome, and is also doing the cover for the Royal Archivist universe guidebook, and that's awesome.

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Vacation wooo

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:49:30 GMT

I'm flying to Las Vegas tomorrow for augustphoenix and royalarchivist's wedding! I'm excited but right now it's "finish up last-minute things at the office OMG" time and it's making my head spin ...

But I'm looking forward to it. This is the first honest-to-goodness traveling vacation ratzeo and I have taken together, and we are splurging accordingly. Along with the wedding, we're going to be busy with fancy food (reservations at Le Cirque, yum!) and watching shows (front row seats for Phantom of the Opera and Cirque du Soleil's O, OMG!). All that and a 5-star hotel to come back to each night, whee.

I think it'll be good for me to take a break. Normally around this time of year I take Labor Day week off for a "stay-cation" at home. For various reasons, I didn't do it this year, and I think the lack of rest and recharge time is wearing on me. Not that Vegas is going to be particularly restful; but I think the mental break will do me good. Plus, y'know, I'll be celebrating with friends and watching shows, so that's worlds better than going to work.

I'll leave you with this amazing recipe for coffee cake. It really is awesome. (Just ... do yourself a favor and knock 1/2 cup of sugar from the cake ingredients, and 1/2 stick of butter from the topping. There's no way to make this healthy, but this way you won't feel sick after eating a couple of pieces.)

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Fwee!

Wed, 12 May 2010 06:14:51 GMT

I saw Vienna Teng! And then I met Vienna Teng! And then Vienna Teng signed my CD! And also complimented my Tokidoki purse, which was cool. :D

And I was horribly shy and awkward, which I tend to get ... always, when I meet people whom I admire but do not know. But she and Alex Wong (her co-performer, I guess you would call it - he did backup vocals and instruments, and produces and arranges with her) were very polite. And to my credit, I was not shy and awkward and long-winded, just shy and awkward. When Alex commented on my copy of the CD looking well-worn, I did blurt my story of how I came to see them last year, when the album (Inland Territory) had just come out, and I even had my own fresh new copy; but I assumed she wouldn't be available for signing things so I left it at home and ended up kicking myself ... but since that story took up just enough time for Vienna and Alex to finish autographing the CD, and kept me from staring awkwardly at them, I'm okay with having told it. Even if it wasn't a particularly interesting story. |D;;

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Vienna Teng

Fri, 07 May 2010 20:23:44 GMT

Any other Vienna Teng junkies out there? (If you don't know her, I highly recommend checking her out.) She's releasing a live album on May 17!

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