1. SUPERBAND EP HAS BEEN RELEASED IN SINGAPORE ALSDHKFKHSDLHDSLFHSDKLFHALHSDSAAS. I wasn't expecting this - they talked it up for a late August release in their concert, and then the release date kept getting pushed back, until it was 7 September and I checked a Chinese forum and it apparently still was nowhere to be found, even in Taiwan stores. So I wasn't holding out much hope when I went to Vivocity for a movie today... I even briefly contemplated NOT walking over to the CD store (which are SO HARD TO FIND in Singapore these days, so many of them have shut down!) and just grabbing dinner before my movie instead. I'M SO FUCKING GLAD I DECIDED TO CHECK ANYWAY. Because, OMG SHINY AND NEW:


OBSESSED.

( so much flail and pics under the cut it's obscene, omg )

2. I SHOULD really talk about the important message movie I watched - The Cove - which was really good, although not quite as heart-stoppingly tense as the reviews would have it. I must admit that I came awfully close to wanting to disavow eating sashimi after watching it, because omg those dolphins, wtf. Those final blood-soaked scenes were BRUTAL. But I'm weak and selfish, with no self-control, and I need my regular doses of mercury poisoning, so.

3. Couldn't bring myself to work ALL of yesterday and after spam post, I attended a two-hour meeting (a lot of it completely pointless), which means I am SO EFFED next week... but argh, I am TAKING my weekend off, I don't bloody care. Especially since my boss informed me that I would have to keep working until I drop dead. I think this was said at least PARTLY in jest... one would hope, anyway :P I was going to go to the doctor tomorrow morning and get my ear cleaned out for good, but... I can't TELL if I'm just used to the tinnitus now and don't notice it anymore, or if the problem's cleared itself up. ARGH. I think it's kinda still there, but not as bad as it was earlier in the week? IDK. I'll probably go to the doctor anyway. IF I CAN HAUL MY ASS OUT OF BED.

4. OMG why am I so hungry now even though I had a Carl's Jr burger and fries for dinner. I guess it IS seven hours later. Maybe THAT'S why... OKAY, BEDTIME.

Oh god. I should really really be asleep NOW, because it's 2.30am, I haven't done a lick of productive work in, like, a week, and I need to be at work and focus tomorrow (I always say this), BUT I'M NOT SLEEPY AT ALL. This only means I'm going to be catnapping at my desk again, simply because being awake during the day is just so naturally inimical to my system. Argh, stupid. I have so much WORK to do, and so many other things I have to see - movies, theatre, etc - in the next week and a half that I'm kind of breathless at the thought of it. And yet here I am, predictably trapped in an epic fangirl loop of flail. Very predictable indeed.

I really like it when fandom collisions happen though. There are Disney fans on my flist, surely? ( Oh look, Emil Chau meets Disney! )

That kind of got away from me there. Better go to bed now. At some point: really, Emil Chau (kind of) meets Broadway.

I am six years behind on comments. I WILL REPLY TO THEM. I PROMISE. Maybe. *weeps*

1. I am EPIC late for work - as in, I'm supposed to BE in the office by now - but since I spent a while lounging around in bed and am already late... whatever. ;) I fell dead asleep yesterday early this morning before posting... this, I realise, is the upshot of having a laptop which can be used in a semi-horizontal position, rather than my usual desktop computer which keeps me upright... for better or worse.

2. Anyways. A couple of quick things. I was tagged by irnbruise and alex_kingston for a handwriting meme:

a. Write your LJ username
b. Write your two favorite bands/groups at the moment (not overall, just currently)
c. Write either I ♥ k-pop ; I ♥ j-pop ; I ♥ c-pop (this isn't really for anything, just to see how you draw hearts xD)
d. Write the name of your favorite person of all time (e.g. Yamada Ryosuke)
e. Write down your recently favored person (e.g. G-Dragon)
f. Tag 5 people to do this meme

( pardon the illegibility )

3. Quick fly-by flail: I'm done tracking my audio of the awesome Superband concert. ♥ SO MUCH LOVE. Can't get over its amazing. ( audio and some pro-shot video! )

4. ALSO, JULIA @ BROADWAY JUKEBOX. OMIGOD YOU GUYS. She sang soooo many things, like Unusual Way and LOSING MY MIND (THE LOW NOTES IN THIS ARE SEX, YOU HEAR ME? SEX!!!) but but BUT my favourite? The fact that we finally have a FULL VERSION of her singing I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miz. AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Guys, do you know how obsessed I - and a legion of fangirls, thanks to Mr Rudetsky - am with having her sing that? THIS OBSESSED <-- literally I had spliced together two fifteen-second clips of her singing different parts of the song during interviews so I could pretend to myself I had a full version. AHAHAHAHA NOW I DO. And it is unbelievable. She acts the craaaap out of this. I want to flail more and will probably do so in comments but now I must run. Although I have to add: Julia is doing a show on May 18! XD Possibly not a solo performance, but whatever: this more than ever confirms to me that I need to be back in NY in May, y/y?! OMG. Why is everything falling into place for crazy epic amounts of flail AGAIN?

5. And now I am INSANELY late for work and really REALLY need to get going, ackity ack. OFF I GO.

[ETA: Posting this old entry from a teahouse in Xi Men Ding, after a huge plate of beef fried rice which only confirmed to me that Singapore - with its fanatical health tendencies - has bred the ability to eat copious amounts of MSG out of me. Dude, I CANNOT eat MSG-laden food anymore. Sad. Due to head to the airport in a little under an hour...]

1. It's 2.40am on Sunday morning in Taiwan. This post - clearly - is going to appear somewhat later than that because I am made of so much epic fail that I tried to buy myself wireless internet, SUCCEEDED... and then proceeded to forget to take down the password and info I needed to LOG IN. Of course, this info was pointlessly forwarded to my email account, which I can't access because I'M NOT ONLINE, AM I. Honestly I could easily buy myself another day's worth of internet - it's not expensive at $4 a pop - but I'M PUNISHING MYSELF FOR BEING STUPID. No internet for you, IDIOT.

2. Doesn't mean I can't write an epic long, FLAILY entry to be posted when I finally get back online, though. HAI, CONCERT OF ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF EPIC AWESOME, OMIGOD. LIKE, I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I GOT TO SEE THIS LIVE. But we did it. We were TWO ROWS from the front, and honestly so close to the stage that the performers were real-people-sized. We were SO CLOSE we couldn't even see the huge television screens that the REST of the stadium were watching. ( To remind myself on Monday that life IS worth living... ) One thing I MUST say is that I am super super excited to be seeing them when they eventually make a tour stop in Singapore as well. Because hopefully by then, they'd have figured more things out, written more songs just for Superband, and gelled better as a band. Because that would basically rule my life/universe/everything.

3. WOW GUYS I'VE BEEN TYPING THAT RECAP FOR OVER AN HOUR, WTF. I really should sleep.

4. It's kind of sad that this was our last day in Taiwan though. I have to cop to being super pathetic this trip in the sense that I didn't... go OUT and see more of Taiwan as I should have? Really I dawdled in bed, stayed within a certain small geographic zone and just ate a lot. I've seen a LOT of Taiwan in the culinary sense, and I loved what I saw, but I was a really bad tourist. But... I'm kind of okay with that. What I needed out of this trip, other than Emil!flail, was a BREAK, and I got just that. I got to sleep in and just REST, and... get my brain right again, you know? And be reminded why there really is a lot in this world to love. Besides, this only means I need to come BACK to Taiwan. Next time Emil holds a concert here, maybe... ;)

5. Okay okay. About the rest of the day: the food finally caught up to me and J. *weeps* My stomach protested MIGHTILY once I woke up, and I had to be really careful the rest of the day because I didn't want to spend most of the concert in the bathroom. So... I think I ate... not very much, compared to the day before anyway. A rice roll for breakfast, some sesame mua chee (SESAME, guys, SESAME), and I shared J's lunch of deep-fried pork steak and sesame-boiled chicken (SO heaty). I had a green tea latte at Starbucks while we stoned at the stadium, since I was freaked out that we might get lost and we wound up spending... way too much time there waiting rather than out shopping. And after that we went back to Shilin and ate teppanyaki as the healthiest option we could find, because even J couldn't bear the thought of oily pork anymore. Buttered/salted/MSG-ed cod, buttered mushrooms and beansprouts... everything with butter, and yet probably healthier than pretty much anything else we'd eaten to date. At least it was fish and vegetables, right? Though... what does that say about us (and Taiwan) that we considered this healthy?

6. Of course, this entry is now hopelessly out-of-date. BUT IT WASN'T WHEN I TYPED IT.

7. Right. It's 4am. No more flailing. Bedtime. Guys... I kind of really DO NOT WANT to go back to Singapore/work. :(

1. I wasn't going to post today but ah, whatever. You can't keep me away for long. Again, I am mildly horrified at my retarded ability to just... bounce back from soul-crushing amounts of work. Honestly I was just about snapped in two yesterday; rewriting an entire draft because, IDK, my subordinates just weren't THINKING hard enough or something, and my brain wasn't working even though I tried to focus and ARGH. I left work at 2230H and met noldoparma for a bitch-session/supper, and went STRAIGHT HOME TO BED. I couldn't even flist or anything I was so tired. Then today I got up early and WORKED and turned in my five-page draft at about noon - up to that point, I was wrapped in about twenty thunderclouds worth of unhappy and grumpy. But once I got it out (and my boss hardly had to work on it beyond a few amended lines here and there), my mood steadily improved.

2. Then I snuck out early - by which I mean, sadly, at 7.45pm - and went book-shopping, which made me a LOT happier. Not that I bought books, since I'm not allowed unless there's a sale. But J and I DID go for epic epic Japanese dinner. Omigod, they're having some kind of special Hokkaido promotion in Sushi Tei, so crabs and scallops are on their promotional menu. We both had deep-fried salmon skin and seared scallops with mushrooms to start, and then each had a bowl of Japanese rice (dusted with sesame seeds) layered over with salmon sashimi, scallops, and snow crabs. ♥ With black sesame ice cream to finish! God. One of the best meals I've had in EVER.

3. OH. We also went to HMV, because clearly paying for a trip to Taiwan - which I've neglected to do but will get around to doing tomorrow, J - isn't enough retail therapy for me. I picked up the Boss' new album, because hai I love Bruce. I'm pretty sure I will not be listening to anyone but Emil for a few days yet, but after that, jukebox_grad, I'm switching to Bruce, I promise. In the meantime, I also bought an old Emil album I seem to have lost and then... came home and made a mix CD of EPIC AWESOME containing my favourites of the songs HE wrote, and not the ones written by other people which became massive hits for him. ♥

4. FINALLY: OMIGOD VIDEO. I love how no one even bothers to stop people from filming in concerts in Singapore. No point in doing so, after a while, since every idiot has their camera out all the time anyway. Thank goodness for that, because video has turned up of Emil's closing song at our concert on Saturday - as I flailed here, he sang Radiant (璀璨), an utterly beautiful, heartbreaking ballad he wrote maybe 16 years ago now, about the sadness and loneliness and desolation that comes over him when the curtain falls and he leaves the stage. And he PROMISED not to cry, but when he segues into You All (你們) at 2:08? God almighty, he starts crying, and can't sing, and then everyone sings FOR HIM and he chokes up even more. Yeah, I was crying too. Fucking EPIC this was. EPIC.



5. I have a zit on my cheek. A BIG ONE. I disapprove. :( I get one every six months or so, something like that, and it's ANNOYING, urgh. I guess I should be glad they don't pop up more often. Still, I'd rather they didn't pop up at all. :P

6. OKAY DONE BEING FRIVOLOUS. Bed so I can work tomorrow. Yuck.

♥. BEST. FUCKING. CONCERT. IN THE UNIVERSE. Yesterday night (I haven't slept yet and it's 6.12 in the morning), my love, my heart, my MAN - EMIL CHAU - came to town as part of his world tour. I have stalked worshipped this guy and his voice for FIFTEEN YEARS, guys. FIFTEEN YEARS OF FANDOM AND FLAIL. I've seen him probably about ten times live, if not more, and HE KILLS ME EVERY TIME. But today, today: he got onstage, and barely got off for FOUR GLORIOUS HOURS. Literally it was him, singing, bantering, rocking OUT and being generally AMAZING for a full three hours and fifty-five minutes. CAN WE SAY STAMINA? ASLDHKASLDHALSHDASDLASDA.


♥ ♥ ♥
( SO MUCH FLAIL OMG OMG OMG!!! )

2. Oh god. I'm SO GLAD J and I get to see him again in exactly just under a month, in Taiwan this time, playing alongside a bunch of other incredibly talented people. I'm not sure anything could top this experience for sheer vocal awesomeness and amazing. But YAY for seeing him live again. How could I NOT see him every chance I can get? And how did I survive without seeing him live for the three years I was in university? WHO NEEDS A COLLEGE DEGREE ANYWAY. (Oh wait, I do...)

3. Man I am WIPED. Such an emotional day - other than Concert Of Epic Win, I also watched The Reader. Which I KNOW wasn't really much as a film: the script wasn't brilliant, the directing not especially outstanding... but I was pretty shattered by it nonetheless. I was weeping big-time at the end (why am I such a wimp?) - I think because Kate Winslet freakin' ROCKED her role and I just identify with people who like reading. Or something. *cries* I have learnt two things from this movie though: Kate = AWESOME; and there is NO UNIVERSE in which her role is a supporting one.

4. FOOD. Met SC and J for a quick dinner before concert, which was rushed through because literally we hit every traffic light on the way over. I had... a yummy French onion soup laden down with bread and cheese, and a vegetable casserole (I really DON'T like baked beans, fyi). Oh, and then because concert drained us and we were hungry and thirsty, J and I stopped for Taiwanese porridge on the way home. ♥

5. Oh goodness I just turned around and looked out and the SUN IS UP. It's 8.07am. I've been typing and tracking for very close to four hours now. *weeps* I'm going to finish up and set the 24,563MB audio to upload while I sleep.

6. BEST. CONCERT. EVER. JUST HAD TO SAY THAT AGAIN. ASDKLHALHDLAHDLASHDLHLFHLASDHLASDAS.

1. Oh goodness, I'm sleepy. I was sleepy at 10pm, wtf. It's my version of jetlag, I guess - though not quite. If I had had adequate amounts of sleep over the last couple of nights after getting home, I'd be fine. But I keep... lingering online, predictably, which means I've spent the last two days functioning on four and seven hours of sleep respectively. Fail. I'm gonna crash after this (for serious), since it's back to work in a matter of hours. BLERGH DO NOT WANT.

2. And that's CNY over for another year - well, the festivities go on for a couple of weeks yet, but the main part of it, with the food and money and visiting relatives, is over now. There was a massive party at my house tonight, and I spent most of it bonding with my computer. Honestly? People annoy me so much sometimes. Also, my brother took back the laptop he 'gave' me as his new one is, for some reason, worse than this one. Urgh. I was looking forward to multi-tasking by using it while watching TV. I GUESS NOT, NOW. Sigh.

3. Since on occasion most of the time I'd much rather spend time flailing than with people, I plunged straight back into icon-making (visual representations of my fandoms ftw!), and that's what I've been doing all afternoon. Made a ton of Meryl ones, catching up on the stuff I missed while on vacation. I decided to post all my Falling In Love icons because I don't think anicons are gonna happen as I originally intended. I'm too lazy. (Aren't Meryl and Robert De Niro ridiculously hot together though?) I'm also saving up icons for a bigger Broadway batch - I've quite a few (slashy) Wonderettes icons, and I made ten Gypsy icons because hai, photo diary of closing night! Awesome. Also, it makes me a tiny bit less terrified of Patti to see her just waking up, or to see her sprawled on her dressing room floor (presumably stretching, though for a moment I thought she had fainted and was horrified that the photographer was busy taking pictures instead of HELPING her).

4. BTW, this POSSIBLE guest star for 30 Rock? FUCKING ROCKS MY UNIVERSE. YES PLZ. If this happens, I think my brain might very possibly break into a million teeny tiny pieces, and each piece would melt from the awesome. I'M PRETTY SURE I'M NOT EXAGGERATING THERE.

5. If any of you guys happen to be bored, I've some music to flail over. ( videos under the cut )

6. OMIGOD I NEED TO WATCH A MOVIE, GUYS. I haven't watched one in two weeks, I think. Can we say withdrawal?! I didn't watch anything on the flight(s) back since I was addicted to Tetris (yes, I fail hardcore). But! There'll be Doubt this weekend (CAN WE SAY MEGA ULTRA EXCITED?!), and a bunch of other Oscar movies to catch up on. I have a feeling I'll be watching three shows a day on the weekend. Oddly enough, I'm totally fine with that. :D

7. Is Photobucket being a mega-bitch for anyone else? I managed to upload my Meryl icons before the site stopped functioning normally, but man, is it ever being a pain right now. Grrr.

8. The prospect of being at work in seven hours or so makes my heart very very sad indeed. :(

1. It kind of sucks MAJORLY that I am actually sicker today than I was yesterday. I know I was JUST starting on the illness on Monday, but I was hoping that the meds would be able to help somewhat in preventing everything from going completely wrong. Well... no. Very much no. This is the most tenacious bug in the history of the universe - I pop the antiobiotics (theoretically for 12-hour stretches since I have to take one twice a day) and barely 4-5 hours later, the green gunk is BACK. I'm SO stuffed-up, although the cough isn't too bad, and I have illness aches. Like, my back, and my head at times, and blargh. I was NOWHERE near this ill in December. I guess this is my body's way of going: I warned you in December, didn't I? I CAME BACK ONCE. Well you didn't fix me then. TIME TO DIE.

2. To that end, I spent almost the whole day asleep. Got up at almost noon for lunch and meds, spent an hour trying to figure out a stupid Taiwanese website to buy tickets, watched one episode of Desperate Housewives (WHY IS IT KICKING SO MUCH ASS THIS SEASON??), and fell dead asleep again. Then I got up to go get a new ATM card (the kind that will allow me to draw money overseas, essential for upcoming NYC trip), and came home and fell asleep AGAIN. Proof that I'm really sick? I just got my hands on my brother's old laptop, which means I'm finally typing in the comfort of my bed - and I'm going to finish this post and just go to sleep, because, urgh. Sick.

3. Bright spot of the day: noldoparma and I have Superband tickets! For 7 March 09. TAIWAN HERE WE COME. XD Omigod. Second-row seats in the centre block, though not dead centre as, by the time I figured out the website and its archaic log-in requirements, my ORIGINAL, very awesome seats had been snapped up by someone else. Bah. Regardless! This is going to be the year of flail...

4. I really REALLY don't want to go to work tomorrow. But I fear I must as I'm slated for a whole set of interviews in the afternoon which I THOUGHT I could make it for, but I can't imagine trying to stay upright during the entire ordeal and trying to remain civil throughout. I'll see how I feel when I get up at 7+ in the morning, I guess. Bah humbug.

5. Finally - noldoparma mocked me for taking ages to write a post, as I had said I would post and then go to bed. She's right. The reason it took me so long this time, however, was because I decided to snag an icon meme from fiddlings. I'm pretty sure I've done this in some form or other before, but this one has a handy icon table and is FUN. ( musings on my icons )

6. ARGH, WHY SO SICK. Going to collapse into bed now, sigh.

1. And so ends my weekend of EPIC FLAIL. Soon to be followed by a FORTNIGHT of EPIC FLAIL in NYC. Heh.

2. Mayday concert tonight was AMAZING. SERIOUSLY. Every time I see these guys live, I fall in love with them all over again - even if they made me work REALLY HARD for that. As mentioned here, when I went for a full-fledged concert in April last year, attending a concert by these guys is like a CARDIO WORKOUT. Even if you have assigned seating, it doesn't matter - you're on your feet for pretty much three hours, jumping and flailing even through the tender, sweet ballads. So the concert organisers for Sunday's event clearly decided - why bother with SEATS. Everyone who had tickets was just herded into Stadium Green, which is a large expanse of grass right next to the Singapore River. And so tonight, probably a few thousand people rocked out to Mayday (oh, 阿信, how I LOVE YOUR VOICE), beneath a cloudless, moon-lit sky, yelling like crazy people so everyone for miles around could hear. EPIC. ♥

3. Am tracking my audio now - SO amusing, OMG. The quality is actually really good, considering that the concert was outdoors and EVERYONE was singing along like it was a communal karaoke session (that's probably the most FUN part of c-pop concerts, how much PARTICIPATION is expected from the audience... though it makes for less-than-ideal boots). But you can actually HEAR the parts at which I just gave up on a consistently good audio and started jumping around like a mad thing. Hee.

4. Now that I'm planning to see SO many shows and concerts and read and watch movies, I decided to expand my yearly list to include live performances. It's only four days into the new year and I'm off to a pretty good start already! :D This is gonna be an EPIC year for flail. EPIC.

5. OH. I also got my hair cut. And coloured, and styled. FOR FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. Omigod. FAIL. I look like... a China doll or something. I now have a fringe, it's bright red (AGAIN), and... it's CURLED? *weeps* I'm sure at SOME point I should have stopped taking my hairdresser's advice - just as her assistant was about to dump all the brown (it's SUPPOSED to be brown) dye on my head, I had a moment of going... errr, the permed hair is QUITE enough of a difference, thanks. (What even possessed me to say yes to THAT, in the first place?!) And then I chickened out because the dye had already been prepared. And then I just had to suffer through it, because omigod it took AGES to get it all into my hair and then it HURT and made me feel sick. Yuck. And now it's RED. *weeps some more* I'm sure the colour will even out after I wash it a couple more times. BUT. Remind me - next time I get my hair cut, I'm going to stay away from colouring for a while.

6. Finished reading City of Stars. SO OBSESSED with this series, omigod. It's EPIC. From a parallel Venice to a parallel Siena, with winged horses, horse races, and just an AMAZING expansion of the universe from the first book. LOVE.

7. And I think I'm... falling sick again? As in, back into the illness I had all of December? Maybe it's just the lack of sleep from today coupled with the crazy cardio workout. But I'm snuffly, my throat is scratchy and ARGH. NO WAY. Not before NYC. How incredibly SUCKY would that be, seriously.

8. I should SLEEP, obviously, to try and avoid illness. But but but. I'm almost done with audio! Except I just screwed up and have to reload the entire file to fix it. ARGH. Why do I fail SO HARD.

1. MY WORK IS MADE OF FAIL. LET ME TELL YOU HOW:

a. Just found out today that I'm going to have to work on the first day of the new year. Yes, JANUARY 1, 2009. I will be in the office. BY MYSELF. I'm pretty sure about this, as my boss wants a draft to reach her by Friday, and I have to clear the damn thing, and the person who has to write it... well, hasn't started RESEARCH yet. God. I like how I already know 2009 is getting off to a drastically bad start, and it's not even 2009 yet. If I took this as an omen of how the next year is going to be, I think I might cry.

b. I just got sent a notification that I have another e-learning course that I have to complete on my own time. BEFORE the new year. WTF. HATE TIMES A MILLION.

2. I shouldn't complain, I guess, as I've spent the better part of the last three months skiving off at work - I do SOME work, I do, but honestly I spend so much of the day now just sitting around sleeping or trying not to fall asleep. FAIL. Still. What a way to end/start a year, huh? Sucky.

3. AT LEAST THERE'S NEW YORK.

4. At least there's LOTS AND LOTS OF FLAIL, I should say. So much awesome coming up - I'll be seeing the touring production of Cinderella, with LEA SALONGA, EEK!!, on Saturday night. And if things work out, I should be watching MAYDAY in a mini promotional concert on Sunday. And then I just need to live through the crap of another five days at work, before it's on to two glorious weeks in NYC/DC. Where I will be completely, epically theatred out. Then, when I get home, Chinese New Year, Doubt opening in cinemas and EMIL CONCERT all happen in rapid succession. Can we say A++++++++ awesome?!?

5. I shall cling to everything in point #4 and try not to weep to my sad self as I trudge into work on Jan 1. BAH.

6. Except, I HATE stupid eBay traders who do not answer their emails quickly. Fuckity. The Mayday concert on Sunday is a free gig, and noldoparma and I got lazy and couldn't be bothered to go line up for tickets yesterday. Instead, we're acting like salaried adults and have been stalking eBay. Well, I FOUND this guy with TWO auctions - two tickets each - at a respectable price, and exercised the buy-it-now option. Except I'm pretty certain this idiot of a seller is new to eBay and might have put up two auctions by accident. And he's not ANSWERING me on that so I can go and buy other tickets if I have to, dammit. GRARGH. Everyone please send me good auction karma??

7. Omigod, Twilight Watch AKLHFOAHSDLADHASLDHAS. SO. EPIC. I've ripped through, like, over 200 pages today, in between work and whatever, and I LOVE IT. It's tipping into historical fantasy fiction now, bringing in the creation and crumbling of the Soviet state into the entire narrative/universe, and OMIGOD. Pop cult fantasy vampire fiction at its most awesome. XD

8. I shall go read some more, and also maybe watch 30 Rock, before bed. I have resolved to slack off and enjoy life until Jan 1, when I have to put my nose to the grindstone. STUPID JOB. URGH.

1. So I wasn't going to post today as I've flailed QUITE enough over the last week. But WHO AM I KIDDING. SERIOUSLY. Just WHO do you think you're kidding, self?

2. Let me say it now: I LOVE THE CHINESE. 我愛中國人啊!!! Aside from the cracktasticness that is tudou.com, noldoparma and I - both of whom are now hopelessly hooked again on old-school Chinese pop - were directed towards some insane Emil fan's ENTIRE ONLINE ARCHIVE of bootlegs and audios. OMIGOD YES PLZ. YES PLZ TIMES ONE MILLION BILLION AMOUNTS OF AWESOME. I've spent the better part of the last five hours testing the limits of my computer by downloading songs, listening to them and obsessively renaming etc for my archive. I am a happy, HAPPY camper. Because I now have, like, over 100 new Emil live performances, with him belting the crap out of Your Song in particular, which was... like, a religious experience. ♥ ♥ ♥

3. All this, of course, AFTER an epic dinner out with noldoparma, when we spent the entire time recounting... erm, videos we had both watched (which is kind of sad, no??), and just flailing over how epic and GENIUS Emil and Jonathan Lee and ALL the old-school Chinese pop singers are. My god. All that flailing over a HUGE pile of truffle fries (so gorgeous-tasting, why would anyone want normal fries ever?), scallops... and I had this mushroom ragout thing that was okay, and J had duck. THEN we went for dessert and shared a lemon tart. Because we're not at all like pigs that way. *weeps*

4. It's also been an EPIC MERYL DAY. :D I bought the Mamma Mia DVD at Borders today, so that can go in a matched set with my special edition of the CD and I'll NOT watch the movie for the billionth time this weekend. (Yeah, right.) Then I get home, and discover that my Amazon order has arrived, with a clutch of rare(r) Meryl movies, all ready for me to watch/discover/savour. YAY. AND THEN. ( Why I really want to grow up to be Meryl Streep )

5. And as if THAT wasn't enough, we have the MOST adorable Julia interview in ages. She would be SUCH a fierce Mrs Walker, OMG. I've never wanted to visit Oklahoma more than I do now. :P Also, too many too many things of awesome happening in March. *weeps* Fly to NYC for Julia concert and 9 to 5, and then to Taiwan for Emil concert? WHERE WILL ALL THE MONEY TO FEED MY INSANITY COME FROM? I also feel the need now to hunt down that random Muppets Christmas album Julia mentions. I wonder if she'll sing anything from that in Toronto?! :P

6. Illness had abated, kind of, during the day - I guess the magic antibiotics helped a bit, though I was not too happy that I couldn't take my cough meds as they would make me drowsy... and I certainly didn't need any help with that. Well, cough is resurfacing again, right now, as it tends to do at night, boo. Do not want. So I'm going to... stop downloading EPIC MUSIC CRACK and go sleep it off. At 6am in the morning. GO ME. :P

( I JUST POSTED BUT EMIL SINGING 至少還有你 FUCK FUCK FUCK )

noldoparma, I don't think my heart can take this much awesome. *cries*

Everyone else should... feel free to ignore me while I try to scrape my brain and heart back into place.

1. SICK DAY. I woke up all stuffed-up, coughing out green gunk and just... could not reconcile myself to the thought of spending the day at work. So I went back to sleep, and then visited the doctor again. This doctor is SO unsympathetic - one day medical leave even though your antibiotics didn't work out the first time round? NICE. :P He stuck something up my nose, marvelled at how red and swollen it still was, declared that I had sinusitis, and then asked me if I was a smoker. THANKS FOR THAT. Anyway. Am now in possession of a fresh course of antibiotics and hopefully I'll be on the mend soon. Am actually feeling a lot better tonight than I was in the morning, so that's good?

2. I'm all done with the happy meme, but you know what would've made me happy today? Meryl got TWO Golden Globe nominations! She is now - officially - the most nominated actress in Golden Globe history. :D I'm sorry, Jack Lemmon, for I do love you muchly. BUT. Meryl! She's now at 23 nominations... and counting, I'm sure. :D

3. In celebration, I bring you what is possibly one of my favourite Meryl songs ever - and no, it's not from Mamma Mia. :P She sings a gorgeous gorgeous version of this Celtic lullaby: Gartan Mother's Lullaby (lyrics). Can I just say that she sounds absolutely AMAZING on this?! LIKE, AIEEEEE LEVELS OF AMAZING. The song is #15 on my top 25 in iTunes - yes, in among all the Julia songs. It's made of THAT MUCH AWESOME.

4. I fail hardcore at watching House. I blame it on tudou and the fact that Emil Chau holds the record for the most number of concerts performed by a Chinese singer ever (over 200 and counting) and has been on every variety show known to man. I CAN'T STOP WATCHING VIDEOS. *cries*

5. In that spirit, omigod. noldoparma, you're gonna love me. I found this video two years ago and DIED watching it, but it was unceremoniously removed and I couldn't find for the life of me find it again. HAI TUDOU ILU = FOUND IT. Emil jamming with Mayday! He sings a bit of Knockin' On Heaven's Door, and then a nice long stretch of What A Wonderful World. ♥ ♥ ♥



6. Finally, bedtime for me. One day of work to get through, and then the weekend. YES PLZ.

1. Merde. And if my French accent wasn't good enough: SHIT. WTFUCKERY IS THIS. I am sick again, indeed and for certain. Fail fail fail. A cough is... on the brink of happening. It WILL happen properly, I suspect, the next time I wake up. Stupid illness of stupid FAIL. And I can't go to the doctor tomorrow, probably - since my boss is busy all day and I need to... sit at my desk and pretend to take charge of things in her absence. Yuck.

2. That being said, I am not entirely unhappy today. I am kind of gross because I eschewed showering in favour of watching videos (WHAT - I got stuck on a loop and then it was too late and I figured I should shower before work so I could stay awake). GOOD THING I HAD AWESOME VIDEO CRACK TO ENTERTAIN ME.

3. Meryl was just on Good Morning America promoting Doubt! :D



( Yes I was - but now everything's CHANGED )


4. And then I stumbled across someone's tudou playlist of incredibly INSANELY AWESOME, HAPPY-MAKING EMIL VIDEOS. ( SERIOUSLY. )

5. And so my life is shiny and complete, even if I haven't showered and I have to go to work and I'm sick. Doesn't take much, does it, it really REALLY doesn't.

6. It's a good day. We put a paper out at work, there's new House for me to download when I get home, and I have video crack. ♥ Fun times.

1. This is the Elphaba cold from HELL is what it is. Again, no fever or cough or sore throat - thank goodness for that - but apparently the meds have not helped any. Not so far anyway: I got up at 8 in the morning and again now (about 2pm) and I'm still all gunked-up with green stuff. Yuck. If you haven't figured it out yet, I skipped out on work AGAIN. This time taking my own time off, because I can't be bothered to go back to the doctor and tell him that he could just as easily have given me TWO days off as one. Idiot. I mean, he stuck SOMETHING up my nose yesterday and marvelled at how gross and blocked-up it was. Didn't he think it'd take a little longer than a day to rest AND unblock it?! Twit.

2. So I have just TEARED like crazy from the cold and I think I'm going to... well, I'd go get lunch because my grandma made this vile thing with melon that I don't WANT to eat, except I'm not hungry so maybe I'll just lie in bed and watch more tv.

3. Which is basically what I did YESTERDAY, since my computer stopped working for a while. (It also died on me early this morning just after I tracked stuff, piece of junk, except Firefox retained the entry I was working on - what's the POINT, Firefox!?) Oh, so I can ramble on about catching up on Season 4 of Desperate Housewives and also Pushing Daisies... (basically whatever was in my external HD that was NOT Last Resort *grumps*): ( some rambling ) Oh, and also House - that boring episode before Last Resort that was about, IDK, Foreman. And Kutner. And their issues. BORING.

4. I also spent a lot of last night tracking my 3-hour concert audio of awesome. And I still cannot GET OVER how freakity frakkity AMAZING it was. Like, WHAT THE CRAP IS THIS. Seriously. It's the most amazing thing EVER, with so many talented people, and my audio!! ♥ SO GOOD. Aside from the fact that it picks up people TALKING REALLY LOUDLY, which is still totally bearable. Otherwise, it's crystal clear and FABULOUS. I love it. ARGH.

5. Okay, I'm snuffling up a storm and crying a little bit. Sucky. Off to pop some more pills and lie in bed watching tv. I really wish the doctor had been kind enough to give me TWO days off, especially since I actually feel worse today than I did yesterday, but I guess he thinks the meds will take care of whatever ails me. Boo.

1. Happy birthday, dividingday! Hope you have a marvellous day. :D

2. Dude, LJ, why are you so fucked up? What is with the seriously fugly and stripped-down posting/commenting options these days?

3. Omigod SO ILL. It's one of those maddeningly slow illnesses - the annoying creeper version rather than the kind that just explode all over you - so I woke up on Saturday (at 5pm, go me!) with a slightly worse cold and cough, my voice a little bit gone. Thankfully I didn't sniffle at all throughout the show (so my audio should be clean). And I get up this afternoon (surprisingly, at 1.30pm!) and I'm done: the snot is green, I'm sneezing, and ARGH.

4. I'm supposed to be meeting a friend of mine from uni (who's now based in Taiwan and brought his wife over here for her birthday weekend), but I'm soooo lazy about it. I can't even pretend to be ill as my plan for today is to go out and catch up on movies since I can't do anything much else.

5. Though, then again, my back aches from the being ill. Yuck. I guess that doesn't matter though, as long as I don't fall asleep during the shows?

6. I got a full tank of petrol for under $70 yesterday. WTF. That's, like, almost a 20% drop in what I USED to pay. \o/

7. I was SO remiss yesterday in posting about the concert I went for. I was catching up on some internet flailing (mainly of the Mamma Mia variety), and then I fell dead asleep. Anyways: I haven't seen Emil Chau live since I started this LJ, so you guys have NO IDEA how scary my flail over him can get. Ahem. In other words, consider this fair warning that what follows is INCREDIBLY self-indulgent and flaily, and so is best kept under a cut: ( WTF IS THAT AMAZING. ONE OF THE BEST CONCERTS I'VE EVER BEEN TO EVER )

8. Anyways, audio will be tracked. Once I get around to tracking Act II of Wicked and STOP listening to this one song over and over again, argh.

9. And then I caught up on everything I've not been reading over at Simply Streep, and AIEEE. Meryl is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly! I HOPE that they're selling both covers and she isn't just on the subscriber's copy or something, because I do NOT want cover with Twilight boy. DO NOT WANT. Must haunt bookstores over the next week. Also, these pretty much made my life: Meryl on Obama and on religion. Can I be this smart and together when I grow up, plz?

10. Man. That took me almost 1.5 hours. O_O I'm going to stop now. :P

1. I swear I'm going to bed soon. My back's all achy from yoga, even though it was technically a doddle of a class. I'm really soooo not motivated to work these days. I spent ALL DAY watching election coverage on CNN, obviously, and THAT made me happy. But did I work? Noooooooo. Sigh. MOTIVATE ME, GUYS. Or not. :P

2. You know how CNN goes on a MASSIVE FOOTAGE LOOP after a while? The coverage of the actual polling didn't, because stuff kept changing, but once Obama was announced as president, it went into a loop. And I think I must've watched Obama and McCain's speeches quite a few times over. Obama's speech was great, but you know what makes me more than a wee bit weepy? These bits of McCain's speech: when he says, "We fought as hard as we could. And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours" and also "This campaign was and will remain the great honour of my life". Awww. :(

3. Also, Proposition 8. WTF, California, WTF. Talk about a reality crash-landing.

4. Okay, no more political blather. Let's have some FLAIL instead. Everyone needs to read this parody of Mamma Mia (the movie), because it is freakin' HILARIOUS, ZOMG. I could easily quote it all day long! Sample:

PIERCE BROSNAN Meryl, you should stop your daughter from getting married. Also, I love you. MERYL STREEP Oh shit, you’re going to sing again aren’t you. PIERCE BROSNAN Yep. (sings) So when you’re near me, darling can’t you hear me, SOS. I literally couldn’t sound less like a human if I tried, SOS. <-- LMAO, FAVOURITE!!!!!!!! MERYL STREEP Oh Pierce. I love you too. (pause) Except I hate you. Asshole. PIERCE BROSNAN This runs in the family, doesn’t it? Isn’t there a psychiatrist on this island anywhere?

5. Whoa, guys. We have an Elphaba for January 2009. She's a TV star... and has also been in Disaster Movie and Meet The Spartans. UM WUT. That is hardly a reassuring set of credentials. *cries* What if she can't sing? She needs to belt the roof off the Gershwin, ARGH.

6. Errrr... at least Ms Murney is keeping busy? I want to go for this Nov 17 Town Hall concert, argh. UNPLUGGED. Julia is awesome unplugged. As is Jeff McCarthy, who is ALSO in the cast. EEEEK. Also, this is my new favourite picture.

7. Finished tracking my Lee Hom audio! :D ( music man )

8. Why so much flail today, world? Clearly I am NOT AT ALL EXCITED ABOUT House/Cuddy spoilers of AWESOME. And how adorable are these photos of the 100th episode party, hmmm? Lisa + cake + Jesse = OT3, y/y? ♥

9. MOAR COMMENTS TO BE ANSWERED TOMORROW. BEDTIME NOOOOW.

1. Oh god, I was the laziest bastard at work EVER today. I don't even KNOW what I was doing. I mean, I read everything I had to and am all caught up from the weekend, which is awesome. But I'm pretty sure I spent at least three hours ASLEEP. FAIL. Not to mention the time I spent spazzing online. You know, THIS is why I still leave work at 10pm even when there isn't work to do. Because I FAIL IN AN EPIC WAY.

2. And I was lazy. I figured I could go for yoga, or a swim, and did none of those things. Instead, I had potato chips and cookies for dinner. WHAT IS THAT. ARGH. Although Sunday's yoga did break me a bit - I'm achier than I have been for a while, possibly because I slacked off on yoga a bit last week. Boo.

3. Man, I am a dork and love tracking, but this Lee Hom concert is loooong. (Also, full of squealing fangirls.) I always forget how spoiled we are by Chinese pop musicians. Their concerts last anything from 2.5 to 3.5 hours! When Gwen Stefani came a few months (was it a year?) ago, and did an eighty-minute set, I was all, like, what is UP with your faily lack of stamina, OMG. :P

4. Eek. While my computer was down, I FAILED and missed out on birthdays! So, happy belated birthdays to girlie_girl_23 and fiddlings!! (BTW, TIFF: watch this video if you haven't already. I LOVE IT when the reporter right at the end tells Meryl she looks 25 and she looks utterly shocked and then goes, "You're so far in the back though!!")

5. I was tagged for a meme by kelbelle - I promise you much LOLZ with one of my answers. Well, it amused ME anyway. ( 15 questions )

6. And now I GOTTA GO TO BED, REALLY REALLY. AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Catching up on comments tomorrow. That's the plan, anyway.

7. P.S. does it make me dorky that I'm thinking of taking the day off on Wednesday so I can watch the US presidential election live? I did that throughout the night back in university for the 2000 election - one of the most fun dork-nights of my life EVER, since I stayed up literally all night in the junior common room in my college and then went straight for an American politics lecture completely ABUZZ with the non-results of the Bush/Gore election and what it all MEANT. And I watched the 2006 midterms from my cubicle (the TV used to be right in front of me). I don't even know WHERE the tv is now that we've moved offices. So yeah. Big dork here was thinking of taking the day off. I DO have to take my car in for servicing too, so I'm not being UTTERLY NERDY here. Still... am a dork. I should... embrace this, yeah?

1. 3.44am for the epic win lose! BUT BUT. WHO NEEDS SLEEP. Tomorrow is our management retreat, so we're... apparently going to eat ourselves silly on a remote island and make sandcastles. OKAY. Anything is better than doing what I usually do on a day-to-day basis, y/y? And surely I don't need to be all THAT alert if we're going to be making sandcastles? Who cares if there's serious discussion slated for the morning! I just... won't contribute, is all. ;)

2. Another good lazy day toyesterday! I need to store these up while I can, OMG. It sucks that I actually feel GUILTY for having had these days off. REALLY sucks. But today - got up to meet a couple of my oldest, best friends for tea (apple smoothie), and then I also went to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Which was... proof that Woody Allen has turned his penchant for neuroses from Manhattan to Europe. I am kind of meh about Scarlett Johansson as his new muse - who is ever going to measure up to Diane Keaton? The answer is NO ONE. However: Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz were really good (Bardem is insanely hot for someone who isn't really all that good-looking and actually makes a very convincing creepy psycho killer). And hey, any movie with Patricia Clarkson in it can't be all bad.

3. I realise with some horror that I might not be able to make my 100-movies-a-year target this year. I was doing SO well earlier this year, but this past three weeks has been SHIT in terms of movie releases - I'm famously undiscerning when it comes to these things, and even I couldn't bring myself to see things like Babylon AD. Good thing I spent all my time watching Mamma Mia instead. :P I think it'll pick up over the next few weeks though - Tropic Thunder is due. Oh, and Burn After Reading! Excited. :D

4. Fandom was also AWESOME to me today. HAI NEW SNL VIDEO OF INCREDIBLE KICKASSERY. The last five seconds were just BEGGING to be iconed, but the whole thing is just genius. I really hope Tina films a guest spot on SNL every week until the elections. That would be hilarious. XD

5. Also! I've been so caught up in musical theatre flail that I've drifted far from Chinese pop. I was worried that I would miss the album releases of my favourite singers - ha ha, shouldn't have worried. Turns out that Jay Chou releasing an album means that my communities just EXPLODE with flail, which is awesome - I've now downloaded the leaked copy of the album, two weeks before it's supposed to hit the stores! Predictably I heart it already. OMG, I just hope this ISN'T a fake copy - it doesn't SOUND like it. But who knows if one or two tracks are by scammers. :\ And then there's Lee Hom's new single! EEEEK. It's a dorky rock song, with such a great Oriental influence. But ZOMG, it's so cheeeeeesy. Hee.

6. Finally, before I take myself to bed at 4am - I was getting caught up on last week's episodes of The Colbert Report, and ARGH. Apparently you can download the Rock Band version of Charlene (I'm Right Behind You) for free?! (OMG, you CAN!) LMAO. THAT IS FRIGGIN' HILARIOUS. Guys. I love this song in an INSANE WAY. It's so funny. Stephen singing a song to the object of his creepy-stalkerness affection. Best music video EVER. WATCH. THIS. RIGHT NOW.

1. Argh, my curiosity got the better of me, and I promised mirime that I would do this mysterious meme she did that somehow included me as one of her answers - but I can't for the life of me answer some of the questions. FAIL. I APOLOGISE. I'll scout down another meme tomorrow and do it in repentance. ;)

2. Hai, Alice Ripley kicks epic amounts of ass. This is a Fact Of Life. Her entire performance at The After Party last week is up on Youtube, so go hunting. This one's my favourite - Alice belting the crap out of Rainbow High from Evita, yay! (And no, I don't listen to Alice and Julia singing the same song on a loop. I DON'T. Well, not yet, anyway...)



3. Ace is such a fun show. I loved the demo when I finally put it on a CD and listened to it in my car a few months back - and whee, the production in DC sounds great! I'd love to be able to see this live. Emily Skinner is excellent, of course, and Jill Paice does a good job as Elizabeth. Plus, bonus: I'd totally forgotten that Julia sang on Missing Pieces in the demo - I love rediscovering old songs!

4. Okay so this is pretty much an entry centred around music flail - medland asked for recommendations and for once I actually didn't pounce and force Julia down someone else's throat. Who's up for some awesome Chinese pop music? JAY CHOU = FTW. ( Follow the cut! )