1. THREE DAYS. CANNOT FATHOM THIS. Even though work is starting to fall in my lap again, and I really should do some of it because so much of it is due to my sitting around doing a whole lot of not much, right now my only concern is to keep from falling ill before I have to take off for the trip. Being barred from entering the US at this point is really NOT at all high on my list of priorities, nope. OMG CAN'T BELIEVE I'LL BE SEEING WONDERETTES IN LESS THAN FIVE DAYS ALSDHSADHASLDSA ♥

2. Also, I find it hard to focus these days because all I want to do is be a huge enormous dork and curl up in a corner with my stash of X-Men comics and devour them like the good little nerd I am. Today I tried to explain to my boss why Wolverine doesn't age and has apparently been through a litany of world wars in the recent past. Nerd extraordinaire, that is indeed me.

3. Cheno is a ball of cute, I just had to say. I love that the pay-off to that interview is a nice, long, glorious stretch of Over The Rainbow. Also, I SEE HER IN CONCERT NEXT MONDAY. \o/ The excitement, it is EVERYWHERE!

4. Speaking of which: native New Yorkers, where is there a good place to snag free internet? Do I have to start living in Starbucks? (Is there even free wireless there?) I have my perfectly portable little netbook, so that's fine, but I still need to know where I can go to get net access... in case the friend I'm living with has maxed out her internet time (entirely possible). I'm also trying to figure out what the weather's gonna be like: I'm sure I can easily buy anything I'm missing, since it isn't the absolute dead of winter this time. But I'm guessing I'll need an umbrella at least...

5. MORE of alphabet meme, I intend to FINISH this before I go to NY!! ( F - em - L )

6. I LEGIT TALK TOO MUCH. How is it 2am already!?!? Okay okay OKAY. Bedtime... if I'm not distracted by comics, that is. XD

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. OMG I HAVEN'T POSTED IN THREE DAYS. WUT. Have you guys missed me? (Don't answer that. :P)

2. Thank god for a weekend of considerably LESS fail than the week that preceded it. I spent it... sleeping, flailing, running errands, and most importantly, did NOT go back to work as I had originally intended to. Which means I'm going to DIE tomorrow, and possibly over the next five days. But at least I got the time off to chill out. I needed that. Really a LOT.

3. Started Saturday off with a late-night supper with noldoparma (what, I left work at midnight, that counts as Saturday, right?!), then ended up sleeping at 7.30am *cries*... but managed to get up to run errands and even go for yoga! Which KICKED MY BUTT. I guess I thought I had hit a point when I COULD handle at least the basic class and not want to completely die during the process... but turns out it REALLY depends on the instructor you get! I was kind of tired (duh), and so I figured I'd go for an easy class - and for some reason, I thought the instructor I had selected was one I'd had before, who was pretty chill during the lesson. WRONG. This guy was INSANE. I wanted to weep DURING the class, and am still hurting from it now. Which is GOOD, I guess. But but. *cries*

4. Then, since there are literally NO movies I actually want to see in cinemas this weekend (Nights In Rodanthe, what?!), I decided to have a nice little TV night all to myself. I brought food home (and OF COURSE proceeded to spill sauce all over my bedsheets, argh!), put Pushing Daisies on... and LOVED IT. Well, what I saw of it, anyway. Because it turns out I was SO TIRED that I fell asleep during the second episode! By the time I woke up it was noon...

5. ... and by the time I woke up AGAIN, it was 4pm! *cries* This time it really WAS just a matter of being completely tired out though. Because I think I drifted off to sleep at about midnight or 1am. Which means I crashed for 14 hours or something?! Certainly I was planning to watch MORE TV (i.e., House, PD), but I DIDN'T. *weeps*

6. Then I woke up. AND OMG TINA FEY. ON SNL. AWESOMENESS. Predictably, there be TINA FEYLIN ICONS. But after that, I watched the OTHER scene on SNL with Palin, and cried/died laughing. ( Amy Poehler KICKS ASS )

7. Also, Sarah Palin in the White House, as linked to me by irnbruise, is a LAUGH RIOT. So much fun to be had by clicking everywhere. Suffice it to say I've spent far too long on this site. Click on the door MORE THAN ONCE, kthx.

8. And hai, guess who ELSE has been busy this weekend? That's right! ( Julia Murney!! ) XD

9. Did anyone else wonder why Cheno's Xmas album was named A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas, but did not feature that song on the album? Bah. Turns out the iTunes version has TWO EXTRA SONGS. I downloaded, of course, and am sharing to spare y'all the full download. ( A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas | The Lord's Prayer )

10. Can I say that Sendspace has been MAJORLY hating on me lately, so y'all should be grateful for my perserverance. It took me ALL this evening to upload Cheno, and all of last night to get Julia/Julie through the servers. (Then I fell asleep and couldn't post yesterday, fail.)

11. FINALLY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, teh_maskmaid!! Hope you have a FABULOUS day, and that the new Cheno tracks add to everything else good that I hope comes your way today! ♥

12. So... you guys think I did good in coming back from my three-day hiatus?! ;) I also spent AGES this evening catching up on my comments, btw. Like, HOURS. *cries* But I'm all caught up and I think I shall go to bed now. Another work week beckons. *sobs*

1. DUDE, I AM SO HUNGRY. SO. HUNGRY. I mean, noldoparma and I had dinner at NYDC, which usually involves HUGE AMOUNTS OF PASTA AND ICE-CREAM MUDPIES, which it did - my baked pasta came with TONS of cheese and Italian ham and mushrooms, and our mudpie supposedly had Bailey's in it (couldn't taste any of the alcohol, wtf). So I shouldn't be hungry? Oh, except that dinner was... maybe eight hours ago now? *cries* But I can't eat or even drink milk because I'm supposed to run to the doctor for a routine blood test tomorrow so I have to fast. ARRRGGH.

2. Why I just don't GO TO BED so I can sleep away the hunger is beyond me.

3. Oh I know. It's a little something called FLAIL. *rolls eyes* Seriously. I ended up watching Meryl's entire interview on Inside The Actor's Studio, which I'm pretty sure I've watched before, but hey. Always good to relive the awesome. This part is my favourite - she talks about how she had a nervous breakdown when her Irish accent coach was on set ALL THE TIME for Dancing At Lughnasa (which, randomly, I kind of half-watched in a Malaysian hotel room a few years ago at 3am in the morning) - 3:28 ftw, "I didn't know why I existed". LMAO. And her bitching about not being able to remember her lines, which she NEVER DID... until menopause hit. XD Also, OMG. IRISH JIG AT 6:10 FOR THE EPIC WIN. Then the QUIZ. I love the quiz. (7:54 for her daughter's favourite word. XD)

4. So I've been trying to restrain myself from going to see Mamma Mia for the FIFTH time in cinemas - and then I discover this! Such a GOOD copy of the movie online, considering that the DVD isn't out yet! SQUEE. Those who haven't seen it can go watch it noooooow.

5. Randomly, I have stupid little zits all over my face because I missed my facial a while back because of work. ARGH. Must my job destroy even my skin!?!? *cries*

6. Watched Burn After Reading today - not one of the Coens' best, I must say. The cast was brilliant though. Especially Brad Pitt. I don't think I've ever seen him been quite so out-and-out spazzy. As a commentary on stupid people doing ridiculously stupid things, I guess the movie worked. But it didn't work quite as well as, say, Fargo, which certainly had that as one of its underlying themes.

7. Then, HMV with noldoparma and her brother! I bought the first season of 30 Rock on DVD, FINALLY. XD And also Falling In Love, because... well, it might be a lesser entry in both their canons, but it's Streep and De Niro. Got to be worth a watch, right?

8. I was talking to alexia88 about XF and the dodgy fanfic I wrote back in the day. Like, from FOWLEY'S POV, ZOMG. See here. I was kind of horrified to realise that I wrote that in 1999. NINE YEARS AGO, OMG! *cries*

9. Finally. I have an icon meme I've been meaning to do. I snagged it from someone but never had time to do it, then passed it to lanafromoz who ended up doing it before I did, WTF. So I have to get caught up:

Look at your userpics list. If you have fewer than twenty icons, post them all. If you have between twenty and fifty icons, pick every fifth one. If you have between fifty and seventy-five icons, pick every seventh one. If you have over seventy-five icons, pick every tenth one.

List them on your journal and tell everyone exactly why you have it, why it's interesting to you, the keywords you use and what significance it has.

( 10,000 words )

10. Phew, that took ages. It's now 5.30 in the morning. O_O I was supposed to yoga tomorrow, but think I'll have to pass, since I have to run to the doctor's, put in a few hours at work, and then I REALLY want to see Alan Rickman in Bottle Shock and I can't imagine watching a 9.30pm show after a 6pm yoga class. D: God. Need to stop being so lazy and sleeping at such faily hours. Never going to happen though. *cries*

1. Omigod. I left work at 2.30 in the morning. I am made of so so so much LOSE. But at least... well, I'm trying anyway... to not go into work this weekend. Surely I can do it?! That was the POINT of staying until 2.30am!! Bah. My work life is about to embark upon an ever more terrifying downward spiral over the next few weeks. I know it. *weeps* I shall try my best to maintain my weekends for flail.

2. Not that I don't flail at work. Because, hai, I think I'm done for - I flailed all day at the prospect of what I'm pretty sure is a NEW OBSESSION.



3. This is a largely music-themed post - when is it ever not - since I snagged a music meme from tamoshan and figured I might as well take the opportunity to resurrect my long-abandoned Friday 5...



4. Also, I was alerted to this by theroomstops: audio clips of Kristin Chenoweth's upcoming Christmas album are up on her official site! Yay! My favourites are her versions of What A Wonderful World, The Christmas Waltz and Do I Hear What I Hear. Oh god, how is it not October already?!?

5. It's the Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore (and across Asia) right now. I don't eat mooncakes - just don't like the taste - but it's always nice to see people wandering the streets with paper lanterns. (I always wonder what would happen if your lantern catches fire. That would be quite sad, no?) Maybe I'll actually see them this year as I do intend to be out having dinner both nights this weekend rather than holed up at work or in front of the computer. ;)

6. The scab on my knee has dried up! It doesn't hurt! And hopefully won't bleed! I'm hoping to get back to yoga or something, maybe on Sunday. :D

7. Oh god, my alarm clock for a normal work day JUST WENT OFF. FAIL, ME, FAIL. I owe people other memes that I was going to do, but no. I MUST GO TO BED, ARGH.

8. BELT ALONG WITH ME, PEOPLE: IN MY HANDS THE FUTURE IS CRYING RISING HIGH OR DYING IN VAIN!!

1. I HATE DURIANS. STUPID LOCAL FRUIT. I hate that they are in season and that they stink to bloody high heaven and that when I went for a facial today, they were having a DURIAN FAIR on the ground floor and it was all I could smell ANYWHERE. WTF NO.

2. Fell asleep during a work meeting - well, dozed off for a couple of seconds a few times. When I was seated directly across from my boss. Who noticed. GOOD TIMES. :|

3. Either I fail, or perhaps I forgot, but Kristin Chenoweth is recording a Christmas album! How awesome is that going to be!? EXCITED.

4. I AM GOING TO WATCH XF2 AT 3PM TOMORROW. THIS IS A MERE 13.5 HOURS FROM NOW. FUCKING FLAIL. ALSDHASJLJADLJASLDJLSA. Edited to add: I HAVE TICKETS I HAVE TICKETS I HAVE TICKETS OMFGXF2!!!!

5. New batch of Julia icons - mostly from her recent benefits and such. Hardly any anicons this time; I'm actually having fun with colouring and text (yes, text!) instead. Since I seem to be posting a new batch every three weeks or so, figured I'd better do so now before EVITA. ;)

Teasers
[35] Julia Murney icons


Plus another wallpaper! :P

1. So. I've seen The Dark Knight. Beware of spoilers beneath the cut (though I've deliberately kept them pretty vague, IMHO, so no plot points are touched on that you won't already know from the trailer - at least they won't affect your enjoyment of the show, I think). However, there is one thing that can safely be said spoiler-free:

2. What other movie would we be foolhardy enough to open the same weekend as this blockbuster? Why, that would be Mamma Mia, of course. I won't be able to watch this for another two months because my country is made of too much fail for words. But there are pretty PRETTY promo pictures! Involving lots of half-naked men, LOL.



3. Predictably? I MADE ICONS. :P



4. I realise that now I've seen Dark Knight, there isn't actually another movie playing at cinemas now that I'll want to see. OMG. BEREFT. What will I do with myself this weekend?!

5. OH GOD. ONE. WEEK. TO. XF2. Tempted to take the day off the moment it premieres so I can watch it at, like, noon or something. IS THIS OBSESSIVE/EXCESSIVE/TOO FLAILY? Do I care? Not particularly. :D

6. Eek! Ace is going to be staged and possibly head to Broadway! I LOVE the demo that I have, and it looks like Jill Paice will be singing Julia Murney's part. Sweet. Of course, the news that Emily Skinner might also be involved has me VERY intrigued to see whether this show can make it big.

7. OMFG. EMMY NOMINATIONS FOR LEE PACE AND KRISTIN CHENOWETH. YEEES. WELL DONE, EMMYS, for all the PD love. Because, OMFG, you frickin' left ROBERT SEAN LEONARD off your best supporting actor list. NO LOVE FOR YOU BECAUSE OF THAT. (Edited to add: here's a video of Cheno announcing the Emmy nominees alongside Neil Patrick Harris. It's adorable how she can't stop talking, LOL. She dishes on her love life! And demands to go on American Idol!! Ahhh Cheno. I've forgotten what a sunshiny ball of CUTE you are.)

8. I am also addicted to Next To Normal. Just wanted to say that, again. Because it bears repeating. I cannot stop listening to I Dreamed A Dance.

9. ETA: Julia fans, let's play a ridiculously simple game that weazel_luv *ahem* distracted me with when I should have been working yesterday! (Kidding, I totes distracted myself.) Please to be hunting through my interests on my profile to find the three interests related to Ms Murney. ADD THEM TO YOUR PROFILE. Spread the LOVE. :D

1. Like pretty much every day of my life - at least when RL doesn't butt its stupid head into proceedings.

2. Went to one of the BEST concerts of my life this yesterday evening - Taiwanese rock band MAYDAY! was in town for the night, and I've been to all the concerts they've held here since I returned from university. Because they are made of TOO MUCH AWESOME to be believed. They're still ridiculously young (early thirties for the most part), but so so talented. They play their own music, write their own songs, and are just... incredible live. Seriously. I always say that, if you think Singapore audiences are buttoned-down and too boring at live performances (and for the most part they are), you should get yourself to a Mayday concert. Because whenever they're here, imagine about 8-10,000 people literally ON THEIR FEET for three hours, dancing and singing and just rocking out. I'm still aching from that cardio workout - I mean, I was sweating five songs into the show! Nuts. But fabulous.

3. AND. OMG. I LOVE my new recorder. It's beautiful and lovely and it made me a lovely lovely boot of the concert. I've spent the better part of the last few hours slicing out the best songs and cleaning them up. And if I do say so myself, the recording really sounds quite good. I'm astounded by the quality actually. Best part? You can occasionally hear me and noldoparma having a mini RL flail moment, or giggling or just going, "OMG OMG OMG! THEY'RE SINGING THAT SONG?!" We were pathetic. And flaily. Anyway:


4. While messing with my boot, I also started to fill out a Wicked meme snagged from starhud5. I fail in many ways since I have only seen Wicked ONCE. Bah. I shall change that by June 15, though! Then I'd have seen Kerry again and SJB's last! :) Wicked fans on the flist (especially alexia88, who is trying to tempt me away from sleep :P), play if you haven't already... or link me to your answers if you've already done the meme!


5. It's taken me over an hour to complete this post, wtf. And I'm still waiting for my uploads so I can link them. FAAAAAIIIIlL. I'm supposed to go for a ridiculously expensive brunch with my friends at 1130H tomorrow. I will get, like, four hours of sleep at this rate. Though I am so hyper from concert and flail I don't think I COULD sleep, lol.

6. Oh, before I forget - I'm a little bit obsessed with the new Annie Leibovitz picture of Julianne Moore, which I discovered through iwant_sprinkles. It's... gorgeous, and part of the Reimagining Disney series. Julianne as Ariel from The Little Mermaid - SO PRETTIFUL, OMG. Click on the icon to see full-sized photo. I'm kind of in love with it.

OMG. I JUST bought Wicked tickets for me, alexia88 and my other crazy friend for June 15, Stephanie J Block's last day as Elphaba before she goes off to do that other musical of win with Allison Janney. They were SO CRAZY EXPENSIVE. And the seats are, like, SO not great considering how much we're paying for them. But I don't care!! It's Wicked, in NYC, and it's SJB!!! ♥ GAH. I CAN'T WAIT.

Just over two months to go... many many more tickets to buy in between. FLAIL. And, you know, figuring out a place to stay? Could be essential. BUT I HAVE WICKED TICKETS. WOO!!

Randomly, I LOVE THIS PODCAST I'm listening to. So many wonderful factoids plus Julia has such an amazing speaking voice. ♥ Like, OMG! Julia was the first one to debut Defying Gravity in NYC EVER, before the show even started anywhere! Hee. And I LOVE how she calls the entire score of Wicked "irresponsibly written", heh. It sure is. I'm in awe of any actress who plays Elphaba. Role of INSANE high and low notes. Wait, Julia's impersonating Cheno now!! WIN, LOL, SHE SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE CHENO!

I've been falling in love with Julia Murney for the last month or so. This is my official coming-out parade. Although seriously, it was hardly a secret at all...
Anyway, icons mostly from Say You Do, Julia's mini-movie for Ripfest. I apologise for the quality of some of them - the video I snagged the caps from isn't that great. :(

Figured I might as well toss in the Dee and Cheno icons I've made since my last icon post too.

[26] Julia Murney icons
[9] Idina Menzel icons
[6] Kristin Chenoweth icons - including Idina & Julia!

Teasers:

( you could say I do )

1. HAI, WORK? AS MY ICON SAYS - GTFO. I finally had a great day today. Like, great - and it's been long overdue, obviously, since life most emphatically hasn't been great in the last five years month or so. Of course, it was only great because the actual amount of work I did was negligible - we were all just in such a high, happy, spazzy mood for being done with a big paper and not having anything on our plate that we just were hyper all day and went out for lunch and cut out of work early on time. Especially me and noldoparma - our cracktastic hyperness fuelled only by our passionate love for everything that is Jason Danieley. (<< CLICK. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. Because he is love.) Oh, and his gorgeous wife Marin Mazzie too, of course. But mostly Danieley.

2. So after hypering our way through not very much work at all, we left on time for a shopping spree at Vivocity, an excellent dinner at Chinese restaurant Bosses, and then we even made our way to the Bellini Room at St James Power Station for a couple of sets. (With my boss in tow, ha - it's ridiculous how fun-loving and young she is when she's, like, fifty next year.) I LOVE the jazz band there, because it's so fabulous to have a full jazz band - minus the double bass - playing right in front of you, trumpet, saxophone, piano, everything. The singers were a bit off today though (one of them was on some kind of lethal cocktail of drugs, I suspect, since he was SO out of character and randomly bouncy). But it was just great to be OUT.

3. And then I get back home to Youtube and have since allowed myself to get incredibly incredibly flaily about Julia Murney - again - as Elphaba in Wicked. Because really really REALLY she acts the socks/pants/whatever off that role. I love Idina, obviously, and always will, but I love Julia at least as much. She's that good. And some really excellent-quality videos have been popping up on Youtube recently that make me love her more: please to be watching her singing, for the last time on Broadway last year, As Long As You're Mine (for Elphaba/Fiyero shippers, Julia and Sebastian Arcelus are SO getting it on onstage - to quote the wonderfully insightful book232!) and No Good Deed (with the full cornfield scene that precedes it, WIN!) Watch it before Youtube takes the videos doooown. And I'm rewatching these because Julia's SO cute in them, and as a result, must pimp them, again - it's Julia chatting about going green for the role as she's getting painted and costumed to go onstage in about half an hour or something. ( one | two )

4. So that this isn't just a post of total fail flail, I have an icon meme, courtesy of book232! Come play with me!


5. Uploaded the Wicked OBC soundtrack for someone, so might as well leave the link up for anyone who didn't download it the last time I flailed about Wicked. You might as well download it and find out what I keep nattering on about, because I suspect I'm never ever EVER gonna stop... ;)

1. One last chance to be spammy before the work week starts again. I TOTALLY FAILED AT GOING TO WORK, HAI. Woke up at 3pm, although I'd set my alarm since noon, and decided - gah. Forget it. I'll just take a break. Clearly staying away all weekend helped; my colleague commented - when I met her for dinner and a movie - that I already look revitalised. WTF. Clearly my body has entirely different ideas of what exhaustion looks like than I do...

2. Watched The Spiderwick Chronicles, which was really quite good - funny and action-packed and didn't take itself too seriously. I haven't seen a good movie in a while, thanks to the abysmalness of L: Change the World and August Rush. But this one was lots of fun. Freddie Highmore has totally redeemed himself (twice over, as twins!). Plus, Mary-Louise Parker can do no wrong. Much love for MLP. Oh oh and David Straithairn! In a kiddie film, but yay, David Straithairn! (whose name is a total BITCH to spell, omg)

3. I am now just three movie reviews behind. This is very good. I've been playing catch-up all year with my reviewing and I feared I might have to give up my attempt to review every movie I watch. Hopefully I'll clear everything by the end of the week.

4. Managed to go for a short run today after feeling totally guilty for slacking off last night. Barely 2.5km, I think, but hey. SOME exercise is better than none, yes?

5. I got distracted by the Mamma Mia trailer. AGAIN. This time it's the gorgeously hi-res one on the official site. Meryl Streep is disarmingly beautiful for someone who's going to be sixty next year. So beautiful I had to make icons, look!

6. Oh and welcome to fastandfunky, who found me through my Julia flail. In your honour, I'm posting some Julia icons I made last night! (Yes, I HAVE been ridiculously flaily this weekend, why do you ask... Anyway. I was so ridiculously pleased when I found that photo of Cheno & Julia. Fandom collision of WIN. WOO!)


7. Work will be shitty from tomorrow onwards. I know this. I shall look back on this totally spammy, sleepy, flaily weekend with much nostalgia. And now I shall go watch an episode of The Office before bed.

OMG. ILU, athenaraven. In more ways than I can say. I was supposed to work on fic, LOL, but have instead spent the last hour more than happily scanning through pics of Kristin and Idina and Julia and ♥ ILU. THANK YOU, AGAIN.

I present a mini pic-spam, BECAUSE I CAN. MUCH CAPSLOCK TO FOLLOW.

( cheno & dee & julia oh my! )

Work, fortunately, has gone a little quieter in the last few days - though not quiet enough to keep me away from the office tomorrow, after brunch with a friend. Sigh. But it did mean I allowed myself to get up at 3pm this afternoon (a trend on Saturdays, apparently), and went out to watch La Vie En Rose, which was much love - I want more Edith Piaf music than I can shake a stick at, so I'm heading HMV-wards tomorrow. :)

In the meantime! I was deciding between working on fic and flailing, and decided I'd better get cracking on the fandom meme started by lissie_pissie that I've been intending to do for the last two weeks. Sigh. RL's a bitch, what can I say. And in drawing up my list of fandoms, I realised I have far too many to do them all justice. So I'm narrowing this down to just TV and music fandoms - my celebrity, movie and book loves will have to wait 'til another post, I guess. If I ever get around to it!

For each person/show you've really fangirled, try to find whatever it is that made you fall in love with them. Made you see them differently than you had before... like a switch had been flicked somewhere. ;) If it's a video, see if youtube has it, if it was an amazing picture or quote, upload it and post it. Whatever it was - share it. Post your "catalysts" as I like to call them in a new post in your journal.

( there be madness ahead... )

THAT TOOK WAY LONGER THAN I THOUGHT, ZOMG. TWO HOURS, LOL. But man. It was so much fun to go through all my fandoms. Like I said, haven't even TOUCHED on the movie love. That might take me twenty years...

Come flail with me? Y/Y?

FLAILING. Flailing is the way to go.

The crap day that started with my getting home from work at 3am in the morning and heading back in by 9 got progressively worse. Not the part when I gave up on the draft and submitted it upwards, but just... dealing with my bitch of a boss, who's a slacker, and unappreciative, and I will NOT complain any more because it only makes me ranty and I was SO angry today.

But all's better now. Flailing really helps SO much.

First off. CHENO MAKES THE WORLD BRIGHTER. Yes, still playing her Oscars performance on a loop. I've also a gift for all Cheno fans on my flist - including teh_maskmaid, as promised - the MP3 of her performance of That's How You Know!

noldoparma and I got stuck on a ridiculously extended Broadway youtube loop, which means falling for the gorgeous of:

- Jason Danieley - OMG, I loved him in Curtains without realising how kickass his voice really is. A live version of one of the best tracks in the show, I Miss The Music. *melts* Also? Watch him hit those high notes in Bring Him Home from Les Miz. FLAIL.
- Speaking of Les Miz, Kerry Ellis, zomg. Kerry Ellis as Fantine singing I Dreamed A Dream, without green makeup! I'm quite pleased by the news that she'll be taking over on Broadway as Elphaba in Wicked from June this year (or something) - if I i do make it down to NYC in January next year and she's still there, I'd love to watch her again. I was kind of hoping to watch Wicked, like, all over the world and collect different Elphabas and experience more than just one (since I'm never gonna experience the original, curses). But Kerry is amazing, so I'm good.
- A little Rent love - it's ridiculous how ignorant I am about the Broadway scene, and how the actors bleed into each other's shows all over the place. WIN. I mean, I had no idea Norbert Leo Butz (the OBC Fiyero in Wicked) took over from Adam Pascal (drool) in the Broadway Rent. Here's an audio of him singing one of my favourite songs, One Song Glory - it's a great version!
- Oh, and guess what, I found the best Elphaba ever! Even if she's a he! Raul Esparza - whom I expect to google/youtube in future - sings such an awesome version of Defying Gravity... he hits a note right at the end that even Idina doesn't hit, lol!!
- Speaking of Idina - how cute is she singing Life of the Party? I crazy crazy LOVE this version.

There were loads of others, obviously, like this INSANE medley starring Judy Kuhn, Marin Mazzie and Audra McDonald - HARMONISATION OF WIN. And some of the notes Linda Eder hits in Man of La Mancha should be illegal. And Carol Burnett singing Sondheim's (Not) Getting Married Today is just too many kinds of hilarious.

alexia88 and lfae, if we make it to NYC next year, ZOMG. I HAVE SO MANY SHOWS TO WATCH. I MIGHT HAVE TO MOVE TO NYC.

As a result, I was ALL DISTRACTED from the XF2 Wondercon panel videos I'd already loaded on Youtube. Curses. I have to go watch them now before bed, obviously. There goes my plan of getting down to that fandom meme I was hoping to work on tonight. Well, there's always tomorrow.

Edited to add: I have watched most of the Wondercon panel yay! EEEEEEEK. How adorable was Gillian? "is it memorabilia or paraphernalia?" And seriously, how is it possible that she still looks so damn gorgeous after so many years? I love her hair. And the Bad Blood obsession, LOL. I loved how that became a running joke. So much love for the banter between David and Gillian. And can I just say, I love Frank Spotnitz too - he's such a dork, he could reel off all the episode titles by heart, which just made it kind of obvious that neither David nor Gillian remembered many of them... other than Bad Blood, of course. Also, scary scary fan who attended even though her husband had suffered a stroke, not to mention the kid with the initials TXF? Genuinely quite terrifying. The looks on DD and GA's faces, my goodness. I couldn't keep the horror off my face when I was watching that part... which unfortunately turned out to be the most memorable bit!

Almost - almost - makes me forget RL of much much lose. Sigh. 

WORK INTERNET, WORK SO I CAN WATCH CHENO'S PERFORMANCE AT THE OSCARS. THAT IS ALL I ASK OF YOU. IT'S 3.21 AM IN THE MORNING AND THAT'S ALL I NEED.

Blasted hell. I am in a ridiculously grumpy, drained, bad state right now. Obviously it's related to work, because it's 3.21am and I just got home - I've showered and been fiddling with my ridiculous internet, sure, but yeah, I more or less left work at 2.30 in the morning and drove back through a thundering rainstorm. Life? So not great right now.

I was going to write a long embittered rant about work and why I am underappreciated and underpaid for how overworked I am. But I think I need to sleep instead, since I should try to get in at, IDK, 9am at the latest tomorrow. CRAP.

Also, it is now 3.31am and internet deigned to work, at least for a while, which means Cheno has cheered me up in a ridiculous fashion. She is too cute. And oh so fabulous. And the voice! And the cute! (Did I mention the cute?) I think if my DAMN WORK COMPUTER ALLOWED ME TO ACCESS YOUTUBE, I would also have been in a considerably better mood at work today. At least I'd have had Cheno to keep me company. (I'm watching Amy Adams singing Happy Working Song now, and wow, she's great! Excellent live. Eeeee. Enchanted love!)

OH GOD, GO AWAY FROM THE FRONT OF CHENO'S CLIP, MILEY CYRUS. I hate my internetz for making me redownload the whole thing when it's already downloaded once, wtf.

I think pretty much everyone on my flist knows that I am insanely obsessed with all things Wicked, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, Y/Y? Well, I promised book232 and noldoparma much Wicked and Kristin spammage (I'll be REALLY good and hold off on Idina spammage, since she's all over Wicked anyway!), and so here I be.

WORD OF WARNING: clicking on the cut below will bring you to crazy crazy amounts of insane. ;) I'll be recounting the biggest plot points and songs in my little run-down of videos and pics, so bear in mind that there'll be some spoilers for the larger plot of the musical, though not the little twists - if you're going to download the original Broadway cast (OBC) album though (and yes, the download link is in there, somewhere!), I'd imagine you wouldn't mind spoilers though.

Also, for those wondering: I watched Wicked in London in December last year, and Kerry Ellis was a freakin' AMAZING Elphaba. Her voice was just... GAH. I mean, seriously. She hit all of Idina's notes and was a powerhouse live. But I've grown to adore the musical through the OBC, and though I've never actually seen them live (BIG SADFACE HERE), Kristin and Idina are clearly the original and the best G(a)linda and Elphaba.

So:
( Wicked: The (Kinda) True Story of the Wicked Witch of the West )

And I also promised a Kristin spam. MAN. It's a short one, though, because if I don't stop soon I'll never stop and I NEED to be focused at work tomorrow, for real this time...!

( Cheno: the cutest thing that's ever lived, surely )

And I am DONE. CLINICALLY INSANE, AS YOU ALL KNEW, BUT DONE. BEDTIME NOW, FOR SERIOUS.

PLEASE TO BE SPAMMING ME WITH WICKED/IDINA/KRISTIN ADORATION, THANKS.

(P/S I still am stopped up in one ear, wtf. Don't they know I need both ears clear to enjoy teh Cheno's high notes?!)

1. Posting from work. Even though there are ridiculous amounts of things to get through today and I'm just procrastinating because it hurts me to think about getting into the meat of it all. Grargh. After this, I will FOCUS. [Edited to add: I CAN FOCUS. I CAN RIGHT?!?! Gah.]

2. Except that I've gone deaf - partially, anyway. My right ear is completely stopped up, has been since early early this morning. Bah. Have to make a run to a nearby pharmacy at lunch-time, then. [Edited to add: the ear-drops yielded nothing except raucous laughter from my colleagues as I tried to read with my head ridiculously tilted to one side. Bah humbug. Guess I'll have to try again tonight and head to the doctor tomorrow if it doesn't work out. BOO.]

3. All I want is to go home and spam Wicked and Kristin videos - soon, book232 and noldoparma, soon you will have more Cheno than you can shake a stick at. WHICH CAN ONLY BE A GOOD THING, Y/Y? 

So yes, I AM officially obsessed with Idina Menzel. And also Kristin Chenoweth and Wicked, of course. Icon-making is what I've been up to for the last day or so! Enjoy! :)

[16] Idina Menzel icons
[8] Kristin Chenoweth icons
[27] Wicked icons (OBC) from mirime and myself

Liberally cross-posted.

Teasers:


( look to the western sky )

So I watched Wicked while I was in the UK, right? I LOVED IT, of course - but not quite as much as, say, Hairspray. OR SO I THOUGHT.

Clearly I was A COMPLETE TWIT.

Because Wicked is totally the kind of musical that grows on you. I really wasn't expecting this, though I should have suspected something given the massive cult following Wicked has gathered since its 2003 debut. Barring Popular, the songs aren't really immediately catchy. But now that I'm finally back home, grounded, with access to a CD player, it turns out that, the more you listen to the soundtrack, the more it sticks in your head and heart, and suddenly you can't wait to see it again. I listened to the soundtrack on a LOOP for three straight days, pretty much everywhere I went. As a result, I'm totally insanely obsessed with Kristin Chenoweth (though I was already) and Idina Menzel now, thanks. (I must add that Kerry Ellis was BRILLIANT in the West End version, before I babble on about the OBC.) DEFYING GRAVITY, AIEEEEEEE. To quote alexia88, kinda, Idina sings the shiz out of that song!!

So, when I've managed to snag a free few hours in between work and life these days, I've been spamming the heck out of Kristin and Idina on Youtube. Also went on a bit of a Wicked-theme shopping spree at Borders today - dorkily bought The Grimmerie because I am SUCH a fangirl now, and also went a bit joyfully mad when I completely unexpectedly found a copy of Idina's second album Still I Can't Be Still (I never expected a store here to have brought her album in!). Have listened my way through it several times now. Now I can't WAIT for Idina's new album when it's released end of this month.

GAH. NEW FANDOMS ARE ALWAYS SO ALL-CONSUMING. jukebox_grad, I promise spam tomorrow night!! I'm gearing up for it and clearing more work and other life stuff out of the way before I devote myself to it.

 
Randomly, just had to say how chuffed I was at how much I managed to get at Borders today for so little. Thanks to my dad's vouchers, I paid a grand total of eighty cents for three new books and my Wicked-related memorabilia. FTW!!