So, the Tonys are tomorrow. Neil Patrick Harris is hosting, so that will be fun, at the very least.

There's only three categories I'm really, really invested in this year -- best book of a musical (HUNTER. obviously.), lead actor in a play (Raúl DAMMIT COME ON YOU GUYS GET ON THE BALL), and featured actress in a musical (Karen!). Best book is [tos]'s only nomination, so I'm double-rooting -- I'm rooting for Hunter because I love him and he deserves it, and I'm rooting for Hunter because [title of show] needs to take a Tony home. Is this Raúl's year? I HOPE SO but given how they keep nominating and then not awarding him I won't actually be surprised if he doesn't win -- disappointed and annoyed, but not surprised. And I just love Karen and want her to have a Tony Award and be happy.

I want HAiR and Next To Normal to take home a nice selection of awards each, but I'm not picky about which ones.

If Shrek or Rock of Ages sweeps the awards I'll never watch or emotionally invest in the Tony Awards again. (This might be a lie.)

New layout, because I am pathologically incapable of keeping one layout for too long. This one's much brighter than the Dr. Horrible layout, anyway, and it has Raul!

chicafrom3 chicafrom3 chicafrom3

Currently seeking out a new mood theme but am very picky about my mood themes. And also very bad at making my own, so that's not gonna happen. I WILL FIND ONE.

Week 2 of mini_nanowrimo done, and I accomplished my goal of at least 100 words a day. I hate at least half of what I wrote this week, but at least it's writing...

Rundown: "with you/without you" is the second installment in the ongoing Michael/Liam story, started with "kissing liam donnelly" last week; I don't know how I feel about it. It does what I needed it to, anyway. "deathsong" is kind of cool, I like playing with Irish mythology. I'm still not entirely sure what's going on in "big bad world one" -- teh Niki compared it to "Memento" which is fairly accurate as it goes -- and I am also terribly confused as to what the premise of "slipping" actually is. Why do I keep writing things where I don't know what's going on? "interlude #1: liam" is part three in the Michael/Liam story, except it's more an interlude than an actual part of the story, hence the title, and again I don't know how I feel about it. I know for sure that "bibliogeist" isn't finished as is, but I don't know where to go from there, and really the thing I like best about it is the title. (And Shire, the bookstore cat.) "more than anything" is just one cliche from start to finish, isn't it.

So, yeah. I think "deathsong" is the only thing I produced this week that I actually like.



Totally unrelated, I'm starting to seriously think about Christmas shopping. In RL shopping, I have not yet purchased but am fairly sure I know what to get for teh Niki, my dad, and the little brother. I am much more lost on what to get my mom and the older sister. Am I supposed to get something for the new brother-in-law whom I have not yet met? *confused*

In LJ shopping, I have not yet purchased anything for anyone, but I have wishlists bookmarked for crickets, ladyfiresprite, and oc_pixie. If you have posted a wishlist and I have somehow missed it, now's the time to let me know; if you haven't but planned to, I'll keep an eye out for it. I'll be putting up a wishlist eventually.



On a lighter note, meme! Snagged from harbek. Except I was pedantic and replaced all the citations of "play" with "musical" since that's what they're really asking about.


Name 10 of your favorite Broadway musicals
1. Chess
2. [title of show]
3. tick, tick...BOOM!
4. Zanna, Don't!
5. bare
6. RENT
7. Wicked
8. In The Heights
9. Evil Dead: The Musical
10. The Drowsy Chaperone

( the meme )

secret #64 on this post (the last secret)

OMG. OMG OMG OMG.

Does anyone know where this picture is from? Where I can get a copy of the original? CHICA WANTS.

Company was incredibly awesome. And Raul continues to own my soul. And I cried. And I'm going to rewatch it tomorrow. ♥


But in the meantime:

( spoilers for Torchwood 2x07 Dead Man Walking )

In conclusion: MARTHA! And I am now convinced of Jack/Owen's Epic Love. And child actors are always creepy. And MARTHA!

Note to any/all USA-based Raúl fans on my flist: PBS is airing Company tonight! I shall be watching, and taping. 'Cause, yay!


And that meme that's going around:

Pick 15 of your favourite movies.
Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
Post them here for everyone to guess.
Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.

( quotes here )

Fandom year in review!

( it's vaguely long... )


I went to the mall with my daddy today and spent the entirety of my Borders gift card and got Niki-babe's Christmas present, so now I just have to, you know, see her and give it to her.

OH GOD ALFREDO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

It's not even just because I adore Raul so much. It's ALSO because Alfredo, as a character, is so ridiculously adorable and cuddly and heartwrenchingly wonderful. And with the combination of the wonderfulness of Alfredo and the brilliance of Raul as an actor? Dead now.

...I need a transcript of 'Fredo's "If I loved you" speech RIGHT NOW.

*goes back to watching*

Blegh. Never take a flight that requires that you be awake at 3AM. I'm serious, when at 10:30AM you're wondering why the day isn't over yet, and you still have a class and work to get through? Not fun.

Stuff!


Meme 1 (snagged from kawaiispinel):

List twelve characters without looking at the questions. Then answer the questions by replacing the corresponding number with the character.

1. Michael Dawson (Lost)
2. Peri Brown (Doctor Who)
3. Tom Collins (Rent)
4. Svetlana Sergievsky (Chess)
5. Brendan Lahey (Andromeda)
6. Toshiko Sato (Torchwood)
7. Kevin Donnelly (Black Donnellys)
8. Alfredo Aldarisio (Pushing Daisies)
9. Jeremy Darling (Dirty Sexy Money)
10. Grace Hall (The Chronicle)
11. Burton Guster (Psych)
12. Quinn Mallory (Sliders)

( questions here )

Meme 2 (snagged from trascendenza):

List 7 songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words or even if they're not any good but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LJ along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to in absolute random order.

( 7 songs )


Meme 3 (snagged from martoufmarty):

( everything about Chica you were never curious about )


...okay. I should probably do homework. Instead I'm gonna finish putting together the next article for Firefox News.

...so I totally suck and still have a bunch of e-mails and comments to reply to. But *flail*. I don't want to talk about how much flying home yesterday completely sucked. But it did. Biiiitches.

On the bright side, it snowed in Weston yesterday before I left, which was very nice and pretty and gives me hope that I'll get a decent snowstorm before I graduate.

...um. Happy Thanksgiving, to all the Americans on my flist! And happy November 22nd to everyone else! Why should you get left out of being wished a happy day just 'cause the holiday bears absolutely no cultural significance for you, amirite.


Quick fannish stuff:

( Pushing Daisies spoilerz )

( Dirty Sexy Money spoilerz )


...yeah, things.

Note to self: When someone gives you a handful of sugar, it's perfectly okay to mention that you were just listening to "tick tick...BOOM!" which contains a love song to sugar. It's not so okay to segue into a total synopsis, cast analysis, and comparison to "RENT".

Yeah, I really do have a problem with giving people wayyyyyy more information than they needed. I can't help it! That's just the way my brain works!


Formally started work on "Dracula" today. Ran sound for tonight's rehearsal, but starting tomorrow (at 10AM...) I'll be the light op. No, I'm not getting paid for this. But it's my last chance to work on a Regis show as a Regis student, and I get to work with Amanda (coworker Amanda, not roommate Amanda), and Natalie and Sam are both in the cast, and, yeah. Besides, what else am I going to do with my time...seeing as I don't have an outside job yet... *is depressing*


Yesterday: intense migraine and nausea. Went to bed at 6. Didn't get up until 8 this morning. That's 14 hours in bed. Yeah.


In less depressing news, it's holiday season again! If you've posted a wishlist, let me know. ladyfiresprite, I have yours bookmarked and am contemplating what I can get you. I haven't seen anyone else's, so if I missed it, let me know!! Mine will be going up soonish. I'm compiling it in my head. Ys.


Also coming soonish: keep an eye out for flocked posts filled with links.


I...don't have anything fannish to talk about except for the strike and I promised myself I wouldn't talk about that in this post. But, yeah. I'm horribly behind on Heroes and need to get caught up (question, flist: is it worth the bother of getting caught up? should I just start watching with this next episode and hope everything I missed was of no consequence? or are Matt/Mohinder/Molly adorable enough to make it worth watching all the episodes I missed?). PD and DSM didn't air this week. And...that's all I'm watching first-run right now.

No, wait! That's not true! I'm also watching SJA, and I am caught up on that, and all I can say is: Sarah Jane is LOVE. Young!Sarah included in that. I am a little bit in love with Alan and hopes he admits to his crush on Sarah v. soon and then maybe they fall in love and Maria and Luke can be sibs ys? Also I am confused as to whether I should ship Clyde with Luke or Maria because either has the potential to be ridiculously cute. In a nonsexual-young-person way. Ys? Or am I creepy for thinking about shipping them at all?

Also: How long 'til we get Raul back on Pushing Daisies? I want my Cheno/Esparza duet, dammit.


I want to write fic but words are not coming to me. :( It's v. sad, ys. I also kind of want to vid--I have two Sweet Charity vids to do--but my two bidders haven't gotten back to me on music choices/themes/etc. And I don't feel right working on an impulse vid while having the SC vids hanging over my head. Does that make sense or is it just my Catholic guilt kicking in again?


On the bright side, I've been listening to a ton of music lately and have almost completed my goal of making sure that all 5000+ songs in my iTunes have at least one playcount. The fact that I keep adding music while trying to reach this goal doesn't help, but I believe I can make it!!


(Oh! And another RL note: Regis is offering some RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME classes next semester. Including a literature class that lists "Princess Bride" and "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" on the reading list, and a sci-fi film class. *flails* This is OF COURSE the semester AFTER I graduate. Of course, they couldn't offer these RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME classes while I was here to take them... *sigh*)

I just watched the rehearsal video for the AFA Benefit Concert and am now craving Florence/Svetlana. Come on, Julia and Sutton are so adorable and cuddly with each other! (Also: Adam completely forgetting the lyrics to ONIB and Raul dancing around geekily whenever there's a moment of downtime. Hee. I love this cast.)

My roommate watched bits and pieces as she was in and out of the room. Conversation:

AMANDA: "Seeing the professionals screw up gives you hope for yourself, y'know? It's like, 'Hey! Adam Pascal forgot his lines! I forget my lines! Maybe I could be the rock star of Broadway one day!'"
ME: "Or, 'Raúl Esparza messed up! Wow! Maybe I could be Raúl Esparza one day!'"
AMANDA: "Right! All we have to do is wait for our voices to change!"
ME: "And our gender!"
AMANDA: "Yeah! And maybe our ethnicity..."
ME: "And talent..."

It is a rainy sleepy day and I don't have to work and obviously will be procrastinating all homework until tomorrow 'cause that's what I do. Instead I think I'll lie around and watch musicals and Black Donnellys and read some.


From fannish5:
Name five minor characters whose lives and histories you'd like to see explored more (in canon or fanfic).

1. Adam 'Sinjin' St. John (Lost)
2. Leo Jones (Doctor Who)
3. Ignatius Valentine (Andromeda)
4. The Arbiter (Chess)
5. Estelle Cole (Torchwood)

...that seems badly slanted, gender-wise.

I found out why Health Services is hassling me. *flail* Because my Hepatitis B vaccine or whatever isn't up to date? Um, hi, this was supposed to have been worked out over the summer. They sent me a letter that said, "No problem, you just can't ever use Health Services" and I was like OK I never do anyway because I have an inherent distrust of doctors. So I'm gonna call them tomorrow and be bitchy right back at them. If they insist, yeah, okay, I'll spend the ten dollars and get the damn shot but this shouldn't be an issue at all.


Anyway!


I didn't get tagged for this meme but like a million people on my flist tagged "whoever wants to", so here goes:

The rules are easy, just post 6 things that recently made you happy! Then tag 6 people and force them to post this meme on their LJs. Because it is good. Everyone needs a little happiness once in awhile.

1. Raul Esparza on Pushing Daisies
2. The twins making up on Dirty Sexy Money
3. Passing my Brit Writers midterm
4. Introducing my roommate to the wonder that is Rent. Next up: Wicked. And then maybe Zanna, Don't!
5. The language construction kit
6. Having $294 in my bank account despite a depressingly small paycheck this week

I tag whoever needs cheering up right now! :)


And another meme, this one from fandom_memes:

Directions: Post 10 favorite quotes from any of your fandoms. Your flist will then try and guess which show the quotes are from...extra bonus brownie points if they can also guess the episode or the character who said it.

1. I had this dream once. I'm driving a bus, and my teeth start falling out. My mum is in the back, eating biscuits. Everything smells of bacon. It's weird. - Lost, Charlie, guessed by kawaiispinel

2. Daddy always said, "Never mess with time travel". - Andromeda, Beka, guessed by naturalcyber

3. We're just animals howling in the night, cause it's better than the silence. - Torchwood, Suzi, guessed by snarkaddict

4. Well if you're determined to jump when they tell you, then maybe it's best that you do it alone! Watch TV, read the papers, have the miserable time of your life...you could even call my wife! - Chess, Anatoly, guessed by allfireburns

5. We're always in trouble! Isn't this extraordinary - it follows us everywhere!

6. I answer the thrice and done. Bite. Me. - Dresden Files, Harry, guessed by kawaiispinel

7. That's why time travel is not only possible, but may have already happened.

8. I'm not God, but if I was, I'd be an angry God. - Pushing Daisies, Emerson, guessed by allfireburns

9. Why is everyone using sarcasm on me today? - The Black Donnellys, Kevin, guessed by snarkaddict

10. This is, this is magnificent, and I don't often say that because, well, because I'm me. - Doctor Who, Tenth Doctor, guessed by snarkaddict



...how on Earth is it possible to make a film version of Little Women that just makes Every Single mixed-sex relationship seem impossibly sketchy?

Except for Jo/Bhaer. That gets a pass. Because Bhaer managed to be cute, while EVERY SINGLE OTHER MALE in the cast was intensely creepy.

(I am, for the record, referring to the '33 film with Katherine Hepburn. SO SKEEZY.)

I quite want to use this space to fret about my job/apartment woes, but I can't quite articulate it beyond the fact that I need about thirteen hundred dollars by January so I can pay rent on an apartment. (I seriously found an apartment in Boston that needs someone to move in January 1st, $650 a month, first and last rent due at signing. And a bunch of other apartments that would be equally perfect for me. BUT I HAVE NO MONEY.)

...anyway, that's enough of the emo for now because I can't seem to put it into the right words.


Random things:
-Happy birthday, Raul!
-Sign-ups for Chess secret Santa exchange end tomorrow, so if you haven't already, go, sign up.
-Pushing Daisies has been picked up for a full season! *flails* And the PTB promised us earlier that if the back nine were picked up we'd get a musical episode. RAUL/KRISTEN DUET NAO PLZ??
-Health Services is threatening to shut off my school e-mail and Blackboard access if I don't talk to them to complete my health records or something. Problem with this: to the best of my knowledge, my health records are as complete as they can possibly be, and also Health Services never answers their damn phone or calls me back. *flail* Not that I actually use my school e-mail, but I need Blackboard access to pass my English class.
-So, I went and I bought myself a copy of Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire at the school bookstore. Because, well, I needed to treat myself to something, the bookstore had it, and the money from selling my camera had just come in so why not? Anyway, the girl at the counter is ringing it up and she asks if I'm reading it for a class. Why, exactly, would I be reading a Gregory Maguire sequel for a class? Is it really that out of the realm of possibility that a college student would pick up a book just for leisure reading? ...ugh, I'm overthinking it, aren't I?
-Speaking of, my current leisure reading list: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, Guards, Guards! by Terry Pratchett, Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire. No, that's not a list of the books I plan to read next; yes, that's a list of the books I'm reading concurrently. I have the attention span of a nine-year-old.
-Rec me fic, I'm bored! And tired!

Wikipedia says that Raul Esparza will be guest starring on Pushing Daisies.

My fangirlism may overload. Please don't be lying to me, Wikipedia!

So I finally got around to checking out the August contest for LVI (yeah, yeah, I procrastinate so much it's awesome)--and now I have been bit by a vicious and enthusiastic vidbunny for a Hurley vid to Raul Esparza's cover of Defying Gravity. And obv that is a major problem because the only time that Raul has sung Defying Gravity was for Seth's Chatterbox so it's all bootleg-y and overlaid by people applauding and laughing. And, y'know, that whole muttered "oh no" before the key change. It's still an awesome cover, just not really vidable.



...I am viciously behind on my friends list 'cause I feel ucky. Yes. Ucky. So if there's a post you think I should pay attention pleasssse tell me about it here?


I miss my Niki. :( But she's sick and offline and I MISS HER. :( :( :(

In case you have ever wondered why I love Raúl Esparza, or if you just want a reminder of his sheer awesomeness, click here.

Hee. *goes to watch it again*

Raúl Esparza did not win Best Performance By A Leading Actor In A Musical, and now I am a bit sad. :( I really wanted him to win that, as he's awesome and I ♥ him.

On the plus side, Company did win Best Revival Of A Musical, and Spring Awakening more or less deservedly swept the awards.

But still.


I went down to the waterfront with my daddy this afternoon to watch the boat races. Was fun, but nobody flipped over, and I was a little disappointed. I'm mean at heart, let it go.

And I continue to feel lousy. :/ Not sick, exactly, but restless and sore and headache-y and unable to concentrate. I haven't been sleeping well, and will doubtless continue Not Sleeping Well tonight.

Sick of me whining yet? So am I.

So I got my hands on a boot of the AFA Benefit Concert performance of Chess -- with Adam Pascal as Freddy and Josh Gorban as Anatoly--and spent the afternoon watching it. YAY. Just listening to it, I wasn't wholly sold on Julia Murney as Florence, but am now officially a little bit in love with her. My adoration of Adam has been reinforced. Sutton Foster (Svetlana) is also really amazing.

But mostly, I am in love with Raúl Esparza as the Arbiter. Wow. The Arbiter is a fairly awesome role anyway, but he was freaking incredible in it. ♥



First dress rehearsal for Midsummer went...well, it went. Our director says it went well. I had a full page of notes to myself for things that Needs Must Be Fixed by tomorrow and kind of wanted to strangle someone. But that's my job, right?

I get paid for everything that I do between tonight and strike, which is lovely because I'm pretty much broke.



I think I had something else to say here. But I forget. :'(