I like Joyce. She seems like such a nice lady.

Most of the album covers are far more confusingly horrific. "Julie's Sixteenth Birthday," for example. Enjoy....


the rest of them

I should probably mention that The Joker is triggering every fan reflex I have, and I'm again eagerly anticipating The Dark Knight.

Thought I’d write about some good live entertainment I’ve seen lately. First was Mike Doughty. It was amazingly hot in the venue, but I sweated my way through it because hey, he sounded great. He did all his most popular songs, himself on acoustic, and another guy on electric guitar. I left after their set, but ran into a friend coming in as I was going out. She had big hair and major eye shadow, having just come from dress rehearsal for this season’s Shakespeare in the Park.

It was one of the Comedies, and this particular production was 1980s-themed. Quite John Hughes-esque. I wonder what Shakespeare would have thought of this kind of interpretation. Actually, it worked just fine, and certainly there’s been much more outlandish artistic license taken on him. Seeing Shakespeare in the Park is as much about the event itself as it is about whatever play they’re doing. It’s outdoors (obviously), and a nice picnic-y BYOB sort of affair. I’ve been to most of them over the last 12 years, so it’s tradition. Oh yeah, plus, seeing friends in the cast and crew is nice.

But now I’m head-over-heels in love rekindled due to the city’s theatre group’s production of The Mikado. It’s my favorite Gilbert and Sullivan operetta by far, and I’d been looking forward to this one for months. I was impressed by everyone’s voices, because, of course, the pieces are challenging. Wow, they were good. Just wow. And Pooh-Bah, my favorite character, was spot-on and on the verge of stealing the show... as he should be. I was so happy. The other side of the building where I work is the performance theatre, so I made sure to wander around a lot backstage today to tell them how great they were… (plus, to sneak in the theatre for a few minutes in between my shows to see some of theirs again!) Fangeeking on the local talent. Yeah, that’s me.

Roaring for more now. Hope the next thing comes along quickly.

Though I know my flist isn’t overflowing with Snape/Harry shippers, I must just talk about the fun I’ve had. If you’re a fan of anything, you’ll understand. For the past seven weeks I’ve been reading the heck out of snarry_games [er...not on LJ] -- fanfic challenges that have been a daily treat, but that I’ve just finished. So the games are over for the season. I’m sad and hungry already. It’s my OTP, the quality of writing is all top-standard, there are so many clever ideas, and a huge percentage of fics are novel-length, so double triple quadruple bonus for me!

The mania of overdose is fortunately always greater than the emptiness of withdrawl symptoms, so surely I’ll survive. I’m a sucker for that high, so I’ll always allow myself to become immersed. There is a certain amount of implied insanity in the word “fanatic,” so it’s only proper to go a bit overboard, right?

Still, part of me squirms at the thought of how much time I invested in reading what was often the equivalent of a book a day. Now, hold it right there, this feeling is in no way synonymous with “regret.” Don’t worry, that’s not what I’m getting at. (Though certainly the world would have been better served if I’d spent that time building houses or volunteering at a hospital or something like that. That’s all I mean. Ingrained Catholic guilt, despite being agnostic at the very least. Pay no attention to my need to actually feel bad for enjoying something!) I had an absolute BLAST reading. Obviously, a fandom as huge as Harry Potter is bound to include some honestly talented writers...and they were all present. Not only were there fascinating settings and plots for me to get excited about, but the execution of the stories was often impeccable. I fell in love with being a fan all over again. My fanhood? Fanship? What's the word for one's status as a fan?

Here’s to fandom. It’s entertaining, it’s self-indulgent, it’s an exploration of creativity. A damned fine hobby.

This morning on NPR I heard a (pardon the word) fascinating story about the character of Mr. Spock and his place in culture. As well as a chat with Mr. Nimoy, they interviewed Henry Jenkins, author of the amazing fan-culture participation study Textual Poachers. I've recommended this book before, and I'll do it again. Though a bit outdated, (i.e., written before the Internet influence upon fan activities), it's so all-encompassing, and such a great history. What I like best about his studies is that he looks into the reasons why fans latch onto certain attributes of a character -- what the character represents to them beyond the canon context of the show/film/novel/whatever. I find this of particular interest in his chapters about slash -- the dynamics between these subtextual invented relationships, and why fans choose to see them.

Anyway, now I'm all melty again about being a fan and about Textual Poachers and about Star Trek - to which I owe my intro to fandom when you get right down to it.

Ah, found it. You can read or listen to the report here.

Spent the long weekend driving across five states helping someone move. Kept hearing this new song from The Cure. I'm a fan, so the repetition was a good thing, but by now I'm totally haunted. One disc jockey commented that it makes him feel violated. Yes, the wordplay isn't at all subtle :)

The Only One - The Cure

My mother, or "Mummy Potter" as my local friends know her, emailed me this picture a week or so ago. It must have been making its rounds at Mother's Day. Not sure what she meant by sending it to me ;) but I love it.


HOW TO TELL IF YOU'RE MOM'S FAVORITE........

http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=luciocx8.jpg

Poor Lucius. Nice to know that prison life has not effected his fantastic hair.

(Cut scene from OotP)

Mini-interview with Patrick Stewart from Newsweek magazine, April 7, 2008:

( I love it when Star Trek actors defend Trekkies to the point of calling interviewers idiots. )

I made a Harry/Ron video. Wanted to use this song for something, and there seemed to be no better pairing for it than those boys...so...here you go --

slashy, sweet, and humorous (thanks to Flight of the Conchords) --

Fans of The Office --

This video had me laughing my face off. Toby's my favorite...perhaps because he has this very potential.

Oh Toby, please tell me you didn't really run off to Costa Rica.

I suppose I do occasionally think of my computer in terms of a living being. But this morning I fired up the laptop and put my hands on her cold keyboard, and was struck by how lifeless she felt coming out of hibernation. I much prefer her warm and glowing, burning hot little love bites in my lap.

It was a friend's birthday this week, and I was raving about this amazing cake my sister always makes for me. A "chocolate orange marquise," I should say -- it's far swankier than a "cake." It's more or less melted-down chocolate reformed into cake shape. Texture is somewhere between fudge and a brownie, but far more decadent in richness and flavor.

I asked my sister for the recipe and actually made it for my friend. It's easy, but impressive. Here's the email she sent me: ( chocolate orange marquise )

One of my favorite television shows, Little Britain (the favorite at this time, in fact) is, at this very moment, shooting its fourth series. Production is based out of North Carolina. Slightly ironic, I suppose, but despite the show's title, I've never found anything particularly non-interchangeable about the characters' nationalities. Having said that, however, I do hope they don't "Americanize" the show to give us what they think we want. I'm not too worried about that, though. I think it's just going to be regular Little Britain...which just happened to be filmed in America so they can have deal with HBO.

Anyway, they're here in America. They're right here. Right now.

And I'm not at the studio!

I should BE there! Lurking. Paparazzi-ing. Working. Any of the above; all of the above.

Following the production has been driving me crazy. I can't help but feel I'm missing out, big-time. But NC is a bit of a jaunt. I'll take what tidbits I can get from the fan sites :)

IF YOU'RE ON MY FRIENDS LIST, I want to know 36 things about you. I don't care if we never talk, if you're more of a lurker, or if we already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine ...you're on my list, so I want to know you better!

BE HONEST! COPY FROM HERE THEN SEND DIRECTLY TO ME IN A COMMENT THEN, REPOST THE EMPTY QUESTIONS.

(Sorry about the capslock screaming, but I just copied it that way!)

( Questions under here )

Not that there's been much Aitch around lately...

...but I've finally dragged my sorry butt here to post. All is well. Working, playing, and going out nights far too often than is good for me. If you'd been following this development -- I ended up withdrawing my resumé for that other job at the ol' workplace. In a parallel universe, my career there could have gone that way, but I'd like to follow my plans for school rather than make a return to the science center. It was a unique leveraging position, actually. Boss was quite freaked out that I'd leave, so he's promised me he'll do "anything" to work out a decent schedule while I'm in classes. He may live to regret his words.

I have something to look forward to -- a vacation of sorts in August. My first real get-away in seven years. See some pals. Get crazy. I'm so excited.

Saw a Pat Benetar concert. She rocked hard. Here, see for yourself:



Hope all is well with you.

I wear a pea coat.
It is wool.
Whenever I've been out in the rain, I smell like a wet animal.

The Hasty Pudding Show -- Harvard University’s spectacular annual comedy/burlesque show! I finally saw it, and it was wonderful. You all would have loved it too. This year they wrote a sort of amalgamation of fairy tales (told with plenty of bawdy jokes, rotten puns, and men dressed up for the female roles). Extremely talented people, all of them. Good actors, good singers, good writers, good dancers. What I wouldn’t give to see their high-kicking Rockettes-esque final number again! Most of them had the legs for it. They were handsome men, but even more beautiful women.

I felt quite a bit as if I was in the middle of an historic occasion. I think this was the 160th annual show, and America being a young country, we don't have many traditions (or universities) that date back that far. Oh, by the way, they honor a Woman of the Year and Man of the Year annually too. This year it was Charlize Theron and my pal Chris Walken :)

Also, it was special in that it put me in mind of Cambridge theatricals, like Footlights. Perhaps some of these guys will go on to illustrious entertainment careers. On that line, this show was also as close to panto as I've ever seen in this country...without the audience participation...which is what would make it panto...so never mind. But you know what I mean.

Before the actual performance, we ran into them in the bookstore down the street. My camera takes a little video, but this clip is kinda crap and is nothing like what the real show was like. In fact, now that I watch the video, it gives a truly lacking impression of what the whole show was like. But it was a bonus -- I wouldn’t have been able to tape them in the theatre! Some of the fairy tale characters…



I almost got to see Harry and the Potters the other night, but had to miss it on account of a snowstorm. Bummer, but I’m sure they’ll be around again over the summer.

(I’ll be responding to emails soon. Thanks so much; I’m not ignoring you…just concentrating on the Harvard boys.)

Re: the O'Scars
Mood: very pleased

Very pleased indeed. In fact, I should have bet money on them - my choices won every time. The watch-as-many-nominations-as-possible experiment paid off, I believe. It gives a nice perspective (as well as being a treat to watch so many great films).

Not to worry, (fellow) Johnny Depp fans. We all love him, and he never gives a disappointing performance, yet we all know that his best is yet to come. THE Role - the one that is uniquely his and that will be forever attached to his name. His award be better when the time is right.

It's an utter shame I was born British, trapped in an American's body...
...at least in terms of satisfying my tastes in entertainment. Can I really feel my ancestral pull via television programs?