me very excited!!!!one11one!!
written: 10:31 a.m. on Friday, Apr. 04, 2008

GUESS WHO'S WATCHING STEREOPHONICS LIVE ON APRIL 28. GUESS WHO SPENT $98 LAST NIGHT AT THE ESPLANADE BOX OFFICE AFTER CASUALLY FLIPPING THROUGH JUICE MAGAZINE AND SEEING THE CONCERT AD.

GUESS WHO'S GOING TO HER FIRST ROCK CONCERT IN FUCKING 21 AND A HALF YEARS.

I am SO DAMN EXCITED that I can't even express how excited I am!!! OMGGGGGG I can't believe a band I actually like is playing here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kelly Jones, call me. I know David's my one and only, but since he has no idea that we're married, I can put him aside for like ten seconds to be with you. 'Cause you're hot. And I love your band. And I'm going to watch you guys at Fort fucking Canning Park, a place I thought I never want to re-visit ever again. But who cares about past relationships and whatever when I finally, FINALLY get to attend a rock concert.

And you know what? Fuck the critics. I don't give a shit what they say about Stereophonics' music. I like it and that's the only thing that matters, because I'M SEEING THEM LIVE OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, despite having a supplementary credit card, I paid for my ticket with MY OWN MONEY. Wah lau I hate myself for being so guai. I really should not spend my Europe money so readily but...FUCK IT'S STEREOPHONICS SO SHUT UP.

Because I can't get enough of the pretty, it has to adorn my blog (key word being "my").

David is the cutest. He is the most awesome-est. He's the best. Even if he said that the stories about him being rushed to the hospital were blown out of proportion, he still has high blood pressure, and I hope he takes care of himself. Because he's the cutest, he's the most awesome-est, and he's the best. <3

Anyway, I watched We Will Rock You with Kenneth last night. It was not bad/okay, but I wasn't exactly jumping up and down about it. From the very outset I have an intense hatred for musicals for the simple reason that I don't understand why people have to sing-talk to each other when they can either sing or talk. Musical songs in general are also extremely un-musical, un-melodious, and sometimes just plain awful. Notable exceptions are, of course, the tried-and-tested Music of the Night (which I personally love, and am personally hoping David would sing for the Broadway theme but he probably wouldn't), Phantom of the Opera, and Memories. My mom listens to 92.4 in the car and sometimes they'll play random musical songs. Whenever that happens, I'd roll my eyes and change the station.

Musicals are also schizophrenic in that they straddle this weird middle ground between theatre and opera but fail to be as ground-breaking or inventive or artistic as theatre and opera. To put it bluntly, musicals are for the masses while theatre and opera are not. I personally also hate opera because the singing just grates and I have no patience to sit through such things, but I have to admire the immense genius and talent that go into producing such works (the overtures are also fantastic, but that goes without saying. The good thing is, you can take the overture out of the opera and enjoy the overture without the rest of it). I'm also not a theatre fan because I find film a lot more real, realistic and instant, and I connect with film on a much deeper level than I do with theatre. A lot of modern theatre also bothers me in its grandiose pretensions it tries to pass off as avant-garde. But I'd much rather watch a play than a musical for the simple reason that plays in general are more thought-provoking, intelligent and literary than musicals.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't think that there's anything intellectual or art-worthy in musicals. At least, this is true for the ones that I've seen, which admittedly are limited, but this is just the impression I've formed anyway. It's middling entertainment and not much more, which works for some people, but not so much for me. To me, musicals are like the film equivalent of Michael Bay crap movies: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. And I usually walk away from a musical hating 3/4 of the music because...argh. It's just so not my cup of tea. It's so much talk-sing or sing-talk or whatever and I can't get behind that at all because I think it's simply unpleasant to listen to.

Getting back to the musical I watched last night: It was the first musical from which I didn't walk away hating 3/4 of the music, precisely because it was a blatant and unapologetic Queen tribute - and Queen songs are infinitely and exponentially better than musical songs. Duh. I'm quite ashamed to admit that the only Queen songs I know are from American Idol, but at least watching the silly show has introduced me to some Queen songs (and two weeks back, some Beatles songs). Idol should do like a Zeppelin/classic rock theme; that'd be great.

Anyway, so the music was awesome, though I'm not sure if the Esplanade theatre is such a great place to play loud as hell rock music. My left ear, the palsied one, felt like it was about to burst a few times.

Sadly though, most of the singers were quite shit. The female protagonist's rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody was pure karaoke, the woman who played Killer Queen (great song!) has a horrible screechy upper register that threatened to burst my eardrum every time she went there (which was a lot), and the lead guy. Oh, the lead guy. I really liked him during the first half of the show and wanted him to sing more, but I honestly didn't think he sang Queen's 3 most famous songs very well. When he was singing We Will Rock You, I couldn't help but think, "I watched this sung much better on American Idol last week by Michael Johns." When he sang Bohemian Rhapsody, I also couldn't help but think, "Michael Johns sang this better during Hollywood week." I actually thought he was slightly off-key for We Will Rock You.

Still, prior to that, I totally loved him. He was on Rock Star: INXS and came in third, I think. But um, he's quite a bad actor. I get that the whole thing was camp, but he was too camp, if there's such a thing.

One last thing: There was actually a plot, but the whole thing unravelled and went nowhere towards the end. Suddenly they sang We Will Rock You and it was over. I thought it was quite lazy that they didn't bother trying to fit the final Bohemian Rhapsody moment into the plot; they used it as some "encore" device which was quite lame and quite a let-down.

But you know, as far as musicals go, this one is great because the music is AWESOME, but everything else is just okay. Have I mentioned I'm not a fan of musicals? Because...I'm not. At all.

American Idol ramblings:

Okay, I can't believe Ramiele got the boot this week. Over KRISTY the bloody cockroach that won't die. Kristy's been in the bottom three 3 out of 4 times and it's just amazing that she's still around. Who the hell votes for Kristy Lee Cook? When she busted out that patriotic American song last week, I think I was more or less speechless with hate.

Ramiele can actually sing. She has an amazing voice that she doesn't know how to use, which is too bad, but why does she have to go before Kristy and bloody Syesha whom I can't stand as well? This is damn shit. All the people I like are dropping like flies, while the ones I can't stand or couldn't care less about are still around. Of the remaining 8, I only like two - David (duh, and not Archuleta) and to a muuuuuch lesser extent, Michael Johns.

Since we're on the subject of American Idol, I'll continue bitching about the other six that I can't stand or couldn't care less about.

First, let's start with Archuleta. I get that he has a good voice. I think that he has a good voice too. But he must be the most boring 17-year-old to have ever lived. I just don't get the craze over this kid. He's 18 this year and yet he comes across so sheltered and all bright-eyed naive. When he starts going off about the "messages" in his songs, I just want to slap him and ask him to shut up. I have no problems against inspirational songs and songs with "messages" per se; but to do it every week, AND to act as if you know what you're talking about? It's so incredibly grating and I'm tired of it. I also don't see how Simon can call my David "predictable" when he did Day Tripper (which was, by the way, more vocally solid than Eleanor Rigby) and yet praise Archuleta for singing his ballads every alternate week, when the Archuleta pattern has become predictable a long time ago. He does a ballad, the judges go all batty; he does something up-tempo, he tanks. And the ballads he does are ALL THE SAME. He even made John Lennon's Imagine the same as all the other ballads he does. I think he sang Imagine very well, but I don't understand why he couldn't just sing it straight, and that was probably the only performance of his that I've liked. Everything is just...he's so incredibly boring, and I just don't care.

Having said that, I can't hate this kid or say nasty things about him (boring isn't nasty). He's a kid. Insulting him is like kicking a puppy - and he's 17. He comes across as 12 and it's just really weird with him. I hope he gets the boot during Top 3 week because I really really really freaking want a Cookie/Michael Johns finale. If it ends up David v. David, it'd be like watching an adult compete against a 12-year-old. And who wants to watch that? And I violently do not want to see my David lose to Archuleta, so please, Cookie/Michael Johns FTW.

Then there's Jason Castro. I liked his first performance. That was it. I just plain do not get him. His voice is probably the weakest out of every one, and HE ALSO DOES THE SAME BLOODY THING EVERY WEEK. I am so sick of this guy, it's not even funny. Can he please leave? If he robs my David of his finale spot, I'd be damn pissed because he certainly doesn't deserve it. And I'll be happy if I never have to hear him talk because he just sounds like a major dippy stoner, and no, it's neither cute nor charming.

I used to haaaate Carly Smithson but she's kind grown on me a bit so now I just don't care about her. She actually has quite a nice voice when she's not trying to belt. I hate how her voice sounds when she's attempting to hit the high notes - it's all screechy and sharp and just plain awful. But other than that, I can live with her until she gets the boot sometime around Top 5 or Top 4 week.

Brooke White - Kind of like her, kind of don't, mostly indifferent. Her style of music isn't my taste, though she does have a pleasant-sounding voice. I quite liked how she sounded Every Breath You Take but did not like her lovey-dovey interpretation of a stalker song. I thought the disconnect was really weird. And I WAS hoping that she'd be the shocking boot this week when she was in Bottom 3, but she survives to sing another week. Good/bad, well, she doesn't really do much for me so I just don't really care.

Syesha - HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. Just. Plain. Hate. She cannot leave the show fast enough. Articulating why I cannot stand her fake act and her over-the-top singing is a waste of time so I'm not gonna bother.

And of course, there's Kristy Lee Cook. First, I'm glad her boyfriend was in the audience this week, which means she can finally stop using my David as a substitute. Other than that, I just don't get why she's still around. Like I said, she's a cockroach that refuses to die. Whoever's voting for her in America must be some scary-ass conservative Republican-types. It would explain why she didn't hit Bottom 3 the week she did that chest-thumping patriotic American song. There's nothing special about her voice and she stands out for being painfully mediocre. Just leave already. Please.

My ideal top 3 is probably Cookie, Michael and - I can't believe I'm saying this - Carly. I really really really hated Carly at first; I thought she was immensely and unbelievably overrated, I thought her voice was horrible, and while I still think she screeches rather than sings high notes, she has quite a pleasant voice. She needs to stop looking like she's having constipation when she sings though; I don't like looking at her when she sings as she makes all these scary faces which genuinely scare me. When singing Total Eclipse of the Heart, she looked like she was on the verge of murdering someone. As long as she stays away from belter songs (which won't happen), I can live with her being on the show. There's also something quite sweet and endearing about her when she's not singing which she doesn't display when she IS singing, so...yeah. She's weird. But at least she doesn't piss me off the way fucking Syesha does, and I used to hate Carly as much as Syesha.

As for Michael, his hotness is undeniable. I liked his Light My Fire, then hated everything he did until A Day in the Life of which everyone else hated, then liked him again last week. This week I had no idea what he sang even though I sat in front of the TV as he sang because I was consumed by my anxiety for David, but yeah. As long as he doesn't overshadow David, I can get behind him. The Cookie/Michael friendship is also super cute and Cookie needs a friend on the show so Michael better buck up enough to kick Archuleta's ass out of the finale please, thankyouverymuch.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010