The Good Thing About Bad Fanfiction

Okay, so, I was recently discussing with an eleven year old about good literature (she's my mini-me. I adore her. ♥), and while I was slightly annoyed that she is better read than I was at that age, it made me realize that people are losing their grip on literature.

This girl, who shall remain nameless, read 'The Color Purple', understood it, and enjoyed it despite it's darker moments. What was even more amazing is that it shocked me that she was so young and so into reading. Especially when the little eleven year old next to hear was like, "I hate reading and I hate writing."

I don't know if you know this about me, but I live to write. Seriously, that's all I ever do in my free time. Oh, and arrange music. But, that's not my point. Writing, and more particularly writing fanfiction, allows us to connect with what we've read, and helps us get a better understanding of the character's motives.

So, bad fanfiction is good. Why? Because those writers are at least attempting to connect with what they've just read.

Note: My Immortal doesn't count. Because the writer is obviously a troll.

Sometimes, being a LOST fan sucks

Okay, so I'm home sick because I spent too much time this weekend being out in the cold with wet hair. And then I saw that the Golden Globe list came out today. I was like, "Oh, this should be interesting."

This pretty much sums up how I feel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Yo5HKgAHI

Although, it's not as bad as I make it up to be. There are some pretty good nominations. Just...none for Lost. Although, is Lost still eligible because it ended in May 2010? I would think it would be, unless May was just too long ago for HFPA to remember. Which reminds me: I've been watching SO much 30 Rock while I've been sick, and I recently watched...well, whichever one it is that Jenna freaks out about having HFPA viewing Tracy's film.

I've also been watching the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime, and I'll get to that at the end, if I remember.

Okay. So Golden Globes! Ricky Gervais is hosting this year and let me just say this: Fuck.yeah. This is so beyond great that I can't even articulate it. Ohmygod. I know I said I'd never live blog again, but after learning that Ricky Gervais is hosting, I may even consider live blogging for the lulz. Awesome.

There's also (to my surprise although probably no one else's), the Social Network, and Jesse Eisenberg were nominated for Golden Globes as well. Actually, the entire 'Best Actor in a Drama' category is pretty lulzy. Ryan Gosling, James Franco, Mark Wahlberg and Colin Firth, in addition to one Mr. Jesse Eisenberg. Okay, so Colin Firth and Mark Wahlberg are fairly dramatic actors, for what it's worth. But this is the strangest collection of actors I have ever come across in my life.

LOLCHRISTIANBALEISNOMINATEDFORAGOLDENGLOBELOLOLOLOLOL.

Also: How To Train Your Dragon vs. Tangled vs Toy Story 3. That will be difficult. If you haven't seen any of these three movies yet, find a way to because they are fantastic. Also, The Illusionist is a movie that hasn't even come out yet. Congrats HFPA. Just when I think you can't go any lower, you do. Clap. Clap. (Point, point? :D) And then there's Despicable Me. But since it's not any of the three I mentioned above, it's not gonna win. I'm sorry.

Although, I think part of Toy Story 3's appeal is the nostalgia a majority of us have. We spent years attached to that film series. In fact, my age group (more particularly, kids 16-18)are getting ready for that first step off into college. Last June, I cleaned out my closet, and got rid of a bunch of old toys before seeing Toy Story 3. I was traumatized, to say the least. But they point is that we, like Andy, are growing up. And as Andy had to leave his crew of toys behind, so do we.

Excuse me, I need a tissue.

Okay, I'm back. Why does best comedy have six nominations, whereas best drama has five? I'm sorry, you couldn't just slip in Lost? [/embittered]

Yeah, I pretty much don't care after that. Enjoy your Golden Globes nominations, I'mma go take a nap.

NaNoWriMo...right.

So, I'm already three days behind on NaNoWriMo. I wrote 2.4k the first day, though I really should've written 3.2k so I'd be two days behind instead of three but I guess that can't really be changed.

After today, I was supposed to be at 6668 words, or about there. So, I bet you're wondering to yourself, "How are you gonna catch up on the words you missed?" That's a really good question.

I am going to describe the zombie Jesus out of every living thing I talk about. When my character is walking down the hallway, I will be writing what everyone is doing, what every locker looks like. It will be massive. It will be hard. It can be done.

I've been looking at some 'dirty' tricks to help get me through the process. I rather like some of them. And then others are just stupid. A stupid example would be replacing your character's name by giving them three extra names. So like "Anna" would be "Anna Sophia Maria".

I don't know why that was the first name to pop into my head. Then I saw a good one. Realistic conversation. You know when you're talking to someone and you made a mistake, and they're like, "Haha, you're so stupid?"

In novels, that doesn't really happen. Because, let's face it, the author can just go back and change it so that every dialogue exchange is perfect. I'm gonna try this. My character this year is such a dolt that this really shouldn't be a problem.

I just saw this one: If you're a student, write your essays for this month into your novel, it's not cheating seeing as you wrote it in November!

I've already written a Civil War essay and a paragraph for Psychology AND a journal for Economics. Hello 3k. It's nice to see you.

"Oh. It's you. It's been a long time. How have you been? I've been really busy being dead. You know. After you murdered me. Okay. Look, we both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us...for science...you monster."

Look! Another 50 or so words! :D

At any rate, for those of you doing NaNoWriMo, good luck!

So...what is a Jellicle Cat again?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the songs I make reference to or link to. Happy?

So, I've watched the musical Cats about twenty thousand times in the past month or so, and I've decided that maybe I haven't been giving Cats enough credit. Literally, I'm just like, "What the fuck is this musical? What the fuck is a jellicle cat? Does thing even have a plot?"

I'll start by answering the last question: Yes and no. No, because if you ever try to describe this musical in a short amount of words, it's nearly next to impossible. Yes, because...well, it does have a plot. And a fairly interesting one at that. Though, some points are big let downs. Such as Macavity's entrance. Comes with one hell of a theme song, though. Though, as far as Macavity goes, I prefer this. He isn't much of a villain, though. Macavity spends the entire musical being alluded to, and then...well, nothing really happens except the big fight scene after the Macavity song. But Macavity never speaks. He just cackles. Okay, so back to the plot:

So, the notion is that there's a gathering of cats once a year. They're all Jellicle Cats. I'm not sure what a Jellicle Cat is, but ALW said that all cats are Jellicle Cats. Whatever. They all gather so that the leader of the Jellicle Tribe, Old Deuteronomy, can pick a cat that can be reborn. After that, you get a bunch of songs about certain Cats. And for whatever reason, they all hate Grizabella. Apparently, she's the group pariah/exile. She once belonged to the Jellicle tribe, she became a show cat ("glamour cat") who was eventually abandoned and left on the street. She cannot adjust to life as a stray, or rejoin the tribe. So she's an outcast who kind of haunts them. Apparently leaving the Tribe is some sort of blasphemy...so the Jellicle cats are scientologists?

Wow, that was a bad joke. Even for me. Sorry. We'll go back to the plot.

More than half these songs are useless. Seriously. They serve little to no purpose for the plot, but they are so damn catchy that you can't really hate them. Also, Gus the Theatre Cat makes me cry, but that's because of John Mills, who was about ninety something years old when they made this, and was essentially blind while filming.

Cats is also one of those musicals has that one song everybody knows (although, I'd really say three). If you cared enough to click on each link, you'll notice that the song from Cats hasn't been mentioned. I'm talking about Memory. There's a reason for this. Because two of the three times Grizabella shows up on stage, she sings a rendition of Memory. To be honest, I'm a bigger fan of the reprise. It's also the one I know better for some strange reason. Either way, it's a really sad song. It kinda makes me wish I was gonna be a cat for Halloween.

Also. Elaine Paige kills both versions. Really, she does. Also, the chick playing Jemima, (the cat who is singing at the very beginning of the reprise video) Veerle Casteleyn, is extremely talented, even as far as sopranos go.

The original Jemima, who also originated the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera, Sarah Brightman, is also a talented soprano in her own right. You can attach her name to any musical, and I can guarantee you that people have tried to find a recording of her singing. Anyway, back to Cats.

Although, I feel like this musical is less known for it's music (as well known for the music as it is) and more for it's dancing. Seriously. No wonder Dame Judi Dench ruptured her Achilles' tendon. It's like dancing boot camp. You'd have to be in the greatest shape of your life to even keep up with the choreography, and then, you'd get even fitter from being in the damn musical.

Now, I'd say that Glee should do a cover of one of the songs that isn't Memory. For example...I'd say Puck as Rum Tum Tugger. Oh, God, that'd make me so happy. Glee kind of owes us after that Rocky Horror ep. And don't say that you don't, Glee writers, because transexuals do NOT come from sensational Transylvania. They come from transexual Transylvania. Every RHPS fan knows that.

And also? You owe us for the blantant misuse of Kurt's perfect Riff Raff. Don't believe me? Original. Kurt. Additionally, Quinn has Magenta's voice down to a science. It's beautiful. It makes me want to dress up as Magenta when I go see RHPS tomorrow.

That episode was good for one thing, though. Chord Overstreet is beautiful. I mean, he could stand to look a bit less by Justin Bieber. But he has got a body, that's for sure. Also, Santana singing the opening. That was great too.

So, that's pretty much all I have to say. Happy Halloween if I don't post before then! And I probably won't.

In Which I Discuss Things That I Was Actually Too Young To Remember Properly

So, this morning, the movie "Notorious" was on, and I decided to watch it because...well, I had heard about it once and then I never heard about it again. If, for whatever reason, you don't know what it's about, it's about the life of rapper Notorious B.I.G. And on some level, it's also about the East Coast-West Coast hiphop rivalry (because that was a huge part of B.I.G.'s life toward the end) that started in the early '90s, and ended with the murders of Tupac/2pac and Notorious B.I.G./Big Poppa/Biggie Smalls respectively.

As a small(er) child, I had three Notorious B.I.G. songs that were a part of my repertoire: Hypnotize, Juicy and Big Poppa. I also had one Tupac song that I knew pretty well, and know every word to now: Changes. I, for the life of me, cannot figure out how exactly it was I knew these songs, but I know 'em.

That's not really my point. I've spent basically my whole day listening to Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. And I've come to the decision that rap needs to turn around and look at these two. Because...there are no words to describe how great both of them are. As someone who, for the most part, greatly dislikes rap, I could easily listen to Biggie or Tupac at any point of the day. Tupac's voice, Biggie's storytelling...seriously, just pick one of their songs, any of their songs, and you'll find what I'm talking about.

However, this is lost on a lot of people, particularly YouTube commenters. If you look on videos, you'll see a lot of people commenting about who is better: Biggie or 2pac. Even then, sometimes you'll get names like Eminem and Justin Bieber (or as one YouTube commentator called him, Justin Beaver) thrown in their, leaving people to just be like "WHAT?" but for the most part, a lot of it is still that East/West Coast rivalry.

It's messed up. Especially because the reason both Biggie and 2pac are dead is because of this stupid rivalry. I mean, it's stupid in my opinion, and there's no reason to dredge it up.

The sad thing is, this all could've been prevented. Maybe not the entire conflict, but the specific tensions between 2pac and Biggie. Perhaps, they could've even come together for a song when shit got rough, and perhaps settled the whole dispute without either of them dying and depriving the world of good rap.

There was a HUGE PR mistake that Bad Boy Records (the record company of Notorious B.I.G) made. Biggie released a single in '94, when 2pac was shot in NY called "Who Shot Ya". This led people to believe that Biggie had something to do with attack on 2pac. So then, 2pac released a single in retaliation, 'Hit 'Em Up'. I'm not gonna lie, both are mad catchy and I listen to both.

Just think about it. If they hadn't released this song as a single, if they had just decided to cut it in light of what happened...well, maybe it wouldn't have changed the eventual outcome, but maybe the entire rivalry between 2pac and Biggie wouldn't exist. Just a thought.

If you're interested in the East Coast-West Coast hiphop rivalry, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coast%E2%80%93West_Coast_hip_hop_rivalry#Background

I know it's been 13-14 years, since the deaths of Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac, respectively, but still. Rap lost a lot when the world lost them. R.I.P. <3

In Which I Was Silenced By the Man!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any songs I make reference or link to.

Previously, on Blaire's blog...

There was a Glee post. About the Gaga episode and the Brittany episode. And Blogger took that shit down.

Like...the FUCK? Apparently, I can look up who sent the complaint (there was some violation of DMCA in me using the vids I guess, I don't really know) and all that jazz, but I absolutely cannot be fucked to look it up.

I'm enraged! I worked SO hard on that post. And, whoever complained, who the fuck do you think you are to get my work regaled to 'draft' status?

So, apparently, if you say anything bad about Glee, you get silenced. Yeah, okay. Fuckers.

Why did my shit get taken down, anyway? It's not like I'm making any money/page views off this blog. Is it because I didn't make a disclaimer? Because I've linked to vids in the past, and I've put a disclaimer on the top of the post. And wouldn't it just be safe to assume that I don't own the damn material anyway? Really.

Also: Chilling Effects? Your site is too damn complicated to figure out. Apparently, I have to register that a notice was sent out or whatever. I'm not doing it. I'll just stay silenced. Whatever.

Okay, I'm gonna post a link to a song that I very much like, after putting a disclaimer at the top of this post! Enjoy!

In Which Things Confound Me...Or A Ramble On Musicals

Okay, so I have this friend who lives in New Joisey. And she told me for their school play, they're doing "Fiddler On the Roof". Now, for those of you who how somehow been living under a rock and don't know what that is, Fiddler is...okay. You know A Very Potter Musical?

Well, this is A Very Jewish Musical. Seriously. Look at the plot description. So, anyway, my friend goes to a Catholic High School. Uniforms and all. And my first reaction was, "WHAT THE FUCK? WHY CAN'T WE DO FIDDLER?"

We're doing 'Into the Woods' by Stephen Sondheim, which I (un)affectionately call, "Into the freaking Woods". Because Sondheim is a bitch to sing/play. Seriously. Listen to this, this, and this. Those are, if you're too lazy to look Comedy Tonight from A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum (which is HILARIOUS, by the way) as sung by Nathan Lane, A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd as sung by George Hearn and Angela Lansbury, and Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music, as sung by Ruthie Henshall.

Now, Sondheim sounds very simple to sing. But that's the beauty of Sondheim. When done right, it seems effortless. When done poorly, it's a big fucking mess. Sondheim also writes the prettiest scores, with the catchiest melodies. C'mon. Tell me that Comedy Tonight isn't stuck in your head. And if it isn't, it soon will be. By the way, I'm not responsible whatever nightmares these reject Muppets induce. :D

Sondheim is also responsible for a song which I've mentioned once already. And that's Rose's Turn, as well as the rest of Gypsy. Sondheim is also responsible for West Side Story (although, I think he was just a producer on that one). So, yeah, Sondheim is a genius.

Now, speaking of Glee songs, I was watching Ruthie Henshall sing 'Maybe This Time', and I feel like I have to mention another fabulous Broadway person, who I think is dead now actually. Bob Fosse. I just checked Wikipedia...yes, he is dead. Wow, he died awhile ago. Like, before I was born. Anyway, Bob Fosse was known probably less known for his music, and more for his choreography.

Examples? Chicago, The Pajama Game, Damn, Yankees!, Cabaret (the movie, not the original musical), and All That Jazz. All of these are well known for their intensive choreography. Especially Chicago and Damn, Yankees!. We could never do a Bob Fosse musical at our school for two reasons.

The first being it's too risque. The second being we don't have many dancers. XDD

Yeah, this is pretty much all I gotta say. Musicals are awesome. I wish people appreciate them more.