Life Update // Wicked and Books

So due to procrastination and those bajillion other posts that got in the way because THEY WERE MORE IMPORTANT APPARENTLY....*glares intently at those inconsiderate posts*  I never got to blog about a very exciting thing that happened. 


And lemme do that right now before I forget again.


Exciting thing #1:  I SAW WICKED!!! 

SO MUCH EXCITE

I had never seen it before (or even heard all of the songs) so I really didn't know what to expect.  My piano teacher had been raving about it for years now, and my musical-theatre-loving grandma wanted to take us to it, even my aunt who lived on the other side of the country wanted to take me to see it!  So when my friend Annabeth invited me and a group to go see it, I was ecstatic. 


It blew my expectations away with it's sheer amazingness. 


Here's the official Broadway trailer:

I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but basically it's the story of the two witches when they were young and.....how the Wicked Witch became "wicked" and........stuff.  Back when the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda were friendsss.

They were such cute friends btw it was adorable. 


Sorry.  I don't explain things well at all. 


I try to explain something and end up spoiling the entire thing OR I try to explain something and end up sounding like a confused potato who doesn't know what she's talking about. 


Ah, cruel life. 


BUT ANYWAY.  It was amazing.  I laughed, I cried, my feels were broken, and now it's one of my favoritest musicals of all time.  AND THEY'RE MAKING  A MOVIE OF IT APPARENTLY.  Aaron Tveit must be cast as Fiyero.  He must. 


Oh yes, did I mention that?  Aaron Tveit played the Winkie Prince, Fiyero, in one of the Broadway versions.




yisssssss

d'awwwww

And in the original cast, guess who played Elphaba?  Idina Menzel.  (For you hermits who live under rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, she's also Elsa from Frozen)

So Enjolras and Elsa were once Ozians and it amuses me immensely. 


*giggles maniacally*


Okay moving on. 




Exciting Thing #2:


In which I present my latest and greatest Book Haul!

yeah, hehe, I read a lotttttt of different genres

Let me just say, I love my library bookstore so much. 


And people who give me Barnes & Nobles gift cards.  (Bless you.)


I haven't read all of these yet, because my TBR stack is threatening to devour me in my sleep and it terrifies me.  And now with school starting up again, I have required reading to do and I'm not ready for deep stuff like Herodotus' Histories and Shakespeare....


Also I have a new book series for you to read because THEY ARE TRULY AMAZING. 

*WHEEZES* THEY ARE SO GOOD SLGKHSKGLHG.  And the genre is so different....it's like steampunk/dystopian/fantasy/historical fiction all wrapped up into one mind-blowingly delicious read.  And they are clean, too.  Which brings me to my next topic.


Disclaimer:  Just because I recommend a book, it doesn't mean it's totally clean and appropriate for all ages. 


Not that I read books that are a) dirty or b) containing too much mature content, because I don't. 


What I mean is, different people have different standards and I am really tired of people getting upset with me because they read something I said was good.  I read books at a mature level.  Not everyone is at that level.  Some people are younger, and some just don't prefer more mature books. 


So please, just a warning.  Look up more detailed reviews of books before just getting them based on my recommendation if there is any concern of that.  Same with any shows and movies, too. 


Well, that's taken care of then. 


Ugh I'm so tired.  Peace out, minions!

Have you seen Wicked??  Have you read Incarceron? 

In which I take a break from TOP

JUST KIDDING.  I will never take a break from TOP.  

And yes, I know that there is supposed to be a line through the O but my computer won't let me do that SO I'M SORRY.


But that doesn't mean I don't listen to other music my poor neglected Pandora stations that are not Twenty One Pilots or Les Miserables.


So today I'd like to share a few of my favoritest non-TOP non-Broadway music/groups/artists.  Namely, my next favorite genre.  OPERATIC POP. 


Or at least I think that's what it is.  Honestly, I haven't the faintest clue.  I know that Josh Groban is considered "operatic pop" so I'm going to call the rest of these Groban-like groups operatic pop, too. 

Josh Groban


Josh Groban is the most amazing potato that ever sang.  He has the voice of an angel and he's funny so therefore, he's perfect.  I saw him in concert last fall and it was the most glorious day of my life.  I CRIED, I TELL YOU.  IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. 


So here are my favorite songs by him:

Collabro


So I discovered this British group a couple months ago and instantly fell in love.  THEY ARE LIKE 5 JOSH GROBANS AND THEY'RE BRITISH AND THEY SING SHOWTUNES. 

Il Divo


Is it weird to say I love Il Divo?  My grandma is a HUGE fan of them.  But they are beautiful.  Their voices.  GAH. 

Joshua Payne


This guy looks like Jared Padalecki and sings like Josh Groban.  What more can you ask?

The Canadian Tenors


These guys remind me of Il Divo.  Except they're Canadian.  And AMAZING. 

And there yah have it.  One of my favorite genres, operatic pop or whatever it's called.  It's pretty, whatever it is.


Au revoir!

What genres of music do you like?

A Change of Plans

So about Writer's Camp.


Turns out, I made a common mistake and overbooked myself.  My life became suddenly busy.  In other words,

So as much as I hate to do this, I'm respectfully backing out of the Writer's Camp. 

Ugh I hate backing out of things...THE GUILT.  *shakes fist at Life and Writer's Block and Anti-Socialness*


So yes, the main reason was that I was way too busy to do a camp this long, but there is another reason and I'm scared to say it out loud where it can hear. 


Doubt. 

There is a Twenty One Pilots song for everything, I tell you

You know, that feeling that we writers are constantly battling within ourselves.  We're afraid our writing isn't good enough, that people will laugh at it, that we won't be taken seriously for it, that we will never write anything good, that we will never finish a WIP. 


Out of all the hobbies, I think writers probably get this doubt the hardest.  It eats us up inside and it can destroy our love for writing if we let the doubt win. 


Those of you who are keeping up with the Camp, I congratulate you.  You fought the doubt and won.  But I lost to it.  The doubt has a leash around my neck and it won't let me go. 


When Writer's Block hits, there are many writers who are strong and carry on regardless of it.  But when it hits me, I just feel panic and I run to another occupation.  "You'll never write again," my insecurity hisses in my ear, "You're a failure at writing.  How dare you think you'll ever become a published author.  You are nothing."


This is partly why I started a blog.  To combat those insecurities.  When I feel like I will never write again, I can turn to this and write something different--not a novel or short story--but words from my heart.  And it helps. 


Never stop writing, the wise ones say.  And I won't.  Just maybe a different form of writing...


So to those of you who didn't let the doubt beat them, keep it up.  But I let the doubt beat me, and I know that.  Maybe I'm not ready.  I don't know. 


Well.  That felt good to get out. 

The funny thing about doubt, is that we ALL have it.  We all have doubt and insecurities.  But we never show them.  It's like we're trying desperately to hide our flaws, to pretend everything's okay and we're fine.


But we're NOT fine, and we all have doubt.  So why do we have to hide it constantly?


There is nothing wrong or shameful to say "I'm afraid."  I'm saying it now.  Tyler Joseph says it every time he sings.  And you know what, saying that you're not invincible, that you're just like us, with fears and doubt, it helps people.  Because we're not alone and we need to know that we're not alone in our mental battles. 


That's all I have to say. 

Goodbye, my dears!  I leave you with a Twenty One Pilots song. 

Do you have doubts about writing? 

Writer's Camp // Day One

So yeah, I forgot to mention it, but I'M DOING A WRITER'S CAMP.  It'll be fun.  We'll have lots of fun.  Once again, I haven't the faintest idea what I'm doing, but hey! 

So yeah.  The camp host is Bella, so go check her blog out with the rules and stuff for the camp. 


Basically, we're gonna write stuff and have a lot of fun.  Don't ask me for specifics.  Shush. 


The camp participants are:


Moi!  (Fantasy/Contemporary/Romance/Sci-Fi/Dystopian/Historical Fiction)


Bella @ I am a Dreamer, Let me Dream. (Fantasy/Mystery/slight Historical Fiction)


Hanna @ Miles in the Rain (Realistic Fantasy/Steampunk.)


Helena @ That which They Defend (Fantasy/Dystopian/Historical Fiction/Fiction)


Ellie @ On the Other Side of Reality (Fantasy/Paranormal)


Christine Eyre @ Overflowing Mind and Pen (Fantasy/Other sub-genres)


And that's the cast, everyone!  Go check out their blogs.  They're amazing. 




Now, time to write a little about me. 

My main genre is.....I don't have a main genre.  It's sad, really.  I write whatever I feel like, whether it be Horror or Fantasy or Contemporary or whatever.  I like to consider myself a "Jack of all trades, master of none". 


What do I prefer the most?  Well I've been writing Fantasy the longest, ever since I was 9.  Then I switched over to Contempary/Fantasy/I don't even know when I was like 12.  Now I dabble in everything. 


Recently, it's been easier for me to write Contemporary, but I am getting back into Fantasy mostly because it's so much FUN to write.  So now I mostly just combine Contemporary and Fantasy to give it a nice twist.  I love Historical Fiction/Fantasy but it involves research and I'm a lazy person so....


I love writing Romance though.  I don't know, I just love writing it.  I have no idea what I'm doing, because I am the Singlest Most Single Potato to Ever Single, but I've read enough YA to get by with believable writing in that genre. 


Aaaand that's all you have to know for the moment! 


I hope you stop in and check out the progress of the Writer's Camp!  It's gonna be fun. 


Happy Writing, y'all!!

Are you doing the Writer's Camp?  What genres do you write?

Listen up, minions

I need to rant. 


There is a phrase that fans say sometimes, and it makes me mad.  Maybe you've heard it before... 


"I was a fan before they were famous"


Have you heard this phrase before?  I have.  And it drives me crazy.  Crazyyyyyyyy, I tell you.


The other day a friend casually threw this statement out about Twenty One Pilots and it took all my might to just sit there and not throttle him.  I hadn't realized what this statement meant until now, and it irked me to no end.


So today I was ranting in all caps talking to a friend  about this and turns out she agreed with me.  We came to the conclusion:


People who say this are not true fans.


"Well that's a bit harsh," you say, sipping your tea and judging me intensely.  "Pray tell us how you came to that conclusion?"

Let me give you a snippet of our conversation.


Moi:  You know what I find annoying, when fans are all like "Yeah I was a fan before they were famous" and that drives me crazy.  It makes them sound so uppity and selfish, you know?  Like hey, I have only just become a fan in the past few months, because I hadn't discovered them until then.  It's not like we can help it that we didn't know who TOP was until recently....but we are fans just like they are and it doesn't make a difference when we became fans.


Friend:  YESSS I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!!!! IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING THERE FROM THE START, IT'S ABOUT BEING THERE TILL THE END.


Moi:  YES.  And people who don't like new fans because we weren't there from the very beginning, they aren't true fans themselves.  They're just being possessive over their status of fanship, and that kind of destroys what it means to be in a fandom, right?


Friend:  EXACTLY. 

Now, you're probably thinking, "Well that's just your own opinion".  And you're right.  This is just my own opinion.  But I believe it has some truth in it. 


What is the object of fandoms?  To be a community for fans to congregate and socialize and feel accepted and understood by their fellow fans.  Our fellow fans are like family because we understand each other like outsiders can't possibly understand. 


So when you say "I was there before they were famous", what are you really saying? 


I was there before you. 


I am a better fan than you. 


I like them better than you. 


How dare you come in this fandom and pretend you're a fan, you newbie. 


And this is hurtful.  I'm not sure why people say this!  Can we help that we discovered Twenty One Pilots when they became famous?  I'm sorry, I didn't accidently stumble across it when it was a tiny fledgling like you did.  Can I help that?  NO! 


The main point is, I discovered this fandom and now I love it with all my heart.  It doesn't matter how you join the fandom, but how you stick with it. 


When people say "I was a fan before they were famous" it feels like they don't want us in the fandom because we didn't join the fandom in 2009.  It also feels selfish, like they don't want new members and they don't want the fandom to be popular. 


People who try to hoard a fandom and keep it to themselves are not true fans.  It goes against everything the fandom is about. 


I think too many people are getting more concerned about their status in the fandom than the actual fandom itself.  I don't like that.  We need to start being the welcoming, understanding, you-like-this-fandom-INSTANT-BEST-FRIENDS fans like we used to be. 


And I'm not just talking about Twenty One Pilots, but all fandoms.  We need to learn how to share our fandoms and be more loving and open to people about it.  Shouldn't we rejoice that our fandom is gaining more fans?  True, it can be sad that it's no longer a close-knit group anymore, and I understand that.  But we can't hoard the fandom.  We just can't. 


So to wrap up this rant, I'd like to ask you a favor.  Please pass this message on to other people.  Make people understand what "I was a fan before they were famous" actually means.  Let's make the fandom fun again. 


Let me leave you with my new favorite Twenty One Pilots song:

Stay awesome, my dear minions.

Have you heard people say this in your fandom? 

Life Update // In which Peter Pevensie is my spirit animal

So.  I was planning on writing a post about Twenty One Pilots (because they are alghslkgalgh *cries* so amazing I can't even) BUT apparently my emotions decided "NO MORE DEEP THOUGHTS AND POETRY AND BROKEN SAD REFLECTIONS FOR YOU"

my emotions literally

So, thanks to my ever-changing mood, I am too happy to sob over Tyler and Josh and their aggressive screamo ukulele piano rap music. 


Terribly sorry.  I can't help it.  Let's just say this happened and I stopped being Tyler and instantly switched to Josh mode somehow:


My brain decided to be Josh now so yes happyhappyhappy

SO TIME FOR A LIFE UPDATE.  WOOP WOOP.  I haven't done one of these in a while...


Exciting thing #1:  I have decided that Peter Pevensie is my spirit animal. 

I feel like this is basically the entire first movie right here.  Peter trying to be an adult and failing for the most part.  But he is also an oldest sibling with a bunch of younglings to look out for because RESPONSIBLITY OF THE ELDEST.  AND I FEEL THAT.  I can relate with Peter so much it's not even funny anymore.  If my sibs and I ended up in Narnia, I would probably repeat Peter's words/actions like a script and that look of "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME NO STOP CHILDREN I'M TRYING TO DO THIS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD AND I HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT ANYTHING BUT I'M GONNA WING IT" 

But he is such an oldest sibling.  I can't even.  He talks like an oldest sibling, he acts like one, ALGHSLGH.  So many times books and movies don't get siblings right, BUT THEY NAILED IT HERE.  *applauds*


Also his sword.  Is epic. 

Exciting thing #2:  I SAW THE PLAY OF LES MISERABLES. 

Not the Broadway one, of course.  This was a teen theatre group, but don't let that fool you.  This cast.  Oh my word.  They sang and acted as good as--NO BETTER--than most Broadway casts I've heard.  THE KID WHO PLAYED JEAN VALJEAN (who was like 19 years old) sounded like Hugh Jackman crossed with Alfie Boe and and and....I don't even know anymore. 

The rest of the cast was equally brilliant.  Especially Enjolras.  He was PERFECT.  PERFECT, I TELL YOU.  He was blond and blue-eyed (YES they got that right) and he was like an Aaronjolras Jr. because he walked, talked, sang, and had that fiery revolutionary grimness about him.  (Apologies for my terrible descriptions.  My words aren't working today.)


Here is a pic of the barricade under attack:

isn't it perfect...

The Thenardiers were amazing.  They definitely used the movie version as a model, because Thenardier was like Sacha Baron Cohen on steroids and it was hilarious. 


Gavroche was...wow.  I actually know the kid who played him, he was in a few shows in my theatre group, but I had never seen him act this good before.  His death scene was so good and realistic for an 8 year old kid.  I feel so untalented now. 


Okay.  So because I haven't seen the play before, I had no idea how different Empty Chairs At Empty Tables was from the movie.  I mean, the movie version of that song was sad, and I teared up, but when I saw the play version.  Oh my goodness.  I was crying so hard when all the Barricade Boys came out behind Marius, all happy and everything, then holding the candles. 

I don't think there was a dry eye in the whole auditorium at the end, and this was a YOUTH GROUP.  I didn't think that a cast of non-professional teens and kids could get me so into the story that I was bawling my eyes out at the ending.  It was so good though.  And then people were trying to talk to me afterwards and I couldn't talk to them because then I'd start crying again.  Does that ever happen to you?

Exciting Thing #3:  I started a new series and IT IS AMAZINGGGGGG. 

I saw this book at my library bookstore and because I am a magnet drawn to pretty covers, I HAD to buy this.  Because a) THE COVER IS SO BEAUTIFUL I CAN'T EVEN and b) it's obviously about my most favorite animal in the world, white tigers, and I love white tigers with the fierce love of a mother armadillo so. 


It collected dust on my TBRTP (To Be Read: Top Priority) shelf for weeks and weeks (because my Top Priority shelf isn't really 'top priority' I just try to trick myself into thinking that it is because I have literally no motivation whatsoever) and then a friend asked me if I had read that book and I said "OH I HAVE THAT. I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT BOOK.  I MUST READ IT"


So I did.  Even though I had more important things to be doing.

I regret nothing.  It is such an amazing, captivating, beautiful book.  ABOUT WHITE TIGERS AND CHIVALROUS, HANDSOME PRINCES AND BROTHERS AND INDIA AND MYTHOLOGY AND ROMANCE AND DANGER AND it's perfect.  Perfect, I tell you. 


If you haven't read it, you must.  I insist.  Do it now.  Shoo.


Exciting thing #4:  I watched "Interstellar" and decided that it is one of the greatest films ever made.  I CRIED HARDER FOR THAT THAN I HAD FOR LES MISERABLES.  It was so sad and sweet and my feels ugh.  It was the best father/daughter story I had ever seen.  I love stories like that, and this one was so ingenious and amazing and destroyed my feels.  Also now I want to be an astronaut again.  I never stopped wanting to be an astronaut, but when I was 9 my mom took me to NASA and ever since I wanted to be an astronaut.  Watching "Doctor Who", "Gravity", and "Interstellar" only made me want to go to space even more. 


This also was what inspired us (COUGH me) to randomly yell "MATT DAMON" at people because I really have no idea why.  But Matt Damon was in that movie so I blame that. 


Well that's all for this post....I know there were other exciting things I was going to share with y'all, but I forgot what they were. 


Bye, y'all. 

Who is your spirit animal?  Isn't Peter Pevensie amazing?  HAVE YOU SEEN THE PLAY OF LES MISERABLES.  Have you read The Tiger's Curse and if not why aren't you reading it right now?  Do you want to be an astronaut, too?

Stay alive, for me

I was going to write a big huge post about my feels for Twenty One Pilots and how much I love them, but I'm too tired so instead here is my latest and greatest fanart that I know you humans are all dying to see. 

The other night, a friend and I spontaneously decided to have a draw-off thing.  I don't know what it was exactly.  We both drew a tribute to Twenty One Pilots and what they meant to us, personally.  As you can see, this is my tribute fanpic. 

I put a lot of emotion into this drawing, which is unusual for me.  Usually I don't like doing deep meanings and symbolism and more subtle ideas in my drawings, but I decided to go out on a limb here.  I wanted to make my drawing feel like a Twenty One Pilots song.  I wanted to draw out all the emotion and the messages and put onto the paper. 

I don't consider this one of my best, though, technicalities-wise.  I literally drew this within 4 hours, which is a record for me.  Thus, I was drawing really fast and not paying as much attention to details. 

But the feeling is there, I think.  And that's all that matters.  This drawing is an attempt for me to explain what TOP means to me and I think I captured that very well.

I'll leave you with a couple of my current favoritest Twenty One Pilots songs. 

Do you love Twenty One Pilots?  What do they mean to you?