Drive-By Post
This is me writing to say that yes, I am alive, and yes, I will go radio silent again for a while. Exciting, exciting, fangirly stuff coming up to occupy my time: Coldplay concert tomorrow, Kelly Clarkson on Thursday, Comic-Con taking up Thursday-Sunday, and the No Doubt concert the week after that. Yeah, I'll admit I'm getting a little exhausted seeing it listed out like that.
Of course, all of that is not counting my usual ridiculous schedule and a little thing called the American Idol Tour at the Staples Center last night. On the way from the parking lot, we passed the area with the tour buses and saw a group of fans. Curious, we ambled over. Upon seeing a certain doucheface, I automatically said, "Ugh, it's just Gokey," and did an about-face straight to the Staples Center. I'm pretty sure we earned some curious looks.
Despite being a life-long native Angeleno, I'd never actually been in the Staples Center and was surprised to find it pretty small. Unfortunately, it's also quite steep, and our seats were the third row from the back and so far to the side of the stage that we were practically backstage. The seats were so bad that it was actually hilarious until I started getting a little dizzy from the height. During the intermission, though, we moved to some vacant seats farther to the middle of Staples so we could get a better view of the stage.
As for the show itself, it was far better than I expected it to be. The Idols I was pretty ambivalent about during the show were surprisingly good. It's amazing what not having the pressure of four judges and millions of voters watching can do for one's confidence on stage. Matt Giraud, in particular, rocked pretty damn hard and was the first performer to really get the audience on their feet. It should be noted that Anoop did "My Prerogative" and did more than few hip thrusts as he sang passionately about being a "brotha." Even the group performances with the Top 6 were fun (aside from my usual game of "Who's in charge of making sure Blind Boy is hitting his marks and not walking off the stage during this group performance?"). It was apparent even from where we were sitting that they were all having a good time on stage.
After the intermission, Allison Iraheta rocked her little heart out, bringing more energy than I thought her capable of. And that voice? Insanity. It's unreal that she sounds that good at such a young age. Gokey was next. I'm not sure what happened here because this is when my sister and I whipped out the snacks and cell phones with which to occupy ourselves. I do remember that at one point, he started rambling about how he's overcome so much since his wife died and he's a martyr and he's the best person ever, second only to God, and blah, blah, blah. And then when he sang his inspirational song, he had the Jesus Light shining down on him. I don't know. It was as non-nonsensical as much as it was douchy.
And then there was Adam Lambert. Oh, Adam Lambert with the strobe lights and the emerging from the mist and the air grinding to a room full of young girls and middle aged couples, the latter most likely there to see the "nice young Southern boy who won." He was as electric live as one would expect. He did "Whole Lotta Love," "Mad World" (of course), Muse's "Starlight," and an appropriately epic Bowie medley. Can't help but wish that we were treated to a live rendition of "Ring of Fire."
Then, as soon as Adam appeared in a cloud of smoke, he disappeared into the darkness, clearing the stage for a very much comparatively tame Kris Allen set, which he kicked off with "Heartless." The screams for him were markedly tamer compared to those for Adam, but I'd like to think that it's because Kris's fans are a calmer bunch than the Glamberts. Anyway. Kris's set was fun and very well put together. Swapping out "No Boundaries" with the Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" was an inspired choice, as was Matchbox Twenty's "Bright Lights." Him rocking out on guitar with the other guitarist was adorable. His smile was definitely contagious. And it isn't a Kris Allen set without "Ain't No Sunshine," which included that adorable little air punch he always does at the breakdown. The last song was the Beatles' "Hey Jude." At the end of it, the rest of the Top 10 (with the exception of Megan Joy (Corkery) who was apparently ill) came out to join in the sing-along. It was precious, to say the least.
The last song was, appropriately, "Don't Stop Believin'," complete with equally inappropriate disco balls. Our seats were so high up that I didn't notice that Kris and Adam weren't on stage until the trap door dropped, and the two of them appeared to join in on the last choruses. From the front of the stage, I'm sure the image of Adam and Kris rising into view from the floor was epic. From where we were sitting, we could see the floor descend and the two of them crouching below the stage floor for a good few seconds before their cue. Any cheesiness overload was erased upon seeing how much fun they all seemed to be having. Then again, wrap up any show with "Don't Stop Believin'," and I'm a happy camper.
I haven't uploaded any of the endless number of pictures and videos, but they're available if anyone wants them, I suppose.
***
This right here is serving as a Note To Self to someday do a proper entry about Torchwood: Children of Earth. Without giving anything away, it was a brilliant, risky series that would have a very, very hard time being greenlit in America. Admittedly, I don't completely agree with all of the writers' choices in regards to character development, but you gotta give it to them for pulling it off. Questionable tragedy aside, can't wait till it airs on BBC America so I can DVR and watch it in HD. It's going to look epic.
And off to bed I go. Long day tomorrow: my nephew's birthday party in the afternoon and Coldplay at the Home Depot Center in the evening. Not to mention that tomorrow's so action-packed that I'm missing one of my former roomie's wedding because it's a good hour's drive away. Arg. I feel terrible. I owe her the biggest wedding present ever.
Of course, all of that is not counting my usual ridiculous schedule and a little thing called the American Idol Tour at the Staples Center last night. On the way from the parking lot, we passed the area with the tour buses and saw a group of fans. Curious, we ambled over. Upon seeing a certain doucheface, I automatically said, "Ugh, it's just Gokey," and did an about-face straight to the Staples Center. I'm pretty sure we earned some curious looks.
Despite being a life-long native Angeleno, I'd never actually been in the Staples Center and was surprised to find it pretty small. Unfortunately, it's also quite steep, and our seats were the third row from the back and so far to the side of the stage that we were practically backstage. The seats were so bad that it was actually hilarious until I started getting a little dizzy from the height. During the intermission, though, we moved to some vacant seats farther to the middle of Staples so we could get a better view of the stage.
As for the show itself, it was far better than I expected it to be. The Idols I was pretty ambivalent about during the show were surprisingly good. It's amazing what not having the pressure of four judges and millions of voters watching can do for one's confidence on stage. Matt Giraud, in particular, rocked pretty damn hard and was the first performer to really get the audience on their feet. It should be noted that Anoop did "My Prerogative" and did more than few hip thrusts as he sang passionately about being a "brotha." Even the group performances with the Top 6 were fun (aside from my usual game of "Who's in charge of making sure Blind Boy is hitting his marks and not walking off the stage during this group performance?"). It was apparent even from where we were sitting that they were all having a good time on stage.
After the intermission, Allison Iraheta rocked her little heart out, bringing more energy than I thought her capable of. And that voice? Insanity. It's unreal that she sounds that good at such a young age. Gokey was next. I'm not sure what happened here because this is when my sister and I whipped out the snacks and cell phones with which to occupy ourselves. I do remember that at one point, he started rambling about how he's overcome so much since his wife died and he's a martyr and he's the best person ever, second only to God, and blah, blah, blah. And then when he sang his inspirational song, he had the Jesus Light shining down on him. I don't know. It was as non-nonsensical as much as it was douchy.
And then there was Adam Lambert. Oh, Adam Lambert with the strobe lights and the emerging from the mist and the air grinding to a room full of young girls and middle aged couples, the latter most likely there to see the "nice young Southern boy who won." He was as electric live as one would expect. He did "Whole Lotta Love," "Mad World" (of course), Muse's "Starlight," and an appropriately epic Bowie medley. Can't help but wish that we were treated to a live rendition of "Ring of Fire."
Then, as soon as Adam appeared in a cloud of smoke, he disappeared into the darkness, clearing the stage for a very much comparatively tame Kris Allen set, which he kicked off with "Heartless." The screams for him were markedly tamer compared to those for Adam, but I'd like to think that it's because Kris's fans are a calmer bunch than the Glamberts. Anyway. Kris's set was fun and very well put together. Swapping out "No Boundaries" with the Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" was an inspired choice, as was Matchbox Twenty's "Bright Lights." Him rocking out on guitar with the other guitarist was adorable. His smile was definitely contagious. And it isn't a Kris Allen set without "Ain't No Sunshine," which included that adorable little air punch he always does at the breakdown. The last song was the Beatles' "Hey Jude." At the end of it, the rest of the Top 10 (with the exception of Megan Joy (Corkery) who was apparently ill) came out to join in the sing-along. It was precious, to say the least.
The last song was, appropriately, "Don't Stop Believin'," complete with equally inappropriate disco balls. Our seats were so high up that I didn't notice that Kris and Adam weren't on stage until the trap door dropped, and the two of them appeared to join in on the last choruses. From the front of the stage, I'm sure the image of Adam and Kris rising into view from the floor was epic. From where we were sitting, we could see the floor descend and the two of them crouching below the stage floor for a good few seconds before their cue. Any cheesiness overload was erased upon seeing how much fun they all seemed to be having. Then again, wrap up any show with "Don't Stop Believin'," and I'm a happy camper.
I haven't uploaded any of the endless number of pictures and videos, but they're available if anyone wants them, I suppose.
***
This right here is serving as a Note To Self to someday do a proper entry about Torchwood: Children of Earth. Without giving anything away, it was a brilliant, risky series that would have a very, very hard time being greenlit in America. Admittedly, I don't completely agree with all of the writers' choices in regards to character development, but you gotta give it to them for pulling it off. Questionable tragedy aside, can't wait till it airs on BBC America so I can DVR and watch it in HD. It's going to look epic.
And off to bed I go. Long day tomorrow: my nephew's birthday party in the afternoon and Coldplay at the Home Depot Center in the evening. Not to mention that tomorrow's so action-packed that I'm missing one of my former roomie's wedding because it's a good hour's drive away. Arg. I feel terrible. I owe her the biggest wedding present ever.