What I Did for Love
The long meandering introduction
Outside of my online life, I am the kind of person that would normally revile idols and anything to do with idols, stemming from a reviling of all things girly, excepting puppies of course.(Puppies make all arguments invalid)
And yes, somehow I got into idol fandom, Jpop idol fandom first at that, despite it being the epitome of everything that's wrong with girliness. And yet even as I stared at this abomination being my second ever idol PV, while it was in disgust it was a fascinated disgust. And to my horror, in the following days I myself wanting to rewatch this fucker for some reason,(although at least my desire to watch my first idol PV was greater) and subsequently pulled a couple all-nighters watching all PVs, dance shots, close-up shots, and PV making ofs for Berryz Koubou. While I didn't feel any squick over the age of the girls I did still feel revulsion over the immense girliness bombarding me from all angles, and yet I watched on.
(Although, while Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai couldn't drive me off with the PAAAAANK and high-as-fuck squeaky vocals, this one almost did. I still hate the latter song, but now I have grudging respect for the melody of and the chops needed to pull off that chorus, and the genuis of parts of the dance. The likes of these songs in Jpop are what made it possible for me to love Kissing You the first time I heard it. Well, as a fan anyways. The actual first time I heard it(their Asia Music Festival 2008 medley perf) I was very underwhelmed and immediately forgot it. XD You gotta admit Kissing You is like bland rice to the cancer-indcing sweetener of the above two songs!)
Sometimes I still wonder how I stand all of the cutesy shit that is a standard in idolling, but more and more I see that my own history was a contributing factor. My family likes their pop culture retro, and by retro I mean pre-70s. I was raised on old movies, which of course included the classic musical films starring the original media idols, who were most all transfers from Broadway as the first generation of film stars in light of talkies were theater imports. As a proxy to that I also grew up with a healthy appreciation for musicals in general. So really, I had been an idol fan long before I was an asian idol fan.
So I'd like to start a casual series(a la Hyomona's Old School SNSD thing :P) comparing and contrasting various parts of American idolling through history until now with the asian idolling system we all know and love. Any of y'all are also welcome to join me and make your own posts on the subject.
"Casual" means I'll make posts at my leisure, although I'll personally be aiming for one at least every two weeks, not including holiday blocks. :P I don't have enough of a life to prevent me from doing that anyways. XP
Today...well originally it wasn't going to be a part of this series which I had originally planned to be my grand debut monster post on metacrack(XP), but grabbed a life of its own about a week ago. Only today did I decide that it was a good a springboard as any to start my series with.
The long meandering pimptastic build-up
My love for the old musical films has given me a love for the top hat and tails. It signifies elegance and heralds kickass dancing.
The original famous Top Hat number, cementing the "top hat, white tie, and tails" image for Fred Astaire.
Fred in top hat and tail always meant good things. Check out these masterpieces: Don't Monkey with Old Broadway, Puttin' On the Ritz
Ah yes, another great thing about the top hat and tails get-up in the old films was that more often than not they also meant cane routines.
Fred and Vera Ellen matching nicely, for our first female top hat sighting:
Here you have top hat OR tails, but both options are pretty fucking great.
That amazing trio in the beginning are the Berry Brothers, masters of the flash dance and always impeccable. Berry Brothers in a top hat number
Another famous flashdance group were the Nicholas Brothers. Fred Astaire once called this performance "the greatest dance number ever filmed," and of course they're in impeccable tails.
The Nicholas Brothers were one of the greatest influences on Michael Jackson, who once danced with them.
But getting away from the sausage-fest for a little, back to Eleanor Powell who looks absolutely delicious in top hat and tails.(Start at 3:20)
And from the same sequence right before where that video started,A very young Judy Garland dances with the adorable Buddy Ebsen whose spidery legs are shown off quite well in his costume, featuring what?
Eleanor in SPARKLY top hat and tails
So yes, I get the squees when my idols pay tribute to their career ancestors, ESPECIALLY the top hat and tails archetype.
<3 <3 <3 <3
(Although I do also get more anal about how true they were to the originals, such as my dissatisfaction with SNSD's covers of SitR, Over the Rainbow, and Fly Me to the Moon, but that's another subject. XP)
The connection
Anyhow imagine my pleasant surprise to see SNSD finally getting it right after teasing me with tails in their circus theme for Genie.
And I was content with that picture except for the fact that recently I've explored further the musical A Chorus Line, which is about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The relevance of the A Chorus Line to the idol system will be explored in its own post. Today I'm focussing on the finale number of the show, a soft-shoe piece "One", which is, fitting with the theme of this post, performed in top hat and tails.
In other words, I saw the SNSD Shibuya picture and thought, "I want them to cover One."
One's lyrics alone are super-relevant to idolling, another reason I want SNSD to cover it.(And I did slot it in for the boys to serenade Yoona with in my revue)
Better choreography but not as good atmosphere
Film version with hat tricks and 80s hair :D
Original 1976 cast with their unparalleled confidence, serenading Fred Astaire Such a small world, ain't it.
Finally, the actual damn payoff
Viva la High Kicks Shidae!
Although that picture is different from the One outfits in one rather important aspect, isn't it? Let me see if I can fix that...
And THAT'S what I did for plunnylove. Hours wasted to shoop an ending image for a passing fancy.
Bloody hell I coulda just shooped top hats onto their Hoot golden suits. ._.
Outside of my online life, I am the kind of person that would normally revile idols and anything to do with idols, stemming from a reviling of all things girly, excepting puppies of course.(Puppies make all arguments invalid)
And yes, somehow I got into idol fandom, Jpop idol fandom first at that, despite it being the epitome of everything that's wrong with girliness. And yet even as I stared at this abomination being my second ever idol PV, while it was in disgust it was a fascinated disgust. And to my horror, in the following days I myself wanting to rewatch this fucker for some reason,(although at least my desire to watch my first idol PV was greater) and subsequently pulled a couple all-nighters watching all PVs, dance shots, close-up shots, and PV making ofs for Berryz Koubou. While I didn't feel any squick over the age of the girls I did still feel revulsion over the immense girliness bombarding me from all angles, and yet I watched on.
(Although, while Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai couldn't drive me off with the PAAAAANK and high-as-fuck squeaky vocals, this one almost did. I still hate the latter song, but now I have grudging respect for the melody of and the chops needed to pull off that chorus, and the genuis of parts of the dance. The likes of these songs in Jpop are what made it possible for me to love Kissing You the first time I heard it. Well, as a fan anyways. The actual first time I heard it(their Asia Music Festival 2008 medley perf) I was very underwhelmed and immediately forgot it. XD You gotta admit Kissing You is like bland rice to the cancer-indcing sweetener of the above two songs!)
Sometimes I still wonder how I stand all of the cutesy shit that is a standard in idolling, but more and more I see that my own history was a contributing factor. My family likes their pop culture retro, and by retro I mean pre-70s. I was raised on old movies, which of course included the classic musical films starring the original media idols, who were most all transfers from Broadway as the first generation of film stars in light of talkies were theater imports. As a proxy to that I also grew up with a healthy appreciation for musicals in general. So really, I had been an idol fan long before I was an asian idol fan.
So I'd like to start a casual series(a la Hyomona's Old School SNSD thing :P) comparing and contrasting various parts of American idolling through history until now with the asian idolling system we all know and love. Any of y'all are also welcome to join me and make your own posts on the subject.
"Casual" means I'll make posts at my leisure, although I'll personally be aiming for one at least every two weeks, not including holiday blocks. :P I don't have enough of a life to prevent me from doing that anyways. XP
Today...well originally it wasn't going to be a part of this series which I had originally planned to be my grand debut monster post on metacrack(XP), but grabbed a life of its own about a week ago. Only today did I decide that it was a good a springboard as any to start my series with.
The long meandering pimptastic build-up
My love for the old musical films has given me a love for the top hat and tails. It signifies elegance and heralds kickass dancing.
The original famous Top Hat number, cementing the "top hat, white tie, and tails" image for Fred Astaire.
Click to viewFred in top hat and tail always meant good things. Check out these masterpieces: Don't Monkey with Old Broadway, Puttin' On the Ritz
Ah yes, another great thing about the top hat and tails get-up in the old films was that more often than not they also meant cane routines.
Fred and Vera Ellen matching nicely, for our first female top hat sighting:
Here you have top hat OR tails, but both options are pretty fucking great.
That amazing trio in the beginning are the Berry Brothers, masters of the flash dance and always impeccable. Berry Brothers in a top hat number
Another famous flashdance group were the Nicholas Brothers. Fred Astaire once called this performance "the greatest dance number ever filmed," and of course they're in impeccable tails.
The Nicholas Brothers were one of the greatest influences on Michael Jackson, who once danced with them.
But getting away from the sausage-fest for a little, back to Eleanor Powell who looks absolutely delicious in top hat and tails.(Start at 3:20)
And from the same sequence right before where that video started,A very young Judy Garland dances with the adorable Buddy Ebsen whose spidery legs are shown off quite well in his costume, featuring what?
Eleanor in SPARKLY top hat and tails
So yes, I get the squees when my idols pay tribute to their career ancestors, ESPECIALLY the top hat and tails archetype.
<3 <3 <3 <3
(Although I do also get more anal about how true they were to the originals, such as my dissatisfaction with SNSD's covers of SitR, Over the Rainbow, and Fly Me to the Moon, but that's another subject. XP)
The connection
Anyhow imagine my pleasant surprise to see SNSD finally getting it right after teasing me with tails in their circus theme for Genie.
And I was content with that picture except for the fact that recently I've explored further the musical A Chorus Line, which is about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The relevance of the A Chorus Line to the idol system will be explored in its own post. Today I'm focussing on the finale number of the show, a soft-shoe piece "One", which is, fitting with the theme of this post, performed in top hat and tails.
In other words, I saw the SNSD Shibuya picture and thought, "I want them to cover One."
One's lyrics alone are super-relevant to idolling, another reason I want SNSD to cover it.(And I did slot it in for the boys to serenade Yoona with in my revue)
Better choreography but not as good atmosphere
Film version with hat tricks and 80s hair :D
Original 1976 cast with their unparalleled confidence, serenading Fred Astaire Such a small world, ain't it.
Finally, the actual damn payoff
Viva la High Kicks Shidae!
Although that picture is different from the One outfits in one rather important aspect, isn't it? Let me see if I can fix that...
And THAT'S what I did for plunnylove. Hours wasted to shoop an ending image for a passing fancy.
Bloody hell I coulda just shooped top hats onto their Hoot golden suits. ._.