03:36: quick post.

i've seen the rent trailer! (can also be read as: we have dsl!)
my thoughts. hmmm. i don't know about choosing seasons of love for the trailer. it seems like they're reeling in existing fans, which i don't think is the way to go. but, when you think about it, that is the song with the best recall. as for the footage, i, like my friend, do agree that it could have a shabbier feel to it. but i generally like it. that shot of the top light special on each of the cast members standing in a row for seasons... gives me goosebumps! makes me wish i could see the show live again. maybe when/if i get to new york. though i will always love our local cast. i do think rosario dawson is a good fit for mimi and i have no worries about the rest of the cast. wilson jermaine heredia rocks! i can't wait to see the damn movie.

brewed by lifecafe  

 
06:35: my unkymood says dazed, but dazed doesn't even begin to cover it.
i've been unwell. vertigo. awful feeling, really. i haven't been to work in a while. but i couldn't say no to gaiman on the weekend signing.
ah, neil gaiman. what a great man you are.
with how this weekend went, i think perhaps i am not meant to be his fan.

i went to rockwell for the gathering on his first day of signing. i took one look at the crowd, stayed about five minutes, felt my head throb and the world begin to spin, then quit. i headed for my niece's birthday party. i figured i needed to rest some before i marshall on sunday. didn't get much rest, though. i went to rehearsal after the birthday bash and we ended up staying past 3am to record because my brain was mush and i couldn't come up with lyrics. went home around 4am and got about 3 hours of sleep before i headed for greenhills to marshall for the signing.

i had heard that the signing the previous night went on till past 1am. insane! but the man is just too nice. he agreed to sign for 700 people, even though the original cap was 500. i figure that's roughly 1500-2000 items. personalized. wow. people stayed till the last item was signed just to applaud him.

i hadn't been to fully booked greenhills and i wasn't sure where it was. it wasn't too difficult to find. when i crossed the street from starbucks, i saw a crowd and thought they were the usual mall-going public, waiting for the doors to open. but it was 11am. the mall was already open. all these people were outside the bookstore, there for the signing. and some had been lined up as early as 5am. you gotta admire these people. these were strangers helping strangers out of a common love for gaiman's work. or for gaiman himself, as was the case among many squealing fangirls. got another item you want signed and a pass you can't use? sure, i can handle one more! don't have a camera? no problem, i'll take your picture and i can just email it to you. these are real fans! this one girl dropped a hard cover graphic novel of sandman and you could hear a collective gasp and murmurs of "oh, no..." and "ouch!" i walked over to her and asked if she was ok (i supressed the initial urge to ask if the book was ok).

a lot of those lined up were told to leave, because a man can only sign so much, right? but a lot of them stayed anyway, baking under the sun, clinging to the hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll get something signed. at the end of the day, we let in another 50 people above the 500 limit, and another 100 (or was it 150) to get just one item signed. you don't know how happy i was for these lucky people. there were these two ladies, though, who really got on my nerves. i'd have loved to push them down the stairs. but let's not go there. by the time they were all done, we volunteers were given our moment. we were allowed to get all our stuff signed. i was more amazed at the fact that i was still standing than i was at the fact that i was in the presence of neil gaiman. i was lined up to get a book signed for my friend. it was not one of gaiman's own books, but a sort of sandman guide book that was a good way to start a newbie off on his works. the introduction was written by him, anyways. i had prepared a little explanation for why i was getting that particular book signed, but all i got out was "this is rather embarrassing..." before my mind went blank and my tongue went numb. i also asked him to sign my id, then thanked him profusely. i was too stupid to ask for a hug or a handshake or anything. on the upside, i was too zonked to be nervous. that was my biggest fear, i think. we went home, exhausted but all smiles.

the writer's forum the next day. i was extremely excited about this. here was an opportunity to pick the man's brain. i took a cab to greenhills and got off in front of the atm. two seconds later, i realized i had left my book and my invite (the writer's forum was by invitation only) in the cab. i ran. and ran. and ran. flat out, with my bag slung across and my wallet still in my hand. everytime i was five steps behind the cab, he would speed up. bastard. i had half a mind to throw something at him just to get his attention, but all i had in my hand was my jacket (which wouldn't have worked) and my wallet (which would have left me broke). i ran half the distance of the entire block of greenhills shopping center, but i couldn't catch him. i thought my legs would give out. my thighs still hurt. they had a registry of people who were invited to the forum, thankfully. i honestly would have cried if they hadn't let me in.

being in the forum was a joy. so what if i didn't get any of my books signed? (don't ask.) so what if all i got for myself was an impersonal signature on my volunteer's id? hearing him speak and give advice and tell little anecdotes... it's enough. it's more than enough. until he comes back, should he ever come back, i will be awaiting orders. ;)

brewed by lifecafe  

 
10:23: no, i haven't seen the rent trailer. dial-up sucks. will be getting dsl soon. of course, i'll be moving in with the other brother soon, too, because he needs help sharing the rent. but i think he has dsl. i hope.
whatever. the point of this entry is to link this. blog, my friends, blog!!! viva la vie boheme! (that phrase has nothing to do with blogging, but i'll use it anyway because i want to. ha!)

i'll post my thoughts on the trailer, as i promised sanity lane, once i see it. also, review of beauty and the beast and a very, very delayed review/preview of once on this island soon. i swear it.

brewed by lifecafe  

 
08:53: around two weeks ago, i replied to this e-mail looking for female vocalists to audition for a jazz blues group. i began scrambling for songs i could study from my cd collection and others suggested by a very helpful friend. all that didn't do me much good, i found out two days before the audition.

their plan, was to play a riff they came up with, have me and the other girl who was going to audition listen to it, then have each of us write a melody and lyrics. who the frell are these people?!?!?! i had never attempted to put words to a melody in my life! much less under such pressing conditions! khali suggested i have wev or jan write me a riff then play with it, just to get used to it. wev suggested he come with me, then i take a bathroom break in the middle of the audition to meet him and have him write it. my helpful friend suggested i bring any old writings i have that i can show them, in case inspiration doesn't strike. for some insane reason, i could find none of my crappy old writings.

so i go to the audition last night with only two hours of sleep and a tummy full of nerves. the other girl couldn't make it. they play me the riff. they had said jazz blues? not! i was studying the wrong things. the riff was bossa nova. their guitar solos border on progressive rock. but it works. after hearing it twice, i begin to write. surprisingly, i find something to write about and a little melody to go with it. thank eru for the simplicity of bossa nova and for a whole summer spent listening to bossa and imagining i was at the beach. i make them play it once more to fix the structure and again a fourth time to get the melody right. then we try it out with me singing. i feel icky having to do a mic test for myself. pipeline guy, who i was surprised to find was also our drummer, brings the mic up to max. the germophobe in me makes proximity to microphones a bit of a problem. =P after the initial run, martin, the bassist, says "your voice is so ... acid." it wasn't what i had hoped for. now, i don't listen much to acid jazz, but i guess he had a point. forcing me to sing something original stopped me from trying to sound like krall or ella or cooky, for that matter. still, i don't know if acid jazz is the route they want to take. i stop to get some water then we do the song again to get the feel of it. second time around brings better vocals, better solos, better drums. we talk a bit while packing up. they ask if i'm okay to sing with them full time.
lifey: sure, yeah! ...but aren't you guys gonna be auditioning someone else?
martin: not anymore.
lifey: why, what happened?
martin: it's not really something that happened earlier, it's what happened tonight.
lifey: oh.

sounds encouraging. so that's that. i guess i've found myself a little band. i'll be meeting them again on saturday night to rehearse. yay!

brewed by lifecafe  

 
08:50: wev: hey, lifester, i opened your drawer and there was... doobie! i had to hide it!
lifey: that's not doobie! gago! that's catnip!
wev: what?
lifey: catnip. for fitz's scratching post.
wev: what's catnip?
lifey: it's a kind of plant. it gives off this scent that attracts cats.
wev: ohhh.

pagkamalan daw ba akong pusher.

brewed by lifecafe