| Best of both worlds: Takarazuka does Romeo et Juliette |
[Feb. 8th, 2010|02:15 pm] |
I kind of don't believe my eyes, but apparently the new production of Presgurvic's Romeo et Juliette? Japan, Umeda Arts Theatre, Takarazuka Star Troupe. Directed by Koike Shuuichirou, the guy who did all Takarazuka Elisabeths, Legend, Scarlet Pimpernel... take your pick.
I am, in order of importance:
- aflail at not seeing it live
- overjoyed by the fact it'll be Out On DVD and I will be able to acquire it
- cast speculating :D
What Hoshigumi excels at, lately, is drama and fighting. And here we have power ballads galore, several duels, battles on stage, more death than you can shake a stick at...
The cast falls into place. Chie will be Romeo and Nene, Juliette, of course. Kumichou as the Prince making everyone fall in line and opening the show. Tybalt - this has got to be Toyoko, she's so brilliant at being evil. Unless they make it Teru (no slouch at evil-ness), with Toyoko as the Prince - giving Toyoko the extra Prince's songs which often get dropped - which would let Tomomin and Beni be Mercutio and Benvolio. I may be stuck on the Hungarian version, with Kerényi Miklós Máté's Benvolio bouncing all over the place, but Beni would make the sweetest, bounciest Benvolio ever. In which case Kumichou could be the Nurse and break my brain completely if Tomomin!Mercutio hits on her ♥
I'd love it if they keep the French version's ballet-dancer Death. (In Takarazuka terms, think Itsumine Aki in Brothers Karamazov. If they get Itsumine Aki to do it, it would be extra-brilliant.) She might get dropped for the same reason Hungary dropped her - it kind of makes people remember Romeo got molested by Death already last month as Rudolf...
But oh, it's another musical with a metric tonne of roles, with great music and great drama, allowing everyone to show off at their best. What demon did Hoshigumi make a pact with, anyway?
(And for the Takarazuka fans: look up either Les Rois du Monde or Lehetsz Király or Verone/Verona on Youtube, any concert/videoclip/promo version. Especially the latter. These songs are energy personified.)
-crossposted because hey! fandom worlds intertwining!
Originally posted at Dreamwidth -  comments |
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| Look - free eBooks |
[Jan. 29th, 2010|02:05 pm] |
Huh. My favourite book-merchant, Book Depository, is offering free ebooks, with over 11,000 titles.
As far as I can tell, it's all public domain texts, but offered in very nicely typeset PDFs of the kind that make far better ebooks than Project Gutenberg text files. There's the complete Sherlock Holmes, a lot of Victorian fiction and nonfiction, as well as the Chinese classic The Dream of the Red Chamber, or Schiller's The History of the Thirty Years War.
I believe it's time to top up my mobile phone's collection :) |
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TV Meme from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) selenak |
[Jan. 20th, 2010|05:11 pm] |
This was surprisingly difficult - I really don't watch much TV. I don't have time in my life for more than one, maybe two series at a time, and I do 90% of my watching online.
( Mostly about TV series ) |
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| Musical fangirl bliss |
[Jan. 18th, 2010|10:14 pm] |
I can haz DVD.
I can haz the DVD I've wanted since October 22, 2006.
And yes, the sets were budget, the voices rock and not musical (except for HIM and GIT, because there are shivers, and not only from the Swirliest of Cloaks), the tensions running high.
But Sarah and Alfred were in love, rockstar love with sparkles on, the Jewish prayers were real prayers, and the cloaks Swirled. Dear gods, they swirled.
I have the DVD, and I can have this any. Time. I. Want.
(New dream DVD: same show, Crack Edition.)
It's no secret I love HIS voice to utter distraction, and the way he moves and dances and works that Cloak, but I also forgot how good a Sarah she was, rockstar and innocent and for once, seventeen for real. Here, have a promo clip ♥ |
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| Alphabet meme |
[Jan. 13th, 2010|10:57 am] |
Comment and I'll give you a letter, then you have to list ten people/places/things you love that begin with that letter, afterwards post it on your journal and fill out letters of your own.
demoneyeskyo87 gave me "I" :)
( Ichiro Maki, Aoki Izumi, Izumo Aya, Ich, Inari, Italy, ice, icons, incense, intrigue ) |
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| Still alive + Takarazuka blog |
[Jan. 7th, 2010|05:29 pm] |
I'm still alive, despite the best attempts of certain microorganisms. Weather's being utterly gorgeous, with white fresh snow everywhere ♥
Also, I started a dedicated Takarazuka journal, to free y'all from having to see babble about daily updates and gossip and random Youtube videos. I can now squee schoolgirl-style here:
![[info]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) yukinojou (DreamWidth)
And here's its LiveJournal feed to add to Friends pages if you really want to see the babble.
Thus far I've posted my long delayed Epiphany review and Battlefield for the Two of Us squee that would be a review if I only knew what was going on in the show ^^; I don't suppose anyone has seen the latter and can clue me in to what Ichiro and Tom were angsting so beautifully about? |
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| Yuletide reveal |
[Jan. 1st, 2010|09:59 pm] |
In the confessing vine, this year I went slightly insane and wrote four stories in total - one for my original assignee (I lucked out and got BluePeople again, which meant I already knew what she'd like ^.~), one as an assigned pinch-hitter, and two treats for requests that caught my attention.
Elisabeth: Finality
( Rudolf as an action hero! )
Ovid's Metamorphoses: Telê
( Endings for Ovid's stories: Argos and Hera, Phaeton and Cygnus, Cadmus and Athena, Hermaphroditos, Kore and Hades, Arachne )
Elisabeth: The Last Song
( Herzog Max meets Saeko )
American Gods: Coming to America: Venus
( Imitating Neil Gaiman for the win )
My own main stories were written by windstar127. Mind you, I knew she was my Santa when she started to complain about having to look up Kacha stories in wao_wao's journal ;) Thank you again, m'dear, they're lovely!
My Babylon 5 story came from thenewhope, while the Cinderella vignette was from museofspeed. And last but not least, the gem of an Elisabeth story came from palmedfire, who may find herself the recipient of a NYR soon - the idea of Kimu in trouble is irresistible. |
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| Yuletide haul and recs |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|03:55 pm] |
Sliding in under the wire on the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) yuletide rec train, just before the reveal :) Like before, Yuletide was a trip and a half this year. I was in a worse emotional state, but I managed, and I'll post about my stories after the reveal.
This year, I was exceedingly lucky - I got so many stories and treats!
Takarazuka RPF, Yami ga Hirogaru - Kacha and Asako during Elisabeth rehearsals, with Kacha catching a glimpse of the loneliness that Asako forged into her role. This is 100% my take on them, from which I conclude that my Santa is psychic. My Nanowrimo (which fell by the wayside because of the aforementioned events) had these two as main characters, and I could paste this scene into it with just changing character names ♥ Thank you for the telepathy, m'dear!
Takarazuka RPF, Father's Day with the Hapsburgs: A bonus story from my Santa - backstage hijinks and Kiriyan! Kiriyan being her wonderful self.
Babylon 5, The works of creation: Susan Ivanova in her youth, a series of snapshots of her growing up, and growing tougher and more beautiful.
Elisabeth, Do Not Be Afraid: I remain in love with this story. It's Death taking Little Sophie, who's such a Character in this one. And Death is kind, for a moment. ♥
Cinderella, PSA: And to finish it off, tiny Daily Mail article about the dangers of fairytales :D
Other recommendations:
Night Watch, Never be lost: This is exactly the story I asked for last year, Kay after the events of the book, and Kay being happy.
Tanz der Vampire, First Step: How Alfred falls into his story. Be sure to read the ending!
Elisabeth, Guiding Light: Rudolf and Death throughout Rudolf's life. The best parental take on it.
Arthurian Legend, The other way: Mordred and Galahad and making far too much sense ♥ I started writing a story for the same prompt, but couldn't finish in time - it might be a New Year's story....
Vorkosigan saga: The Rules of Barrayaran Sex: Perfectly in-character and exceedingly amusing. Cordelia is always love, and so is Aral and his socks.
Vorkosigan saga: Sworn in Silence: Aral's view of the moments just after his mother's and brother's deaths, a breathless chase and plot and a very poignant view of Piotr Vorkosigan.
Sandman: Ink Space Lucien's view of the new Dream. It's just a little heartwrenching, and full of a quiet love.
Sandman, Recoil and Grace - an AU ending for Lucifer and Morpheus that makes far more sense than it should.
Discworld, A place called home - The rarest thing, a Discworld fic that does justice to the world and the characters, and a perfect Drumknott (and Vetinari) study.
Discworld, Wizard Muddle: What happens in UU when Ponder goes on a vacation.
The Cable and Deadpool Yuletide Special: Epic. Just Epic. Read. Even if you have no idea who Cable and Deadpool are, because Deadpool is King of Backstory, thankyouverymuch |
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| Yukigumi retirements for Solferino |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|08:39 am] |
It says something about me that the TakaWiki was the first page I checked this morning. I love many troupes, but I'm a Snow girl in my heart ♥
Yumiko, we knew about already. For the record, I think she's leaving on her terms, whether or not the initial impulse came from the company.
Hamako, on the other hand, hit me hard :( She's definitely put in more than her due, but Naga-san's health already took her out of one show this year, and if Hamako's not there to be kumichou when Naga-san decides that age 60+ is enough high kicks for now, after Mizu's retirement that'll leave... the 84ths Kimu and Yumemi as the eldest people in the troupe O.o Hankyu, you need to work on retaining your distinguished upperclassmen while there are any left!
Nacchan's a bad loss too, but I think we all know the impulse for it. She wanted Snow!Top, she didn't get it, and she probably wants to set up a long-term career while she's still young enough for Japan's extremely competitive scene when it comes to girls of the cute persuasion. Best of luck to her, even though it's another heavy, heavy loss for my troupe, and she's another who'll be getting a letter from me.
JinJin... see upperclassmen, retaining of. And see also, retaining of experienced musumeyaku. Yumemi better not be going anywhere now that she's probably getting the vice-kumichou mantle.
(I've also acquired a Dreamwidth account just for Takarazuka that I'll set up shortly. Then I will be able to babble more without annoying the non-Zuka crowd ;)) |
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| Yuletide OMG |
[Dec. 25th, 2009|05:14 pm] |
The AO3 comment system doesn't like Opera Mini, or maybe it's just the thousands of people reading the archive now?
I can't copy links on my mobile, but if you search for stories for "Beth Winter (bethwinter)", you'll find two sweet Takarazuka vignettes, one sad and one sweet in perfect harmony. (Asako, Kacha and bonus Kiriyan as a lovely surprise.) I think I know who wrote these - thank you so much!
I also got a Susan Ivanova character study just as bittersweet as the canon, and two more Yuletide Madness treats that I can't see yet, curses. I can't wait to get back to my computer :)
Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com |
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| Merry Yule and similar holidays |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|11:37 am] |
Since thus far today I've packed presents, taken out dishes from everywhere (I have no idea where they fit), phone-coordinated groceries for 10 people and put Lestat in a snow drift, I do believe it's Christmas Eve :)
Happy holidays, everyone! May they come with the least stress possible.
(And according to Is It Yuletide Yet, if you have time or don't do the Big Dinner of Doom until tomorrow, you can now write treats for Everyone as long as you have an Archive Of Our Own account.) |
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| Sometimes, I just love musicals |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|09:59 pm] |
Git in my icon = still a git. Still making me cry with Gethsemane. Still the Best Herbert And Phantom Ever.
dunkle_feuer, slashydutchie - he had Phantom photos from the Benefiz-Gala in his slideshow while he sang Phantom :D Of course, that came after the slideshow of baby photos during I am what I am, so I may have been slightly horizontal.
And there may be mp3 spam at some point, because his Bring Him Home defies gravity, and his The Song That Goes Like This keeps getting better and better.
It's now been a round four years (and three days) since the first time I was at a concert of his, barely knowing the name of this scraggly eighteen-year-old boy who got a part that should be a bit part and stole the show. Within the next four years, I fully expect to be in a West End theatre listening to him do at least Raoul, and quite probably understudy Phantom. |
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| Out of the dark |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|08:58 am] |
Thank you everyone for the kind comments on my last post. Mourning is never easy, but we're managing. I'm afraid I'm not yet at the stage when I can answer them without crying.
It helps that there's still Lestat, the kindest, most golden-hearted feline vampire ever to walk the earth. He follows us around the flat, cuddles up with me at night, and each time we mention Tonio's name he looks around in frightened puzzlement. "Where is he? When is he coming back?"
(And there are other things. fyrie sent an amazing Elisabeth gift. I had tickets, bought back in September, for a Disney concert with certain someones, and yesterday I both teared up at the wonderful orchestrations - Disney tugs on heart-strings like no other - and melted a little at having Krolock, in full Krolock mode if not in the costume, sing If I can't love her with thunder and lightning and swirling an invisible cloak. Tomorrow, I'm going to be seeing our Herbert sing Spamalot duets at himself. It all helps.)
We'll be going to the seaside for Christmas after all, leaving on Tuesday evening so that we can bury my darling at the lakeside cottage on Wednesday. I'll be back on Sunday evening, but since the grandparents have a net connection, I won't be fully absent. |
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| For those who don't read lj_maintenance entry edits |
[Dec. 10th, 2009|07:17 am] |
*facepalms* So, from the horse's mouth. Remember that Snowflake Cookie free v-gift that everyone was sending around?
It's what broke notifications, because there's a default setting of ON for "get notified when one of your friends receives a virtual gift". The Snowflake got made available free to everyone by a glitch (*cough* there's a reason I was sending them around last year at St Nick's) and suddenly everyone and their dog was sending it to people. Which generated notifications to the f-lists of people who got them. Lots of notifications. The sending system hid under the bed and refused to come out.
Notifs are getting processed now, but they're also still building up. At the height of it, the number reached 12 million ~_~ Ops are on it and have managed to kickstart the sending, but it might take a while for all of them to clear up.
So Now You Know. |
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| Christmas coming |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|01:37 pm] |
It's a month to Christmas, and most other December holidays. With Tonio's condition and twice-daily medication, it'll probably be the first Christmas in over twenty years that we spend at home. All this means that in addition to the usual gift shopping (all gifts from me for family members, and all their gifts for me, since they cannot possibly fathom what I would like to get), I have to look into acquiring Christmas decorations.
To help others with the gift-shopping task:
- If you want to give someone a book, give Black Ships by Jo Graham. It's a wonderful tale with history, magic, religion, and volcanoes! Of note to people who want to support non-fail literature - name any test you want and Jo's characters pass it with flying colours.
- In the jewelry department, Astarise Designs just opened and offers extremely original jewelry:
(Obligatory disclosure: I've known astarise for over half a decade, and jo_graham for a little less. The former bribes me with coffee, the latter with sneak peeks of her prose. The above is still meant with complete earnestness.) |
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| Good feline news |
[Nov. 22nd, 2009|10:18 pm] |
After five days of twice-daily IVs, my dearest Tonio's results are much improved. And so is he - annoyed about the cannula, surely, but shiny and happy and jumping and eating ♥ His vet says it's going very well, and while there will be twice daily IVs for another week, I'd do them for months if it meant I can keep his furry self this happy. I know it's a serious, lifetime condition, but one day, one week at a time - he's only six years old :)
(And I think I owe Tomomin a four-page letter full of "OMG your fanclub mail saved my sanity", only then she'll think I'm really insane...)
In other news, here's the Phantom and Rock Phantom on Youtube - sound only, but you can see why I was so happy with my Phantom, the first Phantom I ever saw live, mesmerising 1300 people with a single note :D |
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| Won't be around too much |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|06:12 pm] |
My elder cat, Tonio, is six years old. He's never been the healthiest of cats, ever since we got him at five months old, so thin and wasted that the first vet mis-diagnosed his sex. He's also very traumatised and neurotic towards strangers, sudden noises etc, which doesn't stop him from being an absolute darling evil feline mastermind who demands cuddles and thinks way too much.
Coming back from my trip, I noticed he'd suddenly lost weight. I was also told he hadn't been eating dry food, and it was unlike him to go to sleep so soon after greeting us.
I had him at the vet's this morning for a blood test. By this afternoon, he's been seen by one of the best feline nephrologists in town, and he's had an ultrasound test.
Tonio has chronic renal failure. His kidney function is at 25%. He's apparently one of the cats that are just born with it: his kidneys have been quietly deteriorating all his life, it's just that this week, he tipped over the threshold and became symptomatic.
He's on twice-daily IVs, special food and special treatment. We won't know the prognosis until much later, depending on how he takes to treatment. But he's not going to be around for the decade or more I thought I had left with him.
It's been four and a half years since losing Lady P, and I still think about her. I want my cats to live until they're twenty-five.
(People I owe stuff to, especially packages: it'll be a few days.) |
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| Roman impressions |
[Nov. 14th, 2009|08:15 pm] |
I've been getting home at about 7-8PM each day, but I'm literally too tired to write. There is so much to see here that it occupies all of my brain. What little is left is taken up with the images of the cloaked cavaliers that should be striding about the place. I didn't think it was possible for there to be so much history in one place, not preserved this way, one upon another. I remain in love with Italian museums and their habit of just shoving interesting things in a room. "Is that-!!!" is a running theme, from Caravaggio to Leonardo to random Dali and Van Gogh and Tintoretto and Rafael O.o
Oh gods, Rafael. I remain in utter awe and admiration ♥ He's the only painter to reduce me to this state, where I can just sit and stare happily, melting into a puddle.
I am also taking way too many photos. Especially of angels. There are angels everywhere.
( This example in Santa Maria del Popolo is the current favourite )
Tomorrow, I hope to improve the count of people-in-my-icons-whom-I-have-seen-live by one *points up* Then Trastevere, then on Monday frantic running around filling in the sightseeing gaps, and by Tuesday evening I should be home. |
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| Review: Benefiz-Gala in Oberhausen |
[Nov. 13th, 2009|10:43 pm] |
After three days of Roman angelic overload, I'm finally up to a review of Tuesday's gala.
To get bad things out of the way first: the concert was advertised with posters and annoucements featuring only Jan Ammann and Kevin Tarte, leading me to assume that they'd feature in at least half the concert. Instead, in a three-hour concert Kevin got one solo, Jan two, and there were two duets between the two of them, out of thirty-seven songs. I think that if the poster for a concert features only two stars, one can reasonably expect them to take up more than 13.5% of its duration. (One can also expect, say, drama musicals rather than crossdressing and Disney. One can be wrong.)
( But there was still crack. And Jakub! My favourite Herbert and Phantom is all grown up and playing to audiences of thousands! )
Audio bonus
And to save you from the wall of text up there:
Jan Ammann - Nature Boy
Jan Ammann and Kevin Tarte - Stars (demonic version)
Jakub Wocial, Jan Ammann - Phantom / Rockstar Phantom
Kevin Tarte and Jan Ammann - The Winner Takes It All |
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| Ded of Krolock |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|11:27 pm] |
In Oberhausen. Just saw the git (no, not that git. The other other git. I have a lot of them) play Krolock, finally.
Review upcoming. For now, let it suffice to say that my lifelong ambition to see a Krolock fall into the orchestra pit has finally been realised, at least for values of Krolock-leg, Krolock-cloak, and frantic clutching at the ledge ♥ |
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| Dear Yuletide Santa |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|10:10 am] |
To start off, I'm not terribly picky. Optional details are optional, and I'll be happy with just about any story featuring my indicated fandoms and characters. I've tried to divide the request descriptions into my take on the fandom, my firm squicks (often based on somewhat rambling explanations), and very optional story ideas in case you're the sort of person who likes prompts; I've also tried to vary these prompts from single-word to detailed. Length, plottiness, level of detail, type of narration and rating - it's all up to you.
( General request )
( Elisabeth, Death )
( RPF - Takarazuka Revue, Nagina Ruumi and Sena Jun )
( Babylon 5, Susan Ivanova )
( Fairy tales, Cinderella )
I hope this suffices while not overwhelming, but should you want to know more, you can ask fyrie to relay your questions :) |
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| Yayuletide! |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|08:58 pm] |
Yuletide signups are open. Information here, if you wish to give yourself a crazy challenge ♥
(And this year, fandoms include RPF - Takarazuka with a crazy long list of characters, and Babylon 5. How could I resist?)
Dear Santa letter upcoming once I have two braincells to rub together. There will have to be some... diplomatical phrasing. |
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| Nanowrimo |
[Nov. 1st, 2009|08:16 pm] |
1,669 words, and my old writing pace of two hours per installment, despite chatting to fyrie in the meantime = not bad :)
Now, if it only were better words... |
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| 30s musicals |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|11:09 am] |
Found this for the grandparents, but oh, why don't they make movies like this anymore? :)
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