Night Island

The last few days have been eventful and productive, media-wise. I went to see the Welcome to Night Vale live show "Ghost Stories" on Friday night in LA, and it was great. The weather guest was Erin McKeown, who provided the weather for the most recent episode of the podcast. She played that song ("The Queer Gospel") as well as several others. I decided that I really like her music. She has a good voice, but what I really appreciate is the lyrics of her songs. Just that night, she played songs about LGBTQ self-love and acceptance, immigration, and the beauty and wonder of living the creative life.

The show itself... ( Spoilers because it was so good )

On Saturday, I watched the first few episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix. I'm on episode six, and it's really great so far. I wasn't even alive in the majority of the 80s, but it really hits the nostalgia spot. I also watched the Fellowship of the Rings movie for the first time ever and fell in love with it. It was very well done, and it made me fall in love with the story all over again. It's kind of a shame that I didn't see these movies when they originally came out, but I'm trying desperately not to be pop culture illiterate anymore.

Speaking of which, I also watched Moulin Rouge for the first time ever this weekend. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't so convinced by the insta-love. I didn't really connect to the characters as much as I thought I should. On the other hand, I just loved the fact that Kylie Minogue and Placido Domingo were the fairy and the man in the moon respectively. Watching it reminded me a lot of Phantom of the Opera, and I suppose that both musicals have a lot of crossover appeal. I guess that it's partially that same operatic form of storytelling as Moulin Rouge has elements of La Boheme, La Traviata, and Orpheus in the Underworld. Aside from the fact that they both take place in France, they both involve creative types putting on a show and a musical within a musical. One of the characters unexpectedly takes the place of another on stage a la "The Point of No Return." Plus, both musicals begin in the future when all the action is over and done with and tell the story in flashback. Come to think of it, I bet they have a lot in common if I were to sit down and think about it some more.

So, in short, I became less pop culture illiterate this weekend. It's nice not living under a rock for a change.

I also watched Toonami on Satruday evening. I love how it has become a fixture of my week again. Not since the days of Yu Yu Hakusho have I been so eager to catch every episode. I think it'f fitting that Hunter x Hunter is the main reason why since they were both created by Yoshihiro Togashi. I've meant to check out Hunter x Hunter for years, but it's on Toonami now and all of those teenage feelings are coming flooding back. The team dynamics remind me a lot of those from the main cast of YYH. Kurapika is my obvious favorite, and I'm getting all kinds of Kurama flashbacks from him. My second favorite is probably Leorio, but they all have their own charm. Somone once said that if you liked the puzzle-like parts of the Maze Castle arc in YYH, you would also want to check out Hunter x Hunter. I will say that the Hunter Exams are definitely giving me a distinct Maze Castle type vibe.

That pretty much covers everything except my reading and writing habits, but that can wait for another time. I also got a new mattress on Saturday, so that's something too.

Day 13

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your
post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Better late than never is in the spirit of snowflake_challenge. In fact, they wouldn’t even consider this late because it is such a laid-back challenge, so here are my recs. Since this week was a little overwhelming, I decided to save this post for the weekend. Anyway, I will rec more than three things because of the delay and my enthusiasm for this challenge.

( Four Recs: Harry Potter, Welcome to Night Vale, and Vampire Chronicles )

Basically, I just raided the recs I had listed on AO3. ^^; All of these are highly recommended even though I do not feel up to writing anything about them.

The time of this entry shows how much I didn't sleep... -_-; At any rate, I needed to wake up to see if my enrollment date got updated. It did! :D So, while I wait for my time to enroll, I will amuse myself by posting some quotes from Night Vale.

"Weird at last, weird at last. God Almighty, weird at last."

"Regret nothing... untilit is too late. Then, regret everything." -- episode 10 "Feral Dogs"

"Listeners... are you suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome? Are you enjoying carpal tunnel syndrome? Are you surprised by carpal tunnel syndrome? Are you enraged by carpal tunnel syndrome? Do you feel a throbbing sadness that you almost cannot stand from carpal tunnel syndrome? Do you feel a bounty of love and appreciation for your fellow human beings traveling through this confusing and finite lifetime with you from carpal tunnel syndrome? Do you get sexually aroused by carpal tunnel syndrome? That would be weird. Not to be judgmental, but... it would be weird." episode 10

"Silence is golden. Words are vibrations. Thoughts are magic." <-- if you haven't noticed, this is my current journal subtitle. ^^;

Well, that killed an adequate amount of time. XD I will post more as they come to me. Hopefully, I can figure out how to do a cut by then!