Boyband Rants:
February 2001 Archive
6th February 2001 - My Sister Is A Sadist.
The heading says it all. My sister works at Disneyland, or, more specifically, at the new Disney California Adventure (henceforth referred to as DCA) theme park. I've been there twice already (my father works at KABC TV in LA, which is also owned by the Mouse, so the family got preview tickets from both ends) and it's a really cool park. Now, said sister calls me up yesterday to let me know that *N Sync will be performing at DCA on opening day... this Thursday. ARGH!!! I have a midterm Thursday morning, not to mention work that evening and three lectures I can't afford to miss in between. *sob* (This also explains why Chris is supposed to be on KIIS FM (102.7) that evening. Wonder what his take on the new park will be.)
So I give my sister my copy of NSA. I doubt she'll be able to get it autographed, though. I mean, she'll be working and I don't want to get her into trouble. I also told her that if she can, she should probably get it signed for herself. Such a nice neechan I am, huh? Thing is, I don't really collect autographs... and if it's not a memory of my own, getting it, then it's not worth very much to me. If I'm meant to meet them, I will some day. It's as simple as that. I would have no respect for myself if I cut classes just to go see them. Still, coming on top of missing O-Town's signing in LA a few weeks ago for work, this is annoying. And, given their reps, they'll probably ride California Screamin', which has the same neat little camera dealy jobby that Splash Mountain over in the original 'Kingdom has. So maybe some bright employee will print an extra copy of those pictures and somehow I'll be able to wrangle a scan or something. Who knows. :)
At least Lisa didn't tell me it was BSB performing.
7th February 2001 - Red Carpet Angst.
Another call from my sister. Today is Celebrity Day at DCA, so she lets me know that *N Sync will be walking down the red carpet between 6:00 and 6:30 this evening. I have work at five, but there's no way she can wrangle me into the park, so I'm not cutting. So, sorry, guys, but this evening means another $30 towards tuition and textbooks for next term. I can't and won't cut that to watch you walking into a theme park, assuming I could even see past all the media and (inevitable) screaming fangirls.
Still, imouto-chan will be there, off work already. So who knows.
Hope you get to go on Grizzly River Rapids 'fore it gets cool... though it's fun even then. But at night they turn off the "cheat" sprayers on the way up the incline. You know, the ones that make sure the signs aren't lying when they say "you will get wet." :) The Mouse is delightfully wicked in that manner. Hope you enjoy the spinning drop.
Hmm, you know, I'd love a shot of the five of y'all on that ride. But it has no cameras. Will just have to settle and hope for a California Screamin' pic.
7th February 2001 - My sister rubs elbows with *N Sync.
I get off work and check my missed calls on my cel, and phone my sister back. She lets me know that as she was pushing through the crowd between the carousel and the ferris wheel (just as the Beach Boys were coming onstage), she passed *N Sync and got elbowed by one of them. She only caught clear view of one of them, though--she said tall guy, short blond kinda spiky hair. Since I think Joey's gone blond these days as well (looked that way for the Super Bowl footage, at least) it could've been either him or Lance. Will have to pin her down on that later. She didn't get an autograph, but I can't really blame her. She needed to get the irregularities in her paycheck fixed, it's not her obsession, after all, and, frankly, they deserve some down time from being asked for autographs.
Still, I was in knots while talking to her. Why is that? I mean, I've never met these guys, why on earth should their signing their names matter to me? I don't understand this need (it seems to be a basic human instinct--Lisa has it too, but her thing is for Bon Jovi). Poetry:
Audience View
I look around at the crowd
--shrieking your name
--singing your song
I look back at you on the stage
--and wonder
"why do we hold onto things that are so far away?"Well, onto studying for Japanese midterm and reading Soseki's Kokoro for my East Asian 150 quiz tomorrow. Ah, also, according to sister, the thing about them performing tomorrow was just a backstage rumor at the 'Kingdom.
8th February 2001 - The Need for Celebrity.
No new news, so musings. Why do we feel this need to make contact with a celebrity? Why do we adore them? A friend suggested to me that it's something akin to courtly love, to a knight's pure, chaste love for the married lady of his lord. Think the Arthurian triangle before it got tawdry. That idea has merit, but it doesn't explain enough and I don't think it would make sense to a stadium full of screaming fourteen-year-olds. Is it that somehow, by virtue of being gifted with voice and presumably sexy bodies, we think or feel that performers are closer to the divine? Is it a desire to touch the face of God? Let's expand to include celebrities of other types. Actors, for instance. [Hey, why is it that writers don't get this acclaim?] Celebration of a gift in a public forum. Is it the song or the voice or the singer that we admire? Is it something Dickensonian in admiring success stories? Why do we want to touch these people? It has to be that we want their magic to rub off onto us. But why are they so magical? They're just ordinary people like us, right? So from whence comes that perception of the superhuman?
Unrelated. My movie recommendations: Chocolat and O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Book recommendation: Kokoro by Natsume Soseki.
9th February 2001 - Concert Considerations.
I write to the author of my favorite yaoi O-Town story; said author writes back. I go to work, and the paper in the break room has an article on O-Town, which includes concert dates later this month in SoCal (Hollywood). The tickets are only $22.50... relatively cheap. Are the gods trying to speak to me? I often think that such coincidence must be their voices, overlapping and urging. So maybe tomorrow I'll activate my new credit card and buy tickets to the second date (the first seems to be sold out at TicketMaster). And maybe get their CD. Got the single a while back. Could be interesting.
Reading Chocolat. So far interesting, and just different enough from the movie to keep it that way.
10th February 2001 - Cultural Snobbery and Other Implications.
Worrying to a friend this afternoon about the fact that I go to see foreign films. She told me that as long as I listened to the Backstreet Boys as well, she didn't think I could be classified as a cultural snob. Is that a compliment or not, I wonder....
Got O-Town's debut CD, have been listening to it. There are a few songs I like. "Six Seconds" is amusing. However, I dislike the fact that the lyrics aren't printed in the booklet. Ah well. Que sera sera. I'm also starting to work on the design of my jacket for BSB's concert next month. It's going to be black and blue, of course, but I need to work on the specifics. Fan-shaped pocket openings for "The Perfect Fan," some kind of heart design for "Shape of My Heart"... maybe silver stars for "Shining Star"? That kind of thing.
14th February 2001 - "I am Constant as the Northern Star."
This morning I mentioned to my uncle that it was somehow odd, hearing Milli Vanilli on the radio more than New Kids on the Block (I kid you not, I've heard Milli Vanilli twice in as many weeks), so of course on the way to school "Valentine Girl" comes on the radio. Good to know the gods are listening. But it kind of makes you wonder. I mean, it's so out of fashion these days to listen to NKOTB. And we all know that humans are creatures of passion. "Fashion is passion, the true meaning of it." I listened to Step By Step the other night, and it's certainly no worse than any of the '80s pop so many radio stations play. So why this shutout of the New Kids' music? What did they do wrong? Why did we abandon them? There are some diehards, and always will be, but the public by and large seems content to bury the memory of those stars that burned so brightly and oh so briefly.
I wonder--are humans by nature fickle? Are we flighty creatures, incapable of fidelity? Fascinating, then, that Western culture so highly prizes the idea of monogamy. What does that say about us? Do we hold ourselves to unrealistic ideals? And is that a bad thing? Our education system is something of a joke compared to other countries, even compared to its own history. That, I think, is a bad thing, but then I have a mild ambition to be justifiably described as "over-educated."
Return to marital fidelity. I'm the product of a marriage that, while not always harmonious, has lasted somewhere around thirty years. And I very much admire Brian Littrell's stance on his marriage. I'm a romantic, I suppose. Marriage should be for once, forever, and for always, until death do you part. Which is why commitment is a frightening concept for many people, I suppose. The thought of "what if I choose wrongly?"
Tell me, what is love, and where does being in love overlap and distinguish from loving?
17th February 2001 - Naki Yoru wo Yuke...
Having consulted with my sister, there are no photos of *N Sync from California Screamin'. Apparently the photo stand was closed on celebrity night. Ah well. It apparently was a certain pale-eyed southern blond she saw that night. Though she hastily reassured me that he wasn't the one who inadverdently elbowed her. As to myself, I've figured out why Jamie Bass is/was my favorite of *N Sync when I've never bothered forming favorites before. It's 'coz he reminds me of my kareshi--my boyfriend. Seems I have a thing for tall, intelligent gentlemen. Who knew? Realizing this takes a bit of my focus off of Lance. I mean, I still like him, but now that I realize I have someone who fulfills the things that attracted me to him in the first place, the yearning towards those things lessens. I had a favorite until I realized why he was my favorite. No offence, Jamie. :)
Have spent the past couple evenings dumping all the boybands stuff I had TiVo'd at my parents' place onto tape. Never realized before that Joey was a Transformers fan. Woohoo, go Joey! (Trannies gotta stick together.) So I now have an *N Sync tape and a BSB tape. I ended up not saving Howie and Kev on Who Wants to Be a Millionare. Cute, but neither of them got into the hot seat. First time I'd ever watched that show. Not bad, and I think I got about 90% of the questions right. I did save their appearance on Much from a couple of days ago, though, as well as all of the interview clips they showed beforehand. Now, tell me again, why am I doing this?
I also finally got around to going through all the extra goodies on BSB's American debut CD. Kind of amusing, some of it. Four of the five had bad haircuts. Is it just me or does Brian's hair never change? Doesn't matter--it looks good on him. I actually had a dream about them the other night. Kind of odd--I usually don't have dreams about people like that. Can no longer remember the contents, just that I had it.
Also won an auction for a pair of tickets to see O-Town at the Palace in Hollywood on the 24th.
20th February 2001 - Happy Birthday, Mr. Littrell!
They reran the "Live at Much: O-Town" special this afternoon. Not bad, and amusing at points. For example, the five of them trying to duck around explicitly explaining what exactly a "liquid dream" is. They need to work a bit more on their choreography, and definitely on singing into headset mikes. Still, some good questions asked, and they answered well. Sent my payment off today for concert tix, so will be going to see them on Saturday.
The interviewer brought up the question of what Lance Bass (of *N Sync) had said about O-Town... she didn't quote (pity, things get taken doubly out of context in paraphrase), so I will: (digs out newspaper article) "We weren't put together by anybody. We didn't do through a boot camp audition. There was no training like that whatsoever. That's why I think it's really just a bunch of stupidity. I don't think it will ever last." [sigh] This is kind of sad... BSB seems to be getting out of their inter-band cattiness phase, but Lance seems to be taking up the slack. Don't say things like this, Mr. Bass... they will come back to haunt you. Isn't it your faith that says things like turn the other cheek, and let he who is without sin cast the first stone? Apparently kindness kills. But then, I'm not in that industry, so I'm coming from a different perspective.
Also, is it just me, or has there been an Aerosmith resurgence since the Superbowl? [grin]
Saw (and had parents TiVo) "*N Sync: In Concert" yesterday on Fox Family. Will watch it all the way through while dumping it to tape and editing out commercials. Did catch their version of Christopher Cross' "Sailing." Took me back to high school choir. Also read an interesting *N Sync slash fic last night called Portal. It's only up to chapter five, but has the twist of Justin (straight) and Lance (gay in this story) being forced into a sexual relationship without a bit of attraction to one another. Worthy of thought and consideration... it certainly opens speculation as to how far straight bends and what one would do (well, a theoretical one... I'm bi and given my theories on love, wouldn't care) in such a situation, how to deal with that kind of thing emotionally.
And, finally and of course, happy birthday to Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys. Today he turns 26, and as a kind of birthday present, here's the release of my BSB music video fic (I'm not fic'ing them, I'm fic'ing their video... telling myself that is the only way I can get around my "no fic'ing real people unless I can get their approval of the final product" rule), The Call. Otanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu, Littrell-san! And, herzgefelt guckwunsch am deiner geburtstag!
21st February 2001 - Confluence
Yesterday I seemed to be haunted by *N Sync. First came a mention of Lance Bass (more specifically, a hot sex dream involving Lance Bass) in the school newspaper. Then I found out a friend of the family (my dad works TV so many of his friends do as well) is working the Grammys tonight--at which *N Sync will be performing. Then one of the answers to a crossword puzzle I was doing was "in sync." Tempted though I was, I didn't substitute an asterisk for the first letter. I did, however, burst out laughing, receiving odd looks from my father and Donna. Then Dad tells me that another friend of his is going to be filming *N Sync... I asked him to see if there was any way to wrangle passes (there won't be, there never is, but ya gotta make the gesture, you know?). Then "This I Promise You" comes on the radio as I'm heading home. So, that was my day. That and a bitchin' lecture in my Japanese Literature of the City class. I still don't understand why I'm the only one in class who actively participates.
23rd February 2001 - Of Various Things
Well, the pop brigade was shut out at at the Grammys. The Eminem-Elton John performance was, I thought, beautifully understated and a wonderful contrast to all the controversy around it. And as to *N Sync's performance, my reaction (along, I suspect, with the rest of everyone who bothers to know who they are) was "My God, Curly's gone bald!" Still, it's only hair and I suspect his grows like gangbusters. Also, KIIS FM (102.7) finally had Chris on JoJo On The Radio last night... I caught some of it, but not all. Am pondering on tickets to that concert this July. I'll also be interested in that new album of theirs. Ah, something that's been tickling in the back of my mind to put down on this page... at DCA, they have a set of drum dancers, a quartet who, Stomp-like, synchronomously dance on oversized drums. They're easily my favorite group of performers at DCA, just as the Trashmen (a set of drummers of another kind) are my favorite at the original 'Kingdom. The first time I saw the drum dancers, they did a NKOTB skit ("The Right Stuff"). The second time, they did *N Sync ("Bye Bye Bye"). I wonder if there's any chance they did so in front of any of the members of *N Sync? :)
The core fan base. I wonder if any of the members of today's pop acts realize that no matter how badly they might fuck up, there will always be a loyal core of fans who will love and support them. That's the kind of loyalty money can't buy. And maybe it's rabidity, but also maybe it's religious fervor expressed in the only way modern times permit. You can't tell me that all those teenies with shrines to JC or Justin or Nick, the ones who worship the ground they walk upon and aspire to nothing more than meeting them, aren't caught up in a bacchanalian frenzy. Mendicants or maenads, they will succumb to the group frenzy, orgiastic, that will allow them to do anything--even to hurt their idols. And make no mistake, they are idols. Still, even in its darker incarnation, that kind of loyalty is pure. Just look at some of the NKOTB online sites and you'll see what I mean. A devotion and a love that perserveres no matter how unpopular the adored is. It's faith incarnate. Having been one of those who abandoned NKOTB when their popularity waned (though, I try to calm myself, I abandoned all music for at least six years, so it wasn't just them I betrayed), I feel ashamed that my devotion was never that pure. That my love was not that true. Can one learn purity? Can one learn faith? How does one achieve it? Tell me.
Stories new, stories old. Dara Lynn just ended her Any Path trilogy, which I rather liked. There was a lot of inspirational stuff in there... a lot of pain and a lot of "life is beautiful" philosophy. And a lot of pretty boys slashed, of course. And some damn funny lines. Hopefully she'll write more stories and I'll get to read them all--signed up to the list (NSAngst) she co-moderates, after all. In real life, I'm currently having a good time working out the script for the speaking part of our final in my Japanese class. We get to do a video. I seem to be the default leader in my group. And--woohoo! Tomorrow! O-Town at The Palace! [hyper little happy neko dance]
Random soundtrack recommendation: O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Wonderful songs. A pity the soundtrack's not nominated for an Oscar.
24th February 2001 - All Teenagers Are Sopranos...
...and they all have the lung capacity to scream for hours on end.
Tonight was, of course, the O-Town concert up in Hollywood. The first concert I've been to in about six years. (The last, for reference, was the Jerry Garcia Band.) Two mediocre opening acts, an intermission which was far too long for anything other than technical difficulties to be the cause (sorry, but half an hour is NOT acceptable), and then O-Town on stage. Ignoring the fact that being squashed into a sardine like that makes me physically ill, I enjoyed the heck outta the concert. I will not develop a Jacob Underwood fetish, I will not develop a Jacob Underwood fetish....
They opened with "All For Love"... can't remember the order of all of the songs, but they did "Girl," "Sexiest Woman Alive," "All Or Nothing," "The Painter," "Love Should Be A Crime" (Ashley and Jacob playing a pair of guitar-playing bishounen bookends to the other three), and finished with a costume change and encore of "Liquid Dreams" and "Every Six Seconds." Their costume change included Trevor wearing a shirt with the Playboy Bunny symbol on it, and Erik clad in a jacket that proclaimed "VIAGRA." I knew I liked these boys!
Regrettably, I was using my sister's camera and the second roll of film would NOT load, so I only got like 3-4 shots of them. ;_; And Jacob is definitely a natural showman. Started off the concert wearing all white with a red bandanna around his hair. Wow. Nice image. An' Trevor is a ham. Didn't want to get off the stage. Erik had to drag him off three times. [grin]
So now I go to replace my cherished RayEarth poster with my new O-Town poster and ponder if the vague reference to Asley's surname in the header of this page is enough to balance the other two titles here. And I listen to O-Town as I drift off to sleep....
28th February 2001 - This way is reality. That way is fish.
(You have to have hung around Cambridge students to get the joke. :)
Whee, new fishtank set up and water in it settling. Need to get a power strip, some more gravel, and some more fish for it. In other news, I got my (lamentably few) photographs back from the O-Town concert. I'll see about scanning the best two. Alas, did not get a good picture of Jacob with that stunning color combo he pulled off. Yare yare. I need to get a good camera setup, and I need to get it soon. The BSB concert is only two weeks away!
The L.A. Times' review of the O-Town concert was decidedly negative. I'm tempted to say screw 'em, but everyone's entitled to their opinion, and they did bring forth a few salient points, such as the girl they serenaded being remarkably unenthusiastic about it.
Doubt, cast thee from my mind!
Love is love because it contains an element of faith, right? And of a certain blindness. Though hopefully not too much blindness... that becomes use and abuse rather than love.
I visited Sixth New Kid today, probably the best site around for information on the former members of NKOTB. Donnie's new show (The Big Apple) is starting on CBS tomorrow night, and Jon Knight is coming out of his seclusion to join his brother Jordan on Oprah tomorrow, talking about panic attacks. TiVo! Will be interesting to see what the Knight brothers look like, sound like, and are up to these days.
Anyhow, off to translate for Japanese schoolwork due tomorrow. Mata ne!