Keeping in Touch

It's been a strange year for me in terms of my fandoms. This 2010 has been the year in which I've finally winnowed my fandoms down to pretty much a bare handful:

> the Takarazuka Kagekidan
> the film Inception
> the modern Doctor Who [to be specific, this would be from Nine till Eleven]
> the 2010 BBC miniseries Sherlock

And it's been so inspiring, particularly the whole Inception thing. I got in on that one on pretty much the ground floor and it's been a wild ride ever since. December will see the release of the DVD, so that will probably mean an explosion of fannishness. And of course there's also the fact that the fic exchanges are all going to start posting around the Christmas and New Year holidays. So you can bet I'm pretty excited about that.

I've had a lot of firsts with this fandom, and so I guess it's only fitting that I do something else for the first time this year. The thing about my fandoms is that the fans are scattered widely, all over the world. It's fun to meet them in cyberspace, but it's just as amazing to try and contact them for real.

So I'm going to try and kick off another first for me this year: send holiday postcards all over the world.

One of the Google April Fools' Day jokes: a Google search, run by postcard.

The nice thing is that when I asked around my fandoms lists for people who'd like to receive a postcard from me, a few of them "demanded" my own address, so that they could also send me something in return.

I'm looking forward to writing out my messages and mailing the postcards out. I really am. Not to mention I can't wait to deploy my beloved pens! THIS is why I collect pens - this is the very occasion I've been saving them up for. *grin*

Music to scribble madly away to

Related posts:
New/Old Fandom and NaNoWriMo status report
"I want to know what it's like to live // I want to know what it's like to love"

This weekend's been an emotional roller-coaster guide. On Friday I received some long-awaited news regarding my English-teaching job, and went to bed giddy.

Yesterday was spent doing something rather odd in celebration: it has to do with my hair. Pictures or it didn't happen, of course, and I'll be doing that as soon as I get enough decent light.

And now today, well, I've been talking and bracing myself for it for the better part of three weeks or so. September 12! Today is Mizu Natsuki's graduation day from the Takarazuka Kagekidan. I will probably post some photos from her final night when they come out. [That will be a spectacularly T__T entry all around, I think.]

And so to the title of this post. The other thing I've been doing is writing away. Sure, it's just fan fiction. And yet there is still an undeniable rush of creation, of spinning and weaving, and knowing that people like the work afterwards.

When I write stuff I like to listen to two or three songs, non-stop, over and over again. Which means that I am really no different when it comes to the community of scribblers at large. The music serves to capture the "air" or the "spirit" where the story was conceived, and helps create a place of concentration for the writer to keep at it.

So here are my current songs to write to.


The opening theme to the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations OVA, "Synchronicity". Performed by Makino Yui, otherwise known as Sakura's voice actress.


The ending theme, "Saigo no Kajitsu". Performed by Sakamoto Maaya.


This one's a bit of a blast from the past: the opening theme of the anime series Vandread, "Trust". Performed by Salia. This version is a fan-made composite that includes video from the opening and the ending of the series's final episode, set to the entirety of the song.

So, what are your favorite songs right now?

"I don't want [her] to go!" Banzai Mizu Natsuki!

Related Mizu Natsuki posts:
Fandoms at Random: Onstage Mizu Natsuki!
Video Post of Squeeing Doom!
Mizu Natsuki announces retirement.
This week's post o' fannish doom


Mizu Natsuki playing Der Tod, from the 2007 production of the musical Elisabeth, performed by the Snow Troupe [Yukigumi] of the Takarazuka Kagekidan.

I know, I know, I'm mixing up my fandoms again, but really, see if I care.

I don't want to go were the famous last words of the Tenth Doctor [David Tennant], and now I'm using them again to talk about the impending retirement of Mizu Natsuki, the current Top Star of Snow Troupe [Takarazuka Kagekidan].

Mizu's last bow on the Takarazuka stage will be on Sunday, 12 September, when the musical drama and revue Roget / Rock On! ends its run at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater. Her musumeyaku Top Star, Aihara Mika, will be among the actresses retiring with her.

I have to admit that I am now considering fading out of the fandom after Mizu goes.

Oh, not to say that I don't currently love any of the Takarazuka actresses; I still feel my troupe loyalty to Cosmos Troupe [Soragumi] and that means I am still a minor-league fan of its current Top Stars [Oozora Yuuhi and Nono Sumika]. See my review of their take on Casablanca here, for example. And I also have a lot of love for several other Sora stalwarts such as Ranju Tomu, Yuumi Hiro, Toki Irisu, Suzuna Saya, and Kotobuki Tsukasa.

But with Mizu's retirement I feel that it'll be okay to stop being an active part of the fandom, that is, the non-Japanese one. I'm pretty sure I've talked a lot about Mizu on this blog and that was mostly because she was the Top Star I supported, the one who was still in the company.

After Sunday, though, she'll be out of the Revue and out into a new life.

And I wish she didn't have to go, but truthfully, I'm glad she's retiring. I've been quite worried for her: working a lot, not looking very well in some photos [in fact there were days when I saw photos of her and wailed, "Oh, someone please feed her! She looks so wan!"], dealing with other Yukigumi retirements. So if this is her way to get rest, to recover from the last year in which she had been so busy, then I will feel happy for her instead.

But I'm going to be crying anyway as soon as I see her graduation photos.

Ideas for New Worlds 6?

This post comes as a response to [Conventions] Do You Want A New Worlds 6?


A wonderful wallpaper of all eleven versions of the Doctor, found at fanpop.com.

I think the paragraph that caught my attention was this:

While we gather enough people to make such an event possible, we should get the awareness ball rolling. Don't you want to have a convention for your geeky interests? Don't you want to be able to meet other people who enjoyed the original Star Trek series like you or perhaps who love the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Anne Rice? Don't you want to discuss how Lost ended with other Losties? Don't you want to be able to share a bottle of rum with a fellow Pirates of the Carribean lover? Don't you want to practice your spells with other Harry Potter fans?

[Um, please ignore the typo there or perhaps Captain Jack Sparrow will not mind that it is actually spelled "Caribbean".]

I have to admit that I have a fairly jaded view of some of the conventions held here in the Philippines because of two diametrically opposite reasons/problems/what-have-you:

1. Too exclusive.
2. Not exclusive enough.

Why are local cons too exclusive? Well, probably because of the accidents of sponsorship and the desires of the organizers: they might want to hold a comics convention that is open to everyone, but the sponsors might insist on exclusivity for their brand. And since the cons live and die on the sponsorships, the cons have some complying to do.

Why are local cons not exclusive enough? How would you feel if you said you were organizing a con for Western comics - and then a majority of the people in costume showed up as characters from everywhere else *except* Western comics? Note that there is no fault in this sort of set-up - but it does take away from the intentions of the con.

I think the problem is a lack of acknowledgment of fandom for what it really is: more than a marketing gimmick, more than an excuse to dress up, more than a motley assortment of people sharing interests that range from mildly exotic to I-have-no-idea-what-that-is strange.

Fandom is really just the same thing whether you're a Vilmanian/Sharonian/Noranian [this shows my age rather badly, doesn't it?], or an ardent follower of LOST/Harry Potter/Batman/Star Trek/Star Wars/Doctor Who, or a big fan of Take That/U2/Amanda Palmer, or even a massive mecha-head building Gundams and Gundam costumes.

Fandom is one: the collective energy of different types and groups of people who come together for the love of whatever it is they're fans of.

It's so simple and yet it's so complicated. And I really can't blame anyone who tried to organize a con to cater to all of these interests.

Being a member of at least one "obscure" fandom myself [read: I have only met a bare handful of fellow Filipinos in the Takarazuka Kagekidan fandom, and only one or two in the flesh!], I can appreciate how some fandoms will always be too small to be represented.

And being a member of a rapidly-growing fandom [hello, Inception!], I can also appreciate how some fandoms can quickly build to critical mass and hold there against all odds.

I love being a fan but analyzing it really takes the energy out of me. Gawd, where to even begin?

I love being in my fandoms.

Because where else can you find these sorts of wonderful and handsome and beautiful people in amazing suits?!

TV Tropes links might be relevant here.

Dressed To Kill
Sharp Dressed Man
Hot Chick In A Badass Suit

Warning, pictures ahead!

DOCTOR WHO

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and Tenth Doctor David Tennant, from the Children in Need Special "Time Crash".


Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith with Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.

SHERLOCK (2010 BBC)

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.

TAKARAZUKA KAGEKIDAN

Former Top Star of Soragumi, Wao Youka.

INCEPTION

Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Enough said, really!

Fandoms at Random: Onstage Mizu Natsuki

Related Fandoms at Random posts:
Fandoms at Random: Doctor Who Ramblings
Fandoms at Random: Inception Dreams
Fandoms at Random: The Eleventh Doctor

Related Mizu Natsuki posts:
Video Post of Squeeing Doom!
Mizu Natsuki announces retirement.
This week's post o' fannish doom

[Whew, that is a lot of links.]



Oh, Mizu Natsuki.

Beginning tomorrow, Friday the 13th in August of 2010, you will tread the floorboards at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater for your final month's stay in the Takarazuka Kagekidan.

I really wish I could fly to Tokyo right now and watch you in Roget / Rock On!

And I'm pretty sure that if I did get the chance to go and see you before you graduate, the first thing I'd be packing in my bag would be several boxes of tissues. I'm rather shamelessly admitting that no matter where I will be on September 12, I'll be crying for you.

***

Mizu Natsuki was one of the first Takarazuka actresses, or jennes, to catch my eye when I joined the fandom full time. This probably had something to do with the fact that among the first videos I saw on YouTube were several scenes from the 2001 Soragumi staging of The Rose of Versailles: Fersen and Marie Antoinette, in which Mizu and Ayaki Nao shared the roles of Oscar François de Jarjayes and André Grandier.

[I preferred Mizu to be Andre and Ayaki to be Oscar.]

After that, I was hooked on several 'Zuka topics: Wao, O-Hana, Soragumi in general, and Mizu.

In particular I love Mizu because of her face: she has the most amazing expressions. She really can play merry hell on your heartstrings and you'll be entranced all the way.

For me, Mizu is a sterling example of the compleat jenne. She can sing, she can dance, she can act. No one looks better when wielding swords and other weapons, and no one is more suited to wearing goofy glasses and making the audience cry with laughter. She can even do female roles, as when she appeared as one of Genji's ladies [yes, THAT Genji] in a 2000 play.

I had had some hopes that she would go on to become Top Star of Soragumi after Wao's graduation, but when it turned out that she then became the immensely popular Top of Yukigumi, I felt only happiness.

And have I mentioned that Mizu Natsuki is both amazingly beautiful and handsome?!

Yeah, color me infatuated, color me besotted, and color me heartbroken. I never even got to see her on the 'Zuka stage ever.



Banzai Mizu Natsuki!

Super Elisabeth smash! (It's super effective!)

[Right, yes, mixing fandoms and rather dizzily happy about it, thank you!]

Here is a song that I stumbled on tonight and it is a mighty song indeed. [Many thanks to the Facebook friend who found this first.]


The song is "Yami ga Hirogaru", performed by Shizuki Asato as Der Tod and Máté Kamarás as Prince Rudolf.

The original title of the song is "Die Schatten werden länger", translated into English as "The Shadows Grow Longer". The Japanese version, however, is rendered into English as "The Darkness is Falling" or something like that.

Anyone who's a fan of this musical will be able to know why this is an amazing and unique rendition: this is actually being performed by two very famous Der Tods! We have Shizuki from the 1998 Soragumi production of the Takarazuka Kagekidan, and Kamarás from the 2004-2005 Vienna Revival cast.

And to think that Kamarás learned part of the Japanese lyrics just to perform this song!

I think that it's one of the more powerful renditions I've heard - Shizuki's voice keeps going from strength to strength even though it's been nearly 10 years since she performed as Der Tod, and as for Kamarás, well, it's not too hard to imagine why he's such a star.

I'm deliberately going to Ear Worm myself with this song!

A tale of loot pouring from the sky

Sometimes when it really rains the world's sturdiest umbrella won't be enough shelter.

But in a case like this I would really not mind getting drenched.

Here's a round-up of this year's accumulated loot so far.

1. Crafting loot


I hope you remember how happy I have been to complete my battery of crochet hooks.


And just for reference, this was my stash as of yesterday....


And here is my stash now. I think my ship just came in for the time being...that's a whopping ten pounds of yarn piled on top of the container, in shades of natural, black, and dark blue. It's a bit of a gift to me from dear friends of my parents.

You have no idea how my SABLE cup overfloweth right now.

I'm speechless and happy, is what I am right now.

Thank you.

2. Takarazuka Kagekidan loot


You've seen one of the books in this post already, but now it's arranged in the context of its sister purchases. I had a bit of a splurge sometime in April....

Well, that's that for now. I must away and get all my stash catalogued. Since it's a bit of a long weekend for me, I guess that means I'll catch you all on the other side. :D

Radio silence, why the Takarazuka Kagekidan, and "Until lambs become lions"

1. Radio Silence

You might be wondering why the blog abruptly fell quiet for a while; the answer is that my maternal grandfather died in the morning of the 12th of May. I had a shift at work that evening, so I went in and asked for bereavement leave, and then completed the classes scheduled on that night.

At the wake, which was located near one of Metro Manila's major cemeteries, some of my family decided to pay a visit to another pair of sleepers. These two are very famous, and after seeing the photo I'm sure you'll understand why:



I was surprised at my own reaction to seeing them in this rather plain and simple setting - it was something like Erm, that's it? We would never have found the tomb if it weren't for a helpful series of yellow ribbons tied to mark the path.

Back on the home front, my grandfather was buried on Friday morning.

It wasn't exactly an *unexpected* death - he'd been bedridden for years and had been depressed / refusing to eat in recent weeks. Considering the rather tumultuous history I've had with him, I had nothing more to say but "goodbye".

2. Why the Kagekidan

Because of the whirlwind of: May 12 shift (Wednesday night) -> proceed to wake (pretty much all of Thursday) -> be of assistance until the burial (Friday morning), I was bone-deep tired when I got home past lunchtime on Friday. So I fell into bed and slept like a ROCK.

After getting up and seeing my partner off to his Friday night shift, I had the rest of the night to myself - so how did I spend it? By watching two Takarazuka Kagekidan revues in a row. Nothing like seeing these powerful women sing and dance so well to make me feel better.

Many Takarazuka plays are paired with musical revues, and even the full-length musical productions like Elisabeth and Rose of Versailles end with a sort of mini-revue. In this case, I watched


The Showstopper - this revue was paired with a Takarazuka adaptation of the opera Turandot. This screenshot is from the "Besame Mucho" number near the end of the revue.


Neo Voyage - the revue that was paired with a Takarazuka adaptation of the opera Il Trovatore. This screenshot is from the amazing "Puttin' on the Ritz" tap-dance medley.

3. "Rise and rise again"
And finally, I was able to catch a screening of the new Ridley Scott film Robin Hood today. It wasn't half bad; I especially liked a specific emotional transition near the beginning of the final battle sequence.



Still, yeah, ain't Russell bloody Crowe a bit too OLD to be playing these sorts of heroes and roles?

Starry eyes and star-studded ideas

So I once talked about something I'd found out that reminded me very much of Der Tod from the musical Elisabeth.

Well, now, I've run across an interesting set of articles that has to do with Sissi herself. [I should be using "Sisi", but for consistency's sake I'll stick with the spelling I started with.]

Writing about being on the trail of one of the world's most ingenious thieves, Wired Magazine wrote up an article about this man and his attempts at stealing various valuable items and huge sums of money - and opens the article with the theft of the Koechert Diamond Pearl - or what is otherwise known as one of the last remaining Sisi Stars.

Here is a lovely painting of Empress Elisabeth, with some of the stars crafted for her to wear in her hair.

So that got me to thinking, I wonder if it was possible to create a crochet version of the Sisi Stars? And in my searching I first came across this tutorial:


How to crochet a ten-pointed star. It has a lovely ruffle-like quality and a lot of space to sew beads into.

If I started with the White and Aran versions of this yarn type, made ten-pointed stars, and then went on to sew in some really magnificent sparkling beads...I wonder how close I could get to crafting some of those stars? :D

I have really got to try this project some time.

This week's post o' fannish doom

[Pictures ahead!]


I...I think I'll be able to purchase this gorgeous magazine book, or mook as the Japanese call it, very soon! This is the mook "The Takarazuka III: Cosmos Troupe". It's something like a yearbook, with interviews, pictures, and general silliness of the actresses in a particular troupe of the Takarazuka Kagekidan. In this case, this would be the third installment of this mook for my favorite troupe, Sora - the last one, in fact, for the Top Stars Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari.


This is the poster for the final stage, or the last show before retirement, of current Yuki Top Stars Mizu Natsuki and Aihara Mika, Roger / Rock On! I have to agree with a friend of mine that the way the titles are written in the poster, they could just as easily be read as "Lodger / Lock On!" - and then you wonder what it really means in terms of the story....

...Yeah, I'm in sackcloth and ashes over Mizu's impending retirement, and I haven't even recovered from Ayabuki Mao's yet - Yumiko's last day in the Kagekidan is on April 25....


And just because all of a sudden the fannish circles in LiveJournal and, to a limited extent, Facebook, are all agog over him and his first full-length Doctor Who episode - I present the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, and his absolutely EPIC hair.

I am SO looking forward to the episode written for him by none other than NEIL FREAKING GAIMAN.

I find this very weirdly amusing, and Sissi-like.

So, you know how in some Asian cultures the number four is to be avoided at all costs? There's even a TVTropes page about it [WARNING: TVTropes page!]: Four Is Death

I woke up this morning at an ungodly hour and immediately decided I'd better go online and see what was new.

Well, I found something interesting, all right, and I found it right here on the blog:


Image is current as of 0420 hours. [And 42 happens to be another favorite number of mine, heh!]

If I thought last night it was amusing that the counter was at 4440 hits.... This to me is, well, really hopelessly funny.

It's also a good time for me to be a fangirl - now that I know of the Takarazuka Kagekidan, the number four and the concept of death now make me think of "Der Tod" from the musical Elisabeth. The company's various troupes have performed this musical about six more times since they first put it on in 1996, so it's safe to say it's one of their most popular shows.

The four fours remind me of my two favorite Der Tods:


Shizuki Asato in the 1998 Sora [Cosmos] production. This would be the only time that troupe has done Elisabeth; they have an informal "rule" in place of never repeating a play.


Mizu Natsuki in the 2007 Yuki [Snow] production, the second time that the troupe staged it.

Another Japanese theater company, Toho Co., is staging Elisabeth from August to October this year, with at least three former otokoyaku Top Stars of the Takarazuka Kagekidan in major roles: Asami Hikaru and Sena Jun alternating as Elisabeth, and Mori Keaki as Sophie. Poster.

[Sena Jun happens to be the only actress in the Takarazuka Kagekidan to perform BOTH Elisabeth, to Ayaki Nao's Der Tod in 2005, and Der Tod himself, in 2009. She ALSO played Luigi Lucheni from 2002-3.]

I know, it's a bit morbid and creepy, but still, endlessly amusing and fangirl-y.

Weekend Music Binge

When it comes to music I am the first to admit to having whacked-out tastes. I am, after all, a woman who listens to a Japanese version of the Habanera aria from Carmen, then to the Imperial March a/k/a Darth Vader's theme, and then to a mishmash of themes from TV shows and anime, and songs from James Bond movies. Oh, and then there's the part where I'm a big fan of the Takarazuka Kagekidan, too.

So, to start this weekend off, here is a selection of my most favorite songs right now.


While the studio version of this video really made waves because of its imagery (the US forces in Iraq being pulled out to assist Hurricane Katrina victims instead), I think I prefer the "angrier" version (with bonus horn section) that's the centerpiece of this combined U2/Green Day benefit set in New Orleans. (The other two songs are "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Beautiful Day".)


This next song is something I've already posted to the blog, part of the soundtrack to my first NaNoWriMo experience: a live version of "Lost Heaven" by L'Arc~en~Ciel.


I also have the full studio version of "You Know My Name", the theme from the Daniel Craig Casino Royale, but it's always great to see this dynamic title sequence: fractals! People getting killed! Playing cards! I'm not sure it gets enough love....


I guess no one has the live video for this duet on "I Won't Last A Day Without You" by Utada Hikaru and Shiina Ringo - just the live audio. It always makes me weak in the knees to hear these two sing together.


And finally, because I really can't get through a day without them, a performance by Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari: the finale from the Takarazuka Kagekidan Soragumi production of the Yeston/Kopit Phantom. Wao plays the Phantom, who has just died, and Hanafusa is Christine. Here, the Phantom appears to her for the last time. Also in the clip are Sakiho Juri and Aran Kei.

Do you have a list of songs you keep playing over and over to help you through any situation life decides to throw at you? I'd like to know! Tell me about it in the comments.

PJ Goes Pop receives its first blog award!

Thank you so very much to a dear friend and enabler: Jonette at The Hobby Horse, for this Beautiful Blogger Award.



The rules for the award:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award, and link back to them.
2. Pass the award on to 15 bloggers whom you've recently discovered and think are fantastic.
3. Contact those bloggers and let them know that they've won the award.
4. State seven (7) things about yourself.

With item number 1 marked as done and done, I need to pass the award on - and here are my picks. Sorry I haven't quite made the required 15.

Crafty Cat - Clair
Tres Mujeres - The Misadventures of the Desanggria Family - Anne DeSanggria
Lion Brand Notebook - The Lion Brand Yarn Blog - a team of 8: David, Ilana, Jack, Jess, Laura, Lindsey, Patty, and Zontee
Crochet Me - Kim Werker - the founder of the site

Seven things about myself? Hard to think of it when I do tend to indulge in TMI of the fannish and otaku-ish persuasion here. But let's give it a shot.

> I will try to eat absolutely anything once. This is how I learned to stop worrying and love kimchi, love it enough to attempt making it at home once! But this is also how I learned to abhor delicacies like durian and sea urchin.
> My primary favorite when it comes to cosplay is the Edwardian/Victorian form of cross-play. Men's suits. Frock coats. Essentially I want to steal the entire wardrobe used by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes.
> If I could make it to the Takarazuka Grand Theater, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, AND the Wao Enterprise offices in Japan, I will die happy. Seriously. Even if I just wound up standing outside on the sidewalk.
> I missed out on a lot of good TV. Not because I didn't have TV, but because I wasn't allowed to stay up and/or watch the programs. The Twilight Zone, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Millennium, even sitcoms like Family Ties and The Golden Years. Oh, and stuff like T.O.D.A.S. and Goin' Bananas.
> If I ever get married, I want to do the wedding ceremony in cosplay. Something like Cowboy Bebop although I can never see myself in the iconic Faye Valentine outfit. Jedi robes, maybe? (This is partly because friends of mine who are also members of the 501st got married very recently.)
> My current pipe dream is to open a small business that focuses on bringing good quality yarns and crafting notions into the country. I realize this might place me in direct competition with Tita Lilli at Dreams Yarnshoppe. But I was thinking more along the lines of I could bring in the stuff she can't.
> If I ever take up knitting it will be for the Fourth Doctor's scarf alone. After that, it's back to crochet for me.

One more extra:
> I always feel sad because no one ever recognizes the source of my blog's subtitle.

Musings and assorted fannish notes

THE TALE OF THE PACKAGES

During the recent weekend I dropped in at a friendly neighborhood FedEx facility to ship off the items of the WaoHana Project: the Sunny Beret, the Bobble Beauty Beret, and the Experiment 626 Scarf. For each item I enclosed a card with laundry instructions. I also wrote a note to the intended recipients.

A friend of mine also wanted in on the delivery and added a couple of crafty little gifts - little dolls made with felt and fiberfill, very cute - and her own fan letters.

It took three days, but the package, sent off on a Saturday afternoon, arrived at its destination yesterday after lunch (Japan time). So that's a small victory to crow about.

Hope its recipients wear/use the items we sent them.

Also last week I purchased a pair of back issues of one of the Takarazuka Kagekidan's publications: the January and August 2003 issues of Kageki. I bought them because the cover girls were Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari, respectively.

So what was THIS that showed up at my office yesterday?


Hmm! A mysterious package for me!


Surprise! My magazines arrived!

*grins* I have good omens, good omens indeed. There's just one more set of fan letters to send off - my friend will be taking care of that later this week.

HAMSTER WINS ACCOLADES


Hey, check it out, the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA just took the Reader's Choice accolade for Netbook of the Year at the 2009 Engadget Awards!

Its counterpart in the Editor's Choice derby was the Toshiba NB205.

READ AN RPG BOOK IN PUBLIC WEEK

I...I'm seriously thinking about it.

On the other hand I would also settle for conspicuously carrying a bag of polyhedral dice somewhere on my person. Perhaps in a nice holster at my waist.

Have you guys got ANY idea how DIFFICULT it is to procure proper RPG dice here in the Philippines? Ever since the late lamented Nova Fontana hobby shops closed down permanently, the only way to get proper dice has been online. (My kingdom for a Pound o' Dice!)

I desperately need a set. Anyone want to hook me up?

Blog Updates, 4000+ Visitors, and Yarn Stash, oh my!

Grab-bag entry time! Have a few topics to talk about briefly, so let's run quickly down the list.

1. I finally sent off the package containing the entirety of the WaoHana Project! Had it Fedexed off just this afternoon. Also along for the ride are a couple of small gifts and notes from another fan of the Wao Youka + Hanafusa Mari pair. Gosh, I really hope the gifts arrive safely at their destination. *goes to check tracking number and waits anxiously*

2. I just received word that my Takarazuka Kagekidan package is on its way! I had bought a couple of back-issues of one of the Kagekidan's publications, the magazine Kageki, from a seller in Japan. The seller recently sent me a message saying that the two back-issues are now on their way! I hope the magazines come soon!

3. I've just started playing Dragon Age: Origins! My current character is an elven mage, who will soon be following the path of the Arcane Warrior. I think my final party will be Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana.

4. More gaming news: Oh god, Civilization V is coming THIS YEAR! Civilfixation ensues - or shall ensue! I should be happy they haven't released the Facebook version of that game yet or I shall surely be lost in chants of "one more turn, one more turn"!

5. I've added a new links list to the right sidebar for "Crafty Things": pattern and yarn resources and the blogs of a few crafting friends mainly. My current prize find is the first link in the list, Antique Pattern Library. A group of people are painstakingly preserving old old OLD books of needlework patterns by scanning them and converting the files into PDFs - and then have been extraordinarily generous by sharing them free of charge. I really want to try looking into their database - and making something out of it, of course!

6. I decided to make something out of the various odds and ends and lengths of yarn I had left from making the WaoHana Project items, and here is what I came up with:

Details and copyrights on this pattern in this entry.

Like the hat? [Photo credits to my partner.]

I like that! A two-day quickie hat project!

7. I'll be starting work on my first real commissioned piece [as opposed to being a gift or a practice item] very soon! And it's a very interesting pattern for a very basic headgear item: a watch cap. I'll be posting about that, definitely!

8. And just to round things off on a lucky and thankful note:

4000+ Visitors - THANK YOU!

The WaoHana Project: Wao's Experiment 626 Scarf: COMPLETE!

And there it is: an almost seven-foot-long scarf, ready to go into the wash.

I finished the Experiment 626 scarf last night! What's more, I've also finished written the letter that will accompany the three items of the WaoHana Project, and even printed out an address label for reference!

If the scarf finishes drying by tonight or tomorrow, I can weave in all the yarn ends so it looks nice and neat - that would be the last finishing step.

If that's so, then the Saturday errand list will look like this:

> Buy gray yarn for first commission (a man's watch cap)
> Have WaoHana Project items properly but thriftily gift-wrapped
> Fedex WaoHana Project items
> Pay utility bills

Waaah, I'm a busy home panda! :D

The WaoHana Project: Wao's Experiment 626 Scarf - Almost Done

These past few nights have been spent eager-beavering away on the Experiment 626 scarf. I suffered a slight disappointment when I realized that 5 oz of black yarn wasn't quite enough to make the full 40-inch middle section of the project, but cheered myself right back up when I realized I had inadvertently made the first striped section a little longer than it needed to be.

So now the project has proportions of:
23-inch first striped section
36-inch black midsection

And now I am down to the last 6 inches of the second striped section. The full length of this thing will be ... DUM DUM DUM...82 inches! Yay!

Pictures, of course, or I'm just blowing hot air your way, so - wish, command:


Here is the scarf as I began the final six-inch section last night.


And this shot really gives an idea of how damn LONG this thing got. :D Of course I am happy with it turning out this way!

Please don't mind all those long trailing tails of yarn. It's a paranoia thing, I swear. I always leave at least six inches to weave back in. And in several instances in this project the tails are actually LONGER than the width of the scarf, hahaha.

Tonight will be finishing-and-laundering night and that means I will have done a scarf that was NEARLY seven feet long in ten days!

I'm just sorry I didn't start the project sooner. Wao Youka's birthday was Monday! Never mind. I'm sure I can post these off to Japan and have them arrive there well in time for the 28th, which is Hanafusa Mari's birthday.

CASABLANCA Head-to-Head: 1942 Movie vs. 2009-10 Musical

A poster for Casablanca, featuring who else but Bogart and Bergman.


A chirashi, or flyer, for the Takarazuka Kagekidan / Cosmos Troupe musical adaptation of Casablanca, starring Oozora Yuuhi and Nono Sumika.

I guess it's a funny confession for me to make that I had never in my life seen what's acclaimed as one of the greatest movies of all time (no Kanye West jokes, please!) before 2009: that was when I finally bought a copy of the Casablanca movie. I watched it and I fell in love with most of the cast: from Captain Louis Renault to the central love triangle of Rick Blaine-Ilsa Lund-Victor Laszlo to, especially, the wonderful crew of Rick's Café Américain: Sam, Carl, Sascha, Emil, and Abdul.

As old as the movie was and as prevalent as its influence has been, I still responded to its scenes and its tropes: the shock of Ilsa's return to Rick's life, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine", the duel between "Die Wacht am Rhein" and "La Marseillaise", the final confrontations, and of course the one-two ending punch of "If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life" and "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship".

And who can forget the songs? "It Had To Be You" and "As Time Goes By" of course are the standouts, but let's not forget "Knock on Wood" and the duel of the songs I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Casablanca is an acclaimed film, known and loved for many years, and so anyone who tries to adapt it will be given a lot of attention. No one wants to mess with the by-now-immortal movie.

So of course it was a bit of a shock when it was announced that the Takarazuka Kagekidan was creating a musical of the movie.

The WaoHana Project: Wao's Experiment 626 Scarf

Okay, this one's just a quick picture post, since I'm really only getting started on this monster of a project. And I would laugh to mean "monster" both literally - because what part of seven feet long isn't daunting? - and figuratively, considering all the names that Stitch from Lilo and Stitch got called.

Gantu: What is that monstrosity?
Jumba: Monstrosity? What you see before you is the first of a new species. I call it Experiment 626. He is fire-proof, bullet-proof, and can think faster than a super computer. He can see in the dark, and move objects three thousand times his size. His only instinct...to destroy everything he touches! [laughs maniacally]
Grand Councilwoman: So it is a monster.
Jumba: Eh, just a little one.

Stitch: ALOHA!
Gantu: You're vile! You're foul! You're FLAWED! [smashes hand on Stitch]
Stitch: [lifts it back up] Also cute and fluffy!

I rest my case.

Anyway, on to the photos.


Here's the scarf at the starting point. The idea is to have pink and blue stripes for the ends and then solid black for the long middle section. I plan to do the whole thing in one piece, as opposed to an earlier attempt where I did the scarf in two pieces and then stitched them together.


A macro shot that shows the stitch I'm using to make the scarf. My book calls it "alternate" stitch, and it's composed mainly of putting two single crochet in one stitch and then skipping the next stitch. This has the effect of creating a firm fabric with a leaf-like motif.


Okay, I've finally finished one end here and am now moving on to the main portion of the scarf - the black section, intended length about 40 inches. (A little over that figure is okay.)


And here is the scarf, 26 inches long. This thing is supposed to end up at about 84 inches in length, which is probably LONGER than the person I'm giving it to (and definitely longer than ME). The funny thing is that I seem to be doing 10% of it every day - I'm up to 30% now - and so it will likely take me ten or so days to finish the whole thing. :D

This is my first striped scarf, so I must have gone through three or four techniques to do the color changes. I finally stuck with the simplest and easiest one: finish the row with the first yarn, join on second yarn by knotting it onto the first and sliding the knot up to abut the last single stitch, drop first yarn, do turning chains and resume motif with second yarn.

[Posting frequency has gone up, partly because I'm taking a long weekend off. Ah, the nice oddness of having Valentines' Day and Chinese New Year AND the UP Fair all in one weekend.]