- I had a migraine and missed around three weeks of school.
- I turned fourteen.
- I had a blood test and I've been diagnosed with anaemia.
- I'm taking iron tablets for the anaemia.
- Glee Hiatus ended.
- I got the dates for my next GCSEs (five exams towards the end of the school year)
- I got selected, along with fourteen other students, to go to Longrigg activity centre because we're the smartest in the year at English. We'll have intensive English lessons an hour a day, and the trip lasts for five days. It's to try and raise us to level eight standard.
- February has been a beautiful, beautiful month for Glee/Klaine/Darren Criss fans. We've been spoiled
+ Darren Criss on Ellen
+ Chris Colfer on Regis&Kelly
+ Sue Sylvester Superbowl and Silly Love Songs two days apart
+ New Darren Criss photoshootsone of which is really suggestive
+ And more - I'm struggling to think of anything else
- So I'll just leave this here
Showing posts with label Darren Criss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darren Criss. Show all posts
Friday, 18 February 2011
I've been ill!
And I'm really tired and not in the mood to write a long-ass explanation/catch-up post, so I'm going to bulletpoint everything that has happeend since my last post.
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Darren Everett Criss
Darren Criss is my favourite musical artist, my favourite actor, and my biggest idol. For now, let's just forget about the fact that I'm also head over heels for him because that's completely irrelevant. If you're following this blog, you probably know who he is (at least by name) but this post is just outlining how excited I am for/about him.
Darren Criss made his on-stage debut when he was just ten years old, in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny in the role of Cesario. Robin Williams, the voice of Genie in Aladdin, made him want to act. A voice in an animated movie. If that doesn't scream "amazing", then I don't know what does. He can play a variety of instruments that include violin, guitar, piano, cello, mandolin, and drums. Darren wrote his first song when he was fourteen and he later began attending the University of Michigan. He was just this dorky, Disney-loving, carefree guy with a million possibilities in front of him.
He met these people in university and they started writing nerdy plays and musicals, performing them at UMich. They're all adorable, hilarious people with outstanding talent. They won some money and threw together a webseries called Little White Lie, which they didn't post online until a much later date. At this time, he was still just this unknown guy who recorded himself singing Disney songs and posting them on YouTube under the username inspired by the cartoon character he created when he was eight.
In 2009, Harry Potter: The Musical was created, in which Darren Criss not only wrote half the songs but also starred as the one and only Harry Potter. They posted it online for friends who couldn't manage to see the show live. After getting into a few copyright issues, they took it down and re-posted it as A Very Potter Musical, cutting out a few inappropriate jokes here and there. They expected their friends, relatives and classmates to watch it. Never did they expect -- or even dream -- that it would become such an internet sensation. These friends began to call themselves StarkidPotter.
Almost immediately after they re-posted the Harry Potter parody, they also uploaded Little White Lie and received a very positive response. Darren Criss plays Toby Phillips, a down-to-earth guy with his eyes set on one of the main characters -- Sami -- but his availability stolen by Sami's rival, Tanya.
For 24 Hour Theatre, a challenge to write and rehearse four plays in 24 hours, Darren played the role of Dick in Me and My Dick. Afterwards, StarkidPotter decided they liked the idea so much that they'd clean it up and perform it properly as it's own musical. In November, they posted this musical on their YouTube account. It, too, quickly became popular. However, this time, Joe Walker took Darren's place.
Why? Because Darren was busy filming for a new television drama series called Eastwick. He was in five out of thirteen episodes, portraying a character named Josh Burton.
In April, Darren then guest-starred in an episode of Cold Case (titled Free Love), before returning to his friends (now an official acting company, Starkid) to work on A Very Potter Sequel. The sequel, it's music entirely written by Darren, was posted online in July 2010. Once again, he played Harry, and the musical was a complete success.
Around the same time, Darren released his debut EP on iTunes, which was produced in his bedroom. It contains five of his original songs: Human, Jealousy, Sami (written for LWL), Don't You and Not Alone. He performed quiet shows in coffee shops and street corners where anyone could stand by and listen, free of charge.
In November 2010, he appeared on Glee as an openly gay teen from a rival school, Dalton Academy, and Kurt's love interest. His version of Teenage Dream became Glee's most successful, fastest-selling single to date as Starkids swarmed in to buy it. I started watching Glee when Darren landed a part and I am now a proud member of the Glee fandom.
Darren's character, Blaine, is an inspiration to many people and Darren Criss is now officially a celebrity. A month into his new-found fame, he performed a show at The Roxy and asked people to bring along unused toys, which he then donated to the Toys For Tots charity. He recently attended the Golden Globes and stood on stage with the rest of the Glee cast as they accepted their award, and is now going to appear on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, alongside Chris Colfer (who plays Kurt).
This year, he is writing the music for another (original) Starkid production, Starship, will be working on Glee some more, and has plans to release a full-length, original album. He will also be taking part in the Glee UK Live Tour with the rest of the Glee cast.
The main reason this man is such an inspiration to me is that, in less than two years, Darren Criss has gone from this random guy that makes goofy musicals with his friends to this fantastic, globally acknowledged actor on one of the most popular television series of all time. From July 2009 to January 2011, he's gone from a guy who sits in his bedroom singing Disney songs to the cover of one of the biggest American magazines. He's still just as humble and dorky and open as he was back then, and he's not afraid to rock those pink sunglasses and make nerdy references in interviews. He's still a fanboy, he's still new to fame, he's still the adorably hilarious guy we all know and fell in love with.
The point of this post? I'm not completely sure. I'm just so proud of Darren, of how far he's come and in such little time. I'm so excited for him, watching all these new experiences and opportunities take hold of him. It makes me so happy to see how much he's enjoying himself now, and to realise that fame hasn't affected his personalities or tamed his hilarious quirks in the slightest. I love him, he's my biggest inspiration, and he will be my favourite actor/musical artist for a long time to come.
Darren Criss, never change.
Darren Criss made his on-stage debut when he was just ten years old, in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny in the role of Cesario. Robin Williams, the voice of Genie in Aladdin, made him want to act. A voice in an animated movie. If that doesn't scream "amazing", then I don't know what does. He can play a variety of instruments that include violin, guitar, piano, cello, mandolin, and drums. Darren wrote his first song when he was fourteen and he later began attending the University of Michigan. He was just this dorky, Disney-loving, carefree guy with a million possibilities in front of him.
He met these people in university and they started writing nerdy plays and musicals, performing them at UMich. They're all adorable, hilarious people with outstanding talent. They won some money and threw together a webseries called Little White Lie, which they didn't post online until a much later date. At this time, he was still just this unknown guy who recorded himself singing Disney songs and posting them on YouTube under the username inspired by the cartoon character he created when he was eight.
In 2009, Harry Potter: The Musical was created, in which Darren Criss not only wrote half the songs but also starred as the one and only Harry Potter. They posted it online for friends who couldn't manage to see the show live. After getting into a few copyright issues, they took it down and re-posted it as A Very Potter Musical, cutting out a few inappropriate jokes here and there. They expected their friends, relatives and classmates to watch it. Never did they expect -- or even dream -- that it would become such an internet sensation. These friends began to call themselves StarkidPotter.
Almost immediately after they re-posted the Harry Potter parody, they also uploaded Little White Lie and received a very positive response. Darren Criss plays Toby Phillips, a down-to-earth guy with his eyes set on one of the main characters -- Sami -- but his availability stolen by Sami's rival, Tanya.
For 24 Hour Theatre, a challenge to write and rehearse four plays in 24 hours, Darren played the role of Dick in Me and My Dick. Afterwards, StarkidPotter decided they liked the idea so much that they'd clean it up and perform it properly as it's own musical. In November, they posted this musical on their YouTube account. It, too, quickly became popular. However, this time, Joe Walker took Darren's place.
Why? Because Darren was busy filming for a new television drama series called Eastwick. He was in five out of thirteen episodes, portraying a character named Josh Burton.
In April, Darren then guest-starred in an episode of Cold Case (titled Free Love), before returning to his friends (now an official acting company, Starkid) to work on A Very Potter Sequel. The sequel, it's music entirely written by Darren, was posted online in July 2010. Once again, he played Harry, and the musical was a complete success.
Around the same time, Darren released his debut EP on iTunes, which was produced in his bedroom. It contains five of his original songs: Human, Jealousy, Sami (written for LWL), Don't You and Not Alone. He performed quiet shows in coffee shops and street corners where anyone could stand by and listen, free of charge.
In November 2010, he appeared on Glee as an openly gay teen from a rival school, Dalton Academy, and Kurt's love interest. His version of Teenage Dream became Glee's most successful, fastest-selling single to date as Starkids swarmed in to buy it. I started watching Glee when Darren landed a part and I am now a proud member of the Glee fandom.
Darren's character, Blaine, is an inspiration to many people and Darren Criss is now officially a celebrity. A month into his new-found fame, he performed a show at The Roxy and asked people to bring along unused toys, which he then donated to the Toys For Tots charity. He recently attended the Golden Globes and stood on stage with the rest of the Glee cast as they accepted their award, and is now going to appear on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, alongside Chris Colfer (who plays Kurt).
This year, he is writing the music for another (original) Starkid production, Starship, will be working on Glee some more, and has plans to release a full-length, original album. He will also be taking part in the Glee UK Live Tour with the rest of the Glee cast.
The main reason this man is such an inspiration to me is that, in less than two years, Darren Criss has gone from this random guy that makes goofy musicals with his friends to this fantastic, globally acknowledged actor on one of the most popular television series of all time. From July 2009 to January 2011, he's gone from a guy who sits in his bedroom singing Disney songs to the cover of one of the biggest American magazines. He's still just as humble and dorky and open as he was back then, and he's not afraid to rock those pink sunglasses and make nerdy references in interviews. He's still a fanboy, he's still new to fame, he's still the adorably hilarious guy we all know and fell in love with.
The point of this post? I'm not completely sure. I'm just so proud of Darren, of how far he's come and in such little time. I'm so excited for him, watching all these new experiences and opportunities take hold of him. It makes me so happy to see how much he's enjoying himself now, and to realise that fame hasn't affected his personalities or tamed his hilarious quirks in the slightest. I love him, he's my biggest inspiration, and he will be my favourite actor/musical artist for a long time to come.
Darren Criss, never change.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Golden Globes
It's late, I'm tired, I want to go to bed, but I'm trying to keep this thing up. So, hi. I'll blog about Saturday (friend's birthday) when I'm more awake and I find it easier to concentrate. Right now, I want to blog about the Golden Globes.
I didn't watch them but most of the people I follow on Tumblr were liveblogging/screencapping/filming it so I managed to see everything I care about. Glee, Lea Michele, Matt Morrison, Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer were all nominated in various different categories. Glee won, Jane Lynch won, and (to me) most importantly, Chris Colfer won. Lea and Matt sadly didn't, but to be nominated is a fantastic achievement in itself -- and they still won through Glee.
Chris is genuinely the sweetest person I know of. Every time I watch the video of his acceptance speech, I choke up. He's amazing. When they called out his name, he just sort of sat there in shock while Dianna Agron kissed him and Ashley Fink pushed him up. As he walked to the stage, he was in a complete trance. It was obvious. He looked completely shellshocked. His speech was so beautiful and inspiring and wonderful. I love him.
Since the Golden Globes, I've watched various interviews with the cast/Chris/Darren about the awards and they're all adorable. Every single member of that cast is so amazing and beautiful and inspiring and gorgeous and fantastic and I'm tired so I'm running out of adjectives here.
Darren, as always, was sporting his infamous pink sunglasses. If he ever decides not to wear them to any kind of special event, I'd start worrying. They are him. They complete him. They are amazing. And he got up on stage! With the rest of the cast! I started flailing and fangirling when I saw the pictures.
Anyway, I am insanely proud of all of them. I love them so much. I realise this post has genuinely just been a gushing ramble that none of you care about, but there we go. At least I'm blogging.
I didn't watch them but most of the people I follow on Tumblr were liveblogging/screencapping/filming it so I managed to see everything I care about. Glee, Lea Michele, Matt Morrison, Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer were all nominated in various different categories. Glee won, Jane Lynch won, and (to me) most importantly, Chris Colfer won. Lea and Matt sadly didn't, but to be nominated is a fantastic achievement in itself -- and they still won through Glee.
Chris is genuinely the sweetest person I know of. Every time I watch the video of his acceptance speech, I choke up. He's amazing. When they called out his name, he just sort of sat there in shock while Dianna Agron kissed him and Ashley Fink pushed him up. As he walked to the stage, he was in a complete trance. It was obvious. He looked completely shellshocked. His speech was so beautiful and inspiring and wonderful. I love him.
Since the Golden Globes, I've watched various interviews with the cast/Chris/Darren about the awards and they're all adorable. Every single member of that cast is so amazing and beautiful and inspiring and gorgeous and fantastic and I'm tired so I'm running out of adjectives here.
Darren, as always, was sporting his infamous pink sunglasses. If he ever decides not to wear them to any kind of special event, I'd start worrying. They are him. They complete him. They are amazing. And he got up on stage! With the rest of the cast! I started flailing and fangirling when I saw the pictures.
Anyway, I am insanely proud of all of them. I love them so much. I realise this post has genuinely just been a gushing ramble that none of you care about, but there we go. At least I'm blogging.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Post-Concert Depression
NOTE: My brain is completely muddled and still blown-away and I'm writing as I think, so this isn't at all in chronological order.
The concert last night was amazing. That's genuinely the only word I can think of, because I'm still completely speechless. But amazing doesn't even start to cover it. I got a load of footage which, after doing my homework, I'm going to start editing together. I'll upload it to YouTube and post it here whenever I finish it. Throughout most of it, you can hear me screaming and singing along. And it's kind of blurry because I had to zoom in. Even though I could see them pretty clearly on the stage, they look like specs through the camera. It was weird.
Fun and B.o.B were the support acts, and while Fun was pretty good, B.o.B was absolutely awful. But whatever. Hayley came on to sing Airplanes, dressed in a thick winter coat. I love her pink hair, and it looks even more amazing in person than it does in photographs.
When Paramore officially started, there was a curtain in front of the stage, and you could only see the silhouettes, but when it was time for Hayley to start singing, the curtain dropped. It was really effective.
She loved how we all screamed after pretty much every sentence when she was talking, and said it was one of the biggest concerts they'd ever held. She also loved how co-operative we were when she asked us to do stuff (stand up and dance, sway, get our phones out, etc.), and the last time anything as big as this happened was in December '09 in the same place (London 02 Arena).
She made us all stand up and dance for crushcrushcrush and spent about five minutes making sure the majority of people were standing up. Apparently, it usually takes a good fifteen minutes or so. And then we all got our phones out and waved them in the air to The Only Exception and I got a lot of footage of the crowd swaying their phones because it was really amazing (it's slightly jolty, though, because I kept switching the phone and the camera between hands).
When she introduced the band members, Jeremy and Josh easily got the loudest cheers (until Josh introduced Hayley), and I managed to record her saying "WE. ARE. PAAARAAAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEE!" which I'm really proud of. She says it at every concert, and I knew that more than anything, I wanted to record her saying that. AND I DID.
The last song they sang was Misery Business, and she led into it like this: "Before tonight ends, we have some business to take care of. And there is only one kind of business at a Paramore concert." And then the music started. It was so amazing. Josh from You Me At Six came on stage and started singing, too, and while I'm not a fan (I haven't really paid them much attention, to be honest) of You Me At Six, I can't deny that he has an amazing voice.
Jess and I both got Paramore hoodies with "Paramore" written in small, red letters on the front and "PARAMORE" written across the entire back. There's a fountain pen/injection needle between the PARA and MORE, and under neath it says "We wrote our names in blood." (a line from Ignorance) which I think is really creative and I love it to pieces.
When they started playing Decode, nearly everyone started cheering loudly ... and I just sunk into my seat and silently watched them perform. It's not a terrible song, I suppose, but (a) it's overplayed, (b) it's Twilight, (c) the cheers proved to me just how many Paramore fans like Twilight, and (d) I'm really not-at-all keen on it. It's the only Paramore song I don't like.
I really wish they had played Decoy and Swim in Silence (two demo songs), along with For a Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic and Careful. But I know they have to limit themselves, and the songs they did choose to play were wonderful, too.
Now, I could go on and on about that marvelous concert, but I have homework to get on with and things to catch up on online. So, suffering from Post-Concert Depression, I bid you farewell.
In brief, other news:
The concert last night was amazing. That's genuinely the only word I can think of, because I'm still completely speechless. But amazing doesn't even start to cover it. I got a load of footage which, after doing my homework, I'm going to start editing together. I'll upload it to YouTube and post it here whenever I finish it. Throughout most of it, you can hear me screaming and singing along. And it's kind of blurry because I had to zoom in. Even though I could see them pretty clearly on the stage, they look like specs through the camera. It was weird.
Fun and B.o.B were the support acts, and while Fun was pretty good, B.o.B was absolutely awful. But whatever. Hayley came on to sing Airplanes, dressed in a thick winter coat. I love her pink hair, and it looks even more amazing in person than it does in photographs.
When Paramore officially started, there was a curtain in front of the stage, and you could only see the silhouettes, but when it was time for Hayley to start singing, the curtain dropped. It was really effective.
She loved how we all screamed after pretty much every sentence when she was talking, and said it was one of the biggest concerts they'd ever held. She also loved how co-operative we were when she asked us to do stuff (stand up and dance, sway, get our phones out, etc.), and the last time anything as big as this happened was in December '09 in the same place (London 02 Arena).
She made us all stand up and dance for crushcrushcrush and spent about five minutes making sure the majority of people were standing up. Apparently, it usually takes a good fifteen minutes or so. And then we all got our phones out and waved them in the air to The Only Exception and I got a lot of footage of the crowd swaying their phones because it was really amazing (it's slightly jolty, though, because I kept switching the phone and the camera between hands).
When she introduced the band members, Jeremy and Josh easily got the loudest cheers (until Josh introduced Hayley), and I managed to record her saying "WE. ARE. PAAARAAAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEE!" which I'm really proud of. She says it at every concert, and I knew that more than anything, I wanted to record her saying that. AND I DID.
The last song they sang was Misery Business, and she led into it like this: "Before tonight ends, we have some business to take care of. And there is only one kind of business at a Paramore concert." And then the music started. It was so amazing. Josh from You Me At Six came on stage and started singing, too, and while I'm not a fan (I haven't really paid them much attention, to be honest) of You Me At Six, I can't deny that he has an amazing voice.
Jess and I both got Paramore hoodies with "Paramore" written in small, red letters on the front and "PARAMORE" written across the entire back. There's a fountain pen/injection needle between the PARA and MORE, and under neath it says "We wrote our names in blood." (a line from Ignorance) which I think is really creative and I love it to pieces.
When they started playing Decode, nearly everyone started cheering loudly ... and I just sunk into my seat and silently watched them perform. It's not a terrible song, I suppose, but (a) it's overplayed, (b) it's Twilight, (c) the cheers proved to me just how many Paramore fans like Twilight, and (d) I'm really not-at-all keen on it. It's the only Paramore song I don't like.
I really wish they had played Decoy and Swim in Silence (two demo songs), along with For a Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic and Careful. But I know they have to limit themselves, and the songs they did choose to play were wonderful, too.
Now, I could go on and on about that marvelous concert, but I have homework to get on with and things to catch up on online. So, suffering from Post-Concert Depression, I bid you farewell.
In brief, other news:
- I have tickets booked to see Deathly Hallows on the 19th at 5PM.
- Darren Criss was absolutely amazing in Glee (This deserves it's own blog post ... I'll write one up after I watch next week's episode).
- I'm doing terribly with NaNoWriMo. I'm a fair few thousand words behind.
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