Showing posts with label Glee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glee. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Monday, 18 April 2011
You Dun Goof'd, Nicole
I am the worst. I have the most terrible memory ever, and the biggest tendency to procrastinate ever. I'm awful. I know. Hate me. Earlier, I looked at the clock and saw I had two hours left to blog. I thought, "Okay, I'm going to read a chapter of my book, get some hot chocolate, and then type up a blog post." but by the time I'd finished that chapter and got some hot chocolate, it completely left my mind. It's past midnight now, and I'm in the middle of making a manip, but I realised the time, facepalmed, and decided to blog now so I don't forget later today.
Today (or, I suppose, yesterday), an extra from Glee got fired. On her Twitter, she announced a massive spoiler for the next episode (which airs on Tuesday) without the writers' permission. Now, a lot of extras are known for sharing spoilers. Little teasers and irrelevant snippets of plotlines that get us excited for future episodes, but nothing that really spoils us and would get the extra in trouble. I don't really follow spoilers. If I see them on my tumblr dash, that's fine, but I don't go out of my way to look for them or make an effort to find out the latest goss. I prefer to watch the episode with as little knowledge as possible. That's fine, that suits me, but some people do like finding out the latest spoilers. Most extras provide those spoilers without revealing anything too big. However, Nicole Crowther took it to the next level.
The tweet has since been deleted, but she told her 3,000+ followers on Twitter (and their followers on both twitter and tumblr, it went viral on both sites) who would be elected Prom Queen and Prom King in the next episode. If you don't watch Glee or didn't see the tweet, you wouldn't understand why this is such a big deal. However, let me tell you, it's a huge plot twist that is extremely unexpected, and the writers (who I'll refer to as RIB from here on in -- Ryan Ian Brad) wanted to keep it under wraps.
Brad Falchuk, one of the writers, saw the tweet and publicly called her out/blacklisted her/fired her, with these two tweets:
Today (or, I suppose, yesterday), an extra from Glee got fired. On her Twitter, she announced a massive spoiler for the next episode (which airs on Tuesday) without the writers' permission. Now, a lot of extras are known for sharing spoilers. Little teasers and irrelevant snippets of plotlines that get us excited for future episodes, but nothing that really spoils us and would get the extra in trouble. I don't really follow spoilers. If I see them on my tumblr dash, that's fine, but I don't go out of my way to look for them or make an effort to find out the latest goss. I prefer to watch the episode with as little knowledge as possible. That's fine, that suits me, but some people do like finding out the latest spoilers. Most extras provide those spoilers without revealing anything too big. However, Nicole Crowther took it to the next level.
The tweet has since been deleted, but she told her 3,000+ followers on Twitter (and their followers on both twitter and tumblr, it went viral on both sites) who would be elected Prom Queen and Prom King in the next episode. If you don't watch Glee or didn't see the tweet, you wouldn't understand why this is such a big deal. However, let me tell you, it's a huge plot twist that is extremely unexpected, and the writers (who I'll refer to as RIB from here on in -- Ryan Ian Brad) wanted to keep it under wraps.
Brad Falchuk, one of the writers, saw the tweet and publicly called her out/blacklisted her/fired her, with these two tweets:
The Glee fandom went crazy. People sent her messages, mostly insulting, some sympathetic. Some fans (myself included) were furious at what she'd done. You'd think it'd get better from here, right? You'd think Brad and Nicole would talk and solve things in a sensible manner, yes? Oh, I wish they had. A little while after Brad sent those tweets, Nicole sent an empty apology that sounded like something you'd find on a hallmark card.
Within five minutes, while the fandom was laughing bitterly at the fake abrupt tone of her response, that tweet was deleted. She then started throwing herself a little pity party, retweeting sympathetic tweets. I think this is when most people started getting angry, because she was acting like a child.
Again, these retweets were deleted within minutes of being retweeted. Nicole probably thought she'd gotten away with it, but I don't think she realises how fast the Glee fandom can be -- as always, we capped her ridiculous act before she could get rid of the evidence, and now we have photographic proof, even if the original evidence was deleted. It was around this time, maybe a little earlier, that the Glee fandom decided to get #BradIsOurKing a trending topic. I don't actually know if we managed that or not, but I spent quite a long time just looking through the tag and seeing what people had to say. It was pretty interesting. Anyway, upon deleting the rude retweets, the next thing she tweeted was her original explanation for posting the spoiler. I responded to it.
By this point, I -- among plenty of others -- was livid. I posted the above screencap on tumblr, and added this to it:
It’s genuinely surprising me how polite I’m being right now. I’m pissed off because I can’t help thinking … if that was me, if I’d spent months planning this great controversial plot twist that’ll shock every single viewer, if I thought we’d be able to keep this twist under wraps, and then someone I trusted spoiled it and told thousands of fans about it, I would be raging. And just putting myself in RIB’s shoes is enough to make me furious. I want to scream.
As a writer and a very empathetic person, it didn't take much for me to understand how RIB must be feeling right now. Not only did Nicole break her contract with Glee/FOX, she broke RIB's trust, and she ruined something that they were really anticipating (the audience's reaction the Prom Queen and King). She deleted that tweet before going through her blog and deleting everything she'd posted since early April, including the big spoiler. We didn't hear anything from her for a couple of hours, we starting thinking about other things, we began moving on ...
And then she tweeted again.
Now, while this sounds more genuine, I highly doubt she means it. After retweeting tweets that were bashing Brad, after deleting her initial apology, after saying she didn't want to be a part of the show anymore, it's very difficult to believe she's actually sorry for posting the spoiler.
Acting like the victim was a really low move. None of us had actually been bullying her -- expressing our rage, inquiring why she did it, questioning her motives ... sure. But none of us had been harassing her or attacking her. Most of the nastier tweets weren't tagged with her username, so she wouldn't have seen them unless she went looking (and if she did, then it's her own fault). And, yes, I admit -- sometimes certain members of the fandom can take things a few steps too far, but I wouldn't say any of us were bullying her. Glee has taught us a lot, and none of us would ever dream of bullying someone. Acting like the victim made me even angrier.
Then she replies to this message, changing her original reason behind tweeting the spoiler. Originally, she said she didn't want to be an extra anymore -- like she made a totally sane decision to post the spoiler in order to get fired. Now she's blaming it on the alcohol, like it was accident and she didn't mean to post it. However, if she didn't mean to post it, then she didn't want to get fired, which goes against what she originally said and later deleted. Makes sense, right? No. In other words, she's making excuses.
This entire situation has been a mix of amusing (the hilarious comments made by people I follow on tumblr) and infuriating (what Nicole has been doing has annoyed me to no end). It's starting to die down, but seeing how this day has been, I wouldn't be surprised if Nicole tweeted something stupid or Brad @replied her something really sharp and witty, which will set the entire fandom aflame and get them going crazy.
All I know is that I'm sick of Nicole Crowther and she deserves everything that gets thrown her way for being so stupid -- unemployment, lawsuit, blacklisted from the entertainment industry. If she can't be trusted as an extra whose character doesn't even have a name, she can't be trusted as anything more, either. You go against your contract, you get sued and fired instantly. That's how things work.
Drabbles IOU: 7
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Monday, 4 April 2011
Friday, 25 March 2011
Seeing Double and Drawing Closer
On Tumblr, it's become a sort of craze to make photomanipulations of the characters from Glee to make it seem as though they have twins. I jumped on the bandwagon a few days ago. It's really fun and a welcome distraction from everything that's going on, and I've made nine so far. They're not completely terrible. Four of them have been posted on Tumblr, along with little drabbles, but Tumblr is currently messing up and I only made the other five recently so I haven't had the chance to upload them. I thought I could post them here; I'm going to post one manip a day, along with the accompanying drabble, and it'd be awesome if you could give your feedback.
In other news, I'm ridiculously close to my 100th post (this is my 97th!) and I want to do something special when I reach that milestone. I was thinking that maybe you could send in questions (about my blog, my life, my fandoms, my writing, my graphics) for me to answer, and I'd put them all into one post. I'd probably end up asking people on other sites (tumblr, deviantART, etc.) as well, since I'm pretty sure Megha's the only one of my followers who still reads this blog. Hey, it's worth a shot, though, right? If you have any better suggestions on what I could do for my 100th post, your input would be greatly appreciated.
Another thing I've been thinking about lately is what I use this blog for. This blog is still primarily somewhat of a journal, a place where I write about my thoughts and my theories while keeping you updated on my life at the same time. However, would you mind if I posted more creative things more often? Drabbles, snippets of longer pieces of writing, icons, banners (both old and new). I've shared my writing on here a few times before, and same goes with the banners, but this blog was never really meant for that. However, I think it'd be nice if I could share those things with you more often.
I was also thinking, maybe, of recommending songs and videos that I really like and/or touch me somehow. Lately, I've found a lot of songs that I've really fallen in love with and while my normal outlet for things like that would be tumblr, tumblr almost always already knows about these songs. On tumblr, posts get lost behind posts, and within minutes, my tiny recommendation will mean nothing. This site works differently, however, and my recommendations won't get buried so quickly. I think it would be really nice. Let me know if you'd be into that kind of thing. It's just an idea at this point, I still may not go through with it, but I'd like to.
Let's kick it off with a song to end the post, shall we? I want to show you Glee's cover of Lady Antebellum's Need You Now, sung by Lea Michele and Mark Salling.
I've had it on repeat for the majority of the day and I think it's a really wonderful song. When I first heard it, I admit, I didn't think much of it. I didn't dislike it necessarily but it didn't do anything for me. I wasn't in love with it. I can't remember when, but I got it stuck in my head a while ago. When you get songs stuck in your head, it usually ends up frustrating you, right? In this case, it's made me fall head over heels. I haven't been able to stop listening to it. Lea and Mark's voices fit together so beautifully and I really hope we get more duets from them in future episodes of Glee.
In other news, I'm ridiculously close to my 100th post (this is my 97th!) and I want to do something special when I reach that milestone. I was thinking that maybe you could send in questions (about my blog, my life, my fandoms, my writing, my graphics) for me to answer, and I'd put them all into one post. I'd probably end up asking people on other sites (tumblr, deviantART, etc.) as well, since I'm pretty sure Megha's the only one of my followers who still reads this blog. Hey, it's worth a shot, though, right? If you have any better suggestions on what I could do for my 100th post, your input would be greatly appreciated.
Another thing I've been thinking about lately is what I use this blog for. This blog is still primarily somewhat of a journal, a place where I write about my thoughts and my theories while keeping you updated on my life at the same time. However, would you mind if I posted more creative things more often? Drabbles, snippets of longer pieces of writing, icons, banners (both old and new). I've shared my writing on here a few times before, and same goes with the banners, but this blog was never really meant for that. However, I think it'd be nice if I could share those things with you more often.
I was also thinking, maybe, of recommending songs and videos that I really like and/or touch me somehow. Lately, I've found a lot of songs that I've really fallen in love with and while my normal outlet for things like that would be tumblr, tumblr almost always already knows about these songs. On tumblr, posts get lost behind posts, and within minutes, my tiny recommendation will mean nothing. This site works differently, however, and my recommendations won't get buried so quickly. I think it would be really nice. Let me know if you'd be into that kind of thing. It's just an idea at this point, I still may not go through with it, but I'd like to.
Let's kick it off with a song to end the post, shall we? I want to show you Glee's cover of Lady Antebellum's Need You Now, sung by Lea Michele and Mark Salling.
Another shot of whiskey
Can't stop looking at the door
Wishing you'd come sweeping in
The way you did before
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind
For me, it happens all the time
I've had it on repeat for the majority of the day and I think it's a really wonderful song. When I first heard it, I admit, I didn't think much of it. I didn't dislike it necessarily but it didn't do anything for me. I wasn't in love with it. I can't remember when, but I got it stuck in my head a while ago. When you get songs stuck in your head, it usually ends up frustrating you, right? In this case, it's made me fall head over heels. I haven't been able to stop listening to it. Lea and Mark's voices fit together so beautifully and I really hope we get more duets from them in future episodes of Glee.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
The LGBTQ side of Glee
The things I feel for Santana right now are just insane. Next to Kurt, she’s always been my favourite character. When I first started watching Glee and I wasn’t sure if I liked it, it was her and Kurt that I enjoyed seeing the most. That still hasn’t changed, but now I love Glee and … yeah.
I think Santana, Kurt, Blaine, and Karofsky are the only Glee characters I will ever refer to as “my baby” because they’re the characters I can empathise with (if not relate to) and connect with. Since the hiatus ended, I have seen crazy amounts of development from each of these characters.
With Karofsky, we were finally able to see him affected by people mentioning homosexuality. We saw how insecure he was. Not only has Kurt matured a lot (by helping Blaine with Jeremiah instead of wrecking everything like he would have done with Finn), but we’ve also discovered just how insecure he is about sex. It’s finally out and in the open that Blaine isn’t a knight in shining armour because he sucks at romance — there was also the whole “finding himself” plot in 2x14.
Seeing all of these developments have affected me in different ways, but none of them impacted me as much Santana has done in Sexy (S02E15). I am so ridiculously proud of her.
I know what it’s like to be confused about your sexuality, to want to shy away from labels altogether but still find out who you really are. And it’s scary. God, scratch that, it’s downright terrifying. You just want to shut everyone out, along with your emotions, and just not feel for a while. Although Kurt had it rough once he came out, he’s genuinely lucky to never truly go through the whole discovery process. He always knew. Hell, his dad knew before he did. He’s just always been the gay kid.
But Santana, she shut people out and she became the bitch because she was scared of people discovering how she felt. She didn’t like what she was feeling. She was scared of it. And now she’s finally realised that she can’t run any more, that she is in love with Brittany, and to actually admit that outloud … I am just so proud of her.
I rarely want things to happen on Glee. I have hopes, naturally, but I wouldn’t be upset if they didn’t play out. There are only two things I want from Glee right now.
One, for Brittany to come to her senses and realise that she loves Santana so much more than she loves Artie. And to act on those feelings. Santana has suffered such an internal battle, and making her suffer even more is just cruel. She deserves love.
And two, I want Karofsky to reach the point that Santana has finally gotten to. And by that, I don’t mean walking up to Kurt and saying “I’m sorry. I love you. Be my boyfriend.” I just want him to realise that he can’t keep running and that his feelings for Kurt aren’t anything to be ashamed of. He, like Santana, became a nasty person because he didn’t want to face his feelings. He tortured Kurt because he was terrified. And over acceptance from Azimio and his family and the school, I want him to be able to accept himself.
… I think that’s all I wanted to say.
I think Santana, Kurt, Blaine, and Karofsky are the only Glee characters I will ever refer to as “my baby” because they’re the characters I can empathise with (if not relate to) and connect with. Since the hiatus ended, I have seen crazy amounts of development from each of these characters.
With Karofsky, we were finally able to see him affected by people mentioning homosexuality. We saw how insecure he was. Not only has Kurt matured a lot (by helping Blaine with Jeremiah instead of wrecking everything like he would have done with Finn), but we’ve also discovered just how insecure he is about sex. It’s finally out and in the open that Blaine isn’t a knight in shining armour because he sucks at romance — there was also the whole “finding himself” plot in 2x14.
Seeing all of these developments have affected me in different ways, but none of them impacted me as much Santana has done in Sexy (S02E15). I am so ridiculously proud of her.
I know what it’s like to be confused about your sexuality, to want to shy away from labels altogether but still find out who you really are. And it’s scary. God, scratch that, it’s downright terrifying. You just want to shut everyone out, along with your emotions, and just not feel for a while. Although Kurt had it rough once he came out, he’s genuinely lucky to never truly go through the whole discovery process. He always knew. Hell, his dad knew before he did. He’s just always been the gay kid.
But Santana, she shut people out and she became the bitch because she was scared of people discovering how she felt. She didn’t like what she was feeling. She was scared of it. And now she’s finally realised that she can’t run any more, that she is in love with Brittany, and to actually admit that outloud … I am just so proud of her.
I rarely want things to happen on Glee. I have hopes, naturally, but I wouldn’t be upset if they didn’t play out. There are only two things I want from Glee right now.
One, for Brittany to come to her senses and realise that she loves Santana so much more than she loves Artie. And to act on those feelings. Santana has suffered such an internal battle, and making her suffer even more is just cruel. She deserves love.
And two, I want Karofsky to reach the point that Santana has finally gotten to. And by that, I don’t mean walking up to Kurt and saying “I’m sorry. I love you. Be my boyfriend.” I just want him to realise that he can’t keep running and that his feelings for Kurt aren’t anything to be ashamed of. He, like Santana, became a nasty person because he didn’t want to face his feelings. He tortured Kurt because he was terrified. And over acceptance from Azimio and his family and the school, I want him to be able to accept himself.
… I think that’s all I wanted to say.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Do You Like Me?
Fandom: Glee
Ship: Kurt Hummel/Blaine Anderson
For: Shuffle Challenge
Inspired By: Do You Like Me by ALL CAPS
Ship: Kurt Hummel/Blaine Anderson
For: Shuffle Challenge
Inspired By: Do You Like Me by ALL CAPS
Do you like me, yes or no?
Do you think that I'm cute?
Would you date me?
You can say maybe
I just have to know
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.
- 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
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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