MIKA @ TROUBADOUR - MARCH 25, 2007

MIKA!!! Cute, talented, bouncy, sexy.. and only 24!

Thanks to some UK buddies, I found out about Mika in January. I instantly became hooked with his addictive music. When I found out about this concert, the tickets were already sold out!! I was lucky, though, because I just happened to check one day and they released some more tickets! I got my pair of tickets about two weeks before the actual gig for the cheap price of $25 each (including stupid Ticketmaster service charges - it was $15 without the charges).

I was expecting to have a good time and see a wonderful artist, but I didn't know that much about him.. He FAR exceeded my expectations, and I had such a BLAST! I had so much fun!!! I was standing in the second row from the stage so I was pretty close, but I was shorter than the girls in front of me.. :/ At least I could still see upwards to the stage. Mika's stage presence is electric and FUN. I loved watching him dance and jump around the stage (the way he moves his hips is unnatural.. lol, he does it better than most girls). It was also cute when he and his band interacted with each other. :)

As I mentioned earlier in the Keane concert review at the Wiltern, I'm very shy. However, I jumped along with everyone else to the songs, especially "Love Today" and "Lollipop." Everyone was singing along too. This was the "first REAL American gig" and everyone around me already knew all the lyrics to the songs, lol. I only knew some of the words.. ^^; Mika did a nice cover of "Everybody's Talkin'" as a sort of interlude between two songs. The best part was definitely the end with "Lollipop." The band all came out dressed in animal costumes, and then balloons were bounced throughout the crowd. I never had so much fun at a gig like this before. Mika really gets the audience to participate with him and makes everyone feel like part of the performance. Loved it!

Since this was on a Sunday night, I had school the next day... My mom let me wait for Mika after the show, though. XD I was quite excited to meet this talented musician. When I did, I of course did not know what to say and my mom gave the orders of sign and take pictures.. ^^;; He is SO nice and adorable and just a great guy!! When he signed an autograph for my mom, he commented on her glasses by writing "love the glasses!" XD His writing is sooo pretty too! I'm glad I stuck around to meet him. He is really down to earth despite his ever increasing fame. I became a much bigger fan after meeting the man himself! :P


Here are a few pictures I took from the gig. :) Please no posting anywhere else without asking first. Thanks!

The Troubadour venue with Mika's name and the supporting bands.



The set list - I had to zoom in between the girls in front of me to get this picture (it was taped to the stage floor)






Mika! This was during the first song: "Relax (Take It Easy)"

Mika with his guitarist in the backgorund

Oooh, cool shot. :P

Here are some videos I found of the gig on YouTube. None of the following videos are mine!

"Ring Ring"


"Over My Shoulder"


The entire final song "Lollipop"


Mika and his band are so cute! XD I LOVED their finale!!! It was fun, cute, and awesome! It was funny because it was so cute.. :P

I also went to the Jimmy Kimmel taping with Mika doing a mini-concert two days later, but I didn't get nearly as great a spot as at the real concert. They only did two songs too: "Grace Kelly" and "Lollipop" :/

If I ever get a chance to see Mika again in a real concert, I'd definitely go to experience the FUN again! :D I wish I went to the Virgin in-store gig, but that was at midnight on a school night.. x_x

Keane - A Bad Dream (USB Single) + my little Keane collection

I was lucky enough to catch this on sale at HMV a couple weeks ago. I ordered one and got it in the post a week later. This was exciting for me since it is limited, and I happened to catch it still on sale (it's sold out now). I got number 658 out of 1500 (or it might be 2000, I forgot). :D It has the video and single version for "A Bad Dream", "Enjoy the Silence", and the "Luna-C Bangin' Mix" for the single. There was also a competition to the Wembley show in London. I entered it even though I can't fly over to London.. ^^; The USB memory stick is so tiny, and I'm afraid that I'll break it. I haven't used it much anyway.. It has a capacity of 256 MB, but I think the USB single for "Nothing In My Way" has 512.. :( It also came with a cool, shiny wristband. I looped the string on the wristband to the memory stick so I wouldn't lose it. :P Another nice collectible for my small Keane collection. :D


Some other collectible Keane items I have are two other singles:

- Is It Any Wonder?
- This Is The Last Time

I bought these two singles when I went to Tower Records one day... I begged my mom to get these since there was a "buy 4 get the 5th free" deal on anything in the store. So I bought all the Keane singles they had (the above two). I knew they were collectible especially since we don't have singles here in the US, so I'm glad I got them. They surely would've sold out if I didn't buy them right at that time!

- Here's a picture of my copies.





Also, I went to the Virgin Megastore gig on June 20, 2006 for their release of Under The Iron Sea. I bought the album and it came with a limited edition lithograph of the band and the album artwork (mine's number 2844! :D). They had some of the "Is It Any Wonder?" artwork, but I couldn't get one. :/

The lithographs I got:

Oh yes, I also got the advertisement that stood out in front of the store, as well as a window sticker of that same poster.. :P

This Virgin Megastore gig was during the halftime of the World Cup game between England and Sweden. I had no idea it was being filmed for ESPN. It's nice to have the actual boys to look at instead of just their album or single artwork.. XD

That thing in the bottom left corner is talking about how tickets were already sold out for their real gig that was the next day. I didn't get to go, unfortunately...




The best part of my little collection is what I got at the concert I attended last month. Yes, I met them and got their autographs! I'm excited that I got two versions of Tim's signature too (one is just "Tim" and the other is his full name "Tim Rice-Oxley")! :D My mom got my CD sleeve signed and I got the back of an extra copy of my drawing (that I gave to them) signed.. :P Extra bonus: Tim and Rich used my Sharpie to sign my stuff!!! XD Rich actually asked me to borrow it to sign everyone's stuff too. ^^















Well, that's all the collectible Keane memorabilia I have. :D I look forward to adding to this collection, but I am already very happy with it now! ^_^

KEANE @ THE WILTERN - JANUARY 26, 2007

KEANE - OMG SO CUTE!!! XD

WOW, what can I say about this brilliant band?!?! They blew me away at my first real concert. They are SO GOOD live! I think they sound even better live than they do on their albums, and that's saying A LOT. They're already perfect on the albums, but live... It's just MAGICAL!

I stood for nearly 12 hours straight, but even with my legs almost collapsing the whole time, it was SO worth it! I stood in line to get my PIT tickets for about 6 hours, then 3 hours for the concert (including the opening band and intermission), and lastly 3 hours to wait for KEANE to come out.

Rocco DeLuca and the Burden was the opening band and they sounded unique, but I was there for Keane. I was lucky enough to get front row center-right (but I did stand in line early for it), and it ended up being the most exhilarating experience of my life. Normally I'm shy, but I sang my lungs out for the fast/upbeat/loud songs. Everyone at the Wiltern was screaming and the audience was very responsive to Tom's engaging performance. I heard the Berkeley crowd was pretty weak compared to us, but I guess we're just more crazy.. :P

Berkeley got "The Frog Prince", though! Argh, I was hoping they would perform this song, but they didn't for us. :(( They better perform that one at the next Keane gig I go to! XP So they got that one extra song, but it was still an awesome show at the Wiltern. I never heard Tom run out of breath throughout the whole show, and Tim and Rich were a treat to see play with such emotion and passion. I wish I had a better view of Rich, though, since a cymbal was always in front of his face from my angle. Tim did miss a few keys during their acoustic performance of "Your Eyes Open", but he was laughing/smiling. ^_^ That made me smile too, and Tim obviously knew he made a little mistake. :P

After the perfect performance, I stood out by their tour bus to meet them. I managed to give them some buttons I made and a drawing/painting I did (pencil, scanned into the computer, edited/colored in Photoshop). Tim actually laughed at my button for him, which he called a badge, because it featured his "Shoe of Choice" - the green Dunlops. XD I forgot the little circle in the back part of the shoe, though. x_x I made a "King of SMOOTHIES" one for Tom and a "Hug_A_Hughes" one for Rich. :P I hope they at least found them comical.. I know Tim did because he looked at it after I gave it to him and he laughed. ^__^ I gave the drawing to Tim since he was the first to come out and he was so nice about it: "Wow, this looks frighteningly like me..." XD They're all so nice, and I hope I'll be able to meet them again soon! *g*

I sent in some pictures from the concert for the Keane website and they put one of them up! :D Go to the official Keane site (found in my linkage section of the sidebar) and click on "YOUR PICTURES FROM AMERICA". It should be under "Other News" at this time. My picture is the one with my name, Michelle A, underneath it. They put it in the wrong section, though! They put it under Berkeley, when it should be under the Wiltern. :P

Here are some other PICTURES! :D
Tim is already beginning to rock on his piano as "The Iron Sea" transitions into "Put It Behind You". What a FANTASTIC intro! It was so cool with that lighting and everything... I was in awe... My first concert is THIS good. ;D

Tom gave it his all... I mean, his voice was STRONG for every single song, whether it was fast or slow. His voice reached every high note, and he was just amazing. While he was singing with such passion and strength, he had so much stamina to bounce around the stage too! ^_^ He sounded better than any other live performance (from videos on the internet, etc...) I've ever seen! O__O

Yay, I'm glad I was able to get a pretty clear shot of Rich! :D Look, he's even smiling while he plays the drums too! XD Rich deserves much more attention and love than he's getting now.. :P Glad he came up to the front of the stage during the acoustic version of "Your Eyes Open". ^_^

Here is a picture of that very acoustic performance with all three of them up front!!!!!!!! :D Well, you can only see Tim and Rich here... but Tom was at the left with his guitar! ;)

You know, this looks pretty hot, don't you think? I loved it when Tom went up to Tim and sang like that. ^_^ I think this was one out of two or three times that they interacted like this. XD

Tim during "A Bad Dream". Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually didn't really take this picture... I took a video, and this just happens to be the first frame of it. 8D

And the end... AWWWWWWWWWWW!!! I LOVE THEM! I LOVE KEANE!!! XD

NO STEALING THE PICTURES!!!!!!

Here are some great videos of the performance I found on YouTube... NOTE: These are not mine! Credit goes to the original posters of the videos...

Put It Behind You


A Bad Dream


Hope you enjoyed those fantastic videos! :D Thanks so much to those who shared them! *g*

I can't wait until I can experience this again! KEANE just ROCKS!

Movie, music, actor recap :D

Alright, for nearly the past month, I've watched quite a few movies, got interested in yet another actor, and listened to new/good music. I've added a few in my radio. ;)

Casino Royale
When I first heard about Daniel Craig playing James Bond, I wasn't too impressed, but once I saw trailers and commercials, I really wanted to watch the movie anyway. He was a great Bond, tough and cool (and pretty sexy, I admit).. The action was intense and suspenseful, the acting was excellent - Daniel Craig's dry British humor along with his suave demeanor... Mads Mikkelsen, playing Le Chiffre, didn't show up as much as I thought he would since I thought he was the main bad guy (why do Bond villains tend to be a little disfigured too?)..
SPOILER AHEAD
I watched this with my brother during winter break, and it was hard not to laugh at the torture scene when Bond said something along the lines of "Now the world will know you died scratching my balls" or something.. lol. XD I wasn't too pleased with the abrupt and unceremonious end to Le Chiffre, though... I would've liked to see more of him. Craig and Mikkelsen were marvelous.
(9/10)

Eragon
I am probably one of the few who hasn't read this book, but I was still not sure what to expect after hearing so many bad reviews for it.. While it was a little on the cheesy side, I don't know if it was THAT bad. I liked the dragon scenes and the effects were good for the big battle scene. However, I didn't really feel for any of the characters and it felt a bit weird.. I felt more sympathy for Bond and Le Chiffre than any of these characters! I guess I felt that it wasn't as terrible as some people said, especially since I didn't read the book.
(5/10)

Night At The Museum
I didn't expect anything from this besides a fun kids movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie with all the quirks and references to history (although some were wrong!). There was the Roman diorama that was all anachronistic. XP The Colosseum did not exist during Octavius' time. Vespasian built it way after! Anyway, that didn't bother me much and I still enjoyed the movie a lot. It was cute and fun, and I especially loved all the little guys, including Jed and Octavius. XD This was probably the most dramatic thing I've seen Ben Stiller do. He was in Empire Of The Sun, but that was like a cameo. :P
(7/10)

Blood Diamond
I knew going into this movie that it would be sad. I was right! It was quite the emotional roller coaster with a lot of suspenseful action scenes dispersed throughout. Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou were brilliant. I liked Leo's character, Danny, for his conflicting morals and the 3-dimensionality of his persona. The internal and external conflict were intriguing and even though he's not really a good guy, I wanted him to be. He is the anti-hero, and I usually like those kinds of characters with lots of dark angst and stuff.. :P I practically had tears throughout the whole movie, and Leo and Djimon really brought forth my emotions. A sad, but powerful movie that makes you wonder about the things that go on behind the scenes.
(10/10)

Now for some music! :D

Guillemots
A guillemot is a type of bird, I believe. ;D I've always liked their song "Trains To Brazil" since I downloaded it as a free single of the week on iTunes about a year ago, but I didn't hear their other songs until now. I sure have missed out on them for awhile! You can listen to a few of their songs in my radio. :) Through the Windowpane is fantastic! I absolutely love their unique and fun style! Their songs are beautiful, and I love their creativity with sounds/instruments!!! The band members' names are very interesting! Lead singer: Fyfe Dangerfield, guitar: MC Lord Magrao, cello: Aristazabel Hawkes, and drummer: Greig Stewart. :P Yes, I am quite obsessed with them now. They also have the best website! XD
CLICK HERE TO SEE IT
My favorite songs are "We're Here", "Annie, Let's Not Wait", "Made-Up Love Song #43", "Trains To Brazil", and "Sao Paulo". Most of them are singles, but I still need to listen to more of their stuff!!
Another British band I've become obsessed with!

Check out some of their awesome music videos. :D

Trains To Brazil

Aww, lol

Made-Up Love Song #43

♥

Cool live version :D


Annie, Let's Not Wait

Such a cool video and a catchy tune! ♥

GREAT live version, same production as the last live one!


We're Here

I LOVE this song! XD

Now another actor I got obsessed with...

Mads Mikkelsen
When I saw him in Casino Royale, I thought he looked so familiar because his face is quite distinguished. I always feel like I've seen something before if it stands out. Anyway, I didn't really become obsessed with him after watching him as Le Chiffre, but he certainly did intrigue me. One day my dad started watching King Arthur. I didn't really want to, but I just let him watch it while we ate dinner. Then I instantly recognized the face through all the messy hair that covered Tristan's face. I pointed at him to my brother and I was like, "It's Le Chiffre!" :P So I ended up watching King Arthur for Tristan/Mads. XD Aaah, Tristan was so awesome as the quiet and mysterious scout, with his mad archery skills and samurai-looking fighting style AND his hawk!! *love* He was the best and only good part about the movie, I thought. So yeah, I got obsessed after seeing the beautiful Tristan.. *g* Argh, forget the age difference, I still think he's cool and handsome as a gentleman. His figure was great as Tristan and in real life, of course - tall and slim - lol. I wish I could see his Danish movies, but a lot of them are hard to come by over here.. He's a great actor and I could tell from the trailers I've seen of his Danish movies. Well, I do have a liking for gentlemen over the age of 30. And it's not much different from thinking that Johnny Depp and Viggo Mortensen are hot, as they are over 40 like Mads.

Movie stills from OutNow.CH

Break

I won't be updating with anything substantial this week. I'll be taking a break. ^^ I'll probably be back in a week or two. :)

Happy holidays and happy new year!



Can you find all of the things I added on? :P

Highlight the following text for the answers:

Fran's Santa hat (bottom left), Jack's antlers (middle left), the Doctor's elf ears (middle right), Jared Leto's wings (bottom right)

Musica!!! 8D

Let's talk about music for this weekend update! I have added a radio on the sidebar so you can listen to some of my favorite music too! There are quite a few songs in the playlist. ;D

Sometimes I find out about my favorite artists completely by chance! I am glad to have found out about some of them thanks to the internet and movie trailers! XD

Keane

Probably my favorite band at the moment.. My friend showed me their music video for "Somewhere Only We Know" but then I forgot about them for awhile.. Then I decided to get their debut album to give it a listen. I got hooked soon after that and it went on from there. I turned my family into serious Keane fans because I listen to them everyday. :P Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice-Oxley - genius - (he loves the Pet Shop Boys like I do too!! 8D), and Richard Hughes are also so cute! XD I can't wait until I go to their concert next month! It would be amazing if I could meet them! :D What a fantastic birthday present that will be!!!



Travis

I discovered this awesome Scottish band when I saw the Garden State trailer. The trailer used one of their songs, "Love Will Come Through". I started listening to their other songs and downloaded some from iTunes. It went on from there, as usual. I seem to like British music too, not just British actors.. XD Those first songs I downloaded from iTunes were "Sing", "Love Will Come Through", and "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?". Like Keane, I got my family to be obsessed with Travis too. My parents, especially, love "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" the most. That is one of many favorite Travis tracks of mine too. ;D Not only is their music wonderful, but the guys are talented actors too. :P They're so funny and their music videos are great! *Loves my "Travis Singles" DVD* X3 Lol, I used a lot of "too's" haven't I? :P



Ben Jelen

Yes, another trailer led me to discover Ben Jelen. It was the Finding Neverland trailer. They used an instrumental version of his song "Come On" and then it went from there again.. :P I recently attended two intimate concerts by winning this contest and his music is beautiful! He himself is beautiful too! I met him both times and he is really sweet. A genuine, generous person.



Michael Buble

Hmmm, I chanced upon seeing the last bit of his public television concert and he was such a great performer. Love the songs he sings and he's so funny! I got obsessed after listening to "Home" and watching the concert in its entirety.



Josh Groban

This was pretty similar to my Michael Buble story. They both pretty much grew in their careers the same way. :P I can't wait to see him live! :D



Rufus Wainwright

It was after The Aviator that I began listening to Rufus. I loved his bit singing "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" in the movie. 8D I liked what I heard from his albums (Poses was the first). ;D



Delays

It wasn't a trailer that go me into Delays. I just heard the instrumental part of "Long Time Coming" in a behind-the-scenes thing of Doctor Who! XD I asked the Who fans where the song was from and then I listened to the whole song... Then I listened to their full albums. Their music is so catchy and I got hooked quite easily!



The Format

Another artist whose song I heard ("Let's Make This Moment a Crime") and then I began to listen to other songs after liking that song.. :P I liked what I heard and basically became a fan by gradually listening to their songs. ^^ Their music is so unique and cute. I love both of their albums so far!



Muse

I heard of them from everywhere, including Doctor Who, but I didn't like them until I heard "Time Is Running Out" used in a promo for Turner Classic Movies. I knew it was Muse, but I never heard the song before. I then started to listen to their songs and liked what I heard. Yep, went on from there.



Well, there are still a lot of artists that I like and you can listen to some of them in my radio. :D I think the above artists are the ones I'm into the most right now. I also like Pet Shop Boys, Enya, The Postal Service, Snow Patrol, Glenn Miller, 30 Seconds to Mars, and soundtracks, among many others...

I just bought the Rock Kills Kid album from the Tower Records liquidation sale. I like the songs I've heard so far, but I haven't given the rest of the album a listen yet.

Check out my Last.fm page for more of my musical tastes!

Let's talk about some of my favorite actors/characters complete with pictures... ;D

Many actors I have become obsessed with turn out to be Scottish and generally British! I don't know what it is about them.. the accent, their personalities, their looks... I think they totally have class! I do love some American actors, though. :P Well, here are a couple! :D

Ewan McGregor

He is the lovable Scottish lad I fell in love with after watching Moulin Rouge! He is kind, funny, and has the best smile! I haven't seen a Ewan movie in awhile, though.. ><

David Tennant/The Doctor (Ten)

Another Scot I love! He's so geeky, funny, and seems like an awesome fellow. I love his rendition of The Doctor and he makes Doctor Who that much more fun to watch. :D

/

Jimmy Stewart

When I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in government class, I never knew I could like watching a movie in school so much. There's something about Jimmy's characters that makes me laugh, cry, and enjoy watching him so much. I LOVE It's a Wonderful Life and Harvey. What a wonderful classic actor...



Gareth David-Lloyd/Ianto Jones

From the beginning, I liked Ianto Jones the most in Torchwood. I didn't stop liking him when some people got annoyed with his emo-angst.. As I said before, I like angst. :P Anyway, yeah, Ianto is adorable too. If you saw the picture of the week, that's one of the reasons I like him; he has awesome one-liners and it's a treat whenever he gets to talk. He's Welsh, "looks good in a suit", and cool. 8D He is the same age as my brother, so he's pretty young according to my standards! (Most of my favorite men are at least over 30.. :P)

/

He also orders Chinese and uses chopsticks. He's very cool in my book. XD

John Barrowman/Jack Harkness

I discovered him in Doctor Who, of course.. The best episodes of season 1, The Empty Child.. Then I discovered his musical career and listened to his musical songs.. Now it's Torchwood and he's a flirty tough guy. :P He's still pretty hot for his age, but so are a lot of my other favorites (like Johnny Depp and others.. ^^;). Well, I just think he's a funny guy, who's in these great shows and musicals.



Hmmm, I think I'll leave it at that for now. I have TONS of other actors I love. I shall continue the list at another time. I'll probably be updating with different things each week. Maybe I'll go into music next week. :P Until then, hope you liked the eye candy. ;D