A Mighty Fine Life

Gabriella: You'd better step away from the mirror for long enough to check the damage that will always be right behind you!

Melanie: What? That didn't mean anything! It was like a Sarah Palin speech!


(The moral of the story? Yes, I do make every single person who comes to visit watch these movies. It's the price of staying on our couch.)

I'm back in New York! And I was kind of bored this evening so, as I do about once every three years, I attempted to make icons. Someone needs to take the color overlay option away from me.



( 19 icons, mostly color variations on the last one above )

I guess, comment/credit if you take? *shrug*

Whew! The crazy bookathon weekend is over. If you didn't follow along as it happened, you can see all the various gathered bits and pieces with the Book Challenge tag at AV. My vital stats:

Books Read: 8
Pages Read: 2,306
Hours Read: 26:41

Not as overpowering as some folks', but not bad, if I do say so myself.

And now a meme from falco_conlon.

01. Anyone who looks at this entry is invited to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal.
02. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper.
03. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this. The point is to see what you had on.

( Hint: he's curly-haired and super dreamy. )

Interesting interview with Lucas Grabeel:

“I think if Fred Astaire was alive today having his career that he had back then it definitely would be conceived in a completely different way” says Lucas wearily. “And I just think it’s a sign of the times that we as Americans have been scared into judgment of all kinds of people… Everyone is always trying to figure out ‘Are you different than me?’ and I think that’s definitely where the problem comes in with everyone thinking that I’m gay because I can dance and I don’t care at all… it’s just up to you to make a good decision whether you’re going to believe them [the rumors] or not.”

"I was going do my best with my character to make sure that he had a journey that wasn’t repeating the same thing over and over again. Especially in the third movie I had a lot of conversations about that – you may have noticed that Sharpay tries to coax Ryan into getting the song for her a lot like she does in the first movie. I brought that up and I was like ‘Look – he’s already done this. He was the hero in 2. He’s not going to go back on his word and just be the lame duck again, you know, the puppy dog."

He also thinks Ryan is "daft." Also:

“Obviously it’s a Disney movie they can’t have an openly gay character in the movie and that’s a whole other discussion about where the times are in this country. But the relationship between Ryan and Kelsi started from the first movie and cycled through all three. I think of course they would go to prom together and I still don’t think that that makes him gay or straight or anything.”

“I’ll say this – there are so many more subtleties to that movie that kids will hopefully get when they’re showing it to their kids later, later, later on but never were meant to be taken as literal… it’s hard for me to talk about it [to the general public] but over a beer with my friends we’ve dichotomized High School Musical so many different ways.”

Hi flist! It is a long weekend, HOORAY! Possibly I got off work at 1 today, took a nap, and went out for birthday kareoke with Rachel. POSSIBLY I AM STILL TIPSY. Possibly I am watching HSM3! Oh man, I always forget how much I hate the horrible new kids. But I enjoy that even Troy, who is dumb as a freaking brick, hates them too. HA.

Oh right, boring song is boring.

ANYWAY. How is everyone? Big weekend plans???

[ETA: I don't know what the New York Deli exchange between Taylor and Chad means, but I LOVE IT. I totally sekritly think they are an adorable couple. WHAT.]

[ETA2: I really really love the scene where Chad asks Taylor to prom. Someone should write me adorable Chad/Taylor fic. :D]

[ETA3: Also Ryan and Kelsi are really cute! Apparently vodka makes me crave het, WHO KNEW??? Also, Rachel says, "Speaking as a girl who loves dresses, Vanessa's outfits are so cute. Speaking as a high school teacher, SO INAPPROPRIATE."

OH OH CLOWN!CHAD I LOVE YOU.]

[ETA4: Oh my god, Chad, be gayer. "You're sad? Let me cheer you up by lying on your bed and talking about how we don't need girls because they have cooties. COME TO COLLEGE WITH ME, TROY!"]

I don't waaaaaaanna go to work today. I'm not sick, just meh. But I will go. Sigh.

More importantly:



Well, of course I am in. It's only 10,000 words. (Yeah, I said only. The last one shot (uh, the one before that, rather) I wrote was 9,000. And I already have about 80% of my plot. It... Uh, will be longer than 10,000 words, I think.)

Okay. Work. Right.

Good news for Troy Bolton, y/y?

This just happened in my head:

"Hey... Wait a second, Troy's dad (Jack?) and Ryan's dad (Vance?) are both referred to as U of A alumns... What if they went to college together? What if they were sekrit lovers? WAIT! Vance totally left Jack for Derby! Spurned and bitter, Jack married his horrible wife and eventually had Troy. He thought Vance was out of his life forever when the Evanses moved to Rhode Island, but many years later they came back with kids, and THAT'S the real reason he doesn't want Troy doing drama in the first movie. HE DOESN'T WANT TROY TO BEFRIEND THE EVANSES BECAUSE HE WAS THEIR DAD'S GAY LOVER."

And now brb, must go clorox my brain.

Generally speaking, Zac Efron looks like a total tool in pictures, but every now and then...



Is it weird that I resent him for making me swoon? (From Barefoot Male Celebs.)

Really, no one on my friendslist has posted this? Shocking!



(From here via here via munkykiss. ♥)

From _bellisima and poisonivory: The Microfic Meme
Try to write different categories of fic (angst, fluff, UST, etc) in 10 words or less.

Angst:
Chad waited by the phone. Ryan hadn't called.

AU:
"Squire Chad, you shall be serving Sir Evans."

Crackfic:
Then Chad and Ryan had PixieStix and a pillow fight.

Crossover:
Ryan perused the headlines and sighed. "Need some improving."

Episode Related:
With a baseball in hand, the motions came back easily.

First Time:
After, Chad collapsed on Ryan's bed, remembering how to breathe.

Fluff:
Chad dunked Ryan; Ryan swore revenge, but kissed him instead.

Humor:
It wasn't funny when people fell down. Except Jason.

H/C:
The third day Chad missed school, Ryan appeared with soup.

Smut:
Ryan flicked his tongue and Chad couldn't stop moaning.

UST:
"What would you have me do?"
Ryan smirked to himself.

This was actually really hard, because I am the longest-winded ever. I might do Newsies tomorrow, though.

You guys!! I now own a light-up, quacking, rubber ducky key chain! And it goes on the same keychain where I already had my heart-shaped Chad charm, which means it is now a keychain OTP. ZOMG. *loves elvensorceress SO MUCH*

Yesterday was supposed to be my family's Chanukah party, but due to weather, it was canceled. I was both bummed and relieved by that; I wanted to see the fam, of course, but I was drop-dead exhausted and spent yesterday basically dead to the world, sitting on the couch staring at the wall. (The most productive I was all day was alphabetizing all the DVDs in our apartment. It was bugging me like whoa that they weren't.)

Today, however, was poisonivory's family Chanukah party! And she invited friends as well, so I met up with second_batgirl and we headed out to Jersey (and met up with harmonyangel there, of course). It was a nice, chill afternoon, full of delicious latkes and lots and lots of chocolate-covered pretzels. Which are, of course, DELICIOUS.

Aaaaand presents! I am such a flake that I forgot to bring anything with me, but Margot got me the new Mercedes Lackey book (!), and Jess combined my birthday and Chaunkah gifts and gave me a raccoon stuffed animal that she knitted herself (I just about cried -- long story), the first HSM on DVD (I know it seems odd that I didn't own it, but I didn't!) and Jump In!, which clearly I NEEDED.

And speaking of things I needed? Jen got me HSM candy canes. Chad is yellow (tropical fruit), Troy is blue (blue raspberry), Gabi is pink (strawberry or cherry, I forget) and Sharpay is green (green apple -- and why is Shar not pink?!). Sadly no Ryan or Taylor. But this is especially awesome because a) apparently, Jen is just fantastic at finding delicious HSM candy (she's also the one who gave me Ryan- and Chad-flavored bubble gum!), and b) you can imagine the dirty, dirty jokes about sucking Chad. *cough* *blush*

Work for the next three days is going to be killer. But then: VACATION. :D :D I'm not going anywhere (except Jersey, for the rescheduled family party, and Long Island, to visit Margot), or doing anything (except the afore mentioned visiting), but DAMN I am looking forward to spending a week and a half chilling on my couch with no stress. HUZZAH.

queenitsy: Did you see the trailer for Corbin's new movie?

poisonivory: Nay.

queenitsy: oh *man*. it looks terrible. I MUST SEE IT OPENING NIGHT. (Also in the interview about it, he apparently said he's "too busy to date" which, you know, is Hollywood for "is gay," I'm pretty sure.)
http://www.freestylemovie.com/

poisonivory: Oh man, even the first line of the trailer is terrible. I do think that casting Madison Pettis as his sister is perfect and adorable.

queenitsy: Agreed. And his dad plays his dad again. I believe.

poisonivory: Otherwise it would be too confusing for him. "WAIT, YOU'RE NOT MY DAD! WHO ARE YOU? DADDEEEEEE!"

queenitsy: I 'm a little surprised every character he plays isn't named Corbin to avoid confusion.

poisonivory: No, but they all seem to start with C.

queenitsy: and now I have a mental picture of teeny, tiny!Corbin singing "C is for Corbin" to the tune of "C is for Cookie". And my heart just exploded.

Disney is showing HSM 1 and 2, the "What's What" addition (AKA pop-up versions, with the exact same pop-up text in differently shaped bubbles). Anyway. Thing I just noticed: the pop ups explain how the papers that get thrown in the air in the opening of "Summertime" were actual student assignments found in the recycling bin, then in a pink bubble with kissy lips at the corner, "They made sure none of the papers were private love notes."

This is over the moment when Chad grabs his basketball from Ryan. :)

Whaaaaat, I am easily pleased.

(Oh, Chad. "Take that little hottie on a proper date," should not be the gayest line in the movie, and yet, IT IS. *pinches his cheeks*)

HSM3 was transcendental.

Actual review of some sort later.

I had a dream that HSM3 was EVEN CRACKIER than it actually will be. By A LOT.

First, for some reason, poisonivory and I were watching it on a miniature TV held on our laps, while we were riding a Greyhound bus next to one of the waterfall trails in Ithaca. Why? No idea! But I guess we were going somewhere. *shrug*

So basically, it started out with Gabriella dumping Troy, specifically because she wanted a prettier piece of armcandy and he just wasn't cutting it. Then she was briefly -- actually, extensively -- in what was basically a different movie, specifically The LIttle Mermaid, but not actually, because it was a dream. So she was swimming (as a person) and met a merman who was hot so he kissed her so she could breathe underwater and go with him to wherever it is the merfolk live out in the ocean. They had to pass through some kind of vortex thingies that were basically water wormholes, and at one point a giant pile of dead fish (my brain was kind enough to specify male AND female dead fish) fell out of an ocean cavern wall and she screamed and I think there was some kind of epic battle? Or something? Anyway, she ended up having to find her own way through the vortexes to go back home.

Meanwhile, Ryan was desperately in love with Gabriella -- whaaaat? -- and yet ALSO so incredibly flamingly gay that there was a song and dance number that I'm pretty sure was called "OMG be gayer, Ryan." And I think there was some kind of talent show going on (which would make sense, being HSM and all) but for some reason, he was sulking too hard to participate. Sharpay, meanwhile, had some kind of ludicrous plan to cheat at the talent show (though without ever actually being in the dream itself), so Kelsi had to use her flying belt to zip across what was definitely a science fiction urban landscape to steal Sharpay's plan.

And meanwhile, Troy, Chad, and Zeke (who was not actually Zeke, but just some dude my brain referred to as Zeke) were trying to write a rap song for the talent show. (This was directly out of one of the junior novels, I believe.)

Before it actually got to the talent show, though, we were interrupted on the bus by -- oh lord -- Sarah Palin on a float out on the river, with rainbows behind her, waving and winking. Jess and I were too caught up booing and complaining about how annoying she was to finish the movie.

I DON'T KNOW. It was kind of awesome.

So today started off really badly, and then was just long and stupid and annoying and blaaaaah the rest of the day, and whiiiiiine, and whatever, and then I got home and discovered someone (harmonyangel?) had mailed me a GIANT POSTER OF CORBIN BLEU.

It made me super happy. I totally needed the smile. :)

(It was confusing, because it took me forever to find the information on who had sent it, but the place it actually shipped from is a library in Georgia, and I have a friend who's a Georgian librarian, but is not Jen! Worked it out eventually, though. ♥)

This is my favorite icon I've made in years, by the way.

So I apparently am That Girl People Buy High School Musical Stuff For, which is about the awesomest thing that's ever happened to me. Since the weekend, I've been given

- Chad and Ryan bubblegum from harmonyangel. Seriously. They're small Bubbletape (six feet of bubblegum for you, not them) containers with holographs of the boys! (One of Ryan, one of Chad.) As you tilt them, you go from boy standing to boy jumping. Delightful!

- A Chad Danforth keychain from liketheroad. It has his face. On a heart. And then a little pink dangly heart! It is perfect!

Seriously, these are the best things I have owned since the sparkly rainbow Justin Timberlake ring in 2001. ♥ (And of course, for Chanukah I got HSM2 on DVD, two HSM junior novels, and the Corbin Bleu Unauthorized Biography. I think my love of HSM makes me waaaaay easier to shop for.)

Semi-relatedly, and completely awesome, last night was great dinner out with Rachel, imntsaying, and pepino21786, who were all lovely. A good time was had by all.

Unrelatedly, but also awesome, I will be finishing a huge-ass project at work tomorrow morning. THANK GOD.

HA I FINALLY FINISHED THE MANIFESTO. Here it is. Hooray for not being stressed about it anymore!

(Yeah, I was stressed about it. I don't know why. Possibly because it's the first fandom I've been in that's more than four people? *g*)

ETA: And now this is also a GIP. Ahahahaha, Chad.