November 4, 2007

Cirque du Soleil plans 2008 return to Redmond's Marymoor Park

Keeping to its plan of visiting the Seattle area about once every two years with a different attraction, the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil will bring its circus spectacle "Corteo" to Redmond's Marymoor Park next year for a run that begins on April 24, 2008, and will last four weeks or more.

Before coming here, "Corteo" will have a Portland engagement, and after the Redmond run the show will travel to Vancouver, B.C.

The title "Corteo" is Italian for "cortege" (typically meaning a train of attendants, or a funeral procession). Cirque du Soleil describes the show, which premiered in Montreal in 2005, as " a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown. [It] brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth."

--

Oh my god! Words cannot express how much I am looking forward to this show. Cirque du Soleil is going to be in town during my 18th birthday, and my uncle nabbed premium seats for the whole family! (He has some online membership to Cirque du Soleil, which is why he managed to get tickets for the near-impossible seats.) This is my first time ever to a show like this, and I'm ecstatic! AHHHHH, I CAN'T WAIT. I went on the Corteo website and got some pictures:






Posted on 11/04/2007 3:30 PM Comments (8)

October 19, 2007

Fine Arts?

Lately I've been having second thoughts about pursuing a career as a lawyer. What's in that particular profession which would make it ideal for me? Nothing, really. I love debating, and I like public speaking, but that's about it. My uncle's a lawyer, and it seems like a pretty mundane job by the way he describes it. I would only be in it for the good pay, but even these days, getting a J.D. isn't necessarily a lisence to print money. The tuition for law schools is skyrocketing and many students graduate wallowed in almost $100,000 in debt. No thank you!

My passion is in the fine arts without a doubt. I feel like I would be wasting my entire life if I didn't pursue my heart's desire. I know that sounds totally dumb and cliche, but it's true. In my drawing class the other day my professor asked me if I was fine arts major, and I told her that I was considering it, and that ideally, I would want to become a fine arts professor. She said that even though competition is fierce, I have enough talent to make it happen. Ugh, I don't know! I talked to another friend of mine who's mom is a design/drawing professor at Cornish Collge of the Arts, which is a very prestigious art school here in Seattle, and he said that his mom loves her job but doesn't get paid very much. Will I be financially unstable and fail to make ends meet if I pursue this career? Painting and drawing are basically the loves of my life, and I don't want to give them up. Yea, yea..I know that I can do them as hobbies when I get older, but that won't satisfy me. Plus, I probably won't have time, anyways.

I really don't know what to do. I already know that I'm going to get a degree in Humanities and then get a second degree in English, in order for me to teach English in Korea for a few years after I graduate. My aunt runs an academy in Seoul and asked me to teach there once I was finished with college. Native-speaking English teachers get paid extremely well there, and I'm hoping to save up money to go to graduate school and get a Masters in Fine Arts. Ideally. I really want to go talk to my professor after class on Tuesday and ask for some guidance.

Can anyone give me some advice?


Posted on 10/19/2007 6:30 PM Comments (7)

September 20, 2007

I've been tagged! My top ten favorite bands.

I got tagged by three people! So I guess there's no backing out of this one, not like I would have done so anyways. A quick thanks to unsceneunheard, robotshaveheartstoo, and lexidiem for tagging me (:

Here are the easy rules.

1) Pick your 10 favorite musical artists.
2) Tag the journal "top10bands" so we can have a full tag page of all our lists!
3) Pick 8 more people to do this! Make sure to link them to your original post.

By the way, this list was terribly difficult to narrow down, so once again, I've included an Honorable Mentions list at the bottom.

#10: Peaches

#9: Age of Rockets


#8: Cansei de Ser Sexy

#7: Le Tigre

#6: Her Space Holiday

#5: MIA


MIA IS MY HERO.

#4: Blue Scholars


The Blue Scholars is a local Seattle based hip-hop duo that pair jazzy beats with humanity-driven lyrics. They question society by targeting issues like racism, war, urban violence, poverty, etc. Plus, they almost always include numerous references to Seattle in their songs, which is always a plus (:

#3: FT Island


FT Island is a Korean band that mostly sings ballads. Their lead singer has a tremendous vocal range and is featured as #1 on my celebrity crush list, haha. THESE GUYS ARE AMAZING LIVE.

#2: Lily Allen


I first found out about her a couple summers ago when my friend, who's excellent at discovering new and upcoming artists, burned me her CD. Immediately after popping Alright, Still in stereo I completely fell in love with her music. Her accent is adorable, and her lyrics are hilarious.

#1: The Postal Service


The Postal service is one of the most amazing bands that I've ever experienced.The soothing and often times vulnerable voice and lyrics of Ben Gibbard matched with the catchy and unique synth beats are absolute HEAVEN.

Honorable Mention: Meg&Dia, Feist, Imogen Heap, Frou Frou, New Young Pony Club, Lemon Jelly, The White Stripes, Bikini Kill, Digable Planets, Earth Wind and Fire, The Clash, The Cure, Sublime, Shiny Toy Guns, The Decemberists, The Faint, Kanye West, Keane, Azure Ray, Amy Winehouse, Zero 7, Andrea Bocceli (not really a band but whatever), and the great pioneers of Bossa Nova: Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Charlie Byrd, Sergio Mendes, Joao Gilberto

Okay! I'm going to tag in no particular order hehthur, artsytypegirl, hellocouture, aidenwhore, sjsphoto, jaromehollingsworth, jiliandee, love4tragedy,


Posted on 09/20/2007 12:59 PM Comments (9)

September 19, 2007

Who needs real love anyways? My top ten celebrity crushes!

Alright, so lexidiem tagged me because I told him that I thought this would be fun. Hurray! I happen to LOVE filling out lists. I think it's a great way of telling people some random stuff about yourself that they never would have found out otherwise.

Here are the rules:

1. You post your top 10 fantasy guys/girls.
2. You tag 10 people. This means you must name 10 people on Buzznet who now must do the same blog.
3. You CANNOT tag someone who has already been tagged.
4. You have to let the people you tagged know that they've been tagged.
5. These are the rules they must be repeated every time.
6. THERE MUST BE PHOTOS! AT ALL TIMES!

NOTE: THIS LIST IS COMPLETELY SHALLOW/SUPERFICIAL. PLEASE DO NOT BASH  ME FOR MY CRUSHES OF CHOICE. AND YES, I PURPOSEFULLY MADE THIS CHEESY AND DUMB FOR YOUR OWN ENTERTAINMENT. So thank you and enjoy.

PS. I'm really super OCD, which is why I desaturated every photo and made them all the same size. I'm just weird like that. I need everything to match or else I go insane, hahahaha.

#10: George Clooney


Who doesn't have a crush on George Clooney? I mean, seriously. He's a brilliant actor and oh so suave. Haha, he looks like such a gentleman. Oh, and I especially loved him in Goodnight and Goodluck. That movie was FABULOUS.

#9: Marlon Brando


Okay. I definitely did NOT find him at all attractive as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, but when I saw the 1953 production of Julius Caesar...MY GOD. His rendition of "Dogs of War" was BRILLIANT. That was a performance to remember.

#8: Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance


Okay, this one's a bit embarrassing. Yea, yea..I know it's really cliche to have him on my list, but look at that adorable face! It just screams, "LOVE MEEE!"

#7: Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United


I'm quite sure that anyone who watched the 2006 Fifa World Cup has a mad crush on him now. He was definitely the best looking player there, and this guy pretty much beasted everyone else on the soccer field. I was watching the Manchester United v. FC Seoul game during my stay in Korea, and he scored a goal five minutes into the match. Damn.

#6: John Mayer


I always thought he had a sexy voice, but that new Gap ad completely won me over.

#5: Daniel Craig


Honeslty, I didn't think he was going to make a very good Bond, as awesome as he is. Wow, I was so wrong. He was effing smokin in that movie! My favorite line: "How was your lamb?" "Skewered." I really don't know why I found that line so amusing, but whatever.

#4: Rodrigo Santoro


I first saw him on Love, Actually. AHHH. My best friend and I were totally swooning over him throughout the entire movie. However, his hotness level went wayyywayy down when he played Xerxes I: a giant, egotistical, and bejeweled Persian king that was completely devoid of any hair whatsoever (thus the tattooed eyebrows.) Sorry Xerxes, you're not my type.


YIKES. With that body jewelry, who WOULDN'T bend their knee to his every command? Oh, and I'm pretty sure using his face to scare the hell out of his enemies was one of his main battle tactics.

#3: Gerard Butler


He first made it on my crush list when I saw him in the Phantom of the Opera. His voice definitely could use some work, but he sure looked good! Oh, and he looked alright in 300..a bit too scraggly and muscular for my taste, though.

#2: Joseph Fiennes


Need I saw more?! HOTHOTHOT. He was damn sexy in Shakespeare in Love, and he's a fabulous actor. I admire the passion and enthusiasm that he exerts every time he acts. Luther?! The Merchant of Venice?! Goodbye Bafana?! AMAZING! God, I love this guy. BE MINE, JOSEPH!

#1: Hong-gi Lee

He deserves TWO photos since he's my number one (:

He's quite different from the other people on my list because 1.) he's not 947234 years older than me, and 2.) he's basically unknown throughout the US.
So here's how it all started: I visited my family in Korea this summer, and while I was there one of my uncles took me to a concert featuring some of Korea’s biggest stars. It was there that I discovered the unbelievable hotness and musical talent that is FT Island. They are just too goddamn amazing. They’re not like the other boy bands in Korea: overly cutesy dance moves paired with bubblegum pop voices and cheap lip syncing onstage. These guys have genuine talent, and I just can’t get enough of them! This is their lead singer, and he’s absolutely INSANE. He can belt out a song like no other, and he always puts his whole self into every performance. He could send a tremor through the plates of this very earth with that voice of his. Plus, he’s only a couple months older than me (I’m seventeen),  meaning that next year, I could fly a plane to Seoul, sweep him off his feet, marry him, and no one would cringe in disgust at the age difference! Hurray! That’s my plan!

If you want to have the full experience of my lover, Hong-gi, then I suggest you watch these videos. If you don't want to/don't have time to watch the videos in their entirety, then skip about halfway and then again towards the very end for "Thunder" and about a third of the way in for "Maria."

"Thunder" (The song starts out a bit slow, but it gets really good when it hits the chorus. Oh, and I really don't know what that boat is doing there.)

"Maria" (One of the guitarists sings the first part, which is alright..but not too impressive. I heard that Hong-gi was sick during this performance.)


 

Honorable Mention: Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, Jeremy Irons, Heath Ledger, Michael Buble, James Purefoy, Eric Bana, Adam Brody, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, Ricardo Kaka, Desi Arnaz

Okay, so now it's my turn to tag people! I'm going to tag sjsphoto! michaelamisfit! jeffreydenton! carascene! scarletlark! alreadyxdead! yashialove! kasixcakes! hangbrittneycurtains! unsceneunheard! for no particular reason except that they're all nice and awesome people.


Posted on 09/19/2007 3:00 PM Comments (11)

September 14, 2007

Palettes and Tubes of Oil Paint

make the BESTBESTBEST still lifes for photography. I JUST found that out. Oh my god, I'm so excited. I'm uploading the pictures onto my hardrive as I'm typing this. Ahh!

I was sitting around trying to ignore the fact that I still need to finish reading The Iliad, when I turned on my camera and started taking shots of random stuff in my room. Then I took one of my used palettes with oil paint brushed all over it and everything just clicked in my head. I'm not trying to sound like I'm some hot shit photographer, because I most certainly am NOT..I'm just really happy with the results of something that started out as me just playing around and ending as a..I don't know..a revelation of some sort. I definitely need to start bringing my camera with me to art class on Saturdays.

GabrielaMarie.


Posted on 09/14/2007 5:07 PM Comments (2)

September 12, 2007

So I was bored yesterday,

and I decided to play around with this new eyeshadow that I bought two days ago. It turned out fairly well. SO well in fact, that I took some pictures of it. Ahhh, but you can see all of the freckles that I got from the when I spent the day at the beach. Honestly, I have no life whatsoever, and aside from finishing up The Iliad before college starts up, I have nothing to do at home. How pathetic is THAT? My boyfriend's been bugging me about going out with him and watching Superbad or some other movie, and I'm just sitting on my ass taking pictures of myself.

Anyways, comments on the pictures would be very much appreciated.

GabrielaMarie.

 


Posted on 09/12/2007 8:41 AM Comments (1)
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