And there's excited,

 Guess which one I am?

So what am I excited about? Well, believe it or not, I'm excited about a book. Yep. A book has got me screaming like a Justin Bieber fangirl and grinning like the Cheshire Cat on drugs. I haven't been this excited about a book since Mockingjay (which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment actually but NEVERTHELESS) I am excited and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I don't think you understand the extent of my excitement really - I would post more gifs but I seem to have exhausted my supply. Think of how much I like Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, The Phantom of the Opera and Harvey Specter. Now times that by ten. That is how excited I am. Just take my word for it. I am really excited.

Okay, so now that I have established my level of my excitement, I should probably tell you about the book. (Yes Cynthia, that would be a good thing to do. Really, I could write a whole blog post about how excited I am but then I would end up with zero subscribers so I probably shouldn't do that.) The book in question is this one:

"Iced" by Karen Marie Moning

 

 

"It doesn't look that great," you say. "What's this crazy bitch talking about? I've never heard of this book!"

 

Well yeah, but that's because you haven't read the Fever Series. Imagine if you met someone and you were trying to explain to them how excited you were for Season 3 of Suits when they'd been living under a rock and hadn't even seen the first season. That would be hard. So just take my word for it. I love the Fever Series about as much as I love the idea that the HSC will be over in 2 months.

 

Here are some links to the books I'm talking about, if you're confused:

 

Iced: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12444166-iced

 

The first book of the Fever Series, "Darkfever": http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112750.Darkfever

 

I don't know why goodreads has such a strange cover for Darkfever, usually the series looks like this:

 

 

They might look familiar because I wrote a really gushy type post months ago that talked about them.

 

Anyhoo, "Iced" is basically a spin-off series of the original Fever Series. I don't really want to call it a spin-off because that implies that it's inferior in quality. I hope I'm not talking too soon when I say this but I really doubt they'll be inferior. Iced is basically a continuum of the original five books but they'll be told from another character's perspective and they'll be a whole new chunk of plot lines (cause a lot of stuff was resolved pretty nicely in Shadowfever anyway).

 

I really don't want to go into explanations about the books because there's just too much to say. I will say though, that if you're wanting to read the Fever Series (and I highly recommend that you do), you shouldn't go in expecting like, F. Scott Fitzgerald's level of verbal expertise. These are not literary masterpieces containing profound philosophical insights. Your English teacher would probably chuck them in the bin and tell you to cleanse your brain with To Kill a Mockingbird if they caught you reading these. It's not that they're badly written or badly structured or whatever. It's just that these books are purely escapist/ for entertainment value only. They're books that you read and can't put down, even when you feel like your brain cells are being fried. It's like eating chocolate - not good for you but oh-so-satisfying.

 

I should also warn you that there's a fair bit of sexual content in there - sometimes rather explicit, so don't read if you're a prude. Don't worry though, it's not like Fifty Shades of Grey. That stuff is nasty (and badly written as well)!  

 

In conclusion, you need to read these books. Looking back, I loved the first book but it didn't exactly blow me out of the water. But I continued and jeezus luweezus, it was like being slapped in the face with a fish - they're were so addictive and satisfying! Plus, Peeta, from THG and Dimitri from Vampire Academy are like puny little wimps compared to the male protagonist in this series. One look at Jericho Barrons and BOOM!

 

 

Them's your ovaries. Gone.

I should probably warn you guys that this post is going to be a bit like this:

...in that a lot of people won't ever understand my happiness. It's like when you try to explain to your friends how awesome that tv show was. Or when you try to tell that one friend who hasn't seen Wicked that it is the best thing ever and totally worth all the $$$ - but all they do is give you that look:

and probably this gesture as well:

Obviously we didn't go to the Royal Albert Hall (because it's in London) but we did watch the HQ DVD/Blu-ray version. I should probably mention, I have it, if anyone's interested. Feel free to ask me - I would probably thrust it on you anyway.

I've had a soft spot for Phantom of the Opera (POTO) ever since 2009(?) when I watched the movie version with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum. You might have garnered that from the 26 posts I did on the topic. I really did want to see it when it came to Sydney but didn't get the chance. This was the perfect solution because not only is it a professional, live recording of the show (that was broadcasted live all over the world at the time of its showing), it was also the show that celebrated the 25th anniversary, which meant that they had to make it the most perfect version possible.

Here are some screenshots of the version I watched:

Just look at the size of that hall! It was so much bigger than the scale of Wicked and The Lion King. I suppose it had to be since they only did two exclusive shows to celebrate the anniversary. Props should also go the the filming team who were able to convey the intimacy of some of the scenes whilst also incorporating a few wide shots to remind us of how full the theater/hall was.

I also loved how they modernized it a little bit to make it suitable for blu-ray release. The backdrop is actually made up of a giant screen that changes to convey setting, character close ups or dramatic, mirror effects (as you can see in that 3rd last shot). Oh and the chandelier was wired with pyrotechnics so at key points during the musical, jets of fire and sparks would fly out to show it "exploding".

I loved it. I loved every single part of it. It had the same feeling of grandeur and epic-ness that I felt while watching Wicked. I would still want to watch it in a theatre for real one day but until I manage to get another ticket to New York or Las Vegas, I would gladly watch/rewatch this version.

The actors were phenomenal as well. Sierra Boggess is absolutely stunning. Her voice is just JA;SDKJFA;SDKJFA;SDKJFA;SDJFA, you know? GAH so beautiful. When she sang, it felt like my brain was turning into mush and leaking out my ears in a rainbow, joy-filled stream. DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY FEELINGS GUYS?? DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY JOY?? Okay probably not.

And Ramin Karimloo. Oh god. I just - I can't even...

What made it even better was, to commemerate the 25th anniversary, at the end they had all the original cast members of the first ever production come out - including Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford and the man who created it all, Andrew Lloyd Webber.

It was beautiful and amazing and wonderful and even if you had no love for musical theatre, POTO or drama, you still would have loved it.

Anyway, I'll leave you guys with a taste of what I was talking about. It doesn't really do the musical justice - there is so much more I want to show you but it's just not possible. Plus, I think I'm scaring everyone with my enthusiasm... The whole musical is actually up on youtube, in a playlist mode and it's in extreme HQ as well but for anyone who wants to watch it without fragmentation, I have it. Don't be shy - just ask :)