Sufjan Stevens, Federer angst, and vids

[bop_radar]

Guess who I saw play my favourite venue this week, snarkist?! Sufjan! It was absolutely brilliant. He (and his color-coordinated band) wore wings for most of the concert. At first I was thrown by his hatless-ness, but he managed to wear both a cap and a floppy cowboy hat into the ensemble at times. Oh, and a 'space jacket' at one stage, too. :)

He was completely adorable and I definitely wound up a bit in love with him. He gave such earnest little lessons about US geography between songs, as well as personal anecdotes about his childhood fears. But my favourite part was the hula hoop routine--it was a glowing fluoro hoop and he had his (Australian) teacher dance on stage with him. That man has nice hips. :) And can pull off white pants, which is a talent in itself, surely? Also, I heart his band so much! The girls especially were adorable--and they were wearing these cute puffy Snow White sleeves on their t-shirts.

The visuals accompanying each track were really impressive, they played a lovely long set and seemed to genuinely enjoy and appreciate the audience. As is to be expected, it was a slow, contemplative concert but they definitely built their own peaks and crescendos. They played 'Jackson' in a beautiful encore, which is a favourite of mine.

And Sufjan said they didn't want to leave Australia because the lifestyle was so good. We can keep him, yes?! :D

Right now I'm watching Roger Federer play Tipsarevic, and I'm fretting coz it's gone into a fourth set. Federer's my favourite player on the men's circuit, and I desperately want him to win this year's Open--I know it means a lot to him, since he's so adorably respectful of the Australian tennis tradition. Come on, Roger! Don't fret! (He looks fretty! :() Phew, he broke serve. *wipes brow*

counteragent is running a new-to-me vid-watching challenge this coming week. The challenge is to watch a new vid (preferably from a vidder you don't know) every day for a week from 21-28 Jan. I've signed up. Anyone wanna join me? :D

Also, if you haven't yet seen counteragent's tribute to vidding, Destiny Calling, then you're missing a meta-y treat. And it features some of my favourite vids! :D

ETA: WOW, what a match! And aww, he's such a gent.

Comments

[dionusia.livejournal.com]

I was so happy R Fed won too, WT!

What I thought was so funny was that even in the second set when it was close, all the commentators started to flail and said "What an upset this would be if he lost!" Which, given Federer's record and ability to be a clutch player, I thought was rather premature. HE IS A GOD OF THE RACKET, YO! But give his opponent credit. Hell of a match.

The Sufjan concert sounds awesome, I'm so glad you had a good time!

I'm at home sick. Bleh. But I'm sneaking into LJ. :)

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

:D

ITA re. the commentators--I was all 'pfft! are you mad?! It's FEDERER.' But then even I started to get the jitters in the fifth set, because Feds did miss some opportunities--but I don't know if you saw the post-match interview they did on court, but I thought he was so cute and sheepish about that 'I just tried to block those from my mind'. And when he said 'yeah, it does cross your mind...' about losing?! *flails* I think it's just so cute that even though he is a tennis GOD, he thinks 'hmm, I might lose!' And then, of course, DOESN'T.

Should I make you some honey lemon drink? :(

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

Regarding the Federer match, what day of the event is it on? I ask because in the US they're showing Day 6 today, and I'm wondering if that includes Federer or not. I really like to watch him.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

Never mind! I'm now watching the Federer match on USA TV. Yay!

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was Day 6. It was a brilliant match.

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

Vid-watching challenge? What kind of a challenge is that? ;) Needless to say, I'm in. *goes to pimp*

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Yeah, I was like 'wheeee! a challenge I can actually complete!!!' :D

[snarkist.livejournal.com]

YAYS!! Sufjan is always a good show, and he has the cutest back-up band in the world. Although it sounds like you got to see an especially cool one. I've seen them with the wings and cute outfits, but hula hoops! I didn't get that.

Did he play "The Predatory Wasp..."? He played an awesome rendition of that at both shows I've seen, and it's totally one of my favorites to see live. I love "Jackson" too, so that must have been very awesome as an encore.

Yay for you! Except you don't get to keep him! I think we should at least get joint custody. That seems fair. *g*

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Hula hoop was a definite plus. He claimed he'd been taking lessons since in Aus and he had a cute spiel about how it was really good exercise because you just got to stand in one spot and watch tv. :) He was rather good for an amateur though, but he did drop the hoop a bit and knock it into the electric guitar stand to the despair of the rest of the band.

He DID play 'The Predatory Wasp' live! And it was definitely a highlight--not one I'd expected to be so awesome live. He started with early Swans stuff, then Say Yes! to Michigan and built up to Chicago. Also John Wayne Gacy totally gave me shivers/creeps live.

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

Hi Bop, I'm in with the vidding challenge. I'll sometimes do two posts in a day but I'll manage it. It's already fun. :-)

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Whee yay! I can't wait to do my first day. :)

[siljamus]

Several days later and I'm still revelling in the glory of that match (which also happens to be the only one I've managed to watch so far). Australian Open has always been one of the first indicators that things (aka. the seasons) are moving in the right direction and spring shall be here before long.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

'Twas a glorious match, indeed!

I owe you an email. I will get to that, promise!

[siljamus]

No worries on the email front. We'll get to it when we get to it *g*