I am currently obsessed with Steelbooks. What are SteelBooks you ask? SteelBooks are special packaging for CDs, DVDs, and other media, consisting of a metal exterior with printed artwork and an inner core of plastic. I've known them for quite a while now, but only recently have I begun looking around to buy some.

It started with the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete Blu-ray SteelBook I've been wanting for a long time. Only now did I just start trying to look for a place to buy it. But encountering so many websites, forums, and discussions on blu-ray steelbooks around the world did I become hooked on becoming a collector myself. Yeah, there's a whole big thing about collecting these things. Especially for blu-ray. Freakin' crap. I mean, I get that Blu-ray is slowly becoming more available and all. But still, can they hurry it up already? Right now there's not much Blu-ray steelbooks in the U.S. market (though there are some DVD steelbooks out there). That leads many people, like me, to import, because other countries are smart enough to make Blu-ray steelbooks. But it ain't cheap. The average blu-ray steelbook usually goes for around $50. With an expensive price tag along with the high shipping costs to import, it's a freakin pain in the butt to even think about buying one. What a bummer. I need a job.

Anywho, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete Blu-ray SteelBook (any country version) is definitely on my wishlist.

Event: Rent The Broadway Tour
October 20, 2009 Tuesday 7:30pm
Orange County Performing Arts Center - Segerstrom Hall
Costa Mesa, California USA

I watched the Broadway tour show of Rent last week. It was interesting. I didn't know it was that kind of show. I never knew anything about it, so I assumed it was one of those classic musicals like Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserable or something. But no. It's modern. Very modern. It's good, but I was confused as heck. We missed the first two songs (stupid long will call line!) but still, I couldn't comprehend most of the story. It's also hard to hear what the actors sing when they do it all at once. So this wasn't as enjoyable to me as it should've been. I still don't get some of the story. I'm gonna watch the movie sometime soon. Hopefully that'll clear things up.

Everyone's voices were good. No surprise. Lexi Lawson, who played Mimi, has a really smooth voice. Justin Johnston, who played Angel, was an absolute delight to watch. His dancing and singing are up to par. He seriously knows how to take on a stage and get a person's attention. I really liked Roger's solo, sung by Adam Pascal. It's a good song. Seriously, my heart stopped when the song started. Really emotional. I loved it! My sis told me that Anthony Rapp, who played Mark, also starred in the movie as the same character. That's cool. Gotta watch that movie now.

Again, I'm poor. So I had really far seats (as usual). It wasn't too bad though. The venue was freakin' nice! Considering I was on the third tier, the view was almost the same when I watch Phantom, probably even better. Still couldn't see the actors face expressions though. That's one of the best parts. I need a job. =\

My favorite:

Went to Las Vegas last last weekend. Stupid idea since I was so behind in writing all my papers for english. But I guess it was worth it. I watched the Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular AKA Phantom of the Opera October 10 the other Saturday. It was really cool. I loved the theater. The place was built just for the show, so the chandelier and audience balconies added a nice touch to the opera house feeling. The changing sets were so smooth, especially the lake under the opera house, it was one of the highlights of the show. Besides the singing talents of course.

Kristi Holden played Christine Daae. I was blown away from how well she sang. Her voice was just perfect. Especially during the song The Phantom of the Opera. This girl had so much control at the end and she sang it so well. Honestly, it was much better than any covers I've heard, even the 2004 movie version. And this was live too!

What sucked was that I sat so far, like second-to-the-last-row far. It would've been nice if I got to see the actors facial expressions and stuff. But tickets were expensive. Good thing there was a promotion. Got my seats for $60 instead of the normal $125. Good deal, but it still would've been nice if I was closer.

My favorite from the 2004 movie version:

Yay! Happy Birthday to me! I am a day late but whatever. I was eating cake.

Ah, I'm finally 20 years old. What mixed feelings. I'm happy, yet sad. No more am I a teen. Of course, it has its pros and cons. I still haven't accomplished much. But hopefully one day I can live up to my small dreams and become a responsible independent adult... and indulge in my entertainment while I'm at it. I like lazying around my days, watching movies and shows, asian dramas and anime, reading books and manga, all that good stuff.

My first lottery scratcher was given to me as a present. I won $200. It was awesome. All ten spots were $20, and I was thinking I might not be reading it right or it's a fake. Good thing it was neither. Now I am $200 closer to getting a PS3. Well, $180 closer. My cousin who gave it to me called for 10% of whatever I win right before I scratched it. Who knew I would win so much. I wouldn't have said okay if I did. But whatever. I'm just super thankful.

Eh. School. Oh how I hate it so. I'm too busy doing hw, or at least procrastinating to do it. But I just couldn't resist talking about the Japanese 250GB Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Edition PS3 Bundle announcement. So many updates about Final Fantasy XIII have been coming in, but this one has gotten me all excited again. Yeah, I was at first skeptical about a PS3 being white and pink in the description, but after seeing the pictures, I was immediately calculating how and when I would import it. I really do hope they make a designed limited edition PS3 bundle for the U.S.





Sources:
www.engadget.com
www.psxextreme.com

The Distant Worlds concert was awesome. I'm very glad I went. I was about to sell my tickets because my friend bailed out on me, but instead I brought my brother along. It's too bad though. I could've sold my two tickets for $400. oh well, the concert was definitely worth it. The seats we had were really close. 2nd row orchestra. It was cool. You could see Arnie Roth's (conductor) facial expressions and hear the commands he gave to the players during the performance.

Let me just say again, that our seats were really close. And for that, I'm thankful. Nobuo Uematsu passed by not too far from me as he entered the hall to go to his seat. It was freakin' awesome.

Nobuo also brought along three guests. I can't remember their names though (I'm very bad remembering Japanese names/words). But their names were familiar enough for me to know that they worked on some of the Final Fantasy music with Nobuo Uematsu. They really didn't get the attention they deserved. After all, Nobuo Uematsu was in attendance.

The encore was the best. When they mentioned that the finale was Terra's Theme, I first thought of One-Winged Angel, because it wasn't performed yet. Not playing One-Winged Angel at a Final Fantasy concert is unheard of. So I was confused whether they were going to play it or not. It only took three words coming from Nobuo for the encore to start and get me all giddy and excited. Let me tell you, it was epic.

My one greatest regret was my camera that broke a week before the concert. Seriously, when will I ever have close seats like those and have Nobuo Uematsu pass by me!? If I had a camera, those shots would've been sweet. These two girls in front of me took some nice shots of him on stage. gahh! Every time I think about it, I get so mad! Stupid camera! I guess was stupid too. I didn't think about the camera on my phone. Even so, it would've been blurry as heck. aww.. so sad..

Man, I really wanna go see Distant Worlds in Chicago. They're gonna debut J-E-N-O-V-A. But I already have a family trip planned this fall so I can't go to Chicago this year. ::sigh:: Still hoping for an L.A. premiere...

Yeah, it's late, but I can't leave my first experience at Anime Expo in my head...

This year's Anime Expo was my first time going. Since I'm not all too familiar with the anime world, I didn't do much. Which was pretty stupid considering my type of badge. As this was my first AX, it was also my first time being press (FYI, I don't work for any company. Connections connections.) But my friends and I didn't plan out anything so we were just roaming around. Seriously, we were the worst press to be there.

It was funny though. When we went to some panels, We went to the really small ones, where the press usually doesn't go to. When we used our badges to cut the lines, the people in charge were like "what? the press? here?" After a few suspicious glances, they let us in.

The only big event we went to was the Morning Musume concert, and that was totally by chance. Since we didn't want to pay for tickets 'cause we're not huge fans of the group, we headed down toward the video rooms, only to bump into a guy giving out free tickets to the concert. Apparently they expected more people to come, but the turnout wasn't so big.

Here's a press release picture of Morning Musume at the concert


Oh yeah, I saw Kel Mitchell at the exhibit hall. I never knew he was an artist. I could've taken a picture with him and got a signed poster. But the idiot that I am, I didn't bring my camera, thinking I didn't need it.

The artist alley was really cool. There was so much I wanted to buy, but I didn't have much money on me. But I did manage to buy myself a button pin. It's a moogle. It's so cute!

I just pre-ordered two copies of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, which will be released on the PSP on August 25, 2009. This is very unlike me. I usually wait a couple of months after the game is released and buy it when it's lower-priced. Yeah, I'm cheap like that. But in this case, I just couldn't resist. Promotions for Dissidia are currently running, offering bonuses with pre-orders of the game:

Amazon: Bonus special exerpts CD, a soundtrack sampler which includes 10 songs from the game



GameStop: Limited Cosmos/Chaos Slip Cases



According to the Dissidia official website, Best Buy will also have a bonus giveaway - a desktop calendar will come with your order of the game, though it's not yet stated on the Best Buy website. Ah, another temptation, but I'm not all that excited about this as much as the other bonuses. Besides, I think ordering the game three times is a bit too much.

Source: Dissidia Pre-order @ Amazon
Dissidia Pre-order @ Gamestop
Dissidia: Final Fantasy Official Website

Gahh! No more videos and pictures on imeem anymore! According to the imeem blog, "any photos or videos that you have uploaded to your profile, or to groups you’re a member of, will be removed from imeem on the 30th [June]." I found out when I was trying to upload a photo. I'm kinda sad, since I took all that time and effort to upload those videos and pics. No more game playlist to watch memorable scenes from Final Fantasy. At least now imeem can focus on their music features. I'm expecting to see some enhancements.

Source: imeem blog

So I live in SoCal. But I bought tickets (very expensive ones) to see the Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY concert in San Francisco. It's gonna be sweet. They recently announced that Nobuo Uematsu will be in attendance. This guy is a music legend. I guess you could say he's my composer idol. Now I'm even more excited to go. There's also a post-show party, which Nobuo Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth will attend for a meet-and-greet. What!? Greet and pics w/ Nobuo and Arnie!? I'm there!..... or so I thought. It turns out the party will be held at a 21+ lounge. *shaking fist* Damn this cursed fate. I'm really considering making fake ids. I'm only two years behind. Why couldn't it be an 18+ event? What bittersweet news I must endure.

Event: Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY
July 18, 2009
8:00 PM
Davies Symphony Hall
San Francisco, CA

Event: Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY Post-Show Party
July 18, 2009
10:30 PM – ?
Crimson Lounge
San Francisco, CA

Source: www.ffdistantworlds.com