The Freddie Mercury Story: Who Wants To Live Forever

I just finished watching this and OMG! The reenactments continuously jumped between "So bad, they're good," and, "Bad. Just really bad!"

I appreciated the actor playing Freddie (John Blunt) clearly wanting to do right by Freddie, but the writing, other actors, and probable budget and licensing issues made me pause a few times because, "That's not what Freddie's Garden Lodge bedroom looked like! ... Freddie didn't smoke in 1975! ... That's not how the conversation went down when he and Mary broke up! ... etc." And then there was the one astonishingly TERRIBLE attempt at a New York/American accent! Although that might be a dig at every time an American tries any sort of English accent...

But I think some of the Queen fandom will rejoice when they see how Freddie and Roger act in this. Like the writers saw all the internet posts that have ever shipped Freddie and Roger and were like, "let's do a not-so-subtle nod to that!"

Here's a Youtube link for anyone who wants to see this in all its... glory? I guess?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz67iGphRU8

The Great Pretender

I just got a package from my counterpart! She sent me the book/DVD combo of The Great Pretender! Well, the book has a bonus interview CD. I'm SO excited!!!

Audrey's note reads, "with love always! audrey mercury XOXOX"

My favorite part that just barely surpasses the AWESOME of these gifts is that I actually had to switch my books with my random stuff to fit the Great Pretender book. I can't wait to watch the DVD :-)

THANK YOU again, Audrey! You'll be getting a present soon!!!

More stuff

The other day I popped into Porter Square Books and found a copy of The Complete Illustrated Lyrics. They don't always have books about Queen, so it's special when they do (my only complaint about the store is they carry Dan Savage's book). It's nice to see samples of written lyrics that I haven't seen before - like A Winter's Tale and The Hitman. Also, the songs are all listed alphabetically rather than by album. I was initially annoyed by that, but I think it's growing on me because I could appreciate how each of Queen's albums are all different from each other.

I also finally watched Under Review: 1980-1991. I can't quite express a reason yet, but I liked 1973-1980 a lot more. Maybe because that one had a guy demonstrating some of Brian's riffs on guitar..? Maybe because it inevitably turned into The Freddie Mercury Show? I'm just saying, if they could take the time to talk about the Mr Bad Guy album - even though this series is supposed to be all about Queen, they could talk about Brian and Roger's solo projects as well. Maybe just mention that they'd done stuff on their own...

In other news, it's Mother's Day here. So here's a picture of some old lady!

For those who've been living under a rock, that's Jer Bulsara - Freddie's mum. So thanks, Jer, for raising my hero and allowing him to be the greatest thing ever in the whole, entire world!

Days Of Our Lives DVD and other stuff

I now own it!

I'm still saving up for a Blu-ray player, though.

I also want to try starting the process of rebuilding my shrine in March. This will eventually involve traveling out to IL to get my stuff from my dad's house (all the more exciting because I don't own a car or drive). My closet is not a proper place for what cool shit I do have in my apartment! But my shrine will probably not be anywhere near as fucking badass as Andy's Queen Room.

I'm also planning on seeing Gunpowder Gelatine again on March 31st. I invited my girlfriend's roommate this time because I just recently learned that he's a Queen fan, and he's a cool guy in general. I really do love having local fans in my life! Well... I love having local fans who aren't really fucking annoying in my life.

Killer Queen documentary

I just finished listening to the final part of the Killer Queen documentary on Absolute Radio (mentioned here). It's the kind of thing, while listening, I imagined every single person I've ever encountered who never understood why I loved this band, and could easily picture myself telling them to listen to that program if they really want to know what the big deal is.

The music alone should be enough, but it doesn't always make for a strong case. I often tell people that there are no words to explain my love for Queen or Freddie. I'm beginning to think that maybe I just haven't tried hard enough.

I don't think I'm quite ready to put what words I can grasp here yet, but I will work on it.

Queen Season on Absolute Radio

Woot.

Part one of the upcoming documentary, Killer Queen, will air on Absolute Classic Rock on August 22 at 8pm GMT, which is 3pm EST. Part two will air the next day at the same time. There's a whole lot of shit going on, but since I don't live in the UK, I'm probably not eligible to win £500 ($816). Damn. Or tickets to the Freddie For A Day birthday party. Even more damn!

More follow-up

In the Days Of Our Lives documentary, Brian had said in the 70's that people of all sexes were their audience.

All sexes. Not "both." I can't say whether this was a slip or totally intentional, but as someone who's aware that there are more than two sexes, it means the world to me that he said it.

Follow-up

I finished watching the US premiere of the Days Of Our Lives documentary. I'm awfully glad I caught it on Youtube because the BBC Two version seems less censored (for reals. They fuzzed out the single cover for Fat Bottomed Girls. SHE HAD PAINTED-ON PANTIES, FOR FUCK SAKE!). Also, the US Biography channel doesn't seem to have a sensible rhythm for their commercial breaks.

Still, it's a pretty amazing thing to watch. I tried "pre-gaming" and watched my copy of The Making Of A Night At The Opera, and got through less than ten minutes of the special the A&E channel ran on Freddie in 2009 (thank you, Youtube!) and got bored and annoyed. I've always believed that Queen fans should always be consulted on these things. The narrator mentioned Freddie's father and instead of showing that grainy picture of Freddie sitting with his dad in the 70's, they had a picture of Roger Cooke, Freddie's brother-in-law! Christ! It's one thing to get a date wrong, but holy fucking hell!


Jer Bulsara, Freddie, Bomi Bulsara


Roger Cooke, his and Kash's son, Jer Bulsara, Kashmira Cooke

Note how un-Freddie-like Roger looks! Good god...

Days Of Our Lives

I got word that Days Of Our Lives will be premiering in the US on June 27, 8pm (20:00) EST. I'm really excited to tune in but I'm also impatient, so I caught both parts on Youtube (the poster was extraordinarily gracious).

Being a Freddie fan, I actually really like that it wasn't essentially The Freddie Mercury Show. But I would have liked to see more archived interviews with John (by the way, the dust jacket on the book by Mark Blake doesn't even fucking mention him. WTF, Mark??!!). Although I'm willing to bet that he didn't really do a lot of interviews. Sad. I won't spoil anything, but there was a small part where a bunch of fans were singing Killer Queen and it reminded me that Queen fans were my first community... or at least a sense of not being totally alone (a mixture of pre-teen angst and being queer and growing up in the Midwest). Granted, I don't like a lot of them and as a result, I come off as a sanctimonious prick, but the first ones I met on OIQFC still make me smile, even if I haven't talked to many of them in years. Good times!

What was really strange, after I finished the last part of the documentary, I turned on my favorite radio station just in time for A Kind Of Magic to start playing! It was weird and awesome!

Peter "Ratty" Hince has a book publishing in October this year. I'm not sure if I'll buy it (right away), but it's pretty exciting. Also, I caught Thomas Crane's performance of Radio Ga Ga a couple days ago, and I laughed so hard when one of the judges was surprised that Thomas was doing "something phallic" with the mic. Because Freddie Mercury would NEVER have done such a thing!









Maybe those are all just coincidences...

Oh shit (00:14).