My Facebook account is now a page!

Hey folks. If you want to reach me on Facebook, you can do so by clicking here. I can't do anything on my TGTRLQ account unless I change the name on it, and I don't see a reason to do that. For one thing, I already have my own personal account, and also the name policy is arbitrarily and sometimes wrongfully enforced. Not that the latter applies to me, but it makes it all the more annoying.

So like my page! I want to be able to connect with you!

'Cause I'm only left with my own jealousy

So my friend Julieta (hola/hi!) gave me permission to share a link describing an AMAZING couple of days! I don't think I've simultaneously adored and hated someone since the first time my counterpart met Brian May! I actually sat stunned for several minutes looking at the picture of Julieta HOLDING THE RED SPECIAL!!! LIKE, THAT'S THE GUITAR YOU HEAR ON QUEEN II OMG!!! And that's just ONE highlight! Her entry is in Spanish, with an English version below that. Read it. Enjoy it. Know that she's better than you in every single way :-)

Julieta's post - Brian May: White King

Julieta, me alegra que hayas tenido un tiempo increible!

October is awesome, revisited

Between meeting my counterpart, meeting and getting Brian May's autograph, going to see Gunpowder Gelatine at the end of the month, getting a LOT of Tumblr followers (hi, folks!), and my cat willingly sitting in my lap yesterday (she's snuggly, and she'll curl up on my chest, but laps have never seemed to be her thing), I thought I had raked in all the awesome possible for this month! But then I got an email this morning from a friend I pet sit for, offering to buy me a ticket to We Will Rock You in Boston!

Hello, Zander --
Are you interested in seeing the play, "We Will Rock You"? It is playing at the Boston Opera House.
Discounted tickets are available right now on Goldstar and Toni and I would like to give you a mezzanine ticket as a cat-sitter-thank-you. The date available is Tues., Nov. 5th at 7:00pm.
But we understand if you don't want to go alone, or hoof it into the city solo, or if the date does not work for you, so don't feel obligated to say yes.

Tell me what works for you!

My cool and dignified response...

YES! OMG THANK YOU!

--

I'm a believer in karma, so now I'm wondering what I did to deserve such wonderful friends and opportunities. I'm also wondering if maybe something terrible is about to happen (not counting Lou Reed's passing yesterday. RIP) and my interpretation of G-d is trying to soften the blow! But I'm trying to put my cynicism aside, ignore the pervasive thoughts that come with debilitating anxiety and depression, and appreciate what's happening.

Misc awesome

I get fan mail once in a blue moon. It's always wonderful, but I definitely needed it this week!

You are consistently and thoroughly one of the best blogs on here. Just wanted to voice my appreciation. May the clogs and frilly shirts be with you always.

Thank you, dungeonpeaches, for the kind words :-)

How I felt after I read it. Freddie laughing, his hand on his chest

Also, a friend and I were wandering Davis Square in search of coffee (coffee itself isn't hard to find there, but seating is a different matter altogether), and we decided to check Diesel first. Not surprisingly, there were no seats available on that Friday afternoon, but I noticed something that made me yell, "OMG!!" and scare the shit out of my friend (sorry, Bailey!)...

Painting of Freddie circa 1981 on a painted, brick background

I don't know who made it, but I do know that I wouldn't be able to afford it. And that sucks, because I have plenty of wall space to hang that... if a Diesel employee should be reading this... No? Okay, then!

Speaking of Davis Square, Gunpowder Gelatine are performing at Johnny D's on April 6th! And! Because April 5th is a significant date in my life, I asked if they could perform Spread Your Wings. They said yes! That thing pressing you closer and closer to your screen is my ego continuing to inflate.

And We Will Rock You is going to tour North America! I'm tempted to grab all of my Queen fan friends and watch the shit out of it when it comes to Boston (it fucking well better. I'm still not over Queen Extravaganza not coming back)!

97/100 followers!

Only got 97 Tumblr followers - which is huge, since I had only 88 at the beginning of February! But don't worry, I'll be sending The Mercury Phoenix Trust $5! Thank you all so much!

95 followers!

This is pretty amazing! Thank you all! But there's been a change in plans...

Instead of 120 Tumblr followers, I'm only going to ask for 100! That's right! I will donate $10 to The Mercury Phoenix Trust if I get 100 followers by March 1st!

A request

As I write this, I have 87 followers on Tumblr (hi, folks!). I'd like to increase that number without putting forth a lot of effort, so I'm going to make it interesting.

If I get at least 120 followers on Tumblr by 12AM EST on March 1st (the date John Deacon joined Queen in 1971), I will donate $10 to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. I wish I could give more, but I'm too poor to put in any more than that. But if YOU are able to put in where I can't, they have a page telling you how to donate.

Also, you can send me a friend request on Facebook, but that doesn't have anything to do with the above. I'm just trying to promote myself while I'm at it.

That Guy's cat

Because my cat is awesome.

I hope you all enjoy your respected December holidays! Thank you for helping make mine more awesome :-)

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving/National Day Of Mourning here in the US, and I wanted to take a minute to say that I'm thankful to have you reading and following my blog. I'm also thankful for Queen's music - but that should go without saying. I know these days a lot of Queen fans piss me off, and that makes me appreciate the ones that don't that much more!

Here's a video of Jimmy Fallon and The Roots performing (read: miming) We Will Rock You at the Macy's Day Parade this year.

Happy new year

Tenementdrowser wrote down my title and I thought it was too awesome not to share.



I hope everyone has a fantastic 2012!

More links!

I just got an email from a person named Violeta, and they asked me to talk about their sites.

There's The March Of The Black Queen, which has some pretty stunning pictures (I may have to steal some). There's also a site dedicated to Queen member's families and relationships, and a Yahoo Group.

For reals. Get in touch with me and I will get back to you! And I might even fulfill a reasonable request or two!

Yay links!

I got asked to check out Queen Poland, which is a pretty excellent site from what I've seen so far. Check it out if you have the time. If nothing else, look at all the fantastic pictures!

If you would like me to check out and mention a Queen/Freddie-related site or blog here, or whatever - I would love and prefer an email (zander8605 at gmail dot com), rather than see the same comment on multiple posts. That's spam, kids. But I want you to get in touch with me! I don't have much going on so I will respond to you!

Holy crap! People read this now!

Before I get started, hi new followers I didn't have to ask to follow me! Your presence is appreciated!

Queenzone is a great site. I've been a member for years, sometimes participating in great discussion forums, sometimes staying away for several months because I just can't handle the stupidity like, "I say we all buy tickets to the Cosmos Rocks tour... AND THEN BURN THEM! BECAUSE PAUL RODGERS SUCKS!"

Although sometimes the stupid can be fun. I don't watch Reality TV so on occasion I just can't help but read and/or participate. My favorite so far has to be someone sincerely believing that Brian May's dislike of the track Don't Stop Me Now was because he was homophobic. ... I'm still raging about that. First off, Brian worked with Freddie for 20+ years. They've performed on stage together 704 times. That's 704 times where Freddie got all up in Brian's personal space. Secondly, let's not forget Freddie's infamous 38th birthday party (the Living On My Own video) which Brian attended... dressed as a witch. Freddie's parties tended to be really fucking gay (not meant in an insulting way).

I know homophobic people. Homophobic people would not want to be around Freddie Mercury. I know a guy who claims to have walked out at the end of a US Queen concert because Freddie was rocking the short shorts! I'm willing to entertain the possibility that Brian might be conservative about homosexuality, but he sure as shit isn't homophobic.



Anyway... Queenzone! It looks impressive and fancy, but there's a couple things that have bothered me for a long time. First, the picture galleries. Members can submit pictures of the band and the shit's not moderated. As of today, the Freddie Mercury gallery alone holds 5661 pictures... but how many of those are repeats? Not to mention, some pictures are mis-categorized.


Okay, Freddie rocking the crown and cape. I've probably seen this 50 times in the entire gallery.

Second, the site routinely experiences server crashes. My guess is it has a lot to do with people being fucking stupid about the pictures. And maybe the server itself is just crappy. Who knows? It's kind of my really geeky dream to have Richard Orchard email me and ask me to sift through all the picture galleries and moderate everything. That would be really tedious and awesome!