About

I’m just your (not-so)average fangirl, who watches, reads, and listens to far too many things from far too many places, all at the same time. Am I obsessed with international pop-culture? Definitely, but I have no regrets, aside from a perpetually overstocked backlog of DVDs, books, and CDs.

The signs pointing to my current state of existence started back in 1996, when I put together my very first celebrity fan webpage at the tender age of 14. To whom did I first declare my youthful admiration? It was to none other than James Shigeta, an Asian American actor I knew best from the movie musical Flower Drum Song and an old LP I stole from was given by my (very Japanese) grandmother. She used to play it between her records of Elvis, Michael Jackson, and shamisen classics.

My second fansite was dedicated to Russell Crowe (appropriately and ever-so originally dubbed The Crowe’s Nest) at a time when the only thing he was known for in the U.S. was the wonderfully campy spaghetti western, The Quick and the Dead, which I watched on VHS until the tape wore out. Even then I had a soft spot for all things Sam Raimi. The only thing I found lacking in TQATD was the fact that Bruce Campbell wasn’t in it.

In addition to my somewhat unorthodox childhood tastes was an almost fanatical need to make lists of everything and an overwhelming curiosity that I’m sure drove my parents and grandparents to distraction. Were you ever in a closed space, like an airplane, with a child who apparently only knew the word “why?” If it was in the mid-eighties, that very well may have been me.

Being obsessed with everything even remotely artsy, I eventually landed at Yale University where I learned to dissect and analyze everything and anything to within an inch of its life. And that’s only what I did for fun!

After four years filled with English and theater classes, I went out into the “real world” and landed an editorial assistant gig with a luxury magazine. There I learned how to do a crazy number of things not covered in High Modern Novel 356, like how to put together proposals and contracts, in addition to how to book seats on completely sold out flights. I even got to write about exquisite things I couldn’t possibly afford, but coveted all the same.

Since then, I’ve continued to have good luck at finding situations that feed my detail-fixated and curious nature – from buyer for a DVD and CD retailer to para-legal, where I learned that “legal brief” is a misnomer of the worst kind. These days, I spend my working hours researching, planning, plotting, scheming, and writing about things I absolutely love, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m a voracious reader, particularly of manga, manwha and comic books, but I’m definitely not averse to reading material consisting of larger chunks of text, regardless of what my shelves might attest to. I definitely go through phases where I’ll devour bestseller after bestsellar along with the occasional trashy romance novel. There’s just something about art-centric storytelling, however, that has always appealed to me, even as a kid. I still remember going through dusty boxes of my father’s old comic collection and pouring over age-tinted pages depicting Batman’s crime fighting escapades and Hal Jordan’s foundation of the Justice League of America.

It’s probably no surprise, then, that I’m also incredibly fond of all kinds of animation – from stop-motion Rankin-Bass classics to Kino’s Journey. I’m a sucker for tales spawned from Tim Burton’s rather beautifully demented vision, and if a story involves fantasy or sword fighting in some way, it’s a fairly safe bet that I’ll watch and enjoy it.

I adore movies from every genre, but, as I mentioned, I definitely have a soft spot for all things fantasy based. I’m one of those people who needed to own all three versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and while I will freely admit that Viggo Mortensen is hella easy on the eyes, my fondness for the of film series mainly stemmed from a love Tolkien’s books that goes all the way back to my early childhood. From French arthouse movies to screwball comedies and sci-fi/fantasy epics, I’m totally not snobby about unabashedly loving anything that entertains me.

When not reading or watching DVDs, I’m almost always listening to music, and there’s a rotating door of artists on my weekly playlist – from Mr. Children and Super Junior to Bob Dylan and the Fugees. If I had to pick one particular “style” of music I listen to more than any other, I guess I’d have to say it’s either indie rock/folk (Iron & Wine, PoPoyans, José González, etc.) or electronic pop (Imogen Heap, Kate Havnevik, Floppy, etc.), but of course then I have favorite artists like Arashi, Gackt and Paramore that don’t really fit in either category.

In general, I like discovering new things, and I have a tendency to try and find the interesting aspects of whatever I’m exposed to.

This blog is my experiment in expressing the (mostly positive) opinions I end up with whenever I encounter…well, pretty much anything. Almost everything you’ll find here is a recommendation rather than a review, so if you’re on the hunt for something to read, watch, or listen to, I hope you’ll find it amongst my pages.