5 Fandom Friday (17)

5 Fandom Friday is a geek-blogger community building project started and hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick. Every Friday, post a top 5 list based on a predetermined topic that can be found in this post which has topics through April- you can also find more info on the project there. Participate as frequently or infrequently as you like, and if a topic doesn't especially appeal to you, feel free to put your own twist on it.

This week's theme: 5 Times I Totally Fangirled

I think there are too many times, and maybe some of these times are embarrassing? Hah. Let's start with the most recent.

1) HAMILTON musical - There's this incredible hip-hop musical about my history crush Alexander Hamilton off-Broadway right now (it's going to be ON Broadway in the summer), and I just can't stop thinking or talking about it. Because it is amazeballs, and not just because it's about my favorite Founding Father. It's the whole package: music, content, staging, acting, story, and on and on.


So obviously, I was totally embarrassing when I met Javier Muñoz (left), who played Hamilton at the matinee I saw, and the creative force who made this whole thing (and is usually Hamilton as well) Lin-Manuel Miranda (right) - who I clearly should've been fangirl-ing more before but alas the world of musical theater is something I am only casually a fan of (as in, I like musicals and theater but am not very knowledgeable about the world?). Needless to say, LMM is the ish and I'm hooked.

See this thing in NYC if you can. Believe the hype. (I need to go back. Also, will I ever stop being so embarrassing? Word vomit is so real.)


2) Peter S. Beagle at SDCC - The Last Unicorn is arguably my favorite book ever (and it was my favorite movie growing up), so when I stumbled upon the author himself at a booth in Artists Alley at Comic Con last year (while being frustrated about lines at another booth), it was kind of amazing. I'm not someone who gets overcome with emotion in a choked up way, but this was probably the first time I was anywhere close to that - much to my surprise.


Guess it's true what they say about books being life-changing, and Mr. Beagle was such a delight! I got my books signed and he told me a story, and it was fan-freaking-tastic.


3) Tom Hiddleston at Nerd HQ / SDCC - Do I even need to explain this? This man is too much, and thanks to the generosity of fellow fangirls, I made it into his super sold out panel at Nerd HQ in 2013. I couldn't keep the stupid grin off my face the entire time. Celebrity-crushing to the max - like honestly, how is this guy real?

Afterwards, the Sis and I chatted with our friend, who had also been inside but in like the front row) about it, and we were just in a surreal daze that it had happened at all. It was the best end to my first SDCC ever.


4) Hugh Dancy / Hannibal at SDCC - The Comic Con gods were kind to us our first and second years at the convention when it came to Hannibal, the Sis & my favorite show (currently) on TV. Our 1st SDCC, we ran into Hugh Dancy in a hallway (the day after the Hannibal panel that we barely made it into), and he was super sweet & stopped for a pic. Our 2nd SDCC, we managed to get wristbands for the Hannibal signing at the Lionsgate booth.


Of course, we fangirled at Bryan Fuller (who is so friendly and warm), but really, the highlight of that signing was our squeeing over Raúl E. Esparza - not over his role on Hannibal (which is great) but over his role as ADA Barba on Law & Order: SVU! To our geeky joy, he was very enthusiastic about that too. XD


5) Harry Potter Studio Tour - Last February, the Sis and I flew to the U.K. to see Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus (yes, more fangirling) and to realize the dream of going on to Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross and the Harry Potter Studio Tour. My college roommie joined us for the Harry Potter fun, and we had the best time ever.

We're clearly having way too much fun outside No. 4 Privet Drive.

There was so much fangirling as we entered the Great Hall that all of our first few pictures came out blurry (pic on the left is the 1st pic I took upon entering); our hands were literally shaking from excitement. It was straight up magical.



Bonus: Backstreet Boys because I'm pretty sure this is where it all began, and it was probably the true height of my fangirling. I have the posters and VHS recordings to prove it. Not to mention, I will never not know the lyrics to like 95% of their discography (the 5% being mostly their new stuff). Plus, BSB obsession is what brought me and my best friends together, and even to this day, the shared memories of this time in the late 90s/early 00s have helped me bond with new(er) friends! So when I think about fangirling, I kind of always think of them first & the intensity of my emotions about BSB as a tween, haha.