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 Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 8:28 am
'Least it should be known that Queen has a huge following in Japan. Japan loves Queen. Very much. And with every love for Queen there is an artist out there somewhere drawing fanart of the great band... I'll stop rambling!  Yeah, Freddie made it to a cover of an art book. I've never heard of the artist before, but I'll go and Google it.
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Posted: Wed May 03, 2006 7:03 am
New article, and new video (I Was Born to Love You) in the videos post in page 5 whee I'm the Greatest Pretender of All!
Thanks to Mr-Bad-Guy.com Read original articleQuote: Freddie Mercury is many things. A chameleon. A missing peer. A consummanate performer both with his beat combo Queen and, fearlessly, alone. In the video for his new single, "The Great Pretender", he faces up to the many faces of his past, present and future (and shaves off his moustache!!!)...
Chris Heath swoons.
"I'm wearing my heart like a crown," croons Freddie Mercury for the fourth or fifth time today. He looks worried. In his left hand he's got a crown which he's cradling againtst his shiny pink suit as he stands halfway up a 46-flight staircase especially constructed in a Wembley film studio. Behind him are two cardboard cut-outs -- of himself from last year dressed up in regal robes and wearing the very same crown. He glances at them, and at the crown in his hand, glares at the director and suddenly makes a decision.
"Naff, isn't it?" he announces.
The 20 or 30 people in the building -- all slaving away through the night to finish this video (for his new solo single "The Great Pretender") stop in their tracks. "I had a feeling it was going to be naff," he continues. "Shall we go home?"
The last bit is, of course, a joke. It's "only" 11 o'clock in the evening, and even if things run smoothly they'll all be hard-pressed to get away away before three or four am. And now, quite plainly, the scene they have just been filming is going to be scrapped. "Let's forget it," he confirms. "Let's have a break while we think of something else."
Five minutes later a decision is made. He will just film non-stop perfomance of the song on the stairs and the footage can be used to fill any gaps that they may be left with at the end of the night. The music starts and suddenly Freddie Mercury -- 40 years old posh celebrity -- turns into Freddie Mercury, the pop star whom people all over the world will swear was the "highlight of Live Aid" and "the greatest performer in the world". He twirls, he waves his arms, he arches his head back to the ceiling, he snatches in front of him and he belts out the song (an old '50s ballad made famous by The Platters) so convincingly that it's hard to believe he's only miming. By the time he is half way through, every eye in the building is watching and everyone seems to have completely forgotten their fatigue. Even someone who thought that Queen were the worst group in the world would be gasping at this display. As the last notes fade away everyone -- the camera operators, the lighting technicians, the catering staff, the photographer, the roadies and so on -- burst into a genuinely spontaneous round of applause. Slowly the noise fades. The silence is broken by the director.
"One more, Fred," he chirps.
Freddie Mercury grins in exasperation.
"b*****d."
It may well be that when the finished version of "The Great Pretender" is first shown on TV (probably some time in the next week), it'll seem slightly ridiculous that any scene would possibly have been cut for "being naff". Because, to be honest, the whole thing is extremely close to being incredibly naff -- at the very least it's preposterously over-the-top in the wonderfully excessive way that nearly everything Freddie Mercury does is. The first two days have been spent recreating exact scenes from seven previous Queen or Freddie Mercury videos -- "It's A Hard Life", "I Want To Break Free", "Made In Heaven", "I Was Born To Love You", "Radio Ga Ga", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- with Freddie appearing in various states of eccentric dress or undress. He's even -- gasp! -- shaved off his moustache and those famous protruding teeth can be seen again.
"Are you the Great Pretender?" asks one of Freddie's friends.
"I don't know what I am!" he retorts.
Today the "modest" schedule involves several scenes spent prancing round on this gigantic staircase past lifesize cut-outs of some of his many guises over the years, followed by a grand finale surrounded by four hundred lifesize cardboard cut-outs. At the end all 400 of them may or may not topple over (this is debated constantly throughout the evening), Freddie eventually deciding "I think it's going to be a mess".
And even all this is a skimpy cheap version of Freddie's earlier idea - rejected as over-ambitious - that he should fly in over the white cliffs of Dover in a helicopter and land amongst a field full of cardboard looakalikes.
Watching Freddie saunter around in the flesh just feet away, it's clear that this flamboyance isn't just put on for the cameras. Though for much of the time he stands quietly with friends (signalling to his assistant every time he wants a sip of water from a cup a few feet away), now and then he says or does something unbearably rude and extroverted. One moment he'll indulge in all sorts of "odd" horseplay with his mates, the next he'll be chatting away in his clipped, extremely snooty voice and out will shoot a completely unprintable word or quip, after which he usually giggles uproariously. In front of the camera he entertains the whole room. He cheeks the director constantly ("whatever you want, mistress" he coos when he told to do something), sticks his backside towards the camera and chuckles "is this a good end shot?" (har har) and at one stage suddenly announces that they will have to take a break. But why? "I want to have," he announces loud and clear with maximum theatricality, "a dump."
Oh.
A couple of years back Smash Hits christened this man Load Frederick Lucan of Mercury because of the completely obvious fact that he actually is the fugitive peer Load Lucan (except he isn't). Little did we realise how this would spread. In a break from filming, two members of his entourage are looking at the huge cut-outs of their boss ("not over the top at all," sniggers one) and whispering to each other.
"He does," laughs one, "look rather like Load Lucan, doesn't he?"
True.
"I might get one of those cut-outs," says the other, "for my children to play darts with."
Luckily Freddie hears nothing of this as he's now back on the set, leaping down the stairs past a host of his past incarnations. "It looks great," enthuses the director, "you coming down the hallway of fame."
"Infamy," titters Freddie (quite correctly).
Moments later, as he climbs to the top for another "take", one of the cut-outs spookily crashes over of its own accord.
"I just dropped dead!" exclaims Freddy merrily.
Quite.
And on it all continues, Freddie taking surprisingly large hand, virtually directing the video himself, acting each scene out to perfection and usually deciding before the cameramen whether anything has gone wrong. He also pops upstairs for the odd rest (at one point in the afternoon having a cosy chat about the variety of the climbing plant wisteria called bougainvillaea, fact fans), jokes about inventing a game involving all the title silver balls (planets, I suspect) hanging from the ceiling which could "rival Trivial Pursuit", jollies everyone along, and gradually edges closer to completing one of the most monstrously brilliant videos ever conceived.
Just before we all go home for a well-deserved night's "kip", a friend of Load Frederick's arrives. Freddie strides over and says "hello m'dear". His friend stares open-mouthed at the unbelievable set in front of him. Catching his expression Freddie grins proudly, obviously rather chuffed by this reaction. "It was," he beams, "supposed to be a simple video."
Quite.
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Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:09 am
Interesting Queen sites
Some useful, some interesting, some shocking... Note: The comments I give about the sites below are my opinions. Don't take it seriously, like they say, "don't knock it till you've tried it."QueenZONENot entirely my favorite Queen site, as the forums there are quite lackluster (though, this is just my humble opinion), but they have a very extensive picture gallery >w< Queen OnlineIf you're looking for interesting facts, then keep on searching buddy. Though the online store boasts a handful of lovely merchandise, they're a bit steep and you can find much better offers on e-bay. The forums there are an interesting read, and the site also posts up the latest news on Queen (so if you need to de-bunk a piece of 'recent news' from a fan site, this is the place to do it.) Popo: I just wanted to say, while Queen Online as a site is not very informative, the forums are really great. Lots of pictures, some of them hard to find/rare. smile The Official Brian May websiteFor all you Mayniacs out there. The site is pretty self explanitory, since it's all about Brian and Queen. You can also send him an email (and who knows, he might reply to it) or read his Soapbox. Queen ConcertographyNeeded to figure out which date a certain tour was on? Wanted to know where Queen held their infamous gigs in the 70's? You can find all that and more at this site >w< Deaky.com (English version)A Deaky tribute site run by the ever faithful Mami-san. A lot of interesting facts and tidbits on the 'dark horse of Queen'. Mr. Bad GuyAnother Japanese fan site, this time the focus is on Freddie. Several interesting articles here and there, both in Japanese and English. So there's something for everyone here XD The UNofficial Roger Taylor SiteA fansite made by Taylor-ettes for the Taylor-ettes. Though not entirely a Roger-fan myself, I love the collection they have about our favourite (and cranky) drummer xd They also have an interesting forum where me and Popo got our 5-minutes of fame in the Fan Art section *rofl* Jimmy May's Web Kingdom*sniggers* Web Kingdom?? Yes, this is in fact, Jimmy May, son of Brian May's, site. A handful of interesting things about the big-haired guitarist, and also some humourous roadie-tales. He's even got a fan club of his own! Peter Hince EditionsPeter Hince (aka Ratty), John and Freddie's roadie. A nice little compilation of pictures, though the site doesn't have much to offers and aforementioned pictures are small, but an interesting find no less. Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock GodTwo sites dedicated to the 2004 play of the legendary rock god: Freddie
- The 'official' site of the play itself >w<
Fansite
- The fan site of the play, which includes reviews from fans, as well as pictures of the actor who plays Freddie in full dress >w< Will add more as I find more whee heart
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Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 2:30 am
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 7:48 pm
 Credit to whoever found this at QOL. heart xd
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 8:02 pm
You've ruined Dorothy and Toto for me...forever xd rofl
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Fairy Feller Fancy Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 6:32 pm
I'll never, ever be able to watch that movie the same way again...
Thank you much, Popo. xD
Roger with no courage, Brian without a brain, and John with no heart.
I happen to think Deaky has a huge heart! But Ean would know best... xP
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 8:51 pm
I can't imagine Brian WITHOUT a brain...since...I'm led to believe his hair is actually covering up his grosteque growth of BRAIN! xd rofl
Ean: Actually, Deaky has something else that's -- *gets dragged off*
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Fairy Feller Fancy Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:12 pm
Memai Shirosaki I can't imagine Brian WITHOUT a brain...since...I'm led to believe his hair is actually covering up his grosteque growth of BRAIN! xd rofl Ean: Actually, Deaky has something else that's -- *gets dragged off*
Torey: Right... wink
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 8:00 pm
Quote: Video~!Freddie being interviewed by a complete idiot. XD
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:57 am
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 11:45 pm
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Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 6:36 am
The Week After Freddie Mercury's Death (1991)- An interview with Brian and Roger during a breakfast show, taken precisely a week after Freddie's death - Memai's Comments: Don't watch it unless you have a healthy stock of tissue with you, it really does pull and jerk at your heartstrings ( you can clearly see the boys were crying beforehand, and Roger nearly lets a tear or two slip ). It's not fair; your best friend dies, and a week later, you're going to face the press :c
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Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 3:51 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:09 am
Behind the Iron CurtainA news report about Queen playing in Budapest (1986). Credit goes to Popo for this find. whee Popo: OMG! Roger's birthday party! Totally hot! rofl ON THE LIST
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