My Open Love Letter to Starkid

Dear Starkid,

I am not writing to ask for a job, nor am I writing to explain why we should be best friends (although side note, we would be awesome friends). I am simply writing this to shower you with my fan-love.

See the first time I had seen anything you guys had done was during my Sophomore year in college when a friend (and my co-writer on this blog) and I decided to watch A Very Potter Musical to see what our friends had been talking about/we had always meant to but hadn't gotten around to it yet. 

We were both hooked.

I can't speak for her (although it does happen to be one of my favorite things to do) but there were a few things that really got to me. One was Harry taking down the dragon by singing to it, that song is just so adorable and a little heartbreaking at the same time "The truth is in the end, I'm pretty useless without friends" seriously tears at my heart-strings every time I hear it. It also doesn't hurt that my best guy-friend is they guy who brings his guitar to parties and sings songs to people and Harry reminded me so much of him at the time.

I don't want you to think that "Hey Dragon" is the only song that I love. I would go so far as to say that "Not Alone" is the best song about friendship that I've ever heard. But I equally love "Voldemort is Going Down" and "No Way" so that may not be fair. I'm not even bringing the "Holiday Club" into the discussion because it's technically not a Starkid song. I will say though, that "Holiday Club" has been passed on to all of my closest friends because I feel like it's a song that we should all know together.

You're shows are well written and have catchy music. Not to mention that they are hilarious. I was in a break between classes when Holy Musical Batman came out but had to stop watching it because I was laughing so hard that it looked like I was distracting my fellow students.

That might also just be a personal problem. I'd tell you that I was working on it, but that would be a lie. I have no intention of doing that. Somehow I feel like you understand that.

I guess I'm just writing this to tell you exactly how much these shows mean to me. It goes even deeper than that for me actually. See I am very, very into theatre tech and during my first year of college a few other tech-inclined students and I started a student run theatre tech group. There were four of us at first but it quickly grew and even though I left after two years, I did get to watch my friends do amazing things with that group.  It was about that time (as I mentioned earlier) that my co-writer (who was President of that club for almost the entire time she was as school) and I found  A Very Potter Musical and so to watch all of you become so crazy popular just by doing a thing that you loved and sticking with it really got to me. Not to mention that I could draw parallels to my own life. Both Starkid and the Techie's Union founders were just college kids wanting to do a thing that they loved. It just felt so similar to the journey that we were on that I couldn't not fall in love with Starkid as a whole.

It really didn't hurt that you were making witty, clever and catchy musicals either...and that you actually liked each other

I think I'm done, I just had to write to say thanks.

Also, we (the trainwrecks) were ecstatic when you moved your home base to Chicago because that just so happens to be the place where we live as well. I truly cannot wait to see what you have next for us fans. (And Airport for Birds is so soon! We can't wait to see it.)

Okay, I'm actually done.
With love, The #Trainwrecks

And because I haven't made a fool out of myself enough, and by that I mean you have been completely taken by my clever wit and well written letter that you just have to follow me on social media sites, you can do so here:

Twitter: Andimatrainwrec (Katie), npalmerco08 (Nora)

Tumblr: Aaannddimatrainwreck (official), kahildreth (Katie), stillnuttypony (Nora)

Our Letter to a Childhood not Forgotten

A little backstory, I was at work and thumbing through my facebook feed while waiting for gymnastics to finish so I could pick up the kid, yes I happen to be a nanny.

My open love letter to the Nerdist

A year ago if you had asked me to name a podcast, maybe I would have been able to name one, but let's face it that's a big maybe.  Six months ago I fell down a YouTube hole and watched an entire season (granted it was only about twelve, ten minute episodes but still.) of All Star Celebrity Bowling in one evening and that was when I fell in love with the Nerdist even though I didn't know it.  Five months ago, I started listening to the Nerdist Podcast run by comedian Chris Hardwick and his friends (also comedians) Jonah Ray and Matt Mira. Today I have listened to over two hundred of their two hundred and seventy-four episodes. Three weeks ago I wrote this quemment to them (you know, a question that's also a comment...it's a quemment.) and today I decided that I want to share it with you. Because seriously, who else knows about loving things as much as I do than my fellow #trainwrecks.

Dear Matt, Jonah and Chris (In no particular order, that's just the way I say it in my head.), I started listening to your Nerdist Podcast in May of this year (yes from the beginning, I'm anal like that) and tonight I started the 200th episode with Kevin Smith. You go with me to school and are the cause (okay, one of the causes) of me making a fool out of myself in public when I start laughing in the grocery store or the parking lot while trying to find my car (which is a whole other story entirely). I've listened to you as I fall asleep and while I attempt to get myself looking vaguely presentable at an hour that I'm always surprised is in the AM as well as the PM. I've laughed with you, and at you...we've had our differences and I've shouted the titles of movies/books/songs that you've had trouble remembering into my radio/iPod while forgetting that you can't hear me. You've interviewed some of my favorite people as well as people that I had previously not known or liked but I always come out of a podcast having at least learnt something and usually with a large amount of respect for everyone involved.

And now that I've written my giant, gushy love letter...here's my point. Earlier I was listening to the Romany Malco episode and Chris mentioned that one of the reasons he wanted Romany on was because of the way he interacts with his fans and uses the internet. Here is my request: read this open love letter, from someone I'm sure we could ALL have a drink with and come out wanting to be his best friend/want to marry him (no? just me? it happens.), to Darren's fans and get him on the fucking podcast. 
See he and his friends wrote and starred in a little play during college called A Very Potter Musical and they put it up on YouTube for their friends and family to see, two years later their YouTube channel has 200,000,000 views, they have started their own production company (Team Starkid) and Darren is on Glee. They use the internet and social media in ways that I can only dream of and as a theater techie myself, who helped start a tech group in college that has now reached levels my friends and I never even thought of four years ago, Darren is such an inspiration and I know a few people that would love to hear him on your podcast (myself included). Did I mention he's super duper smart and a generally nice guy and lives in LA?
Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s not how podcasting actually works. Intellectually, I know that you guys can’t just say into the universe “I bet Darren Criss would be awesome on the podcast” and *poof* he’s there. I just think you’d make a ton of nerds so unbelievably happy if this happened.
And now that I've totally bored you/I’m sure you’re not actually reading this because I ramble and it’s become way way too long. Daffy Duck. I’ll just finish with a silly trick my dad pulled in law school when he was convinced that his TA wasn't reading all of the papers all the way through. But seriously I love the podcast.

So my beloved #trainwrecks, there we have it. I'm not sure that this will do anything (okay let's be real, this won't do anything) to help get my pretend best friend Darren Criss onto the podcast of my other pretend best friends,I just had to get it out. And like all of the other ridiculous things I do that cause my friends to ask "WHY?!" or sigh in an exasperated sort of way (I'm looking at you....everyone...), I do not regret it. Because at the very end of the day, I am secure in my knowledge of two things: 1) that at least someone other than me has read it and 2) that at least one other person out there has the same feelings as me...not necessarily about Darren Criss, or Starkid, or even the Nerdist..but I know that at least one of you has at some point felt a need to write someone a letter like this. And just for the record, I think you should do it. What have you got to lose?

Also, for Darren Criss's open love letter to his fans check out this link! Trust me, it's adorable.