Let Claudia Robin Gunn light up your life

Her new album is produced by kindie giant Dean Jones and features Suzi Shelton and Little Miss Ann!

What words can I use to describe Kiwi kids music songstress Claudia Robin Gunn??

Gifted. Pleasant. Sweet. Lovely. Calming. Charming.

There are just so many words that I can say to describe the wonderful Claudia, but I just can't say them all because I'm taking about her most recent album "Firefly".

When I took a listen to this, I felt like this is quite an album she got here! There are many messages of positivity and encouragement embedded all throughout this rather lovely album, and they are made even more appreciable when Dean Jones throws in his production skills that add a touch of lively pop beats to Claudia's warm and inviting songwriting. I really loved the song "Colours" featuring Little Miss Ann and Suzi Shelton. This is such a perfect collaboration with a synergy that brings these amazing songwriters across the miles. Every song in this album has the power to warm your heart and make you feel accepted and welcome. But the real standout is "Superheroes" as it celebrates not only the power of friendship but one verse here covers a child who has sought refuge from a nation at war. A very powerful show of embracing everybody from the amazing Claudia Gunn.

But in spite of these songs that will touch your heart, there may be some unexpected and hilarious surprises, as there is a little bit of spoken word in the song "Only One You" that caught me off guard and made me laugh a little.

It feels like Claudia Gunn and Dean Jones have made a match to bring an album that takes Claudia's talent to a whole new level.

There's something about Meg Cabot and Maureen Lenker...

Two authors sharing a mutual love of witches and old time Hollywood in such a hilarious and fascinating conversation is my cup of tea.....

Yes, Meg Cabot really knows how to get a really good conversation started and keep it going (screengrab from the Zoom webinar organized by Blue Willow Bookshop taken by yours truly)

(Event poster courtesy of Blue Willow Bookshop on Facebook)

I have been following Meg Cabot on her social media because I do find her to be not your average author on social media. She makes all sorts of posts about her cats, her thoughts about Princess Diaries (it was Julie Andrews who made me wanna read the Princess Diaries movies), and since the onset of the COVID pandemic, she has been mingling with authors virtually. It doesn't matter if it's in a Zoom webinar or on an Instagram live, she does not just do a completely average author interview, she just loves other authors and would love to explore them a little further. And I have been very lucky to join such a conversation along with Cabot sometime back in 2020, but I barely remember which other authors she was with or what they were talking about.

It's been a hot minute since I have been watching or listening to a Meg Cabot author panel, so when I noticed on my Facebook newsfeed that Meg was going to have a free virtual event hosted by Texas-based Blue Willow Bookshop, I signed up for it with a sense of not even knowing what to expect from the conversation.

And when that conversation started, boy oh boy I was so hooked on it!

The humor and chemistry between the two fabulous female YA writers was something I never even expected, but it left me in awe once the event has finished.

You see, Meg Cabot's latest novel, "Enchanted to Meet You" is based on her family's experience in the world of witchcraft (some of her ancestors were witches) and has a title that some may consider a sign that Cabot is a big time Taylor Swift fan (Who seriously doesn't love Taylor Swift these days?) and Maureen Lenker's novel takes place in the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s where the streets of Los Angeles were filled with the stars, the glitz, and the glamor of all that is moviemaking. But hey, many authors these days have a mutual admiration for each other and the things they see from other writers and that is what makes the whole conversation between Meg and Maureen a wee bit more interesting.

Personally, I really loved when Meg Cabot brought up the aspect of witchcraft in the novel and how she feels very connected to the novel's setting in Connecticut where she grew up, as it was also the place where the first persecution against supposed witches in the United States occurred. This sorta reminded me of Dana Terrace, creator of Disney Channel's The Owl House, who also grew up in Connecticut `around the same kind of witchy lore. Then the conversation shifted to a reference to a Hollywood classic Bell, Book and Candle in Meg's Enchanted to Meet You then things really began to start clicking. Lenker is such a maven for classic Hollywood and Cabot was also fascinated by the world of 1930s Hollywood, and all the rest was still very interesting to listen to, from Meg's influence from The WB in the early 2000s, the tea they all love to drink, and so on.

But overall, what really stood out to me in this conversation is among the most liveliest I have ever heard from writers in the last two years or so. I could really listen to Meg and Maureen talk about whatever's under the sun, their passion for how old movies have a certain magic to them, which writers influenced them, the music and movies they really love, their favorite writing experiences, boy I could really listen in to 'em all day and discover even more interesting things about them....

Find "Enchanted to Meet You" and "It Happened One Fight" wherever books are sold.

There's something about Juicy Brucey.....

There is a caster that I seemed to be fascinated by, in terms of everything he does, and the way that he does his thing on twitch and elsewhere has me caught up.

His name is Bruce Alcomendras, but you can call him Juicy Brucey. He's an esports caster and voice over artist hailing from Cebu but currently based in Metro Manila. He was once a DJ at Monster Radio BT 105.9 down in Cebu, but then he joined the esports elite casting for Valorant Champions Tournament - Philippines. He was tapped by Acadarena to do hosting for the ConQuest Festival, in 2022 he hosted the community panels then the following year in its perhaps most controversial iteration that lead to the events downfall (and that seems deserving of a separate article) he became main stage host together with caster comerade Riku. He has hung out with the big stars of OfflineTV, namely Pokimane, Michael Reeves, LillyPichu, and Yvonnie, and he also chatted with two of the biggest vtubers out there: Bao (I hear she's a great genshin personality) and Shoto (he's a very chill guy)

I watched the recorded live videos of ConQuest to see why the event was so hyped and became very disasterous and it was there I realized that those streamers had such a gigantic following here in the Philippines. But the aspect of CQ that piqued me was the hosts of the event, JuicyBrucey and Riku.

The disaster of the ConQuest event made me want to examine the convention scene I little further. I have seen all the negative feedback about the event, the people who spent too long in line and so much money but never meeting thier idols. But where there is a cloud, there is always a silver lining, and I spoke with Dione, one of the buskers at the event and it was her that provided a moment of light and happiness to the tired out people in the lines through her music. I have also met many cosplayers who have went to ConQuest and they have shared thier experiences good and bad.

But the experience of one of the event's hosts is such a refreshing and very insightful perspective. I asked about how he felt about the ConQuest festival being retired, considering he spend many hours behind the scenes of the event and mingled with all the big name streamers at the event, and he felt very sad about the event having to go. He was an ex-radio DJ looking for a good enough hosting gig, and it was ConQuest that gave him his big break. He felt sad because he was looking forward to more such events. I felt very sad too as I do think that the event had such a great vision to be a pop culture safe haven in Manila.

I watched many of the clips of the streamers that were there and I do believe that ConQuest really did have a vision to become a celebration of all things pop culture, uniting the worlds of anime, gaming, music, cosplay, k-pop, TV and movies, anything related to pop culture. Despite all the issues that have come about in terms of ticket overselling and line mismanagement, it was such a spectacular star studded event bringing people and worlds together. And with all this in mind, I already see why Brucey feels very sad in regards to the retirement of the brand.

It is sad for him and me, but I believe that where one major event on the scale of ConQuest comes to an end, another may start its hero's journey. I had so many ideas about how a convention of that grand scale can better manage the lines and the logistics of such an event. He does agree with many of my ideas.

The more I watched JuicyBrucey stream, the more I found out about his personality and the more we found ways that we were able to connect. For instance, I found out that he does play animal crossing and the fact that he had to restart his game was something that amused me very much. I did admire his persistence in rebuilding the whole island. In less than a week he basically grinded the regenerated island by getting Blathers to study the island, it was all a very great effort that somehow entertained me.

There is something in him that I do connect with.