Off-Broadway: Fiasco Theatre's "Cymbeline" - A Charming Performance

Undoubtedly, Broadway is one of the main things most people aim for when they are in New York City. For her first ever visit to the megacity, the intrepid Red Dot Diva felt a need for another Shakespearean fix instead. Mainly because she is not a big fan of flashy musicals. (Are those horrified gasps she hears from some distant corner over there??)

Her 'play date' had suggested "Avenue Q", but she had already watched a satisfyingly entertaining version helmed by a Filipino cast on Red Dot Island a couple of years back. So, having scoured a comprehensive list online, it was settled that Red Dot Diva's first theatre outing in New York would be the lesser known Shakespearean play "Cymbeline" at the Barrow Street Theatre - an intimate 199-seat off-Broadway venue. The decision was firmly supported by the many rave reviews from critics for this particular adaptation by Fiasco Theatre.

NYCC 2011 - Holy Terror! Diva Had A Chat With Frank Miller!

"Really???" Red Dot Diva gasped inwardly, her heart pounded within her chest, partially with sheer excitement and partially with a kind of (un)holy terror.

She gets to interview He Who Wears A Hat a.k.a. Frank Miller at NYCC??!!

Red Dot Diva's first lame squee-ful fangirl thought:  -- O.M.G. --

Next more lucid thought: What key questions should she ask Frank within the frame of just ten minutes??

With a public persona fashioned by dark clothes, an intense gaze and intriguingly diabolical eyebrows, Frank seemed rather intimidating. Even though she crushed over Frank and his previous works like "Sin City" and "300", Red Dot Diva was really not in favour of getting chewed up before she's been up to the Empire State Building. (Which she still has not, BTW.)

So in order to get prepared for the interview, she ploughed through a copy of "Holy Terror", his latest graphic novel about superheroes fighting terrorists, and found it to be a bold, unapologetic and relentless statement by Frank on al-Qaeda and 9/11.

NYCC 2011 - Shakespeare Gets A POW! Treatment by Stan Lee and 1821 Comics

Of all the surprises that befell on Red Dot Diva at NYCC 2011, she never expected to have a good Squee over comic-book legend and former head of Marvel comics, Stan Lee!

She was well aware that Stan Lee (who is now Founder, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment) would be at the convention, but because he has always been wildly popular with fans, she thought that meeting the man would be near to impossible.

In between spending fangirly time with her friends, doing touristy stuff, stalking comic book creators and being shown round the city (thanks to a particular silver fox) ... oh, and not to mention, the wondrous lack of free wifi, she managed to miraculously receive an email for a press invite to the unveiling of "Romeo and Juliet: The War" - a new graphic novel by 1821 Comics, a new comic book/graphic novel company based in LA, and Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment.

It didn't take her more than a couple of seconds to RSVP a loud YES.

FX's New Series "American Horror Story" - Diva Gets Deviantly Curious

A kind of tingly anticipation has been buzzing around a new FX series ever since the pilot written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk was ordered and announced earlier this year. For those who are not familiar with those two names, Murphy and Falchuk are the creators of the musical comedy series "Glee" as well as "Nip|Tuck".

Their new "psycho-sexual thriller" which premieres on 5th October at 10 pm, is called "American Horror Story" - a tale consisting of freakish horror dreamscapes that befalls the Harmon family, who have moved from Boston to a big retro 1920's haunted mansion in sunny LA.