Think it's because we're so awesome?

I got Justin's autograph! Seriously.

One week ago yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing La Timberlake in all of his solo glory. I love the stage set-up, and it was pretty cool seeing at least one/fifth of the boys up there shakin' it. I enjoyed Timbaland much more than I expected, and he and Justin together are the cutest BFF since JC and Justin. Dammit.

Best Seats Ever, thanks to Vicki, my concert-going pal. She had the fan club hook-up, and unless we'd been sipping drinks at the bar/stage area while JT strolled down the bar shaking his tush, it couldn't have been much better. Now I'm gonna testify. ::waves hands::

So, our seats were right off the floor, right in front of the aisle where all the hustle and busle is going on, like, people walking to and from the understage dressing area, etc. After Pink and before La Timberlake, Vicki and I were sitting in our most excellent seats, observing the usual goings on, dancers and such walking back and forth, hoochies in short skirts and spike heeled shoes tipping around trying to be cute...that kind of thing. So we're sitting there soaking it all up, and I look to the right. There's a guy strolling down the aisle our way (toward the stage), and he looked like he was probably with the tour. He was wearing a white shirt, suit pants and vest, big diamond studs and a fedora. Something about him looked familiar, but I had no idea what or why. I think it was just that, "hey! tour guy!" thing. ANYWAY, I glanced at him and away, then back again. He caught my eye and I smiled, kind of the way you do when you pass someone in the aisle at the grocery store. Then I went back to crowd watching...and looked at him again. And we smiled at each other again. And again I went back to scanning the crowd.

Mr. FedoraandDimples walked by us, looked at me, and we smiled at each other. He started to walk on by, then paused and looked smiled, and said, "How are you tonight?" I smiled and said, "I'm fine! How are you tonight?" And he smiled and said he was fine. He smiled again and said, "Enjoy the show!" and I said something like, "Thank you! I'm sure I will." Then he moseyed on down the aisle and disappeared into the crowd standing around the stage. I turned to Vicki and said, "He looks kind of familiar, but I have no idea who he is." Vicki laughed at me (yes, at me) and said, "He's with the band." ROFL! Yes, I laughed at myself and said, "Oh!" So that was pretty cool.

So the show begins and everything's cool and Vicki and I are saying to each other, Excellent seats! Yes! and I'm enjoying the show and I suddenly realized, FedoraandDimples isn't just a member of the band! No! He's up there onstage singing and dancing with Mr. T! He's one of the backup singer guys! Holy six degrees of separation! So that was pretty cool too, and I was pleased that I had a fun anecdote to relate to my friends.

So, during Justin's intermission we're sitting enjoying how cool everything is, when I look to my left and see FedoraandDimples walking down the aisle toward us. Instead of walking by, though, he started up the stairs right by me, then stopped and very quickly and discreetly, slipped a postcard-sized piece of paper into my hand. I looked up, but he was already gone. I turned the postcard over, and OH MY FRIGGIN' GOD, it was a picture of Mr. Timberlake with what looked like a scribble in the right-hand corner. I just gaped at it, not quite processing it. Nah, couldn't be, could it? I turned and looked at Vicki and said, "Is that...?" She agreed that yes! It was! Justin's autograph!!! We both squealed. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I was the coolest girl in our row after that. Hell, I was the coolest girl in several rows afer that! I'm getting all hot and flushed again just thinking about it. :-)

So...later in the show when everyone was back on stage and they were all bopping their heads and singing (can't remember which song), FedoraandDimples looked out at the crowd right at me, smiled and pointed at me. Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Hell yes! I laughed and waved and felt like a complete dork.

So yeah. Justin's autograph. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It was a pretty good night. :-)

Such a cute outfit! JC's just all kinds of adorable. The hair's just a bit short, but overall, he looks fabulous.

From straight.com: I found this article about Ms. Timberlake today, and did quite a bit of horselaughing while reading.

Timberlake strangely ladylike
By martin turenne

Publish Date: 14-Sep-2006

Two months ago, New York Times pop-music critic Kelefa Sanneh declared Justin Timberlake to be “that rarest of creatures: a male pop star who is willing to sing about being sexy”. To these ears, it’s not so much that JT is alone in his willingness to address his carnal appeal—every cheese-ball heartthrob from Usher to Keith Urban plays that game—it’s that his approach to the subject is weirdly feminine, so much so that his lyrics often sound like they could be sung by a woman. On his excellent new album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, not only does Timberlake’s falsetto graze altitudes normally reserved for female pipes, he also assumes the submissive sex-kitten role played by just about every pop diva since Britney Spears first oozed her way across our television screens. As did Prince and Michael Jackson before him, Mr. Cameron Diaz sees the payoff in being a dude but acting like a lady.

Like many women, JT has spent the better part of his life being lusted after and objectified and can thus claim an affinity with them that most men spend their lifetimes wishing they could achieve. If life were like high school—and, sadly, it is—then Timberlake would be that guy all the other guys hate, the artsy one who likes singing and dancing, the outgoing one who rolls with girls and girls only, the sensitive one who gets pussy whether he likes it or not. JT’s so boyishly charming nowadays that his cut-and-run job on Janet Jackson seems like ancient history. In pop years, it practically is.

At various moments in FutureSex/LoveSounds, the singer is less the hunter than the hunted. This is truest of “Lovestoned”, a space-age disco track in which he rhapsodizes about a statuesque goddess who casts a lustfully narcotic spell, leaving him defenceless against her predatory wiles. This is not just a song; it’s the start of an S&M porno script. The album’s first single, “Sexyback”, is an elaboration of that same narrative, as the singer, now shackled to the bedpost, invites the crack of his mistress’s whip.

Where the marketing of pop stars like 50 Cent and Pete Doherty is based on the suspect notion that good girls love bad boys, the Timberlake persona derives its power from the more credible idea that women want to be feared first, then worshipped. Thus, having played the slave on “Sexyback”, JT lowers himself on bended knee during “My Love”, proposing long walks on the beach and asking the listener, ever so earnestly, “Would you date me on the regular?” Half the people listening to the album will laugh out loud at this cornball line; the other half, mostly teenage girls and gay men, will disrobe and promptly defile themselves. Throughout the album, Timberlake proves himself willing not only to debase himself for the right girl but also to beg for the privilege. No woman, not even talk-show troll Rosie O’Donnell could resist his offer.

In a larger sense, the submissive and worshipful postures Timberlake assumes before his female listeners mirror his surrendering of artistic control to FutureSex/LoveSounds’ true author, Timbaland. Timbo has rarely sounded so thrillingly out-there, taking the singer’s stated aim “to push the sound of pop music” as permission to break the rules, unleashing a torrent of uncanny rhythmic figures that often relegate his leading man to the margins.

As for Timberlake, some will deride him as a drippy weakling, but the view from this writer’s corner suggests just the opposite, framing his esteem for both his producer and his audience as an expert strategy for, well, getting money, and getting laid by just about any woman. If we had to endure another one of Cameron Diaz’s giggly attempts at a “serious” film role, we’d be doing the same thing—either that or hanging ourselves. To his credit, JT has chosen life (and pussy).

How much do I love psycho!Justin? Two things about his performance. Either 1) boy's a brilliant actor and no one ever knew it, or 2) boy is seriously obsessive.

I go with number two, with a little of number one mixed in for fun.

He's got an expressive face, doesn't he? If I were a movie exec, I'd have his agent on speed dial. I'd at least give him a reading. Then I'd line up some killer directors (brain's blank at the moment), and watch the green roll in.

Yes, la Timberlake killed me.

Love the part at the end where he and the chick are walking through the hall. The one bit where he smiles a little, and turns just enough to see the other girl out of the corner of his eye. And you know what he's thinking, and he's so *gleefully* evil about it.

And on another level, this is so, so what he's wanted to shout in plain English to the world, isn't it? If there's any doubt left after this video...I just don't see how there could be. Someone at the JJB uploaded an animation of the picture he kicks - nice Wade-lookalike in that photo with the Brit-lookalike.

One plus one seems to equal Britney cheated with Wade, which is what a lot of people suspected, and I think Justin's just confirmed.

Not crazy about the Matrix-y bits, except when he jumps up on the counter and he's walking along using the ceiling for balance. Justin, I wanna have your little psycho!babies. Also, the effect with the weird ankle bend just *hurts* to watch, 'cause it makes me think of his little(broken)foot! Eeek.

Anyway, as glitchy and weird as the effect is, it does add to the overall freakiness of the thing, and adds its own bit of warped reality that makes the shadowing scene (he's following so closely behind her but she doesn't see/hear him?) make sense. His reality in the video is as warped as what we see. This is one *seriously* obsessed mofo.

Yikes. Can you spell r-e-s-t-r-a-i-n-i-n-g-o-r-d-e-r?

Tell Timbaland not to act next time. Don't know if he really fell flat, or if I was so blown away by Justin's believability that Timba suffered in comparison. If I had been the director I'd have told him to just look out of the side window while he sang. Maybe keep his face blank, or try to look bored. Or to look the way he did when he first motioned for the girl to leave the car. Yessss.

Eeee, time for work, though I'd rather watch CMAR about a million more times. I hope they remember this one when the VMAs roll around next year. ;-)