Visiting the No Jersey Shore

It's been a while since I've blogged. I go through phases of ambition and phases of laziness, but a particular poster made me break out of my laziness IMMEDIATELY! This past season on MTV, Jersey Shore was a HUGE hit! It showcased "guidos" and "guidettes" getting drunk and making fools of themselves. After completing their "GTL" regime (gym, tan laundry), they all head to the clubs to "beat up the beat" with their fistpumping. Like most MTV shows, it's like a car wreck that you just can avoid watching. Well, it looks like some clubowner's had an assfull and I couldn't agree more!

They'll be excluded from chicken cutlet night!

Story from THR (click)

A: blind

You know how people always ask the "would you rather" type questions? Inevitably, "Would you rather be blind or deaf" tends to come up. I know SO many more people that would respond with "deaf" than "blind", but I've always differed and stayed true to the fact that, given an ultimatum, I'd go with blind in a heartbeat. I sometimes second guess myself when I think of watching movies. If deaf, I could still read captions and subtitles and not really miss much of the movie. Then comes a turn of events, and something is witnessed that makes me feel guilty for ever second guessing my gut instinct. This video is one of those times.

I had the privilege of seeing Bon Iver play a sunrise show at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery a week or so ago, and it was one of the most incredible concert experiences I've ever been to (and I've been to A LOT)! Upon seeing this video (that I wish I could have been present for), my eyes were flooded with excitement and tears rolled down my face. I'm not sure I'd ever want to be in a world where I wasn't able to witness the beauty of music.

The "nomad fund"

I'm going nomadic!

Well, that's the thought anyway. I'm starting to realize that I STILL don't really know what I want to end up doing career-wise, and I'm not getting any younger in the meantime. I keep seeing pictures of people traveling and wondering if I'll ever get a chance to do that. At this point, who knows? I never really have much spare money after paying my bills, but have decided to try to set aside 5%, maybe 10% of my money to my "nomad fund", which will support me in a few years when I decide to up-and-leave the States and travel to say "BRING ON 30" in style.

Will actually do this? Well... that's the IDEA, but my indecisiveness could change that. Only time will tell!

1 year anniversay of what?!?!?!

1 year ago today, at this VERY TIME of the morning, I was the most angry that I'd EVER been in my life! The word "angry" holds a LOT of weight with me, but I'm not even sure that would cut it...

LIVID is a more appropriate sentiment. To some it might seem petty, but for those who understand my love of music and the entire situation at hand, they would completely understand.

Let's just say that it feels great to be living on my own in Hollywood and owning a Blackberry. May a night of that much misfortune NEVER happen again, to me or ANYONE else.

EDIT: On a happier note, it's also the 1 year anniversary of the Palladium re-opening and all Palladium tickets are service charge free from Sat. 10/3 @ 10am to Sun. 10/4 @ 10pm. Do your self a favor, and don't let ANYTHING come in between you and the live music you love! I'm just sayin'...

This post is dedicated to Rose, who is probably the ONLY other person in the same boat as me! And though our situations were a little bit different, they hold the same sentiment!

Veggie burger = healthy?

I recently found out that Carl's Jr. has a twitter. I'm not sure why (most) food places have twitters. Web sites should be sufficient, but whatever. I clicked on it out of curiosity and came upon an amazing discovery. Many fast food places have "secret off-menu items", In-N-Out most famously, and CNN decided to cover some of fast food's secret items. Well good ol' Carl's Jr.'s twitter stated that if you want to, you can substitute the meat on your burger for... wait for it... FRIED ZUCCHINI!!! What?!?! Is that supposed to be HEALTHIER??? Wow... I have no words!

SIDENOTE: I grew up LOVING the Carl's Jr. fried zucchini, so I cant hate, but I think they kinda missed the mark.

(*rushes off to try said burger*)

Acceptable food twitters:
Sprinkles Cupcakes
Kogi BBQ
other LA food trucks

Amaztupid?!

OK, so I can't decide it these are brilliant or ridiculous... Or both? Thoughts??? These hooded backpacks are on sale at Hot Topic. (I almost said Hot Pocket... *sigh* Can you tell I'm hungry???)

I've got no strings cause I'm not a creepy puppet!

I'm going to see Dead Man's Bones at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater tonight. OK, I know some people are scared of clowns, some people are scared of graveyards, some are scared of creepy dolls. I'm not really scared of anything like that, but there IS something that's absolutely CREEPTASTIC about marionettes. I remember watching this one movie as a kid called The Christmas Toy where all the toys came to life when the people left. I guess it's kind of like the original Toy Story. I was totally fascinated by the toys, but there was always something a little creepy about it to me, even as a kid. Anyway, last weekend I walked through Hollywood Forever Cemetery for like 1/4 mile by myself at night to go see The Swell Season, so the marionette theater can't be any creepier than THAT could it? Good thing that stuff DOESN'T creep me out!

Vampringles?

Ok kids, I'm a fan of vampires as much as the next person, but REALLY?!?! There's been a MILLION new shows, books, movies, and merchandise that revolve around vampires, but honestly, this one makes NO SENSE!

Salt & Vampire??? I really have no words that can amount to the FAIL associated with this latest product. They DO happen to be my favorite Pringles flavor (salt & vinegar), but even I wouldn't be able to feel good about buying those. *sigh* Eff you Pringles! I hope someone cuts your mustache off in your sleep!

EDIT: No, I did NOT purchase these! I found the picture online.

Let's play House!

I love me some Gregory House! Moreso, I love me some Hugh Laurie! I don't know exactly know what it is, but he is an incredibly sexy older man! He's so phenomenal on the show, and so funny and charming in real life! On the red carpet of the Emmys the other night, they were interviewing Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Allison Cameron on House) and they asked her who she wanted to win the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Her response was Hugh Laurie, partly because he's a talented actor and a colleague of hers, but also because he has the best acceptance speeches... too bad we've never had the privilege of hearing him give an Emmy accepance speech. Here's to next year's Emmys!

In the meantime, here's his acceptance speech charm from the Golden Globes a couple years back:

Last night's season 6 premiere was PHENOMENAL! House was in rehab and kind of re-evaluating himself and how he deals with people and situations. And there was a scene or 2 where House actually smiled! Super charming! Ugh! I adore that man! I can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out! Last night's premiere also had Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tony Award winner for In the Heights! LOVED it!!!

Sorry girls...

Lately, I've been trying to figure out why it is that I don't find Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), on True Blood attractive. I look at the guy and I understand how people find him attractive, but I just don't for some reason! I mean, don't get me wrong, the guy has an AMAZING body, but there's something about his face... At first I thought it was because I'm not generally attracted to blonde guys (even though he's dirty blonde, almost closer to brown), though in my arguing, people point out that I find Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) attractive, and HE'S blonde. Ok, it's RARE that I find a blonde guy attractive, but have you seen Skarsgard? He and Hunter Parrish (from Weeds) are among the few exceptions.

Well, I think I figured it out... Ryan Kwanten almost has the appearance of having a "Spencer Pratt flesh-colored-beard"! YUCK! Yes, I said "yuck"! I know Kwanten's facial hair is darker than Pratt's, but he just has that look that makes me think that it's going to grow in blonde. Then, people point out the fact that if he is clean-shaven then I can't make that excuse. My next excuse? If he's clean-shaven he looks about 15. Sorry, no jailbait for me! Yes, I KNOW he's 32, but still.

To reiterate for those still perplexed: "Jason Stackhouse" is a totally good looking dude with a hot body, and I'm just not attracted to him. So sue me! I LOVE his character on True Blood though! He's totally one of my favorites!

And because he's got a hot body, I have to post this:

I've seen it in real time!

This is a placeholder for the blog that I need to write. It's LONG overdue, and the film that I saw last night reminded me of it. It'll be rather long and sentimental, but necessary. Hold tight...

Up, up, and away!!!

Do you ever wonder how many balloons are let go into the sky everyday? I didn't til today. I saw one floating up into the sky. It was peaceful. It made me smile.

The "keys" to success

I've always wished that my mom forced me to learn piano when I was a kid because learning stuff like this as an adult SUCKS! Just the time and money for lessons as an adult is not really do-able. I decided that I REALLY wanted to learn. I can play basic guitar, and growing up singing makes the whole sight-reading this a lot easier, but as for piano, I can play chopsticks and Heart and Soul. Go me! My parents took me seriously last Chritmas (for once), and bought me a keyboard. It took me til this week to finally open it up. I'm an IDEA person. I'm the creative mind behind things that needs a little push when it comes to "making my dreams a reality" <----- Possibly the CHEESIEST thing I've EVER said!!! Anyway, I found these awesome, yet slightly cheesy online tutorials that are actually teaching me basics. I HATE being bad at things, so I thought I'd throw in the towel fairly quickly. Apparently that's not the case. I'm gonna stick with it and see how proficient I can actually get! Wish me luck!

UPDATE: I can now play scales with both hands simultaneously! Success!!!

Fix the faucet...

I've been saying since yesterday, but I may or may not have heard the entire new Brand New album, Daisy. Now, I'm not saying that I advocate the "accidental" early release, but I'm also not complaining. I'm a HUGE fan of Brand New, and while their albums usually take me a little bit longer to jump fully on board with the diversity from one album to the next, I eventually fall in love with everything they do! This album was written primarily by guitarist Vin Accardi rather than singer Jesse Lacey, but after a quick listen, I have high hopes! I'm not sold on it being quite as singalongable, but it has a certain refreshing punch to it that I think might grasp some of the older fans that were lost in the shuffle of the third LP, The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me.

With that said, rest assured, I WILL be purchasing a physical copy of Daisy on it's official release day of September 22nd, and urge you all to do the same!

Pom-forget-it

I adore all things fruits and vegetables (with the exception of cauliflower and beets), and LOVE pomegranate! I remember eating it as a kid - busting it open and eating around all the little individual seeds while trying not to stain my shirt w/the juice. I still like pomegranate juice and figured that I'd pick up a couple pomegranates at the grocery store to take to work and snack on for breakfast... I gave up before I got even half way through it. THAT THING IS FRUSTRATING! I'll stick to buying the juice from now on. I have no patience!

Band of Skulls

Fact: I love music!

It's actually pretty rare that I hear a band live for the first time and think "wow, those guys are amazing!" This, however, happened to be the case with Band of Skulls! I'm not sure exactly how to describe their music, but it's hard hitting British rock that has like a modern classic rock sound. I saw them play at the Hammer Museum a couple months ago, and went to the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa last night. I now take the time to say PLEASE GO SEE THIS BAND!!! They play again tomorrow night (September 1st) at the El Rey w/the Duke Spirit.

Snob Water

Perrier w/lemon was on sale at Ralphs yesterday, so I decided to pick up a bottle. I'd never tried it before, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm still undecided.

*Start Me Up*

Do you ever feel like you're just not going to make it through the day? *sigh* Between attempting to be social, going to concerts, and keeping up a daily movie blog, my sleep hours have significantly suffered. No bueno!

Save our furry and feathered friends!

I found this commercial to be so sweet. Buy Dawn and help save a life!

This - the other other lame blog

OK, so I started a blog yesterday about movies, and am already struggling to keep it movie related. So here's place for all things "other". I'm sure some of it WILL be movie related, or music related, but I'm sure it's just gonna be mainly a bunch of random things that only I will find amusing. It's probably rather self indulgent, but then again, what blog isn't???

Just out of curiosity, what kind of country do we live in where THIS is the iTunes Top 10??? (And by "THIS" I mean Miley Cyrus w/the #1 single, and Third Eye Blind w/the #1 album. WHAT?!?!)