If That's What You're Into

Golden Silvers

2009-10-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

I really like this Londontown band. Especially this song and video. I want to go to London damn it.

Golden Silvers - Band To Watch - Stereogum

You Wanna Get That?

2009-09-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

This is funny even though I imagine my mom being the person with the phone ringing.

I'm Alive

2009-09-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Awesome acoustic version of Metric's Help I'm Alive

Cool band I saw this summer. Blind Pilot - One red thread:

Another cool band I saw this summer at Sunset Junction Festival. Really cool band. The Delta Spirit:

I Suck

2009-09-17T00:57:00.000-07:00

I realize that I suck. I have been MIA and stupid. I am writing this to let you know that 1)I am alive. 2)I will begin writing more frequently again, it's been a busy summer. 3)Meow meow. 4)This is my warm up post.

Cheers - Talk soon.

I Swear I Don't Think This About any of my Friends. I am really happy for them.

2009-06-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

Pregnant Women are Smug by Garfunkel and Oates - watch more funny videos

Random Observance About LA - Lemons

2009-04-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

In Philadelphia and NJ and I think NY, restaurants almost always automatically put a lemon in Diet Coke. Here that doesn't happen, you have to ask for it. The places that do automatically put them is are national chain restaurants. It is annoying because I love lemon or like in my refreshing diet coke. More often they put lemons in water, but still not as much as the east. I tried researching for an answer, but at this point we will have to file it away in the book of - "it's a west coast thing". I will also file all the article I just found on how Diet Coke will kill you, in to the "ignore that and it won't be true" book.

I have also found that smaller cafe type places will serve Mexican Coke and the light version. Which to me tastes like a watered down Diet Coke. The different forms of Coke for different countries and cultures is so amazing. It is very cool trying all the different flavors at Coke headquarters in ATL - definitely try if you are ever there.

George Stanford - Meet me in LA

2009-04-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

A girl I went to college with is married to this awesome musician George Stanford. I have been a big fan even before I found out she was married to him. He is from Philly and he is really talented. He has gotten screwed over by the labels (of course) and he is trying to do it alone now. Here is an article that talks about it.

I love this new song - for obvious reasons. Besides the fact that is sounds great.

Meet me in LA

It's the Glasses

2009-04-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

One of our actresses is the mom in this. It is pretty funny. Check it out.

Celebrity Sighting of the Week - CeCe Peniston

2009-04-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

So funny - CeCe Peniston is meeting with my boss right now. She seems cool - but who doesn't love this little ditty.

Finally - CeCe Peniston

Band to Watch - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

2009-04-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart is an indie rock band from NYC. Really retro sound, the album is alot of fun, I am really in to them.

Disturbing News

2009-04-27T22:51:00.000-07:00

The cute dog Phoebe, the one that looks like the Taco Bell dog, that I told you about last week, died. The circumstances are suspect, but it is quite sad. RIP Phoebe Louise.

New Feature - Random Observance About LA

2009-04-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

So LA doesn't sell cheese curls? Am I wrong? Is this true? I have searched and searched to no avail. Do cheese curls really not exist on the west coast. But they are so delicious? They combine all wonderful essential interesting substances - cheese, air, crunchy styrofoamy type substance. Why not LA? If anyone who reads this knows differently - let me know.

Shooting a PSA

2009-04-27T00:17:00.000-07:00

My work is involved in producing a public service announcement for anti internet music piracy. Saturday I went to the casting session for the actor. That was really cool because I had never been to one. But I can imagine how tedious it must be if you are a commercial casting director watching the same lines over and over again. Plus I feel like its so hard to make a decision. But I also sucks a making decisions.

The next day I went and helped out on the set. Here are some pictures from my day on the set. I will come back with more info later. It was fun and long and now I am burnt in places where I sucked at putting on sunblock. Yes that is a chicken down there. It was the pet of the family whose house we filmed at. And they had a cat. How did that cat not attack that chicken?

Ba-Caw!!!

You can't tell from this picture - but our actor kind of looked like Hayden Christianson.

Celebs Watching Holly

2009-04-23T02:59:00.001-07:00

So tonight Adrian Grenier was standing next to me after the Holly Miranda show, it seems that he is friends with Holly's girlfriend. He was hot, about 5'10 and with a hot blonde model. He is probably the last Entourage person I would want to see - but I know a few people out there love him.

There Is No Place I'd Like To Wake Up But Beside You

2009-04-23T02:28:00.001-07:00

Kime - I may steal that idea of song lyrics for my music related blogettes.

Tonight I went and saw Holly Miranda at Home in Silver Lake. It is a really cute restaurant/bar and I would like to hang out there in the future. Holly Miranda is the lead singer of one of my favorite groups, The Jealous Girlfriends. She has a little solo project going on right now, however she is not signed to a record deal. Hopefully that will happen for her soon.

When Holly first started out is was basically just her singing acoustic under the name The Jealous Girlfriends, they then added members and morphed into a louder indie rock band, but I have always loved her acoustic stuff.
So tonight I finally got to see just Holly and a guitar. It was awesome and the place was full even though it was a last minute show. She has such a strong, emotional, incredible voice. There was a table of old men who stopped her before a song and said - Who are you. And she told them and they said are you signed to anyone and she said no and the old men said well someone better sign you soon cause you are amazing. Good for her!
Her new songs were produced by Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio and Kanye has blogged about how much her likes her, which made other music blogs take notice. So hopefully something happens for her soon.

She played a multi instrumental show of mostly new solo stuff and it was great. She closed with a cover of Lauryn Hill's Ex-Factor. That is probably my favorite song on that album and I LOVE Lauryn Hill, but I think Holly may have done it better. It was fantastic. A version can be found here.

From last week in Brooklyn when she opened for Nada Surf. Sleep on Fire.

The Dogs I Work With

2009-04-23T01:50:00.000-07:00

All of these are rescue dogs and they are so awesome.

Mattie and one of our actors. Mattie is a pitbull and she is my best dog friend here. She is so good and sweet.

The new dog that one of our clients found eating animal carcass on the side of the road and my boss took because he is addicted to chihuahuas. Her name is Phoebe after Friends. Loves it. Oh, she is sitting on my desk and they are my other friends, the fish behind her.

Loretta. This dog was stolen in the middle of the night from a puppy mill by shannon elizabeth and then my boss took her. Really random.

Hike Up to Griffith Observatory

2009-04-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

Not much to say about this hike except that my hiking book lied to me again and told me it was easier than it was. And I hadn't planned on walking around Griffith Observatory on Sunday, but it was so darn awesome I got sucked in for 2 hours and can't wait to go back for a star show. Here are some pics:

What IS this? A coyote? A wolf? A dog? He was just walking along the road in griffith.

Griffith from the hike.

Sunset from outside of Griffith with Hollywood sign to the right.

James Dean monument since this is where Rebel Without A Cause was filmed. And because can Hollywood do anything without talking about celebs?

Griffith Observatory from outside it's entrance.

Sunset on the way back down.

The Next Big Thing - Bobby Long

2009-04-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night I went to see a British singer songwriter bloke that reminds me of a British Jeff Buckley with maybe a little Amos Lee mixed with Ray LaMontagne.
Bobby Long is very very cute and very shy and a complete charmer. Because of this (and the fact that he is Robert Pattinson's best friend, and he's on the Twilight soundtrack) the audience was mostly girls and also alot of music industry people. You can tell who they are because they are usually older and dressed completely 80's or just completely out there. It is pretty funny. It was neato seeing him so early in his career because people are saying he is the next John Mayer or David Gray or someone like that. He has no label and my boss won't sign him "because it's not her thing", even though his publicist asked my boss to bring him to our office for a meeting. So for me, that is disappointing as that is "my thing". Of course people said the same things about Alexi Murdoch and what the heck happened to him? So I guess we will see.

The show itself was really casual, just him and his guitar. It was his last show in America till the summer and he was only here to play for and meet industry execs so he only went to LA, NY & Nashville. So he just chatted it up with us and each song was a request. He seems really sweet. Definitely see him when he is in your neck of the woods this summer.

Here are a few songs from his Hotel Cafe visits. Someone put basically the entire Saturday concert up on You Tube. i love you tube.

Hotel Cafe on Thursday Night - Who Have You Been Loving

Saturday - Hotel Cafe - The Bounty of Mary Jane

Saturday - Hotel Cafe - This Strange Love

Go Carefully, Carefully

2009-04-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

I love this new song by Gomez. Excellent use of the cow bell.

Airstream Driver - Gomez

Weekly Music Roundup

2009-04-16T00:06:00.000-07:00

So this week two albums I was really excited about came out. Silversun Pickups & Metric. I am very disappointed with Silversun. It is just more of the same and I was really hoping they would expand on some of their touches of genius on the first album. I don't know, maybe I need to give it a few more listens.
However, I love the Metric. I saw them last year at Coachella and they are so awesome. Emily Haines (lead singer) is the America's hipster boy's #1 crush. Emily was originally in Broken Social Scene which is the Canadian super group that has spawned - Emily Haines, Feist, Kevin Drew, Jason Collett, and Stars lead singer Torquil Campbell.

Check out one from the new album:

Help I'm Alive - Metric

Escondido Falls

2009-04-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

This very lovely Easter I slept in and then went to IHOP and had a two of everything breakfast. At IHOP they do not mess around with 2 of everythings. 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 ham and home fries. Most places only give you 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 meat. I was very excited, though I did not eat it all and was quite stuffed. OK I ate most of it. All but one ham. It was delish.
So after that I drove down to Malibu and went to this place I had been wanting to go to for awhile. A hike to the Escondido Falls. When you get there you park in this lot right off the PCH and then walk a mile to the trail. You walk through a neighborhood of ridiculous mansions that overlook the ocean. It was really beautiful and I wish I lived there. When you get to the end of the neighborhood, the trail begins. The trail itself was pretty easy. In fact I think the walk through the neighborhood was harder cause it was mostly uphill. The trail to the falls is mostly flat but really pretty and I had a lot less fear about wild animals or reptiles getting me than when I was at the Grotto. There was alot more people too. So I walked about 25-30 minutes and then arrived at the bottom of the falls. There wasn't really any falls actually happening. It was more the Escondido Drips. I imagine it must be very pretty after alot of rain.
So once there, you have the choice to climb up the mountain to the the middle and top of the falls. The hiking book calls it scrambling which I guess is the step before rock climbing? Who knows. I climbed as far as I could but I think I somehow got lost. I made it to the middle falls, I think, and there was a really cute area and I just chilled on the rocks for a bit and listened to the waterfall and creek. Then I climbed back down and dipped my feet in the basin of the falls to cool off. I have never gone climbing before and it was so fun. I loved it. I am going to try to go back and see where I messed up and make it to the top. There is supposedly a tree swing at the top. I got cuts and scrapes all over myself from almost falling down the mountain and my body hurt for 3 days, but it was so fun. Here are some pictures.

The road through the neighborhood by the Pacific.

A ranchsion (ranch+mansion, get it?) that had a stable full of horses.

The house I would like to live in. At least they could let me live in their gate house, which was bigger than most of my friends houses in Philly. Definitely bigger than my mom's twin.

The scrambling zone. This was basically straight down. You can't really tell.

The middle falls.

Bottom of the middle falls.

Bottom of Escondido. I told you there wasn't a lot of water.

These are not my pictures, but I wanted to show you what the falls look like when it's wetter out.

Top of the falls which will be my goal next time, hopefully if I don't get lost.

Bottom of the falls what I waded around in. Sooooo cold!

Phoenix - Brat Pack Mashup

2009-04-13T00:09:00.000-07:00

OK, this song, Lisztomania, and the other Phoenix song that I put up here last week, 1901, has been on repeat for me - I am obsessed with it. Someone put this song over a brat pack mashup and it is pretty much perfect. Pretty in Pink Perfect. Yes I said it.

Celebrity Spotting

2009-04-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today I saw Jane Lynch walking out of the Barnes & Noble in Studio City. For those of y'all that don't recognize, Jane Lynch is in most of the Christopher Guest movies (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind) and about 1000 other things. She is really funny. She was very tall and very Jane Lynch-y.

Roommate Update: The day after posting my rant, I wrote a note asking her to remove the trash. 3 days later, trash, cutting board, dishes - all done. And on the 3rd day - she has risen. Hallelujah.

Madonna Remake of The Day

2009-04-08T15:42:00.001-07:00

Flaming Lips Cover Madonna's Borderline -
It starts out slow and then culminates in an electric guitar, percussion crescendo. It's pretty awesome.

March Madness

2009-04-07T23:38:00.001-07:00

For the past few weeks I've been playing a little game called - How long will it take my roommate to clean anything in the kitchen. Included in these games are:

Take Out The Trash
Clean the Cutting Board
Turn on and/or Empty the Dishwasher
Do the Dishes
Wipe the Counter
Clean the Area by Your TV Watching Area

I am so sick at being such a natural athlete and excelling at all of them that I decided to rest myself for bigger and better cleaning games also known as the "2009 Moving Out of this Hellhole Event". I felt the rookie really needed some practice in these areas since I would not be here to take care of it for Shoeless Joe Roommate. Especially in the very difficult trash event which she has only completed twice in one year and is in dire need of practice.

What did you say? You have questions/comments?

You're being immature - Yes I am.
You are cutting your nose off to spite your face - Indeed.
You are going to attract bugs unless something is done soon - You are correct, sir.

Well, maybe Roomie is preparing for other competitions - That's right, they are called 1997 90210, 2008 90210, American Idol, random VH1 reality show, and 20 other shows that are saved on DVR. There's also the "All I ever do is Work" Relay Medley (AKA "I Work 3 Days a Week Medley"), and the "I can't get up before 12:00" Backstroke and last but not least the latest event just completed 3 hours ago - "I can't vote for American Idol because my phone is in my bedroom which coincidentally shares the wall that my lazy ass is sitting against." Open.
Why not just say something to the Great Roommate - I am a sissy la la and am afraid of confrontation. And how would we have these games if I did?

How is Mr Roomtober doing with the events, well let's take a look and see.

1. In the trash event - we are at 1.5 weeks since I last completed that event. The trash has been over flowing for 1 week total.

2. This cutting board has now had oil and pesto on it for a grand total of 2 weeks.

3. Dishwasher - Tag team completion by myself because I needed dishes in it.

4. Dishes - COMPLETE. Dishes with disgusting mac and cheese and guacamole sat on our counter for three weeks before getting done. It was a tough road but the Sultan of Wash got through. Way to go! CONGRATS! That's GOT to be a record.

5. Counter Wipe - Complete. It went four days of Wonder Roommate preparing food on a dirty counter before I needed to make PBB's on it. Therefore another designated hitter for the big winner. Better luck next time champ.

This particular bowl sat on the counter for two days before our hero was able to complete that heat.

6. Living room area coffee table - Ongoing mess. There is never a time when there is a soda can, bowl, or cup on it. Besides total astonishment that someone watches TV next to dirty dishes and trash all week - This does not bother me because I don't enter that area, and so far we have not gotten any little guests.

I am really pulling for the Trash competition to be completed, as I believe that is integral to the purity of the apartment and to the games as a whole. The fact that little flying or crawling judges have not come in to review the event is beyond my comprehension. But The Mighty Mate will go on to fight another day.

In honor of the extremely competitive, strenuous, fast paced, back breaking fight the Might's got ahead of them - I give you ~ the Rocky Theme.

Gonna Fly Now (Theme From "Roc...

Disclaimer - I do not excel at all areas of personal cleanliness, however, I keep my clutter and disorganization in my room, not in common living areas. And my mess does not include 3 week old food. However I cannot promise you that my cats don't have a blog complaining about the disorganization of my closet.

Peanut Butter Balls

2009-04-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share with you the Easter present I made for my moms. Hopefully she doesn't look on here before she gets them. My coworker made them at her chocolate party and I thought my mom would enjoy them because it is basically peanut butter and chocolate and my mom eats a reece's peanut butter cup like once a day. She eats one of them along with her blood pressure medicine.

This was during making them - I just think it looks cool.

And here they are post making. As you can tell some have crunchier chocolate on them then others - they are my mistakes in learning how to melt chocolate. I now know it is much easier to do in the microwave. Thanks life lessons. However, like some mistakes in life, the mistake chocolate was sooo good. I don't even really like chocolate and it is was delicious. Now I kinda feel sick though.
These guys look like little peanut butter south park guys, with chocolate hats.

I Won't Be The Lighter

2009-04-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was just listening to a playlist from Holly Miranda (from the Jealous Girlfriends) and it reminded me of this song that I was obsessed with a year or two ago. Eternal Flame by a very kooky Brit, Joan As Policewoman. She is so cool and so is Holly Miranda. Cheers

Eternal Flame - Joan As Police...

Celebrity Sighting

2009-04-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a theme for my celebrity sightings this month. Jonathan Bennett had a meeting with my boss today. He was Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls. Hopefully I can collect all of the Mean Girls actor sightings. Anyway, he was very friendly, very hot and a lot taller than I expected. God, I love these Mean Girls sightings.

Meow

2009-04-04T00:44:00.000-07:00

This is a little ditty I bought at Buffalo Exchange, which is a high class version of a salvation army. It has everything you could ever want in a shirt.

Torn off sleeves - Check
Fluffy Cat - Check
Gold Glitter - Check
Already used and bought at a "vintage" store - Check

I can't wait to rock this in Vegas when my friends are out here.

Song of Your Direct French to English Translation Day

2009-04-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

This song is by the French pop/rock band Phoenix. It is very fun. They are on SNL tomorrow. I love indie SNL has been this season. OK enjoy.

1901 - Phoenix

The Grotto

2009-03-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

I am starting to learn that when my hiking book tells me the hike is easy - it means it's easy for someone like Lance Armstrong. My hike this weekend led me to The Grotto, which is a hiking trail in mountains above Malibu. The weather was kind of weird in LA on Sunday, but it was good for a hike because it wasn't too hot. As you can tell from the pictures it was really overcast plus I was at a high elevation and being so close to the ocean, the clouds were right above me. It was pretty cool. I was actually kind of scared though because there were not a lot of people on the trail and paranoid me thought I was going to get attacked by a snake or mountain lion or fall in to the canyon. Luckily that did not happen. I met a scientist on the way back up who was in town doing research and having conferences about deadly disease outbreaks, which I thought was an interesting job until he nonchalantly said "There was an emergency in Oxnard (about an hour from LA) that I had to check out" That is probably normal for him, but I definitely took a double take. But he just kept on talking. So anyway, aside from impending doom, the grotto trail leads down to a bunch of huge rocks that were formed from a volcanic eruption (actually that is doomy, where is this volcano?). Depending on the season a creek runs through the rocks and forms water falls. There was water running through, but it wasn't high. I didn't climb a ton around the rocks because I was scared about my foot, but I would like to go back and check it out. It was like a natural playground.

This was at the top of the canyon at the ranger station. I feel like it looks really eerie.

Looking out in to the canyon.

The Canyon

A meadow that you pass through on the way down.

You can't tell from this, but these rocks were the size of freight trucks.

Wiggity Weekend

2009-03-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty cool. Friday night I went on a mini movie marathon and saw Sunshine Cleaning and Duplicity. Both were good. Sunshine Cleaning was good, I just think it may have been missing something. Duplicity was very good. Very consistent, very Ocean's Elevenish.

Saturday I participated in Earth Hour, which was kind of interesting. You are supposed to be electricity-less for one hour. I was pretty bored and waiting until the time when I could use electricity again. I sat outside and drank a beer and read by candle light and flash light. I played on the internet until it ran out of battery. I ate dinner by candlelight. I listened to the people below me talk about the TV show - It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which I really need to rent. I played with the cats using one of those laser beam pointer things. So I was basically playing laser cats. Ha ha. Then my roommate came home and ruined everything cause she HAD to use electricity. She couldn't wait 10 minutes? So anyway, I did all of these things in an hour and still I was kind of bored at times. I think I am just way too addicted to the internet and TV and lights.
I will post a separate entry with pictures from my Sunday hike.

This Is Just Insane

2009-03-29T01:19:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what this is or what is going on, I think it is an old soap opera star. I do know that this is freaking hysterical. Kudos Me!

Celebrity Sighting

2009-03-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

This week's celebrity sighting is brought to you by the psychiatrists in my building.
As I was walking out of my office, Lizzy Caplan was walking out of a psychiatrist's office. Incidentally, the same one I saw Sarah Silverman go to. I love Lizzy Caplan, however I had no idea what her name was because I only know her as Janis Ian from Mean Girls. If you don't know her from that she was also in True Blood and in a new show that is starting soon I think. It looks good. But I was pretty excited since Mean Girls is one of my faves. She looked at me and smiled and I said - "You smell like a baby prostitute". Just kidding I didn't say that. I didn't say anything actually, I just smiled back. Oh for those who don't have lines memorized from Mean Girls, the baby prostitute line comes from the movie.

In honor of this sighting I give you "Built This Way" that is in the movie. I love this song. Ironically it's written/sung by Lindsey's gf Sam Ronson. I wonder if that's how they met back in 2004.

Hiking Up to the Hollywood Sign

2009-03-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today I went hiking up to the Hollywood sign. It was so cool. The trail gives 360 views of LA and it was a pretty clear day so pictures turned out pretty cool.
First of all the neighborhood that leads up to this trail is so cute. It's called Beachwood Canyon. It had ridiculously huge mansions mixed with little cottages that you would see in a little Irish village. It was very unique and diverse. Much like LA. Here are pictures from my hike.

This is in the little area called Beachwood Village that leads up to the trail. The Hollywood sign used to be HOLLYWOODLAND because it was an advertisement for the home development they were building in 1923.

This is the valley which is the side of the hills that I live in. You can see Burbank and the Verdugo Mountaint and the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance, that still have snow on them. You can't really see that in the picture.

The Hollywood Reservoir with Century City in the distance.

Downtown LA in the distance.

Downtown LA

The chain link fence that stops people from getting close to the sign.

The cameras that watch the sign. There are also motion detectors, alarms and audio warning systems. They really don't want people near there.

This is a dog I accosted on the way out. He is so handsome. The lady holding him couldn't speak english and I think she was a little scared when I pulled out my camera.

Chocolate Party

2009-03-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

My coworker had a birthday party with a chocolate theme. There was every kind of chocolate desert you can think of along with different chocolate alcohols. It was super sickly sweet. I made s'mores bars, which were a lot of fun and so good. There were so many leftovers. This is a picture after the party, so I will pretty much be eating chocolate crap all week at work.

I Never Said I Was Role Model

2009-03-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

So for this St Patrick's Day evening I went to watch one of my managers sing in a band. He sings with the Harry Gold Band, which is a cover band. They did a really good job. Harry Gold owns a medium size talent agency and he is also Tracy Gold from Growing Pains father. She was there and really cute and dancing and singing with her dad's band. It's been like, almost 20 years since that show has been on and I think she looks exactly the same. Also random and pretty surreal was when they played "Help from My Friends" with the dad from The Wonder Years sitting right there.

After that I went to a Karaoke bar called The Brass Monkey. As I got there a fight was just being cleared and I heard some dude say "Sorry man, that's just the Armenian in me" Oh OK - If that's your excuse, fight away. Anyway, supposedly there were glasses thrown and it was just nutso. The DJ said there had never been a fight in there before.
Then he said - You can fight all you want in here but you still can't beat this girl:

I love her. That video and these pictures are the reasons why Natalie is one of my fave actresses. Besides the fact that she is great at acting.

This Isn't Called Foo Foo Sweet Love Boot Camp

2009-03-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

That is a quote from Tough Love, which premiered tonight on VH1. It's of course hysterical like most reality TV shows with crazy people on them. But the funniest part about it is that Steve Ward went to my college and I am not sure how he wrangled up this TV show. He was the guy that everyone made fun of cause he was so full of himself and clearly he still is since he thinks his opinion is so valuable that he can center a whole TV show around it. I must admit, it is pretty funny when he yells at some of these super stupid woman. Well good on you, Steve Ward, good on you.

New Blog

2009-03-16T03:18:00.000-07:00

OK based off of the blog I mentioned below - Rules For My Unborn Son, my friend Kim suggested making one for albums. Since I am obsessed with music, I thought that would be fun and clearly I am obsessed with blogging as well.
So check it out - Albums For My Unborn Kid

The New Since You've Been Gone

2009-03-13T01:47:00.000-07:00

I love the new Kelly Clarkson album and I'd like to introduce you to the 2009 version of "Since You've Been Gone". This one is not as good, obviously, since SYBG is one of the greatest pop songs ever created. But still super fun and written by Katy Perry.

I Do Not Hook Up - Kelly Clark...

In other recent album releases:
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz: Amazing.
U2 - No Line On The Horizon: Better than I expected based off that horrific Boots single and Grammy performance. I need to give it a few more listens.

So Cute

2009-03-13T01:27:00.000-07:00

My niece posted this on her blog - It is so adorable, I had to add it here. This is just screaming for a movie deal. Behold - the next Diablo Cody story.

http://rulesformyunbornson.tumblr.com/

I Love Greatest (FIll in the Blank) Ever Lists

2009-03-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

ChordStrike lists their opinion of the greatest singer songwriter albums of all time. I think its pretty good. I think some things are missing, but all in all a decent list. There are no artist duplications. Interesting to note - George Harrison comes before John Lennon, and I like it. I also like that there is alot of chicks on there. Alot of polls seem to forget the ladies when it comes to picking best of lists. I will be listening to these at work tomorrow, because there are quite a few that I am not familiar with. That will be fun for my heavy metal listening coworkers who pretty much hate most of the music I listen to - Ha ha ha. Sucks for them. Kill yourself music all day!!!! Especially when we listen to Nick Drake who's #4 on the list.
Click here to see it all for yoself.

Hellbucks

2009-03-10T23:12:00.001-07:00

I have officially been laid off from Starbucks. Corporate Starbucks is making stores get rid of people who only work a few hours a week. Due to the fact that I only work a few hours on the weekend, that means me.

This is both a blessing and an annoyance. I wanted to leave there - but I wanted to do it in my own time. Also I will lose my discount - which really sucks.

So I will begin the task of looking for another part time job. I had actually been doing that anyway (I applied to be a park ranger the other day - for some reason they didn't call). But I did have some promising news already, however I am not sure how much it will pay. One of the partners at my company is mainly in to promotions. Every weekend he flies celebrities out to Vegas and organizes a party for them and they pay him. So he needs someone to internet stalk for him and find out when their birthdays are, special occassions, etc... So that is right up my alley. I need to find out more info, but I think it will be fun.

Non Photography

2009-03-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

The picture I posted the other day of Westwood was from a photographer that I found that calls her stuff No Rules photography. It is basically taking pictures and developing pictures in a non conventional way. It has really inspired me to get back into taking pictures. Her name is Nitsa, but I don't know too much about her. Here is some more of her stuff. I am going to go read up on it at her website.

Homeless or Micky Rourke

2009-03-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

This is what Micky Rourke wore to a really expensive restaurant, Nello, in NY last night. He is just so darn crazy.

A Day of Firsts

2009-03-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Last weekend a friend of mine was in town and we hung out with her friend who lives in Westwood. Westwood is the area of LA that houses UCLA so it is a lot of college kids and it such a cute neighborhood. It is a good central location as it is right next to Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, on one side, and on the other Brentwood and Santa Monica. I will definitely be looking in that area when trying to move in a few months. But I hope that I won't get sucked in to acting like I am in college again with the UCLA kids. So, anyway, I ended up doing all these things I've never done before. It was really fun.

Awesome picture of rainy Westwood Village.

First I tried heroin, just kidding. First, we went out to dinner at a Persian Restaurant that I don't know how to spell. I have never tried Persian but it was really good. I had rice and chicken kabobs which were basically grilled, tender chicken. There was this yogurt drink that was a little scary though. But my friends loved it. Persian food reminds me of a less seasoned version of indian food.

Then we went to Whiskey Blue at the W Hotel which is a part of Rande Gerber's empire of hotels and restaurants. We got there early at like 10:00 so we wouldn't have to wait in line. It was pretty nice. We got a drink and went and sat down.

After a few minutes I look over and see Lauren Conrad and Lo Bosworth sitting right next to us. LC has been someone I have wanted to see since I moved here, so I was super excited. They were with another person and at first I thought it seemed interviewish, but after a while it looked like they were friends. They talked for like 45 minutes. They weren't really drinking anything and they were dressed really cute. Pretty much how they look all the time on the show. Also - they were a normal size. Not disgustingly skinny. They just looked normal.

After awhile they got up and walked toward another section of the club/bar/lounge and LC side hugged the random girl and said "Ahhhhhhhhhh". They went in the other section, which was in the direction of the smoking section and then headed out. We stayed there for a few more hours and then went to a Hookah lounge.

I think I may have smoked Hookah once in college cause the guys in my hall smoked it a lot, but I don't really remember. The place had all these different flavors of hookah and you pick one and they put it in this crazy contraption and smoke it. It's like flavored tobacco. We had strawberry flavor. We also had some delicious hummus and another something new of grape leaves with rice in them. The place was cool - they played middle eastern music, served Lebanese beer, good food and hookah.
Then I went back to my friend's hotel in Beverly Hills, the Avalon, which was pretty cool. All in all a fun weekend filled with new experiences and star sightings.

Free at Noon

2009-03-06T11:35:00.001-08:00

In honor of XPN's Free at Noon that I wish I was at in Philly today with Indigo Girls and Shemekia Copeland
These two ladies are awesome, and this is one of my favorite songs by them.

Romeo And Juliet - Indigo Girl...

In honor of this awesome song written by Mark Knopler (Dire Straits) I give you the Killers version.

Song for Your Gansta Ass Day

2009-03-05T00:38:00.000-08:00

Cause I'm feeling a little gangsta - Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta - Ghetto Boys

Night Before/Day of The Oscars

2009-03-04T23:55:00.000-08:00

Because it's taken me so long to get these up I am not even writing about it, I just want to get it up. I will say, it was pretty cool. Security was insane. And I saw Dominic Cooper (Amanda Seigfried boyfriend in Mamma Mia) at the Renaissance Hotel bar after I stalked around.

The street is closed down for what seemed like 6 blocks on the day of. They had security with metal detectors a block away, so if you wanted to go to the McDonalds across the street from the Kodak Theater, you had to have the security wand you down and look in your bag. It was pretty intense, but you never know, there's alot of crazy actors in this town that may want revenge against the system.

All in all, a very interesting experience. The feeling in Los Angeles is interesting for the awards. There are people like me who get excited to watch them and turn it in to an event, and there are people who hate them and won't watch them. Which is pretty much like anywhere else. A lot of people think they are boring and won't watch, but the people who won't watch them in LA do it for a different reason. They are usually jaded and bitter, or think the process is too political, or don't think the people nominated deserve it, etc..
For example my one co-worker won't watch them until he goes to them. My other co-worker thinks the whole thing is rigged and whatever studio bribes the voters enough gets the prize. This may be true.
But for me, I still get as excited about it as I did when I first started watching as a kid and I wish I could have dressed up as a movie and been at Karen's yearly Oscar party. Maybe after a year in this industry I can look forward to being bitter and jaded. But I hope not. I hope my childhood fascination and excitement stays with me no matter how many actors/casting directors/agents yell at me in a day.

Song of the Day - Feist/Ben Gibbard

2009-02-27T02:18:00.001-08:00

OK I am tired, so I will post my stalking of the actual Oscars pics up tomorrow, but for now listen to a collaboration with Ben Gibbard (lead singer of Death Cab) and Feist (from Feist). It's pretty good. Very typical Feist song.

Train Song - Ben Gibbard, Feis...

Stalking An Oscar Party

2009-02-27T01:49:00.001-08:00

Last week, Diane Lane and Josh Brolin were having an Oscar party a block away from my work, so clearly I had to go and stalk it out. I saw stars, but they were pretty far away. Marissa Tomei was there and her hair looked a little crazy. Charlize Theron was tall and beautiful. And Elizabeth Banks was there in an interesting Cheetah getup. I did not see any of the rest of the people and it was a little hard to get good pictures because I was a little far. But I did get a picture of the girl who was standing there, crazily stalking with me. Except she might be a little more crazy than I am.

She gets celebrities to sign her body and then she goes and gets them tattooed on herself. She was very interesting. She had no job so I wonder how she affords to get the tattoos. She already had Josh Brolin, so she was very anxious to get Diane Lane, so she could have the pair. She tried to get Charlize, but she wasn't having any of that. I wonder if one day she will sell her skin for money.

I met a TMZ photographer and some other paparazzi guy who was explained that the pap industry is really suffering in this economy and they are lucky if they make $4000 a month. However, it doesn't really have to do with the economy; it has to do with the fact that no celebrities are acting like drunken idiots like in the hay day of Britney & Paris. They used to make about $12000 a month then. Poor paps - only $4000 a month. That's what I used to make when I had a real job as a consultant, so I don't really feel bad for those guys.

When I left my stalker friends were surprised and asked Why I was leaving because they thought I wanted an autograph. I said no, I just wanted to check it out, I saw some stars I am ready to go. They were kind of shocked and said again, you're not waiting? I think they didn't understand that I was just there to see the sights and not make money off of celebrities. And that mentality is one thing that makes LA different from normal people.

The Standard Hotel

2009-02-27T01:30:00.000-08:00

I have a million things I want to post up here but I have been too lazy to upload my pictures - so it is all coming up at once.
Last week I met up with a friend of a mutual friend at the The Standard Hotel. The Standard Hotel calls itself that cause it tried to not be standard. It was very nice and the Chicken Quesadilla appetizer was good. The bathroom had a cool world in it.

But my favorite part of it, was the discovery of my new favorite job.
Different chicks just lay in the glass and read or watch TV. And they get paid. The only thing that would make that job better is if they paid you to do it in your own house and they served you unlimited frozen drinks. Pina Colada for me please.

Song of Yeah Day - Zero -Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2009-02-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

The first single from the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album. Its a little more poppy and electronic than previous Yeah Yeah Yeah's songs. I like it though. I like them broadening their horizons, but I hope they don't go too poppy on us.

Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Oscar Predictions

2009-02-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

Now that I have seen every Oscar nominated movie I am prepared to make my predictions. It seems like every category is already wrapped up, so I hope I am wrong and there will be some surprises.

Best Picture -
Will Win - Slumdog Millionare
Should Win - The Reader

Best Actor -
Will Win - Sean Penn
Should Win - Frank Langella

Best Actress -
Will Win - Kate Winslett
Should Win - Kate Winslett

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win - Heath Ledger
Should Win - Heath Ledger

Best Supporting Actress -
Will Win - Viola Davis
Should Win - Amy Adams

I Got Soul, But I'm Not A Soldier

2009-02-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

The Brit Awards were the other night and Coldplay and the Killers put on a charity concert after the show. At the end of Coldplay's set, The Killers came out along with Bono and they performed the Killers song "All These Things I've Done". This video is OK, you can't really hear them that well, because naturally the crowd is going insane. But I imagine it was awesome. I like the Killers and Coldplay is one of my favorite bands, but I am wondering how the egos of Chris Martin and Brandon Flowers both fit on that stage.

I am a Hollywood ASST

2009-02-18T15:22:00.001-08:00

This is my life as a hollywood assistant, except a lot less glamorous, unfortunately.

Hollywood ASST from Back of the Class on Vimeo.

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

2009-02-18T01:09:00.000-08:00

I pretty much was in tears watching this.

Brooke Shields in Playground Tales from Brooke Shields

Brooklyn Again

2009-02-17T00:56:00.000-08:00

Here we have another Brooklyn band, Motel Motel. It seems all good indie rock comes from Brooklyn these days. These guys actually have more of a country sound, they sound a little bit like a Fleet Foxes or My Morning Jacket. They describe themselves as Shwag rock, whatever that means. I love this song though, this song really reminds me of an O.A.R song, its good toe tapping fun. Tap away. They will be down at SXSW this year so maybe they will be able to get signed while their down there. Good lucks.

Coffee - Motel Motel

Song Most Likely to Sound Like Eminem - Asher Roth

2009-02-16T01:58:00.000-08:00

Basically this video is a documentary of me and my friends during college. I love the Miller Lite shout out. It probably seems so familiar because the guy is from Morrisville, PA which is 30 miles from Philly and he went to West Chester University where many of my friends attended. You can even see West Chester gear in the video.
Asher Roth put some songs up on his MySpace page, requested the friendship of a music promoter in Hotlanta, a week later he flew to Atlanta and now he has a record deal. The refrain pretty much sounds exactly like Eminem, and Asher says he is flattered by the comparison, but thinks they are very different. Either way it is a fun song. They are already playing out here in LA and I am going to take a gamble and say it will be the college party anthem of 2009. His video is on MTV, Kanye has endorsed him and he's already making the late night talk show rounds. His album drops (ha ha) at the end of April.
DO SOMETHING CRAZY!!!!!!!

Asher performing live at Kildare's in West Chester -

Random fact - one of his band mates was the guy who tackled the terrorist who made the bomb threat on a plane in the beginning of January.

All I can say is that I am really excited that YouTube was not really around while I was in school. I did enough stupid things, they did not need to be recorded for prosperity. Except of course those few VHS tapes that Amanda has.

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - The Like

2009-02-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

Upon hearing about Mark Ronson and Tennessee Thomas getting together it reminded me of my obsession with The Like. If you don't know who Mark Ronson is - look him up - he is amazing. Tennessee Thomas is drummer for the three girl band The Like.

I have liked the Like since their one and only album - "Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?" which came out in 2005 and it's one of my favorite albums. I love every song on it. The Like is an indie rock/pop band hailing from LA and they all have fathers that are music industry heavyweights. Tennessee's dad is the drummer for Elvis Costello. The bassist, Charlotte Froom's dad is a producer who has produced Crowded House, Pearl Jam and Sheryl Crow album. Oh, and her step mom used to be Suzanne Vega. The lead singer Z Berg's dad works at Geffen. Which coincidentally is their label.

They are all musically trained childhood friends who formed the band when they were all around 16. The name "The Like" comes from the word - like, and how many, mostly generation x & y kids (and valley girls) throw that word needlessly in sentences, myself included. They recorded an album in London in the fall of 2007, but I don't know what's up with it, there is still no talk of a release date. That leads me to believe they are having label issues. I guess time will tell. I hope something happens with it soon though.

I saw them last May in a really small and very expensive lounge (miller lites were like $8 dollars) and they tried some new stuff and played some old. It seemed like they had a lot of friends there and they were having a really good time. I was super impressed by them and it kind of made me want to be a rock star. I guess I would compare them to a The Pretenders or Rilo Kiley type sound, maybe a not so hard Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't know listen for yourself:

June Gloom (Video)

Release Me (Live on Indie 103.1 - RIP, This isn't released yet)

Bridge to Nowhere -

Bridge To Nowhere - The Like

Song of The Day - Dan Auerbach

2009-02-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

This gentleman is one half of the Black Keys which is a band that I don't particularly love. But I really like the singer and guitarist from that band when he's on his own. Dan Auerbach is a little less aggressive and alot more bluesy than his band. I really like the whole album, but this song's opening guitar riff reminds me of Crimson and Clover which is one of my favorite songs.

Heartbroken, In Disrepair - Da...

Perez is an Idiot

2009-02-12T21:44:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong I go to that site every day. He has angered me today though. He talked trash on LOST and he was completely uninformed. "Guess this means the Lost won't be picked up past its scheduled ending date in 2010."
It's not supposed to JACKASS!!!! That was the point of the contracted end date. Luckily noone in Hollywood takes him seriously. It is the most DVRed show and the most downloaded on iTunes. The traditional ratings system is so messed up anyway and in need of a revamp. OK I am done my rant.

You Guys Can't Film Your Movie Here - The Movie

2009-02-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

This is hilarious, but I wish the store owners would have freaked out more.

You Guys Can't Film Your Movie Here- THE MOVIE - watch more funny videos

Song of Your Old School Rap Day

2009-02-11T21:32:00.001-08:00

My favorite rap song ever.
Pharcyde - Passin me By

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

2009-02-10T00:36:00.000-08:00

I went to LACMA last weekend because I wanted to see the Vanity Fair magazine exhibit before it went away. It is a history of Vanity Fair with alot of the magazines and original pictures. It spanned 1913 through to today. It was really cool. There was a ton a Annie Leibovitz photos, who I love. They had another really good photography exhibit as well, which I feel is lacking in alot of art museums. The place was huge, and I definitely did not have time to see everything. So I will definitely be going back.
Here are some pictures. I took it with my phone, so they are not awesome -

Outside of the museum.

I thought this was cool.

This reminded me of an album cover, but I can't remember which one.

This is a cool BMW from the 30's.

This was just a cool VW I saw out in Hollywood later.

Brandi Carlile

2009-02-09T01:25:00.000-08:00

And one of my favorite songs by Brandi -

Song of Thee Day

2009-02-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

In honor of Coachella announcing its lineup and me really wanting to go, but not being sure if I can make it, I give you - The Gaslight Anthem from New Jersey. They will be at Coachella with an awesome lineup of artists. Click here to check out that lineup.
This song is "The 59 Sound". Its a fun rock and roll song. You can definitely hear the Bruce influence up in here. The song also kind of reminds me of "And We Danced" by the Hooters who are right across the river in Philly from Gaslight.

Song of Your British Day

2009-02-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Does she need an introduction except that she is awesome. Lily Allen's, The Fear, from the upcoming album - It's Not You It's Me

Blog Endorsement

2009-01-30T00:48:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't noticed over to the top right hand corner I have added a blogs that I follow link. If F U Penguin is not the funniest blog, then I'm a monkey's great aunt. It was introduced to me by my friend Gigi via facebook and this guy facetiously berates cute animals in pictures for no reason. It's hilarious. Every time I read it I picture Andy Samberg playing Mark Wahlberg talking to animals on Saturday Night Live. I love it, Check it out F U Penguin NOW.

And in case you've never seen it:

Song of Your Day

2009-01-30T00:39:00.000-08:00

I know that this is just a second rate Since You've Been Gone and she basically sold out to the record label when making this CD since she was trying to go in another direction and that the lyrics are a little awkward. But I don't care, I love Kelly Clarkson. And I love anything that sounds like Since You've Been Gone.

Digital Sandbox

2009-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

This is a fun time waster - http://thisissand.com/

Glasvegas

2009-01-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

This band is going to be huge this year, but the reason I love them is cause it sounds like Scrooge McDuck in another life when he started a band in his younger, more friskier years, with his friends, before he was a stingy old duck. This is their single, Geraldine. I can't put the video up cause BMG disabled it, but you get the point.

Circumhorizontal Arc

2009-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Also know as Fire Rainbows are one of the rarest nature phenomenas and only occur in certain regions, with the sun at a certain height, with only cirrus clouds when they have certain ice crystals in them. I think its awesome looking.

Master Cleanse

2009-01-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

So in true hollywood style I am doing a detox. How will I fit in unless all of my cells and organs have been cleansed? I am on day five and it is kind of crazy. It's just crazy because its amazing how hungry I'm not. I am only drinking a crazy lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper mixture and then tea. Don't get me wrong I am definitely starving alot of the time, especially when I see all of the food commercials, and there are so many more of them than I realized. And when people talk about food, which also seems to be all the time. But so far so good. I have so much energy and I am waking up earlier which is a miracle. So 5 more days to go and I am done. Woo hoo!

It Was Only A Matter of Time

2009-01-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

Faithfully

OBAMA SWEARS IN...FAITHFULLY - watch more funny videos

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - Florence and the Machine

2009-01-20T00:33:00.000-08:00

Its kind of ridiculous how many awesome female British singers have come out over the past few years. Joining the ranks of Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Adele, Duffy, Corrine Bailey Ray, Joan as Policewoman, etc... is Florence and the Machine.
One music blog that I frequent, NME, is raving about her and she recently one won a Brit Awards Critic'c Choice award, which is the British version of the Grammy's and the Critic's Choice award is given to someone they think will be big in 2009 and the year their first album will debut. Past winners of this award are Adele, and that's it, since it's only its second year for that award.
So Florence kind of sounds like a poppier version of Chrissie Hynde. She's off the hook. I heart her.

Here are some videos, check her out:

Kiss With A Fist, her first single.

Dog Days:

Hospital Beds - Cover of Cold War Kids

I Love Julia Roberts

2009-01-19T20:13:00.000-08:00

Jules freaks out at the paps. Being a paparazzi in theory should be the perfect job for me since it combines all things I love, celebrities, photography and stalking. However I hate them and feel bad that celebrities have to put up with them. But what would I do with myself if there was no Perez Hilton?

Theresa Anderson Show

2009-01-18T02:50:00.001-08:00

Today I took the subway in to Hollywood and went and saw Theresa Anderson play at Amoeba.

Amoeba is an awesome, huge, independent music store that has new and used music in all different formats and every genre. They also gives free music performances. So Theresa Anderson played today and since she was on my artists to watch list, I figured I check it out. It was pretty crazy. She is basically a one woman band. She played like 6 different instruments in the short 5 song set. During one song she played a mandolin (I think), an acoustic guitar, drums, violin and sang. She did live sound looping, which looked really confusing. She had bare feet so she could switch all the looping buttons with her feet. I met her after and she said it was confusing at first and she would fall over sometimes, but now she's used to it. The show was really great, the CD has some not so great songs, but I have to give it a few more listens. But, clearly she is super talented and she is older that what I expected from her voice. Her voice is absolutely amazing, but at times I felt like I was a little distracted from how great her voice was, by all the sound looping and instrument swapping happening on stage. However, still a great show and I am going to predict her song will be on Grey's Anatomy or a commercial this spring.

Here is a video of her doing all the crazy sound looping and instrument swapping in her kitchen in New Orleans. She actually recorded the whole album in her kitchen. She is a pretty cool chick.

Theresa Anderson - Birds Fly Away:

Poor Joaquin Phoenix

2009-01-18T01:35:00.000-08:00

I think Joaquin Phoenix is a great actor and he has recently quit acting to begin a musical career. When I heard that I thought, it would be a genre in the rock and roll vicinity. But then I found out yesterday that he wants to be a rapper. Now I know he is crazy, he threw out a lot of disturbed interviews during the Walk the Line press, where he talked like a crazy person not making any sense and speaking gibberish, he clearly was on drugs. But this is taking it too far. What surprises me the most is the professional backing he is getting. Casey Affleck who I consider to be a pretty serious actor/artist, is documenting Joaquin's switch to Hip Hop and Puffy is producing his record. Don't these guys know, nobody is going to take him seriously?

Here's him quitting:

Here's the rapping video:

After this incredible performance, he fell down the steps leaving the stage. Its sounds and looks like me when I rapped and danced to TLC's "Hat to the Back" when I was 12. Actually I take that back - I was way better. Perez said he hoped this is some kind of Borat thing. I really hope so. Get off the drugs Joaquin.

RIP Indie 103.1

2009-01-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

As I listen to my neighbors drunkenly singing, Shout, Unchained Melody and Informer, I am reminded that today was a horrible day for music in LA. I basically listen to two stations out here. Indie 103.1 and KCRW. KCRW is mostly talk and news but for a few hours each day they play some eclectic, singer songwriter, indie music. Like XPN, but much more international and well, eclectic. When they weren't playing music I listen to Indie 103.1 which was rated the #1 radio station in America by Rolling Stone in either 2007 or 2008. It was all indie rock and alternative rock, but not annoying emo crap. Plus they played alot of cool old alternative rock like the Pixies and Joy Division, etc...

They were a commercial radio station, but they did not play commercial music at all. They were being pressured into playing more commercial stuff and they would rather close shop then give in to corporate radio. The DJs said goodbye and then played My Way by Frank. Then for the rest of the day you heard their message and loop of The Clash, Sex Pistols and a few more. I agree with them, but it sucks. So they are now an internet radio station. Click here for their official announcement.

2008 Top 25 Mashup

2009-01-16T00:37:00.000-08:00

Mashup of the top 25 Billboard songs of 2008 into one 4 minute song:

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - 2009 Artists to Watch Edition

2009-01-15T22:31:00.000-08:00

Theresa Anderson - She is America's answer to all the awesome British female singers out there today that sound like they are from another time (Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy). Check out Birds Fly Away. I think I am going to see her this weekend - if so, I'll let you know how it goes.

Glasvegas - Hmmm how to describe?. This band is from Scotland. If you combined 60's R&R with late 70's punk, this would be their bastard child band. Plus, they are awesome because they have a girl drummer.

The Boxer Rebellion - This is probably my favorite new band to watch this year. These guys are based in London, but one guy is from PA (the singer Nathan Nicholson), another from Australia and the other two from the UK. They remind me of Radiohead or Keane. I think they are absolutely amazing. They are unsigned and doing everything independently. You can buy their album on iTunes for like $6. I really like Evacuate, Watermelon & Flashing Red Light Means Go.

evacuate-

Little Joy - Fabrizio Moretti's (drummer from the Strokes) side project. They are very interesting and are getting alot of airplay in LA. Each song has a completely different sound so I have no way to describe it.

next time around -

Matt and Kim - This is a really cute couple that have been around for the past couple years. The girl is on drums and the guy is keyboard and vocals. I guess they are indie pop. Their first CD is an awesome exercise CD but most songs sound the same. Their new one has a lot more variation. I like it. Check out Daylight, Good Old Fashion Nightmare and Yea Yeah.

daylight-

Also some albums coming out in 2009 that I am really excited about:
U2
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
tegan & sara
Lily Allen
Kelly Clarkson
No Doubt
Outkast
Franz Ferdinand
DMB
The Decemberists
Dr Dre
Amy Winehouse (unless something horrible happens first)
Neko Case
Peter Bjorn & John
Imogen Heap

US Scare

2009-01-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009!!!

I had the wonderful experience of flying to and from home on US Air. The flight to Philadelphia went completely fine. We even landed early and I got my bags in 2 minutes. It was the best experience I have ever had with them. Every other time I have flown with them I have been delayed, waited on the tarmac for hours, waited for luggage for hours, arrived much later, etc.. And those things aren't even that bad considering people lose their luggage and have had much worse delays that I had. I hate using them, but with holiday travel as expensive as it was, I kind of had no choice. So I was surprised when things went so well, especially on Christmas Eve.

It seemed US Air was saving all the fun for the way home. It seems someone broke the toilet on the plane and they were trying to fix it and after continuously postponing departure, they finally said, it's going to take 3 hours we are putting you on a different flight. But of course that meant everyone would miss their connection. So everyone freaked out and we stood in customer service lines for two more hours because they didn't know what to tell us so they just kept saying "Wait". After awhile they told us to get on another plane that will take us to Phoenix and we'll figure out what to do there. So we get to Phoenix at 10:00 which was 12:00 Philly time and wait in more lines. They give us hotel voucher and ticket for the next day, then tell us to go get our luggage, then they tell us if we want our luggage we have to wait 2 hours for it. So I just went the hotel. After running in to two people who were like "Screw US Air, we are driving to LA tonight just to spite them" They offered me a ride, but I just wanted to go to bed. Then I ran in to someone I went to college with - who was on the same flight. It was really random.

The next day the flight went off without a hitch, well besides the fact that you have to buy even water on the plane now for $2. At least other airlines give you water for free. Crazy. I actually sat next to a guy who flies US Air on the west coast all the time for work and never has problems. Interesting. I have never heard that. I have heard that there is a website about US Airways horror stories.

Anyway, I listen to a few travel podcasts and here are some links to interesting travel sites I have heard about on them.

www.airfarewatchdog.com - These people just sit and search websites all day for the best deals on the web. There is a really good Q&A section that gives really good info as well.

http://www.avoiddelays.com/ - This site gives you statistics on airlines and airports and their delays. Last time I checked this PHL was number 3 for the most outbound delays. I am happy to see they have gone down to 8. Funnily enough - US Air doesn't even seem that bad on here.

http://fabsearch.com - This is cool because its a travel aggregate and you just click on your destination and it will show you the latest magazine, newspaper, web article about cool places in that destination.

www.vayama.com - For international travel. It includes smaller airlines that you may get a better deal from, that aren't available on the travelocitys of the world.

OK That's all I got. Happy New Year.

For Erin

2008-12-28T01:18:00.000-08:00

At the top of the page is link that says Next Blog - if you click through that you get the randomest things. And they are all in different languages. Awesome crazy.
Here is one where Jesus, (Christ not Madonna's new boytoy) is crying while looking at the earth, with the moon looking at Jesus. It's so beautiful. Oh I forgot to mention - Jesus is crying - its your fault.
http://toneraideniodasos.blogspot.com/

On this page the person writes like a 19th century poet. In alternating languages.
http://ipauper.blogspot.com/

I liked this one just cause there were cool pictures on it.
http://shellam.blogspot.com/

I found this insano video on this blog. The blog seems really interesting, if I could read spanish, even after 9 years of spanish classes. I don't know what the city is in the first picture (Puerto Noruoego) but it looks super frio.
http://tonionblanes.blogspot.com/

null - Watch more free videos

Flight of the Conchords Premier on Funny or Die

2008-12-17T01:10:00.000-08:00

Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords (US Only) - watch more funny videos

LA's Version of Santa Clause

2008-12-13T02:24:00.000-08:00

The movie theater was in an upscale mall called the Beverly Center and while walking to the theater there was a big hullabaloo going on one of the lower floors of the mall. I look down and next to the open air bar in the middle of the mall there is a woman on stilts and a bunch of dancers, dressed in Santa type clothes dancing around her. I watch them for a bit, finally I keep walking and realize they are in front of Santa. But not typical bearded, fat Santa. Hunky Santa. Shirtless, with kids on his lap. That is totally not normal at all. And the dancers dancing around the mall in front of him. I find out later they are called the Candy Cane Dancers. Oh and the DJ too. And they supposedly have other street performer type acts. The whole thing is supposed to be like a - "Get Healthy" campaign. But, really, that would never happen any where else but it image obsessed LA. Santa really does have pretty much a ten pack though.

I absolutely love how crazy it all is.

What kind of Micky Mouse Blog Is This

2008-12-13T02:01:00.001-08:00

Today I began my yearly quest of seeing all Oscar nominated movies and actors and attempt to see all Golden Globes nominees. I went and saw Burn After Reading & The Changling.
Burn After Reading was really good. Brad Pitt is really funny in it, as is Frances McDormett. George Clooney was good as well, he played a character that is unlike alot of the characters he plays - so I liked that. I did not like the last Coen Brothers movie AT ALL. And I was pretty annoyed that it won the Oscar - but I really really liked this. It still has a dark, violent side to it - but still very funny.
During the movie it was only me and some other chick in the theater. She was very into laughing hysterically at only mildly funny parts, making comments throughout and picking up her cell phone. Though I am glad she did. She freakin got a call to say that someone in her family died. She left the theater and screamed and cried. I felt so bad for her. Because I like to analyze, I wondered - will she ever see the end of Burn After Reading or will it always remind her of that. I will never know.

The Changling was incredible. It was so sad and sick. I cannot believe that this is a true story. If you don't know - a quick overview is - Kid gets kidnapped, corrupt police cover it up, mom fights back. It is shocking. I cried like 4 times during the movie. Angelina gave an awesome performance. Very, very subtle and subdued. The sets were very realistic since it was supposed to be the 20's & 30's. And I really like how Clint Eastwood (dir) ended it very much like alot of the older movies from the "golden age" of film. So, I thought I was seeing a Jolie Pitt marathon, but it ended up being a John Malkovich marathon. He was good in both movies, but really good in Burn. I definitely recommend both movies.

PS The title is an altered quote from Burn After Reading

Vanity Plates

2008-12-13T01:18:00.000-08:00

25% of the cars driving around LA have vanity plates. I just made up that statistic, but there is alot. I have never seen so many in any other state. It is so crazy. But then again LA is unlike any other place. Yesterday I saw one that said "KISSSS 4U". Why thank you. When Laura was here - I counted 20 in one day. I know 10 million people live here, but come on.

Today I saw one that said my last name. My last name isn't Smith or something. It's pretty rare. My grandpop went to Slovakia and researched and we all come from one family in Slovakia and when searching the entire United States you only get like 100. Though I just searched Myspace and randomly there's a bunch in Egypt, Slovakia, PA, Ohio, Canada, Russian Federation & UK. Its fun to learn about distant relatives on Myspace. One is a really cool photographer in the UK. I did find some of my actual 1st cousins on there too.
So I was pretty shocked when I saw that plate. I freaked. What are the odds of that? Right in front of me driving a BMW. So I obviously tried to stalk, but couldn't cause there was a ton of traffic and I was late for my movie. But I saw her and she looked like a trashy, fake blond, smoking a cigarette, cutting across 4 lanes of traffic. Hey cuz!
For the longest time, I wanted a plate with my last name and then thought that it was a bad idea because of safety reasons. But either way I can't have it now. So here's to me finding her and stealing her plates! Cheers!

Favorite Songs of 2008

2008-12-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Songs Submitted to XPN -

1. Portishead - The Rip
2. Uh Huh Her - Wait Another Day
3. The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight
4. Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance
5. Santogold - Lights Out
6. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
7. Kate Nash - Foundation
8. No Age - Eraser
9. Dr Dog - The Old Days
10. She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here

Others I Couldn't Fit:
Rachael Yamagata - Elephants
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
Death Cab - I Will Possess Your Heart
Estelle - American Boy
Bell X1 - Rocky Took a Lover
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Coldplay - Lost!

Favorite Non XPN Songs:
Beyonce - SINGLE LADIES
Britney - Womanizer
Kanye - Love Lockdown
Pink - So What?
Madonna - 4 Minutes
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
Sara Bareilles - Love Song
Rihanna - Every single song that comes out of her mouth
Timbaland - The Way I Are
Carolina Liar - I'm Not Over

And Now A Sampling of my Faves:

And how do I even mention Beyonce without displaying this fabulous video. I heart this so much. I also heart dance offs to this video with Bean & Pat Keenan. Ahhhhhh danceoffs :(

My XPN Top Ten Albums of 2008

2008-12-11T01:45:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Albums of 2008

1. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
2. Rachael Yamagata - Elephants... Teeth Sinking In To Heart
3. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
5. Phantom Planet - Raise the Dead
6. Santogold - Santogold
7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
8. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
9. Uh Huh Her - Common Reaction
10. Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers

Those just bubbling under:
The Walkmen
The Airborne Toxic Event
The Felice Brothers
Britney Spears
Madonna
Keane
She & Him
Kanye
Bell X1
Portishead
The Breeders

I still need to figure out my top songs, which I am having a big problem with. There were so many awesome songs in 2008! But I have to do it by Friday, that is the last day for submissions. Also I am so excited to be in Philly for the countdown. Yah!

The Tale of Despereaux Red Carpet

2008-12-10T01:43:00.000-08:00

On Friday I got an email from one of my catering companies asking if I wanted to work a movie premier on Sunday. I knew I couldn't because of my foot, but wondered what movie it was. It turns out that it was the new Emma Watson movie where she does the voice of the little girl. Now, like a 14 year old girl, I am obsessed with Harry Potter and the actors. Especially Dan and Emma. Unlike a 14 year old girl, I am almost 30, and that makes me more of a molester. So I was so bummed to miss it. Then later I thought hmmm maybe I will just go to the red carpet and see if I can see anything.

So on Sunday I rode over to the Arclight Hollywood, which is a super nice theater. It has a restaurant and bar and you can drink in some theaters. It was open to the public for the other movies they were playing. So you had to walk over the red carpet to get to the theater. There was this whole roped off section for fans and I just kind of walked pass security and hung around with the people on the red carpet who actually had tickets to the premier and nobody said anything to me.

So after awhile Buster from Arrested Development passed. Nobody had any idea who he was. Which is unfortunate considering that is one of the greatest comedies of all time. Then Emma came out and all the fans started screaming for her and she went over and signed stuff. The she went in to the theater lobby and stayed there until she signed something for everyone who wanted it and got pictures with everyone. She kept on saying "Anyone else?" She was really sweet and super cute and super skinny. So me and the 5 years olds were able to meet her and get her autograph. So I was excited, clearly.

After that I went back to the red carpet and Tracy Ullman came out and she went over and signed stuff for people.

Then Matthew Broderick (no SJP) & Dustin Hoffman walked out and they were super short and didn't stop for any fans. Matthew Broderick looks almost as old as Dustin in this picture.

Then Sigourney Weaver came out and she didn't stop for anyone either. Some guy screamed, as if he were burning "Please Sigourney, we've been waiting for hours". She just walked by. It was pretty funny.

I think alot of the people behind the rope were pro autograph hunters though. But there were some kids and parents and stuff too.

So the moral of the story is - the brits are really nice and american actors suck. Just kidding. I can't really judge based off of that.

But all in all it was a pretty cool day, sneaking on a red carpet, seeing one of my fave celebs and then going home and sleeping.

Fun Weekend Off

2008-12-10T00:20:00.000-08:00

Due to my foot injury I was unable to work at Starbucks this weekend, which I wish I could do every weekend. Of course I will probably think differently when I have no Christmas gifts for anyone. But because of this lack of work I had a really relaxing, fun weekend.

On Friday night I went to Koi for dinner for a going away party. Koi is a super trendy celebrity ridden place, unfortunately I did not see any. It was so delicious. I have not been able to stop thinking about the green beans I had. I don't love sushi, but I ate some and loved every single thing that I ate. They had some delicious martinis as well. It ended up being kind of expensive, but not as much as I thought it would be, and it didn't have to be as expensive either. My meal was only 18, but with drinks, several appetizers and desert it was a lot more. I can't wait to go back.

On Saturday I went to a Christmas Festival in Tujunga Village, which is the neighborhood next to mine. I thought it was going to be more fun, but it was still cool. They had an antique car show, snow, a ride for kids, free food and drinks, Santa, street performers, etc.. There was supposed to be carolers and I didn't see them, though I wanted to see them the most.

Fake Snow

Car Show

Bat Mobile from the old TV Show

After that I went and saw Milk and Four Christmases. Milk was great and will definitely be nominated for an Oscar and Sean Penn will definitely win the Oscar. I think he is the most amazing actor alive. He is phenomenal in every movie he does. Four Christmases was funny. A little outlandish at times, but still really funny. There were so many name actors in it.

I will create a separate entry for Sunday - Ya-yeah!

New Jim Hanft Video

2008-12-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

He's playing tonight down the street from my apartment in Studio City, I don't think I can make it, but I wish I could. I love his shows.
I really like this video for Down - its pretty cool how the whole thing is same moment, different angles and magnifications.

Jim Hanft - "Down" from Lawnmower Sounds on Vimeo.

Left Footed Driving

2008-12-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

So I broke/sprained/tore tendons in my right foot while participating in a dance off. Not sure which one. I had been doing a triple lutz and landed on my dancing shoes the wrong way. So alas I am limping around in a boot. This makes it very difficult to drive, so I am learning to drive with my left foot. Which is very scary, easy, weird. It is like learning to drive again - kinda. I always end up putting to much pressure on the gas or brake. It is actually quite dangerous. Has anyone has experience driving left footed?
On side notes - I spoke to a writer of one of my favorite movies, Crash, on the phone today. And my boss smoked pot on the outside patio of my office. It is completely bizarre. Cheers!

Prop 8 Musical

2008-12-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Hilarious and so true!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Perezzies

2008-11-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

In case anyone was wondering what my picks are for the prestigious awards - The Perezzies


Hottest Hookup	Biggest Breakup
Scarlett Johannson a...	Madonna and Guy Ritc...
Favorite Jonas	Breakout Star of the Year
Joe	Robert Pattinson
Baddest Bad Girl	Biggest Scandal
Amy Winehouse	Madonna and A-Rod's ...
Best Dressed	Worst Dressed
Angelina Jolie	Mariah Carey
Hottest Hottie	Cutest Celebuspawn
Robert Pattinson	Suri Cruise
Most Improved	Worst Trainwreck
Britney Spears	Amy Winehouse
Most DVR-worthy Series	Biggest Box Office Blowout
The Office	The Dark Knight
Celeb of the Year
Heath Ledger

Who would you vote for?
Go to PerezHilton.com to vote!

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - No Age

2008-11-20T00:15:00.000-08:00

No Age, is an LA based band that I discovered through watching their video for this song Eraser. I loved the video and the song, so I downloaded the album. I think they are great. They are an indie rock band that classify themselves as punk, experimental. They remind me of a few difference bands but I can't quite put my finger on it. It consists of two guys a guitarist and drummer, the drummer is the vocalist. They are really in to performance art and they got got their start at an LA community center type place called The Smell which has a very artsy, trendy underground following. They also like to perform in obscure places like - the LA River, the LA library, an Ethiopian restaurant in Philadelphia...
Here is a video for the song I dig. I love this video. It is so interesting and random. Definitely check out their songs on Myspace like Teen Creeps and Cappo.

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - The Breeders

2008-11-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

I started this blog to talk about musicians for my friends who like to learn about music, whether they be new artists or artists from another time. Clearly I have not done that in quite some time. So today I am going to talk about the Breeders. I saw them play on Mondy at one of the most beautiful venues I have ever been in, The Wiltern. If you are in LA and into live music, go to a show there. It is really old (1931) and cool.

Pretty much everyone knows the most famous Breeders song, Cannonball. But their music is so much more original and eclectic sounding then that song portrays, I think. I first started to get in to the Breeders when XPN (it always goes back to XPN) woke me up like 4 random days, for 4 weeks in a row by playing Divine Hammer (the other Breeders song you know), about two years ago. Of course that didn't stop me from being late for work, but ever since then I have kind of been really into them.

The Breeders started out as a side project for Kim Deal, who was the bassist for The Pixies. The Pixies are a hugely influential band from the 80's who some critics credit for being a harbinger of alternative rock in the 90's. Kurt Cobain said multiple times, that Nirvana was just trying to rip off the Pixies when they wrote their songs. He also said the best song by the Pixies was Gigantic which Kim Deal wrote and sung. Kim Deal started writing songs with her sister in high school but nothing ever came of it. After getting married and moving to Boston, she joined the Pixies in 1986 by answering an ad in the newspaper looking for a bassist. She was the only person who responded, but she didn't know how to play the bass. They gave her $50 to fly from Boston to Ohio to get her sister's bass. After that, she learned how to play and the rest is history.

So Kim feeling creative stifled in the Pixies, and Tanya Donnelly (Throwing Muses, Belly) formed the Breeders. The Breeders is a they took from the band Kim and her sister, Kelley Deal, had together in their teens. The Breeders had success with their first album, Pod and later an EP and then Tanya left to form Belly. Later, Kelley Deal replaced Tanya and it has most consistently been the two of them since the then, with other players switching in and out through the years.

They had huge success after their album Last Splash came out. They opened for Nirvana and joined the Lollapalooza tour. After that they were pretty burnt out and Kelley was busted for drugs and then went in to rehab. Their break ended up lasting 7 years. During that time they had lots of smaller side projects, but the original group that created Last Splash never regrouped. Their next album, Title TK, didn't come out until 2002. And after another long recess their 4th album came out this year, Mountain Battles. It is great and will definitely be one of my top ten end of year albums.

Their music is alternative rock/pop. I pretty much love everything about them. I tried to see them at Coachella this year, but was a slacker and missed them. Their influence was evident though, because Glen Hansard, Mark Ronson, Rilo Kiley and My Morning Jacket had mentioned on stage how excited they were to meet, see, hear, watch Kim Deal and The Breeders.

The show the other night was great, though a little short. But still longer than my 5 song concert from the other night. I met some guy who was a crazy Breeders fan, you would have thought he was a little girl seeing the Jonas Brothers. But he was cool and I got his card and am going to go see his band play at some point. The two Deal sisters were really funny together - they fought on stage and pushed each other and laughed hysterically at each other. It was really cute. I also liked how they lined themselves up logistically. They were all in front, in a line. Even the drummer. I thought that was really cool and democratic.

Below is a video from the concert I was at. The song is Drivin on 9 from Last Splash. Kelley Deal who is on violin, actually doesn't know how to play the violin, she just learned for this song. Also, I put together a little Breeders/Pixies/Belly mix for you to indulge in. Cheers.

Concerts This Week - Uh Huh Her, The Avalon, Los Angeles

2008-11-19T21:08:00.000-08:00

I went to see Uh Huh Her on Friday with Laura and unfortunately we only saw 5 songs (Laura was sick and I grossly over-estimated the time they would go on) But boy were those 5 songs good. The show was at the Avalon, which is a pretty big venue, the biggest I have seen them play at, and it was pretty full. I don't think it was sold out though. The Fashion played before them which sounds pretty electro punk rockish, and I am sorry we missed them because I like a few of their songs. But they brought in a pretty diverse crowd, which is good for Uh Huh Her. The crowd was really in to it, so there was an awesome vibe in the room. Below - a pic and someone's semi OK video of Not a Love Song (until the sound gets muffled half way through).

I Can NOT Stop Watching This

2008-11-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hmmm - Lost marathon on my 10 hour flight home next week. I think so!