Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Darjeeling Limited trailer

Oh, I'm really excited. Wes Anderson is my absolute favorite. I've never enjoyed another movie or style of movie-making the way I enjoy his. I mean honestly, his movies make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Monday, July 23, 2007

I Like Concerts

(alternate title: Concerts Are Fun)

I missed out on seeing the Shout Out Louds on Thursday night (tickets which I won online) because it was the one year anniversary of Dance Right at La Cita. The theme was Disco Prom and because the costume theme nights are usually such a spectacle, how could I resist? Surprisingly, not many people showed up for a theme night, and few were even in costume - very unusual. I suspect many of the infrequent attendees figured it would be utter chaos and decided to forgo the madness. So anyway, I gave those Shout Out Loud tickets to Wade and he was kind enough to give me an over-sized bottle of wine in return. And yes, he DID know that I got them for free.

Friday night I went to see a friend of Katie's play at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Pretty music, but really heavy, I tell you what. Like, should-I-just-go-ahead-and-jump? type music.

Saturday (the main attraction of this blog entry) Karen took me to the Daft Punk concert downtown at the Sports Arena. Boy oh boy, what a show! I definitely have never danced that hard, which says a lot considering my stint as a faux hippie during college; I've been to an awful lot of jam band shows and done my fair share of twirling, prancing, and downright jigging. But Daft Punk put all other dance-worthy concerts to shame. Plus, their space suits were just awesome - for the encore they turned off most of the lights onstage and their suits and helmets were lined in glowing red neon lighting. I've never seen them before so it was all new to me. Thank you for that, once again, Karen.

AND, I just won MORE concert tickets. I absolutely love giveaways. The trick is you keep an eye or ear out for those underground outlets that probably won't have many people calling in/entering right away. This time the tickets are for Martin Rev at the Silverlake Lounge, from good ol' KXLU - gotta love those sometimes-staticky, low numbered radio stations.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Good Morning Sunshines

When I arrive at work in the morning - arms awkwardly full with Staples office supplies and mind scattered from run-ins with some of the more ridiculous representatives of this human race - there's really nothing better than opening my Microsoft Outlook and seeing that the subject line of my first email reads "3 pictures for you"...


Good morning sunshines!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Camping in the Sierras

So here is documentation of my recent camping experience. Minutes after we arrived we headed to the pond for some swimming and games (that pond was a life saver since it was so hot up there). In fact, we spent most of our time playing games. All different kinds of games: card games, dominoes, horse shoes, four square (on the dock in the middle of the pond - if you missed the ball you were most likely diving into the water to get it, an added element of fun), swings, etc. Josh even took me for a ride on the back of one of the motorcycles they had at the campsite. We also did a lot of relaxing.








Next was our day trip to a lake (Mammoth Lake, I think Marissa said?). We drove to the trail head and then there was a short hike o reach the lake. There are stones of all different sizes at the lake, all throughout, and it's pretty shallow, so you could basically rock hop across the entire thing. It was very cool.







On our way back we stopped at a meadow that has a few 'abandoned' shacks dispersed throughout. But actually, someone had obviously taken up residence in them, because they had insulated the insides with tarp and left behind cans of soups and shotgun shells - notice the bullet holes in the metal chimney - scary. But I did enjoy admiring the beautiful scenery.



I missed out on the second mini-lake excursion. Bummer. But here's the highlight of it:



Yep, me chopping wood:



A last view of the local meadow:




THE END!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Desperately Seeking Suggestions

Currently I am in the process of organizing and launching an online publicity arm for my PR agency. The movement has already been approved, though I must have a proposal plan/outline completed by the end of the week. As you may have guessed, simply based on the fact that you are reading this blog right now, I'm at a loss about where to start. So I figured, maybe writing a blog will get the juices flowing. My problem is constructing the grand scheme and assigning an order to what few processes I have determined must occur.

I've attended panels and webinars about Social Media, Web 2.0, and blogging, but all seem to be more directed towards those companies that already have a very involved website and/or blog. I've done my Internet research, but still feel void of key elements and know-how necessary to the start-up process. I feel like once I get the ball rolling, once I gain some momentum, not only will things start to fall into place more naturally, but I'll also have a better idea of how to navigate, based on the live action. Right now it's as if I'm trying to draw a map to some distant place I visited when I was younger; I know what the place looks like, but I really wouldn't be able to create a layout for how to get there.

Of course, it's occurred to me that maybe I'm selling myself short. Maybe - like other endeavors that I've let fizzle and dry out despite having been quite excited about them at one point - I'm just too scared of the jumping off point, or too intimidated by the work that a new and unfamiliar project requires. Maybe, just maybe, all those informational forums have formed some sort of retention in my brain and I actually do have the capacity to tackle this obstacle. Maybe...

Regardless, if anyone out there has any suggestions whatsoever, broad or specific, in regards to the development of a detailed proposal plan for launching an online publicity website and/or blog, my ears are wiiiide open.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Idiocracy

Upon logging out of my hotmail account this morning, I came across an article entitled Your 5 Minute Guide to Raising Kids. At first I thought it was very sad that an article like this exists, then I thought it was funny, then I got a little sad again. It sort of begs the question of what contributes to poor parenting mentalities - which breed aloof parents who think reading an article like this is making a god-honest effort to be a better and more responsible parent. It's a big circle.

On a similar strand, Josh and I watched the movie Idiocracy last night. Our Netflix choices were Superman Returns, The Inconvenient Truth, and Idiocracy. Because I was attempting to unpack my new apartment, while lounging in my room watching a movie (first time I've had such a luxury!), I wanted something that didn't require all my attention. Idiocracy stars Luke Wilson (say no more) and Maya Rudolph and, well, sounds like just the type of movie I was looking for. Oddly enough though, my eyes were glued to the TV, as I unwittingly dropped a few IQ points by watching this movie.

The premise of Idiocracy is actually pretty humorous in it's satirical nature, which is also to say that, unfortunately, in some respect it is on par with reality. More specifically, the movie is commentary on the reality of the US and the exponential multiplication of uneducated white trash families vs. the dying out of intelligent and responsible people who focus their time on bettering their careers and being cautious, instead of making babies. Come 2505, the world has been taken over by idiots who can barely communicate (due to a vocabulary that is about 50% groaning noises and 35% the word "shit") and an ineffectively run government of people so moronic and controlled by consumerism that their most prominent disaster is dusts storms caused by lack of plant life... because they think they are supposed to water their crops with Gatorade as opposed to water... cuz it's got them electrolyte thingies. I'll stop there.

And, just like last night, I've already devoted more time and attention to this movie than I really should have. I guess the director was savvier than I initially thought.

On a less ridiculous note: the apartment is coming along great! Most of my stuff is moved in, and though it still appears to be in shambles, it's starting to feel like home. It's light and airy and is definitely located in the most optimal place in the complex, where we only share 1 wall with an adjoining neighbor (not that we're really loud, I just don't want to worry that someone will get upset whenever we play music after dusk). Plus, I think I fall in love with the neighborhood a little more each time I arrive home after work. Who would have thought that my first apartment in LA would be only a half mile from the house I grew up in. I couldn't be more thrilled!