huh?

People think the little twin robots from Transformers are racist/black stereotypes? Really? I just filed them away as ‘annoying teenagers trying to sound like tough guy rappers’, myself.

 

 

And so the weekend of DOOM begins...

Today we:
Visited David's grandparents in Riverside and had a nice lunch with them.
Stopped by Fullerton on the way back and wandered around the downtown area for a bit - introducing the Boo to our some of our old haunts like the Stray Cat vintage/goth clothing store, and Ipso Facto. Likely due to her fascination with Nightmare Before Christmas, she found both these places really cool.
Went to Vons and picked up the items we needed to make a mean pot of chili for the chili cook-off at the BBQ tomorrow.
Went to Bliss Frozen Yogurt to pick up the cupcakes I won via the OC Register's MomBlog. Bliss is REALLY REALLY cool. Their name is deceptive, because besides FroYo, the also make fresh crepes (you can watch yours being made), have cupcakes and macaroons (from Meringue Bake Shop - the same place I won the cupcakes from), coffee drinks, AND (here's the best part) they are open until 10pm!!
So the other day when we had a craving for fresh bakery cupcakes at 9pm, we could have just gone there. But now we know, and knowing is half the battle.
THEN we went to see Transformers 2. And it was really cool. I think most of the critics are bitter grumps who didn't want to like the movie before they even saw it. The plot is not hard to follow and alot of the stuff is taken directly from various episodes of the original cartoon. And for all of the complaints about the humor in the movie - you know nearly all those same critics will be writing how brilliant BRUNO is next weekend. I'm just sayin', is all.
And then we made homemade chili with secret ingredients that I won't share with you right now, but probably will later.
And now, we're going to get some sleep.

Wow, weird

This Miley Cyrus song doesn’t suck:

 

http://www.mtv.com/videos/miley-cyrus/323071/fly-on-the-wall.jhtml#id=1518072

 

Another King is Dead..

Billy Mays.

 

He used to really bug me but I was shocked at how much me and the whole fam loved his show Pitchmen.

 

He seemed like a super-cool guy, and here are some of his funniest bits:

 

http://consumerist.com/5303625/billy-mays-a-look-back-at-a-television-legend

 

 

David N. Scott

 

 

I don't get it

Why would someone hate this dress?

 

http://thesuperficial.com/2009/07/0702_sheryl_cole_birthday_dres.php

 

 

I hate holidays. Can't I just have 11 more vacation days and call it even?

Huh?

Does this article make sense to you?

 

http://www.slate.com/id/2221978

 

I had trouble following it, but that could be because I’ve been putting together e-recycling information all afternoon and my brain is fried.

Work

Work is fast then slow then fast then slow and WHERE’S MY THREE DAY WEEKEND

PaulOakenfold.Com has free mp3 of his Perfecto show - sweet remixes! Excellent trance!

VNV Nation at Club Nokia - Part 2

After a brief rest period during which we chatted with one of the security guards out on the smokers balcony, we headed back in to check out War Tapes.

In contrast to their tour mates, War Tapes has a more traditional band set up, and based on their sound, it seemed that they might have had better luck with the crowd at a My Chemical Romance or Morrissey concert than they did with the electronica lovers in the pit on Saturday. Most people just listened politely instead of jumping about - ourselves included - we took the opportunity to rest our feet before VNV took the stage. Which isn't to say they are a bad band. Quite on the contrary, their lead singer is extraordinary. I'm posting their video for "Dreaming of You" and I highly recommend you not only listen, but request it on your local station (they are trying to get on KROQ's regular rotation) if you like it. I think they could be the next MCR if they can just get some decent radio play. They are a very attractive group, including a female bass player, and their lead singer is particularly charsimatic. The kind of emo boy that makes the young alterna-chicks swoon.


But unfortunately for the concert, "Dreaming of You" is an excellent example of their music. Great to listen to while resting your tired feet and sipping a drink from the bar, not so much great for dancing. I wish them well, though, and hope they are not discouraged by the lukewarm reception they got on Saturday.

Because when VNV took command of the stage (which is the most appropriate way to describe their performance) everyone went nuts. From the moment the words "I HATE WAR" flashed on the screen, the crowd (including us) were jumping and screaming and laughing along with their lead singer Ronan, as he goaded us on to pogo our way to world peace ("Are you at a folk concert? No, you are not!" "Get moving people!"), made fun of the guy in the balcony who seemed to be there just to please his hot girlfriend (in a friendly stand up comedy way, it was hilarious, but you had to be there), or simply lead gigantic sing-a-longs to their more popular songs, running back and forth across the stage, which was REALLY cool if you can appreciate that we were only about 5 people back from the stage at the time. Lots of audience interaction made for a fun evening, and while there was lots of dancing and jumping going on, everyone respected each others space, so there wasn't that fear for your life like I used to get at OzzFest back in the day. (See below for their opening song which features a taste of Ronan's banter - the sound is pretty crappy, but you'll get the idea.)

We are heavily debating if this has surpassed Bond as the best concert ever. I think it did, just because it was absolutely brilliant and lasted forever. Even with leaving a 1/2 early, we still got to see a 2.5 hour show that was awesome from start to finish. It's just too bad we did have to leave early. This concert went WAY longer than any other I've been to - next time we'll know to just carve the whole evening out so VNV can kick our asses just a little bit longer.

The Room

So, The Room.

Tommy Wiseau releases a movie that’s pretty awful (though not completely so – you can sit through it and it’s very quoteable).

Unlike all of the other people that gave up, he manages to turn a tiny advertising budget into a massive cult hit that shows every week in multiple cities.

Last week was the 6^th anniversary, so it may have been a little skewed, but when we went 5 screens were sold out.

So basically I guess this guy is some kind of genius. He shows up to get mocked and then laughs all the way to the bank at all the people that dropped $7 a head to get in.

Pretty cool…

VNV Nation at Club Nokia

Saturday afternoon we dropped off the Boo with my parents and headed up to Club Nokia, which is in the new LA Live complex across from Staples Center. We were hoping to get wristbands for the pit, so we got there at 5:30pm and grabbed a place in line. Then we waited for two hours, people watching (lots of interesting looking goths going to the show) and chatting with the nice gals across from us in line, one of which had won "meet and greet" passes to the show at the CD release party we didn't get to go to (all ticket holders were invited but it was on a Monday night), and she also had the show schedule, which she shared with us. This turned out to be good because we'd never been to see VNV live before and apparently they do a LONG show. Which would be great, except we had already made plans to go see THE ROOM with LYT at midnight. After some debate we resigned ourselves to missing the end of the show and soon after the doors opened to let us in.

The entry way to the club has a neat multimedia display that was visible from the waiting area, but you couldn't interact with it from out there. As it happened, we were so excited about getting our wristbands (out of all the concerts I've been to, this is the first time I've actually managed to score pit access), and getting a good spot staked out, that we never really checked that out. The club itself was really cool, with a space age looking bar and long thin lights that run around the tops of the walls and the bar, and change color every few minutes. The stage and dance floor area was larger than the House of Blues, but still intimate. There's really no bad place to stand and watch the band, and the crowd was small enough that once we got our wristbands we could freely wander around.

As it turned out the schedule the gal had was off, and they started the show about an hour earlier than expected, so that was great for us because we might not have to leave early after all. The first band up was Ayria. Later research turns up that Ayria was the actual singer - a super hot goth girl who sang some great industrial dance songs and got the crowd to actually dance a bit. We really enjoyed her set and plan on downloading some of her music when we get a chance. She reminded me a little bit of Lords of Acid, but with a softer edge, or a more industrial Lady Gaga. I totally recommend checking out her music.

Next Post: War Tapes and VNV Nation!

MIchael Jackson

So the day Michael Jackson died Boo overheard us talking about it and asked who Michael Jackson was.

At first I was surprised but when I looked into it a bit and realized he hadn’t released in album while she was on the planet, it made more sense.

So we loaded up on the iPod and we’ve been listening ever since. The Boo generally gravitated towards the MJ Julie and I mostly remembered – the 90s era with Dangerous and HIStory. Jam and Scream were my favorites of those days and have never completely left my playlist, but the Boo really likes Thriller, too.

I think our favorite depends on the day… probably Jam or Smooth Criminal.

RIP to a legend.