I Mock Because I Love.

I LOVE me some Eric Hutchinson. And I'm not too cool to admit that I also love me some Justin Timberlake. But what could be better than Eric Hutchinson playfully mocking J.T.??

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Muse & Dry Humping

Anyone who knows me - knows that I am a hermit.  But this year for my husband's birthday I bought him tickets to see a band that has been a favorite of his for almost 10 years, Muse. And I could have told him to take a friend but I thought it would be even more amazing if I actually said I would go with him. So last night I found myself elbow to elbow with one of the smelliest groups of people I have ever encountered. The texting with my friends and family began almost immediately ...

8:23 ME: I kinda hate being here, already.

8:24 WILL: I was wondering about you.

8:34 ME: Ok we're in our seats now so I'm happier. Plus I spotted a Starter jacket so that's mad decent.

8:35 WILL: Ha ha ha ha

8:36 ME: I seriously think John Park is sitting 3 rows up from us.

8:41 MOM: Call his name.

8:47 JAMIE: Ha ha u r retarded! He's asian, they all look the same.

8:48 JAMIE: Bowersox killed it dude!

8:49 ME: No! Don't tell me! I'm DVRing it.

8:54 ME: He's wearing teal pants and Kanye sunglasses it's pretty sweet.

8:56 WILL: Sounds phenominal.

9:09 ME: Ok, I just had a mild seizure.

9:10 WILL: Why?

9:10 ME: LASER - LIGHT - SHOW

9:31 ME: And they are doing the Michael Buble song.

9:32 WILL: What? Really? Now that's cool.

9:34 ME: Muse is major laser.


THOUGHTS:

That starter jacket was seriously sweet - it brought me straight back to middle school.

How sad is it that I was worrying about the American Idol Top 10 girls performances I was missing instead of enjoying the live performance by a legit band that was RIGHT INFRONT OF MY FACE?

The "Michael Buble" song I was refering to is Feeling Good which is not really Buble's song. It's was written in the 60's for a musical and has been covered by artists like John Coltrane, Olivia Newton-John, Eels, Ben Taylor, George Micheal and The Pussycat Dolls. But I think pretty much everyone knows it as the "Michael Buble" song so that's what I went with.

I didn't mention it in the texts but there was a couple across the isle from us dry humping the entire time and I felt like a criminal everytime my eyes would wonder from the stage to them .... but seriously how do you not look at that??

There were some confusing times when we couldn't decided if we were going to stay in our seats or stand in front of them and awkwardly "dance" like all the kids do. Once, I finally made up my mind that we were going to stand - but then the next song they played was "Supermassive Black Hole." Unfortunately this is is the song from the Twilight movie soundtrack which ment I had to sit immediately back down so everyone around us didn't think I was just a Twi-hard and not really a Muse fan (and you guys know I am a complete Twi-hard  so this was against my grain.)

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Yet Another Reason...

That Kara DioGuardi is a bane of my existence.

You guys already know that I am and a huge fan of crappy television so get ready for some crap-tastic posts because it's that time of year again...American Idol is back!

Last night was the Season 9 opener and I was pretty unimpressed with Boston's offerings. But the most disturbing part of the show was the segment on a young man named Andrew Fenlon. Am I upset because he was rude to Simon? Or because he was "angry" with Kara? Or because he was a weird guy with weird glasses?

No. I am upset because Fox thinks we are all morons. But in reality, the moron is Kara.

This guy was clearly a fake. He was putting on a show - acting like a strange, weird kid with a strange brown shirt, a goofy haircut and weird too big glasses. He acted like some kind of an outcast. ACTED being the important word here. Take a second look people - this guy is totally the captain of the football team, homecoming king and all that jazz. He's a good looking guy under those glasses and I'm not the only one that noticed. Skip to minute 1:18 on the video and you'll see that even Kara and Victoria Beckham thought he was cute from the second they laid eyes on him ... notice Kara's "Hel-lo" when he walks in the room. That's not just any hello ... we know what that hello means Kara. It means you want to cover him in honey and keep him in your basement.

But then he takes his act too far and gives unnecessary and unfunny responses to Simon's questions and it's downhill from there. Even after giving a great performance ... yes, I said it ... a GREAT performance. Re-watch it people (he starts singing at 2:18.) Yeah his voice cracks once or twice in the beginning but no one is perfect and he was nervous or maybe it wasn't the best song choice or whatever but that was a pretty brilliant vocal (for me, for you, for me.) And I think the judges realized it too. But unfortunately for Mr. Fenlon the resident brain surgeon, Kara DioGuardi, was the first judge to put her two sense in. She freaks out about his "fake" attitude and it was all she wrote.

Now, I'm not sure if Fox put this kid up to it or if he thought of this shenanigans on his own but either way it was stupid. He or they or whoever are idiots for thinking the audience wouldn't see through it. Kara is apparently the only one stupid enough to fall for it.

Can I get an Amen? Please tell me someone else was on to this guy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_rCDjDi8wA

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Life Goes On Bra

Those of you that read my mother's blog should already be aware of how I spent my New Year's Eve. That's right we had a Battle Royale ... Rock Band style. We practiced for days to get ready to kick some Beatles Rock Band ass against the lesser gender.  We spent days making costumes - to be not only fiercely intimating, but cute at the same time!

However, we got our asses handed to us because my 15 year old cousin is a video game savant. I'm not sure we'll ever live it down.  Next time I need Ukulele Boy on my team!

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Semi Wordless Wednesday

You know you guys can always count on me to watch the cheesiest t.v. shows out there. This week has been no exception. I'm officially a fan of the new show The Sing Off and I'm sorry it's only going to be on for one week. If you're a fan of music or singing, really bad broadway style dance or cutesy matching sweaters then set your DVRs people.

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Not So Wordless Wednesday

I totally won concert tickets on the radio today! I've never won ANYTHING before. It's so exciting. The concert isn't until March and it's on a Tuesday night which blows but maybe I will just use it as an excuse to take a day off of work. Okay I'm excited again. Now I just have to figure out who to give my extra ticket to ... hmm.

By the way - the tickets are for Norah Jones; love her!

I hope the seats are good. Ugh, the claustrophobic, agoraphobic, panic stricken nut inside me is already getting anxious that I might not have an isle seat.

Have any of you ever won anything on the radio before?

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Mike Doughty

Thanksgiving Eve I went to see Mike Doughty play at the Recher Theater in Towson with my husband and 4 friends. Traffic was a little hairy but other than that it was a pretty great night. I know most people are wondering "Who the hell is Mike Doughty?" Most of the people I know asked me the same question. In fact, we had two extra tickets and ended up eating one and giving the other away to someone we met at the door. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the guy but I swear he's good! He was the singer for a band called Soul Coughing in the 90's that is a little more recognizable.


The music was good and all, but people watching was the highlight. There were mountain man beards a plenty; which, as I've mentioned before, are a favorite of mine. Lots of really bad white-hippy-dancing (REALLY bad) and totally uncalled for white-hippy-dreadlocks. The most entertaining though was the tragic group of "friends" sitting in front of us. At first it was two 20-something girlfriends who showed up together and saved a seat for a third friend who would obviously joining them soon. That third friend ended up being a guy - and the awkwardness ensued. Mystery Man showed up for what he was clearly expecting to be a "date" with Girl #1 and looked just a bit disappointed to see Girl #2 there. But Girl #1 was clearly not into Mystery Man and in fact spent most of the evening pretending he wasn't there. This of course lead to much awkward small talk between Mystery Man and Girl #2 and an excess amount of obviously urgent business on his iphone. Once the music started they all at least had something to distract themselves. But a few songs in, he went for the hand-hold and Girl #1 wasn't having any of it. So sad. Poor Mystery Man. He clearly wasn't even a fan of Mike Doughty; the whole night he was preoccupied with this iphone and her hand until the encore when Doughty played one of his hits from Soul Coughing and suddenly Mystery Man was a singing - head-bobbing maniac. So tragic.

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Team Taylor

I was torn when I went to see New Moon this weekend. There were some really great improvements in this movie as compared to Twilight but I can't help but come away with an overall disappointed feeling. To make it worse ... I wasn't even expecting it to be all that great. The first movie wasn't great and we all know the movie is never as good as the book but that shouldn't stop the producers from at least trying right?

I could go on and on about this and bore everyone to tears but instead I'm just going to list out what I saw as (to use one of my husband's favorite movies) The Good, The Bad and The Ugly parts of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. (And because he was such a trooper going to the movie with me and suffering through all the girlie squealing from the audience - I'm giving my husband's opinions as well)

The Good:

• Taylor Lautner: Not only is he super cute but also one of the better actors in the central cast.
• They FINALLY got The Meadow right! Making Bella and Edward's meadow dead and brown when Bella goes in search of a way to connect to Edward after he leaves was nicely done - a point that would have been even more appreciated by movie goers if they hadn't completely botched the meadow scene in the first movie.
• The Volturi: Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning were great and I can't wait to see more of them in the next two movies.
• Bella's school friends: Once again these kids were some scene-stealing bitches and I love them for it. They add a much needed sense of light and humor to the movies.
• The 360 shot of Bella: Something that I think Stephenie Meyer did great in this book was the blank pages she added in the middle of the book to portray the emptiness and depression that Bella goes through after Edward left her. I didn't expect this to be included in the movie but when I saw it - at the risk of sounding cheesy - it took my breath away.
• The Soundtrack!
• Jasper attacking Bella at the birthday party (my husband's opinion)
  

The Bad:

• Pretty much every scene with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson together: It's my humble opinion that Kristen Stewart could not act her way out of a paper bag and to make things worse she has dragged Robert Pattinson down with her. The two of them need to get over themselves. Every time either of them was on screen it was just awkward and painful to watch. Ms. Stewart seems to think that the key to good dramatic acting is biting her lip and shaking her head. What I wouldn't give to be able to get in a time machine and stab Catherine Hardwick in the neck before she made that casting decision.
• Not enough wolf-pack! These guys were great and - like the school friends - added some much needed fun. Can't wait to see more of them in the next movies.
• The death scene for Laurent (my husband's opinion)

The Ugly (and I do mean UGLY):

• Did I mention that Kristen's acting is ridiculous? because it is
• Pizza Toss / Wrench grab: During a montage of Bella and Jacob's budding relationship there is a moment where she throws a slice of pizza over her shoulder, seemingly to Jacob, then the camera switches to him and he throws his hand up, seemingly to catch the pizza, but instead he catches a wrench. I don't know how to properly describe this disaster but trust me it was L-A-M-E.
• Jacob taking off his shirt (my husband's opinion - major eye rolling included)

So what do you guys think? Did I miss anything? Do you agree that Kristen Stewart should be working in a Hot Topic somewhere instead of acting or am I being too harsh? Do you love Taylor Lautner as much as me or are you still hanging on to Team Rob. (btw - as far as the book is concerned I'm totally Team Edward - but as far as the actors go I am now fully on board with Team Taylor)

Also - since it truly was my favorite scene in the movie I have included a video here. It is just a fan-made video for the song used in the scene, Possibility by Lykke Li but if you jump to minute 1:43 you'll see a small piece of the 360 scene. Also, totally worth noting, the song choice was unbelievable. Check out the lyrics here too.

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Create Your Own!

FEDELESOIU : the point of doubtful sanity

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This was the result of an exercise I found on the internet today. It was directions on how to generate an album cover for your very own fictional band. I had great fun doing it ... so much that I did it twice actually (I put my second one at the end of this post.) Want to make your own? It's easy.

1. Go to wikipedia and click on "Random Article" The first article you get is the name of your band.


2. Go to The Quotations Page and click on "Random Quotes" The last few words of the first quote you get is the name of the album.


3. Go to Flikr and choose interesting photos from the last 7 days (or click here) The third random photo is your album cover.


4. Use photoshop or picnik to create mesh these 3 things together and voila!

I challenge you to create your own and post it on your site. This should prove to be entertaining. Leave me a comment if you make one and I'll keep a running list of links here so we can all check each other's out.

• cuteasabuggy
• snap edit & scrap

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Super Smell!

In case you didn't already know, Stephenie Meyer is amazing. I've mentioned before that I am a complete Twi-hard and I am not ashamed (that's a lie - I'm totally ashamed. But I'm trying to get over it. In my experience the people that criticize the Twilight Saga are those that have not read the books so how can they really have an opinion?) Anyway, back to Stephenie. I *heart* her. Not only did she write a great series of books that I can't stop reading over and over again but her taste in music is ridiculously brilliant as well. If you haven't read the books or even if you have and just haven't noticed, she dedicates at least one page in each book to Thank Yous. She doesn't just thank her publisher and her mom either she really gets into it. And in every single book she takes time to thank the musicians that inspire her. Her favorite is the band Muse, ironic right? But seriously she took the time to thank them in all 4 books and used one of their best songs in a very high profile position in the Twilight movie. Other musical artists that she has thanked in her books and on her website include: Travis, The Cranberries, Weezer, Keane, Elbow, Ok-Go, Jack's Mannequin, Motion City Soundtrack and Gomez. The soundtrack for the 2nd movie, New Moon, goes on sale October 20th - a full month before the movie even comes out - and you best believe I will be buying that bitch. The track list includes all original songs which will be exclusive to the soundtrack. Now, most of you will probably look at the following list and be unimpressed but trust me on this one, if you're into this kind of music at all you know this is going to be a great album.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE — MEET ME ON THE EQUINOX
BAND OF SKULLS — FRIENDS
THOM YORKE — HEARING DAMAGE
LYKKE LI — POSSIBILITY
THE KILLERS — A WHITE DEMON LOVE SONG
ANYA MARINA — SATELLITE HEART
MUSE — I BELONG TO YOU (NEW MOON REMIX)
BON IVER & ST. VINCENT — ROSYLN
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB — DONE ALL WRONG
HURRICANE BELLS — MONSTERS
SEA WOLF — THE VIOLET HOUR
OK GO — SHOOTING THE MOON
GRIZZLY BEAR — SLOW LIFE
EDITORS — NO SOUND BUT THE WIND
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT — NEW MOON (THE MEADOW)

Random Thought: One of the ideas in the Twilight Saga is that of Vampires being blessed with special talents/abilities that are really just enhancements of unique talents they had as humans. For example, Edward Cullen as a human was very perceptive and able to "read" people - as a vampire he is able to literally read minds. However Bella is the only person he has ever met who's mind he cannot read. Bella's mind is also immune to the talents of other vampires. SPOILER ALERT: In the 4th book Bella "makes the change" and isn't sure if she has been blessed with a special power at all (not all vampires are) but by the end of the book she discovers her power and realizes that it is the ability to protect her mind. OK - sounds lame but I'm not describing it well or doing it justice at all.

MY POINT IS ... If I were a vampire I think my special talent would be a super sense of smell. I actually never thought much of it until others would comment on my strange ability to compare two completely random smells and yet be dead-on accurate. A few examples: my friend Will's first car in high school was a p.o.s. 1990 Beretta - it was a heep - and it smelled exactly like ranch Frito's, I've also found that the house I lived in during most of high school smelled exactly like lunch-meat, the office I currently work in smelled exactly like ant-killer last week (despite the fact that there had been no visit from an exterminator) and there is a 2-mile long stretch of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway that smells exactly like a dirty fish tank. It's not much but it's all I've got. Would yours be any better?

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Hey Ya

Check out this acoustic cover of Outkast's Hey Ya. There is something about a guy with a massive moutain-man beard that I find appealing. Maybe it's just a respect for the amount of time it must have taken to grow the thing ... anyway this guy Matt Weedle has an amazing voice - please enjoy.

And just for kicks - here's the original ...

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A Little Matt Costa Love

For some reason my DVR failed to record "obsessed" last night which REALLY upsets me. So I was forced to watch live TV which is a completely stone-aged activity. While I was stuck watching commercials I saw one for the iphone 3g. I didn't pay that much attention to what they were trying to sell - maybe something about how they have combined forces with Ron Popeil and there is a new app that will make you beef jerky on-demand. What I did notice was the music they used; throughout the first 85 seconds (of the 90 second commercial) they played the song "Mr. Pitiful" by Matt Costa. Then while showing how you can use voice activation to play music on your phone they used the example "play music by Jack Johnson" and quickly changed the song to one of his as well as displaying one of his album covers on the iphone screen. I know most people wouldn't even notice this but Matt Costa is freaking amazing and he deserves some R-E-S-P-E-C-T apple! I know the audience of The Bee cannot hope to compete with the audience of "The Colbert Report" which is what I was watching at the time, but I feel I should do my part; I have posted Mr. Costa's video for the song iphone used below. Love you Matt. Call me.

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KILLING the Spirit of Baltimore

Last night my husband and I went to see Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. ((For those of you unfamiliar with the game and its music I have added a sampling to the sidebar for your listening pleasure)) I had two very good reasons to be excited about this; #1 my husband is a huge gamer-geek and is totally into the Final Fantasy series, #2 its a guarantee that there will be plenty of people there (and when I say "people" I really mean 'guys that are somehow simultaneously sporting bald spots and adolescent squirrely mustaches') dressing up as their favorite FF character. Now, I love my husband but seriously #2 was by far the more appealing reason. I had very high hopes for the pictures I would be able to share with you. This was going to be my greatest post ever; award winning no doubt; people would cry over its fabulousness, mass hysteria would ensue. This post was going to give the world a reason to forget all the high profile celebrity deaths of this past week. MJ who?? To my great disappointment I did not see a single costume last night. What happened?!? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Baltimore, where's your spirit?!?

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I have a theory. According to FBI data, via a recent article in the Baltimore Sun our fine city is the murder capitol of the United States. I suppose dressing up as a Chocobo would draw far too much unwelcome attention to ones-self and Baltimorians don't need to give anyone more reasons to shoot them. As such, I blame our lovely Mayor, Sheila Dixon, for the lack of an amazing post today.

Please forward all complaints to:

Mayor Sheila Dixon
City Hall, Room 400
100 North Holliday Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 396-4804; fax: (410) 539-0647
e-mail: mayor@baltimorecity.gov

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