Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

2013 Oscar Nominees for Short Film - Animated

This animation (Paperman) is getting a lot of attention on my Facebook newsfeed. Even though I already knew what the ending would be, I couldn't help but smile and keep watching it until the end. Then I noticed this was an Oscar nominee for best animated short film, which led to me watching the rest of the nominees, either trailer of full short (or whatever was available). I have no idea how the academy picks their nominees. But here are the nominees for best animated short film:


Fresh Guacamole - PES
Head over Heels -  Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Paperman - John Kahrs
Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" - David Silverman
Adam and Dog - Minkyu Lee

Having fun isn't hard, when you have a library card!

This song has been in my head since middle school and I am glad my hippocampus works the way it works. It's also another reason why I loved working at the UCLA Library (for three years!) When I see kids doing drugs or just not such fun things, I break out in song along with the appropriate dance moves. Enjoy!

Frank Ocean - Thinking About You

Everything Will Be Ok by Don Hertzfeldt

Movie Stills: The Red Balloon (1956)

The Red Balloon (1956) directed by Albert Lamorisse

If you're planning on seeing the movie (it's only 34 minutes, it'll do you good!) then stop here!

Pleased to have known you, George Carlin

Because I'm homeless and underemployed and "not allowed to use the elevator without my host" and have access to Netflix, my four eyes have been hurting. I'm watching things I never thought I would (not porn, I just am not mature enough) and I have to say... hooray!

Carly Rose - Rolling in the Deep

And yes, Carly Rose is still in the running! I should end it with "American's Next Top Model" but I... well I kind of just did. I can't say her last name, and I just think of her as the other Carly Rae Jepson girl. Just, this Carly is younger (she's 13 and the Call Me Maybe girl is actually 26!) and much much more talented (vocally). Here's her latest performance on the X Factor. Her version is definitely unique and shows her range and control of her vocals. I agree with Simon that this wasn't her best performance, but her best beats everyone else's best on the show. She got me from day one when she performed "Feelin' Good" and has not disappointed met yet.  Go Carly!

Headlines: Subways, Jay Z, The Voice, Kate, Margiela, Gangnam

1. A 58 year old man was struck and killed by a train near the Times Square subway stop in New York City. You can read the horrific story here. This isn't the first time someone is struck and killed by a train, but what makes this story special, I guess, is that there's an image of the man struggling as the train approaches. The NY Post placed the image on the cover with the headline "DOOMED - Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die." You can view that image here. The photographer of the image, R. Umar Abassi, went on the Today show to tell his side of the story. You can watch the clip here.

2. In lighter news concerning the subway and NYC, Jay-Z's 24 minute Barclays Center documentary "Where I'm From" was released. There's a sweet clip of Jay Z and his entourage getting on the subway to Brooklyn for his last show. He sits next to "an old lady" who is actually an artist herself, Ellen Grossman, and has a humble conversation with her. Watch the sweet clip here.

3. If you haven't heard, Kate Middleton is pregnant. In his own words, my boyfriend (who is the last person to know what's going on with celebrities and really doesn't give a flip) said "She has morning sickness. Why the hell do I care?" and I agree with him. But it's news, and everyone and their mother knows, though I doubt my mom knows... I might be wrong.

4. I'm obsessed with reality singing shows, just not American Idol. The first season was all they needed. Go Kelly! I stopped following after that. But then I got obsessed with The Voice and now X Factor. Obsessed is the wrong word because I actually just watch clips on Hulu/Youtube, but I am rooting and booing for some people. Well, Melanie Martinez (I love impersonating her singing) and Amanda Brown got eliminated. Both Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine's teams are out. As for X Factor, I'm rooting for the 13 year old Carly Rose... something. I haven't checked yet, so I hope she's still in the running!

5. Margiela and H&M collaborated and... it failed. Less than two weeks after the launch, you can find the new items in the clearance section, with markings up to 85%. And customers who bought the items cannot get a price adjustment, and if they returned it, would be refunded at the current selling price. There's always eBay (which is what I'll be doing, dang it). I shouldn't be surprised because this is exactly what happend at Uniqlo with Undercover. I should know better.

6. Lastly, Psy's Gangnam Style is the number one most viewed youtube video, reaching almost 1 billion viewers and he's making a lot of money from it. And more than half of the viewers don't understand a thing Psy is singing. We live in a strange world. I still find it strange to walk into a Harlem supermarket, and all of a sudden Gangnam style begins to play. Oh what a strange world we live in.

A dream of mine? To be in a musical.

Chicago - Cell Block Tango

                                        

Wicked - Defying Gravity

The Sound of Music - So Long, Farewell

Singing in the Rain - Singin' in the Rain

Grease - Summer Nights

Rent - Seasons of Love

3 songs I'll always love

Some are original, some are covers, but these are my favorite versions. 

Phil Collins - Against all odds

Youth Group - Forever Young

Lauryn Hill - Killing Me Softly 

Six tracks for the train trip

Alliteration, my friends. It would have been more impressive if I had done ten tracks, or two, or twenty two, but I wanted six. Six because it isn't five. Instead of the usual top five, this can be sexy six, selective six, salient six, oh, or even six songs!

I have a playlist on my spotify titled "subway" which features these six songs amongst others. Always on repeat, medium volume, so I can somewhat hear the conductor and not annoy everyone else on the train who's getting some shut eye before heading to work or home. Let's take the D and play these tunes!

Ou Est le Swimming Pool | Dance The Way I Feel
Panda Bear | Alsatian Darn
Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa | Young, Wild and Free ft. Bruno Mars
El Ten Eleven | My Only Swerving
Cults | You Know What I Mean
SBTRKT | Hold On

Rihanna's We Found Love music video reminds me of...

Cee Lo Green's No One's Gonna Love You (which is a cover from Band of Horses). Just a tad. Now, aren't you glad you're single!? Enjoy!

I'm glad I don't have to do the proposing

I used to think being a girl sucked. It's calamitous. I bleed monthly, I'm easily agitated, I have to be extremely careful with my mating habits, and I'm in charge of popping a 6-10 pound baby out of my thinger (just imagine pooping out a full turkey).  Besides undergoing the natural processes, everything else is easy. I'm talking about relationships in the narrowest form. Politics aside, boys have a more difficult time than girls (with homosexual relationships I'm not so sure).We, in a fairy tale world, don't do the chasing. We give out numbers, sometimes fake numbers. We have the power to make or break someone's heart. Boys have the tough job - they have to put up with our hormonal moods and compete with  Ryan Gosling and Johnny Depp and whoever the male protagonist is in all the Nicolas Sparks' idyllic love novels (I pick the cutie in A Walk To Remember who said "love is the like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it" marry me now please).

Girls expect a lot from their partners and they have every right to. We all want the best. We do not want to settle with just any guy (please don't ever settle even if he's a millionaire or he has your child). Girls predict everything and anything. We (or maybe just me) have an imagination that's bigger than any romantic movie/ Korean drama.  We know what we want. So can you imagine how tough it is for your partner to come up with the most original, creative, memorable proposal!? I'm having a headache even thinking about it! Poor boys. What sucks more is that certain proposals gain more attention than others because they're the best ones (and they're not from a movie!) and thanks to youtube, you and your partner are able to join in on the event. Doesn't that just suck? You're both watching it, your girl is crying, one because it's so romantic and two because this idea has already been done and she wasn't a part of it, meaning you have large shoes to fill even though you don't even know this guy who did this stunt but you loath him so much for setting the bar so high. 

Below are two proposal videos that I thought were heart warming (I usually end up watching every single related video I can find but this one satisfied me). Well, the first one made me cry. The second one (recommended to me by a friend) I wasn't too thrilled about. I would go on and on about the reasons why I loved the first one so much, but..I'll go on forever and we both will not have any sleep. Watch and weep! If you have a significant other and foresee a future with them, be nice. 

Bon Iver at Shrine Auditorium

My nap two hour nap was over. It was 7pm and the Bon Iver concert was at 8. I did a quick change up and walked out the door in my beloved black Beatles shirt circa 2007 and khaki shorts. I was so ready for a concert. We were lucky enough to find parking spot right across the street from the Shrine Auditorium. Once we got there, I felt like the purple elephant in a tutu balancing itself on a unicycle. EVERYONE, and I mean everyone including Michael looked like they just walked out of the Opening Ceremony's Fall lookbook. They were a sophisticated bunch dressed in shabby chic outfits with vintage leather purses and tousled i-just-woke-up-but-my-hair-looks-perfect- look. Me? I looked like I exited the wrong freeway and missed my Warped Tour stop 5 miles back. Indeed, I did a long look around the lobby to see if there there were others who were unprepared like me. Even the security guard looked the part.

This entry is about Bon Iver, not about me. 

This concert was a week ago, and everything I felt was a week ago. I knew I should have blogged right when I got home! I'll create a quick phone conversation I had with Francois from my memory about this spectacular event along with other additives.

Me: You missed out. It was frucking amazing. Best concert I've ever been to. Lady Gaga is now numero uno.

Franois: I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Me: No, I more than enjoyed it! It was such an out of body experience. I feel exhausted even though I sat there the entire time minus the last ten minutes when the whole audience was on their feet! Think Coldplay mixed with Brand New and Arcade Fire, even though I've never seen them live. Did you know there's 9 people in Bon Iver!?

Francois: I did not know that.

Me: I had no idea there were that many instruments! I saw a saxophone, trumpet, french horn, two drums, piano, and other instruments that I can't even name. Usually, I look at the lead singer and anyone else who is cute in the band. But this time, I paid attention to every single person on that stage. It was just... raw music.

Francois: Wow, that sounds really good.

Me: IT WAS! I don't know how to describe it!

Jeez, how annoying am I. I apologize that I can't creatively write about this experience. I've played it in my head many times about how I'd describe the concert, but it seems it's indescribable. You just had to be there.

New York Fashion Week Spring 2011

Hello my two loyal followers. As you can tell, I had more time to look over the Spring 2012 collection. After looking at these beautiful garments and realizing the majority of my favorite designers are men, I dreamt of marrying a fashion designer. And then a good friend told me that all they'll do is BLEEP the models and ignore me or cheat on me with another man. Le sigh. Anyways, these are the outfits I currently have in my closet. Oh yeah.

Charlotte Ronson

Charlotte Ronson

United Bamboo

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta

Marchesa

Zero + Maria Cornejo

Chris Benz

Donna Karan 

Donna Karan 

Donna Karan 

Honor

J.Mendel 

J.Mendel 

J.Mendel 

J.Mendel 

J.Mendel 

Suno

Yigal Azrouel

Yigal Azrouel

Yigal Azrouel

BCBG

Alexander Wang

3.1 Phillip Lim 

3.1 Phillip Lim 

3.1 Phillip Lim 

Michael Kors

Michael Kors

Proenza Schouler

Theyskens' Theory

New York Fashion Week Fall 2011

I didn't have a chance to look through every collection of New York Fashion Week Fall 2011 (and I never will) but here are a couple of my favorites from some of the collections I browsed through on Vogue's website. 

3.1 Phillip Lim 

3.1 Phillip Lim

Michael Kors

Chloé

Michael Kors

Proenza Schouler

Michael Kors

Gym Class Heroes: Stereo Hearts ft. Adam Levine

I'm getting sick of a lot of songs on the radio (I'll make a list soon enough) and when this song came on, I didn't want it to end! I know I'm liking it now because it's fresh, but what's not to love when Adam Levine is involved? 

Travis McCoy and his band Gym Class Heroes are back with a new hit since Cupid’s Chokehold (if you remember, his ex Katy Perry before she kissed a girl) starred in the music video. She’s still present in this song also when he raps “Furthermore, I apologize for any skipping track / It's just the last girl that played me left a couple cracks” Awww.

This time around, the track features Maroon 5’s frontman Adam Levine and a better sing-along chorus that makes more sense than “not much of a girlfriend, I never seem to get a lot.” Am I being biased here? Yes! I would choose Adam Levine’s voice over Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump any day. But even the less obsessed will fall in love with this song on the first listen and seriously go searching for someone and force them to serenade this to you. It really brings to life the classic love scene in “Say Anything” that has forever made it more impossible for the average man to find a mate. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up! Perhaps watch it on mute and play this song instead!

Gym Class Heroes: Stereo Hearts ft. Adam Levine

Things I learned today from the Kevin & Bean Show

Brenda Song (23) is pregnant! The baby daddy is Trace Cyrus (guy who was in the band Metro Station with the song Shake It which kept playing constantly at the Teens Choice Awards when Miley was hosting). Whew, yeah and he's Miley's step brother. Or brother? Well, they're related. And Brenda Song is half Hmong and Thai. She no Korean. 


I swear there was more valuable news that I learned today...

Commentary on DCFC's Tourist just for you

On our drive back from Westwood, I took the initiative to over annoy my driver. I heard it before, but it didn't stick with me. But that was a few months ago when I was a few months younger. Now Death Cab's You Are A Tourist will be on repeat a lot this month. Some old fans might hate this because it's just too... positive! My comments will be in parenthesis, and when I say comments, I mean stupid, strange words that will make you raise your eyebrow. Imagine a lot of gusto! And raised arms! And random sounds in between as I try to explain this song to you.


When there's a burning in your heart
An endless yearning in your heart (YES!)
Build it bigger than the sun (the sun is so big, wow go for it!)
Let it grow, let it grow (grow as big as the sun, if you can!)
When there's a burning in your heart
Don't be alarmed (don't be scared, yes you can have aspirations and desires!)

This fire grows higher (YES IT DOES!)

When there's a doubt within your mind (don't doubt, how dare you!)
Because you're thinking all the time (remember, thinking is only intended for do or die exams)
Framing rights into wrongs (no, the cup is half full, bro)
Move along, move along (American rejects)
When there's a doubt within your mind (negative pops up, crush it, erase it, don't give it attention!)

When there's a burning in your heart (again)
And you think it'll burst apart (it's too good to be true, don't let me jinx it)
Or there's nothing to feel
Save the tears, save the tears (stop being such a negative nancy)
When there's a burning in your heart

And if you feel just like a tourist in the city you were born
Then it's time to go (fuck, this is my favorite line, hi hi ) 
And define your destination
There's so many different places to call home (there is, got me thinking, gone gone)
Because when you find yourself the villain in the story you have written
It's plain to see (you are the sole controller of your story, write a great one, be a hero)
That sometimes the best intentions are in need of redemptions
Would you agree?
If so please show me (okay, i don't really care much about this part)

This fire grows higher
When there's a burning in your heart (fire! grows! higherr!)