This is a random blog, but I’ve been working on an L.A. music site with some friends, and it’s been slow going, getting started, etc. Most of the time, you have to deal with egos. But the best experience I’ve had thus far is with The Raveonettes, who not only gave us free tickets and press passes, but upgraded our interview from email to a phoner. And usually, they call you, but Sune actually gave us his NYC number. Wow. So bizarre to be *that* nice. And that hot. Now I really heart the Raves, for non-music reasons.

I recently read a book called 'Living Solo'. I thought it was amazing. I had a lot I wanted to say about the book but decided to let the book do the speaking for itself. If you are bored and want to read some excerpts from the book you can go to my blog and read them. Click Here.

(G) Travis. (Henry Fonda, 2007) Grade: A

Thoughts: What a great, amazing and fun show!!! The crowd was not your typical LA audience but instead a Travis fans only :) Everyone was singing along and rocking out to all the songs ... new and old. The band was in top form and looking great and super cute. I wanted to hug them all. Good time all around. It has been too long since the boys played here ... Jan 2004 was the last time I saw them. I'm so going to catch them again when they come to town. Yay Travis!!!

(G) Coachella Valley Music Festival - Friday. (Empire Polo Fields, 2007) Grade: B
Thoughts: A few days before Coachella I started to get a cold (of course) so I was freaking out on how I would feel the day of Coachella. Luckily, after much sleep, I was sort of ready for fun in the sun. Pigern and I hopped in my faithful Corolla and made the long trek to Indio ... after hours of traffic (boooo) and parking and long lines, we finally made it inside.

First up was Silversun Pickups, a local LA band. I really enjoyed their set but Pigern mentioned they were more a small venue band and did not translate too well on the big stage. I could see that.

Next up was Arctic Monkeys. Okay I am not a huge fan of this band because I find their music sort of poppy and forgettable but man do the press LOVE them. The amount of press people there for photos of the band was disturbingly large. They did a pretty mixed set of new and old and favorites that got the crowd going.

A bit of a shame considering the next act was Jesus and Mary Chain. Now JAMC was mainly the ONLY reason reason why I wanted to attend Coachella to begin with ... before I found out they were going to play a show at the Glass House in Pomona (wonderful show). JAMC was awesome BUT they have mellowed out a lot due to age and after following a rocking Arctic Monkeys set, many people were zoning out. I think what only semi woke them up was having Scarlett Johansson come out and sing back up vocals for Just Like Honey (totally pointless anyone??).

I left at the last song of JAMC to go catch a few song from Jarvis Cocker. He was quite the charming British man and after hearing about three songs Pigern and I headed back to the main stage to catch Interpol.

Interpol opened up with a new song from their upcoming album Our Love to Admire out in July, which sounded pretty good. I thought they did a nice set and I'm looking forward to their new stuff. Carlos D. looks different now with a moustache and curly hair. I still think Paul Banks is trying to channel Ian Curtis ... ha ha.

After their set, Pigern and I wandered over to catch a bit of Sonic Youth's set then headed back to watch a few song from Bjork before we looked at each other and said let's go home. So what did I take away from this Coachella ... 1. I'm too old for this now. My back and feet were killing me by the end of the night. 2. Gatorade is good. 3. People who go to these things are idiots. 4. Most of these bands I can see in small and better venues :) Dare I say my last Coachella ever ... unless the Cure or Raoiohead plays again ... hee hee.

SAAAAD. Melissa R. on "Searching for the Next Doll" was ROBBED. Not sure if any of you follow the show, but I don't care lol. I wouldn't have minded so much if Chelsea had won, but Asia(yes, Asia) ended up making the group. Honestly though, how great is it really to be the 7th member of a group where only the lead singer is known. She'll probably end up in the background.

What sucks about Melissa R. losing is that her parents(both doctors) wanted her to go to medical school and not pursue her singing/entertainment career. Why do all Filipino's want their kids to be doctors?? Since she didn't win I'm sure she's going to get alot of "I told you so's". However, I think if she doesn't make it big here, she'll DEFINITELY have a future in the Philippines. So, there's always something.

On a side note...I miss dancing. :(

This week is going to ROCK. I have Jesus and Mary Chain on Thurs, Coachella on Friday and Travis on Sunday. YAY!!

I CANNOT stop listening to the new Travis album The Boy With No Name; the boys are back in top form. I love it, they are so wonderful. Apparently there are a bunch of secret shows happening around LA due to Coachella so this should be a very, very interesting week. Read Scenestar for all the good details - the site Pigern works on :)



Oh and I have not address this but the whole blogging every day finished on April 12th. It was a good run but I'm actually really glad we stopped. I ran out of lame things to post and I have stopped caring :) Movies reviews are fine and dandy but I get bored wrting them up ... hee hee. Hope you guys are all doing well and keeping busy. May is just around the corner .. dang 5 months into 2007 soon.

(G) Morrissey @ Jimmy Kimmel Live, April 20 Grade: A
Though Morrissey has probably never seen Jimmy Kimmel Live, he treated fans to a free appearance on the late night chat show, which is particularly noteworthy given his ticket prices at the Hollywood Bowl. Before the performance, the camera crew focused on the crowd who gathered on the roof of a nearby building, where fans held letter signs spelling out “Moz Angeles,” a welcome home greeting to the man of the hour. Morrissey opened with “I Just Want To See The Boy Happy,” the latest single from Ringleader of the Tormentors. He also performed his love letter to the City of Angeles, and particularly his Hispanic fanbase, “Last of the Gang To Die.” And classic “Disappointed.” But the last two songs were b-sides from Ringleaders, which were a … disappointment. I can’t complain though; I’ve never been soooo close to Morrissey. And he threw his shirt in my direction! I could have fought for it, but those who were fighting for a piece were pretty aggressive, and I got trampled on. All in all, it was worth waiting in the freezing cold for a few hours. MOR-RI-SSEY!

Today I found out one of my co-workers who just resigned is dating another one of my co-workers. The one that resigned was an asian woman and the guy she is dating is a white guy. I think every asian girl I know is dating a white guy. Today I was out shopping and I saw asian girls with white guys in every store I went into. So I ask, what is it about asian girls and white guys? Is this a stereotype that is getting played up much more in theory than in reality? Obviously on the global scale asian women are dating asian men more than they are dating white men. However, why don't I see equally as many asian guys with white girls? I was wondering if anyone here had any insights on this. Here's a site where a guy rants on asian women and white men as well as other things. Bitterasianmen.com By the way I just wanted to add that I don't care who dates who, this is just something I hear about.

HAPPY 48TH BIRTHDAY ROBERT :)

Older, wiser, wider ...

(M) Cache
Grade: B+

This is a French movie about a family who starts to receive videotapes of somebody filming their home (ala Lost Highway). Accompanying the tapes are what appear to be child-like drawings. The husband begins to suspect an Algerian boy he grew-up with has decided to terrorize his family as revenge for events that occurred in the childhood of these two men when they were kids living together in French-occupied Algeria. The movie is played out in a who-done-it fashion and offers no complete resolution, leaving it up to the viewer to decipher the film. I thought it was a great movie portraying the guilt that people refuse to face when confronted with their actions. The conversation while the TV in the background displayed the Iraq war was a nice touch to how a later generation will have to deal with the events that are occurring in Iraq.

(M) Starbucking (Bill Tangeman, 2007) Grade: C
This documentary follows Winter, a man whose goal is to visit all the Starbucks in the world. Why? Well, unlike Super Size Me, it isn’t for a sociological reason to benefit society. It also isn’t a commentary on globalization, mass consumption, etc. No, Winter just wants to visit every single Starbucks coffee shop to do something different. His strange personal goal is ultimately pointless, and those who admire him for what he is doing (which is never really clear) are equally strange. It would have benefited from a shorter running time, because the novelty of it all runs out fairly quickly. Here’s his personal Web site.

(TV) "I Love New York: Reunion Special" (VH1) grade: B
Ok, so we all know i LOVE "Flavor of Love", and "I Love NY" not-so-much. Nevertheless, I continued to watch all episodes, including the reunion special. This episode made up for the lame season of I ♥ NY. There were many of the VH1 made-for-TV moments, including the return of Pumkin as Mr. Boston's new girlfriend, and an awesome final moment with all the vindication in the world. If you didn't watch it, check it out.
Please no I ♥ NY 2

(TV) "Flavor of Love Girls Charm School, starring Mo'Nique" (VH1) grade: A+
Now THIS is the Celebreality TV that I love from VH1. All my favorite girls from FOL are back to bring me loads of entertainment, and they deliver! Comedy from the get go. The season looks like it will be great, with the arguments I love to watch.

(M) Blood Diamond
Grade: A

I think this film was nominated for Best Picture. If so, it should have beat The Departed which was OK, but nowhere as good as this film. I was really impressed with this film and thought Leo did an amazing job. The advertisements did not look to favorable to me, especially his accent but I thought he did an awesome job. The story line of the diamond industry is a great story to get out to the public.



(M) The Beales of Grey Gardens
Grade: C

If you saw Grey Gardens, the documentary about two older women living in the Hamptons or somewhere like that then you may enjoy this additional movie about the two women. It's not as good as Grey Gardens but I laughed a number of times and there were things that were in this film that I wished had been in Grey Gardens.

(TV) North & South. (BBC, 2004) Grade: A

Thoughts: North & South is an adaptation of same titled novel by Elizabeth Gaskell about a young woman, Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe) and her move to northern town of Milton. The mini-series had great characters, amazing sets/costumes and strong acting. The romance between Margaret and Mr. Thornton (Richard Armitage) is wonderful and had me swooning (that’s right swooning). There are many comparisons between these two characters and Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. I agree with some but in the end they are very different characters. I actually ended up buying the DVD because I was so in love with the series and Richard Armitage who plays Mr. Thornton.

TV Count: 5

The old me would have sent out death threats for lack of blogs and comments BUT the new me hopes all you guys are doing well. Hopefully you guys can drop by and say hello or something.

(TV) Stargate Atlantis – Season One. (Sci Fi Channel, 2004) Grade: B+

Thoughts: Pigern got Stargate Atlantis - Season Two through work and I decided to give this show a try by watching Season One. I must admit I was not totally impressed by the first couple of eps but by the end of Season One I was hooked. There is less character development/drama and more action/adventure than I like compared to say Battlestar Galactica; however overall it is a well done show. Apparently, there are some major casting changes in future seasons that I’m not looking forward to. Season Three starts this Friday but I have a long way to go to catch up.

On a side note, the SciFi channel is having a Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis marathon this week and next. If only I could just stay at home and watch.

TV Count: 4

New Wave asked me to blog for today, which led me to wonder where everyone else in the house went. Hello? ((echo))

(O) WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution @ MOCA Downtown L.A., March 14-July 16 Grade: B+
This exhibit doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it does explore a wide range of somewhat serious concerns: the sexuality of women, the male gaze (which still exists), the role of women in society, etc. It looks at the definitions of women as gender (defined by society) versus women as sex (defined by biology). The exhibit highlights for me were an original copy of the S.C.U.M. Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, who shot Andy Warhol in 1968; an Eleanor Antin photography piece, in which she disects the process of a sculptor; and the mattress room. Take a looksee if you get the chance.

HE is Risen.

(B) Snow Country (Yasunari Kawabata, 1956) Grade: A
Kawabata is the first Japanese writer to receieve the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he won for this novel. It’s a beautifully written book about geisha Komako who loves wealthy Shimamura, despite knowing her love will be fruitless and tragic. It explores the binds, however loose, that hold people together and what eventually unravels them. He himself was the object of her love; and yet the woman’s existence, her straining to live, came touching to him like naked skin. He pitied her, and he pitied himself.

Side note: After establishing himself as one of Japan’s most distinguished novelists, Kawabata killed himself with no note, leaving his suicide a mystery.

Happy Birthday FTC :)

Nothing much to say today. I was going to blog about why Sanjaya was still on American Idol but nah. There are over 285 news stories on the web about that.

Tomorrow is Good Friday and some offices are closed. I have to deal with international offices and it is crazy how much time they have off. In Norway, they had a half day on Wed. and Thurs, Friday AND Monday off. Most of the offices have Friday and Monday off ... I need to move to Europe.

I just want to say right now I am sorry for all my flooding of posts to this board, I am on Spring Break and have a lot of free time on my hands. Next week it will be back to maybe one a week.


(M) Syriana
Grade: A

This movie presents a bunch of discussion questions:
Does the US government sell arms to foreign nations that get used for improper purposes?
Does the oil industry engage in corrupt business practices for money?
Do people sell out their co-workers for profit?
Does the government turn its back on its agents in countries when things get ruff?
Do industries create fall men to be sacrificed before the public just to make their industry look good and then give them multi-million dollar golden parachutes for doing a couple years in jail?
Does the US government assassinate men who are in line to take control of their country who will run it at odds to American interests?
Are there citizens left in such poor living conditions due to their leaders being more concerned about profit than benefiting society that they turn to acts of “terrorism” against countries like America that are making sure the conditions of foreign countries stay low?

Syriana asks this and many more questions and according to the movie the answer to each question is ‘Yes’. True or not, it creates a film to get people talking about what’s going on in the world.



(M) Infamous
Grade: B

I have not seen Capote which got all the critical acclaim. I enjoyed this movie, there were aspects about it that I did not like at all, such as the set-designs and color schemes in the beginning of the movie and the “interview” aspects of the film were very annoying to me. Outside of all of that, the story was really interesting. I need to now watch Capote so I can do a compare and contrast between the two movies.

(M) Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Grade: B

My interest in viewing this movie was due to the fact that it is played out during the reign of Mao. Two well-to-do boys have been sent away to be re-educated in the hillside. Upon arrival some of their possessions are destroyed and a violin is almost destroyed until one of the boys plays a song by Mozart but he has to rename the song to ‘Mozart thinking of Mao’. What really comes across is the ignorance of the people during re-education. Mao really must have wanted an ignorant servant class. What happens is the two boys take a liking to one of the girls and the boys are able to get their hands on some banned books and through it they read to the girl and teach her to read and the impact of the books changes her future. Part of the focus of the film does deal with how something as simple as a book can drastically alter the course of one’s life. My complaint is that out-of-nowhere the movie jumps twenty years into the future and then wraps everything up in ten or fifteen minutes which bothered me.


(M) The Double Life of Veronique
Grade: B+/A-

I don’t really know how to grade this film because I didn’t know it was going to be so deep. I finished the movie and was like, what the hell just happened???? So of course I went and did the next logical thing, I went out today and bought the Criterion Collection of the film so I can re-watch and then re-watch it again with commentary and then watch all the extras. Most people see something they like and buy it, I seem to see something that confuses me and delve into it without abandon, I’m a marketing persons nightmare. So, perhaps I’ll give this a proper review after I re-watch the film a few times. In-sight to the movie provided here.


(G) Ratatat / 120 Days
Grade: B+

I love me some Ratatat. This was my third time seeing them and I enjoyed it. The show was at the Fonda which is a nice looking venue with a great rooftop view of Hollywood Blvd. But it’s really hard to see the stage and I’m 5’11” and the person I was with is 5’6” and she couldn’t see anything until we went to the side of the building where we could finally see. Okay so, at the last concert I went to two “confused” lesbians were making out and rolling on the ground and stuff. This time I had these three guys next to me who were sharing a girl. They basically were all up on her, grinding on her, and basically just passing her around between them like a piece of meat. I don’t know what’s going on these days when I go to concerts but I question what I will see next.

Side Note: There’s an article in this week’s Newsweek magazine where atheist Sam Harris and Pastor Rick Warren debate the existence of God. I have yet to read it but I just wanted to let people know in case they wanted to check it out.

New Wave and I were bored tonight, so we decided to use her Free Bowling coupons. And I actually met my goal of 100! I bowled 114 for the first game. Even better, I tied with New Wave, who was really upset. Hee hee. So we bowled a second game and I bowled 120! Even better! And New Wave bowled 116. Excellent! I don’t think bowling is all that fun, but beating New Wave sure is! Hee hee. Fun!

Some YouTube fun:


Interesting....

Disturbing ...

For Cup and Darth ...

So far April is off to a shite start:
- Yesterday I bowled an 87 for my league. I have no idea what was going on but I was sucking. How did I go from 193 to 87??!! Come on.

- 24 is getting dull and much like what this article says ... I'm only watching out of duty.


- No BSG until 2008. I'm not use to watching nothing on Sunday.

and the BIGGEST disappointment ....


- Robert Smith is going crazy. I mean seriously are the Cure so hard up for cash that Fat Bob needs to do this!!??!! It was one thing with Korn but now this. (sigh) It is getting harder and harder to say I'm a Cure fan :( When I read this I threw up, then cried.

(M) Of Human Bondage
Grade: C

This was the 1934 version of this film, apparently the oldest of the three versions. This movie was under an hour and a half which is fine by me but to take such a classic novel and turn it into a film that doesn't even hit the hour and a half mark is fair warning it's gonna be a very condensed version of the novel. You basically get the idea that's being conveyed but it is such a surface level experience that I feel it to be a long commercial for a book you may want to read. To sum it up, man falls for woman who is a bitch, gets with woman, she leaves him, he meets somebody else but then leaves her when the original girl comes back into his life. That girl leaves him yet again and he meets another girl and then has to choose which girl to be with. He chooses new girl and the first love dies.


Side note:
I've been listening to Peaches all day and I simply LOVE her.

(B) Bee Season (Myla Goldberg, 2001) Grade: B
The main reason I read this is because of The Decemberists’ track “Song for Myla Goldberg.” I figured if Colin Meloy enjoyed it, I would. Well, it took me an incredibly long amount of time to finish the book, mainly because I didn’t care for the characters all that much. Goldberg has an admirable writing style, but that was the only aspect of Bee Season that I enjoyed.

(B) Factotum (Charles Bukowski, 1975)
Grade: B+
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Ham on Rye but found it enjoyable nonetheless. I’m feeling kind of aimless in the monotony of my life and it’s comforting to have Bukowski communicate that in words. How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?