5.31.2010

Music Shuffle Monday 5.31.10

http://www.veryicon.com/icon/png/Media/iPod,%20Therefore%20I%20Am/iPod%20Mini%20Blue.png1. "Frozen" by Celldweller
I first heard learned about Celldweller when I was working at the movie theater, as one of his songs ("Own Little World" Remorse Code mix) was the end credit song to The Hills Have Eyes 2. I first heard it while cleaning up the theater and fell in love with the sound. It's rock fused with electronics - I LOVED it and had to have it, so I went online and found his entire first album as well as a few other tracks and Celldweller became one of my favorite artists. I also learned, while cleaning out stuff in my desk soon after, that I had been giving a demo sampler of a few of his songs (which I now had)after coming out of a show at the House of Blues years prior - it even included a free ticket to his show there weeks later... I kinda kicked myself, as when I got it I stuck away and forgot about it for years - kinda wished I had listened to it years prior! Klayton (aka Celldweller) is talking of performing live again soon though, so I'm hoping to catch his set next time he's in Chicago, as I would LOVE to see him live.

2. "SOS (Anything But Love)" by Apocalyptica
Off their Worlds Collide album and featuring the chick from Lacuna Coil on vocals for this track, I know I've written about Apocalyptica before - they're a Finnish rock/metal orchestra. Most of their songs are instrumentals but on some tracks they include vocalists from current popular rock bands. The whole album's pretty good - I highly recommend it! They also have a new album coming out this year too - I can't wait to hear it!

3. "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meatloaf
You can't really knock Meatloaf - he's got great vocals and a sort of epic-ness to his songs. I remember first seeing this music video as a kid in the early-mid 90s, as watching VH1 was something my friend and I would do often. We loved it because it was kind of a Beauty and the Beast type story told in the video - Meatloaf plays a disfigured looking man in a gothic castle who's staff takes care of young beautiful woman whom they take in. Meatloaf's character falls for her though and wants to keep her and stay with her forever. It was a really epic video at it's time and really made me love music videos that tell a story along with the song - I hate it when videos have nothing to do with the song. As kids though, we never understood what "that" was that he wouldn't do.

4."Nocturnally" by Static X
Off their Cult of Static album comes this one. This whole CD really flows pretty well together. Not really much to say about this track though - it's typical Static X - heavy and dark... you can move to it/headbang to it...

5. "Say It Loud" by Skillet
From their 3rd album Invincible, this one takes a little more electronic direction to it. Not one of their heavier, rockin' songs either, but it's catchy and upbeat and kinda fun, as singer John Cooper chants "Gotta say it loud... gotta shout it out!"

5.30.2010

This Memorial Day Weekend feels weird

Today feels weird.

It's Memorial Day Weekend - the Sunday before Memorial Day to be exact.

Normally, as tradition has gone, I would be rocking out right now, in the sun to a popular rock band.

But not this year. Instead, I am sitting here at home, on our computer, killing time until my hubby gets home from work and his friends drives over from Palatine so we can go see Iron Man 2 tonight.

Last year was the last Wing Ding festival, after 16 years.

Sponsored by the local rock station, it started as chicken wing competition in 1993 and was held annually downtown just off the river on the Sunday before Memorial Day. Eventually they started adding a few local and some up-and-coming bands to the free event, the first one of notable mention being Nickelback and 3 Doors Down co-headlining in 2000, before either band was huge.

The event turned into a full-blown day long festival over the years, with each year having bigger named and more bands than the previous year. Because of this, they started charging a $1 for it in 2005, and then in 2006, when it outgrew the original location off the river they moved it over to the local speedway and first charged $5 one year, then $10 for the next 2 years.

For 2009 though, the festival got kicked out of the speedway, due to complaints from a handful of people who lived nearby who were angry over the noise and traffic this one day a year (these people also now are complaining about the noise from the speedway itself, which was built and in operation years prior to when their neighborhood was built - no one forced them to move next to the speedway!), so they moved the festival out near the local airport, charged $15 a ticket ($20 at the gate) and announced this would be the last year as it was just getting too expensive to keep putting on at the caliber they had been doing it.

At first people were outraged that they started charging, but when you think about it... the price they were charge for the bands they were bringing it, it wasn't bad at all. When it was at the speedway, people would tailgate in the parking lot - we did one year and it was a lot of fun!


I've been going to Wing Ding since 2003 - the year that Powerman5000 headlined (with several 1-hit-wonder bands also on the bill) and were promoting their album "Transform." Since that first show I went to, I've gotten to see Cold, Breaking Benjamin (twice), Seether, Skindred, Saliva, Hinder, Blackstone Cherry (3 times), Tantric, Three Days Grace, Buckcherry, Finger Eleven, Red, The Last Vegas (twice), Chevelle, Theory of a Deadman, POD, Airbourne, and Saving Abel as well as several local or other 1-hit-wonder bands that were big at the time.

The last Wing Ding had an all-star lineup with up-and-comers Taddy Porter, Age of Daze, and the Parlor Mob, rising bands Halestorm and 10 Years, as well a performance by Coolio, and closing out the day with Powerman5000, Saving Abel, Saliva and Shinedown.

For me, it was significant that Powerman5000 (which is one of my favorite bands) played both the first Wing Ding I ever went to, as well as the last. I thought that was pretty awesome.

A lot of people, myself included, suggested they just raise the price to $20 a ticket, or even scale back on the line-up - sure it's been nice having multiple big name bands perform, but I'd be fine with just 1 or 2 "big" bands with a few local or up-and-coming ones as the openers like they had at the beginning of the decade. Something is better than nothing, right?

I'm honestly at a loss as to what to do this weekend, as for 7 years straight Wing Ding was my Memorial Day Weekend tradition - it just doesn't feel like Memorial Day Weekend without it.

As I mentioned, we're finally going to see Iron Man 2 tonight, and then we're probably cooking out over at my parent's house tomorrow night... but it just feels like a void with no Wing Ding.

How do you celebrate Memorial Day? Do you have any annual holiday traditions?

Jaden Smith looks like Riley from The Boondocks

Hubby told me about this one earlier tonight, as we both have an LOLsite app on our Droids and skim through the latest LOLs/FailBlogs/etc. and I just had to look it up and see for myself:

http://totallylookslike.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/129185919978283043.jpg 

Yep, I would have to agree! Will Smith's kid Jaden as the new Karate Kid definitely looks like a real-life version of Riley from The Boondocks with the cornrolls and white beater top! I think they're about the same age too...

If they ever made a live action Boondocks, they'll know who to cast as Riley!

5.28.2010

The Babysitter's Club

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_utpn85k5ndo/S38v5P_J4bI/AAAAAAAAAJw/mw1r8Sd4oxE/s1600/flashbacklogo.jpg
bsclogo

All my friends and I would rave about this series!

I first started reading them in about 2nd or 3rd grade - my best friend had started reading them and loved them, so of course I had to read them too!

For the few who were either too young or just don't remember these, this long-running series follows a group of 13 year old girls - tomboy Kristy (as she always wore a ponytail and liked sports), good girl Mary Anne (her mother died when she was little so she was raised by her very strict father - there was drama when she wanted to date and then later when she cut her hair short), and Claudia (the token Asian girl in the series, who was very creative, boy-crazy, and liked to wear more "mature" and funky fashions, although she struggles with school. Her family is also very conservative which is in contrast to her).

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0AyNA9sRlIs/S7SRgjF_bBI/AAAAAAAAIPI/dqhmhEXmIh0/s1600/babysitters-club.jpgThe three of them decide to start their own babysitting service for the people of Stoneybrook after Kristy's mother has a hard time finding someone to watch her little brother. The girls decide to get together 3 days a week for 30 minutes at a time and take calls from the parents to line up their jobs and discuss their recent babysitting adventures. They hold their meetings in Claudia's room, as she's the only one of them that has her own phone line (oh how things have changed since cell phones!). They also keep a diary of their jobs, so the others know what's going on with their "charges" in case someone else babysits for them next - often these diary entries are shared at the beginning of chapters in the books.

Also in the 1st book, Stacy (who is diabetic and recently moved to Stoneybrook from New York City which makes her appear more mature and sophisticated) joins the BSC, as she has gotten to be good friends with Claudia. A few books later, Dawn (the new girl from California) also joins the club. Also, later in the series, 6th graders Jessi (token black girl) and Mallory (token geeky girl, as she has wild curly red hair and glasses) join on as Junior Babysitters, taking jobs that are in the late afternoons and early evenings.

In addition to their babysitting adventures, they have lots of other drama go on as well - Dawn's mom and Mary Anne's dad get married and they have some drama adjusting; Kristy's mom gets remarried to a millionaire in town; Mary Anne gets a steady boyfriend; Stacy moves back to New York for awhile; Dawn moves back to California for awhile; Mallory gets sick with mono and is gone for awhile... and more!

Each book was told through the point of view from one of the girls and had the same structure - chapter 1 was always an introduction of themselves and to the story, chapter 2 always told about the club and the rest of the girls in the club, the last chapter was always the conclusion while the chapters in between told the story. 

http://cdn3.ioffer.com/img/item/127/798/203/Kged.jpgIn addition to the regular series, there were several other books that went along with them - there were the Super Specials in which each chapter was told by a different girl, often with several plot lines and usually took place outside of Stoneybrook on some vacation or trip they would all go on, sometimes with babysitting charges too; the Mysteries which followed the same style as the regular books, but rather than focus on the babysitting, it usually focused on solving some kind of mystery; then Super Mysteries which were a combination of the Super Specials and the Mysteries, as they focused on solving a mystery, but each chapter was told by a different girl; the Portrait Collections, which were written from the idea that the 8th grade babysitters had to write an autobiography on themselves for a class project; and the Reader's Request, which were a few books written from the point of view of honorary club members, such as Mary Anne's boyfriend Logan.

There were also several spin-off book series, including the California Diaries (which follows Dawn when she moves back to California) and the younger Little Sister's books (which follow Kristy's little step-sister Karen and her adventures with her friends, sometimes correlating with things and people that are seen in the Babysitter's Club books).

One of the neat thing about these books too, is that you didn't have to necessarily read them in order! I remember the first book I got was one of the later Mary Anne ones, and then I went back and read some of the first ones (there were only about 30-40 in the series when I started reading them).

If you look online, the regular series went up to book #132 (with 213 books total) - it was in the 90s when I stopped reading. No, I didn't buy all the books - that would have been expensive, as they were at least $5 a piece! While I did own probably at least 30 of them, I would regularly borrow them from the library. At one point, especially in 4th grade, my friends and I would keep our collections at school and show them off, oftentimes borrowing from each other ones that we ourselves didn't have or hadn't read. I know I didn't read every book in the series that was available when I was a kid, but I did get to read most of them!

While the series techinically ended in 1999, just this month did they release a prequel called The Summer Before, which takes place before the first book. There's also been a graphic novel series made from the 7 books, and the original series is being reissued with new covers.

http://vintagegameworld.com/images/Babysitters%20Club%20Mystery%20G65.gif
There was also other merchandise, such as the postcard book (which featured postcards with images from the various book covers), the chain letter book (which included removable post cards and other trinkets) as well as 2 different boardgames I both had - one being a mystery game game board was a map of Stoneybrook too, which I LOVED!). There were also puzzles you could get too at Toys R Us.

http://www.innocentfaces.net/images/collection/misc16.jpgThere were also 2 sets of dolls - the ones to the right that measured between 1-2 feet tall and I recall saving my allowance for weeks and weeks to save up the $20+ to buy the Mary Anne one from our local Toys R Us (from left to right: Mallory, Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Jessi, Mary Anne and Dawn - Mary Anne came with knee socks and different shoes though than in the picture) The other type of dolls were Barbie sized versions which came with a babysitter and one of the kids from the books: Kristy came with her little step-sister Karen, Claudie came with Jamie, Mary Anne came with Jenny, Stacey came with Charlotte (for some reason I had this set), Dawn came with Jackie Rodowsky, Mallory came with Claire, and Jessi came with her little sister Becca.

There was also a 13 episode TV series in the early 90s, originally airing on HBO and then syndicated on the Disney Channel for years as well as being available on VHS (we didn't have either channel when I was a kid, so I would rent them at the video store). Most them were adaptions from certain books with more elaboration to them (such as Mary Anne and the Brunettes, which follows her drama with Logan when the girl's nemesis Cokie tries to steal him away, which also happens in the books), while others are new stories (such as the Christmas episode). This series was actually pretty true to the books and was a great live portrayal of the girls we loved. Also, Danny Tamberelli (aka Little Pete from The Adventures of Pete and Pete, as well as All That) played Jackie Rodowski - a little boy that the girls regularly babysit throughout the book series (and on the show) who proves to be quite the holy terror as he's always finding ways to get in trouble.

In 1995 they made a big screen movie of the books, with a completely different cast, starring Rachael Leigh Cook (from She's All That) as Mary Anne and Larisa Olyenik (Alex from Alex Mack) as Dawn. To be honest, as a kid, I was disappointed with this movie as I thought the TV series I had been renting regularly was a better version of the girls and the basic story. 

Out of all the girls, my favorite was Mary Anne. Not only was the Anne in her name spelled with an 'e' like my middle name is, but I too had parents who were a lot stricter than my friends' parents were so I felt like I could identify most with her. I remember reading most of hers and Dawn's books (as when their parents got married, they would often show up in each other's books more than the other characters did).

Did you read these books when you were a kid? Which was your favorite book? Who was your favorite babysitter?

5.27.2010

Celebrity Crushes part 3


Continuing in a brief series, previously I shared which actors I have huge crushes on, as well as some of my favorite actresses.
Continuing the trend with sharing some of my favorite females, here are some of my favorite female musicians!

1. Gwen Stefani
Gwen, Gwen, Gwen... with a style all her own I really looked up to her in my junior high years. She had some of the coolest clothes and I LOVED her music with No Doubt. Their breakthrough album, Tragic Kingdom, came out when I was in the 5th or 6th grade and my friends and I LOVED it. Gwen was so cool - I wanted to be like her! Granted, her fashion in later years has gotten a bit on the wacky, artistic side, but she's still an icon when it comes to female musicians.

2. Amy Lee
Frontwoman of Evanescence, Amy was the hot gothic rocker chick I felt I could identify with in college. She rocked, her clothes rocked and yeah... Not really a whole lot to say about her, other than I really like her.

3. Shirley Manson
The face of the band Garbage, Shirley really stood out with her red hair and had an energy that really matched the music. Garbage is one of those bands that's really neat, as they mold different sounds to create the music and then Shirley goes back and puts lyrics to it. Really neat! Personally, I prefer her longer hair look compared to her shorter hair.

4. Lzzy Hale
A newcomer in the world of rock, Lzzy's the frontwoman of Halestorm and she really seems to be channeling Joan Jett in both her look and sound, especially in their video for "It's Not You." I got to see her and the Halestorm boys this time last year and she really does rock! Not only is she awesome on vocals, but she also plays guitar.

My first Blog Award!

High on Life's Angela created this award the other day to celebrate us Geek Girls here in Blogland and it was award to me by Kara at Crayons and Cylons!

My first blog award - how exciting!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7ctYxla0R5Q/S_6V07GUsbI/AAAAAAAAAc4/bRHEIryf8rU/s1600/GeekGirlsUniteAward.jpg
The Geek Girls Unite award!

Here are the rules:
List ten geeky facts about yourself and Pass this award onto your favorite female geeks!

Sounds simple enough!

  1. I'm a "recovering" World of Warcraft addict and started playing 5 years ago this month even though I'm currently on a brief hiatus you have no idea how tempted I get to reactivate my account! I can actually hold my own in the game and know what I'm doing, being a decent raider when play. It's also my fault my husband and his brothers played, as he started playing after I talked it up, lol...
  2. I can relate so many words/phrases into WoW or other geek references - this has happened in church during sermons before and I tend to get hubby to laugh when I point them out to him, lol...
  3. I've always enjoyed reading books and truly getting lost in a series, only putting the book down when I *have* to. While some kids would show off their Pogs or sports cards or whatever, me and my friends would bring our books to school and show them off to each other!
  4. I had a HUGE X-Files obsession when I was in 5th-7th grades. I wanted to be on the series when I was old enough and be Alex Krycek's girl, I participated in writing fanfic's on the old Prodigy BBs back in the day, everything I did could be related to the X-Files (I should get pictures of some my artwork from 5th grade art class and post em! lol...)
  5. I used to go to ACEN - the big anime convention just outside Chicago every May, however the past few years I either couldn't afford to go or afford to take the time off work to go. When I did go though, I used to dress up and cosplay (I'll have to make a post and share my costumes!). 
  6. I have had a conversation with my husband discussing the various degrees of "geekdom" - we decided that the first degree is labeled "dork" which includes casual gamers, you like some geeky things but you wouldn't really consider yourself "one of us" as you're not very hardcore - the majority of people you encounter can fall into this category. The second degree is "geek" - you're a pretty hardcore gamer, can discuss the mechanics of the games among mechanics of other geeky things, you keep up to date on geeky things, have some obsessions with geeky things, look for geeky things to wear or novelty items just to have, etc - this is the category I would say I fit in. Then the 3rd degree is "nerd" - you go out of your way to read the mechanics of things just for fun, they're hardcore gamers, they're extremely smart and they know it, you can generally tell the nerds apart from the geeks as they seem to have an even deeper intense knowledge and intelligence about than most everyone else. They do complex math in their heads, have science related majors, etc. My hubby would fall into this one.
  7. While I'd have to say comedies are my favorite movie genre, I do enjoy most Sci-fi and fantasy flicks. 
  8. I had a Mac before they were "cool" or "in."
  9. If it were only up to me, I would name my first son Atreyu after the character in the Never Ending Story and call him Trey for short because I just think that makes for an AWESOME name! Unfortunately hubby has veto'd this, as he didn't like the Never Ending Story, but I still hope to change his mind! hehe
  10. These days I wear my glasses instead of my contacts the majority of the time.

I could probably write more, but these are the first 10 that come to mind =)

I'm giving this award to....

Feel free to pass it on, ladies!

Canceled Too Soon

Why is it that all my shows get canceled early? I get hooked on a series and then... poof! Canceled!

Okay, so I can deal with the announcement that Heroes isn't coming back, as I missed watching the last half of the 3rd season (I blame I Love Money 2) and only saw the first a handful of the episodes of the beginning of season 4 due to starting Mary Kay and doing my girls thing Monday nights (not to mention this season was going really slow - I missed several weeks, came back and it was like I didn't miss anything!).

And I can understand Pitchmen too, as well, Billy Mays died and a show with just Sully would be kinda boring, as it was the dynamic of the 2 of them that made the show work - Billy would often take over and Sully would have to take him down a few notches. 

But the rest... so annoying!

http://rorylinnane.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/freaksandgeeks.jpg 

I loved Freaks and Geeks - it's on several best shows of all-time lists -  but unfortunately it only saw one season due to its time slot getting jerked around resulting in low ratings. First it was on Saturday nights for a few weeks, then it was off for 3 weeks due to the World Series airing. Then it came back for a few weeks and then disappeared for the holidays and didn't come back til almost Spring and was now suddenly on Monday nights where it stayed for a few weeks til it got pulled and then canceled, with several of the last episodes airing in the summer to give some closure while 3 other episodes weren't aired until it was in syndication. Fortunately it's all on DVD in a box set, so I can watch them all at my leisure.

For those unfamilar with the short-lived series, it aired during the 1999-2000 tv season, and followed Lindsay and Sam Weir - teenage siblings in high school in the early 1980s. Lindsay (Linda Cardellini), a Junior, has been acting strange since her grandma died just prior to the start of the series and instead of being smart good girl she was, she starts hanging around with the school's burnouts (or Freaks), which included Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jason Segal and Busy Phillips. Her younger brother Sam (John Francis Daley) is a freshman at the school and a total geek who, with his friends played by Samm Levine and Martin Starr, strives to just fit in and survive the torment they get.

This show had it all - a story and plot that was relatable to its fans, early 80s nostalgia references galore (Sam and buddies are huge into all things geeky, from Steve Martin to Star Wars and more), the music is just great, really adding to the time period the series takes place (the Freaks are big into 70s/80s rock - one gets really depressed the day he learns John Bonham died), and it had a great list of guest stars: Thomas F. Williams (aka Biff from the Back to the Future trilogy) as the school's gym teacher and athletic coach, Leslie Mann as faculty member Mrs. Foote,  Ben Foster as the mentally handicapped Eli, Rashida Jones as Sam's (and later Kim's) nemesis Karen, as well as smaller roles by Ben Stiller, Lizzy Caplan, Shia LeBeouf, Allen Covert, Joel Hodgson, and Jason Schwartzman just to name a few!

Another show I loved that got canceled due to ratings was - Pushing Daisies.

http://lauraholtebrinck.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/pushing-daisies.jpg

Although to be fair, this was one where the Writer's Strike really screwed it over, as it interrupted the first season after it was renewed for a second. For some reason though, ABC did little to no advertising or marketing for the second season, which led to it's lack of ratings and mid-season cancellation. I don't get why either, as they marketed heavily for the first season - working at the theater, there was a trailer for it that aired for several weeks during the movie preshow - that was how I learned about it!

For those unfamiliar with this one, it follows around Ned (Lee Pace), a simple pie-maker with a gift - with the touch of his finger he can bring the dead back to life. However, if he touches them ever again, they die for good and he cannot raise them again. Also, if he leaves them alive for more than a minute, something or someone must die in their place. On to his "ability" is P.I. Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), who enlists Ned to help him with his cases for a cut of the reward - in order to solve the "who dun it" Ned touches the deceased and asks who and/or what they remember before they died to set Emerson on the right path.

However, in the first episode, they stumble on a case where the deceased is Ned's childhood best friend and crush Charlotte Charles aka Chuck (Anna Friel), in which after bringing her back to life, he can't bare to touch her again and send to her final death. Explaining the situation to her, she joins Ned at his pie shop (The Pie Hole) and hides out there in order to avoid her aunts (Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz) who were devastated when they found out she died and she can't bare to make them think she faked her death as they would blame themselves for it. Rounding out the cast is Ned's waitress at The Pie Hold, Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), who has an unrequited love for Ned and gets more and more jealous the more time she sees Ned spending with Chuck (despite not being able to touch, they get creative and genius with cute and clever ways to kiss and hold hands!).

This show was cute, clever and quirky. It blended the mystery genre with the fantasy genre and had a blend of comedy and cute romance. It also has a fairytale vibe to it thanks to narrator Jim Dale.

It also had some great guest stars: Paul Reubens (aka PeeWee Herman) in a minor reoccuring role, Glee's Jayma Mays, The Soup's Joel McHale, Molly Shannon, French Stewart, Rachael Harris, David Arquette, Fred Willard, Stephen Root, Paul F. Tompkins, and Orlando Jones among many others.

http://souljacker.tarad.com/shop/s/souljacker/img-lib/spd_20080410164340_b.jpgAnother short-lived series that I really started to get into was Dirt, which starred Courtney Cox and aired on FX for 2 short seasons. Cox starred as gritty tabloid magazine editor-in-chief Lucy Spiller. This was another that got affected by the Writer's Strike though, as only 7 episodes were made for the 2nd season despite 13 being ordered.

I missed a lot of the first season, but I remember watching the second season, as one of the plot lines was inspired by Britney Spears' relationship with a paparazzi photographer - on the show, this singer shaves her head after a publicized divorce where she learns the only reason her ex married her was to divorce her and talk half her fortune. One of Dirt's photographers is order to become the singer's personal photographer and he ends up befriending her during her rough patch, however learning about this, Lucy makes the photographer get closer in order exploit the singer's problems, much to his dismay as he really does care about the girl.

It was dark and edgy and was canceled due to low ratings after being moved to a competitive time slot, the reasoning being that it never really found its target audience.

Also last summer, the VH1 reality show "Megan Wants a Millionaire" starring reality TV "famewhore" Megan Hauserman (from Beauty and the Geek 3, Rock of Love 2, I Love Money, and Rock of Love Charm School) along with her reality show friends Brandi C. (whom she met on I Love Money) and Cecille (also from Beauty and the Geek 3).

The show, spawned from the comment Megan made in Charm School where her goal in life was to become a "trophy wife," consisted of wealthy men (who all had an individual net worth of at least $1M) vying for the heart of this unashamed gold-digger. In addition to regular challenges to win dates with her, the date attendees could purchase lavish gifts to give her in order to win her over. I thought this whole premise was just hilarious and genius - I couldn't help but watch!

Unfortunately, it was canceled and pulled after 3 episodes aired, as one of the contestants - Ryan Jenkins - was wanted by authorities for suspicion of brutally murdering of his newlywed model wife Jasmine Fiore, whom he met soon after the taping of the show and married days later. After nearly a week of looking for him, he was found dead in a hotel room where he hung himself. Rumor is that he made to the top 3 in the show - he was also nicknamed as a Smooth Operator, as he always knew what to say and do. He was also on I Love Money 3 and rumored to have won, so that show was also canceled before it ever aired, as was I Love Money 4.

And the most recent show I watched to fall victim to early cancellation...

10 Things I Hate About You, the TV series.

I know, I know - it wasn't THAT great of a show, although rather than be a spin-off, the only things it has in common with the hit movie from my teenage years are the character names, the basic premise, and the name of the show... oh and it has the same dad from the movie too, playing his character just like he did in the movie which proves to be quite hilarious at times! It's more of a re-imaging of the movie condensed into 20 30-minute episodes. It does take nods to the original though in some episodes - Bianca getting Patrick to take Kat to a dance so she can go, as dad won't let her unless Kat goes too, as well as the party where Kat gets drunk and makes a fool of herself in front of everyone.

It was an end of summer guilty pleasure show that got green-lit for a full season, but then canceled due to low ratings when it (quietly) returned in the spring.

http://www.lizandlaura.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/10thingscast_group-abc-family.jpg
In this version, Kat and Bianca just moved to California from Ohio and trying to fit in at their new school (in the movie, Cameron was the new kid at school, while Kat and Bianca were already there). Big sis Kat stands out as an angsty independent feminist (To be honest, I like Lindsay Shaw's portrayal of Kat better than that of Julia Stiles. While Stiles has the whole hippie-feminist part down, Shaw's brunette Kat is more aggressive and angsty). Bianca's goal is to become popular and a cheerleader.

Initially, unlike in the movie, Bianca and Chastity (the head cheerleader) are rivals, as Chastity is basically a stuck-up bitch and originally makes Bianca the school mascot when she first tries out for the team. Instead of being a sleazy d-bag like he is in the movie, the TV Joey Donner is a total airhead as the popular football player and an aspiring model who first dates Chastity but after Bianca helps him in Chemistry starts falling for her as she does him. TV Cameron is a lot more awkward than his movie counterpart (I like Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Cameron better!) - he instantly falls for Bianca but follows her around like a puppy dog at first, serving as her male best friend (in which Bianca mistakes him for being gay and begins calling him her GBF - gay best friend). Patrick Verona is basically the same, aside from looks - he's a dark mysterious guy, often getting into trouble, who basically has a constant on-again, off-again relationship with Kat.

I'm curious as to what show I'm going to get hooked on next that will get canceled.

Celebrity Apprentice 3 wrap-up

Awhile back I mentioned I was looking forward to watching this season of Celebrity Apprentice.

This past Sunday was the finale and Bret Michaels won. I knew him and Sharon Osbourne would make it pretty far and Holly Robinson Peete was pretty much a shoo-in. I honestly thought it would going to be Sharon going up against her instead of Bret, but Sharon kinda shot herself in the foot when she said she wasn't sure if she wanted to beat Holly.

The final challenge was to create a Snapple drink, design the label and film an ad for it in 3 days and they each had the help of 2 former contestants - Bret got paired with Darryl Strawberry and Holly's #2 all season Summer Sanders, while Holly got stuck with Curtis and Maria who had clashed with Holly earlier in the season.

Holly created Compassionberry, which is a berry flavored drink that was supposed to tie in with her HollyRod charity that helps families with autistic children. Bret's goal was to create a diet drink that didn't taste like crap, as being diabetic he grew up only drinking diet drinks and none tasted good and with his charity being the American Diabetes Association, he thought making a drink that those with diabetes could drink would be a great tie-in, which it was. His drink is a tropical, fruity one called Trop-A-Rocka with a rockstar vibe to it.


Both drinks are available in stores - I found them at Walmart today. Either Bret's is selling out faster than Holly's or Walmart only stocked Holly's near the front with other Snapple flavors, as I had to go all the way to back of the store to find his. I woulda bought both if they sold them individually, but unfortunately I could only find them in 6 packs and being $4.98 a pack, I only wanted to spend the money on one right now.

I had one tonight - not being much of a tea or Snapple drinker, it wasn't bad! Hubby said you could tell it lacked sugar though, as he thought it would have tasted better with some in it. Bret appeared on Jay Leno the other night - he even joked that you can mix in a little vodka to make it taste better if you wish, lol...

Random Musings of the Day

http://static.glee.wetpaint.me/photos/Shelby-and-Rachel-comp-smal.jpgTo those that watched this week's episode of Glee - what did you think of the Gaga episode? Honestly, I don't think "Poker Face" was the best song for that tough moment between Lea Michelle's and Idina Menzel's characters:
"Mom who-gave-me-up-and-then-wanted-me-to-come-find-her-but-now-realizes-she-doesn't-want-a-teenage-daughter-after-meeting-me, before you walk out of my life again will you sing a song with me?"

"Sure!"

"Okay!"
Yeah... not exactly the best song for the moment.

The only interpretation I can make is that they're saying they're gonna put on poker faces around each other from now, but... the rest of the lyrics don't make any sense or pertain to this goodbye moment. At least their duet last week of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables made sense...

Also, did anyone find it hard to look at Quinn and take her seriously when Puck was singing "Beth" to her? I mean she had those LOOOOONG fake hot pink eyelashes that were more distracting than anything during that scene!
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l133g616gz1qb9jxqo1_500.jpg
*****************
So the hubby and I have never gotten into Lost.


http://www.abductit.com/files/articles/tvlogos/LOST-logo.jpgWhen it first came out, I recall my ex's mom raving about it, but neither boyfriend at the time nor myself trusted her judgement in shows - she was hooked on Grey's Anatomy which neither of us had any interest in, so we figured we wouldn't be interested in this one either.

By the time some of my friends started talking about how great it was, it was well into the series and I just never got around to getting caught up to watch it.

Sunday, after the Celebrity Apprentice finale was over, we were flipping channels and noticed the last 30 minutes of the Lost finale was on and decided to watch, just to see how this series ended. We knew the basic premise - a plane crashes in the middle of nowhere and the survivors are stuck on a secluded island, will they ever get off it? How will they survive? I'm sure there's more to it, but that's the gist, right?

Anyways, yeah... seeing how it ended, kinda glad to know I was duped for 6 seasons - such a cop-out, lame way to end a show that was as hyped as this one!

*****************
http://www.starksilvercreek.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Android-Market-App-Droid-11.JPGI finally "get" Twitter now.

Until recently, I never really made much use of it aside from keeping in touch with a few friends who don't update their Facebook statuses that often as well as "follow" some celebs and get newsfeed. To me, it just seemed like a mini-Facebook status network.

But then, I got a smartphone and now I'm often "tweeting" but whatever random thing pops in my head while I'm doing whatever, as I got my phone on or near me at any given time.

*****************
Speaking of Twitter - I had my first interaction with a sorta celebrity today.

I've been following Heather Chadwell, of VH1 and Rock of Love fame (she was the season 1 runner-up, with guest appearances on seasons 2 and 3), as I've enjoyed watching on RoL, as well as I Love Money and Rock of Love: Charm School. While I thought she started acting a bit strange towards the end of RoL:CS, I thought it'd be fun to follow her. She's also had minor roles on other TV shows

Anyways, today she posted this:
(*note* VH1sfarrah is Farrah from season 3 of Rock of Love - Rock of Love Bus)

I sometimes reply to things celebs post, but never expect an answer, as they have a bunch of followers and probably don't see or read all of the replies to them, let alone respond. This is what I replied:
 Then, not soon after, I got my first direct message - from Heather!

How cool is that? Someone semi-famous personally responded to me! I'm sure that those of you that use Twitter regularly have had a famous person respond to you at least once - this was a first for me though so I was a bit excited!

*****************
I can't stand George Lopez's monologues on his late night show - he *really* needs to go back to sitcoms.

It's one thing to make a political joke, but to go off on a tirade during your comedy bit is not funny. Same with making fun of people that aren't latino or whatever - Carlos Mencia and Dave Chappelle both know how to do it so it's funny, but George Lopez doesn't - he drops the comedy and goes off on a spiteful, bitter tirade. Just because you have the microphone and a platform doesn't mean you should meanfully go off about things when you're supposed to be funny.

I hate it when I go see a band and one of the opening bands goes off on a political rant in the middle of their set - I've been at shows where those bands get booed until they stop - people pay good money to go to concerts and hear the music and have a good time, not your political stances. Same goes for late-night talk shows - people watch to relax as their night winds down, to get all riled up because the host wants to go off on some rant.

*****************
http://morrisonworldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Arizona-immigration-03.jpgSpeaking of the Arizona Immigration law, I really don't see what the big fuss is about - it was already a law on the national level but it wasn't being enforced so they passed it one at the state level so they could deal with it themselves. Why are we fussing about something that's always been there?

Besides, looking at the way other countries treat illegals, getting deported and sent back to wherever is a pretty light punishment - in other countries, in addition to get deported you have to pay a hefty fine and in some you can be jailed up to like 10 years! Even in Mexico, they charge you with a felony and can put you in jail for up to 2 years just for stepping over the border illegally and if you do it again after they deport you, they jail you for 10 years!

Okay, so some illegals have kids here, who since they were born on US soil makes them legal residents and the illegals are being taken away from their families. Well, yeah, that is sad... but you were here illegally - if it was that important to you, why not start and complete the process to become a legal immigrant like so many others have? Why are you any different from the rest of the immigrants that live here? I'm not saying they deserve to be separate from their kids, but they really should have thought things through and considered the fact that they might get caught and deported some day.

I don't usually like to get too political, as everyone's got their own opinion on the issues, so please don't get offended - it's just my opinion and I really don't see what the big fuss is about this law, it was already a national law, all they did was make it a state law too so the state could enforce it since the gov't wasn't.

 *****************
Mary Kay® Subtle Tanning LotionI'm trying the Mary Kay Subtle Tanning Lotion, as my legs - especially below my knees - tend to be pasty white and I never seem to get out enough for them to get some color. It says to apply daily like you would any lotion and in a few days you'll start to see a difference and by the end of the week you'll reach your maximum color. I'll let you guys know how it works!

 *****************
http://blog.80millionmoviesfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/the-karate-kid-movie-2010.jpgSo there's a new Karate Kid movie coming out in a few weeks starring Will Smith's son Jaden and Jackie Chan. Granted, I'm not a fan of classic movies being redone - somethings should be left untouched - but this sounds more like a spin off with the same name. Jackie Chan is in the Mr. Miyagi role, but thank God they didn't try to pass him off as him - instead his name is Mr. Han.

Also, in the trailer, Jackie Chan tell's Jaden "I will teach you real Kung-Fu!" Um... this is called the KARATE Kid and not the Kung-Fu Kid, right? Since when does Kung-Fu equal Karate?

I'm so confused...

5.26.2010

1st Giveaway Winner and World PvP

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_utpn85k5ndo/S6kDD58AjvI/AAAAAAAAAKg/al0aeux5keA/s1600/warcraftwednesdays-logo.gif
And now for the post you all (well okay, some) have been waiting for...


Finding out who the winner of my 1st Blog Giveaway - a $25 Amazon.com Giftcard, in celebration that it's been 5 years this month since I first started playing World of Warcraft!

I got called into work today and like I mentioned on Twitter, I was planning on doing this when I got back, but since no one's at the office and it won't even take me an hour (probably not even 30 minutes) to do what I need to do there, I figured I might as post this now, since I have another idea for a post in my head that I plan on making tonight.

Anyways, here's how I picked the winner:
What I did was I created a spreadsheet, listing the info of each person that entered as they entered, and for each way they entered I put their information in again, in order of how it was submitted (for example, if you made 4 entries, then went back later and made the 5th after others had entered, the 5th entry was split up from the others). Then I went on Random.org, entered in the max number of entries (20), and hit the button to generate the winning entry number!



And the winner of my first ever blog giveaway, celebrating 5 years this month from when I first started playing World of Warcraft is....








Kara from Crayons and Cylons

Congrats and enjoy your gift card! I'll plan on sending it later tonight (when I get back from work and running errands) to the email that's listed on your blog, unless you tell me otherwise, okay?

Sorry to rest of you, but thanks for entering! I got plans for another giveaway coming up soon - a summer giveaway for the ladies - as I reach my 200th published post (we're currently in the 180s!).

**************
Now, onto to today's Warcraft Wednesday post:

A lot has changed in the 5 years since I started playing World of Warcraft - one of the most notable changes being the inclusion of Battlegrounds (aka BGs).

WoW without Battlegournds? No way!

Yes way!

And it was AWESOME.

If you play on a PvP server, you are always "flagged," meaning that at anytime a player of the opposing faction can sneak up and kill you while you're doing anything. On RP and PvE servers though you have to manually "flag up" via typing /pvp to attack an opponent outside a Battleground or Arena setting (Wintergrasp being the current exception). If you enter a city or village of the opposing faction though, you will get automatically flagged and the NPC (Non-Player Controlled) mobs will start attacking you.

Back in the day, before Battlegrounds, we had some pretty awesome, memorable matches on my server.

Regularly, if you visited the Hillsbrad Foothills, near the tower in the center of the map you could find a battle going on - this was known as the ongoing battle for Tauren Mill and Southshore.

http://method.undo.jp/sb/img/img221_WoW55.jpgThis was my first experience with PvP, as a huge group from my first guild was going to join in the epic battle one afternoon. I was only in my low 20s, but it sounded fun, I heard of it before from my boyfriend at the time who was a higher level than me and had experienced the fight before and I wanted to see for myself. I got directions - get to Wetlands (I had been there before), go north through the pass into Arathi Highlands and then west into Hillsbrad - stay on the path as much as possible.

I wasn't very effective, as most of the horde players were higher level than me, but there were a few other lower levels than me there, so we banded together.

It was a lot of fun.

Another old school World-PvP event was the time a large group of the Horde decided to try and take over the Dwarven Loch Modan, which is a zone surrounding a large lake.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20071104181118/wowwiki/images/thumb/d/dd/WorldMap-LochModan.jpg/501px-WorldMap-LochModan.jpg

They had been going through the smaller Alliance towns for a while this evening and while traveling, I saw the notification that Horde were in the area and attacking our Alliance members. I informed my guild members in guild chat, a few spread the word in some of the major cities, and within 10 or 15 minutes, there was a giant group of us Alliance countering the Horde's efforts to take over the Loch. We ended up fighting most of the battle in the middle of the Loch, on one of the smaller islands, with crocolisks and kleboids attacking both of us every so often.

Eventually we overthrew the Horde, sending them home and the battle was won. It was a fun time and lasted for a good half hour to an hour once everyone got into it!

And another memory, the time the Horde decided to take over the Alliance tram system.

In order to even reach the tram, you have to run in one end, cutting through either Stormwind or Ironforge (2 of the main Alliance cities) to get there. Once inside though, so long as you and many in your group didn't die, the Horde could freely take on the Alliance without NPCs interfering. Dying sucked though, as it was a long trek back - especially if you died on the Ironforge end but you were sent to the Stormwind graveyard! While many gave up and decided to just let the Horde run amok in the tram passageway, several of us, myself included, continued to chase them down the path. It eventually ended in a mutual way, both sides calling it quits, but it was a fun evening and the Horde posed for some fun pictures in front of the passageway that's under some body of water (the Loch Ness monster lives there too!).

Once Battlegrounds came out though, World PvP became less and less, only really happening when someone wanted to attack the major capitol cities, as everyone was spending hours in queue to join BGs such as Alterac Valley (AV) and then spending an entire weekend just to play one server wide match (which was always epic - oh how I miss the days of an AV that lasted at least 48hrs!). People would get in Friday night, and play on til Sunday! It was insane!

5.25.2010

Droid Does.

Just a friendly reminder - there's less than 24 hours left to enter in my 1st blog giveaway to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card! You don't want to miss out on this one! All entries must be in by noon CST tomorrow as I'll be announcing the winner in tomorrow's Warcraft Wednesday post!

That aside, we're getting a nice little summer storm here in northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin - driving home I heard on the radio that just over the border there was walnut-sized hail and 60 mph winds!

So I've had my snazzy Moto Droid smartphone for a little over week now and thought I'd share some of the apps I regularly use on it. The cool thing about the Droid is that it's VERY customizable!

First off, here's the outer bit of it:
It has both an onscreen touch keyboard, as well as a slide out full QWERTY keyboard, so whichever you prefer (I tend to use the vertical onscreen keyboard, while on hubby's he uses the slide out one - I have trouble hitting the top row of keys though as I have nails).

I also have an Ed Hardy skin on it that hubby got me as a surprise. He gets discounts on these things, which is good, as I never would have spent the money on a designer phone shell. In edition to the Ed Hardy line, you can also get designer Coach shells for it (which has the logo plastered all over it) or you can you can various plain colored ones too.

Next, the screens:

The standard Moto Droid comes with 3 home screens, although hubby's brother got us an app that can allow to you have either 5 or 7 total (3 is fine with me though for now!).

On the left screen, I have my "push to dial" speed dials up top (which include hubby, my mom, her house phone, the radio station I listen to all the time, as well as work) and on bottom I have my "push to text message" shortcuts (which include those I regularly text).

On my home (center) screen, up top I have a widget app called Beautiful Widgets, which displays the nice sized clock, my current city, the date, the weather and the highs and lows for the day. I also have most of the default apps on this screen - the phone button to get to my dialpad, my text message box, my contacts, my web browser of choice (Skyfire), Maps (aka GPS), and Camera shortcut. Also, up top on the left side of the notification bar, I have an app installed called BatteryTime Lite, which displays the percentage of battery life I have left on my phone.

Then on my right screen, I have extra apps I regularly use - Facebook, Twidroid (which is an awesome Twitter app!), Foursquare, Blogaway, Greed2, Sudoku Free, Menstrual Calendar, Pandora Radio, Shazam, The Bible, and the Android Market shortcut.

Let me explain some of these apps.

http://foursquare.com/img/videothumbnail.pngFoursquare is this neat website that you can sync up to your phone (or via text if you don't have a smartphone) and as you visit various places - work, restaurants, bars, stores, etc. - you can select it via GPS or add it if it's not already there, and "check in," showing that you're there. The more times you visit a place and check-in the more likely you are to become "Mayor" of that place. What's cool about being Mayor is that some places give special treats or discounts to whoever the current Mayor is - for example, I heard Starbucks gives a discount or a free drink and some restaurants give free items or discounts as well to reward those that are always coming there. The more you play Foursquare and check-in to places you unlock fun little Badges. It also has a friends list feature where you can see where you're friends are or where they've visited and get recommendations of places and leave recommendations of your own! It's pretty neat!

Blogaway is a nice Blogger app that lets me visit my blog, check comments, respond and simply make and edit posts (although I hear it's annoying if you're trying to include photos).

http://cdn.androlib.com/appicon/app-wxp.cs.pngGreed2 is Google Reader app and the only one I've found that I liked, is simple and works (I honestly tried over 5 before I found this one online). It keeps track of all your Feeds and makes it easy for them to read (videos and some images don't always show up though). You can also see comments and make comments too. I also love that the icon for this app is the little orange guy, sitting on a toilet reading a newspaper with the big feed symbol on it!

Sudoku Free is just that, a free Sudoku app. I got hooked on Sudoku while working at the theater and I love it! It's fun way to tickle your brain when killing time. You can select your setting - easy, medium, hard and extreme and then it times you and records your time so you can work on beating your records. There's also a "hint" button too incase you get stuck - so far Extreme is the only level I haven't been able to beat without using hints.

Menstrual Calender is just that - if you ever tried charting this is a nice app that makes it easy to enter in your temperature and all the other details that go along with charting. It's easy to set up and adjust to your cycle and it even can give you notifications, letting you know that that "time of the month" is right around the corner.

Pandora Radio is an app that lets you listen to Pandora Internet Radio. Just like online, you can set up stations, skip 6 times and hour, thumbs up or thumbs down a song, etc. It comes in handy!

Shazam is an app that lets you figure out what the name or band of a song playing is. Have you ever been out listening to the radio or at a bar and you hear a song you like but don't know what's called or who it's by? Turn on Shazam, it'll listen for a few seconds and pop up what the song title and band is! Pretty neat, huh?

The Bible's self-explanatory - it's a Bible app, comes in handy for church, and lets you select one of like 12 translations (I prefer the NIV). It breaks it down by book and then by chapter.

Other apps I've found neat:
  • Aldiko - this a free book app where you can download a lot of the classic as well as some creative-commons books and read them on your phone when bored. I found one creative commons book called FTW: For the Win, which sounds like gamers going Battle Royale after they get trapped into gold farming.
  • Amazon - lets you access your Amazon.com account, add to your wish list, search for and purchase items and pretty much anything else you can do on the actual website.
  • Collage Creator - this lets you select photos on your phone and it'll turn them into a nice collage that you can save online as a jpg and use how you wish!
  • Coupons - hubby uses this one more than I do, but it's a simple coupon app that daily gives you coupons on items and to restaurants and you can email them to yourself and print them out to use - we recently used a $5 off $25 or more one that we found for Buffalo Wild Wings.
  • Documents to Go - view your downloaded word, excel, pdf's and more documents that you might get in your email.
  • Droid Armory - for us WoW gamers out there, a simple, easy way to show off our characters and gear while on the go - it works like the WoW Armory, but you can "favorite" all your characters for easy access.
  • Ebay - like the Amazon app, this one works with your Ebay account, telling you your current bidding, selling, watching, winning and expired auctions. You can also do most things on it that you can on the website.
  • Goggles - this app takes a picture of an item and then tries to find it online and compare it with other stores to let you know who has it and who has the better price.
  • LOLsites - a mobile way to view LOLcats, LOLdogs, FailBlog, EpicWin and other sites in a slideshow format.
  • Movies by Flixster - a quick to see what's playing at theaters near you.
  • Phone Flicks - view and update your Netflix queue!
  • Ringdroid - take your mp3s on your phone and snip and clip them to create a customized ringtone
  • Ringo Lite - take your created ringtones from Ringdroid and apply them as text message and contact ringtones for specific people (currently, without this app, you can only add a ringtone for when someone calls you, not text you)
  • Timeriffic - Don't want your phone going off while you're at work? Set Timeriffic up so that it will automatically set your phone to silent or vibrate during the timeframe you're at work and then it will automatically change your settings back to normal at the time you enter that you get off work. Pretty neat if you ask me!
The more I use my Moto Droid, the more I LOVE IT!

Don't knock a smartphone until you've tried one, as I didn't care much for 'em until hubby got his and then I couldn't wait to get one of my own!

5.24.2010

Music Shuffle Monday 05.24.10

1. "The Hardway" by dcTalkhttp://www.veryicon.com/icon/png/Media/iPod,%20Therefore%20I%20Am/iPod%20Mini%20Blue.png
dcTalk was (and I think still is) one of the biggest bands in CCM (Contemporary Christian Music), having sold the most records thanks to heavier crossover album "Jesus Freak." This one off their album prior to "Jesus Freak" though, and it's one of the handful on that album I actually liked. It's a bit of a softer/mellower sound, but it's got a good message - the chorus goes "Some people seem to have to learn the hardway/ I guess I'm the kind of guy that has to find out for himself/ I had to learn the hardway/ I'm on my knees and I'm crying for help." Christian or not, it's a song that pretty much everyone can identify with, as we've all done stuff in our lives that unfortunately we had to learn the hard way that it probably wasn't the best thing to do.

2. "Boten Anna" by Basshunter
Also known as "Now You're Gone" on Basshunter's 2nd (Amercanized) album. This one came out sometime after his hit "Dota" (which is about sitting around, play the Warcraft map of the same name and chatting in Ventrilo voice chat). Boten Anna is about an IRC chat bot named Anna who can "ban you, ban you so bad." Unfortunately, with his latest album Basshunter decided to Americanize both songs and turn them into sappy techno songs inside of keeping with the awesome geeky internet/gaming references that gained him a large part of his following. It's still a pretty catchy techno/dance song regardless which lyrics you use.

3. "Deceiver" by Disturbed
Not gonna lie, I haven't listened to the album this one is on (their 4th studio album, "Indestructible") that often as the version I have of it is really low quality. This is a pretty typical Disturbed song though - heavy chords, melodic sounding... dark... not really much else to say. They're release their next album "Asylum" this fall though... which means tour-time!

4. "Zydrate Anatomy" from Repo! The Genetic Opera
Repo... either you love it or hate it, and it's got a cult following much like that of Rocky Horror (it has been called the Rocky Horror of my generation, which doesn't surprise me). It's got a great cast though and the songs are awesome - Giles from Buffy is the Repo Man, Paul Sorvino is the main bad guy and Sarah Brightman has a pretty important role as well. This is probably one of my favorite songs from the musical though - it's catchy, dark and gothic, and was just a fun scene, explaining one some of the stuff in the musical as well (ie: what Zydrate is, the whole plot point with Blind Mag, etc). If you like musicals - especially dark ones - and don't mind a handful of f-bombs and Sweeney Todd level of over-exaggerated gore, be sure to check out the original Repo Man movie!

5. "The Fame" by Lady Gaga
This is more of a medley of Gaga's songs off her debut album and came as a bonus track on the copy of the album I got. Starts off with "Just Dance" and works through most of the songs on the album, mixing them together. I'll admit, Gaga's one of my guilty pleasure listens - her songs are catchy, the innuendos are pretty funny, and make me want to dance and put me in a good mood. Plus, who knows what she'll be wearing next - you almost want to watch the award shows and her videos just to see what crazy ensemble she's going to show up in! I wish I could afford a ticket to Lollapalooza this year just to see her perform live, as she's headlining one of the nights.

And that's your Music Shuffle Monday list for this week.

Just a reminder - there's still 2 days and a little over 7 hours left to enter in my 1st blog giveaway to win a $25 Amazon Giftcard! Click the link for details and to enter!

Dear Taco Bell...

Those that know me somewhat well know that I am hooked on Taco Bell - I consider it to be one of my "comfort foods" and it's our default fast food place of choice (which is kind of ironic, considering after a bad experience with it in Jr. High, I refused to eat there until my 2nd or 3rd year in college, around the time I met my long-term roommate, whom I've mentioned before).

Fortunately, there's a Taco Bell 2 miles down the road (remember my rollerblading trek the other day? Yeah, it's just across the street from Sonic). The other nearest Taco Bell is probably at least 10 minutes away, while this one is less than 5.

Unfortunately though, this Taco Bell has THE WORST drive-thru staff I have experienced with a fast food chain.
http://www.diningfail.com/wp-content/uploads/tacobellfail.png
Now we frequent this particular Taco Bell at least once a week (sometimes twice), usually after 10pm on weekend night. But after the 5 time in 1 month that they've messed up our order, I've honestly lost track at how many times we've either had to call them up or drive back to have them correct it - I know we're well over 6 times now.

This ranges from completely leaving out entire food items (cough*nachos*cough), leaving out an item's topping/sauce (ie: nacho cheese for nachos, sour cream for taquitos), giving us the wrong type of item (ie: steak instead of chicken, a completely different burrito than the one ordered) and even giving us an item we didn't even order!

True story - all the above have happened since the beginning of March.

Oh and we always ask for no ice with our drink because 1) it's coming from the fountain, it's already cold enough and 2) they put way too much ice in to begin with so you're only getting half the amount of beverage you ordered. One time, the guy put ice in it and we handed it back, saying we requested no ice. Rather than apologize, the guy just sighed and was all "Ugh, you guys make us waste so much money on pop..." implying that it was our fault he didn't listen and had to pour out the drink. He's lucky I didn't go off on the fact that 90% of the time they screw up our order and we waste money on gas to drive back so they can fix it.

The latest incident?

We were hungry, not a lot of places are open at 2am on a Monday morning, but Taco Bell's open til 3am so we decided to drive over there. Hubby orders a burrito, I order chicken taquitos with sour cream and an order of nachos. I'll give the guy props for being so peppy and energetic at 2am, but still... we get our order an despite the fact that I ALWAYS ask him to wait for me to check the order before pulling out, hubby pulls out anyway (mom trained me from the time I was little to always check the order before leaving the drive thru, hubby worked/managed several Wendy's for 3 years and hated when cars took their time leaving the drive thru so he got in the habit of never waiting). Before we can leave the parking lot, I notice they forgot the sour cream. Hubby doesn't see it as a big deal so he starts driving and doesn't turn around until I point out the things are dry and that's why they include a dipping sauce with them. So we go back, get the sour cream (they give us 2 to compensate) and go home to eat.

I open up the taquitos and... that doesn't look like chicken dripping out of them. Hubby takes a bit - they're steak. I don't eat steak from Taco Bell because, well, it's Taco Bell - I don't trust their steak or their "fish" - I stick to either the beef and the chicken.

Is it sad that I'm shocked and surprised the few rare times they've actually gotten our order right? That can't be good, can it?

And we've complained - I've filled out the corporate online survey on the back of the receipt so many times, citing errors with our order and the time they messed up our order 4 visits in a row I up and complained directly to the manager in person - she was pretty shocked and I noticed them being more on top of things the next few times we went... but lately they've gotten lax again.

It's getting ridiculous and I don't see why we should have to travel twice as far and burn twice as much gas to go to a different location when we have one right down the street. Like I said, hubby managed several different Wendy's locations for like 3 years and I've worked with taking food orders and getting them to people quickly and correctly as well working concessions at the movie theater - it's really NOT THAT HARD A JOB TO DO!

5.22.2010

Uh... WTF US Cellular?

Wasn't planning on posting again tonight, but while online, I just came across this gem of a sidebar advertisement for US Cellular:

 

Really? You encourage me to click on your ad by "unzipping" a (not what I would call hot) graduate's gown?

1) What does unzipping his gown have to do with purchasing a cell phone from you?
2) I would hope this guy is a college graduate otherwise...
3) If he's a high school graduate - shame on you, US Cellular! Sorry, but I don't go for younger guys period, let alone jailbait!

Anyone else think he kind looks like comedian Demetri Martin?

What I did on this nice, sunny day!

This afternoon and evening the weather has been PERFECT out - 79 degrees, sunny with a nice occasional breeze.

I've been a bit lazy about that this week when it comes doing some carido, but I DID get my Shake Weight and Bally imitation Thighmaster and have used those a bit this week. I'm not sure if the Thighmaster's working, although I do feel a little bit of a burn right after using it, and the Shake Weight... I know I've knocked this product before due the obsurdity of the commercial (it seriously looks like they're giving a... well, if you've seen the commercial and have the same mindset hubby and I do, you know what it looks like they're doing!), but it REALLY does work! I've only used it a handful of times this week since I got it, but you can really feel the burn in your arms!

Anyway, in order to fit in some cardio this week, I decided, with it being so nice out, I'd go rollerblading on our nearby walking/bike path. I decided I'd skate over to Sonic near the end of the path (last time we went all the way, we crossed the busy street and ate at Taco Bell for dinner and DQ for dessert) - I figured a cherry limeade would be a nice refreshing drink and since it was around dinnertime anyway and I hadn't really eaten yet today I'd order a hot dog off the $1 menu. (In the photo, home is A, Sonic is B - there's a stoplight at one the city's main roads about halfway between the 2, and the another major road and stoplight near the end of the path - home to the 2nd stoplight is roughly 2 miles).

Well I got to the end of the path a lot quicker than the last time we did it (skating is better than walking!), and decided I'd cut through this parking lot and then the grass between this mini shopping area and Sonic... although there was a 4ft black tarp fence halfway through the grass, not to mention a mini ravine/creek that was a few feet below the grass, so I had to walk in the grass next to one of the busiest roads in town til the shoulder appeared, where I skated on that for like 20 feet, then walked in the grass between the road and the Sonic parking lot.

Not fun.
http://www.peoriarestaurants.com/images/rest_pics/sonic_2.jpg
Although getting there wasn't so bad, but I still got a nice blister on the inside of my left foot from walking in skates the way they weren't meant to be walked in.

I ordered my hot dog and drink and finished em and within 10 minutes I left to make the trek back.

Walking through the grass from Sonic back towards the road, I forgot that I needed to walk side ways so the wheels didn't start rolling on me (which they did) and I fell on my butt. Luckily I was on grass. But then I had to go uphill in the grass to get back to the road - that was a bit of a workout! I got to the road, skated the 20ft to where the shoulder disappears and as I'm stepping back onto the grass I fall again - my butt landed on the grass, but the palm of one of my hands hit the gravel and the pavement. It stung at first and was a little cut, but not too bad. I got up, worked my way through the grass to the intersection, crossed and got back on the walking/bike path.

They REALLY need a better path to get from the bike path to Sonic - at least with Taco Bell and DQ they have it so you can easily cross the intersection and get to those parking lots without going through much traffic.

Anyways, I made it home - the whole 4 mile trek. I was sweaty and craving water by the time I got back, but I took my skates off when I got inside and just sat on one of the chairs for a few minutes. Tiger spent about 10 minutes sniffing my skates, in and out.

I took my socks off - I got a blister, and then it popped while I was skating home, so it's all kinda weird looking right now. I also put some generic neo-sporin stuff on my palms after I washed em with anti-bacterial soap.

http://www.womenwithdroids.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Pandora_In_Car.jpgI like that my Moto Droid can double as an iPod though! I have some of music on there already, but I also installed Pandora Radio on it last night and I tried out a few different stations while I was out. It was pretty nice - I used my iPod earbuds, plugged em in, put my phone in my pocket and off I went, listening to music and not missing any text messages as I went. It was nice not having to carry both a phone AND a music player!

I'm spent though! This rollerblade outing sure kicked my butt today - I'm ready to just chillout at home the rest of the night! =)

Also, don't forget to enter in my 1st Blog GiveAway! I'm giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card - winner will be chosen after noon CST on Wednesday, May 26th so get them entries in! 
Click here to read the details and how to enter
!

5.21.2010

One of my favorite animated fairytales of my youth

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_utpn85k5ndo/S38v5P_J4bI/AAAAAAAAAJw/mw1r8Sd4oxE/s1600/flashbacklogo.jpgWhile typing up my Wizard of Oz post the other day, trying to remember which animated version I used to watch, I came across a website that listed animated features by year.

For years, I've been trying to remember an animated movie I used to rent often from the video store as a kid in the late 80s, however all I could remember was that it was about a girl with a mean step-sister a la Cinderella-like, she met a Prince after some wacky hunt he took part in, and she got pushed down a well so he couldn't marry her.

It was honestly driving me crazy that I couldn't find anything about this movie no matter how much I searched online.

But thanks to to this site - The Animated Movie Guide - I was able to find it! I knew it was older, as it had an older style of animation to it.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PRFW7Q94L._SL500_AA300_.jpgThe 1976 movie is called Maria d'Oro und Bello Blue, but I knew it as its English title Once Upon a Time. It was originally released in Germany, based on the German fairytal Frau Holle, but has been translated into a bunch of different languages.

It tells the story of a beautiful girl named Maria who is the only daughter of the wealthy Mr. Bottle and her best friend is her little blue dog named Bello Blue. When the mean Mary Lou and her con-artist mother arrive in town, they trick Mr. Bottle into marrying the mother, making Maria their servant girl.

One day, the Prince, who get separated from his crew during a royal hunting session, comes across Mary Lou bathing in a lake in the woods, with Maria assisting her (no, it's not as dirty as it sounds!). After seeing Mary Lou slap Maria and storm off to change, he approaches Maria, the 2 spend some time alone and before he leaves, he gives her a beautiful garnet necklace, saying it will bring them together someday.

Mary Lou spies the necklace on Maria and out of jealousy, she snatches it and drops it down the local well. Pretty soon however though, a proclamation is made that the Prince can marry a common girl and an announcement is made, calling for the girl with the garnet necklace to come to the king. Realizing, the necklace is her key to becoming queen someday, Mary Lou tricks Maria into allowing herself to be lowered into the well to retrieve it, however once she gets the necklace, Mary Lou lets go of the rope and lets Maria plummet down the well.

Something magical happens though and Mary Lou is thrown down the well also.

When the 2 girls land at the bottom, they are greeted by the Frog King who magically makes the necklace disappear, claiming it is now with Mrs. Holle. On their journey to find Mrs. Holle, they help several magical creatures and once they reach their destination, they learn the door to their realm has closed and they must wait for it to reopen. Maria offers to help with the chores while they wait at Mrs. Holle's (which includes feeding some pretty wacky singing, dancing bare-bottomed toddlers). Mary Lou tries to find her own way out, but ends up returning to Mrs. Holle's, where she sends them both back.

Upon their return, in front of the entire village, Mrs. Holle declares they will both get what they deserve for their reward, which puts Maria in a lovely wedding gown as the Prince approaches her and whisks her off to his castle, while Mary Lou is left in rags and succumbs to marrying the local cobbler.

Here's the 5 minute condensed version of the movie, however unfortunately I can't seem to find an English version of it online (this one is in Spanish, but even if you don't speak Spanish, you can still get the idea just by watching).



You have no idea how incredibly THRILLED I am to have finally found this again - I've honestly been looking for well over a decade, if not closer to 20 years! I found you can rent it on Netflix or purchase on Amazon, which I fully intend on doing so in the near future, as I would love to share this movie with any daughters we have someday!


Also, don't forget to enter in my 1st Blog GiveAway! I'm giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to celebrate 5 years this month since I started playing World of Warcraft. All entires must be received by Noon (CST) on Wednesday, May 26, as the winning entry will be picked at random and announced as part of that day's Warcraft Wednesday post! Click here to read the details and how to enter!