almost famous

This past Sunday, my friend L generously gave me her season tickets to check out the Clippers/Raptors game.  

Baller seats... Thanks, L!

It was a perfect game day afternoon at the Staples Center, with stale nachos and gourmet chocolate popcorn between quarters. 

Hiding the popcorn and nachos out of frame...

Obviously, watching the game live is infinitely better than catching it on TV-- the excitement, the players, the crazy fans.  But the bonus is the Jumbotron instead of commercials!  

Game time!

And guess what!  I was on TV!!  I know, I'm like a celebrity now. 

Being famous.

folk rock

at the hollywood bowl
monday night picnic followed by a great show

 

"And I came home
Like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of darkness
Which we've known
Will blow away with this new sun

And I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you" 

hardly strictly bluegrass

"Lovely girl won't you stay, won't you stay, stay with me/
All my life I was blind, I was blind, now I see..." -Big Parade

 

The Lumineers' Playlist

the lumineers @ the music box in hollywood

great acoustics, stellar show

too close to home?

A couple of Sundays ago, I woke up way too early for brunch nor was I willing to change out of my pajamas.  So, instead, I spent my morning eating French toast and watching "He's Just Not That Into You" on cable.  Yeah, I know.

From IMDB

Girl: So, what, now I'm just supposed to run from every guy who doesn't like me?
Boy: Uh... Yeah!
Girl: But then there's not gonna be anybody left!


Hah, there sure were a lot of of depressingly true quotables. 

hipsterfest 2012

JK and I (and every plaid-wearing, cutoff jeans-sporting kid in Los Angeles) spent the weekend at FYF, an outdoor indie music festival in DTLA.

Two full days saturated with dust, hipsters, and some great music-- it was a pretty rad way to close out the summer.

 

Playlist includes Tanlines, Sleigh Bells,Beirut, M83, Twin Shadow, and James Blake.

varying definitions

Prime was on TV again the other night and since summer television is terrible, I watched it for the fourth time.  [SPOILER]  It's that rom-com-ish type of movie that doesn't end in the expected rom-com-ish way.

I quite enjoyed that incredibly awkward scene at the beginning of the movie when Rafi first meets Dave and his pretty brunette date.

Rafi: "So, how long have you two been dating?"

Simultaneously:
Dave: "We aren't dating."
Brunette: "A few weeks."

Insert awkward pause.

Dave: "Well... I mean... I thought... It's only been a couple of dates...  I didn't realize that meant we were dating."

9 reasons i watched eurocup 2012

Top: Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Yohan Cabaye (France)

Middle: Mats_Hummels (Germany), Mathieu Debuchy (France), Antonio Nocerino (Italy)

Bottom: Gerard Pique (Spain), Anders Svensson (Sweden), Joe Hart (England)

I may not totally understand the off side rule, but that doesn't mean I'm any less into the game.

 
"moving up, moving down, keep on turning up the sound/
we gonna party in the sun/catch the feeling have some fun" 
-oceana, endless summer

only in la

Guys!!  I hung out with Adam Levine last week!!!

Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration...

I went to a live taping for the blind auditions on "The Voice" last week and stared down my celebrity crush alevine.


Yes, that's a bit more accurate.

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i've got more hooks than madonna got looks

Better Than Ezra at the House of Blues

 BTE still ranks in my top five bands.  And, yes, I realize it is no longer 1996, thanks.

I caught their show at the House of Blues in Houston over the holidays with my bff, A.  The audience was a pretty bizarre cross-section of folks, but the show itself rocked--  I mean, come on, there was mash up of the Billy Idol, Chris Issac, and Foster the People.  We all know I love mash-ups.

Since A hasn't listened to their albums on repeat since college, she requested I compile a list of my top ten (she really only asked for eight) BTE songs (sorry, Grooveshark widget not visible on ipads):
 

this is the best thing i've seen all christmas

better together

I spent a good portion of this month hanging out at the hospital.  To try and pass the day, I walked around the maze-like hallways, scouting out any halfway decent magazines abandoned on the tables.  This means I have read pretty much any issue Real Simple/Glamour/Martha Stewart Living/In Style/New Yorker published in the last four months.  (The only one left untouched was The Economist).  Magazines are great, but they only manage to kill an hour or so.  After I flew through a borrowed copy of an awesomely-bad beach read ("The Castaways"), I stumbled across the library on the first floor and left with a stack precariously balanced in my arms.

I curled up in the family waiting room with a paperback copy of "One Day".  I know a lot of people hated this book.  And it's really not even my type of book.  I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but I mean, seriously?

Much to my surprise, I sort of loved it.

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holy frijoles!

Congrats to the cast and crew who worked on DWA's latest movie, Puss In Boots!
All you cool cats should go check it out.

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it's like i'm still 14

Going out nearly every night was catching up with me, the constant lack of sleep and lingering feeling of exhaustion.  With the cooler nights of early fall settling in, the idea of curling up under the blankets and reading a good book seemed appealing.

So this past week, instead of staying up all night to socialize, I stayed up all night  to read. 

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we're not sheep

picnic!

Summers in LA aren't long enough-- mornings at the farmer's markets, weekends at the beach, and evenings exploring the city.  It's only the start of September, but retailers are already pushing fall upon us.  Well, I'm just not ready for pumpkin pie spice and corduroy yet.
 
So this past Saturday, I checked out Cinespia at Hollywood Forever Cemetery for one of the last outdoor screenings of the season.  After a delicious picnic of wine-cheese-and-more-wine, we settled under the blankets to watch Edward Scissorhands beneath the stars.

I kind of love this movie; it might even rank it in my top five.  It's horror/romance, whimsy/wonder, loneliness/love, satire/fairy tale.  It shows that fairy tales might not end in happily-ever-after.  Life isn't always what you expect.  And yet, somehow, it all still works out.

Edward Scissorhands- Ice Dance/Snow Scene
aka Best Scene of the Movie

popcorn and chardonnay

Photo Credit: PM

Throughout the entire summer, Los Angeles has beautiful weather and a constant stream of touring artists. I figured it was time to take advantage of one of the end-of-summer shows, so I bought tickets to check out The Decemberists at the Greek Theater.

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zoobie doobie

Hit with an overwhelming wave of anti-socialness, I turned off my phone and laptop and settled into bed for a movie marathon.  Thanks to Redbox, I wasted away hours watching Blue Valentine, The King's Speech, No Strings Attached (don't judge), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part I, and my favorite pick of the weekend, 3 Idiots.

I mean, really, what's not to love about Bollywood flicks?  Random outbursts of song and choreographed dance, the absurd melodrama, ridiculous plot twists...  Why can't life be more like a Bollywood movie?  It's like being in a colorful, happily-ever-after fairy tale.