Life & California: You're So Damn Hot

Know What's Cool? Installment One: Someday My Prince Will Come



So I feel this didn't get properly addressed in my previous article - but do you know what's cool? I'm in California.



It's an entirely odd and not altogether unpleasant sensation when you realize that what you told yourself you were going to accomplish is what you're doing right now. This isn't to say that all my dreams have come true and I can now rest and retire... but being in the state of California before the next Minnesota winter was just supposed to be this thing I told myself... and now it's happened. No matter what goes on next, I'm still scheduled to spend all my wintry day-times in a state that doesn't seem to remember what that season even is.

I hope it's a feeling I can continue to use to make all those other things happen. Until then... I'm in California! I drove past an honest to God studio. ... which I've done before, but okay. Still cool.



Also drove to Sprinkles, on favor for my sister. She knows all these spots by now, living here for a while before me. I mean, in all honesty, my parents drove - it was one of their last acts before they shipped themselves back home. Reportedly ( by this sister ), Sprinkles has the best cupcakes you ever could desire. Do not be fooled by shops with devilishly similar names and logo-styles ( I was ).

I did actually drive, though. To my sister's place, with all of my worldly belongings ( well, the packed ones, as we went over earlier ). I will now be squatting ( seriously, no rent ) till such time as Christmas when I'll brave snow to see family then return to a place of my own ( except, not really ) to be blessedly free to sing along with my music as loud as I want ( maybe ).

Peace out.

Life: Rock Down To Electric Avenue

The first task I was asked to do in the systematic stripping of my old but not as old as my childhood residency of my once childhood bedroom was remove the cage I'd come to refer to as my 'bedroom'. The cage had been left over from the not-so-glory days of cat breeding when a certain brown male - who shall not be named for his own safety - had to be separated. He had to be separated because he peed a lot. Yes, it was a mighty existence.



Anyway, I was lazy and the cage was already in there so... it only seemed natural to build the bed inside much like it were a ship and the cage were, perhaps, a bottle. With slightly more wiggle room. Just slightly.

I liked the effect it had on the room, giving the illusion that somehow my apartments had more class than just being a basement bedroom. I did not, however, like the large black boxes it put in front of my TV screen when I wanted to watch late night movies. It was a trade-off. And now it had to go.



I laboriously undid and removed the entire thing, discovering mid-process that I hadn't quite cleaned it on all sides as well as I'd originally thought, and ended up feeling rather good about its leaving after all. This also affected by how I was getting paid for doing it.

The second task - which I skillfully held off till the last second as is my usual record - was packing. This became difficult because I had to sort through a lot of my useless shit and because I had to pick which of my movies I didn't want to watch for six months. This is a pain because there's not really any way you can positively know which movies you will or will not feel like watching. In the end, I grabbed a couple of favorites and a couple of ones I'd never seen and left it at that.

Then someone else decided she had to oversee these processes. As per usual, my luxurious silver cat hefted herself onto my bed and laid right across the 'coming with me' pile as if she knew I was getting ready to take off. She later transferred herself to the very Bunny-sized luggage I'd put out to start packing my clothes into.



This made things harder because 1) she was lying on my suitcase and 2) she was not, in fact, coming with me. I let her sit wherever she wanted, though, because it would be our last chance for a while.

If anyone ever had a doubt, though, mark it now - you really can fit all your clothes into one over-sized suitcase. I actually got to a point where nothing was in my carry-on but I couldn't think of what to bring. I packed a few extra movies, in the end, but it was like... ummm. I dunno. I didn't want to take a bunch of extra just for giggles... it would just end up sitting around...

But I got all packed and we went to the airport and stuff. That's boring. Nobody wants to hear about that. Hey! How about we jump right to California.



Mainly what my parents were doing here with me was buying me a car, making sure I knew the area, harassing me too much about finding a job, freaking out about every little detail, getting all up in my shit, using my computer too much because they were too lazy to plug their own into the hotel wired internet, and being loving nice people who paid for everything.

Oh. And seeing my sister who goes to school here.

As per more usual, she wanted to go to Santa Monica. We go there, like, every time. I took some pictures for... I don't know. Cause it feels like that's what you should do there.

Honestly, I don't know what else to do at a beach. I'm not a huge fan of sand. Or sitting in the sun without moving. Or salt water. Or other people who do enjoy those things.



Know what is cool, though? Colorful birds that don't fly away. There we go.

We walked a bunch, too, just to end up at a restaurant that was closed. My sister's a big fan of checking the star ratings of restaurants before she goes to them. I just walk in. Or don't. Depending on how I feel. So, I was a bit peeved at having gone blocks to a closed place when we'd passed a whole bunch but walking also makes me peevy, so, it was sort of an unfair weight against my family at that point.

I hope to do more walking here, though. I dunno. Now I own a car, so. We'll see.



Look, folks! Santa Monta! ... yaay.

Whatever.

sexy, sexy, sexy

Oh hay. There's been fairly constant love shown for my Movies And Television You Should've Seen But Probably Didn't project, as I have the type pages up on Deviantart, but I got a comment recently where the person said she put my designs up on her blog. So I went to check it out, right, naturally. Not only are two of my designs on this blog post, but under the heading 'Sexy Typography'. WOO.

Unfortunately, after a visit, I was fairly positive those two pieces belonged nowhere near the other ones she was featuring... but I'll take it.

http://blogpost.dj23.net/2009/10/movie-quotes-in-sexy-typography-posters/

Sexy.


CALIFORNIA COUNTER: 24 DAYS

monsters are real, and ghosts are too

It's a bit past the time now, but I thought I'd share with ya'll how we celebrate holidays around here. The house didn't get all fancied up with Halloween or anything - in fact, my mother up and forgot to buy candy until the day of - but she did decide we'd have at least one person to cater to. With the seven bags we now had. She also thought I looked festive enough in my orange and black striped tights to answer the door for her.

I sighed and indulged her, whilst drinking Sierra Mist cranberry out of my new skull goblet. Yes. It was very awesome.

Actually, the kids were very cute. But before I could allow all sorts of unsavory characters to approach our door on this the most hallowed of all eves, there were some precautions that needed to be taken.



While I wholly thought I'd be stopped and hounded as I strolled to the cupboard, removed the large cylinder of salt, and moved to empty a large amount of it on our doorstep in a vaguely straight-ish line, my mother, in fact, approved of and encouraged this endeavor. As did several of my buddies on the Heroes MUSH.

Enablers, all of you.

So, late holiday cheer. Just in time for a new holiday.

Demons, ye shall not pass.

wish they all could be california girls

What's this? Is it... perhaps, my departure time for a flight to California, where I will be hacking out an experimental living for several months before destiny or bankruptcy claim me?

INDEED.

The general plan is to live at a friend's and/or find an apartment where I can do my best to find a job. The experience so far has been that people want you to be local so as to conduct instantaneous interviews. It is, indeed, easier for everyone to be in the same place, so I'm taking that first step. We'll see where it takes me.

Plane, housing, and car expenses are being helped along by my very supportive parents -- so, should it happen, I really owe them everything.


EDIT: Have now checked the weather in Pasadena. Sunny across the board. Highs above 80, lows above 50. Wtf, plane ticket, why aren't you for TOMORROW?

Seriously. This is what I'm working with ( courtesy of thefuckingweather.com. most accurate weather site ever )

since sliced bread

So a phenomenon I've been particularly entertained with tracking is the creation of "remix" music-videos that rely on the repetition of a surprisingly melodic or amusingly iconic phrase from its source of choice. These also usually include a techno track -- possibly also created from the movie or clip's soundtrack. Making the techno track, for one, is awesome. Finding dialogue that fits into it as if they were meant to be? Genius.

I don't honestly know what came first, but I would love to credit this work of "Lord of the Rings" awesome. Created by Erwin Beekveld, it features some of the catchiest music I will ever not be able to get out of my head. The timing and the quote choices guarantee you will never be able to watch a certain part of The Two Towers without laughing from now on. There's, like, two dozen different versions of it out now in the related field. ( What, I ask you, is the obsession with 'Chipmunk'-speeding everything and its sequel? )

This song may also be my ring-tone...



The next bit of hilarity is not as much from a movie as an interview spawned by that movie. It's not only well put together -- besides a couple of video glitches -- but makes you forever question how the hell these sound bytes weren't a joke to begin with. Seriously. I cannot explain. You must only click "play" on this masterpiece of genius unofficially called: "Somebody had to go and ask Shatner why Kirk is climbing a mountain in that one Star Trek movie..."



This last one is a bit of a cheat, honestly: I had been aiming to add the other two in and thought - hey, wouldn't this blog post look better with a third example? So I went hunting. It didn't take long. This person even credit the earlier "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" for their creating of this, so, see? My decision to give it first place is well done. But this it not LOTR: though it IS a similarly popular trilogy featuring a man who doesn't wash his hair frequently enough. There are some visual choices in this one I disagree with - although the style and proficiency with editing is there, I don't think it's quite as polished as the others. Still, this "Pirates of the Caribbean" piece is quite catching and fetching. Feast.




Got the tunes in your head? I do.

come into the new world

There's this shiny new piece of paper in my apartment that tells me I have a degree now. Which is... yeah, that's pretty cool. It also means that there's no more homework and no more finals to stop me from posting to you, my precious blog.

Expect epic writing to follow.


Right after I eat.


Peace out!