Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Are you a mod or a rocker?

I think I actually squealed when I saw that A Hard Day's Night was up for instant streaming on Netflix. I don't think I've watched this movie since I was 10. Some of the humor definitely went over my head back then (i.e. Ringo simply smiling and giggling when a journalist asks him what he likes his girlfriends to wear).



200, 1... 2... 3... Sleep!

Yes, this is my 200th post and yes, I am posting a kitten video.



Betty Jean and Me

This past weekend, I went with my family to Yorba Linda, California for the funeral of my Great Aunt Luella, the sister of my paternal grandmother. I had a wonderful time visiting with family, learning more about Luella and my family's history, and discovering old photographs. Since my grandmother, Betty Jean Hikes Anderson, passed away when I was only six years old, I have very few memories of her. Looking through all of the photographs of her as a young girl made me wonder more than ever what she was really like -- before becoming a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Betty Jean and Luella

Betty Jean as a baby. For those who have yet to see my niece Nicaea, so far she looks a lot like my grandma as a baby. There is another picture of my grandma at age two and we all agreed that she looks like Nicaea with a wig on.

Betty Jean and me. When my dad came across this picture of my grandma, he held it up next to my face and said that he thought she looked like me. I don't see much of a resemblance between me and other pictures of her, but I do see a little of myself here.

I've always had a connection to my grandma through the violin that we share,
but it's nice to share a face too. :)

Friday, June 17, 2011

One Month

There is just one more month until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.








all images via weheartit

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Top Eleven Bonnaroo Moments


Since writing posts about every amazing aspect of Bonnaroo would take ages, I decided to break it down into just the main highlights.


1.
Through a friend of a friend, we managed to procure guest passes that gave us special access to guest camping, free showers (general admission paid $7 a shower!!!!), better/more reasonably-priced food, chance celebrity sightings, some priority seating/sound stage access, cleaner porta-potties with shorter lines, a sneaky pathway to bring in our own alcohol from the campsite (otherwise we would have been paying $6 for a beer), and backways throughout the festival to avoid the massive crowds. After we got back to AZ and were sitting in rush hour traffic, Tyler said, "I wish we had guest passes for life." Then I reminded him that we could get in the carpool lane and all was well.

2.
Taking an RV to Bonnaroo turned out to be an excellent idea. Running water, refrigerator, a place to sleep, crazy pictures of families camping and enjoying the outdoors on the exterior of the RV... what else could you need?

While we were picking up our guest passes, another group was thoroughly entertained by our RV, so much so that they decided to add their own touch to it, taping Eminem faces to the back and writing a speech bubble for the two girls on the door saying, "Hey sis! Look at all those hippies!!!"

3.
Guest camping was just a few minutes away from the festival. We talked to one person who said that they had to take AN HOUR WALK from their general admission camping to the festival. Yikes.

4.

Adult Swim hosted carnival games, including Balloonicorn Blowout where Tyler put a unicorn helmet on and attempted to pop ten balloons in 30 seconds. He managed to get seven and earned some sweet shades as a consolation prize. I would post the video, but I don't think I would ever be forgiven.

5.
Arcade Fire was amazing! The crowd was enormous and we had seats in the guest bleachers where we danced around like crazy. I've never seen Tyler so happy at a concert before and I started jumping up and down when they started playing my favorite song of theirs as the last song of the encore. Unfortunately I'm singing very loudly in that particular video clip, so that will never see the light of day, er, internet.

6.
Celebrity sightings! In our time in the guest compound, we spotted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (seen in the picture above with two body guards), Mumford and Sons giving an interview (see video), and Donald Glover. Much to Tyler's dismay, I walked up to Donald Glover, said hi, and made Tyler come over and say hi too. He was really nice and cool about it. But then I spent the next several hours feeling embarrassed and slightly mortified myself. I don't know what possessed me to do it because I would never ordinarily have the guts to just walk up to a celebrity. I guess that's just what having a special wristband does to you. Yeah... I still feel embarrassed.

7.
Alison Krauss was the main selling point for me when we were first thinking about buying tickets for Bonnaroo. She did not disappoint.

8.

Mumford and Sons was absolutely incredible. We read later that there were more than 50,000 people in the crowd. It was hard to believe that they only have one album so far with the number of people there belting out every lyric. They ended their encore with Old Crow Medicine Show and Jerry Douglass, playing a ten-minute rendition of "Amazing Grace" that gave us all goosebumps.

9.
Fried Oreos. They were gooey and delicious and worth every calorie.

10.
People watching. It doesn't get any better than people trying to channel Woodstock and act like hippies all weekend. I wouldn't have thought that Galactic and hippie-dancing go together, but apparently they do. Now I need to learn how to dance with a hula hoop for next year.

11.
The first night while waiting in line for the Silent Disco, I saw something in the sky that looked a lot like the floating lights shown in the movie Tangled. I didn't think that people actually launched sky lanterns, but lo and behold they do! Now we're trying to devise a way to launch our own sky lanterns without starting another forest fire.

Here is what we saw:

Thursday:
River City Extension
Freelance Whales
Band of Skulls
J. Cole
Sleigh Bells
Childish Gambino

Friday:
Phosphorescent
Matt & Kim
The Decemberists
Florence + the Machine
My Morning Jacket
Arcade Fire
Big Boi
Ratatat

Saturday:
Chiddy Bang
Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
Mumford & Sons
The Black Keys
Buffalo Springfield
Eminem
Scissor Sisters
Girl Talk

Sunday:
G. Love
Neon Trees
Galactic
Iron & Wine
Cold War Kids
Explosions in the Sky

Four Eyes Part II

When I was a kid, I used to balk at the fact that my mother's eyesight was so poor that she was considered legally blind. Her poor eyesight was one of the many traits passed down to me (Thanks, Mom! I got your good traits too! :)).

I started wearing glasses in the 4th grade. Glasses were a pain. I couldn't wear sunglasses, swim with clear vision, or play sports as comfortably as I could have with contacts (not that my athletic ability was anything to brag about). I did not like to wear glasses, but my ever-worsening eyesight demanded them until I turned thirteen and finally got contacts. Ever since then, I've associated glasses with my awkward stage.

Exhibit A: 7th Grade Winter Formal
Exhibit B: Mismatch Day at school. I hope.

Every year, my eyesight becomes worse and worse, and last week I discovered that my contact prescription is even stronger than my mom's! Which makes me legally blind too! AHHH!

With this last eye appointment though, I decided to give glasses another shot and buy a pair that I would actually be willing to wear out in public as opposed to the last few minutes before I go to bed in the privacy of my own home. I associated my glasses so much with going to sleep that putting them on would literally make me sleepy. Looking to Miss Pandora (and of course Buddy Holly) for inspiration, I decided to get black frames.


Happy. :)

P.S. Bonnaroo pictures (and mayyyyybe video) to come!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

What's my Line?

I love finding videos of old movie stars from interviews and television. My posts have been pretty video-heavy lately, but I can't help it -- these clips from What's my Line? are all so good! Elizabeth Taylor made me laugh out loud. I could watch these clips all night, but I need to finish packing for Bonnaroo!








Monday, June 6, 2011

Disney and Dali

After showing Tyler my new favorite tumblr, we started doing a little googling to try and figure out why Walt Disney and Salvador Dali were hanging out and being awesome together. Dali is one of our favorite artists and we were delighted to discover that these men were collaborating and creating a short film.

According to the sources we read (thank you, wikipedia), the story boarding had been mostly completed but the project got dropped after eight months due to some financial concerns. When Disney started working on Fantasia 2000, they decided to finish what had been started. The short "Destino" is apparently on special editions of Fantasia 2000, but you can also watch it on youtube!


Again, according to what we read, it is a love story between the mythological character of Chronos (personification of time) and a mortal woman. (Chronos is apparently quite different from Cronus.) It is a pleasure to watch and Dora Luz's voice is enchanting.

I can't believe that it has been three years since our visit to the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres, Spain.




Like the book says, "Everyone should consider the museum as a work of art in itself." It was an incredible place that I would love to visit again someday.

Sadly, Tyler's book about the museum got lost somewhere between the train ride back to Zaragoza and the plane ride back to Arizona. :(

The girl who read to the boy about the boy who lived.


Tonight, Tyler and I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone together. I was ecstatic that he actually suggested it, and it wasn't until the second chapter that we realized that I was even wearing my Harry Potter pajama shirt -- I am a serious nerd.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Gimme gimme gimme

On the lookout for a few new sundresses before Bonnaroo next week.








3, 5, and 8 are my favorites, but I still don't think I'll be ready for Tennessee humidity.


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Midnight in Paris

I can honestly say I have never seen a Woody Allen movie (unless you count Antz), but I think I'm gonna have to get myself out to Camelview before this one leaves theaters.


Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Carla Bruni, Paris, time travel to the 1920's... yeah, I definitely need to see this one.

Summertime blues, Brett, and bean dip

So far this summer I have done very little.

It has been such an odd transition from waking up at 5:30 am every day and always having work to do to having nothing to do but feed myself and run random errands. If I don't establish some kind of summertime routine, there's going to be trouble.

My little brother's graduation party is this weekend and I've been trying to help my parents get the house ready (long story, but they are trying to put their house back together after painting and getting new carpet) and the graduation video ready. FinalCutPro and I will be best friends by the end of the weekend. Here is a preview of the video:



Still, I'm in desperate need of some hobbies to entertain myself without having to drive to Gilbert every day of my summer.

Suggestions?

On an entirely unrelated note, Fresh and Easy's cuban black bean dip is the greatest bean dip I have ever had.