So tonight I braved the rain to go out to the Troubadour to hear Rhett Miller & the Serial Ladykillers. What an awesome show. I arrived early and staked out a spot right up front, which, at the Troubadour, is RIGHT up front, unlike the Fonda's five-foot buffer zone between the audience and the stage. One of the two other women next to me was knitting something and I struck up a conversation with them; they turned out to be immensely cool. The other woman had been to pretty much every Rhett/Old 97's show I've been to and then some, so we had a lot to talk about, and she and I hung out after the show waiting for Rhett to get done talking to people so we could get autographs. Twas awesome.

The show itself? Also awesome, though the loudest show I've ever been to, and I was RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE LEAD GUITARIST, who is amazing but REALLY REALLY LOUD. I think my hearing may never recover.

Being right in front of him meant being able to read his set list, at which point I got all jump-up-and-down excited because they were going to do "Buick City Complex", which I haven't heard live very many times but which I adore. So I was already excited enough that they were actually going to play it, but then Rhett shot me this LOOK (sort of "hey how you doin'" but with a playful twinkle and a biiiig grin) during the second chorus. O.M.G. How I didn't spontaneously combust right then and there, I will never know, except that my underwear may in fact be made of asbestos. That's the only explanation I can think of. :D

Rhett talked to EVERYONE for EVER and we were going to be polite and just wait and not hover like the super-fans (and oh my god there were several of those, one of whom was in my direct line of sight the whole show and I just felt embarrassed for her) and so naturally he was in a hurry to leave by the time we got to speak to him. But he did sign the set list that I nabbed, so yay.

It is now after 2am, and I am tired, and I should've been in bed and asleep two hours ago, but it was a good time. And thus concludes the Week of Awesome.

I love that I can scream and flail and go "OHMYGOD WHAT THE SHIT DID THEY JUST DO" over Dollhouse with awesome people, even if the awesome people live two thousand miles away in another country.

I love that I can follow the Epic Drama of a new friend's night out with douchebag drunken acquaintances as it happens, complete with all-caps color commentary and sidebar flailing with mutual friends, without getting out of my pajamas or getting puked on.

I love that when I'm having A Night I can reach out and not only will my friends be there to help or to distract me, half-a-dozen strangers will be there with kind words and suggestions of things that will help make it better.

I love that I can look up random facts about random shit and SOMEONE OUT THERE WILL HAVE THE ANSWER.

Oh, internets. <3

Y'all. David Tennant's Hamlet.

*flail*

So, I'm already working towards one of my resolutions. I just submitted a short story to Flash Fiction Online. Now I get to develop an ulcer for a couple of months while I wait for a response ;)

WHEREAS, I actually did fairly well with resolutions last year;

WHEREAS, I am determined to start the year with a positive outlook;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that in 2010 I will do the following:

- Read the unread books I own/clear some space on the TBR Shelf before acquiring more (exception: auto-buys like lisamantchev and melissa_writing, and the last two Percy Jackson books)
- Watch the DVDs I own instead of acquiring them faster than I can watch them, and cull the ones I don't watch anymore
- Write one short story or flash piece per month
- Submit at least four short stories to magazines
- Finish The Girls Who Stole The Eiffel Tower
- Take a class in something (current candidates: cooking, guitar, or voice lessons)
- Go swing dancing at least once
- Do more stuff like random one-woman dance parties just because I feel like it, without worrying about looking like an idiot
- Embrace joy, even if the source of said joy is something other people would consider silly (see: Glee winter finale)
- Travel for non-family-related reasons

So far I have spent my New Years Eve hitting up the post-holiday sales, driving around aimlessly looking at Christmas lights, watching Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and now watching the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America. Oh, and having a one-woman dance party in Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills. (I pulled over, got out and danced to "Poker Face" with the car doors open and the stereo turned up.) Don't ask. It was just something I felt I had to do.

Resolutions tomorrow, and probably a trip to the grocery store in the hope that they aren't totally out of black-eyed peas and greens and ham. Happy New Year, everybody!

Merry Christmas/happy Friday to all, and to all a good... well, morning now :)

Was just looking at my Last.fm profile, in lieu of doing anything truly productive. This is what my chart looked like last time I checked, five weeks ago. My current top 6:

1. Metric
2. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
3. Glee cast
4. Camera Obscura
5. Old 97's
6. Lady Gaga

I think half of the additional Glee play count is just from those two songs from "Ballads". And the Gaga was in anticipation of the concert last night, which was A.MA.ZING. She killed it, then brought it back to life and killed it again. I never go to pop concerts (Lily Allen is the only other one) or any BIG mainstream shows (Coldplay was the only other one of those) so it was definitely on a much grander scale than what I'm used to, but I think even by those standards it was pretty awesome. She does remind me a lot of old-school Madonna, which I think is a good thing; I think she speaks to people in the same way Madonna did back then, and this generation needs that type of pop star. Because fuck knows my generation didn't have that... we had Britney and "Genie in a Bottle"-era Christina and Mandy Moore and the boy bands. And I think Gaga will be around for the long haul because she has actual musical skills and could credibly reinvent herself in all kinds of ways. But let's set the cultural analysis aside for a moment: I danced my little monster* butt off, and she put on a FUCKING BADASS show, and her entrance for the encore was FUCKING AWESOME, and did I mention her belting it out to the cheap seats like Christina on "Speechless" and "Poker Face" (which she also did the regular dance version of), and just... *flail*

Ahem. Hi. I'm c0untmystars. I'm a grown-ass thirty-year-old woman and I just fangirl-flailed over Lady Gaga. Deal with it ;)

Anyway... it's four minutes off from being Christmas Eve in my time zone right now so I should probably be dragging myself off to bed...

* She calls her fans "little monsters"

So, apparently Beetle headlights are covered under warranty. Huh. I took teh baby to the dealership this morning and it took almost an hour and a half. To change a light bulb. WTF. That makes me feel better about the fiasco this weekend... even if I had gone there directly from Jiffy Lube, they wouldn't have had time to actually fix it before closing.

In other news, I'm really excited about the Lady Gaga concert next week. I still don't have anyone to go with, which is a problem because I have actual seats in the mezzanine and if I unload the ticket I have to sit next to whoever buys it, but I'm just going to trust that all will work out. The show has an extremely high likelihood of being awesome no matter what. And it occurs to me that this will be the second "big huge pop star" concert I've been to this year, when the last time I went to see a nationally-known, mainstream-famous act was Coldplay in, like, 2002. Excellent.

2009 has been a mindblowing year for shows, actually. I saw the Old 97's once, Rhett Miller solo twice, Lily Allen, Lenka, Hope Sandoval, Metric and Camera Obscura; I liked Camera Obscura's opening act Agent Ribbons enough that I'm going to see them next time they're in LA, and Lenka's opening act Katie Costello enough that I bought her album the nanosecond I got home; and I discovered a local band I liked, Dirty Little Billy. There may have been another show or two that I'm not remembering... I'll have to go back through old entries or ticket stubs or some such. But even if that's all, still, EPIC YEAR OF CONCERTS WAS EPIC.

2010 is shaping up to be good as well; I just bought my ticket for Rhett's next show (if he is playing, I go, come hell or high water) and tomorrow? She & Him pre-sale. *little fangirl heart asplodes with joy* I've also renewed my Paley Center membership so I actually have a shot at getting a ticket to the Glee panel. Funny how just the other day I was telling someone that I'm not so much looking forward to 2010 because I don't have any specific events I can point to and say "that is going to be AWESOME", and now I have three events to look forward to that are going to be AWESOME. Assuming I get tickets, that is. :)

I can't honestly say that the entire week sucked, because the Beautiful Creatures signing was rather nice, and I am still way more thrilled about my yellow skirt than I probably should be, but there was quite a bit of suckitude having to do with workload, finding [or rather NOT finding] a new roommate, having way too many things to do and not really being able to get my head in the game, and some issues that I'm not going to go into except to say that this Jon Brion quote sums up my feelings about being fannish very well: "No, you don't have the pull that you used to, but you can still ruin my day."

So, in honor of the Sucktastic Week being over and a whole shiny new week beginning as of *checks computer clock* seven minutes ago Pacific Time, I share some Good Things:

The Noisettes' cover of the Killers' "When You Were Young". I loooove what they do with this song:


Crystal Renn in Elle Canada. More proof that, as sora_blue and I have discussed, all good things come from Canada? If our fashion magazines had better photo shoots I'd actually buy something other than Lucky. Also? This picture is going on my inspiration board:


Speaking of Canada... this is now stuck in my head for the rest of eternity and it's all Cory Monteith's fault (curse thee, Twitter):

Happy Thanksgiving to all you lovely LJ people :)

I was just looking at my Last.fm profile. It says that the following are my most listened to artists:

1. Metric (#1 by about 600 plays.)
2. Camera Obscura
3. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (achieving #3 in the space of two months)
4. Old 97's (tied with Camera Obscura if you add Rhett's solo work)
5. M.I.A.
6. Santogold
7. Little Jackie
8. Glee cast
9. Lady Gaga
10. The Clientele
11. Neil Gaiman
12. The Sundays
13. The Ting Tings
14. Janet Jackson
15. The Strokes

That list is a LOT less indie-oriented and guitar-driven than I expected. And it's not because I'm listening to less indie music, it's because I'm listening to more mainstream stuff. So basically more music all around. :)

Thanks to Television Without Pity, I found out what songs were going to be on this week's Glee, and my little fangirl heart asploded. (In a good way.) And then I found out that they're already on iTunes. So I downloaded all of them (even the song I really, really don't like). Putting this behind a cut in case anyone considers song titles and stuff from the trailer for this week's episode to be spoilers.

( Lots of babbling about the songs, clicky at own risk. )

Ah, fangirling. I've missed this. I've been watching the last five episodes while I work on the giant squid pillow (five tentacles down!), thanks to Hulu. Can I just say how much I love the internets? I don't have to worry about owning a VCR or a DVR or anything to record shows with, and whenever I want to watch something, I probably can. And I don't have to wait until Wednesday to listen to these songs eleventy billion times. :D

Seems like I post maybe every ten days or so and do a proper update even less frequently. I promise to get better at this, but it's just so much easier to Twitter instead. I do read my friends list every day, though, and am trying to be better at commenting, but when I'm, er, not here, this is what I've been up to:

- NaNoWriMo. This year's project is a follow-up to last year's [one of that book's sidekicks in her own adventure], and I'm at almost 27,000 words. My actual goal for this month is 30,000 words across multiple projects, but at this rate it looks like 50,000 on the one novel is attainable. But we'll see -- I was doing about this well last year when sickness and travel derailed me.

- Speaking of travel, looks like that's not on the horizon for the holidays. Financially I could probably swing it but I'm not sure I'm up to it psychologically... and my immune system has been so jacked up this year that I'm not really digging on the idea of being in an enclosed cabin for six hours with all those recirculated germs. I may yet change my mind about Christmas, but I have plans close enough to that day that it might be difficult.

- Those plans? Tickets to Lady Gaga! I was so disappointed when I missed the pre-sale for her December 21 show, but was smart enough to sign up for the Goldenvoice mailing list and was able to access the pre-sale when they announced a second show on the 22nd. The last big-name mainstream concert I went to was Lily Allen and the last big show I went to was The Shins/Belle and Sebastian at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago, but nobody at those shows wore giant gyroscopes while performing. This is going to be epic. (I love Lady Gaga. She's absolutely insane, but I dig her music and her crazy-ass videos. I dressed as her for Halloween, although I would have fared better in the office costume contest if I had made the giant gyroscope to wear.)

- This past weekend I went with rotatingpies and two Friends Of No Known LJs to the Hello Kitty 35th anniversary exhibit at Royal/T, the maid cafe/gallery in Culver City. The exhibit was rather small (there may have been more, but the back room was closed off for a fashion show) but the Hello Kitty-themed menu was tasty and the people-watching was fantastic. And of course the company was lovely. There were a few panicked minutes there where I thought we weren't going to get in, because there was a line all the way down the block, but it turned out that the line was for the gift shop and we were able to walk right in :)

- Glee is hands-down my favorite thing in the world right now. It makes me flail like a crazy squeeing fangirl and I have many songs from it on my iPod. It may be the only show in the world named after the emotion it inspires. Also, if anyone would like to send me Mr. Schue and/or Finn for Christmas I would be most grateful. (Also, Puck is an epic douchebag but his version of "Sweet Caroline" made me go askdgkhfl;j)

- Project Runway is my second-favorite thing in the world right now, even if the judging this season makes me go WTF on a regular basis. I have been Netflixing the previous seasons.

- Recent domesticity: cheese shortbread (epic win), three-cheese bread (fail), chocolate pudding (same as usual), oatmeal soda bread (eh). Lately I have been so busy going to NaNoWriMo write outs or working on script reading assignments that I haven't been able to cook on weeknights, but I'm hoping to start cooking more soon.

- I'm also making this. Yes, that is a giant plush squid. I've been seeing squids and octopi all over the internets, and I wanted one, and making was far cheaper than buying even if the cost of fabric is terrifying. Fortunately, the least expensive material option was also the softest... I'm using cotton flannel in maroon for the outside and light blue for the underbelly. Tonight I need to get the tentacles done... and, yes, I am hand-sewing something that large. Clearly I have lost my mind. But I have missed doing crafty things, and when I'm done I will have a giant squid pillow, so yay.

- I cannot BELIEVE I didn't post anything about my two most recent concertgoing experiences. A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to see Hope Sandoval play the last U.S. show of her tour -- possibly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as she NEVER tours and it's been eight years since her last album! It was at the Mayan downtown, which is a really beautiful old venue, and there were two opening acts: Suki Ewers, who used to play with Mazzy Star and who is made of epic win, and Dirt Blue Gene, who are Hope's backing band for this tour and also excellent. Hope herself is one of a kind... she performs in almost total darkness and barely says anything to the audience, which amplifies the effect of her amazing voice when she sings. There was no need for banter or stories between songs (not that I don't enjoy that at other people's shows)... the music stood alone, except for the surreal filmed images (ranging from rain on flowers to flames to early-silent-era dancers) playing on a screen behind the band. The crowd was mostly respectful, except for a couple of idiots who kept yelling out requests, and a kind gentleman invited me up to the front row because there was a little bit of space next to him and I "don't take up much space". I will NEVER argue with the opportunity to stand in the front row (especially because I couldn't have seen Hope at all from a few rows back), even though I spent half the show needing to pee and afraid to go lest someone steal my spot :P

- The other concert was Lenka at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. This was another weeknight show, and it started at 10:30, which is really, really late for me because I am apparently old or something. I arrived early, in time to see the second half of Katie Costello's set, and fell in love with her music -- I came right home and bought her album on iTunes, and it's excellent, so that was a lovely unexpected surprise. I also chatted with a friendly dude who was also at the show alone... he was there to see Katie because his friend is in her band, so he left before Lenka, but it was a good conversation. (I seem to be having really good luck running into friendly people at shows lately.) And Lenka is charming and fun and talented and exactly the way I imagined she would be based on her music and videos... imagine if Charlotte Charles from Pushing Daisies started a band :)

- While I'm on the subject of concerts, I really miss the Old 97's and Rhett. I saw Rhett play three times and the full band once in the space of seven months over the past year, so I am spoiled. The optimum amount of time between their shows for me is about four months... I'm at the point where, if not for the travel issues mentioned above, I'd fly to an out-of-state show. Which is kind of sad, but there it is.

- Daylight savings time ending is still screwing with me. I keep thinking it's a LOT later than it is... at 7:15 I was convinced that it was almost time for bed! But it IS getting a bit closer to bedtime, so I should probably wrap this up for now :)

via maybe_sparrow6
1. Pick 10 of your favorite books or series.
2. Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!)
3. Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books.
(I'm going to redact any names that would make the answers too obvious.)

1. Last night I dreamt I went to [name] again. globetrotter1 Rebecca
2. Once upon a time there were two cities within a city.
3. [name] once read that the tale of the world is like a tree.
4. In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, [name] liked to declare, apropos of his and [name]'s greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini. maybe_sparrow6 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
5. The book was thick and black and covered with dust.
6. The night before he went to London, [name] was not enjoying himself. chimeraesque, Neverwhere
7. "Please tell me that's not going to be part of my birthday dinner this evening."
8. The year [name] started at [name] College, the Office of Residential Life had spent the summer removing from all the dormitories the old wooden bookcases that, once filled with books, fell over unless wedged. globetrotter1 Tam Lin
9. The fairies flew suspended on wires despite their tendency to get tangled together.
10. By day, the Nicollet Mall winds through Minneapolis like a paved canal.

The meme:

RULES:
→ Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal.
→ Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
→ Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on.

This is my wallpaper both on my laptop and on my Blackberry [and I have an LJ icon made from it as well]. It's my favorite picture of Los Angeles at night -- a slightly more spectacular version of what one sees coming around/over the mountains on the freeway. Every time I see the city stretching out in front of me like that I'm awestruck that I actually get to live here, and this picture captures that feeling without my having to, you know, get on the freeway. ;) It also perfectly illustrates Neil Gaiman's description of the city from American Gods -- "the heavens laid out here on earth." Fact: if you Google the phrase "heavens laid out on earth" the only hit is my writing blog. :)

-----------

Current Playlist: Lady Gaga

Current Guilty Pleasure: BBC adaptations of kids' books that I grew up on.

Current Colour: Cobalt blue.

Current Drink: Water.

Current Food: Nothing at the moment.

Current Favourite Show: Glee, Dollhouse, Project Runway

Current Wishlist: To be healthier and to be out of debt

Current Needs: To stop giving myself such a hard time over things I can't control. <--- this

Current Triumphs: Putting together a Halloween costume that looks like it involves effort. This is not one of my strong suits. :)

Current Bane of My Existence: Overinvesting emotionally in things that I know better than to get invested in.

Current Celebrity Crush: Matthew Morrison, Alexis Denisof circa 1999

Current Indulgence: The dress I bought at Bloomingdales. It's a sweater dress. Which means I will be able to wear it ONCE with the way the weather is going these days.

Current Blessing: That I have money to buy myself a dress I don't strictly NEED.

Current Slang: I... don't think I have anything new

Current Outfit: Black capris, tank top, sweatshirt. Was a silk blouse... I dressed for the forecast of 79 :P

Current Excitement: Nothing I can think of

Current Mood: Gloomy

Happy birthday jaina!

Happy birthday voleuse!

Happy Birthday globetrotter1!

- I was sitting outside yesterday early evening and had to put a denim jacket on over my t-shirt. After months of heat and quite a few three-digit temps/heat indices, this makes me very, very happy. I sleep better when it's cool, and I can cook without sweating to death.

- We are getting a new oven. This makes me happier than it probably should. I am already thinking of it as MINE and plotting what I will bake in it after I finish eating all the food I have cooked.

- Speaking of which: this recipe is tasty. I made a loaf and twelve muffins and ate two of the muffins while I was puttering around the kitchen.

- One-click purchases of MP3 albums: great invention or greatest invention? Also extremely bad for my wallet.

- Recent additions to my music library, or completion of albums I had a few songs from already: Lady Gaga The Fame, Lenka self-titled, Lykke Li Youth Novels, Ed Harcourt The Beautiful Lie, Jill Scott The Real Thing, Gwen Stefani Love.Angel.Music.Baby, about half the songs from Glee, a couple of Psychedelic Furs I didn't have, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions Through The Devil Softly [*pauses to flail in a fangirly manner*], The Noisettes What's The Time, Mr. Wolf?. And the new Clientele is coming out this week and El Perro Del Mar in two weeks. Good music makes me happy.

- Yoga also makes me happy. I haven't been in a month and I didn't realize how much I missed my practice until this afternoon. My body feels right again and I didn't even realize it felt wrong until I went to class.

- My new personal theme song is "The Show" by Lenka, but the song I keep singing in the car and catching myself before I start singing it at the office is "Summerboy" by Lady Gaga. Who I thought was awesome on Saturday Night Live this week.