I've had a very good and busy week. Today, I finished a website that I designed and built from scratch. It is based on a template the customer liked, but I put a lot of my own ideas into. I did have help from a developer who's been with the company awhile, and I am really grateful that she's been guiding me. She's also been very encouraging and helpful to me and my fellow co-workers, who are also still pretty new to the company.
I ended up having time to take on a bunch of other developers' website revisions, which will keep me busy tomorrow. Before getting all those revisions, I had time to look into the Certificate programs at Cypress College. I'm very interested in the Web Development one. Some of the required classes are XML, Perl, Python, and PHP or ASP. The Web Page Design Certificates have required courses that include Java, C++, and XML. I may go for that one too.
It really depends on what they offer and if the classes are online or in person. I'm leaning more towards online since I hope to continue working full-time and would like to keep up with my workload. It is nice to finally have a good job doing something that I enjoy. Also, it's good to be working with some nice smart people, most of whom are also pretty creative. I think my team has been great to work with so far, and I feel like I've already learned a lot from them.
Anime Expo is next week, and I am very excited about it. I got my time off approved last week, and I've had everything else (tickets, hotel room) planned for awhile now. I'm going to all 4 days of Anime Expo, so it'll be very fun to see how big it's gotten. The 4th of July is on Sunday, so I'll also get the day off for the Monday after it. It'll be like a 5 day weekend! It's hard to believe tomorrow is already Friday, this week has gone by so fast.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
so many blogs... so little time!
After a bit of tweaking to this blog, I've decided to start writing here again. I was going back and forth between this one and my old Xanga, but I think the improvements to the Blogger templates makes this one better. Plus, I somehow manage to get 8 hits a day here, which is surprising because I haven't posted in months. I have a travel blog on my own domain, but it's an iWeb site and I'll only update that after a trip of some sort. This will be my normal place for me to write about what's on my mind.
A lot has happened since my last post. Just last month, I got a job doing actual web design full-time (though it is a long term contract position). I really like my company, the commute is not bad, my co-workers are great (and most are new too), benefits are good, and the cafeteria is excellent. I enjoy the work and it's actually what I want to be doing with my life.
Aside from working, I'm planning to go to Anime Expo at the beginning of next month. It'll be exciting since the last time I went was in 1992 (it's 2nd year) when it was still in Anaheim and only 1 day. Now it's 4 days long (though the last day is shorter) and at the LA Convention Center. I managed to reserve a reasonably priced and well review hotel that is fairly close to the Convention Center. I'm still waiting to get my 2 days off of work approved, so there's a little uncertainty.
I have been a bit more selective about concerts lately, partly due to financial reasons and also partly due to not knowing what's going on in music these days. I did go to a bunch of BRMC shows, Coachella, some Amoeba instores, and a concert with a bunch of Japanese bands. I don't mind being more selective about shows, it is a bit tiring to be out late for concerts and I am working more now.
A lot has happened since my last post. Just last month, I got a job doing actual web design full-time (though it is a long term contract position). I really like my company, the commute is not bad, my co-workers are great (and most are new too), benefits are good, and the cafeteria is excellent. I enjoy the work and it's actually what I want to be doing with my life.
Aside from working, I'm planning to go to Anime Expo at the beginning of next month. It'll be exciting since the last time I went was in 1992 (it's 2nd year) when it was still in Anaheim and only 1 day. Now it's 4 days long (though the last day is shorter) and at the LA Convention Center. I managed to reserve a reasonably priced and well review hotel that is fairly close to the Convention Center. I'm still waiting to get my 2 days off of work approved, so there's a little uncertainty.
I have been a bit more selective about concerts lately, partly due to financial reasons and also partly due to not knowing what's going on in music these days. I did go to a bunch of BRMC shows, Coachella, some Amoeba instores, and a concert with a bunch of Japanese bands. I don't mind being more selective about shows, it is a bit tiring to be out late for concerts and I am working more now.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Life is Good in the Greenhouse
So much has happened in these past few weeks! The most exciting news is that I got a part time job writing content for a web development/ecommerce company and I started today officially. It's my first real job since 2004. The company is fairly close and related to what I want to do... My friend Christian and I were trying to start our own online business (LC Crafted) of selling handcrafted items for special occasions. It seems like a lot of work to make it an actual business, I think we were just going to do it as a side project and sell with Paypal.
Aside from that, I've been to a few good shows (The Faint/Moving Units @ Club Nokia being the latest). I also saw Friendly Fires and Los Campesinos! last weekend at the Glass House in Pomona (on 2 separate nights). My classes have also been good, I have both old and new friends in my classes and it's very nice to have someone to talk to. There even seems to be a few guys interested in me, which seems unusual to me. I was going through a dry spell in terms of dating, for pretty much all my life. The only thing troubling me now is getting my homework done and managing my time with all the classes and new work hours.
I have a couple game related assignments due next week and have yet to start on them. I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to have trouble with all my assignments. If so, I guess I can drop some classes. Still, I want to learn to use GameMaker and Python and I want to play old DOS games. I think I'll have time this weekend to do everything, or at least on Thursday and Friday nights. We'll see how well I can manage my time. My assignments aren't that difficult, I just have to figure out when and how to get them done!
Aside from that, I've been to a few good shows (The Faint/Moving Units @ Club Nokia being the latest). I also saw Friendly Fires and Los Campesinos! last weekend at the Glass House in Pomona (on 2 separate nights). My classes have also been good, I have both old and new friends in my classes and it's very nice to have someone to talk to. There even seems to be a few guys interested in me, which seems unusual to me. I was going through a dry spell in terms of dating, for pretty much all my life. The only thing troubling me now is getting my homework done and managing my time with all the classes and new work hours.
I have a couple game related assignments due next week and have yet to start on them. I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to have trouble with all my assignments. If so, I guess I can drop some classes. Still, I want to learn to use GameMaker and Python and I want to play old DOS games. I think I'll have time this weekend to do everything, or at least on Thursday and Friday nights. We'll see how well I can manage my time. My assignments aren't that difficult, I just have to figure out when and how to get them done!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
BUDDYHEAD's HOLIDAY PARTY @ HOTEL CAFE DECEMBER 21st 2008
It was great seeing a lot of short acoustic performances packed into one night. Hotel Cafe is really tiny and somehow they managed to fit in a huge list of musicians (and one "poet" though he seemed more like a comedian) onto the small stage. They didn't manage to get all the people who bought tickets in, but I was lucky enough to get in because me and my friend Joyce got there fairly early (7:30-ish).
Some of the acts that started the set included an Elvis-like crooner, a band of girls singing acoustic songs starting with a cover of "Wild Horses," a bass heavy Kills-like band (with a male singer and female bassist) complete with scantily clad dancing girl, more acoustic stuff by Dios Malos (who I kind of recognized from a Cafe du Nord show a long time ago), a singer named Sean Williams who had a sparkly jacket and a guitar/banjo player backing him, and a thin red haired female singer, who the audience wouldn't shut up for.
The talking audience became an especially big problem during Nick Jago's set because he really noticed it enough to stop playing "Under A Veil" after starting it twice. He started his set with a Spanish song which he dedicated to Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and El Salvador. His songs were pretty good folky tunes, with some nice hooks to them. He was being kind of sarcastic to the audience by saying how he loved hearing them talk and half joked that the whole performance would be recorded and on YouTube... and it turns out someone from the BRMC forum recorded most of the set and put it there:
Nick stopping his song
Nick stopping his song again
Nick's new song
another new song
Suede cover of Asphalt World
Nick's cover of Suede's "Asphalt World" was a nice addition to the set, he said he wished he could sing like David Bowie or Brett Anderson before he sang it. Here's the video I took of the end of the song:
Not long after Nick's set was an amazing 12 string guitarist named Alain Johannes. He is formerly of QOTSA, now with Spinnerette or Eleven. He totally captured the audience's attention with no words at all, just some fantastic guitar playing. I think everyone was pretty much blown away by his performance, which also made me think how lucky Nick was to go on before him. Jason from Dead Meadow went on after with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonium player backing him. He was pretty good, I'm used to seeing him with lots of effects and his band. Without them, his songs were still pretty good.
In addition to the music, there was some artwork (photos and paintings) displayed on the walls of the venue. It was very cool to see some nice artwork to accompany all the good music that was played that night. Despite the Duke Spirit and Josh Homme not playing the show, it was still cool to see a lot of talented musicians performing. I did feel bad for Nick about the rude audience, but he responded with a pretty bad attitude and didn't seem to make a good impression. Aside from that, his music was pretty good. Here's a link to the pictures I took on Flickr. It's mostly Nick and a couple other acts.
Some of the acts that started the set included an Elvis-like crooner, a band of girls singing acoustic songs starting with a cover of "Wild Horses," a bass heavy Kills-like band (with a male singer and female bassist) complete with scantily clad dancing girl, more acoustic stuff by Dios Malos (who I kind of recognized from a Cafe du Nord show a long time ago), a singer named Sean Williams who had a sparkly jacket and a guitar/banjo player backing him, and a thin red haired female singer, who the audience wouldn't shut up for.
The talking audience became an especially big problem during Nick Jago's set because he really noticed it enough to stop playing "Under A Veil" after starting it twice. He started his set with a Spanish song which he dedicated to Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and El Salvador. His songs were pretty good folky tunes, with some nice hooks to them. He was being kind of sarcastic to the audience by saying how he loved hearing them talk and half joked that the whole performance would be recorded and on YouTube... and it turns out someone from the BRMC forum recorded most of the set and put it there:
Nick stopping his song
Nick stopping his song again
Nick's new song
another new song
Suede cover of Asphalt World
Nick's cover of Suede's "Asphalt World" was a nice addition to the set, he said he wished he could sing like David Bowie or Brett Anderson before he sang it. Here's the video I took of the end of the song:
Not long after Nick's set was an amazing 12 string guitarist named Alain Johannes. He is formerly of QOTSA, now with Spinnerette or Eleven. He totally captured the audience's attention with no words at all, just some fantastic guitar playing. I think everyone was pretty much blown away by his performance, which also made me think how lucky Nick was to go on before him. Jason from Dead Meadow went on after with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonium player backing him. He was pretty good, I'm used to seeing him with lots of effects and his band. Without them, his songs were still pretty good.
In addition to the music, there was some artwork (photos and paintings) displayed on the walls of the venue. It was very cool to see some nice artwork to accompany all the good music that was played that night. Despite the Duke Spirit and Josh Homme not playing the show, it was still cool to see a lot of talented musicians performing. I did feel bad for Nick about the rude audience, but he responded with a pretty bad attitude and didn't seem to make a good impression. Aside from that, his music was pretty good. Here's a link to the pictures I took on Flickr. It's mostly Nick and a couple other acts.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Wasabi Jewelry, Painting, Web Design + M83 Review!
I went shopping this morning at the annual Wasabi Jewelry sale in Pasadena. It was at a really nice house up on a windy mountain road. The house was really modern and well decorated and the jewelry was nice and half price or 75% off! My friend ended up spending a lot (a little more than she had because of tax) and I spent a lot more than I usually would because it added up really quickly. I got a lot of good deals on 6 bracelets and 7 necklaces, one of which was normally $69 but was 75% off, so only $17.50! That was my most expensive purchase, the bracelets were a lot cheaper, like as low as 3 for $10. I'm not sure if I'm going to give the jewelry as gifts, but I might since it would be excessive for me to keep it all for myself.
When me and my friend Joyce got back to her house, she gave me some acrylic paints and books about painting since she has too many. Awhile ago, I bought a 12 pack of 14x14 canvases for only $30 at Art Supply Warehouse and some cheap paintbrushes at a Soyodo Book Store in Hacienda Heights/City of Industry. Anyways, now I have everything I need to start painting! I still have to worry about finals and finishing projects for my web design classes, so I'll have to wait until that's all over. Still, now I have something to try during my break, in addition to picking up my knitting and possibly practicing guitar. Tomorrow morning, I have to decide what classes (if any) to take next semester.
Yesterday, I met with some people about working on a website for a Christian clothing store. So far, they just want me to make a drop down menu on a template for the site, but I think they may later on want a complete site re-design. I was thinking of taking some graphic design classes next semester since a lot of web design seems to require graphic design. The only thing is that I'd have to probably take day time classes and they'd be for the full semester. The nice thing would be that they'd be on Macs. I was also considering taking classes on Computer Games, but considering all the trouble I've had with Flash this semester, I may stick with Graphic Design.
Anyways, that's been my weekend so far. Also, I picked up some Brie Cheese and Water Crackers from Trader Joe's in Brea. I had the hardest time getting into the parking lot and then driving into a spot. I know I must have annoyed some people by blocking their cars for awhile. The nice thing was that I got out of the parking lot much easier. I only went to that store because I was in the area after my meeting and I've discovered how cheap brie is at Trader Joe's. There is a closer one to my house, but it's in Whittier (a more unfamiliar area to me). Well, I guess I've gone on long enough, I guess I should work on stuff now!
UPDATE: I forgot to include my review of the M83 and School of Seven Bells show at the Henry Fonda. The pictures are very nice and professional because the editor (who I met at the show) is a real photographer who's been doing it for like 17 years!
When me and my friend Joyce got back to her house, she gave me some acrylic paints and books about painting since she has too many. Awhile ago, I bought a 12 pack of 14x14 canvases for only $30 at Art Supply Warehouse and some cheap paintbrushes at a Soyodo Book Store in Hacienda Heights/City of Industry. Anyways, now I have everything I need to start painting! I still have to worry about finals and finishing projects for my web design classes, so I'll have to wait until that's all over. Still, now I have something to try during my break, in addition to picking up my knitting and possibly practicing guitar. Tomorrow morning, I have to decide what classes (if any) to take next semester.
Yesterday, I met with some people about working on a website for a Christian clothing store. So far, they just want me to make a drop down menu on a template for the site, but I think they may later on want a complete site re-design. I was thinking of taking some graphic design classes next semester since a lot of web design seems to require graphic design. The only thing is that I'd have to probably take day time classes and they'd be for the full semester. The nice thing would be that they'd be on Macs. I was also considering taking classes on Computer Games, but considering all the trouble I've had with Flash this semester, I may stick with Graphic Design.
Anyways, that's been my weekend so far. Also, I picked up some Brie Cheese and Water Crackers from Trader Joe's in Brea. I had the hardest time getting into the parking lot and then driving into a spot. I know I must have annoyed some people by blocking their cars for awhile. The nice thing was that I got out of the parking lot much easier. I only went to that store because I was in the area after my meeting and I've discovered how cheap brie is at Trader Joe's. There is a closer one to my house, but it's in Whittier (a more unfamiliar area to me). Well, I guess I've gone on long enough, I guess I should work on stuff now!
UPDATE: I forgot to include my review of the M83 and School of Seven Bells show at the Henry Fonda. The pictures are very nice and professional because the editor (who I met at the show) is a real photographer who's been doing it for like 17 years!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Moodio.FM
My birthday is coming up on the 21st and this day is also when the new BlackBerry Storm comes out! It'll cost $199 with 2 year contract on Verizon Wireless, which is too bad because my family uses Sprint and our contract isn't up until July. Anyways, I did just get a BlackBerry Curve and I'm still discovering the cool things that it can do. I've found a website that allows my phone and other smartphones to stream internet radio stations. It's called Moodio.FM and it's free and it actually works! You need to register at the site and add radio stations from your computer, but you can listen from your phone! It's way cool!
I have a Flash project due on my birthday also, which is really frustrating because I'm having trouble getting it to work. Removing one line of code makes it kind of work, but then it also doesn't do exactly what it's supposed to do. Anyways, I'm annoyed that I can't get it to work. One last thing to mention is the fires in Yorba Linda and Brea, which aren't close enough to harm my house though it does affect the air quality and causes a lot of ash and smoke to spread around. I guess I'm lucky that I don't have to worry about the fires themselves. I do know people who live and work in Brea and Yorba Linda, so I hope they're okay.
I have a Flash project due on my birthday also, which is really frustrating because I'm having trouble getting it to work. Removing one line of code makes it kind of work, but then it also doesn't do exactly what it's supposed to do. Anyways, I'm annoyed that I can't get it to work. One last thing to mention is the fires in Yorba Linda and Brea, which aren't close enough to harm my house though it does affect the air quality and causes a lot of ash and smoke to spread around. I guess I'm lucky that I don't have to worry about the fires themselves. I do know people who live and work in Brea and Yorba Linda, so I hope they're okay.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Let sleeping cats lie
Aside from taking photos of my cat sleeping on various objects, I've been hard at work on my assignments for classes. Here's a Flash Animation and Slideshow I made about water:
http://student5www.fullcoll.edu/00782895/cis155/a5ChanL.html
And here's my last assignment for my Advanced HTML class:
http://student5www.fullcoll.edu/00782895/cis252/cis252a5.htm
I've also been busy writing reviews for the Scenestar (one of which was actually posted!) and listing Paul Frank shirts on ebay for my brother's friend. Check out photos of the shirts on Flickr and bid on them on ebay...
All shirts are priced at a low 99 cent starting bid with auctions ending in just 5 days!
Tomorrow morning, I start up with guitar classes again and it should be interesting. The teacher told me we would be playing an Eagles and a Cars song, so I'm curious as to which songs those are. Also, tomorrow I'm going to a Craft festival in Cypress and the Detour Festival in Downtown LA! Should be a fun busy weekend.
Monday, June 09, 2008
BRMC, The Black Angels, The Warlocks @ Ink n' Iron
This weekend in Long Beach was a lot of fun, I actually went to Long Beach twice. On Friday, I went to the Ink n' Iron Festival with Suzanne and Jodi and on Sunday, I went to the Southern California Lamp Exchange with my mom. The tattoo convention was cool even though I didn't get one (since it was too expensive and I didn't know what to get). The lamp exchange was nice because we got a lot of free energy saving lamps for our old crappy lamps, a lot of them were floor lamps too!
The bands at Ink n' Iron that I wasn't planning to see ranged from interesting novelty acts (Chapel of Thieves, who sounded like Halloween music) to sort of good douchie music (Jail Weddings, whose spastic singer Jodi likened to Morrissey). There was also a sort of hillbilly band with a banjo, autoharp, washboard, fiddle, etc. They were interesting, but I don't remember if they were any good.
The bands I'd planned on seeing at Ink N' Iron did not disappoint, even the Black Angels who I've seen more than I would actually expect to in the past year. I noticed when the Warlocks came on that a few of their songs sound kind of similar, for example "Zombie Like Lovers" sounds a lot like "Come Save Us" and they did play both songs. Also, I recorded video of a song that I thought would be "The Dope Feels Good," but ended up a different song.
The Black Angels played for about an hour, and managed to keep things interesting with different band members switching between bass, guitar, drums, and keyboards. I read in an OC Weekly review that they even had an electric sitar, but I didn't see it myself. I haven't heard the new Black Angels album Directions to See A Ghost, so I couldn't necessarily distinguish the new material from the old aside from the fact that I was more familiar with the older songs.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club closed the show and they were excellent, as usual. Robert was dancing around more than usual and Peter was being extra breathy during "666 Conducer," which they opened their set with. Nick wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary for him, though he wasn't wearing sunglasses. The strobe lights weren't that bad for this show, they actually seemed more noticeable during the Black Angels' set.
Some highlights of the show included older favorites like "Red Eyes and Tears" and "Love Burns" and near the start/middle of "Six Barrel Shotgun," Robert put his bass down and jumped off the stage. Then he moved towards the middle of the barrier for the photo pit and pulled it from about 6 feet away to right up against the stage. It was one of the coolest things I've seen Robert do in concert (and he does a lot of cool things).
The acoustic portion of the set featured Peter's version of "Cool Water" and his newer song "A Fine Way To Lose," which were both warmly received. Then Robert came out and played "Sympathetic Noose," which is always nice to hear. They continued their set up until "American X," when Peter announced the fire marshall was shutting them down early. Still, they managed to squeeze in a couple more songs, including "Steal A Ride" which was bittersweet as it was Wic's last official song with them.
After the show, the security was being extra mean by kicking everyone out before they could even look at merch to buy. It was a little bit after 1 AM, since BRMC had gone on at around 11:30 PM and played for about an hour and a half. A short show by BRMC standards, but fairly long for most other bands. We waited around near the truck that was waiting to load up BRMC's stuff so we could say goodbye to Wic and everyone else.
We proceeded to the parking lot after saying our goodbyes and watching Rob do a funny dance for us. Peter was right behind us going to the parking lot so he could show us how he puts his guitar on his motorcycle. Suzanne volunteered to show Michael and Peter how to get to the 710 freeway from the parking lot, but didn't realize that she wasn't sure how to even get out of the parking lot. Michael's response after following her in circles for a bit: "Smooooth." It was hilarious! Peter didn't seem too happy about it either.
Eventually, she did figure out how to get out of the parking lot and onto the freeway after feeling the embarrassment of leading them in circles. Part of the 710 was shut down, so we had to take a detour to the 91 and ended up back in Buena Park at 3 AM. We were still hungry, so we went to Denny's near my house. That pretty much sums up the Long Beach adventure, minus all the gory details about Suzanne and Jodi's tattoos. If you're curious about that, I'm sure they'd be willing to share all about it.
Check out all my photos from the festival on my Flickr account. Also, I took a few BRMC videos and put them up on YouTube. Here's my favorite video from the night, with the moving of the barrier:
The bands at Ink n' Iron that I wasn't planning to see ranged from interesting novelty acts (Chapel of Thieves, who sounded like Halloween music) to sort of good douchie music (Jail Weddings, whose spastic singer Jodi likened to Morrissey). There was also a sort of hillbilly band with a banjo, autoharp, washboard, fiddle, etc. They were interesting, but I don't remember if they were any good.
The bands I'd planned on seeing at Ink N' Iron did not disappoint, even the Black Angels who I've seen more than I would actually expect to in the past year. I noticed when the Warlocks came on that a few of their songs sound kind of similar, for example "Zombie Like Lovers" sounds a lot like "Come Save Us" and they did play both songs. Also, I recorded video of a song that I thought would be "The Dope Feels Good," but ended up a different song.
The Black Angels played for about an hour, and managed to keep things interesting with different band members switching between bass, guitar, drums, and keyboards. I read in an OC Weekly review that they even had an electric sitar, but I didn't see it myself. I haven't heard the new Black Angels album Directions to See A Ghost, so I couldn't necessarily distinguish the new material from the old aside from the fact that I was more familiar with the older songs.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club closed the show and they were excellent, as usual. Robert was dancing around more than usual and Peter was being extra breathy during "666 Conducer," which they opened their set with. Nick wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary for him, though he wasn't wearing sunglasses. The strobe lights weren't that bad for this show, they actually seemed more noticeable during the Black Angels' set.
Some highlights of the show included older favorites like "Red Eyes and Tears" and "Love Burns" and near the start/middle of "Six Barrel Shotgun," Robert put his bass down and jumped off the stage. Then he moved towards the middle of the barrier for the photo pit and pulled it from about 6 feet away to right up against the stage. It was one of the coolest things I've seen Robert do in concert (and he does a lot of cool things).
The acoustic portion of the set featured Peter's version of "Cool Water" and his newer song "A Fine Way To Lose," which were both warmly received. Then Robert came out and played "Sympathetic Noose," which is always nice to hear. They continued their set up until "American X," when Peter announced the fire marshall was shutting them down early. Still, they managed to squeeze in a couple more songs, including "Steal A Ride" which was bittersweet as it was Wic's last official song with them.
After the show, the security was being extra mean by kicking everyone out before they could even look at merch to buy. It was a little bit after 1 AM, since BRMC had gone on at around 11:30 PM and played for about an hour and a half. A short show by BRMC standards, but fairly long for most other bands. We waited around near the truck that was waiting to load up BRMC's stuff so we could say goodbye to Wic and everyone else.
We proceeded to the parking lot after saying our goodbyes and watching Rob do a funny dance for us. Peter was right behind us going to the parking lot so he could show us how he puts his guitar on his motorcycle. Suzanne volunteered to show Michael and Peter how to get to the 710 freeway from the parking lot, but didn't realize that she wasn't sure how to even get out of the parking lot. Michael's response after following her in circles for a bit: "Smooooth." It was hilarious! Peter didn't seem too happy about it either.
Eventually, she did figure out how to get out of the parking lot and onto the freeway after feeling the embarrassment of leading them in circles. Part of the 710 was shut down, so we had to take a detour to the 91 and ended up back in Buena Park at 3 AM. We were still hungry, so we went to Denny's near my house. That pretty much sums up the Long Beach adventure, minus all the gory details about Suzanne and Jodi's tattoos. If you're curious about that, I'm sure they'd be willing to share all about it.
Check out all my photos from the festival on my Flickr account. Also, I took a few BRMC videos and put them up on YouTube. Here's my favorite video from the night, with the moving of the barrier:
Monday, March 31, 2008
Weekend Highlights
Aside from the BRMC show, I also had a nice time hanging out with friends and family and learning to use oil pastels. On Saturday, my friend Joyce showed me how to use oil pastels. It was interesting layering and mixing colors. My drawing didn't come out to great (Annie, the Norwegian pop princess, from URB magazine), but it turned out better than it started out. On Sunday, I practiced driving on freeways with my mom. I still want to stick to local roads while I have the time and leisure to do so, but I'm sure I'll get back to freeway driving soon enough. We also had lunch with my grandma for her birthday at a Chinese restaurant in Irvine. I wasn't too hungry, so I didn't eat much then.
I met up with Suzanne and Jodi at my house at around 3:30 PM, they had been shopping in the area. We left for the Wiltern soon after changing for the show (we all went casual). When we got to the Wiltern, there was already a line which made Jodi sad. We still managed to get our usual front row spots. We also were highly amused by Robert's Hispanic doppelganger (who claimed to dress that way because of the Jesus and Mary Chain). Jodi and Suzanne were standing next to him for most of the show, and he was apparently also amusing to Robert and Peter. The bands were all really good, I liked the first band Lower Heaven mostly for the autoharp played by the lead singer. Their music was pretty cool too.
The Black Angels were actually really good too, not that it's a surprise. I liked their new songs as well as the old ones. It's not a huge departure from the last album, but it's very listenable. They occasionally switched off on instruments and the bassist would play a stand up drum while one of the guitarists would switch to the bass. They made pretty seamless transitions to their different spots on stage. I can see why BRMC likes the band so much, they make some very good music. BRMC came on not too long after, with their old banner and lots of extra amps piled up in front of the drum kit. Later, we would find out that the extra amps were for the Black Angels to jam with BRMC for a good 10+ minutes.
BRMC played an amazingly good setlist, which included everything from "The Likes of You," "20 Hours," and "Vision" to "Steal A Ride," "Killing the Light," and "Cold Wind." Lots of great less played songs, plus they played the new song "River Styx," which was starts out a lot like Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus," but it goes into a more swampy bluegrass kind of sound. I will go into more detail about the show later, but during "Whatever Happened To My Rock 'n Roll?" Peter was taking people's cameras and grabbed at mine twice! It was actually more funny then mean, he was having a good time taking them and giving them back right after. After the show, he said he knew he wouldn't get my camera because I had it wrapped around my wrist.
Anyways, I got a lot of photos and videos from the show, still working on uploading a lot of video. Here are my photos from the show:
BRMC: http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157604327086184/
The Black Angels: http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157604325430568/
Lower Heaven: http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157604325364688/
Here's a video of part of the jam with the Black Angels:
and the end of Heart + Soul as well as the first part of the jam:
I met up with Suzanne and Jodi at my house at around 3:30 PM, they had been shopping in the area. We left for the Wiltern soon after changing for the show (we all went casual). When we got to the Wiltern, there was already a line which made Jodi sad. We still managed to get our usual front row spots. We also were highly amused by Robert's Hispanic doppelganger (who claimed to dress that way because of the Jesus and Mary Chain). Jodi and Suzanne were standing next to him for most of the show, and he was apparently also amusing to Robert and Peter. The bands were all really good, I liked the first band Lower Heaven mostly for the autoharp played by the lead singer. Their music was pretty cool too.
The Black Angels were actually really good too, not that it's a surprise. I liked their new songs as well as the old ones. It's not a huge departure from the last album, but it's very listenable. They occasionally switched off on instruments and the bassist would play a stand up drum while one of the guitarists would switch to the bass. They made pretty seamless transitions to their different spots on stage. I can see why BRMC likes the band so much, they make some very good music. BRMC came on not too long after, with their old banner and lots of extra amps piled up in front of the drum kit. Later, we would find out that the extra amps were for the Black Angels to jam with BRMC for a good 10+ minutes.
BRMC played an amazingly good setlist, which included everything from "The Likes of You," "20 Hours," and "Vision" to "Steal A Ride," "Killing the Light," and "Cold Wind." Lots of great less played songs, plus they played the new song "River Styx," which was starts out a lot like Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus," but it goes into a more swampy bluegrass kind of sound. I will go into more detail about the show later, but during "Whatever Happened To My Rock 'n Roll?" Peter was taking people's cameras and grabbed at mine twice! It was actually more funny then mean, he was having a good time taking them and giving them back right after. After the show, he said he knew he wouldn't get my camera because I had it wrapped around my wrist.
Anyways, I got a lot of photos and videos from the show, still working on uploading a lot of video. Here are my photos from the show:
BRMC: http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157604327086184/
The Black Angels: http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157604325430568/
Lower Heaven: http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157604325364688/
Here's a video of part of the jam with the Black Angels:
and the end of Heart + Soul as well as the first part of the jam:
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Supersmall: a fun event for all!
The benefit for Downs Syndrome known as Supersmall proved to be an entertaining and educational night. I enjoyed learning about the Nudibranchs a.k.a. Sea Slugs, who are both hermaphroditic and usually very poisonous and beautiful. It was amusing to see all the pictures of their group sex and the narration that went along with the photos. We also learned about the $300 million dollar rovers that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are sending to Mars. It was pretty interesting to use the 3-D glasses they provided to see different pictures of the surface of Mars.
The comedy routines were pretty entertaining too, one had a couple guys running around on stage doing amusing mind tricks. There was a guy called Mr. Extraordinary in a funny diamond pattern suit, who gave out $10 to the first person who claimed it and then went on to explain what that person had that no one else in the audience had. He also had a small hole in his pants, but that was only slightly distracting because it looked like he had orange underwear underneath.
Even the musical acts were amusing. Carina Round is a female British singer who was wearing a polka dot dress and red high heels. She pointed out that she does funny things with her legs while she performs and her songs were pretty good too. Acoustic and folky, but also very distinctive and different. She ended her set with a song that used a pedal to record and loop her vocals, it sounded pretty cool.
The Lampshades were just hilarious from the moment they came on stage. The female singer looked a lot like Meredith from the Office in a red bellbottom jumpsuit and the guy looked like a sleazy lounge singer with a fake skinny mustache drawn over his upper lip. He was also sipping a drink and smoking a cigarette through the whole performance. They started off with their version of "The Facts of Life," then went on to play "Light My Fire" while the female singer continuously emphasized that they're not a couple. They did a bit on celebrity obituaries and in between one song, the male singer pretended to fall asleep then woke up. They ended the set with their version of "Mandy," during which the male singer wandered off stage to refill his drink.
Peter Hayes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club played a short, but sweet set of 7 songs which included a couple covers (Cool Water and Long Black Veil) and a new song (which he later told us was called "A Fine Way to Lose"). He also played "Shuffle Your Feet," "Complicated Situation," "Fault Line," and closed with "Am I Only." I only took pictures during "Complicated Situation" and I was recording video of everything else. It was such a nice intimate acoustic set. The new song was kind of country sounding, and had some sad lyrics about losing someone.
You can see and hear 4 of the songs from the set on my YouTube account. Speaking of which, I was excited to learn that my cell phone can watch YouTube videos on it. If you have a Motorola RAZR V3m, you should see if you can watch YouTube videos on your phone! I have a job interview in Brea today, and I'm more nervous about driving there by myself than the interview itself. Wish me luck!
The comedy routines were pretty entertaining too, one had a couple guys running around on stage doing amusing mind tricks. There was a guy called Mr. Extraordinary in a funny diamond pattern suit, who gave out $10 to the first person who claimed it and then went on to explain what that person had that no one else in the audience had. He also had a small hole in his pants, but that was only slightly distracting because it looked like he had orange underwear underneath.
Even the musical acts were amusing. Carina Round is a female British singer who was wearing a polka dot dress and red high heels. She pointed out that she does funny things with her legs while she performs and her songs were pretty good too. Acoustic and folky, but also very distinctive and different. She ended her set with a song that used a pedal to record and loop her vocals, it sounded pretty cool.
The Lampshades were just hilarious from the moment they came on stage. The female singer looked a lot like Meredith from the Office in a red bellbottom jumpsuit and the guy looked like a sleazy lounge singer with a fake skinny mustache drawn over his upper lip. He was also sipping a drink and smoking a cigarette through the whole performance. They started off with their version of "The Facts of Life," then went on to play "Light My Fire" while the female singer continuously emphasized that they're not a couple. They did a bit on celebrity obituaries and in between one song, the male singer pretended to fall asleep then woke up. They ended the set with their version of "Mandy," during which the male singer wandered off stage to refill his drink.
Peter Hayes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club played a short, but sweet set of 7 songs which included a couple covers (Cool Water and Long Black Veil) and a new song (which he later told us was called "A Fine Way to Lose"). He also played "Shuffle Your Feet," "Complicated Situation," "Fault Line," and closed with "Am I Only." I only took pictures during "Complicated Situation" and I was recording video of everything else. It was such a nice intimate acoustic set. The new song was kind of country sounding, and had some sad lyrics about losing someone.
You can see and hear 4 of the songs from the set on my YouTube account. Speaking of which, I was excited to learn that my cell phone can watch YouTube videos on it. If you have a Motorola RAZR V3m, you should see if you can watch YouTube videos on your phone! I have a job interview in Brea today, and I'm more nervous about driving there by myself than the interview itself. Wish me luck!
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