Oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh

[source]

The Cow in the Meadow Goes Moo...

Nothing makes me happier than seeing former TV show stars reunite and recreate a piece of their own television history. Ok that was a lie. Things that make me happier than said activity: sitcom bloopers, the Backstreet Boys, Christmas Eve, and the hope that one day Lauren Graham and John Krasinski will do a movie together.

ANYWAYS, like I was saying, TV cast members reuniting outside of the show, to make it look like they're actually friends IRL is a good thing. At last night's Rock a Little Feed A Lot charity concert, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox Arquette went on stage, and this is what happened. Also, Kudos to the guy in the audience with the balls to suggest it.

Everyone's A Little Bit Racist

[source]

Not Yo Mamma's Meatloaf

Things I Will Do For Love: Checklist
Yes	No
Run right into hell and back	That
Be there 'till the final act
Take the vow
Seal a pact
Raise you up
Help you down
Get you right out of this god-forsaken town
Make it all a little less cold
Hold you sacred
Hold you tight
Colorize your life
Make it all a little less old
Make you some magic with my own two hands
Build an emerald city with these grains of sand
Give you something you can take home
Cater to every fantasy you've got
Hose you down with holy water if you get too hot
Take you places you've never known

[source]

If This Is Work, Sign Me Up

Found some pictures of the inside of Pixar studios. I really wish I went to work five days a week in this office. Hell, I'd be happy if I even had an office to go to. WAH WAH.

[More at the source]

Subliminal Messaging

Remember in that one episode of Saved By the Bell when Zack used subliminal messaging on a new cassette tape for a hit song to convince Mr. Belding he 'was the son he never had' and to get Kelly to go to the dance with him? That's what I thought of when I saw this article. Here are some popular logos with hidden symbols and messages in them that represent the company. I can never look at a FedEx logo the same again.

At first glance, this logo looks simply like the initials for Baskin Robins but if you take a second look, you will see the number 31 in the acronym (highlighted in a pink color). This stems from the idea that Baskin Robbins sells 31 types of ice cream, one for each day of the month.

The hidden rightward-pointing arrow in the negative space between the letter E and X conveys the speed and precision of the company’s delivery service.

[More at the Source]

Best Politician 'Your Mom' Joke Ever

Jon Kyl (R-AZ): "I don't need maternity care...So requiring that on my insurance policy is something that I don't need and will make the policy more expensive."

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI): "I think your mom probably did."

This is why we need more women in the Senate. (And fewer idiots.) Jon Kyl can't be trusted to look out for his female constituents. This remark should be tied around his neck in 2012.

[source]

(Il)legally Download This

Why am I just discovering this song now?!? Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic fame (not to mention co-writer of "Bleeding Love" and friend to Jesse McCartney) sings solo and nails it.

The Look (recorded at ORU) - Ryan Tedder

Must See TV

Yes, it's that time of year again, really one of my favorite times of the year, there's a cool brisk in the air, the kids are heading back to school, and the leaves are turning to that orange-red color that makes your heart all warm and fuzzy. Then I remember that I'm in LA, and we're going through a heat wave right now, and what I'm really just excited about is Fall TV Premiere Season!!!

Now of course I'm excited about the return of The Office (I worship Jim & Pam so bad, it's disgusting), How I Met Your Mother (NPH can NEVER do wrong), and Gossip Girl (Where's Lil J?) among others, but I'd like to take a moment to commend the new shows on TV this season, because more so than usual, there are quite a few to take note of.

Community

I'm so glad that Joel McHale is getting to use his acting chops in this show, because he's actually a really good actor! The pilot is pretty good, but what solidified my love for the show was the second episode. Ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The show stars Joel McHale as Jeff, an ex-lawyer going to Community College to get a 'real law degree.' In the process, he makes up faux Spanish study group, just to get with this hot chick in his class. In a Breakfast Club like situation (which they hilariously weave into the dialogue), this odd group of people come together to form a, say it with me, Community. The second episode introduced us to their Spanish teacher, Senor Chang, played by Ken Jeong (you may know his as the AZN man in Role Models, Pineapple Express, and The Hangover). I mean, just picture it, an Asian guy as a Spanish teacher, who knows full well he's not the typical teacher one would assume they'd have for a college level spanish class. Well written with great comedic actors (including Chevy Chase!), Thursday night makes NBC Must See TV complete.

Cougartown

Let's be honest, is there anyone out of the Friends cast that has REALLY broken out of their character from the show? Like when you saw David Schwimmer in Band of Brothers, did you really not see a little hint of Ross coming out? I mean, maybe with the exception of Jennifer Aniston (sometimes), I personally find it hard to see any of the 6 main characters anything other than who they played on the show. Then again, maybe that's just me being insane because I watch to much of said program. Anyways, I heard a lot of good things about Courteney Cox's new show, Cougartown, so I thought I'd give it a try. Courteney plays a recently divorced mom with a kid in high school, who's just trying to get back in the dating game. And as the title suggests, her first prey is of the younger gentleman variety. At first, I only saw "Monica", but as the show progressed, Courteney really gets into her groove, and plays a 'cougar' brilliantly. Add to that her crazy ex-husband and her 'barely puts up with it' son, i think this definitely has potential.

The Beautiful Life

Let's be honest. I really only wanted to see this show because Corbin Bleu did this ad. So kill me. The show centers around a group of teen/20 something year old models in NYC, living together and trying to get any gigs they can. Mischa Barton makes her TV return and basically plays Marissa Cooper, only as a model. The pilot was ok, had some interesting plot points, but I feel like it's trying too hard to be something it's not. Like 'oh they're doing cocaine, and uh oh, they got caught!' or the inevitable relationship between the fresh faced new boy model and the up and coming girl model. I might give it another go, just to see if Corbin looks anything like that ad.

UPDATE: LEGIT JUST GOT CANCELLED. HAHA.

Flash Forward

If Lost and Heroes had a baby, the end result would be Flash Forward. There was a whole lot of hype around this show, so I thought I would give a try. I'm so glad I did, because now I am completely sucked into this world. Basically, at the same time all over the world, every single person goes unconscious for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. When everyone wakes back up, chaos ensues, and people are just trying to stay alive. The kicker is that while everyone was unconscious, they each had a "Flash Forward" to the same day in April of 2010, giving them each a clear picture of where they would be and what they were doing. Now the main characters, FBI agents played by Harold aka John Cho and Joseph Fiennes of Shakespeare in Love fame, must seek out the answers as to who, why and how all this happened. Pretty crazy stuff, and if you watch the Pilot, I assure you you will want to keep watching.

Modern Family

I'm going to go ahead and say that if you watch only one of these shows I have mentioned, Modern Family would be the one. Right off the bat, each of the characters are so well defined, it's as if the show's been on for years. To give you a rundown of this 'Modern Family," think of this show as a Venn Diagram.

I don't want to give too much away, but let's say it involves the following: BB Gun schedule, The Circle of Life a la The Lion King, and an 11 year old poet laureate. I literally LOLed more than once, which I think is a true testament for any pilot episode.

Honorable Mention: Glee

Since we're talking about 'Must See TV,' I just HAD to put Glee on the list. I know I've already mentioned it before, but I must say that given the 3 new episodes that's aired so far, it keeps getting better and better. This past episode had all I could hope for, comedy, romance, and drama (I even teared up a little). And if you still need a reason to watch this show, here's a gif/jiff for you.

Looks like a good season ahead of us. So what will you be watching?

She Forgot The Other Foot

[Source]

Performance Report

If any of you are familiar with theatre, you know that for each show, there is a performance report that recounts that night's performance, including the technical aspects of it, changes that need to be made, basically anything that happens during the show, good and the bad, to report back to all those involved.

My good friend Danny sent me the latest performance report for the show that is currently going on at the theater I used to work at. Please note the comments under 'Audience' and 'Performance' Notes.

I miss this place.

PERFORMANCE REPORT

DATE: Thursday, September 24, 2009

PERFORMANCE # 19

HALF HOUR	7:00
ACT I UP	7:39
ACT I DOWN	8:59
ACT I TOTAL	1 hour, 20 minutes
INTERMISSION UP	8:59
INTERMISSION DOWN	9:15
INTERMISSION TOTAL	16 minutes
ACT II UP	9:15
ACT II DOWN	10:19
ACT II TOTAL	1 hour, 4 minutes
TOTAL RUN TIME	2 hour, 24 minutes
TOTAL ELASPED TIME	2 hour, 40 minutes

AUDIENCE

House Count: 197

Great crowd tonight. We had a group from State College with us tonight. The crowd was rather responsive throughout and just fell in love with the Gangsters. There were a great deal of cheers at the end and very strong applause.

During the finale of Act One, Peter's whip got stuck in his cape. He pulled it out of the cape and the whip hit our wheelchair patron in the face. The wheelchair patron seemed jovial throughout Act Two, so I don't think it bothered him.

INJURIES:

NOTHING TO REPORT.

PERFORMANCE NOTES:

Good pacing again tonight but a couple moments of sloppiness and lethargy. Amelia pushed her chair at a strange angle during the first dressing room scene which caused it to fall off the platform and she ended up on her backside. She ad libbed a bit and received lots of applause as a result (she is fine; no injury). The other sloppy moment came from Peter (see Audience Notes). There are still some moments where pauses could be shortened. I have a couple of notes to give to Peter tomorrow.

Any Other Flavors?

Taken from a food blog based in NYC. This is too easy.

Chances of this signage, found at the Crazy Bananas Frozen
Yogurt on 32nd and 5th, being an innocent mistake is, oh, about zero (especially
considering the place also has a display case of wooden phalluses).

But that kind of makes it that much more awesome.
It doesn't inspire a need to drink bubble tea, but they get points for chutzpah.

Crazy Bananas Official Site

[source]

What Happens When I Clean My Documents

So I was cleaning up my computer today, and found a word document entitled "HSM2 List." The document had not been modified since 2007, and I had NO idea what it could possibly be. Then I opened it, and this is what it said:

50 Reasons Why HSM2 is the GAYEST movie i've ever seen

1) "Summer Summer Summer Summer"

2) Zac Efron skipping in What Time is it

3) Corbin Bleu solo

4) "Line!"

5) Zac Efron sliding on the floor

6) Troy giving Gabriella the T necklace

7) WTII Reprise

8) BBall team in Kitchen

9) Getcha head in the game ringtone

10) Pink convertible

11) Ryan fake accepting award

12) Fabulous

13) Pink piano in water

14) Troy's entrance to the pool

15) Troy winking

16) Yoga

17) Austrian Flay Pastry

18) Percussion in Work this out

19) "Let's Go"

20) Sprinklers

21) Troy laying on top of the piano

22) Carrying the dishes in and skipping

23) The term “hard court”

24) Swimming in the pool

25) “You know right now with you, its finally starting to feel like summer”

26) Troy in his blue wife beater

27) Italian shoes

28) Skin tone compatible

29) Tiki Warrior Outfit

30) "I don’t dance"

31) The music in me remix

32) Troy’s blue cardigan

33) Troy’s basketball picture

34) Bet on It

35) Troy’s reflection

36) Troy & Chad’s makeup hug

37) Lanterns floating

My favorite is # 23 "The term 'hard court.'"

I originally thought that this list was compiled when Brian and I viewed this film together, however, he asserts he had no part in making this list. But he does think "this list slash movie can be summarized by numbers 3,21,30, and 35"

If anyone else as any suggestions, please feel free to add to the list.

Side B

The ultimate iPod Anti- Theft device.

[source]

Totally Worth $200,000

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm going to try to update my blog more often, even if it is just a short entry. So here's your short entry, just something I want to share with you all.

Here's THE coolest pool table I have ever seen. We have room in our living room for this item, however, I'm short about $199,999 if anyone wants to give it to me. I love this quote from the article:

The good news is that the system itself only costs $80,000. It just happens to be mounted on a table that costs $125,000. So the question is, would it work on the $75 table you picked up at a garage sale?

"The system itself only costs $80,000." HAHAHA ok. I wonder if it would be possible to change the image to a giant picture of Zefron??

Check the video out:

Obscura CueLight from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Life in a Box

After working in a box office at a theatre for about 5 years, there certainly has been no shortage of crazy patrons, ridiculous questions, and our barely sufficient answers. And given all of the insane things I've had to deal with over the years, looking back, I would not trade these experiences for anything in the world.

That includes dealing with Sunday matinees, where the entire audience consisted of 90 year old Jewish ladies who demanded that they each have a hearing device and that their walkers be brought to them before anyone else. And of course I can't leave out the patron whose tickets I couldn't find (BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE ANY RESERVED), and when I tried to calm him down, he yelled at me in front of the entire lobby and said "DON'T CALL ME SIR!"

But like I said, I definitely had plenty more memorable times at the Lyric, and would go through more patronizing and condescending confrontations just to work there again.

Enough of the sentimental stuff. My good friend and former Box Office Manager, Kate, introduced me, as well as the rest of her Facebook friends, to a little webisode series called "Jack in a Box." The main character of the series is Jack, an out of work actor who took on the risky task of working in a box office. Its slogan says "He used to love theatre...until he sold tickets for it..." pretty much sums it up. If you've worked in a box office, you'll relate to EVERYTHING he says, and if you haven't, you'll realize the kind of shenanigans we have to go through all the time.

His latest episode, "The Student," is by far my favorite, as I have had to deal with A LOT of this type of person. It's hard for me to turn down the 80 year old husband and wife couple with "Lifelong Learner" IDs from Bunker Hill Community College.

Enjoy! (And if you like it, watch it from the first episode, which is just as hilarious!)

PS: It may seem like I am, but I'm not getting paid for this :)

Current Obsessions

Hello friends! I'm blogging from my new apartment here in North Hollywood, CA. And since I don't have a job (yet), I've had plenty of down time recently, so I'm hoping I'll be able to update this more! BTW, props to everyone that followed us on our RT across America. My apologies for dropping the ball midway through it, as things got a little bit hectic. But we're here now so it's all good!

For the every day IAYN reader, you know that I have a recurring segment called (Il)legally Download This. I've decided to kick it up a notch and spread the love to not just music, but everything and anything else I'm into right now. So here's the debut of CURRENT OBSESSIONS! (I'll come up with a better name later. Suggestions welcome)

GLEE

I must admit, when I saw the pilot back in May, I wasn't too impressed. But after seeing the first episode back from their brief hiatus, I fell in love. With lines like "That was the most offensive thing I've seen in twenty years of teaching. And that includes an elementary school production of Hair." how could I not love it?

Besides the covers of current songs being amazing, the show is actually very funny and well written. Who knew? Also, gotta give props to Lea Michele & fellow azn Jenna Ushkowitz, both Spring Awakening alumni, Matthew Morrison who was in Hairspray & Light in the Piazza on Broadway (and briefly a former member of LMNT), and the cameo of the guy who played Walter, Stephanie Tanner's geeky love interest circa season 3, in this past week's episode as the psycho choreographer.

This past week's episode also brought one song in particular to my attention that I haven't been able to stop listening/watching. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you, The Acafellas:

Dos Equis Beer

Just think of this beer as the "Sam Adams of California." And petition to have it at more places on the East Coast. Rumor is they have it at Cactus Club in Boston.

Jay-Z 9/11 Concert

Jay Z and all his famous friends had a concert at Madison Square Garden to benefit the Widows, Children of Fallen Police and Firemen on the 8th anniversary of 9/11. The concert, which sold out in minutes, had amazing appearances by his wifey Sasha Fierce, Kanye, Kid Cudi (also obsessed with him), Rhianna, and more. Check out the entire show aqui

Gofobo.com

Check this every morning right after Twitter. Thanks to this site, Meghan & I are going to "The Invention of Lying" Premiere for free. Eff, what am I going to wear??

Theater Nerd Mashup

Okay, so I'm a little obsessed with Spring Awakening. Whatever. I embrace it. More specifically, the current National Tour Cast. When the show was in Boston, I saw it three times, and it was amazing. Anyways, during their stops in cities across America, they sometimes have Cabarets featuring the cast members with most of the proceeds going towards some kind of charity. Here's a performance from one of those cabarets starring Kyle Riabko, Andy Mientus, and 4th runner up on Canadian Idol, Steffi D. One of the band members from SA arranged this medley of songs, including "What I Wouldn't Do For You" from a musical called Alive At Ten, "Stars and Moon" from Songs From a New World, and hit song "To Make You Feel My Love." It's on repeat on my Youtube playlist.

Day 8: The Long Road Home

At last, the final leg of the trip, which seemed like an impossible task to reach, was finally here! We left our quaint overnight stay city of Williams to drive an hour north to the Grand Canyon. On the way there, we saw this campground which was a Flintstones theme!! Literally looked like Bedrock! Now during the planning of this road trip, Meghan had said there was a place somewhere in Amrrica that was designed to look exactly like the home town of Fred Flintstone and company. We thought there was one somewhere in the midwest, so we were not expecting it to be in Arizona on the way to the Grand Canyon! Sadly, we didn't stop by it, but we tried taking pictures to capture how cool it looked from the outside:

Luckily, we reached the Grand Canyon before the long lines of the summer began, so we got in fairly fast and found a good place on the South Rim to stare out at the vast space that is the Grand Canyon. I don't really know what I was expecting, besides it being a huge hole, but I was surprised as to how quiet it was. Like barely any sounds at all, no birds, no animals, no cars or planes, just the open canyon. It's crazy that water could do this over millions of years.

The only picture on the entire trip of the 3 of us

(Find Stanley!)

I myself, didn't get too close to the edge because I was convinced I was going to fall into the canyon. Apparently over 600 deaths have occurred in the GC since the 1870s, all were not directly attributed to people falling in, but it's happened before. They even had this picture to tell people to use caution:

The Grand Canyon was an epic way to end the trip, and luckily we made it out of there without any injuries. We even learned some fascinating facts about the GC by eavesdropping on a tour guide.

That's What She Said.

Now that that was done, it was on for the last 7 hours of the Great American Road Trip of '09. As one can imagine, most of the trip from Arizona to Los Angeles was pretty much all desert. And if you thought it didn't rain in the desert, you're wrong. Because apparently it does. But it's kinda cool because it's still hot and sunny out, yet it's still raining. We also managed to go through the Mojave Desert without even knowing we were going to do so. Since it is the desert, there are some part that have absolutely nothing but the sand and cacti. Somewhere in Arizona ... maybe California... there's a town called Needles. And 205 miles later, there's a place called Newberry Springs. In that 205 miles of desert, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Like literally nothing. Like there are signs that tell you to get gas now, because you won't be able to get any in the next 205 miles. Yup, that's what we were dealing with. But at least the scenery was pretty cool.

The last page of the TripTik!

And FINALLY, 500 miles and 8 days later, we ARRIVED IN LOS ANGELES, to these sexy ladies! Of course the welcome dinner had to be at the famous Elephant Bar. Delish food as always, and with fabulous company. Now onto life in LA!

The final map! I still can't believe we drove all that way!

View Larger Map

Day 7: Let's Open Up A Restaurant in Santa Fe

I think I failed to mention that when we finally arrived to Santa Fe after the longest day ever, we arrived to our very own oasis in the desert. The hotel we were staying at was just a normal chain hotel you can find anywhere in the country, but it was just our luck to get the room we were in. Turns out we got a suite type room, complete with a kitchenette, dining table, and the best part: a pull out sofa bed which means we each got our own bed! That night we arrived we were starving, so luckily we were right next to a Burrito place, and of course the Mexican food is amazing in Santa Fe, so it did not disappoint. Perfect way to end the day!

Back to Day 7. We spent the morning in the main Plaza downtown, where most of the shops and restaurants are. Downtown Santa Fe is pretty much what I expected it to look like, with adobe buildings and Mexican style architecture everywhere, but it looked even more awesome in person.

And coincidentally, the weekend we arrived was the exact weekend of the "Indian Market," which happens every year in Santa Fe. Native American jewelers from all over North America come to sell their jewelry (mostly turquoise) during this weekend long event. However, because it started on Saturday and we were there on Friday, we just missed it. The good thing was that even without the Indian Market hoopla, there are still a lot of Native American vendors that sell their jewelry year round under this really long awning in front of the Palace of Governors. It was so overwhelming, but awesome, and I even purchased a necklace!

We walked around more of Santa Fe, going through little plazas and shops, and of course, eating more Mexican food for lunch. I'm telling you, the breakfast burrito with chorizo sausage may have been one of the best burritos I've had in my life. Just sayin.

Unfortunately, it was time for us to continue on, so we made our way through the huge red rocks and mountains of New Mexico into the great state of Arizona. Our last stop before reaching LA was the Grand Canyon, but we decided to stay an hour south of there in the small town of Williams, which was founded in 1881 and dubbed "The gateway to the Grand Canyon." Basically this was a legit cowboy western town. Proof: the random 'wild west show' that was next to the restaurant we had dinner in, and they even closed down part of the street to have said show. We couldn't really see it, but there was gunfire. Right after the wild west show was done, there was a musician who got up & performed at the "Route 66 Diner" we were eating at. Enjoyable all around, yet totally felt like we were in the wild west ... but in the modern era.

That's it for Day 7. One last pit stop and we're finally in LA!!!

View Larger Map

Day 6: Never Going Back Here Again

I'll be straight with you. Texas/Oklahoma is NOT my favorite. Henceforth, I don't have much to say about these two states besides you will NEVER see me in northern Texas or the entire state of Oklahoma EVER AGAIN. I have my reasons, and out of the entire trip, this area was the scariest to me out of all the other states. Thanks for living up to my expectations, the south. You suck. And I apologize if I'm offending anyone, but that's how I feel about the time we spent there, and if there's any postive reason you can tell me as to why I should like these two places, let me know.

Anyways, the morning of Day 6, we went to the one attraction we wanted to see in Dallas, which was the JFK Memorial and assassination site. Apparently this is the entire memorial:

And if you look closely in the middle lane, there is an 'X' showing where JFK got shot in his car.

There is also a museum on the sixth floor of the building where Lee Harvey Oswald shot him, which would have been cool to go to, but we had a 12 HOUR day of driving through hell to get to.

Northern Texas and Oklahoma is full of nothing, except flat flat land and serious cowboys. I was EXTREMELY happy when we crossed the New Mexico line, because it meant NOT BEING IN TEXAS ANYMORE. Here are some pictures of what we saw on the way to Santa Fe. A lot of Oklahoma was signs that said "Home of Garth Brooks" "Home of the largest cross in the western hemisphere" "Home of Aunt Peggy's county famous beef jerky." Speaking of beef, Texas is also full of cows and cow pastures and factories in which they go to die. This is why I don't like the south.

Lastly, because we were in the car for EVER AND A DAY, we had to resort to taking pix of ourselves and taking rediculous videos. So in a short 14 minute video, here is how we spent the 12 hours en route to our next pit stop. Thank God for Santa Fe.

View Directions to Santa Fe, NM in a larger map