Music that has recently become more meaningful to me due to certain events and such.
Directed by Eric Wareheim. Edited by Ben Berman. Produced by Clark Reinking.
Saw MGMT perform this song live and felt the most inexplicable euphoria.
After hearing this song on the Adult Swim game, Robot Unicorn Attack, I was instantly hooked. Thanks, Dan Garzi.
I like the Yeasayer stuff played at Urban, but when I heard their first album- SOLD. Love it. As a wise man once said, "It's more organic than their newer stuff." I totally dig it.
I mean, I freaking love Passion Pit. Possibly my favorite band right now.
And here's a link to a sweet, soft rendition of that fist pumper performed by Michael Angelakos
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, home is wherever I'm hearing you.
I remember hearing this song at urban and then discovering one of my friends put it on a mix she made for me, thanks Laura Lo!
And finally this amazing video for Hot Chip, which is irritatingly unable to be embedded, but here's the link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaCZN2N6Q_I&feature=player_embedded
I ♥ music.
I'm out.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
MGMT Secret Show and oh yeah, my life
Wow, I haven't updated in a while. Isn't that so predictable to start a blog post with after not writing for a while? Whatever, I do what I want. ha. So, it's been a crazy few weeks filled with many ups and downs, mostly ups seeing as my new perspective on life has allowed me to graciously embrace more of the positive and disregard the negative- yay! Anywho, there are so many awesome things that have been happening in my life, but the most noteworthy/guaranteed to induce incredible amounts of jealousy would be my truly amazing experience at Mercury Lounge where I saw freaking MGMT perform!!! Mercury Lounge is this small venue in the LES that showcases lots of talented bands who wind up being pretty famous years later. MGMT actually performed there before they exploded into the sweet, sweet rhythmic sensation.
So, my roommate's brother bought these tickets online under the guise of some crazy band called like fish leopard or something. I don't remember. Before the show, the group of us were standing around a little anxious about who we would be seeing perform. The crowd was very diverse, of course there were a few hipsters sprinkled in the midst, but there were also people in suits, and girls in crazy heels. It was interesting. The lights dimmed and the stage was quiet. A man came from the crowd up to the mic standing on the stage and asked the crowd if they were excited to see MGMT perform, we all cheered in unison. He then told us to get ready for a treat and proceeded to introduce to us the WORST ventriloquist I have ever seen. He was supposedly on Conan and did some other notable shows, but he was horrendous! It was the most collectively awkward experience of my life. The entire crowd seemed to be shifting in discomfort while mr. ventriloquist waxed on about random incidents, not bothering to hide his moving mouth. It almost seemed like they took some random guy off the street, gave him a dummy, and threw him onstage. After that nonsense was finally over, which felt like HOURS, MGMT came on and played. They were AMAZING, however, yet another potentially fantastic musical experience was botched by the crowd's lack of energy. How could you not dance to "Electric Feel" or "Time to Pretend?!" HOW?! I was dancing of course, but it was so strange. I had a great time though hearing them play live and falling in love with them all over again. I even got to say hey to the bassist! He was really nice. My roommate, her friend, and her brother and I went to some bar afterward called The Local 269, where we befriended the bartender who was super nice and gave us a free round. The bar played some amazing music, too. It was a really relaxed atmosphere, which seems to be hard to find in the city. Also, the card minimum was only $10 and the drinks were cheap! Unheard of!
Whew. This is a long post. Apologies.
Life has been excellent, lots of great things happening. I'm meeting lots of really cool people and falling deeper in love with Brooklyn everyday.
I will try to be more consistent with my blog! I want to be a writer, but you wouldn't know it by the embarrassing gaps of time between entries. Meh.
I'm out.
So, my roommate's brother bought these tickets online under the guise of some crazy band called like fish leopard or something. I don't remember. Before the show, the group of us were standing around a little anxious about who we would be seeing perform. The crowd was very diverse, of course there were a few hipsters sprinkled in the midst, but there were also people in suits, and girls in crazy heels. It was interesting. The lights dimmed and the stage was quiet. A man came from the crowd up to the mic standing on the stage and asked the crowd if they were excited to see MGMT perform, we all cheered in unison. He then told us to get ready for a treat and proceeded to introduce to us the WORST ventriloquist I have ever seen. He was supposedly on Conan and did some other notable shows, but he was horrendous! It was the most collectively awkward experience of my life. The entire crowd seemed to be shifting in discomfort while mr. ventriloquist waxed on about random incidents, not bothering to hide his moving mouth. It almost seemed like they took some random guy off the street, gave him a dummy, and threw him onstage. After that nonsense was finally over, which felt like HOURS, MGMT came on and played. They were AMAZING, however, yet another potentially fantastic musical experience was botched by the crowd's lack of energy. How could you not dance to "Electric Feel" or "Time to Pretend?!" HOW?! I was dancing of course, but it was so strange. I had a great time though hearing them play live and falling in love with them all over again. I even got to say hey to the bassist! He was really nice. My roommate, her friend, and her brother and I went to some bar afterward called The Local 269, where we befriended the bartender who was super nice and gave us a free round. The bar played some amazing music, too. It was a really relaxed atmosphere, which seems to be hard to find in the city. Also, the card minimum was only $10 and the drinks were cheap! Unheard of!
Whew. This is a long post. Apologies.
Life has been excellent, lots of great things happening. I'm meeting lots of really cool people and falling deeper in love with Brooklyn everyday.
I will try to be more consistent with my blog! I want to be a writer, but you wouldn't know it by the embarrassing gaps of time between entries. Meh.
I'm out.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Pinisi and Punks
Since moving to Brooklyn, I have not gone out nearly enough to Manhattan to discover gems of note- until recently. With my friend Nish, much adventuring was underway earlier this week. We walked around the city for hours- HOURS, and were pleasantly surprised by many different shops and such we stumbled (not literally) into. One place in particular that had a really great vibe was Pinisi Bakery that has a few locations around the city. We had some delicious cupcakes there after eating dollar pizza- health schmealth, and were very satisfied. The bakery is adorable and has couches in the back along with a bookshelf with many different titles- you can even learn Russian! The feel is reminiscent of an artist's living room, devoid of that sterile, conventional, corporate callousness of starbucks. There's original artwork on the walls and they painted the florescent lighting panels with pretty primary colors. Also, the guys working there were very friendly.
Before that we went to a small book store on 1st with a great women's studies and political theory section. Of course, I have forgotten the name of the bookstore, but when I'm not feeling completely and utterly lazy I'll look it up and post its whereabouts/website.
So, remember my aversion to the lower east side? I'm kind of over it. I had an awesome time hanging out down there so I have since changed my staunch stance (hehe) on it. Though it is filled with insensitive idiots, there is a really cool scene there as a whole. Maybe cool's not the word for it- um, interesting. Yes, there's a fascinating collective of people/ideas in the lower east side- a conflicting mass of bigotry and "liberalism." We (my friend and I) experienced this amorphous, confused reality when we were at a bar dancing around like fools. It was interesting seeing who would approach us, who stared at us in amusement and terror, and who avoided us. There was one guy in particular that was wasted and probably on numerous drugs who felt the need to tell us, "If you can't dance to rock music, then you can't dance. You have to be able to dance to every type of music." Mind you this was after the DJ (who was shitty that night) was playing bands like Empire of the Sun, Passion Pit, and even some hardcore- but mostly he played horrible 80s music that was not made to be played at a dance party. Anyway, he said this and we stared at him in disbelief, realizing he was drunk and an idiot. He then proceeded to ask us how to dance like "black people," when a hip-hop song came on. This guy was a true asshole, completely oblivious to the ignorance pouring out of his mouth. It's annoying to be in a situation like that because you really are powerless. This guy was intoxicated so no amount of reason was going to permeate that thick skull of his, we were just trying to ignore his insults and continue our fun. Luckily, as the universe would have it, he was an awful dancer and had been flailing around the dance floor like a madman, bruising himself in the process and without aid showed his ugly insides through his grotesque dancing style-buffoon. I don't like to judge people when they're dancing, but when they admit ignorance willfully I let myself go. It's funny because he swore he was lord of the dance.
It's so frustrating running into people who are so small-minded. I've been around such amazing people, I forget those foolish people exist. It was depressing. I'm over it though, there's no way I'm letting one person make me lose hope in humanity (I almost did that night haha).
I'm out.
Before that we went to a small book store on 1st with a great women's studies and political theory section. Of course, I have forgotten the name of the bookstore, but when I'm not feeling completely and utterly lazy I'll look it up and post its whereabouts/website.
So, remember my aversion to the lower east side? I'm kind of over it. I had an awesome time hanging out down there so I have since changed my staunch stance (hehe) on it. Though it is filled with insensitive idiots, there is a really cool scene there as a whole. Maybe cool's not the word for it- um, interesting. Yes, there's a fascinating collective of people/ideas in the lower east side- a conflicting mass of bigotry and "liberalism." We (my friend and I) experienced this amorphous, confused reality when we were at a bar dancing around like fools. It was interesting seeing who would approach us, who stared at us in amusement and terror, and who avoided us. There was one guy in particular that was wasted and probably on numerous drugs who felt the need to tell us, "If you can't dance to rock music, then you can't dance. You have to be able to dance to every type of music." Mind you this was after the DJ (who was shitty that night) was playing bands like Empire of the Sun, Passion Pit, and even some hardcore- but mostly he played horrible 80s music that was not made to be played at a dance party. Anyway, he said this and we stared at him in disbelief, realizing he was drunk and an idiot. He then proceeded to ask us how to dance like "black people," when a hip-hop song came on. This guy was a true asshole, completely oblivious to the ignorance pouring out of his mouth. It's annoying to be in a situation like that because you really are powerless. This guy was intoxicated so no amount of reason was going to permeate that thick skull of his, we were just trying to ignore his insults and continue our fun. Luckily, as the universe would have it, he was an awful dancer and had been flailing around the dance floor like a madman, bruising himself in the process and without aid showed his ugly insides through his grotesque dancing style-buffoon. I don't like to judge people when they're dancing, but when they admit ignorance willfully I let myself go. It's funny because he swore he was lord of the dance.
It's so frustrating running into people who are so small-minded. I've been around such amazing people, I forget those foolish people exist. It was depressing. I'm over it though, there's no way I'm letting one person make me lose hope in humanity (I almost did that night haha).
I'm out.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
CHATROULETTE
Okay, so I didn't sleep last night on account of this incredible new social media cleverly called Chatroullete. A website solely dedicated to connecting people all around the world using technology enabling users to utilize cameras/mikes on their computers to see and hear complete strangers. I really like this particular web er thing (?) because it's so interactive and you're speaking with real people in real time! Although, as you can probably gather, there are quite a few risks with exposing yourself to the unfiltered, uncensored computer screens of THE WORLD. There were a plethora of penises, indecent proposals, and creepy older gentlemen on the prowl. Luckily, the beauty of chatroulette is your ability to immediately disconnect and move on to someone/something else. However, amongst the nauseatingly bold sexual deviants are some really awesome people. My friend and I began tallying actually, pleasant conversations against crude, disgusting behavior and the pleasantries outweighed the eye-numbing crazies! By the end of out session we met 4 or 5 really cool people and had really great conversations with them about nothing at all really. One devastating thing did happen though! While speaking with two particularly funny guys from LA we got one of their fb links, but it was lost when we disconnected =( It was the saddest thing ever. It took me a few chatroulette sessions to get over the loss. I'm still not sure I'm over it. So, if you're out there chatroulette buddy- add me!! Crisis Scarlett on fb!! Oh and if anyone else feels inclined to add me either, go right ahead!
There were a few people who did some really cool computer tricks and that were just plain silly! We conversed with a guy from France who was THE NICEST guy ever. It really gives you hope that there are genuinely good people in this effed up world. It gives you hope. Sigh.
All in all chatroulette is yet another time-consuming activity to add to the list. Thanks a lot internet. Ho hum.
Oh and here's a link for some of the ridiculous screenshots captured during Chatroulette sessions from buzzfeed.com. Some of this stuff is pretty HILARIOUS.
I'm out.
There were a few people who did some really cool computer tricks and that were just plain silly! We conversed with a guy from France who was THE NICEST guy ever. It really gives you hope that there are genuinely good people in this effed up world. It gives you hope. Sigh.
All in all chatroulette is yet another time-consuming activity to add to the list. Thanks a lot internet. Ho hum.
Oh and here's a link for some of the ridiculous screenshots captured during Chatroulette sessions from buzzfeed.com. Some of this stuff is pretty HILARIOUS.
I'm out.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Justin Bieber
Okay, I have just shamelessly jumped on the bandwagon. It's mildly embarrassing admitting my instant predilection for what I thought was an 11 year old, but look at him! He's adorable. He's singing about adorable teeny bopper things, how could you not tilt your head to the side and sigh in amusement. Plus, the song "Baby"(below) is just so catchy! Ugh. Where did he even come from?!
(twilight zone music)
According to Wikipedia (my Bible), he's from Canada, 15, and was discovered on youtube by Scooter Braun, who flew him to Georgia to consult with Usher (about what, I have no idea!). Bieber was then signed to Island records. His first album was released last November and it's called My World. He is "the only artist in Billboard history to have four singles from a debut album chart in the Top 40 of the Hot 100 before the album's release." How lucky is this kid?! He's already collaborated with Usher and Ludacris! Insanity.
Without further adieu here is the cutest video EVER...
I'm out.
(twilight zone music)
According to Wikipedia (my Bible), he's from Canada, 15, and was discovered on youtube by Scooter Braun, who flew him to Georgia to consult with Usher (about what, I have no idea!). Bieber was then signed to Island records. His first album was released last November and it's called My World. He is "the only artist in Billboard history to have four singles from a debut album chart in the Top 40 of the Hot 100 before the album's release." How lucky is this kid?! He's already collaborated with Usher and Ludacris! Insanity.
Without further adieu here is the cutest video EVER...
I'm out.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The PIT
The People's Improv Theatre
(The PIT)
Going to see improv shows is somewhat of a gamble. Sitting nervously in the audience you watch people use their wits and instincts to entertain you. With every scene there is a chance of unbearable amounts of discomfort and embarrassment. However, my night at The PIT was devoid of any of the aforementioned, save one improv team that shall remain nameless. It was probably just an off night, which happens! Anyway, I saw 6 brilliant improv groups this fateful Wednesday night and was impressed in one way, shape, or form by their immense talent. My favorites were Local 154, Senator, Big Black Car (Kristen Schaal from HBO's Flight of the Conchords is actually on that team as well, but was not there last night), and The Baldwins. Though, I must say, I am a little biased considering my friends were on a few of those teams, but I really did have a lot of respect for all of them because everyone had such great energy.
Sitting in the audience that night, I have never felt so proud of my friends. For years they have steadily, wholeheartedly worked on their craft and eventually landed into these two amazing improv groups at The PIT that really allow them to showcase their considerable talent. Not to mention they are two of the best people you'll probably ever meet! Anyway, the teams I mentioned made a significant impact on me and performed the kind of imrpov you would easily drop mad bank on, but their performances were free! These guys effortlessly took random suggestions from the audience and put on such an incredible show! From the minute they received the suggestion to the black out they had the entire audience's attention.
The PIT is such a great place to see improv because of it's size and intimacy. Walking out after the show and seeing the actors mingling and joking around really makes you feel more involved in the experience and not just a mindless theatre-goer.
Improv is such a hard art to master considering there is no room for fear or inhibition. Being an improv actor means you are fearless and incapable of timidity. All of the actors last night showed a fearlessness that cannot be denied and brought their A-game.
I can't wait to go back! I'm actually considering (meaning I'm most likely) taking classes offered at The PIT. I have always loved improv and after seeing those shows last night a wave of inspiration swept over me in an overwhelming way!
So go check out The PIT, they have free shows Wednesday nights and other days of the week if you look at their website, but paying that $5-$10 is totally worth it! They offer classe and many chances for amateurs to perform in front of an audience FOR FREE!
Go Improv!!
I'm out.
(The PIT)
Going to see improv shows is somewhat of a gamble. Sitting nervously in the audience you watch people use their wits and instincts to entertain you. With every scene there is a chance of unbearable amounts of discomfort and embarrassment. However, my night at The PIT was devoid of any of the aforementioned, save one improv team that shall remain nameless. It was probably just an off night, which happens! Anyway, I saw 6 brilliant improv groups this fateful Wednesday night and was impressed in one way, shape, or form by their immense talent. My favorites were Local 154, Senator, Big Black Car (Kristen Schaal from HBO's Flight of the Conchords is actually on that team as well, but was not there last night), and The Baldwins. Though, I must say, I am a little biased considering my friends were on a few of those teams, but I really did have a lot of respect for all of them because everyone had such great energy.
Sitting in the audience that night, I have never felt so proud of my friends. For years they have steadily, wholeheartedly worked on their craft and eventually landed into these two amazing improv groups at The PIT that really allow them to showcase their considerable talent. Not to mention they are two of the best people you'll probably ever meet! Anyway, the teams I mentioned made a significant impact on me and performed the kind of imrpov you would easily drop mad bank on, but their performances were free! These guys effortlessly took random suggestions from the audience and put on such an incredible show! From the minute they received the suggestion to the black out they had the entire audience's attention.
The PIT is such a great place to see improv because of it's size and intimacy. Walking out after the show and seeing the actors mingling and joking around really makes you feel more involved in the experience and not just a mindless theatre-goer.
Improv is such a hard art to master considering there is no room for fear or inhibition. Being an improv actor means you are fearless and incapable of timidity. All of the actors last night showed a fearlessness that cannot be denied and brought their A-game.
I can't wait to go back! I'm actually considering (meaning I'm most likely) taking classes offered at The PIT. I have always loved improv and after seeing those shows last night a wave of inspiration swept over me in an overwhelming way!
So go check out The PIT, they have free shows Wednesday nights and other days of the week if you look at their website, but paying that $5-$10 is totally worth it! They offer classe and many chances for amateurs to perform in front of an audience FOR FREE!
Go Improv!!
I'm out.
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