Summer '09

Suddenly, my short break is halfway over. It went by so fast, and I can't believe I go back to school a week from Wednesday. It's been pretty busy so far, but I think this next week is going to be far more chill.

Ben and I went to California last week, and spent Monday-Friday out there. Flew into Las Vegas, where we stayed the night, before heading to Ridgecrest to find Ben an apartment. Let me say it -- I HATE LAS VEGAS. So gawdy and icky. And plus, that place has super negative energy. I don't like the idea of a place that thrives on other people's weaknesses. But Ridgecrest was cool, and a lot of fun. We stayed at Steve and Lisa's, which was great since we don't get to see them very often. It was a pretty lowkey trip, or at least felt like it was, even though we were zipping around town looking at properties up until the last minute. Ben found one and got approved for it, and is moving in about a month. It's a really nice place, and I'm super pumped for him.

Today we went into Chicago for my second interview at the Chicago Council. I was recommended for it after my first internship didn't work out due to scheduling conflicts. And turns out, this one was the same story. But they said that if I have afternoons free this winter, to give them a call and re-apply, because I seem like a great candidate. So, I guess I can't be too upset, since they did like me, but it still sucks that I didn't get the position. It seems like an awesome place to work.

This week, I'm just hanging around. Ben and I are going to a wedding this Saturday, and Sunday is his graduation/job party. Then on Monday, it's back to the city to get ready for classes on Wednesday. Only ten months left until graduation!!!

"Bottle of scotch, a dime-bag, and a diamond watch."

Let me say this: I hate Country music. Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, all that shit. I can't stomach it one bit. It just packages everything simple and unworthwhile about American culture and delivers it over a VERY predictable and mediocre guitar riff. No, thank you.

But Bluegrass on the other hand. I love Bluegrass. In the past few years, I've gravitated way more to bluegrass than any other genre of music, even veering away from the Indie-Alternative scene I was pretty into for most of my life. And thankfully, it's seen a resurgence these days. Bands like Old Crow Medicine Show, who I am obsessed with, are highly accessible, which is wonderful. Lolla featured a stage that was nearly totally dedicated to Bluegrass music this year, and where we invariably ended up.

I've always speculated that I would like to live in the South, because of my love for Bluegrass music and the culture it manages to capture (albeit a culture that is nearly dead.) But lately I've decided it's probably not the South, but more like Appalachia that I dig. That sense of Americana is what I'm really into -- whiskey drinking, hard working, optimistic desperation. I love that! I even love the God they sing about, because they aren't singing to the Lord on Sunday. They are calling out from the bottom of the barrel for salvation.

Yesterday, I discovered The Felice Brothers, and have been listening to them non-stop. I love the singer's voice -- it sounds so old! And in searching for similar bands, I stumbled on the term "hipbilly" which is basically a cross of hillbilly and hipster. Well, consider this hipster a convert. I fly my hipbilly flag with pride!

Months Away, But Still

This will be the first time in multiple years that I dress up for Halloween. It's sad. I know. I'm going to a Halloween party, and I can't go as Audrey Hepburn like I did last year, considering my costume was literally an outfit I wear regularly (black ankle-length pants and a black turtleneck -- I know, I'm cool.) So, this year I get to put in some real effort, which is great! Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and I'm excited for the impending celebration.

But the question is: What should I dress up as? I've had a few ideas, but I'm having a hard time deciding. My first thought was Joan Holloway, from the show Mad Men, because there is no one more fabulous than Joanie. I had thought about going as Betty Draper, Don's beautiful yet tortured wife, but I'm thinking that would be less fun than being Joan. I had thought about going as a pin up girl, but I'd rather go as a character. It'd be more fun. Sookie Stackhouse is a top contender, primarily because I'd love to buy one of those Merlotte's t-shirts they sell on HBO.com. Jackie Kennedy would be neat, too, seeing as how I'm madly in love with Jack.

Any ideas? I could most certainly use some help!

"The War Has Begun, You Evil Whore of Satan."

You know, for how much I love True Blood, I dread the end of every episode. Why? Because it is one hour closer to the end of the season. And this season has, so far, been amazing. I literally watch every episode on the edge of my seat, and always find myself "What the hell"-ing when it's over.

I've never been really into the whole super natural TV/movie thing. I mean, I've always been pretty morbid, and as a kid spent a lot of time watching classic old horror movies (like Bela Lugosi style.) The classic monsters are the ones I'm down with, like Dracula and Frankenstein, primarily because they are amazing books. But any recent vampire and monster driven show were just too corny. So when I started watching True Blood, I was actually embarrassed to admit that I was a fan of a vampire show.

What made the first season different for me was the political edge it had. It literally dropped vampires into a very real world, where they were fighting for their civil rights. And setting it in the deep south was genius. That's what brought me in, but the show is so well written (and manages to avoid so many cheesy cliches, if by no other means than good acting) that I've only missed the airing of one episode since it premiered.

But the second season is totally different. Things are a million times darker than first season, but it's not the vampires who are evil this time. It's exploring these dark corners of humanity, with the indisputably evil Fellowship of the Sun, lead by Reverend Steve Newlin. This season, it's the vampires who are showing the most compassion, even as they are being hunted by right-wing extremist militia style groups. And let's face it, the violent reaction Steve Newlin is fueling is a pretty accurate depiction of what that portion of the population would do. Hell, put a black man in the White House and they start training "soldiers" to "retake our country" from the "Socialist" trying to hijack it. I'm sure if vampires popped up, Fox News would be handing training pamphlets on how to wield a wooden stake.

But it's interesting, in this fictionalized situation, to see the limits of humanity being pushed. How far can humans go before they have crossed the line? And what makes you human? Surely Steve Newlin, who holds people hostage in his basement and attempts to start "wars," isn't more human than Godric, the vampire who refuses to spill unnecessary blood.

And plus, WHAT THE FUCK IS THE DEAL WITH MARYANNE?! She's seriously bizarre, and scary, and Tara and Eggs were coo-coo for eating a BLEEDING souffle. At least Lafayette is still his sassy, sexy self...

Might As Well Cancel Your Plans For Sunday

Because anyone who knows anything will be watching the Season 3 premiere of Mad Men on AMC. In case you've been living in a cave for the past few years and haven't heard of Mad Men (a surprisingly high number of people haven't) then you have no idea what you're missing. The show is centered around the Manhattan ad agency Sterling Cooper in the early 1960's. It follows the ups and downs of the lives of the executives working there, particularly Don Draper, a junior partner in the company. Don, who isn't exacly everything he seems to be, lives the quinnessential male existence of the time -- drinking heavily, smoking constantly, and sleeping around with some of the most gorgeous women in New York City.

But what makes the show amazing is all the darkness. It's not so much what the characters do, be it cheating on their wives or drinking themselves into oblivion, but those moments when they are left alone with their demons. I've seen it all over the place that silence is the most telling part of the show, because that's when you can see the most about the characters. That time in American history is so often portrayed as perfect, suburbian and idyllic, but watching Mad Men is like peeling back the layers and seeing what was underneath all that. It's like peeking in on a perfect family and seeing their rough edges.

And it doesn't hurt that the cast is amazing, the writing is phenomenal, the costumes are killer, and that Don Draper is a total, tortured stud, and the fact that he lies, drinks, smokes, and cheats somehow doesn't make him any less appealing. And THAT is something in and of itself.

Yup, I'm Occasionally "That Girl."

You know the one. The one who is sitting by herself at the restaurant, reading/people watching. The one who sits in the middle of the movie theater, alone, nibbling popcorn. The one who you see around town, by herself, walking home or to the store or wherever else. Either way, I'm a big fan of going on dates with myself. And today, I intend on doing just that. After cleaning up the apartment after the weekend of festitude, I'm gonna spend the hottest time of the day in the cool movie theater up the street. The only thing is I can't decide what movie to go see.

It's been a good summer for movies. From Away We Go to Whatever Works, it seems like there were just a lot of good movies coming out. Right now, there are three playing that I want to see: Adam, Paper Heart, and In The Loop. They are all starting at around the same time, so I might just do what I did when I saw Che and decide when I get there.

There are a few other movies out right now that I really wanna see, but aren't playing at Landmark, including: Funny People (because I got mad love for Judd Apatow) and Hump Day (The Duplass Bros are awesome!) Plus, before I know it, it'll be time for The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Where The Wild Things Are. Gotta love good movies.

"Yes, Snoop Dogg, I do love and miss Tupac."

Well, this was the second year I went to Lollapalooza, and the first year I went for all three days. Last year, Kim and I went up for the third day to see Mark Ronson's set, and ended up catching G. Love, Gnarls Barkley, Mark Ronson, Blues Traveler, and Kanye West while we were at it, along with a few other random bands on the side stages. After the bomb-ass experience of going for one day, it was obvious we would have to go for all three this year. Kim wasn't able to make it up for all three days, but Ben and I went, and it was awesome!

The first day was rainy and nasty out. We went down there and spent like 5 hours in the rain, in shorts (and me in my bikini top and a sheer button down shirt.) We caught a few bands, including Manchester Orchestra, Heartless Bastards, and STS9, before deciding to peace out for the day. Sadly, this meant me missing The Decemberists and Ben missing Depeche Mode, but with it only being the first day, we figured the next two days would make up for it.

And oh boy, did they ever! Day 2 was sunny and hot, as Lolla should be. We got there in time to catch the very end of the Delta Spirit set (who are amazing by the way) and that set the tone for the whole day. We spent most of the time sitting over by the BMI stage (one of the smaller ones) in the shade, watching the bluegrass-y bands play. Langhorne Slim was probably my favorite -- totally amazing. We stuck around for the Joe Pug and Blind Pilot shows, which meant missing Perry Farrell's DJ set, but that's alright. We went to the other end of the park to watch Glasvegas (not impressed) before heading back the other way to check out Ben Harper and Relentless7. For the headliner that night, we went over the Perry's (where the DJ's were) and caught the end of Diplo's set, which was great, and watched the beginning of Bassnectar. Once people got really effing weird (we were kinda close to the front) we went and stood in the back during Yeah Yeah Yeahs for about half an hour.

Yesterday, though, was fucking awesome. Kim came up in the morning and we all got there at like two o'clock. A little late, but it was so hot and humid, I'm glad we weren't there all day. We hung around the BMI stage again and watched The Greencards (intense fiddling!) before heading over to get into the crowd for The Raveonettes. We caught some of Kaiser Chiefs from where we were, and I really am not a fan. But I did get to hear "Oh My God," which is one of the songs Mark Ronson did on his album Version. That was neat. But we stuck around and heard The Raveonettes for like half an hour, then beebopped over to the other end of the park to catch the last part of Dan Deacon's set. The crowd was SO intense, and it smelled horrible. But it was really a dank set. He had a whole marching band on stage with him! After he was done, we shot down to the front of that stage because after Vampire Weekend performed across the field, Cold War Kids were playing, and I had to be down front for that. We ended up like two or three rows back, which was amazing. We could see Vampire Weekend from where we were, so while I wish I had been closer, for the sake of Cold War, it was worth it. After Cold War's AWESOME set, we went across the field and stayed in the back during Snoop Dogg's performance, which was really great. It was a lot of fun dancing like an idiot. Then, after catching a little of MSTRKRFT's set, we decided to take off and get showered up, cause we were SO effing disgusting.

But it was worth the dirt.

And It's On Michigan Avenue!!!

Well, I have exciting news! Tomorrow at 2, I have an interview at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs for an internship this fall!! I had applied a while back after reading about them in Foreign Policy magazine (yeah, I'm a subscriber? So what?) But I had never heard anything, so I figured they weren't impressed with my hastily put together resume. Turns out I was wrong! Yesterday I got a call, during which I was preliminarily interviewed (totally caught off guard) and asked if I'd be interested in an internship. I said, "Of course!" and now I have a hiring interview tomorrow afternoon. The position is in the membership department, which isn't exactly what I saw myself doing, but any chance to work there is such an awesome opportunity. It's an organization that cares some serious weight in the Foreign Policy world, and having it on my resume will be amazing! And biggest perk is the chance to work events, where I can network and meet all kinds of awesome people within the policy world. Talk about amazing! I'm so excited, but super nervous. I've never had a real interview before, besides the one with The Fund, but that doesn't count. If I get the position, I'll be working 15 (minimum) hours a week, plus my 20 credit hours at school. But any fatigue will so be worth it!