Chance encounters

I just got home from a great night out with some old friends from Orlando, and some new friends from Chicago. Renee and Kristin are in town for Lollapalooza, so I met up with Tim and them at Piece, the fabulous pizza joint in Wicker Park. Earlier in the night I asked Olivia if she'd like to meet us for some drinks, only to find out that she was already on her way there to meet up with one of her friends. Perfect.
After Piece we headed over to Subterranean for a free show sponsored by Rhapsody. We watched a couple fun dancy/hip hop bands before I realized that I have to work tomorrow....so I said goodbye to everyone and left.
As I'm waiting for the Damen bus to go home, I strike up a conservation with the other person waiting at the bus stop. Turns out, not only is this person a designer, but he works with the Drive-By Pressers...who I just recently bought a shirt from a couple weeks ago at the Belmont Music fest. Funny how the world works. We wait and wait for the bus, until we finally decide to split a cab. I was going to Roscoe Village... he was going to Lincoln Square. This experience just reminded me of how small the world is, and while I don't usually talk to strangers, sometimes it's good to. You never know what their story might be and how you may somehow be connected.

Check out the first act we saw last night, Hollywood Holt. I think at first the crowd was a little shocked by his energy level. Indie kids aren't used to so much jumping around, haha. Once the crowd got warmed up (thanks to the open bar?)...things got a lot more fun. I think Hollywood should have been on later, when the crowd filled up. He's definitely a hype man though, which would explain why he was on earlier.

Here's a rap about a moped. Gotta love it ;)

Way to help the cause, Ludacris.

Sure, he's just a rapper, but come on. These lyrics suck. If this song gets any radio play, that's sad.

Thank you Keira!

Keira Knightly just gained some respect. She refuses photoshop touch-ups on her upcoming movie posters for Duchess. There should be more actresses like this in Hollywood who are willing to put aside personal gain for the gain of women-kind as a whole. This actress is clearly hot. Does she need a larger cup size to prove that?

My awesome friends

I had to share this photo I found on Facebook of my two friends, Brad and Carl. When we all lived in Orlando, they had season passes to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure and would go like 2-3 times a month...sometimes after work for happy hour (obviously!). Anyways, in case you couldn't tell, they are the two guys in the front. Hilarious. I miss those guys, I think we need a family reunion.

Venetian Night & Cubs Game

Where da party at?

Yes, my alma mater was voted best party school, but don't forget this line: "Florida's incoming students have a weighted grade-point average of 4.1 and an average SAT score of 1,300." We're smart AND we know our way around a beer bong :)

Oh traffic report, how I loathe thee

...no words

Caution to Beer Pong fans

It has been reported that the popular game of Beer Pong can give you herpes! All together now...EWWWW! Supposedly, cases of oral herpes have risen 230% in people between the ages of 17-21 from 2007 to 2008.

Some advice: Switch to Flip Cup!

*Cringe*

Oh boy, Sherri Shepard*. If you haven't heard, it's getting around that she's had "more abortions than she'd like to count." How cringe-worthy is that statement. I did a little research to avoid falling prey to the popular-these-days sound bite. I was unaware of how horrible her life has been in the past. At one point her self esteem was so low, from abuse from her parents (?) and a past relationship, that she says if someone killed her, it wouldn't have made a difference. That too is a very sad statement. Knowing this information, I'm not sure how to process the abortion bit. Is it wrong for me to think that she should have been on birth control? If she's been pregnant that many times, wouldn't BC have been the logical choice. It's like, $7-30 a month. I have no idea how much an abortion costs, but I'm sure it's more money than that.

This got me thinking about my personal view on the subject. I am Pro-Choice. I believe a woman (maybe because I am one) has the right to make such a tough decision if she finds herself in that position. I do not agree with abortions as a form of birth control, so let me clarify that. I think the idea of teaching kids abstinence is a lost cause. Kids are going to have sex. Period. Makes a lot more sense to teach them how pregnancy and STD's happen. Better to inform them, then to tell them not to do it and leave them in the dark...forcing them to figure it out on their own. Kids aren't stupid. If they want to do it, they will...if they don't want to do it, they wouldn't.

I think it's horrible to chastise a woman (or worse, a young girl) for making the hard decision to end her pregnancy. Getting pregnant takes two people, but women often shoulder the blame. What I think some people fail to acknowledge, is that getting pregnant by accident can happen to anyone. And until you find yourself in that situation, you have no right to judge someone or force them into something they don't want to do. I know friends in the past who have had "scares." Luckily for them, it was just a scare. But does that make them any better than the girl who actually got pregnant? I have also had friends who have become pregnant and have gone through with it. My hat goes off to these women. Raising a baby, obviously, has to be one of the toughest (and most rewarding) things a woman can do.

That's my two cents. Thoughts? Comments? :)

*Sherri Shepard is a co-host on The View. Understanably, you may not know who she is. I happen to be a pop-culture junkie.

Batman

UPDATE: I just read in the Daily Herald that The Dark Knight dropped $40 Million into the Illinois economy. And 4,500 local jobs were generated to make the movie.

Here's a breakdown of all the Chicago locations used in the movie.

______________


In case you haven't heard, the new Batman is amazing! I want to see it again...that means I am willing to spend more money on this movie...that is rare. It has a fantastic assemble cast. Like I said before, I'm very happy with the addition of Maggie G. Bale was lovely eye candy, as usual. However, what is up with that raspy Batman voice? Very distracting. Heath was absolutely perfect. Aaron E, also great, even with half a burned face. The use of Chicago as the backdrop to the movie was interesting. I loved looking for familiar sights, but at the same time, it kind of broke the sense of fantasy. Kind of weird to see the Joker riding past the Lyric Opera. Or to see the Chicago River and Wacker Drive from outside Harvey Dent's office window.

We went to see the movie on opening night at 10:20 pm and the place was a mad house. We stood in line for an hour to get into the theater. Once the doors opened, it was a mad dash to find a good seat, which Tim and I did. The crowd was great...both quiet and rowdy at the right times. The best part was during the previews, when a new Keanu Reeves movie came on the screen and everyone busted out laughing at his delivery of lines.

I know this has been said time and time again, but it really is a tragedy that we lost such a talented actor. After watching Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker, it really hit me how hard it must have been to take on that role and truly nail it. This movie really would have sky-rocketed his career. It's really a shame.



I vote we bring back Catwoman for Batman III

Pitchfork Fest 2008

Les Savy Fav...The lead singer came out into the audience, right next to us, jumped in a trash and was carried by fellow by-standers. It was awesome!

Go Maggie

I'll be seeing the new Batman movie this Friday! I'm so happy Maggie Gylenhaal took Katie Holmes' place. Whenever I see Katie Holmes, I think of Tom Cruise, and Suri, and Tomkat, and all that crap. I know nothing about Maggie's personal life, and I kinda like that, because it means she's more likely to pull off a character without me knowing she's acting. Plus this Go Fug Yourself blog is cracking me up.

City Girl

Today I had to drive out to DeKalb Illinois* for a press check. I had to be there by 8:30 am, requiring me to get out of bed at 5:45 this morning. DeKalb is about 2 hours west of Chicago. Ugh. As I made my way farther and farther from the urban setting I've grown so familiar with, I looked around in awe of how much land was all around me. Miles and miles of cornfields, farms, tractors, and irrigation systems. While I wasn't happy to be driving so early in the morning, it was nice to see this kind of scenery. But as I drove for what seemed like forever through the vast nothingness, I couldn't help but wonder...what the heck do people DO out here? I saw one Jewel (grocery store), zero movie theaters, zero restaurants, zero everything! I have to say though, this nothingness was better than driving through the suburbs...the land of Wal-Mart, strip malls, and Chili's. (I actually really like Chili's but you know what I mean.)

So today as I weave and swerve my way through traffic...as I curse the person who just cut me off, as I envy all the bicyclists while making my way to my box in a building – I will be happy, that I live in Chicago. :)

More Beautiful Stuff

These prints were created by an artist to raise money for Obama. They are so beautiful! Check out the article describing how it was made.

-ISO50
-Design:Related

Awesomeness

Radiohead just released a new video for its song "House of Cards" from the album "In Rainbows".

No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes.

-taken from Google
and Design:Related

???

Last night around 9:30 or so, the strangest chain of events took place. My roommate called from the living room that the fire department was pounding at the main entrance to our apartment building. This was unsettling. So we ran down to answer the door, while sniffing the air hoping to not smell any smoke...which we didn't. I let them in and they asked if I had called..."umm, no..." They said someone in the building had called the police on our neighbors, saying that they've been hearing an alarm going off for an hour and half straight in our neighbor's apartment. The police dispatched the fire department because I guess they thought the alarm may have been a carbon monoxide alarm. Not exactly news you want to hear. So the firemen knocked on our neighbor's door...no one answered. Their lights were on and they had music blaring. The knocks turned to pounds..."Fire Department! Open UP!" Still no answer. We let the fireman go through our apartment to get to the back patio we share with our neighbors. They pounded on the back door...still, no answer. Wtf? We were starting to get nervous that something was seriously wrong them, causing them to not be able to answer the door.

The firemen were very good at calming our nerves–cracking jokes and being very friendly with us. They went down to their fire truck and grabbed a huge ladder. They entered our neighbor's apartment from an exterior window. They searched the apartment and no one was there, which was a relief, but at the same time...why was their music blaring and all their lights on? First thing that crossed my mind was that they were getting high or something, suddenly the fire department is breaking into your house...I thought maybe they were hiding? Anyway, there were no traces of carbon monoxide or anythings else to be concerned with, so the firemen left.

We still don't know what the hell happened, but we know our second floor neighbors called the cops on our direct neighbors for being loud. We know this because earlier in the night Carisa saw them banging on our neighbor's door, trying to tell them to be quiet. Carisa said the dude was pretty upset. Bet they weren't expecting the fire department to come and break into the house! The strangest thing was that the people who called the cops never even came down to help with the situation. Instead all the other neighbors that were home were in the stairway wondering what's up. Hey, at least I got to interact with some of the other people in my building, haha.

Carisa and I decided to leave a note for our neighbors.

Dear 1S,
While you were gone, we're not sure why, but the fire department was called and they were concerned about carbon monoxide in your apartment. They entered and found no cause for concern. They turned off your tv and maybe your lights. Just thought you'd like to know.

From,
1N

I just checked to is if my note was still there and it wasn't. I wonder if they'll knock on our door and ask for more details. Wouldn't you if you got that note? Odd, very odd.

Give me your eyes, I need sunshine

On Tuesday night, Lee and I went to the House of Blues to see Wolf Parade. The doors opened at 5:30...Wolf Parade went on at 8pm. What's up with these early shows during the week? By the time we got down to HOB, we had only missed one song. The place was packed and at first we were standing right next to a drunk chick who kept yelling "Play This Heart's on Fire!!!!!" Good lord woman, give them a chance! They were only on their second song. She was also doing the typical drunk girl hippie dance. Once she was out of the picture, and after finding our nook in the wall, we were able to really enjoy the show. The band sounded perfect and they played lots of songs from Apologies to the Queen Mary and some new songs from At Mount Zoomer. It was a great set, and I finally got to check out the Chicago House of Blues. One highlight of the show was when they played my favorite song...I'll Believe in Anything.

Check out our video from the show. Notice how about half way through the view gets better. That's because my brother, who is much taller than me, took the camera. :)

Heads Up

Feels like you just can't win these days...

Keep your eyes open the next time you pay with plastic at the pump. I'm starting to seriously consider getting rid of my car.

OLD-IFIED!

His words, not mine...I'm 7 months older than him! Happy 27th Birthday Timothy :) Let your b-day weekend begin (in 3 days)! Love you :*

My New BBQ

Since my roommate and I have a wood deck, we're not allowed to own a charcoal BBQ. So, in order to NOT burn down our back porch, I found a George Foreman electric grill that looks like an outdoor grill! Woo! And the best part is, I found a lightly used one for $18...saving me about $70. :) I'm picking it up tonight. Gotta love craigslist.

Jeff Koons

The Museum of Contemporary Art recently opened an exhibit of famous kitsch pop artist, Jeff Koons. I was excited to see his work in person because I'd learned about him and seen slides in my art history classes. Luckily for Tim and I , Bank of America was running some sort of offer that allowed its card holders in for free. So in we went! First off, we were impressed with the diversity of his work. He had a little of everything....from oil paintings, to porcelain sculptures, to shiny metallic balloon-like sculptures, to...porn! If you know anything about Jeff Koons' history, you know that he was/is sort of a rebel in the art world, and he's also famous for marrying an Italian porn actress. This lead to the inspiration for his Made in Heaven series, which includes explicit images of he and his wife. A little warning would have been nice as we made our way into this section of the exhibit. Thank God there were no little kids around! ;)

What I find most interesting about seeing pieces of art in real life is that you never know how big or small a piece of art really is. Since everything is projected at the same size on the wall (in art classes)...I'm often surprised when I see a piece of art in real life. I'd seen slides of Koons' Bubbles many times, but after seeing it yesterday, I was surprised at how big it was.

Happy Independence Day!

Let's hope the view is good from Tim's rooftop!

Why my city doesn't rock

To add to the trend of everything getting more expensive, today Chicago's sales tax increased to 10.25%. :(