Ok, ok, so I've got tickets for tomorrow night at Crash Mansion. But still! I haven't seen all these guys together on one stage since 2004 so I'm all over any opportunity I get.

VMars people: I expect to see you there. juls_chuls and afrocurl, you are excused on account of distance, but the rest of y'all (and you know who you are) if this is in your neck of the woods (and you damn well know it is) I WILL SEE YOU THERE. OR. UM. CONSEQUENCES.

Music people: Come on! If you're not already in love with these boys, you should be. I kick myself for not going to see them til my last year in Austin and wasting so many chances. It's not Waterloo, but it's the closest thing we got out here.

Be there! Especially if it's only a short walk for you!

PS-- that link through the picture up top? Yeah, the two best albums are all the way at the bottom. Both of those play like greatest hits compilations. They should be in your car's CD player, constantly. At least for the first month or so you have them.

Best part? TOTAL POSSIBILITY.

Spotted on LAist this morning:

YAY.

Look at that:



Yea, verily, a thing of beauty. Taking the train to that big sweet mall in Century City, or Beverly Hills, OR THE BEACH.

Be still my beating heart.

Yes, true, at least ten years off, but hey, gives a girl something to look forward to.

Miss Cherry Josefa Corazon, Cherry Bomb to her friends.



Ain't she pretty? Who's a good car? Who's a good car? She is! Yes, she is! Good car! Goooooood car!

I love this car. What?

Saturday morning bright and early I went to Target and got a new Thomas guide, jumper cables, a flashlight, a first aid kit, a SF Valley map, and a tire repair kit. Then I went and sold my old car for $50. In with the new, out with the old.

I am thankful for:

1. Extra steak at lunch today. Thanks Commissary Dude!

2. I GOT THE CAR LOAN!

Oh, I didn't tell you Cesar Jose Lima died? Yes. It was sad. And not a little scary. Three hours of non-fun at a 76 just off the 5. But! I got a loan! For a new car! The one that I want is pretty! With features! I would say 'mit funktionen' but I think the only person who would get it no longer reads this. Still! I got the loan!

3. NEW CAR. I KNOW I ALREADY MENTIONED IT, BUT IT DESERVES ITS OWN LINE.

4. I now like "Chinatown." That makes two Polanski movies that don't bore me to tears. But don't worry, I didn't drink all the kool aid, "Rosemary's Baby" still sucks.

5. The mere fact that this exists:



Seriously, is it not awesome? Also the toothpick holder. I would enjoy looking at him on my table while I eat dinner.



PS-- I really really like Chinatown. It's beautiful. What can I say? Sometimes you just grow up.

I saw it! The new Doctor Who Christmas special!

And the 10 & 5 meet scene! Which is awesome! And totally makes me want to watch old Doctor Who! Must see more Peter Davison! That celery thing! It must be explained!

avarill! She is the best!

No! I can't stop using exclamation marks!

Yes! I totally brought the DVD to work with me to watch again when it gets slow this afternoon!
LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

TiVo arrived! My TiVo! It's here! Big brown box! On my chair! TiVo! It's here!

Also, the photograph I bought. Cool.

But! TiVo! I have TiVo! TiVo! Set it up tonight! TiiiiiiiiiiVoooooooooo!

And I'm glad I did it. I'm overjoyed, actually!

I've been wanting a TiVo of my own for quite a while. Oh, about ever since I ordered my roommate's. But I wanted a bigger machine so I was going to save for it. Well, if I wait til I have $300 together for that, I'll always find something else to spend the $300 on. So that's not worth it. The regular old Series 2 80 hour is working pretty well in the living room, and for $100 that's not bad. But that $100. Wouldn't it be better spent on the trip to Dallas I have planned for November, or towards the car I need, or towards Houston in Christmas, or towards the laptop that would be nice to replace the 2002 relic I have right now? Probably.

So I indulged myself in one of the few spoiled only child moments I (rarely) have. I remembered that my parents are always asking what I want for Christmas. And this time I really know. And it would be nice to have it now (should have had this thought a couple weeks ago so it could be all set up well before the new season, but I digress) instead of at Christmas when the season's half over. So I called. I asked for some Christmas money early, told them exactly what I wanted it for. And they were cool with it. Happy about it, actually. Cause this time I'll really love and use what they gave me. Every day. With joy and reverence. I have a feeling I'll write poetry and songs about it and never leave my room again.

I'M GETTING TIVO!

I'm gonna have Moonlight and Friday Night Lights and Chuck and Reaper and HBO stuff and everything Steve Martin does that passes TiVo's little eye and Night Court and The Wonder Years and Benson and Alton Brown and probably Ewan McGregor and Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh and Gossip Girl. All at my fingertips. Whenever I want. Swoon.

Oh, another reason I hadn't gotten the TiVo yet is because the TV cabinet I bought almost a year ago is still sitting in my car while my TV sits on the floor of my room with the cable box and DVD player on top of it. Shut up, the cabinet pieces are heavy. And I haven't really had anyone to help me carry it all in and build it, unless I want to impose on my roommate. So this weekend Kevin will help me cart the suff in and build the damn thing Sunday afternoon so the TiVo box will have a place to go. I'll also redo the light fixture so the cord doesn't threaten to decapitate people me everytime they I pass it. Too short cord for where I hung it from the ceiling.




PS-- Kevin doesn't know yet that the weekend includes a construction project. It's a surprise?

PIZZA IN A CUP. I KID YOU NOT.

Well, a cone. But still! Navin R. Johnson would totally dig this!



I will be trying this as soon as is humanly possible. Also, I recommend Biggest Menu to everyone, but especially those in the LA area. New obsession!

This thing! At the Paley! I'm going!



A rave hit with critics, AMC's Mad Men is—per Vanity Fair's James Wolcott—a "rat-packish safari" through the urban jungle of New York advertising in the 1960s, as drawn by former Sopranos scribe Matthew Weiner. Join the cast and creative team for a screening and discussion of—among other things—just who is Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and why is everyone saying such nice things about him?

In Person:
Matthew Weiner, Series Creator
Jon Hamm, "Don Draper"
Elisabeth Moss, "Peggy"
Vincent Kartheiser, "Pete"
January Jones, "Betty"
John Slattery, "Roger"
Christina Hendricks, "Joan"

I am so excited I cannot even tell you. Have I mentioned this show and how excellent it is? Cause you really should be watching it. All of you. AMC-- it's not just for Saturday afternoon "The Great Escape" marathons with convenient commercial bathroom & sandwich breaks anymore.

Dude.

That should be their new slogan. On a T-shirt or something.

When I uploaded the other Richard Sherman bits I taped at the Mary Poppins sing-along at the El Capitan in January, youtube wouldn't accept my favorite one because it was 7 KB too long. Then awesome Davebo led me to this awesome site which would make awesome shorter conversions of videos and I was awesomely able to fix it so youtube would accept it! Take that youtube! You will take my Richard Sherman videos and you will like it!

So, today is a good day! Why is today a good day? Because I'm going to have company for a whole weekend in September. Awesome company. I cannot wait!

Also, this weekend will be chock-full of hectic fun and goodness.

Today: The Dateline Disneyland broadcast from opening day is on the bill as the Minnie Movies presentation of the week. I'll be there at 12.30 to watch the famous opening speech, then have lunch on the sunny Commissary patio. Too beautiful outside to waste a whole day under fluorescent lighting.

Tonight: Dinner at CityWalk, Harry Potter in IMAX 3D, and possibly Howl at the Moon afterwards. Texas peeps-- Howl = Dueling Pete's, sorta.

Tomorrow: Game-testing during the day by the sea.

John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl with avarill in the evening. I'll be rushing back from the Westside, so I probably won't have time to put together an ultra-yummy picnic like last time with ubbercatta, so I'll just have to make do with Hollywood + Highland offerings. Hmm, Beard Papa and CPK? I think I can suffer through that.

Sunday: Brunch with jenn_ness at Toast!

Then we rock Felt Club like a hurricane, leaving crafters, buttons, and needles scattered all over Hollywood in our wake.

Jersey Boys that night at the Ahmanson with playmayt.

We're getting new Meg Cabot, Jennifer Egan, and JASPER FFORDE books this month!

Well, not we, cause I won't be getting them til August. :( But there might be a little preliminary reading in a bookshop or two with a pot of tea and a cookie.





NEW THURSDAY NEXT. I HAVE NO WORDS. IT IS THAT AWESOME.

Happy Birthday Anne Frank!

Happy Birthday Michael Muhney!

Happy Birthday Vic Damone!

Happy Birthday George Herbert Walker Bush!

Happy Birthday Scott Thompson of the Kids in the Hall!

Happy Birthday Kelly Clark!

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!

To Anyone else I forgot, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Anyone else out there seen the trailer for Enchanted?

That slightly spoilery review over at Jim Hill?

Anything? Anyone else excited? Anyone?

CAUSE I AM!

Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Susan Sarandon, and Idina Menzel sounds like a pretty fun cast to me. Throw in Barry Sonnenfeld who can do no wrong as far as I'm currently concerned and you're making it very hard for me to wait patiently until November 21st to see this. I may start poking people on the lot for sneak peeks soon. In the mean time, there's stuff like this on YouTube to keep us distracted.

I mean it. Really. To celebrate that and the arrival of the newest family baby this weekend, bringing the number of pregnant ladies I know to six (down from nine only a few short weeks ago) I share this:



Hi Brady! Hi Jane! Hi Liliana! May you eat many puppies and make everyone you ever meet barf rainbows at your very cuteness.

I am convinced that there must be a no baby policy at CuteOverload because if there wasn't this would be the cutest overloadedest picture ever.

Sometimes I cannot deal with how much I love where I work. Today, for example.

I did it! I did it! I did it!

And I did it in 29 days instead of 30.

I did it. I watched 30 movies in April.

What will I do in May?

That's what my heart sounded like last night. Throughout the concert, afterwards eating the finest street-dog ever constructed, as I searched the radio for music worthy of following Live Iggy all the way home, and as I desperately tried to sleep my heart no longer sounded like itself as it beat but repeated IGGY IGGY IGGY all night.



He's so full of energy, that to write those words don't seem enough. His performance can't be described, I can't say what it was like. The leaping, the arching, the shimmying, the shimmerying, the dancing, the jumping, the joining, the climbing, the wailing, the flailing, the inviting, the singing, the baring (of his soul, you dirty-minded punks,) the sheer strength of it all still floors me. I can't imagine what it's like to experience that all the time, what it would be like to have all that energy focused on you. What it would be like to be so full of all of that. I can't, I can't, and it's true that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, so I'll just stop and fall back on some pictures that weren't taken last night, but could have been.

Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams are going to do The Time Traveller's Wife! I can't wait. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours... I should probably reread it.

in the crappile that is my day.

Lily Allen is even more awesome than I thought. In addition to recording this CD which all of you should own immediately, she (or someone in her camp) is also into The Sims! Behold, LilySim in a Sims video for "Smile," recorded entirely in Simlish. SimSweet.