Bamboozle 2009

This was one of the best Bamboozle experiences yet. With over seventy bands to choose from on 5 stages for about $70 dollars, it was so worth it, and even the weather upheld at 75 degrees and sunny. I know Amanda posted on this, but I felt I had to also because it was such an awesome and crazy experience. Among my favorite performances included We Three Kings (whom I had never heard before coming there), All Time Lows, Bloodhound Gang (although Amanda was not to impressed), and of course Third Eye Blind. Oh and did I mention JOURNEY! Yes Journey! Journey was the special surprise guest of the night and with a new lead singer, they sounded amazing, the crowd will never stop believing in their talent for sure. The highlights of the day included when I got stuck in a mosh pit during New Found Glory and saw the guitarist from Bloodhound Gang puke three or four times after chugging beer. Although somewhat staged, absolutely DISGUSTING. Sidenote: *Mosh Pits should be on a list of things people with disabilities should not do. LOL. I left the pit with a slightly twisted ankle and my roommate left with only one flip flop. That was one of the scariest experiences of my life, but it made for a good story for sure.
Third Eye Blind captured my heart (as expected) for sure. Playing old songs including "Graduate" "Jumper" "Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life" and my all time non-hit "Motorcycle Drive By" as well as new songs from their upcoming album coming out in July "Don't Believe a Thing", the overall experience was memorable. If anyone has never heard Motorcycle Drive By-- check it out... here's part of the song from Bamboozle found it on YouTube

CCSU Drag Queen King Ball

I had to write about this because it definitely is a subculture in itself and a form of great entertainment. I attended my first drag queen/king ball at CCSU this past Wednesday night. Having an openly gay male friend that is (usually) totally against drag actually performing, I felt obligated to attend to see him dance the night away in heels as his alter ego Heyonce. Yes, he is obessed with Beyonce, so it was quite fitting for him to be Heyonce lol. Anyways, I had no idea what to expect here! Walking in I was surrounded by men in dresses and makeups that looked better than most girls on a girls night out. CCSU works with professional drag queens to put on a benefit every semester, and this year, the talent was exceptional. One drag queen performed to Britney Spears and Lady GaGa songs, and I must say looked 10 x better than the actual Britney. How any man can dress up in woman's clothing, wigs, make up, and heels and still do splits and dance around like they were wearing sneakers, deserves major credit. These drag queens had exceptional dance moves, thriving personalities, and some of the thickest heels I have ever seen. I enjoyed the show a lot more than expected after getting over the tons of men in dresses lol.

Ode the Fabulous Fried Shrimp

Ok so I feel like I write a lot of blogs about food, but this was supposed be added a couple weeks ago. So as I posted in a previous blog, I went to NY April 17-19th and while I was there, I had the most amazing fried shrimp I have ever eaten. O'Flanagans Restaurant on First Av. between 65th and 66th St. is an Irish Pub meets American Sports Bar. With a menu full of Irish as well as American favorites including Sheppards Pie, Crab Cakes, Fried Shrimp, and Chicken Tenders, the resturant has a wide variety of foods to choose from.
More on the shrimp: Well It's 14.95 for 6 jumbo beer battered shrimp and a huge basket of french fries. The shrimp is not greasy at all, lightly battered, and has just enough salt. If you are a seafood lover like me, looking for a cheap deal, and venturing in NY, check out O'Flanagan's

http://www.oflanagans.com/

Tis The Season For Icecream

With summer weather SLOWLY approaching (with the weather ranging from 83 one day and 63 the next), it makes you think of going out for ice cream and other frozen treats. Although I am not an extreme ice cream enthusiast, I do like the occasional soft serve, so I decided to investigate the information no one wants to know about these delicious desserts, THE CALORIES. Now I must warn you, if you like going out for ice cream--don't read on LOL.
Comparing three different resturants Coldstone Creamery, Dairy Queen, and Friendly's, I wanted to know which one was "better for you" calorie wise, and I was very surprised. Friendly's is probably the best for you and Coldstone is def. the worst. Although I could not a distinct chart for Friendly's, various articles point out that their ice cream is between 140-300 calories a serving *not including toppings*. Dairy Queen is between 600-1000 calories *including toppings* and Coldstone is between 500-1000 calories not including toppings, so with one to two toppings, the calories might be close to 1300-1500 for one medium size cup. *That's 3/4 of the daily calorie intake**, so Coldstone lovers BEWARE!

For Full Menu Calories, here's a link to DQ and a Coldstone PDF
http://www.shapefit.com/dairyqueen.html
http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/nutritional/nutrition_information.html

Town to Cancel 4th of July Fireworks

Not to be too obscene, but in AIM language-- WTF Wallingford--. Because of the current economic times, Wallingford CT may cancel its annual fourth of July fireworks display set off at Moran Middle School. At a reason town budget meeting, the mayor decided it would be best to cancel the fireworks because of recent job and pay cuts. His logic, "if we can't afford to pay the workers, we can't spend 30,000 to 40,000 dollars of a fireworks show, unless we want to raise taxes". Although this is understandable and no one wants to pay higher taxes, I am very disappointed to say the least. The fireworks show is a tradition in Wallingford for numerous family and friends, that will be truly missed if it is canceled. Although it is not entirely a def. cancellation, I am still worried that summer will not be the same. Here's hoping the economy turns around, so my small town can enjoy one of the joys of summer.

600,000 and 1 Daffodils!

Meriden's "Daffodil Festival" celebrated its 31st year this year and it has been the best weekend in about 20 of those years. I can honestly say I used to dread going to the Daffodil Festival in Hubbard Park every year because it was always freezing or raining or both. According to the website, there are 61 varieties of Daffodils and every year they add more and more to the 1800 acres of land. This year the grand total is 600,001 daffodils. With food, crafts, home, and healthcare vendors as well as enertainment, amusement rides, of course tons of nature, the festival sparks the interest of the young and old. They even have a parade *which I missed yesterday* that crowns a "Miss Daffodil and Honor Escort". This is essentially a boy and girl from each of the elementary schools in Meriden. Although it is a beautiful festival and the hot dogs were delicious, I must say the sun is overwhelming. At one point, I helped my mother work at her healthcare tent, and I had to walk around just to get some air. Being enclosed around a tent is even worse than being out in the sun walking the park. Also, although the festival is amazing on many levels, the parking is not! You must take a shuttle bus from various parking spots just to get over to the park. Overall, I highly recommend it if you see this post before it closes tonight at 5pm tonight. I plan on editing this post tomorrow once I get the number of total visitors. It'll be interesting to see the increase in numbers because of the glorious weather.

Rodney Dangerfield Comedy Club

This weekend I ventured out to NYC for the senior class trip (where only 15 seniors in all of CCSU attended. As part of our trip, we got to go to the Rodney Dangerfield Comedy Club on W 61st and 1st Av. Now being a fan of the late Rodney Dangerfield himself ever since seeing the film Ladybugs in the early nineties, I was extremely excited but unsure what to expect. Dangerfields is one of the most famous comedy clubs in NY, but is actually quite small. Appearing just like another shop or resturant along the NYC strip, it is easy to miss, but if you do come across it venture in. With a bar, small stage, and a dimly lighted room with little red lamps on all the tables, it sets a friendly and familiar atomsphere much like that favorite small local bar everyone has. We got to see four acts and the performers (although their names escape me) were extremely funny. All the guys were either "as seen on comedy central" or hbo and were very talented even incorporating the token college group (CCSU) sitting in the corner. We became some good material for the night. My favorite of the night... "You know when your school's name is the direction of a compass, its gotta be real shitty..."

Anyways, so if you are ever in NYC check it out. Famous comedians like Jerry Seinfield and Robin Williams have been there, just beware of the "$ 20 cover charge--two drink minimum per person" Drinks are like 12 dollars a piece.

Childhood Foods

So I got a lot of inspirations for blog posts because of the readings this week. The snoke piece and the writer's childhood connection to the food strongly reminded me of connections I made to foods recently. As everyone knows, it's Girl Scout cookie season and Girl Scout cookies seem to cause a little nostlia in everyone. Everyone has their favorite. I indulge in a more recent cookie because it reminds me of childhood. The Lemon Chalet Cremes are clearly a lemon cookie, but so much more. The cookie is lemon with a tart yellow center, but the actually cookie part reminds me the animal cracker cookies you used to get from McDonald's Happy Meals. Does anyone remember those? It was like the sweet treat of happy meals besides the cool toys. Anyways, the cookies are fantastic and have sentimental value.

Reflection about the Gary Wolf Piece

As stated in class I really enjoyed this piece. Although I was unclear about its Arts and Entertainment value, I am really interested in pieces that deal with genetics or life span. This strongly reminded me of the 2005 film The Island. Released in July of 2005, the film deals with essentially a labatory of clones that were bought by upper class people. If you haven't seen it, I'm sorry I might spoil the film, but it relates to our class discussion. When Karyn mentioned that Kurtweil's "extending lifespan regimes" being crazy expensive, it just reminded me of the film. I feel like if Singularity does come to existance, it will only be affordable to the rich. The Island reflects on the new high tech ways to prolong their life. The clones in the film are essentially used for prolonging one's life. The clones are real people, but the people that "own" them don't know that they are actual humans and are unaware that scientists kill these clones to keep their owners alive. Okay, I hope that makes sense. To put it another way, say an owner of a clone needs a new heart, the clones are told they have been chosen in the lottery and get to go to "the island". "The island" is an operating table where they are killed and their heart is taken for their owner. Okay, so it indirectly relates to the Wolf article, but Kurtzweil reminded me of the film.

Seth Adam and Band

Since I mentioned the band I previewed and reviewed in my last post, I thought I should give a brief background of who the band is in case any one wants to check them out. Seth Adam is the lead singer of the band. (They need a more orginal title!). I found him while at Happy Hour at Brother's resturant in Wallingford that I blogged about before. The band is out of New Haven and has grown extremely popular along the local scene since break out in 2005. He does acoustic at local bars often, but prefers to perform with the band. His influences include The Beatles, Counting Crows, and Tom Petty to name a few. Although Seth performs orginal music, mostly off his 2007 CD Where You Come From, he also does Counting Crows, and John Mayer covers when he performs acoustic. In person he sounds a little Chris Daughtry esk, but if you like that sort of sound, you will def, fall in love with his voice.

Here's a link to his myspace page where you can access his older and current music. His myspace has music that spans the last 5 yrs of his career.
http://www.myspace.com/sethadam

Songs for Stressful Days

As the end of the semester approaches rapidly, so does the tons of homework and paper deadlines. Spring break is over and it's time to get rolling on school work that you have put off since the beggining. Now with all these papers and tests catching up to you, life can get rather stressful (okay so we all know that's the understatement of the year. Anyways, I find that when I am totally stressed out and cannot seem to get my head around the endless piles of work, I rely on music. Certain songs can just put me in a better mood and take me away from that growing pile, even if its just for five minutes. For this blog post, I created a playlist from my ITUNES that makes my life a little less hectic. Now my ITUNES has 1789 songs on it, so there are def. some I forgot, but if you want to add more, feel free to comment.

1. Blister in the Sun- Violent Femmes
2.Hold On Loosely- .38 Special
3. This Afternoon- Nickleback
4. Two Princes- Spin Doctors
5. Thanks A Lot- Third Eye Blind
6. 99 Red Balloons- Nena
7. You Shook Me All Night- AC/DC
8. Bennie and the Jets- Elton John
9. Chicken Fried- Zac Brown Band
10. Save Tonight- Eagle Eye Cherry
11. Sublime Cover- Jack Johnson (I don't know the name of the ACTUAL song, but it comes up as this on Limewire Search)
12. Beautiful- Akon
13. Steal My Sunshine- Len
14. Get Up- 5ive
15. You May Be Right- Billy Joel
16. Saturday- Fall Out Boy
17. Live Your Life- T.I.
18. Sweet Child of Mine- Guns and Roses
19. Keep On Loving You- R.E.O. Speedwagon
20. Song for My Friends- Seth Adam and Band (the band the previewed and reviewed)

Jessica Simpson--Too Fat For Country

Let me start by saying I despise Jessica Simpson. Ever since her "size one" days on her reality show Newlyweds, she is gotten on my nerves with her stupid illiterate blonde image. Watching Newlyweds, it became clear that Jessica was obessed with her weight. At the time her music career was in a down spiral, but her acting "talent" as skinny Daisy Duke was on the up rise. I reminded one episode where she declared she ate whatever she wanted, but then spent two-three hours on the treadmill to burn off her food consumption. That just sounds a little unhealthy!
Now a size 7/9 over the past months, the public is outraged! How could she let herself go like that? I just think it's funny that as a society we complain about this unattainable size 1 celebrity bodies, but then complain when they get beyond a size 3.
Jessica apparently has recently lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks (also unhealthy) in hopes of gaining back her career. Her country singer career is still new and exciting, and I must admit, some songs are tolerable, even decent, but no one in the country world will except her because she is/was "getting" fat!! What does this say about our society? Does anyone have an opinion on this??

More Bar News

Rolling with this bar idea, as I stated in last blog... Wallingford has many bars. I ventured to a bar last night that I've never been too called Gaetano's Tavern on Main. Now this is usually an upscale resturant in town. Dinner alone is usually 25 dollars a plate, so I had no idea why my best friend wanted to go in for a drink. When we walked in rap music blurred from the speakers as the DJ pretended to rap to the songs. As the DJ was throwing his arms around and cussing with the music left and right, the bar was full of 21 or YOUNGER year olds and it seemed I went to high school with all of them. It was like a drunken high school reunion, and I'm pretty sure most of the patrons were under 21 w/ fake ids because they didn't card any of us. It was absolutely horrible! I bought one drink for like 6 dollars, so I knew the drinks were a little pricy just like the normal dinner prices. The lighting was darker and it seemed I saw everyone I didn't want to see. My friend also wanted an appetizer and we found a menu on the table, but were ignored by the one waitress for over an hour. We had to go grab her ourselves and by that time, we weren't that hungry!
So note to self: Gaetano's On Main does not deserve a second visit unless I want to run into all the preppys of my town.

Friday Afternoon-Happy Hour

Growing up in Wallingford, you always hear about the countless bars on the downtown strip. I think Wallingford CT has the most bars per sq mile in the whole state. That's probably not the best thing to brag about, but each town has gotta be famous for something right? I have a few favorite bar hotspots in my town, but for Friday afternoon HAPPY HOUR, Brother's resturant is the best. It actually is a family type resturant that only packs the bar during happy hours on the weekends.
Now I don't drink too much, but their happy hour is awesome for many other reasons. Along with 1.50 beers and 2.75 mixed drinks starting at 4:30pm, they have a full FREE buffet of homemade pizza, buffalo wings, onion rings, french fries and/or potato skins. The food is brought out around 5pm and avalible *again for free* until 6:30pm. They also have an acoustic musician from 5:00-6:30ish. Brothers is actually where I discovered the singer/band I previewed and reviewed. The lead singer Seth Adam does acoustic music there like once a month and he invited me to see his band play at Public in Middletown earlier this month.
Not that I adovacate starting drinking all the time at 4:30pm despite the "5 o'clock somewhere" country song, but if you want a cheap drink, amazing FREE food, acoustic music, and a friendly atomsphere, go to Brothers in Wallingford CT.

The Hills Season V.

For all you Hills followers on MTV, it looks like main star Lauren Conrad, is calling it quits after season five which premiers April 6th. I was never a big follower of the show that was a spin off of the 2003-2005 show Laguna Beach, but I must say what is the show going to be if LC leaves. It orginally was a show based off her rising career in LA, much like The City spin off that follows LC's friend Whitney Port. It def. has strayed from it's original plot and become more about the people rather than LC's career. It has a soap opera value that most "reality" shows seem to portray.
Orginally watching both The Hills and The City for their possible PR perhaps "journalistic" (if any) value, I was drawn to the work environment and lifestyle in which each character lives, but now The Hills especially has turned riduculous. In my opinion, they should just end The Hills here. Without Lauren, it's more pointless than ever!

The Haunting in CT

So the much anticipated movie, "The Haunting in Connecticut" comes out today. Based on a true story in Southington, which is 10 minutes from me, the film is about a family that relocates to Connecticut to be closer to their son's cancer doctors. They soon find out the house used to be a former funeral home. The supposed house where the supernatural events has been all over the local news. It seems every interested movie-goer wishes to get a glimpse of the actual house. Residents of the house insist that the house is not haunted and just want people to stay off their property. I imagine the residents feel like the paporizzi has been at them since the film trailer debuted.

Here's a brief abstract of the story c/o WTNH.com

Film is a nightmare for
CT homeowners

Updated: Monday, 23 Mar 2009, 5:31 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 22 Mar 2009, 6:21 PM EDT

Southington (AP) - More than 20 years after it was reported to be haunted, a central Connecticut home is again seeing unwanted visitors.

A new movie, "A Haunting in Connecticut," opens Friday. It's loosely based on the stories revolving around the 3,000-square-foot former funeral parlor in Southington, and the family that lived there in the 1980s.

Curious fans are already showing up at the home.

The current owners say the house isn't haunted and they're trying to keep trespassers away. Police have added extra patrols to the neighborhood.

I will not being seeing the film because although I enjoy the occasional horror film, if it is terrifying, I will be too scared after by the plain fact that it's based on a true story. Yes, I am chicken haha! Also the previews and trailers I've seen remind me of other classics, like Psycho, Poltergist, and Amityville Horror. It seems horror films are running out of orginal material quickly.

Fighting My Way Into Fenway

Okay, so this is more of a sports topic rather than arts and entertainment, but I had to put it in here. Every year my parents, a friend of my choice, and I venture to Fenway to see a Red Sox Game. Usually we get tickets from a friend of my father's, but that has proven to be up in the air this year. In order to guarentee we have tickets and keep up with our yearly tradition, my father signed up to get tickets through the Red Sox Nation website. What he did not realize was the process of getting any Red Sox tickets.
After being denied early access, he was left to a pool of random ticket buyers. After signing in at exactly 12 noon today, he is sent to a "virtual waiting room" where ticket buyers are made to sit and watch their screen refresh every 15 seconds until they are brought to another page if chosen by random.
As my dad and I took turns sitting by his laptop with minimal hopes of every getting past this "Virtual Waiting Room" that greatly reminded me of the DMV wait line without the annoying people, "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond came on IPOD as it played on shuffle. We had been sitting there for just about an hour, losing hope with each page refresh, and then the song rang through my IPOD speakers. Instantly my dad's face lit up because the song (besides being one of Neil Diamond's greatest hits) is the song of Red Sox Nation.
Now I have been watching baseball ever since I was a little girl, but as I got older "Sweet Caroline" seemed to get more and more popular with Red Sox fans and although I loved the song, could never figure out the significance behind it.
After some research I found out, it was the doing of Amy Tobey who directed the music during the games from 98-2004. It was first played spuratically between the 7th - 9th innings, but then became tradition to play at every home game during the 8th inning. Fans were encouraged by it, expected it and could recite every word soon after. It even made its way into the 2005 film with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore Fever Pitch.
So as the Diamond lyrics say: "Where it began
I can't begin to knowin'
But then I know it's growin' strong"
The tradition is def. growing strong amongst Red Sox Fans--young and old alike, as for family tradition, looks like we'll have to pray my dad's friend comes thru with tickets. As I was writing this my dad called from work and said his company blocked the website on their computers, so he wasted his lunch hour at home on his laptop because now he can't try to get tickets at work.

If you want more information on "Sweet Caroline" and the Red Sox, here's where I found it: http://www.bostonspastime.com/sweetcaroline.html

Tough Love on VH1

Although I like reality shows, I was never a fan of the ones of VH1 until now. My roommate is obessed with Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels, so I was sucked into it because it was the only way I could spend "quality" time with her on Sunday nights. If I didn't watch, I wasn't allowed to speak of anything else until the show was over, so bear with me, I had to watch. Anyways, after watching that show, VH1 premiered a show called Tough Love at 10pm on March 15th 2009. It is a show about seven women who are hopeless when it comes to getting a guy. They each have nicknames and reasons behind why they repulse relationships, and I must say although it is sort of replusive the stereotypes these women give to women in America, I am in love with the show.

The host is a professional matchmaker named Steve and he gives the girls, performance tests, advice, and even MANDATORY weekly group therapy, in order for them to change their dating patterns. Maybe I am getting more out of this because I am single and probably taking too much of this to heart, but I guess theres no turning back now. Has anyone else seen it?
The following link is a link to watch this past Sunday's episode: http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1607439&vid=356716

Paul Rudd Proves Himself Again

Last night was five dollar Tuesday at the movie theater in my town of Wallingford. Since it is only five dollars all day, the theaters were packed to the brim with various high schoolers and college kids home for Spring Break. Five dollar Tuesday has become such a big deal in my town that it has become tradition to go with my friends every time I'm home.

The movie of choice for spring break week turned out to be I Love You Man, and it was well worth it. I had only seen the preview for the film twice and had little to no idea how it would turn out, but I'm glad I choose it.

Okay, I must admit I choose it in part of Paul Rudd. I have a slight crush on him and have ever since he was in Friends as Phobe's long time boyfriend and resurfaced as the object of my affection in Knocked Up lol. Him and Jason Segel are a magical "man-couple" on screen. When Rudd goes searching for a best friend, so he can have a best man at his wedding, he finds Segel at one of his open houses. After many failed man-dates with other guys, Rudd decides to give Segel a call in hopes of acquiring a manly best friend. The film truly is comedy, but has a few chick flick moments because it is def. a film about as Scrubs would say "Guy Love"

To add to Amanda's post--Bamboozle 2009

As I commented on Amanda's post, Bamboozle is probably the one music festival I look forward to all year. I discovered it when looking into when Fall Out Boy was playing because I did not want to travel to Bridgeport to see them at the time. I had never been to Harboryard and it seemed too sketchy! Anyways my boyfriend at the time was from New York and when we found the festival, he agreed to drive through the city to Meadowlands (also known as Giants Stadium) where its held. That year, there were 5 stages in this giant parking lot and over 40 different bands, the big headliners being FOB, All American Rejects, Hawthorne Heights, and Silverstein. Panic at the Disco also got on stage w/ FOB to perform a song because they were the headliners for the Sunday show. The festival ran from 12noon to about 10:30pm at night, and it was a day of fantastic music. It was probably the best concert I had ever been to, for both the music and the experience with the thousands of other screaming fans.

I also went in 2007 when My Chemical Romance and Hellogoodbye were the big bands. I'd say that year was just as awesome. The best part was when the leader of Hellogoodbye ended up listening to the other acts right near me. I met him and hung out with him through My Chemical Romance's performance. It was amazing.

I am most excited for Bamboozle 2009 because of Third Eye Blind. Like Amanda, they are my favorite band of all time and I have never been lucky enough to see them. I imagine it will be a day of chaotic fun.