PUBLISHED IN ROLLING STONE!!

An image I shot of Dave Grohl at The Foo Fighters's secret show at the Roxy has been published in the March 2011 edition of Rolling Stone Magazine!! (Page 26). More of my images, a slideshow and a recap from the show (along with a recap of the secret show held at Spaceland) can be found at LAWeekly.com.

I can't even begin to explain how surreal it is to have shot an image I know I would have clipped in high school and hung in my locker, haha. I'm 26 now, but the 16 year-old-me vividly recalls forcing my parents to play "Foo Fighters", "The Colour and the Shape" or "There is Nothing Left to Lose" in the car on the way home from school AND to and from the movies AND to and from our weekly visits to our favorite Chinese restaurant, haha. And of course, I had to skip a lot of the songs because my mother thought Dave Grohl "screams too much" (She loves The Foo Fighters now, by the way), but songs like "My Hero", "February Stars" and "Everlong" were always welcome.

I never considered concert photography as a viable career option until it fell into my lap two weeks ago when L.A. Weekly's music editor contacted me and gave me an opportunity to cover the show. I have always taken cameras into venues, but never had a legitimate purpose which merited photo pass access. The irony here is... I couldn't get a photo pass for that Foo Fighters show at the Roxy and had to use my Canon PowerShot to cover the concert. I set everything to manual and convinced the camera it could shoot well. Securing an amazing spot in front of the stage helped too. I was able to capture the entire concert, not just the first three songs a photo pass would permit. I'm covering two concerts this week (Cake at The Troubador and 311 in Anaheim) where I will finally be able to use my 5D. Can't wait!!

I'm looking forward to attending concerts, shooting photos and writing for L.A. Weekly. (BONUS: I'm finally able to put my Journalism and writing degrees to use!!) I hate the word 'Serendipitous' (because it reminds me of that cheesy John Cusak movie), but that's the perfect word to describe how 2011 is shaping for me. :)

His name is Nick H-e-x-u-m

"Somebody pointed out to me that the point of a relationship is to relate. Humans need to hear other people that they can relate with and have similar thoughts and feelings. When you can provide that through art, when people say, 'That's the same way I feel,' then that's a masterpiece. The more honest we get with what's going on in our hearts, the more people connect with it and feel it." ~Nick Hexum of 311

excerpt from a recent interview via Artist Direct.

Smart guy who's looking good with a mohawk. :) Can't wait to see 311 live on MONDAY!!!! If you haven't already checked out their new album Uplifter, you can listen to the album in its entirety here. I highly recommend "It's Alright," "India Ink" and "I Like The Way". Great album to grove to this summer!!

5 FRIDAY FAVORITES

Some of these sites have been among my favorites for a loooong time and some I've just discovered:

1. As you can see, I looove making lists. So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this little gem. Such a simple and wonderful idea!!

2. Flickr is heaping with all sorts of talents but this has always been one of my favorite photo streams. Zalita makes all of those edible goodies in her shop "Cupcake D'lights" in Durban South Africa. Everything looks too good to eat!!

3. Kewlest worldwide art project idea: A Home For Alice. People from all over the world send a Polaroid picture of their house (along with a little text about why they feel at home there) to Alice who displays it on her blog. The entire collection has already been displayed in a few galleries across the globe AND... "At the end of the project, all the best pictures will be collected to become a book, that will relate the whole adventure." AWESOME.

4. Lately I've been obsessed with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. There is nothing more romantic than a TRUE Hollywood love story that lasts a lifetime. You can watch their story here.

5. Zooey Deschanel + Joseph Gordon Levitt = 500 Days of Summer. August 20th can't come soon enough!!

OMG.

my boyfriend just met dave grohl!!!! rick stepped out of work and saw the peter pan of rock n' roll eating lunch and called me and asked "should i get my picture taken with dave grohl???" my reponse was "WHAT?! OHMYGOD, YES!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! DID YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK?!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" hahaha. when i got the photo via my cell phone, i started jumping up and down. i'm probably more excited than rick is about it. hell, i feel like i was the one who met him. hahaha. but i didn't. :(

lucky rick!! (and lucky dave grohl too, hehe).

in case you needed a good laugh...

in addition to the thousands and thousands of personal photos i have on my computer i also collect inspirational photos from other photographers and some assinine photos that just crack me up. for example this gem ALWAYS tickles me: it's a photo of america's biggest publicity stunt scam artist couple, heidi montag (obviously post-surgery) and spencer pratt.

BAHAHAHAHA!! could either of them look more like a tool?! even more amusing was the fact that this photo (another funny one i saved awhile back) coinsidently happened to be next to the heidi/spencer photo in my folder:

how very appropriate.

box office weekend

this weekend i worked in the box office for Art LA, a contemporary art fair in santa monica that represented sixty-four unique local, national and international galleries.

despite the long hours, it was fun playing box office with a group of eclectic locals (actually, very few were locals. the majority were transplants like myself).
the dynamics of a group of freelancers never ceases to amaze me. there are always type-cast personalities, but this time those personalities were even more specialized. i worked with quite a bunch of characters. the cast included:

the bossy, take charge, been-there/done-that/know-it-all, 20-something "stunt woman" and her nice boyfriend (also into stunts), a theatre geek all grown up.

the middle-aged worldly writer who was trying to absorb as much as she possibly could. although she has lived in the united states for however how long, she still pretends she hasn't grasped "american" ways and phrases.

the likable, well-dressed, high-energy actress who quickly becomes every body's best friend (but not in a negative, fake way).

the bohemian art child with a unique name, soft-spoken annunciation and hippy clothing (also very nice).

the poor-luck guy with an outdated haircut who always gets suckered into doing all the bitch work because he's too compliant to say "no" and very few people pay attention to what he mutters under his breath.

and then... me. the cynic who nominates herself the "normal one" as she quietly judges all of the other characters, honestly not caring what they must think of her.

despite the awful weather, the event brought in quite a number of celebrities. patricia heaton (who plays the wife in everybody loves raymond) promptly showed up at 11:30 AM on opening day.

saturday celebs included daniel stern who was modestly dressed in attire that resembled what he wore in home alone (he played marv). he was also the voice of the narrator in the wonder years... i had no idea!!

karolina kurkova showed with a three-man entourage of guys who could easily pass as roadies. (the one with long blond hair was cute though).

keenen ivory wayans bought tickets for himself and his "sweet valley twin" brittany daniel toward the end of the night.

james franco was on the VIP list and was rumored to be inside, but nobody saw him enter the building.

todd oldham came to my line on sunday. he was so modestly dressed (in a blue sweatshirt, corduroy-ish khakis and with a backpack on his back) i wasn't sure it was him until he spoke in that gentle, todd oldam voice. he was so very pleasant and down-to-earth.

i didn't start conversations with any of the celebrities but when adam raspler (311's manager!!) was buying a ticket, i had to go over and say something!!

matt dillon snatched a VIP ticket and darted across of the box office to the front door like a weasel who just stole an egg from a hen house.

my stunt-woman coworker gave dustin hoffman major attitude. she didn't even so much as glance up at him because by the end of the night her goal was to say as few words as possible and make the the minimal amount of contact with people. hoffman seemed amused by her attitude (those infamous, twinkling character lines appeared in the corners of his eyes). i sat in disbelief and just as he was about to leave, i offered him one of the Art LA canvas tote bags (since miss stunt wasn't about to hand him one). he came back for it but i think it he was just being friendly because i highly doubt he really wanted the tote bag... although they were a hot comondity!!

Billy Baldwin photos

here are the photos feaured on PARADE magazine's website of Billy Baldwin taken the day i babysat my boss's house during a photoshoot. only one photo was chosen for the physical copy of Parade.









photo credit: Larsen & Talbert for PARADE

you can read the article that accompanied the photos here.

it was awesome to have witnessed the photo shoot and to now see the final results of the production and it's also really awesome to know (by looking at the photos) exactly where william baldwin was standing and to have taken photographs/been photographed in the exact same spots. here's a polaroid i took of that birdfeeder he is standing in front of and here are shots of me in dave's dining room:




Photo Credit: Court Leve

and on the infamous swing...



Photo Credit: Dave Nagel

more polaroids i've taken at dave's house can be seen here.

mexican food. uncle jessie. and an old chair.

i'm writing from hal's apartment. he's on his way to the studio to pick up a soft box so we can partake in a late night photo shoot. tonight was a lot of fun. hal, his roommate megan, his friend nick and i went out to eat at El Cholos in Santa Monica. my dinner wasn't quite what i expected. i ordered the Chicken Tostadita which was described as "An Array of Fresh Garden Vegetables, Avocado, and Grilled Chicken Breast, Served in a Crisp Flour Tortilla" and more or less was served a salad with four large chips. it was good though. on our way out i spotted John Stamos sitting with a young lady and another couple right by the front door. he's cute. kinda skinnier than i imagined and lots of facial hair. i gawked for a few moments while we waited for the valet to retrieve hal's car but i didn't bother him for a photo. that's right - i saw UNCLE JESSIE and didn't get a photo with him. that my friends is called will power.

after dinner, hal, nick and i rode to "top of the world" in hope of taking some awesome night shots. despite the fog, we managed to capture a few good shots. then we headed to the Santa Monica pier. windy roads plus a full stomach... not a good combination. i felt like i was going to vomit. luckily the feeling subsided in the restroom of Bubba Gumps. hal shot some good photos of nick in an alley near the pier and then we went on a mission to find an outdoor electrical outlet so we could use hal's strobes. on our way toward venice i spotted an awesome chair on the side of the road. better yet, it was near an outlet. but the backdrop sucked (minus the guy peeing from around the corner. he was uh, kewl). i took some good shots of hal and nick near an abandoned blockbuster (where we were thinking about dragging the chair). now here's the kewl part about hal... we pass a chair on the side of the road. i suggest we take it (it matches our new backdrop perfectly) and hal thinks it's a great idea. so we wedge the chair in hal's trunk that was already full of equipment. luckily the door of the truck was heavy enough to hold it in place and we didn't have far to drive.

UPDATE: we set up our backdrop with the chair and shot some REALLY AWESOME shots. all. night. long. (til 1:30 am). hal shot me in a pink 80s dress (that i scored at a goodwill for $8) and a tiara. i shot hal through a wine bottle. hal shot nick with a guitar. we had fun. i can't wait to see more of the results!! and of course i will post some shots.

now hal and i are scheming up our next plan... an 80s party to launch our photo business!! stay tuned. :)

ok, i officially have the world's coolest boss

today instead of making phone calls for 8 hours (racking up a whopping $82.50) i am housesitting for my favorite boss mr. dave nagel who is en route to LA from a photo shoot in orlando. dave and his wife rent their house out as a location for photo shoots. my job is to make sure the production crew doesn't throw a wild party or snoop through his office. the photographer is shooting billy baldwin who has about five or six hats stacked on his head right now. he seems very pleasant and agreeable; a nice guy to work with. :) once the photos are published in parade magazine i will post them.

what i've been up to the past two weeks...

monday, nov 12: had a job interview for a p/t receptionist position at a political consulting firm. "so i see you have a bachelor's degree... why do you want this job???" the lady asked. then she told me i was "over-qualified" for the position. lame.

tuesday, nov 13: i don't remember.

wednesday, nov 14: worked for my favorite employer dave. called ad agencies and employed dave's new targeted marketing strategy which seems to be working. saw dr. 90210's (aka: robert rey's) wife hayley at the grocery store. zero makeup. skinny. looks exactly how she looks on tv.

thursday, nov 15: worked for dave again. :) ate lunch at a lil greek place.

friday, nov 16: assisted a shoot for james which consisted of shooting 30 amplifiers at a small place where they're actually made. the brand is called Matchless and the amps are used by such artists as: johnny rzeznik, sheryl crow, carlos santana, joe perry, aimee mann, michael bolton, lenny kravitz, and jewel. pretty damn kewl. ate mexican food for lunch.

saturday and sunday: MADONNA INN with the polaroid nerds.

monday, nov 19: escaped a 7-hour-long video game focus group and hung out with hal all day long instead. tagged photos for him. ate lunch at wahoo's fish tacos. started to seriously plan our business venture. met hal's friend naomi. went wallpaper shopping. got lost in the fog on my way home. too embarrassed to say where i wound up.

tuesday, nov 20: re-shot a couple of amps with james. ate a late lunch. taught james some new diner table tricks. :)

thanksgiving: made a cheese pie. went to rick's sister's house. ate an early dinner. watched the beginning of shrek 3. colored. chatted. played with rick's nieces. spent the night over rick's parents' house (they were in mexico).

black friday: woke up at 7 am to go shopping. first time rick and i ever participated in crazyness of "black friday." hit up radio shack, kohls, the mall and a board shop. scored some good deals. bought a nice sweater zip-up from pac sun. covered a few bases for christmas. ate lunch with rick and aldo. jonathan stopped by. watched a marathon of the dog whisperer with rick and his brother. rick's parents returned home from mexico.

saturday, nov 24: my grandmother's birthday!! i worked a cosmetic promotion. rick went back to his parent's house to spend some more time with his brother (who is visiting until sunday). watched My First Mister which was eh, alright. definitely sad. the part that was the most unbelievable was the fact a 17-year-old girl drove herself from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, NM. and didn't get stuck in traffic to there or on the way back. yeah riiight. ;)

sunday, nov 25: polaroid nerd meet up in LA. tomorrow is not going to feel like a sunday to me...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

my b-day weekend...

saturday: i picked up my mom from the airport. :) and it was pouring. :( first time it rained in CA in a LOOOONG time (CA certainly needed it) but by the time we reached the apartment, the sun was shining. when we got to the apartment, there was a bday package waiting for me from lindsay. miss gray met my [mom's] dog roxie and hates her. poor roxie just goes about her business and miss gray actually stalks, chases and attacks her. after rick got home, we went food shopping but for dinner we ate in a local restaurant that has thee biggest, most widest variety of a menu. and we all passed out early that night.

sunday: my mother gave me my present in the morning. :) she had my dad's Valley Forge class ring made into a bracelet. it came out really nice!! my dad would have been impressed. (and i bet he's happy i'm wearing it).

later, my mom, rick, aldrin and i got all dressed up (i wasn't aware as to why at this point) and ate sushi in hollywood. which was nice because i've been craving california rolls!! then rick surprised me with tickets to Wicked. we had never seen it (except for aldrin who has seen it three times now!!) and it was really good.

monday: (my actual b-day) my mom had decorated the apartment with balloons and banners and gave me flowers and a b-day card full of lottery scratch-offs. then we went for a hike/walk with roxie.

after lunch, we went to a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. the guests were The Rock, Dennis Kucinich and Dinana Krall. we noticed former SNL cast member Victoria Jackson sitting a few rows diagonally behind us in the audience. we got to see Jay do the "Headlines" segment and *drumroll* afterward, we met him as he was leaving the studio and he signed an extra ticket we had and my mom took my photo with him. :)

on our way out of the studio, we were handed tickets to see Late Night with Carson Daly. (they needed more people to fill the audience). we accepted them, but remembered we don't even like Carson Daly... so we were no-shows.

when we got back to the apartment, rick gave me a star wars b-day card (yuck!!) and some pretty purple orchids. we watched Shooter and ate dinner. then we ate angel food cake with strawberries... Mmmmmm. all and all a very happy birthday!! :)

me wearing my new gnome pjs pants (part of a gift from my grandmother):

i feel so loved...
total # of birthday cards i received from my grandmother: 4!!
total # of happy birthday comments on my myspace: 6
total # of people who called to sing to me: 4 (plus mom and rick)
total # of "happy birthday" messages received on facebook: 24
thanks everyone!!!! :) :) :)

tomorrow: the new Foo Fighters cd comes out!! and my mom and i plan on lounging poolside and visiting a Chumash Native American museum. and wednesday, we're going to a taping of the Ellen show!! :)

dear nicolas cage, loosen up.

tonight rick, aldo and i watched Matchstick Men. here's the plot outline from imdb.com:

"A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly."

it was realllly good!! nicolas cage always comes off as a bad actor (in my opinion), but somehow he gets by in every role. he seems limited by his own body, like his face and his body are too stiff. maybe it's just how he carries himself. he needs to loosen up!! anyway, the only problem i had with the plot was the ending. the movie should have ended where it seems to end instead of after the TMI provided in the "one year later..." segment. the info we learn is unnecessary and was best left to the imagination as to what happened next. usually the best endings are no endings at all.

here is the funniest part of the entire movie... nicolas cage's character storms into a drugstore demanding pills (he's a bit OCD and thinks he has mental problems) but he has to wait his turn...

the funniest part: after i made rick rewind so we could watch that scene again, i said: "we should record that and post it on youtube!!" and rick said, "it probably already is on youtube." and surely enough, it is.

finding your inner-celebrity.

i found a hilarious celebrity look-alike website.

some of the look-alikes are really good!!!!
Ozzie Osbourne look-alike.
Danny DeVito look-alike.
Sharon Stone look-alike.
Sophia Loren look-alike.
Samy Davis Jr. look-alike.
Fergie (the real dutchess) look-alike.

and some are just plain AWFUL!!!!
Pamela Anderson look-alikes.
Matt LeBlanc look-alike.
Gloria Estefan look-alike.
Rocky look-alike.

apparently any brunette wearing sunglasses can be victoris beckham and any guy with facial hair can be oralando bloom. hahaha.

and check out the photoshop jobs on emimen #1. looks like a sixth grader made it in MS paint!! and check out the awesome solar flare coming from brad pit #2's belt buckle. oh my!!

could you imagine making a living off of impersonating a celebrity??? if you answered yes, better start with the celebrity face recognition website to find out who you look like!! (my results below)


(really depends on what photo you use).

for hilarious results, use a photo with multiple people in it.

thursday thru sunday... let me fill you in.

thursday i worked a casting call for dave and, as always, it was a lot of fun. dave is currently casting baby boomers for an upcoming stock shoot. when we arrived on location there was no one there to let us in the studio dave rented, so we upgraded to dave's friend's big, beautiful studio on the second floor with lots of windows and great light. lisa (the stylist who i met at dave's spike tv shoots) stopped by for lunch. she gave me the name of a good thai restaurant that i am definitely going to check out because i have yet to find a really good thai place around here. there was a good turnout for the casting call... we saw about 110 people. quite a few characters and a handful of really good, workable people. toward the end of the day, dave let me shoot some people!! i loved making them do all the "Oooo's" and "HEY!'s" and "WOW's" and funny faces dave has them make when he is casting. i always find it amusing how easily people comply when a camera is involved, hehe.

friday i bummed around/stayed in my pjs all day long. i emailed a few photographers and looked for work on craigslist. found a few promotional jobs. rick and his dad picked up his rick's sister and her family at the airport and guess who they saw... GREG BRADY!!!! haha, yep, barry williams was arriving from somewhere and rick didn't even take a photo with his cell phone!! :( i think i would have had to sneak one... it's not every day you see Greg Brady.

saturday i met up with rebecca (rutabegabunny on flickr) at her dad's house and saw his infamous celebrity pool!! herbert anderson (the dad from the old 'dennis the menace' tv show) was the previous owner of the home rebecca grew up in. the pool is extremely photogenic... very retro looking, with a lot of curves. soon after admiring the pool, we were off to melrose for a thrift shopping spree.


we hit up SLOW which USED TO BE one of my favorite thrift stores. i hadn't been there since may 2005, and A LOT has changed. first off, the store now over-employs a bunch of teenage hipsters. secondly, most of the clothes were NEW. and thirdly, they did away with alllll the kewl tee shirts that used to be on the second floor. :( the prices are still reasonable, but i still am highly disappointed. we ate some soup and shopped at wasteland, crossroads trading co. and a few other places. i would up buying rick a hooded sweatshirt/zip-up and a REALLY nice quiksilver zip-up that is more like jacket. it was only $25 and it looks brand new. i bought myself three shirts that i'm sure you'll see photos of in the near future. rebecca wound up buying a few shirts too and a pair of marc jacobs pants. and no shopping excursion is complete without a dressing room photoshoot!!

sunday: rick went to church with his sister and his neice and then went over his parent's house. he always lets me sleep in, which is nice, but then i feel bad about not going to his parent's house with him. i played boggle online with my mother. some of the people on the boggle site are waaaay too damn good at the game!! (try your luck here). i also did dishes, went for a walk, caught up with justin and talked to margot's mom. sunday night, i watched Dark Victory, a pretty gloomy bette davis movie. i also uploaded some new photos to my flickr so be sure to check em out!!!!

i got paid to take photos of maggie gyllenhaal's shoes

"Linear thinking does not come naturally to me, moreover it kills my imagination. nothing happens. no bells rings. no moment of HERE and NOW. no moment that says YES. Without those moments i am not alive. and so, rather than driving at a goal, i like so much better to go thru' a spiral." ~courtney love

the quote above is an excerpt from Dirty Blonde, one of the many half-read books i have been hoarding from the library that i had to return today. i have a bad habit of checking out waaay too many books at the same time and then never getting around to finish any book completely. this habit really bugs rick... especially if i rack up late fines on books that i checked out with his card. but that only happened once and it was $3 (big deal) and i paid it.

i don't recall anything extraordinarily eventful occurring on monday... but who's to say my actions on that day have not set the wheel in motion to a plethora of future significant events. ha, you never knows. anyway, today i worked for dana (a nice lady who runs an ebay store that sells used designer clothes... most which were previously owned by celebrities). my job was to write descriptions and take photos of the items. it was more or less a trial run to see if i'd work out and if she'd like me.

i photographed a bunch of crap from maggie gyllenhaal like prada, mui mui and louie vutton heels, some blouses and a few jackets. nothing too wonderful but there was a retro-looking pair of LAVENDAR (i refuse to spell lavendar "correctly") synthetic lizard-skin prada heels that i dug!! they were pretty kewl, but they were a size 9 and i doubt they were comfortable. miss gyllenhaal appeared to be the biggest name there. i didn't recognize a lot of the other names i saw. the work went well so once dana returns from her mini-vacation i will be working for her again. and once i get the hang of how she wants things labeled and shot, then she will just give me a key to her office so i can come and go as i please. (yay for making my own hours!! i really needed that).

i didn't get my picture taken with chris rock!!

today my mom and i lounged by the pool/went swimming. we had tickets to see the late late show with craig ferguson. the guest was andy garcia!! we got there on time but had to park in the parking garage at the grove because the security guy told us the CBS lot was full (or so we thought). so we stood in line, got numbers on our hands and were told to sit on a bench. the taping of the price of right must have just ended because we saw dozens of audience members/contestants. about 80% of the price is right crew bought something in the gift store after the show and ALL OF THEM looked like they had just visited disney world for the first time... i never saw a happier bunch of people, hehe. so we're finally about to be called into the show... there were about 30 of us still waiting and one of the five intern girls comes out and tells us they've reached capacity. we were pretty pissed because their audience wrangling method SUCKS. people were RANDOMLY assigned bench numbers (1, 2, 3 or 5). we were 2's. the girl called bench 1, bench 3, THEN 2... they didn't get to bench 5 at all. some of the people left over were among the first thirty people there!! (REALLY sucked to be them!!) it was ridiculous. they KNOW there's only 150 seats, yet they let more people in. they didn't bother to number us according to the order we arrived. we even had to sit through two lame prep guys trying to pump us up for the audience. the part that really sucks is that we originally sat on bench 1, but then moved to bench 2 after we realized that we were on the "wrong" bench. (not like anyone checked). it was all just a bunch of BS. we were given a number to call that guarantees us "VIP" seats to another taping. "VIP" only meaning they will let us like they were supposed to the first time. sooo my mom and i headed back to the grove and went into a few shops there. i bought a big, clunky heart necklace and redeemed my free pair of chones at victoria's secret. we saw CHRIS ROCK just standing by the door in barnes and nobles. i wouldn't have even noticed him if two guys didn't go up to him and ask to have their pictures taken with him. my mom and i weren't even sure if it was him at first... he looks REALLY skinny and YOUNG (until you approach him, then you can see his gray whiskers). he wasn't nice or approachable, he just was standing there like he didn't want to be there. i think he was just [begrudgingly] out in public to spark attention to his new movie. my mom and debated whether we should ask for a photo because we aren't really fans of his, but it seemed like the thing to do. afterall, you don't see chris rock just standing in every bookstore. having just exited the craig ferguson fiasco, i didn't have a camera on me (shocking, i know... but they weren't allowed in the studio that we didn't even get to go in) so my mom takes the photo of me and chris rock with her camera phone. at the moment she is taking the photo: rick calls and, mom hangs up on him AND the phone battery is dying. my mom takes the photo and says... "i don't even want to admit what just happened." the photo couldn't be saved because her photo capacity was at 100%. story of the day. it soooo figures!! hahaha!! i blame everything on my blue eyeliner... last time i wore it rick, tim, aldo and i weren't able to see incubus on jimmy kimmel. ugh. so i took some polaroids on hollywood and highland and we called it a day. we got back to the apartment(after sitting in some traffic) then rick, my mom and i enjoyed a nice dinner at the cheesecake factory. at least that went well.

celebrity droppings.

i stayed up and wound up watching "the hills" and "bam's unholy union" (two of my guilty pleasures). it was kewl because in the most recent episode (episode five) of bam's unholy union, bam and his friend drive to new hope, pa and go into a medeival store (the medeival gallery) that i've been in before!!


in fact, my dad bought me a pewter ring from that display case (shown above). it's celtic and it has a dark circle dug out with a little three-leaf clover (raised) in the center. it was kewl to be able to recognize the area. i also... and i HATE to admit this... watched the video for avril lavigne's new single "girlfriend." (hey, it was right there on MTV.com, i almost had no choice). i think she's trying to pass for ashlee simpson and it might work because nobody can really recognize ashlee simpson anyway, after all of her plastic surgery. so it seems avril has stolen her identity. she's blonde now (loooong extensions) but is still "bad ass" and "punk" AND has a new single named "girlfriend." hmmmm... sounds A LOT like ashlee, whose single was named "boyfriend." not at all an ashlee fan??? (my bf loathes her) than you will get a kick out of this petition.

and i'd hate to condone sites like the superficial but since i haven't had access to a national enquirer recently (i skim through them every time i go over my grandmother's house), i sometimes browse the celebrity "scandal" sites. usually i feel a bit envious over certain celebrities (especially when i find out how much they earn per movie!!) but part of me feels REALLY bad, like actually sorry for them. i guess it's good to realize that although celebrities seem larger than life sometimes, they are just "regular" people (who happen to be loaded). so it's kind of refreshing to see that with allll that money, kirsten dunst looks even pasty-er than myself or that lindsay lohan dresses like michael jackson. i suppose it's true that it's better to have a lifetime of anonymity, but for celebrities, this is true: the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. unfortunately for them, "lack of private life" is a prerequisite for stardom.

BONUS: here's even more celebrity gossip for you: supposidely gisele bundchen had to gain 14 pounds to weigh enough to be able to walk in the dolce & gabbana show in Milan next week. that's pretty sickning... but at least some countries are taking the incentive to enforce healthier weight requirements for models.

"Did it go 'POOF'??" ~johnny knoxville

i am sitting outside on my balcony typing this and i feel terribly guilty that i am outside... with no shoes... enjoying a moderately warm afternoon while my family and friends back home are FREEZING COLD. sorry about that. that's the one thing i DON'T miss about the east coast.

last night was preetty fun. my guy rick and i went to a little thai restaurant in malibu with his friend. i still don't know the name of the place but i've been there before. i'm convinced it's the kind of place that doesn't really have a name... and if it does, it's probably something generic. they sat us next to this sand pit/fire place. i was mesmerized watching the flames dance across the sand... but it reeked of propane and it was making me a bit lightheaded so we had to move to another table. the food was pretty good (i remember it being a bit better though), my onions could have been cooked a little more... or at all. now i have onion breath.

after we got back, we watched Jackass 2. man o man, every time i watch it (probably seen it 2.8 times now), i am in AWE of how INSANE johnny knoxville is... he REALLY makes bam margera look like a pussy in this movie. i think there's about three scenes where bam cries and two additional scenes where he whines like a little girl. it's understandable, considering the types of "stunts" these guys are pulling, but you never hear johnny knoxville whine while he's being bitten repeatedly by a large anaconda or after being shot with crowd control riot pellets at close range or while a bull is ramming him against a teeter-totter. the scene: toro totter. it's a last-man-standing-wins situation on two pairs of teeter-totters in a bull ring. ryan dunn nearly gets gored, bam runs off like a little pansy and pontius smashes into the fence while running for his life but knoxville still won't get off the teeter totter!! while A BULL rams him against the contraption he taunts, "i'm not out!!" "ha ha, i'm not o-out!!"

i remember seeing a clip of johnny knoxville before the movie came out and it was kind of sad. it was obvious he didn't want the film to end. he was walking around a neighborhood LOOKING for more to do so he could film more footage and he was doing all kinds of minor jackass-ish stuff like running into street signs... just because he wanted to keep filming!! that man is addicted to his own adreniline.

and i really can't go on a tangent about the movie without mentioning this: steve-o really has a heart. he is definitely the craziest of the bunch and sometimes i think of him as inhuman (the man chugs beer up his butt!!), but in jackass 2, you catch a glimpse of steve-o that you never saw before... a soft side. there are a lot of scenes where you can tell steve-o really looks out for wee-man. it's sort of cute. and i was REALLY surprised that HE, of all people, had to look away during the toro totter skit!! ALL of the jackass guys really go above and beyond in jackass 2. if you're in the mood for some mindless comedic relief and you're into that sort of thing, you should check it out... or watch it again.