I'm going to try this in Zumba. Looks like a great work-out.

The Future + Violence + Technology...

 equals awesomely bad movies.  Remember, Google is watching you.

Defying Beauty - Finished Product

Please check it out!  It's your duty as a human in America.

I'm in my first PDF file!

It's by Wit & Will photographer, publicist, Laura Murray.

Read, weep, enjoy.

Step Into Christmas Outtakes

Baby baby sing with me somehowwwwwww

Neil Young looks a little like the oldest brother from that crazy Christian show 7th Heaven... but it's still in my top three favorite performances of "The Last Waltz."  Joni Mitchell annoys me a bit, though.  They make her sing behind the curtain, which is pretty hilarious.

Even though he was super skinny, Robbie Robertson was a hunk.  Now he looks like old Dan Akroyd:

Robbie Robertson

Dan Aykroyd

Let's Ramble at Midnight

Who wants to go to this with me?

Levon Helm (the legendary drummer from The Band fame) has shows at his studio in Woodstock, NY.  They're called The Midnight Ramble.  You go, you hang out, and you enjoy the hell out of yourself by spending time in close quarters with amazing musicians in an amazing space.  Everyone brings a side dish of food to share at the community table.   Cool guests like Elvis Costello often stop by.

If you have no idea who Levon Helm is, you probably do and you just don't know it.  The Band was Bob Dylan's back-up band for a time.  They are responsible for such glorious songs as "The Weight" - or, as I called it when I was a kid, the "take a load off Fanny" song - "Up On Cripple Creek," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and many, many others.

In "The Last Waltz," The Band's farewell concert film directed by Martin Scorcese, they performed with pretty much EVERYONE of that time.  Neil Young, Dr. John, The Staple Singers, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan (of course), Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Hawkins, and Neil Diamond (who was pretty out of place, but is still worth a look-see).  You MUST watch it, it's important to your cultural, musical, and coolness education.  It's a documentary about The Band and a video of a live performance.  They had to digitally remove a piece of cocaine from Neil Young's nose before they could release it.  If that doesn't scream "GO SEE IT NOW!" then I don't know what else would.  My Uncle Jimmy had been telling me about it ever since I was old enough to buy CDs and when I finally saw it, I've found myself bringing it up in conversation on a regular basis.

I. Need. To. Go.  To. The. Midnight. Ramble. But this is one thing I won't go to alone, if only for the fact that I have to drive by myself late at night in the middle of the woods.  Also, it's a lot of money, so perhaps I will wait until some kind of birthday... orrrrr until next Christmas.  I wish we still lived in a time where things like this happened organically and you didn't have to pay $150 to be around awesome performances and eat home-made macaroni salad.  But, this is the world we live in now.

Still, keep it in mind, everybody!  If you get over 5 people to go there's a discount...

Somethin' I know, somethin' I know, please don't tell me somethin' I know

Song version comparison time!  Yes, I've been listening to sonically "lighter" music (but not so much lighter lyrics?) lately.  Enjoy the tunes and let me know what you think of the relationship between Hanlon's acoustic cover and Fischer Z's 80s tune.

Still trying to figure this video out. 

Unfortunately the album version of Darren's cover isn't on YouTube.  He adds a bunch of crazy noises, including that weird percussion sandpaper thing from this video, as well as "car door open" sounds and other beeping and video game noises and whatnot.  Maybe I'll try to put it to a video sometime.  It's nice. 

Thoughts?

I can only be myself.

http://www.willowcabinstudio.com/finalhome.html

It's all I can do.  I'm the second to last on the right on this draft.  Kind of depressing, but these things need to be contemplated.

Go, Laura!

Glitter & Gold I wish I could get cash 4.

Truly horrid.

These don't get old for me.

And it's so catchy!

It's time to lose the holiday gut!

Thanks to my wonderful sister and her family, I get to get back into some hot yoga.  Two summers ago I started going to Bikram Yoga LES, and during that time I never felt more calm or less anxious.  Or flexible!  Read about it here.  I'm excited to get back to that!  

6 cakeballs, many ounces of taco dip, brownie casserole, cannoli dip, turkey sammiches with mayo, broccoli and cheese casserole, rum and cokes, more dips, chicken wings, more cheese items, bread dip, cupcakes with good frosting, cupcakes with bad frosting, deviled eggs when you don't even really like them, and the list goes on.  Free holiday food is the best thing ever.  And it was totally worth it, but now it is time to detox and get back to some holistic healing of my stomach and colon.  Let's do it up, hot yoga!  Combined with a normal helping of Zumba, of course.

Speaking of dip, you should watch this episode of a new kids' show called Fish Hooks.  It's the closest I've seen anyone get to good old fashioned Nicktoons styles similar to Rocko's Modern Life and Ren and Stimpy.  It's not as "gross" but it's definitely one of the most entertaining cartoons out there.  My favorite characters are Jocktopus and Clamantha, by far.  I'M A CLAM!

Go to 9 minutes and watch from there if you want to see my favorite parts...

Another awesome kids' show is Phineas and Ferb.  (By the way, I am very justified in watching these shows.  I have nieces!  I need to make sure they're digesting good media!)  You should watch this episode.  

The writers of this show may have been following me around to write this one. I would totally date a guy named Doofenshmirtz.  Go to 3:56 to see what I mean...