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Monday, July 21, 2008

Best JEW Concert EVARRR!!!

Well to me it is. Marv, Eric, Chris, Kristine and I went to see Jimmy Eat World at the Avalon in Hollywood today. I did not know that this would be their last show of the tour, but I was extremely happy that I was able to see them again after a long time. We were able to avoid the horrendous charge for parking ($20) by grabbing a public parking spot two blocks down ($8). Before the concert we at at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles a few blocks away. Quaint area, food is decently priced, food is...well soul food. I took a stab at eating fried chicken and waffles and much to my surprised the waffle itself was very substantial, well seasoned, almost like eating a pancake and their chicken was cooked well. Service was also very quick and efficient. We did not have to wait long to be seated nor did it take long for our food to be delivered. After we ate, we headed down Hollywood and Vine and an emerging line greeted us. When people said the line at the Avalon would be long, they weren't kidding. Luckily after an hour or so of waiting we got in pretty quickly. Bathrooms were clean and well stocked. The venue itself reminded me a lot of a better maintained and much cleaner Ventura Theater (what it probably looked like when it was still kept up).

The show did not begin until 8:00pm. We were pretty bored for the first hour waiting there. We were so ready for some real music to come up. Chris was doing his best to spaz out while waiting and might I say, it was a fine job indeed. When Dear and the Headlights came on, the crowed received them pretty well. They had a good performance. Deer and the Headlights opened with what felt like 5 or 6 songs. They were a decent band from Tempe, AZ. Their lead singer had a "Killers-esque" voice. Not the same, but had some similar quality to it. Their sound is fairly polished and has great potential to be a really big thing if they play their cards right. I was amused when I saw their two guitarists stop to play drums while they did have a drummer in the bg. I enjoyed their second song that was more mellow. I am a little sad that I wasn't able to record it, but they should definitely be checked out. By 8:30pm, the band finished their set and the crew began removing the instruments and doing respective sound checks and tuning.



Jimmy came out around 9:10pm. When they finally came on, the crowed rightfully cheered and energy spread across the room. Immediately Kristine and I were up for moving forward while the guys remained at the back. She pulled me in (she is a fearless little girl lol), and we pushed our way through towards the front. We reached a block of two tall fat chicks who wouldn't budge and kept elbowing, so I didn't bother to squeeze my way through. Cases like that tend to ruin my concert experience. Soon as the moshing and jumping began, we were able to move up, but eventually got separated. She went left, I went right. All was well 4 songs in until some bastards got really violent and began moshing, flailing, and pushing all around. I was trying to tough it out, but after a close call of nearly tripping over and nearly getting trampled, I followed a short girl who wanted out and away from the crazy while moshers (smart move). So I made my way away from the crazies (moshers totally ruin the mood all the freaking time). I was a bit disappointed though that I got a little farther away from the band. Much to my surprise however, I see the three guys (Marv, Eric and Chris) near me up in the crowed. I believe it's the closest Eric and Marvin have ever been to the stage of any concert. It was nice to see the three of them head bouncing, jumping and flailing in their own right.


The concert went by so fast once Jimmy Eat World finally came on. From then on all I could remember was a blur. I believe they began with Big Casino. I know Sweetness came in second. They definitely played these songs although not in this order: Dizzy, Futures, Work, Kill, 23, Always Be, Here it Goes, Electable (Give it Up), Let it Happen, Pain, Good Bye Sky Harbor, Blister, Your House, Authority Song, Get it Faster, Middle, and my requested song and their first encore (Jim heard me XD lol) Hear You Me! What surprised me was that they played Drugs or Me from their "Stay By My Side Tonight" EP. That was definitely a pleasant surprise. I'm sure I missed a few songs, but they certainly played a whole lot. Definitely worth all the money and pain I had to go through. I'm so glad I didn't miss this one and I'm kind of glad I got sold out of the show before this one. Even though it's Sunday, the place was packed and of course sold out as always. Learning this was their last stop for a while made me feel special. It seems the crowed really knew their stuff. For the most part, I was glad I wasn't surrounded by a bunch of children. The place drew in a good mix of people. I think considering the venue, this was expected. I was happy to see some older fans my age who have been following the band since its relatively early days. My knowledge begins with Clarity, but my fandom did not begin until Bleed American (3rd full length album).

 During this bout to keep myself safe away from the gropers, molesters, sweaty nasty guys, and potential death, I was very glad that I knew almost every song they sang (did not know one older song from Clarity), because that helped he gauge how long I would have to endure possibly getting hit by bastards wanting to mosh and which part of the song they would mellow out and make my way to a safer place were I was less likely to get swallowed.

Overall, the experience was awesome. I did not run into any full on jerkoffs blocking my view or trying to feel me up. I did not encounter any full on rude people pissed me off for longer than a song or two, and my view was not occluded throughout the concert. Even though I did feel death brush against me for a few seconds, I never completely lost my footing or consciously thought"what will my mother think if I died at this concert". Granted it did enter my mind during those few seconds.

At the end of their set list, the crowed definitely wanted more. I was satisfied with one or two more songs. The crowed yelled "Five more songs!" and lo and behold, true to Jimmy fashion, the delivered, and delivered greatly. They almost always play encores to satisfy the crowed, which is why I respect the band so much. Jim, Tom, Rick, and Zach seemed to really enjoy their last hurrah for this tour and they definitely gave it their all and I have the voice (or lack there of) to prove it and fuzzy feeling ears as a result. Fantastic performance, great energy, and great choices of songs in the set list--as always. They played almost every favorite song of mine. I don't know how Jim does it singing the way he does, nor do I know how they guys do it almost every day in a new city, but huge props to the guys. I hope they have a safe trip back home and spend it well with their families. They well deserved it. Thanks guys for a spectacular show! Oh and the guy that took a pic of me and Kristine for some random band (Similar to System of a Down), I better now see my face plastered on GGW!

posted by shine at Monday, July 21, 2008 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Cris's Birthday and Rahil's Condo

I just had dinner with Cris, Mark, Rahil, and Dino this evening at LA Food Show in Manhattan Beach, first to celebrate Cris's birthda, but also to finally get to see Rahil and Dino's new condo. It's very nice and well decorated. Rahil gets tons of props for her design sense. I guess their watching HGTV all day pays off lol.

I don't know if you've ever eaten at LA Food Show, but personally, at least the one in Manhattan Beach, the food is over priced and sub par in both presentation and flavor. I expected much more considering the location and reputation of the place. While the ambiance fairly dark, but comfortable, modern and fairly quiet. You get to see an open kitchen, which was both a plus and possibly a minus. There were two occasions where we distinctly heard someone drop a glass and another possibly a large plate. That one was very loud and the people clapped as it happened (not sure if it was in good fun, but I thought that was sad). The service was so so. Our server was friendly and helpful with the recommendations. She seemed knowledgeable in the dishes. The one thing that ruined it for me was the length of time it took for them to bring out the dessert menu (Cris's cheese cake/birthday dessert). We were waiting for what felt like an hour. It wasn't that bad because we were busy talking, but I noticed we were among the few left in the place and noticed the time. It was already 10:00pm and no one was bringing the check or the dessert menu.

All in all, I'd rather eat CPK (its sister company), Macaroni Grill, Cheesecake Factory, or even BJ's even though its noisy. At least the food in these places are fairly good at a much better price. I was going to get their Chicken Milanese (waitress recommended), but opted for Chicken Marsala instead since I didn't want to have the same thing as everyone else and saw it had mashed potatoes ^^. Unfortunately, their marsala was over seasoned and very salty, so was their red herb mashed potatoes...and I like my salt! $17 for what appeared to be 1/2 chicken breast pounded very thinly and sliced into three pieces, some red mashed potato, and a about 5 slices of blanched asparagus. Not worth it. Even their peach iced tea wasn't very peachy enough. I couldn't even finish my cheese cake (too sour strawberry topping and texture of the cheesecake itself was just not smooth nor creamy and the texture was gross) and key lime pie was too sour. I did not care for the crust either. I didn't even like their banana bread pudding (too mushy) even though Mark and Rahil seemed to really like it. All it reminded me of was how it paled in comparison to the texture and flavor of the banana bread my mom just made yesterday with crunchy almonds and toffee topping. I ate it warm with ice cream (sooooo good).*ugh* maybe it's just me, cause everyone else seemed to like their food. I like my chicken and mashed potatoes, but this dish definitely did not cut it. It's the first time I ate at a restaurant and came out not full. Anyway despite that, I had fun, granted it was a little hard to really keep a conversation completely meaningful when there were five fairly distinct personalities granted everyone at the table is really great, sometimes when bigger groups are involved (note a small group to me is 4 or less), the quality of the conversation gets dulled. There was even a 3 second bout of silence, which was weird. I know if it were just Cris and I or Rahil and I it would be an ongoing exchange.

Before meeting with everyone, I stopped by my apartment and dropped off a few things. I wrote Cris a little message and recalled a conversation I had with my other friend Kathleen who happened to go to the same high school with Cris. She asked me how I became friends with him and I told her. Just thinking about it made me really happy at how much Cris and I bonded in college and how a really wonderful friend he has been to me. He's almost like an older brother to me even though technically I'm older than him by 4 months. Today while Rahil finished giving me a tour of their house he noticed my collar was out of place and fixed it. As we were walking to the restaurant he offered his hand to help me up the steps and noticed I was wearing heals (I don't wear heals too often with jeans). Over dinner Cris told everyone how sometimes even though we've been out of college for a while, he's gotten so used to being with me that he feels as though our times together were so recent and yet it's technically been ages. It's funny how much he remembers little details of things. My friends seem to notice little things and it's the fact that they notice these little things that make me feel so fortunate to have them as my friends. It is what sets them apart from everyone else. It's what makes them so special to me.

Rahil was saying that there are very few people she can just call and meet up like there's no problem. I would have to agree. She says that each time we meet there is no awkwardness and no hesitation. There are very few people who have even one friend like that. I am very fortunate to have three. I am not a friend whore, but the friends I have are better than most would find in their lifetime.

posted by shine at Thursday, July 17, 2008 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Summer Movie Watching 2008

After a long year, I finally get a vacation so to speak. I finally got a chance to buy some more furniture for my apartment, and I finally got to watch Across the Universe and Wall.E. Both movies are excellent. Across the Universe is also a hard to miss movie. I've been wanting to see it since I saw the previews in theaters only to be surprised it was not promoted at all outside of the movies. Luckily my cousin was smart enough to buy a Blu-Ray disc of the film. I watched it and definitely was in awe of the script, the cinematography, but more so with the musical and artistic talents of all the actors. Big props to Julie, their director, who chose such an amazing and talented cast and even greater props to the production team who helped make it happen. Its definitely a movie with no comparison. I did, however, have a WTF moment when I found out that Dr. Robert was Bono...indeed WTF.

I watched Wall.E today with my brother, cousin and a couple of friends. Wall.E. is one of the best Pixar movies by far a very close contender to my Bug's Life favorite (personally the most well rounded, most entertaining, and most well written cg films of its time that doesn't focus on the cg as it's drawin factor). Wall.E on the other hand takes a bigger stab at emotion through visuals (you can't get away from Wall.E's emo eyes). It uses visual imagery to grab at your heart. If only it didn't leave an empty sad feeling in my stomach. It resonates and sends an important message, but it's not any message we haven't heard or seen before in various permutations. That is the only thing that prevents it from being a full 5/5 than a 4-4.5/5 in my opinion. I didn't like the fact that they took a little stab at politics even though it was a very subtle one. All in all, excellent film with a quiet, but powerful message. If only people were as dedicated and as caring as Wall.E.

posted by shine at Saturday, July 12, 2008 0 Comments Links to this post