Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Let's Conspire to Ignite [Muse]

I must be on a roll. For those of you not familiar with the excitement related to these first ringing notes, it's Muse! Muse is coming to Charlottesville this Wednesday at 7:30pm. I bought the tix last year, because I thought this would be my first official concert. What I didn't plan on was B.o.B, Ingrid Michaelson, and all those other summer visiting artists making up a series of my first concert experiences.

Over the summer, I made it one of my goals to experience the Charlottesville culinary scene as much as possible. One equally challenging and pleasurable goals should be to experience the Charlottesville music scene as much as possible. Charlottesville is surprising in that it attracts a lot of talented artists to its multiple music venues. Ingrid Michaelson was at the Jefferson, which is a fantastic, newly renovated music space. The Southern is supposed to be a great venue as well.

For large names though, such as Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, John Paul Jones Arena takes the cake. This is where Muse will be! Muse is an English rock band that has awesome rhythms. I'm such a groupie that I'll be there around five. Or maybe not, because my friend holds my tickets hostage as she has class that ends at 6:30...

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Ingrid Michaelson is awesome

I dedicate this quick entry at 1:52am to Ingrid Michaelson, who is witty, sassy, and a phenomenal singer. This isn't my video, but it could have been. The video doesn't do her justice. This woman has been doing concerts seven nights in a row, and she came to Charlottesville to perform at the newly renovated Jefferson Theatre.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

"You see, the trick in a ten page paper is in the outline."

The reason I have been in Clemons Library (oh, the joy) since 10am today during Homecoming Weekend is because I have a ten page paper. This delightfully even-numbered paper needs to get done. Now.

I dared to breathe unfiltered air and feel unadulterated sunlight when I ventured out to grab lunch with Sophie. We were on our way to Newcomb before it closed its doors for brunch, when I heard my name being called. Turning around, I see a person I hadn't seen in a while since he graduated this past May.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

Oh, duh. It's Homecoming Weekend. The person out of place is me, coming out of a library on this gorgeous Saturday.

Suave as usual, BJ smiles generously and laughs off my social gaffe. I nervously laugh along. I know he is questioning the reason for my creeping out of Clemons, looking like I was wearing clothes that could pass off for my grandmother's PJs.

"You look cute."

Uh, thanks. I quickly explained that I was writing a ten page paper and was in the process of swiping a meal from Newcomb before retreating back into the fluorescent-striped rooms of Clemons. Then to stall an awkward silence, I turned around and introduced my friend Sophie. Luckily Sophie struck gold when she said she was a political science major, also writing a nine page paper.

"Ah," BJ said sympathetically, shaking hair out of his eyes, "I've done my fair share of long papers. You see I was also a political science major, double majoring with Economics."

"You see, the trick in a ten page paper is in the outline."

Nodding thoughtfully, Sophie looked at me and I realized that I was doomed. I had spent two hours on the abstract. There was no way I was going to have an outline and still finish this paper in time by Monday.

Thanking him and promising to meet up with him later, even though I didn't have his phone number, I walked away with Sophie. She was fascinated by Newcomb because it was her first time there as she didn't have a dining plan. I made sure that I showed her to taste-test everything before heaping piles of it on her plate. Newcomb is notorious for having food that looks decent, and then upon the first bite, laughing at you for believing its empty promise of deliciousness.

Well, I wrote enough now. It's only been 18 minutes and I wrote an entry. So why can't this essay finish?

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Pillow Pals equals Anchor Babies?

I swear each year the exchange students see more of the United States than I did in all of my childhood. This fall break, I have two French exchange students who went to Philadelphia, one Italian exchange student who went to Las Vegas, a Singaporean who went to Boston, and a group who went to New York.

Well I went home.

I should stop saying this, but home still doesn't feel like home. And I'm starting to forget my home in New York.

I also have a confession to make. I have a pillow pal. After seeing Toy Story 3, I should feel less ashamed about having a cuddly stuffed animal in my dorm room, but sadly I am feeling defensive about my cuddly lamb of a pillow pet. If you check out their website [http://www.mypillowpets.com/], you'll see why I'm so defensive. That's right. On the FRONT page of their website is a three-year-old with his pillow pal. And right below that is a link that says "COMBAT PILLOW PAL FRAUD." Don't laugh. It's a big deal, okay? Reading that page, I realized that my fuzzy animal of a pillow was actually... a victim of fraud. It wasn't its fault that it was born an impostor.

Which leads me to the term anchor baby (nice tie-in, I know). For those of you who don't know, anchor babies is a "term to describe a child born in the U.S. to illegal aliens, and is generally used as a derogatory reference to the upposed role of the child, who as a US citizen through the legal principle of jus soli, may facilitate immigration for relatives through family reunification" (Wikipedia.Org). While in truth, "a US citizen child cannot file for a US visa for its parents until the child is 21 years of age, and upon reaching that age the child must also be earning at least 125% of the US poverty threshold to be able to apply."

In late September, LSA publicized an Immigration Panel that it would be having [Youtube video]. There has been debate over the term anchor babies, especially on their youtube page. To quote, "The law, when originally written, obviously didn't factor in the pandemic that would eventually evolve as a result of Mexicans and their disregard for laws, among other things. Mexicans sure have no trouble reproducing offspring and relying on the backs of others to pay the bill." and the response was "So what I'm gathering from your comment is that Mexicans are a pandemic and it's their fault they want to improve their lives." This gives you a sense of how people feel!

Monday, October 4, 2010

FratMusic

That's right. Fratmusic. I can't get over the title. Yesterday at a waffle-filled, syrup-laden, and ice-cream'd event hosted by the Council of our residential college, there was awesome music. I'm talking about remixes of great songs like "Memories" (David Guetta ft. Kid Cudi), "Stereo Love" (Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina) and "What a Night" (Kontrol & Lil' Jon). Essentially people came for the food and stayed because of the music.

So I checked out this site and woah. Fratmusic.com is FRESH. Then I found out a UVa student who went by DJ Omarish last year before he graduated was working for (maybe even created?) fratmusic.com. Apparently he is making big bucks in San Francisco. From what I remember when I met him, he was a Lawnie who is down to earth. Well, good for him. It's nice to see people in alternative jobs than i-banking in NYC or law school.

Ah, so this essay that I'm supposed to be writing... hahaha, peace out!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Design Marathon

In spring of 2010, I had wandered into the second floor of the cool building in downtown. I had walked in because it looked modern, classy and had the word "design" hanging in the large, glass windows. No one challenged me as I passed the double glass-door threshold so I tried to look like I fit in this chic, modern space. There were a couple of desks and monitors clustered in the corner, but the majority of the space was open and inviting. I think there was a photography exhibit, but I don't remember exactly. What was this place? Who worked here? What did it do? I wasn't able to find anyone unoccupied to ask my questions, so I just signed up my name on the newsletter email list and left.

Thank goodness I walked in.

I received several emails from Charlottesville Community Design Center (CCDC), one of which was for the Design Marathon. "Calling all Nonprofits and Designers!" it said and I called. For those of you who don't know, the Design Marathon is an annual event where teams of talented designers (architects, landscape architects, planners, and graphic designers) donate 12 hours of professional services to ten competitively selected local non-profit organizations. That happened October 1st.

Hmm, how to describe the intense time-crunch to provide innovative and creative solutions to design problems? Absolutely fun. I want to be a graphic designer.

While I won't post the ideas and works that I came up with, I must say that this event has enormously boosted my ego. Down, girl, down. I barely noticed the time flying by and truthfully it was fantastic. All the designers were coddled with free coffee (apparently necessary), complimentary pizza lunches, access to a high-tech printer, and attentive volunteers who catered to all your needs. It was a designer's heaven.

You can check out the final designs of the Design Marathon at their blog: http://designmarathon.wordpress.com/.