Dark Shadows

I am SO excited that Dark Shadows begins filming in May!  If you aren't aware, this is Tim Burton's latest film.  It's due to be released sometime in 2012.  The film is an adaptation of the Dark Shadows television show that aired in the mid-60's to early 70's (there was also Dark Shadows Revival, which came out in the early 90's, but I don't know much about that one).  The film is based around the original show.  The series is an extremely cheesy soap opera with (drumroll please) vampires!  If you have Netflix, there are a ton of the episodes online (which I've started watching).  It's definitely worth checking out.  The acting is terrible, the sets are not well made, and there are vampires (as previously mentioned)!

So, I know there have been a surplus of vampires lately with Twilight (gag.  Just a side note, I haven't seen any of the films or read the books.  I am just well aware that it's creepy for the moms of teenagers to think Robert Pattinson is hot) and True Blood (which I haven't seen either.  I don't have cable or any TV.  I survive on Netflix).  But, let me tell you, I have a feeling this movie will be different.  For one, Tim Burton is doing it.  He has never been one to do a movie based on what is "in" and relevant in pop culture (for example: Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and pretty much every other movie he has done).  Secondly, this movie has been in the works for a few years now (before vampires became "in" and they developed a separate book section at Barnes and Noble for them).

Originally, John August was writing the script.  He's done a lot of work with Tim Burton (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse Bride).  For some reason, he isn't the screenwriter anymore, which I find pretty disappointing since I loved all three of the films he wrote for.  The new screenwriter for Dark Shadows is Seth Grahame-Smith who wrote the books Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.  He is also writing the script for the movie adaptation of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.  I really hope he does a good job because I cannot wait to see this movie!

(I can't take credit for this image, I found it on Google)

School. Not Always Cool. Sometimes Cool.

I cannot wait to be finished with school!  I feel like I've been going forever.  And, if you want to get down to the specifics, I have been attending school non-stop for 19 years.  I think I deserve a break.  The good news is, as long as everything goes as planned, I will be done in a year from May.  I will round out my educated life at a cool 20 years of school (that equates to eight years of "higher" education).

This semester has been somewhat trying for me.  This is mostly due to my extremely demanding political science classes.  Both classes are taught by the same instructor.  One is entitled "Ethnicity and Nation Building."  The other is "International Conflict and Security."  (I told you so).  Since I have the same instructor for each, he often assigns the same style of assignment for each.  Usually it involves reading a 30ish page article and writing a one page reaction paper.  So, that means I get to read 60ish pages of articles and write two reaction papers.  Often times these assignments are assigned on Monday and due on Wednesday, so I must complete them fully after work on Tuesday.  (Not fun).  (Just one more month, just one more month, I can do this).

The sometimes cool part about school is that my political science classes are cancelled this week.  The not so cool part of school is that I will continue to do political science work this week.  I have to do a ton of research and write a ten to fifteen page paper due on Monday.  I'll also be working on my other class work.  No rest for this study-aholic.

After I finally finish my long and exhausting school career, I hope to start a new career.  One that pays me.  I am so looking forward to taking the next step in my life.  I cannot wait to be a married woman with a salaried job (no more hourly pay ftw).

SXSW

What a spring break!  It began pretty low key and developed into a memorable adventure.  We had three main days of SXSW and one day off in between for recovering purposes.

It all began on Wednesday.  Luckily, Josh was able to get off work early so we could go see Michael Cera's band, Mister Heavenly.  To start the day off right, we went and got veggie burgers at Billy's along with a pitcher of Live Oak Hefeweizen and one pint of coffee porter to share.  Then, we jumped on the bus and headed downtown.  We arrived at Emo's a little early and started to walk around.  When we headed up to the patio area, we spotted Michael Cera himself!  He was talking to a group of people pretending to be a normal person (I wasn't fooled).  After standing a little too close with my camera in hand, he finally ended his conversation and began to walk away.  I saw my opportunity and approached him to ask for a photograph to which he replied, "I'm looking for my friends..."  Alright, Michael Cera, I get it.  You want to be normal, you have friends and they aren't me, but please believe I love the character you play in every movie (and real life) and I need proof of your human existence (which resides in reality and not just on film).  So, I said, "Oh, it'll only take a minute!"  Then, I held up the camera and, in my slightly buzzed state, turned it off instead of taking a picture.  Luckily, I made a quick recovery and got a picture with the amazing (and slightly annoyed) Michael Cera!

Michael Cera!  The guy behind us can barely believe it!

<3

After all that excitement, Josh and I headed to the bar and got two tall boys each of Imperial because (since SXSW was in town) it was cheaper than Lone Star.  We took some adorable pictures to pass the time and I tried not to feel too guilty about invading Michael Cera's personal space.  Before too long, Mister Heavenly came on and they were awesome!  The other members are from Modest Mouse, ManMan, and Islands.  After that show, Bailey and Rachel met up with us and we headed to some other bars.  We ran into Courtney Pettit and Karen (from Custom) which was a nice surprise.  Then, we saw Evan (another high school pupil) working the door at a place that had Mike Watts DJing.  So, since it was free and pretty good luck, we headed in.  It was a neat show and afterwards we took pictures with a man we assumed was Mike Watts (we were wrong).  After that, we went to Coyote Ugly where Rachel and I did the bar olympics (embarrassing) and did a little dance on the bar (something I've always wanted to do but hadn't been intoxicated enough to do until that evening).  After way too much fun (and by fun, I mean drinking), we parted ways and did our best to head home.  On the way to the long lost bus stop, Josh and I ran into Opie (aka Allen).  Finally, we arrived at the bus stop (to Josh's amazement) and staggered home.  Needless to say, Thursday was our day of recovery.

On Friday, we started by seeing ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead at Waterloo Records.  It was an awesome show, although they didn't play any of our favorites (which happen to be none of their other fan's favorites).  Then, thanks to Alta's keen knowledge of secret shows, we headed to the Austin Club to begin our long wait in line to see Bright Eyes play.  We ended up waiting for four hours (it should have been three, but Conor had a little episode and they went on late).  We met some nice people in line though.  There were some people from Denton, a huge fan of Conor Oburst, and (my favorite) an Australian woman named Patricia.  She was very interesting (as was her boyfriend who does not like people that cut in line).  She told us all about Australia and her trip around America, it was very cool.  Finally, a little around 10:00, we got into the Austin Club.  Boy, is that place nice!  There was wine in real wine glasses, chandeliers, and bite sized desserts on trays!  Once Bright Eyes came on, I was overwhelmed with happy.  They even played a song from each of my favorite albums (Fevers and Mirrors and Lifted).  The extreme downside was the end of the show which came a mere half hour later.  Disappointed, yes.  Worth it to see them with only about 200 other people and get only four hours of sleep before work the next day, yes.

Waiting in line

Trail Of The Dead

Bright Eyes!

Our final day of SXSW excitement was Saturday.  After getting off work, Josh and I bussed ourselves downtown again.  I was really excited about the free show he had discovered at the Mohawk featuring Okkervil River, Big Boi, and TV on the Radio, but when we got down there, the line was too enormous to even dream of getting in.  So, instead of waiting, we headed to the convention center to meet up with Peter and Alta to say hello.  After that, we briefly checked out the Flat Stock sale.  Then, we wondered around downtown and made our way to the Mess With Texas Festival.  Bailey and Rachel met up with us shortly after.  Josh got octopus balls, which were pretty intense looking (I chose not to partake).  We saw some pretty awesome shows there which included: Surfer Blood, Davilla 666, and Dead Milkmen.  We happened to run into someone else we knew there, Crystal (we learned her name upon seeing her and chatting it up) from the Barnes and Noble Starbucks!  It IS a small world after all.  We stuck around for a little bit to see people jumping over fences, pushing, and shoving to see Odd Future, then headed back out into the world.  On the bus ride home, we stopped by Austin Pizza where we saw some drunk girl without a shirt (luckily, she donned a sports bra and put everyone at ease).  We had a delicious Pesto a Go-Goat pizza and then headed home.

Surfer Blood

Davilla 666

Dead Milkmen!

It was a very eventful SXSW this year!  Although we missed Kanye West and the Saturday night Bright Eyes show at Auditorium Shores, I count this year as a huge success.  The intimate setting of the Bright Eyes show we did see was priceless.  And, hello, I got a picture with Michael Cera!  Two thumbs way up, SXSW.

80's Night

Sunday night was 80's Night at Elysium.  Bailey and I went out there to meet up with my sister (to celebrate her birthday) and Lily (to celebrate her birthday).  Other neat people in attendance included my sister's friends (Joey and Julie), Javi, and Jose.  Josh didn't attend because it involved mostly dancing and he isn't too down with that activity.  We had an awesome time though!  We danced until we couldn't dance anymore!

A couple of interesting characters:

Creeper Dancing Guy: First he wanted to dance with Julie.  Then, he kept trying to infiltrate our dance circle.  Finally, he approached us at the bar and attempted one of the most lame pick up lines I've ever heard.  As he pointed to one of our glow bracelets, he said, "How long do those things last?"  Really?  Um, I don't know, but this conversation sure didn't last long.  We quietly escaped as soon as we could and he seemed to disappear shortly after.

Drunk Chick That Needs A Cigarette:  While Bailey and I were sitting outside so she could have a smoke break, this girl with a very low cut shirt approached and asked Bailey for a cigarette.  She kindly agreed.  Then, the drunk girl attempted to light the wrong end of the cigarette.  So, she put out that fire, pulled off the end of the burnt filter, and lit the correct end.  While putting the match into the ashtray, she lit a napkin on fire and clumsily put it out which sent ashes flying into her drink.  This made her a little hesitant to keep drinking it, but she quickly got over it and made the most of her ash filled drink.  She then told us ALL about it!  How she had started on South Congress that night and made her way downtown, saw her crush who ignored her (I really can't see why), how she's travelled everywhere (but is a native to Austin), and then how we're okay people because we voted for Obama.

There were also a couple of Village People and, of course, my all time favorite, Napoleon Dynamite Chick (who has amazing dance moves).  Overall, great night!

My Sister!

Bailey!

Lily and Javi!

The Word of the Day is Pee-Wee!

Yesterday was a FANTASTIC day!  It can be easily broken up into three main parts.

Part One: Picnic
Yesterday was a beautiful day, one that seemed to be designed for a picnic.  So, Josh and I took advantage of it.  We got some yummy sandwiches from Counter Culture and headed to our usual picnic-ing park.  We ate our sandwiches, laid down to look at the sky, and read our books for awhile.

The moon!

Afterwards, we headed to the Coffee Bean for a cup of joe.  This leads us to:

Part Two: Pee-Wee Herman!!!
I had read on the good ol' facebook earlier yesterday that Pee-Wee Herman was in town for the premiere of his HBO special.  While at the before mentioned Coffee Bean, I looked at his Twitter and discovered he was at 8th and Congress right at that moment handing out ice cream!  Obviously, we hopped in the car and headed downtown.  When we arrived at our destination, Josh took over driving responsibilities so I could jump out of the car and bolt to the action.  Before my very eyes was the one and only Pee-Wee Herman!  He was only about five feet away from me, so naturally my heart began to beat much faster than usual.  I was about to get in line and await an ice cream sandwich when I discovered from a lady photographer that he was leaving in one minute and the truck would be moving to (what I thought she said) 15th and Colorado.  I hurriedly took blurry photos of the back of his head, when suddenly I realized my memory card was full!  So, to my dismay, I watched him duck into a van and drive away.  Luckily, Josh came back to pick me up.  We headed over to 15th and Colorado, parked, and ran around like a couple of crazies.  There was no Pee-Wee in sight.  All we saw was a segway tour, so we ran away from that as quickly as possible.  I then realized, perhaps the lady photographer meant or said (and in all the excitement I misheard) 5th and Colorado.  So, we went by and sure enough, there was the Pee-Wee Herman ice cream truck, but Mr. Herman was not there.  I went ahead and parked at the nearest open spot (eight blocks away), so we could trek down there and get a picture in front of the truck.  I count myself lucky to have at least caught a glimpse of one of my childhood favorites, the fantastic Pee-Wee Herman.

Look closely, it's Pee-Wee's profile behind that man.

The back of Pee-Wee's head!

Pee-Wee walking away!

Part Three: Trevor's Birthday
Which brings me to part three, Trevor's birthday party (which we were late for because of the Pee-Wee Herman adventure).  We arrived at Dart Bowl about thirty minutes late, but we were kindly forgiven since a few other people were just as late.  Soon, we got to bowling (I actually won out of the players on our lane).  After bowling to our heart's content, we all went back to Mary and Trevor's place for a game of Pictionary.  It was a really good time.

Conclusion:
Yesterday was a day that will not soon be forgotten.  I <3 Pee-Wee Herman.

Spring Break Celebration

Yesterday I got off work at a ridiculously early hour (11:00 AM).  Not wanting to spend my first day of Spring Break hanging around the house and potentially doing homework, I gave Bailey a call.  We quickly decided celebrating Spring Break was in order and we headed to Billy's on Burnet for Blue Moons and delicious veggie burgers.  Afterwards, we went to Urban Outfitters to check out the clearance situation (disappointed).  Bailey got a sweet dreamcatcher keychain.  And, we ran into Lou.  He's so skinny!  Also, he's going to the Perez Hilton SXSW party, so we got jealous and headed up out of there.  Next stop, Goodwill for craft projects!  Two creepers made comments about our conversation at two separate times (creeped out).  We picked up a few frames and made our purchases.  Before heading home, we stopped by Dragon's Lair where my betrothed was about to battle mythical creatures as an ale drinking dwarf.  I met his co-worker Kenneth for the first time!  He seems like a swell guy.  The big tip off on him being neat was his use of a leg lamp ornament (think Christmas Story) as his character representation in the game.  After saying our hellos to everyone (including Allan and the Compton brothers), we headed out before the game got started.  When we got back to the house, the crafting began and didn't stop until we had wonderful end products!  Bailey cut out a bunch of letters in a cool font and put them on top of a pretty fabric and framed it.  It said, "Home is wherever I'm with you."  So cute!  I loved it (so much, that I may steal the idea with a different phrase or lyric I haven't decided on yet).  My craft was a couple of portraits of Josh and I painted on the glass of the frames I bought.  Originally, I was going to try and be increasingly artsy with shading and realistic methods.  It didn't take long for me to determine painting on glass is pretty difficult.  So, I went simple.  All the while, as we were crafting, we listened (and sang) to the Bright Eyes albums Fevers and Mirrors and Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground.  What a wonderful day/evening!

What's the deal with the pushy wedding industry?

I realize there are many tactics when selling a product, but it seems that most of the wedding types are quite pushy.

Fortunately, I have a great friend that is going to make my wedding dress of whatever design I come up with.  I have something pretty specific in mind, but I really wanted to see how the style looked on me before I committed to it.  So, yesterday, my friend Bailey and I ventured to the wide world of David's Bridal.  As soon as we walked in, I was given a form to fill out disclosing all of my information save my bank account log-in and social security number.  Then, I was asked if I needed tuxes and bridesmaid dresses, which I prompted replied "no" to as I began to see what was happening.  Next, even though I expressed that I wouldn't be purchasing today, I was asked, "Would you like to sign up for a David's Bridal card today?  It takes less than five minutes to process and you'll have six months no interest."  No way, are you bonkers?  I subscribe to Dave Ramsey's plan!  Well, I actually replied, "No, thank you.  We're paying for the wedding in cash."

After I was released from the receptionist's grasp, we were free to wonder the store while we waited patiently for a consultant.  Half an hour later, we were greeted by a kind lady consultant that seemed to want to help but knew in the back of her mind she must sale, sale sale!  After trying on three dresses (including a really fun Barbie princess dress!), the lady consultant sensed I was on the edge of loving the first dress (she was mistaken).  She asked me to try it back on, then accessorized it with some fancy heels and a cute vintage style vail.  I appreciated the effort, but as I had told her earlier, I wasn't looking to purchase anything today (aka ever).  As we were leaving, another consultant chimed in, "That dress is discontinued, so if you like it, you should decide soon."  Right, I'm sure every dress in the store is discontinued, tricky ladies.  Needless to say, Bailey and I left with headaches and an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion.

Here's hoping the rest of the wedding planning isn't as headache inducing as that experience.

Photos-The Engagement Variety

As mentioned in my first post, I got engaged at the end of last year.  This past month, as many betrothed couples tend to do, we got engagement pictures taken.  I've always seen a wide variety of engagement pictures.  Posed ones in an Olan Mills type studio, intensely serious black and whites where you fear the couple may have motives other than getting married, and even super fun personality complimenting candid style photos.  Well, I was more interested in the last variety and that's what I was out to find.  I knew I wanted a friendly, talented photographer that was easy to work with, so I turned to my former photography school pupil and current friend, Julie!  Luckily, she accepted our request to take some photos of our silliness.  Here are a few highlights from the session:

All photos by Julie Morrison.

I love these photos!  So much so that I made this wall collage of my favorites: