Weekly Dose of Awesome

It's Wednesday and you know what that means!! Yay! Weekly Dose! Yay yay!! If you're in the NY area tune into Channel 25 at 10:30pm tonight (channel 22 on Cablevision) if you want to catch it live on your boob tube. Don't be late, it's only one minute long BOO YA.

PS- are you guys liking these? Because I think they're pretaaay awesome.

Afternoon inspiration

Artistic, inspiration, outrageous, stunning.

Morning inspiration

Add this to the I'm-always-5-months-late-to-see-videos list. Don't care. I think it's incredible.

Texts from Bets Vol. 2

This lil' bit of perfection came in the form of a voicemail left on my work phone this morning:

Oh hi, I'm just saying good morning. I'm getting ready to drive to work, I'm putting on a clear coat first. Gosh, when can you do a clear coat if you don't have a car? Like when do you have time in the morning? Hm, I bet that's a problem. I got my boots out of the garage this morning, my tall black boots like you have in tan. And already my sock is scrunching underneath my foot and um, that's it. And I love you and I'll talk to you soon.

Backstory: So. My mom has this habit of putting on her clear coat of nail polish right as she gets into the car each morning and then holds the steering wheel ever so gently as it dries while she drives. She is also the master of putting on lip liner while the car is in motion.

Both of these things seemed completely normal and routine throughout my childhood until I got old enough to realize my mom has probably been semi-putting my life in jeopardy daily to maintain a beautiful manicure. Just kidding, Mom! I'm exaggerating...she only applies the clear coats before she drives or at red lights. The lip liner on the other hand...

This totally explains why nail polish fumes remind me of cars. And for the record, her nails always look fantastic.

Glitter! ...me this?

Oh you know, just awkwardly taking pics on my phone of things that are glittery. Only mildly creepy.

Please excuse my horrible, already being affected by the dry weather, nails and just look at the color! Extravaganza from the new OPI Burlesque line. Yippee skippie.

Who needs vajazzling when you can just do it right on top of your head? I'm seriously considering shaving my head, because then at least all of that hard work would be much more visible than the buried in my panties alternative. Right?

2 girls, 1 bus, BOTH SHADES OF TOM'S GLITTER SHOES. I almost peed but instead I made sure I turned the sound down on my phone and stalkerishly took a picture. (Upon further inspection it looks like the silver shoed lady was really just wearing a boring old pair of flats, not the glorious Toms. Whatever, I'll take it.)

Creepiest post ever?

"From the minds of paranoid crackheads"

It's time for a little story.

Often times in the TV industry, online databases are used for the music you hear throughout your favorite shows. Production companies pay a fee to get access (and publishing rights) to the thousands of songs ranging from hundreds of different genres. Music is everything to a story so learning how to successfully navigate through the huge databases to find what you need is incredibly important. And to pick the right music, you have to worry about things like tone and pacing and timing. At times the possibilities seem endless, other times you can't find one thing that works. (It's taken some time but I've totally become a master of picking out the music)

But picking out the right music is just half of the battle. GETTING to that song is the really hard part. The search options are ridiculous- genre, tempo, instrument, era, country and mood (just to name a few). On top of that, the databases are really finicky and often times I find myself getting in yelling matches with them.

This leads me to my point. After all of the searching, you get to a list of songs. Each song has a name with a description aimed to help you get a better idea of what the track sounds like. Now, my dear Glitt'o Babes, this right here is the point of this post. The names and descriptions for these songs are the dumbest, most hilarious, most ridiculous bits of unhelpful information I have ever seen. I like to picture a guy sitting in his office whose sole job it is is to take lots of drugs and write these descriptions.

"Duuude this song sounds totally spacy and out there."

"Dude, let's call it galaxy quest and say it has a seductive slow, mysterious tempo"

"Duuuude"

In short ladies and gentleman, I have discovered my dream job. For your enjoyment, I have gathered screen shots of some of my favorites I have come across in recent months. Song name is on the left, description is on the right.

...Because who really wouldn't want a song called Butt Munch?

Then slide into a glorious pool of dark chocolate pudding? What does that feel like exactly? TAKE ME THERE.
Break out the sequins and shaking yo money maker? Whoa, how did you know what my weekend goals are?
I repeat: Wanna get wit dat dimepiece tonight.

I grouped this screen grab into one big chunk because I'm sorry...excuse me...what? "Dangerous shouty rap from the grim reaper's mean muthas. You gonna die..." Ya...totally.

Duuuuude.
Tubulaaaar.
Take me there?

For the record this song sounded like it was pulled straight out of an old Barney re-run. Devil's work? I don't think so.

Shit...how did they know?

Ummm...

Like I'm sorry but how in anyway is this considered an actual description for music? What does this even mean!

Read the two of these back to back. It's like reading a novel.

The name says it all...

My film instructor at KU first described the importance of music to the storytelling process with these awesome examples: Enjoy!

It just keeps getting better

No, I will not get sick of it. No, the song won't get out of my head either. No, I'm not apologizing for it.

Shout out to the co-star of Weekly Dose, the holder of perma-anxiety himself, Mr. Russ Marshalek! Thanks for the vid!

Weekly Dose of Awesome

Heyyy ya'll! Are you looking for something fun and exciting to do this weekend? Check out Leah's picks on this week's edition of Flavorpill's Weekly Dose! PS- my shoot was last night for the November episodes. SPOILER ALERT: They're going to be even more awesome.

Ok...not letting me embed. Damn government quality video player. Watch the awesomeness HERE. Sorry 'bout that.

Glitt'o Pup of the Day

The Daily Puppy today's name is Sophie!! And she's a Golden Retriever!! I want to smoosh that little puppy face and rub those little ears and scratch that baby cutie tummy. However, for those of you living under a rock and don't know, Sophie is my beautiful golden retriever's name as well and my furry baby is sooo much cuter. And her ears...they just don't make them that soft.

I miss her so much and I don't know the next time I'm going to see her. In the meantime, pictures of the OTHER Sophie will just have to do :)

Whip My Hair officially rocks

Holy shit. Omg. Amazing. Gaga. lakjdf;lajfl;ajflajflajsflkjsflakjflakjf. She is 9!!!!!!! I am flipping out. Get it? Like flipping my hair? No?

WHY HAVEN'T I EVER THOUGHT TO DIP MY HAIR IN PAINT AND WHIP IT?????? I'm doing this to my living room tonight.

I don't think I've been this obsessed with a single video since TLC's Waterfall (they looked like caprisun juice!!) came out. Oh wait scratch that, I haven't been this obsessed with a video since Britney's Stronger video. I totally haven't taken one breath while writing this post.

Dave loves it too. Whip it real good.

Eyedea

I don't even know what to say so I haven't written this post yet. Michael Larson aka Eyedea died on Sunday. He was 28 years old. No announcements yet on the cause of his death. Eyedea was one half of the indie hip hop duo, Eyedea and DJ Abilities. The best friends had been creating music together since they were 14 and had since become a headlining group on the Rhymesayers label.

Without hesitation, I can say that there hasn't been an artist to touch my life in the way that Eyedea has. I first listened to Eyedea and Abilities at a time when I was discovering my musical identity. When his words reached from the headphones and jumped into my ears, it was like a lightbulb went off. 6 years later and I still listen to their music every single day.

The loss feels devastating. Like Guru, I feel like I truly had gotten to know Eyedea through the poetry that were his songs. He was raw and emotional and cocky and young and on a quest for happiness. He was a lyricist, a master of the spoken word, a poet. I know that we don't truly know the arts that we feel close to, but Eyedea had a powerful way of opening up through his songs allowing the listener to connect. He didn't just rap autobiographically, he encouraged the listener to think deeper and explore themselves and humanity. I don't know if this was always his intention or if he was just a master freestyler who wanted to put his thoughts out there to be interpreted however the listener wanted. To me, Eyedea felt like my messed up friend next door who enabled me to think differently and listen to music in a whole new way.

The true beauty of it was listening to his effortless lyricism as it seamlessly flowed in tandem with Abilities beats. He made some solo projects but to me, nothing could compare to their partnership. My goal was to see them perform live. They don't come out with new stuff often (By the Throat was released last year after a 5 year hiatus) and he didn't really tour. I'll never get to go. They'll never make more music together. My heart breaks.

When my soul steps to exit this frame, I will be reincarnated as rain.

Everyone wants to get out of the rain, wants to be free, wants to see no more pain.

- Eyedea, Liquid Sovereignty, First Born.

**I can't post music at work but I'll give you some downloads later.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's my cup of tea.

Glitt'o Bunny

I can watch this ten times in a row and never get sick of it. Because it's bunnies....in cups...obviously.

Thanks Gil!

Reasons I love New York #10ish

You get to go to cool premieres and see cool people like David Cross.

And at the premieres you get to hear cool Q&A's from the makers of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. (So hilarious, you have to watch it, big Glitto' thumbs up)

Sometimes you get to witness really really talented subway performers. These middle or high school boys had a whole choreographed routine that was so sick I would have paid money to see it. Instead I just put some in their hat.

Daddy's come and visit. My Dad came for an extended business trip and it was the bombbbb. Breakfast at Clinton St. Baking Co, lunch at Katz's, a super amazing awesome Broadway show, we went shopping, we went on an audio walking tour of the old jewish Lower East Side. All and all it was a super amazing awesome weekend.

Evidence of the awesomeness.

Glee clubs sometimes perform at your apartment complex. This little cutie baby was mesmerized. The best part was when this glee club say MIA- Paper Planes complete with gun noises made by their mouths.

You may accidentally find yourself at sweet concerts. I helped Emily with a music video shoot and got to see Nyle perform (finally!!) and it was super awesome amazing. He's having a show for the release of his single next Tuesday night. Who wants to come with me! $10!

Sometimes your friends might help you make a TV show. Susan lending her beautiful handwriting to Weekly Dose. She's so nice. And super awesome.

You may try to take emo poses in bathtubs? The cool new Eventi hotel has cool new bathtubs and I wanted to take a cool pix. I look creepy but look at my pretty boots!

You get to do cool things in parks with thousands of other people. I did the mp3 experiement with Rada and her friends. Read about it here. Awesome video below. It was soooooo super awesome fun.

Bryant Park was taken over.

Sometimes your waiters are aspiring Broadway performers. At Ellen's Stardust Theatre, one of my favorite guilty pleasures in NYC, they sing and dance and it's so super awesome fun.

Sometimes you get to go to funny concerts. Gil and I went to Mike Posner and it was hilarious. I'd say the general age of the crowd was 15 (funny because 99% of the people there had 21+ bracelets on?) The girls in front of us (who, Gil noted, had backgrounds on their phone that said SENIORS FOREVER) were fighting with the people next to them for about an hour because they were "looking at them" and "touching them." We almost saw a prepubescent smack down. But it was great and hilarious and always fun to happily dance around with Gil.

Posner really really loved his crowd. He told us every couple of minutes. We love you too, Posner.

And sometimes you just need to dance on the street. Beautiful moves by beautiful Rada.

Apparently I'm obsessed?

YES.

Flavorpill's Weekly Dose YIPPEE

Oh, why hello there. I've been drowning slowly at work lately and this weekend I seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet and slept for the majority of each day. Ahh it felt so good. Did you miss me? I missed you.

SO I can't believe I haven't shared this with you yet BUT...I produced a very very cool thing that I am very very proud of. Did I mention very very very? It's called Flavorpill's Weekly Dose and it airs weekly on NYC Life (Wednesdays! 10:30! Tune in!). Flavorpill is this lovely, wonderful website that acts as a culture guide for New Yorkers (they also have sites for other major cities). Flavorpill created a 30-minute (awesome) music show for NYC Life called Flavorpill Fix and I was asked to create a companion 1-minute series that highlights upcoming events to air right before the Fix each week. Ta-daaaaaa. Weekly Dose was born. Each week we go behind the scenes at the Flavorpill headquarters to tell you events you just CAN'T MISS in the New York area.

I'm very proud of how it turned out and I can't wait to keep making more! Big thanks to Leah Taylor and the whole Flavorpill team for their overall awesomeness! And also a big thanks to Miss Susan Schwarz for her beautiful handwriting.

Enjoy!!

PS- It's looking like the embedded video kind of sucks, so click this link to watch it!

Flashback Friday

This is kind of Flashback and kind of not all at the same time. Liz and I were just talking about this recently- no matter what, we'll never get sick of Postal Service nor will their songs ever feel old or dated or overplayed.

I remember listening to them for the first time in Sarah King's basement in high school (Whitney remember she did that falling through the floor thing on the last track? It was crazy). I continued to love them in college and I continue to love them today. Without fail, I turn the album on every single time I get onto an airplane. They truly are Flashback and current all rolled into one. PS- I definitely have never known that they made music videos to these songs, did you?

Someone get me a brown paper bag

I think glitter is always the best way to kick off a long weekend, don't you? I'm straight up hyperventilating over OPI BURLESQUE.

According to All Laquered Up, this is OPI's response to the widely popular Alice and Wonderland series. THANK YOU DEAR DEAR OPI FOR ANSWERING ALL OF MY PRAYERS. When Mad as a Hatter hit the scene I went on a relentless quest all over NYC to find the glorious bottle of multi colored perfection. (Although Lippmann's Happy Birthday is still far-and-away better)

Unfortunately, I do agree with ALU's review- the satisfaction of the beautiful glitter on your nails almost isn't worth it when it comes time to try to remove the polish. Ho-hum. Look at these colors though! Here are a couple of my favs. (note: All Lacquered Up lady puts one coat on her ring finger, 2 coats on the middle and 3 coats on her pointer finger to show you the difference in application)

Sparkle-licious

I decided that Sparkle-licious should be my stripper name if the TV industry doesn't work out.

Glow up already!

And while we're on the subject of sparkles. Looky here at what I just found by Lippmann. I think I like these even more than the Burlesque line.

I might frame this pic and put it in my room somewhere, it's so beautiful.

Across the Universe

Bad Romance

::sigh:: Glitter just makes me so happy.