Auto Correct Round 2 and Creep Characters

First things first. Big congrats to the lead singer of Kings of Leon, Caleb Followill and his gorgeous new wife, Lily Aldridge. They got married on Thursday May 12 wearing Gucci and Vera. Here is a pic from the wedding!

So, remember in January when I did the “auto-correct” blog? To this day, it is still one of my most favorite posts, because I cried tears of laughter while writing it.

WELLLLLL

Today, my friend Christina sent me NEW ones! These are equally as funny, so I figured I’d share, courtesy of damnyouautocorrect.com!

Hahaha. This is a website that would not have been able to exist 10 years ago. Oh, the times! This really makes me want to suggest to Apple that on the iPhone 5, we can change the colors of the text conversations. Really?! Grey and Lime Green?! Let me get some options like on iChat. Heard.

So I recently got a new work laptop, and it is faster, prettier, and about 14lbs less than my previous laptop that had a charming “Rock The Vote” 2004 campaign sticker on it from some hippie who had previously used it. With this new laptop came new backgrounds to choose from. I usually find a nice John Mayer, David Beckham, or Ryan Reynolds picture to throw there, but decided I’d check out what the computer had to offer. Boy am I glad I did that. There was the typical folders to choose from; nature, architecture, landscape. And then I noticed one file of backgrounds called “Characters.” I clicked on it, and ….it got weird. Check it out:

check out that bear………

I mean, these are sincerely creepy. So Dell, if that’s what you were going for, congrats, you’ve succeeded.

Today’s music comes from THREE peeps. I spent my lunch hour listening to new music and reading Tina Fey’s Bossypants book at Barnes and Noble (which so far, is hilarious and I will surely tell you all about it when I am finished.) So I have lots to share today.

First — really diggin’ the country now that the weather is nice and the Corona’s are plentiful. I finally listened to Lady Antebellum’s entire CD, and I love it.

Fave is their new single Just a Kiss http://tinysong.com/G71U

This next one is a little off the grid, but I dig it. Totally picture it showing up in a movie or TV drama series in the next 6 months, my money is on Gossip Girl. I did a little research on the Wilhelm Scream and James Blake and turns out the scream is actually a television stock sound effect first used in the movie District Drums, and later more recognized for being used in Star Wars. James Blake is actually not the original artist of this song, but is covering the song”Where to Turn,” that was written by his father, James Litherland.

James Blake The Wilhelm Scream http://tinysong.com/EFJP

And lastly for those with a sense of humor — Andy Samberg started his new “band” The Lonely Island, and their latest CD features big artists such as Rihanna, Michael Bolton and Akon. I’m sure you’ve all heard the Akon song, so I’ll share the Rihanna song Shy Ronnie with you http://tinysong.com/G6wO

Enjoy!

xoxo

shu

May 25

Follow up to Shannon’s Engagement Weekend

So as mentioned in my past blog, I am on this iMovie kick. I really enjoyed putting together this video for one of my best friends Shannon, and I cannot wait to make the wedding day version!!!!!!

Thought I’d share, watch them in order, the first one is just a preview for the second 🙂

xoxo

shu

May 24

Drivers Ed, Engagements and Nose Cups

I was thinking about drivers this weekend. There are a lot of really, really bad drivers on the road.

There are the texters. They are only really looking at the road about 40% of the time. If things stay moving according to plan, they should be all set.

Then there are the lost people. Slamming on breaks, missing exits, driving 35 miles per hour on the highway and holding maps in front of their direct line of vision. Get a GPS nerds.

Then we’ve got the elders. Still wanting their freedom to get to the early bird special and enjoy some chicken marsala around 4p before bedtime, they can barely see above the steering wheel and I’ve seen quite a few “tap” parking jobs.

Can’t forget about the youth. Little whipper-snappers. Hoodlems. Driving too fast, tailgating, eating hoagies.

I consider myself to be a great driver….for a girl. My dad taught me how to parallel park in the local college parking lot when I was 15. And I’m forever grateful for that skill. I also took a driver’s ed course at school. I was able to cut off 25% on my insurance bill, and gain the skills to be a competent driver (and get out of 7th period once a week.)

It was a lot like Mr. Tuttle’s class on Saved By The Bell.

Haha, no it really wasn’t anything like this class, but what a great episode! Slater drives Kelly to Volleyball practice and she hits her head on a locker, then pretends to go crazy when she finds out Zach set up the crash. Amazing.

But I started thinking about all the discounts you get for being a good driver, taking classes and being responsible. I’m all for rewarding the responsible, but think about how ridiculous it is when you break it down.

You take a class and your insurance goes down, because they know everyone else is going to crash. Shouldn’t they just make taking driving lessons mandatory? Now my 16-year-old self would disagree but, 16 years old seems like a really young age to be giving children 2 ton pieces of metal while they experiment with drugs, lie to their parents and pay no attention to the dangers of the open road.

Wow, I think I just turned 50.

Back to my 26-year-old self….

I was in Danbury this weekend for an engagement party. It was such a great time! Shannon has been one of my besties for a solid 8 years. We bonded over our love for cookie dough and lifetime movies. She had a beautiful party on the Amber Room patio. The food was crazy. They literally didn’t stop feeding us for 4 straight hours with delish choices like cheese plates, calamari, Kobe sliders, mini meatballs, and lamb chops, oh my! I took a lot of video this weekend, because I decided that’s my new thang. I’m going to be blending videos to recap major events. The Kings Of Leon contest really got me into editing short videos (even though we didn’t win, still love them.) In the meantime, here are some pictures from the event.

Above is the patio where we had the party! Below is Leah, Bethany (MOH) Art (FOB) me and then Shannon’s youngest sister Jillian.

Here is the B — the bride herself looking dazzling 🙂

and college roomies at an angle!

All in all, a lovely weekend!

My friend Jillian gave me the best present this morning. After a weary long trip, it was so great to come back to this little gift. It really proves once again, how well your work friends really know you, because I LOVE THIS. Check out some pictures, and be jealous:

HAHA love it!

Today’s music comes from Foster the People. Song is called Pumped Up Kicks. They remind me of MGMT and song was def on Vampire Diaries. NO shame in knowing that.

Listening to Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People on @Grooveshark: http://tinysong.com/FISI

Enjoy,

xoxo shu

May 13

Kings of Philly

This is a guest blog from Gillian reminiscing about her experience at the Spectrum with Kings in Philadelphia. Enjoy!

It was unusually hot for an April day. I pulled up to the legendary Spectrum in Philadelphia for my first KOL Show. (This venue has held the likes of Bruce Springstien and many other big rock names. Sadly it was torn down this past winter to make room for a shopping complex and hotel to liven up the center sports areas of South Philadelphia.) Not only did I have floor seats but, they were under $50! Oh my, how things have changed in a just a few short years. The parking lot was full of people sitting with friends, drinking, playing games all with Kings in background. You could feel the excitement because it was the first time they had played in Philly !

So finally, I got into the spectrum and planted myself about 10 rows back, dead center behind some extremely short people. They came out strong playing Crawl and went into Taper Jean Girl….I was singing and dancing my bum off. The energy just felt amazing and I was so pumped that KOL was able to play in this legendary venue. If you’re not aware, the Spectrum was a legendary venue back in the late 60- 70’s….one of the only big venues at the time. Everyone from The Doors to Pink Floyd to the Greatful Dead ( who played there 53 times) had played in this venue.

I remember freaking out when they played Red Morning Light, pretty much scaring the people in front of me that didn’t really have a sense of humor….I said, oh this is my favorite! They replied, oh great…now, you can chill out for the rest of the show…or something to that effect. It was and still is one of my favorites. And then they closed out with Black Thumbnail. The whole night was so amazing and they sounded great. You never know when you go to a concert, if the band is going to live up to your expectations but let me tell you, Kings went beyond any expectation I had and 3 1/2 years later I’m still hooked!

Here is a picture from my phone of the band.

May 12

Kings of the Summer

This contest has really gotten me reminiscing about the Kings of Leon concert on August 5th, 2010.

Opening the show with Crawl really got the crowd motivated and with a mix of new and old songs, it stayed interesting. They are even better live than on their records, and I couldn’t have asked for a better night with friends! I love that they closed the show with Use Somebody and Black Thumbnail. In my mind — that was a true scale of their music. From new to old, both playing an equal part in their current success.

I couldn’t wait to see them again. Little did I know, I’d have to wait almost a year to catch them on their home turf of TN at Bonnaroo! I thought sitting on the lawn was “roughing” it, but I was in for the shock of a lifetime with the lack of luxury in the fields of Manchester.

Only thing that could of made this concert better was hearing CHARMER!

Cheers to many more Kings concerts and mild summers in PA.

Leavin’ you with a few jams to hold you over until the next one.

Here is Charmer http://tinysong.com/G527

And closing with Black Thumbnail http://tinysong.com/FPzz

Both from the Because of the Times album

Enjoy,

xoxo

shu

May 10

Kings of Leon, Ireland, and Bands…or Horses

So I am taking this time to get everyone pumped for the Kings Of Leon concert in Philly/Camden on August 12th, 2011. If you don’t have tickets yet, get serious nerds. They have lawn 4 packs for like 30 bucks each. What could you be doing on an August Friday besides listening to the glorious, tragically emotional, and heartfelt words of A. Caleb Followill and his fellow kings?

I dug a little deeper into their story to get a better understanding of the band. Fun facts coming your way:

1. Did you know that all of the band members actually go by their middle names? Anthony Caleb, Ivan Nathan, Cameron Matthew (cuz) and Michael Jared?

2. Their father’s name is Ivan Leon Followill — hence the band’s name Kings of Leon.

3. The bands first album was actually released in 2003. Their latest album Come Around Sundown (2010) was their 5th studio album. They had been on the UK and Aussie charts long before the USA came around.

4. All of their album titles have five syllables. The band claim that the first three (Youth and Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times) were coincidence, but they’ve superstitiously kept it going with Only by the Night.

If this isn’t motivation enough to get there, Band of Horses is opening. If you’re not familiar, get yourself acquainted:

Even Cee Lo is a fan:

check out this cover of Band of Horses’s No One’s Gonna Love You by Cee Lo Green on @Grooveshark: #nowplaying http://t.co/6gGsPJ0

Here is the original:

listening to No One’s Gonna Love You by Band of Horses on @Grooveshark: http://tinysong.com/6Joy #nowplaying

MTV has designed a contest to find the BIGGEST Kings fan and send them to Ireland to see them play in a castle and I can whole heartedly say…. it’s probably not me. Not what you were expecting to see, but there are a lot of crazy people out there. I know this because I’ve met most of them. I’m not stalking them, not praying for guitar pics to float in my direction, not paying $200+ to sit close enough to be gleeked on, and I don’t know what their favorite candies are.

That being said, they are indeed my most favorite band and respect them as musicians. At the chance to leave PA and fly to Ireland to see them play in a castle, I would pencil that into my schedule for sure. Especially because the acoustics in a castle would be something I’ve never heard before! I pretty much can’t think of anything cooler than that.

Hoping to cross two things off of my “to do” list, and so should you.

Here is the contest information:

http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2011/05/04/win-ireland-kings-of-leon-slane-castle-concert/

One of my first blog entries was for Bonnaroo 2010. It was one of my main inspirations for starting a blog in the first place. It was an amazing experience and something that I plan on reminscing about for years. With a music festival of that capacity, the organization and planning really blew me away.

Just to bring you back — here are a few of my favorite pictures from the event.

Kings of Leon was the highlight of our trip. We waited for two hours to get a good spot by the sound board. They were amazing and the cool Tennessee air really was a nice break from the relelentless heat of the afternoon. Best. Show. Ever. Here was their set list including songs from the new album which then wasn’t released until October!

http://bit.ly/9yylG7

If you haven’t been to Bonnaroo OR you haven’t seen Kings of Leon, make it a point to do so.

I leave you today with two of my most favorite Kings Of Leon songs:

http://tinysong.com/FK0X Closer off of their 4th album, Only By The Night

http://tinysong.com/G527 Charmer off of their album Because of the Times

good luck,

xoxo

shu

May 5

Royal Affairs, Haters and A for…Hilarious.

So, it has really become apparent that we do indeed live in a “hateration.” In case you are not familiar with this term. Here is the urban dictionary’s take on it:

The opposite of Love, Truth and Light. The act of process of hating on someone/something. A full generation or nation/large group of haters.

I think I’ve always known such haters existed, but with the invention of Facebook, these haters can now put their hate’s out for the public eye to see.

And please don’t think that I am saying I am not included in the nation of haters. There is always something to be said about public figures and the decisions they make, but I think I’ve discovered the mystery behind it all.

The things people hate on the most: Justin Bieber, The Royal Wedding, American Idol, The Ithaca College mascot finalist, white crayons, MAC computers, snakes on a plane, bulldogs that can skateboard, coconut, and being wrong.

It is that need to break lose from the crowd and stand as an individual. Let’s be serious. Justin Bieber is a little ball of talent. Kid posted some sweet vids of him jamming to Chris Breezy, learned how to drum at age 2, now he is a millionaire at age 17. You can say his hair is silly, but in reality, you cannot say he doesn’t have talent.

So for all you haters out there, hush up, would you? I know you secretly love Dancing with the Stars, you’ve thought about purchasing “One Less Lonely Glitter” from Justin Bieber’s nail polish line and you cried a little during the Royal Wedding coverage on TLC. So get over yourselves, no one will like you less for taming down the hate. Heard.
I came across these hilarious student responses to tests. I know you may have seen some of them before, but I get a kick out of their answers. I could never be a teacher because you can’t pass people for creativity and good humor alone. Check them out: