Isn't she lovely, this Hollywood girl

Thoughts of Michael Jackson

Jul. 8th, 2009 at 2:23 AM

I was 9 years old when Thriller came out. right about that age when you start to get to make some musical decisions of your own. Little did I know at the time how huge it would be or how it would just impact my life in general.

I don't remember much about how I obtained it (think it might have been a Christmas present or one of those other gifty holidays like Valentine's or Easter. all I know is that my parents & grandparents usually hooked me up to make up for the fact that my school life was shit.). It was vinyl and I know it opened up to a picture of Michael with a tiger cub (which of course made me want a tiger, my mom said no & no, my vinyl "Thriller" is NOT for sale). In talking of Michael Jackson's passing deferred to my mother regarding the album recently. She says I asked for it and then my cousin (1 yr younger than me), my niece (2 yrs younger), my late nephew (6 yrs younger than me) & I then proceeded to drive her crazy with it by playing it so much. She admits that she even hid it at times just so she wouldn't hear "mama-se, mama-sa, mama-coosa" in her sleep. Of course, the discovery of the album led to the discovery of the videos. Cable tv was relatively new to my neighborhood. I think we only got like 40 channels (if that) and I remember when MTV got added because I was instantly begging to watch (which, of course, my mother usually said no). Still, at times, she relented & the videos entered my life as well (and how I didn't come across a Duran Duran video between then and june 1984 is beyond me). Of course, then she probably had to explain to me why the tiles in our house didn't light up when I stepped on them. I tried to moonwalk and Thriller zombie dance horribly (my white girl disease started early and well, I never had the attention span to actually learn the Thriller dance until a couple of years ago when I did it for a play I was in). I would sit in my room listening to it over and over again, memorizing the lyrics from the album sleeve & never realizing that it was history in the making.

Sitting in my room, hearing:
Looking Out
Across The Night-Time
The City Winks A Sleepless Eye
Hear Her Voice
Shake My Window
Sweet Seducing Sighs

Get Me Out
Into The Night-Time
Four Walls Won't Hold Me Tonight
If This Town
Is Just An Apple
Then Let Me Take A Bite

I imagined some big city that I had never seen in my life, just only witnessed on TV. Even at an early age, it resonated with me that I was eventually going to be a city girl. It was calling me through this song. Surely there had to be something more exciting than cornfields and pickup trucks out there.

Had I never begged to watch those videos, I wouldn't have stumble over a little thing called the Friday Night Video Fights & this little band out of England called Duran Duran. (and my mom thought she hated hearing Thriller over and over again, I think she would've welcomed it somewhere around May 1985). So in a way, Michael Jackson brought me to Duran Duran and between them (and eventually Madonna & George Michael as well) I never looked at music the same way again. (for those who don't know, I was a singer well before I was into modeling or acting, but it kinda fizzled out late high school after I messed my throat up singing when I had mono.)

Beyond that, I'm just absolutely speechless at this point. The memorial blew me away and left me in tears at times. I think if you're a child of the 80s, a piece of your childhood died with Michael Jackson. I know a part of mine did.

Mood: thankful

Amy's Guide to A Broken Heart

Jul. 6th, 2009 at 10:42 PM

(NOTE: I originally wrote this for a friend who had a breakup and needed a little pick-me-up/advice. She wrote back calling it "beautiful and touching" and said that I should consider being a columnist/writer so I've decided to share with the class. Now I'm looking at it and I'm seeing how losing your job is also a breakup in a sense and I should just grab some of my own advice to try to heal when I get so very depressed about the situation. I added a little bit to what I originally wrote to her)

This is coming from what I should've done, not what I have done, but should it happen again, it's what I will attempt to do. Hindsight is a beautiful thing. Now this is based on the 7 stages of grief & maybe just a hint of things I've picked up watching educational shows like Gossip Girl, Buffy, 90210 (both incarnations), Veronica Mars...etc.

1. Shock....I'm pretty sure you might be through this one right now. Still you're going to lay in bed at night and be like "is this really happening?" yes, it is.

2. Denial....you might say to yourself that he's coming back. I personally recommend "It's Called a Breakup because it's Broken" by the same dude who did "he's just not that into you" Excellent and quick read.

now we're skewing from the standard stages of grief here....

3. Pain And Sorrow: normally anger is 3, but get rid of that pain & sorrow first. Get yourself some Ben & Jerry's, a fat-ladden frappacino, a big bowl of cheesy pasta (I know you!) and chow down. Cry if you have to, let it all out. Journal/blog it out. some of the greatest songs of the 90s came from pain & sorrow...and a little anger as well. ("don't speak", "you oughta know").

4. Guilt: every time you go to blame yourself, counterpoint with something he did no matter how small or trivial (he left the caps off pens). It takes 2 to tango, baby. Nothing happens in a vaccuum.

5. Anger: ah, my forte/specialty/whatevs (i think wrath is my deadly sin). Take that anger out at the gym, girlfriend. You've been looking to hit the gym, use this as your gift from the universe. Every time you think you can't do another minute on the cardio machine or one more rep of weights, channel the anger and push through it. Looking hot is the best "revenge" especially in a more pedestrian city like NYC where random run-ins are more common (though i think a certain 99-cent store Spencer Pratt I once hung out with would crap if he saw me now since I've hit the gym like a madwoman since telling him off). Again...journaling is your friend as well. Kickboxing classes. do yoga and as you stretch envision the anger leaving your body in the stretches. Man hate a little if you want... you can write some foul man-hating jokes (the person I gave the advice to is a comedienne).

6. Release And Resolution: some morning you'll just wake up and you'll know it's time to move on. that's as simple as this one is. no other way to put it.

7. Return To the Willingness To Love: you go out there, rock and be that fun fearless female...go snag some hot barely-legal Dan Humphrey wannabe at NYU and teach him a thing or two about older women (Oh wait, that was Nate!).

Cut to the chase: L.A. sports fans are idiots!

Jul. 4th, 2009 at 2:04 AM

I'm not one for sugar coating (unless it's on a tasty donut), so let's cut to the chase: L.A. sports fans are idiots! Plain and simple! I don't know how many times I've had the misfortune of being at Big Wangs during a Lakers game & seen numerous fights break out. These fights aren't Lakers fans fighting people trashing talking their team. No, they're fighting....wait for it....EACH OTHER!!! (and it's usually over some crap over in the past like Shaq vs Kobe, who's the better player....hell, who's been to more games. regardless, it's ridiculous shit). They win a championship, they fight, riot & set shit on fire. They lose and it's pretty much the same equation only with more calls to a suicide hotline or seven. They also throw a damn fit if EVERY tv in the sports bar isn't on THEIR game. Nevermind there are like 20+ tvs or the fact that people were watching other games before theirs.

USC fans are so damn cocky that they think their team could beat the worst team in the NFL. They even had a sign on their damn stadium something about LA not needing a pro football team because THEY were the pro team in town (of course, this then gets the Raiders fans all worked up and most of that gang have guns and criminal records). Every year they're not in the title game, it's whining and bitching that they got screwed & the poll voters have it out for them (no, losing to teams when you're a FORTY POINT favorite is what killed your title hopes, not someone dropping a ballot). Stop whining that your pussy hurts. No one cares outside of Southern California. Three-quarters of USC fans can't even afford to go to the school they cheer for and probably a good 1/4 of them haven't gone to ANY college class ever & were probably lucky just to graduate high school.

Speaking of Raiders fans....THEY'RE NOT IN LOS ANGELES ANYMORE! They are not YOUR team. YOU do not HAVE a team. They are not coming back. Get over it. hell, hasn't it been like 20 years?

Even the soccer fans here are not the brightest in the bunch. They'll spend out the ass for EVERYTHING Beckham when he's not even on the field half the time and when he does show up he just phones in the performance like Sarah Michelle Gellar in season 7 of Buffy. They are too blinded by the celebrity that WAS to see the REALITY that is! Even his own teammates have called him out for half-assing things. Also, if he was still a spot-on player and not a player in the twilight of his career, he would still be playing full-time in Europe, not dicking around in MLS collecting a paycheck while his wife socializes in Beverly Hills for the tabloids. (I know this statement is going to anger my soccer loving friends, but step back and look at the bigger picture for a moment)

Of course, this past week (especially today) has proven that Dodgers fans take the red velvet cupcake for the stupidest sports fans of all. Why you ask? because they are blatantly allowing themselves to be duped by a cheater. A KNOWN cheater!! how do we know? because one Manny Ramirez just came off a nice little 50-game suspension for a drug violation. Added bonus: let me remind you that Manny was NEVER as big in size as he is now (or was in Boston) when he was in Cleveland and he didn't hit nearly as many homers. At least one thing is consistent, he still can't field a ball to save his ass. The only thing keeping him from being converted to a DH was the fact that someone was always there to save his ass from that position (and he plays in the NL now).

I think this is an excellent take on this whole debacle.. I agree 100%. Dodger fans act like this tool has cured cancer or has the ability to bring Michael Jackson back from the dead while moonwalking around the basepads (oh what I wouldn't give to see some baseball player do that after hitting a home run....from 3rd to home at the very least! Pujols, anyone?). They worship this douche and take their kids to get his autograph when they should be vilifying him and talking to their kids about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. Think about the example that this sets for kids. No, it's not Manny just being Manny. It's LA sports fans just blindly being stupid again. The same people who would still welcome OJ Simpson back with open arms if they could!

Just so you Kings fans and Clippers fans don't feel left out. This rant really don't apply to this because 1. no one gives a shit about hockey in this town until the winning begins then the bandwagon is in full force like roaches hightailing it to an all-you-can-eat buffet. 2. Clippers fans are just grateful when their team wins a game....actually, wait, does anyone really ADMIT to being a Clippers fan?

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