So…this is why I have just developed a girl crush on Anne Hathaway (I mean, she DID save the Oscars last year from total devastation and why Jake Gyllenhaal is in the running for my favourite celebrity crush (though Elijah Wood would be hard to kick off the top spot)
I love the Oscars.
A lot of people have a shocked look on their face when I tell them this. I’m not 100% sure why, but it may be the fact that I’m not your typical “Oh-My-Lord-Look-What-Angelina-Jolie-Wore-To-The-Emmys” type gal’. I’m pretty low matience, I’m happiest when I’m cuddling my beautiful husband on our couch and laughing at the latest episode of Parks and Recreation and doing dumb stuff like dancing around our living room to lame TV song shows.
I think the thing I love about the Oscars most if seeing all these celebrities in the same room together, honouring each other. But not just celebrities, I mean I guess you could call Kim Kardashian a freakin’ celebrity these days. What I mean is celebrities that are more in the league of old skool celebrities – like Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Annette Benning, etc etc. Plus, you have the oddballs thrown in there, people you wouldn’t expect to be at the Academy Awards, such as Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis (who did a pretty funny skit with some noisy symbols this year.)
I also love seeing who they pair actors up with to present. Sometimes, like this year, it’s standard – like the cast of Bridesmaids, but then there are the random choices – like Ben Stiller and Emma Stone. I really don’t know what the hell those who have in common, and she looked really really weird standing all tall next to him. (My Dad actually gasped and said, “She must be like 7 feet tall!” Ah, my Dad was in fine form with his Oscar comments tonight!!)
I think one of the reasons I love the whole idea of stars being in the same room together is due to being fascinated by old MGM star photos like the one on the left. As a kid, I would stare at them for ages and think, “Gee, I wonder what Jimmy Stewart would say to Lucille Ball? I mean, would they talk at all? Did they actually know each other? Would Greer Garson and Katherine Hepburn go out for a drink after this photo? Or would they just all smile and nod at each other and go back home? Or go back to the movie they were shooting?” I guess the only place you can find photos like these anymore are in Vanity Fair. I am such a sucker for that magazine, and especially when it has a photo like the one below. I was suckered into buying this, because hey – what gal’ whol like old skool Hollywood glamour, and thinks four boys on the front cover are smoking not?! 
Nowadays though, we have Photoshop around, and these photos make me wonder if Vanity Fair did a sneaky, and cut and pasted all these guys in little groups. However, after watching this video, I found out that there were only two photoshoots. One with the four ‘bigger’ stars I guess, Ryan, Jake, Anne and James, and the rest, the ‘emerging’ stars. That’s kind of cool, though I guess it would have been cooler if they had all been there at the same time, but I guess it would have been pretty impossible with stars of their calibre.
So, enough about why I like the Oscars, and on to the actual Oscars themselves! – For years I’ve wanted to make a big deal of Oscar night. I’ve wanted to invite all my mates around and get dressed up, and eat yummy food and watch it all and boo and yell and the TV just like some people yell and boo at sporting events. (Because this is the closest I get to watching sports!) – Last year, my bestfriend Fleur came over and watched the Oscars with me, and this year I invited her again, and we hope to make it a yearly occurance from now on! It was a pretty great night. I baked all day, (Ben and Jerry’s) choc chip cookies and a coconut choc. chip cake, and we did the Aussie thing of gettin’ the BBQ going and eating a few steaks and chips and beans and corn and peas and a whole lot of other yummy things which are now sitting in my stomach and making me all sleepy…
So, thoughts? Impressions? Likes? Dislikes? ok…
LIKES.
Meryl Streep winning best Actress.
Oh Meryl, how I love thee! Not just because has to be the best actress working right now, but also because of her amazing acceptance speech! I will forgive you for deciding to be in the god awful Mamma Mia! just because your speech was so damn cool – and I mean cool, as in cool calm and collected and cool as in, “man, is she cool!”
Emma Stone.
I’ve read a lot of interviews with Emma Stone, and I know how absolutely stoked she is to be where she is. I know that this was all staged and scripted, but I honestly believe that the energy was for real.
(please ignore the lame ass music in the background!)
Billy Crystal’s opening number.
So I knew that Crystal wouldn’t disappoint. He has to be the best Oscar host ever – and I’m glad that Murphy pulled out his usual song and dance (literally) and his ‘ritual’ segments, like “What are they thinking?” Made me all nostalgic for the Oscars back in the day, when Crystal was the recurring host. Last years Oscars was so dreadfully awful due to the rigidness of James Franco (I actually think Anne Hathaway did a good job, she was vibrant and energetic against the non existant personality of Franco)that this Oscars was a breath of fresh air!
Jean Dujardin
EYE CANDY OF THE NIGHT ALERT!!!
Seriously, Fleur and I got a bit hot under the coller whenever this guy came on the screen! I admit to not knowing who he was until he was nominated, actually, I didn’t know too much about The Artist before then. Sure, I knew that it was a silent movie with heaps of Oscar hype, but I didn’t know what it was about, or who was in it. His acceptence speech was really sweet too.
Michelle Williams and Busy Philipps
I think it was really cute that Michelle Williams brought her best mate Busy Philipps as her Oscar date. I don’t think it would be as awesome if I wasn’t such a Freaks and Geeks fanatic, and I also think it’s cool that they became friends during the filming of Dawson’s Creek, a show from my teen years (which wasn’t the worst show in the world…I mean, it wasn’t the best either, but it was still fun!) 
Jim Rash’s improptu leg thrust
This dude had some balls making fun of celebrity heavy weight Jolie, who had just made a complete fool of herself with that whole leg thrust thing. He did say it was a “loving tribute” – but I doubt it highly! Also, I didn’t realise that he was one of the writers for The Descendants and he stars in Community as well! Mr. Multi – tasker indeed!
Rose Brynes’s Aussie Accent.
What realy disappoints me is when Australian actresses go to LA and suddenly they are speaking in an American accent as if they were born and bred Yanks. I love it how she has not dropped the Aussie in her, and it was so nice to hear her read the voice-overs for the nominees.
Bret McKenzie’s Oscar Win 
Even though he had a 50/50 chance, it was pretty ace to see Bret Flight of the Choncords McKenzie win an Oscar for his awesome song “Man or muppet.”The Muppetsmovie was pretty awesome, and for those who still haven’t seen it – I recommend it highly if you love the show (some freaks are anti-muppets. I say ‘booo!’ to these people!)
DISLIKES
Angelina Jolie’s leg thrust.
Excuse me whilst I get a bucket to spew in. I mean, seriously – this is what people think is sexy?! She was sexy in her Hackers days when he had some meat on them bones, but now – she makes me want to force feed her Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy.
The cast of Bridesmaids
This isn’t a dislike more than a disappointment. I mean, they are all up there, all these amazing comic actresses, and yet they are not funny. Which is dirty dirty shame, as they were absolutely hilarious at the SAG awards.It actually cleared up Rose Brynes and Mellisa McCarthy’s “Scorcese!!!” vodka shot half way through their Oscar presentation.
Mellisa McCartney’s sketch with Billy Crystal
Again, it was stiff – if you notice her at the SAG awards she has some personality in her voice and her actions. I believe either she was reallyreally nervous, or the people behind the Oscars wanted her to deliver the material that way. It could have been funny if she was more forceful instead of delivering the lines like she was asking him what the time was.
Jennifer Lopez – nipple and all.
I don’t know why they get this chick to present anything. I mean, sure she was an actress before she was a singer, but I still haven’t seen that much evidence of her being that great at either! We could all see the ‘nip’ except for my Dad who squinted as hard as he could, but could still only see clevage. Ah, bless his blindness!
Tina Fey.
Ok. This is another chick that is hil-ar-ious but wasn’t on the night. I’m sorry – but are the Oscars organises a bunch of stuffy old farts that don’t like to see women being funny, so they make sure they say everything in a dead-pan boring way?? I’m highly confused!!
Tom Cruise presenting best picture.
Again – WHY?! He is SO annoying! He would have to be the person in Hollywood I hate the most. Hands down. Gross! Why bestow on him the most important Oscar of the night? Get a legendary actor like Jack Nicholson to do it! Geeze do I have to tell these Oscar folk how to do everything?!
TO SUM IT UP
As you can see I didn’t have too many gripes about the 2012 Oscars. Probably the biggest thing was the disappointment of seeing some of my favourite comedians fail to be funny….whichw as quite sad and obviously the Academy’s fault as I have never ever seen them not be funny anywhere else. This years Oscars has set such a high standard for next year – let’s just hope it reaches the mark like this one did.
I hope to make this a weekly thing.
The truth being that really, there are a million things I need to be doing right now instead of this.
But I thought seeing as I’ve been bloody doing all those things ALL week that I should treat myself and write me some blog instead.
Gee, I’ve been thinking about writing on here and what I’ll write in my head all week.
Now I’m all nervous and anxious.
There’s been too much of a build up!
Oh, well…here goes….
Todd
So, I got my license in August. For those who don’t know me, or who don’t subscribe to my Graphic Novel blog, “Lisaloves2read” I am the ripe ol’ age of 27. Ok. Laugh. Fine. Yes. Iwaited nearly 10 years to get my license. BUT it doesn’t make me any less of a person, OK?!?
I’ve been making mix cds of late, and my latest pride and joy is a CD I like to call “LIV RUNDGREN” – this is made up on Todd Rundgren’s amazing album “Something, anything” and a few assortment Aerosmith songs.
Now, if you can guess why I entitled the blank CD “LIV RUNDGREN” you will earn a prize!!! – My respect. Which is better than any actual real life hold-in-your-hands prize in my opinion.
I love this album of Rundgren’s, because he sounds like a male Carole King – and I LOVE Carole King! I just love that soulful, playful, haunting 70s songwriter sound. I guess “The Virgin Suicides” turned me onto it that whole 70s mellow singer songwriter thing. AND “The Virgin Suicides” turned me onto Todd Rundgren as well. (QUICK FUN FACT!!! Did you know that there are actually TWO “Virign Suicide” albums? There is this one which has all the delicious lovely 70s music in it. And there is this one, the soundtrack by Air – which is also very beautiful and haunting, and helps with the movies tone of depression and the girl’s demise.)
I got into Todd about a year and a half back, and got a few of his CDs only to find that they were filled weird abstract numbers and only peppered with what I think he does best – yes – you guessed it – 70s ballads. Then I did some research and found that “Something, anything” was exactly that. I haven’t really listened to it all the way through untill the last few weeks, and now I’m officially in love with it. My favourite has to be “I saw the light.” The quality of the clip isn’t that great below, but it’s all I could find on YouTube, other than newer performances or dumb still pictures whilst the song plays over the top.
Aerosmith - when they were cool and LONG before the shitness of "I don't want to miss a thing" and the annoying "Dude looks like a lady"
So, there’s the Todd side – but what about the Aerosmith tracks? Well, to tell you truth, not so long ago, I thought I didn’t like Aerosmith. In a way, I kind of can’t say I actually do like them, as I only reallyreally like two of their songs. But those two songs I reallyreally like, as in, I can play them on repeat all day at the moment and not get sick of them.
Those two song, which lay at the end of my selection of songs from “Something, Anything” are “Dream on” and “Sweet emotions.”
I love “Dream on” simply because of how beautiful it is, yet it still manages to rock out. I also love it, because the past few months I’ve been looking over the last four years, and thinking about how so much s**t has gone done, so many changes, and I guess it’s relflective of my state of mind a bit.
“Sweet emotions” doesn’t really need an explanation – it’s just awesome.
Honourable Mentions for the week.
Fugazi – Listened to them a bit whilst jogging. Wasn’t a good idea.
The Replacements – Burnt all their albums and have been listening to them a bit in the car. Are pretty heavy going, so mix it up between them and Rundgren – seems to be a good balance!
This week I managed to finish Sarah Silverman’s “Bedwetter.” It only took me about a week and a half to get thru, which is a bit of a record for me, as I’m a slow reader.
It was a good, enjoyable read. The bits I enjoyed the most were those that dealt with her childhood. She wet the bed up until the age of 16, hence the title. I found it weird though that she didn’t talk about her relationship with Jimmy Kimmel. I’ve read interviews were she discusses the relationship post break-up and have NO idea why she did not include information about it in her book. She did not really talk about ANY relationships in her book, besides some with fellow comics and her Dad and Grandma. Not even the relationship she has with her sisters. There were photos of them, but nothing about what they are like – I mean, one of her sisters works on her show with her! But yes, it was a good read. It only got 3.4 on Goodreads, but I believed it’s most certainly a 4.
Right now, I’ve started The Great Gatsby. It’s a raggedy old copy that is a movie tie-in from the Farrow Redford movie. It’s a mixture of orange and brown in colour, and I picked it to read next solely for the fact that it fit into my bag today and I needed a book to read on public transport. The language is a bit hard to get used to, as I’ve been reading 21st century biographies and literature of late, so Fitzgerald’s flowery grammer is a little bit of a culture shock, but I’m slowly getting round’ it. Plus, I really do want to read the book before the movie comes out and I become one of those people who you see reading the book when the movie is out and you think, “Pfft! I know why they are reading that!“
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
- Bust Magazine – I subscribe to BUST because it’s so hard to get a hold of here in Melbourne. I was green with envy when I saw it on sale at a Whole Foods in Seattle. There it was, just sitting at the checkout. And not just one checkout. EVERY checkout. God, I love and miss Seattle!
Mojo Magazine – I kind of flick thru this, but it’s another magazine that my husband and I get every month. It’s the best music mag for our taste in tunes’.
Right now we are getting into “Game of Thrones” – we are only a few episodes away from finishing Season 1. I didn’t get into it at first, because of all the violent sex scenes and the treatment of women. But I’ve come round’ and have developed a few crushes and am impressed by two strong female characters within the show.
Arya Stark, so young but knows already that the life of a wife isn’t for her. Her training with her “dance” teacher is always fun to watch.
Daenerys Targaryen, who is so timid at the series beginning, but is becoming quite fiesty and independent.
Crushes include:
The dreamy Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow .
Jason Momoa who plays Khal Drogo. This crush is weird, because beefy boys freak me out, I think it’s his romantic side that he shows to Daenerys that roped me in! With make-up on in “Thrones” he looks like Dave Navarro! Momoa is also dating Lisa Bonnet, which isn’t suprising, as they have the same ‘look’ and he kind of looks similar to her ex, Lenny Kravitz.
I have shows that are ‘me’ shows. This translates to shows in which I only watch by myself. The ‘down’ time I have to myself is pretty rare, and it’s usually over lunch that I pop a dvd in or catch up on something that I tapped on Tivo. Two ‘me’ things that I’ve been watching lately are “Roseanne” and “Packed to the raftes” the latter which premiered on Valentines day.
The thing that got me about “Packed” was the dreaded feeling that it was out of synch. The smart people at Channel 7 decided to stop the series half was thru so that they could obviously milk it during ratings season. I felt, however, that this has put a bit of a strain on the story. The business with Tom stealing Bens’ money was a total anti-climax, and it ended in a puff of smoke, instead of the huge story line I was expecting. Which is good, because I hate depressing story lines that go on forever and a day (that’s what I loved about “Brothers and Sisters” – it didn’t harp on things for too long and issues got resolved pretty damn quickly) BUT it did all seem a bit silly to end it there for the season. I think Channel 7 added the extra episode on Tuesday to keep the fans happy, and I really hope that they have a FULL season of Rafters to show us, and not this crap half season nonsense that they have been churning out.
Honourable Mentions.
“Parenthood” – Never disppoints! I just hope it gets picked up for another season. Has to be one of my all time favourite shows!
“Parks and Recreation” – Read what I wrote about “Parenthood”. I pretty much feel the same way. Great cast, great acting, great script – “Parenthood” and “Parks” would have to be my two fav shows at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I like “Thrones”, but I perfer TV shows that are going to make me feel better after watching them.
ABOUT HONOURABLE MENTIONS – Please not – Honourable mentions means pop culture that I have only watched/read/listened to a bit of. It should not be taken as a way for me to list items that I didn’t really enjoyed but think I should ‘mention’ anyway. I would not want anyone to think that “Parks” and “Parenthood” would be in that list. Make sure you know. They are not!!!
So, looking through my word documents, I found a file that simply read “IPOD blog entry.” I knew this must be an old doc. as I hardly ever use an Ipod anymore (I now use my Ipod touch, which I only really listen to whilst jogging) so I clicked to find what it was about.
Y’all are very lucky, because this right here is an unreleased blog entry – that’s right folks! Never on any blog has this seen the light of day. It has just been collecting dust on my hard drive for the past five-six years. As it is about pop culture, I thought you may want to have a peek at it. I’m pretty proud of it, though I have sharpered my writing voice a bit since then.
Let me know what you think!
Ladies and Gentleman, please fasten your seatbelts and let’s go back to the time before Justin Beiber, before the Kardashians. When Bush and little Johnny Howard were still in power, a year before I met the love of my life, and when I was still a book wench at Borders – I give to you – “IPOD blog entry” written in 2006!!!
I’m a sucker for rock n’ roll – I guess you can tell that from my profile, it’s kinda chocked full of rock pictures and all I want to meet is rock legends (besides Elijah… and half the reason I like him is because of his great music taste)
So, when I click into my iTunes icon, I can’t help but going into the music store and checking out what latest celebrity they’ve asked to raid their ‘last played’ list. I’m interested because I’m obsessed with celebrities. And, I’m also interested because I love judging celebrities, especially on the one thing that I judge everyone on – music.
I’m extremely Australian in the way I don’t like Nicole Kidman. She’s not ours anymore. As soon as she got that icy cold skin sprayed canned all over her when she became a ‘Hollywood celebrity’ she became a product of LA. No true Aussie is that cold. If you don’t believe me, look back at her in the classic Ozzie flick “BMX bandits” and then check her out in “Bewitched.” When I clicked on her playlist, I was deeply, deeply satisfied that I didn’t like her. How could I like her with this kind of playlist?
Walking On the Moon 5:00 The Police
Where the Streets Have No Name 5:37 U2
Fade Into You 4:55 Mazzy Star So
Lips Like Sugar 4:52 Echo And The Bunnymen
Trigger Hippie 5:31 Morcheeba
Heaven 4:00 Talking Heads
One Love/People Get Ready 2:56 Bob Marley
18 Wheeler 3:44 P!nk
Pink & Blue 5:04 OutKast
The Wind Cries Mary 3:20 The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The One Thing 3:23 INXS
Lady 4:15 Lenny Kravitz
Heroes 6:10 David Bowie
Hollaback Girl 3:20 Gwen Stefani
Don’t Phunk With My Heart 3:59 Black Eyed Peas
Jesus Walks 3:13 Kanye West
Lean Back 4:07 Terror Squad
Ms. Jackson 4:30 OutKast
I mean, who in their right mind would ADMIT to liking The Black eyes peas? And then to make it worse, she says, “We love Fergie. She is so pretty and dances amazing” !!!!!!! - Everyone who knew the Pea’s before they began getting commercial radio play knows that Fergie raped the crap out of their music and turned them into music for a 13 year olds slumber party.
And talking about 13 year olds… Gwen Stefani’s solo album?! Ok, Hollaback girls is probably the best song on there. I was totally tricked into buying that piece of crap because I only listened to the first two songs on the album and thought, “Wow! These songs are great, and we ARE listening to the coolest chick in music at the moment” – Coolest meaning ‘wears great clothes’ I’m totally about the aesthetic. If an album cover looks good at JB, I’m so tempted to buy it just because there’s three cute boys on the front, wearing tight jeans and Cure T-Shirts and the CD was distributed in the late 70s (Because then of course the boys would be extremely hip because the Cure only started up in 76’)
But I wasn’t really surprised when I read her crappy play list. Then, I clicked on Liv Tylers, and was sitting there with a little grin, knowing that hers would be a shit load better.
Think about Liv Tyler for a second. She’s made some awesome movies – Stealing Beauty (of course!) Empire Records (mainly for it’s cult value) and Jersey girl (watch it! J. Ho is only in it for five minutes, but it’s a really really cute movie. I think Kevin Smith must have been getting some when he made it) Plus, she’s ridiculously good looking (once there was a girl at the bagerly that looked exactly like her, and I was so stunned and nervous around some one that was that pretty that I always had to get someone else to make my bagels up) and has two of the coolest parents any girl could hope for.
I was thinking that her play list would include a lot of ‘hipster’ music from the 90s. Stuff like Tricky, Massive Attack, and maybe even a little bit of early Garbage thrown in. Here’s some of her play list –
Gloria – Patti Smith.
1969 – The Stooges.
Crazy on you – Heart.
Crimson and clover – Joan Jett.
I’ll never stand in your way – Elvis Presley
Try me – James Brown.
Good vibrations – The Beach Boys.
Cracked actor – David Bowie.
Do it again – Marilyn Monroe.
You really got me (live) – The Kinks.
Mambo sun – T.Rex.
Perfect day – Lou Reed.
Cryin’ – Aerosmith.
I never loved a man (the way I love you) – Aretha Franklin
In the flesh – Blondie.
Ok. I was surprised. Out of all the celeb. Play list I’ve read so far, Liv Tyler and I are probably musical soul mates. Her list shouldn’t have surprised me – I mean, she was brought up by two rock gods of the 70s. Her Mum is legendary East coast groupie Bebe Buell and her Dad is Aerosmith lead singer Steve Tyler. She says her Mum used to play her Stooges songs all the time as a kid, and Liv used to sing along.
So, it got me thinking – is musical taste dependent on nurture or nature?
Here is what I was raised on –
The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbinson, The Seekers, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, John Farnham, Melanie.
Here is what I listen to –
The Stooges, The Runaways, The Beatles, The Stones, Dusty Springfield, The Pixies, Elvis… you get the picture. Mainly 50-70s rock.
My Pa and Ma were born in 1950, and 1952 respectively.
Here’s some quotes my parents have about rock n’ roll –
“Whose he?” (When I mentioned Iggy Pop)
“What’s he doing now?” (When we were listening to Jimi Hendrix.)
“Steve Tyler? Is he an actor?”
“I never liked The Beatles.”
“I never liked The Rolling Stones.”
My Dad would rather spend $30 on a Cold Chisel album then $9 on a Jerry Lee Lewis cd.
So, where the HELL do I get my music taste from!?!?
Ok, time out here. You, if you are still reading this, are probably going over and over in your head “Why the fuck does she care?!” Well, I also have an obsession with psychology and my childhood. So, when you put – psychology, childhood and music into one, I guess you’ll get the answer – “Where the HELL did I get my music taste from!?!?”
I’m racking my brains, but I can’t think of where. All I can remember, is that when I was about six, hearing “Magical mystery tour” for the first time. I don’t know where the album came from. It was probably my Aunty’s or something (I was extremely proud when my Aunty’s girlfriend leaked out to me that my Aunty picked up a guitar when she was a teenager because she dreamed of being Suzi Quatro) But, something clicked in my head – especially when “I am the walrus” came on. I was blown out of my Air Jordans! It was probably the first musical orgasm I ever experienced. (‘Musical orgasm’ isn’t a sexual thing. It’s when you are so numbed by a bit of music that all you can do is just stand there, with your eyes and mouth wide and gag over how amazing the sound coming from the speakers is)
The Beatles started it for me. I became obsessed at about twelve. I brought all their CDs, in chronological order, went to every book store and got my parents to buy every book that looked like it would be a good read on the four boys, had their screen savers and backgrounds on my computer filled with them. Yeah, I had it bad guys.
And at school, the little private school robots would open their metal jaws and say to me “What music do you like?”
And I would of course reply, “The Beatles.” Which they would then scoff and wonder why I was such a geek and didn’t listen to East 17 or some other tragic English/American boy band.
It was funny then that when I got into my late teens, that all my sisters friends (in their late 20s) that were uber hip musicans, fashion designers, etc. all listened to… shock horror! The Beatles! Now, everyone I meet either loathes them or loves them, but no one has ever said to me again, “Gee, why do you like that old music for?”
Actually, that’s a lie. People always ask me why I ONLY listen to ‘old music.’ It’s simple – nothing that’s around today, besides a very selective few bands (and they sound like 50-70s stuff anyway!) really gets to me. There’s too much music from those three decades that I haven’t even listened to yet, that I haven’t even discovered. When I can name all the great bands from the 50-70s, ALL of them, then I’ll start on the 80s, and maybe, one day I’ll make it to the 00’s.
When I was 16, I found The Sex Pistols and it changed my life. How fuckin’ cliché is that? But it’s true so I can’t put it in any other way. The music, again, did something to me that made me want to become a better version of myself. I guess it may have something to do with the fact that these four guys were up there on stage, screaming, gagging, barely able to play their instruments, but they were up there because they had something to say, wanted to be rock stars and were different to most other people living in Britian in the 70s. They weren’t wearing bell bottoms and listening to fucking ABBA (another one of my parents fav. bands – bless their cotton towels!) they were listening to T.Rex, The Dolls and MC5.
I, like The Sex Pistols, had worked out that I wasn’t like the other girls at school. I didn’t want to grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer. I didn’t want to marry a guy from Trinity or Scotch college and live in Kew. I wasn’t listening to the latest Ministry of Sound, shopping on Chapel St. and using Daddy’s credit card. I wanted to be a writer, didn’t care what my boyfriends bank balance was, I wanted to live in Fitzroy and I was listening to The Doors.
So, I did my research – I think it has to do with my private school training that I always seem to do my homework on everything I’m interested in. I read everything I could on punk, got a new wardrobe, new CD collection, and the best out of everything – confidence. Punk made me want to be me.
This is why I love music so much, because it’s given me so much.
Now I think about it, my parents have given me everything but my music taste, and that’s probably the reason why it’s all so puzzling to me.
At least I’ve worked out one thing through all this rambling.
Here’s my play list –
One sided love affair – Elvis Presley.
Welcome back to 2012 folks, I hope you enjoyed your time travel experience!
Man, I cannot believe I admitted to liking Eminem on this post!!! Actually, that would have to be the work of my then bestfriend Kathryn who would play his stuff non-stop in her car. But hey, I really did like him, I thought he was hot too, and had a poster of him next to my bed (but not in a sexual way, more in a, “I think you’re cool way”) I took that poster down when I was about 20 and replaced it with Keith Richard and his “Who the fuck is Mick Jagger?” tee poster.
I totally forgot hot obsessed I was with checking out celebrity playlists on the Itune store. Great. NOW I’m going to get obsessed all over again! This is where it’s at now. “Heart” has one. Ohboy! I’ve just realised however that they are in the form of podcasts now instead of written lists. How ‘forward’ of them. I’ve just downloaded Jeff Bridge’s playlist, mainly because he is just amazing in “Crazy heart” and the album that goes along with it is one of my favs!
And think it is now time to sign off as I’m rambling.
Ok, so this is going to be a continuing themed post – I’ll post whenever I can think of something that I would like back from the childhood…
The first of many is this -
ANY fan of the Turtles will remember this baby. This sweet sweet toy was one of the BEST Turtle accessories around! I mean, how can you play Ninja Turtles properly without this thing? Where would they go to eat pizza? At a pizza restaurant?! They are mutant turtles for Christ sakes! They’d have New Yorkers screaming down the streets if they ventured out too far! So of course you needed this playset to let them sit around, eat pizza, meditate, and do all sorts of crazy things that Japanese characters that have been plonked in a Western world would do.
Ohmylord – even looking at it right now makes me want to rip it out of my computer and play with it. Look at that SEAT!! I just wanna zoom that thing around and see if the Turtle falls out of it! And those guns?! Hell yea’! And the stickers!! This toy looks like it hasn’t been touched my grubby 80s child fingers, as everything is glowing and the stickers are still stuck on. Mine I’m pretty sure were peeling off the moment I looked at them! I was the kind of kid that pulled their cats tail after all, so I guess it shouldn’t be suprising that I pulled all my Ninja Turtle stickers off as well!
So, where did these guys end up? I’m so glad you asked!!!
For years my folks had been going On&On about having a garage sale at my Grandma’s, and finally they got all the family together and they did it! And my dear Mother sold off my Turtles playsets to myself and my Dad’s complete horror. Luckily he saved my Turtles, which I still have in my old primary school lunch box.
The cool thing about marrying a fellow geeky like my husband is that he is also totally into toys. Especially Ninja Turtle toys! When we went to Tokyo, we went to the very amazing Nakano Broadway, which is a four storey geek and toy nostaligia wonderland. There, myself my Dad and my husband all from things from our childhood.
We found this one shop that housed all these Ninja Turtles in their original boxes, and Dave (my husband) was so cute, as he turned back into a little boy and was just in awe of all the Turtles that he wanted as a kid. He found one that was his favourite untill his drop kick brother torched it (like he did with most of his possessions unfortunetly) – he remembers his parents giving it to him before embarking on a long road trip in order to keep him entertained. The look of happiness on his face when he finally got it in his hands was just so damn cute! We will totally display our Turtles once we get some room for them. I may even put some pictures up of the finished product! AND may have to get meself a sewer and a car…if it all fits!!
The villain in this story. Don't let the smile fool you....
I really do blame Ms. Blume for the way things have turned out.
I know she didn’t know that her words would do this to me.
I know that when she wrote the book that ruined my life that she didn’t sit down cackling in a high pitched wicked witch way and spitting out from her mouth of green and slimy gums, “ooohh….how I’m going to love destroying this girls life!!!” No, I’m sure she didn’t. But she did. And for that, I hate her guts.
Just picture – a young girl (me), in a bookstore (in California) coming across a picture of three laughing girls on the cover. Wow, they look happy, I think, this must be a great book.
And it was.
I was obsessed with it, and I ended up finding the prequel to the book and reading that too. I loved it, I thought it was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and it totally changed my perception.
Exhibit B: The evil book in question....
Changed my perception of relationships. Female friendships in particular. I thought every girl was like the three in “Just as long as we’re together” I thought every girl was sweet, and lovely, and just wanted other girls to be their friend and go through life hanging out, laughing and dealing with lifes problems together.
Wrong.
Ok, so maybe I’m a little cynical due to my bad track record. VERY bad track record. It’s true that all my friends, except the ones I have now, have screwed me over in one way or another. And maybe this is because I expect too much of them, I expect them to be as good a friend as I am. I expect them to be there for me if times get tough, if the shit hits the fan, just like I’ll be there for them.
For this, I blame Blume, I blame her and her characters who laugh and cry together, who stick together through thick and thin – I blame them for ruining friendships for me.
Without reading this book, I wouldn’t have put such emphasis on finding awesome friends. I would have just ended up settling for whoever came along, like so many other people I see around me. I would have had a whole bunch of fair weather friends, there for a good, not a long time.
But noooooo! As soon as a friend isn’t there for me, I loose interest in their friendship, I don’t want or need them in my life. Why should I? Life is short and having a bunch of folks hanging around for the rainbow without going through the stormy times just doesn’t cut it. In saying that though, I’m a very forgiving person – so many people don’t know that about me. They think I’m a hard ass, but really, if someone says they are sorry, I’m more than happy to forgive them. Because it takes a big person to apologise, and I have full respect for those who apologise to others. It’s a hard thing, it’s making yourself vulnerable, and nobody likes admiting their wrong, and that’s why it’s such a humbling experience.
So, thanks a bucket load Judy Blume. Thanks for setting the bar super duper high. Thanks for making me need friends that will be awesome and always there for me, whilst also being funny and smart and good honest people. I’m nearly 28 years old, and out of all those years of meeting literally hundreds and hundreds of girls and women, I have only kept three friends. That is not saying that I have other friends that I have lost contact with, or don’t see that often that I don’t love and want to spend more time with, it’s just saying that the majority of girls and women that I have been really close to haven’t lived up to the friendship standards that Ms. Blume has instilled in me.
Ms. Blume, is actually thinking of making a sequel to this book. To her I say – please, think about how you want to write it Maybe you could have Stephanie and Alison decided that Rachel is boring, and so when she comes to school they stop talking to her, and Rachel has to eat her lunch in the library by herself for a week and cry herself to sleep everynight. THEN they all get back together and are happy and jovial, untill Stephanie get’s Rachel alone and tells her that Alison is driving her nuts, so then they go off without Alison. That to me is the reality of female realtionships at 11 years of age…well, for the two all girls private schools I attended anyway!
Please, for those of you reading this who have young girls please – dont’ let them read this book, or any such book advocating ‘true’ friendships. If you do, your little girls heart will be broken so many times and then you’ll say, “Ah…that blogger person was totally right.”
And so, here we go again!
I am starting a new one of these.
Not that I don’t love my old blog.
It’s just that I want to keep that blog for posts on Graphic Novels, and right now, I’m getting more into reading bios and literature, and have put G.N’s on the back burner.
Writing about anything besides Graphic Novels on “LisaLoves2Read” always seems a bit odd to me, like getting a salad at McDonald’s. My readers have come onto my blog especially for ramblins’ on Graphic Novels, and here I am giving them ramblins’ on pop culture as well?
I feel like I’m cheating them!!!
Therefore, I’m starting TWO, yes, you read right – TWO new blogs.
One will be about all my popular culture loves. These will include – - -
Tv.
Movies
Music (mainly rock n roll and power pop)
Books (literature, bios, etc)
Internet stuff (cool and not so cool)
….I think you get the drift…
So, why pop culture? Why not a blog on vintage dresses or cat statues, or Elvis, or food (all these things I love and have many of…well, not many Elvis’s, but many memrobillia!) Well, because pop culture is a big part of my life. I’m always listening or reading or watching something. It’s everywhere, and I’m addicted to it, and love it. It’s my crack (that and food….)
I’m always ramblin’ on my Facebook about some movie I just saw, or some CD I’m loving, or some TV show I cant’ stop watching. I’m also always feeling guilty that I don’t write too much anymore, so it seems perfect really, to start this blog now, doesn’t it?!
So, enjoy – comment, post, recommend – interact – THAT is why I’m on here in the first place, to get people talking, to hear your rants, your comments, if you dont’ agree with me SAY SO! Isn’t that what the internet is all about? Voicing your opinion and finding out all sorts of great information? (and some you really didn’t want to know as well…)
Thanks for reading!
