Easy Bake Lovin': Egg Tarts for the Lazy Baker

I'm really, really not the type of person to cook, grill, bake, or whatever. I would much rather eat. But every once in a while, my Inner Homemaker gets the best of me and urges me to make something from scratch. My sister made egg tarts in class and told me how easy it is to make them. I HAD NO IDEA they were so easy! I'm a huge fan! Yet another snack food that keeps me lacto-ovo vegetarian instead of full-on vegan.

The end result (above) look so cute, don't they? They turned out to taste good AND look good (I can't say the same about my Ugly-but-Yummy Buttercream Cupcakes.)

Time needed: a little under an hour. Effort needed: Really not much. At all. 

All we needed to buy were the tart tins, which are reusable.

And this is the recipe we used. :)

Looking Forward to Michelle Branch in Manila!

I've been pumped up since I heard about this concert in early April, and now that it's happening a week and a half, I've finally gotten the green light from my dad to get a Lower Box ticket for Michelle Branch and Jojo in Manila.

So I've decided to write this post, chronicling my personal history with my all-time favorite female singer, Michelle Branch. Let me tell you why she's my favorite: she got me through my pre-teen and early teen years. In 6th grade or so, I took guitar lessons one summer, to which the instructor compared me to Michelle Branch, and I was ecstatic. Of course, my strumming was horrible as I've got no sense of rhythm, but just getting that comparison, perhaps on the basis of the kind of guitar I had and my long dark hair, was probably the best compliment of my 12-year old life.

The Spirit Room was one of my most played albums a little while after it came out (released in 2001); I was in 5th grade, and just getting my first crush. I've always thought of myself as quirky, so the song 'You Get Me' described my perfect relationship, basically. And I don't know, but I still kind of see it that way.

Of course, anyone would know her more commercially successful songs, 'Everywhere', 'All You Wanted' and 'Goodbye to You'. Weirdly enough, the ones that resonated with me more off this album were 'Here With Me' and 'I'd Rather Be In Love'. I recently gave the album a re-listen; I still memorize every single song.

When Hotel Paper came out in 2003, I bought it immediately. Of course, as a 7th grader, at the cusp of semi-emotional-maturity (or whatever it is that makes you wanna grow up), I fell in love with it immediately. In fact, it wasn't until years later that I figure out 'Tuesday Morning' was about sex, hahaha. 'Are You Happy Now?' was released first, I think, but 'Game of Love' became a favorite of mine, after the more obscure tracks in the album, like 'Til I Get Over You' and 'Where Are You Now'; the latter became a favorite of my dad and mine, and we had that song on repeat in car rides going home. This is one of the fondest memories I have of my father and myself.

Hotel Paper was an album that stuck it out with me. 'Desperately' was there for me all throughout high school, when I was more or less hung up on one guy. 'One of These Days' found itself on repeat as often as 'It's You'. Seems like Michelle had me all figure out. Even when she formed The Wreckers with Jessica Harp, 'The Good Kind' was there for me during my "hardest" teenage boy-problems.

Even after 7th grade, when my taste in music shifted radically from mainstream pop to british pop and pop-punk, to alternative rock to indie, folk, and electronica, Michelle Branch was always the staple, and always will be, I firmly believe.

And I really cannot wait bring my 20-year old self to watch her live on June 7th, and just kind of send out positive vibes to her, telling her that, hey, I made it out alright. And, thank you.

Ironically, even Jojo got me through some tough times. :) 'Secret Love', anyone??

Why You Should Read

Just one of my "Unread Books" stacks.

You should be able to experience finishing the very last word of the very last sentence on the very last page of a really good book, knowing that the only thing you could do is put it down and hope to God that the next book you read is just as compelling, just as riveting, just as life-changing. In fact, you should be able to realize, first and foremost, that a good book can change your life; make you more cynical, make you more hopeful, make you more discerning, make you better, make you worse. You should be able to walk into a bookshop, and feel like you've come home. You should be able to stare at rows of shelves of beautiful hardbound books and fresh paperbacks, and feel the sadness that comes with the impossibility of knowing all of them, of being able to curl up in bed with each and every one of them, to wake up with your forehead pressed upon page 127 because you've fallen asleep reading. You should be able to know the pain of staring longingly from your work-desk at a stack of unread books; you should know the burden of waiting for the summer so that you can read them all, between long sips of lemonade, with the sand between your toes, and you couldn't be bothered to go into the water because you've drowned in a sea of words.

You should be able to unapologetically want things that you could have only heard of from a good book, to want the kind of love or excitement or fantasy that is true only of fiction, to need to take part in conversations that could only have come from the mind of a Bronte sister, to walk into situations that lead to tension that could only have come from Hemingway, to revolutions that only Flaubert could properly distance you from. You should be able to meet people and say that they truly are 'effervescent' or 'pulchritudinous' or 'impossible'; you should be able to meet people and say, with conviction, that they truly are beautiful.

You should take these books, properly and without regrets, distracted from real life; perhaps reading Garcia-Marquez, speeding on a railway in Tokyo, or Palahniuk, while seasick on a cruise ship to Santorini, or Calvino, in bed, wishing you were elsewhere. You should find that there are certain books that demand every available pocket of time, and certain books that you will force yourself to finish but will enjoy, regardless. You should find that there are books that you would force yourself to finish in a night, and books that will prove too painful to finish. There are books that leave an impression for days, and some that never really leave you; some of these, you'll wish you'd never read. You should be able to experience firsthand what being haunted really is, to see for yourself where dread is sown deep inside you, to know for sure the key differences among the words 'happiness', 'bliss', and 'delight', to find within yourself that your capacity to feel and think is bigger than you could have ever imagined, or could even have ever wanted.

Maybe the phrase isn't "should read". Should devour, maybe? You should be insatiable; you should devour these fairytales and romances, these mysteries, the fiction, the non-fiction, the semi-autobiographical, everything you could get your hands on. You should eat up all the poetry you could find, tear them into pieces, until they're raw again, barely couplets, barely meters. You should spit out the bare bones of a novel, and feel every feeling in the world at once, whether these feelings have names or not. You should take these points of comparison between what the world is, and what the world could be.

Useful Skill of the Day: Eyebrow Threading

Today, I was bored, frustrated with the sugaring wax I normally use (which works great in most circumstances, usually when I'm feeling more patient than usual), and I found myself learning to thread my eyebrows.

From 'Sesou', an organic product shop found in different malls around the metro.

Confession: I played around with my sister's nose strips and wasn't satisfied with the result so I somehow found myself in the "Beauty" part of YouTube, and found a video for using Elmer's Glue as a nose strip. I have no idea if it works….but.

Long story short, I stumbled upon a video for basic threading. Threading at salons is inexpensive but still takes up money. I'm frugal like that, but I prefer threading to any other way to shape eyebrows and get rid of stray hairs, because waxing easily irritates the skin, and I find shaving messy and it's not a good idea to shave the facial area (umm unless you're a man?). The biggest advantage to Threading (for me, anyway) is that it's a really clean process; it can remove even the finest hairs, but it HURTS.

Photo from here.

Anyway, all you need is normal sewing thread, and you're all set. It does take some time to get the hang of the technique, but the basic mechanism is really, very simple. I really just felt the need to blog about this because I CANNOT believe that it's such an easy process. I don't think I'll be getting my eyebrows threaded by professionals as often anymore.

Here's the video I learned from:

Why You Should Watch 'House of Lies'

I recently came across the new Showtime drama, House of Lies, which premiered in January. Fast forward two days later, I've just finished the 12th episode and season finale, which, I will tell you, is superb. Why did I start watching it? It's about management consultants (and not about lawyers or doctors, and that's kind of refreshing), Kristen Bell is in it (and I've loved her since Veronica Mars and her Sloth meltdown on Ellen), Ben Schwartz is in it (he is hilarious as a recurring guest star on my favorite comedy, Parks and Recreation), and, it's on Showtime, the network that airs my current favorite show, Shameless. All in all, it looked like something pretty good to get into. Now that I've finished the season, I think I've gained the right to start bugging people to watch it, and start counter-acting the bad reviews it's gotten. And here's why:

1. The casting for the entire show is perfect. I cannot imagine lead character Marty Kaan being played by anyone but Don Cheadle, and just when you thought Kristen Bell had fallen down a black hole of cheesy romantic comedies (see 'You Again', or 'When in Rome') , she does House of Lies and shows us she's still got acting chops. And guess what, her character here, Jeannie Van Der Hooven, might be even better than Veronica Mars. Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson throw around some of the funniest, most bromantic banter I've seen on a television show. Even the supporting characters are great.
2. The characters are ruthless but not indestructible. In other words, they're believable. They don't pretend they've got some moral high ground to cling to, because they know exactly what their jobs require and they go ahead and do that, because they know bullshit and they know it well. But they're not one-dimensional either, and that's what makes this show really watchable.
3. The father-son relationship veers away from the cliche "dad's busy at work so he doesn't care about me at all" trope. This is one of my favorite aspects of the show. Don Cheadle's character, Marty Kaan is a single father to Roscoe, a 10-year old cross-dressing musical theatre geek. And, he accepts that; he doesn't say a word about the scarves, the skirts or the pink Tory Burch, nor does he stress out over it, and to me, that's gender-issues done right on television. That isn't to say Marty's always there for his son, but he's always ready to defend Roscoe to the hippie principal at his school. Despite him being a dick to most everyone he meets, Marty's a really great dad.
4. The drama is pitch-perfect. It's not too much, it's layered, it's compelling, and it's not black and white. It's smart, it's political, it's slick, but it shows its cracks, and that's why the show is so great beneath its flashy surface of random sex in bathroom stalls, 'travel hookup points', freeze-frame-breaking-the-4th-wall cinematography and ivy-league glamour.

It was recently renewed for Season 2; I'm guessing House of Lies comes back next January, so it's a great time to catch up!

L-R: Josh Lawson, Don Cheadle, Ben Schwartz, Kristen Bell

5 Movies That Have Shaped My Perception of Love

The subtitles are worth it, promise.

Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d'enfants) - Sometimes, other people won't understand your love.
If you've watched this movie, like, you know, REALLY watched it, you'll know about the ending. You'll know about the amazing monologue by Guillame Canet as his character is driving like a madman in the rain. You'll know about the beautiful cinematography, as shown through the Adam & Eve scene near the beginning. And, you'll know about the game that makes up the premise of this movie, translated as "Children's Games"; centering on childhood friends whose love grows complicated and at times perverted throughout the years, this movie is definitely my favorite romantic film, and has taught me that although love is universal, the ways which you and your partner show it don't have to be. Watch Marion Cotillard in my favorite role of hers. Also, the fact that she and Canet are together in real life just makes me extremely happy.

Garden State - Sometimes, it comes at the wrong time, and it doesn't have to be big.
This movie's just really quiet, for some reason. It's really understated, really subtle. And it's extremely realist. There really aren't any grand gestures. It's really just two characters (Zach Braff and Natalie Portman) who fall quietly in love with each other over the span of four days, despite the chaos of real life. I mean, sometimes, when you're trying to find yourself, someone comes along who just kind of messes it up, and makes you wonder if it's the real thing. My favorite quote from this movie is: "It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. […] Maybe that's what family really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place." And oh gosh, please get a copy of the entire Garden State soundtrack. It is amaaaaazing.

He's Just Not That Into You - Sometimes, you're the rule, not the exception.
As much as I want to add another Indie movie to this list, that's not going to happen. Why? Because I love Rom-Coms. They're safe, they're bubbly and, for the most part, the actors in them are attractive. I hate ScarJo, but I loved the rest of the cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Justin Long, Bradley Cooper, etc etc. The great thing about this one is that you have very real people in them, in various stages of their relationships. My favorite, of course, is the Ginnifer-Justin arc, and what I've learned from it is that "You're the rule, not the exception…until you actually find someone to whom you are the exception."

"If you're not willing to sound stupid,
you don't deserve to be in love."

A Lot Like Love - Sometimes, it takes a while.
Even though I don't find him particularly attractive, I'm a big Ashton Kutcher defender, mainly because he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, and he can get really adorable and goofy. What makes this movie different from other Rom-Coms is that it takes 7 years for Ashton and Amanda Peet to get together, and moreover, it takes them just as long to realize that they're actually in love. You've got Ashton on guitar trying to sing Bon Jovi, you've got that great New Year's Eve scene, and you've got the great soundtrack featuring Aqualung's Brighter Than Sunshine, and you've got a non-cliche storyline where the 'life changes' that the characters go through are pretty interesting.

Win A Date With Tad Hamilton - Always, you should love someone for the right reasons.
One other thing I learned from this movie was in a line from Michelle Hahn's character: "Well, love you get over in two months, big love you get over in two years, and great love, well great love…it changes your life. So which one is it?" But more importantly, "You can't love someone for what they stand for or seem to be. You have to love them for their details, for the little things that are true of them and only them." In this movie, look out for dorky, self-deprecating Topher Grace, a cute closing scene with Kate Bosworth, and that wonderful "She has six smiles" monologue. Everybody's Tad Hamilton to somebody.

Hungry in Hong Kong: Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant

I don't think I'll ever blog about food if it isn't good, unless it's so horrible it makes me wanna spit out an angry blogpost. That's not the case, though, because my first food blog is about Woodlands Vegetarian Indian Restaurant. And it's amazing.

There are two very important things you need to know in order to put this blogpost into context. First, I'm vegetarian, and my sisters are vegetarian. Second, my favorite, FAVORITE cuisine in the universe is Indian. So putting the two together is basically a party in my mouth. Or as I like to call it: Diwali in my mouth.

Well, it's not like it's difficult to find vegetarian Indian food. No doubt about that. But I've never actually been to an Indian restaurant that served no-meat dishes exclusively. I've always said, about Indian food, that what's so great about it is you don't need meat for any Indian dish to be tasty, because it just naturally and wonderfully is.

I get excited at the prospect of eating even mediocre Indian food. Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant is definitely not mediocre. Oh god, it was perfection.

Here is a Visual Aid:

What we ordered: North Indian Thali, South Indian Thali, Pappadums, and Masala Dosa. I had Sweet Lassi to go with my meal.

The food is super tasty, inexpensive and totally more than worth the trip to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Woodlands is located at 62 Mody Rd Upper Ground fl, 16 & 17 Wing On Plaza.

Why Muay Thai is Gonna Kick Your Ass

Ong Bak's Tony Jaa

I've never taken a fitness class before like this one, if you don't count mandatory PE. I've taken boxing before at Elorde in Makati, Philippines (check those out for a good workout!), and I had a trainer at the gym a few years ago. But I've never taken an actual class with other people, sitting and stretching and basically looking like an asshole on a yoga mat, sweating and burning and overall feeling really great afterwards.

My mum goes to Muay Thai class every few days, and I've gone with her around 5 or 6 times. Unfortunately, I can't go regularly cause I don't live in Hong Kong full-time. Muay Thai is completely different to me, because although I have had experience working out with gloves and hand-wraps, I've never had to do it in front of other people. It's one thing when you've got someone coaching you (I took Wall Climbing for 7 years in grade school and high school), and it's another thing when you do things on your own (like jogging or running sporadically with my Beagle). But it's a completely different thing when you're in rows and trying really hard not to fail in front of all these different people--older women like my mum, kids who are in their mid-teens, yuppies both skinny and slightly buff, twenty-somethings looking to get fitter, and even some old man with really impressive stamina.

I'd never show photos of the actual training;
we look like idiots. HAHA. And yay for trying to be incognito.

Muay Thai is gaining a lot of ground. My mum can attest to that, because when she started out, she had very few regular classmates. Even I can see the difference in attendance from my first class in early April to the last class I went to last week (mid-May). More and more people are getting into Thai kickboxing, and for good reason, too. Mostly, you do drills; but they will make you sweat. They will make your muscles ache. Your inner thighs could hurt for days. Your shoulders will kill you. Your arms will cry. And you'll realize your balance is not as great as you think. This is assuming you have the same hardball instructor that we have: this Thai-Chinese dude who will tell you to "KEEP GOING!!!" with a huge, friendly smile on his face that you can't say no to, and who will give you ten sit-ups for every mistake you make (which, trust me, you would gladly do--your self-esteem will thank you). Otherwise, you get a brief but effective one-on-one turn with the instructor, where you get to spar with him IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. Fun, right?

Why is Muay Thai effective? It's dynamic, it's fast, and it's repetitive enough to give you that good old "great workout" feeling. Sure, there's loads of cardio, but there's also a lot of endurance and flexibility involved. According to this website, the physical benefits of Muay Thai are strength, coordination and stamina. All in all, it's a great way to break a sweat; and that's an understatement.

What you'll need: Gloves, Handwraps, Water. That's it. As for your outfit, any work-out outfit will do, like an old t-shirt and running shorts or yoga pants. Hell, I wear my pink crocs to the studio.

Where I Shop When I Go To Hong Kong

Just some of the stuff I've bought over the past week from Prince Edward.
Hint: none of these cost over 80HKD ($10.30 USD or PHP 445).

Most people who know me know that I "live" in Hong Kong part-time. I've been going back and forth between Manila and Hong Kong since birth, because my mum works in HK and I go to school in Manila. In July 2011, my sisters permanently moved to HK to study and since then, my visits have gone from about 3-4 times a year to once every two months, which is great for me (despite the hassle of going through Manila airport security) because a) I get to see my sisters and mum, of course, and, b) shopping in Hong Kong is majestic, and I get to do just that (provided that either I have pocket money or my mum is being nice--it's usually the latter!). And c) it's really just a great breather from my everyday routine, which I like to pretend is more taxing than it really is.

Let me tell you about shopping in Hong Kong. One thing: You have to know where to look.

If you've got unlimited resources, yeah sure, go to the usual malls like IFC, Elements, Harbor City, and even the high-end outlet store, Citygate. It'd be nice if you could afford the designer pieces at Lane Crawford and everything, but I'm twenty years old, still in university and therefore still living in my parents' pockets. So I'm stuck with budget shopping, which is actually about 239% funner than regular shopping, give or take.

So for a half (or full) day of shopping, I've come up with a budget shopping itinerary that you can do on foot!

Start at Sham Shui Po for electronics. They have just about everything, if you're looking to buy a new phone or computer, or even just the parts or accessories. Around Apliu Street Market are stalls with random electronics that you might need or didn't even know you wanted, and around Sham Shui Po are rows and rows of stores that sell all kinds of devices. But where you really want to go is the Golden Computer Arcade, which is a 2 minute walk once you exit the Sham Shui Po station at Exit D1. They. Have. Everything. And at extremely competitive prices, too. We're basically a Mac family, so this is where we've bought our hardshell cases, laptop sleeves, keyboard protectors, USB connectors, replacement chargers, HDMI cables, adaptors, everything. This is hardware and software heaven for any computer geek, Mac or PC.

Some of my sister's finds.

Matte turquoise Macbook Air hardshell case, orange CrystalGuard for keyboard, for a total of 170 HKD ($22 USD or PHP 946) +cute glittery lizard sticker we found at a stationery shop, plus a few tops from Prince Edward, neither of which are above 60 HKD ($8 USD or PHP 334).

Prince Edward is a 20-30 minute walk from Sham Shui Po, along Cheung Sha Wan road (I suggest saving a few screenshots from googlemaps if you don't have mobile internet access). If you're a bit lazy, you can just hop on back to the MTR and exit at Prince Edward's B2 exit. What you wanna look for is the large sculpture of the two goldfish between Allied Plaza and Pioneer Center (both buildings have a lot of shops as well), and from there, you can cross the road and turn left through Nullah Road. Go straight past Kowloon Watch Co., past Watsons and turn right when you see the Mobile Softee ice-cream van, where there's a street market that stretches 2 blocks, with Bute Street in between the two. You'll want to explore the air-conditioned shops to your right and your left (not the stalls on the street--well you can go to those too but there's less to see). Obviously I can't really tell you which shops to go to because they all kinda look the same to me, but some are definitely better than others. Just be patient :D This is where we go to buy tops of all kinds (both unbranded and factory overruns),  cheap but not cheap-looking accessories, and SHOES. On the streets parallel to this one, there are goldfish markets, pet markets, flower markets, etc. Prince Edward is also a great place to snack. Buy some Milk Tea or Fresh Coconut Juice, or try the street food.

This blend of Coconut Juice is crazy good.
You'll see these all around the area.

The Mong Kok Night/Ladies' Market is for tourists, but Tung Choi Street is walking distance from the Prince Edward market! We don't go here often because most things are overpriced and there's not much variety, but this is where you'd go if you needed to buy souvenirs or knock-offs. However, there is a catch: It's super easy to haggle. Let's say you wanted to buy some Ray-Ban wayfarer knockoffs, and you ask for the price. So the saleslady goes "One hundred and fifty HKD". What you should do is snigger and laugh a bit, as if to say, "Wow, that's ridiculous. I'm not gonna pay 150 for these. That price is for tourists who think they're getting a deal." And you should shake your head a bit, muttering, that's too expensive. Most likely, the saleslady is going to ask you, "How much dyou want it for?" You should stand your ground and give a low price (lower than whatever you're willing to pay), like, say, 45 dollars. Either the saleslady will say, no that's too cheap, or will say yes right away. If she says no the first time, just walk away. 90% of the time, she'll run after you and hesitantly agree. In your head, you should be celebrating because you just got a deal! Woohoo!*I know there are a lot of restaurants around here as well, so you could go ahead and have dinner here :)

If you were looking for specific items, you could just google them, because I guarantee there are markets for them. For example, a few streets over from the Ladies Market is a whole row of sports shops. Along Lan Kwai Fong (where HK nightlife is at its best), you'd find some costumes and halloween masks and the like. Near Apliu street in Sham Shui Po, there's a bead market. And so on.

Sooo there. Hong Kong is a shopping haven, even if you've got budget constraints. You just have to know where to look.

(*This happened to my sister and I today. We were buying sunglasses for our younger sister. Heehee. At another stall, we were given a price of 89 HKD, and that was still too expensive for us!)

5 TV Shows Nobody Else is Watching (Except for Me)

Television is basically my way to unwind, because I need an half-hour or two to lie down with my Macbook on my belly, taking in a fictional character's problems and sighing over syrupy dialogue that would probably never happen in real life. And, I like talking about these shows, because when you sit beside the same people every lunchbreak or need a distraction from a boring Public Sector Economics professor, what else are you going to talk about?

I watch all the usual stuff like HIMYM, Modern Family, Community, 2 Broke Girls, The Office, The Walking Dead, Sherlock, and Game of Thrones. For a while, I had no one to talk to about Parks & Recreation or Skins or Suburgatory, but people came around eventually. Surprisingly and thankfully, I've got people to talk to about Legend of Korra. But there are a few shows that I literally have no one to talk to about (in person, I mean; the internet is a cornucopia of discussions!), and that kinda bums me out.

1. Shameless (US) - Oh my goodness. This show is just my biggest frustration, because I want so badly for people to see how amazing it is. I deeply regard this as the best show on television at the moment. And what sucks even more, is it's a drama, meaning there are so many plot-twists; plot-twists that I can't even begin to wrap my head around, and it's driving me crazy that I have no one (LITERALLY no one) to talk to about this brilliant, brilliant show about a poor family in Chicago who are trying to survive despite their alcoholic dad and flighty mum. It's funny and heartbreaking and profound and racy all at once.
2. Awkward. - I think of Awkward. as a more controversial and more satirical Suburgatory, although I might be reading into it too much, since it's made by MTV. Nevertheless, it's clever, it's in-tune with Pop Culture (in a good way), and the characters are extremely well-written for a teen comedy/drama. Definitely can't wait for the next season, which is coming soon.
3. Suits - For a while, I was at a loss because I didn't have anyone to talk to about how clever this show is. But! A few people in my social circle have started to watch this, so that's great. Patrick J. Adams is great, Gabrial Macht is great. I haven't been a fan of lawyer-centric shows (Except probably for Ally McBeal), which is ironic, because my ultimate dream is to be a lawyer, but this one just sticks, and it's razor-sharp. And I can't wait for it to come back on the 14th of June this year.
4. Wilfred (US) - This is one of my latest discoveries. Elijah Wood stars as a manic depressive man, who, after his suicide attempt, begins to see his neighbor's dog as a man in a dog suit. It's smart, it's raunchy and it's hilarious. Elijah Wood is an actor I've admired since he starred in Liev Schreiber's film adaptation of my favorite book, Everything is Illuminated. And of course, I hated Frodo in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which, if I'm not mistaken, was the point of his character anyway (kidding!), but I mean that in a good way, because I just love Samwise Gamgee a little too much.
5. Up All Night - Before this show, Running Wilde was something I had high hopes for but was eventually canceled, and of course, I was a fan of Arrested Development. But no one in my age group seems to have picked up on this hilarious comedy starring Christina Applegate, Will Arnett (who continues to be my dream man) and Maya Rudolph. Granted, Will Arnett's humor is an acquired taste, but this show's charm is undeniable. To be honest, since it's a sitcom with no intense plotline to follow, I probably just wish I had someone to gush with about how great Will Arnett is.
   
   

So pleaaaaase, do yourselves and myself a big favor by checking these shows out. It's not like you're doing anything else with your time anyway.

Closer Than This: The Summer 2012 Playlist

It took me forever to get this out, but here it is! My playlist for Summer 2011 was a little more somber compared to this one, which is a little nostalgic, more upbeat, and tinged with the sixties. But like all my playlists, they establish my love for Soundtrack Music / Looking-Out-From-A-Moving-Vehicle music, which is the genre I made up (in my head haha) to describe the kind of music I love.

You can click the song titles to listen to the songs on Youtube. 

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL DOWNLOAD! :) or you can listen to it on 8TRACKS.

1. Closer Than This by St. Lucia | Oh my goodness, this song is just perfect, really.
2. Chinatown by Kitten | Kitten’s vocalist reminds me of Karen O, and I kind of can’t believe she’s only 17-ish.
3. The Only Place by Best Coast | Best Coast basically BLEEDS summer. I mean, who wouldn’t put a Best Coast song on a summer playlist. We have fun, we have fun, WE HAVE FUN when we please.
4. Little Numbers by BOY | This song from the Swiss duo is so light and fun that you hardly realize it’s about a girl waiting for a guy to call. HAHA. I've re-arranged parts of my living room
 / But time is hard to kill since I met you.
5. Les Plus Beaux by Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains | I think the fact that it’s French is only a bonus compared to the dreamy arrangement. It evokes a distant memory I probably never even had in the first place.
6. Can’t Believe You Said That by Gemini Club | Gemini Club sounds like Ra Ra Riot’s cousin, and that’s cool.
7. Don’t Gotta Work It Out by Fitz and the Tantrums | I think I’m starting to like this Neo-Soul/Indie-Soul genre. Whatever it’s really called.
8. Too Young by Ghost Beach | Ooh, this one’s new. Can’t wait to be driving around with this one blasting from my radio.
9. Suburbia by I Heart Sharks | If you’re bored in Suburbia, burn down your house, let’s dance in the color of fire.
10. Broad Ripple is Burning by Margot and the Nuclear So So’s | It’s a little anti-climactic to slow things down at this point, but this song. THIS SONG.
11. Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men | Another great road trip folk-y, poppy song. It starts to get really great a little past the two-minute mark.
12. Tongue Tied (Gigamesh Remix) by GROUPLOVE | This one is kind of old, but really, who cares. It’s still pretty catchy.
13. Quiet by Non Tiq | I found this song a few months ago, and automatically saved it for a playlist. Why does so much amazing music come from Sweden?
14. Traveling by Tennis | I thought I’d distance this a little from the Best Coast track cause they’re a bit similar at the start, but this husband and wife duo really just set themselves apart by slowing down at all the right places.
15. Silly Fathers by Rubblebucket | I think I love this track 30% more than I first did now that I know it’s from an album titled “Omega La La”.
16. I’m Not Ready by Surfer Blood | You wonder why you've got no one else to turn to / You know I'm only looking out for you
17. I Wanna Go by Summer Heart | This song builds up so well; I don’t know what else to say. Oh, this guy’s Swedish. Whut.
18. Days by The Drums | This one just hits you right in the soul, doesn’t it.
19. Paradise by The Twang | More summer vibes for you, and you, and you.
20. We Should Be Swimming by Zulu Winter | Zulu Winter is relatively new, I think. But there’s some wisdom in those riffs. Also, I really should be swimming. (Ba-dum-tss!)
21. Bloom by The Paper Kites | Found this song a lifetime ago and didn’t know what to do with it. This playlist shall be its home. I recently heard it on an episode of Suburgatory and I was just so happy that it’s getting the recognition it deserves.
22. Farmer & His Gun by Charlie Simpson | I cannot express my happiness at how glad I am to have found (thanks to a friend) Charlie Simpson’s solo effort. His voice really takes me back to 7^th grade and my Busted obsession, which to be honest still exists. But his whole album really is amazing. This is my favorite off of it, cause I’m pretty sure it’s about his hiatus from Fightstar, the band which he left Busted for (haven’t forgiven him for that!).
23. Traveling by Paper Lions | Makes me miss actually traveling, which is what my summers are usually made of. Also, this track gets perfectly trippy somewhere in the middle, and the guitar solo is to die for.
24. The Earth Plates Are Shifting by Young Empires | Sounds like Foals, but still totally brilliant on their own merit, except for the fact the band’s symbolized by a hipsturr triangle.
25. This Moment by French Horn Rebellion | I love that this track is really jazzy and really gets your mind to that “I love the world” place. In fact, I think I want the whole album.
26. Take It by The Spinto Band | I first heard The Spinto Band in February last year, and I found their music somewhere between “just okay” and “kind of good”. Their latest album Shy Pursuit, is levels better than what I heard last year. It’s quirkier, lovelier and this first single (and its cute video) proves that.
27. Sugar High by Coyote Shivers | This is from Empire Records, a movie I watched for the first time in 2005, I think, and even then I was about 10 years too late. And I still can’t get over this song. The chorus. The CHORUS. Renee Zellweger sings a bit in the film version of this song, but I can’t find a decent copy of that one.

 Note: This post is originally from my Tumblr!

The 6 Things I'm Probably Going To Blog About

Just a wee introductory post! Hi, hello, how are you?

Because any idiot can start a blog, here I am! Again! I had a blog back in high school--a personal one, at that. Until a few months after I graduated, when I decided it was time to stop keeping a complete record of my teenage angst and just start anew. Sob story etc etc blah blah blah, and now I'm going to be a college senior, isn't that great? (No.) But! That. Is. Not. The point.

The point is. What am I going to blog about this time?

Well, I'm not an expert at anything. But I do think a lot. And I like to make lists. And I like to write. But, there is an overwhelming lack of subject matter. So I'm stuck writing about:

1. My Beagle Potter, who is 2 years old and really just the love of my life, muy gwapito baby boy. 
2. Being vegetarian. Expect mostly food posts because I'm hungry a lot.
3. Art I like, including books, movies, and music that I'm going to be unapologetically shoving down your throats. Get your tastebuds ready!
4. New things I've tried.
5. Places I've been.
6. And best of all, I'll probably be posting long, misdirected rambles thinly disguised as observations about life in general but are secretly really about my very, very personal life.

I don't really know what to expect! But here goes. I'm really quite excited.