This preeeeetty much made my day:



My favorite parts: the Lafayette stuff, the rap song for Struttin' Eric, "Battlefield," THE END.

Thanks & hearts to inlipstickred.

Disappointing trip to Target. Hot day. Headache... but I discovered that HBO on Demand has "Band of Brothers." Fuck and YES. Unfortunately, they've got half the series up now and then they'll put the other half up sometime next month, but I'm watching it and it's making my day. I'd forgotten how awesome it was and how much I loved it. I put the book on my Amazon wishlist, for pete's sake.

The casting is like a random OMG-that guy! Aside from the awesomeness of Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston as Winters and Nixon (best TV boyfriends ever, says tellcincinnati and she is correct), we have:

-Donnie Wahlberg
-David Schwimmer (who is still totally miscast)
-Matthew Settle (aka Rufus Humphrey) (HOT)
-Scott Grimes (last seen on "ER")
-Neal McDonough (who pops up a lot more now)
-the dude who played Tommy in "Snatch" (as an American)
-Simon Pegg!!!! (as an American)
-Michael Cudlitz (currently on "Southland")
-Rick Gomez (aka Endless Mike from "Pete & Pete")
-Jason O'Mara (who was just on the US remake of "Life on Mars")
-Jamie Bamber
-James (fucking) McAvoy (looking foxy as usual)..... and probably more random awesome pop-ins


Also, my mom is totally in love with Kris Allen, and it's real cute.

I'm all about this tonight:

ohhh, so true:


However, I feel like Pete would do this and not Andy...I'm sure the game inserts which ever member (excluding Patrick), but still.

Uh, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this one:

You guys, I'm totally obsessed with Panic's "Live in Chicago" like I don't even understand. All I want to do is watch it. They need more stage banter, though. Maybe next tour? I ran around singing "Camisado" all day, and debating whether or not to buy Pretty Odd on vinyl...would sound good out of my speakers.

Slept very late, stuffed my face, watched "Inside the NFL," and then went hunting for half-price Christmas cards with my mom, and a terrible selection everywhere! Encountered a massive line at TJ Maxx but managed to score at Target- finally a glass baking dish, and a good blanket to keep on the sofa. Tomorrow I'll do all of my cosmetic errands before heading back.

Watched "Tropic Thunder" which was cute but really silly in places but BILL HADER is in it, which I didn't even know and that was 10 times more awesome than Tom Cruise and his OMG out of character cameo. Marry me, Bill Hader! (I know- he's taken, just like they all are). I fell asleep somewhere in the middle of the movie and then woke up and resumed it and it was mass craziness. And then watched "The Dark Knight" with my parents and it's such a damn long movie- I'd forgotten about some of the stuff that happens and then it was, "Oh fuck, the part with the boats." Ledger is still A-1, though. And it's still a shame, that whole thing. I actually found the Joker to be scarier this time around.

I bit the bullet and got a new phone...I hope I like it. I'm sure I will. I can't afford an iPhone and I don't want to give up my Verizon so THERE. I did have to pay more for internet access, but it's still less than iPhone prices so THERE. It's so ridiculous that you're locked into a 2 year contract anyway because new phones come out so often and they keep making basic features so much better and it's just LAME. I can understand a year and half, and it really should be just a year, but fuck- 2 years? People get cranky, you know? And the same dude who was there on Sunday or Saturday or whenever I went was there tonight and he remembered me and he was like, "you have a nice name" and I wanted to say, "It's a boy's name, dude." I really, really want to start saying my name is Shura, but I don't think it would work.

I have year-end-list-fatigue like nobody's business. I'm so out of touch with everything, I don't like the Fleet Foxes, and I really don't care, but it's like, weird to be bombarded with stuff when you're out of touch, b/c I'm not usually out of touch. This is an interesting turn of events.

So what I want to do is just listen to Panic at the Disco a lot and pretend I'm on a beach somewhere and my, Shane Valdes's polaroids are beautiful and idyllic and I just wish I could blow them up and plaster them all over my walls. There's just so much joy in that band, in their little faces. And Brendon Urie has a better voice than I gave him credit for. It certainly improved between the albums, which was to be expected, but it's nice that it actually happened. 

My apartment is unusually cold. It's normally burning up in here, but I could stand to put a sweatshirt on right now. And I think I may have mild food poisoning. Rock on!

VICTORY IS MINE:



In all honesty, it's going to be like, my new cheer-up tool. Because I can't look at their little faces and hear the music without getting incredibly happy and sunshine-y. Thanks, dudes.

Also- high-fives and ass slaps to Spencer Smith for being able to pull off a head scarf, or whatever you want to call it.

A. I'm like the shittiest party planner ever. I wish we weren't having the holiday party at the office this year, but we have to and stuff. But the office is not conducive to parties...we're still going to wind up sitting at our desks probably and it's going to be fucking boring I bet. Maybe everyone will get drunk and then snowed in?

B. If you had told me 3 years ago that I'd be strenuously defending Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco in the future, I would have laughed in your face. But I am... one review was like, "Does Patrick Stump realize that he's singing the words written by a narcissist/self-centered, whatever?" and "Does Patrick Stump have to be so darn earnest about these lyrics, some of which he doesn't seem to see the humor/irony in?" And I'm all self righteous like, "That's his BEST FRIEND, reviewer man! He doesn't think the lyrics are stupid at all. He doesn't see Pete the way that you do." It's weird to like a band that isn't indie/critically acclaimed. I'm used to reading raves about bands I like/have likes- Wilco, Neko Case, the Pornographers, Spoon, Okkervil River, etc. And the same for Panic- it's like, Of Montreal and Animal Collective and countless other bands can get weird and experimental and Beatles-influenced, but that's alright, but a band like Panic, who associate with Pete Wentz (THAT douche), well they can't. How dare they try new things?!

That's just the impression that I get. And also the name Panic at the Disco reminds me of that old Electric Six song- Fire in the disco! Fire in the Taco Bell! (Danger-High Voltage), even though I know PatD took their name from another song. And whoa- Brendon Urie, thats a heck of a tattoo! That sweet little face, and now what, he's going to get sleeves? Maybe not. It would be cool if he just kept the whatever it is on his forearm, but I've heard that some people can't stop after they get their first one.

C. I'm so over year-end lists. Everything comes at us so fast nowadays, between blogs and whatever else, that it's just this constant sensory overload and I don't know 3/4 of the bands on Pitchfork anymore and I don't care to because only 10% will probably have staying power anyway. I'd rather re/discover older things or get my third party recommendations through friends. And I don't think I cared too much about movies in the first place and TV is just fucking disappointing me. When's True Blood coming back? Bitter, bitter, bitter.

D. I think everyone took their slow pills today, too. Many, many, instances of me screaming "move, motherfucker!" in my head. I LOVE people who block subway entrances, but you all knew that already. It's so freaking rude.

I don't know what these two dudes are doing:


This dude, though? His hair is fucking tremendous, nothing more, nothing less. And it looks so soft!



Quick Hits: Thumbs down for unexpected moshing and for me seeming to lose my concert tolerance (wtf?), and for the boys having not rehearsed any of the new songs other than Suitehearts and Cooperstown and I Don't Care. Also thumbs down to the two really short, squeaky girls, who proceeded to sing all of the lyrics they knew (most of 'em) in annoying, loud, squeaky voices. However: thumbs way up for Patrick talking on stage and being adorable. And for me having a delayed reaction to Pete saying that he has to be a Cowboys fan or else he'll get his teeth knocked out at the Thanksgiving table. And for seeing Alex Suarez.

DORKINESS: I watched this adorable "Making of...Pretty Odd" on Buzznet the other night, and aside from reaffirming my desire to squeeze Spencer Smith's little face, I silently cheered when he said that "9 in the Afternoon" came from him saying, "It feels like 7 in the afternoon," which made me think of Ringo Starr coining, "A hard day's night." And then as the show progressed, I started thinking, "God, they really are like little copied-way-down Beatles!" I know, I know- comparing Panic to the Beatles is really weird, but there was something in that little show that made think Beatlesque thoughts.

And then as I was getting ready for bed and thinking, "Aw, Spencer, good on you for sort of coining the phrase, just like Ringo," it hit me- they're both drummers. So yay for drummers with weird turns of phrases.

I think I'm going to run home for a bit tomorrow for hugs and football and calming my crazy mind down.

And I can't stop eating, either. Every Sunday, I say- Okay, Monday you will start over again. Back to Weight Watchers and the gym. What happened to my gym epiphany from August, huh? I'm getting fatter and more disgusted with myself, and yet it's cold and I'm lazy and I can't seem to find the drive to do anything healthful. Maybe this week? Maybe never. Obviously, I'm not going to let myself get any higher than 145 or 150, because then it's really going to start to show, but I would like to be able to reign in this marathon of eating before it gets even close to that point, because 150 lbs. would not suit someone of my height.

Oh, Panic at the Disco- how you stun me with your folky, poppy, unexpectedly moving, song stylings. I feel like that music should be the accompaniment to lying outside on a sunny day. Works wonders for a cold winter in NYC.

Spencer Smith, I want to squeeze your little face.

Oh, Patrick Stump- your love of Elvis Costello knows no bounds, eh? That first track on the album, he's a semi-dead ringer. I think I read an interview where he acknowledged that he was a decent vocal mimic. As for the rest of Folie... I don't know what to think of it- it's a total grower, but so was IOH for me. Some of it I like, some of it makes me shake my head in confusion. Some of it is way too slick, and way too many multi-layered vocals. I'm really, really curious to see what happens to some of these songs when they go live.

Is "What a Catch" destined to be the next tour's "Golden" moment?

I wish Pete would stop writing lyrics with "boy" in them. Switch to "guy," guys. Your 16 year-old fans won't mind. And y'all are grown-ups now.

Also, one of my co-workers is probably going to take a new job in Idaho, of all places, but it sounds so amazing and tailor-made for him and I'm so deliriously happy for him that I smile every time I think about it. We'll miss him, but he seems miserable, work-wise, so this would be good. I finally told him how I had a dream that he quit a couple of months ago...I'm never prescient, but this is cool.

A new FOB album in 2 months? With a French title that none of them can pronounce, which means that no VJ/radio person will be able to pronounce it? Oh, those are my boys.

Spent today listening to "I Kissed a Girl" back to back with Cobra Starship's version, which is what I would call a good "strut song." Maybe it's the black nailpolish, I dunno, but I totally want to alter my appearance and dress like a tomboy or something that isn't be being prim, but really I mostly wear black and blue and grey. I'm kind of afraid of color, still. I'm serious about 2 more holes in my ear, though, not that it's a big deal or anything. And I'm certainly not doing anything with my hair. I think the dyed part is even lighter now, but you can't tell unless you really look or I tell you that my hair is 2 colors.

I should have given that guy my number but I thought it was presumptuous but AD was like, "You're insane." But my feeling is- what if he thinks I'm a total nuisance and would rather jump off a bridge than invite me out one weekend. I do think I'm giving him too much credit- thinking he'll contact me if he remembers to. I'm going to start blaming my Catholic guilt for everything. 24 years old and still can't talk to a guy that she's interested in, what a pity. I'm trying to be more outwardly pleasant, really trying. I don't want people to think I'm stone cold because really I'm just very, very shy. And scared. And jesus, please man up- you're 24.

So it's apparently a 2-for-1 cute weekend in my own personal room cinema.

1. "Empire of the Sun." Christian Bale at 13 is flat-out adorable, especially in the documentary where you see Spielberg coaching him and whatnot. Remarkably articulate for a young guy, but I wouldn't expect anything less. Also, way to rock the aviator shades, little guy.

2. "The Last King of Scotland." Lordy, does James McAvoy slay me. The eyes, the brogue. How come all of the ones I like are always taken? Not that I think I'm going to run away with him or something, but it's the principle. Other examples: Joel McHale, Paul Rudd, Jason Dohring, Kyle Chandler, Seth Gabel, Trey Parker.

I caught bits and pieces of the movie last night, and now I'm watching it from the beginning. Forest Whitaker seems to be pretty awesome, doing the whole Idi Amin turns-on-a-dime-crazy thing, especially when you consider how soft-spoken he is in real life. I just wish the viewer got a clearer picture of how McAvoy's character ends up in Uganda...the steps between picking the country out on a globe and then arriving there.