Come hang out with us on Saturday, February 27th @ 4pm. I will be performing a few songs in really cute hat shop located on the super-cool Melrose ave. Not only is the show FREE, but you will also have the pleasure of some additional vocals by the lovely Kat Primeau, who will be joining me on a couple numbers.

Listen. Chat. Browse for hats. This is gonna be fun! Hope to see you there!

Oh yeah – if you want a preview of my songs, check out my myspace.

I’ve heard the phrase “just say no to drugs” many times in my life, beginning with that one time when police officers came to my elementary school classroom with pretty rainbow colored D.A.R.E shirts. You’d think their message would have sunk in for good considering I spent that evening crying in the stairwell at home because I was now afraid of a scary thing called “marijuana.” But it got to the point where the phrase “don’t do drugs” didn’t really mean much anymore. In fact, by the time I got to high school it was a more of joke than anything and the trendy kids would where their now-vintage DARE shirts just to be ironic.

I’m not saying that I don’t agree with the phrase. Maybe it’s just a little too all-incompassing for me. There’s no wiggle room. I’m a firm believer that everyone does their share of drugs, whether it be in the form of caffeine in their daily (hourly for me) cup of coffee, nicotine from a cigarette or even sugar which is found in, well lets face it, almost everything worth eating!

Another vice that people often forget to put into the drug category is alcohol.

I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions, but I did decide to set a few goals. One of them was to cut alcohol from my diet for one month. To be perfectly honest, I was afraid to even set the goal because I wasn’t sure I would be able to achieve it. Sometimes it seems like the only way to make it through a work week was a wednesday trip to happy hour with my fellow CMH’ers. But then I realized – if there was any reason to set the goal in the first place, that’s it. Worrying that you do not have control over something is a pretty good sign that you need to make sure to regain control quick, fast and in a hurry.

Anyway, it’s been about four weeks now and I feel great. I get way more shit done (oh yeah- that’s what this post is about!), I feel healthier, I’ve saved money and even lost two pounds, which is never – ever- a bad thing! I’ve been able to accomplish a lot more when I stay home instead of joining my friends at happy hour. I’ve finished a few books, I’ve exercised way more often, spent more time on freelance and reading up on skills I need to become a better web designer. I’ve even had time to catch up on Lost Season 5, not that watching TV is the most useful of past times. But would I be ready to watch season 6 premiere next week if I had chosen to go happy hour instead? Probably not.

Moral of the story – if you want to get shit done. Say no to drinks! At least for a little while…

What’s everyone up to next week?

Living in Los Angeles can really make someone get used to the sunshine. So much so that when it does happen to rain it can almost feel like the end of the world. I happen to love the rain, but I hear a lot of people complaining. It’s too wet outside to do anything…it makes me feel depressed..the list goes on and on. So I decided to do a little exercise to remind people how to bring the sunshine back when it’s gloomy outside. Just make a list of all of the things that always make you happy. Here’s mine:

1. Gitter! And anything that sparkles.
2. “Cuddle Fuddle” by Passion Pit
3. Cooking for a large group of people. Nothing warms my heart more than bringing my favorite people together over a delicious homecooked meal. (and some wine!)
4. Winning stuff. I don’t know who wouldn’t like winning things – but I think I may have an addiction to contests.
5. Fireworks.
6. Coffee. Strong coffee.
7. Finding the perfect “just because” surprise for someone I care about.
8. Finishing a new song.
9. Finding a new app for my iPhone
10. Road trips

SmartyPig/Jason Santa Maria/Article On Web Typography

Most of the time I am intrigued by a retweet on Twitter or a email forward from a friend. But this article was found in a sort of roundabout way. While researching financial planning blogs I came across the website SmartyPig which lets you create free high-interest savings accounts that automatically withdraw a set amount of funds from your checking on a schedule that you predetermine. I love the idea of this site and immediately signed up to save money for an upcoming trip to Portland and an event that comes every year and every year I fail to plan ahead for the spike in my credit card usage – Christmas! While the service the site provides is appealing to me in the sense that it helps me achieve goals that I’ve set for myself. But I instantly fell in love with the design and the overall feel of the site. After a bit of snooping around google, I discovered the site was designed by Jason Santa Maria. After a bit more snooping, I found an article about Typography which I’ve decided to share in this multi-pronged “Things I Found Today” post.

Adobe CS4 Pillows

This is really going to out me as a computer geek, but these pillows made to look like Creative Suite icons (yes, pillows) are amazingly adorable! And they’re giving some away!

Free Tacos!
Free. Tacos. ’nuff said: http://www.dailynews.com/ci_14225743

5. People are bored

The first thing to understand is that most of the time people read lists for entertainment because they’re bored, which – let’s be honest- usually means they’re at work. This also means that they probably aren’t looking for long, engaging articles even if it’s something they are interested in because that would be too obvious that they aren’t actually working. Most people can easily get away with browsing a list every once in a while as long as they remember to switch back to excel as soon as they hear footsteps coming.

4. People are “busy”
Even when someone see an article with a title that’s tantalizing enough to click on, it takes a lot more than just an interesting topic to keep them on a web page longer than five seconds, much less actually read it. People have more important things to do (like tweeting about the rice ratio in their spicy tuna roll, googling themselves or browsing other top 5 lists that probably won’t actually teach them anything of real value). So if you have something to say, keep it simple and straight to the point (make a list) if you want people to pay attention.

3. People are impatient

Impatience can be compared to laziness except that it has an increased sense of urgency. For example, instead of a lazy response like: “That paragraph is way too long for me to bother reading it. I’d rather just browse netflix and rate movies,” you get an impatient response like: “ARGH! Why don’t they bold the headings so I don’t have to scan all of the mumbo jumbo to find the info I’m really looking for!” If you spend a lot of time on the internet, you know exactly what I mean.

2. People don’t care what you think

Refer to impatient response in #3. People don’t really care what you have to say about whatever subject you are discussing. By including “Top (insert number here) List” in your article title, you are letting people know that they can get in, out and on with their day by quickly browsing a list instead of otherwise having to search for info in tedious blocks of text which people usually assume will be pointless babble (like this).

1. People are lazy

This one is pretty self-explanatory. People are just too lazy to read entire paragraphs these days. This can safely be blamed it on the fact that reading large blocks of text on a computer screen is a little more strenuous on the eyes than reading one in a book. But considering the dwindling amount of people who actually read books – real ones, not kindles or audiobooks, it still comes down to the fact that people are just plain lazy. If you even finished reading this, you are probably feeling proud of yourself for accomplishing something.

I can’t help it…it seems like every year since about 2006 my initial reaction to the Coachella lineup has been less than enthusiastic. But as I look a little closer at the insanely long list of bands, more and more gems start catching my eye. Then the whole idea of Coachella really sinks in- the idea of seeing all of these bands within the span of three days, while partying all day on vacation, away from LA, with my friends. For some people it isn’t even about the specific lineup, it’s about the experience of going. I have to say that for me, it’s about an even split. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by going in 2004 and 2006 when the lineups were amazing (and those weren’t even the best), but the lineups these days don’t seem to have the same pizazz (wow no little red line thingy- that must actually be a word!).

Anyway, there are handful of bands I’d really like to see this year…Pavement, spoon, yo la tengo, camera obscura, grizzly bear, thom yorke. And plenty of bands to get my botty shakin…mgmt, passion pit, matt & kim, phoenix, devo. Should be good times, especially if I can get in free!

If you’re wondering how I might be able to swing that…here’s the backs story: Last August, I won tickets to Outside Lands Fest from TripWire only to have them taken away. Apparently they accidentally picked two winners and the tix shipped to the other lucky bastard before I responded with my address. At the time, they said they’d make it up to me somehow and I replied that the only way that would happen is if they hooked me up with some Coachella ‘10 tickets. I just email them with a reminder of my request. Hopefully they respond with good news because this year, Coachella would be way more awesome if it’s free!

Some new recordings are up on myspace. Not really a new band, just a new lineup of the usual suspects. Check out our jams at The Fuckawatts myspace page.

p.s. I feel the need to make known the fact that I did not create the page.

Recently, Paste Magazine posed the question “What are your top 10 favorite movies of the past decade?” At first this questions seems simple. I instantly rattled off the top three (in my opinion, of course) movies that I always think of when I’m asked about my favorite films. But as soon as I got to number 4, 5, 6 I began to realize that it’s harder to narrow it down than I thought! That and having to remember when exactly the movies were released, and thanks to IMDB I didn’t have to strain my memory to hard.

But seriously, how do you even begin to compare movie like Wall-E and Children of Men. Why does The Life Aquatic make the list but City of God gets the boot? All of these films would definitely have a place on my honorable mentions list, but why? All of my favorite movies are great for different reasons. One may have an intense, eerie realism that reminds me of social issues that are easier to forget about or never even know at all than to realize and try to understand. Others are playful and intriguing because they teach me a kind of humor I have never been exposed to before.

After I a while I reminded myself that it’s not the list itself that matters, but the process of putting it together. It could be that not a single person who reads my list actually agrees with my taste, nor does it matter. But Paste Magazine’s query and my eager interest in answering led me down a path of rediscovery. I guess that’s why I love those sort of open-ended questions – they lead me to finding something that gets me excited, whether it be new or old.

Today Paste Magazine posted the results of the poll. Click here to see what people had to say.

My Top 10 Movies of the Decade:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Amelie
3. Memento
4. The Life Aquatic
5. A Scanner Darkly
6. Pan’s Labyrinth
7. The Lord of The Rings Series
8. Stranger Than Fiction
9. Children of Men
10. Thank You For Smoking

One item on a long list of random weird facts about me is that I work for a record label that releases mostly tributes. We’ve got brands for every type of tribute you can think of, from bluegrass (CMH Records) to lullaby versions of popular bands (Rockabye Baby!). My job is to create and online presence for these brands and promote new releases through our website and social media websites. Recently, we decided it would be cool to create employee mixtapes of our favorite Vitamin String Quartet tracks. Partly to give fans a more personal connection to our company and an idea of who we are, and also to shed light on some of the cool songs we have in our catalog that people may not have found otherwise.

So over the last week or so I’ve been doing a little digging and found some of my favorite songs performed by string quartet and created our first playlist in the VSQ Employee Playlist Series. If you know me at all, then you’ve already guessed that Weezer and Radiohead have a place on that list. But during my search, I found some favorites that I completely forgot about. So if you’ve ever been curious about the kind of music we release, take a peek and check out what I consider to be the cream of the crop.

Click here to check out my VSQ Mixtape.

Good news! Next Monday, I will be attending the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival where there will be a screening of Braceros, the film that I produced at CSUN. We are also mentioned in the LA Times today in the Festival insert…and even more amazing… Belinda (the director) will be on Telemundo next Monday @ 11pm!!

See more details on the festival and the film below.

Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival 2009 Shorts
BORDER STORIES – 92min. Monday October 12 @5:00 p.m.

BRACEROS
UNITED STATES
Directed by Belinda J. Carreño

Description:
In 1942, the US opened its borders to Mexican labor workers. Along with hundreds of other men, two young brothers eagerly respond to the call for help. Through the words of a man we learn of his epic adventure of sorrow, while living life with no regrets.

En 1942, los Estados Unidos abrieron sus fronteras para solicitar trabajadores mexicanos. Cientos de hombres viajaron y entre ellos dos hermanos que estaban ansiosos para trabajar. Con la historia relatada por un hombre, aprendemos que en el transcurso de esa etapa de su vida supieron vencer los obstáculos y ahora viven sin arrepentirse de todo lo que pasó.

More Details:
Director: Belinda J. Carreño
Screenwriters: Belinda J. Carreño, Ryan Close
Producers: Taylor Loftin, Dave Yohe
Executive Producers: Belinda J. Carreño, Dave Yohe, Thom Spitler
Director of Photography: Thomas Rose
Editor: Johnnie Martinez
Sound: Steve Nelson Music Rick Amieva, Ruwanga “Ru” Samath
Cast: Alfonso Castro, Edica Casanova, Rodrigo Robles, Alberto Zeni, Gilbert Chavarria, Eric Reinholt, Gary-7
Awards: Best Director Award (Boyle Heights Latina International Film Extravaganza), Best Short Film (Rasquache Film Festival)
Film Language: Spanish and English
Subtitles: English
Film Year: 2008
Run Time: 17 min

http://www.latinofilm.org/festival/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=212&Itemid=181