2008: Terrorist Fist Jabs and Cut Copy: Or How I Made This Year Somewhat Magical
Prologue
ZOOM! BAM! BOOM! This year went by extremely quickly. Why? The first half of it was so much fun.
WINTER - SPRING
At the start of the new year I was driving down the 5 South freeway to put in my 8 hours of hard work at Disney Consumer Products' corporate communications department. I must say, it was the most fun I ever had at a job. Work was work but I made great friends with my fellow interns (oh yeah, it was an internship). I discovered good restaurants, discovered the magic of Thai and Indian food, and attended top secret showings of teeny bop TV movies (or just one, CAMP ROCK!). Hahaha. Every day I looked forward to a delicious lunch courtesy of Disney's chefs and peppermint mocha from Starbucks. My fellow interns, Jonathan, Carissa and Neha accompanied me to Disney Studios for lunch where we snooped around the backlots of Grey's Anatomy and other ABC shows. Betty and I visited Disneyland a record 3 or 4 times (I actually lost count). So yeah, I had tons of fun. My supervisor, Stella, was super-uber-cool and my co-worker Ryan (an aspiring actor) kept me up to date on all things Barack Obama.
Yes, following the presidential campaign season was a blast. It was actually tons of fun, especially because of the ever-informative and in-depth NPR. Oh, and FOX News made things interesting with their retarded attempts at bringing down my future commander-in-chief. Can you say TERRORIST FIST JAB?
SUMMER
Sadly, my internship came to an end on June 27th. My co-workers and I went to El Capitan Theatre to watch Wall-E. Twas magical.
From there, I was given my goodbyes at Granville (a semi-fancy restaurant). For the rest of the summer, I slowly watched my remaining funds dwindle as I gave my hard-earned cash to fast food and summer movies. Soon enough my unemployment once again became a source of great stress. After a wonderfully refreshing trip to Yosemitee with my younger brother, Eric (Sidenote: it was beautiful out there and we attempted to complete Half-Dome trail - the hardest thing I've ever done - physically), I landed a job at a bone-headed, retard start-up company called PRWeb. It turned out it was a scam (or at least it smelled like one). And, soon enough I was laid off (possibly for knowing too much). Oh, by the way, I was laid off one day after my birthday. So, from August 13th to November 19th, I was unemployed and scared shitless.
Oh, and The Dark Knight rocked.
FALL - WINTER
After spending much of my summer and part of my fall almost penniless, Lady Luck dealt me a wild card. I got a job at Compton Unified School District as communications coordinator. I've been there since November and so far it's been a bit challenging. The drive kills me but I'm hanging in there. It pays pretty well and the people are cool. Nuff said.
Oh and as of November 4, 2008 Barack Obama became president-elect. That's pretty cool. I HOPE.
Previous to that, Jesse, Adrian and I put on a last minute show at Guitar Merchant with a lineup of over 8 or 9 bands. It was a modest success. Kudos to us.
Thanks to Betty, I got an iPod at long last. 120 GB!!!
-----------
So this entry is pretty short-winded. Extremely abbreviated. Sorry. It's just been an exhausting day and an exhausting year. This year's motto was "Keep it classy." According to Jerry, Eric, Jesse and Alex, next year is all about "Back to our roots." So be it. I just hope it also includes a better economy, a happy, fruitful, adventurous and pleasantly surprising changes.
ON TO THE AWARDS!
Best Shows of 2008:
1. Family Guy (Still on top).
2. Flight of the Concords (It’s business time!)
3. The Colbert Report (He Is America, And So Can You).
4. Conan O'Brien Show (I love it more and more and more and more, despite the strike).
5. The Office (My guide to good office etiquette).
6. Blue Planet (I watched it with Dennis and tripped out on this CGI bird).
7. Curb Your Enthusiasm
8. No Reservations: With Anthony Bourdain
9. Bizarre Foods
10. Youtube (How 2006)
Best Movies of 2008 That I've Seen This Year:
1. THE DARK KNIGHT (Face it. It's the best).
2. Slumdog Millionaire (See it, please!)
3. Gran Torino (Get off my lawn)
4. Pineapple Express (Thug life)
5. Iron Man (ROCKED!)
6. Wall-E
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8. The Visitor
9. Towelhead (Really hard to watch, but mesmerizing? Plus, Summer Bishil is in it)
10. The Duchess (I wish it had seen something else and in terms of what I've seen this year, it's probably better than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crinkled Skulls)
Best Movies I've Seen This Year That Didn't Come Out in 2008:
1. No Country For Old Men
2. The Goonies (I know, I know)
Most Annoying People of 2008: *Anybody who had a "Celebreality" show on Vh-1 or any other channel.* Still applies since this category first debuted.
1. Sarah Palin
2. Bill O'Reilly
3. Sean Hannity
4. Paris Hilton
5. Tila Tequila
Rock Shows of 2008:
1. Radiohead - Hollywood Bowl (Second Night)
2. Radiohead - Chula Vista Ampitheatre
3. My Morning Jacket - Greek Theatre
4. Jens Lekman - Henry Fonda Theatre
5. Beck / Spoon - Hollywood Bowl
NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT LIST OF ALL...
Best Albums of 2008:
1. Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours
2. The Walkmen: You and Me
3. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
4. Deerhunter: Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
5. Portishead: Third
6. Hot Chip: Made in the Dark
7. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
8. No Age: Nouns
9. TV on the Radio: Dear Science
10. Coldplay: Viva La Vida
Honorable Mentions:
11. M83: Saturdays = Youth
12. Black Mountain: In the Future
13. The Fireman: Electric Arguments
Happy 2009.
ZOOM! BAM! BOOM! This year went by extremely quickly. Why? The first half of it was so much fun.
WINTER - SPRING
At the start of the new year I was driving down the 5 South freeway to put in my 8 hours of hard work at Disney Consumer Products' corporate communications department. I must say, it was the most fun I ever had at a job. Work was work but I made great friends with my fellow interns (oh yeah, it was an internship). I discovered good restaurants, discovered the magic of Thai and Indian food, and attended top secret showings of teeny bop TV movies (or just one, CAMP ROCK!). Hahaha. Every day I looked forward to a delicious lunch courtesy of Disney's chefs and peppermint mocha from Starbucks. My fellow interns, Jonathan, Carissa and Neha accompanied me to Disney Studios for lunch where we snooped around the backlots of Grey's Anatomy and other ABC shows. Betty and I visited Disneyland a record 3 or 4 times (I actually lost count). So yeah, I had tons of fun. My supervisor, Stella, was super-uber-cool and my co-worker Ryan (an aspiring actor) kept me up to date on all things Barack Obama.
Yes, following the presidential campaign season was a blast. It was actually tons of fun, especially because of the ever-informative and in-depth NPR. Oh, and FOX News made things interesting with their retarded attempts at bringing down my future commander-in-chief. Can you say TERRORIST FIST JAB?
SUMMER
Sadly, my internship came to an end on June 27th. My co-workers and I went to El Capitan Theatre to watch Wall-E. Twas magical.
From there, I was given my goodbyes at Granville (a semi-fancy restaurant). For the rest of the summer, I slowly watched my remaining funds dwindle as I gave my hard-earned cash to fast food and summer movies. Soon enough my unemployment once again became a source of great stress. After a wonderfully refreshing trip to Yosemitee with my younger brother, Eric (Sidenote: it was beautiful out there and we attempted to complete Half-Dome trail - the hardest thing I've ever done - physically), I landed a job at a bone-headed, retard start-up company called PRWeb. It turned out it was a scam (or at least it smelled like one). And, soon enough I was laid off (possibly for knowing too much). Oh, by the way, I was laid off one day after my birthday. So, from August 13th to November 19th, I was unemployed and scared shitless.
Oh, and The Dark Knight rocked.
FALL - WINTER
After spending much of my summer and part of my fall almost penniless, Lady Luck dealt me a wild card. I got a job at Compton Unified School District as communications coordinator. I've been there since November and so far it's been a bit challenging. The drive kills me but I'm hanging in there. It pays pretty well and the people are cool. Nuff said.
Oh and as of November 4, 2008 Barack Obama became president-elect. That's pretty cool. I HOPE.
Previous to that, Jesse, Adrian and I put on a last minute show at Guitar Merchant with a lineup of over 8 or 9 bands. It was a modest success. Kudos to us.
Thanks to Betty, I got an iPod at long last. 120 GB!!!
-----------
So this entry is pretty short-winded. Extremely abbreviated. Sorry. It's just been an exhausting day and an exhausting year. This year's motto was "Keep it classy." According to Jerry, Eric, Jesse and Alex, next year is all about "Back to our roots." So be it. I just hope it also includes a better economy, a happy, fruitful, adventurous and pleasantly surprising changes.
ON TO THE AWARDS!
Best Shows of 2008:
1. Family Guy (Still on top).
2. Flight of the Concords (It’s business time!)
3. The Colbert Report (He Is America, And So Can You).
4. Conan O'Brien Show (I love it more and more and more and more, despite the strike).
5. The Office (My guide to good office etiquette).
6. Blue Planet (I watched it with Dennis and tripped out on this CGI bird).
7. Curb Your Enthusiasm
8. No Reservations: With Anthony Bourdain
9. Bizarre Foods
10. Youtube (How 2006)
Best Movies of 2008 That I've Seen This Year:
1. THE DARK KNIGHT (Face it. It's the best).
2. Slumdog Millionaire (See it, please!)
3. Gran Torino (Get off my lawn)
4. Pineapple Express (Thug life)
5. Iron Man (ROCKED!)
6. Wall-E
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8. The Visitor
9. Towelhead (Really hard to watch, but mesmerizing? Plus, Summer Bishil is in it)
10. The Duchess (I wish it had seen something else and in terms of what I've seen this year, it's probably better than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crinkled Skulls)
Best Movies I've Seen This Year That Didn't Come Out in 2008:
1. No Country For Old Men
2. The Goonies (I know, I know)
Most Annoying People of 2008: *Anybody who had a "Celebreality" show on Vh-1 or any other channel.* Still applies since this category first debuted.
1. Sarah Palin
2. Bill O'Reilly
3. Sean Hannity
4. Paris Hilton
5. Tila Tequila
Rock Shows of 2008:
1. Radiohead - Hollywood Bowl (Second Night)
2. Radiohead - Chula Vista Ampitheatre
3. My Morning Jacket - Greek Theatre
4. Jens Lekman - Henry Fonda Theatre
5. Beck / Spoon - Hollywood Bowl
NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT LIST OF ALL...
Best Albums of 2008:
1. Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours
2. The Walkmen: You and Me
3. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
4. Deerhunter: Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
5. Portishead: Third
6. Hot Chip: Made in the Dark
7. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
8. No Age: Nouns
9. TV on the Radio: Dear Science
10. Coldplay: Viva La Vida
Honorable Mentions:
11. M83: Saturdays = Youth
12. Black Mountain: In the Future
13. The Fireman: Electric Arguments
Happy 2009.