Violins and the Conductor. Not my typical night...

But, I enjoyed it. Who knew the LA Philharmonic would be an enjoyable place to be on a Friday night. I would say even if its not your thing, it's worth a try. The music is beautiful, the musicians are insanely into it and the walt disney concert hall really is enchanting. Yes, enchanting. My friend Verno and I were lucky enough to get some free tickets and they happen to be the best ticket in the house. Row 1, center. We pretty much were part of the orchestra they might as well have handed us a violin. I decided that my favorite symphony instrument is the Cello and that I am still not sure what the conductor does. Vern says he keeps the time, which makes sense. Let's just say I was not sure what to expect and I loved it. I mean I am not gonna go out and by season tickets, but it was legit. 

This guy, Gerstein was a special guest pianist, it was wild. He made the craziest faces and intense lip action. His eyes were closed mostly and he literally looked like he was the music. The first guy is the conductor, Graf. 

Little tidbit, It is better with your eyes closed. Your imagination will create a scene you didn't even know you were capable of. 

LA Philharmonic

MAY DAY MARCH in Los Angeles

If you were driving on the streets of Los Angeles yesterday, you may have run into this: 

May Day is a celebration of social and economic achievements as well as a march for labor and immigrant rights. What a backdrop Los Angeles brings to the May Day Marches. 

The marches were a beautiful sight, with chants, posters and spectators. The streets were filled with the crowds rallying for immigration reform. Cars slowed when the crowd gathered on a bridge above the 110. I stopped and looked up, I guess the traffic in LA is due to something.  I jumped right off the freeway and stood with many others to watch the invigorated march. There were people from all walks of life, Mexican Immigrants chanting, "What do we want?" "Justicia" "When do we want it?" "Ahora" and the Asian immigrants in traditional attire, and a group of immigrants, chanting, "We are queer and proud" "Marriage is the same for all humans." I wanted to jump over the caution tape and jump in. Next year I will be there. If there is any reason traffic would be justified in my book, it would be the MAY DAY marches. Holla. 

Check out some photos: 

LA Times coverage of : MAY DAY MARCH

Articles about this year's MAY DAY

McNutso: Didn't Get your chicken nuggets? Call 911 - really.

Chicken McNuggets mean more these days then you think. They are so valuable that McDonald's customer, Latreasa Goodman found it necessary to call 911 when  her local Florida McDonald's ran out of the much loved nuggets. How hungry was she? After going through the drive through and paying for nuggets, she as told they were out and was offered another menu item. That did not satisfy her. As a result she called 911, and stated "I called 911 because I couldn't get a refund and I wanted my McNuggets." When prompted for the address the woman gives all the information, expecting help but really it was a police officer attending the scene to report her. THANK GOD. 

Latreasa Goodman:

Listen to the 911 call

Since when does not getting your food at a drive through justify a call to 911? Unless you are choking on the Chicken Nugget go on with your life and complain to someone else. Just a few weeks ago another fast food customer, this time Burger King, called 911 because he did not receive a lemonade with his meal! Are you kidding!? 

It is unbelievable that some people do not understand the simplicity of life. 911 is an emergency line, and although emergency can be defined differently by everyone (in this case, she needed her nuggets) common sense can lead you into the right direction.  911 is not a universal customer service help line. In the words of the 911 dispatcher from the Burger King call  "Customer service is not a reason to call 911. 911 is if you are dying, do you understand that?"

So, do you?

Listen to the Burger King Call - what a wacko

Check out more info on The Smoking Gun

There are more criminals around then you think...

I was insanely surprised to find out that 1 in every 31 adults are in prison, jail, on probation or parole (in 2007). Can you believe that? 

Personally, it seems absurd, in any single average classroom one person will end up on probation or worse. 

It's sad that I am not even making this up, it was the headline on CNN all day...

CNN: 7.3 Million in U.S. Prison system in 2007

Beckham Scores, but not with the Galaxy

David Beckham, currently playing with AC Milan in Italy's Serie A (on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy) has just scored his 2nd goal. 2 games in a row he was able to secure a point for Milan. It seems the fans and the players alike are enjoying his presence, celebrating together both times.

Here are both goals:

First: Scoring the 4th of 4 goals againt Bologna (4-1 AC Milan wins)


Second: What you call Beckham's Trademark "Bend it like Beckham" against Genoa



Maybe he hasn't lost his magic. I talk to my dad about soccer alot and he explained it well saying, "Well when you play with players who know your style and play well, they make you look good. It's easy to score goals. With Galaxy he has to make the other players look better."

True that.

Who was the bigger in 2008? Britney or Obama?

So 2008 was a year filled with a presidential election that made history and a swarm of celebrity gossip that seemed to be impossible to escape. Even if you were just buying tomatoes at the grocery store, it was hard not to be bombarded with the Obama photos at the register and the tabloid monsters. I decided to bring this up when someone let me know that Britney was the most searched person of 2008. I was a little shocked. Don't get me wrong, I am a Britney Fan, have been for a while...but I was super into this past election. It was a great time to be a part of America and enveloped in the whirlwind that was the Obama campaign. Does it matter that we care more about Britney's comeback Abs than Obama's world changing election? I dont know if that is entirely true, I was proud of America's involvement in this past election. But who was bigger in 2008?

Britney started the year with little hair and a meltdown that was seen on every magazine cover possible. Even Rolling Stone posted a cover story, with the title: Britney, An American Tragedy.
She launched her way back to success at the end of 2008 with a #1 album and a tour to follow. Seems like she may have won America back.


Obama started the year with little support and a campaign that no one saw coming. He became a national hero and a ray of hope for many Americans. By the end of 200
8 he was elected the President of the United States. And by the looks of it, his inauguration celebrations (aka wild parties) seem to blow any other event EVER, out of the water (including Britney Spears long due Circus tour).


So who really was more popular? Who did you see grace more magazine covers, headlines, tv spots, news shows..?

Whose face did you get tired of seeing, if at all?

Here are some facts:

Britney was the most searched person in Yahoo. Obama was 3. ouch. It scares me a little to think Britney was more avidly searched than Obama. I am not gonna lie, I searched Britney (on google) but I definitely searched Obama plenty more. It kills me more to see that #2 is WWE (Wrestling). Yes guys, this really happened.




He was the most searched politician (Sarah Palin was not far behind):


Here are the UK search results:

You Tube: Because You Tube changed the world

Obama music video: 15 million views

Britney Spears : Womanizer - 54 million views
Obama Victory Speech: 4 million views

Obama by far graced more "legit" magazine covers (and by legit I mean "non tabloids") than Britney.



So?

Women's Soccer: Hotties playing soccer - Good or bad?

Let's face the facts here: Women's Soccer is filled with a hott looking group of young women. Hard bodies and beautiful faces. But what role does this play in the appeal of women's soccer and more so in the fan base and the way they talk about it.

I was browsing through BigSoccer.com today, which is a huge forum space for soccer. WPS gets a lot of buzz from Big Soccer which is great. Going with the notion that many of the participants on Big Soccer are male, it is interesting to see the different opinions about the new league. There is lots of support, some trash talk and lots of questions. A real dialogue has been created in regards to the WPS Draft that took place last week. But when the pictures were posted of the drafted players, no one was talking about the soccer anymore.

Specifically I find it interesting how consecutive posts talk about how hot the players are or how they are cute in their little black dresses....

See for yourself (Click image to view closer):














I have had many conversations about women's soccer in regards to looking at these athletes bodies as hott women's bodies.

What do you think? If these hott girls are going to sell more tickets to the men lusting after them, then why not?
Should they be seen as athletes first and women second?

Does it matter?

(I am by no means generalizing Big Soccer or their bloggers, just using it as an example)