The Fray and the mud

So my friend Bari calls me the other day asking me if I'd like to take her extra ticket to go see The Fray at the New York State Fair last Friday night. I was so excited to see the Fray again, after the new album release, especially.

The last time that I saw the Fray was at the Meridien in Houston in May of 2006. I loved them on small stage because you could really feel the emotions with the songs and I was really excited to see what they could do with a big stage. I still enjoy the small stage better, but the Fray put on a fantastic show regardless.

I have a feeling that they did not draw out as large of a crowd as they should have since the weather was really disgusting that day. The fair was muddy and the air was humid, rainy, and sticky. Our Lady Peace was supposed to open for them, but had to cancel due to a family emergency; this also may have had an affect on the crowd present that night.

They started out with great energy with "Over my head" which lasted through the show regardless of what songs they were singing. I especially loved when they brought the piano out and began to play the slower and piano songs, which are some of my favorites.

They encored with a cover of Kanye West's "Heartless" which was pretty good, though I am still partial to Honor Society's cover that they did at Hershey Park on May 2. They seemed to have a lot of fun and to have really enjoyed playing the show, and we in the crowd definitely felt that and enjoyed it too.

Honor Society Rocks Charlanta NO DUH

Wow! so much happened over the course of 2 days...Allison and I went to all of the Honor Society concerts and events in Charlotte and Atlanta and had an absolute blast, even if we did have to live out of a car for the whole time.

We drove to Charlotte and got there for the acoustic performance at The Fudgery. The performance was hot, it was hot outside, but they crushed it as always. They hung out afterwards and took pictures, and I asked them if they remembered me from Houston; lucky me, they did. I had Andrew talk to my friend, Cara on the phone for a bit and then the guys went in to serve fudge. I also talked to Jason, told him that he had amazing hair..and for some reason decided to tell him I had 3 majors..(yeah i know right).

Later, they had a meet and greet outside the arena where we got more signed things and gave them their presents, which they loved (movies, ghetto dart guns, more candy, cookies...who wouldn't?) We kept asking Ned to take pictures with us, but he wouldn't (party pooper! but we love him). We walked around the stadium for a while because we had nothing to do and we were also trying to see if Hoffman would come out for a cigarette break. We stopped in a shady area becaues it was really that hot and a few minutes later, Honor Society walks by us again, and we say hi, feeling really creepy since we were creeping around the arena anyway.

We ate dinner at Alexander Michael's (felt it was fitting for the weekend and then realized we had eaten lunch at Jason's Deli, so not on purpose!) and then went to the Fillmore for Full Moon Crazy. Alli had won meet and greet and somehow had gotten me a wristband too (yay!)... We took pictures with Clifford because we had time to kill and then got in line to go in. We had amazing..standing room...place and had so much fun rocking with them, even though they didn't go on until 12:30. The room was packed and buzzing with energy and they put on an amazing show.

After the concert, we hung around and waited for the line to die down. They really weren't taking pictures, but we hoped that since we had the meet n greet bands that we might get one. Sure enough, Ned called a group of us over and started talking to us, our names, favorite songs, etc. He also found out that we had all driven a while to get there and the I reminded him that we had to do that tomorrow for Atlanta and got the information about that acoustic show out of him before the news was twittered (I felt cool haha). We then got to take pictures which went into getting a bunch of hugs from Jason and all of us being really delirious and slap happy...this went into discussing something which I'm not really going to disclose unless it actually happens, so just be awesome and hope that it does :) THANKS!

We drove back to her house, got home at 4 am and slept 3 hours and did it all again for Atlanta. First stop was Ingles where we met up with Cara and talked to Ned and Gio (body guard who is AWESOME) in the supermarket. We also bought their roadie, Pete (who we looove) some "Texas Pete's Hot Sauce" to give to him. The guys went into the store too, but we decided to leave them alone and not be creepy or teenie or obnoxious. They had started playing music in the parking lot so Alli, Kelly, Cara, and I had a dance party in the parking lot while we waited for the acoustic show to start. We were the only ones doing that and got a lot of stares from random shopper and some of the other people there for Honor Society. We also ended up being the most energetic of those at the acoustic show, singing and dancing to their songs; Ned ended up filming a lot of us and I'm kind of curious as to if we will make a spot in one of their videos or not.

Afterwards, it was more hang outs and I got them to sign my shoe. Then they went into the store to film a USA pears thing and take pictures with pears and then we took some more pictures. Waaay later, was the Jonas show, though all I really cared about that point was seeing Honor Society. We got "I <3 Roadie Pete" up on the text board and got Ned to wave to us as he was walking back and forth from the stage to the entrance before the show. When Honor Society walked out to the stage, they saw us and Andy pointed and waved at us; complete recognition and acknowledgement; amazing! They rocked their set and there were sooo many more honor rollers than I had seen at my first show in Dallas at the beginning of tour.

Ned was filming during the meeet and greet as usual, but Honor Society songs were also playing, so the four of us ended up having a dance party below where they guys were. They looked over the banister and saw our dance party and pointed, acknowledged, smiled at us. It was pretty awesome. We ended up being the last ones for meet and greet and we asked them if they liked our dance party (they did), and we were like oh this is what helps me stay awake (we had gotten as much, if not less sleep than they had so it was kind of funny). Allison got a hug from Jason when I was talking to Alex and once she went to Alex, I backtracked to Jason who asked me if I had even come through the line because he didnt see me. I told him he needed to pay better attention haha...then I got a hug and then an Alex hug; we discussed the thing from before again and yeah i really hope it happens THANKS. Then we were talking about twitter and I gave him mine and he actually replied to me later that night, so it was cool; he also said hi to jrocentral.

We asked Alex if he missed hanging out with people his age (we're all basically his age) and he said no, but we were like uh huhhhh, Alex. Kelly got a Jason hug and we decided that he gives the best hugs, and then I got another one. Then, I apologized about how we were always really nasty and sweaty when we hung out with them and he told me we weren't and I got another side hug (FYI most of these hugs from Jason were whole hugs, not half hugs). I told them I would be in Toronto and would be bringing them a special gift haha.

I have tons of pictures, but not all are tagged and ready yet and will be coming soon.

Must Love this movie

Rented Must Love Dogs and I have to say, I love this movie. It's another John Cusack movie, and really I love his acting. This movie is extremely relateable and not too sappy, as the main character, Sarah, played by Diane Lane, experiences many downfalls to love through out the movie. A recent divorcee, Sarah is convinced to embrace the world of online dating sites by her sisters where she finds Jake (played by John Cusack). She has also met the father, Bob (Dermot Mulroney) of one of her preschool students and is instantly attracted to him. The movie follows the path of Sarah's dating and trying to find which man she would rather be with; each date different than the next and each with its own pitfalls. The movie keeps itself interesting with good comedic and emotional timing, following more along the lines of real life instead of a happy go lucky boy meets girl, they instantly fall in love type of movie. This movie is not too serious, but not too silly; it is not overwhelmingly a chick flick, but could definitely be categorized as one. It's definitely worth a watch if it seems interesting to you. John Cusack always is able to make his characters stand out and put intelligence and feeling into a movie; this is no exception.

Band [actually a] slam dunk

I went to see Bandslam last night with my younger sister; we needed something to see and Aliens in the Attic had stopped playing hours before. I really did not have high hopes for this movie and basically only went to see it for the Honor Society song, Where are you Now? that would play in the end credits of the movie.

To my surprise, I was enrapt with the different plots of the movie. It was more than just a movie about a band competition, but dealt with deeper things than that such as hauntings from the past, death, loss, and not so happy memories. Though it took a little longer than it probably should for the characters' issues to be revealed to us and make us understand them better, these things did end up playing an integral part in the plot development of the movie.

The three main characters have had elements in their recent or far away past that has molded them into who they are during the time of the movie. These incidents make the characters make them and their motives easier to understand. Their common characteristic is that they each wanted to change, to be able to not be what people see them as, but to be accepted as who they are. I know I personally am battling with this dynamic and I feel that anyone can relate to this desire to be accepted for themselves.

Vanessa Ann Hudgens plays Sa5m, a completely opposite of the fun loving bubbly character that she owned in the High School Musical trilogy. She captured her new character very well and showed ability to capture the awkwardness of a high schooler, contrasting greatly with the well adjusted high school student that she normally plays. Her stigma comes from a dream being shot down when she was younger, as well as a stutter from her childhood.

Alyson Michalka plays a Charlotte, a seemingly edgy high school senior with an unexpected twist towards the end of the movie. I did not see this coming, but once it was revealed, all of the things that Sa5m said about her made complete sense. Charlotte has another side to her that is slowly unraveled during the film, but will not make complete sense until she explains what and why she did what she did. You cannot help but feel bad for her, as her motive is very upsetting and unfortunate, but it will anger you as well if you were ever the victim of being used by someone and finding out way too late about it.

Gaelen Connell played Will Burton, an unaccepted person at his old high school who ends up moving to Lodi, New Jersey and getting his long wished for chance to start over, where no one knew what his father did. He was finally able to make a name for himself by becoming the manager of Charlotte's band, and finally able to forget the stigma that his dad's actions had left him with as no one in Lodi knew about the DUI. He began to say that his dad was a side man in a band (one who came to fill in if bands needed a different instrument that they normally did not have). His secret was found out after Charlotte's ex boyfriend did recon to find out about him when Will was caught spending time with Charlotte. Gaelen actually reminds me of Shia LaBeouf and I could definitely have seen Shia in this role a couple of years ago.

Though the actual Bandslam event was important in the movie, it served more as the culmination of the journey, self discovery, and resolving stigmas in the movie. By Bandslam, each of the characters had been faced with their biggest fear and stigma and had found some way, temporarily, or progressively, to resolve their issue and start finding what it is they were looking for or trying to do. It reminds us how difficult high school is in addition to growing up in general, and finding the place where you can be yourself, accept yourself for that, as well as have people love and accept you for you.

I definitely think that this movie is worth seeing, whether you actually see it in theaters or rent it.

Honor Society rocks Houston, No Duh!

Preface by saying that I was under a whole lot of stress because of things involving this concert, and bands in general, from my family, and for the past two weeks, had been stressed to the max about getting everything done in time for it and ultimately actually being able to go. Let me tell you, being there, meeting them, and rocking out was so much fun and was just amazing. I'll keep this entry clean, but I'll write another one that's a little more...me haha.

So it all started last Tuesday; I got an email from Honor Society Tour saying that I had won Houston's Full Moon Craziest fan. I was actually in Enterprise returning a rental car that day and teared up because of all the stress that was going on wtih my car..I was SO happy! I was told to pick up fliers from the House of Blues that upcoming weekend to put up around Houston. Leah and I drove from Dallas to Houston that Saturday and were able to put up fliers in a lot of places around Houston and ran around town with the flier taped to our backs, telling almost everyone that we saw about the band, using the line "do you like music" (of course inspired by Michael) to get them interested and to check the band out. We actually ended up having to go to kinkos twice to make more copies of the fliers. We decided to add their myspace to the fliers since it wasn't on there, and we figured that it would help people find their music easier (honestly, I am not sure why the myspace was left off of the flier in the first place...i blame house of blues). We also brought our t-shirts that we made the guys and some of our friends to the printers so that they would be ready for the concert on Friday.

Thursday, I moved out of my apartment, picked Leah up, and drove us again from Dallas to Houston. We put our finishing touches on the shirts and got ready for the next day, as well as making Michael a birthday card. Friday morning, we ran around Houston to find things for their gift boxes that we put together. We gave them a lot of candy, shirts, Michael's card, and cake for his birthday.

We went to the Verizon event and as Houston always is, we got stuck in MAJOR traffic on the way there. Of course they were playing Jonas music while we were waiting...which i still really don't understand. When we finally got in there, I started getting the shakes. I'm not sure why though, and I hope it wasn't too noticeable. We gave them each their gifts and their shirts.

I got to Andy first. I reminded him that I was "abroad girl" who was in Hershey and promised him that I was not jetlagged this time; he remembered me. Seriously, Andrew is amazing. He asked me to remind him my name and I did, and then introduced him to my sister, Lauren. Jason was next and of course my shakes got really bad then because well...it's Jason. I gave him his shirt and his present and he thanked us and then Michael asked what the shirts were. I gave him his and showed him the back of mine (I was wearing it). Lauren kind of froze when she got to Michael so I gave him his stuff and he said that we would definitely see him wearing the shirt sometime in the future, which was awesome...he was also blown away by getting the card and the cake and the presents, he couldn't stop thanking us and was SO nice. Leah got to talk to Alex the most (she gave him and Andy their stuff) Alex saw the birthday card and had an interesting reaction to it which was kind of funny. Leah told him that she uses their clothes and color schemes in her fashion school assignments and he asked her what school she went to and she couldn't remember. They had a decent conversation and it was really nice. Of course I don't have to repeat myself about how polite and sweet they were to everyone. Michael actually had us on video talking about how awesome we were and the shirts we made (this was when he was talking about the girls who bought them a star...after that).

We waited around Verizon for a little and Ned accidentally stepped on Lauren. After that, we all got ushered out of Verizon but waited outside for them to come out. Good thing they all took off their jackets...houston is ridiculously hot...but Jason didn't take his off and I have no idea why, or how he was not melting from the heat. Ned announced that although the concert was sold out, he still had tickets to sell if anyone wanted them. We took this chance (as well as basically everyone there) to go take picturs with each of the guys. Andy was the closest so we started with him, then we went to Jason, Alex, and then Michael. Jason thanked me for the shirts (he kind of pulled me back to do this) and said that he loved them. They were super nice (duh) in taking pictures with us, even though it was ridiculously hot and we were all in a small area. After we got all of our pictures, we were told that we could rip down the big plastic posters off of the metal barricades, so we did.

Later that night, we finally got to go Full Moon Crazy. I picked up my meet and greet passes and discovered that there were 2 in my envelope so that Leah got to come with me. Benton Paul opened the concert and he was awesome. I love his music and yall definitely should check him out...doesn't hurt that he's pretty cute too. The only issue I had with this was that all the teenies there noticed that Kevin, Joe, Nick, and Mandy were there and started screaming, crying, and pushing everyone in the direction of where they were (behind a barricade/wall of speakers) and totally disrespecting Benton Paul's set, as well as the Jonas brothers by flashing cameras through the barricade and not letting them enjoy seeing one of their favorite musical artists perform. They also started yelling "i love you Jonas" and "happy birthday, Joe" now I understand if you like them, but this isn't their concert, so showing up with your signs and marry me jonas shirts and whatever is just not okay.

Honor Society came on with a bang. They came out and started rocking it right away. Jason was wearing the pink button down and his ray bans, Michael was wearing a black v neck t shirt and a jacket, Alex was wearing a longish sleeve shirt iwth snaps, and so was andy, though different style and with a vest. They all looked amazing and were ready to rock. They started with "Nobody Has to Know" which is one of my favorites, then to a rocking "Two Rebels". After that, they played "Full Moon Crazy" and then "Where are you now" Somewhere in here, Mike took off the jacket and Jason took off his bans. Andy also bounced across the stage while jammin on his bass which was amazing. He is serious awesome. "Over You" was next, which rocked so hard, even though all of their mic's went out. The crowd knew most of the words and were able to help out wtih the song. They kept rocking it out too, playing and dancing and still singing even though we couldn't hear them. Michael then said that we had just taken part in the first Honor Society Karaoke. Once the mic's were back on, they started again with "Sing for You" which i am totally loving so much! After that they did "Don't Close the Book" which is always a favorite. They brought the rock back with "Here Comes Trouble" which I think may be my new theme song haha...I really really love that song. They closed as usual with a super high energetic performance of "See You in the Dark" which was so much fun, but there was legit no room to Honor Roll; the room was THAT packed.

After this, we had our meet and greet with the guys, which was pretty much "hi, picture, bye", but being the badasses that we are, Leah and I extended it. The guy told us no hugs, but we were like uhh excuse me no. I walked up first and went to Alex and was like..I'm going to give you a hug anyway, and did and he was like okay! Then I told Michael that I needed to give him a hug for someone (love my twinnie!!) and he was like uhh okay! Then I went to Jason and he was like "let's hug during the picture" and i was like oh that's fine with me. After the picture, he side smush hugged me for a longish time and he smells SO good and gives really good hugs, and then he thanked me again for the shirts and everything else that we had given him. Walking out, I told Jason and Andy that my 21st birthday was the opening day of tour and I really wanted a pick, so they both gave me a pick (I was only trying to get Jason's, but Andy is awesome and gave me one as well) I reminded Jason that I was "abroad girl" and told them that I'd see them in Charlotte with some more of my friends. Which I absolutely cannot wait for!!

[please don't steal the shirt idea...seriously that's not cool...and yeah you can repost the pictures if you want, its cool...they aren't wonderful anyway, free love]

Eat at The Porch

Last night, my dad came in town, and he and my cousin and I decided to eat at a well known Dallas restaurant called The Porch. The restaurant in located in a very trendy part of town and tends to get very crowded around 7:30 and 8 pm, daily.

At first glance, the restaurant reminded me of Houston's. They have many signature items on their menu, and one of their burgers has been named one of the top five burgers in Texas. Our waitress recommended the chicken parmesan, salt and pepper sliced steak, and the macaroni and cheese.

I ended up ordering a three cheese grilled cheese and tomato soup, which was absolutely delicious. I got full fast, but it was definitely worth it. We also had the fried cheese and the popcorn chicken which, though fried, was not too oily and not too much or too little to share.

They also had different beers on tap such as Stella Artois, Fat Tire, and Blue Moon to name a few. The atmosphere was very comfortable and the waitstaff was polite and very friendly. If you are in Dallas and are looking for a place to go to a nice, yet casual meal, The Porch is definitely a restaurant to put on your list.

The Porch is located at 2912 N Henderson Ave Dallas TX 75206.
(214) 828-2916
Hours: Sun-Wed: 11am - 10pm

Being Slightly Creepy

My netflix queue consists of movies that I've never seen, movie suggestions, and movies that I've seen before and like and would like to see again. I happen to love John Cusack movies, and tonight's movie was Being John Malkovich

The movie stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich. Cusack plays Craig Schwartz, a puppeteer who cannot find work and applies for a job filing for Dr. Lester. He begins to lust after one of his coworkers, Maxine (Keener), who does not return these feelings. He later discovers a porthole that leads into John Malkovich in their office. The porthole lets the person who slides through it become John Malkovich for 15 minutes. Maxine begins to make a business of it, charging $200 per trip. Lotte (Diaz), Craig's wife becomes obsessed with being John Malkovich after her first time through the porthole and uses this to pursue a relationship with Mazxine while being John Malkovich. Later, Craig, uses John Malkovich to be with Maxine as well. Malkovich, himself goes through his own porthole and is disturbed by what he sees after finding out about the business that Maxine and Craig are running. Craig finds out how to hang on in Malkovich for longer than 15 minutes and tries to harness this to create a puppeteering career using his fame to launch it.

Lotte goes to Dr. Lester about John Malkovich, realizing that there is some connection between him and Malkovich after seeing the pictures in his home. Dr. Lester tells her that he is actually traveling through body vessels to stay alive forever, having to enter these vessels when they are "ripe" at 44 years old, or else he would turn back into a baby and live its whole life seeing through someone else's eyes and not able to control it.

This movie was kind of confusing and hard to follow for me, but interesting all the same, once I was able to figure out what was going on. The movie starts to pick up after an hour and it starts getting a lot more interesting at that point. We see all the character's different motives for using Malkovich and the development of the story through the use of being John Malkovich. We also get to see who the next vessel will be, which is creepy when we find out who begins to inhabit it.

Very interesting though not at the top of my list, If you enjoy porthole/wormhole movies and things like that, I'd recommend The Butterfly Effect, Donnie Darko, or Fight Club. This movie is less disturbing than those though, and is still a good watch.

Some Like It Classic

As of last year, I have developed an interest in older and classic movies and music. No, I'm not talking about Bruce Springsteen and movies from the late, great, John Hughes (may he rest in peace), but Frank Sinatra, and movies starring Marilyn Monroe or Marlon Brando to name a few.

Tonight, I finally watched Some Like it Hot starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis. Lemmon and Curtis play musicians who are looking for a band to play in and stumble across an agent who produces an all female band. After they become witnesses to a crime, the men take on alter egos as women and join the band in their trip to Florida where they meet Monroe's character, Sugar. Love sparks for some and conflicts interests, making for cute and funny schemes and awkward situations.

This is the first Marilyn Monroe movie that I have every watched and I have to say, she is adorable. She plays a dreamer, longing for a life of wealth, but she is down to earth and realistic at the same time. Lemmon and Curtis complement each other perfectly as they try to keep their secrets of actually being men hidden from the women in the band while one tries to pursue Sugar.

It's a very simple watch; the story line is easy to follow and very enjoyable. I would definitely recommend it if you're in the mood for something carefree but not dumbed down.