year in review!

since there has been a definite lackage of blanks in review this year, (coughsheycough), i decided to do a year in review yaaaaay.

friend of the year:

my old i-pod, sexy sadie. for somehow being reliable through our abusive relationship and being the best thing ever, basically.

man of the year that i'd like to...:

john krasinski, because not only is he perfect on screen as jim, he is the best thing ever in real life.

honourable mentions:
rupert grint, michael cera, and jim sturgess

girl of the year that i'd go gay for...:

jenny lewis. seriously, she's such a fucking rockstar and i love her voice.

honourable mentions:
tegan and/or sara, helena bonham carter, amanda palmer

events of the year:
5) seeing of montreal in concert for the first time with the best people ever.
4) every 15 minutes, because it was literally a life changing experience.
3) being on winter formal court with my best friend david, it was so much fun!
2) finishing college applications (getting accepted into five UCs without applying)
1) the 7th harry potter book release (reading it for the first time)!!! it was made of so much win.

honourable mentions:
order of the phoenix, rehearsals (the cast party), and trips to disneyland.

viral videos of the year:

5) kanye's meltdown


4) pluto attacks a kid at disneyland.


3) the hipster olympics are so ironic.


2) no direction, period.


1) the landlord.


albums:

10) sondre lerche-phantom punch

9) the pierces- thirteen tales of love and revenge

8) spoon- ga ga ga ga

7) bright eyes-cassadaga

6) tegan and sara- the con

5) across the universe soundtrack. beatles covers that finally manage to do a couple decently!

4) rufus wainwright-release the stars. no rufus's best, but even at his worst he is genius.

3) copeland-dressed up & in line. lord am i in love with this album! even better than beneath medicine tree! chin up is amazing.

2) rilo kiley-under the blacklight. i totally loved this album on a different level than everyone. not as a rilo kiley fan looking for old rilo kiley, but as a person who is glad mainstream is going somewhere different and wants to have a good time getting there!

1) of montreal-hissing fauna, are you the destroyer? okay, i love of montreal with all my heart, but i'll admit it. when this came out in january, i was hesitant to already proclaim it the best album of the year, thinking the next 11 months would have something to prove to me, but it didn't. it is still the best album, still fresh and enjoyable nearly a year later. with its irresistable beats and somber lyrics, this combination can't be beat.

songs of the year not on the previous albums:
5) song to bobby-cat power
4) anyone else but you-as done by michael cera and ellen page
3) i don't want to dance anymore-nightmare of you
2) now, now-st. vincent
1) 1234- feist

movies of the year:
can i just skip to number one?
i had to wait till december for it, but here it is!

juno. i hardly went to see any films this year, but i could NOT wait to see juno for some reason. it was really amazing, witty and indie without self-awareness that it was witty and indie. you fall in love with the characters, who admittedly at first seem annoying (juno at the gas station and on the front lawn anyone?) and manage to tell every character's story while still focusing on juno, absolutely brilliant.

xkcd comic of the year:


runner-up:
here

icons of the year:
5)
4)
3)
2)
1)
sooooooo much win.

the best thing i read this year besides deathly hallows:
hilarious.

what i realized the most this year:


thanks for an amazing year! come back next year when i've started college! oOOoOOooO!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I hope it's a good one. =)

Tomorrow's the day!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, which is totally better than Christmas Day. I'm so excited and I'm done with all the presents, which weren't much, but they're cute I think. I'm gonna go see Sweeney Todd this week and have a sleepover soon! Yay! How are you all doing? How are your holidays going!?

Update!

I lost Winter Formal queen, no biggie. I got the part of Mama Morton in Chicago, yeah. And I started off my Christmas vacation by going to see Van Halen in concert, pretty amazing I say. <333 How are you guys?!

I FOUND MY DRESS.

I FOUND MY WINTER FORMAL DRESS, FINALLY. THANK GOD!!!

garhhhhh.

I HATE FUCKING MIND GAMES. this is so stressful. i was over it. i was OVER IT. ARGAAHLSKFAJS;JSAK.

3 weeks!

It's exactly 3 weeks till Christmas! Eek! I just watched Rudolph, looooooooooove.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!

I'M FUCKING DONE. I SENT IN MY DAMN UC APPLICATION. NO ONE TELLS YOU THE UGLY SIDE OF COLLEGE APPLICATIONS. THEY TELL YOU ABOUT THE STRESS YES, BUT THEY DON'T TELL YOU HOW YOU'LL DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF SLEEP ALL WEEK. UNTIL THE FOURTH DAY WHEN YOUR BODY SHUTS DOWN AND SAYS "LISTEN BITCH YOU'RE GONNA SLEEP" BUT YOUR BRAIN IS SAYING "NOOOOO I NEED TO WORK ON MY PERSONAL STATMENT!" BUT YOU STAY ASLEEP AND STRESS IN YOUR SLEEP TILL YOU WAKE UP AT FOUR IN THE MORNING AND START THROWING UP FROM STRESS. YEAH. NO FUN. I FEEL LIKE THE BIGGEST WEIGHT HAS JUST BEEN LIFTED OFF MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

I don't mean to be a bitch, but...

I want to get a shirt made that says "I got into half the UCs without applying, what did YOU do?" Hahahahah I hate personal statements.

BLAH.

In my news, I got into UC Irvine today. Too bad I'm not applying there. I've been so stressed with personal statements sometimes I just want to give up, until I realize that's not an option. I was on the verge of tears three times today. It's hard to keep it in these days. I'm not sleeping all week until it's done and sent. I'll take the occasional nap here and there, but that's it. ARGH. The only thing keeping me going right now is my Christmas tree. Seriously.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm working on my personal statements for the UCs and I'm kinda freaking out when I shouldn't be freaking out cause I already got into my second choice. So basically if I don't get into Berkeley I'm going to Santa Barbara. WHY AM I STILL HERE?!

Let's sum up my 5 day vacation in one picture.

Dear So. Cal,

Thanks for getting my last letter!

It was so cold this morning, I was in love. Today my Tata totally called me a cholo, it was hilarious. We also had a Journalism Thanksgiving party and I was drenched in soda. EUGH. I love the Christmas feel. Tomorrow is my last day of school and then I have a 5 day break. On Wednesday I'm going to Disneyland with basically everyone ever. Me, Kristin, Steve, Steve's mom, Danielle, Michael, Aline, David, Tara, Martin, Anastacia, Jacob, Mom, and Dad. Wheeeeeee. It's gonna be so much fun! I'm gonna be so happy if my best friends go and get passes. Also my mom gave me and SLR camera, I'm in love! It's not digital, it's a real film camera, YES THOSE DO EXIST. Loooooooooove.

The sun is out, the sky is blue, it's beautiful and so are you.

Dear So. Cal,
It's the middle of November, do you know what that means? In case you don't, it means COLDNESS. QUIT BEING SO FUCKING HOT. Even by So Cal standards, this is ridiculous. Please, I want to turn on my heater already.
Looooooove forever,
Nic.

So I watched Brothers and Sisters today cause I wasn't around on Sunday...I don't remember where I was. It was intense, I started crying at one point, oh and Kevin and Scotty need to get back together cause he's the best thing ever.

A car and a permit are in the talks for me. I wanted to go driving today, but my dad forgot I think. Heffa! Tomorrow is a Chicago workshop and Danny's play, Thursday is Michael's birthday and Friday is Journalism Day at USC Annenberg and the Lights Out Dance. So much going on!

College update!

In the last two days I got into UC Riverside and UC Merced. GO ME.

Reason #2514251021 why my best friend is better than yours.

She showed up at my school today unannounced with tons of congrats balloons for getting into UC Davis and Santa Barbara. WHAT A SWEETHEART.

Steve Carell calls in sick.

Due to "enlarged balls". That is seriously brilliant. I want to go out there and picket, but I have school or something. I want to see if Jay Leno will give me a donut or Eva Longoria will give me pizza. GO WRITERS!

I hate the cuteness.

From Sunday till today, I stayed at my sister and her fiancee's house while my parents were in Vegas seeing Elton John without me! (I know, they're meanies right?!) They're such an old married couple already even though they haven't even been married yet. Steve gets home at like 7, we eat dinner, they play the Wii for a while (so hilarious), and they fall asleep by nine. It's ridiculous. I'm home now, oh and by the way I GOT INTO UC DAVIS. OH YEAH. I guess I have to consider it now. Wheeee.

Tomorrow's Halloween.

I am going to be Batgirl. It will be amazing.

Revelation.

I love when my blog basically just becomes a confessional for me. I wish I was gay, because I would totally date Tegan or Sara. Seriously. I'm in love with them. They're hilarious, make great music, and are the only people who can make mullets look hot. SERIOUSLY.

I'm old.

i got into ucsb!!! yayayayay! i'm so happy but i don't think it's sunk in yet. i have a key out of here. IT'S HERE. for those of you that realize applications haven't even gone in, i'll explain later.

I HAVE TEH HAPPY.

I'm gonna be my baby's nina for her first communion. I love her.

The happiest place on earth.

I went to Disneyland on Sunday and renewed my annual pass. THANK GOD. Who wants to come with?!

I'd hit that.

Oh man I'd totally hit Jim Sturgess. Seriously. I went to see Across the Universe AGAIN this weekend and I was just like, SERIOUSLY. Especially in the beginning when he sings Girl, I just fall in love. I need to find me a boy with a Liverpool accent and it's love.


Also I'm in love with:
Jenny Lewis because she's such a fucking rockstar, but that's already been established.

It's the most wonderful time of the yeeeeeeear.

It feels like Christmastime and that is probably the best feeling ever. So I've been singing Christmas songs for the last couple of hours and it feels soooooo good!

Memory Lane is littered.

While cleaning the other day I found some papers that I had written on well over a year ago. During an emotional breakdown I started jotting on papers, and most of it makes no sense. They are not complete sentences, thoughts, or phrases. But they're weird, so I'll just post them.

.douse the light & embrace the darkness quivering irony character depravity.
.plastic surgeon of emotions.
.clip those icarian wings sashay down the deserted taupe hallway.
.convincing self clones.
.the microscopic bits don't seem to add up to the castle you've become.
.spotlight on the martyr.
.spolight on your lifeless body with starfilled eyes, and bloodlusted tears.
.clutch your chest at a desperate attempt to find what you've always faked.
.your implications are clear and your statements, a blur.
.there's a startling ease in your transition from man to asshole in 1.5 seconds flat.

I'm somewhat liking the last one, that is all.

It's just a phase.

I've been going through this phase for a while where I only want to listen to female singers. Whenever I put on male singers I've been feeling disgusted, and I don't know why. So for now I have a pretty kickass playlist called "girls just do it better". I don't know what I'd do without Jenny, Regina, Emily, Tegan, Sara, Neko, Amanda, Nellie and tons of other killer chicks.

More to come.

I'm terribly terribly in love with the show Pushing Daisies.<3

Busyface.

You can tell that my senior year has started to kick into drive because each week produces less and less blogs. I'm hoping to fix that soon!

Homecoming.

So we have late start tomorrow, but I have to go early to practice for Homecoming. Oh gee golly wolly.

I'm so in love.

With one of my best friends Jessica, who was literally quite concerned at the prosepect of not getting into the same house when we're sorted at Hogwarts after our long lost letters finally arrive. <333

The simple things in life.

I have to praise Polyvinyl Records for being so amazing. Earlier this week, I ordered the of Montreal "Hey is for Horses!" t-shirt for only 12 effing bucks, and it's American Apparel and super comfortable. I got it in the mail today and was so excited just to get the shirt, but I also got an of Montreal pin (which I already had, but really you can't have too many pins), an Owen sticker (who is pretty amazing), and an air head. It basically made my day, I am easily pleased.

My shirt:


My pin (it's a horrible scan:


My sticker (this is a pin, but it's a sticker):


and my airhead:


I know I'm a dork, but I'm a happy dork.

The Engagement Party.

Was so much fun! I got to see lots of people including Sam-a-lam-a-ding-dong, who I haven't seen in FOREVER!

I went shopping today.

and got an adorable dress for the engagement party on Friday! Yaaay!

Homework is yucky.

But I like looking for my maid of honour dress while I do it. It makes it fun.

Pretty

Cute!

I'm fine right now.

But I predict many, MANY breakdowns in the next year, possibly a little after that too. I'm in for quite a year, but I refuse to give up anything that I'm doing.

It's raining so effing hard!

...and all is right with the world.

May I just say...

I hate pretentious little bitches who think they're so high and mighty, that their grammar is so much better, yet cannot form a complete, coherent sentence. I hate kids who think using semi-colons instead of commas makes them look cooler (and I don't mean rewording the work so a semi-colon works, I mean a "search and replace" of commas), like they have an amazing grasp on the written word and use 10 dollar words which are interjected like it was translated from thesaurus.com. No, you look like a JACKASS. A grade-A, all American, just got into the "scene" jackass. So do everyone a favour and shut the fuck up until you can pull something out of your ass that isn't completely useless. (And yes, I realize I called someone else pretentious.)

Amaaaaaaaaaazing.

He's definitely creepy enough to be him...

The new Horace Slughorn

Yeah, he's creepy looking but he's done some amazing roles. Good casting...maybe.

Dream a little dream of me...

So I'm watching the Emmys right now, but my little sister just told me she had a dream last night with me in it and I thought it was so hilarious. So we both got into Hogwarts and when we got there I was sorted into Slytherin and she was sorted into Hufflepuff. So apparently I was Snape's favourite and we started singing together. We sang the song from Potter Puppet Pals and instead of me going "Dumbledore!", I said "Nicole!" So basically that's the most amazing dream I've ever heard of and I wish I had that dream so I could see it.

Oh, it is love.

12 hour live Mugglecast=looooooove. Especially Andrew begging for tickets to the J.K. Rowling reading. YAY.<3 Especially when they play "Killer Queen" by Queen during a break. GREATNESS.

I'm exhausted.

I've been going to auditions for about 3-4 hours a day for After the Game and Goldilocks and los tres Osos, so I'm pretty out of it. Not much else is going on in my world, but I'll probably do another video blog soon. I'm gonna go read and then probably lie down, but if someone gets on, that someone should text me and maybe I'll still be awake. Wink wink.

P.S. THE CALLBACK SHEET GOES UP TOMORROW SQUEE.

Dear MTV,

dear lord you keep fucking up! Get your shit straight! Deathly Hallows came out like 2 months ago, you really think they're gonna start filming it next week? HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

Anyway DanRad=lolz

I forgot!

Thank you Justin Timberlake for challenging MTV to play "more damn videos" in your acceptance speech. You were one of the only good parts of the show, and you made me remember why I've been in love with you since I was 8. I just realized 8 was a good year for me. *N SYNC+Harry Potter=Best Year Ever.

Rilo Kiley's "Under The Blacklight"

After a two-year hiatus, Rilo Kiley conciously plunges headfirst into the mainstream with Under The Blacklight, trading in haunting, yet uplifting ballads for more lyrically shallow toe-tappers.
While the album semi-satisfies a Kiley quench, one cannot help but feel the void left by the overly synthesized and high pitched songs. Instead of bearing raw, soul-stripping vocals as if Lewis is talking directly to your soul, she moves up an octave to deliver vocals to match the new upbeat direction. The new songs lose the quality old favourites such as "The Good That Won't Come Out" and "A Better Son/Daughter" carry to our conscience.
The album opens with the promising "Silver Lining", quite possibly lead singer Jenny Lewis's jab at ex-boyfriend, Rilo Kiley lead guitarist Blake Sennett, singing "I was your silver lining, but now I'm gold." Perhaps indicating she's over their 2001 break-up or perhaps boasting her critically acclaimed success in her solo endeavor Rabbit Fur Coat in comparison to Sennett's less receptive work with his other band Elected. The album continues on with "Close Call" with Lewis singing frankly about the dangers of "sex for money". Next is Kiley's controverisal first single off the album "The Moneymaker". Lewis bluntly addresses the porn industry and its appeal to many, but at times seems as if she's guiding others to give in. "You've got the money maker, they showed the money to you" As if saying you got it, they're buying, why not? A steer from the old Rilo Kiley.
Next up is "Breakin' Up" credited to both Lewis and Sennett. Somewhat generic, yet liberating at the same time as the chorus sings "Ooh, it feels good to be free". The title track sets up for a possibly epic song, yet fails to deliver and utilize Lewis's revered mutilating voice on a lyrically intricate track.
"Dreamworld" becomes an instant classic, the only song on the album penned by Sennett alone. "The people, all that you meet, they're living in a dreamworld," stays with you long after the song is over, far more memorable than any of the other tracks. "Dejalo" visualizes Lewis as a less ethnic Gloria Estefan, but fails to hit the mark completely. "15" tackles on what Dateline more shamelessly does. In this tale of web romances with 15-year olds, the older man meets with his "prey" yet "how could he have known that she'd be down for almost anything?" They unflinchingly take on telling the side of the all too well known story from the supposed "predator"'s side, and does it with a bit more class. "Smoke Detector" starts out with an almost 60's beach anthem replacing "The Twist" with "The Smoke Detector" yet is a bit more contemporary than the twist. "Yeah, I was smoking in bed, this is what he said." Yet one cannot help but conjure images of hula-hoops and fisherman hats.
"The Angels Hung Around"'s lyrics meet the standard fans set for Rilo Kiley, but its beat can't help but get lost in the shuffle with other sub-par tracks, unfortuntely becoming easy to skip over. "Give A Little Love" closes up the album with an endearing catchiness missing from other tracks. Lewis's voice beats any chesse coming from synths as she sings at last "And you're waving to me our last goodbye..."
While the new album can hardly be held in such high esteem as The Execution of All Things or Take Offs and Landings, the album holds its ground in comparison to today's pop music. Hailed as the new Fleetwood Mac, Rilo Kiley may never live up to the comparison, this possibly being the last album (if not one of). In an interview with Spin magazine Lewis confesses, "I think I realized that [Rabbit Fur Coat] is the kind of music I want to be making... I can't do that with Rilo Kiley." And when posed with the question of seeing herself continuing with Rilo Kiley, "I honestly don't know." Although we may lose the old Rilo Kiley, bring it on, because if this is the new direction of pop music, I say "Good riddance".

Writer's Note:
When dismissing any expectations held for this album, I thoroughly enjoy every track and know I will continue to listen it incessantly. Compared with any other pop music, Rilo Kiley will win. But when faced with the choice of The Execution of All Things and Under The Blacklight, there is no contest.

Never need a guillotine to get you off my mind.

So I've decided to change my "of the day" stuff to "of the week" because I think I want to video blog more than typing blog, video blogs are lots of fun and I like to talk more than I like to type. In other news somebody should buy me the 160 gig ipod. That would be nice, kaythanks.

Life goes on within you and without you....

Today I spent the entire day taking care of my Grandma who was just released from the hospital yesterday. Now I know what it's like to be a live-in nurse or something. It is completely exhausting and I didn't get to sleep more than thirty minutes at a time. Luckily my aunt flew down and is gonna take care of her for about three weeks. I'm working on my video blog, I don't really get how to make it fit into youtube! Weird.

Lunar Lovegood, you're too good for your own good...

Did anyone catch the lunar eclipse tonight? It hasn't ended yet over here and it's pretty amazing. When I get home tomorrow I'm hoping to upload my first video blog that I made tonight!

Cut out your lying tongue, and we'll call this a tie.

My other blog became a drag, so I decided to start anew with one to hopefully fill up quickly with great memories, or I'll create my own memories. We'll see; it'll most likely be the latter. I'm starting school in about a week and a half (September 5th) and this time I'll be going back as a senior! That's a grim prospect. Although I'm hoping to write a lot more in this new blog, and hopefully create some video blogs once in a while, it might become quite hard with the whole senior year deal, but I cannot WAIT to graduate. It's the hope I'm holding onto. Well, let's help me make the rest of my summer amazing. Pink is hardly my favourite colour, but I'm liking this colour scheme...