Jan. 22, 2006

A Photo of My Perfect Weekend

This was my view for most of the weekend -- me walking Sophie, and ya know what, I couldn't be any happier -- that is, unless they make weekends longer.

Jan. 21, 2006

Death Cab for Cutie talk about Star Wars

In my ongoing series of interviews on starwars.com with bands and celebs who adore Star Wars, this was one of the coolest phone interviews I've ever had.

I spoke with Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer on the phone for over an hour and a half and I have to say we spent a lot of it laughing. He's hilarious and full of interesting stories about Comic-Con, his friends who make low-rent Hoth dioramas out of their freezers, and of course, thoughts about why Star Wars is such a fixture in pop culture. The article ended up being three pages, and we still ended up cutting quite a bit out about gaming, George's appearance on "The O.C." and more. So I hope both Death Cab for Cutie fans and Star Wars fans get a kick out of reading it. I know I had a blast writing it. ;-)

Here's a sample of the article for ya:
In addition to the intricate storylines and cues to the past, Harmer also loves the iconic characters throughout the saga. In fact, it's Han Solo's furry sidekick that he finds himself identifying with the most. "I feel like Chewbacca a lot of the time," Harmer admits. "In my life I'd sort of be like a support character for a lot of people that I know, especially being a bass player in a rock band. I like Chewbacca's dependability; he's solid and you just know he'd lay his life down on the tracks for Han and anyone who is fighting beside him. I feel the same way about my friends and family too. I find that Chewbacca is like the George Harrison of the group. He's the solid support. He doesn't need the front line like Luke and Han; it's not about his ego. He's just someone you know you can depend on for his strength and his presence and he's probably a heck of a guy to cuddle with."

Here's the full interview:
Death Star for Cutie

Jan. 12, 2006

Chewbacca Tissue Box Cozy Craft

Are cold and flu germs attacking your immune system like a pack of buzz droids? If so, you've probably been dragging along a tissue box wherever you go. Now you can have everyone's favorite Wookiee keep you company as you get better with this Chewie Tissue Box Cozy!

More here: CHEWIE TISSUE BOX COZY CRAFT

Jan. 7, 2006

Jane Wiedlin's Love for All Things Star Wars

In my regular series called Star Wars Rocks with interviews on starwars.com with bands and celebs who adore Star Wars, this by far may just happen to be my favorite. Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's is probably one of my biggest muses growing up in the middle-of-nowhere Midwest, and her music and style inspired me.

So when I discovered a month ago that she adorned her red guitar with Darth Maul stickers, I had to contact her. And sure enough, she's a huge Star Wars fan! She's a delightful talent and I'm still in shock I got to interview her.

A sample quote:
"I remember that, having grown up in a hardcore Star Trek-loving family, I felt a bit like I had to choose sides when the first movie, Star Wars: A New Hope came out," Wiedlin recalls. "But seeing the movie turned me into an instant huge fan. The characters seemed totally real to me, and the technology of the special effects was mind-blowing. I fell in love with everyone and everything Star Wars."

Here's the full interview:
Jane Wiedlin's Head Over Heels for Han

Jan. 5, 2006

My Weird Habits

We all have bad habits. Some are annoying, others are bizarre and of course they're all bad. For fun, I decided to write about 6 of my weirdest/worst habits.

Here are My 6 Weird Habits...

1. I rip off my fingernails and toenails instead of clipping them. I hate the sound of a clipper, and I hate the feeling of metal on my nails. In fact, I can't handle an emery board either. So the idea of a manicure or peticure is PURE TORTURE to me. My grandmother used to clip my nails when I was a kid visiting her and she'd clip them way to close to the quick and I would bleed. So I'm pretty sure that's where that phobia comes from. So I'd rather just rip them off, then clip them. At least I don't bite them right?

2. Need a fan on when I sleep. It can be FREEZING in the apartment with icicles on my futon frame and I will STILL turn on a fan. I like air on my face and the white noise it creates. I've been like that since I was a kid.

3. MUST shower/bathe before bed every night. I'm not sure why, but I will toss and turn all night long if I don't bathe right before I hit the hay. I get all itchy and twitchy and I'm a wreck. I think the smell of Ivory or Irish Spring soothes my brain. I'm not a compulsive hand washer or anything like that. But I MUST lather, rinse, repeat before bed no matter if I'm in a hotel, my own place, visiting someone else, or even camping.

4. I bite my lower lip when stressed. I do it so much that my dentist from awhile back commented that I really need to knock it off because I could be builing quite the germ factory if it continues. I hate the taste of blood (and I call myself Goth? Sheesh.), so it's not like I want to bite like Bela, but I really do it without realizing it. I also clench my teeth CONSTANTLY, to the point that I think I chipped my tooth a little this week. Ugh.

5. I PROCRASTINATE. Seriously. That's the best thing I do. I put off everything. Even fun stuff like hanging with friends, or interviewing a band I like, or working on a bean portrait of Sid Vicious. I can't help but get on Livejournal to type weird crap like this, or read Fark.com or boingboing.net, or clean out my email inbox/outbox, or re organize my CD collection. I just can't seem to get started on anything EARLY. I wait until the last day to do it. Apparently I keep forgetting the word DEAD is in deadline.

6. I compulsively straighten framed art on walls. Our bossman George Lucas has his entire vintage movie poster collection at Skywalker, Big Rock and now the Presidio and I can often be seen roaming the halls of our offices straightening his art whenever I see it slightly askew. It got to be so bad that my coworkers bought me a level just so I could get it PERFECT. I;m pretty convinced they let wild dogs roam the halls over the weekends (like the mall dogs in The Simpsons) and that's why the art is always crooked. Yes, I'm that big of a spaz.

Jan. 2, 2006

I was Goth when it was called Death Rocker...

So one of my friends recently blogged about things he was into before everyone else was and then admitted to jumping on the bandwagon for stuff that even toddlers knew about before he did. So I thought it would be fun (or ya know, embarassing) for me to post a list of stuff I was into before the masses caught on and made it lame -- and the stuff that took me forever to get into.

THINGS I DID BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE WAS WAY INTO IT:

Navel ring: (1991) Yeah you heard right. I got it right after high school when it was all alternative and modern primitive like. BEFORE all the drunk sorority girls and porn stars decided to get them. And I got it at a place that had been doing piercing in Denver for a decade before that. So it was legit. I got a tattoo a month later -- of Morning Star! How Goth am I!?

Death Rocker/Goth: (1987) I was the only Death Rocker at my school. There was no Goth yet. Nope. I dressed in all black ALL the time, modelling myself as a cross between Siouxsie and Wednesday Addams. I wore vintage widow wear, Cleopatra eyes and really badly crimped hair to try to straighten out my Italian curls in vain. I would import punk rags from my British pen pals in the hopes of finding my new look so I would be even more legit. To my parents complete disgust one day I wallpapered my bedroom (including the ceiling) with black trashbags and cheap black fabric, hung glow-in-the-dark bats and a constellation globe from the ceiling, stapled fabric red roses to the wall, and hung posters from Bauhaus, The Cult, Love & Rockets and Bowie. I listened to ONLY Xymox and Japan and Bauhaus and the usual Gothy folks. I burned incense and my closet was a black hole of black t-shirts, pants, skirts, fishnets, vintage dresses, corsets, and hats from the 20s. I also wrote (and published thankyouverymuch) really bad Goth poetry about suicide and vampires and full moons and deep stuff. My brother used to tell people I was an exchange student. And here's the ugly proof. Beat that.

Bettie Page: (1991) Before her image could be found on everyone's tshirts, records, tats, posters, Zippos -- I was into her and LOOKING like her. I wrote my first freelance article about my search for her (Before she was found). I started The Bettie Page fan site before there were any other sites online of her AND I used to enter lookalike contests of her in college. So there.

Video Podcasting and Blogging: (1996) Yup I've been blogging in Grrl.com for years before the term was coined, then I wrote a book about blogging in 2004. I had to explain what a blog even was to everyone I knew. Now they're everywhere. And I did Podcasting for Excite@Home called "Ask Bonnie" -- which I'll be reposting on Grrl.com for you all to laugh at real soon. Oh yeah, i was trailblazin all over the place. I also would like to say I coined the term grrl -- but I don't want a bunch of people saying I didn't just because they saw it somewhere else -- so I'll just let that one go. But I did. *neener neener.*

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STUFF I WAS LAST ON THE BOAT FOR:

Livejournal: (2004) Shutup. Quit laughing. Look I was blogging on Grrl.com, then in addition to that YouGrowGirl.com, Backwash.com, Teenwire.com, and a myriad of other places and I was spreading myself waaaay too thin. But then my pal Andy said -- ya know you can actually MEET really cool people on Livejournal. And I didn't believe him. I thought Livejournal was for whiny teens who listened to Simple Plan and wrote slash fiction involving Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp. It wasn't until I went to Tanya's Halloween Bowling bash in 2004 of all their Livejournal buddies that had me believin LJ was cool. Plus there were cute boys with tattoos and piercings and they were interesting and not gloom-doom-drama. So in my shallow attempt for acceptance I caved. And I'm glad I did. Now I'm addicted to this freakin place. Thanks a lot.

"Lost" (2005): I didn't get into this really until second season. So I started watching second season and said -- "what in the....!?" and had to immediately rent the 1st season to get IT. Now I'm hooked. It's all I talk about EVER. I'm even more annoying than I was a year ago. dang.

iPod: I still don't own one. And one of my best friends WORKS on the iPod team at Apple. Man, I suck.

Flossing (2004): I fucking hate the dentist. And I hate how he always makes you feel like you've been caught masturbating to Menudo videos when you admit to not flossing. So on a whim I decided to start flossing...like all the time. Wow. It really does help your teeth. Now I'm compulsive. I floss all the time. Even when I don't have to. Even when it's not appropriate like at my desk at work, at the gym, in meetings, while driving, on first dates. Who am I kidding? I don't date.