5 things i love right now

1. this song by catfish & the bottlemen, "26"



saw these guys live last weekend, and they put on a really high-energy, tight show. couldn't understand a word of the lead singer's stage banter due to his thick welsh accent, but that was my problem and he was cute as a button, so it was fine. i love that all of their songs have super catchy melodies, but still have that raw power and a bit of an edge to them. halfway through the first verse of this tune from their forthcoming album, i had one of those "I LOVE THIS SONG" concert moments and immediately went to find it when i got home. LOL at the artwork, tho.


2.  ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK ON YOUTUBE

'nuff said. my favorite episode is "the tale of the whispering walls." still scares the crap out of me. what's yours?

3. goldenrod cardigans

in late august, i had a dream that it was fall and i was wearing a cardigan much like this one. when i woke up, i realized that i didn't own one and was deeply unhappy. i'm pleased to say that i purchased one the following week and have been wearing the hell out of it ever since. throw on a scarf with one of these babies and it does NOT get more autumn, unless you have a candy apple in your hand. which i highly recommend as well.

4. rediscovering rock of ages

did you hear about the guy that saw the musical rock of ages 500 times? first, i was confused as to why it was even a news item, since i feel like there are muuuuch stranger things that people have done 500 times. second, i was reminded of the first time i saw the glorious show (it's ok, i've only seen it twice) and promptly went on a youtube binge. keep in mind that i detest most musicals -- at least, the showtune-y ones -- so a song-and-dance show full of hair band covers and crude humor promptly shattered all stereotypes for me. i will never, EVER see the god-awful-looking movie with tom cruise. but if this number doesn't make you wanna, um, rock/quit your job and audition for a broadway musical, i'll be damned. 

5.  this photo series of animals looking through windows

simultaneously beautiful and soooooooo cute!

oh constantine, how far you've come...

last month, i randomly decided that i wanted to take a 4th of july weekend trip to new york city. of course, one of my NYC musts is to see a show of some sort while i'm there - otherwise, it just doesn't feel right. now, i'm not a HUGE fan of musicals in general - mainly because i'm not into the showtunes. however, i did love the pop-rock ditties of RENT so much that i saw it 3 times (twice on broadway, one on the farewell tour in boston). so this time, when i was struggling to think of what to see, i remembered seeing performances from "rock of ages", a show featuring 80s hair band covers and silly american idol alum constantine maroulis,  on the today show and macy's parade and being pretty impressed. it was decided! i took my spot in line at the half-price TKTS booth on saturday morning which was conveniently right across from my hotel (shoutout to the doubletree!) and was pleasantly surprised when i snagged a pair of 7th row orchestra tickets for that day's matinee performance. scoooore. 

my friend gleni joined me, as i know she would likely appreciate this type of thing as much as i. we took our seats, gleeful about the rock 'n' roll lighters - er, little flashlights that looked like lighters - that we were given upon entering the theatre. the show began with a pre-curtain voiceover speech by david coverdale from whitesnake and i immediately knew it was love. for the next 2.5 hours, i was the happiest girl in the rockin' world. styx! warrant! poison! it was like a huge amazing 80s party, complete with lot of glitter and lots of hair. and a strange thing happened....i developed a little crush on constantine. which even frightened me. but his singing was so legit, guys. he was definitely meant for the broadway stage and not for theme weeks on idol. but i digress. i also highly enjoyed the bret michaels-inspired frontman character, "stacee jaxx", who fell into drunken stupors and did a lot of pelvic thrusts. thankfully, the show is just about to start a national tour (featuring constantine!) so i urge you, if you want to have your face melted, you gotta see this, man - totally going again in boston. i found a little clip from last year's tony's that gives you the gist: 

I WANNA ROCK!