BRANDING MYSELF

No, I’m not getting a tattoo.

That’s not the kind of branding I’m talking about.

Since it’s been summer for officially…almost 2 weeks…all I’ve been doing is cleaning my house for Libby’s grad party last weekend, general planning for Ledger next year (EIC WHAT WHAT!) and Internet-ing. Okay, that’s not a verb, but I’m making it a verb for now.

I figure with my free time this summer (whatever goddamn free time I DO have), I’ll increase my overall presence on the web. And some of your may think that it’s a complete waste of time and bandwidth, but I’ve come to find out that it most certainly is not. I’m not saying that I’m going to get a website, because that costs money, but with all the different networking sites where I exist, it adds up.

Just revamped my YouTube account:
TheGEEKSTER

Don’t judge me.

I’m serious. I kind of love vlogging, and with my recent mega foray into Nerdfighteria for Chris’s class (in which I got a 4.0!) I’ve seen how connective it is. Not that I will stop blogging, but vlogging is a completely different kind of thing – since you get to see people and their gestures, and hear their voice and tone. And YouTube is kind of awesome. I mean, I met Hank Green technically because of it. And I found this video:

Tres Piece never gets old.

Anyway, I love YouTube, and I insist that if you pay more attention to the parts of it that aren’t adorable cat videos (although those are always nice palate cleansers) or Miley Cyrus music videos. YouTube isn’t just a website, it’s a community.

I’ll actually be posting a video eventually defending my proclaimed status as a hipster, because so many people hate them. There are also several other videos on the docket that I’ve brainstormed:

1. Why I love Nerdfighteria
2. Doctor Who
3. 4th of July – why I love America, but would gladly live somewhere else
4. Camera nerd
5. The mega awesome WAStravaganza we have planned at the end of July and beginning of August.

I should probably fill you in on that, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

What else have I done to rebrand myself? Well I’ve updated my Tumblr to match the YouTube.

http://abbigshmail.tumblr.com/

I do love Tumblr. It’s like Twitter but not limited to words and links. I think I may have said that before, but I need to reproclaim it now. And today I got a Dailybooth, because I’m that narcissistic. Not really, but I figured, why not?

Now I just have to get on that internship thing and getting more photography gigs. I’ll need to set up my own Facebook fan page for that, and maybe get my business license, so I can write my lenses off on my taxes. I do have Lindsey and Chris’s wedding next May. Right, oh shit. I really want that lens.

Speaking of lens – LOOK WHAT I FOUND THIS MORNING. I can’t tell if it’s legit, or if all the things he’s selling are pieces of shit. Seriously, $2100 for a 5D Mk I and two awesome lens, one of which is normally at least $1300 by itself. This would be the ideal package though, right? A shiny new 5D and the wonderful wide angle with the most badass telephoto? Except in this guy’s photo of the equipment, the 70-200mm doesn’t look like the 70-200s I’ve seen. It’s all black. Hmmm. I’ll keep this in mind. I’ll just keep checking craigslist. I don’t wanna get scammed or stabbed or anything.

Internships – yeah, about that.

I’ve been scouring the internet for good ones, and sadly enough I’m too late for any summer ones, which I guess is fine because I’ll be preparing for next year (EIC WHAT WHAT!) and going to a bajillion shows. Have I introduced you to my schedule? These are all the shows I WANT to hit up this summer. And that’s not including what may come up randomly on the schedule. Except I don’t think I’m gonna go to the Capitol Hill Block Party. If I’m not getting in free, I’m out. That’s basically how I feel about most shows lately. Except for WAS.

Now I’ll get to the most badass part of my summer, except for the part when Laura gets home. Well, directly after Laura leaves to go back to New Jersey, I’ll be embarking on an as-yet-undefined-number-of-days trip to San Francisco to see my beloved We Are Scientists. It will be me, Adrian, her friend Ashley that I’ve never met, Renee, Amber, Dolores, and Jenn in San Fran. I’ll drive down to PDX and meet up with Adrian and Ash on August 6th so we can all drive the 10-hour drive to San Fran from there, cause the show is on the 7th. Like I said before, I don’t know how many nights we’ll be staying, but I think that we may end up staying at the Ritz-Carlton and split the price. It was $100 a night! And with 4 people, it would be about the same amount as paying for a hostel, but it would be infinitely cooler because it’s the damn Ritz-Carlton.

So we’ll be in San Francisco, WITH A CAR, so we will have some mobility, even though the public transportation in SF is quite awesome as I remember from high school. Of all the things to do in SF – GO TO AMOEBA, EAT IN CHINATOWN, and of course SEE WAS with all my cool peeps (or as Adrian has started calling us, “slores.”)

I think I’m done, but I have one last thing to add.

The Editor of Crawdaddy! Magazine just emailed me about doing on of these showcases, and I have to pick out 5 photos to showcase. I can’t pick my 5 best. Some of the ones I’m thinking of are:

I there are any that you think are awesomer, let me know.

❤ Abby

an awful lot of running

Been listening to the new MGMT song, and I’m not sure if I like it or not. Apparently, MGMT thinks so too.

It’s pretty funny though, right? I feel like Ben and Andrew were totally high when they wrote this. And perhaps when they recorded it too.

But that was just a funny lil’ lead-in. That’s now why I’m writing this post tonight.

WINTER QUARTER=PWND.

Yes, my fair readers (if I can call you fair), winter quarter is officially over, and now I have a good ten-day break until spring quarter starts. Although, I don’t really get ten days to rest. I have ten days to finish a couple reviews for Popwreckoning, work out like mad, clean my fish tank, order my books for spring quarter, and all the while trying not to spend any money. Wait…damnit books! Okay, I won’t spend money on ANYTHING else other than books. I’m not broke. I’m not, but I want to have enough money so that my trip to NYC for Laura’s birthday in July won’t make me broke. And I want to be able to sell my Sasquatch ticket to make back $170 (+$16 for Ticketmaster fees). No more Starbucks, no more tasty soup or salads from Coco Bobs, and not Subway. I’m brown-bagging it this quarter. The only thing I will spend money on will be gas. And Seattle parking when I go to shows. But this will take effect after I buy my ticket to see Chris Hardwick at the Showbox on April 9. OH RIGHT! I should tell you!

I was on Twitter the other day (like any other day), and I was debating whether or not to drive to Seattle two days in a row to see Spoon on friday and Chris Hardwick on saturday. All the while I was tagging my tweets with @Nerdist and @Spoontheband, which if you know Twitter, people can click to see all their @replies. So this was a real conundrum. I’ve been watching loads of Web Soup lately, because it just started back up again, and I’ve listened to 3 out of the 6 Nerdist podcasts (the Joel McHale one’s pretty good), and Nerdist is one of my favorite blogs. Apparently Chris (Hardwick) has just discovered how awesome Doctor Who is. I love it. Maybe if and when I meet him we’ll talk about DW. That’d be awesomely nerdy. BUT! After I stopped discussing my Seattle conundrum, my phone vibrated a short time after, and I got an email from my Twitter titled “Direct message from Chris Hardwick.” I was like, “FU-WHAT?” And this is what he said: “TWO DAYS. See me!!!” (In direct response to me considering driving to Seattle two days and see Spoon and Chris or just one day to see Spoon.) It made me all giddy. But in this instance, I was like, okay now I have to see him. CHRIS HARDWICK TOLD ME TO.

I kinda really dig him.

What else?

Speaking of Doctor Who – it starts in…SIXTEEN DAYS. Boo yeah. Just to prolong my distorted reality that Ten never actually regenerated, I’ll be watching loads of David Tennant episodes this week. I’ll try not to go on and on like I did a couple months ago. Sorry about that. Seriously, we were copy-editing an issue of the Ledger a few weeks ago and I genuinely forgot that tenant was spelled with one N. Hehe. But Tumblr’s been my new source of Tennant love, and LOLs.

Speaking of attractive men from the UK, Libby and I were watching 30 Rock tonight, and it was the second episode with Michael Sheen in it, and I can’t help but find him kinda really hot. I don’t know why. He wears a suit quite well, and his Welsh accent is sexy. When I mentioned that, Libby’s ears perked up and was like, “who is he?”

“That’s Michael Sheen. He was Frost in “Frost/Nixon,” and one of the Volturi.” Please don’t hate me for knowing that. It was unavoidable that I’d consume at least some information about New Moon from Oh No They Didn’t.

“Right, but he’s really hot!”

“Okay?”

“No, with long hair and facial hair, he’s really hot. He’s in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans!”

“When the hell did you watch that movie?”

“Today! It was on TV.”

“Oh, okay.”

And I rest Libby’s case.

Yeah, I know right? Mmmhmm.

He’s quite dashing as a normal Welsh man too.

In music news.

[Begin rant] I WANT TO BE AT SXSW RIGHT NOW. I REALLY REALLY REALLY DO. I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE TWEETS AND FACEBOOK POSTS FROM SXSW, AND IT MAKES ME SAD. I'VE LISTENED TO TWO LIVE STREAMS SO FAR – SPOON AND FRIGHTENED RABBIT. AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT WAS PLAYED EARLIER AND I MISSED IT GRRRRRRR!!! [End rant]

But I am going to see the Morning Benders at Sonic Boom on April 2nd. I've been trying to figure out a way to not to have to drive to Seattle and park, but my ferry plan has failed. Sonic Boom is a good 6 miles from the ferry dock, and I'm not about to walk 6 miles there and back. I could take some public transit, which I haven't done in a long time, but that'll take a good half an hour with the Seattle transit schedule Hmm. I'll keep that in mind. I just don't want to battle with Seattle traffic and pay $10 for parking. Plus, driving to Bremerton is way shorter than driving to Seattle. Half the distance to be exact. And if there's a chance that I'll be going to Seattle twice that week, I don't want to drive twice like I will be doing the next week.

Why would I possibly drive to Seattle twice a wee, two weeks in a row? Animal Collective and Danny Perez's "visual album" ODDSAC is having a screening at the Egyptian Theater on March 30th. It's gonna be all acid trippy and psychedelic and AMAZING. But the real reason I'm considering paying for this crazy bit of AnCo madness is that the info says that Perez and "members of Animal Collective" will accompany the screening. What exactly does "members of Animal Collective" mean? Does it mean that all members or just Deakin will be at the screening, because Deakin is playing a solo show at Neumo's the next day? Grrr. If I miss the chance to see Panda Bear in any capacity, I'll be heartbroken.

Looks like some fucking crazy stuff. Even The Stranger recommended going in this week’s issue.

Oh, I should probably address where my title came from. It’s another Doctor Who reference, but this one is from the Who-centric Trock (Timelord rock) band Chameleon Circuit. I don’t know why I didn’t discover them before now, because all my Youtube channels were pointing me into its direction. Seriously. The Vlog Brothers (Hank and John Green) were integral in getting DFTBA Records started, and Hank releases his nerdy stuff on it, and Chameleon Circuit is on DFTBA (Don’t forget to be awesome), and guess who’s in Chameleon Circuit?

This guy.

That’s right. Alex Day of his “Alex reads Twilight” videos. In them, he’s all snarky and British in his critique of Twilight. It’s quite entertaining. Yay for Nerdfighters!

“My name ain’t Luna, but I sure do love good!”

Okay, I think I’m done now.

❤ Abby