Volunteer, Advocate, Trekker.

Okay, so I started this off kind of with the idea that Marina was copying off Lady Gaga, or at least there was an inordinate number of inspired-by scenes, but now I think I'm probably stretching a bit, and I'm actually coming to appreciate her music a bit more once I get over the fact she sounds a lot like Katy Perry. Still, what's done is done: and now I have these comparison shots and they have to go somewhere. It started with the above image, where I'm like "Oh. She's dancing in a white bath house. How very Bad Romance .  Then I noticed in Primadonna, the song that introduced me to Ms. Marina, that "walking around a rich person's house with a spot light on you" kinda sounded familiar. Low and behold, Gaga's been there and done that.   Then there was this confused dog. And I remembered Gaga serenaded dogs before! Only they didn't look as confused as Fido here on the right.  And if a dog is doing it, a cat's pr...

Hahahahaha, this is like video of the year . There is no way this can be topped. Today's blog will be explaining the awesomeness that is this "Bad Romance" music video re-creation/parody that focuses on Women's Suffrage. Googling these past few days, I've seen people say things like "The more you understand the Women's suffrage movement, the more awesome this is..." It's really wonderful in it's simplicity, yet entertainment value. It contains a lot, without being pushy about the information (like Math-raps tend to be.) So let's break this song down for anyone curious what the individual elements mean: First, we have our star: Alice Paul - real Suffragette and activist of the early 20th century. Compatriot of Susan B. Anthony herself. After Susan B. Anthony's death, she lead the crusade for equality that resulted in the 19th Amendment. She is the Lady Gaga character, and is played by Meredith Garrison. Most of the other chara...

[Didn't finish this in time, so this should have been posted on Black Friday actually, before the previous post...] Thanksgiving Day went fairly well actually and as we enter Black Friday it's time to acknowledge that November's stay is waning. We have less than 40 days until the year 2012: wow, what a year. There's still plenty of time to do the "Top Lists of 2011" blogs, and the new years resolutions blogs, and all that fun stuff. But back to Thanksgiving! Aunt Betty and David came over, and the food was fine. Every year I worry if the turkey is just starting to reach room temperature or if mom cooked it properly; next year I'm thinking I may try to take more responsibility for cooking of the dinner. Ya know, cause taking responsibility is one of my pastimes. But it was nice to catch up with Aunt Betty because her connection to the family was Grandpa and she doesn't really have that now. In other news: The creator of Paranormal Activity Oren P...

Remarkable Fact of the Day: Hillary Clinton attended a Lady Gaga concert yesterday!!! Granted, this was a concert in honor of Bill's birthday. Still! Video of the Day: Amanda showed me this today, apparently when Sailor Moon first came to America they wanted to make it a part-Live Action/part-Animated show, with a number of differences from the original version. (African-American sailor, and moon- windsurfers for everyone! Even Sailor Jupiter, in a wheelchair!) It is comically 90's-looking, with it's large Blossom-hats, bad dancing and hair, and denim overalls. Needless to say, thankfully they just dubbed over the original animation...

Dang, well June was a dry month for blog posts -- but only because I've been so busy with Circle K and campaign stuff! International Convention in Virginia Beach was a blast, with a million stories to tell another day - suffice it to say, our club came out of it with more than it's share of bruises and tickets. So it's the weekend before the 4th of July, and I'm planning a barbecue for the 4th itself to meet the neighbors, invite some Stow friends over so that we know people, and invite my friends over to ensure we have a good time regardless of whether any Stow people actually show up! It's also given us a reason to speed along the 'making-the-house-presentable' process. For example, we may get a Patio table and Stereo today. It's under consideration. I'm a bit stressed out: What if no one comes?! I'll be a party planning failure. And we'll have more bags of chips than we know what to do with. Video of the Day: Haha, in my LSSP group...

Well, spent the weekend at Key Club DCON and the Hotel did not have free internet (and I wasn't gonna pay 9.45 a day) so delayed reaction a little. So Friday(-ish) Lady Gaga's next single "Judas" leaked. Patsy can't get over the fact that the biblical story of Judas is: Jesus predicted one of his 12 apostles would betray him - and it was Judas Iscariot that told the Romans how to arrest Jesus, in exchange for 30 pieces of silver. (Jesus was then of course crucified: hung on the cross. Only to rise 40 days later on Easter!) I love this cover art. There's a video called Gagavision 42 . that shows her debating if she wants the image she loves "of her taking it with her cell phone and doing it in word" because it may look like she "did it at the last minute and didn't put any thought into it." I think it's interesting! In the song, Judas is someone who routinely betrays/harms Gaga but she loves him anyway. At least that...

Kudos to you, Pop music industry, for recognizing that the 2010 surge in Gay Teen Suicide was a serious issue to be addressed. As a bleeding-heart liberal, I am all for the promotion of gay rights as human rights and human equality everywhere, and no one should feel society hates them for who they are or who they love! But the actual subject of this blog is how pop music has been addressing this in recent months... Lady Gaga has set the standard for embracing her LGBT following: this has included fighting for marriage and military equality, doing all kinds of things to fight "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." But her recent song and video - Born This Way - is the highlight. I mean, the video opens with sparkly rainbow Unicorns inside of a pink triangle : a combination of a bunch of LGBT insignia. The Message of "Born This Way" is be proud of who you are, and if you face opposition it's because you were 'born to be brave!' And everyone is beautifu...

Sorry it's taken a week to blog about this, but it's been a busy week! That's right Little Monsters, last Friday morning Lady Gaga released her long awaited and much anticipated new single off her new album: " BORN THIS WAY ." The radio ( 96.5 in particular ) played it every hour on the hour all weekend! Which came as a pleasant surprise as I drove home from Sarah's at 6:59 Friday morning n.n Then Sunday night, Lady Gaga performed her new song live at the Grammy's for the first time. Never to be out-dressed or out-staged, she arrived at the red carpet being carried "Roman-style" by her back-up dancers, having spent the entire weekend inside of a giant egg, which the egg's designer has labeled a "vessel." During the Grammy's, I followed the Twitter chatter, watching live updates of things people posted about the Grammy's. It was actually really fun to watch so many people's opinions in real time, it was almost like...

"...hit call all you want, but there's no one home..." Good News of the Day: According to a Gallup poll asking American who they admire most, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ranked "Most Admired Woman of the Year" for the 9th straight year! Woop Woop! 17% of Americans say they admire her most, with 12% saying Palin (who made second place for the second year in a row.) Third place was Oprah. Bad-... well, I suppose this is also Good News of the Day actually: Sarah Palin on the other hand, has won the well-deserved "Misinformer of the Year" title for all her cockamamie lies and deceptions - ranging all over from her reality show to those imaginary "death panels." Haha, here's to another year of her crazy zaniness and annoying methods of insulting Democrats while making herself look like uneducated. Best Selling Album of the Year: The Fame (Monster) by Lady Gaga ! WoooOOOOO! Lady Gaga's next album, "Born This Way...

Another awesome college weekend! Friday night was Sarah's awesome Halloween Party, for which I finally came up with a costume and made it! Hahaha, I had so much fun with that costume. This is by far my favorite Halloween costume I've done in College - even funner than the Sandslash craft from last year, which admittedly was pretty awesome. Panda was Sailor Moon again (this time in her "Princess Serenity form" - if you don't know what that means, trust me you don't need to.) Brit was actually Sailor Mercury which went over awesomely, and Sarah was an amazing Avatar alien (which - though none of us called it this -- is actually called a Na'vi . The "Avatars" were actually the genetically-modified alien bodies the humans could control. I feel there is a widespread use of the word Avatar but little understanding of the words meaning.) The party went well, except Kayla had pink eye and we're worried she may have given it to some of us (Angela...

Omg. So I'm googling around as I often do, and I am having to physically restrain myself from buying... It's just. So. AWESOME! Lol, but after a few wearings for shock and laugh value, I feel like there are few professional situations I could get away with wearing this to. I probably couldn't wear it to student teaching umm-ever. Internship. Job interview. ASG meetings, perhaps, if we had a vote on more Vegan options. See my dilemma? UGH! And there's a matching wallet ... The watch I could probably get away with. :( BUT NOW I WANT THE WHOLE SET... You can imagine Why I want these bacon-inspired accessories... Haha, Ohhh Lady Gaga... So funny story. The Key of Awesome's parody of Bad Romance jokingly referred to her crazy outfits and suggested she had a "...bathing suit made out of raw meat..." low and behold, almost a YEAR later it had come true! hahaha, I can't help but wonder if she got the idea from the Key of Awesome parodies. Well...

When you combine an inspiration like Lady Gaga, with the fact that I own pretty much all the clothes I could want from American Eagle or Hollister Co. - with a love of shopping, you have to get pretty creative to find more interesting clothes. Neon Yellow isn't as shocking as it used to be. Not that shocking is what I'm looking for, just someone that is different enough to be interesting - but still fits in to a degree. It's alot easier for a girl to find this I think than guys. Guys clothes are pretty much all the same. Until the other day, when while roaing eBay I found several things I want to buyz! n.n Haha, sorry to the people who really don't care.   Sigh, if only I was Asian. Darn them and their non-western skinniness ><;; The following one is my favorite though! In Other News, While trying to figure out what I want to be for Halloween (Sarah is thinking one of the Aliens from "Avatar" , and Brittany wants to be "Raven,") I'm s...

So first of all, VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN IS COMING TO CAMPUS MONDAY! *U* If I can get his autograph, I'm one step closer to the "2008 Collectors Set!" I think I'm at, Hillary, Michelle, Chelsea,... hm, this set really is kinda lacking now that I think about it. ALL The more reason to try to get his autograph n.n For those who don't know anything about Joe Biden; he was a long serving Senator from Delaware (right next to DC) in fact he's often campaigned on how often he takes the train home like any "regular joe." His personal history contains many tragedies; Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania (so was Hillary! And The Office is set there.) In 1972, his wife and 1-year old daughter were killed in an automobile accident while Christmas shopping. His commute was because he wanted to spend every day at home with his two sons after that - (his eldest would later be shipped to Iraq.) After years of doubt and anger, he met a teacher and they later married (...

Well, it has been a busy first two weeks of classes I'll tell ya x_x alot of my time has gone to ASG, Associated Student Government here at Akron. And I feel like I have heard more plans and interesting tidbits about the University in the past two weeks than I have in the last two years! Obviously it would be an abuse of my position to reveal and truely secret behind-closed-door details, but it's safe to say I can share with ya what is publically available - people just don't know where to look. Soon to be AHAP Building, Mill Street. Lets start with a simple question I didn't know the answer to: the building on Mill St. and College Street (if you follow the Honors Complex street up by the payroll building) there is a corner building by the bread factory that they recently tore most of the front of the building apart, and it's being rebuilt. I did not know the University owned that - but since it's under construction at the end of a national economic downtu...

Last night came to Garfield to hang with Amanda and Danielle, boy did those plans fluctuate! Amanda had dealings with a washing machine, so I spent most of the day time at home watching Star Trek DVDs, then went out to Parma Town with her -- bought the Bad Romance (Remixes) which is the Gaga American version of a single I guess? Anyway, got Applebee's with Danielle (who I haven't hung with in forever!) and was joined by Sarah who got out of her friend Pure Romance party earlier than expected, and Panda came too. Then Brit joined us, as we decided to go to some bar called Islanders in Middleberg. That was fun, there were some issues - like I didn't exactly make a friend when I asked the DJ: "Can I request.... No-Beastie Boys?" (Because Sarah hates Beastie Boys) he was like "No, that's my favorite band." So that was a great way to start the night, haha. Then I was doing all the drink buying when it was ladies night, so they got 2$ drinks >>; er...

As you may know, I go through my periods of obsessions on occasion. Pokemon, Lady Gaga, etc. Well it is safe to say I am in the middle of a Star Trek-obsession phase, that's really all I've spent my free time doing lately - reading, writing, watching playing, and listening to Star Trek! With the magic of uTorrent, I'm able to watch all my favorite episodes I can't afford to buy! (Since a typical season of Star Trek costs about/more than a hundred dollars. Unless I buy it used.) Add to that there are 28 seasons of Star Trek, across 5 series'. While contributing to the various Star Trek wikis , and fan-fiction sites -- I found the above picture. It looks so cool! I found it on this message board , and mean no infraction on the authors rights except to exemplify and promote how good this picture looks. I want graphic design technology just to do this for fun, not like as a job or anything. Sigh. Haha, oh the magic of uTorrent. I also downloaded the first couple e...