Anywhere but here

GIVEAWAY! Win this GORGEOUS dress from Shabby Apple

2012-01-10T17:12:00.001-08:00

Wow folks, have I got a treat for you today.

I know it's still a bit nippy out there, but Spring is just around the corner and with that in mind, how CUTE and Audrey Hepburn-esque would you look in THIS "Spanish Steps" dress from the wonderful Shabby Apple?

Some things are just better together: peanut butter and chocolate, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, Rome and Vespas. We decided to pair two things we love—the soft, cotton jersey of our favorite t-shirt, and the gorgeous sateen of the dresses of yesteryear—to create the Spanish Steps, an indispensably comfortable-yet-elegant summer frock. A luxe jersey cap sleeve top is gathered at the waist with a wide satin sash, and a veritable bouquet of appliquéd, ruched flowers and leaves adorns the full sateen skirt that swirls just below your knee. A truly inspired combination,the Spanish Steps has star potential. This dress is made from a leightweight, delicate fabric and FITS GENEROUSLY on our fit guide.

Dress made from Pont de Roma knit with a matte satin skirt made of a poly rayon spandex blend. Priced at $86. Runs large, check fit guide.

To win this women's dress from SHABBY APPLE, all you have to do is...

LIKE Shabby Apple on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shabby-Apple/5629179279

Then come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did so!

You can also get an extra entry by TWEETING about this giveaway or retweeting (follow me on Twitter at @Metalblonde) - again, just come back and tell me you did so in the comments with a link to your tweet :)

Like what you see? Take a look at other vintage style dresses at Shabby Apple and apply your coupon code! Just enter "anywherebuthere10off" at checkout and you'll get 10% - with so many great deals in store right now, it makes a difference (offer runs for 30 days from now).

The coupon and the contest is open to anyone from anywhere Shabby Apple ships! While the coupon runs for 30 days, this GIVEAWAY is only running until January 17th, so get on it!

WIN a gorgeous, designer dress

2011-12-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

I'm partnering up with Shabby Apple - that company that makes gorgeous, well-crafted dressed for REAL women - and offering a dress giveaway as well as a coupon code for future purchases for all my Anywhere But Here Readers.

The details for the giveaway are coming soon.

In the meantime, you can pick up my novella The Benson, for free.

That's right, I've published a short/story novella that fits in with my Experiment in Terror Series. It's a free, fun, quick and scary read and the perfect primer for all of my Anywhere But Here readers that have heard me yammering on about my novels, but haven't taken the plunge to buy them yet.

Well now you don't have to! Pick up The Benson here: http://experimentinterror.com/2011/12/07/the-benson-free-eit-e-book-now-available/

And get a nice little introduction to my writing, my characters, and the Experiment in Terror Series!

FREE BOOKS IN TIME FOR XMAS

2011-12-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

And who doesn't like free?

OK, well I suppose the title is a bit of a misnomer because really you have the chance to win a free book. But it's not just any book, it's an advanced copy of my newest Experiment in Terror novel LYING SEASON which won't be out until December 13th.

All you have to do to win is Retweet this link on Twitter or share it on Facebook: http://experimentinterror.com/2011/11/28/cyber-monday-all-week-long-0-99-kindle-eit/

You see, all three of my novels are on sale on KINDLE for just $0.99, but it only lasts until Friday Dec 2nd at midnight. And that's also for how long the contest runs.

So lend an indie author a hand - help spread the word about my Kindle sale and you'll be automatically entered to win a copy of Lying Season! (e-copies only).

A bit about my newest novel LYING SEASON (EIT #4):
"Amateur ghost-hunter Perry Palomino has battled ghosts, fought off skinwalkers and skirted the fine line between life and death. But can she survive bunking down in Seattle for a week with her partner (and man she secretly loves) Dex and his perfect girlfriend, Jennifer? And can she do so while being tormented by a malicious spirit from Dex’s increasingly shady past? With love and life in the balance, Perry must discover the truth among the lies or risk losing everything she's ever cared about."

And here's my informal review of it: "'tis the season of the lie. Perry gets more than she bargains for when she travels up to Seattle to spend the week living with Dex and his uber hot and sickly sweet girlfriend, Jennifer. In their tiny Belltown apartment. Not that she's a sucker for punishment (well, maybe just a little), but there's a haunted insane asylum to investigate, as well as the company (Shownet) Christmas party AND a douchey rival ghost-hunting team that seems hell-bent on ruining the Experiment in Terror show. As the week goes on and it's apparent that everyone around her (including herself) is lying, Perry gets further tangled in a dangerous web that puts her love for Dex (and their lives) at risk.

Lying Season is a very urban, contained novel and a major turning point for the Experiment in Terror Series. It is heartbreaking and terrifying, poignant and passionate. It will scare you. It will move you. It is, in my opinion, the best book in the series.

So far ;)"

And here is the gorgeous cover:

Thanks for your help everyone. Tomorrow I may blog about my stylish new boots (and what a bargain they were!)

OH and if anyone wants to help themselves to an Experiment in Terror button for their blog, go right ahead :)

Reluctant Fashionista at VFW

2011-11-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

Remember when this used to be a fashion blog?

I'm not really sure what happened. I think losing my old job and plunging into struggling novelist world meant I had less reasons to dress up - and less money. After all, there's really no incentive to dress up when you're working from home all day long. And with no money, it's hard to turn off that BUY switch. It was just easier to forget about the whole thing.

I really don't buy clothes very often, still, and it helps that I have a ton of them to draw from. My only problem now is that I've gone up a dress size (and yes, working on getting my weight back down) so my options are a bit slimmer. And though I want to stay away from shopping sprees (cuz I know I have it in me), I know there's still a reluctant fashionista somewhere inside.

Last night I was invited to the VIP only, Vancouver Fashion Week Gala. It was pretty cool, lots of people around that I didn't think existed in Vancouver...swanky douchebags, men in suits with greased hair, models, trendy people. One big socialite mix.

The fashion part was pretty cool, lots of nice dresses and eye candy everywhere. It's really not my scene though and I was glad that I lost all touch with the fashion circle (not that I was ever really part of it). But the best part was just the fact I was able to dress up for once. And not just "oh I'm going on a date, put on a dress and look pretty" kind of dress up, but "I WANNA LOOK COOL" dress up.

So I threw on a hat, my See by Chloe red suede boots, matching red lips (MAC's Ruby Woo), a slightly oversized H&M dress I got for $10, my Modcloth jacket and an ASOS skirt. Random necklaces, Botkier bag and a hat completed the look.

I think it worked. And it was fun if it didn't. Now, to find an excuse to do it all again!

Think I'll start by wearing my red boots out to dinner tonight :)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 19. AWESOME

2011-10-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

Well... I didn't make it 30 days this September. But I did make it 19. And considering how crazy, chaotic and insanely busy this month was, I'm amazed I even tried to keep it up.

Now here's the perfect post to end September. For practice and a lot of fun, my bestie Kelly and I decided to do an in-person, on-camera interview with Dex and Perry.

Yup. The actors who are playing the characters in the BOOK TRAILER for DEAD SKY MORNING (shooting next week) decided to join in on the fun.

This was shot on an Android phone btw (the actual trailer is being shot by a DOP on a professional film camera) so excuse the quality. But man, I am so impressed. These guys are so dead-on, both of them. I'm blessed to have found them. They really ARE Dex and Perry...it's scary.

And yes, I do make a rather ridiculous cameo in this video.

Enjoy!!

For more info on Dead Sky Morning - the third book in the Experiment in Terror Series - which comes out October 13th, please click here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12322385-dead-sky-morning

30 Days of Blogging: Day 18

2011-09-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

Life is funny. One minute you are up. Next one you are down. My life is about to embark on a rollercoaster for the next while. Lots of change. But it's a good change and I think only good things will come of it.

Today was a high. I interviewed this guy:

photo by moi

Probably the biggest interview I have ever done. But he was a talkative, insightful and nice man. Easy to converse with, got great quotes from him about everything Soundgarden. Pretty fucking awesome.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 17

2011-09-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

Here. So you can all be as miserable as I am.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 16

2011-09-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

DRIVE. There's lots of driving.

Haven't been to a movie in a looooong time, but Drive was one of those movies that I've been interested in seeing and managed to catch the matinee. I'd heard one friend of mine saying it was terrible and dragged on way too long, but Rotten Tomatoes gave it like a 90% rating so I knew it could go either way. Like books, I take reviews with a grain of salt and prefer to make my own decision.

Now, I do agree the movie did go on a little long (in fact, it felt longer than it actually was), and it was not really like they advertised, which was that it was a non-stop action moving with lots of driving. Instead it was kind of like a character study. It had a slow, dreamy quality filled with an 80's-ish, swoony soundtrack and lots of shots of a very silent Ryan Gosling staring at people or out windows or out of a car. But Gosling was amazing to watch, the subtle acting he does with his eyes, the way his character goes from a quiet, mysterious, observing stunt driver by day to full-on, tormented barrel of rage as he face-stomps mobsters and tries to do the right thing for the woman and child he loves.

I guess I'm a bit late to the Gosling love. I've never seen The Notebook (don't like romantic movies) and though I thought he was a good actor before, his looks had never sold me. But in Drive, he's such a fine specimen of a man and an understated, underrated actor to boot. He's beautiful.

Bryan Cranston does a fine turn in the film as Gosling's friend and hapless, desperate mechanic shop owner, while Albert Brooks is strangely menacing as a mob-type person. Maybe it had something to do with his lack of eyebrows. Think about it...you shave anyone's eyebrows and they become someone you don't want to mess with.

I'd give Drive a 7 out of 10. It's suspenseful but subtle...until it takes an extremely violent turn (face-stomping was just part of it...there were scenes where I was closing my eyes and laughing at the absolute shocking brutality). Despite the lulls throughout, it kept my attention and the open-ending was at least a little bit more hopeful than the way I thought it was going to turn out.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 15

2011-09-18T21:35:00.001-07:00

So when I said I was doing 30 days of blogging, you all realized that I didn't mean CONSECUTIVELY right?

It's been a crazy week and a bit. My head has been all over the place. I haven't done any work, it feels like I'm back in college and partying and eating shit every day. BUT things change tomorrow. It's hard with four people in such a tiny space but my guests have jobs to get and things to apply for, and I have writing to do, marketing to do, and a book trailer to plan.

Yep. Come tomorrow, it's time to buckle down. I'll be back at the gym, eating well and taking time out of the day for ME. I need to write and get my head on straight. It's been all over the place for various different reasons. It's been a rollercoaster, up and down, but I think some good, albeit life-changing things, are coming in the future. It's scary but I'm ready for it.

OK back to our Community marathon. STREETS AHEAD!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 14

2011-09-14T22:39:00.000-07:00

Lookeee. Though I am known for my anti-Twilight statements, for some reason I was roped into being an extra in the Breaking Dawn film. Yup. I'm in the movie. I'm part of the Denali clan on the Cullen side of the Family. I'm sure those interested have seen the trailer already, and so, here I am:

Ahhhh. It reminds me of when I actually saw my first Twilight film. This is what happened. Me + friends + Booze + matinee.

Yeah I was Team Patton. Best Team Ever. Only way to survive it. God works in mysterious ways...

30 Days of Blogging: Day 13

2011-09-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Last week was a fantastic week for my Experiment in Terror Series. Book reviewers and bloggers heaped a bunch of glowing reviews for Dead Sky Morning, Red Fox and Darkhouse and I couldn't be more thrilled and grateful. Check 'em out:

Reviews for DEAD SKY MORNING

"Loved this novel! Dex and Perry have me hooked, and couldn't get enough." "Halle comes back with yet another awesome novel. I absolutely loved reading the relationship between Dex and Perry." From Living Life Through Books

"with Dex and Perry, you just want to spend every moment following them around and watching them interact. They could be sitting in a library reading Hemingway for the entire book and it would still be enthralling. They could talk about hangnails for 45 pages and I would say “tell me all about it!” There is just something about the two of them that makes ever scene super-charged and intense."

"Let’s just say that Halle really knows how to dish out the appetizers, but seems to take a sadistic pleasure in withholding the main course." "Halle does an excellent job of doling out just enough information about Dex and Perry in each book to keep you dying for the next book. I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning to finish Dead Sky Morning." "Karina Halle’s writing simply rocks, and the Experiment in Terror series has shot its way to the very top of my “absolutely must read the minute it comes out” list." From Pretty Opinionated

Reviews for RED FOX

"This book totally went above and beyond my expectations, and completely surpassed Darkhouse on all levels" "Karina Halle really has a talent for sketching believable, interesting characters with as many flaws as qualities and a good mixture of both" " Halle is truly ruling the horror genre this season with her Experiment in Terror series" From I <3 Reading

"There was still never a dull moment even after I’d figure something about the story out! Karina’s writing in this one is just as easy and free flowing as the first." "She (Perry) is such an incredibly relatable character to todays society and I think that’s why she’s grown on me since the first book even."
From Me, MyShelf and I

Reviews for DARKHOUSE

"This book is really entertaining read, and I'm just dying to know more. It's eerie, creepy, totally mysterious, and, in a way, kind of funny :)" "The characters are complex, and not anywhere near picture-perfect"From The Magic Attic

"I love that this story has me guessing and trying to figure out what is going to come next. If you like ghost stories or if you haven't read many ghost stories before, I would recommend this. This is a great debut novel and is perfect for anyone that likes a good ghost scare!" From Pawing Through Books

"I'm not going to give anything away but this book creeped me out so bad. It was so good though. I was rooting for Perry the whole time. She's a great leading lady and I loved all of the supporting characters as well, especially Dex and Ada. I give this book all of the stars in the world. I'm looking forward to reading more with Perry and finding out what happens to her next!" From Awesome Sauce Book Club

"I couldn't stop reading this book. I needed to know what happened next. I was absolutely terrified during the scary parts and I noticed my heart actually began pacing while I read." "I'm not sure what his (Dex's) issue was but I loved and hated him. He was annoying and lovable.I couldn't help but want Perry to hug and kiss him, and punch him in the face." "Karina Halle is a great writer. I enjoyed the characters she infused in the story and will definitely read every book in this series!"From Beckoned By Books

I also did an interview here at I <3 Reading.

And Andrea at The Bookish Babes did a lovely Vlog shoutout for the EIT Series :)

http://booklog.eternalised.net/2011/09/book-review-red-fox-experiment-in-terror-2-by-karina-halle/

Speaking of Dead Sky Morning, it comes out in EXACTLY ONE MONTH :D

Countdown Creator Progreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

30 Days of Blogging: Day 12

2011-09-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

This never gets old. Love this movie, such a delightful surprise. And if you haven't watched the special feature short on the DVD, please do. Hammerhead Yak all the way.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 11

2011-09-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm half-assing these blog posts but that's to be expected. After all, I'm having a crazy month full of peeps and fun and blogging is the last thing on my mind. I'm probably drunk 24/7 which makes it hard to buckle down and concentrate, enjoying the awesome weather and just hanging with my best friends who I haven't seen for so long.

Tonight's post is about kava. I drink kava a lot. I write on it. I discovered it when I lived in New Zealand in 2003 because my neighbours were Fijian. It's a lovely, slow high. It's like pot, but without paranoia, and gives you a clear head. It helps you sleep. Gives you vivid dreams. It just tastes like dirt.

However, I had never drunk it in the traditional sense. So Alex and Kelly broke out the kava they bought in Fiji. We had a dinner party while they stirred together a huge pot of the drink. Then we all took turns drinking the kava. Men first, a clap and a "bula" followed by drinking the kava out of a coconut shell. Everyone claps three times. And then you drink. Women are next.

There were seven of us taking part, passing the cup around. Brought a little bit of the south pacific to our steamy, hot Vancouver apartment.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 10

2011-09-10T15:37:00.001-07:00

Click to enlarge

Ta - da! Presenting my first piece of Experiment in Terror art work, by the lovely artist Bret Taylor. I am absolutely thrilled with this and can't wait to put it on notebooks, mousepads, totebags, etc. Expect more wonderful and exciting artistic representations of the series in the future!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 9

2011-09-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is a guest post by Kelly St-Laurent....

Kia ora everyone, it's Kelly, I have just arrived in Vancouver from Auckland, New Zealand via Fiji. For those who don't know me, aka everyone, I'm a friend of Karina's who goes back to her New Zealand days. She's actually the reason I first moved to Canada in 2004. I got fed up with New Zealand, she suggested Canada and it's all been sunshine since then...

Today I thought I'd blog a little about how to survive long distance travel. My husband and I left Auckland on Sunday September 4th at 12:50pm and got to Fiji three hours later. It was an easy flight and we were heading to a booze filled four days in paradise so we were just eager to get there. I have to give a big shout out to the staff at First Landing Resort in Lautoka, Fiji. If ever you go to Fiji, and I suggest you do, go stay there, it's reasonably priced, the staff are amazing and a beach front bure offers everything you dream Fiji to be.

Leaving paradise however is never easy...

On September 8th we left the resort for Nadi Airport. We arrive there to find the whole place filled with sirens and firemen walking around. We then spent an hour and a half waiting in line in a tropical airport that hasn't heard of air conditioning. At 10pm we flew from Fiji to LAX on Air Pacific. I foolishly thought that flying late at night would mean we could easily fall asleep, wake up 8 hours later refreshed and be ready for the next part of our journey. Unfortunately I was wrong. Instead we had a screaming baby close by, an entertainment system that seemed to be on island time and hardly worked, and I had the joy of an over excited child sitting in the seat in front of me. During the 10 hour flight I got about 1 hour of broken sleep. And just when I reached a good sleeping point they turned all the cabin lights on and started serving a wonderfully tasteless breakfast.

Arriving in LAX, jetlagged and exhausted I comforted myself in knowing we could just go through to the transition lounge where I could sleep. We got through LAX customs quickly (yay) and waited forever for our luggage (crap). Then I had to go declare my kava from Fiji (look it up, it's amazing!) Then we get to the luggage area for transition flights and they look at my bags and shake their head. For a quick recap, Air Pacific told us we could have 23 kgs of checked luggage in any amount of bags. Auckland Airport told us we could only have one bag each. I had one, my husband two (in all fairness one of his bags was my shoes)In Fiji we got the two bags wrapped together, problem averted right? Wrong. We get to LAX and they say each bag needs a label. So we had to leave the luxury of the transition lounge and walk 20mins to the Air Alaska counter to check in our luggage separately. Then after all of that we have to go through security. I can finally say I know what those violating TSA machines feel like. Finally after 2 hours we reach the transition lounge and I'm no longer tired enough to sleep.

At 6:30pm, almost 24 hours after we first left Fiji, we got on an Alaskan Airways flight that took us to Vancouver. We arrived at 9:30pm and I had to proceed to the immigration counter to get my Canadian Residency. There I waited half an hour while people tried to dodge the system and bring in birds nests from China.

Let's just say it wasn't the easiest of traveling. However, I'm not one to dwell on the negative. I got four days in beautiful Fiji and now I'm a resident of beautiful Canada. I also (finally!) get to live in the same city as my beautiful best friend Karina.

Thanks for letting me vent. And for those off to see the rest of the world, happy travels and good luck!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 8

2011-09-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

So my bestie and her hubby are here from New Zealand. Here to stay, here to live. Forever. Gonna be some wild times ahead Vancouver. A new era :)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 7

2011-09-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, more pictures I took of The Kills and that sexy she-devil, Alison Mosshart. Cuz it's 11PM and I needed to blog something (plus these didn't make my actual review, so hey, why not share them?!)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 6

2011-09-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

Wow. I've almost been blogging for a week straight now. That's crazy. Not that any of my posts have been of high caliber (except my seagull one, even though NO ONE has volunteered for the job yet).

Last night I saw The Kills. Amazing. So much sex. Allison Mosshart is my one and only rock queen. Panther. Wicked Witch. Hound in Heat. Etc. And Mini Mansions. Wow. So glad I finally got the chance to see them. So much energy and complexity. My review will be up tomorrow!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 5

2011-09-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

A short one since I'll be home after midnight - covering the Mini Mansions and The Kills show.

I just saw The Kills recently and absolutely adore them, especially Allison Mosshart, who is the only chick rock singer that I think really hits the mark. She's like a panther.

But I've never seen Mini Mansions. I adore them though. I got the opportunity to interview them in LA last November and they were really sweet and funny. Their album is wicked too, can't recommend it enough.

Here's the link to the interview

And the album review.

And I'll leave you with some music (one of my fav songs, Majik Marker)

Also I'm doing something else tonight and if it works out, I'll tell you about it ;)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 4

2011-09-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot this one.

Gorgeous, sunny late summer day. Went out for drinks and bizness talks with Bret, the wonderful artist who is bringing his artistic vision to the Experiment in Terror series.

During the course of the meeting - and after I got a glimpse of a wonderful painting of Dex and Perry - I realized that with his art book on the table, and my Dead Sky Morning, we were both published authors...with our photos on the back to prove it. So I had to snap the photo ;)

I'm so excited to show you guys the finished product. It brought a serious SQUEEE out of me :)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 3

2011-09-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

You thought I forgot? DIDN'T YOU?!

No. I didn't. ALMOST. But I didn't.

I'll keep this short. Ever get those days where the planets and stars align and try and tell you something. You aren't sure what, even if it's anything important, but whatever it is ends up affecting the way you see the world and see others?

Sounds deep, I know.

I've tweeted about Techno Neighbour a lot. He's been next door to me as long as I can remember. He doesn't work (I know this cuz I work at home) and he plays loud techno AND TV AT THE SAME TIME at 1AM or 7AM...or 4PM. He's like the friggin seagull.

Anyway, I have written PLENTY of notes to Techno Neighbour. I don't confront if I don't have to. But eventually my BF did one day, telling him to keep it down.

It worked. Now if TN is loud, I bang on the wall and the volume goes down.

We have a system.

So yesterday morning, I'm waiting for the elevator to go up to the pool. And this guy comes out of the staircase near my door. Maybe mid-30's, blonde hair, red shirt. And he look at me and says (as he is walking quickly past)

"You live on this floor?"
"Yup."
"You should come by 308 and smoke a joint sometime."
*awkward laugh* "Sweet" and I jump in the elevator.

308? That means he is TECHNO NEIGHBOUR. And then I am left to ponder two possibilities. Either he was hitting on me OR he knows who I am. I never met him but maybe he's seen me before somehow. I mean, we do live on the same floor. And maybe the invite to smoke pot was his way of saying "chill the fuck out and stop pounding on the wall"

But, come on, he plays techno...

Then today I was walking around the neighbourhood with my Team Dex tank top. I like wearing it. Because I love my character and more often than not, people actually DO stop me and ask what it means. I normally say, "oh just a book character" and walk away but if they keep pestering, then I open up and I say "Oh I'm the author." I don't know, admitting I wrote the series makes me really embarrassed. Not that I should be since people love it (me included) but you know... I wear it more out of irony (take that stupid team vampires) then as a marketing tool.

But then I realize, in a way, it really is a marketing tool cuz people do ask me. Anyway, today I was asked by a cute young guy. I opened up a bit as we walked. He invited me to play beer pong on the beach, I said no, but gave him my business card and told him to check out the books.

Well....an hour later I get a text from him wondering if I'll meet up with him sometime. Something tells me, when I give my business card to young guys who invite me to play beer pong, I really shouldn't expect a formal business inquiry.

Ah....I'm a slow learner.

Anyway, I know what I said at the start of this post doesn't seem to have much to do with what I just wrote (techno neighbour and beer pong). But one day it will. And then I shall blog about it.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 2

2011-09-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

You know, I've been living in the West End for over five years now and been living in Vancouver for, oh, 29 years. So I've always been by the ocean. Heck, in a way I grew up ON the ocean thanks to my dad's revolving door of sailboats. So you'd think I'd be used to seagulls.

And I am. I am.

But lately, the never-ending calls of the gulls around my apartment building are having me reach for my BB gun. Only problem is, I don't have a BB gun. Or a slingshot. Or a high-powered rifle.

A few years ago we had a seagull we nicknamed WHINEY. For obvious reasons. He would sit on the rail in the parking lot, by my car, and just whine ALL.DAY. LONG. Whiney eventually grew up and now he's a big fat seagull who eyes me warily as I go to my car. But we have an understanding. I don't feed him (though some idiots in our building do) but there is mutual respect. I can see it in his eyes.

But now there's a new Whiney. This one is a million times worse. I've got my music blaring in my ears AND I CAN HEAR HIM STILL. He hangs out on the apartment building next door and just does this incredibly high-pitched squawk. It seems to be directed at the adult seagulls, like he expects them to feed him, but they just ignore him... you know, like you're 18 now, time for you to buy your own food and get your own place.

It's like a gull version of Failure to Launch (somehow the gull IS as annoying as Matthew Maconuserfjhfgrgy or however you spell his name). This bird does not SHUT UP. He is relentless. Like, how does he even breathe? It's like having a car alarm going off outside your window 24 hours a day. I have to sleep with earplugs. He's squawking at 7AM. At noon. At 4:20PM. At midnight. At 3AM.

IT. DOES. NOT. END.

So, now I've got two options. Find a BB gun and pick him off (OR kidnap him, but finding chloroform seems to be as difficult as locating a gun in Canada) OR I can wait for him to find a Sarah Jessica Parker gull (shudder) and GET THE HELL OUT OF HIS HOUSE.

Or I could hire a hit man. Any takers?

30 Days of Blogging: Day 1

2011-09-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

The best part of 30 days of blogging is the title - I don't have to come up with a witty title. Which is good. Because I never do.

Last night, as I anticipated this day, I wondered what on earth I was going to talk about for 30 days. My life is not very exciting (when I'm not hanging with Slayer jk). But seriously. It's not. All I do is write, read, listen to music.

Then I was kept awake by a seagull all night (and I mean all night, every night, for weeks) and I started fantasizing about ways to kill it. And I thought now THAT would make a good blog post.

I think I was a bit delusional though...now I'm more awake and decided a post like that is better left...to tomorrow.

Cuz today, I'm gonna talk about what JUST HAPPENED.

The ARCs (Advanced Review Copies) of my THIRD book - Dead Sky Morning - just arrived yesterday and I am absolutely thrilled with the way they turned out.

The cover looks gorgeous, I especially love the black and red together.

It's now in a semi-matte finish which works way better than the gloss previously.

I included some reviewer's words about the series at the front.

There's a MAP!

For those out of the loop, here is the backcover blurb for DSM: With the Experiment in Terror show finding some success, amateur ghost hunters Perry Palomino and Dex Foray embark on their most terrifying investigation yet. A tiny, fog-shrouded island in the rough strait between British Columbia and Washington State has held a dark secret for decades: It was a former leper colony where over forty souls were left to rot, die and bury each other. Now a functioning campground, Perry and Dex spend an isolated weekend there to investigate potential hauntings but as the duo quickly find out, there is more to fear on D’Arcy Island than just ghosts. The island quickly pits partner against partner, spiraling the pair into madness that serves to destroy their sanity, their relationship and their very lives.

Dead Sky Morning - Experiment in Terror #3 - is officially published on October 13th 2011.

Till then though, you can pick up the first book in the series, DARKHOUSE, for just $0.99 at KINDLE, NOOK, and SMASHWORDS.

And in case you're really out of the loop, here's a great summary of Darkhouse from one book reviewer:

“Darkhouse turned out unlike anything I’d expected. It drew me in from page one, with its easy-to-relate to, flawed but loveable characters, its fast pace, the unpredictable plot twists and its eerie, surreal atmosphere. If you’re searching for the scariest book of this season, then search no more. Darkhouse is exactly what you’re looking for.” — I Heart Reading

Anyway, I'll try and not blabber about my books too much but honestly, I am an author and these books are a huge huge part of my life. But I'll keep it to a minimum.

Tomorrow...we kidnap a seagull. Now, can anyone lend me some chloroform??

IT'S COMING!

2011-08-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

VLOGS! GIVEAWAYS (including gift cards to forever 21, free books, AND Anastasia products)! BLOGGING!

Yup. September 1st is my 30-day challenge. I'll be blogging EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Sometimes it'll be a video, sometimes just a photo or two. Maybe some fashion, maybe some rants, maybe some book excerpts from my upcoming third novel. A book review? Maybe I'll just post funny cartoons. I don't know.

But September - October, there will be a whole lot of blogging going on. Hey, I wrote a book on my first 30-day challenge...this should be a piece of cake. Right? RIGHT?

Reign in Blood

2011-08-08T18:04:00.001-07:00

Do I even need to explain these photos? Two nights of partying with Slayer and Rob Zombie. Crazy. Wonderful. Surreal. Made some new rockstar friends who are absolutely amazing. And got some of those rockstars hooked on my books. I was introduced to people like Mr. Zombie and other musicians as "a writer who is really, really cool" by one of the best drummers in the world. Really got to know people, learned a lot of stuff. Rode on the Slayer tour bus. Got drinks bought for me by legendary rock band managers. Met the hilarious Brian Pohsen. Ginger Fish. John 5. Team Slayer. Words can't really express how awesome this all was. It's been a day or two and I still can't process it. So I'll let the photos do the talking.

The best of THIS blog

2011-07-13T10:37:00.001-07:00

The other day I was writing a blog post for another blog...not this blog and not my other, other blog, but someone else's blog. Anyway, with all these blogs I'm writing for, no wonder this one gets sadly neglected. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH WRITING I HAVE TO DO EACH DAY?! A lot. Sorry I yelled.

There's actually SO many things I could and should blog about here. Mainly travel stuff. But that involves going through tons of photos. I just need one full day with nothing to do, but I never have a day that I shouldn't be doing something. 'Tis life.

Anyway, this took a lot of work though, so APPRECIATE IT, damn you.

I've gone back through the 5.5 years of this blog and compiled the funniest, most interesting blog posts I've ever written. Wanna step back in the WAY BACK MACHINE? READ ON:

Ghost Touring Portland - Perry Palomino Style

Speaking Of...Actual Perry Palomino Style

A List of Unintentionally Scary Movies Go ahead, judge me

My Magical Night with David Copperfield (or the post that started it all)

Why My Name Keeps Coming Up With David Copperfield When You Google Me (/facepalm)

A Typical Day In My Life

Overrated VS Underrated

Why I Should Never Travel Anywhere EVER - (note that the list has not been updated since 2006 - oh, there's more)

Why I Blog

I Like Praise. I Don't Like Bank Robberies

Interviewing Anna Paquin (phoners are hard!)

My Most EmBARRASSing Moment

Money for Nothing, Chicks for Free

My driving habits

I was a PS3 Game Tester

How I handle job interviews

The Beauty Myth

I'm Good at Procrastinating

P0rn!

Perspective

Anonymous Commentors

Digging the Grave

Ten Stupid Things Women Do

I Am SMRT

Do Opposites Attract?

People That Annoy Me

Four years ago today...

2011-07-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

I started going out with a very lovely man.

I don't know where the hell the time has gone.

(On that note, where did JUNE just go? I mean srsly)

But I know he's still with me and just as cute, charming and funny as ever.

Happy Anniversary to us :)

(and yes, we still are very proud Canucks fans :))

Some interesting news on the book front:

My novel Darkhouse had a fantastic review from ForeverYoungAdult - I love this website and their review was spot-on and hilarious.

The second novel in the Experiment in Terror Series, Red Fox, has been released. Like Darkhouse, it is available in e-book and paperback form (see bottom).

You can vote for Darkhouse and Red Fox in the Break Out Authors List on GoodReads HERE Darkhouse is currently at #70 (though the number fluctuates daily). Your votes and support are appreciated!

The books have been getting great reviews, so if you're inclined to read a fun, creepy series with interesting and relatable characters, you can pick up the books here:

**E-book editions of Red Fox are available from:**

Smashwords (for Kindle, Nook, Archos, E-Reader, iBooks, etc - Paypal accepted)

Amazon's Kindle Store

AND HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!

Sasquatch VS Lusty - Sasquatch wins

2011-06-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

So I went to the Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge Ampitheatre in Washington State last week. Despite its proximity to Vancouver, it was actually my first time there. And what a drive. After leaving Seattle you are whisked away through snowy Snoqualmie pass before being plunked down in the dry, rugged interior:

I went on behalf of Consequence of Sound and got to meet a bunch of my colleagues for the first time (one I've met a few times in San Francisco thanks to my frequent travel to the Bay Area - speaking of, I should probably blog about that since I went again just a few weeks ago). We manned a booth at the festival too, lots of people were apparently stopping by and asking for me (when I wasn't on duty) which is really cool, just, who were you people? Lol. Leave your names!

Anyway, we camped out in general camping which we nicknamed District 9 since it was out in the middle of nowhere and people were running amok with utter lawlessness, eating cat food out of dumpsters and gambling with Nigerian warlords.

Actually it wasn't that bad. The worst part was having the hippies next to us bust out their guitar and steal our camping chairs when we weren't looking. But once I discovered that if we hung out at the front of my car - AWAY from the hippies - we actually had a pretty sweet spot. Sweet enough to make you forget you haven't showered for days and the porta potties were a good 10 minute walk away.

Highlights of my 4 day camping/music festival adventure?

*Drinking beer at 10AM. Hey, people were drinking beer at 830AM, so I was just catching up

*Soaking up sunshine

*How every third person was a Canucks fan. Canucks jerseys, flags, towels, EVERYWHERE. Go Canucks Go chants before every show. So amazing!

*Having media and working passes which meant that we could go in-and-out to the festival (how dumb is it that regular festival goers are not allowed to leave the festival and go back to their camp? Very dumb)

*Foo Fighters, Sam Roberts Band, k-os, Biffy Clyro, Trailer Park Boys, Flaming Lips, Black Mountain, etc (see my music reviews of the festival here)

*Being able to go backstage and visit the Ice Cream Man for free Ben & Jerry's

*Hearing some pretty ridiculous stories from fellow campers such as the naked guy on one hell of an acid trip who was jumping around in the bushes on the walk to the festival, who tried to jump over a fence from TEN FEET AWAY and then was closed in on by 5 stormtrooper like cops who tazed him.
Also, our neighbours lost their fellow camper overnight. She never returned in the morning, didn't have her cell phone on her. They went to the Sherrif's office, the hospital, searched all the campsites for her (yeah that's like 40,000 people or something). She turned up later with a dude called Wild Bill and when her friends freaked on her for making them worry she said, and I quote, "But I facebooked you to let you know I was OK".

*Just hanging out and meeting fellow campers

*The chill vibe and sense of community (now I sound like a hippie)

*Running into random people I hadn't seen for years and having all of them congratulate me on my book

*Having people stop by the CoS booth and compliment us on our music site. So many people rely on our Festival Outlook page to keep ontop of lineups, it was outstanding!

Bad highlights?

*chair-stealing hippies (OK, chair borrowing without asking hippies)

*House-music parties until 2AM + 830AM wakeup calls (ie, you can't sleep in here)

*Arguing with my bf at the quesadilla hut because he forgot to get me one. Finally getting one, then walking down the hill to the mainstage to catch Flogging Molly, slipping somehow (damn you KFAD boots! Angel Dust boots you are not!)

*The fall resulted in a sprained ankle and a bunged up knee

*Missed Modest Mouse because I was in the Medical Tent

*I am sunburned. On my bunged up knee

More Good highlights

*I saw part of Modest Mouse from backstage (thanks to medic tent shuttle)

*I was the most coherent person in the Medical Tent. I had not been drugged, nor did I need to be on a stretcher with an IV hanging out of my arm like everyone else did

*Kind neighbour Dave gave me copious amounts of Wild Turkey during the Flaming Lips to help me deal with the pain. It totally worked

*Bitching with the CoS crew about commentors (we all get haters!)

*All weekend I was just...ME. No author, no music journo (though that's what I was there to do), no email, no twitter, no facebook, no blogs, no marketing, no anything. It was just me, my man, fresh air 24/7, sunshine and music. That was it. Sprained ankle and all, it was the most relaxing weekend I have had in a long, LONG time.

So Sasquatch may have won in our fight. He may have battled me and I may have walked away with a fucked up leg, but the fight was worth it.

More photos:

Darkhouse Reviews

2011-06-01T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been over two weeks since Darkhouse was unleashed on the world and I thought it would be cool to put together some feedback on the book. All good feedback, at this point. There hasn't been any "legitimate" negativity yet, though I know that will come. Not everyone can like everything (as a music journalist, I know this all too well) and my book(s) certainly isn't for everyone. But when I do get some constructive criticism, I'll be sharing that too.

But until that comes - and for my own benefit - here's what people have been saying on Twitter and Facebook. Best of part of this is, some of these people I have never met before. Makes me happy to know the books are reaching people everywhere.

@jinnee79 Janine Boon
I've gotta stop reading @Wanderlust1ng's book Darkhouse before bed. Keep having the craziest dreams!

@loveyourcake Vancouver candice
just finished reading Darkhouse by @wanderlust1ng, seriously needing part two right now. and more wine. much more wine. #greatbook

@LouLaBeans LouLaBeansLori
@Wanderlust1ng your book is really good! It gave me the appropriate creeps as I was reading it in the middle of the night.

@bitsyblingbooks Charlie Courtland
I'm reading DARKHOUSE by Karina Halle. It is a page turner. Read till 3 am. Mature YA, paranormal horror (ghost not blood).

Erik Bailey
Got the book in the mail today. Had to force myself to stop reading at chapter 10!

Kate Rogers
I am half way and loving it!

Karina Lean
I read a copy on my friends kindle... fricking loved it. I seriously read it in two days. When is the next book out??? Btw I imagine dex to look like the guy who hosts amazing race?!?

(note, she meant Australia's Amazing Race lol)

Then of course there are my first book reviews, this one courtesy of Bitsy Bling Books (check out the site, it's awesome):

"What makes it so good? Perry is a reliable character: flawed, insecure, impulsive, but despite her own roadblocks she has a determination that the audience can clearly see even if she does not (yet). It is her self-awareness that makes the character appealing, trustworthy and honest. Her vulnerability provides sympathy without demanding pity. Dex is similar and it is not surprising that the Clown Lady insinuates Perry and Dex are cut from the same cloth. Their contradictions show strength of character and reveals a great deal about the individuals. For example, Dex admits he lies and by doing so disproves he's a liar because he confesses to the deceit. A true liar would never willingly reveal this deprecating detail."

"Darkhouse is an example of a confident and assured author's 'voice.' The writer connects with the characters, deeply understanding and channeling them onto the page. By the end I was convinced Perry was writing this story. I have no doubt that Perry and Dex are real--and they live through author Karina Halle."

And excerpts from Candice Baked in Vancouver's hilarious review (read the rest on her great blog):

"Right from the start the main character, Perry Palomino, sucks you in with her relatable and sarcastic personality."

"As I read through the first few chapters, I was drawn into the stories that have yet to be told. There was enough character information to give me a glimpse into her life, and that of the Palomino family, which made me wish there was a corresponding movie I could go see after I finished reading."

"There were times I thought I could predict what was going to come next, only to be surprised by the creativity that turned up around each corner (or should I say each page)."

"When I arrived at home, I found flowers and a bottle of wine that bf had got for me. What a sweetheart. I poured myself a glass - - and then immediately locked myself in the bathroom for 2+ hours to become one of those people I had envied before. I had a book - and I liked it enough to not watch television in order to find out what was happening!! Not only that, but in the bath! I continued reading so much so, that bf had to come in and restock my glass."

"Not only had Darkhouse turned me into a sexy bitch, but it also left me craving answers. I contemplated paying Karina to tell me what happens at the end, but I know it will be far more interesting to explore and grow with these characters in the books to come. This series will no doubt have more twists then I can even begin to anticipate right now - and that is what a series should be. Addicting."

If you've happened to read a copy, I'd love to hear what you say. Drop me a line on Twitter (@wanderlust1ng), on my Facebook Fan Page (www.facebook.com/experimentinterror), in the comments here, or just email me (see sidebar). You can also leave reviews on Amazon (if you purchased through Amazon), Smashwords or GoodReads.

Honestly, even if you didn't like the book, I just like to talk about it anyway. Nothing makes me happier than discussing my books and my characters. This is the closest I'm ever going to get to becoming a mother, people! Indulge me :)

And if you have yet to pick up a copy (in print or e-format), you can pick your poison HERE.

By the way, the second book, Red Fox is being released on June 13 (JUST TWO WEEKS!). I'll have more information about availability and advanced copies, pre-ordering etc, down the line.

WE HAVE A WINNER(s)

2011-05-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

And it's the Vancouver Canucks!

Man, I thought I was going to die watching the game last night. The Canucks haven't been to the semi-finals, let alone the finals of the Stanley Cup, since 1994. In 1994, we beat the Maple Leafs in Round 5 in Double Overtime to advance to the finals.

Last night? We beat the San Jose Sharks in Round 5 in Double Overtime to advance to the finals.

Despite being despised by the rest of Canada (something about don't hate us (Vancouver) because we are beautiful? Or is that we aren't Canadian enough... can't figure that one out), and despite being made fun of for years by Oilers Fans and Leafs fans and whatnot, The Vancouver Canucks are going to the Stanley Cup finals. Are we Canada's team? Apparently not. But fuck 'em all, we love our team and we'll stick with them - no matter WHAT the outcome (mark my words). The rest of Canada can grumble about it and be bitter all they want. We've waited for this moment for 17 years and we are going to enjoy it. (Besides, isn't better to embrace the love and let go of the hate?)

So here's to Vancouver, here's to the Canucks, here's to Bieksa with his shots, shots, shots, shots, shots and to Kesler for being hot, and to Burrows for being a twitchy French Tom Cruise and to Luongo for being amazing and to the sisters for being ginger robots, and all the rest of them.

Of course, after the win, we had to run out the door and walk to Granville Street where all the action was:

It's going to be a FUN couple of weeks here.

OH and the Canucks weren't the only winners here! Arbyn won the tights giveaway! Congrats, email me your contact info (well, your address) and I'll get Tights Please to ship it out to you asap!

OH OH OH and until May 31st, I'm having a giveaway for my book, Darkhouse, over at GoodReads. So far over 400 people have entered, (I am very flattered), and I have five copies to give away, so if you want to get in on that (I suggest you visit here: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/10947-darkhouse

Blog Giveaway - Tights Please!

2011-05-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Want a chance to win THREE pairs of Red or Dead tights of your choice from Tights Please (valued at 35 Pounds)?

Simply leave a comment below telling me either A) Your most embarrassing moment with tights (ei, tucking your skirt into them ALA ME or getting a run in the wrong place) or B) what kind of tights you'd like to win.

To get an idea of what tights you could win, peruse the Tights Please website They have all kinds of tights and what's really hot right now are stockings... stockings in pastels are just perfect for spring (like the ones I'm wearing in the photo above), but of course you can't go wrong with black stockings either!

Tights please will ship to my readers in the UK, Canada and the USA. Contest will only run until Friday, so get in this tights contest while you can!

I'm in San Francisco at the moment do a combination of music and book type things, but I'll be blogging shortly. Lot's of good updates to share, especially in wake of DARKHOUSE PUBLISHING WEEK! Woo hoo! Still can't believe my novel has been published... unreal. If you missed out on that, please visit the novel's website here or check out the blog post below :)

MY BOOK IS PUBLISHED - also VLOG!

2011-05-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

I wrote this post out once and stupid Blogger went all weird yesterday... like ALL day, and then in the end, erased it. Le Sigh. They say it'll come again - maybe - maybe not, but you know, this post WAS kind of timely and all.

Anyway, I'm keeping this short, this time around.

My first novel, Darkhouse, the first book in the Experiment in Terror Series, is out today. Friday the 13th of May, 2011.

I started writing the book in October 2009 as part of a 30-day challenge write something every day. 30 days turned into six weeks and Darkhouse was born (under a different title, at the time). You may recall me blogging about it.. a lot.

Since then I went on to write the next two books in the series and then decided, you know what, screw applying to publishers or agents. This is the NOW age, I don't want to lose control over my work, I don't want to wait till 2013 for the first one to come out. I need to do this now, strike while the iron's hot.

So I started my own publishing company, Metal Blonde Books (HORNS UP!)

Logo by Dale De Ruiter

Spent many months of 12-hour work days and whatnot, just figuring out how to fucking do all of this on my own. From the layout (grrrr), to cover design, to starting a business, to copy-editing, to rewriting, to printing, to distribution, to webdesign, to marketing, to PR... yeah. It's not easy at all. It's actually been ...astoundingly hard.

But that makes today all that more sweeter. Because, even if the risk I took doesn't pay off, even if people hate the book... fuck em! I did this ALL ON MY OWN and the fact that today, it sees the light of day... it means I HAVE ALREADY WON.

This is most I've ever accomplished...and I'll never forget that. To me, Darkhouse, is already a success.

Of course, by watching the video below, you might think the book's name is DARKHO! I had a good chuckle at that one. You'll probably also have a good chuckle at what a... as my BF and Bart Simpson say... Dorkus Molorkus I am.

For all information on the book and the series visit www.experimentinterror.com

You can read Chapter Three there for free (or just click here)

You can buy the books on Createspace, Amazon and the E-versions at Smashwords.

Thanks a bunch!

ALSO come back on Monday, I'm doing a giveaway for some really cool tights from TightsPlease! :)

Darkhouse - The Book Trailer

2011-05-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

HEY LOOK I AM BACK! Blogging, yep. You thought that EPIC blog post below about my crazy roadtrip and Lars and Slayer and giraffes and Blackjack and whatever was enough, but you're wrong.

Cuz, here we go... the trailer for my first book, Darkhouse. And just so you don't get confused, apparently all books now have book trailers. Some of them are just like excerpts from a book reading, others are narration. Mine's a movie type deal - fitting, I thought, because in the book, the protagonist Perry Palomino records some pretty fucked up shit on her camera (spooky stuff in a lighthouse) and ends up blogging about it, complete with YouTube videos that go viral. Within days, she's an internet star and attracts the attention of producer, Dex Foray, who wants to work with her on a ghost hunting web series... the rest is history.

Will this do the same? Who knows...

Major thanks to Mollie Caselli for flying up to Vancouver to help me with this. Aside from a few half-assed ideas and storyboards(heh), this was pretty much her whole thing. From the shooting, to helping me direct, to the editing, to the sound mixing, to producing, etc...

Also thanks to Talar Kalaidjian and Andrew Barber for being brave actors - they fought through seasickness (and lost - their lunch... well one of them did) and the waviest seas I'd ever seen in English Bay.

Also big thanks to Bill Gould, for very generously granting me permission to use his music from the upcoming The Talking Book album (out May 24 on www.koolarrow.com) - it really helped set the scene :)

By the way, the book is published in print and e-book format this Friday, the 13th. Visit www.experimentinterror.com for more information. And look for my dorky, first-ever, VLOG this Friday!

April - in a very large nutshell

2011-05-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Last month was April. It was a whirlwind. I mean, I went on a 3,000 Mile road trip with my crappy hunk of crap car. I saw Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones AND The Big Four. I stayed in Portland, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Palm Springs. I got to party with Lars Ulrich. And somewhere along the way, we shot the trailer for the second book in my book series. But for the most part, I just sat back in the non-airconditioned car and listened to tunes. For a very quick recap of what April was for me... well, here we go:

I left Vancouver on April 9th, crossed the border and flew out of Seattle to San Francisco (as per usual, it seems)

Saw Queens of the Stone Age in Oakland, CA. Wrote my review (here)

Flew back to Seattle. Met up with Le BF. Saw the Deftones in Seattle. Wrote about it here. Met band again (this time my BF got to meet them - yay!)

Drove through shit Oregon weather for 8 hours (major accidents on I-5)

To get to Ashland, Oregon

Next day we hit Lake Shasta

And then Sacramento, where we both got hit with the flu

Essentials for sore throats and road trips

In Fresno, heading for Tulare, California...

Now road tripping to Las Vegas

This pose, with this bear, by this tree, is now tradition

Stop at MAD GREEK

Vegas!

Had a whirlwind tour of Vegas with fellow blogger A Crazy Princess (she and her Prince Charming helped us win $150 at Blackjack - first time I ever played and on $20)

Then drove like hell to Palm Springs

to meet with my filmmaker friend in time to shoot the trailer for the second book.

A few precious days relaxing in Palm Springs, my parent's new condo all to ourselves. Ahh bliss

Then the zoo...it was really hot out

And The Big Four! Ultra VIP for the win! Jerry Cantrell again! Lombardo again! Slayer from sidestage! And one impressed BF. Oh and I wrote about it here

Next day, had to leave back to Sacramento

A night at the haunted Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon

Home just in time to watch the Canucks beat the Blackhawks in Game 7 of the playoffs (lucky shirt helped)

AND THAT WAS MY FREAKING APRIL.

Now May, well MAY IS ANOTHER STORY. And I'm not even halfway through it. A lot has to do with, Oh, I don't know MY BOOK BEING PUBLISHED. Here's the front and back cover, in case you missed my Facebook and Tweets about it:

Oh and speaking of Facebook, please like it. People who like Experiment in Terror do 50% better in life than people who don't. Or something to that affect. Plus people who like it on Facebook get exclusive access to autographed copies... just sayin' ;P

SO here's the thing. My book will published this Friday, May 13th. I can't believe I'm actually (god willing) going to make this deadline.

I'll be posting the Trailer for DARKHOUSE here as soon as it's ready. Also, I'll be blogging here again before Friday to tell you where you can read a sample chapter of the book for free, where the E-book and print books are available and all that stuff.

And I should probably do a video blog (VLOG! My first one) too.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is... come back. I miss you all!

Shedding some light on my happenings

2011-04-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yes. I suck. I'm sorry. BLAH BLAH BLAH.

I'm just a little busy, it's still good, it's still good.

I'm currently sitting in a roach motel in Seattle, sucking back some Top Pot Doughnuts and coffee. I've got a whole day allotted to just WRITING. It feels good. And you know what some of that writing consists of? Pre-scheduled blog posts. Why? Because I owe to you all. And myself. And I need to. And it's not just for this blog, but my other SECRET blog! Which I will reveal soon. In due time.

What have I been up to over the last few weeks? Lots of extra work (I was even in Breaking Dawn, you know the Twilight movie, and as you know me as a huge Twilight HATER, that was a hilarious experience. Hanging out with the Denalis and Cullens for two LONG, cold days was... actually, pretty cool. I must admit. But I'm sworn to secrecy! Can't give you any juicy deets) and I'll blog about that tomorrow, I've been checking out shows like Queens of the FUCKING Stone Age in Oakland, California, just got back from San Francisco (YES, AGAIN), have been ass deep in prepping for the book release (self-publishing IS a full-time job), oh and I'm seeing the Deftones and Dillinger Escape Plan tomorrow. And then the next day I embark on a road trip. To Vegas. And Palm Springs. And then I see the Big Four. SO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY I'M BUSY, EH?!

Er, anyway, here are some photos of Josh Homme (in all his giant sexy ginger glory) and crew that did not get featured in my article:

Show was amazing. You can read my review here.

AND BY THE WAY: The first novel in the Experiment in Terror series - DARKHOUSE - officially comes out on May 13th. Yes. Friday the 13th. It will at LEAST be available to purchase on Amazon, and hopefully in E-book form as well. So... get excited! Or, get excited for me. Cuz I am flipping the fuck out.

PS the first three chapters of the book will be available as a free excerpt in the days before that. So you can decide how badly I suck (or not) before buying.

San Francisco Hotels are da bomb

2011-03-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Remember the Mexican Lucha Libre Wrestler hotel room I got last October when I was in town for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival? No, well check it here.

It was at Hotel des Arts and of course I had to stay there again when I returned at the end of Feb for the Noise Pop Festival, albeit for just one night. This time I got the graffiti room. How dope is this shit?

Gorgeous art everywhere, too (most are available for purchase too!)

I also stayed a couple of nights at the fabulous Hotel Vertigo - which inspired me to do a mini-tour of my fav movie... Vertigo. Stay tuned!

Open Book

2011-03-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

This post is totally unrelated to the Foo Fighters. I just think they are awesome.

A quick update from yours truly here (how is THAT for fast posting, eh?):

To answer some questions coming off the last post - YES my books are going to be available in paperback form and all over the world through Amazon and hopefully a few other book sellers.

If you would like to review an advanced copy for your blog, please email me at foreverwanderlust "at" yahoo.com and I'll get one to you over the next month.

At the moment I am knee-deep in simultaneously editing/rewriting Darkhouse - can I talk about this for a moment? You know they say the blank page is the most terrifying thing a writer has to face? Well, that is true. But facing a page full of your words and thinking it's all SHIT is also equally terrifying. See, I've rewritten the novel a bunch but THIS time it's for good and the first time with the thought that HEY I don't have a publisher or editor who is going to go through this...it's all on me. And there is a LOT of stuff in there that needs to go. It's the difference between cleaning your apartment before your friends come over and cleaning your apartment before your boyfriend's parents come over.

But, it'll get done. Oh yes, it will get done.

I'm also knee-deep in my website. It's a lot of work but GOSH DARN IT I AM EXCITED!!!

Oh right, there was another reason for this blog post. I'm incorporating formspring technology or something - anyway I want to do a Q&A session for my website (would you believe I've never done one...least not since 2006!). If you would like to ask me an anonymous question (oh god, here we go), please go ahead and do so by visiting here:

http://www.formspring.me/Wanderlust1ing

In general, I find the concept of Formspring to be a bit icky, but I figured it was the easiest way to get some good questions out of the pile of garbage I know is coming.

Oh, and I should mention my boyfriend is moderating the Formspring account so, if you're trying to be mean or ICKY, just know he's going to see it. Not me. HA!

I'll collect the questions over the next few days, then close the account, so GET CRACKING, READERS! :D and thanks in advance.

My Journey in Terror

2011-03-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

My sketch of Perry Palomino

That's a pretty lame blog title, I must admit. It's before 10AM though and my brain isn't working and I should just be happy I'm writing at all. Blog posts, that is.

A week ago I completed my third novel. It was a labour of love and... well, just a lot of love. Also resulted in some disturbing dreams and a few months of being anti-social (when I wasn't traveling). And a few months of neglecting this blog. Poor thing *pats it on head*

But, I'm done. The third book in the Experiment in Terror Series, "Dead Sky Morning" is complete (well, first draft anyway). At 102,000 words, 20 chapters, it took me about 2.5 months to do, writing almost every day (maybe every other day to round it out).

In comparison, the first book in the series, "Darkhouse", took me 6 weeks. Yeah, you all know the story, I was blogging more then (shame on me!), but that was a quickie. But that was my goal, right? October/November 2009 I had set a goal for myself to write every day for 30 days... just to see if I could do it. Earlier that summer I had a great idea for a book. I wanted to start a series, I wanted to do it from a female's POV and I wanted it to be about ghosts. NOT Vampires (never, ever Vampires), but ghosts. I am the old-fashioned supernatural lover and ghosts always get my goat. Or something.

The idea came to me in just the form of Perry Palomino. I knew her name, I knew I wanted to write scary stuff (I was born to scare people - but that's for another blog post), I knew she'd have a younger sister who was into fashion. And that was about it. I mulled on it, put the idea away promising myself "one day" I'll write a book. Just as I had done for 27 years.

Man. 27 sounds really young now compared to 29. Huh. ANYWAY.

Then I just decided to do it. Build a habit. I was kind of taking part in NANO, where you write a novel in a month. The min word count there was 50K and it took me six weeks to do 82K so I guess it did kind of count. Well, it got the job done. Waking up at 6AM and writing for an hour in the cold winter mornings, plus an hour at work, then an hour or two at night (EVERY DAY) and that's how it all came together.

So with Darkhouse's first draft coming in at 6 weeks, it was time for the second book. "Red Fox". It took... a year. Seriously. I wrote a bunch in January/February 2010. More in July (on the plane to Finland and back). And finished the rest up in the fall.

I never thought I'd write one book, let alone three. But I've found something that I love. These books mean everything to me, the characters are as real to me as the sun and the moon. I'm starting to go a bit nutty here as a result. They talk to each other in my head at night, so much that sometimes I have to get up and write it down. Just scenes, dialogue - it may belong to the next book, it may belong to book #7.

Yeah, there's seven books in this series. Possibly more, but seven so far. They have all been plotted out - least I know the main focus, location and events in each book. In a way, I am telling just one big story that is spread out, so each book digs up certain clues or milestones for my characters. There's a massive backstory here, and some of it actually springs up as I continue to write. The characters have come SO far from that first book. They write the books themselves now - I admit I am just the messenger (yeah, now I am really sounding like a loon). Sometimes they will do something I didn't expect that ties in with something I hinted at in an earlier book and then it's like BOOM! I discovered something about THEM. Weird, huh?

But with the third book done, it's time to look at what I am doing with them.

No, I have not sent out a single query letter to publishers or agents. I have declined to go that route (for now, of course) for several reasons.

A) I like to be in control. I like to DIY. I have an army of talented friends who can help me out with everything from copy-editing, cover design and artwork, websites, photography, filming (oh, you'll see where that is going), PR work, social media tools...whatever. I have these resources around me and I will use them. I LOVE being involved in everything I do. This is all up to me and who I choose to help me and there is no one else to blame if it all goes sour.

B) Though the books are really about the characters Dex and Perry, the subject matter (GHOSTS) is a timely one. Experiment in Terror (yes, I know it's a film...and a song...and no, titles are not copywritable), is a webcast run by a pair of amateur ghost hunters. Ghosts are in right now. Well, ghosts are always in, but seriously, there are ghosts everywhere these days. EVEN IN MY KITCHEN!

But the point is, if I was lucky enough to get a book deal TOMORROW, the first book would not come out until 2013. 2013!? We're all dead by then! But seriously, if I do it this way, the self-publishing way, the first book will come out sometime in May. 2011.

C) I'm not afraid of hard work and I have the time. Yes, this is hard-work. Yes, I have been working around the clock. I may not have a traditional "job" but I have a career. I write freelance for three websites (and get paid to do so), I have some other music-related writing work that comes in, I do background work for film when I can, and I write my novels. On average, I write for about 6-8 hours a day. That is nothing to sneeze at, all you sneezers out there.

I am FORTUNATE that I have a loan to help me with this process, that I don't have to have a 9-5 job, otherwise NO WAY - I could not self-publish. But this is my job now, and even when I'm up at 2AM researching publicists, or doing fact-checking, or coming up with a business name for incorporation, I'm actually working. I even said it to my BF last night...I have been working every day for months now and it just clued in lol. I finally get what self-employed people mean when they are like "another 12 hour day" - because when you look at the hours devoted to your career, that is WORK. It's just the fun work, not the work where you punch a clock. It's still work though.

Yes, my dream would be too have a publishing house approach me and sign me to a book deal. But I hate sitting around and waiting for that to happen. This isn't about money (money WOULD be nice though, at least enough to pay back my loan), it's about sharing something that has made me and about five other people (my brave, devoted, enthusiastic readers) very happy.

SO sorry for the long post but it was LONG overdue. Hope you are all caught up. Here are somethings on my horizon:

- Currently re-writing Darkhouse for the billionth time.

- Aiming to self-publish Darkhouse in May. The books will be available through E-download for $2.99 and paperback for around $10. If ANY bloggers want to review an advanced copy for free, drop me a line ASAP, I would LOVE it.

- Red Fox will follow shortly after, probably in June.

- I will have my website for these books up and running next month.

- There is going to be a huge interactive component here with Youtube videos and I am very excited about that. The video should launch before May...

- I am currently plotting out the fourth book, entitled "Lying Season" - I don't know if that book will get actually published this year, but it will get written at the very least. That's the thing... once the writer train is going, it's hard to stop. Each book has something I'm very excited about exploring and writing about - I literally had to hold myself back the other day from starting Lying Season. Right at this minute, I need to devote 90% of my time to self-publishing and the prep stage (let alone the marketing after the book launch!).

Anyway, this blog is going to be a major tool for me as the weeks go on, so keep your eyes peeled. And, as always, thanks for reading :)

San Francisco in Polaroids

2011-03-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

I went to San Francisco the other week on an impromptu trip to see my friend Hadi/Bad Weather play Yoshi's jazz club, catch up with my numerous Bay Area friends and check out local boy Kid Koala (and east coast wonder, Jel) play as part of the Noise Pop Festival.

I had no expectations about this trip at all but when I left to board my plane back to Seattle on Tuesday, I was left speechless. Sometimes good things happen to good, hardworking people and even when you do deserve it, it's hard to fathom when it actually happens to you. I'll share more details of this wonderful turn of events as time goes on, but for now I'll show you some Polaroid (well, with the iPhone lol) shots of my favourite city by the bay, San Francisco.

How to do Twitter RIGHT

2011-02-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

I went to my first tweet-up the other day. Well, my first official tweet-up. There's actually been a ton of people I've met, in different parts of the world like San Francisco and Poland, that I met originally through Twitter... but I guess that's not really a tweet-up, is it?

Yeah, I had avoided tweet-ups in my own city because A) I thought they were lame and B) I felt like the totally uncool kid that never gets invited anywhere (and this is usually true, btw).

But it was an old high school friend of mine - SSDATED - who I hadn't seen in ages and who I know is pretty freakin' awesome, and it was her own tweet-up party, so I figured, why the hell not?

Night started off slowly (was held in the swanky Glowbal Afterglow Lounge in Yaletown which is a lot different from the gay bars on Davie St I am used to frequenting) but soon I was meeting tons of Tweeps I knew from my daily Twitter feed, and meeting more lovely people as well.

I don't want to post any pictures here because I'm afraid of accidentley outing someone who wants to remain anonymous *ahem* so I'll just post this pic. It's of me. You all know what I look like.

(For SSDATED - spreading the V pose everywhere)

ANYHOO - one of the things everyone was talking about that night was how they got started on Twitter, how they are trying to convince their friends to tweet, how some people just don't get it - and look, I was totally one of those people! I thought "uugh, just a bunch of status updates, laaaaaame" BUT IT'S TOTALLY NOT LIKE THAT.

Or, at least, it shouldn't be. And then I got thinking, how can people (especially those who are wary about it or not sure how to use it) get the most out of Twitter?

Here are some tips:

1. Follow interesting people - this is key. Whether they are funny celebs, up-to-date news sources, or just off-the-wall people you've never met, having an interesting feed is what will keep you reading.

2. Talk to people - if you have interesting people in your feed, best thing you can do is converse with them. This is an online community, like a large public chat room. Just by talking to people, you'd be amazed at how much you have in common with many of them. If you find the right tweeps, your time on Twitter will be much more enjoyable. Lately, I've been laughing my ass off at what's been said by some of my more rowdy friends (Boobs and the Dude, you know who you are).

3. Unfollow boring people - or people who cheer for opposing hockey teams. Basically if anything makes your Twitter experience less enjoyable, there's no reason to follow them. Tweeters who make you angry or bore the shit out of you - cut 'em loose. Other people may find them enjoyable, they just aren't your cup of tea. Too bad Twitter doesn't have the Facebook "hide" option, for those that only annoy you on occasion (like during hockey games).

4. Don't take anything personally - if someone disagrees with something you said or *GASP* unfollows you, it is hard not to feel slighted or defensive. But remember the internet attracts different people, sarcasm can be VERY hard to read at times (especially if you don't know the person well) and people unfollow for many different reasons (see above). I know I can be opinionated and I tweet too much - whatever. People can, and do, unfollow me for those reasons and others. Different strokes for different folks.

5. Retweet the nasty stuff - occasionally you may find yourself under TWITTER ASSAULT which is far worse than someone unfollowing or disagreeing with you. People who are angry/miserable enough to engage in Twitter Assault are usually the type of people who delete their tweets after too. Retweeting it says "hey, I see what you did there - now everyone else sees too." Your lovely loyal tweeps will usually jump to your defense and you'll show the attacker, hey that's cool you think I'm a ____________. Celebrities do this all the time and I think it's pretty funny. Especially when Neil Hamburger does it.

6. Retweet the funny and interesting stuff - retweeting is sharing. Sharing is caring. You like something you've read? Retweet it - share it with others, plus you credit the original tweep who put it out there. Retweets are like kisses... or some other analogy.

7. Don't be afraid to promote yourself - Twitter is one of the greatest marketing tools out there. There's nothing wrong with taking advantage of the technology and using it to help yourself out. It's also a great platform for helping fellow friends, causes, events, etc. But...

8. Don't spam people - one or two tweets about something is perfect (per day). This blog post might get tweeted via me twice today, just because a lot of people aren't on Twitter all day long and might miss it - especially if they have a busy feed. But if you mention it a lot, all the time, and especially if it's the SAME tweet... ugh, that's just akin to spam. Speaking of...

9. Block Spammers - someone replied to you that you don't know and they have an egg for a picture or a "hot" girl and are wanting you to click on a link about whatever the hell you might have tweeted about moments earlier? DON'T DO IT. Report them for Spam immediately. It's been getting worse lately it seems (least for Vancouver Tweeps), so nip it in the bud and it will help stop the spammers... until they open a new account.

10. AND HAVE FUN - Why so serious? Twitter is a place to vent about your commute, to complain about Justin Bieber, to celebrate going for a run, for teasing Caddyshack and Bacon bots, sharing music, developing crushes, and for engaging in mindless/intense conversations... all for 140 characters or less.

Happy Lovage Day (I'm SORRY ...)

2011-02-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

For neglecting this blog lately. It's very important to me, believe it or not, but I've been busy writing so many other things... well anyway, that's not really a good excuse.

So I'm going to make it up to you guys - consider it my Valentine's Day gift to you, my lovely readers.

First of all, to spread the love and set you in the mood, here is some Lovage - hit play and keep reading. Or watch it. It's pretty sexy... well...Jennifer Charles is anyway, rest of the video is just plain budget (couldn't afford to give Mike Patton a tooth):

I'm totally against Valentine's Day. In fact, I think I hate it more when I'm actually in a relationship than when I'm single. At least when you are single, no one is asking you "what did you get? Where did you go?" and so on. People know you're not in relationship so they don't bug you - least they never bugged me when I was single. Also cuz I think it's kind of scary to ask singletons about Valentine's Day, some people get pretty testy about it (and rightfully so!).

But when you're in a relationship, then you get the questions and for some reason it gives other coupled people the free rein to brag. You know, "Oh, my boyfriend gave me this Tiffany necklace and then we went to this fancy restaurant, BLAH BLAH BLAH... so, what did you get?" "Uh, I got a handwritten note from my stuffed bear, Norman."

Now, I loved that note so much that I kept it. But, you tell someone else that and they're like, "what a cheapass boyfriend you have". To which you reply, "NO. He's not a cheap ass, we just both fucking hate this stupid fucking day, so lay off bitch!"

But then people accuse you of being all defensive and shtuffff.

So, the way I combat this problem is by avoiding social media on V-Day. Yeah, I know... not going to happen but the thought is there.

Also, I've changed Valentine's Day to LOVAGE DAY. Because there's nothing wrong with celebrating sexy music. And if you have no one to get busy with, put this on and get busy with yourself. And seriously... how can you not?

There was a second of all! I'll be offering a discount code for Overstock.com over the next couple of days. This will be exclusive for my readers. I think this is awesome because I used to buy MANY pairs of shoes from the store and always had a painless shopping experience. Shipping was easy (even to Canada) and the variety of shoes is amazing. ALSO they sell tons of over stuff... like... everything!

PS - My blog's FIVE YEAR anniversary was on February 2nd... or 4th. One of those days. I was going to do a big post about that, just as I was going to do a huge 2010 recap, cuz let's face it... 2010 was awesome for me! Would you guys still be interested in seeing that? Well, I may do it anyway HA.

PPS - my blog has been on my mind lately, especially last night as I was falling asleep, and this morning I got a lovely, out of the blue email from a reader who basically reinforced that I should write more. Serendipity at work again!

ADDENDUM - Since the publication of this post, I have decided that St. Patrick shouldn't get all the fun... let St. Valentine in on it too. So, along with copious amounts of Lovage, why not make Valentine's Day/Lovage Day an excuse to drink red beer (Rickards Red or what have you) until you're blindly staggering around town, throwing candy and cinnamon hearts at each other? This is what I'm doing tomorrow - I hope you will be too :)

A random Bungle weekend

2011-01-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't blogged at all this month - I chalk it up to writing for CoS, my new job writing for GadflyDreams and writing my third novel (just getting started, anyway). Then there's the relentless job searching too. And of course, I'm lazy and unmotivated. I hate January.

So, in order to perk things up, I took a trip to Seattle to visit my friend Tami. I was going to go the week before but I was still feeling kind of sick. Plus I wanted to go on Thursday, and since we are big Patton appreciators (er, fanatics) and it was his 43rd birthday on that day, we thought it would be fun to catch up and celebrate it. Plus she's moving to LA very soon and won't be a three-hour drive away.

Thursday was great. Went out with her adorable son and had a fabulous dinner. Then got back to her house, put on some Mr. Bungle and other projects and literally stayed up talking music till 4AM.

I brought Tami a little Melvins man as a present - now he and Mini P are pals

We were a bit sleep deprived the next day but had no time to dwell on it as our friend Simone was also in Seattle that weekend and her friends were throwing her a shindig. So that was a fun time, especially when she commandeered the stereo and we played Mr. Bungle (not always the best party music but we didn't care). Tami and I also talked a lot about certain experiences, and what not and a lot of the time the conversation would keep coming back Mr. Bungle. That's nothing out of the ordinary since we often talk about musicians, but, anyway...you'll see.

Anyway, next day= still sleep deprived. Think we stayed up till 3AM listening to Secret Chiefs 3. I was supposed to go home that day but Simone randomly ran into Trevor Dunn at a restaurant in Seattle. This is kismet cuz A) they know each other B) neither are from Seattle. Turns out he was playing a show with the Nels Cline Singers that night. So, of course I stayed an extra night (and hoped that adage about houseguests and dead fish wasn't true). How could I pass that up since I was in the city and all?

The concert (which was part of a Is This Jazz? Fest) was held on the 4th floor of this school/church type place. Very unassuming set up, like being in an elaborate looking high school gymnasium. We were told standing room only but the people let us sit at the very front, at the "stage" and on the floor.

The first band was a local Seattle experimental jazz trio called the Triptet, who were actually very cool. The fretless guitar, sax and drums were all it took to create a range of noises, plus tons of other rattly stuff as well.

After Triptet came the Nels Cline Singers. Now, Nels Cline is the guitarist in Wilco and for some reason Tami and I were mistaken for Wilco fans when we bought our tickets. That couldn't be further from the truth - like a lot of bands, I just couldn't get into Wilco. We were there for Trevor.

But Nels Cline was pretty amazing himself. Watching him work the crazy amount of pedals and effects he has was dizzying. He could make his guitar sound like a horn section and then back to a guitar in seconds flat. He wasn't boring to watch either - he kept his fingers flying at an alarming rate and his tall frame would occasionally rock the fuck out. Mad respect for this guy, he's a guitar genius.

Cline was joined for half of the performance by his wife Yuka Honda who was in charge of the keys. Honda has a very subtle stage presence, but it was a lot of fun to see the quiet, charming looks exchanged by her and her husband while performing.

The drummer was Scott Amendola, who puzzled me for most of the show because I couldn't quite place where I knew him from. I kept thinking Elvis Costello... Hardly Strictly Bluegrass... and kept seeing a photo of him, that I took, in my head. Well, turned out he was the drummer for that fest's Mondo Cane performance. No wonder! Anyway Amendola was brilliant. Jazz drumming is something else and even though on some more straightforward songs like the rocking "Thurston County" he could just drum up a storm, on other songs he was creating these effects that were startling and imaginative.

Then of course there was Trevor Dunn, who alternated between a full-bodied stand-up bass (which was bigger than he was) and a beat-up bass that looked straight out of his high school Mr. Bungle years, battered, with faded butterfly stickers and all. Dunn was a joy to watch, not only because of the sheer talent that flew out of those fingers and forearms but because he would get so caught up in the music. Whether he was exchanging magnetic looks with Cline and Amendola, or brow furrowed in concentration at his own flurry of work, he was definitely in the moment. I always knew that Dunn was a fantastic bass player, but to see what he could do live, while switching between both those instruments, was awe-inspiring. And unfortunately just made me jones for more Fantomas and Mr. Bungle lol....ah that bass line in "Dead Goon".

We hung around for a bit afterward and talked to Dunn who was really great - and what a cutie. Hard to believe he's in his forties, really. We talked a bit about Mad Love... apparently he didn't really make money on his last your with his band. In fact he lost money. I mean, come on people. If he's in your area and Mad Love is playing, go see the show. Support the artists you love, or at least the record labels you love! It was disturbing to hear how someone so talented was losing money because people weren't interested. What a sad state the US music industry is in... makes me mad.

That said, because he is going to South America with Umlaut and Secret Chiefs 3 in August, and is going to play a few shows in Europe (Portugal for sure) this summer with John Zorn, so at least he's entering a market that's more than willing to accept some avant-garde and brilliant music.

Anyway after our little chat we decided to head home. I know Tami and I were sleep-deprived, and Trevor looked kinda tired too. Though you can't tell from this picture...

Seriously. I'm 14 years younger and I somehow look older lol. He says in does that look in all photos now, so maybe I ought to start trying it, heh heh.

Anyway, it was a fabulously random weekend and I couldn't have had more gracious hosts. I didn't know when I left Vancouver that I'd be getting a chance to gab with Trevor Dunn and see him perform as well, and considering we were talking about before he kind of "materialized", made me think it was some sort of serendipity. Who knows? Life works in mysterious ways ;)

Wanderlusting's Top 10 of 2010

2010-12-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

I know Consequence of Sound (and many others) just did this (though they had 100 albums), but honestly I didn't listen to THAT much new music this year. I mean, I did, obviously as I have been reviewing shit, but not enough for me to recommend really more than 10-15 albums. Plus, you know I have my own musical inclinations which aren't usually included on most lists. I'm not much in the "indie" scene, I hate most pop music and my tastes can be loud and eclectic. But I digress...

Wanderlusting's Top 10 Albums of 2010

10. Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder

This was released this year, right? I feel like it's been slipping people's minds for some reason. Now, it's not the best Melvins album out there, but I find myself listening to it a lot more than Nude With Boots. It's still crunchy, greasy, distorted, grungey, sludgy, swampy, drowsy, angry, fuzzy and a slew of other adjectives. In other words, it's still classic Melvins but there's more of a cohesiveness to Murder. Maybe purists will say that this album is more "mainstream" or "poppy" than usual, but whatever. It works.

9. Kylie - Aphrodite

From Melvins to Kylie Minogue... yep. Hey, I'm allowed to have strange music tastes and I can't help it if Miss Minogue put out one terrific, catchy pop album this year. Of course, I do have a soft spot for her since I first was introduced to her back when I was traveling Australia in 2000-2001 but I can't deny that Aphrodite is pretty solid all the way through. As I said in my Consequence of Sound review, "Minogue isn’t about experimenting on Aphrodite, it’s about bringing back the club-primed beats and frisky phrasings that her fans expect from her and for the most part, it works beautifully." I recommend downloading the title track, "Aphrodite" - it's pure, infectious fun.

8. Bad Religion - Dissent of Man

Ah, my teenage love from 1996-2000. I saw Bad Religion a few times live, had all their albums, had their cross patch on my cargo pants. And though I would still listen to The Grey Race or Recipe for Hate, I hadn't really given Bad Religion all that much thought until I saw them live, again, at the Ilosaarirock Festival in Finland this past July. They were amazing. Just so much energy, and having been around for 30 years, you could tell how much they just love their music.

Naturally, my ears perked up when their new album, Dissent of Man, came up. I was fortunate enough to review it and you know, it's a great album. A lot of the time it does sound very classic BR. You know, quick drums, well-placed guitar solos, Greg Graffin's monotonous voice. But while some BR albums can sound a little too similar, this one had some nice changes, apparent in the songs "Cyanide" and "Wrong Way Kids." I think I'm going to go listen to it right now.

7. Massive Attack - Heligoland

This album was left off of a lot of people's lists, and I'm not sure why. It's pretty freaking good and definitely one of those moody, MA albums that take a while to grow on you. I guess releasing it as an EP first may have taken the wind out of the Heligoland's sails but I digress: it's rad.

"Babel", "Splitting the Atom", "Atlas Air", "Girl I Love You" - these songs all have the drive, the beat, the atmosphere, the sparse electronics that Massive Attack is known for. For a heartfelt change of pace, there is "Saturday Come Slow" which features Damon Albarn. Frankly, it's the best track on the album. Full of yearning, Albarn's raw vocals express the kind of hopeless pain that so many of us have felt. When he sings "Do you love me?" you want to answer yes, if not to just put him out of his gorgeous misery.

6. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Speaking of Damon Albarn, the Gorillaz released their hotly-anticipated follow-up to Demon Days. I was one of those people who was obsessively checking their website to see what song teaser trailers were being released so when it finally came out, I was listening to this album on repeat.

It's hard now to think back on what my original thoughts were. I know some songs confused me, such as "Glitter Freeze" which I thought was too annoying, and "On Melancholy Hill" which I thought was too cheesey. But now, I adore "Melancholy" (helps that I had a "moment" while hearing this live at Coachella... I felt so united to all my fellow concertgoers and no, I wasn't on drugs). There really isn't a bad track on this album; the few so-so songs become great with each listen and the great songs, such as "Empire Ants" and "Rhinestone Eyes" become stupendously awesome.

5. The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards

I don't like female-fronted rock bands. Fact. I just can't listen to them... maybe it has a lot to do with sugary vocals paired against hard music. It's too feminine to me and I just can't do it. Which might explain why I absolutely adore The Dead Weather and Allison Mosshart's gravely-voiced persona. Anyway, here's the excerpt I wrote for CoS when the album made #15 on the Top 100 of 2010 list:

The Dead Weather’s followup to their 2009 debut, Horehound, took Jack White and Allison Mosshart’s “Evil Twin” relationship and ramped it up a few notches. If they were a playful duo before, in Sea of Cowards they’re skirting the edges of madness together, egging each other on in a slinky showdown that’s dramatized by the album’s schizophrenic mix of blues, soul, and psychedelic rock. The album kicks off with the throbbing grooves and twang of “Blue Blood Blues”, while White sings “shake your hips like battleships”.

The album moves on to the dark and vibrating single “The Difference Between Us” and the disorienting thump of the psychotically-tinged “I’m Mad”, where Mosshart gets to show off her convincing cackle. The dizzying showdown culminates with the quickly rattled fuzz of “Jawbreaker” and the haunting “Old Mary”, a track that closes the album with a sense of unease and claustrophobia. At times during Cowards you can’t even tell which one of the two is singing (or yelping or snarling), which makes you wonder if they are indeed mirrors of each other or perhaps two people in one, battling to rise above the fury. If anyone walks away a winner though, it’s the listener, for having heard one of the most interesting and defiant rock albums of 2010.

4. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R Re-issue

Is this cheating? I don't think so. I reviewed it after all, albeit it was hard not to be extremely biased about one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands EVER. But aside from having delicious-sounding remastered classics such as "Better Living Through Chemistry" (can there be a better song?), "Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" and the rolling, rumbling "Tension Head", you get a second disc full of live tracks and B-sides.

The live tracks, “Regular John”, “Avon”. and “You Can’t Quit Me Baby” are all from their self-titled album and a welcome addition to anyone’s QOTSA collection. Also making a live appearance is the muscling “Millionaire” which would later become the first track on their next album Songs for the Deaf as “You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire”.

The B-sides are like Xmas - some juicy, "new" QOTSA tracks to sink your teeth into until their next album (in 2011): “Ode to Clarissa” is a rollicking, almost poppy beat with a “Yeah, yeah, yeah” chorus, pounding drums, and bassist Nick Oliveri on vocals. “You’re So Vague” is a clever spin on Carly Simon’s infamous song. It’s moody and dramatic with a strong build and stirring guitar riffs and reminiscent of darker QOTSA songs. It's sexy too - you might just take your pants off. ”Born to Hula” sounds like the quintessential QOTSA song – Josh Homme’s soothing voice carries the song over changing but always prominent drumming and wailing guitar solos.

There are covers too: “Never Say Never” is a cover of the 80’s post-punk band Romeo Void’s hit and definitely has that new wave feel as Homme sings “I might like you better if we slept together” over a bouncing bass beat. The Kinks’ 1965 hit “Who’ll Be the Next in Line” is also covered with a keyboard-backed California surf vibe.

This will tide me and other QOTSA fans till next year, and maybe win over some new ones.

3. Mini Mansions - Mini Mansions

I wanted to give this trio a 4.5 star rating when I reviewed the album but was shut down. I'm happy with the 4 stars it got, but the more I listen to this symphonic masterpiece, the more I wish that .5 had stuck. Whatever, what I am trying to say is that this album is awesome, and even more so as a debut.

Upon learning that I interviewed the band while I was in LA (here I am with Michael Shuman and Zach Dawes... you may recognize Shuman from being the bassist in that band I just wrote about in slot #4 ^^ QOTSA)

you might consider me biased. I'm not. I just really think this band is something special and deserves A LOT more attention. Here's a snippet of what I wrote in my song-by-song review:

Composed of Shuman and his longtime friends Tyler Parkford and Zach Dawes, the trio concocted here a winning mix of distortion, psychedelic modernism, and a dreamy shot of nostalgic pop music. The listener will immediately draw comparisons to the post-Revolver Beatles (you know, when they were doing drugs) or The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (you know, when they were doing drugs) but the flagrant personal touches of Mini Mansions keep the sound rooted firmly in the present. The album is meant to be listened to as a whole, a journey through sounds and memories, visuals and feelings. It’s experimental, as the best drugs are, but has enough familiarity to keep you grounded throughout the ride.

I don't know. Just go to Ipecac or Rekords Records and buy the thing. Let's help keep Mike Patton and Josh Homme producing awesome bands like Mini Mansions. You won't regret it.

2. Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Ah, my other high school love that competed for my attention when I was listening to Bad Religion. I was obsessed with Around The Fur when it came out in the mid-nineties, went to a few of their concerts as an underage rock chick, got sucked in a few moshpits and then went on to love the clean complexities of White Pony in 2000. Then something happened over the next ten years, I didn't even notice their self-titled or Saturday Night Wrist.

Then Diamond Eyes popped up and I was propelled back into my Deftones appreciation.

Here's what I wrote for their #22 position on CoS's Top 100 of 2010:

In 2008, the Deftones had been in the middle of writing Eros, their highly-anticipated follow-up to the underrated experimental album Saturday Night Wrist, when bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a tragic car accident. Eros was halted indefinitely while the band had the difficult decision of what to do next – disband in honor of the critically injured Cheng, or continue doing what they do best: making music.

The Deftones ended up soldiering on and recorded Diamond Eyes, and we’re glad they did. The result is one of the best rock albums of the year. From the crunchy, melodic waves of the opening title track and the angry, demanding ride of “Cmnd/Ctrl”, to the intense urgency of “Rocket Skates” and the beautifully written push and pull of “Risk”, there isn’t a weak track to be found. The haunting notes and Chino Moreno’s stirring vocals on the last track “This Place is Death” is the perfect closer to an emotional ride. This album is what the Deftones are all about. It may not be too brave in the sense of musical deviation, but the fact that the Deftones were able to put out such an undeniably solid album in the wake of tragedy shows the band’s braveness in a different way. Cheng would be proud.

1. Mike Patton - Mondo Cane

SURPRISE! I bet you didn't see this one coming in a million years.

OK, before you write this off, I've got to say that just because Mike Patton puts something out there, it doesn't mean I like it. In fact, I can probably name at least 5 projects of his that I've just said no way, can't do it, sorry (Adult Themes, Zorn, etc). That's OK. We have different tastes. I like weird... I'm a huge fan of General P and Patton/Kaada, but it doesn't mean I like everything.

Disclaimer aside: I love Mondo Cane.

It's gorgeously produced orchestral Italian pop music from the 50s/60s, sung in Italian by Mike Patton. It's just weird enough to be edgy, just heartfelt enough to be emotional, just loud enough to be Mike Patton. It's unique, different and beautiful. I really can't recommend it or sing it's praises enough so maybe I should just quote the Maestro and say it's for anyone "with a heart in their fucking chest."

That may or may not include you.

Top 5 Honorable Mentions:

The Slew - 100%
(Kid Koala + Ex-Wolfmother Rhythm Section = bluesy, rocky, turntabley awesome)

Guano Padano - Guano Padano
(Technically this came out last year but I think you guys should read my review here for this intriguing album by Mondo Cane's guitarist)

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
(catchy, dancey, I'm not ashamed to admit I like this)

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
(This made me stop hating Arcade Fire just a little bit. Still kinda hate them but this album is redeeming)

Alain Johannes - Spark
(Pretty much reviewing this as I write this. It's gorgeous and exquisite but painfully short)

Now, remember I haven't listened to THAT many new albums this year, so I'm probably excluding a lot or whatever, but this was the best of what I've heard this year and it's pretty much guaranteed that I listen to these albums at least once a month.

So, come now, YOU tell me what I'm missing!

There really is a Santa Claus

2010-12-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but there is definitely too much negativity during the holidays. From people online to out there on the roads to fighting in the stores, it's like every year people go just a little more crazy than usual. And on top of it, all this PC-ness is taking the fun and magic out of Xmas. So you can't say Merry Christmas anymore? Fuck that! I'll tell you all Merry Christmas (or Merry Critters, as above lol). And now it's "lame" for kids to believe in Santa Clause? No way... Santa is the coolest old fat dude ever.

So here's what I'm going to do. Because this year I've felt zero Xmas spirit at all (had a lot on my mind distracting me), I'm going to recall some times in my youth that I really, really was convinced Santa Claus was real. I mean, I knew. He was real.

The first one:

My mother used to be a flight attendant for Air Canada, was for about 20 years or so. Sometimes she had to work on Xmas so it would be my father taking care of us.

One Xmas eve she called as soon as the plane landed (wherever she was). She said she that while the plane was in the air, that the pilot announced to the passengers that Santa Claus was sighted off the side of the plane and if you looked out the window you could see him and the reindeer. My mom said she looked and it was true.

Minutes later, Santa himself actually walked down the aisle and handed out presents to everyone on board. How cool is that? (really, props to Air Can because that was true).

The second one:

Christmas Eve. I was about 7 or 8. Everyone was settled in the living room. We used to live in Point Grey in this really long, tall house that had at least 6 flights of stairs and a roofdeck.

We celebrate Xmas eve more than Xmas day because we are Scandinavian, so we had our good Scandy friends over. I remember everyone was together downstairs by the tree because suddenly someone (may have been my half brother) yelled "it's Santa!"

We looked just in time to see a blur of red rush up the dark staircase. It was someone all right.

Well we all got to our feet and ran after him, I was at the front with the other kids and we raced up those stairs, only one stairlength behind him the whole time. He ran all the way up to the roofdeck but by the time we got up there, there was no one there.

There were footprints in the snow, some even looked like hoofprints, but honestly, he was gone.

To this day, I really don't know what happened there. Where did he go (we checked everywhere) and who the hell was that person running through our house anyway?

By the time we made our way back downstairs, there were more presents under the tree.

Seemed like Santa might have been running interference for my parents ;0)

SO FOLKS: as I leave you with those stories on this soggy Christmas Eve, I ask you to leave a similar story below. Anytime you remember as a child where you really thought "wow Santa IS real?"

Oh, and MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :)

Faith No More in LA - Part Two

2010-12-18T15:20:00.000-08:00

Uuugh. So I woke Wednesday morning feeling extremely hungover. Actually, I felt loopy and fine (and I surprisingly looked good) at first but that's because I was still drunk. I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep after all.

My hungover state made for very slow movements the entire day (and a few EPIC brain farts, such as missing my invite to watch Faith No More SOUNDCHECK because I read a text wrong...I'll never live that one down - no really, don't ever bring it up).

On the plus side, I joined my friend T who was staying with her family at the gorgeous, infamous Chateau Marmont. I'd never been before and felt very much like a "lady" who lunches as we sipped mimosa's in the restaurant courtyard, ate their awesome fries and kept a sly look out for celebs and wheelers and dealers (saw Chris Cooper coming in, that was cool. Not as cool as drunk Keifer Sutherland I saw at the Roosevelt a few days before).

After that, I went back to my hotel and got ready for what was sure to be another long night. And by long, I mean awesome. How can it not be awesome? THIS WAS FAITH NO MORE'S LAST SHOW EVER!

I skipped out on any pre-beers with friends because I was still a bit shaky on my feet and didn't want the night to go in THAT direction again and went straight to the venue in time to see the opening band, Mariachi Los Toros. Yes, a mariachi band! And they were fantastic.

Next up was the band Red Kross who were also pretty cool. Lining up to get my pass earlier it sounded like a lot of people were on the guest list on behalf on that band - seemed like it was going to be quite a party afterward!

Strangely enough, this night of the show wasn't sold out and LiveNation was selling tickets for a (fairly insulting) price of $20 and if you paid extra you could get VIP access to the balcony. It explained why there were a lot of LA scenesters and porn stars in the VIP section - cheap tickets to some band they may have heard of once? Why not? But, you know, the strategy worked, the Palladium was freaking packed and the energy was incredible.

Anyway, show time! My friend and I ran downstairs and scuttled into the photo pit for possibly our last time ever shooting this *tear*

The band opened up with something new - Pills for Breakfast, an aggressively instrumental track off their first album. Sounded amazing and really made the pit experience special in my mind.

After the pit, we went back up to VIP to watch. First I tried beside the stage but it was too packed, and at the back of the crowd I couldn't see anything (damn my short legs) and even though the balcony was pretty packed too, I at least could see what was going on.

Hightlights:

* Rocking out to Cuckoo for Caca. There were two bimbos next to me, you know, total 'WOOO Girls', blonde, collagen lips, fake boobs, teeny tops, who obviously did not know the music at all and were trying to SEXY DANCE to Cuckoo for Caca. It was such a fail that I actually had to move my bangs across my eyes so I did not see them out of my peripheral vision.

This is Cuckoo for Caca...

You can imagine the hilarity in dirty dancing to this. And then I turned to the guy next to me who was clutching a poster like it was going to fly away and said, "Always the best song live, one of my favourites"

The guy looked at me as if I had two heads and then left the venue a few songs later. Yes, some people did not belong there and didn't get it.

Which was a shame because then he missed one of the best songs of the night, a cover of "Let's Just Kiss and Say Goodbye".

My goodness, people. If you were there, you know what this song means to us all. I mean, look at the lyrics:

It was their last show and, wow, it broke my heart. Patton, the whole band, performed it so well, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It's taken me three weeks to listen to it WITHOUT crying. And I failed. I just watched it again and cried.

Le sigh. Here it is:

After that emotional experience, my friend and I went down to the floor for the encores to get more "into it." My view was shoddy but the sound was a 100X better at the back and I really felt the REAL fans were here. It was a great choice and allowed us to experience the OUTSTANDING "This Town's Not Big Enough for the Both Of Us" - a song originally performed with the band SPARKS and this time, SPARKS came on stage for it.

It was SO DAMN GOOD! Check out this amazing video. One of my fav songs, so much fun and so well done (oh and old guitarist Dean Menta was on stage for this one too which made it extra special.... two keyboardists, two guitarists, two singers - DOUBLE THE FUN:

MIND BLOWING! Watching the above ^ makes me stupidly happy.

That was followed by Digging the Grave (with Menta, still, who has such an energetic stage personality he's just as magnetic to watch as Patton is), We Care a Lot and, finally Pristina. The last song on their last album, it's never been a favourite of mine but I'll admit it's a totally different animal live.

Of course, Patton just had to stage dive to this song (which really isn't a stage diving song) and attempted to sing the rest while crowd surfing on top of a fairly grabby crowd. They wouldn't let him go - to the point where he had to punch a few people in the head because they were grabbing his junk. Poor Patton - or, well, he DOES know what he's getting into.

Eventually he was returned to the stage and the concert just ended like that. I couldn't believe that was it... no one could. I guess in that respect it was kind of fitting.

BY THE WAY - my official concert review is here if you want a more in-depth look at the last two shows, plus setlist, more photos, etc. But come back when you're done reading!

While I took a few minutes to let that information sink in (this was my 6th time seeing them this year and ... it was over? FOREVER?), we went to the backstage area. My friend was meeting another friend so he told me to just stay put downstairs (party was upstairs in the VIP section).

He plunked me among three people. Jerry Cantrell (again), Dave Lombardo (um, wtf) and Danny Carey. Now, I'm not a big Tool fan (don't judge) so I didn't realize who Carey was but I do know he's one of the best drummers out there. Well, him and Dave Lombardo. What pleasant company to keep!

Again, a total fish-out-of-water experience for me. But I just started talking to Jerry again cuz well, why not, I was standing next to him and he looked bored. We talked about the show compared to the one from last night, how the crowd was better, all of that. This was his first (well 2nd counting the night before) time seeing FNM and he told a story how Alice in Chains were this close to seeing them in Portugal at a festival but they had to catch a ferry.

Then Dave Lombardo got involved in the conversation. I just let them talk, watching them while in the back of my head I was going "OMFG SLAYER AND ALICE IN CHAINS ARE JUST TALKING ABOUT FAITH NO MORE IN FRONT OF ME." And when the convo died, I couldn't NOT say anything so I said to Dave, "Hey I just wanted to know that I think you are awesome."

To which Jerry said, "he's a pretty good drummer too." Lols.

And whaddya know, he turned out to be the nicest man on the face of the planet. We talked about when Fantomas was in Vancouver, talked about which songs he liked playing live (Spider Baby, Rosemary's Baby and anything off of Director's Cut really which made me very happy) and what the new album was going to sound like (electronic overdubbing of his own drums by Patton, other stuff, themes, etc).

At one point though my friend came back, blew my cover "Don't talk to her Dave, she's a journalist!" but actually Dave became even more interested in what I "did", which was really cool. Even if he didn't care, he acted like he did with utmost sincerity.

Highlight: Dave pulled out his iPhone and said, "Here's a headline for you: Slayer gets nominated for a Grammy" - he showed me the email on his phone that he had just gotten from management informing the band (Slayer) that they got a nom for best song in the metal category.

Congratulations were all around from Jerry, Carey and others. Now I realize that AIC was nominated too but Jerry didn't mention that - guess he didn't want to steal Dave's thunder.

Anyway, I just think that was really cool. And soon it was time to go upstairs for the party.

It was PACKED. Various musicians (King Buzzo, Dean Menta, etc) wandering around with mere mortals such as myself.

And the band Flattbush was there, who are just the best. I interviewed them a few days earlier and honestly, just the best bunch of dudes ever. I was hoping I'd see them backstage so it was great to see them again. The interview might turn out to be a project of sorts that's really...cool.

Flattbush, Bill (they are on his label Koolarrow) and I

Then I saw my friend Andrew who snuck into the party, proudly toting his setlist. He had gotten photos with the band over the last few days, but not Patton. So I made a $5 bet that I could get his picture taken with him.

Oh boy. I took Andrew over there to see him, just as Dave Lombardo was approaching. So there was a nice ten minutes there were Dave and Mike were just talking about stuff (no, not about Fantomas though I got the impression they hadn't talked in a while), but anyway so we just waited for that. And there were other fans there wanting to talk to Mike too. I could see Andrew was pretty uneasy about it and I started thinking, you know, I'm getting that vibe from Patton, perhaps this isn't the best time.

But I had $5 riding on this thing.

Anyway, when there was a free second I tapped Mike and said "Hey, can I introduce you to my friend Andrew" to which Mike came him the once over and said, "This ugly fucker?"

OH MY GOODNESS. Andrew's face just fell. I laughed cuz it was pretty funny (Andrew is obviously not an ugly fucker) but you know, they have a saying about meeting your heroes...

Anyway, the rest of the conversation between Patton and Andrew went... um, well, it was enough that Andrew made a two-second video about it here. It's pretty much proceeded to happen (WATCH IT - FOR REALZ - HILARIOUS):

But hey we got the picture! What a charmer!

And I got my five bucks!

Ahhh, good times. Anyway, we hung around with Mike for a bit more (who wasn't actually in that bad of a mood, it just depended which fan boys were bugging him... because there was one he was like, "I hate him" - don't know who it was, but obviously getting your picture taken one million times in one night does not make for a happy Patton lols.

Then we decided to leave, found a bunch of people waiting outside (unlike the night before where there was NO ONE), including my friends who were braving the cold:

Then we went back to the W and proceeded to laugh about the night, talk and watch The Expendables.

Yup. That was how I ended the night of watching my favourite band for the last time ever. I watched the WORST MOVIE IN THE WORLD until 4AM. It was MST3K material but you know, I laughed the entire time so it wasn't quite a write-off.

And whenever I think of that movie, I'll think of Faith No More in Hollywood. Ain't that special? :P

Faith No More in LA - part one

2010-12-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

So, I've decided to start with the most epic night first and work my way backward. Believe me, I have many more Hollywood tales to tell - after all, I was there for pretty much a week and every day I did something fun...at least I would hope so since I averaged about 3 hours of sleep a night.

But anyway, have to start with the best:

Tuesday, November 30th. Woke up in my kitschy cool Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel Room - those of you who know my obsession with classic films and Jimmy Stewart will appreciate this.

Went for breakfast with my friends at the equally kitschy cool Cafe 101 downstairs. Talked about how excited we were for the show, what we've been doing over the past few days (I'll get to it!).

Lots of my friends went to go wait in line for the concert even though it was like 3PM and the doors were at 7PM. Normally, I would have joined them as I did at the Warfield. Nothing like being at the front barricade. But because I had my photo pass and would be in the photo pit for the first three songs, there was no point. I'd be sorta screwed out of a good spot afterward anyway.

So I went and met up with some other friends at the bar Dillons at Hollywood and Vine - some I hadn't met before, some it was a reunion... it was fun, and $3 Blue Moons can't steer you wrong... OR CAN THEY?

Anyhoo, after that I went to meet another friend of mine at the W hotel and had some more beers with him and his neat friends in the lobby. Then it was off to get my photo pass at the venue. So much excitement in the air! Then everything was extra exciting when I was given my all access working pass - Xmas came early!

After a quick jaunt to Baja Fresh for much needed food (hadn't been able to eat much all week due to nerves), we went into the venue through the back.

First things first though - I had to pee! And where was the nearest washroom? Why in the band's dressing room. There was no one in there so I figured, why not? And you know what? The rumours are true... there really were a shit ton of fluffy white towels all over the place. It was also pretty cool to see those suits hanging along the wall of the room, waiting to make their final appearance that night.

Anyway, after using FNM's loo, we made our way downstairs to the stage where we saw Bill watching the openers Creepy Creeps. We said our hellos, then decided to catch the opening action from the VIP balcony. More free beers thanks to my overly generous friends.

Then it was showtime - into the photo pit I went. By the time they played Everything's Ruined as their third song, I was in a tough dilemma whether to rock out or take photos... I did a bit of both.

After my three songs were up, I was faced with the new dilemma of where to watch the show. The crowd, though a bit lackluster, was swarming and I didn't feel like getting moshed on with all my equipment. And so, I had the chance to watch the band again from the side of the stage, just as I did in Finland.

This wasn't my first choice... you do feel a bit removed from this position, however the side stage at the Palladium is very open so I had a nice unfettered view of the band - really couldn't get any better than that. Plus, no one squishing into me.

Except Kirk Hammet of Metallica, Scot Ian of Anthrax, Matt Wallace (who produced The Real Thing, Angel Dust, among others) his sweet wife Melodie (perfect name, eh?), Danny Devito and Jerry Cantrell.

Yes, that was my company. Talk about feeling like a fish out of water! I actually texted my bf while I was standing next to Jerry. Now my bf does not get starstruck over ANYONE but he loves Alice in Chains and Jerry, so he texted back "OMG TELL HIM I LOVE HIM AND I LOVE HIS GUITAR TONE!"

Naturally I told Jerry this. He was very appreciative, a very nice man. Hasn't aged a day, looks great.

Also had a chance to talk to Matt's wife who promised to share me studio stories about the making of Angel Dust, how Faith No More reunited in her living room, how she's known Patton since he was a 21 year old punk... really cool stuff.

Then of course there was Danny Devito. He was standing next to me at the end. And I couldn't help but tell him how much I loved him in Ruthless People (shut up, it's a good film - Judge Reinhold!) and of course Romancing the Stone et all. He was nice though I was probably distracting him from the concert. Then I said "So can't wait to see Always Sunny in Philadelphia at Coachella" and he said, "Yup, we'll be there."

There's a scoop for ya! Though I thought their appearance was pretty much guaranteed.

More memories from side stage... watching everyone wave their arms for "Just a Man" and being absolutely floored by Patton's performance of "This Guys in Love With You."

Oh, I did manage to take this cellphone photo*...

Then the show was over - party time! We waited for the band to be ready (waiting with Metallica, Anthrax, Alice in Chains.. kind of surreal...I'm not gonna lie) and piled into the little back room they had for the friends and family. This was a fairly small event which was cool. I remember seeing all of Bill's family there which was neat - his brother is super nice and I was like, "well you've got to be Bill's brother." Looks exactly like him.

Funny moment - I was reaching for chips and dips just as Puffy was. I said hello and was about to say "Remember me" when Puffy said (in that utterly sly way of his) "I remember you! You tried to get our lead singer drunk."

PHffff. Where did he get that impression from?

Oh right. Well, I didn't force him to drink the stuff.

Anyway, from this point in I had more beer and my memory gets a little spotty. But here's what I do remember: I remember talking to my friends who were also backstage with passes, I remember talking to Tim about this and that, Finland, our crafty friend Svetlana, I know I was discussing something interesting with Patton (when I wasn't standing with my back to him for most of the night - yeah, I don't know what was wrong with me). And yes... he remembered me. This time.

We were all backstage for a very long time... in fact my friend and I were the last to leave with Patton and Tim and we walked back to the hotel together. I totally thought a crowd of people would have been waiting outside for Mike when we left but no one was there, which was kind of strange. So, back to the hotel...that's when the crew thought it would be a good idea to get the hotel to open the bar... even though it was almost 4AM. THANKFULLY the hotel had the sense to not open the bar at that hour for a group of drunk rockstars (and a drunk rock journalist). That would have been chaos.

It was late anyway... I was walked home back to my hotel at about 5AM. An epic** night.

*I know this post is lacking in photos - would you believe I just didn't take any? Even though I had several cameras on me lol. I guess you could say I was soaking it all in, which isn't a bad thing, but it turns out... I really should have taken some photos, just to remember the little things. Oh well. My friend did take photos... me backstage talking to people (Patton, maybe, I don't know), and I know there's a photo of me on the side stage with Jerry Cantrell. But I think the photos are being held for ransom ;P

I did take some pictures the last night though... and that post is coming up soon.

**need to stop using this word.

PS Did I mention I finished writing the sequel to my book while I was in Palm Springs (right before I left for LA)? 92,000 words baby! I'm a super proud parent... can't believe I've written TWO books in the course of one year... that's nutty! Maybe I'm not the epic** procrastinator I thought I was. Nah...

It's a zoo in here

2010-12-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

I can't even begin to express what happened to me over the last week, let alone the last THREE weeks so... I'm not going to. Yet. I need time to digest it, reflect, compress, and then share... at least SOME of it.

In the meantime, I can fill you in where that last pic was taken: The Living Desert Park in Palm Desert. I go every chance I get (went to Palm Springs twice already this year but missed it), and this time my telephoto lens came along for the ride :)

Oh and I got new boots!

More to come soon, PROMISE.

DESERTED

2010-11-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

I'm alive, in the desert somewhere. As you can see, Norman is with me too. I don't have much internet contact here so I really do feel deserted but anyway... updates to come this Saturday, from Los Angeles.

Cheers everyone xx00

Norman The Bear

2010-11-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

When I was a child, I didn't really have a special "blanket" that I carried around, nor did I have a certain stuffed animal that I had to have with me everywhere. Sure, I had them but nothing I formed a real "bond" with. Maybe I was just a kid without many emotional attachments, I don't know...

I did have many imaginary horses, though. Ah yes, I wonder if good ol' Jeopardy would come by and say hello if I asked. Best imaginary horse ever!

Anyway, about four years ago for my birthday, my boyfriend surprised me with some roses and a stuffed bear (among other stuff). I wouldn't even call him a teddy bear, he's much too real for that. But he was the cutest thing ever and I was instantly in love with NORMAN (my bf's middle name ha ha).

Since then, Norman has become the closest thing I have to a dog or a child. Now I don't want the latter but I wouldn't mind the former. I cuddle with him when I'm alone, my boyfriend often puts Norman in compromising positions for me to stumble upon (like, in the shower?) and he's a fabulous traveling companion. He's one of those pillow type animals, so you can flop him around and fold him and he makes the perfect pillow for plane and car rides.

Anyway, I was contemplating bringing Norman on my upcoming road trip to Palm Springs when I realized he had been before. This bear has gone everywhere. My boyfriend was OK with the idea, though he warned me to not lose him: "I would just feel bad" - funny how you can feel bad for a stuffed animal, but that's Norman!

Sometimes he tries to steal me away from my bf...

But they get along the rest of the time

He also embraces our newest member, Muk Muk

Norman has gone everywhere, here he is in Palm Springs with my old dog Ellie

Here he is at the cabin

On the way to Seattle...

Going to Disneyland!

Getting a last minute hug from Mike before I leave for Finland

At my cousin's in Helsinki

With his Finnish/Canadian bear friend in Finland

Let's not forget Hawaii!

Here's to many more adventures with NORMAN THE BEAR!

Halloween, Giveaway Winner + Reader Surprise!!

2010-11-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween! I know I did - spent the Friday photographing/reviewing the beachy indie band Best Coast, then jetted off to a friend's Halloween Party - all while in my costume. Saturday I had a party myself, and Sunday was low-key with lots of scary movies.

I was Meg Griffin, my bf was Ash from Evil Dead. It's probably the ugliest I've ever looked for Halloween, but definitely the funniest. Hearing people to tell me "Shut up Meg!" and the laughs from random strangers was hilarious and SO worth it.

This is keeping with our TV/Movie/celeb character theme that we've done over the last few years:

Leela and Zapp from Futurama, last year (just looking back at those costumes, holy HELL was that a lot of hard work to make those!):

Selene from Underworld and Robert Downey Jr's Character from Tropic Thunder:

Lindsay Funke from Arrested Development and Ferris Bueller:

Phoenix from X-Men:

And Peggy Bundy, The Bride from Kill Bill and Cinderella round up some of the rest :)

OKAY! On to the good stuff. The winner of the giveaway, those awesome earrings courtesy of Net-a-Porter and DESIGNER APPAREL

Selected by random.org, the winner is:

DINA'S DAYS!!! Congrats!! Email me for the details!!

BUT don't fret if you didn't win, I've got a special treat for you.

LuLus (www.Lulus.com) is one of my favourite shopping sites (their shoe selection is to die from) and from now until November 12th, you can get 15% off anything in the store simply by entering the promo code: ANYWHERE. It is case sensitive, valid for customers in the US, Canada and the UK and is a one use per customer coupon. The coupon is for 15% off the
total purchase and is a site wide discount.

Hope this gets your weekend off to a great start!! :)

NET A PORTER EARRINGS GIVEAWAY

2010-10-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

I'd like to say I haven't been blogging because I've been busy. Well, I guess that's kind of true. I've been writing a lot of my book (sequel) and am now over 60,000 words. Feels about 70% done which is awesome sauce. Really loving the way things are going.

Been doing my usual writing for CoS too. Got to interview Liz Phair the other week which was sweet. She was just the nicest, coolest woman ever and I wished I could have hung out with her all day. We bonded over our love of ASOS... how cool is that? Interview should be published on the website soon :) She doesn't look 43 either, she's just one fab yummy mummy.

Other than that I've been preparing to get a job (my EI runs out in December), started a exercise and healthy eating routine (which started with a two-week detox) and am looking forward to an epic trip next month (my last hurrah before employment): road trip with my parents from Vancouver > Yakima > Boise > Salt Lake City > Laughlin > Palm Springs. Then I head to LA after Palm Springs to see Faith No More at the end of November. Twice. Happy times ahead.

OH and getting Halloween all ready, of course. I'm being Meg Griffin (not sexy, but it will sure be funny!), my boyfriend is going as Ash from Evil Dead and we're having a party :)

So I haven't been too much into the whole fashion focus, which happens, but I did bite the bullet and finally order that jacket I wanted from Modcloth.

Seriously, this jacket is AMAZING! It arrived a little wrinkled, but other than that, the cut is to die for, the fake leather is SO realistic you'd never know and it just goes with everything. I couldn't be happier with it!

In keeping with this fashion focus, I present to you an awesome new giveaway courtesy of DesignerApparel.com. I've done a giveaway through them before and they are AWESOME. Their website has gotten a new, sleek face lift too and you can find any labels from Cole Haan and Adrianna Papell, to smaller brands like Joan Vass . Also, they have an exclusive sale items only sister site MyPerfectSale.com for all the savvy shoppers out there - or just broke, unemployed people like me, lol. You can also sign up to receive e-mail alerts the moment your favorite designers’ items go on sale.

Designer Apparel's retail partners include Neiman Marcus, Shopbop, Bloomingdales, Bluefly, Zappos, Net-A-Porter, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Nordstrom.

This giveaway is through their partnership with Net-A-Porter - these Giles & Brother's sterling silver wishbone earrings make a playful everyday accent. Wear these delicate charms to give any outfit a fun finish. For pierced ears. Retail price $65.

Contest is open to North American readers. All you have to do is leave a comment below :) Contest will run for 10 days and the winner is drawn at random.

Tweets for this contest will get you additional entries, just make sure you @ reply WanderlustingKH on Twitter so that I know and can make a note of it.

Good luck!!!

A Week In + Necklace Review

2010-10-12T17:15:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I don't think I have a lot to blog about... then I realize what I've been doing for the past few weeks and suddenly it's overwhelming. I have a HELL of a lot to blog about. So, in order to keep it fresh, I'm going to keep it short, and then on to the necklace review thanks to mynamenecklace.com :)

Thursday

My CoS article - interview with Bill Gould posted. Reached the far corners of the world in a surprising amount of time. FIRST WRITTEN US INTERVIEW IN 12 YEARS AND IT WENT TO ME! That is still... wow, blows me away. So happy :)

If you haven't read it yet, PLEASE do, it's very insightful (whether you like Faith No More or not) and it means a lot to me. Very important stuff, OK?

Here is the screenshot of the main page

You can read the article BY CLICKING HERE.

Later Thursday

I went to the Alice and Chains, Deftones, Mastodon concert. Missed Mastodon, but heard they were rad. Thought Deftones was awesome but not as long as their headlining set I saw in Spokane back in August. Still, good show and we got Passenger, which wasn't on the Spokane set.

Alice in Chains totally won me over. I grew up with them in the 90's, my bro listened to them a lot, but I never really liked Layne's voice. RIP. Now William DuVall, I did like... thought he was a great, energetic, humble addition to the band. And the sound was incendiary. Just wow. PS pictures suck because I didn't have my big camera... wasn't reviewing the show for once.

Saturday

Met up with my friend Jen, whom I hadn't seen in ages, at this bar in Chinatown called Keefers. Really cool place, Duck Sliders for $8 and interesting apothocary cocktails - she had one which was lime, rosemary and gin and it was fabulous.

Then we went to the Japandroids/Ladyhawk show at the Rickshaw that I was reviewing. Was really awesome to see so much enthusiastic support for this band (especially with a hockey game going on) - gives me hope for the music scene here! Oh and rad show too, the Japandroids are two very loud, very cool dudes.

Sunday

Thanksgiving. Enough said.

Monday

Scored free tickets to the Canucks game!

Rockin' the team colours!

Back to GM Place... I mean, Rogers Arena we go! Never had better seats in my life before. Totally awesome, and we won too :)

Mascot Fin banging on the glass

Fin looking evil

Last but not least, my necklace review!

www.Mynamenecklace.com was nice enough to send me a necklace of my choice. You can choose different fonts, sizes, lengths, colours and any words you want. Normally you choose your name, but I didn't want one of those types of necklaces (my name is silly).

So I picked the name of a song that is dear to me - RICOCHET - it also has double meaning. All hate ricochets right off me, along the lines of "I'm rubber and you're glue" :)

It's a great necklace too, doesn't aggravate my metal allergies in anyway and is very lightweight. I rarely take it off (truth) and it came in a wonderful box. And is very affordable! Recommend! Go check 'em out and take a look HERE.

They'll go perfectly with my earrings I got back in July (thanks Kira!) lol.

Fall Wish List

2010-10-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

Summer is gone. And I'm OK with that... mainly because October really is one of my favourite months of the year. I know I say this every October, so you all know that lol, but still. Halloween, moody atmosphere, storms, scary movies... awesome clothes.

I'm not buying much, if anything, this year because of my budget. But I did manage to buy the perfect pair of boots while I was in San Francisco. They were exactly what I have been looking for.... low, sliver wedge. Camel colour. Knee high. Wide at the top. Almond toe. Real leather. Comfy... and just $129! (you can't get a better deal for real leather than that) It's Steven available at Nordstrom and they came in a bunch of other colours.

If I had a bunch of money though, I would be spending my moolah on the following:

How sleek and stylish is this Modcloth coat? And not too expensive for a coat $70

Seriously considering getting this one, also from Modcloth. Been looking for a fitted black jacket for some time and I love the collar.

I heart these Jeffrey Campbell Ericson boots and all the colours they come in. But I can't deal with the price of $179 (especially when I have plane tickets that will cost the same!) Maybe one day I'll randomly get them.

These Gojane boots are much more doable... $30!

This ring by Low Luv x Erin Wasson is an affordable way to add some zip (though I'm not sure if I would spend $60 on a ring. I'm picky like that. Unless it's something special like diamonds, you know? Not that those are that cheap lol).

Loving these copperish earrings too - so Day of the Dead!by Bing Bang.

A grey bag. Been wanting one for a while and just haven't gone for it. This one by Antik Batik is too expensive for me, but it's hard to find a real leather bag for cheap. Meh. I'll keep my eyes open :)

And finally, these snazzy form-fitting dresses from Modcloth. They would all probably end up being those "ride up my legs when I walk" type deals, but maybe if I could just stand around in them...

This post is supported by My Jewelry Box's diamond promise rings. If anyone wants to buy me one, I'd be OK with that :P

Greetings From .....

2010-10-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

EDIT: I wrote this last week... too lazy to change the tense ;P

Right, so I'm in San Francisco. Covering the Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass Festival... main focus, Mondo Cane. And hanging with friends. Actually I'm probably more excited about the epicness that will be Sunday night's show because I will be with some pretty fucking rad people.

Already I am blown away by the peeps I am renting a house with - they rock! The house is this tall, yellow, typical San Fran house in the Haight area, actually very close to Haight and Ashbury.

It's dope and we like to call it the Mondo Cane Party House, except at the moment most of our partying has been taking place outside of the house.

I flew in by myself on Wednesday and spent the day dicking around the city center and what not. Stayed at a most awesome hotel (Des Artes) with the most awesome, fitting hotel room:

Next day I interviewed one of my heroes, Bill Gould, the bassist and brainchild behind Faith No More. How amazing was this? The coolest guy (which I already knew), good food on Haight St (he paid, what a gentleman) and a really intriguing 2 hour lunch - You can read the article HERE :)

Afterwards I met up with my housemates, went out for Pho at a noodle bar, also in Haight, it was huge:

We went out for a few drinks in the Mission area at Benders (Bill wrote me a guide to San Fran and recommended this bar), saw a the most hilarious, ironic hipster speech at this impromptu sit-in outside the BART station. It was like open mic-night:

Next morning we walked to Golden Gate Park to see MC Hammer... haha it was awesome.

Here I am doing my Hammertime impression:

Then my BF showed up and we went to Humphrey Slocombe's famous ice cream shop for it's million flavours. I had schezeuan strawberry, Mike had Jesus Juice (coke and wine) and Helen had olive oil. Seriously subtle and tasty:

Then we continued our culinary escapade through the Mission district to the tiny Pirate Cat Radio Cafe... a radio station/coffee shop that serves... BACON MAPLE LATTES! If you like bacon (and who doesn't), you'll love this. Smokey, sweet... mmmm bacon fat infused steamed milk with maple syrup and bacon bits. DROOL! Heart attack in a cup!

We went past the Mission Delores, the scene of Carlotta Valdes's grave in my favourite movie, Vertigo:

Next up, acting like dorks in front of the Painted Ladies... cue "Full House" theme song:

Sign says "This is NOT Full House!"

Then a jaunt around Little Italy or North Beach for some appies and drinks:

Followed by the organic, tiny, extremely popular Mexican restaurant (part of Bill's recommendation) Nopalitos. Worth the two hour wait for a table (we busied ourself at an Ethiopian bar):

After that, we were pretty tired but we managed to meet Bill for drinks at a few Lower Haight bars. Joining him was a familiar face, Marc, the guy who interviewed me after The Warfield show. I was surprised he remembered me! Really cool dude, great stories and some pretty funny moments.

He snapped this cute pic of us and sent it to me :)

What a great start to San Fran, right? Well, the next day I ended up having my iPhone stolen. Yeah.... sucks big time. I can't ever have a trip where nothing goes wrong, can I? LOL oh well, good times regardless and Thank God I have brilliant friends who are lifesavers in these situations. So... all is well that ends well!

Mike Patton's Mondo Cane in SF

2010-10-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to be a timely journalist here and my written review WILL be out tomorrow at www.consequenceofsound.com, but in the meantime, how about some photos of this wonderful, historic event?

I should also mention that I went to San Francisco over the weekend, but I'm sure you got that already ;) It was an amazing epic weekend, as my trips usually are. I got to interview Bill Gould for CoS (fan-fucking-tastic), met up with some great people, watched Mondo Cane with Bill and Neil Hamburger (it felt like the Warfield all over again... sorta haha) and once again, get wrapped up with the magical air that is a Mondo Cane concert. It was brilliant... just... brilliant. I think San Francisco was blown away.

As most of you know, Mondo Cane played with ex-Mr.Bungle Trey Spruance on guitar, a young 12-piece string section and composer Daniel Luppi. The set wasn't as long as it was in Poland (naturally) but Patton seemed to be super relaxed and psycho happy and the crowd (and venue) was just wonderful. Ahhhhh... what a night.

I'll be back with more San Fran details and stories on Wednesday.. AND a givewaway!

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Seven

2010-09-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

The END!

Wooot, it was kind of challenging to blog everyday, but kind of fun at the same time. Helps that I took a week-long break from Twitter and had all this extra time - Twitter = giant time suck (but I'll be back, bien sur :)

For my last outfit, I went for an ice-blue and brown combo. I know the combo is pretty "90's" and maybe that's why I like it, but it also proved that the dress wasn't just for summer. Brown + pastels = Fall. Actually, brown is just an awesome colour for this season.

The jacket is fairly new, I bought it on the way to cover the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle - seems I neglected to bring a jacket to Seattle (yeah, I'm a dumbass) and I swung into the mall at the last minute. Came in handy too, as the third day of the festival was Rain City. But more on that experience later this week....

I wore this outfit to see Tom Green and Neil Hamburger at The Vogue Theatre. You can read my review here: http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/09/26/tom-green-gets-vancouver-high-with-laughter-924/ . Seems all of Granville St was in goofy mode for the Global Comedy Fest, with giant whoopie cushions and .... chickens.

Hamburger and Green were hilarious, and we were invited to the after party for some beers. Good times!

Jacket: Wet Seal; Dress: ASOS; Boots: Bata; Bag: Mango MNG

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Six

2010-09-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

I call this my "Santa Fe" look - maybe because I'm currently writing a book set in New Mexico (btw, I'm at 25,000 words already woot!), or maybe because the Modcloth dress was actually called "The Santa Fe Dress." Either way, I always thought it would pair perfectly with my vintage leather jacket, and it does.

Leather jacket: Vintage; Belt: Vintage; Bag: Vintage; Boots; Vintage; Turqouise necklace: Vintage.... dress by Modcloth :P

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Five

2010-09-24T15:53:00.001-07:00

WOW.

Five days of posting EVERY DAY is pretty epic. For me, anyway. But here I am, still plugging away.

I wore my infamous aqua jacket (you know the one that was marked down from $1080 to like $20 cuz it's "discoloured") on a beautiful September day. Went out for drinks with my friend Odette, sat in the burning sunshine and said good bye to what was probably the last nice day of the year. Le sigh.

Good news though, I finally was able to take some photos by this mural that's around the corner from my apartment. Even better news... I kind of match! Pastels FTW.

Jacket: Liliu; Silk tank: F21; Skirt: Catherine Malandrino; Bag: Mango MNG; Belt: ASOS; Sandals: Kelsi Dagger.

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Four

2010-09-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

So back to the concept of skirts and dresses riding up when you walk. It happened to me AGAIN the other day. I wore a dress that I normally wear tights with and within minutes I was reminded of WHY. The dress got to obscene leg/crotch-flaunting levels really quickly. And what was worse was that I was on my way to a job fair and couldn't go home and change! So I basically held down one side of my dress with my hand for my 1/2 hour walk. Awkward! Luckily when I stood still, the dress went back down to more modest levels. Maybe I just need to stop being such a prude...

Anyway, Job Fair was a huge waste of time and money ($5 to get in, which I guess isn't much). But there were barely any companies, most were just telling people to apply online anyway so what was the point, and there were a lot of schools trying to suck you in. You know what? I have so much education it's not even funny... I'm not sure more education and more debt is the solution here in the waning job market.

I managed to hand in one resume to a travel agent and that was it. Everything else was just a rouse of sorts. I did want to apply at Labbatt but, go figure, the line-up was 30 people deep haha.

I'm considering other options though, such as going back to the headhunters who got me my last job. I'm also thinking of applying to be a new Canadian Host for MTV. I think that would be pretty sweet... especially with all my work in the music business.

That said, I don't have much on camera experience, aside from a few acting lessons.

I HAVE done on camera interviews with Kirk Shaw of the now-defunct Insight Film Studios...

And of course, WHO can forget what happened with David Copperfield? If you've been a reader of this blog for a long time, then you know very well. Of course, I was on the receiving end of the camera that time but still... (if you don't know, you can read about it here and here. I'm stupidly proud of the ridiculouness :D).

On to the jacket!

Pleather jacket: F21; Dress: F21; Bag: F21; Boots: ASOS

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Three

2010-09-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

It's hard taking photos everyday... with the waning daylight hours and my growing aversion to the self-timer, I'm running out of places to take them. Also, running out of poses to do lol.

I love this jacket though it's a tad on the big side. I got it last year from Ebay... it was sold as "real leather" but I honestly can't tell... well, if it's a good fake, then it's a good fake.

I paired it with something floufy and feminine, just so I don't look like a total 80's punk from Birmingham or something. The boots hadn't been worn until this point.... I wasn't able to get my foot into them because the zipper is non-functional and selling them on Ebay would have yielded nothing. So what did I do? I did what I usually do and took scissors to them. Scissors always fix the problem. I cut a few inches above the zipper and now the opening is large enough to put my feet in them.

I'd totally wear this out somewhere cool...

Like this Friday - did you know Tom Green will be in Vancouver, with none other than Neil Hamburger? I'm looking forward to this show like nothing else. Neil is a hoot and Tom is Canadian hero... I remember watching his show on Much Music back in the 90's (before it got picked up by MTV). Good times!

If anyone wants to join me, his World Stand Up Comedy Tour is playing
Friday Sep. 24th

The Vogue Theatre

918 Granville St.

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1L2

And you can get your tickets at: www.tomgreen.com/tour

I'm officially part of his street team.. you should join me. Beerz with Tom!

Jacket: vintage (leather?); Skirt: H&M; Flower top: unknown; Necklace: F21; Boots: Zigi NY

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Two

2010-09-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Continuing on with my week of "must maximize my leather and pleather jacket collection" I decided my pink leather Piazza Sempione jacket would go beautifully with soft, muted tones. It's funny how when you start wearing stuff you don't normally wear, you pair with other stuff that also gets overlooked. Case in point: I had never worn either tank top or skirt before.

Later I realized I probably won't wear the skirt again because it rises up like a bitch when you walk. Le sigh.

Leather jacket: Piazza Sempione; Skirt: Forever 21; Top: Only Hearts; Bag: thrifted; Patent boots: Loeffler Randall

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day One

2010-09-20T15:41:00.001-07:00

It's that time of the year again when we start putting away our easy, breezy Summer clothes and start piling on the layers. As much as I hate to see Summer go though, I do like the fact that I can start wearing light jackets again. And going through my closet the other day, I realized I have a hell of a lot of leather and pleather jackets.

As such, I'm going to wear a new leather/pleather jacket each day for the next seven days. Yep, that means I'll be posting every day - and at the end of the week, I'll have a nice big giveaway in store for my readers, what do you say?

Here's the starting point: my tan pleather jacket I picked up from Target in April. I decided to pair it with some gorgeous Fall coulours.

Jacket: Target; Skirt + Top: Forever 21; Necklace: ASOS; Booties: BC Footwear; Belt: Vintage; Bag: Mango MNG

Trying to find a necklace to wear for this outfit made me realize how badly my jewelry collections is really lacking for Autumn outfits. Sure, I've got lots of feathery and ethnic stuff that works for Summer, but what about Fall? I've definitely got to get myself a new gold bracelet or two, I seem to have too many wooden bangles, and maybe get some kind of necklace in jewel tones?

I dunno, do any of you switch up your jewelry when the seasons change?

Bohemian Island Rhapsody

2010-09-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend of August. A chill wind had swept Salt Spring Island but I still thought a Fiesta-type dress would take me from the vineyards to the mountain tops.

Dress: Blue Plate; Jacket: swap find; Sandals: Union Bay; Purse: Mango; Flamingo necklace: ASOS

I Twitter 24/7. Come poke fun at me at www.twitter.com/wanderlustingkh

Shorts + Sunsets

2010-09-10T15:59:00.001-07:00

A lot of "firsts" happened last Friday.

I coloured my brows in thicker:

I wore shorts for the first time*:

Shorts: F21; Bag: Vintage; Sandals: Union Bay; Top: Topshop; Fab feather earrings: ASOS

And I saw the most amazing sunset ever, from my roof, no less:

I had a lot of firsts that weekend as I covered The Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle all by my lonesome. I'll be recapping all the hi-jinx in my next post, but in the meantime, you can read about the music I saw HERE.

How are you all anyway? Comments have been low here and that's my fault, I don't get around as much and I am not blogging as much but that should change. PLEASE drop me a line and say hello! :) ALSO I might do a MODCLOTH giveaway - who would be down for that?

*I hate shorts. They are not made for my body. I had a pair of cut-off shorts I wore in Mexico in my teen years. I wore a pair of shorts on the beach in New Zealand. But never in public and never out to dinner. But, I did it. And I might do it again before the weather gets colder!

Hello Seattle - I'm listening

2010-09-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

I'm off to cover the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle tomorrow. Yep. Kind of a big deal... considering I have to do it all by myself and there is a shitload of good bands to see. Hopefully I'll have some interviews lined up as well.

It's three days of Labour Day Weekend mayhem located in the city's Seattle Center downtown, near McCall Hall (where I saw Conan O'Brien's RAD show CLICKY CLICK HERE), Space Needle, Key Arena, etc.

I'm planning on catching these bands:
Bob Dylan (cuz, why not)
Weezer
Hole
Bouncing Souls
Meat Puppets
The Decemberists
Edward Sharpe and the Magentic Zeroes
The Decemberists
Crash Kings
Mary J Blige
and a bunch of others I've never heard of

and catching up with Baroness, of course.

Anyway, follow me @Wanderlustingkh and @Coslive for my live tweets and reports! And I'll be sure to be blogging when I can :) even about... FASHION *gasp*

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the last time I was in Seattle - the day after I arrived off the plane from Finland. Pardon me if I look jetlagged.

It was a hot weekend, I was happy to be reunited with my sweetie and we went to Sunday's show of the Capital Hill Block Party where we caught The Dead Weather playing. They were quite good live - I'm really digging Sea of Cowards for reasons I don't know - but the setting, a literal BLOCK PARTY, was a bit awkward. The view of the stage wasn't very good - unless you were up on a roof OR climbed up a telephone pole like one dude did :P

View from our Post Alley Irish Bar

Ah, Magners Cider... still had the cider bug I caught in Finland :P

Dress: Mango; Purse: Vintage from Finland; Shoes: Union Bay

This band was just featured on www.consequenceofsound.com !

Back of the stage - The Dead Weather.. literally a party on a sectioned off block

Front of the stage - Allison Mosshart

Views from bar rooftops...

...and from telephone poles

Reunited and it feels so good

Lolz. Bomb the music industry. Oh, Seattle.

Salt Spring Island Polaroid Diary

2010-09-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Days two and three on Salt Spring Island I decided to capture with the help of my iPhone's Hipstamatic app for some low-key retro-ish prints. As most of you know, I try and go every year on the boat and have been going for 28 years... it is my second home in a weird way. So I figured, might as well capture it differently than usual...

A venture cross island to Fulford Harbour

Playground fun

Lavender at a winery

Garry Oaks Winery - mid island

Yummy tastings

Ever-present sheep

And orchards

View of Vancouver Island from Mount Maxwell

Winery way down below

Forest snake

Sunset deer walks

Mug of wine is a deer walk requirement

They do cross near the signs!

Dusk on the water

Relaxing in the old Yacht Club Club House after dark

My mom on the boat

Taking the zodiac to the creepy lagoon

Taking the motor up because of the creepy, close bottom

Rowing past hidden ledges of starfish

Dead trees

Taking the small ferry home

Ferry Party in Active Pass

Loading off the ferry in Tsawwassen, coming home

Greek Goddess of Thunder

2010-08-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't done outfit photos in a while, so I've kind of lost my touch. But I will be doing more of them, I promise, for you strange people out there who think I have style of some sort :P

I never got to wear this dress this summer and even though the days are rapidly growing shorter, and it feels a lot cooler to boot, I thought I would get one last Grecian hurrah out of it. Later, a thunderstorm came to visit - brought on by my goddess powers?

Dress: Rachel Pally; Sandals: GoJane; Bracelets: F21; Leather bag and belt: thrifted in Finland

Yeah, speaking of the end, Starbucks has their Pumpkin Spice Lattes out and I don't even want to THINK about it. End of summmer... don't even wanna talk about it. I hold on to summer for as long as and dearly as I can but once I realize it's over, I embrace fall heartily. The changing leaves, the sunshine, the crisp nights, Halloween, boots... boots.... more boots.

Of course you have to plan for rain too - especially in Vancouver and especially as Fall turns into winter. So, why not do up your rainboots fashionably? I've got a coupon code here for 10% off at Plueys - they have a lot of rad, unusual rainboots. I like THIS one because it's not too precious.

www.plueys.com - enter "Karinalovesplueys" at checkout for 10%. This applies to US and Canuck purchases only and ends October 25th :)

Photo Blogged: Cannon Beach, Oregon

2010-08-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yep. Another lazy "I'm on the boat right now so I can't blog" scheduled post. I think I do have internet access but anyway, thought I would get this out of the way. Looking back over this year... all the way to Decemeber!... there are many journey's, days, adventures I haven't blogged about yet. It's getting hard to catch up!

Anyway, I believe this is the final Oregon one... um, for now. Lot's of pretty pictures of Ecola State Park and Cannon Beach. These were taken at the end of June on our anniversary trip (similar to the post about Portland's market I did a few days ago CLICKY CLICK HERE), so it was a bit chilly by the ocean. But ah, so worth it.

BTW that lighthouse you see off in the distance? That actually features quite prominently in my book, so it was really something to actually BE where my characters have been.

BTW - tribal sandals: Lucky; lobster necklace: Modcloth; bag: mango; utility pants ($9!): Victorias Secret = do I look like hot dog condiments or what?

BTW - do you follow me on Twitter? You should! Why? Well...just do it = Wanderlustingkh