That Reena Girl

• Um, who is this again?

12-28-11

Stay True: An Ode to My Favorite Band

I just found out Thursday has broken up. It happened over a month ago? How did I not know? It happened over Thanksgiving, that’s how. Black Friday work had consumed my life.  Maybe it was better I didn’t find out then, when my stress level was at a seasonal high. But here I am, home alone, reflecting. High school me is really upset. Present day me is just so so bummed. I figured the best way to deal is to write an ode to my favorite band.

I first heard Thursday in Ryan O’Malley’s car. It was junior year and the song was “Standing on the Edge of Summer”. He had Full Collapse on mini disc and we were in his Honda Prelude. I didn’t know what band it was, but the words “pull your punches and burn with your cigarettes” and I looked them up online later. Shortly thereafter, a friend of mine, Gregg Poirier made me a mix with “Concealer” on it. Realizing it was the same band – Geoff Rickly’s voice was easy to recognize—I went to Newbury Comics and bought Full Collapse.

Full Collapse is one of the top 5 albums that changed my life.

It had the energy. It had the lyrics. It had the emotion. It was everything I could want in an album. Remember, I was a teenager then. I was struggling; being straightedge, listening to the music I did, dressing how I did (band shirt, jeans, chucks; that was my uniform), having black hair that always covered one eye made me an outsider in my small hometown. Almost every single time I wore my Thursday t-shirt to school (at least once a week), someone would make the stupid joke “Uh, don’t you know it’s <insert any other weekday here>?” Yeah, that never got old.

I even found a way to incorporate Thursday into a piece my theater class did in honor of September 11^th. I used the opening from “Autobiography of a Nation” and the end of “I Am the Killer” as the bookends. I’m not kidding, I really did. It was performed at a school wide assembly when classes resumed.

I saw Thursday every chance I got, despite the fact that I didn’t drive. And every time, they were amazing. I’m still in awe of Geoff Rickly’s microphone swinging skills (“think it’s gonna rain, rain down…”). Thursday is one of the only bands I will still go into the crowd for, pointing at key lines, bouncing off of other fans. I saw them with Thrice. I saw them with Fairweather. I’ve seen them with Underoath, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, etc. You better believe I was at the Full Collapse 10 Year Anniversary tour. The only show of theirs I missed was the one with Boy Sets Fire and I still regret it. I saw them in Worcester. I saw them in Boston. I saw them at a skate park in Rye, NH. I’m pretty sure I saw them in Providence, RI too. And I’ve seen them here in San Diego, CA.

This is me 10 years ago. Seriously.

Fun fact: When I started college at Northeastern, people knew me as “The Girl in the Thursday Shirt” before they knew my name.

Sophomore year of college, War All the Time came out. I went to Newbury Comics and bought it alone with Coheed and Cambria’s In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth. This was my go to album for the walk to class for months. I think I only swapped it out for Murder By Death’s Who Will Survive… That album still resonates with me. I still listen to “For the Workforce, Drowning” when I have a bad day at work.

I should also point out that between War All the Time and A City by the Light Divided, my ex-boyfriend stole my Thursday hoodie. I’m still mad about it.

Then Thursday and I parted ways for a while. I didn’t really get into A City by the Light Divided. I started to come around with their split with Envy and Common Existence. But really, No Devolution made me fall in love with them all over again. But I’ll leave it there because – spoiler alert – that’s my top album of 2011 and that post is on the way. So for now…

RIP Thursday.

To see my list/listen to my favorite Thursday songs, check out my playlist on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/w2XApS

12-16-11

Nerd University: Why Geeks Should Gravitate towards NBC’s “Community”

It has become a well-known fact that NBC’s show Community may be verge of cancellation or at least on hiatus until further notice (though, there has been some good news). As a fan of the show, I’m having a hard time figuring out why people aren’t watching it. With nerd culture becoming pop culture, this show should be a geek favorite. Here are my top 5 reasons while nerds need to get on the Greendale train:

1. Abed: From his ridiculous pop culture knowledge base to his Alien costume to his new favorite show “Inspector Spacetime” (which is their version of Dr. Who) this guy is the ultimate nerd and I wish he was on my trivia team. Oh and let’s not forget about the blanket fort he built with his BFF Troy (Donald Glover). I’d put Abed up against any of the guys on Big Bang Theory. Plus Danny Pudi was in Comic Con 2011 fav The Knights of Badassdom.
2. Hot ladies: Let’s be honest here; saying Annie (Allison Brie) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) are  easy on the eyes is a massive understatement.
3. The Dungeons and Dragons episode: You read that right. They did en entire episode where the gang plays D + D and it was pretty awesome. The paintball episode “Modern Warfare” was also epic.
4. Guest stars galore! This includes Sawyer from LOST, Omar from The Wire, and Betty White.
5. They did a Claymation episode… entitled “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”. Sure beats the California Raisins special they used to air every Christmas in the early 90s.

So seriously, get on your On Demand cable or on the interwebs and help save Greendale!

If you’re already a Community fan, leave your favorite episodes/show moments in the comments.

08-23-11

Earthquakapocalypse 2011: The Best Reactions

There was an earthquake in the United States and NOT in California today. A magnitude 5.9 quake hit the Washington DC area and the Twitterverse pretty much exploded.

Being born and raised on the east coast and now living on the west coast, I expected more from my friends in the east. How appropriate; it apparently takes an earthquake to shake up New Yorkers, Bostonians and the like. I’m seriously considering calling my mom and saying “Oh my God Mom! Are you OK? I heard about the disaster!” like she does to me every time she sees something on the news about Southern California.

But with any ridiculous overreaction comes humor. Here are the funniest earthquake reactions I’ve seen on Twitter today:

@ditzkoff

That was no earthquake, kids. That was God himself shaking his head at the Will and Jada news

@DRUNKHULK

SORRY EAST COAST! DRUNK HULK JUST FIND OUT THEY GO FINISH SEX AND CITY TRILOGY!

@kevinquinn 

Today would have been a bad day to have laser eye surgery. #earthquake

@kristina__g 

Damn… images of the earthquake in DC… bit.ly/pNevem

(Seriously, click the link)

@80miles

These hilarious quake tweets ought to be called “laughter shocks!”

@hodgman

This guy in the cafe and I agree that we liked the earthquake when it first started. But now it’s like, the wrong people are into it.

@TimDuffy 

My favorite part was when we stopped working for a few minutes to talk about the earthquake. #nostalgia

@darthvader 

I just felt a tremor in the Force. No wait, that was an earthquake.

###

Got any others? Please leave them in the comments. Let’s forever remember this day as the day the East Coast lost its edge.

07-13-11

Everything is Amazing and Nobody’s Happy: The Netflix Edition

There is a gross sense of entitlement in this country that really aggravates me. Our current first world problem is that DVD and Web streaming service Netflix increased their prices. THE HORROR!

First of all, they only raised prices on the combination plans that include both DVDs and streaming. You can still have the $9/month rate if you choose one or the other. While the combo plans now start at a whopping $16/month, an apparent 60% increase, the backlash it is generating is just plain silly. $16 a month for hundreds, maybe thousands of movies and TV shows? Really? You’re going to complain and freak out about that?

Am I wealthy? No. Do I have boatloads of college loan debt? Yep. Can I afford $16 a month for Netflix? Yeah, I can.

Let’s put it into perspective: My first job was at Blockbuster Video. To rent a single movie it was about $4 (and I’m rounding down here). So if your month movie budget was $16 a month, you could rent 4 movies, or one a week if you wanted to evenly break it up. Now that’s just the movie rental. This does not include gas to get there or, heaven forbid you returned you movie late, late fees. Movies were either rented for 2 days for new releases or 5 days for older titles so you didn’t even get the entire week to watch it.

Netflix single handedly killed the video store business. Now movies either arrive in your mailbox or on your computer. You pay a standard monthly fee and can keep your DVDs as long as you want without any late charges. And we’re spoiled by it. There have been articles and blog posts saying “Oh Netflix doesn’t need the money, their just being selfish!”. Well just because profits are up, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t raise prices. Do you think it’s cheap to license all those titles? To build a cloud based system (with a super back up in case that fails) so your service is always available?

Part of the reason is to drive more customers away from DVDs and to the streaming service. In my opinion, this makes sense. Mailing DVDs is expensive. DVDs get damaged and have to be replaced and Netflix has to stock multiple copies of popular titles.

Even now, you can’t even purchase a single, non special edition DVD for less than $5. And how much do you pay for cable? I’m willing to bet it is a lot more than you pay for Netflix and that’s without any movie channels like HBO.

We just want it all. We want to pay less than $10/month for movies we could ever watch in a lifetime, delivered the second we want them AND delivered to our doorstep. We don’t appreciate how convenient Netflix has made movie viewing or how cheap. I leave you with this clip from Louis CK that I always watch during times like this:

06-23-11

Trendwatch: Bigfoot?

First it was vampires. Then came the zombie craze. But the real creature that seems to be all over the place lately is the legendary Bigfoot.

Maybe it’s because the supernatural is totally in right now. Maybe it’s because of its worldwide appeal since many countries around the world have their own Bigfoot-like mysteries. Either way, I’ve been hearing a lot about it lately.

The Huffington Post recently reported that researchers in California might have DNA evidence that proves the existence of Bigfoots.  But that’s not the only Sasquatch related new lately.

Animal Planet is currently airing a show called “Finding Bigfoot” about The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), who travel the country examining sightings and searching for evidence to prove the existence. Some members of the group have dedicated decades to searching the forests of America for the elusive beast. Armed with the latest technology like thermal imaging and night vision cameras, recording devices, etc they travel from state to state, meeting with locals and checking the area out for themselves. They have quite a knowledge base of Sasquatch…or as the experts say, Squatch …facts. For instance, I did not know:

• Bigfoots are nocturnal.
• Bigfoots like to travel along power lines.
• When Bigfoots run, it is graceful and smooth as if they’re floating on air, despite their immense size.
• Bigfoots communicate with a series of howls, screams and growls (that the researchers often imitate).

I was half expecting their leader, Matt Moneymaker (no, really that’s his name) to say that Squatches love cinnamon but they hate pepper. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if there was a “Harry and the Hendersons” remake in the works.

Really hoping the Loch Ness Monster is next.  Fingers crossed!

04-11-11

Red Sox-Yankees Rivalry plays out in New Era ad

I’ve seen it posted and reposted multiple times in the last few days — the New Era ad featuring Alec Baldwin and The Office’s John Krasinski talking smack over their favorite baseball teams, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox respectively. But as a Sox fan, I just don’t find it all that special. Yes, I love any trash talk regarding the Evil Empire, but as someone who has lived and breathed it, it just seems weak. I understand that it is an ad and that there is only so much you can say on TV, but it still seems a little too…polite.

I was there in 2004. Even when I think about it now, I get a little choked up — one of, not THE greatest post-season series in the history of sports. Coming back from being 3 games down against our most hated rival and ending “the curse” still brings a tear to my eye. I remember when that final out was thrown in ACLS, ending the Yankees’ season and sending the Sox to the World Series for the first time in 86 years.  I rushed out of my dorm room with my fellow students as we all ran to Fenway, celebrating in the streets of Beantown.

So trust me, I’m well versed in Yankees trash talk. You don’t know how close I was to buying a t-shirt that read, “A-Rod is an A-hole”.

Anyway, I had no idea John Krasinski was a Red Sox fan. Maybe the ad would have resonated with me more if had been Ben Affleck or Matt Damon, actors who are famously from Boston. Was Mark Wahlberg not available? Conan O’Brien on vacation? I just found it to be a weird choice, especially since there is a campaign attached to it where you vote for Team Baldwin or Team Krasinski.

If Jim from The Office truly is a Sox fan, more power to him. I just think Yankee hating sounds better with less r’s.

In closing, JETAH SUCKS and GO SOX!

03-23-11

Midweek Awesomeness

Taking a break from my not-so-short articles on SXSW, zombies, and puppets, I wanted to share a couple things I came across this week. Both are amazing to me in totally different ways.

Yesterday, thanks to Mashable, I discovered the following video. The incredibly talented Nick Pitera is not only a YouTube singing sensation but also a Pixar animator. This dude is LEGIT.

From the lighthearted to the heavyhearted. Out the tragedy and devastation in Japan, comes the story of Hideaki Akaiwa (pictured below). Akaiwa, a resident of Ishinomaki in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture, was one of the thousands of people who lost everything in the earthquake-tsunami one-two punch Japan was dealt a couple weeks ago. But that didn’t stop this man from throwing on SCUBA gear and searching his submerged home for his missing wife. I’m completely serious. Keep in mind, the water is still rushing in. There parts of houses and cars being dragged by the surge, and there is pretty much no visibility and this guy is swimming through it to find his wife of 20 years.

That wasn’t even the end of the story. Badass of the Week does a pretty epic job of retelling this tale of heroism so for the rest of it, click here.

03-08-11

The Zombie (Media) Apocalypse is here!

This fall, the living dead will be invading your TV. Consider yourself warned.

Fresh off the success of the first season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, other networks are looking to cash in on the gory phenomenon. Are zombies the new vampires?!

The CW, who has successfully done the “vampire thing” with it’s hit show Vampire Diaries, is looking for the next big pop culture trend to exploit. I mean, explore.  Currently in development, The Awakening takes place during a zombie apocalypse. Two sisters, whose back-story has not been released (probably because it isn’t even written yet), will square off during the turmoil. And the latest news from the scene is that the aforementioned sisters have already been cast.

When I first heard the CW was taking on one of my favorite horror icons, I was concerned. But then again, the CW (back in their WB days) also brought us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so the undead is really familiar territory for them. And Vampire Diaries has actually surpassed my expectations. They include as much gore as I think you can show on network TV before 11pm. It’s no True Blood, but it is a thousand times better than Twilight (queue the backlash).

Even NBC is getting involved. Their new show is entitled Zombies vs. Vampires brings in both ends of the living dead spectrum. However, in researching the plot for the show, I was sort of disturbed by the description; a “fun buddy cop procedural.” Apparently, within the police department, there is a special unit dedicated to “zombie crime”. The team is led by the aforementioned “buddy cop” duo, one who is secretly a vampire <insert lame joke about working the night shift here>. Another interesting tidbit about this particular version of the zombie apocalypse is that zombie-ism is controllable by medication and they are able to be part of society.

I don’t know how I feel about this show. The premise seems fun and campy, like Shaun of the Dead, but it could horribly, horribly wrong. I also wonder how detailed the zombies can be on NBC.  I’m fairly confident they will be nowhere near was decayed, decomposed, and terrifying as the ones on Walking Dead. If you have seen the Halloween episode of Community, I’m guessing it might be more along those lines. If that’s the case, it will be pretty tragic.

Pilot air dates have yet to be released but I am still turning my zombie loving attention to The Walking Dead, as long as they get their writer situation squared away. For those of you with your doubts after season one, let me explain. Season one corresponded with volume 1, issues 1-6.  Since Robert Kirkman was not sure the series would be picked up, he rushed through quite a bit and the first volume was thin, which is why there was a lot of added material in the show. However, fans of the comics know that the story really picks up after that. I’m up to volume 4 and I’m really hoping they stay true to the source material. If they do, viewers are in for a thrilling treat.

Which zombie themed show are you looking most forward to?