Ah, The Irony...

So, as I was driving home tonight and trying to avoid all the trick-or-treaters, the irony of today's holiday struck me. This is the one holiday that gets people, especially kids, out and walking, actually doing exercise. And the irony: they're doing it for candy.

One Day to Go!

Well, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts in approximately 10 1/2 hours. This will be my third year, and hopefully another successful year. I've managed to reach the 50,000 word goal the last two years, and plan to do the same this year. I'm too competitive not to!

Have spent the last hour trying to work on some notes, flesh out some ideas, answer some questions. I do have a story in mind. It's one I've been playing with for months now, but haven't really managed to get any of it down on paper. So, am starting at page one and seeing where I end up.

On the plus side, I have the general framework, the main characters, and basic sequence of events. On the down side, my characters could still use some personality, and I still have a lot of questions as to why they have allowed themselves to get into certain situations. I just keep asking the question "Why?" and just end up with more questions "Why?" But, I'm not going to stress. I'm just going to let it play itself out.

Day 1 (tomorrow) should be ok. I have a good idea of what I need to accomplish with Chapter 1 and where I need it to lead. The plan is to get an early start. I'm going to try and write in the mornings this time around. I don't think I can sustain the 11pm-3am writing sessions that I've been prone to in the past. So, I'm hoping to become a morning person. Yeah, I'm just as curious to see how well that one is going to go over!

So, fingers crossed that I will come out of the next 30-days with 50,000, somewhat-usable, words!

Oh, other goals for this month: to blog my daily progress (yeah, I'm also curious to see how well that one goes!) and to cut back on the time I waste visiting various non-writing, non-productive internet sites/forums (okay, so that one is SOOO not going to happen!).

Interpol @ The Forum

Saw Interpol at the Forum last Tuesday. My second time seeing them live. Saw them at Coachella in April. They are a great live band. Their vocals and playing hold up well. I hate going to concerts and discovering that a(n) artist/band doesn't hold up live. I don't want to find out that I should really be crediting the studio engineers for my favorite artist's sound.

Anyways, Interpol was great. They did a good mix of older stuff and newer material. The only song I wished they'd done was "Take You on a Cruise." But they did everything else so I'm happy.

Can't say much for their opening act--The Liars. They weren't bad. Just couldn't get into them. A little distracted by the fact that the lead singer's facial structure very much resembles Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. Actually, his whole persona was very Steven Tyler.

This was my first time back in the Forum in probably 20 years (back when the Lakers & Kings still played there). Nice to see it's going for a nostalgic look--the bathrooms clearly haven't been touched since everyone moved over to Staples, and I see they've kept some of the purple & gold color scheme?!?! Had never been there for a concert before. Can't say I'd really want to go back. It wasn't bad, but the acoustics weren't great (not that any arena is ever really good), and it felt more like being in a high school gym. Also, parking is a rip off. Twenty-two dollars! Seriously!?!?! But they know you have no other option given that it's Inglewood and most people, like myself, value their personal safety and don't want to even attempt street parking in that area.

Obsessed...

Just discovered the song "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" on Snow Patrol's Eyes Open album. (Kind of amusing since I've had the album for almost a year.*) Was looking for some solo stuff by Lisa Hannigan who used to sing with Damien Rice and found a video on YouTube of her singing Martha Wainwright's part of this song on Snow Patrol's recent tour. And now I am obsessed. Love this song. I will concede it has one flaw. The ending feels abrupt. I see the beauty of such a compact song, but I'd love to hear it with a bridge and another run of the chorus before trailing off. Maybe I just really want it to keep going.

*I blame this on iTunes, and album downloads in general. I download a bunch of songs or albums at the same time and then a song or an album gets lost in the shuffle and just becomes background/white noise when I listen to it the first time along with all the others. Luckily, I have moments like this where all of a sudden I'll stumble, wander back to a song that's been hiding there all along.

Saw this on a t-shirt:

Let's talk about music. Can we do that? -- Maybe rock, maybe roll. Your music, my music + their music. Whatever you're hearing you have to admit it's in your ears always + sometimes it's in your soul, sometimes it's punching you in the back bone and makin' it hard for you to breath. Take a breath. A deep one. I want to talk about music.


--Love this

Impermanence

I never thought about it before, but there is an intrinsic impermanence to LA.

I like this word: impermanence. I don't know why.

LA's Detour Festival

Second (hopefully, annual) Detour Festival was Saturday in downtown LA. Went last year and had a great time, so decided to check it out again. Heard that 25,000 tickets were on sale; doubting that many people were there (which was nice).

Found some new acts to further investigate (Shout Out Louds, Noisettes). Finally got to check out Autolux and Teddybears live. Autolux probably would be better in a small theatre venue, but still liked. Had to see the Teddybears finally. Had a scheduling conflict at Coachella this year so missed their set (but did, literally, run into one of the Bears near the merchandise tent at Coachella). They were fun. Also saw Bloc Party for the second time. Saw them at Coachella in 2006 and was (unfortunately) underwhelmed. Love their albums, but wasn't impressed then. So, was a little wary this time around. But happy to say they were much better Saturday night.

I'm so glad that Detour returned for a second year. LA needs a high quality music festival, and this is definitely it. Also, it's great that it's downtown and not on the Westside or in Hollywood. Downtown needs some love.

Okay, now the negative (nothing major, but little nitpicks):
--First, way too many teens!!! I was seriously feeling old! And why did they all seem to have a fondness for 80s fashion? There is no need to bring that decade back!

--Second, would it kill the organizers to mark the stages in some way. A map that says "City Hall South/East/West" or "Stage 1/2/3" doesn't help if the stages aren't marked. Yes, I did eventually remember to think Disney Hall is east, mountains are north, so this must be "City Hall East" stage. But still, I had two different people come up and ask me which stage was which, so I wasn't alone.

--Third, a little disappointed that they moved the site a block north and blocked access to the CalTrans building. Losing the CalTrans building was unfortunate since last year it was a great place to sit and eat or hang out. Besides, it's a cool building that should be a centerpiece of the day.

--Fourth, the loss of St. Vibiana's. Admittedly, as a former Catholic school girl, I was a little weirded out to walk into St. Vibiana's last year to find a rave going on. Seemed a little sacrilegious. But still, once the Catholic guilt subsided, it was really kind of cool.

--Fifth, how many people really needed press passes? While I was waiting for the Autolux set I counted at least 15 people go to the front of the stage with a press pass and a camera. It seemed like EVERY other person had a press pass and a professional camera. Do we really need that much documentation?