3 posts tagged “m.i.a.”
after a two year hiatus, we were back. and i had an awesome-good time.
seriously. i'm tired, though. i just woke up from a two hour nap. haha! TWO HOURS. dude. and i have no idea where my child and husband are. haha! they must've gone for a walk. or to the pool. it's a hot day out there today, yo.
this year we decided we'd take it easy. usually we're out of the house by 12 getting to the venue around 2. getting in no later than 3. what with mia and my dad and sis babysitting and stuff we just decided we'd take our time and we'd get there when we got there...
12:30PM - we pick my dad up.
1:00 - he proceeds to wake mia up. (fine, dad. it's your funeral. she's gonna be super cranky all day! heh.)
1:30 - we pick katie up.
2:00 - we hit some traffic. oh, hey, look, there's a little brushfire. and lots of firefighters. oh, you just KNOW that there was some douche who threw a cigarette out their window. i mean, COME ON. it's HOT. it's the DESERT. are you RETARDED? *rolls eyes* people are SO dumb.
3:00 - hit my parents' home. my dad mentioned something about going to costco. oh, why the heck not? we're in no rush.
3:30 - home, unpacked, and ready to hit coachella. wait. but i'm starving... not sure if i can make it to the food courts at coachella without getting hangry.
3:35 - decide to eat at Thai Smile. a thai place SUPER close to my parents' place that we like.
4:30 - after a delicious meal, back in the car to get to coachella. (apparently, the locals call it coachellafest. because there's an actual town called coachella. and apparently, it's not a good area. or something. whatever. the rest of the world just calls it coachella. so suck it, locals.)
5:00 - car's parked. but it's gonna take us at least 15 minutes to walk to the entrance. WHAT? i have short legs and it's kinduva big ass lot. luckily, we're not parked too far away.
5:15 - at security. she glances at my stuff and lets us through.
5:30 - walk in and check out the merch. sometime around here LE and i were texting about meeting up. i'm not sure when. i could check my text log, but i am too lazy for that.
5:45 - look for LE and her booooyfriend. realize cafe tacvba (or cafe tacUba. heh.) is on. huzzah! have i mentioned that i love rock en espanol? i'm not joking. i do. i have NO idea what they're saying. but 99% of the time they make me wanna dance.
6ish - meet up with LE and boy. chat a little. boy says something about how MGMT was so awesome, he could go home now. heh. we meet up with one of steve's friends (thank god for texting. how else would we ever ever ever meet up with people when there are like tens of thousands of people on a HUGE FIELD?) and we head over to one of the tents to see Hot Chip.
after this, the time's basically a blur. we hung out in the tent for a while, steve's friend didn't even stay for Hot Chip. they came on a little late and he had other things he wanted to check out. LE and boy stayed for a few. and we stayed for maybe another song or two.
then we walked around, checked out some of their freaky art installations. saw some freak show, went to a bunch of the other places to go shopping, check out video games, whatevah. i'll be honest, this coachella for me was actually less about the music. in the past, steve and i have gone hopping from stage to stage to tent to tent fitting in as much good music as possible. but this time i just wanted to relax and enjoy myself. so we did!
oooh, and they had a SingStar tent up. guess who ROCKED the mic? hehehe. that's right. ME. hehe. i got SingStar (the highest rank) and i basically totally ruled. ;P steve sang with me (since i picked duran duran's rio and he can rock those 80's songs like nobody's business). he was SO close to getting SingStar. i kicked everyone's asses. i was all competitive. haha! we got drink tickets for kicking ass. unfortunately, no one takes those drink tickets. oh well. i guess it's the thought that counts? heh.
hrm... what else... oh, we caught part of M.I.A. she was rockin' it, of course. she must feel good. just a few years ago she was in a smaller tent in the heat of the day and now she's in the biggest tent and in a pretty sweet nighttime slot. and there were just people POURING out of that tent. we just saw her in november so we just stayed for a few songs and left.
we hung out just a little more, traded in our empty bottles for free water! (why is it that free water tastes the best? hehe) and checked out the food court. oddly enough i wasn't hungry yet. and it was 9ish. on second thought, we should've just picked up some food even though i wasn't hungry because the next two sets were PORTISHEAD and PRINCE and i knew we wouldn't leave those sets for food... but i digress.
we met up with steve's friend at one of the freaky art installations and headed over to portishead. right when we hit the crowd everyone started screaming and cheering. beth gibbons had hit the stage. that woman is a goddess. she doesn't have much in the stage presence arena. HOWEVER, they sounded amazing. and her voice is beautiful and haunting. i'm fairly certain that while recording albums in the studio, she could probably lay down a track in one take. the portishead fans were pretty chill. we were able to secure a fairly good spot in the middle of the crowd where i had a great view of the screen.
my favorite song that she played was Wandering Star. OH MY GOSH. i totally got chills... it was just her and a guitar.
and dude, he totally played with a needle nosed plier. interesting.
if you love portishead, just do a search on youtube for portishead + coachella and you'll be able to find a bunch of their songs. SO worth it. i loved every minute of their set.
portishead and prince are two of the best concerts i've gone to. and i got to see them back to back. they were so different. beth gibbons doesn't interact with the crowd at ALL. she just sings. she might've said one or two things (along the lines of "good evening" and "thank you").
but prince sure knows how to rile up a crowd. he can get 50,000 people to get up and move. after portishead got off the stage, people started pushing to get closer to the stage. i get claustrophobic, but i figured i'd just go with it. i ended up getting stuck next to a nice kid. he said they'd been camping since thursday. holy cow. 5 days out in the desert heat would be enough to drive anyone crazy. young kids just have more stamina than i do. heh. i've done 2 days before, but i don't think i could do all 3. ufff.
ANYWAY, PRINCE! he was supposed to be on at 10:45. at 10:30 steve said something about it not happening. (i can't remember his exact words but he said something like, "mr. prince doesn't start when the set time says he should start. he starts when he FEELS like starting." haha!) i figured he'd be a little late, but i was afraid the set would get cut short because everything's supposed to be done by midnight. 10:45 hits and nothing. every minute is just DRAGGING. around 11:05 or 11:10 or so PRINCE comes on. and morris day and jerome are there doing Jungle Love and The Bird. and the crowd is chaos. and i'm dancing like a fool. heh. and he brings out Sheila E! and she performed The Glamorous Life and continued to back him up for a bit. and he played just a ton of stuff... little red corvette, controversy, cream, purple rain, let's go crazy, 1999, that's just a sampling. he was jamming away on his guitar... holy crap does he put on a good show. during one of his encores (or what i THOUGHT was an encore... heh.) he covered Radiohead's Creep. i don't even think Radiohead plays that at their own concerts. all i know is that it was awesome with a little extra Prince flair. heh.
oh my gosh, around 11:50 or so i start getting nervous because they're usually pretty anal about the midnight quit-time. so i showed my phone to steve and he knew i was nervous about them cutting the set short and he says as a bookend remark to prince's start time, "prince also ends when prince feels like ending." haha! i love steve. he makes me laugh so hard.
prince played for just about TWO HOURS. yes. a two-hour set by prince. we left around 1:00ish. i just had the best time. funny that the most opposite music can be playing back-to-back... that's one of the things i love about coachella. they have a pretty eclectic selection of music. and it's always a good time.
prince definitely knows how to work the crowd, but honestly, i can't get portishead's performance out of my head. we didn't check out much music this time around, but seeing prince and portishead more than made up for the $90 ticket price.
and in a new twist, we didn't have much trouble getting out of the parking lot due to some fancy maneuvering by steve. unfortunately i was starving and the ONLY place open was jack in the box. and there was a line about 5 cars deep. i didn't feel like waiting so we just went back to my parents and foraged for food there. and then i showered and stuff and then we peeked into the room where we were gonna sleep and mia's sleeping on the floor there and she looked so darn cute!
apparently, she was quite naughty and didn't go to bed until 10:30PM! it's cuz my dad's got a soft heart. mia would cry and say, "why do i go sleep?" (or something to that effect. basically, asking him why does she have to go to sleep.) and my dad just couldn't stand it so he kept going in to get her. thank god katie was there with him. hehe... and of course mia wakes up at 6:30 this morning. *grunt* hehe. poor thing. she woke up kinda confused, looking around, like, "where AM i?!" and then when she and i made eye contact she cried. i think it was a cry of relief. heh. poor thing.
i'm kinda glad we hit coachella on the late-ish side this year... it was nice not having to worry about the heat as much. and not having to use the portapotties. hehe... anyway, it was a fun weekend... tiring, but fun. and i think i'm babysitting mia's friend tomorrow... so i need to get rested up tonight!
*side note... dude, this post took almost 2 hours to finish! i kept getting interrupted! MAKE YOUR OWN DINNER, LITTLE GIRL! hehe. oh. also, they went to the pool. even though it was evening and steve kept her in the shade, she still got a tan. it's those quarter mexican genes, i think. hehehe.*
*EDIT - check out el bicho's recaps on each day. better than my recap...
day one
day two
day three
all my lists will have to be alphabetized. i just can't put them in an order...
.:BEST MOVIES:.
300
Futurama: Bender's Big Score
Grindhouse
Knocked Up
Paprika [technically out in 2006, but i think those were just film fest dates]
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie
Superbad
.:Biggest Guilty Pleasures:.
DOA: Dead or Alive
Shoot 'Em Up
.:Biggest Disappointment:.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
.:Out in 2006, but I just had to mention them:.
Air Guitar Nation
Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Idiocracy
The Last King of Scotland
The Prestige
.:BEST TELEVISION:.
30 Rock
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Battlestar Galactica
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dexter
Doctor Who
LOST
The Office
South Park
The Tudors
.:BEST
KIDS' TELEVISION:.
[and this is based on what dvds will give me enough
time to take a shower or clean the house while my child sits
saucer-eyed in front of the tv. hehe.]
The Backyardigans
Hello Kitty: Stump Village
Higglytown Heroes
The Koala Brothers
Wonder Pets!
.:Biggest Guilty Pleasures:.
Dirt
Survivor
Yamada Taro Monogatari
.:BEST MUSIC:.
Bjork: Volta
Blonde Redhead: 23
Crowded House: Time on Earth
Erasure: Light at the End of the World
Krafty Kuts: Fabriclive.34
LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
M.I.A.: Kala
Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
Radiohead: In Rainbows
White Stripes: Icky Thump
.:Honorable Mention:.
Air: Pocket Symphony
Daft Punk: Alive 2007
Duran Duran: Red Carpet Massacre
El-P: I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Stanton Warriors: The Remixes
.:BEST COMICS:.
Ex Machina [Brian K. Vaughan]
Fables [Bill Willingham]
Girls [The Luna Brothers]
Hatter M [Frank Beddor]
Jack of Fables [Bill Willingham]
Mouse Guard [David Petersen]
The Nightly News [Jonathan Hickman]
Runaways [Brian K. Vaughan]
Usagi Yojimbo [Stan Sakai]
Y: The Last Man [Brian K. Vaughan]
.:BEST VIDEO GAMES:.
[i'll be honest, i don't know what year these came out. but i had fun with them this year...]
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Brain Age 2
Cooking Mama
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Picross and Illustlogic
Singstar 80s
and i have it on good authority that Call of Duty 4 is the game to be played, although i haven't even tried it...
.:What I'm Watching:.
Dinosaur. [Want to see a tyrannosaurus wrecked? Look no further than this apocalyptic tale about a herd of dinosaurs (led by docile herbivore Aladar) that must flee its homeland when a meteor shower wreaks havoc. This Disney animated film -- with the usual "right will triumph" message -- includes voice work from D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis and Julianna Margulies. ~netflix] i *heart* dinos!!!! hence the 5 star rating on netflix. the movie was cute and GOSH, did i mention that i love dinosaurs?! OH! this movie also has lemurs! i also love lemurs!!!
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. [Firefighters Chuck Ford (Adam Sandler) and Larry Allensworth (Kevin James) are guy's guys, loyal to the core -- which is why when widower Larry asks Chuck to pose as his gay lover so that he can get domestic partner benefits for his kids, his buddy agrees. Things get dicey, however, when a bureaucrat comes calling, and the boys are forced to present a picture of domestic bliss in this comedy co-starring Dan Aykroyd and Steve Buscemi. ~netflix] not adam sandler's best comedy, but it was all right. everything about it is unrealistic, from adam sandler being some hot, studly womanizer, to the reactions that people have to the events that occur. but there were some funny lines in it. the movie was kinda MEH.
Rescue Dawn. [Renowned director Werner Herzog's inspiring film recounts the heroic saga of Dieter Dengler, a German-American fighter pilot and highly decorated Vietnam veteran whose reconnaissance plane was shot down in 1966. Captured by enemy forces and held in a Laotian torture camp near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Dengler (portrayed by Christian Bale) defied death by organizing one of the most daring escapes in the Vietnam conflict. ~netflix] really good. and christian bale, of course, was AWESOME AND AMAZING.
Shrek the Third. [Life in the swamp seems better than ever for Shrek and Fiona (voiced by Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz), until King Harold suddenly falls ill and the adorable ogre must find an acceptable heir or he'll have to assume the throne. Joined by his faithful companions Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas), Shrek tracks down Cousin Artie the future king as Fiona and Queen Lillian defend the kingdom from the insidious Prince Charming. ~netflix] i liked it. i didn't think it was as good as the others, but it was cute. :) also, i think the dragon-donkeys are the cutest!!! i want one! hehe.
That 70's Show, Season 2. [Eric (Topher Grace) and Donna (Laura Prepon)
take their love to the next level in Season 2 of the groovy sitcom set
in the '70s. Sex isn't the only thing on Eric's mind this season:
Grumpy dad Red (Kurtwood Smith) is his Price Mart boss; his folks eat Hyde's (Danny Masterson) special brownies; and Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) blows it by fooling around with Laurie, so Jackie (Mila Kunis) dumps him and falls in love with a completely grossed-out Hyde. ~netflix] lah-lah-love this show.
The Wendell Baker Story. [Luke Wilson
is both star and co-director of this feel-good flick about Texas ex-con
Wendell Baker, who vows to redeem himself by helping a group of
troubled retirees fight corruption at the Shady Grove Retirement Hotel.
Sultry Eva Mendes co-stars as Baker's girlfriend who may or may not take him back, Luke's brother Owen Wilson plays the evil head nurse, and seasoned acting veteran Harry Dean Stanton shines as salty hotel resident Skip. ~netflix]
i normally LOVE feel-good movies... this was just... all right. i mean,
i liked it... i think eva mendes was seriously underutilized (i have a
big old girl-crush on her).... but it was fun. i guess i'm slightly
disappointed because i hoped i would love it.
.:What I'm Listening To:.
Alicia Keys: As I Am. ohmigawd... could i get any more bored?! steve likes her a lot... and i believe that he really enjoyed this album... i just couldn't get into it. i didn't like her first album. thought she was overrated and just... all over the place. she had no focus. her second album was more focused and i definitely liked that one... but this one? man. was i booooored. there were a few tracks that were all right, but as a whole, i was just B-O-R-E-D... *YAWN* i'll bet that alicia keys fans will LOVE it, though. hehe.
DJ Icey: Disco Rodeo. it starts out with a bang and never relents. i love icey and i love breaks. definitely a fun, high-energy album.
Duran Duran: Red Carpet Massacre. wow. i had no idea duran duran was coming out with a new album until just recently... i'm not sure they will get any new listeners, but they've definitely updated their sound without alienating their true fans... well, in my opinion, anyway.
.:Live Stuff I've Been Seeing:.
Cirque Du Soleil: Corteo.
i don't like the parts where they're trying to tell the "story." i
think that they should treat it like porn in that they should just stop
trying to make a story that makes sense and just get down to it.
hehehe. some of the things they do is absolutely AH-MAZ-ING. seriously.
i had a great time last night.
M.I.A. @ Cane's. i think M.I.A. is just... super sexy... without
being skanky. love her music. love her live. she sure knows how to put
on a show and she knows how to get her crowd whipped up into a frenzy.
good times.
Stanton Warriors @ Avalon. you literally can not just stand there. you HAVE to move your body when they're on deck. seriously.
