It's time to play the music/ It's time to light the lights!

I love the Muppets.

I love them.

I would lobby for the Muppets to be featured on American currency before any other person (living or dead).

They are an American treasure.

My childhood was spent watching Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and the Muppet Show. While Disney movies came out once a year-- Muppets were with me ever day.

Which is why I am psyched that a Muppet movie is coming out this year.

Let me innumerate the reasons this is mind-meltingly awesome.

Awesome-Amazing thing #1: The Human Cast

Mila Kunis, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, and Zack Galifianakis will all be sharing the screen with Kermit, Gonzo, and Miss Piggy.

The easiest way to see how fun it is when celebrities and Muppets unite are all the celebrities appearances on Sesame Street. Ricky Gervais, Feist, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, and even Ray Charles and Johnny Cash have all been on and each time it is amazing.

I would say what makes having such an amazing (human) cast in this movie is that it so uninterested in fame and celebrity. No matter who shows up-- they all play second fiddle to the Muppets.

Also--anyone who knows me knows that Jason Segel is kind of my hero. Love his movies, his appearances on talk shows, and his character on "How I Met Your Mother" (Marshall Erikson) is one of my favorites.

Plus-- he is almost as exited as I am about this movie.

Awesome-Amazing Thing #2: "Flight of the Concords" influence

Chris Cooper is set to do a rap in the film.

Before you cringe, hear me out.

James Bobin, the director of the film, is the mind behind "Flight of the Conchords." Bobin has drafted one part of the folk duo (Bret McKenzie) to help out with the songs. "Flight of the Conchords" is responsible for gems like "Prince of Parties", "Boom", and "Robots." So that same bizarre creative energy that fueled the first Muppet movies is going to continue on with Segel and Bobin at the helm.

Awesome-Amazing Thing #3: More "Mahna Mahna" and "Rainbow Connection"

Do I really have to explain this?

Awesome-Amazing Thing #4: Muppets

I realize I just spent the entire entry gushing over them, but seriously-- they are the best.

You can always count on them to be humble and subversive and to nurture the creative underdog in everyone.

I cannot wait until November.

Things I like are AWESOME: Hunger Games vs Twilight

I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy in a little under 48 hours and it was AMAZING. Despite being marketed as a Young Adult series-- there is still immense appeal for an older audience simply because it is an AMAZING piece of literature.

Let me first say that Hunger Games is a Young Adult book in the way that Harry Potter is a Young Adult book in that it is awesome and the classification should be considered irrelevant.

Hunger Games is the first book in Suzanne Collins' triology and it follows the life of Katniss Everdeen. Katniss lives in District 12 and has the unfortunate "honor" of being forced to participate in the Hunger Games. After government collapsed, the Capitol and 13 districts arose in its place. The Capitol proved to be pretty unjust and the districts tried to overthrow the Capitol and failed. Ever since then, the Hunger Games have existed to punish the districts for their uprising. The Hunger Games require 2 tributes from each District and then the tributes fight to the death in a televised fight to the death.

Holy CRAP, right?

In the media, however, people are saying that it is the next "Twilight" which rankles me a bit. The first reason being, the association makes me look pretty uncool for reading Hunger Games.

FACT #1: I am cool.

Really, there are not really any similarities whatsoever. Hunger Games is all about social responsibility whereas Twilight is just about one girl's (ridiculous) social life. Some people (Twilight fans) have claimed that it is hard/ impossible to compare the two stories because the they are so different. It is kind of true. Hunger Games is an exciting and heroic tale whereas Twilight is a romance full of angst and abs.

But wait! Hunger Games is a twofer. Hunger Games is a heroic tale WITH an epic romance... and abs. There is an intense love triangle in Hunger Games and unlike Twilight, it isn't based on which suitor is less likely to kill her.

FACT #2: The romance in "Hunger Games" is better than "Twilight."

Yeah, I said it.

I would also like to point out right now that EVERY children's story (even the messed up German ones) had basically the same premise: run away from monsters. Vampires and Werewolves are two of the most destructive and predatory monsters in the pantheon of monsters. You really aren't supposed to fall in love with them. It doesn't matter that they are sparkly. They want to kill you.

If Hunger Games followed Twilight's romantic formula for success, you would have dialogue like this:

Peeta: I want to kill you.

Katniss: Do me!

Peeta and Gale, the two who are fighting for Katniss' affection, prove their love by protecting her and helping to support her family. Oh, and NOT stalking her.

And just before you confuse Games as a maudlin sapfest-- fear not! There is an incredible amount of action (and violence).

For a trilogy that features supernatural creatures of the night, in terms of action, Twilight is unbearably tame. Except for the occasional decapitation and mind torture, Twilight is pretty uneventful.

FACT #3: Action and adventure are far superior to the angst.

To be fair--how could Twilight be viewed as anything but mundane when compared to Hunger Games? The action of the first novel is driven by the idea that Hunger Games exist-- where children battle to the death for the amusement of the citizens. That is where the bar is set: children killing each other for sport. In order to drive the action it only gets more intense: human trafficking, assassinations, class inequality, just warfare-- you know, kid stuff.

Hunger Games is a really awesome, exciting, and empowering novel and has 100% more bow-fighting than Twilight. It can read as a social justice primer for kids (or really awesome adults) but at its heart, it's all about love. Not only romantic love-- but love on every end of the spectrum: love for family, friends, and even people you haven't met yet.

The message at the center of each book is "Follow your heart." The only difference being, Bella's heart leads her into the arms of a sparkly supernatural beast and Katniss's leads her to overthrow an unjust government.

Mock movie poster by AnaB at Deviant Art. Pretty awesome.

It was a tense 48 hours but my computer is back! Keeping up with my blog was almost the most short-lived resolution I have ever made. Anyway, I'm glad I won't disappoint the three people who actually read this.

The one thing that wasn't terrible in 2010 was the music. These were the songs I fell in love with in 2010. They aren't necessarily songs that debuted in 2010-- they were just songs that I was constantly listening to.

Songs with an asterisk = covers of songs (i.e.: the artist listed is not the original artist of the song)

Songs with a caret = my personal top ten within the list

The five albums listed are amazing throughout. Each song is fantastic.

01) A Better Son/ Daughter ^ ~ Rilo Kiley

02) All My Best* ~ My Morning Jacket

03) Ali in the Jungle ~ The Hours

04) Angel from Montgomery* ~ Old Crow Medicine Show

05) Banana Splits ~ The Dickies

06) Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)* ~ Justin Vernon

07) But the Days and Nights Are Long ^ ~ Cheryl Wheeler

08) Change of Time ~ Josh Ritter

09) Confidence ^ ~ "Sound of Music" Soundtrack

10) Dance to the Music ~ Sly and the Family Stone

11) Deeper Well ^ ~ The Wailin' Jennys

12) Downpour ~ Brandi Carlile

13) Fuck You ^ ~ Cee Lo Green

14) Heaven* ~ Brandi Carlile

15) Hot Mess ~ Cobra Starship

16) How You Like Me Now ~ The Heavy

17) Home ~ Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes

18) Lark ~ Josh Ritter

19) Late Night Grande Hotel ^ ~ Nanci Griffith

20) Lightweight ~ Jen + Abby

21) Mahna Mahna* ~ Cake

22) Old Fashioned ~ Cee Lo Green

23) Postcard Home ~ The Lost Trailers

24) Kick Ass ^ ~ Mika & Redone

25) King of Anything ~ Sara Bareilles

26) Raise Your Glass ^ ~ P!nk

27) Smoke Gets In Your Eyes ~ The Platters

28) Spanish Pipedream ^ ~ The Avett Brothers

29) The Call ~ Regina Spektor

30) The Curse ~ Josh Ritter

31) The Great Pretender ~ The Platters

32) There's A Pot A Brewin' ~ The Little Ones

33) This Door Swings Both Ways ~ Herman's Hermits

34) This Too Shall Pass ^ ~ OK Go

35) This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us ~ Sparks

36) Tightrope ~ Janelle Monae

37) Wait Til You See Me Smile ~ Alicia Keys

38) We Are Golden ~ Mika

39) With A Little Bit of Luck ~ "My Fair Lady" Soundtrack

Albums

Brothers ~ The Black Keys

I and Love and You ~ Avett Brothers

I Learned the Hard Way ~ Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

Lungs ~ Florence + the Machine

Wake Up ~ John Legend & the Roots

Happy New Year (from a classy lady)

When did celebrating the New Year become an invitation for girls to wear fishnets and top hats? Is there a holiday where girls aren't expected to dress like strippers?

I wore my normal (very sexy) attire: a clever t-shirt hidden with a hoodie.

Very chic.

Me and Paul Giamatti have the same stylist.

New Years happened on the patio of Mcouls (surprise!). It was pretty tame but also enjoyable. There were about ten people on the patio as compared to the 60+ assholes crammed inside by the TV. From the patio, you could both hear the countdown on TV inside and see the ball drop across the street at Bin 33.

In a tribute to New York's epic ball drop in Times Square, Bin 33 constructed a ball drop outside the restaurant. Where the ball in New York is 12 feet in diameter and made of Waterford crystal and state of the art lights, the ball at Bin 33 was made out of scrap metal and lights.

Suck it, New York.

Very classy. To be fair, though, it looked kind of cool. Even better? Bin 33 was charging $15 dollars just to get in for the festivities and I got to watch across the street (at a better angle) for free. So while the posh people were eating over-priced hors d'oeuvres and craning to see the ball drop-- I got to watch for free from the patio eating a rueben and drinking champagne.

Dang, I'm classy!

Cheers 2011.