Category: Watercooler

Wednesday Watercooler: Election Edition

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One of the many great things about being an American is the right to vote and the freedom of opinion; yesterday, we got to exercise that right. From President to Senator, and right down to using condoms in pornography and labeling genetically modified foods – there were plenty of important measures and ideals on the ballot.  For some, today is a day of excitement and joy, for others – maybe not so much; but to me, today is two very important things – first, it’s the end of our quadrennial slew of grotesque political advertisements (amen!) and secondly (and of moreimportance to myself) there’s only one month left until my birthday!    More about the later at a later time – let’s get down to political business.

Go-BAMA: 

First, we elect our first black president – next, we reelect our first black president! He delivered one hell of a victory speech last night – and I have to say, Mittens’ concession speech wasn’t half bad either.  Sure, it was a little – erm – short…and potentially something he hadn’t prepared for – but I appreciated lines like the following: I believe in the people of America. And I ran for office because I’m concerned about America. This election is over, but our principles endure.

Puff, Puff, Passed:

Last night in a historic vote, Colorado and Washington both passed laws yesterday that  tax and legalize the use of marijuana and Massachusets voted to become the 18th state to okay it’s medical use; Arkansas’  ballot measure, not surprisingly – but unfortunately, did not pass.

Legalize Love:

Marijuana laws weren’t the only sign of progress on the ballot last night. Three states – Washington, Maryland and Maine – voted to approve same sex marriage, and Minnesotans voted against a same-sex marriage ban.  This brings the number of states that allow same sex marriage up to 9 – almost 20% of the union for you math people; America, fuck yeah!

We’re #51!:

If Puerto Rico and the United States had a Facebook relationship status, last night’s vote pushed it from “It’s Complicated” to “In a Relationship.”  Last night, Puerto Ricans voted on a two part referendum to evolve it’s 114 year relationship with the USA and become the 51’st state. Before the election, President Obama gave the nod that he would support this decision in case of a clear majority.  With a 61% vote for statehood, 33% vote for sovereignty and a mediocre 5% vote for independence it looks like we should start planning for a revised American flag.

Wednesday Watercooler

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Not all Americans can agree on Global Warming, but I bet you anything at 97 degrees in mid-October 100% of the people of Los Angeles are firm believers. Typically, I work from home for the majority of the week but over the last few days I’ve been trekking it from Hollywood to Burbank to get my work on; working from home is so great because I can be in whatever clothes I want – gym clothes, PJs, a sundress – and as long as I’m comfortable, I’m golden.  But coming into the office has been a little brutal!  The AC is cranked to about 65, so when we come inside we’re inspired to bundle up because it’s a tad chilly – but take one step outside and you’ve already sweat all over yourself.  Cute, real cute.  Anyhow, I digress – let’s see what the hell else is going on in the world besides our collective temperatures rising…

 

Presidential Election 2012:

After the first Town Hall meeting just a few weeks ago, I was a little nervous for round two; Obama didn’t look like much of a fighter, especially compared to Mittens who happened to come out swinging.  Well, thank goodness that finally changed last night at the Hofstra Debate.  Personally, I enjoyed the format of last night’s debate more than the first one – the moderator was on top of her game and  I appreciated the questions and feedback from the audience.  The debate was so rapid fire, and the candidates were so sassy, that discerning truth from fiction was a little difficult, thankfully there’s always fact checking; and for those who want to take it a step further, you can find a full video and transcript here.

Ultra Music Festival

If one weekend of raging in the sun with your best friends, good music and great weather is fabulous, two is obviously a whole lot  better – right?  Following in the footsteps of other music festivals, like the hipster fueled Coachella and Insomniac’s fabulously neon Electric Daisy Carnival, Ultra is spreading their Miami Music Week wings.  Instead of being limited to one weekend, UMF will now take over Miami for two consecutive weekends in attempts to wrangle both a larger audience and a hefty chunk of change.

 

Red Bull Stratos

The Red Bull Stratos project, rescheduled for this past Sunday because of winds, put Austrian born daredevil and BASE jumper Felix Baugmgarter successfully 120,000 in the air at the edge of space.  He proceeded to amaze and defy all logic by jumping back to Earth; setting a new record for the highest base jump and traveling at the speed of sound. I still have no words to explain what I saw expect: HOLY SH*T.

Golden Globes

Anyone that knows anything about me can tell you this: I’m not much of an award show girl.  The Oscars put me to sleep, I never see the categories I want on the Grammy’s,  and maybe if you put on  the ESPY’s I’ll pay attention, maybe. But come January 13  that is all about to change – women, dogs, children, everybody – they’re going to be SO excited because Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have agreed to host the Golden Globes together!

Wednesday Watercooler

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Hello, hello and congratulations on making it through to the mid-week mark once again  There are a few incredibly significant things about today, October 3rd.  First of all, did you know that today is Mean Girls day?  If you’re anything like me, you didn’t – but hey, now you do.


Politics:

Reason number two that today is super important is that today is….(drumroll please)… debate day! Yes, that’s right – today marks the first of three debates between the Obama and Romney camps.  Truth be told, most of my interest in politics came from watching talking heads and CSPAN with my mother when I was younger.  As I left for college, I had an idea of why voting was important but I didn’t exactly give a damn.  That all changed once good old Dubya was reelected to a second term; so I don’t fly off the handle – all I can offer about him is that at least he said some stupid stuff that made me giggle…and then it made me sad, because we elected him president. ANYways, and per usual, I digress.  Every election pushes this country in a different direction – with new obstacles and different trajectories; they exemplify both our national, cultural similarities and dive into our vast differences.  Democrat, Liberal, Republican or Independent – I know there’s one thing I think we can all agree on: we all support parties.

So gather your friends – you know, the ones with political views that don’t make you want to maim a small animal – around, grab some brews and get your debate drinking game on.  Like most things, politics is better when I’m drunk.

Movies:

When’s the last time you went to a movie theater?  It hasn’t just been months since I’ve seen a feature film, it’s been almost a full year.  When even a matinee costs up to $10, it’s hard to convince myself that going to the movies is a stellar investment. First you have parking fees, then – I bet that butter  infused popcorn would be absolutely delicious with a warm pretzel and a large blue raspberry Icee; okay, good – so that’s about $25 a person and we haven’t even taken our seats yet.  Well, someone upstairs has obviously heard my grumbling because there’s not one, not two – but three movies coming out that I am so willing to shell out cash for.

My number one must-see movie for the fall is Cloud Atlas. As soon as I saw the trailer I kicked myself for passing over the book, written by David Mitchell.  Beyond being based off of a book I’ve been dying to read,  it stars my childhood role model, and top 5 girl crush, Halle Berry and the ever fab Tom Hanks; and to boot – it’s directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski, the ever dynamic duo behind the Matrix trilogy.

Then, there’s The Hobbit – I might’ve fallen asleep the first six times I watched Lord of the Rings, but the direction, production and acting were unreal. Over time, I eventually did see the movie the full way through, and the sequels – but I’m sure they would’ve affected me more if I had actually read the books.  I feel almost vindicated that they’re making a movie out of The Hobbit because it’s the only book by Tolkien that I actually finished.

And, last but certainly not least, the trailer for the highly anticipated Disney movie The Lone Ranger  was released this morning staring Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer, from The Social Network, as John Reid – the Lone Ranger.  Let’s get real for a second – Tonto is essentially Jack Sparrow meets the Wild, Wild West but no matter, I’m still super stoked for it’s release next summer.

Social Media:

See that political drinking game up there?  Well let me tell you a story about it – my friend posted it to her page, and I decided it was worthy of hitting that ‘share‘ button.  But then I was taken to my page and prompted to help “promote” the post.  What does that mean, you ask? Good goddamn question – and I wasn’t sure either so per usual, I turned to the interwebs.  According to Tech Crunch, a favorite news repository, the feature was just added to accounts in the US.  If the user is willing to shell out $7, the post can be blasted to a larger audience. Um. What?!  For special interest pages – like Brands, Bands and Big Shots – sure, it makes sense; but for us common folk, I can’t say I support the feature but it’ll definitely be interesting to see what people choose to promote.

Wednesday Watercooler

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Time is seemingly just skipping on by this year.  I swear just a few weeks ago I was lamenting how it was already summer and now – all of a sudden, fall is upon us. If you take the time and think about it, the older you get the faster time respectively seems to fly -when we’re younger, we have a lot of ‘novel‘ first experiences that stick their roots in us as monumental; as we get older, there are less and less of those unique milestones in our lives.  Think about the first long drive you took – I bet it took forever, but on the way back didn’t it seem like a breeze?  But if you’re one of those people that’s dragging their cute butt through the week, keep reading and maybe this will kick things into a higher gear.

Science

Amidst a considerable amount of controversy, UK based Channel 4 made a daring (and entertaining) move by observing participants under the effect of the recreational club drug MDMA.  The study was designed by David Nutt and Valerie Curran – respectively professors of neuropsychopharmacology (say that five times fast) at Imperial College London and psychology at University College London.  This study, much like a previous study on psilocybin, was conducted both in hopes of observing brain changes via fMRI and in the treatment of mental illnesses like depression and PTSD.  Though not all volunteers will be shown on television, amongst the 26 were Evan Harris, a former member of Parliament, Lionel Shriver, a writer, and actor Keith Allen.  If you’re like me, you won’t want to miss this – watch live this today (9/26) and Thursday (9/27) here.

Football

I can’t say that I’m a huge football fan,  actually it’s one of my least favorite sports – next to the nonsports of professional golf and cheerleading. How-to-the-ever, I know enough football fanatics – including my best friends and parents, that I  definitely can empathize with the current referee situation.   On Monday, the Green Bay Packers faced off with the Seattle Seahawks in what ended up being an unfortunate loss by the CheeseHeads due to some Bone Headed officiating by replacement referees.

The NFL Officials are currently on strike – asking the league to provide thousands of dollars a year toward their pension plan.  Per usual, the owners are being obstinate – hiring abysmal replacement referees and doing the best they can to keep the 2012-13 season in play.  Also to note, the less clothed and talented Lingerie Football League had apparently fired some of the same replacement referees from their own league.

Entertainment

Following in the stellar footsteps of Daft Punk, Skrillex is venturing out of his dubstepbox and doing huge things for himself.  Currently on his plate is the score for the upcoming James Franco movie the Spring Breakers as well as the upcoming Disney movie, Wreck It Ralph.  He’s catching some considerable flack from parts of the EDM world but I think it’s actually pretty neat.  I can’t think of many DJs, beyond Feed Me and potentially the ‘Mau5, that would excel at doing the score for the movie so major Kudos to Skrillex.  And to boot, he gets his own cameo alongside John C Reilly and Sarah Silverman; the cameo isn’t in the trailer below but no matter -it still gets me excited!

Technology

Google Maps is at it again; no, this isn’t an anti-iPhone post – rather, it’s me getting excited about an innovative look at geography. They’ve paired up with the Catlin Seaview Survey to provide amazing underwater maps like the one below.  We all could use a vacation, and now you don’t have to leave your desk to take one – head on over right now to take a gander at sea turtles, coral, schools of fish and sunsets from exotic locations like Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii.

The Wednesday Watercooler

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Has this week been slow for anyone else?

This might just be a symptom of a larger personal problem, but I tend to have these incredibly busy weekends packed to the brim with fun and friends –  this past one was no different. In typical Amanda fashion, I managed to find a menagerie of different ways to enjoy myself.  Friday night I went bar hopping, ending up at the sexy and swanky Harvard & Stone before I found myself poolside at 4am; the next day I cruised down to the Standard in Hollywood to enjoy some sunshine and live DJs by their pool and ended the night getting down and deep with Crazy P & Marques Wyatt at King King.  Sunday was relaxing…until I went and got a tattoo with a good friend out in Venice Beach; but that’s a story for another post.  So, now here I am – middle of the week and I’m halfway between reminiscing about old memories and planning for new ones, that said – these are the things popping up on my radar this week…

Tweet, tweet!

Twitter is essentially swarming with 140 character fun – no matter what your sense of humor (slapstick, ironic, british, laugh out loud, etc), there’s someone out there that is so just your style that it’s silly.  Well, if you’re looking for someone new to follow and fall in hilarity with – take your pick from the following:

Sick of hearing first world problems come out of the mouth of your favorite DJs?  Well, let https://twitter.com/DJsComplaining soothe your soul.

Basically everyone hates the TSA; in fact, I’m sure when the TSA are trying to fly they hate the TSA too – next time you’re stuck in an airport watching strangers get frisked, pull up this twitter handle and chuckle a little: http://twitter.com/TSAgov

After a Newsweek tweet earlier this week asking users for their stories on #MuslimRage – the hashtag went viral, and so did the humor.  Check out some of the best tweets here: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/09/17/world-hilarious-muslims-rage-on-twitter/

Word Problems

Take a gander at the clusterfuck of letters below and see what the first three words that speak to you are.  Mine were Love, Beauty and Happiness; a lot of Facebook friends played along with me last week and I had a blast seeing what everyone else got.  The most humorous choice was “Carne asada burrito”, which does sound damn good right about now…

Politics:

In an interview released earlier this week, Clint Eastwood finally sat down and confirmed what we hoped was true. To quote his interview with Extra, which you can watch for yourself below, Eastwood jokes:

 “If somebody’s dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they’re gonna have to take what they get…the Democrats who were watching thought I was going senile, and the Republicans knew I was.”

And to boot, a viral video of Mitt Romney talking at a $50,000 a plate fundraiser has surfaced and it’s been causing quite a scene. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it in it’s ridiculous entirety, you’re in luck. The Mother Jones, a liberal political blog/magazine, posted it here.

Creature Comforts:

Any Collective Soul fans out there? The cat in this video belongs to Gregg Gillis, better known to my generation as Girl Talk.  I maybe watched this video 3 or 4 times in a row, each time ‘squee’-ing in delight…why? Watch for yourselves and see, and maybe even sing along!

Burning Man:

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that those crazy fun Burners have resurfaced back into the real world.  But, not for lack of not wanting to.  Every day I see more posts from friends that refuse to let go of that one magical week in the desert, and with a pictures like the ones below – I can’t say I blame them.

The Wednesday Watercooler

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You’ve been up since 6:30 am and it’s been a long, arduous day.

Maybe you went to the gym before work you little go-getter, you.

Maybe you’re attempting to be frugal and you’re spending your downtime doing daily meal prep so you can save some scrilla.

Maybe you’ve been hitting the snooze button on repeat and have no desire to open your black-out blinds and realize it’s a gorgeous day.

Regardless, the fact of the matter is the world did in fact decide to go on without you; and there’s been some ridiculous stuff going on.  Here are the stories, websites and blogs you should have wasted some time on today….

Education

Too Cool for School: DJ Afrika Bambaataa, one of the founding fathers of Hip Hop, has just accepted a position as a visiting scholar at Cornell.  Fun fact: Cornell has the largest living archives on Hip Hop Culture.  Now that’s something I’d go back to school for.

For-Profit Colleges:  In a recent statement, the Senate has released a dense and critical report on the state of ‘For Profit’ colleges in this country; with the final word being that For Profit Universities have an elevated drop out rate and are far more likely to place a student into debt than a State or Private college.

Entertainment

Checkbook DJs:  We’ve all heard of the “laptop” DJ; they’re great at button pushing and don’t know what beat matching is. Well now, there’s a new breed.  The TOP 100 DJ Poll, once considered the Holy Grail of DJ status, has proven itself to be faulty.  Now, anyone who saw Guetta at the top of the list last year probably has a head start on the sentiment; but consider this new information.  DJ’s are now cheating on their DJ mag poll; buying placement in the magazine and buying votes.

Science + Technology

Mars:  Being a science geek growing up wasn’t exactly considered cool; but living in a time where we can go and explore another planet definitely is! Click any of the links below for pictures, articles, etc on the great discoveries happening on the Red Planet.

Obama tells NASA: If Curiosity finds Martians “please let me know.”

Curiosity produces a Panoramic View of Mars

Mars and the Search for Life

Sports

Summer Olympics Roundup: In case you’ve been hiding under a rock these last few weeks, you should be well aware of the Summer Olympics in London.  There was Mean Girl Makayla, and that really gorgeous idiot that can swim; but most of all there were some ridiculous moments during the opening and closing ceremonies for the games.  James Bond and the Queen; Mr. Bean; The Spice Girls; Horrible humor.  It was very, very  British of them. Below you’ll find some of my favorite Olympic inspired blog posts and memes…

The Best of: McKayla is Not Impressed

Peeing in Pools with Ryan Lochte

10 reasons that Ryan Lochte is America’s Sexiest Douchebag

Baseball: The Mariners have pitched a perfect game.  I’m still trying to care about it, but if you like baseball or the Mariners: good for you, Glen Coco.