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October 29, 2008

Scare Us Silly!

I went to The Darkness, St. Louis' premiere haunted house...and man was it scary! I was literally running in place the whole time in my nervous state, I guess that's what happens when you end up IN THE BACK OF THE LINE!?!? Last year the spook house was voted #1 by USA Today and this year it found it's way in the second spot, therefore, it was sure to be a scary good time. As we entered the house and continued through there were so many freaky images involving blood, guts, ghouls, and disturbing images that it had me wondering, "Why is America so obsessed with getting our socks scared off?"
I have to admit that ever since I was a kid I have been excited about Halloween and all that comes with it. Seeing as how Halloween has become a $5 billion business in our country, (up from $3.92 billion a year ago), other people have become excited about the holiday as well. My question above is more about the scare factor than it is the holiday...Halloween seems so much darker now then when I was younger. I went to Party City, Wal-Mart, among other stores and found very little decorations that were not graves or body parts dripping with blood. It seems like somewhere along the way Halloween has become less about pumpkins and more about dark images of death.
It was suggested that ever since Septermber 11th, then the war in Iraq and so on, a new focus on death has been attached to Halloween, thus, more skeletons and scary, bloody, nightmarish well, stuff on the rise as well. I don't know if that is necessarily a part of our subconscious, but it seems like a possibility. Any thoughts? Oh, and just a side note, a survey by the National Retail Federation suggests that 3.97 princesses will be putting on their tiaras this year. Happy Halloween!

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 1:02 PM | Comments (1)

Annual Halloween Fiesta!

715A had our annual Halloween party, and it was a good one. Hope you enjoy the photos...all taken by Neil Das. The reason being...I was going to post a little from my camera until I realized the insane quality coming from his...nice cam Neil! Anyway, here's some of the highlights.

They were on their way to a Rocky Horror Picture Show being shown at the Tivoli

Yep, those lines were painted on there...can you tell he's actually a painter by trade?
Oh, P.S., he's a burglar

That's his burglar wife...

That's our backporch

There was a scary vampire here as well...

Can you believe that Barack and Sarah showed up to the party together?

Dr. Horrible!

Some people had serious potty mouths

Good times!

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 9:02 AM | Comments (2)

October 23, 2008

Pirates vs. Ninjas

If there were a fight between pirates and ninjas, who would win? Welp, we found out this past weekend as my youth group got together to battle it out.

We made up songs and sang against each other...the pirates' was in typical form featuring words like pilage, planks, and yo ho hos.

The ninjas came through with a song in the form of a haiku, we even had dancers. Everything went on without a hitch, I mean, except for the fact that my glasses kept fogging over from wearing a makeshift ninja hood...

We even got to play Pass the Witches Broomstick...shout-out to Rachel C!

At the end, it was the pirates' victory. The ninjas will prevail next time! Watch out!

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 11:12 AM | Comments (1)

October 21, 2008

Fall Movie Watch!

There are many reasons why Fall is my favorite season: cooler air, beautiful leaves, Halloween...and yes, good movies come back to theatres! Here's a list of the coming features that I'm looking forward to...

Rachel Getting Married with Anne Hathaway breaking through to become a lead actress. The film got rave reviews at the Toronto film festival and officially began the buzz-meter for the 2008-9 Oscar season. In the film, Ms. Hathaway plays Kym, a woman released from a drug rehabilitation program to attend her sister's wedding. Hathaway says of her character, "One minute she could be suicidal, and the next exhilarating."
Already in Theatres

Changeling with Angelina Jolie will bring a gripping story of a telephone operator in the 1920s who's son is kidnapped. The authorities find her son and return him to her...only, it's not her son. The story continues as she fights and searches to find her child. The New York Times compares her performance in Girl Interrupted which earned her an Oscar in '98 to Changeling as another Oscar-worthy role. In a recent NYTimes interview she said that she was prepared for this movie more than any other. She knew Clint Eastwood, director, would only do a few takes and thus caused her to prepare as much as possible, she also felt a connection with her mom, who died of ovarian cancer two years ago.
October 31

Synedoche, New York directed and written by Charlie Kaufmen and featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman is sure to be a must see. I remember leaving the theatre after seeing Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind, and thinking to myself, "What the hell was that? I loved it!" I imagine that will be my same reaction to this film, directed and written by the same guy. It has all the wonders of a typical Kaufmen original...can you imagine? A theatre director who sets off to build a stage of New York the size of New York in a warehouse in order to impress his estranged wife who's moved to Europe? I can't wait.
October 24

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 12:03 PM | Comments (4)

October 17, 2008

Sweet Chicken Nuggets: vol. 2

Jackson Pollock Comes to St. Louis
I'm so excited about the new exhibit coming to the St. Louis Art Museum. They say it's the first U.S. exhibition to reconsider Abstract Expressionism in over 20 years. Not only will Pollock originals be showed but also de Kooning and other American artists from 1940-1976. The exhibit will be displayed from October 19th - January 17th, 2009. I love the postmodern artists, and all their postmodern ways...I'm so pomo.

MIA Close to the Top
I love how everyone is jumping on the MIA bandwagon now that her song, "Paper Planes," was seen in the preview of the latest Judd Apatow flick, "Pineapple Express." The movie came out in August and although the song was released in the middle of 2007, the single has just now picked up steam. In the past two months, "Paper Planes" has sold 1.4 million downloads on itunes, and still selling. Oh, not that I usually like to brag...but it was back on January 1st, that I placed her song at #4 in my Top Ten List for 2007.

Light Up the Church
Have you seen this church near the Contemporary Art Museum? It's a part of a series of exhibitions, which are all large in scale and in concept. The church burned down last year, but the main structure stayed in tact. Pretty incredible! There's also a huge cube full of a long tapeworm like structure made out of 10 gallon white buckets that are full of lights. Just go one block north of the museum to see these spectacular sights!

Britney Does it Again!
Britney Spears broke a record yesterday on the Billboard Charts. Her single, "Womanizer" made the largest jump in Billboard history, (over 50 years), when it went from #96 to #1. The huge jump was prompted by the first week sales of the single on download sights like itunes...it sold 246,000 downloads.

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 5:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2008

Fiesta del Pilar

October 12th is la Fiesta del Pilar, a day when Spaniards flock to Zaragoza to bring flower offerings to the Virgin of the Pillar. Seeing as how I lived there for a couple of years and enjoy the food it's fun for me to have friends over and dine of Sangria, tortilla de potata, chorizo, and jamon serano...among other things.
The story goes that St. James was making a trek across Northern Spain when he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary who told him to build a pillar in her honor...thus, la Virgin del Pilar. The people who founded Zaragoza built a Basilica 650 years ago around what they say is the pillar. Not only is la Virgin the patron saint of Zaragoza, as every Spanish city has one, but it's also the patron saint of Spain as well. Therefore, every October 12th, (I don't know the reason for the date), people come from all over the country to bring flowers to be layed around the statue of the Virgin of the Pillar. Although I'm not Catholic, and have theological views that may disagree with parts of this practice, it's still a beautiful site to see so many people in their traditional regional clothes bringing flowers that eventually make a huge pyramid-like shape of flowers.
Although we didn't get to do anything quite that majestic, we did have some good food and good times! Hola baturos en Zaragoza!

Here's the real one:

Here's the fake one:

Neil had a great time!

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 9:58 AM | Comments (4)

Fall Colors

I went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens last week and was surprised to find more than just Mums...

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 9:47 AM | Comments (0)

October 15, 2008

What's Happening to Teen Television?!?!

Are we headed towards another economic crisis in 20 years? By the looks of what's popular on television we've already hit the road in that direction. The discussion over TV ratings' slump in a recent Entertainment Weekly showed that almost all shows are loosing ground. However, one channel is holding numbers in stride, the CW. Why? They want to be the destination for teenage girls of America. First came Gossip Girl, which has gained over 1 million viewers this season, then 90210 - The New Class, which had a huge 12 million viewing audience in it's first episode, and now Priveleged. The problem with the latter is that it only has an average rating of 1.9 million viewers, that's no problem at this point because the network wants to put as much programming into the hands of texting, headband-wearing teenaged girls, which is fine. The audience for me is not the issue at hand, it's what the audience is getting that's the problem. Do you notice a theme here? Wealthy, over-the-top high drama.

Ever since September 11th our country's entertainment has been lured more and more into the art of escapism. The networks see that specific kinds of shows earn big numbers in a type of genre that's helping people mentally leave this world and therefore, they create more of the same. It's a homogenous entertainment world, and thanks to the need to forget about life on earth, people are in need of something that will take our minds off of reality as we know it. That is being made no more evident than in the programming geared towards the American teen. Let's see there's the three I mentioned above, plus The Hills, Laguna Beach, Paris' New BFF (yep, she's looking for a new best friend since Nicole Richie did the most unglamorous thing ever...she had a baby), My Super Sweet Sixteen...and the list goes on. (Oh, P.S., FYI, BTW, adults don't necessarily receive a Get Out of Jail card in the every-show-the-same department, we got CSI Miami, CSI New York, CSI Crime Scene Investigation, The Unit, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI,...again, the list goes on). The need for escaping plus what teens are turning to for that need of escapism encourages a habit of leaning towards the nametags that excite and stimulate the mind, if you will. I'm not talking about $50 Guess jeans that were in fashion when I was a middle schooler, I'm talking about $200 Lucky Brand jeans, $80 t-shirts from the local boutique of choice, and so on. This combination fosters a dangerous pattern of wanting to be fashionable and cool, and spending more than one can afford. Often times we learn how to live within our means from various areas of life: our parents, teachers, friends...and, TV! Scary.

I read an estimate the other day that said 35% of kids learn about economics from television. If this is the case, then credit card companies can get ready to make some serious cash. Seeing as how L.C. drives around in her swanky Mercedes to upscale clubs, the 90210 girls wear their couture jeans that cost more than my monthly school loan, and $2 million parties are thrown for the girls of My Super Sweet Sixteen; we can count on $600 Coach bags being purchased with the words, "Charge it!" We have to figure out a way to move teens into a different direction.
As for the problem of copying the same show over and over again, not only is it fostering over spending, but it's fostering unoriginality and a lack of creativity. I was talking with a girl the other day that was grading stories for a creative writing class she teaches at Washington University, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. She was tired of reading the same story from each student. It seems that today's programming is all the same for teens, and therefore, teens' creative sensibilities are all the same as well. If you watch the Debates tonight, or The Office tomorrow, turn over to the CW, it'll be a beautiful, extremely skinny, fashionably-sound young woman texting some other girl about her man and how he got caught kissing another beautiful, extremely skinny, fashionably-sound young woman. I ask you, "Where are the Buffy's of the world today?" Joss Whedon's character-driven show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, dealt with real issues of young people and, well, people in general: insecurity, the dignity of humanity, loneliness, God's existence, community, the emotional power of sex, death, the meaning of having a soul...the list goes on. Sure, it's fun to have your regular shows that are light and witty. But man, can we get a break from the uber-rich, over-sexualized teenage programming that's permeating our television? Until then, we can count on more dramas from the CW and MTV that keep us heading down a debt-ridden nation with more beautiful, extremely skinny, fashionably-sound young women.

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 2:33 PM | Comments (0)

Haiku that you ku!

A friend of mine is having a Haiku contest with the themes of Autumn and Winter. This is what I've come up with so far for Autumn...you'll have to wait until after the contest to see the one I'm submitting...

Cold brings happiness
Sad summer is gone away
Content in autumn

No red October
Cardinals fought through the summer
April first comes soon!

Pumpkins on parade
Passing the witches' broomstick
We sing together

Cold mornings brings smiles
Cup of coffee to keep warm
Colored trees outside

Dust in the grey air
I can see that Autumn's here
Hood is on outside

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 2:26 PM | Comments (6)

Trashbiscuit

I have a friend at work that owns a fashion line. He and his partner design all the clothes and with the help of others sew and put them together. Since I've discovered shows like Project Runway I have come to see fashion as art...it's just being worn instead of hung on a wall. While I'm not that interested in wearing anything that would be worn down a catwalk, it's interesting to see what designers come up with.
Trashbiscuit, the fashion line, was being shown last Tuesday during St. Louis Fashion Week. I grabbed my friend, Starr, and we headed down to the Contemporary Art Museum. Upon entering I felt quite out of place amongst a crowd of artsy fashionistas and tall, waify models. The DJ was blasting the obligatory Eurotrash electronic music that you would expect at one of these types of affairs and white wine was being drunk, while appetizer trays featuring Asian Fusion were being paraded around the large, open room. Then came the designs, without a doubt, the most interesting clothes came from Trashbiscuit. A.J. Thouvenot describes his designs as, "downtown, trashy, and a little bit of nonsense." I couldn't have said it better. A local blogger described the dresses as, "what a zombie would where to prom." The hit of the night had to be the gold bustier with pistols sewn onto it. Seriously, that dress was bangin'...sorry, had to say it. What an interesting and fun night! Check out the best of what Trashbiscuit had below.

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 2:20 PM | Comments (0)

Sweet Chicken Nuggets

I know it's been a while, I've been busy with life and what comes my way. I figured I would start a segment called, "Sweet Chicken Nuggets," to fill you in from time to time.

Death Cab for Cutie
I went to the show at the Fox Theatre on Monday. What an incredible band. Although they played a lot of their more recent stuff, which I'm not as familiar with, it was pretty incredible none the less. They're touring in support of Narrow Stairs, but there was still room for Transatlanticism and Plans. It seems that Ben Gibbard and the rest of the gang are headed towards a more Rock-y feel. I can't help but feel like Death Cab is a modern day The Smiths, and the concert was just the same, with emotional moments and melodic, melancholy chords. The lights surrounding the stage combining with the dramatic woodwork of the Fox brought enough magic to fit the music. It was well worth the dinero.

Tina Palin...I mean...
Have you seen the just-like-the-real-thing imitations of Sarah Palin by Tina Fey? Of course you have, they're all over the internet and television. Do you know that Saturday Night Live's ratings have grown 50% since she came on the scene? The unfortunate reality is that the show's numbers go down considerably after the first 30 minutes.

Vida La Viva
I've rediscovered Coldplay's newest cd, Viva la Viva or Death and All His Friends. The project really is majestic. Although the title song in my opinion sucks, the rest of the album takes you on a journey through melodies and instruments that made Brian Eno, producer, famous when he worked with U2 on Joshua Tree. Congrads to the band who received more nominations than any other band at the American Music Awards.

Fro Yo
I have a habit that involves yogurt. There's a new place on the Loop called Fro Yo, and I love it. I've been waiting for it to open for a while and the closed sign went down a few weeks ago. It's a self-serve place with tons of toppings...mostly fresh fruit and odd offerings, such as sweet beans. My personal favorite is not the healthy option of course, Peanut Butter yogurt with Oreos! Oh, P.S., they weigh it...that's how you get charged. It's pretty cheap for what you get...go check it out at the Northeast corner of Delmar and Westgate!

Posted by Nathan Gemayel at 1:51 PM | Comments (2)