3EB

Last night I saw Third Eye Blind at the House of Blues in Orlando.  On the drive home I told my boyfriend that it was such a break even experience.  I did leave the show with two major complaints.  Here's the first:

• faster
• non dairy creamer
  
• crystal baller
  
• graduate
  
• motorcycle driveby
  
• why can't you be
  
• jumper
  
• semi charmed life
  
• god of wine
• losing a whole year
• never let you go
• wounded

Add to this set list two new songs I didn't know the name of and what do you get?  A freakin tiny set list!   Come on guys, I've been listening to you since I was like 13, can't you give me a little more than that?  Speaking of your fans here's my second problem.

See what Chris Martin of Coldplay is about to do there?  You can see it in his eyes, he's about to reach down and touch the outstretched fingers of his fans.  And in his head he's congradualting himself for being such a freaking rockstar, for giving these people the wonderful experience of breif physical contact with him. *barf*  This upset me when I saw Chris Carabba do it years ago, and it upset me last night when Stephen did it... who do you guys think you are?  Bono?

Now that I've had my rant let me say that I did have a good time, I'm certainly glad I went.  For being mid/late 40s its surprizing that Stephen Jenkins is still as good looking as he is, and they certainly perform with the same energy they had years ago.  I saw them last year at Universal Mardi Gras and I enjoyed this show more.  Most importantly from what I can tell from the two new songs the new album (which they told us would be coming out this summer) has some great potential.

Concerts Are The Spice Of Life

Saturday night I picked up the daily planner we use to request days off from work at the resturant where I wait tables.  Looking for my blackberry calendar I made notes of the days I would need off in the upcoming months for various concerts.  Aside from the obviously sweet idea of not working on these days, I found myself in a good mood thinking of all the live music I'd be enjoying soon.

Concerts really are the spice of life.  But due to the economy everything from 80's great Morrissey to the Miami music festival Langerado has seen cancelations due to slow ticket sales.  Buying CDs and MP3s supports the record labels, going to concerts supports the artists.  So in case anyone else in Orlando wants to show their support I've compiled a list of upcoming shows. 

• 3-27 G Love @ HoB (thanks @person0178)
• 3-30 Third Eye Blind @ HoB (I'm going to this one)
• 4-1 Ben Folds @ Hard Rock Live
• 4-8 Flight of the Concords @ UCF Arena (I'm skipping class to go to this one)
• 4-15 Silverstien @ Firestone
• 4-22 MAE @ The Social
• 4-29 & 4-30 Cursive @ The Social (I'm going to this one... both nights)
• 5-3 Gaslight Anthem @ The Social (I'm going to this one)
• 5-4 Kevin Devine @ The Social
• 5-6 Christopher Guest @ Hard Rock Live
• 5-7 Death Cab For Cutie @ Hard Rock Live
• 5-7 Jacks Maniquen @ HoB
• 5-8 Stephen Lynch @ HoB
• 5-10 MC Chris @ The Social
• 6-4 Manchester Orchestra @ The Social
• 6-10 Animal Collective @ Firestone (I'm going to this one.... bonefish!)

@ucfbrandi also let me know of these more mainstream acts coming to the area:

• No Doubt
  
• 8-12 Dave Matthews Band @ Tampa (thanks @person0178)
• 8-14 & 8-15 Dave Matthews Band @ West Palm Beach (thanks @person0178)
• Lady Gaga
• Gavin Rossdale
• Kelly Clarkson
• Blink-182

If you know of any shows that aren't on my list yet please let me know.

Ethnocentrism

When I was in middle school I happened upon an amazing show called Sailor Moon.  Laugh if you will but I can trace most of my interests today to my initial love of this cartoon.  Like all cartoon-network-marketed dubbed anime series it is a "gateway anime."  Much like research suggests that smoking majiruana leads individuals to do harder drugs, my personal observation suggest shows like Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z (perhaps Yu-gi-oh and Naruto are today's examples) open the way for people to find other, higher quality animes.  These will of course be subtitled, through which the cultural disconnects will become aparent.  This process had many results for me, one of them was that by the time I was in high school I was a fan of Japanese culture.

So naturally when I came into my Intercultural Communications class this semester I was excited to find the teacher was born and raised in Japan.  All the insights and interesting tales she will have!

To her credit, the stories are pretty good.  What I wasn't prepared for is the tone she tells them in.  She has been in America for years and is eger to tell you how completely she assimilated.  She could be a cheer leader "Up with individualism and down with confusionism, team low context go go go!"  When she uses words like terrible and makes generalizations about how everyone is unhappy I just want to raise my hand and be like "would you like to look at my notes from your first lecture about the negative effects of ethnocetrism on communications?"

Something To Say

For the past week or so I have been looking more closely at the way I blog via my professional blog http://ladyvoip.acredo.us   All of this was sparked by a comment my boss made about frequent updates being more important than well researched content.  In talking about it on twitter I was directed to one of my follower's blogs as an example of quality.  I noticed that he had a seperate blog for his personal thoughts.  In continuing my research I've found an emphasis on writing from a narrow focus for a targeted audience.  Since I am often attacked by the urge to say something via blog or twitter that has nothing to do with the Lady VoIP concept I've decided to create this personal blog and a personal twitter.  So welcome here and feel free to follow me @shaynaeric.