KANYE, son!!

Alright first off, apologies for not having pictures up. I was waiting to post about the concert until I had something to put up but I went down to Norman (where my sister and parents live) and was going to copy the files to the iPod. Did I? No. Why? Because I totally had a brain fart. But let’s talk about the concert!

So we went to the Ford Center in Oklahoma City (Vinni and I), and it’s a rather nice venue for concerts/sports games, etc. Anyway, at 7pm the concert starts with a couple of rappers who are trying their damnest to get the crowd going. Nope. Not happening. For whatever reason the bleachers weren’t even full and Vinni and I looked at each other in disgust and just thought, “If this were Kenny Chesney or Tobey Keith I’m sure the place would be packed. Oklahoma.” But, to be fair, they were singing songs that none of us knew anyway so it was a bit hard to get into it. The ‘warmup crew’ as I like to call them ended their set, and we waited while they changed the set for the next artist.

N.E.R.D, son. That’s right, Pharrell and Co. As soon as Pharrell came out Vinni turned into a total groupie. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing– my usually reserved little sister who just makes sarcastic, dry comments in retort to anything pop-culture related started screaming, “PHARRELL!! OH MY GOD IT’S REALLY HIM!! YOU’RE SO CUTE!!!!!”

I just blinked; my jaw on the floor.

Anyway, the energy they imbued on stage was electric– a good number more people had filed in by this point into the concert, and these guys totally rocked our pants off. Well, maybe not mine but a lot of girls in the audience, definitely. My sister being one of them. Talk about AWWWWWKKKKWWWWWWURRRRD. At one point he pulled up a couple of hot girls from the audience onto the stage to dance with– Vinni turned green with envy. If she were a comic book character, frikkin lasers would’ve shot out of her eyes and incinerated the hoochies onstage.

Their set ended, and Vinni asked me to see if I could buy the “Stronger” glasses. I stood in line for 20-30 minutes waiting and finally got two pairs of cheap paper knockoffs that were $10 each. Damn. Whatever, it’s part of the experience, and it was for my little sister. So I grabbed ‘em and ran upstairs where Rihanna had already started her set.

And suddenly, I became the groupie. She was…. immaculate. Sure you put on a lot of makeup to cover flaws and such on TV. But her– she really WAS as stunning and flawless as you see on TV. And unlike Vinni’s screaming rampage, I just stood there, awe-struck and staring. Of course she performed S.O.S., Pon de Replay, and Umbrella, and she was completely friendly and sweet to the audience. At one point she yelled out, “I love you, Vinoj!!!” And by that what I mean is she yelled, “I love you Oklahoma City!!” Whatever. She meant me. Don’t hate.

After that set there was a good 45 minutes of set change for the final act– Kanye. Two words sum up his performance: WICKED AWESOME. Sure sure, I could’ve come up with a littany of other synonyms but sometimes the simplest way is the best. The entire crowd (and by now most of the auditorium was packed with people standing, cheering and whatever else) was absolutely rabid, and he completely fed it by putting on a knock out show. I have no idea how he maintains that energy from city to city but the guy was dancing, moving and rapping all over the stage to all sides of the house. Brilliant showmanship. If you ever get a chance to see this Glow in the Dark Tour, I highly recommend.

Now I must admit, this was the first concert for me so perhaps I don’t have much to compare it to. But for what I could see, being an actor, he had the magnetism and charisma of a seasoned performer who had the crowd as putty in his hands.

Anyway, the show ended around 11 and both Vinni and I left, with a gift book that was handed out– a book by Kanye that was a motivational tool sort of thing. Lots of little life proverbs and advice for dealing with people. Very insightful and powerful.

All in all, a great night. THANK YOU AND YOU’RE WELCOME!

Tags: Happenings, Review, Vinni

Quote of the Day

“I’m not conservative, I do drugs all the time,”
-Vinni

Tags: Funny, Quote of the Day, Vinni

Quote of the Day

“My new spray is guaranteed to wipe away your sorrows!”
-Vinni, doing her impression of Billy Mays

Tags: Quote of the Day, Vinni

Spice Girls????

Vinni recommended it, and so I’m actually downloading some Spice Girls songs right now. Please point all hate mail towards her. I was merely the messenger.

Tags: Happenings, Vinni

Christian rock sucks.

Blatant statement there, isn’t it? But I think that as a whole, I’m about right. Think about the likes of Carman for instance. He’s a cheese-head who strives to stick to whatever the newest trend is at the time in order to gather people for ‘the flock’, whatever that is. And for the majority of bands, it really is that– they may have a couple of good songs in them, but because of the lack of fame and riches, not many bands attempt Christian rock. Hence, there’s less competition. Less competition = less quality. Simple microeconomics.

And then there’s BarlowGirl.

Weirdly, Arshy sent me a song of theirs- Porcelain Heart – and she didn’t know it was a Christian band until I told her today. And that’s a good sign, because it means that it’s quality. See if you can download it somewhere, because it’s certainly worth it. Their album, Another Journal Entry, has a few of the cliche Christian rock sounds that are found everywhere, but other than that– guys, this band is REAL. Their lyrics are sharp, their sound is good, and I’m generally impressed. Porcelain Heart especially sounds a bit like Evanescence, which is a band I really enjoy especially because of Amy Lee’s vocals.

When I was listening to it this afternoon, I heard a song called Enough that was a bit of the standard Christian rock that I mentioned earlier, and I deleted the entire album. Vinni asked me if I’d heard Never Alone, and I responded that I hadn’t. I explained why, and she said, “Yeah you probably deleted it because you read that they were a Christian band.”

Was this true? Had I really done that? I sat down and thought really hard about it, and she was right. I didn’t like that my prejudice had gotten the best of me, and so I’m giving the entire album a second listen. And that’s why I decided to write that it’s worth looking into. Sure it’s got a little girl-power element along with some good rock, but hey, guys can listen to that too and still retain their masculinity, right?

Moral of the story is one that’s been around forever– don’t judge a book by its cover.

Tags: Arshy, Review, Vinni

My people can dance!

I’ve been getting back into the wonderful world of procrastination that is YouTube, and needless to say, I’ve been watching a lot of useless videos. Tons of fun. Today Vinni showed me a little 6 year old Malayalee kid who– holy crap. He has more dance in his little finger than I do in my entire body.

You gotta check him out. His name’s Jomin, and I’ll just leave all the links raw for ya on here.
Just to see a closeup of the little kid
Part 1 of him dancing at a wedding
Part 2 at the same wedding

Tags: Neat, Vinni

Prison Break Marathon

Alright so I’ve been back in America and I’ve been having a bunch of fun. I’ve got a website to finish up (still waiting for the client to get back to me on his thoughts on the design), and then… well… I’ve been hooked on Prison Break. (Thank you Vinni.) Apparently the main guy in there, Wentworth Miller, is muy hot, and Vinni’s been addicted to him since.. ah hell, I don’t know. Anyway, I realized there’s sort of a downside in watching the show though: You end up talking like you’re in prison if you watch it for too long.

We’ve been watching pretty much all of Season 1, and we’ve gotten to Episode 13 or so. This morning, I ask Vinni, “Hey Vinni, can you hand me the lighter?” And she retorts back, “Oh yeah? What do I get for it.”

Errm…..

I’ll get you some cigs from the guards?

So far I’ve only been addicted to LOST and Heroes. Now comes Prison Break. I’ve become a slave to the boob-tube.
Out for now.

Tags: Funny, Happenings, Vinni