Would you ever, would you be my fucking boyfriend?

So, my "How I Met Your Mother" phase is still in full swing. Every day, I bounce between worshiping the genius that NPH has turned into lately...and being absolutely in love with Jason Segel.

Not only is he absolutely amazing on HIMYM, but he's a great writer too (Forgetting Sarah Marshall is totally one of my favorite movies of all time).

In fact, it was the Sarah Marshall soundtrack that's gotten me absolutely obsessed with another of my great loves: music. The soundtrack is bizarre...Spanish covers of songs, studio tracks of songs performed in the movie...and then there's THIS song slapped in the middle of it.



The song (Fucking Boyfriend by The Bird and the Bee) is so incredibly bizarre. It's a combination of alternative/dance/Frou Frou-esque/Shiny Toy Guns/elevator music.

And I absolutely love it.

It only makes me love this movie even more.

As for Mr. Segel...he's currently fulfilling his lifelong dream of writing/working on the next Muppet movie...which of course, I'll see. Because honestly. Why wouldn't I?

--J

Open Pandora's Box...

And have a listen.

I recently began going through old CDs in my room. This brought me across a huge load of music that I used to listen to in high school. Because the computer with my iTunes library has no Internet connection currently...and the laptop with all my downloads is down thanks to some nasty virus spreading around online...I've been listening to Pandora on this laptop. Pandora is this awesome free online radio station (www.pandora.com), where you enter a musical artist. It then goes on to play that artist and through some funky technology, plays similar artists.

Which brings me to the list of artists that I listened to in high school (and early into my college career) that I have re-discovered again...and realize why I fell so deeply in love with them all those years ago.

• Taking Back Sunday
  Taking Back Sunday is one of those bands that never gets old to me...that no one else seems to touch with their music and their lyrics. Adam Lazarra is a genius...and he used to frequent bars where Ryan Adams and Jesse Malin were regulars.

• Brand New
  I used to belong to this online message board where I had to listen to some people rave about how genius Andrew McCarthy (from Something Corporate) and Jesse Lacey (of Brand New) were. Now before all that, I fell in love with Brand New's 'Deja Entendu' album. But I really got turned off of the band from all this discussion about how amazing Lacey was. How hot he was. How he just was going to change the world with his lyrics. Years later, I still argue that McCarthy is not a great singer/songwriter/whatever because I just can't stand any of his bands music.
  
  But after pulling out and dusting off 'Deja Entendu' again...I can definately agree with the Lacey thing now. As sick of him as they made me...I can now appreciate how much more meaningful this album is to me now. Lyrically, it's perfect. Musically, it's still as relevant.
  
  This Brand New album is definately one of my favorites.
  
• Murder By Death
  A former best friend of mine turned me on to MbD. Sure, whenver I listen to them, it makes me miss him and how close we were...but when I separate that part of it out, "Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?" is still one of the most interesting albums I own. The cello really holds it together and the singers voice is one of the most haunting that I've ever heard.
  
• Rise Against's "Swing Life Away"
  This isn't an album. This isn't a devotion to one artist. Instead, it's devotion to one song. "Swing Life Away" came to me at a time when I needed it most. I was in such a state of flux. I didn't fit anywhere...and this song spoke to me (and still does) lyrically so amazingly. "I've had some friends, some that I hardly know. We've had some times I wouldn't change for the world." And the chorus..."We live on front porches and swing life away. We get by just fine here on minium wage. If love is a labor, I'll slave till the end. I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand." God. God. God. "Let's rewrite these pages and replace them with our own words." Genius. Perfect fucking genius. Which leads me to another song devotion...
  
• Ryan Adams' "Wish You Were Here"
  This is such a twisted, sick love song. When I was a freshman in college, I remembered seeing ads for Adams' "Rock and Roll" in Alternative Press magazine. While many argue this is one of Adams' worst albums...I love it. I love him. I love this CD. And "Wish You Were Here" is the best song on the album...and it starts out being a doozy from the first line. "Cotton candy and a rotten mouth. You know you're so fucked up. You know I couldn't help but have it for you. Everybody knows the way I walk, knows the way I talk, knows the way I feel about you. It's all a bunch of shit and there's nothing to do around here. It's totally fucked up. I'm totally fucked up. Wish you were here." It's such a contradiction. I love it. It's an anti-love song but love song, love song. This album led to "Gold" for me...which is Adams' best piece of work in my opinion...and so the love affair began.
  
  Some More Classics
• Third Eye Blind
• Pulley
• All
• The Vandals
• Rancid

Today is bittersweet...

Exactly two years ago today, I boarded a flight to London for four of the most amazing months of my life.

I grew up in those four short months in so many ways. I went from being this quiet girl who kept everything bottled up, to the strong willed individual that I am today. Long gone are the days where I let everyone walk all over me...long gone are the days where I used to avoid making an ass of myself...long gone is that quiet, naive girl.

In her place is someone who immediately had to refocus her life the minute she stepped back onto American soil. Everything that had been in shambles before needed to be re-evaluated. And in that process, some things that I thought had been so important before, that I'd been clinging onto for dear life, hoping they'd come back so they could be the way they were before...were finally severed and let go.

In the past two years, a lot of stuff has happened and a lot of stuff has changed.

But I like this Julie. She's surrounded herself with people who really seriously get her...who don't want -- or ask -- her to change. Who accept her for who she is and has always been.

And so today, a day that makes me sad and wish I were in London, starting another scary semester abroad, I know that trip is a huge factor in who I am today. Sure, faces change and so do friends, but those friends that I do have and that I did make are what keep me going every day.

So thank you London for making me who I am today.

And thank you to the friends who've stuck with me this long. I appreciate and heart you all more than you'll ever know. :)

--J

PS: Also, thank you London for my super pretty British boy and my crazy stories about him. American boys pale extremely in comparison to him.

It's so weird...

It's so weird to think that before we're born, our parents have had a different set of lives entirely. I mean, sure, we know they grew up. We know where they went to college, when they were born and on and on. But it's so weird to actually think of them not in these black and white terms...but in the shades of grey.

So it's today (the day that my dad's diabetes worsens and he goes on an IV insulin daily treatment) that I went to dinner with my friend Kate at the restaurant where my parents were engaged over thirty years ago.

The photo above is of W.C. Fields and it was in the back corner of Shorty's restaurant that my dad proposed to my mom. It's the place where figuratively, I was conceived.

It's so strange to think that my parents had different lives before me. I mean, I know they did. I'm not stupid and naive. We just come to think of our parents as role models. Which is why I love hearing the stories that remind me that they at one time were stupid, young and reckless.

Take, for instance, the story of how my parents met...at the car wash. My mom was dating some other guy and my dad stole his car keys so that he couldn't get my mom home in time for her curfew. So my mom retaliated. By punching my dad in the stomach. And kneeing him where the sun doesn't (unless you're in some European countries on the beach...) shine.

Or the time my dad got my mom drunk on Southern Comfort and she had to go home...where she woke everyone up and they knew she was drunk.

Or the time my mom got out of my dad's car, accidentally slammed her winter coat in the door. My dad, who was too caught up in parking the car didn't notice my mom was caught...and she ended up being pulled down the road a good fifty feet before he realized what was going on.

I hope some day I can tell my kids amusing stories like these. I hope I can tell them about the time Honkus picked up the dirty needle in the street of downtown Pittsburgh...or the awesome surprise party my friends had for me during the summer of 2007...or about my crazy adventures in London...drinking and making an ass of myself.

This growing up thing does suck...but at the same time, I realize that there ARE things to look forward to.

And that doesn't make the future seem so ominous anymore.

--J

How awesome is Entertainment Weekly and the cast of How I Met Your Mother?

I know that I've raved over "How I Met Your Mother" before...but yeah.

I can't get enough of this show. The cast is phenomenal. The writers do an amazing job...

I also love 'Entertainment Weekly.' Their photo spreads tend to be some of the best I've ever seen...and their end of the year photo recap with the HIMYM cast recast in the year's biggest events is LEGENDARY.

The Olympics

Indiana Jones

Sex and the City

The Jonas Brothers

The VP Debate

Oh God...One Blog...to...Two?

And it's up!!!! I love this blog so much and Mari loves hers so much and we both like each other so much that we've decided to start a blog together. For the Love of Alfred is two somewhat sarcastic girls taking on celebrities and pop culture...and the intersecting of our two very bizarre, typically stressful, and always interesting lives.

Crazy to take on two blogs? I guess I am.

BUT I AM SO EXCITED! :)

(In case you didn't figure it out...click the photo above to go to our blog)

Congratulations Rolling Stone

I was out buying "Pineapple Express" last nite, when Rolling Stone's latest issue caught my attention.


In a Radar-esque way, Rolling Stone managed to write a piece of satire about our outgoing president that was witty, funny, and at times scathingly honest. I'm not someone who goes around ranting about my political beliefs (though it has been known to happen) and I've been known to rant about popular print voicing their political affiliations to the public (another long, boring rant thanks to too many Journalism classes). But this was honestly unlike anything else I've read in Rolling Stone. Then, the open letter to Obama and the Student-Teacher story? This was a slam dunk issue. Usually Rolling Stone is one of those magazines I read an article or two in and then close entirely. Not this one. Maybe some of the press was paying attention to Radar's formula.

Speaking of the greatest magazine I have ever read/received/subscribed to...I got a card in the mail this week telling me that "due to marketplace conditions, Radar Magazine has stopped publishing." Now I've read enough online about it's demise and no one else really cares, so I won't bore you with the details. In short, it's a bunch of bullshit.

But what made this so damn funny...was the fact that for the remaining amount of my subscription, I can pick from one of the subscriptions below:

• Men's Health
• Shape
• Star

If I didn't reply by a certain date, I would, by default, receive Star magazine. Which apparently now I am. Till 2011. Aren't you all jealous? The fact that such a shit tabloid replaces one of my favorite pieces of written word is an insult to the awesome magazine that once was.

Oh Radar. I only wish we'd had more time together.

Love.

--J

Tonite...

Season Five of Nip/Tuck picks up where it left off.

I CAN'T WAIT.

The Stolen Survey

Totally stole this from Mari.

Bold the Things You've Done
...And Add Whatever Sarcastic Comments I Want

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink -- I'm too cheap to do this.
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain -- Do those fake rock climbing walls count?
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive -- No...but I did sit my ass down in a $250,000.
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it -- Don't ask me how well that went over.
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped -- No...but I did the Sky Coaster at Cedar Point senior year.
11. Visited Paris -- Paris is overrated. London is where it's at.
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea -- Awesome.
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise -- I'd rather just get up and see it. Staying up wrecks the whole day.
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game -- Like three weeks ago?
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa -- Yuck. Italy. Bad, bad experiences there.
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg-
19. Slept under the stars -- We used to try to sleep on Steph's trampoline outside in the summertime...but since it was on a hill, we kept sliding and would give up halfway through the night.
20. Changed a baby’s nappy -- Yeah. Perfect birth control to not have kids for a long, long time.
21. Taken a trip on a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower -- August is the best month for meteor showers. I can remember when I was a little kid, sitting outside with my mom and watching the meteor showers. One night, my parents took me up to the country by a corn field so we could see the sky much clearer. There were deer in the corn field, but I had just read Stephen King's "Children of the Corn" and my dad kept telling me that the children were coming after me, so I went and hid in our mini van, thus ending the amazing show.
23. Got drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment -- Only all the time. Thus is the problem with having a socially unacceptable sense of humor.
27. Had a food fight -- No, but an old roommate did hit me in the eye with a French fry one time.
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster -- I LOVE LOVE LOVE coasters! Honkus and I went to Cedar Point this past summer two days after I felt down a set of stairs and bruised my tail bone. You can bet how wonderful THAT felt.
35. Hit a home run -- In video games.
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking -- Both sober and inebriated. :)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day -- No. But I wish I had a British accent instead of this shitty northern Yankee thing I have going on.
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment -- I can count those moments of pure joy on two hands alone.
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country -- Club Zoo. Strangest night of my life ever. The Bret Easton Ellis version of it: Got shit faced at on campus bar. Decided to dance more. Grabbed coat and ID. Took Tube Station with intent on going to the Ministry of Sound. Saw a girl with no shoes on the Tube. This girl was named Lark and told us to go with her to Club Zoo instead.

I could make this pages long a la BEE style, but since I'm tired and not really feeling witty rite now. That's all you really need to know. We won't go into the gross guy at the club. The guy fucking the prostitute on the dance floor. Or the pretty hands and 'fuck off' comments said. Heh.

44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign -- Handicap parking. Honkus' mom was so disappointed with us. Then my mom was disappointed with us.
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken for longer than when you were in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers -- Topless for a friend's photo project. Everything was covered, thank you.
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie - Student film. I was a terrible bitch in it.
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo - Times two...with more to come, I'm sure.
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas -- 2010 with my BFFF! I'm so excited!!!! :)
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over -- Biggest mistake of my life. This isn't to say that I regret it. Because I have very few regrets.
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking -- Sang louder.
103. Had plastic surgery -- Nip/Tuck starts again this week!!!!!
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Pet a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone -- times two
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours -- Coming back from London.
123. Visited more foreign countries.
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Pet a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - fish
137. Skipped all your school reunions -- I fully plan on it, however. Skipping, I mean. Not attending.
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life

An Open Letter to Whatever Germ Infected Me

Dear Germs,

For the past few years, you've snuck up on me and infected me when I least expected or wanted you to. For some reason, you feel the need to crawl into my system and attack my immune system until the only thing that I can do to fight back is sleep. Excessively. I hate it. I hate you.

The point of this is, you've killed my blogging creativity. Fuck you.

--Julie

PS: Instead of blogging, I'll be watching Penn State play USC in the Rose Bowl. I really don't like USC. But I fucking hate Penn State (sorry Honkus...). So I'm hoping USC creams them. The end.