OK Go -- The Dance Off

As you may know, the plan is for myself & three friends to be able to perform OK Go's "A Million Ways" dance very soon. One small problem is that we have yet to start working on it. Here are some other OK Go fans (aka - the competition) that have a little bit more ambition than moi.

The boys from USC.....


The crew from Today FM (location? not sure) ........



And finally, one last routine. The sound isn't fabulous, you can hear them clapping but the clothes are great and the moves (for the most part) are tight.....

Marsi's Law

also known as "The Celebrity Black Hole That Surrounds Me".

I live in Vancouver. A gorgeous city on Canada's West Coast. An urban paradise if you will. A city that draws TV & movie productions like a salt lick attracts a cow (obviously there is a proper saying that expresses this sentiment but I can't think of it right now).

Today is a gorgeous day. Blue sky, sunshine, birds chirping. I was walking down the street in my trendy neighbourhood towards the market when I saw a very typical sight in Vancouver -- the movie/TV/commercial production sign. Not a day goes by that you don't come across some sort of filming but Marsi's Law says this -- if you are with me you will NOT see any celebrities. I seriously feel like I am the only person in Vancouver who does not have their own personal celebrity story. Pierce Brosnan (see below), Colin Firth, Jennifer Garner, Sharon Stone, Mel Gibson, Matthew McYouKnowWhoIMean, Colin Farrell, Ben Affleck, my numero uno crush Hugh Jackman etc. I thought today might be different -- there was something in the air that made me think that today might be the day. The day that I would have my own celebrity sighting.

On the return trip from the market I am waiting for the light to change, watching the San Francisco police car get towed down the street when a crazy old lady waddles up to me to comment on the beautiful day. Now as Canadians were are very polite but we generally don't start chit chatting w/ perfect strangers on the street. But politeness demands a response so I concur that it is a gorgeous day and then promptly avoid eye contact. She then proceeds to tell me about her "spasms" and why she can't work. At this point the light has turned and I am trying to casually GET AWAY! As I'm pulling away from her she starts talking louder and louder. Again b/c I am so polite I keep responding. I am now almost at the other corner when I catch a glimpse of a very goodlooking, famous looking guy wearing cool sunglasses and a leather coat (too hot for this weather) smiling at me. Was this my celebrity moment? I don't know b/c instead of returning his smile I was hauling ass away from the crazy. As I analyzed the situation while running home I realized that he wasn't a celebrity and he wasn't smiling at me he was laughing.

So according to Marsi's Law, not only will I not see the celebrity but the celebrity will be replaced by a crazy person.

Remington Steele Sighted
This illustrates my point about everyone else having a celebrity moment. Cindy and several of her girlfriends were out last weekend at the Sutton Place hotel celebrating her 30th birthday. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY CINDY! Esther was returning from the ladies' room when she ran into Mr. Remington Steele (aka Mr James Bond) himself Pierce Brosnan. They had a chat, he called her "beautiful" and this was the picture that was taken.


*sigh* I am so jealous!

*double sigh* Why can't I make the above font normal?! Why does the computer hate me so much?????

Ok Go part two

Now, I saw Ok Go at the Dirty Dog at SXSW and I've seen them before in Vancouver opening for the Vines. I loved them after the first time I saw them. Damian Kulash danced around the club after the set in Vancouver, and after the show was on the street handing out stickers (which I still have BTW)

Damian Kulash at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver in 2002
I was lucky enough to meet Damian during my grueling 2 hour flight delay on Monday looking slightly more dapper then his mug shot. He was an absolute doll and totally freebee five material.

They closed the SXSW show with the "Million Ways" dance. Most fun of SXSW!!

Super Cool Band -- OK Go

So I wasn't even at SXSW but I have a new favourite band courtesy of the festival. OK Go. Keri sent me an email after seeing them live and she was raving about the show -- especially about the dance routine that they performed at the end of the show (and every show). Check it out.....okay this is my first attempt to add video to a post *fingers crossed*

"A Million Ways" by OK Go


Did that work? Hope so. Anyways, so I've watched the video several times (LOVE IT!) and have decided that we (May, Keri, Deb and I) will be performing sections of the routine at an upcoming birthday. I've also since checked out their MySpace account, Flickr account and blog.

In true rock star fashion, lead singer Damian Kulash was recently (Mar 12) arrested outside Orlando's House Of Blues (where I will be in the fall -- please let there be a good band playing!). Here is how the incident unfolded.....

The rumors are true. Damian J. Kulash was arrested last night.

Here's the full story:

Late last night, while standing in front of the Orlando House of Blues, Damian Kulash was arrested and charged with "intent to take pictures and talk to fans." Also, there was a little matter of resisting arrest, which is the official charge. The unofficial charge is "giving the wrong answer when a police officer asks you 'what part of move don't you understand?'". For those of you planning travel in the Orlando area, the correct response is not "I understood what you said; I just didn't do it." Damian didn't know that, so he was immediately handcuffed and taken inside the venue to chants of "Let him go!" (Had I been there the chants would have been "Jorge, NO!!! It's not worth it!" 'cause you know I got my boy's back.)

A bunch more cops were quickly summoned to help with all the standing around and not doing much, and eventually Damian, still handcuffed, was shoved into the back of a squad car and taken "downtown," a ride that became more fun when the SUV full of girls pulled up next to the cop car waving FREE DAMIAN signs. Damian thanks you, ladies.

Upon arrival, our hero was mugshotted, fingerprinted and thrown into a cell with a bunch of people who didn't want to sign the OK Go email list. Damian was locked up for about nine hours, during which time he ate corn flakes and made friends with a couple of guys, one of whom had rescued his longtime girlfriend from a crack den earlier that day, only to have her sic the cops on him when he came by her apartment to make sure she was doing okay. To that guy, I say: Dude--she just doesn't love you.

Damian was released this morning, and promises he'll be in fine fettle for Tuesday's show in Jacksonville. Until then, he'd like to address two rumors that have sprung up on the Internet in the last 24 hours: No, he wasn't drunk; and Yes, he did get the arresting officer to watch the "A Million Ways" video on the on-board computer. If that's not awesome, awesome doesn't exist. written by Andy Ross aka Rusty from OK Go's blog The Will To Rock

Hmmmm, so I wanted to post Damian's mug shot but am having some computer issues so here's the link instead.............dangerous criminal What a bad ass! I love it!

SXSW XX

Pop Culture contributor Keri (and by "contributor" I mean the person who has written all of two posts but likes to leave comments). Anyways, Keri is off this week for the big-ass music festival/conference that is known as South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. I'm hoping that once she's back she will write us a post about her time there. It should make for some good reading as she's going as music exec Barb's plus-one AND has a VIP pass. Read about Keri's previous plus-one adventures.

There are hundreds of artists taking part. I glanced at the list but since I am not very hip w/ new music, I hadn't heard of any of them. Well, I'd heard of about 10 but ten out of hundreds isn't very good. Of the acts that I did know here are a few:
- Sam Roberts
- Flogging Molly
- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
- K-Os
- Vancouver's own Swollen Members

I told Keri that while she as there she should make time to eat some biscuits b/c my favourite thing about Texas is the biscuits! I love biscuits!!!! I was stranded there for just over 24hrs a couple of years ago (tornados shut down the airport.....yeah it was fun) and at our hotel they had a free breakfast. I went down in the AM expecting cold danishes & maybe some fruit but it was a full (cooked) breakfast buffet. They had a chef and pancakes/waffles/eggs made to order, sausages/bacon/ham, cereals, breads & pastries, grits (cause it's the South) etc. But the best part was the biscuits! They were baked w/ honey and TO DIE FOR! Mmmmmmm, yummy.

What was I talking about?! Oh yeah, music. So Keri's having an awesome time in Texas and I'm hungry.

Jake G Is Fun

Everyone needs to have a friend like this. A friend who will "get the party started" so to speak. I have several. They are people I know I can rely on to make the evening a little more interesting. Have a group of people that don't really know each other? This friend will soon have everyone on the dance floor jumping up and down, singing along to "Thunderstruck" (or Patrick-struck). I think Jake is this kind of friend. In fact, Jake would be welcome at any party I host. Jake - YOU ROCK!!!!!

EW's Score

EW's best prediction year was 2004 when they went 21/24, pretty amazing. This year? Not so hot. They were 16/24. But as they've proved in the past couple of years they are golden on the major categories. Last year they were 8/8, while this year they were down to 7/8. They missed "Best Picture", predicting that Brokeback would win instead of Crash but only giving Brokeback a 5% lead.

Note to self -- go w/ EW's picks for next year's big 8 and maybe you'll actually win some money!

For all the Oscar buzz and EW's spin on things Click Here

Oscar Party Cancelled

Due to a food related incident, involving bad take-out, Marsi & Arthur's annual Oscar party was cancelled! So sad!!!!!

I am in my pj's, laying on the couch (actually taking up both couches.....how is that even possible?!) watching the Oscars by myself. Even Arthur has deserted me.

Here are the things I have learned from tonight's telecast.

1. I would gladly wish for the destruction of the world's population if it meant that I could repopulate it with Eric Bana!

2. Jennifer Garner is awesome and I love her. So classy and beautiful.

3. I should never try and make money by predicting winners in anything -- final score out of 24? Ten. But thanks to the Geishas', Reese & Crash I didn't totally suck. Congrats to Cdn Paul Haggis!!!!! What an amazing movie.

4. Penguins are awesome and make excellent Oscar dates.

5. Jon Stewart isn't very funny.

6. The Oscars are actually very boring to watch and it's all about spending time w/ your 6 closest friends, eating lots, placing wagers on the categories, playing games and talking through the acceptance speeches! Girls (& Marshall) I miss you!!!!!! Next year!

ps - Narnia was amazing and I wish it had won more awards! But YEAH for Makeup!

pps - Thank you to the Academy for not letting Beyonce sing the best songs. That was the biggest mistake of last year or any year.

Want to see the CD that would have been given out in the gift bag?! Click here!

It's Amazing Again

Thank you CBS! THANK YOU!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I can't tell you how happy I am to have The Amazing Race back "in it's Emmy winning format". Teams of two -- travelling all around the world. Season 9 kicked off on Tuesday night and it was excellent! My most favourite team is BJ & Tyler, the hippies from SanFran. Sadly the season is so young that I can't find any pics of them on the internet yet but here's their bio from CBS. BJ & Tyler These two are seriously funny and are wearing awesome clothes (hello peach tuxedo shirt). I think they might beat Brian and Greg (season 7) as my favourite team of all time.

In this week's EW, there was a half page article written by Lynette Rice asking exec producer Bertram van Munster & host Phil Keoghan for 5 reason why the viewing public should tune in again after last season's "big-time suckfest" that was known as the family edition. Here are their reasons.
1. No more annoying kids! Amen!
2. Dynamic duos!!!! As proved by my best friends BJ & Tyler.
3. Phil has a crush! She's cute -- but I bet her boyfriend could kick Phil's ass. Which I don't want b/c I love Phil. I would be the team member who would insist on hugging him after every leg of the race no matter how gross and smelly I was.
4. New exotic locales. First stop was Brazil and there are stops scheduled in Moscow, Sicily & Oman.
5. More agita-inducing challenges. Ummm, not really sure what that means.


Ohhhh!!!!!! I got a picture of the boys (and the peach tuxedo shirt!).