Yoda I am you say?

For those Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans out there here's a fun quiz,
Which Fantasy/SciFi character are you?
Apparently I am Yoda, pleased I am. :)

Have fun!

New York in December

For the 7th time that year I found myself in the big apple. This was the first time I had been there during the holiday season. It really is cold, uh beautiful there. I went with a friend of mine, Lynette. She had never been to New York before so we went up for the day, and basically walked all over the place. Other than going to the 8pm Radio City Music Hall show, we didn't really have anything specific planned. We walked around Central Park and spent some time on 5th Ave checking out the stores. The decorations were truly extraordinary, far beyond anything I would have thought of. Rockfeller Center was amazing, the tree gorgeous. I'd been to New York alot during 2007, but had never seen so many people in one square block. Rockfeller Center was absolutely packed! I must say here that I don't like crowds, not at all, so that was a bit much, but otherwise it was incredible. The Radio City Music Hall show was great, highly recommend going if you ever have a chance.

We had flown up to New York, but didn't want to be tied to a specific time that we had to leave, so we rented a car and drove back. I really didn't want to drive in New York City, so I intentionally rented a car from LaGuardia. I made sure to get a GPS with it as I don't know the roads there. Well, apparently the GPS didn't know the roads well either, I ended up driving back into the city, after taking a few wrong turns. Eventually we did make it out of the city and made our way home. All in all it was a great day!

Meeting Duran Duran?... um what?

I have been a Duran Duran fan since 1981, one of the original Duranies. Yet in 26 years I had never met them. This changed on November 3rd, 2007. A date I will never forget, and honestly still can't believe it happened. Duran Duran were doing a stint on Broadway at the Barrymore Theatre celebrating their fantastic new CD, Red Carpet Massacre. I flew into New York, yes again :), Friday 11/2, and had tickets to the Saturday show.

I went to the VIP pre-show event and found out that I had won a chance to meet the band backstage before the show. After about 10 mins I think I said, "great" or something clever like that. I was extremely nervous, after such a long time, I was wondering if I would ever meet them. Finally, it was time to go and so 13 of us, the other winners, Jen from the fan club and I, all piled into a very small elevator at the hotel. Whenever the elevator stopped most had the intelligence to see that it was full... but not everyone. This one woman insisted on getting on the elevator, causing the door to get off track when it tried to close. We were stuck. Stuck. I am petrified of being trapped in tight spaces. Internally I was freaking out!! After about 15 mins we finally got to the next floor and the doors opened. I have never been so grateful to see stairs in my life!

We finally get to the venue, about 20 mins late, and go downstairs to where the meet and greet will be held. The band showed up within just a min or so. John walked down the line first and was very sweet. Jen and I filled him in about what happened on the elevator. Roger was next, and then Simon... dear Simon. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to him much, but I did say hi and shook his hand. Finally, Nick was there. This was a moment I had always been nervous about, wondering how I would react. I kept it together, though. :) I mentioned that it was wonderful to meet him, especially after 26 years. He smiled and told me I must be very patient. :) I asked him how the show was going and he said that it was going well and that he was hoping I would like it... hmm, there's was more than a gigantic chance I would. We then did the group pictures, I was between Nick and Simon, and then we left.

I had a great seat for the show, 4th row center, and thought it was amazing. The first set was the new CD, they performed the entire thing live. It was cool actually hearing it performed live before even having it in hand. The electro set in the middle was wonderful, you never get a chance to see Roger during a show as he is hidden by his drums, so it was nice to see him. The last set consisted of several of their classic hits. The whole show was fantastic and if I didn't have to fly home the next day I would've loved to see it again.

Planet in Peril

Ok, ok, I know I am ridiculously behind, so I'm going to try and catch up here. First up is CNN's amazing documentary Planet In Peril. This was a year-long project CNN did to report on the issues that are destroying our planet. Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sunjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin went to 13 countries in 4 continents and reported on some incredible situations. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. I wrote up a report on it and found a few resources, which can be found here: http://www.jennslounge.com/pip/pip.htm. One of the things I admire most about this documentary is that it really just focuses on the facts, it wasn't designed to tell you what is or is not to blame, but simply what is. This is one of Anderson's trademarks, and a main reason I respect his reporting as much as I do.

Also while in New York

My brother, a very talented actor/dancing/singer is currently in a play, so I also went to see him. The play was great and he was fantastic, course I'm a bit biased. :)

On my last night there I attended an advanced screening of CNN's amazing documentary Planet In Peril. More on this series later, but the screening was great. Anderson Cooper was on hand to tell us a bit about his experiences and to answer some questions. He was funny as he usually is and I have to admit I'm right there with him in regards to the whole bug thing. I don't get the sheer joy Jeff gets from seeing them, but more power to him... I'll be inside. :) I asked Anderson what surprised him most. He said that it was actually seeing it for himself. For our entire lives, or so it seems, both Anderson and I have heard about the destruction of the Amazon and the melting of the ice sheets. Even so, he said it was surprising to actually see it. I definitely get that, seeing for yourself makes it real. Hmm, sounds like a mantra of Anderson's.

All in all it was another great weekend in New York!

JK Rowling Book Reading

I went to New York again last weekend. The main reason I was there was to attend the book reading/signing JK Rowling was doing at Carnegie Hall. I can't possibly describe how wonerful this event was! Jo is an amazing author and is a very kind and gracious person. It was a real honor to meet her. Since the release of the 7th book it has been a lot of fun to see her do readings and interviews. She seem's to be having such a great time! Finally able to relish the freedom of being able to fully talk about the books, now that the pressure of keeping things secret has lifted.

She started things off by reading what she said was her favorite part of book 7, and I have to say it's one of mine too. It's the part in the book where Ron comes back (I won't say any more, since I don't want to spoil it). She was very funny and read it wonderfully, I loved her voices.

She then answered several questions from the audience. The most memorable one of course was about Dumbledore. She was asked if Dumbledore had ever fallen in love and been married. She paused for a bit and then said that she had always seen Dumbledore as gay. At first the audience was quiet, a bit surprised, but then everyone broke out in applause and laughter, followed quickly by a lot of text messages going out. Seeing our reaction she laughed and said that if she knew we would react that way, she'd have said something long ago. :)

Then finally she did the book signing... keep in mind that there were 2,000 people in attendance. She signed a book for each person there, that's truly amazing to me. My friend and I were about half-way through. Scholastic definitely did a good job at herding people through, but I still got a chance to thank her for such a great series.

A big thanks to Jo and Scholastic for such a fun evening!

Seeing Maroon

About a week ago, I saw Maroon 5 at the Verizon Center in DC. It was a great show! The guys are amazing and Adam Levine is an incredibly talented vocalist!

They performed all of my favorites, save one. They started with Should I Never See Your Face Again and Makes Me Wonder two of my favorites from the new CD. They also did Sunday Morning, Secret and She Must Be Loved my faves from the first.

I definitely would love to see them again and will be keeping an eye out for them to come back around.

Baltimore at Night

I spent Saturday night at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD. A really nice place to take pictures, especially at night. I'm currently taking a Night Photography class so this was a perfect place to go. Here are a couple of shots.

Joining Jeff at the Zoo

Last night I attended the National Zoo's "Escape to the Wild Side..." event. The key speaker was Jeff Corwin from Animal Planet. I must say he was a great speaker. He has a lot of wonderful stories and was very funny and poignant.

The zoo is one of the best things about living in the DC area, I've always loved animals and have visited many different zoos. The National Zoo is definitely one of the best. Course I'm a bit partial to pandas so my opinion might be a bit biased. :)

JK Rowling Book Reading

I will again be travelling up to New York, this time in October. JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, will be doing a book reading/signing next month. I found out late last week that I won tickets. As a huge fan of the books this is an incredible opportunity and I am very excited to say the least!!

Elton John's AIDS Foundation Benefit... aka Hangin' with Mr. Cooper

The reason I was in New York this week was to attend the annual (althought it was my first time going) benefit dinner for the EJAF. This was a really great evening. The best part of which was that I finally got a chance to meet someone I'd been wanting to meet for quite awhile. The host of the evening: Anderson Cooper. I must admit I was quite nervous, Anderson is truly an extraordinary person, but I finally got a chance, and the courage, to walk up and introduce myself. He could not have been nicer. We shook hands and he was very sweet and seemed genuinely appreciative when I told him that I really enjoyed his show and his book.

The rest of the evening was very nice, and seeing KD Lang perform was a big treat. She has an amazing voice. The foundation does some amazing work to help both those suffering from HIV/AIDS and their families, but also works very hard towards prevention and education. It was definitely a worthy cause and I'm glad I was able to help support it.

Back in New York... first up Jeffrey Toobin's new book

I was back in New York this week to attend the Elton John AIDS Foundation Benefit dinner. More on that later, but first up was Jeffrey Toobin's Book signing. He was first interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper. Following the interview was an audience Q&A. It was definitely interesting hearing Jeffrey's take on the nine men and women who sit on our courts highest bench. I haven't read the book myself yet, but I've heard it's gotten great reviews. If you're interested in law and politics, you may want to check it out. Below are a couple of pictures I took. Yes, I know the second is just of Anderson, just thought it was a cute picture.

Genesis Turns It Back On!

Sunday night I went to the Genesis concert in Washington, DC. It was incredible!! I've seen Phil in concert before, but not Genesis. Personally, while I hate crowds, I do love concerts. There's something about being there in the middle of all that energy that really is amazing.

Rehoboth Beach

My family and I spent the last few days of August in Rehoboth Beach, DE. We had absolutely gorgeous weather. I love being near the water, I am an aquarius after all. :) Hearing the waves crash and feeling the sand be washed out from under my feet are two things I love most about being on the shore. Course I am about as pale as a human can get... so I burn to a crisp in seconds, but so what! ;)

Zoo trip

Hi there,
Have a lot of catching up to do! First up is the photography class I was taking. It's finished a few weeks ago and I have to say I learned a lot!

One of the last things we did was took a trip to the national zoo, one of my favorite places. Here a few pics:

Harry Potter 5

I saw the 5th Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, last night. It was fantastic!! They did a great job in adapting such a large book, the screenplay was excellent. Daniel has really grown into an extraordinary actor! I loved the flying scenes, be they on broomsticks or thestrals. I also loved Grawp, he was adorable and Hermione was very funny. The only negative was that we didn't see very much of the adults, not unlike the book, but I really liked McGonagall in this one, would've been nice to see more of her. I'm definitely going to go see it again this weekend and will see it a third time when I visit my brother in New York at the end of the month. If you've seen it I'd love to hear what you think.