Lyrical Genius

My sister and I have this pact to start making more of an effort with our lives. We're trying to do things together on Friday and Saturday nights, our only free times. This just makes me think of that Will and Grace episode where Will says, "But we don't do things." Yeah, but we're trying to.

Since I'm usually exhausted, freezing, and starving after I get off my super-long Friday shift, we've been going out to get hot food Friday nights. Of course, since this is Lent, we're limited as to where we can go, for Catholics aren't allowed to eat meat on Fridays in Lent. One time we went to the Irish pub and got hot toddies and fish and chips (so delicious! Hot Irish whiskey with honey and cloves is a wonderful, wonderful thing!). This past Friday, we went to a pizza place I'd never been to before, since it's on the opposite side of town from where I live.

"It's a nice family place," my sister told me, "and sometimes they have live band performances."

So we go, since greasy veggie pizza sounds life-affirmingly appetizing when one has not eaten in nearly twelve hours. When we arrived, we immediately felt out of place. There was a performance going on, and the restaurant was filled with hipsters come to see it. In our sweats, my sister and I didn't really fit in.

We tried our best to ignore the very loud hubbub around us as we debated whether or not to get a pizza that included artichoke hearts, so the only phrase I heard from the girl on stage was "fucking chihuahuas." I cracked up because I had no idea what the context of that was. I still have no clue.

Then, most unfortunately, the night's main band start playing. Now these guys were not just an amateur hipster band who had never before performed in front of people. They were a hipster country band without any smidgen of musical talent. Each of their songs started exactly the same, and they sang in a terrible, fake Southern twang. Their lyrics were atrocious, to say the least, and included the following: "we'll all get high, and we'll all go to jail," "we'll go to Chicago, and we'll all go to jail," "you smell like raw sewage," "I want to drink a whole bottle of whiskey," and "we tried to shit, but we could only fart." It was very painful to hear. Prevalent themes included getting high, masturbation, and prison, so I muttered snarkily under my breath, "Clearly their inspiration for their lyrics is taken from daily life."

By the sixth song, I could not handle it any longer, and I yelled at my sister to pound her beer so that we could escape. On the bright side, the pizza was quite delicious, but I won't be going there again unless I know in advance there are no hipster stoner country bands playing to ravage my ears.

Here's hoping for a better Friday experience.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

What The...

What the hell did I write this morning?! I seriously need to get over this flu like now.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

An Ode To Nyquil

Nyquil Is...

Nyquil is when you wake up in the morning and can't remember what day it is.
Nyquil is when you stare at the shower head because you're too tired to remember how to turn it on.
Nyquil is when you lather up your acne cleanser and then put it in your hair.
Nyquil is when you feel so drowsy that coffee can't wake you up.
Nyquil is when you stock two entire cases of soy sauce bottles and then realize you marked them all at the wrong price.
Nyquil is when you start spouting bizarre poetry because it's all you can think about as you try to figure out how to survive another day on Nyquil.

So that's how my life is right now. How are things with you?

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul,

And The Winner Is...

It's the morning after the Academy Awards, so while I eat breakfast and prepare for a heavy day of work (while still sick, yes), I have to take the time to check out three lists: who won the Oscars, who wore the best outfits, and who wore the worst. The winners are the first and easiest to check out. On Saturday I posted a list of who I felt should win in some of the categories, so now let me compare the Wikipedia list of who actually won to my predictions. Hmm...

The predictions I got correct are as follows:

• Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence
• Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz (Yay!)
• Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway
• Best Writing Original Screenplay: Django Unchained
• Best Animated Short Film: Paperman

 Well, five wins isn't so bad, and I really feel that all five of these deserved wins, especially Christoph Waltz and Jennifer Lawrence. As for discussing the red carpet outfits, that will come soon in another post.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

My Apologies

Due to this cold turning into a flu (yes, another flu despite the one I suffered from for a couple weeks in January) and not being able to take off either job while sick (yes, I know, life sucks), I am behind on schedule, and I don't have this week's post drafts ready or rather fully written. I am spending every moment of the day struggling to breathe, and while I will continue to sacrifice sleep for the sake of having time to write, at the moment I am popping a Nyquil and trying to recover. Therefore, posts for the next few days will be rather light. I have some great material to write about planned out, but taking the time to write something comprehensive is easier said than done. I humbly apologize, but don't fret too much, readers. I fully intend to keep my minimum of five posts a week promise.

On the bright side, Christoph Waltz got the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. There is hope in this world.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

Aurora's Nominations

The 85th Academy Awards are on Sunday, and though I'll be at work, I still plan to look up who won and see all the important outfits Monday morning. Let's face it: the red carpet outfits are probably the most important part to me: seeing lots of gorgeous actresses all glamorous and sexy. I do have a few ideas as to who and what should win, so here are my picks for the Oscars:

• Best Picture: Django Unchained (although it should be The Avengers)
• Best Director: Why the hell aren't Joss Whedon, Peter Jackson, and Chris Nolan on the nomination list?!
• Best Actor: Hugh Jackman (but it really should be Tom Hardy)
• Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence
• Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz (This is the win I want most out of all the categories! Christoph Waltz is an amazing actor, and it would be awesome for him to have a winning set for Hans Landa and for Schultz.)
• Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway
• Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained
• Best Animated Feature: Wreck-It Ralph
• Best Animated Short Film: Paperman
• Best Original Song: Why the hell weren't Safe & Sound and Breath of Life nominated?!
• Best Production Design: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Best Costume Design: Snow White and The Huntsman
• Best Visual Effects: Marvel's The Avengers

Those are the ones I care about at least. Is it obvious what my preferences are? We'll see how it goes Monday morning.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

Graphic Admiration

Nerd moment: I love comic books and graphic novels. I tend to read collected volumes rather than single issue by issue because I prefer to read more at once, but the downside to that is having to wait longer before they become available from the publishers. Waiting can be so irritating sometimes, but I just have to deal.

I've always considered myself a Marvel girl, but I don't dislike DC. It's just that, besides Batman, I don't really pay too much attention to the main DC multiverse. For DC, I pay much more attention to Vertigo, which has their more mature, darker, more supernatural series and mini-series, like the beautiful piece of dark fantasy literature that is Neil Gaiman's Sandman (I have such a thing for Death, by the way -- so adorable!). Other great examples would be Arkam Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth, V For Vendetta, Hellblazer, and Preacher. John Constantine, Hellblazer is amazingly and fascinatingly disturbing, particularly when written by Garth Ennis, at least, the talented writer also behind Preacher. Preacher is-- well, the only way to describe it is awesome and effed up. My favorite character, Cassidy, is a complete monster, but I still sympathize with him. Even villainous characters like Jody still have a lot of likeability.

Garth Ennis is also the genius behind my favorite issues of The Punisher. Now, I love a lot of Marvel characters, including Rogue, Nightcrawler, Iron Man, Daredevil, Spider-man, Doctor Doom, Deadpool, Wolverine, Captain America, Nick Fury, Blade, Beast, too many to count, honestly, but Frank Castle is my favorite. He's so dark, snarky, and sarcastic, and I enjoy the constant inner monologue. Sure, it's ultraviolent, but it's hilarious -- very Tarantino is that aspect, actually. The return of The Russian and his enormous breasts and Frank using Spider-man as a shield/weapon against him is one of the most hilarious things I've ever read. Ever. It's in the volume called Punisher: Army of One. I highly recommend it, although I'd suggest reading Welcome Back, Frank first.

There's a bunch of Dark Horse lines I like too, especially Hellboy and B.P.R.D. and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and of course I enjoy The Walking Dead (Image Comics), which could -- and should -- take a post by itself, as should the greatest graphic novel of all time, Watchmen.

Just a general assertion, though: just because I've been gushing so much about fashion and beauty doesn't mean I'm not a complete and utter nerd. Because I totally am. Never forget it.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.