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May 21, 2005

Making a Living vs. Making a Life

It appears that I am facing a crossroads in my life. I fell into the field of print advertising via a temp agency in Chicago. Now I'm looking to get promoted and move back home. Problem is, there are many, many more advertising opportunities in Chicago and NYC than there are in L.A., particularly of the print variety. So why not stay here or move to NYC? Well, mi chavo is planning on moving to L.A. to pursue a career in "the biz" (aka the film industry). So, first it's a choice between more career opportunities and living in the same city as the most important person in my life.

Many people think I should put my career's advancement ahead of romantic ideals. That's a very p.c. way of looking at my dilemma. Sure, I want to pursue my career with my heart and soul. And sure, I whole-heartedly believe in the medium, which would add to my ability to sell ad space in it. But I have a feeling if I moved with my Big Corporate Employer to NYC, I'd feel terrible about not trying to get a position on the Editorial side of the divide. My employer publishes a couple of magazines I would *love* to work for as a writer.

But who am I? An unknown blogger who barely gets anyone besides her boyfriend to read her ramblings. It's not like I have clips - or anything else to get me anything better than another glorified secretary position if I tried to make the switch to the Edit side.

Which brings us back to the business side. And am I really a good saleswoman? Can I handle the sales pitches - and the constant pressure to make / exceed last year's numbers? Assuming I can do the job, do I want to?

On the couple front - I really, really, really enjoy my time with my boyfriend. Yeah, our relationship is strong enough to handle time apart, but I'm not sure I am. I mean, sure I can live alone and be dependent only on myself. But I enjoy having mi chavo around when I wake up from a nightmare. I like cuddling with him as we fall asleep. I like making Sunday breakfast and watching the Sunday talk shows with him. I don't want to give any of that up. As much as I believe in the business of print media, I believe in my relationship more. I believe I'm a better person being with mi chavo. I'm not convinced that selling ad pages makes me a better person. Again, I'm not knocking the profession - I'm just not as passionate about it as I am about my relationship.

So I guess that one way or another, I'm going to find a job in L.A. and move back there. Unless my mind forms arguments tomorrow that convince me otherwise.

Posted by cj at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2005

Star Wars ROCKED!!!!

I saw Star Wars Ep III w/ mi chavo at 4:30am. It totally rocked and we plan on going again on Saturday.

Please note that I have only seen eps I and II once - when they were in the theater. I hated them and was heart broken at how bad they were. While Lucas continues to not be able to write his way out of a paper bag (seriously, he should have had someone else write the dialogue), the jibber jabber was cut way down for ep III and the War! took center stage.

Best parts were Yoda and Chewbacca. Worst part was Hayden Christensen attempting to act.

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And Le Peep restaurant was a great place to end my morning experience.

If only we had researched the opening a bit more and known that it opened today, my experience would've been perfect. Instead, since the tickets online said May 18, we woke up at 2am yesterday, showered, and clothed. I even did my hair and makeup since management was in town yesterday. Only to arrive at an empty theater and told by the guard that we could start lining up for the midnight show at 8am. So we went home and did the whole routine for a second night. The hard core geeks were at the midnight screenings (which all sold out), the drunks were at the 3:30am screening w/ mi chavo's sister, and regular geeks were with us in the digitally-projected 4:30am screening.

Also in attendance were a flock of teenagers dressed up like the characters and one adult chaperone. It was really quite sweet to see them. You know they worked it out ahead of time so only one of them was dressed as each of the characters.

Wooohoo! [/end slap-happy rant]

Posted by cj at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2005

Sixteen Bucks to Listen to Idiots Chatter

So mi amor and I went to the movies tonight. And I was the bigger dork - I made the decision to go to the earlier showing so that we could watch the first run of "Siskel and Roepert." (In Chicago, it airs around 10:35pm on Saturday and at 10:30am on Sunday. We usually watch it on Sunday, which means I miss half of "Meet the Press.")

Anyway, enough of the dorkiness. So we went to the OhPoh Cinema, where we were apparently some of the few people who didn't get the "talk like you're in your living room" memo.

The college students behind us had no volume control before the movie started, which is how I know they were college students. Then, once the movie began they somehow thought that by talking in normal indoor voices, no one else would hear their conversations. When the movie started and they were talking, I turned and stared at them. They didn't pick up the clue. When the movie continued and they were still talking, I turned around and said "Shut up." Later, when the idiot behind me decided to push her foot into the back of my chair (second biggest pet peeve at movie theatres, the first being ppl talking), I turned and stared at her. At that point, her male companion said something about her not talking anymore. He was very loud and completely missing the point. Luckily the idiot realized that I wanted to be left alone and stopped kicking in my chair.

Wondering what movie we went to see? It was one that Ebert calls a "must see," named "Crash." This is one of those times when Ebert got it wrong. He gave the damn movie four stars! Mi chavo pointed me to a much better review at the NYT by A.O. Scott. He really sums up the movie in the second to last graph:

It is at once tangled and threadbare; at times you have trouble keeping track of all the characters, but they run into one another with such frequency that, by the end, you start to think that the population of Los Angeles County must number in the mid-two figures - all of it strangers who hate one another on sight.

In other dorky movie news, we got our Star Wars tix - 4:30am this Wednesday, projected digitally. Yes, we are going at the crack of dawn. This way, we can avoid the chattering masses and take ourselves out to breakfast before work. Wow. I really did just admit that. My apologies.

Posted by cj at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2005

Rolling Stone Mag on Audioslave in Cuba

Blind Boy Grunt passed on a link to "Airborne With Audioslave: Behind the scenes of one rock band's invasion of Cuba," by Vanessa Grigoriadis

It's a great article that captures the essence of Audioslave: the band's strident politics attached to a pure rock star singer. And how Cuba can change everyone, even Chris Cornell...

I enjoyed the last graph best:

On the windswept patio of the Hotel Nacional, Cornell assesses the experience. "I'm more shocked than I thought I would be," he says of the visit. "You can't come here and not look at Cuba strictly on a human level and feel some nervousness and some shame and some anger at being American." He thinks about what he'll take home from all this. "When it comes to writing lyrics, every aspect of human life is going to be part of the palette for me," he says. "This experience would be something that I would write about in a song, or some songs. You can look at a band like U2, which is not overtly political, but Bono gets a lot done. I think we can be that way, too."
Emphasis added.

Posted by cj at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2005

The Highs and Lows of Life: How I Ended Up at the U2 Concert Last Night

Yesterday began with an emotional event. Mi chavo had to end the suffering of his shi-tzu and I accompanied them to the vet's office. As mi chavo's houseguest for the last few months, I've gotten to know his dog a bit. And I have deep regrets about the passing of my own childhood dogs - Lightening while I was in junior high and Freckles this past summer. So while I didn't know mi chavo's shi-tzu for long, I could totally relate to mi chavo's pain and sadness at making the decision to end her sickness and allow her to go to a better place.

So, we spent the rest of the afternoon relatively somber and hangin out in bed. Mi chavo had read that Ticketmaster puts seats on sale to sold out shows the day of the concert, so he obsessively tried to find tickets to U2's first Chicago performance. I was skeptical - hell, I it ain't like I have a lot of cash lying around - but understood that he needed the break from everyday life. Around 5pm, Ticketmaster started showing available seats. First, only behind the stage. Then I joined the action on my own laptop and had more luck. I found $165 per ticket seats and eventually got seats in the second tier for $95 plus fees.

In about an hour, we showered, dressed, and ate dinner. I even put makeup and jewelry on and foolishly chose heels so that I wouldn't have to fold the bottom of my jeans. We got to United Center in record time and I put my high-heeled foot down on the idea of parking nine blocks away to avoid the price of parking. After a painless visit to will call to get the paper tix, we made our way into the Center.

Very few people were in their seats for the opening act, Kingdom of Leon. To clue us in on why they're "playing support" for the entire summer North American tour, they opened with that song from the Volkswagen commercial. It was all downhill from there. Perhaps some people enjoy annoying, heavy metal-screech ballads by men who are ugly and can't sing, but I didn't come for that shite. Mi chavo said Franz Ferdinand was opening on some dates on the tour, which U2's website confirms.

Two things would have made the night perfect: Franz Ferdinand opening and having known I was going to the concert, which would have given me time to really delve into the Atomic Bomb cd, so that I could appreciate those songs during the show.

Well, actually a third thing would have made the night perfect - if Bono had limited his political rants to the space between songs, instead of trying to incorporate them into songs. He stopped "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" to don a bandana with the symbols of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Problem was, he mumbled the explanation and the camera guy never bothered to show the side of his head that included the crescent and star (which I'm assuming is the symbol he used for Islam). And it was odd to see an Irish Catholic with a Star of David in the middle of his forehead. He was trying to make a point about the synergy of the three major religions to evolve from Abraham - and I believe he even sang a ditty about Abraham - but mi chavo doesn't remember the song and couldn't understand what Bono was saying to hear his point.

It's ironic to me that Bono's current political obsession is with Africa. He urged us to come together to end war and poverty and AIDS - I think, again the politics were a little incoherent and I'm inferring that from what I know of his political activism. In a town with a significant black population, it said something to me that (1) I didn't see any black people in the basketball stadium and (2)the majority of people in attendance were clearly upper middle class (who else can afford $100 tickets?) Don't get me wrong - I appreciate Bono's political work. I think he's been a significant and important supporter of poverty eradication and AIDS prevention. I just think his way of fusing his political message with his music was poorly done.

On the other hand, as a rock group, U2 still has it. Their lights and most of the video added to the concert. The stage was set up with an elliptical cat walk that reached out into the center of the court, allowing all of the performers to get closer to my side of the stadium, which I really appreciated. It was also interesting to see Bono play back up drums on the opening song, "Love and Peace."

The set list was okay. After the excitement of the first three songs, the energy seemed to ebb and only seemed to pick up during their old skool staples. Mi chavo and I agreed on this problem afterwards, although my experience was dampened more than his by the people around us.

I don't know why it bothers me so much to be near people I detest. There was a group of ancient wannabe's in front of us who got so damn drunk that the men were flailing about, throwing their arms out in classic drunk old white guy in a polo shirt dance and blocking my view of the stage. Additionally, one of the brianiacs decided to invite his son to join them in their seats - literally taking over the seat of a man next to the group and adding to my inability to see the stage with his drunkenness and random pot smoking. At one point I even spoke to the losers - just to release some of my built up anger over their interruption of my concert experience.

But enough about the drunk losers. Truly the best part of the concert was watching mi chavo rock out. I've also been jealous of couples at concerts - the ones who kiss and dance together and generally look like they're enjoying life more than me. This time, I was part of one of those couples.

We danced, we kissed, we stood together watching the concert. It was the perfect antidote to a painful morning. In fact, it was also an antidote to my painful evening - Aunt Flow decided to join the party and brought her dog Cramps with her.

You have never lived until you've seen mi chavo smiling. With his pearly white teeth and the cute dimply on his right cheek, it's really a great experience. Plus, he looked hipster cool last night in a t-shirt with guitars on it, jeans, new Sketchers, and just enough stubble to make him look good, not scraggly.

Alas, we missed all of the political booths because they were only on the first floor of the United Center and we went straight to the second floor where our seats were. So, we were unable to pay a buck to buy a One band. Now, if I want one I have to buy ten and pay $5 for shipping. Doh! Curious what the hell I'm talkin about? Here's the About page from One's website. The only reason I knew about the wristbands was that my sister-in-law had bought some at the U2 show in Phoenix and was wearing it at Passover.

Off to try to call my mom again. Happy Mother's Day for Peace. (Julia Ward Howe created the day to bring together moms to end war.)

Posted by cj at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

May 06, 2005

If Piracy Grows, It May Not Be the End of Music

Blind Boy Grunt sent along a link to a must-read article on the future of the music industry. "If pirating grows, it may not be the end of music world," Kevin Maney's technology column in Wednesday's USA Today.

It's fascinating to think about a world where musicians earn no money on recorded music, but still make a living as musicians. That's the Chinese model. Roger McGuinn, former leader of the Byrd's, represents another alternative business model. He creates new music on his computer and personally pays to have it packaged and shipped and sells his cds via the web and at his concerts.

Interesting food for thought...

another music article courtesy of Blind Boy Grunt: "Audioslave concert a first in Cuba," via Reuters/Yahoo News

Posted by cj at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2005

When Your Books Guilt You...

Do you ever feel like you're obligated to finish reading a book? That's how I feel about We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People, by Dan Gillmor. It goes on and on without saying much and yet I feel obligated to finish it. Apparently, some reviewers on Amazon think it ends with a bang, so perhaps I should just continue slogging through.

I'm glad I pick up the aforementioned book at O-Po Library (aka Oak Park Library). Last night, while renewing that book, I picked up MoDo's Bushworld: Enter At Your Own Risk. I think it will be useful to read a few more of her commentaries, since I usually disagree with her out of hand. (I get sick of her trite writing rather quickly, so maybe that'll happen again.)

But what I really want to read are the books I bought at a used bookstore in O-Po -
BoBos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, by David Brooks. Apparently, he got an op-ed column in the NYT after writing the book and wrote a second book on the middle class in 2004, On Paradise Drive : How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense

I'm also eager to start How to End Poverty, by Jeffrey Sachs (which was recently exerpted in Time magazine).

Also purchased: The Portable Machiavelli and Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown

Posted by cj at 04:42 PM | Comments (2)