Music Monday: Woman bands

This week, I want to highlight some all-woman bands I've seen recently.  I get excited whenever I see an all-female band.

In the early/mid 90's, there were a lot of female-centric bands in the whole riot grrrl movement.  (More, if you count the Spice Girls!)  Unfortunately it seems like that was just a trend.  Hopefully more girl groups will come out!


T.I.T.S.


Meat Sluts  I'm so dumb! I didn't take a photo!  I saw them at Spinal Tap night; they played "Big Bottom" but changed the words to "Big Scrotum" and tossed around fake scrotums.  lol.

Turbonegra - They are--you guessed--a Turbonegro tribute band!  I always daydream about starting an all girl tribute band  (maybe Mötley Crüe?) so it was exciting for me.


Dum Dum Girls


Actually, I have seen a lot of guy/girl bands recently.  Not the White Stripes, but the same idea.  I think it's pretty romantic, I always imagine these groups as married couples, even though I know that's not always the case.  :)

Little Hurricane


Mr. Gnome Again, I didn't take a photo! I've actually seen Mr. Gnome more than once.  They are so good!

Boom Chick


Music Monday, week two!  Yay! :P

Midnight at Forever 21

I've never participated in the Black Friday madness before, but last night I went downtown for the midnight sales.  It was nothing like I had imagined, but in a good way!  ^-^  When I heard that Forever 21 would open at midnight, I really wanted to go, mainly just for the experience.

Just for those who don't know, the downtown San Francisco Forever 21 is no ordinary store.  It is a huge, gorgeous, 3 story building.  I think it used to be a bank or something.  It's so beautiful, with high ceilings and fancy moldings on the gold ceiling.  I used to think it was the biggest F21 in the world, but I met a girl from Texas who tells me that Houston has a Forever 21 that's as big as Macy's and even has baby clothes. O.O  So I don't think San Francisco has the biggest F21, but I'm guessing that it's probably the most beautiful. And not because I am biased, of course!!  :P

My husband dropped me off around 11:50PM and went to look for parking.  I walked past the H&M and Urban Outfitters flag ship stores and there were lines for both.  Later, I found out that H&M wouldn't open until 5:00AM and the people waiting just wanted a scratcher coupon.  Whoa!  When I got to F21, the doors were already open and there were people inside.  Maybe F21 knows their clientele is ghetto and that fist fights will break out if they keep the ladies waiting.

I was excited to see the Hello Kitty stuff.  I read about the line's release party in LA on someone's blog (sorry can't remember who) but I didn't realize it'd be up here yet!

I was a little disappointed when I realized that there was almost nothing on sale.  There were a few select "yellow tag" items around the store for a discounted price as well as 15% off of random items.  On the third floor there were bins of "buy one, get one free" items but they were total crap; there were weird t-shirts with raccoons or other ugly designs on them.  The only thing I got that was on sale was a pajama set for $10 that was regularly $15.

When I was checking out, I was like, "I didn't even save any money... Why am I here?"  But then I got a free bag for spending over $50 as well as a free notebook for buying a Hello Kitty collection item.  Yay free stuff!  Free s*** is good s***.

Next we went to Macy's and then Macy's Mens.  I didn't get anything but my husband got some nice ankle boots for a decent price.  The stores were crowded but not manic.  Starbucks and the few restaurants that were open looked pretty crowded.  I was in the mood for Jamba Juice but the line was pretty long.

I was surprised by how stylish all the shoppers were.  I expected people to be in their pajamas (maybe the Best Buy crowd was!) but people were totally dressed to impress.  Like a dummy, I left my iphone (aka my camera) at home, updating, so I don't have crowd photos.  I was probably the sloppiest person there--in jeans and no circle lenses.  Haha.

The mood of downtown was really nice.  I was worried that every customer would be acting insane and the employees would be resentful.  Instead, there was a happy holiday mood in the air.  Some people were clearly intoxicated but I didn't see any angry drunks.  Everyone seemed to know that it was crazy to be shopping at 3:00AM but it was fun, like being a kid up late with your parents after bedtime. 

Thankful on Thanksgiving

Because it's Thanksgiving, I've made a list of things for which I am thankful

(although I think people--myself included--should be thankful all year long)!!

1.  I am thankful for a happy, loving, fun marriage to the person I love most.  <3

*The person I love most is my husband, not Elvis.

2.  I am thankful for my good health and the freedom from physical pain.  (Both very important!)

This photo represents health?  Yes!

3.  I am thankful to live in a wonderful city that I love.

I saw this on my walk to the library!

4.  I am thankful for the opportunity to travel.

*Just because I love my city, doesn't mean I can't love travel!

5.  I am thankful that I got to meet new friends this year.  (I am also thankful for my old, long-term friends!)

:)

It's been a pretty good year, I can't complain!  I lost my job, my nose is too big and I'm addicted to sugar but I am healthy and happy.  I am truly a lucky duck.  *quack quack*  I hope next year is just as good!

Music Monday

Music Monday will be my new weekly feature!  I'll be writing about bands I've seen during the week.

In the past, I've tried and failed at having a regular feature on my blog.  "Shop and Destroy" and then "Pink Friday" came and went.  I admire Sara Mari and other bloggers who do it regularly.  "Music Monday" will be easy because I see a lot of bands.  I go out almost every night of the week, so I can write about at least one or two

As anyone who has read my blog knows, I love rock and roll!  Metal, Punk, Garage, Indie... I love it all, except, it seems, the rock bands that get played on Top 40 stations.  Coldplay?  *vomit* Maroon 5? *vomit*  Red Hot Chilli Peppers? *vomit**vomit**vomit*  My sincerest apologies to anyone who likes them!

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The first band I will document is Obscura, a death metal band from Germany!  I saw them last night.

To me, death metal is like pizza... it's always good, even when it isn't that good.  That's how much I like the genre.  I can enjoy death metal, even if the band isn't extraordinary.  Music like rap or hip hop, on the other hand?  It's almost always unbearable to me.  Unless a hip hop musician is incredibly creative and talented and special, I cant stand the music.  Even then, I usually hate it.

Obscura was pretty good, even by death metal standards.  The singer did some of the guttural, Cookie Monster singing that is standard to the genre, but also more melodic singing.  There were five bands total, some local.  Because of the number, the bands didn't play for very long--it seemed like the set up time between bands was as long as their set. 

The show was at the DNA lounge, which I very rarely go to.  They have a goth dance night most weeks, I think.  It's a couple of doors down from Slim's.


The anticipation culminates as Obscura takes the stage.


Obscura performs, their hair blown by unseen winds. ;)

If you're interested in their music, check, them out on MySpace music:
http://www.myspace.com/realmofobscura

Just a word about MySpace: Everyone makes fun of MySpace for being an outdated social networking site.  Yes, no one uses MySpace anymore, but for music MySpace is the best!  You can listen to playlists of FULL songs from most bands.  Facebook totally sucks when it comes to music.

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Unrelated to the show, but somewhat metal:

My husband, a friend and I went to Rocket Fish in Portrero Hill before the show. My husband got this toxic cocktail that had all manner of disgusting stuff in it. We don't usually take photos of our food, but we both thought this was worthy of documenting. :)  Yuck!!

Natural Gyaru Eyes

This may have been obvious to everyone else, but I noticed in this month's Egg that every model had eye makeup in only natural colors.  No matter how crazy or extreme their style, they had natural colored eye makeup.  They didn't use bright eyeshadow, instead they let their clothes and hair be colorful.

Top Right: When did you pierce your face, Janis?  :P

This revelation inspired me to try more natural makeup, instead of pink or black or gold eyeshadow, like I have been known to do.  I bought this E.L.F. eyeshadow pallette in "Natural" at Target and have been playing with it this week.

It's not the highest quality makeup in the world, but it's good for playing around.  The main thing I don't like is the stench smell.  It smells slightly like moth balls.  The "pro" is that it's incredibly cheap and has magnets in it, so it stays closed.

This is how I did my makeup today... slightly too dark but I'm fairly happy with it.

I dyed my hair...

...and it looks EXACTLY THE SAME!

Yes, this is the "after" picture.

 I've been dying my hair the same color for about a year and a half.  I wanted to dye it a cooler blond color, but I guess my current color is not ready to go! I'm afraid I'll have to bleach it to change the color. :(

The only reason I even kept the color this long was that I was waiting to dye it until after Halloween, so I could go as Axl Rose.  :)

OT, but has anyone noticed that Axl has a perfect nose!?  You should see his profile, too. It's a perfect, Barbie doll, ski slope nose.  >u<   Cuuuuute!

For now, I'll have to use wigs to change my hair color.  Issoke, I love wigs.

Unworn Wigs and Japantown Junk

I love wigs.  I guess I'm afraid to wear them out of the house.  I worry that they'll fall off or that people will stare.  In high school, I wore a wig for a spirit day and totally got harrassed.  One ass wipe even tugged on it!!  Anyway, here are some wigs that I've acquired recently.

#1:  The Chubby Blonde Gyaru

This is a Cyperous wig that I bought from Glamorous Sky.  It's a good style (and definitely feels gyaru) but the color doesn't totally suit me.  It sounds crazy but I think this color makes me look fat.  Also, it doesn't seem quite long enough.  I think it's my big American head.

#2: The Dark Brown Charlie's Angel

This wig (and the next) is from Wig Factory here in San Francisco.  I think the color (dark brown) and  style really suit me.  I took a chance buying this one because the display model was a different color but I wanted to buy a dark brown wig so my honey could see what I looked like with dark hair.  He'd been bugging me about trying a darker shade and I think he liked the wig.  This wig actually makes me consider dark brown hair, although I will probably maintain my light brown loyalty!

#3: The Chubby Blonde Cosplay Exotic Dancer

This wig is also in "chubby blond" but I love the thickness of it. I don't know how attractive it is on me, but I really like it.  I think I need to do something to make it look more realistic.  When I first tried it on, I thought I looked like an exotic dancer (but fatter) but this photo almost makes me look like I am cosplaying or something.

Pin has a super helpful video on wigs here.

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I went to J-town (or N-machi, lol) yesterday to get like one thing from Daiso and ended up buying a bunch of stuff at Ichiban Kan and Daiso.  Plus, I went to Kinokuniya and was dumb there, too.

This is my junk treasures.  I put on my fluffy socks (bottom of photo) before taking this photo.  I highly recommend them, especially if you live somewhere cold, like San Francisco!  Actually, of everything I got, I was most excited about my Hello Kitty earwax cleaner!  When I lived in Japan, I learned that no one uses q-tips to clean their ears (doctors say not to anyway) but they use a special tool.

At Kinokuniya, I bought three magazines.  Actually two are more like mooks.

I was really disappointed with Nuts and Jelly, which used to be some of my favorite gyaru magazines.  I looked through them and every outfit seemed way too "mature."  I know I'm old on the older side for gyaru and maybe should start dressing mature, but I'm not ready!  I want to wear fun stuff.

The thing that I initially liked about gyaru was that it was a fun style--even among the different styles there seemed to be an element of fun.  These more mature styles are just boring to me.  Sorry, I know a lot of people love these styles but to me, they just look like H&M clothes.

The Momoko mook/magazine I bought for the awesome illustrations.  I think I'll actually frame some of them!  The clothes are actually on the boring side.  :/

Egg has some really cute, cool clothes this month.  There is actually a manba model, too!  I was surprised.

The other mook is just nail designs.  If I had a scanner, I'd scan some pages.  They're really cute!