October 2016
1) My Choker Necklace
In accordance with choker craze of 2016, I shelled out $25 for this piece of string with a stone attached to it. Was it objectively worth the price? Not sure. Was it subjectively worth the price? You bet it was. I just love this thing. It's pretty subtle so it works with a lot of outfits and with the two other necklaces that I wear 24/7, but since it's handmade, it's not like the other gazillion chokers out there in the world right now. I'm not big on falling for current trends, but if I do succumb to one, rest assured that I will find a way to put my own spin on it.
2) Theme Park by Scott A. LukasSo this is actually a textbook for my icons class, but I just couldn't put it down, it's so interesting. It narrates the history of the theme park in general, talks about the beginnings of famous theme parks and contrasts them with amusement parks, and also analyzes the architecture and world-building of theme parks, among other things. Definitely worth reading.
3) Green Tea Lemonade
Part of my compensation as an RA is $500 dining dollars. Now, as I'm writing this, it's the 11th week of school, and I've managed to reduce that number to $39. I wonder if my obsession with green tea lemonade has anything to do with it. Like, before I came to USC, I didn't know that combining tea and lemonade was even a thing. And here I am now, getting three of these a day on occasion. Yeah, not sure how to feel about that.
4) The Darjeeling Limited (dir. Wes Anderson)You know that I love Wes Anderson. You know I do, but usually, I prefer his style over the actual content of his films. The Darjeeling Limited, however, is not like the rest. It's funny and the soundtrack is spot on and I actually care about the characters. I'm telling you, it's one of his most underrated films.
5) Spirits by The Strumbrellas
Okay so I'm cheating a little bit here, because this song was more of an August favorite, but whatever. I still like it. It's special to me as this was the song I listened to on move-in day (aka one of the best days of my life,
6) CTCS 464, aka my Film/TV Genres: Shot on Location class.
This class is amazing. We had to analyze a Coldplay music video for our midterm. We are currently analyzing a The Sopranos episode for our group project. I'm going to be analyzing one of my all-time favorite films, Holy Motors, for my final paper. And on top of that, I'm learning so much about the use of space and locations, and watching amazing films, such as Rome, Open City, Double Indemnity, Safe, The Fall, District 9, She's Gotta Have It, and the aforementioned The Darjeeling Limited. We'll also be watching Avatar, which I'm less than thrilled about, since I took great pride in not having seen it, but I had predicted that this day would come eventually, so I've accepted it with quiet resignation. And, to be honest, my excuse for not having seen it had always been "they'll make me watch it in film school anyway" so there's that.
November 2016
1) Peppermint MochaAt the risk of sounding basic, this thing is, like, totally amazing. It tastes like mint chocolate and, unlike most sweet Starbucks coffees, actually feels refreshing. And as an extra bonus, it reminds the people of Southern California that it's supposed to be winter right now.
2) X Ambassadors
So I shamelessly admit that I found a good portion of my favorite bands through auto-generated YouTube playlists, and X Ambassadors was no different. However, I fell absolutely in love with them over the past couple of months, and the next thing I knew was that I was performing with lead singer Sam Harris and drummer Adam Levin during our homecoming halftime show. And to prove that it happened, here's a video of it:
3) Thanksgiving Dinner
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| I hate this picture, but there's Alexis and me with President Nikias. LOL. |
So, for some obscure reason, I was selected to sit with USC President Nikias during his annual Thanksgiving dinner, was chosen to be the subject of an article for USC News about said dinner, and was also asked to give an interview to KTLA about it. I'm not sure how all of this came about, but it resulted in a pretty eventful night during which a moderately creepy photographer followed me around and I got a true taste of what it's like to be a celebrity -- something that was definitely aided by the fancy name tag and the red carpet everywhere.
Also, if you're looking for the article, I wasn't too happy with it for a variety of reasons (names were misspelled and assumptions were made based on a clear racial bias), so I'm not going to link it here. If you're really interested, however, a quick Google search will do the job for you.
4) CORE 101, aka my Icons class
I didn't realize how much I actually learned from this class until it was over and I actually had the opportunity to apply all that we talked about. But that's more of a December things, so we're getting ahead of ourselves here. In November, however, I got to write a paper on why V-J Day in Times Square is an iconic photograph (one of my favorite assignments ever) while also learning about a variety of other things, such as how Helvetica was originally an anti-authoritarian font, and how Hello Kitty is actually not a cat, but a British schoolgirl. We also learned about Andy Warhol, which was so useful as I'd always had a love-hate relationship with Pop Art, mostly because I was desperate to love it, but at the same time failed to actually understand it. This class clarified so much and I really appreciated everything I had learned when I was on my trip to New York.
December 2016
1) California Adventure
Another reason that I loved my Icons class is that we took a field trip to Disneyland & California Adventure. Now, I'd been to Disneyland before and although I still enjoy it, I do believe that it gets less exciting with each visit (mostly because they focus on theming and narrative, not on thrill rides -- the things you learn!). California Adventure, on the other hand, was phenomenal. It was my first time there but it definitely won't be the last, because I only got to do four rides, and there are many many more out there. Also, World of Color is the best.
2) Love Don't Go by The Family Crest
(runner-up: People Say by Portugal.The Man)
This song is on the soundtrack of Sugar Mountain, a recently released independent film about two brothers who fake a disappearance on an Alaskan mountain. The film itself is, not gonna lie, pretty meh and structured weirdly, and the only reason I watched it was that the one and only Shane was one of the leads, but this song plays during the opening scene, and it's phenomenal. Portugal.The Man also features on the soundtrack a lot, and you can't really go wrong with that, can you? (Yeah, soundtrack and score are a solid 10/10, the rest...I guess it's worth a watch?)
3) New York City
I mean, do I really need to explain? If you haven't read my blog posts on it yet, you can do so here. I'm so in love with that city that I'm already planning my next visit and haven't stopped wearing my NYU sweater since (which is gross, I know, and I promise you I'm about to change).
4) My Astrobiology Professor
If you ever get the chance to take a class with dr. Ken Nealson, please do it. He is the best. He is one of the best people out there in his field, and he is so funny and engaging and excited about everything. Also, he wrote us a song. He wrote a song about the class and brought his banjo and sang it for us, and even got us donuts and everything. So yeah, if you want to hear the Lowdown and Irritating Melancholy Aggravating Life in the Universe Blues, sign up for CORE 103.
5) Adult Coloring Books
This is an odd one, because I've always hated coloring and I find it really pointless, as Chris from Skins perfectly sums up. However, my friend/fellow RA Trinity held a finals de-stress program with coloring books, and since it seemed like a perfect way to procrastinate, I decided to go for it. Now, it didn't exactly go as planned and it was counterproductive in the sense that I just kept coloring and coloring and I couldn't see the finish line, leaving me even more stressed out. However, if you're coloring just to procrastinate and have 24 hours to write a 20-page take home final, maybe you really should be freaking out. Anyway, I've found that just coloring for a few minutes every day really helps you clear your thoughts and just relax for a little bit.
6) Vlogmas
Not gonna lie, YouTube is my guilty pleasure and I absolutely love watching vlogs and Vlogmas videos. I watch mainly British YouTubers and I feel like I'm living vicariously through them during the month of December, especially since they remind me of the happy times when I lived in England.
