Itinerary Day Five in Belize: Mayans Ruins in Tikal, Guatemala

There’s nothing like getting a double stamp in your passport on a monumental anniversary of birth. My friends and I woke up at the incredible hour of 5:00AM to commiserate with another family of tourists for our long shuttle ride into Guatemala. Tikal National Park – here we come.

TORC 9: (I’m) Try(ing to be like) – P!nk

Track on Repeat Craze #9: P!nk – Try / Truth About Love album.

Okay, I love this video.

Okay, this video came out like six months ago… I still love this video.

And I totally want aspire to be buff like P!nk. Damn, girl! Wait, can I pull off that phrase? Well, either way, damn, girl! Awesome. That is all…

Spinning in the 6-disc player:

1. Diana Vickers – Songs From a Tainted Cherry Tree
2. P!nk – Truth About Love
3. Sandi Thom – Smile… It Confuses People
4. Missy Higgins – The Sound of White
5. The Band Perry – The Band Perry
6. Uh Huh Her – Nocturnes

Loops with Emily Wells – Kilby Court

Emily Wells played Kilby Court last night! It. Was. Awesome.

Local band, Daisy and the Moonshines opened it up for Emily and Dark, Dark, Dark. If you’ve never seen Emily play live – it’s something you cannot miss. Just ask Jeremy, my friend who I completely guilted into not flaking out. I don’t care if you just worked after having to babysit drunkards all last night! Yep, that’s what I said to him… well, okay, not exactly. But hey, guilt works.

TORC 8: “Set Me On Fire” – Missy Higgins

Track on Repeat Craze #8: Missy Higgins – Set Me On Fire / The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle album.

It’s been TWO YEARS! TWO. Years! … since Missy released a new album. TWO LONG YEARS! More than that! Well, anyway, as you can tell, I wanted to hear it immediately – yay Missy Higgins SoundCloud.

“Set Me On Fire” was recently released as Missy‘s second single from her third album, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle… in Australia. Oh hey, there’s also a video that came out fresh with it:

Her first single… in Australia: Unashamed Desire.

In the US, “Hello, Hello” was released as her first single a little bit ago.

There’s definitely a difference in this third album, produced by also-Australian, also-awesome musician Butterfly Boucher and not-Australian, but also notable Brad Jones. Actually, Butterfly Boucher also has a version of “Unashamed Desire” on her new album.

So, to me, there’s an underlying sadness about Missy’s album. Okay, okay, true… all of Missy’s music is strongly heart-felt and deeply emotional, but there’s something different about this one. I could roll up in a ball rocking back and forth in a dark corner of a room somewhere and just play this album whispering the lyrics quietly to myself…. but, it’s okay. ‘Cause, hey, isn’t good music supposed to do that? I also find a sense of maturity in this new album… growth, perhaps… or maybe age. My friend and I were just talking about our achy joints today – that kind of age. With age comes wisdom? All right, now, I’m just rambling…

Spinning in the 6-disc player:

1. Diana Vickers – Songs From a Tainted Cherry Tree
2. Gloriana – Gloriana
3. Sandi Thom – Smile… It Confuses People
4. Missy Higgins – The Sound of White
5. The Band Perry – The Band Perry
6. Uh Huh Her – Nocturnes

I need to get the that Ol’ Razzle Dazzle (album)… yes, a physical CD of it. I’m old school like that… or maybe just old. Aw man, this post is so depressing… [[fin]]

Gloriana at the Labor Day Music Festival – Salt Lake!

Gloriana played the Labor Day Music Festival this year at the Gallivan Center, downtown Salt Lake.

None of my friends knew who they were… *sigh* but I managed to find a couple to bear some country with me! And, of course, they were the very last band to go on stage. I guess they were the most popular? And, apparently, Love and Theft was also decently well-known. I felt like the other bands were all locals. See more photos at my Tumblr.

The festival bad, but these need definite improvements:

• number of food vendors
• better merchandise – ugly…probably why no one bought it and they were trying to sell it off at discounted prices in the end
• more information on their website – like… a schedule? what to expect? etc.
• better signage for the entrances/exits

Here’s hoping for next year…

Founding Fathers – More Patriotic DC Food Porn

More patriotic eats! While in DC, Michael and I also went to Founding Fathers for lunch. It was only a few blocks from the White House so, yep – we made it part of our touristy-ness.

Devilish eggs for apps – classic.

Since Eataly, I had been on a major fresh pasta craving…

So, I got the the Mac and Cheese: macaroni, hand-made with North Dakota Mills premium hard amber durum wheat flour, peas, apples, Gouda, Gruyere and ham. It was good, but so not the right choice for lunch. It was heavy, but that’s a no-brainer. My own fault.

Michael’s signature Chicken and Waffles looked (and I think I remember tasting it) excellent. The best part? The cute metal syrup tin.

And how could we not finish lunch with some awesome dessert? Red. Velvet. Cake. We just hadda, especially since Michael had me watch a YouTube video of the place featuring that cake before we left his place.

Nom nom nom. Good thing we were walking to the White House and what not, all abouts. Recommended! A bit pricey, but so are most organic, farm to table type places. Next time, I need to try their beverages!

Summer Season in Utah – Weber River Tubing

It’s become quite the annual activity. It’s cheap (depending on how much you drink, I suppose). It’s fun. It’s a whole day’s worth of adventure. It can be done, somewhat, on the fly, even. Last week, June 3, 2012, was our first tubing venture this year: Weber River, Utah.

TORC 7: “Jumping into Rivers” – Diana Vickers

Track on Repeat Craze #7: Diana Vickers – Jumping Into Rivers / Songs From a Tainted Cherry Tree album.

All right. I must say that I was sort of disappointed to hear that Cheryl Cole was kicked off The X Factor (USA version) after just a short stint. I totally stopped channel surfing over to the show. And… yeah, I’ll admit that after I heard her accent, I totally YouTubed some lessons to try and mimic it – I’ll tell you straight out, I ain’t got it. Was her Geordie accent really the reason Cheryl Cole got canned? That would just be utterly lame.

Well, anyway… from the days that Cheryl judged on the original X Factor, Diana Vickers emerged as a semi-finalist. I. Love. Her. Voice. She has this unique… whisper, almost, that’s so soothing and comforting yet works in up-beat poppy mixes just perfectly.

Since she hasn’t really conquered the US market, I couldn’t find the MP3s for the widget. However, check out my (current) favorite track from her debut album – thanks to the DianaVickersSings YouTube channel.

And here is another favorite that will be on her upcoming album (sometime this year… hopefully sooner rather than later):

Head over to Diana Vickers’ SoundCloud for more great tracks. Forewarning – she posts all sorts of social media bits. Translation: there’s more than just song tracks on her SoundCloud. But it’s cool. Why not, yeah?

Spinning in the 6-disc player:

1. Diana Vickers – Songs From a Tainted Cherry Tree
2. Meiko – composite CD of Meiko and I’m in Love EP
3. Sandi Thom – The Pink and the Lily
4. Missy Higgins – The Sound of White
5. The Band Perry – The Band Perry
6. Uh Huh Her – Nocturnes

Steamed and (Pan)Fried… Pork Buns – aka Bao.tzi

A couple of weeks ago, I traded Matt food for knowledge. After a cram session at Salt Lake Roasting Company, we walked over to Everest Tibetan Restaurant for a late dinner. It was good. Don’t get me wrong. But the cheap frugal person that I am, I balked at the $10.99 price for seven pan-fried momos. Momos = just like Chinese bao or a variation of the Japanese nikuman.

And plus, c’mon! Chinese food should not be that expensive (and hey, you can get delicious nikuman at a Japanese 7-Eleven for ~100 yen).

So, just the tiniest bit enraged (and very, very full from the still delicious dinner), I decided to make my own bao-tzi/bao-zi over the weekend.

A Racist View of FIND AND SIGN

Check out my racist guest blog for Pioneer Theatre Company‘s production of Find and Sign!

http://www.pioneertheatre.org/blog/2012/01/a-racist-view-of-find-and-sign.html

Stereotype each cast member in their music tastes, judge them by their looks – just as I did and then, go watch the world premiere of Wendy MacLeod‘s new play, Find and Sign before it ends January 28, 2012.