Wednesday, August 25, 2010
"Unpeeled" has MOVED!
Check out the new location for my blog at: http://meg-unpeeled.tumblr.com/. I like the formatting much better and I think it will add to the fun. Hope to see you there!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Little Tokyo
My husband and I attempted to get into a "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" book signing with the author/artist, Bryan Lee O'Malley, at the Giant Robot 2 store in Los Angeles, but there was no guarantee of getting in with what looked like about a 2-hour wait, so I decided to just take pictures of the crowd instead.
Event poster!
The back of Bryan Lee O'Malley's head!
Giant Robot 2 sign!
The Power of Love!
Cute Lolita!
Chihuahua!
After our attempt to get into the signing, the Tokyo Japanese Outlet across the street caught my eye and, once inside, I was in kawaii heaven. The store had everything from bento boxes to Hello Kitty chopsticks to paper fans to Japanese cosmetics and more. This is the perfect place to get odd little gifts for your friends.
Happy Sponges!
These plastic gentlemen are judging you harshly...very harshly.
Lucky cats!
Mmm...candy.
I ended up buying the following:
Strawberry Pocky - $2.49
Iwaku erasers - $.50 each
Strawberry-scented ice cream bubbles (pink) - $1.99
Happy fun time!
Event poster!
The back of Bryan Lee O'Malley's head!
Giant Robot 2 sign!
The Power of Love!
Cute Lolita!
Chihuahua!
After our attempt to get into the signing, the Tokyo Japanese Outlet across the street caught my eye and, once inside, I was in kawaii heaven. The store had everything from bento boxes to Hello Kitty chopsticks to paper fans to Japanese cosmetics and more. This is the perfect place to get odd little gifts for your friends.
Happy Sponges!
These plastic gentlemen are judging you harshly...very harshly.
Lucky cats!
Mmm...candy.
I ended up buying the following:
Strawberry Pocky - $2.49
Iwaku erasers - $.50 each
Strawberry-scented ice cream bubbles (pink) - $1.99
Happy fun time!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Friday Night Sing Along @ Disney Concert Hall
Calling all musical theatre nerds! Walt Disney Concert Hall is having a FREE Broadway Sing Along tonight at 6:30. Belt out popular tunes from "Grease," "Chicago," "South Pacific," "RENT," "Fiddler on the Roof," "The Music Man" and more with live musical accompaniment. (Lyric sheets provided.)
Not for the faint of heart, as being surrounded by hundreds of musical theatre fans of varying vocal skill levels may be a blast for some and one of the inner circles of hell for others.
More info here.
Not for the faint of heart, as being surrounded by hundreds of musical theatre fans of varying vocal skill levels may be a blast for some and one of the inner circles of hell for others.
More info here.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
OC Roller Girls
On Saturday I went to an Orange County Roller Girls bout at The Rinks in Huntington Beach with my husband and it was AWEsome! Okay, so it's not quite like the movie "Whip It," but it was a blast all the same.
(Photo by Jay Mungia, OCRG website)
We showed up about halfway through the bout between the Wheel Housewives of OC and the Prison City Rollers (from Chino Hills), but we did get to see the tough and adorable Navel Oranges, the junior rollers league, skating during halftime, and we saw the entirety of the Blockwork Orange vs. Central Coast Roller Derby bout. Orange County won them both. Go Orange!
There were a variety of age groups at the bout, everyone from babies to grannies, which was surprising considering my pre-conceived notions of the bad-assness of roller derby. Overall, aside from the somewhat scantily-clad ladies skating around the rink, it was a pretty wholesome event. (Actually, the roller girls were wearing far more clothing than you would see at your average beach volleyball game.) During the bout there were no fists thrown or brawls, but a jammer on the opposing team suffered some sort of knee injury and had to sit out the rest of the bout. Since the track isn't "banked" (tilted inward), there was a risk of flying roller girls smashing into the front row. Some high school kids sitting in front of us got a lap full of the tiny Wild Bella, a jammer for Wheel Housewives, but they seemed excited about being smashed by a roller girl.
It was a fun scene, with vendors selling pin-up accessories, jewelry, t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and baked goods, along with the official OC Rollergirls merch. There was also a vegetarian food truck parked outside that made AMAZING barbeque tofu tacos. Seriously, they were amazing. Drool... You can stalk the truck on Twitter @SeabirdsTruck.
One thing I recommend is to look up roller derby rules online before you go. It's a relatively simple game compared to, say, football, but it can be chaotic and confusing if you don't know what's going on. The hubby and I were pretty confused at first, so he looked up the rules on his phone and we enjoyed the experience even more after we understood what we were seeing.
The next bout is on Saturday, September 11: OC Roller Girls vs. San Diego Roller Derby. Catch it if you can. More info about OC Roller Girls here.
(Photo by Jay Mungia, OCRG website)
We showed up about halfway through the bout between the Wheel Housewives of OC and the Prison City Rollers (from Chino Hills), but we did get to see the tough and adorable Navel Oranges, the junior rollers league, skating during halftime, and we saw the entirety of the Blockwork Orange vs. Central Coast Roller Derby bout. Orange County won them both. Go Orange!
There were a variety of age groups at the bout, everyone from babies to grannies, which was surprising considering my pre-conceived notions of the bad-assness of roller derby. Overall, aside from the somewhat scantily-clad ladies skating around the rink, it was a pretty wholesome event. (Actually, the roller girls were wearing far more clothing than you would see at your average beach volleyball game.) During the bout there were no fists thrown or brawls, but a jammer on the opposing team suffered some sort of knee injury and had to sit out the rest of the bout. Since the track isn't "banked" (tilted inward), there was a risk of flying roller girls smashing into the front row. Some high school kids sitting in front of us got a lap full of the tiny Wild Bella, a jammer for Wheel Housewives, but they seemed excited about being smashed by a roller girl.
It was a fun scene, with vendors selling pin-up accessories, jewelry, t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and baked goods, along with the official OC Rollergirls merch. There was also a vegetarian food truck parked outside that made AMAZING barbeque tofu tacos. Seriously, they were amazing. Drool... You can stalk the truck on Twitter @SeabirdsTruck.
One thing I recommend is to look up roller derby rules online before you go. It's a relatively simple game compared to, say, football, but it can be chaotic and confusing if you don't know what's going on. The hubby and I were pretty confused at first, so he looked up the rules on his phone and we enjoyed the experience even more after we understood what we were seeing.
The next bout is on Saturday, September 11: OC Roller Girls vs. San Diego Roller Derby. Catch it if you can. More info about OC Roller Girls here.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Scott Pilgrim & Edgar Wright
I started reading the "Scott Pilgrim" graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley last week at the hubby's recommendation and I'm through book 4 of 6. Love it. It's funny, clever, full of great characters and silly drama, and the art style is cute-as-all-get-out. So now I'm even more excited to see the film version, which is opening tonight. Supposedly I'm not the target audience, but it stars Michael Cera and many other actors I love, so it would have to suck pretty badly to disappoint me.
The movie, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," is directed by Edgar Wright, who also directed the kick-ass British movies "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead." I recently discovered a British series he also directed called "Spaced" (starring Simon Pegg of the aformentioned "Fuzz" and "Shaun"), which displays his usual hilarious timing and quick cuts between reality and fantasy. The series has a great cast, video game inspired fight scenes, geeky pop culture references and satirical plotlines, and it revolves around of couple of misanthropic, sporadically employed boy/girl friends who share an apartment together. At only 14 episodes, it's not a big viewing commitment and you can see them all for free here on Hulu. Below, a cartoon of the cast of "Spaced."
The movie, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," is directed by Edgar Wright, who also directed the kick-ass British movies "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead." I recently discovered a British series he also directed called "Spaced" (starring Simon Pegg of the aformentioned "Fuzz" and "Shaun"), which displays his usual hilarious timing and quick cuts between reality and fantasy. The series has a great cast, video game inspired fight scenes, geeky pop culture references and satirical plotlines, and it revolves around of couple of misanthropic, sporadically employed boy/girl friends who share an apartment together. At only 14 episodes, it's not a big viewing commitment and you can see them all for free here on Hulu. Below, a cartoon of the cast of "Spaced."
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Leaping Bunny
I had previously been under the impression that Revlon, a cosmetics company I frequently buy from, did not conduct animal testing. Revlon was listed on PETA's website as being at the forefront of major cosmetics companies that stopped testing their products on animals, having given up the practice in 1989.
However, I recently read about the "Leaping Bunny" program, which, according to leapingbunny.org, began in 1996 when eight national animal protection groups banded together to form the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), in response to misleading information from companies that were abiding by their own definition of "cruelty-free" or "animal friendly" without the participation of animal protection groups. The CCIC promotes a single comprehensive standard and an internationally recognized Leaping Bunny logo.
According to the website, the "Leaping Bunny Standard" is short for the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals, a voluntary pledge that cosmetic, personal care, and/or household product companies make to clear animal testing from all stages of product development. The company's ingredient suppliers make the same pledge and the result is a product guaranteed to be 100% free of new animal testing. All Leaping Bunny companies must be open to independent audits, and commitments are renewed on an annual basis.
So companies like Revlon, who claim to have banned animal testing, may only be referring to the finished product. As stated by Leaping Bunny, the majority of animal testing occurs at the ingredient level. Similarly, some companies may state, “We do not test on animals,” when in fact they merely contract other companies to do the testing.
As an animal lover, this has caused me to re-think which companies I choose to support with my money. Luckily, the website has a convenient listing of all the companies that participate in the the Leaping Bunny program for everything from personal care to household products.
The cosmetics listings include more popular brands such as Urban Decay, Hard Candy, The Body Shop and even your grandma's favorite, Mary Kay, as well as lesser known companies to check out. Shop it here.
However, I recently read about the "Leaping Bunny" program, which, according to leapingbunny.org, began in 1996 when eight national animal protection groups banded together to form the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), in response to misleading information from companies that were abiding by their own definition of "cruelty-free" or "animal friendly" without the participation of animal protection groups. The CCIC promotes a single comprehensive standard and an internationally recognized Leaping Bunny logo.According to the website, the "Leaping Bunny Standard" is short for the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals, a voluntary pledge that cosmetic, personal care, and/or household product companies make to clear animal testing from all stages of product development. The company's ingredient suppliers make the same pledge and the result is a product guaranteed to be 100% free of new animal testing. All Leaping Bunny companies must be open to independent audits, and commitments are renewed on an annual basis.
So companies like Revlon, who claim to have banned animal testing, may only be referring to the finished product. As stated by Leaping Bunny, the majority of animal testing occurs at the ingredient level. Similarly, some companies may state, “We do not test on animals,” when in fact they merely contract other companies to do the testing.
As an animal lover, this has caused me to re-think which companies I choose to support with my money. Luckily, the website has a convenient listing of all the companies that participate in the the Leaping Bunny program for everything from personal care to household products.
The cosmetics listings include more popular brands such as Urban Decay, Hard Candy, The Body Shop and even your grandma's favorite, Mary Kay, as well as lesser known companies to check out. Shop it here.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts w/Cherie Currie
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, w/special guest Cherie Currie from The Runaways, will be playing TONIGHT at the OC Fairgrounds Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa at 8:00 PM. Rock! Get tickets here.
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