short white pt. 2

Remember how few weeks ago I mentioned the aptly named New Zealand basketball team, the Tall Blacks? Well recently I was informed about the NZ badminton team name kerfuffle back in 2005. First of all, I wanted to share it because it too is hilarious. And Second, because I wish to someday come up with a headline as brilliant as this.

cultured as.

Last weekend Ed and I celebrated the one year anniversary of how a Doors t-shirt, the most alternative bar in Wellington, our friends’ failed hookups, and a few too many turned into the best thing that’s ever happened to either of us. Aww. So naturally the only way to celebrate this was by going to opening night of ‘The Great Gatsby’ at Circa Theatre. This is one of my favorite books of all time (the only positive thing to come out of Sophomore English at Bishop Shanahan with Ms. B – yep, still bitter after all these years) so I was worried about how they were going to entertain me and satisfy my elitism at the same time. But they pulled it off so well… even the car accident worked. If you’re in the Wellington region from now until the end of August – I highly recommend it.

The following day we had something of a quintuple date night with a few good friends and went to a double-header as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival. There were movies represented from dozens of countries around the world that varied by genre and style, so naturally we went to see a documentary about The Doors and then one about the late comedian Bill Hicks. Both were excellent and included tons of footage I’d never seen. All in all it was a very culturally fulfilling weekend and naturally it turned into a few too many out on the town. Turns out I am 21, after all.

age old question.

One of my birthday pressies from Ed was a ticket to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club this past weekend. I was pretty pumped seeing as they’re one of my favorite bands, and apparently so was the rest of Wellington. San Fran Bath House was slightly overbooked. I’ve never seen so many people in such a tiny room, and experienced such loud tones, but hey, that’s bloody rock and roll.

Here’s a picture I took up front. Nice right? Perfect spot. Could almost feel the sweat dripping off of them on to us.

And then here’s one from about two minutes later…

Sometimes I forget that I’m roughly the size of a 12 year old. Nearly lost my glasses, shoes and consciousness in a spontaneous mosh pit. Silly people.

Complaining about crowd sizes, noise and disrespectful youth. Did I just turn 21 or 61?

short white.

So today we were at Bristol watching the Lakers/Celtics game (purely coincidental that we were there, I won’t pretend like I care about bball). I was wondering why the hell this game was even on in a Wellington bar. Apparently people here like basketball and the New Zealand team is even kind of good. I thought to myself, wow that’s actually pretty neat…but alas, I should have stopped there. I made the mistake of asking the team name. Now, we already have the All Blacks (rugby) and All Whites (soccer), so clearly the basketball team are called the, wait for it, the Tall Blacks. Um, excuse me, what? Don’t believe me? You probably shouldn’t because it’s so unbelievable. But quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. How is that okay? Follow up: will they ever be invited to play in America with a name like that? Sub-follow up: Did basketball just become ironic?

time for a new image.

…they’re on to me.

far far away

Kia Ora, Greetings from Wellington! It’s dreadfully rainy and cold but I couldn’t be happier. So far Ed and I have been attempting to make our little nest as cozy as possible. That includes cooking wonderful dinners, drinking approximately 13 litres of juice to date, eating chocolate and lollies, and watching all of the movies that make me happy because I’m way better at complaining than he is.

And then I’ve been spending a lot of my time doing my online summer class. It’s basically an online book club where I don’t know any of the people and have never heard of any of the books. And we actually have to read and discuss the books instead of just gossip about the neighborhood and drink wine spritzers. And because I don’t know any of the people personally I can say here that it’s high-larious. It’s a forum filled with students trying to out-intellectualize whoever posted before them. I wish I could re-post some of the things that have been said here, but I think that goes against some sort of book club code. I’ll probably give in eventually though.
Also, my independent study has officially launched. I’m doing it on things that don’t need to be said on this blog because it’s truly above and beyond all the other nerdy things I do. But I have a blog tracking my progress with it. And no I won’t post it here..I couldn’t handle the taunting. I’ll probably give in eventually though.

We saw a great movie yesterday in town. It’s called Boy and it’s set in New Zealand in 1984 and it’s… you’re probably losing interest in my description since you’ve seen the familiar youtube box under this so so here’s the trailer:

…plus there’s a mashup of thriller/the haka at the end. I wish I was in charge of the Oscars.

Ka kite ano.

wash, rinse, repeat.

i’m not dead yet.

Yes, it’s been a while, but life’s been pretty hectic. This is actually the last thing I should be doing right now, as my last final is tomorrow and I’ve yet to make an indent in my french book. BUT, I just had a thought (Carrie Bradshaw style)…

Truman Capote hated Jack Kerouac hated Frank O’Hara hated Vachel Lindsay hated himself.

Straight up vicious… Perhaps why all the first generation hipsters died out? Either that or a meteor. But don’t worry, I hear you can find the aging hipsters clinging to life and Coltrane records in the Galapagos.

Promise I’ll be back soon with a revelation that someone other than myself will care about.
Also, I leave for New Zealand in 11 days. Say whaaaat?

copyrighted copywriter.

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a book. Actually, it’s more like a booklet  (because of Curb Your Enthusiasm I feel obligated to mention that). I decided to upgrade my internship to get Honors credit instead of one of my other classes this semester. That means that I have to do some sort of final project based on all the things I’ve learned working with Brownstein Group as opposed to just writing an extra paper for another class. People looked at me like I was crazy when I said I was going that route, and maybe I am a little bit, but now I’m a semi-published crazy person! Truly frightening.

Every marketing class I’ve ever taken has been the same situation: a professor showing slides of words you will have to memorize and later recognize in order to circle A, B, C or D on a test. I don’t do well on said tests. For example, in my Marketing Communications class last spring my professor gave us a sequence of 7 words to describe the creative process that copywriters use. What? How could this possibly help me in the future? Oh, you say I first have to brainstorm and THEN I implement a plan? I never would have thought of that. Thank you, $2200 class.

Not that I’m bitter or anything.. I seriously love my school and the Professional Communication program, I guess that’s why I’m embarking on a project with a little more ambition. I wanted to stress that while the creative process is different for everyone, it’s also more than just a few words in a textbook, and much more fun. For my capstone project next year I plan to turn this book into a series of ProCreate books. I hope to talk to illustrators, graphic designers, web designers, etc. to explain their creative process in a way that can be understood and enjoyable for everyone. Then I’ll do all that branding and advertising my textbooks teach me to do so well.

In the mean time, Volume I, ProCreate (for copywriters): the professional explanation of the creative process without the professional explanation by Madeline Le Sage is going to be for sale online. The critics have given me rave reviews. It will probably be my Dad’s favorite book of 2010.

PROCREATE (for…

the professional ex…

By Madeline Le Sage

Book Preview

who wants to be on my team?

This September 4th is going to be a glorious day, for the gods of day-drinking are smiling upon Philadelphia once more.

RED BULL FLUGTAG 2010!