I secretly like to live in trashy romance novels

I've been resisting it for so long and I finally gave into it last week: I've started reading the 50 Shades of Grey books.  I am only slightly ashamed.  Partly because I knew it was coming.  I was going to end up reading them sooner or later AND an innocent Tweet from Michelle Visage intrigued me. Hmmm...Alexander Skarsgard as Christian Grey?  I knew then that I HAD to know who this guy was if Skarsgard was being considered. 

He's so alluring and so charming as Eric Northman on True Blood (and he's almost always half naked).  So I downloaded it straight to my iPad when I got home from work...AND I COULDN'T STOP READING.
Sure the writing is weird (I've read the Twilight books so I'm immune to weird writing - including my own) and the characters are a little wild but this isn't my first time at the BDSM literature rodeo, okay?  I've read quite a few BDSM books in my day (the fave being the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty Trilogy because I love Princess Aurora so much) so these books are quite tame in my honest opinion.  Sure there's spanking and light torture, bondage and all that but it's not quite there yet.  But for some reason, I'm captivated by Christian Grey.  And picturing Alexander Skarsgard as the unbelievably young multibillionaire is making it harder to hate the book - and what they're doing to me.
I'm totally swept off my feet again and again by Christian Grey and I fear that I am, childishly, wishing every man was like him.  Ugh.  It's embarrassing - but not as embarrassing as my little encounter last night, which my brother dubbed 50 Subs of Way.  Yes, it happened in a Subway while I was waiting on my sandwich and it was the weirdest, most confusing and most exciting thing that's happened to me in a long while.  UH - WTF?!  WHO AM I?!
Maybe it's because my sleep schedule is thrown off and my overactive imagination is getting the better of me (as usual) but I rather enjoy these games even though they're very confusing and I have no idea what they are.  He was just some random guy walking in for a sandwich.  Nothing out of the ordinary but I could feel something in the air that was . . . charged or something.  Not like the charge between Ana and Christian but there was something there that wasn't there before he entered the sandwich shop.  Ugh.
I keep telling myself there's no such man as Christian Grey. Shit - there's no such man as Brandon (who isn't really romantic but...) or my other favourite Christian.

What is happening to me?!

Hunger Games weekend

Holy crap.  Josh Hutcherson.  Josh Hutcherson has stolen my heart as Peeta Mellark personified.  I loved Peeta from the first time he said his first words in The Hunger Games and finally being able to see him on-screen, I was transformed into a younger version of myself who was falling for this guy.  Ugh.



But I kept getting jarred back into reality by some very bratty and rude kids.

Yes, the theater my aunt and I went to was overrun with little tweens and teens alike for our Friday viewing of The Hunger Games.  No surprise.  But what was really surprising was their lack of manners.  During any and all of my Harry Potter viewings, the kids had the decency to shut the fuck up as soon as the opening credits started animating.  These kids were a different kind of brat.  They talked THE ENTIRE TIME.  My aunt threatened to get the manager quite a few times even though it would've taken her out of the theater to miss more of the movie and it would've taken even longer to get out of the middle of the row we were in.  There was no winning.  Not even the fucking parents of these asshole kids stepped in.  Why?  I don't know.  They tune it out, maybe?  Who knows.

The worst part about it was that Lauren and I had been talking about the cave scene since I read about it.  Then my aunt and I talked even more about how we were anxious to see it.  And once it started in the movie, I was ready to savor it.  Tears in my eyes, my heart glowing at the sight of Peeta and Katniss and the realization and then - LAUGHTER.  The entire theater erupts with laughter when Peeta starts stroking the knife wound on Katniss' forehead.  Ugh.  My favourite part of the first book ruined.

When we exited the theater, I practically ran to the parking lot as if I was trying to escape these...these fucking JERKS.  My aunt commented that she knew the kids were probably going to be bratty but this was unacceptable.  She was right.  I had expected some level of rudeness but not that.  And then I felt like I had lost something.  Yes, I felt like they had taken the enjoyment out of the movie.  Of course they did!  That's why I want a movie redo.  I want to wait a few weeks and see the movie again - on a better screen with louder sound.  I think it would've helped if the sound was louder.  I was expecting the vibrations to shake me when the gong went off in the arena but instead, it rang loudly enough to bring me back into the games - if only for a short time.

That fueled me to read the books faster.  I was halfway through book two, so I knew the fate of the characters for the second movie and I was excited for it but I promised to NEVER AGAIN go to that theater.  I might even attempt a midnight showing somewhere else.  Maybe in a part of town with no overprivileged kids to ruin my experience.  Opening nights for the first 2 Twilight movies were fun, but they were at another theater.  Maybe the opening for Catching Fire will be better at that theater...oh well.
I hate to sound like an old person with the whole "You crazy kids" thing but COME ON!!

My thoughts about the third book after the ol' jumperoo

Look at this Fucking Hipster - The book. Yes folks, I'm a published photog

Okay - so we all know about the craze that's been sweeping the blog-o-sphere, right? The whole "blog to book" story? This Is Why You're Fat, Dear Old Love and my personal fave: Look At This Fucking Hipster - just to name a few.

When I joined Tumblr not too long ago, I never would have thought there would be so many blogs that were open to submissions! It was awesome! I was hoping that whatever content I submitted would be chosen to be looked at by millions of viewers - if it was good enough.
I started combing through all my party photos - looking for just the right submission to LATFH and I'd found it: a photo from 8/2/08 - the night that Sloppy Seconds got moved from the flooded MJQ to above sea level Graveyard.  It was rainy, crowded and unusually crazy.  There was this guy in attendance who was kind of hamming it up for the camera - any camera, so I clicked away at him to see what kind of ridiculousness I could get and it was enough ridiculousness for LATFH - the book!

I'm very proud of myself, I must say.  Some of the other photos are awesome and x100000 way more out there than mine!  And even though it may be a silly thing to be excited over, I still am.  It's fucking awesome to see my photo in a book!  Technically, I'm a published photographer!  Hell yes!  And it's all thanks to Joe Mande and Look At This Fucking Hipster. Oh and also the hipsters.

Look for the book in bookstores on March 30!  I got an advanced copy because I'm awesome like that.

Here's the photo in all it's book glory:

Here's a link to the FB album from where it came.

And, apparently, the guy in the photo is Cory Enemy - a DJ / producer from LA.  Exposure?  I think so - but I would like a confirmation, just to make sure the right person is getting credit.

Be sure to check out the book and laugh at the good times had by all!

Love and kisses,

Katzi

S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Grover Goes to School

Okay, I may or may not have written about this before but I love the book Grover Goes to School. I thought about it today when I was participating in Kind Over Matter's Giveaway Thursday. The task was to list your "Favorite Book the younger version of yourself loved to pieces". I racked my brain for everything that I had read in my childhood and "Grover Goes to School" stuck out like a sore thumb.
The story is classic: He tries to make friends on the first day of school but the kids are mean to him and it's basically the worst day ever. I'm tearing up just writing this! It's crazy! I thought of this book for the first episode of CSI: with Laurence Fishburne as a new cast member. He was totally like Grover! Halfway through the episode, I made the connection and started bawling! My BF ran into the room to make sure I was okay and when I tried to explain how Dr. Langston was just like Grover in "Grover Goes to School", I started crying even more! I love that book more than anything and I would give anything to find my old copy with the audio tape that came with it. (Honestly, I think it's in my brother's room. Prepare to be raided!)


♥
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.