Who's that Girl...It's Jess!

Hi all, another guest blogger here. Want to know another cool perk of being friends with supposedlyceecee? Attending cool showbiz events in Hollywood! Thanks to some prodding by Cindy, I entered a Socialite Life contest and won a ticket to a private advanced screening of the new Fox show "New Girl," starring the always adorable Zooey Deschanel, at the Roosevelt Hotel.


Despite the short notice of tickets (they let me know Wednesday, the event was Thursday night) and the 90 minutes in traffic from my work to the Roosevelt Hotel, we made it to the screening right on time and in one, relatively un-flustered piece. The Roosevelt is a beautiful, old Hollywood-esq hotel, very classy. The only way I can describe it is it looks just like the Tower of Terror hotel at DCA (aka Disney's California Adventure, for those not in the know).

The screening was in a small conference room on the second floor. Once checking in like the VIPs we are (no snickering, please), we assessed the situation and agreed that the best course of action was to get in the (semi-long) line for drinks first, while Karla (Cindy's mom/date) grabbed seats for us in the screening area at the far end of the room. While in line, we noticed several people were holding and looking through these incredibly cute bags. Cindy was bold enough to ask the two girls in line behind us where they got them, and we discovered that if we took a picture with the promotional cut-out we passed when we came in and then posted said picture to Twitter or Facebook, we too could own those bags! Obviously after free drinks, comes the free swag.

Once we got our drinks (a Heineken for me and for Cindy, despite her better judgement, a special, promotional cocktail called Simply Adorkable), we went to take our picture and claim our prizes. Aside: Cindy went for the "I'm adorable and quirky!" Jess pose, while I just tried to blend in with the less-than-impressed guys and model bff.

Then, of course, we proceeded to pass the time by taking funny pictures and discovering all the wonderful things that came in our swag bags (lipstick/gloss, mascara, shampoo/conditioner/face wash samples, notebooks, gum, Vitamin Water, tickets to a movie screening, and other such little goodies). We also tried to assess our fellow screening guests and decided there wasn't anyone famous in attendance (sad, I know) and that most were either contest winners brought in to create buzz for the show or in some way worked with the show or Fox. Finally, the lights were dimmed and it was time for the screening.


Now, let me start off by saying that I had seen most, if not all, of the commercials promoting the show prior to this screening. If you have as well, you've seen most of the funniest moments of the first episode. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as the moments are pretty funny. Zooey is "adorkable" as an awkward girl fresh off a bad break-up that knows little about really being girly and getting a guy's attention. She does, however, know how to sing, making up songs about herself constantly (reminiscent of Marshall from HIMYM). For me, one of the funniest moments of the Pilot is a flashback to a spot-on young Jess singing her heart out to a less than enthused crowd at her bday party. Hilarious perfection.

The guys she moves in with include a personal trainer, Coach (Damon Waynes Jr,), a guy - who's name I've already forgotten - prone to douchey moments (for which he has to put a dollar in the Douche Bag Jar) who only wants her to move in because she is hot and her bff is a model, and a slightly awkward guy who too just got dumped. Though initially put off by her weird ways (including her non-stop watching of Dirty Dancing and nonstop crying), they - led, of course, by the sympathetic roommate who just got dumped - rally around her when stood up by her rebound guy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Pilot, though, as a big fan of Zooey's, I have some concerns. Most importantly, I hope the show doesn't turn out to consist of just funny moments strung together without a strong plot. I don't want another Glee. If they can put together a strong, funny plot with this crazy yet lovable cast of characters, I think I've found another Fox-Deschanel pairing to love.

The New Girl premieres on September 20th at 9pm on Fox.

Rockin in St. Paul

Hey people! I have the privilege of being a guest poster today. You're probably asking yourself "How can I get in on this action?" Turns out you just have to be friends with CinR and attend a concert or some other celebrity related event that's too cool for school. Enjoy!

                                                         image via twincities.com
After buying tickets in March, having the concert canceled twice in June, and having the rescheduled concert relocated from the small and quaint First Ave to the big and commercial Xcel Center, I had a lot of anticipation going into Adele's sold out concert in St. Paul last Thursday with two of my friends (compare it to the amount of anticipation you have for this sentence to end).

Before I talk about Adele's performance I need to tell you about two other things. First, my awesome friend Ryan was nice enough to go down to the ticket office in the middle of a work day and exchange our First Ave tickets for Xcel Center tickets. He waited in line for some period of time (I believe more than 15 minutes, but I won't give him credit for a full day) and made friends with all the other people in line, most of whom happened to be nice mom aged women. If you've ever met Ryan you are his friend, that is just the sort of person he is. Or as he would say: "People just like me." Since they all waited together Ryan and all his lady friends ended up with seats near each other. It was fun attending Ryan's mini reunion at the concert, discussing grandchildren, boasting about our die-hardedness, and what not. 

Second, Wanda Jackson opened for Adele. Dubbed the Queen of Rockabilly, Ms. Jackson toured with (and rumor has is had some sort of romantic affair) with Elvis Presley back in the day. For an accurate picture of this performance think of your grandma, add black hair if her hair is not black, and imagine her rocking it out. Awesome. I did a little bit of research and Ms. Jackson recently put out an album with former White Stripes front man Jack White. Composed entirely of covers, Ms. Jackson provides the vocals accompanied by Mr. White and the band. Apparently, there are lots of guitar solos and opportunities for rocking out. Jack White was not at the Adele concert, but still, as you can imagine rocking out with a legend is pretty cool.

Okay, so back to Adele. This was definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to. She played most of the songs from her new album, 21, several songs from her previous album, and a few covers. The stage was understated, decorated with old rugs, lamp shades hanging from the ceiling, a simple podium for her doxie adorned mug, and a burnt orange back drop. In all honesty it was a little too hipster for me, but it went with the vibe so whateves. Adele is incredibly down to earth. Between most of her songs she told the crowd stories about her exes, her friends, and her feelings, peppering everything expletives. I'm not sure if it's her accent or the fact that she says it with a smile, but Adele can drop as many f-bombs as she wants without sounding the least bit crass or offensive. She did her best to make the audience feel at home often requesting the house lights be turned up between songs so she could see us. She confessed feeling nervous about the big crowd, invited one fan on stage for a photo op, and invited the crowd to sing along to Some One Like You and Rolling in the Deep (not that everyone wasn't already singing along to every other song she sang).

                                                        Pre-concert photo op. Look at all those people behind us!

No joke, Adele sounds better in real life than she does on her CD. Her best songs were just her and the piano. I don't think I really appreciated how heavily piano-centric her music is until seeing her perform live. I was talking to a friend once about the song Someone Like You and we agreed that even if you don't have someone like that in your life you still feel connected to that song--like if you did have someone like that, that's exactly how you would feel. It almost leaves you wondering if you really do have someone like that because after listening to her song you're pretty sure your heart has been broken. So basically, all that to say Adele and her music is SO easy to relate to. I don't like admitting that I was so easily taken in, but I was. At least I wasn't as emotional as the 40-something guy in the row behind me with tears streaming down his face.Yeah, that happened.

The not so awesome part of this concert? Well I had to go work the next morning. I am getting way to old for staying out late on a week night.