Monika's Blog

I am fortunate to live in such a great state. I am even more fortunate to be visiting my Grama in Arizona this weekend! However, the Grammys have decided to treat us all, in the Mountain Time Zone (edit: and Pacific Time Zone), as people who do not matter. Why? Because we are the ONLY time zone(s) that does not get to see the Grammys performed live!

Why does this matter? In case you didn’t realize, it is 2012. If you are 27 minutes late with the news, you are old school. Add another 33 minutes on to that? Chopped liver. So, why do the Grammys insist on treating everyone in the Mountain (and Pacific) Time Zone(s) like we do not deserve to watch these shows in real time?

When the Grammys go from show to commercial, they pride themselves in saying “Follow us on Twitter and Facebook!” but that just screws us all in these states which do not matter as they are posting all the winners as they happen…live! Which means EVERYTHING is already ruined for me.

This is not just a problem with the Grammys, but many awards shows (*ahem* Emmys *ahem*) are shunning these time zones. They need to realize that it is all or nothing these days. If you aren’t watching it/reading it/tweeting it live, then you are so “30 seconds ago.” Sports get it! The Superbowl wasn’t tape delayed. That would be stupid, right? Why doesn’t music get the same respect?

The music industry as a whole is seeking more respect for their craft and artistry, but the same must be reciprocated. People that view the Grammys are the die-hard fans. The loyal ones. These people are also living in a digital age and issues like this matter. People will not continue to put up with this bullshit, they will find other means to either watch or they will boycott these shows.

Grammys (and all “live” award ceremonies) what do you say? Can we fix this delay ‘problem’?

People of the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones (and those that believe in equality) let’s show the Grammys that we DO matter! Please RT this and tag @TheGrammys on Twitter (#grammys) and post on Facebook/TheGrammys to show them we are sick of being treated like this!

Last Tuesday, I *gasp* went to a concert! But this wasn’t my normal, local band concert, it was Duran Duran!

Now, while the majority of my concerts are small, local shows, I have been to my fair share of shows at stadiums. In the past few years I have seen Tom Petty, U2, The Cars, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, John ‘Cougar’ Mellencamp and more that I can’t seem to remember right now (I really need to start a list).

Anyways, I was a little hesitant to go to this show because I wasn’t sure how good Duran Duran would be live, but I have to say, I was impressed! You never know what you are going to get when you see some of these bands *ahem* The Cars, but Duran Duran is one band I would recommend seeing.

Not only did they sound great while playing their old songs, but I really enjoyed their new stuff from All You Need Is Now. Plus! Duran Duran covered an INXS song during the set!

For those of you who don’t know me very well (or for those that do not listen to me) INXS was the first concert I went to, in 1985 when I was 3 years old. Don’t believe me? My mom even tweeted this fact:

They sounded good too!

Duran Duran covering INXS:

Here is the full set list:
BEFORE THE RAIN
PLANET EARTH
A VIEW TO A KILL
ALL YOU NEED IS NOW
BLAME THE MACHINES
COME UNDONE
SAFE
REFLEX
LEAVE A LIGHT ON
GIRL PANIC
TIGER TIGER
CARELESS MEMORIES
LEOPARD
ORDINARY WORLD
NOTORIOUS – INTROS
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF
SUNRISE
(encore)
WILD BOYS
RIO

My friend Aimee was lucky enough to get a press pass to the show, and took some AMAZING photos! She was so close that she got some great shots of Simon’s shoes. I was mesmerized by them and I was in the stands! See her full Duran Duran photo set here.

Neon Trees opened for Duran Duran, and their lead singer, Tyler Glenn, has got a TON of energy!! He was all over the place, running, dancing, swinging his yellow microphone around his neck, etc.

Neon Trees definitely put on a very entertaining show, despite their strange and cryptic banter in between songs (seriously, I didn’t know what he was talking about half the time).

If you have the chance to go see Duran Duran on their All You Need Is Now Tour, I would highly recommend attending (even if you are like me and only knew about 3 songs from their set).

Disclosure: I was given 2 tickets to the show in exchange for this blog post. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Starting this review out with full disclosure: Yes, this is my brother’s newest gig. That is where the bias ends. I love these songs and would whether or not we were related.

As of this morning, you can hear Inca, the new collaboration between Stefan Runstrom and Joey Barba, featuring vocals by Randy Ramirez. These two songs were recorded at Colorado Sound before Stefan moved out to Chicago (no, I am not bitter…at all).

One of my favorite parts of the song Eye of the Storm is about 3 minutes in. This is when you can feel the music start to swirl around you as it becomes more and more chaotic. Your ears don’t know what part to focus on, the screaming guitar riffs, the repetitive singing or the erratic drumming. Then after about 20 seconds your mind slowly starts to follow the rhythmic drum beat until you reach the eye of the storm (or so goes the story in my head).

The second song Don’t Look Away starts off and sounds like the next Foo Fighters hit. By the end of the song you are bound to be singing along.

Be sure to watch this video of Stefan tracking drums for Don’t Look Away.

Also can you believe Stefan played bass on Eye of the Storm?

Go get this 2 song EP NOW at iTunes.

I really do not know what just happened to my ears.

Gotta hand it to Jack White, he sure does know how to pick his collaborations.

Insane Clown Posse – Leck Mich Im Arsch by Third Man Records

Now to go listen to something more upbeat (say Koo Koo Kanga Roo maybe?)

And to get the ICP visuals out of your head, here is video from when Koo Koo Kanga Roo came through Denver:

It is no secret that I will sign up for any new service and download most new apps, but most of them are gone from my iPhone and my memory within a few days (some within hours).

Even more rare is the app that I find myself using almost immediately on a daily basis. Forkly is one of those apps.

I was lucky enough to be a beta tester for them, but when I updated my iOS to beta 5 it borked my ability to use Forkly. That is when I knew that they were on to something. I was so annoyed that I couldn’t fork my food anymore! (I love the way that sounds. Fork my food. Ha!)

I tried so hard to make the app work. Martin was even nice enough to help me troubleshoot the issue to no avail. Nothing seemed to work. I was doomed. The app was dead to me, so I did my best to ignore all of my friends posting their food and drinks from Forkly to Twitter (I was not jealous or bitter. At all). Finally with the new iOS 5 beta 5 update Forkly started to work for me again!

So what exactly is Forkly? ReadWriteWeb puts it best: “The app looks less like a neighborhood foody news wire, like Foodspotting or a Facebook for your stomach’s eyes, and more like a Yelp plus Pandora for particular dishes.” Pretty much a place for you to photograph and document your love or hatred for food and drinks and share your opinions with friends.

I have some awesome foodie friends who are always eating and drinking at amazing restaurants. They recommend food to me, but unfortunately I have a horrible memory and either forget or do not order the right thing at a restaurant. Now I have no excuse as Forkly will remember what food I have said I wanted to try and will tell me where to go to get it.

The discover tab will be great for traveling. I rarely trust Yelp reviews, but there is something trustworthy about food photos mixed with a popularity rating.

I knew the moment the app was live in the app store because my phone was blowing up with requests:

I haven’t seen an app this popular since Instagram launched last year!

Plus Forkly makes it really easy to embed your photos and wants so you can show off your tastes (and what blogger doesn’t love that):

And if you still haven’t downloaded it yet, what are you waiting for? Go to iTunes now (and add me as a friend already).

Currently Obsessed with Scattered Trees thanks to Petals of Spain. They posted this video earlier, and I fell in love with both the video and the song.

Then I started listening to the whole album and have had this song on repeat for the better part of an hour.

Something about the drums and the tambourine in this song just have me mesmerized (yes, it is quite possible that my medication has something to do with this obsession, I still stand by my obsession though).

Over the past few months I have downloaded and participated in many labs for gmail plugins that are supposed to help with everything from label organization, to allowing me to ‘unsend’ an email (it really comes in handy). But by far my favorite and most used email plugin is Rapportive.

They describe themselves as company that gives rich contact profiles from inside Gmail, but what they do is provide links to social networks from people who email you. Sounds pretty complicated, but all it really does is show you the last few tweets or Facebook updates alongside of the email you are reading.

It comes in handy both personally and professionally. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer getting emails from salespeople that you can tell have been crafted just for you and are not just form emails, and I expect the same out of my emails. Rapportive makes it easier to find out those details about people.

Once you join you can update your profile to include any social networks you want. Here is my profile:

Rapportive also makes it easy to friend/follow/link in with people you already email with.

This is one of the few labs/plugin/apps/whatever you want to call it, that I have actually stuck with and continue to use daily. I highly recommend it for anyone who spends any decent amount of time in Gmail and likes to connect with people on social networks.