fall Blog and Journals

isn't it sad to know that my sleeping schedule is beyond fucked up? i only woke up about an hour ago! 
i need to force myself asleep at 9pm and awake at 7am. it's cardinal considering the fact that i
finally applied to college yesterday! anthony had to help me a bit since i had never done it. i'm so
excited to start school. wow, i didn't think i'd ever say that. i hope i don't flunk out. that would be
THE WORST.

so i've been thinking a lot lately about fall fashion and how the essential are dark colors,
boots and scarfs. did you know that a lot of areas in the US don't even experience "fall"?
like... alaska. they experience mainly a winter type surrounding. most of texas is the same
all year, and california seems to have the perfect weather at all times. the places i see
experiencing fall are the midwestern states, arkansas and the east coast. so what about
all of us who don't get fall? i've compiled a great list of "fall essentials"!

1. The Essential Skinny Jean [I think this is a year round trend, actually!]

2. The Scrunched 3/4 Sleeve Boyfriend Blazer

3. Beige High-Waisted Skirt with Removable Straps

4. Ruffle Sleeve Satin Blouse 

5. Gold 'She-Wolf' Ring

6. Casino Cards Halter Dress

7. Fitted Scoop Neck Tee 

8. Destroyed Denim Cutoff Shorts [perfect with the scoop tee above!]

9. Cropped Leather Jacket [absolutely AMAZING with the scoop tee & cutoffs!

10. Floral Romper [chic with the leather jacket!]

11. Black Rosette Topped Peep-Toe Pumps

12. Eco-Friendly Reusable Porcelain Coffee Cup [ THE #1 MUST-HAVE FOR "FALL" AND FALL! ]

What's fall/"fall" like for your part of the country? What are some trends you're seeing? What are YOU wearing?

xoxo

Kiersten

I've gotten into the habit of creating a new mix for practically every season and special occasion. It forces me to break out of my comfort zone and see what new music has entered into the world. So, with that being said, here is my new mix for the Fall. I tried to throw in a few new bands with a few of my old favorites. I hope you enjoy it.

-March on, Autumn!-

Arcade Fire- Wake Up
The Dodos- Red and Purple
Iron and Wine- Faded from Winter
The Joy Formidable- Cradle
The Little Hands of Asphalt- Oslo
The Weakerthans- Night Windows
Built to Spill- You Were Right
School of Seven Bells- Conjur
The Appleseed Cast- As the Little Things Go
M. Ward- Shangri-La
Passion Pit- Moth's Wings
Sin Fang Bous- Advent in Ives Garden
Interpol- Evil
Adele- Hometown Glory
Elliot Smith- Waltz #2
Stars- Take Me to the Riot
Seabear- Cat Piano
This Will Destroy You- I Believe in Your Victory

<a href="http://www.fancorps.com/islandstreetteam/click/26734" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fancorps.com/islandstreetteam/view/26734.jpg" border="0"></a>

Fall Out Boy --> Believers Never Die - Greatest Hits available on 11.17.09 --->http://bit.ly/4oL7UC

At least the colors of nature were still warm even if the air outside wasn't.  The golds, reds, oranges of fall were more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.  I missed all of the beauty last year because I was in California the whole month.  I have seen what I missed and have been in awe every time I left my house.  Now the wind and rain are in full force.  The hint of snow is in the air.  It is in the 40's most days...  soon it will dip in the 30's, the rain and slush will be here and all will be cold, dark, wet and gross!

October was fun and flew by!  Been doing a lot of online shopping and research for the Holidays!!!!  (I am an ebay pro by now!) Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner!  Halloween is new to Germans.  They take the spooky aspects of it... the ghouls and goblins, witches and skeletons aspect.  We Americans have turned it into colorful, silly, slutty, whatever...  BUT I love Halloween.  It is my favorite holiday and i wish I could be able to go to many parties and have the money for the MANY costume ideas i am coming up with all throughout the year.

Normally I don't post pictures of the princess on here but i had to.  She is too cute!

Happily I will be able to dress up soon!  Girls Nite OUT is coming up and there are some shenanaginz to be had and crazy pictures to be taken!!!!  Also in the mix is our Martini Party... LBD is required... classy, sexy, dressy attire is a must.  My cocktail shaker is polished and ready to go!  I take my martini dry and dirty... actually filthy!!! ;-)

Love M. Godard!!!

Recently our travels took us to strasbourg and I must confess it is my new city of indulgence. So close, so sweet and pretty yet not too rustic.  The Dome (cathedral) is sooo beautiful and they have an amazing Astronomical Clock... the likes of which I have only seen in Prague.  It is the capital of the Alsace region of France and is known for wine... and Petite France.  So romantic and picturesque.  I want to go back if they are having a Christmas Markt (I will 'splain those later).

I think I am going to start writing Travel Blogs!  I love fashion... I write about that.  I love traveling about as much!  So look forward to it!

Trying to keep busy.  Gotta truly start working out and eating better.  I don't think I eat terrible by any means, but I definitely have room for improvement.  I have not been feeling as well as I think I could and I think it might have to do with my lack of physical activity.  I am one that prefers to read, crochet, do crafts, write, etc.  Routine is the hardest thing in the world for me... you seriously have NO idea!!! I am the WORST.  Power 90, please HELP!!!

anyways... I think that is all for now!

                         Love, Robot is charging at the impenetrable fortress that is the music industry until they can find a crack in the barricade and bust open the whole damn wall. They won’t quit until they’ve exhausted every last resource, every last gasp of energy, and every last hardcore breakdown.  The band currently consists of Jon Biegen, on vocals and keys, Alexa San Roman, on vocals and guitar, Brandon Hom on drums, Matt Clunie on Guitar, Taylor Schwabb on bass, and Sean Murphy on Guitar.

The name Love, Robot is equivalent to the end of a letter.  It speaks to the irony that a robot cannot love.

                         Love, Robot combines elements of many different music genres, including post-rock, alternative, ska and pop/punk, to create a musical fusion that keeps your feet tapping long after their set has ended, and the last note has died out.  They are able to combine the heavy aspects of bands like Mineral and Scary Kids Scaring Kids with the pop melodies and hooks of bands such as Fall Out Boy or All Time Low to create a genre that is all their own. Biegen’s vocals range from searingly screamy to masterfully melodic.  San Roman’s voice is uniquely satisfying, and reminds the listener that behind all the moshing there is still some beauty.  Hom has talents on the drums that shouldn’t be available until 2200; his rolls and fills are gone so fast that you want to play certain parts on repeat over and over again.  Clunie motors along on guitar, and when called up will surprise you with his vigorous thrashing and adept intelligence playing the guitar.  Schwabb is known for his stage energy and ability to walk up and down the base like it’s a city block.  Finally, Murphy stabilizes everything.

Strange Beginnings

              It all started with Biegen and Hom’s general love for music, as well as Long Island’s small but sturdy underground hardcore scene. In 2004 Brandon and Matt Recruited Jon, and started the first incarnation of Love, Robot.  They were influenced by the shows they saw, and bands like Stray From the Path and On Broken Wings.  They thrashed and induced mosh-pitting to it’s maximum for two years; Biegen didn’t even originally sing except as a joke one day at practice. Then Biegen was enlisted to play in a pop band that some of his friends were working on in New York City.  “It was super secret,” Biegen says, “but they needed a singer/synth player.”  And so Biegen traveled into the city, to the heralded Chung King Studios to work on some top secret material with Grammy winning songwriters and producers The Berman Brothers, who wrote, “Who Let the Dogs Out,” and “Mmmbop.”  Despite making more than one hundred dollars an hour, the project was an overall failure, and Biegen returned to Stony Brook, Long Island; however, not without having gained something in the process.  “Writing next to countless Grammys on the wall all amounted to nothing, but left me inspired,” he recalls.  He came home and told Love, Robot of his experiences, “with stars in his eyes.”  He had seen what the music world had to offer, and was determined to get there, no matter how long it may take, and no matter how many roadblocks might lay in the path.

The Addition and Paperfork EP

                    A few years later, the band added San Roman, and forever changed the dynamic of who they are.  Bands led by female vocalists seem to be all the rage these days, with bands like Paramore and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs headlining tours across the world, and No Doubt reuniting; and yet, Love, Robot manages to break from the norm, and create their own niche.  Both Biegen and San Roman share singing duties, and both also play instruments.  Many songs, such as, “The Fine Print,” off their 2008, Paperfork EP, showcase them trading back and forth vocals, to tell the tale of the song.  Besides the ability to perk interest with both male and female lead vocals, each song demonstrates the standout ability of each member of the band.  “Go Get’um,” also off the Paperfork EP, opens with a drum fill so fast not even The Flash could hope to make sense of it.  “The Fine Print” features both harmonica and guitar solos, which echo over one another during the outro.  In, “Fonecalls and Phaceplants,” the breakdown involves some double base pedal that seems downright unfair, along with a bass solo that has even my fingers aching.

              With the lineup of Biegen, San Roman, Clunie, Hom and bassist Jon Davies who would eventually be replaced by Joe Bongiorno (who would also eventually be replaced), Love, Robot have played throughout Long Island since 2004, sometimes for fifteen people during a backyard graduation party, sometimes for a few hundred people when opening up for big acts like Patent Pending, and even once for one hundred fans in San Roman’s very own living room, after a bar they were scheduled to play at would let neither the band nor their fans in, because nobody was 21.

              Juicy Co-Tour 2008

              In 2008, the band embarked on their first ever tour, and found out what it really means to be in a band.  It was called the, “Juicy Co-Tour,” and featured Love, Robot along with The Here and Now, who hail from Poughkeepsie, New York. Their tour began in New York City and went through Pennsylvania, Boston and New Hampshire.  A van and bus style tour can truly test the grit and determination of an up and coming band.  Weeks on the road with little money, living on fast food and pb and j’s, playing at shows where there might be one hundred people or there might be none.  There are ups and downs, and for some, one little tour could mean the end of a huge dream.

                 “Tour,” sighs Biegen, “what I want to do for the rest of my life.”  They brought along 4 friends (Hadi, Devin, Sal and Mary) to help out with video, merchandise and photography, making their touring total ten.  They traveled in San Roman’s Nissan Exterra, and Mary’s Sedan.

              “I got really sick one night,” Biegen reflects. Tough times call for drastic actions; instead of continuing to live in parking lots inside their two vehicles, they finally decided to get a hotel, at least for a night, at least for Biegen’s sake.  “I got really drugged up on Nyquil,” he says, “all I remember was waking up at four in the morning in a fever sweat alone, not knowing where I was.”  Turns out that they had paid for two hotel rooms, and Biegen had locked this particular one while in a half-asleep daze.  He frantically called San Roman, until he was assured that everyone was alright and that he should just get back to bed.  As soon as his head hit the pillow, “the couple next door started moaning.  They continued to have sex for at least three hours.  I started counting how long they would take breaks.  I drifted off to sleep to it.”

              Overall, the band felt that the tour was a surprisingly immense success.  “We were surprised on tour, there were days where kids would drive for hours just to see us and meet us.  It was the greatest feeling,” Biegen recollects.  They drew on both the positive and negative aspects of the tour, and are riled and ready to get back out there.  “There were a lot of kids coming out every night.  We hope to see a ton more when our new EP comes out and we tour it this summer.”

2009 EP

                    In 2009, Love, Robot recorded their second EP, which is available on Itunes, along with their first effort, the Paperfork EP.  It featured four songs: “Eleven Eleven,” “For Cry’n Out Loud,” “This Time” and “The Voice In the Back of Your Head.”  “Eleven Eleven” features the most heart-wrenching vocals yet sung, as Biegen laments, “and I Digress, I think about it every day,” with San Roman answering, “It’s in our hearts to find our place.”  These songs introduced more complex song structures and phrases, as the band took what they had learned through their first five years together and combined old knowledge with new.  The chord progression in the chorus of  “For Cry’n Out Loud,” is extremely minor, yet sounds like a beautiful letter one may have written to themselves in depression.  The drums on the EP are less frantic, and more composed, although Hom never lets the opportunity to astound pass by.  This EP further cemented their song writing ability, and sparked them to jump into the studio as soon as possible to show the world just what they have to offer.

The Future

              Their New Ep is currently untitled and is being recorded in Queens and will be out around Christmas time.  “We’ve been working on these five songs for over six months now,” Biegen exclaims.  Next, they will re-write the songs, “for the 50^th time,” Biegen points out, in order to make sure that every second of each track is as perfect as possible.  “We’ve been working on twenty minutes of music or so for six months,” Biegen says, “every single note refined and revamped to come out exactly right… At this point it’s all or nothing.  We’re putting all of our time, energy and money into this,” he continues. 

              Once it is out, the band doesn’t plan on sitting idly by and watching a few hundred copies get swallowed up by their local and east coast fan base.  There are press kits to be made, music videos to be shot and interviews to be done.  They plan on doing two mini-tours to promote the Ep, aspiring to travel all the way down to Florida, across to Ohio, and eventually end in California, 3,000 miles away from home.  

              Nowadays, Love, Robot could almost be considered the elder statesmen of Long Island’s music scene.  They draw more than one hundred fans on average to shows, that range from larger venues like The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale, which often houses national acts (The Fall Ball ’09 Presented By AP Tour rolls through on November 8^th, featuring The Academy Is…, Mayday Parade and more), to microscopic bars such as The Village Pub South.  They have been known to walk on stage to the theme of Jurassic Park, and play outrageous games on tour, such as Buffalo.  Biegen explains pretty bluntly: “if you have something in your left hand and someone calls buffalo you have to chug it no matter what it is.”  That is only the first rule of the game, however.  If you call buffalo but their left hand is empty, you must chug whatever they are carrying in their right hand.  Adam Chin, guitarist for The Here and Now, got the worst of it and once had to chug hot sauce, according to Biegen.

               They have won Club Loaded’s Unsigned Band Festival, which takes place each year at The Crazy Donkey, and features local bands from all genres.  They are featured on a Quikstar Productions compilation album entitled, “Rock 4 Life,” and were recognized as an up and coming artist by The Greenlight Firm, an independent A&R company. 

                 For five years now, Love, Robot has been fiercely rocking their way through the Long Island music scene, garnering awards and honors and inspiring friends and fans to start bands of their own.  Their influence as a band has already begun, but they don’t plan on going down in history as the band who influenced just Long Island; ultimately, Biegen believes that Love, Robot will be signed and touring within two years. 

                 LoveThey have strategized and made small moves for all of five years, but are ready to storm the gates.  When the smoke clears, Love, Robot is determined to be standing tall. 

-Watch for their New Untitled EP This December

-Buy their Paperfork EP and 2009 EP on Itunes

-Go to www.myspace.com/loverobotli to find out about where they are playing next

I hate the fall. It's cold and it smells like mold. While some people like fall fashion because i gives them a chance to layer or bundle up, I think it's the most annoying time of the year because it takes an excruciating amount of time to pick out an outfit! If I am actually able to throw the right layers together so that it's cute odds are I'm going to be wearing the same outfit for the majority of the season because my apartment is really short on closet space.

That's my fall look- Cartoon character. I'll wear the exact same ridiculous outfit everyday like a superhero or one of the simpsons. I love it in cartoons where they show their closets and they're full of the same dress. Amazing.

I do love the fall looks as usual though! Right now I'm pretty into the white blazer thing:

I hate to say it and my Mum would probably rub it in my face but shoulder pads are back and they're cute.

Plaid is always a good fall/winter choice IMO:

We already discussed that layering is essential. I'll wear a plaid shirt over anything- band shirt or girly dress, whatever.

That reminds me that fashion is all about wearing your shabby with your chic. One trend I'm not entirely on the same page with this fall is animal prints... gtfover it already! Why do we keep trying to reinvent this year after year? For the most part people do an awful job trying to pull this off and when it's bad it's BAD. Please if you're looking at your closet right now and it looks like you went on a murderous, hyde-taking rampage on a african safari- well just think about moving on from this 'trend'... even if they're doing it on the runways or in the magazines. Let's all remember that very few of us are supermodels and just because they do it it doesn't mean we have to.

On that note I'll leave you with my wishlist:

Yes, I desperately want these motocross jeans, these fabulous balenciaga booties and the perfect pair of cowboy/riding boot hybrids that don't actually exist.

Go see them along with Hollywood Undead and Atreyu this fall in a city near you!!!

it's been raining here for the past 3 days, and there's about another week straight of rain coming my way. this town is so miserable, sometimes. i've been having a good time being back with my friends, though, even if this was the first weekend i've been here in almost a month. i went to visit philly, and went back home the past few weekends, and i've got a post secret event coming up soon, and hopefully a trip to syracuse. i have so much reading just piling up, plus a LSAT book i need to start working my way through.

Just kidding...it totally is go check out  OUR BLOG for more then just a peek :)

Hello!! Well how many of you knew the summer end, i think, Monday around 2:08?? Well I did! And guess what happened?? I GOT SICK! So, I've pretty much been in bed since Tuesday. And now, my grandma's cooking with onions. Damn onions. I hate onions. Anywhore, I've been so..... I don't even know, like, musically confused. I keep bouncing from Cobra Starship to Beyonce to 3OH!3 to Kid Cudi! You know what? I LOVE IT!! I could do this all day. I truly, truly could. Is that strange?

In other news, I started reading again. And my aunt Magali (Hi tia), gave me a super sweet book! It's called "L.A. Candy" & Lauren Conrad wrote it & no it's not a autobiography, it's an actual novel. But if your not into those book with semi-realistic settings then this is the NOT the book for you, on the hand if you like these kind of books, then when your don with this book read "The Perks Of Being A Wall-flower" by Stephen Chbosky. It's really good. Kinda like an episode of Degrassi or anything else that's dramatic! (x

I just realized that I've been sitting next to a filthy curtin for the past 15 minutes (yes it took me 15 minutes to write all that down because I'm cleaning out my closet!) & that's what's been making me cough! Well, I'm off for some tea & soup. I can't wait until I'm better! (x

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