Vnnthenoise's Blog

Music Saves Lives

vnnthenoise — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:25:25 +0000

Last week was Suicide Prevention Week and I just wanted to commemorate that by dedicating a blog to some music that is meant to inspire.
I truly believe that music can save lives, whether it be listening to your favorite band, losing yourself in a rock concert or reaching out to someone by sharing your favorite music with them.
Depression affects over 15 million Americans and if left untreated can lead to serious problems and even suicide.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15-24 and out of every 100,000 young adults, 12.7 ages 20-24 committed suicide.
I hope these videos will cheer up someone’s day and just let someone know that they are not alone and they are loved. Maybe you could save someone’s life.

The first video is from one of my personal favorite bands, Jack’s Mannequin. It was written after the lead singer, Andrew McMahon, survived Leukemia, but it has such a great message I thought I’d share:

The next video is from the alt-rock now turned pop-rock band Good Charlotte. This video The music video features suicide survivors talking about their experiences:

Here’s Move Along, a pretty creative video by the All-American Rejects with a great message. Plus, Tyson Ritter is nice to look at:

Seriously, try not to be happy after listening to this song!

Here’s a video from a great non-profit suicide prevention To Write Love on Her Arms’ benefit show last year. A lot of really great musicians (Stephen Christiansen, Mat Kearney, Aaron Gillespie and Bryce Avery) performing Stand By Me:

Warped Tour: What a Hottie!

vnnthenoise — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:45:57 +0000

Well, another year and another Van’s Warped Tour. This time my beloved traveling music festival arrived August 2nd in Bonner Springs, KS. My sister and I took the 3 hr road trip to hear some of our favorite bands and more importantly, buy a lot of cool stuff.
Although, this year the music might have disappointed, the merch did not. My sister and I probably spent around $80 each on t-shirts and other paraphernalia, but hey it was all from non-profit organizations so that doesn’t count right?

My problem with Warped Tour was that not only was it hotter than Hades (the heat index was like 115 degrees!!!), but there wasn’t that many bands to see. Tour headliners The All-American Rejects and Motion City Soundtrack weren’t even at the Kansas stop. Warped Tour has become a center of pop-punk bands who wish they were Fall Out Boy, but are about two years two late and some God awful genre they call “crunk core.” Pardon me if I don’t want to hear some guy in neon scream about strippers and getting wasted.

However, this year it was all about the girls for me: women fronting rock bands and being cool.
I started with “Gossip Girl’s” Taylor Momsen and her band The Pretty Reckless. Although her band totally rocks, Momsen is trying just a little TOO hard to be edgy and set herself apart from other female performers her age (she’s only 17!) Watch The Pretty Reckless perform “Zombie” here:

After their set my sister and I decided to hit up a couple non-profit tents for some cool t-shirts for a good cause. We bought stuff from To Write Love on Her Arms, Keep a Breast and Invisible Children, just to name a few.

I bought this shirt from To Write Love on Her Arms because 1) It’s an awesome Organization and you should definitely check out their website and 2) I’m a writer and it spoke to me

http://www.zambooie.com/twloha/detail.tpl?cart=1281573022572906&sku=TWLGIRLST157

We also caught Hey Monday and (my personal favorite) Automatic Loveletter. I almost fainted in the middle of her performance so my sister and I decided to call it a day!

Although we had a fun time together, the heat might not be worth it anymore. Warped Tour, now in its 16th year (older than some of the kids that go to it), just isn’t what it used to be.

Cosmic Love and the Machine

vnnthenoise — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:23:29 +0000

Alright folks back to what really matters….music.

It is no secret that I LOVE UK darling Florence + the Machine, and she is finally getting the recognition she deserves. Her song for “The Dog Days are Over” is featured in the trailer for the new Julia Roberts flick “Eat, Pray , Love” and she was featured in the soundtrack for “Eclipse” with the hauntingly beautiful and equally epic “Heavy in Your Arms”, but the reason I love her the most is the absolutely devastatingly amazing song “Cosmic Love” which she finally made a video for.
Watch it here:

Here’s the trailer for “Eat, Pray, Love”:

And an awesome video of her playing “Heavy in Your Arms” and “The Chain” (by one of my all time favorite bands Fleetwood Mac) from Glastonbury captured by BBC:

3 American Girls, 2 Days in Prague, 1 Great Time

vnnthenoise — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:34:20 +0000

To make the end of our friend Emily’s visit to the Czech Republic, we decided to spend the weekend in Prague, show her the sights and buy some souvenirs.

The first day there we took a ride on a 8 person seater round bike and we then asked by the owners of said bike to go to their pub crawl. The pub crawl consisted of going to 4 bars, getting free drinks and then going to a 5 story club. Needless to say, we did not make it to the club. There were a TON of people on the pub crawl and being the motherly person that I am, made sure that my friends were accounted for at all time, which included forcing Emily to hold hands with me and my boyfriend:

The next day, we slept of course, got some awesome breakfast at Prague Bagel (My breakfast was named “I don’t want to do anything after I eat this”) and walked around Prague with the sun shining and no rain in sight!
We got a caricature:

Yeah I know, pretty dead on huh?

And then we continued to have a fashion shoot with my really fancy Canon Rebel:

It was such a great time and I was soooo thankful that Emily got to spend time with us! However, as soon as she boarded her plane, I was jealous that she got to go home. I have only two more days here until I leave and I am so excited to get home and see all of my friends and family. I will never forget my experiences here and am totally grateful for all of them!

Bones, Bears, Budweiser and Blokes

vnnthenoise — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:13:48 +0000

The last group trip that we took was to two little Czech towns: Kutna Hora and Cesky Krumlov.

While the only interesting things I saw in Kutna Hora were a church completely decorated by bones (CREEPY!) and a hedgehog (CUTE!), Cesky Krumlov was a great time.

Here’s a picture of the bone church:

Apparently, the bones of around 6,000 people were mostly of those who died during the Plague.

After Kutna Hora, we went to the Budweiser plant in the Czech Republic and were given a tour by the cutest old man ever who began every sentence with “And so friends.”

Then we went to Cesky Krumlov, which was the most picturesque, quaint little town I’ve ever been to. Absolutely beautiful place that I had so much fun in!
I saw some bears in a moat at a castle:

River rafted down the river that surrounds the city:

And met a group of Australian boys. Funny thing about Australians: they apparently don’t have school mascots and the concept was a little confusing to them. When they asked us what Nebraska’s school mascot was we informed them it was a Cornhusker. The rest of the conversation went as follows:

Australians: Your mascot is a piece of corn?
My friends and me: No it’s a Cornhusker
Australians: It’s a husk of corn?
Guy from Chicago they were hanging out with: No, it’s the man who husks the corn.
Australians: Wait…your mascot is a man that husks corn? (Laughter begins)
One Australian: Guys, guys imagine this: A giant bear vs THE MAN THAT HUSKS CORN!! (Laughter ensues)
Then we told them about tailgating, which they all wanted to come to Nebraska to do.

The best part of the entire trip however, was the fact that one of my best friends, Emily, got to spend it with us! She visited us for ten great, although rainy, days!

Alive With the Glory of Love

vnnthenoise — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:23:57 +0000

After spending a couple of days in Krakow, our group took a trip to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau, two of the most famous concentration camps from WWII where over one million people died there.

It was such a somber trip, no one in my group hardly said a word to each other as we passed all of the possessions left behind.

I can’t even describe just how heartbreaking and depressing it is to visit there, but at the same time you just feel glad for everything you have and that so many people that were in the concentration camps left there and did great things.

We were told a story by our tour guide about a young couple that were in the camp together. A Polish boy and a Jewish girl fell in love and decided to runaway together. The Polish boy stole a uniform from one of the guards and then posed as a guard and escorted the girl from the camp.

By the time anyone in the camp found out they had escaped, the couple were hiding successfully in various villages along the way. The Polish boy decided that he wanted to fight the Nazis with the Polish army and joined up, leaving the girl in the hands of some villagers he met.
They got separated after the war and couldn’t find each other. They lived their lives and later on, after 37 years apart, found each other again and spent the rest of their time together.

It was such a beautiful story because they could still find love even with all of the horrible things they had to endure.

I’m just going to show some pictures now:

Krakow Kane and other things

vnnthenoise — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:22:05 +0000

Krakow, Poland…cold and rainy, but lovely non the less. First stop when we got there was visiting a giant, underground salt mine. There were sculptures made of salt, lakes of salt water and we got to lick the walls. All in all, good times.

Here is my bff Samantha doing her best impression of a salt miner…

We then went to a castle, that apparently had a dragon at one point in time, saw a really, really big bell and some dead people’s crypts.
Here’s a picture of me and the bell…which didn’t even fit into the actual picture:

We also went to a beach-themed bar that actually had sand for it’s floor and another bar that had no electricity and was lit just by candles:

After Krakow we headed to Auschwitz and Berkenau for a very somber, but meaningful trip.

As We Slowly Draw to a Close

vnnthenoise — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:53:41 +0000

As my European adventure begins to wind down, (I have only four more days until I return!!!) I will be summing up my last experiences here in the CZ and well other places too.

Since my last blog post I’ve been to Krakow, Poland, seen two of the concentration camps where over one million people died, saw a church made of bones in Kutna Hora, saw the most beautiful little town called Cesky Krumlov and had one of my best friends visit me where we spent an awesome weekend in Prague.

It’s been totally great here, I’ve learned so much and made new friends, had experiences of a lifetime and had a lot of first, but more importantly I got to realize how lucky I am to live where I do and to have the family and friends that I do.

Thanks to everyone who helped me get here!
Love,
Me

We Were Merry, We Were Very Very Happy

vnnthenoise — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:05:14 +0000

So, I’ve been back in Olomouc for a little less than two weeks now and here is an update of what I’ve been doing:

Went to a Futbol game, Olomouc vs. Prague, during which, the fans from the student fans from the Prague team ended up stripping down into their boxer-briefs and dancing around. One guy was actually completely and totally nude at one point, running around the stands and beating a drum. Needless to say: my first European Futbol game was interesting/hilarious!

I also went to a Flower Festival with some of my friends and watched some Czech Native Americans dance around. Here’s a pic of me there:

I also hung out with a bunch of my new friends and we started an Acapella singing group, here’s their rendition of “Barbara Ann”

We also do a mean Bohemian Rhapsody.

Then I watch my friend Kane’s Rugby match and understood absolutely nothing that was going on. It was pretty interesting and they won, so that’s cool.

I also went to a free rock concert that was thrown in my university’s Library’s square. Here’s a song from the closing band, that reminded me of Dave Matthew’s/OAR:

Last but not least: I saw a really cool castle that had a drawbridge and a moat that was dried up and used to have bears in it:

And some really sweet caves:

It’s been a really great two weeks and in one day I’m heading off to Krakow, Poland and a sure to be somber trip to Auschwitz.
Til then,
Caiu!

Where Have All the Gregory Pecks Gone?

vnnthenoise — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:49:45 +0000

Hello Again!
This week’s post is all about my spring break trip to Rome. It was supposed include Paris and London, but unfortunately an Icelandic Volcano felt the need to ruin that…
But have no fear friends! My spring break was salvaged by the wonderful city of Rome! We spent two days roaming around the city (see what I did there?) and taking in all of the wonderful sights like the Colosseum:

Vatican City:

I was supposed to see the Pope, but again the Volcano had to go and ruin it!

The Trevi Fountain:

and last but not least…The Mouth of Truth!

Why was The Mouth of Truth my favorite, you may ask?
Well, friend let me tell you about a little movie called Roman Holiday starring the late greats Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, which happens to be one of my favorite movies ever! There’s a very cute part of the movie where Hepburn and Peck go to the mouth, where legend has it if you lie then it will cut off your hand. Peck pretends to get his hand cut off and scares Hepburn silly…watch the movie if you have the chance!

After the city, my friends and I decided to hit the beach for a couple of days and stayed in a really great hostel! Here’s a picture of me and my bestie being silly on the beach:

All in all, Rome was by far my favorite place to visit. There was just so much to see and do and so much history associated with the city! When I was in the Colosseum I couldn’t believe I was walking the same paths the people have been walking for centuries!
If you ever find yourself in Europe, don’t skip out on visiting Rome because you will be missing out!

Until next time friends…
Caiu!