| February 5, 2010 | Judging with Jamie Kennedy |
From October to December, the Yoostar Casting Call Tour van traveled from coast-to-coast, stopping at college campuses and malls so that thousands of people could record themselves in movie scenes to compete for a chance to win the grand prize -- a walk-on role in a 2010 LionsGate film. We watched over a thousand of these video performances on Yoostar.com, and gathered users' input via our Facebook voting application, to choose the top 10 finalists. Yesterday I met with fellow judges Jamie Kennedy and Jonathan Small (Editorial Director from Break.com) at Jamie's Hollywood studio to watch the finalists' videos and choose the grand prize winner and two runner-ups. We judged the videos "American Idol"-style, and commented on each of the top 5 performances. Jamie was our Simon. He made the most entertaining and most scathing comments. I channeled my inner Kara DioGuardi. We recorded a video - showing the judging and announcing the winners - that we'll post next week on Yoostar. In the meantime, enjoy some behind-the-scenes photos from the crazy shoot, which involved a clown, a scantily clad woman, a cameraman "Nick Nolte" doppleganger, and a stolen kidney. Just another day in LA. Labels: jamiekennedy, la, yoostar posted by Jess Barron @ 9:52 AM 
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| January 13, 2010 | Snuggie Shenanigans |
 For Christmas this year - as something of a joke - Chris' sister Elizabeth got us Snuggies. (Mine is a stylish leopard print.) Elizabeth has a great sense of humor, and she is the person who convinced us we should dress up as Nadya Suleman and Kate Gosselin for Halloween this past year. Between me and the dawgs, I'm not even ashamed to admit that my Snuggie is getting some serious usage. Yes, the rest of our living room decor is solidly mid-century modern (to suit our tastes as well as the extreme mid-century modern styling of our 1969 townhome). But if you look beyond the cream-colored flokati shag rug, atop the low Italian leather modular sofa you will find one of the greatest home decor/clothing inventions of the 21st century - the Snuggie. So, needless to say, Snuggies have been on our minds. (Come to think of it, from the Radiskull and Devil doll doll (circa 2000) on my dresser, to the pair of Thinkgeek Tauntaun sleeping bags I purchased for us this Christmas, we *do* have a lot of internet phenomena ephemera around in our house.)  Yesterday Chris found this photo and posted it to Facebook with a link to this blog post on "The Baby Snuggie". Chris wrote: "Pure genius - It's like the Snuggie is giving birth. I know a couple of people who need this now, and some who'll need this VERY soon."Eighteen people commented on his "Baby Snuggie" Facebook post, and Chris wrote, "Hell, you might see me carrying Jess around like this before too long." And then while we were watching the season premier of "American Idol" he was inspired to create this image which he posted to his Faceobok wall last night. Being engaged to a creative guy with serious graphic design skills has its advantages. For example, say you want to take a picture of yourselves in an authentic Sid and Nancy pose when you're dressed up for Halloween. Or if your mom just graduated nursing school and you  want to make her a personalized "Nurse Jackie" poster. Also, he might be inspired by seeing a "Baby Snuggie" and decide that he would want to carry his fiance around inside one. When Chris posted this picture to his wall on Facebook, he wrote: "Jess is totally at home in our new Baby Snuggie... she can't wait 'til it comes out in the zebra pattern." Mindy's response was, "now i know what NOT to get jess for her bday!" THEN, Joanna (another talented graphic designer)  created this "Baby and Bunny Snuggie" and posted it to Facebook, with the message:"chris, if jess ever decides to adopt a bunny you will be all set with this snuggie." Chris wrote back, "Forget going into outer space or widening the 405, this is truly one of the best things humans have ever created... genius." Now this "Baby and Bunny Snuggie" is Chris' current Facebook profile pic. Should I be afraid, or just give in to the lahv of Facebook and graphic design shenanigans? Labels: chris, elizabeth, holidays, internet posted by Jess Barron @ 5:00 AM
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| December 17, 2009 | 3 Unique Christmas Traditions in Los Angeles |
 Some people might think that it wouldn't feel like Christmas living in Los Angeles (especially for someone who was born and raised in New England), but I'm here to tell you that LA, particularly the West Side, has its own unique and fun holiday traditions.Last week, Chris and I rode our bikes to Santa Monica to see the Christmas tree made out of shopping carts. It's called "The Bright Side." and it's been put together by artist Anthony Schmitt at the Edgemar shopping area on Main Street for the past 14 years. It's a great piece of public art because of its multiple meanings; it not only makes you consider excessive holiday consumerism, it makes you think about homelessness at the holidays. Check out my photoset of the Shopping Cart Tree. This was our third Christmas living in Marina del Rey, and our third year heading to Fisherman's Village to check out the Marina's holiday boat parade. The parade has been happening for 47 years, since 1963 before the marina itself was actually completed.  We went to view the Marina del Rey Boat Parade with Devora and Ethan, who had been living in a houseboat on the Marina for the month of December. This year the boat parade theme was "Holiday in paradise," and the best boat was definitely the "Cheeseburger in Paradise." It played the Jimmy Buffet song, and the burger actually opened up and then the bottle of ketchup poured in. It was hysterical. Check out the full photoset from this year's Marina del Rey Boat Parade, and then see my photos from the Marina del Rey Boat Parade 2008.  Just one day after the Marina del Rey Holiday boat parade, Chris and I biked to the Venice Canals Holiday Boat parade and met Roshanna there. The Venice Canals boat parade has been going on since the late 1970s or early 1980s. This year, our favorite boats included the Venice trolley, the castle ship, and the viking ship. There were also numerous Santas throwing candy from their canoes and paddle boats. Check out the full photoset from this year's Venice Canals Boat Parade and then, see our photos from the Venice Canal Boat Parade last year. Labels: christmas, holidays, la, losangeles, venice posted by Jess Barron @ 6:55 AM
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| December 16, 2009 | Jimmy Kimmel Plays Rhett Butler |
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Last night on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Jimmy played Rhett Butler in a Yoostar scene from "Gone With the Wind." Scarlett O'Hara wasn't very happy with him... Labels: gonewiththewind, jimmykimmel, yoostar posted by Jess Barron @ 10:17 AM
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