The Dante's Inferno Test has

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

song of the hour: all

song of the hour: all american rejects - swing swing

hey, the song is kinda catchy. =) check it out when you have a chance!

here's a more detailed coachella

here's a more detailed coachella update:

woohoo, it's COACHELLA!!!

jer, julie, and i went to coachella on saturday. we left our place at around 11, but still got there so late -- at about 4 -- since it took more than an hour to get to westwood as there was a lot of traffic heading to ucla because of festival of books and another hour+ to get into the venue once we got to Indio on top of the 3 or so hours Yahoo maps said it would take to get to the place. I was bummed since we missed Ben Kweller and Idlewild, but luckily, the best were yet to come.

we staked out a plum spot by the center alleyway to the main Coachella stage for the Hives and stayed firmly in place for the rest of the night, an effort that totally paid off when the Beastie Boys took to the stage and everyone crowded in. Not to mention we were able to get really good views of all the acts before Beastie Boys -- blur, Queens of the Stone Age, and Ben Harper.

here's a brief rundown:

- the Hives: less than stellar performance, maybe it's because they're swedish. the band's humor was slightly lost on the less-than-totally enthusiastic crowd, and the quality of the show suffered for lack of crowd involvement. sometimes lead singers should talk to the crowd more. in this case, he probably should have said less. >_<

- blur: damon albarn is HOT. and so is the bass player! hehe. okay, I'll actually review the performance, sorry. their new music is a lot different from their older pre-blur (as in blur's 5th cd, the one with song 2) days, although it was never the same after "blur" anyway. their new songs reflect a lot of albarn's recent side projects, Gorillaz and Mali Music, and they're quite a lot of fun to listen to.

- queens of the stone age: wasn't too familiar with much of their music outside of "no one knows" but i think i'm interested in them now. lots of energy in their performance, the guitarist/singer has quite impressive skills, and hey look, that's dave grohl pounding away on the skins back there! fantastic.

- ben harper and the innocent criminals: i wasn't very familiar with ben harper, but oh my word, this man is AMAZING. i've never seen anyone play a guitar with such virtuosity and range of genres. i am now a fan.

- beastie boys: Mixmaster Mike is a genius. pure and simple. the boys got the crowd moving with a great mix of old and new tunes. did not play "girls," played only a snippet of "brass monkey." aside from a moment where one of them broke out with a political statement against the war in iraq, the crowd was with them wholeheartedly. I can't begin to describe what an awesome show this was. i was completely floored. :)

pictures (both digital and film) will be forthcoming.

so i'm attempting the xanga

so i'm attempting the xanga blog thing, but i'm not really sure if i like it. it's really easy to use, it's really easy to link up friends and post comments on people's blogs, and all sorts of other wonderful stuff. maybe i'm not inspired, i dunno.

so it's back to the blogger blog for me. oh blogger, how i've missed you! but i'm damn well ready to go on to movable type!! >:O

it's been a pretty great day.
- free in and out burgers for seniors.
- our webcam is now live on blur.co.uk (look for pearl and jer)
- got to talk to vanessa, randolf, mike ouyang, cynthia, jason, and deeps, albeit very briefly.
- made my appointment to take senior pics.

fun fun. it's nice talking with friends...

coachella was bad-ass. the beastie boys rocked so hard i had heart palpitations. did you know those guys are pushin' 40? holy cow! queens of the stone age sang and guitar thrashed circles around my head. ben harper and the innocent criminals were so flamin' hot i had to take off all my clothes (just kidding). and blur! oh, beautiful, wonderful blur! the new stuff rocks ass, the old stuff sounds great, and though graham coxon is sorely missed, new blur is fun too.

wishlist:
- blur - think tank
- the flaming lips - fight test EP

eagerly awaiting:
- X2
- Matrix Reloaded (saw this last friday, OMG why is it still so mindblowingly good??)
... and Identity goes here cuz i just still haven't had time to see it! aaah!

currently listening to: basement jaxx - rooty
(if you haven't heard this CD yet, run run run to get yer ears around it!! it's sooooooo goooood!!)

and some additional album recommendations...

idlewild - the remote part: it is much more mid-tempo than their last album, but it is still quite agreeable if you can dig the rockin' punky R.E.M. type thing. when they thrash with their guitars, they kick so much booty. they need to do that more, but this album gives a good idea of how they are live. i saw them in concert at the el rey at the beginning of this month. pictures from the show can be found here.

the flaming lips - yoshimi battles the pink robots: if you are reading this blog, you should already own this album by now. if you don't, what are you waiting for??

... and there's more but i can't think of any. you have been spared.

ooh! http://news.kmi.open.ac.uk/everest/ ... and a

ooh! http://news.kmi.open.ac.uk/everest/
... and a related news item: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2973735.stm

more and more i find

more and more i find myself at a disconnect with the world around me. part of it is because i'm simply not as willing as i used to be to run around and make friends. it takes a lot of energy to perform the role of an interesting potential friend to a stranger, and i'm finding that as time goes on, i have less and less patience to do that self-revelation thing and the be-excited-about-everything thing. it's great fun to be thought of as exciting and effervescent (or hyper and airheaded.. take your pick), but it's a lot of work. all of one's energy is concentrated on being entertaining and entertained, on the novelty of excitement instead of structured growth of a person.

it's amazing how people are. it's possible that by age 18, people can have mastered the performance of all of the menial tasks of living: writing, operating heavy machinery (read: a car), be a top tennis player, be a top mathematician, and so forth. It is possible for very young people to be very very gifted at certain professions, better than people much older than they.

So, then, what does it really mean to grow? Is it in skill? Or grace? Or happiness? Or practicality? Or cynicism? What's "maturity" anyway?

Sometimes i look back on my freshman and sophomore years with such wonder: i had so much optimism and hope for the future. i expected my life path to turn out a certain way, believed that i could do anything, that I could change people to see a certain way, had certain preconceived notions of the way the world was, or at least was supposed to be. And you know, these have changed. My hope for the future has slightly dimmed, my life path seems shrouded with ferns and bushes, I have more realistic (perhaps too pessimisstic) views of what i can accomplish. I still have preconceived notions of how the world actually works, although those notions have changed, perhaps also somewhat pessimisstically.

I wrote a poem my sophomore year entitled "Today." This is the only optimistic poem I've ever written, and probably ever will. Here's the text:

--

Today

It is time to leap~!

Leap into the unknown, to tear into the bustle and madness
To yawp and dream and yank and dance!
Time to seize our destinies and meld them into realities!
Time to make good on the promise of our youth!

We are the star as yet undimmed by cynicism
Unsullied by disappointment
Untainted by sorrow
We walk the paths lined with broken hearts
Weep for them
And walk on, lifting up the torches of those who have fallen
Rekindling them
And marching forward, heads held high
For not just one, but two
Or three or four
Or more
For the dream is not just one
It is many
It is all

And the day to make it real is today.

---

When i wrote this poem, i still held onto the notion that I was one of those who would pick up a torch and walk on. These days, i'm really not so sure...

This should be my second to last quarter at UCLA, depending on if the fates decide to smile upon me or not. I'm attempting to get out with a degree in History and a minor in Anthropology. i'm really enjoying the anthropology classes i'm taking right now, partly because much of what i've been learning here at UCLA is finally starting to click. I'm understanding not only the material that's being covered, but more importantly, I feel as if i'm beginning to really think about the world around me. I feel as if my college education may give me some sort of diploma, but I'm coming away with a deeper and broader understanding of the world and the structures of thinking within which we operate. I'm sure my professors don't think so, since i'm as crappy of a kiss-up as always, but i'm feeling a very deep satisfaction with the knowledge i'm gaining. This knowledge means something to me, even if and when i'm unable to explain it to anyone else. This "explaining to other people" is something i need to work on, although i'm having a good time just sitting around and pondering for myself. =P

So here i am, finishing my fifth year at this university. I find myself more engrossed with what i'm learning, and less interested in being social. I still long for the excitement and fun of going out with friends and gettin' all crazy every once in a while, but the glow of the patina has faded a little bit. I'm getting old and crotchety and boring. I really *like* school, although i'm really wishing we were on a semester system so I'd have more time to let it all sink in properly.

see? I'm complaining and wishing we had more school? what the faaah!

needless to say, i feel a little out of step with a lot of people, and my apathetic attitude toward making new friends doesn't really help much. but i'm happy with who i am, i think. Although it saddens me sometimes that i'm no longer "cool," i enjoy being able to take a few breaths and think about an intriguing idea for more than a minute. It's sad though... i'm very out of practice with thinking. =P

who knows. maybe i'll think my way back toward some sort of optimism, give it a solid base of reasoning instead of raw, youthful ambition.

hope springs eternal.

so i figured out a

so i figured out a couple of the problems i was having with this here blogger blog of mine, namely one improper "Blogger" tag i neglected to capitalize. who knew one lowercase letter could cause so much trouble!! but it looks like it has been fixed, and it looks like blogger got the one server it has that can do lowercase date/time schemes back up again, so i'm a happy camper once again.

however, i'm attempting this xanga business. my new xanga blog can now be found at www.xanga.com/jadepearli.

i know. i've jumped on the boat. aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

blegh. i have no desire

blegh.

i have no desire to keep up this blog anymore.

gwraghg!

craigslist is freakin' awesome. i've

craigslist is freakin' awesome.

i've been reading those 'missed encounters' posts, as well as the 'personals' posts because they are quite intriguing. seriously! take a scan through them when you have a chance. one takes such an odd little glimpse into other people's lives, peering into that secret part of the human heart that yearns for companionship...

love is interesting. love is funny. i am a fan.

idlewild in la... pictures coming

idlewild in la... pictures coming soon!

this has been such a

this has been such a sad week...

my friend sam lost his brother in a car accident.

my friend jennifer's aunt passed away.

ucla lost one of its student leaders in a different car accident near campus. her car was hit by a drunk driver.

chinese actor leslie cheung committed suicide.

my sister got into a really retarded fender bender, and the other party is apparently claiming injuries...

:( :( :(