Sunday, May 29, 2011

Combichrist at The Galaxy, Santa Ana, CA - May 19th, 2011


Hi kiddos!

I just finished uploading a bunch of videos from a Combichrist show I went to a little over a week ago (check them out below!). For those not in the industrial/aggrotech/EBM scene, Combichrist is a band founded in 2003 by Norwegian Andy LaPlegua (founder of the band Icon of Coil). The current touring lineup consists of Joe Letz and Trevor Friedrich on drums, Z-Marr on keyboards and Abbey Nex (Genitorturers, Psyclon Nine) on guitar.

The Santa Ana show was held on Thursday, May 19th at The Galaxy, a venue just down the street from my place. It was definitely a convenient drive, but unfortunately the crowd wasn't as energetic as I'd hoped. That might have been due to the shitty bands were were forced to sit through (all except Whiteqube - those dudes rocked it!) or the fact that Combichrist didn't go on 'til about midnight. Unfortunately, we had dinner reservations and had to get there by 7pm, or else we would have shown up MUCH later. It was definitely a weird line-up, from the boring Blackcentr to the NIN/Marilyn Manson rip-off Starkiller to the just bizarre and grating AmeriCon (who replaced iVardensphere)...the only opener that didn't suck was the previously mentioned Whiteqube, especially impressive since this was their first show!! Their electronic beats, energetic performance and glow sticks made everyone smile!

Combichrist finally played to a pretty lethargic crowd. Maybe it's an Orange County thing, but the crowd definitely sucked for the most part. I felt bad for the band, who must be used to more of a reaction from most crowds (can't wait to read Joe Letz's blog on this show!). However, in true Combichrist fashion, they still gave it their all! And I was especially excited to see Abbey Nex with them on this tour! He fit right in and I hope he becomes a more permanent fixture (especially since Psyclon Nine's future is up in the air at the moment). Special guests were also brought out for a few songs...the always enjoyable Brandon from Bleeding Through did guest vocals for "Follow the Trail of Blood" and Sin Quirin of Ministry and AmeriCon came out to play for a few songs as well. For some ungodly reason (probably because she is dating Sin Quirin), Lacy Conner, best known for being the batshit insane redhead from Bret Michael's Rock of Love, did guest vocals for "Kickstart the Fight" and "What the Fuck is Wrong With You".

Below you'll find vids of the show...not the best camera work by any means (and I apologize about the audio on some tracks), but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!










Please visit Combichrist's official site and check out their music on Amazon!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tonight's Viewing: A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (U.S. Poster) - 1971

[Sidenote: I know I've been away for a long time, lovelies, but I hope to be back with more blog posts soon!]

Friday, May 6, 2011

"The Woman in Black" Official Teaser Trailer


The Woman in Black is (hopefully) coming out in early 2012, and it is one of the horror films I'm really looking forward to! I love the book by Susan Hill as well as the rare TV movie, so I'm pretty interested to see what Hammer Films does with the 2012 version starring Daniel Radcliffe.

A teaser trailer was recently released, and it makes me look forward to it even more!

Check it out below:

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Restaurant Review: Real Food Daily - Santa Monica, CA

 Real Food Daily in Santa Monica

Mister Spooky surprised me this gorgeous weekend by taking me on a sun-and-fun-filled day to the Santa Monica Pier. We strolled the beach, rode the rides at Pacific Park, played some arcade games and, since we were so close to the Promenade, had lunch at Real Food Daily!! Yes, my boyfriend is the BEST!

I have been wanting to try Real Food Daily ever since I first heard about it (it's a SoCal vegan institution and has been around since 1993!!), but I'm not really in Santa Monica all that often (um, like practically never...I'd never even been to the SM Pier before!). I was soooo very excited to try the famed organic and vegan restaurant! From the pier we walked a few blocks up to Santa Monica Blvd. and 5th, where RFD is located (they have another location in WeHo, BTW). It was a Saturday around lunchtime, so it was a bit crowded, but we were still seated right away by the friendly wait-staff. The dining room is very open and has a clean, airy feel, despite how packed it was. Our server was adorably perky and got us our drinks right away. The Mister had the Eel River Brewing Company IPA and I had a deliciously frothy strawberry "milk" (made with hemp milk) shake! Yummers! 

The menu was fairly extensive, and since their portions are so huge (and we didn't necessarily want to lug around leftovers in the hot sun after lunch) we decided to order a few appetizers. We started with their Sea Cake, made with butternut squash, yam and sea vegetable croquette, pesto and sweet chili aioli. Oh my yum! This was reminiscent of a crab cake (which I loved in my pre-vegan days) and I absolutely loved the pesto and sweet chili aioli sauce the cake was dressed in.

 Real Food Daily's Sea Cake

Next were the Not-chos (haha, get it? Nachos, Not-chos?), made with tortilla chips topped high with melted cashew cheese, black beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, tofu sour cream with an add-on of taco mix. For an app, this was a very large portion and definitely satisfied both the Mister and me. We absolutely devoured these! The chips were thick and crispy and the melted cashew cheese gave it a delightfully unique bite! I loooved these and could not stop eating them even when I was stuffed!

Real Food Daily's Not-chos

We just HAD to try a dessert from RFD's bakery (they have their own vegan pastry chef...huzzah!) and with so many tempting creations (German Chocolate Cake, Banana Crunch Caramel Cake, cupcakes, cookies and so much more!!) we finally decided on the Coconut Cream Tart. This light, luscious dessert melted in my mouth and by the end I was scraping the plate trying to pick up the last pieces of toasted coconut and chocolate sauce.

 Real Food Daily's Coconut Cream Tart

Everything lived up to my expectations at Real Food Daily (and even exceeded them!). I loved the unique creations, the extensive menu choices, the friendly service and above all, the amazing dishes. I cannot wait to go back and try an actual entree next time...I just wish they would open up a location closer to me in Orange County! 

Check out my review on YELP!
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