My Evil Cult Avatar

Posted by Nicole Bullock on January 28, 2011 3 Comments

cuteCULTurechic by @joshspeters

Thanks to Josh Peters, I have an evil avatar to emphasize the CULT in cuteCULTurechick.***

Yesterday on Twitter, Stephanie, aka @sahans, was going through a tweet-life crisis. She was brainstorming ideas for a new Twitter handle. I suggested a few…specifically ones that had to do with her obsessions of Snuggies, BumpIts, unicorns and sparkly things. I still think @Stephicorny was the best, but she decided to stick with @sahans. In this discussion, Josh joked about the evil pronunciation of Sahans = sawhands. One thing led to another, and Stephanie became “Sawhands McSnuggie.”

Changing your online persona can be a pretty traumatic experience. Your name becomes your “personal brand.” Once you change your username, especially on Twitter…you can lose a bit of your identity. Do I love my name “cuteculturechick?” Well, it worked for my online dating profile in 2003, and it’s just stuck with me. If I’d been thinking clearly when I grabbed a Twitter account in 2008, I would have picked @nicolebullock. I have @_nicolebullock that I use occasionally (typically for LDS General Conference). But once you’ve established yourself online, and branded yourself…it’s just impossible to give up who you are.

But in the meantime, Steph and I have AWESOME evil avatars. Thanks, Josh!

***I’m not really in a cult, despite what many say about my faith

Filed Under: Fun | Tagged: Tagged With: Culture, Fun, twitter

Octobre

Posted by Nicole Bullock on October 26, 2010 10 Comments

October is my favorite month of the year. Not only does the shift in weather punctuate, the end of the hot, oppressive summer; October is the month that I celebrate my wedding anniversary with my Tayviator. The days and nights are a bipolar mix between needing the heat and air-conditioning on. The leaves on the trees change color, shed their verdant rainment, and bear their naked skeleton for a season. The world becomes more monochromatic, making Spring colors even more delightful.

I love breathing in October, especially in Utah. The air is not too dry, not to cold. It’s crisp. It’s invigorating. It’s great for a few weeks before Jack Frost makes a daily residence, thereby torturing my asthmatic lungs. The precipitation tends to be rainy, which I love. Occasionally a few days of Indian Summer will pop up, but I rarely have to deal with temperatures over 80 degrees. The first dusting of snow happens, as it did yesterday, and the “3 month holiday season” begins. October is my happy place.

In high school French class, I listened to “Octobre” by Francis Cabrel. Every October since, I’ve listened to this song to get in the mood. Click on the video below, and enjoy the soothing music and voice of “France’s James Taylor.”

Octobre de Francis Cabrel

Le vent fera craquer les branches / The wind will rustle in the branches
La brume viendra dans sa robe blanche / The mist will come in its white dress
Y’aura des feuilles partout / There will be leaves everywhere
Couchées sur les cailloux /Lying on the pebbles
Octobre tiendra sa revanche / October will have its revenge
Le soleil sortira à peine / The sun will be just gone
Nos corps se cacheront / Our bodies will hide themselves
Sous des bouts de laine / Beneath bits of wool
Perdue dans tes foulards / Lost in your scarves
Tu croiseras le soir / You will pass October
Octobre endormi aux fontaines /October asleep at the fontains
Il y aura certainement, / There will be certainly
Sur les tables en fer blanc /On the tables of tin
Quelques vases vides qui traînent / Some empty vases lying around
Et des nuages pris aux antennes / And some clouds hanging onto antennas
Je t’offrirai des fleurs / I will offer you flowers
Et des nappes en couleurs / And colored tablecloths
Pour ne pas qu’Octobre nous prenne / So October won’t capture us
On ira tout en haut des collines / We will run to the top of the hills
Regarder tout ce qu’Octobre illumine / And see everything that October is illuminating
Mes mains sur tes cheveux / My hand on your hair
Des écharpes pour deux / Scarves for the both of us
Devant le monde qui s’incline /The world will give into us
Certainement appuyés sur des bancs / Certainly resting on a bench
Il y aura quelques hommes qui se souviennent / There will be some men who remember
Et des nuages pris sur les antennes / And some clouds hanging on antennas
Je t’offrirai des fleurs / I will offer you flowers
Et des nappes en couleurs / And colorful tablecloths
Pour ne pas qu’Octobre nous prenne / So October won’t capture us
Et sans doute on verra apparaître / And without a doubt, we will
Quelques dessins sur la buée des fenêtres / See some paintings of condensation on the windows
Vous, vous jouerez dehors / You, you will be playing outside
Comme les enfants du nord / Like the children from the north
Octobre restera peut-être. / October will stay, maybe

Filed Under: Culture, Life | Tagged: Tagged With: Culture, Francis Cabrel, music, October, Rain

The End of The End

Posted by Nicole Bullock on April 30, 2010 7 Comments

Forgive me for my recent lack of posting…I’ve been in mourning.

My absolute favorite radio station of all time, 101.9 The End, disappeared off the Salt Lake area airwaves last Wednesday. I had less than an hour of notice before the last songs of Utah’s Rock Alternative played.

I’m a music junkie. I’m a fan of terrestrial radio. I spend ridiculous amounts of time in my car. Good music is a MUST when I drive. Despite my loaded 120 GB iPod, I like me a little sassy bit of radio personality peppered in. I’ve found stations in other states and cities that I’m loyal to (particularly 93.9 The River in Detroit), and thankfully most of them broadcast online. But it was like the air was stolen out of my lungs to have MY STATION lose its DJs and go jockless. And does America need another crappy Gen X radio station? I think not.

O dear Grant Ruby, Cort and Chunga, and all the others at The End who made the world a happier musical place, please accept my devoted love to you. I wish you much success to you in the future. You’ve got a fan for life.

Now excuse me while I begrudgingly reset the preset stations on my car stereo.

UPDATE JANUARY 2011: They’re back on the air!!!

Filed Under: Culture, Me | Tagged: Tagged With: Culture, music, radio

Meeting Keane, and other brushes with stardom in 2009

Posted by Nicole Bullock on January 13, 2010 3 Comments

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I love going to concerts, symphonies, operas, plays, and musicals.

My favorite concert of 2009 was Keane at the Hollywood Palladium (with Mat Kearney as the opener). My “bosom friend” Esther treated me to my ticket for my birthday, and we met up with my friends Kathryn and Elizabeth in Hollywood for a night we’ll never forget last May. I was recently going through my pictures of 2009, and realized that I never blogged about my experience meeting Keane after the concert, nor had I mentioned other “celebrities” I met in the past year.
The Palladium is a fantastic venue, and I was excited to actually be there for a performance (after being a lifetime closet fan of The Lawrence Welk Show.) It underwent a very extensive renovation that was completed 6 months earlier in 2008, but it still had the retro charm. Mat Kearney, who has become one of my other recent music obsessions, performed a stellar opening set (and Esther and I saw Mat again in SLC in October). Keane’s set was phenomenal…the best performance I’d seen of their three concerts I’ve attended (Coincidentally, all in LA). After the show, us girls were DETERMINED to meet our favorite band. We waited out on the street by the door, shivering in the cold next to the tour bus, for over an hour until the boys from Battle came out to greet their adoring fans.

Esther with Tim

Kat with Tim

An awkward shot of me with Tim (there wasn’t any time for retaking pics)

Tom greeting his adoring fans

Esther fondling Richard’s ear (I mean, caressing his cheek)

Another embarassingly bad shot of me by Tom post-autograph (I was the dedicated photographer of the post-concert experience, so there aren’t any decent pics of me)

I was lucky to go to more concerts in 2009 than any other prior year. Despite my anorexic bank account, family and friends with connections hooked me up with great tickets throughout the year (They no longer think it odd when I tell them which concert tickets I want for my birthday and Christmas) I also got some insanely cheap concert tickets off Twitter and fan sites. Here’s my 2009 list:

January: Missy Higgins, Justin Nozuka, and Lenka at Atlanta Center Stage

February: Flight of the Conchords at Atlanta Fox Theater

2 Fox Elipsus Shows (Austell and Snellville, GA)

March: New Kids on the Block at The Bi-Lo Center, Greenville, SC

April: Jersey Boys in Chicago (technically a Broadway musical, but it FELT like a concert)

May: Keane and Mat Kearney at the Hollywood Palladium

June: No Doubt at Atlanta’s Lakewood Amphitheater

August: Greg Laswell and Elizabeth and the Catapult at the Murray Theater

Iron and Wine at Gallivan Center, SLC (sort of…long story)

October: Mat Kearney and Vedera at In the Venue, SLC

November: Imogen Heap at In The Venue, SLC

Justin Nozuka and Elizabeth and the Catapult, Glass House, Pomona, CA

December: Natalie Cole with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Salt Lake City

Peter Breinholt (et al.) at Rose Wagner Theater, Salt Lake City

Throughout the year, I did meet a handful of celebs. Here are the pictures I was able to snag…

Me with Elizabeth (of Elizabeth and the Catapult)

Missy Higgins (I was 5 feet away from her at the merch table, but Taylor didn’t want to wait in line to meet her) I DID have a wonderful 5 minute conversation with her in 2005 in SLC.

Rosie with Peter Breinholt (I could write a whole blog post about these two…)

Rosie and I with Ryan Shupe (of Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band)

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir – obviously, I didn’t meet the whole choir, but I have several friends and relatives who are in MoTab, or the Orchestra on Temple Square

Waiting in line to meet David Archuleta at his Christmas CD signing in November

This goofy Archie kid went to Murray High, where I graduated, and used to hang out with my sister Mary. When she came with us to the CD signing, he said “Hey Mary, I like your hoodie!”