Asians Love Karaoke

My coworker who is white made an observation, "Asians love karaoke."  Yes... yes we do.  What is it about being trapped in a room for a couple of hours singing poorly, at some points screaming to pop songs that's so addicting?  I guess it's an opportunity to perform and act silly and not have to worry about neighbors complaining.

And these two were the stars of the evening.  Kevyn doing a near perfect Nikki Minaj rap and Charles doing an enthusiastic Japanese pop song with choreo.   It was obvious - these two practiced.  But I guess that's what you do when you're stuck in LA traffic for hours.  If I can't be a good singer, I can work on my performance - need to work on connecting with the audience when I sing Enrique Iglesias.

Our karaoke place of choice:  Max Studio in Little Tokyo.  Sneak in alcohol and they will charge you a dollar a head and look away.  Just don't destroy their equipment.  Remember to put in all-sing songs and follow this rule:  you are only allowed one "nobody knows this song" song.  Don't waste precious karaoke time with obscurities!!  And make sure those shy ones sing too - they are paying for the room too after all.

We are all stars.

Afterwards we celebrate musical success with shared McDonald's fish mcbites on the trunk of someone's car.  Mmmmmmmmm/

Empty road realness.


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A couple of shots from March's Karaoke event.

I detest Wicked songs, but Sean killed it.  He surprised me with his love for musicals.

I've realized that the same Road Trip Songs also make good Karaoke Songs:



Our group manages to sing the following every time:

- Seasons of Love - Rent
- Back Here - BB Mak
- More than Words
- Defying Gravity - Wicked
- A Whole New World - Aladin
- Summer Nights - Grease
- Don't Stop Believing - Journey
- Neyo - Because of You

Artists to remember
- Bon Jovi
- Nsync
- Aaliyah
- KC and JoJo
- John Legend

And if your neighbors don't mind.  Youtube Karaoke is always fun too!
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheKARAOKEChannel/videos?view=1&flow=grid
http://www.youtube.com/user/SunflyKaraoke

July Recap

We went wine tasting at Barnsdall Park.  Check out these cut complementary glasses.  I got a nice buzz and so did Rosario Dawson.  We waited around for a picture with her, but she aggressively declined because she was too drunk.  We politely let her be and walked away.  "The worst that could happen is they they no."  Well, it's a sad feeling when celebrities decline.

But here's a sneaky picture of her grooving to the afternoon.  What a star.

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Ern's birthday at Ernie's Tacos.  I take full credit for the bomb group photo.  No awkward shuffling here.  Every year, the group grows and Ern does a really nice appreciation speech.  Look at all this love in the room.

We discovered a cute gay dive bar in Pasadena called The Boulevard.  We had a boyfriend serenade-off and guess what's happening in the bottom picture.  You got it a rendition of Proud Mary.    ROLLING DOWN THE RIVER.

Had a tiny pool party and made use of the BBQ pit: bulgogi lettuce wraps!

I connected with Irene who I haven't seen in YEARS!  She looks the same!  She claims that I do too, but lol.

Went on a pirate themed cruise ship around Marina del Rey.  YEAH, I dressed up.  What about it?!?!?!  Yeah those hats were like $6 each... and I'll never wear it again... whatever!  I got a bomb ass photo out of it.

I'm falling in love with Silverlake Reservoir.  Fly my kite, have a picnic, devour these amazing chinese fried chicken wings.

We went to San Diego for Fourth of July where Charles took advantage of OTHER people's room service.

Having more fun on these new modern playground toys than the kids around.

That's all of July!  Dear heavens, I'm almost caught up!

Elements of a Successful Karaoke Nights

There's always something about karaoke that some people hate.  The songs were boring, they are self conscious, people are mic hogs, but we managed to overcome all of that during our Diva Karaoke night by making sure that we achieved the essential elements.

1. Alcohol
Can't do karaoke without being loosened up?  Max Studios in Little Tokyo was so lenient.  We "snuck" 6 bottles of soju and a 12 pack of beer in reusable bags.  We made sure we cleaned up and weren't too rowdy so that we weren't blacklisted.

2. Current Songs - Max Studios also prides itself in keeping up to date.  They had Rebecca Black's Friday.   Our group was really diverse.  Folks put in rock, dance, musicals, 90's R&B, pop all good energy.

3. Performing Divas - Dab won the diva award that night with his reenactment of the Little Mermaid while singing "Part of Your World."  Situated on a rock in the ocean, see Dab lift his tail yearning to have legs.

Tommy got runner up feeling the music.  First call out.

Andrew and Jlo's rendition of "Marry You" by Bruno Mars was pretty epic as well.  Channeling Glee. Really committed to this song! Awwww worthy.

4. All Sing - You have to pass the mic and put in songs that everyone will sing to.  We even got some shy ones to shine.  If you're gonna chip in for the room, you best sing a song!   Journey, Seasons of Love, Disney songs are all winners.  And because we went with a big group - 1.5 hours = $12 a person.

5. Share the Mic - If everyone looks bored while you're singing - cut it short!  We managed to be considerate of everyone's time.

At one point, there was a spill and I brought in a mop and danced with it while people sung songs from Wicked.

After party

Happy Birthday Roomie!

We finally put the forth face on our wall.  Underneath Ern's face is Jimmy's Sausage Fest, Sam's Green Party and my Hot Pot Night. Ern turned 27 and we celebrated with an intimate Filipino dinner.  It was amazing because it was wholesome, positive and focused on a purpose - to celebrate a birthday.  Ern transformed our party house to a dinner celebration.

Highlights:

• A ton of home cooked Filipino food
• Karaoke in the hallway where Ern's dad connected with our generation
• Three elaborate cakes!
• Folks from different parts of Ern's life under one roof including his Nanay and Tatay!!
• And so much cheap wine
  
  
  
  

My two favorite photos above:  One of Ern's friends getting fresh with his dad during her rendition of "Natural Women" and this candid laughter.  Happy Birthday Roomie!  Everyone in our home that night loves you.

Work Karaoke and Web Junk

June 24 - Work event. Networking, alcohol, networking... karaoke.


I think we sang Bon Jovi's entire greatest hits album...Until 2AM.





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Some WebJunk

Spent an 20 minutes watching Old Spice commercials. I actually use Old Spice. lol.



Future of Mobile Advertising


Skip to 2:25 - Cutest Thing Ever. Seriously. They're just friends.