Cassie The Venomous' Blog

So, in Journalism 101 we learn that the world is going digital, mobile, wicked-crazy, and fast-paced. Videos are what's in, and we want LOTS OF PICTURES, oh yes. Make those sites fancy, too, would ya? Well, that's all fine when you are a student and connected to the University's hi-speed, wireless internet, but not so great when you return to your dial-up at home. I was spellbound somehow while sitting in Journalism class and hearing about the scary advances in media, and how sales in newspapers are declining and many simply turn to the internet for their news, and it can't be news unless you know it the second it happens. Not only do those things serve as perfect ingredients for hasty, rotten reporting, but they're also not true for me in the least when I return home and wait 20 minutes to check one lousy e-mail. I'll get my news when I can, thank you-- and you can FORGET about my watching even a one minute video. Just to give you an idea of how slow my interne...

In my previous post , I discussed excitement for the start of the second series of my favorite comic The Umbrella Academy . Today, I made the usual thirty mile drive (yes, thirty) to my favorite comic shop to pick up the first issue of the Dallas series, titled The Jungle , and let me tell you that I can already see my future's being filled with month-to-month obsessing over the next issue's release. In interviews prior to this release, Umbrella Academy writer Gerard Way foretold that the series would reveal more about the mysterious, time-traveling, and long-missing "boy" of the 'Academy: Number Five. The character, who showed up in the first series, Apocalypse Suite , after decades of being trapped in the future, is: stuck in a child's form but is living with knowledge of a grown man, has a love for coffee, shot his adopted sister, has some sort of knowledge in regards to the Kennedy assassination, and he mysteriously destroyed a gang of strange robotic cr...

For those of you who are unfamiliar with "The Umbrella Academy" comic series, I suggest you do a wee bit of research- perhaps starting with the Eisner award it won- and get back to me, but for those of you who are familiar with Dark Horse's new comic force and those lovable Umbrella Academy brats, the day has nearly come for our second round of adventures. Tomorrow- Wednesday, November 26th, 2008- "Dallas" the second series of "The Umbrella Academy" begins, and we will have many months of Wednesdays to anticipate the new story lines writer Gerard Way will bring us as illustrated through the quirky drawings of Gabriel Bá. In the final chapter of the first series, "The Apocalypse Suite," the reader is left with many questions and ruined heroes. What will be revealed about the Umbrella Academy orphans in this series? Who will die? What type of coffee will be served? Only reading will tell, friends. XoXo c.

I'm just going to throw this out there: Twitter is kinda creepy: Advanced internet stalkery that can be automatically updated via cell phone from anywhere to tell your "followers" exactly what you are doing at that very second. Yea, it's creepy. I just received a text message letting me know that the drummer of my favorite band's dog was hungry and from the singer telling the band members to update via this creepy Twitter. Earlier, I watched -- through my text messages -- their conversation as the drummer drove to the singer's house and asked him if he wanted anything from Coffee Bean (he did- an iced white chocolate mocha). I feel like a creeper. But I'm not alone. Through My Chemical Romance's new website format , we fans can feel more intimate with that band than we ever have. Even moreso than in those moments when we smelled their post-show stank as we posed for pictures with them, or when we were in the front row of a crowded small venue for one...

Four years have passed since "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" My Chemical Romance's first major label CD was released on Warner-Reprise records. It is noted for being the album that really brought My Chem to the forefront of music with their first major-label-released single, "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" followed by the widely popular "Helena" and "The Ghost of You". To celebrate the album's great success, the band is re-releasing it on special-edition red vinyl and adding a handwritten lyric sheet, artwork that did not make it to the CD, and even a fancy-pants gun stencil! I, for one, am majorly stoked on this release, because this is the CD that I grew up with, in a way. 2004 and 2005 were really huge years in my musical life, and this CD was there for me during those years, introducing me to a new kind of culture and music, and the band that ultimately changed my life. "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" has been there for me...

Here it is, folks-- the end of my first quarter ever as a college student. My exams are done, bags finally packed, and I will be heading home later this morning (I'm writing this at 2:30 AM) for six, long weeks to think about what I have done. Actually, I say that as if I have been corrupted, but -alas- I have not; try again next quarter, you fiends. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to sum up my quarter in a few pictures I have taken whilst here in Athens, so for your enjoyment here's: Cassie's Fall Quarter Photo Round-Up! The upperclassmen made fun of us freshmen for walking in packs. I don't understand what they mean, to be honest... I like to "introduce a little anarchy..." to chalkboards. Best Friends for LIFE!!! "Kill the Batman," but spare the squirrel, please? Someone proposed marriage to me on the graffiti wall. I love you, too. ACRN grilled-cheese sales on Court Street owned a lot of my weekend nights. Snat, our Rock Lobster, likes to sing...

The Epiphany Welcome to my fifth and final installment in my Bill and Trav blog series. In several of my blogs, I have expressed what drives me to want to work within the music industry, and this show helped me discover even more reasons why. If home is where the heart is, this feels a whole hell of a lot like home. Being able to see the crowd from where I stood was one of the best parts of the show. All the people in that audience were there for the same reason-- in the moments of their favorite songs, they were one. We were all united through music. I. love. fans, and I want us all to be united as we are during those moments at the shows, or when we've been standing in line outside in the snow together for 12 hours, or when we turn to complete strangers in the audience while singing along to our favorite lyrics and feel as if that person is our best friend of several years. We, as fans of music, are part of something much bigger than ourselves. We are in this together, and we n...

They're Watching ; Always Watching. (The Picture and Video Blog) Welcome to Part IV of my Bill and Trav blogs. To begin, I have a guilty confession to make... I lied in my previous post . You see that part at the bottom there, where it says this episode would elaborate on an epiphany? Yea, that's a blatant lie. Wait, wait! Don't leave yet, I can explain! Okay, so next week I will be returning home, and at this lovely home, I have something not so lovely: dial-up internet. So, I wanted to get the meat (soy, of course) of these postings to you before that evil came upon me. I would have a pretty rough time uploading my EXCLUSIVE, AWESOME VIDEO for you on dial-up, after all. Oh, I'm forgiven, then? Gee, thanks. How many of you have shown up to a show with a camera and been told something along the lines of "By request of the [artist, venue, management, etc], no cameras will be allowed into this event"? Probably quite a few of you who probably took one of the fol...

A Word on Band-Crowd Interaction Welcome to Bill and Trav's Bogus Journey Tourblog part the third. In this episode, I will discuss something I find very, VERY essential to a good band's performance and something which I witnessed at the show I attended on "Bill and Trav's Bogus Journey Tour" featuring The Academy Is... and We the Kings. If you are in an aspiring band or even a prominent band, listen the hell up, because I -as a fan- have some advice for you. In my experience in the front rows of multitudes of crowds, nothing quite sends a jolt of excitement through me as when a band member points out the fans who are singing along ferociously-- when a band shows an active appreciation for its supporters. Now, it doesn't have to be me, but any fan. We all feel exstatic for that person, you can feel the surge in the crowd move in his or her direction, and feel our collective excitement grow when you acknowledge us. For example, some of my fondest memories from ...

The Show Review Welcome to Part II of my "Bill and Trav's Bogus Journey Tour" blogs. Here, I shall review the show in full for you guys, and more blogs will be coming your way soon where I will examine various other topics aroused in my mind from the show. So, the morning of November 2nd, I woke at my friend's house without grogginess, for; my excitement had grown in the few hours I slept and replaced any sleepiness that would have normally been there. The plan was for our friend to meet us at my place of slumber for the the night between 11:30 and 12:00, and so it happened. For me, arriving at a show later than 11:30 AM is generally something completely insane (I'm a 4 AM girl, myself), but we were just going to chill and hang back for this one. We headed to Columbus, ate at Mongolian BBQ, then walked around Easton for a bit. The tour's headliner, The Academy Is... was doing a signing at the Hot Topic there at 3:00, and we got to the store in time to shop be...

Last night, I went to the first big show I've attended since August, the Columbus stop on "Bill and Trav's Bogus Journey" tour featuring Hey Monday, Carolina Liar, We the Kings, and The Academy Is... After much trial and error in securing my ride to the show and back to OU, I finally got it all together and had a wonderful weekend that concluded in a wonderful show. Since this is my journalism blog, I figured I'd turn this show into a series of blogs, each of which will contain a different story I saw that was write-worthy during the show. This, my readers, is your classic introductory blog, and I have much to tell you from this single show within my next -at the very least- four blogs. Expect a review, pictures, a video that nearly wasn't, a heartfelt epiphany on my part, and a few words on crowd-interaction. Part II will be the review, so keep your eyes open for the second installment in Cassie's take on "Bill and Trav's Bogus Journey." Xo...

I am not going to pretend that I am a political person, but the up-coming election was the focus of our J101 class on Thursday, and we spoke of social media and how the candidates have utilized it on their own, but I have something to show you guys that is also bringing politics into the social media spotlight. I present to you some of my "top friends" on myspace: Note that I have circled one of my particular friends. Now, can any of you guys tell me what you would imagine I am and what you would imagine "Heavens" is from this picture? "No:" that's my answer to your thoughts. I'm not an obsessive Obama-supporter who feels the need to tell the world this, and no, "HEAVENS" is not a political group. Heavens is a two-piece band, and those two guys are brilliant Obama promoters. Boom! Suddenly, every person's myspace page with this band on their "top friends" became an ad for Barack Obama. Think about that, oh you strategists. ...