And yes...

I did change my AIM icon again. It's now a painting by Valery Milovic, who is awesome.

When everything is hilarious

My friend has been taking pain medication all day, so she finds everything really funny...which has lead to me sending her IM's like this because I find it funny that she can't stop laughing.

T-Shirt War (Round 5)!!!

Round #1

Round #2

Round #3

Round #4

and now

Round #5 (I think I might have dropped the atomic bomb of T-shirts...dolphins, tye dye, AND it glows in the dark!!!)

A week with me

Truth...

The first cassette tape that I ever bought for myself was Michael Jackson's album Dangerous. I was 8 years old.

The first VHS tape that I ever bought for myself was Free Willy, because I loved the music on it. I was 10 years old.


Oh, and when I was 8 years old my dog had puppies and my parents let me name one of them. Guess what I named it...Michael Jackson.

It's safe to say that my love of music began with Michael. Through all the scandal, all the Michael-bashing, I always remained a fan. He was one of (if not THE) most prolific artists of our time and he will be unbelievably missed.

Maybe I'm just tired...

But I was laughing so hard at this video that it made me cry.



And tarsiers may be the most adorable animals ever

Hints at how epic Fantasy Factory Season 2 is going to be...

We're definitely raising the bar this season.

*Already took down the photo. So unless you looked at the photo earlier, then you'll just have to wait and see :)

Mwah ha ha!

T-Shirt War (Round 4!)

Round #1: Vintage Mario

Round #2: Attack Shark

Round #3: Unicorn Magic


And now...

Round #4: Mona Lisaur




Fuck a Dino-Da Vinci!?! That's pretty amazing. Kudos Shane.

Now I'm up...stay tuned!!

Alice in Wonderland is going to be AWESOME!!!

Tim Burton deserves a high five immediately! His Alice in Wonderland film is looking like it's going to be amazing! My ancestors would be proud!

Monday nights in Silver Lake

Every night out in Silver Lake seems to end in the Short Stop photobooth.

Where you should be on Thursday night if you live in LA!

This Thursday night (the 25th) Healamonster & Tarsier will be playing at Spaceland. If you live in or around LA, you should be there (I definitely will be)!!

Ships With Lights from Healamonster & Tarsier on Vimeo.

And Rona, if you're reading this...you best believe that I'm bringing the Flip Cam and plan on catching all ridiculousness that occurs (especially if it becomes like the photo below) :)

Chopra-ism

I'm thinking that I want to start talking in what I'm going to call "Chopra-isms". Meaning that I want to start throwing Deepak Chopra quotes into random conversations, not because I want to sound enlightened or intelligent, but because I think it will really confuse people.

Random Example #1:

Me: "Congratulations on your promotion at work!"
Other person: "Thanks! I'm really happy about it!"
Me: "Well, joy is a return to the deep harmony of body, mind, and spirit that was yours at birth and that can be yours again."
Other person: "......"

Random Example #2:

Waiter: "How did you like your meal?"
Me: "This is a precious moment, but it is transient. It is a little parenthesis in eternity."
Waiter: "..."


The possibilities of ridiculousness are endless.

A dose of awesomeness!!!

I'm sure that I must know someone who knows these people (since I think they're from Echo Park), so if any of you LA friends know them....tell them I think they're brilliant.

If animals could date...

Cute!!! See more HERE

No, we didn't go to a Jonas Brothers concert

This is what happens when two girls in their mid-twenties get really drunk and go to an all ages show in Hollywood.



Oh, and I can pretty much guarantee that Sara has no memory of recording this video today.

And I like to call this my "Why the fuck am I surrounded by teenagers?" glare.

Elvis!!!!!

Travis Barker posted this photo on his Twitter page recently of an Elvis painting that he owns. I feel like I need to break into his house and steal it. Anyone know who's work this is and where I can get a print? I need it in my life!!



In case you haven't noticed, I'm an Elvis fanatic.

What has work been about for the past couple weeks?

Helping Rob take the Fantasy Factory to the next level. Here's a glimpse of some of what we've added thus far.

Show Tonight...

Going to see this dude perform tonight.



Should be fun!

Zombieland Trailer is up!!!

The trailer is finally up for Ruben's Zombieland movie!!!!!! Check it!!!!



You all better go see it when it hits theaters October 9th! It's seriously fantastic!! Good job Rube!

Upgrade!

The Fantasy Factory has been given a bit of a face-lift! :)



Photo via Shane

Conflicted

Sometimes my mind is saying "Woo Hoo!! Let's go out and party!"

While my body is saying "Fuck you. I hate you. I'm going on strike."

Tonight is one of those nights.

Ugh...

Dwight!!!

I went to Swingers Diner at 1am last night and ended up sitting right next to this guy. Awesome!!!



Dwight Yoakam!!!!!

Go away DJ Fuckingloser

I get an obscene amount of friend requests from really shitty rappers on Myspace.

In fact, I'd even say that I'm a shitty rap magnet.

I wonder what it is that makes shitty rappers think that I would listen to their music.

Or that I even listen to rap for that matter.

Is it my profile playlist of all indie rock or electropop?

Is it the Elvis photo?

Maybe it's the Mark Ryden painting?

I mean sure, I keep pretty up to date with what's going on in the rap world. I check out the music blogs. I know the trends. I know what's hot right now.

But I wouldn't consider myself a "rap fan".

I just don't happen to spend as much time looking into rap as I do for other genres.

But if a track is really well done, I'll like it. Independent of genre.

If a track is done really poorly, I'll hate it. Independent of genre.

So why is it that there are constantly rappers with names like "Joey Ca$h" tracking me down and telling me that they are the "sickest rapper that anyone has ever seen".

Seriously?

All of their photos are taken posing in bathroom mirrors!

If someone was that sick, don't you think that they would have photos of themselves that weren't taken on an iPhone?

So please...if you're a shitty rapper, leave me alone.

I rarely check my Myspace anymore as it is. But for the times that I do, I'd rather not see any MC Whogivesafuck or DJ Sucksanasshole friend requests or messages waiting for me.

My best work....

Shit Shark

Is it weird that I think really bad costumes are hilarious and am always tempted to buy them? This is one that I found that is made by a woman in China. It's supposed to be a shark. I don't know what I'd need it for, but I'm still tempted to buy.

Just heard on a commercial for PCs

"I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person."

That SERIOUSLY was said on a Windows commercial that I just saw on TV.

Wow...see for yourself.



PCs are the 8-tracks of our generation.

Show I worked on hits MTV tomorrow!!!

Remember a couple months ago when I was working as an Associate Producer on a show that I said would be hitting MTV this summer? Well itttt's heeeeere!!!

Check out Is She Really Going Out With Him. I THINK (not positive though) that it will be on every day at 5:30pm...but check your local listings!

Here's the trailer for the show and the full length video of the first episode is up on MTV.com right now! I didn't produce the first episode, but it will give you an idea of what the rest of the series will be like. Check it out and let me know what you think!!

Is She Really Going Out With Him? - MTV Shows

And be sure to check out future episodes of the show...they really are hilarious!

L.A. pass revoked

I think my Los Angeles citizenship might get revoked for saying this...but I really don't give a shit about the Lakers possibly winning a title tonight.

Not even a little bit.

I see cars driving down the street with Lakers flags flapping from their roofs and it irritates me (I'm anti-flags on cars almost as much as I'm anti-Calvin peeing on things stickers).

The only real reason I think it would be cool if the Lakers do win is because I want to see how crazy people would get.

Riots?

Flipping cars?

Extreme mayhem?

One can hope!

Wild and Wonderful!

A year or two ago I heard some buzzing around the Dickhouse offices that they were making a documentary about some hillbillies. I was EXTREMELY excited to see what the result would be.

And here it is!!

jackassworld.com

Of all the Lauren Blackwell's in the world

I scored the official Facebook username!

Suck on that all you other Lauren Blackwell's out there!!!!! I WIN!!!

facebook.com/laurenblackwell

Telepathe kind of day

Telepathe is kind of really rad.

What most of my days at work end like

Street Dreams hits screens today!!

Today is opening day for Rob's movie Street Dreams. Check your local listings to see if it's playing in a theater near you!!!



Here's a little photo from the premiere a few nights ago at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Zombieland Photos!!!!!

Ruben just posted some stills from the new Zombieland film that he directed!!! I saw a first cut of the movie and it's seriously going to be EPIC!!!!

CLICK HERE to see more photos from the film! Yay Ruben!!!!

It's Friiiiiiday!!!

And today I decided to advertise the fact that I'm ready for the weekend festivities.

Oh Berra, Berra Berra...

You're busted. Hahaha



(for those of you who don't know who don't know what I'm talking about, the guy in this video is a professional skateboarder who frequently appears on Rob & Big and Fantasy Factory)

Vegetable

Shane: "This idea isn't completely dead, but it almost is."
Lauren: "So basically the idea is Terri Schiavo?"

**The Fantasy Factory office isn't the most politically correct workplace around**

Quite possibly my new favorite movie

Those of you in countries other then the U.S.

Please feel free to use my photo for anything like this (all I ask is that you send me photos of the result so I can have a good laugh).

Family Christmas photo turns up in Czech ad

We Have Band = Super Rad

Thank you Google

Sometimes I Google search random words.

Today I did one for "Accept".

These guys were the #1 result.

I've never been happier with Google.

It's a mystery...

Why is it that the people with the most annoying laughs find EVERYTHING funny?

It is swimsuit season!

Lennon

What I'm doing tonight...

I'm going to see Michael Winslow do ALL the sound effects for a silent movie.

I win for most awesome Wednesday night plans!

One-upping myself (T-shirt War)

I just bought a shirt online that will better my own unicorn t-shirt that I hit Shane with for our T-shirt war.

Seriously...it might be the most amazingly ridiculous shirt that I've ever seen in my entire life.

Shane better come up with something EPIC to beat me...my shirt arsenal is obscene.

Dear people at Fox...

Dear people at Fox or whoever currently owns the rights to "Life With Louie":

Can you please release "Life With Louie" on DVD? I really wanted to Netflix it, but sadly found out that it only exists on VHS and hasn't been sold in like a decade. I'd really like to do a "Life With Louie" marathon at some point...I know I'm probably the only person who has EVER wanted to re-watch this show, but I seriously do.

So if you happen to be someone who can make this happen, please do. Or if you happen to be able to hook me up with my own DVD of the complete "Life With Louie" collection, that would be GREATLY appreciated.

Sincerely,

Lauren

T-SHIRT WAR CONTINUES!!!!

A while back I declared T-shirt war on my friend/Executive Producer of Fantasy Factory, Shane.

Here's the progress of the battle thus far:

Round #1

Round #2

Today...I took the battle to new heights. Drum roll please.............

UNICORNS!!!!!!!!

I literally had a total stranger tell me that he would kill someone to get a shirt like mine today. THAT'S how epic this shirt is.

The ball is in Shane's court now...we'll see if he can beat unicorns!

Why I adore Obama and Colbert

The fact that we have a president who would do a skit like this is so awesome.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Obama Orders Stephen's Haircut - Ray Odierno
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

Bingo Bitch!!!

Played some Rock N Roll Bingo at Bigfoot Lodge a couple nights ago. Sara won the very first game of the night. I won zero :(

Dear Rob...

Dear Rob:

When I received an email that had the subject line of "Champion Ball Sack" I knew that I was going to see something funny. Thank you for sending me a photo of a rat with giant balls that you saw while shopping at the pet store. It came at a point in the day when I was pretty sure I was going to have a nervous breakdown and it made me laugh for like 5 minutes. It definitely brought me back to normal.

Sincerely,

Lauren

Flashback

"Barf to the MAX".

I actually used that in a serious conversation today. Without even thinking about it. It just naturally flowed from my vocal chords.

I'm starting to talk like a character in a 1993 mid-afternoon TV show for pre-teens. I don't know how this happened.

What happens when I find a weird image online?

It becomes a screen printed t-shirt. Made this yesterday while at my friend's house while we were watching Wayne's World.

Gonna make a bunch of them and give them away to friends. Yay Raccoon Man!

Downward spiral of craaaap...

Why is it that if a day starts bad, it just keeps on going down that spiral staircase of shitty.

One thing after another going wrong today.

Work issues...iPod not working right...car acting grouchy...Blackberry being an asshole.

It's like the universe is giving me the middle finger.

Ugh...

Solo artist = Stand-up comedian

A couple nights ago I was talking music with my friend Lily (who is an amazingly talented musician), and we began talking about the fact that she prefers to play in a band over performing solo.

She said that performing solo feels like being a stand-up comedian and that it is such an awkward feeling.

I thought this was such an interesting statement. One that I've never heard anyone say before.

But when you think about it...the two are really similar.

Alone on a stage...no one there to rely or lean on...screaming "Listen to me!!!" in their own method.

Interesting.


You should check out Lily's music though. She's not performing now because she's in an "over it" moment, but hopefully sometime in the near future she'll work her way back to the stage.



And Lily, if you're reading this, definitely need to go to Diamond Dogs soon...hit me up!! I need to witness this!!!

You thought I was kidding?

I bought a theremin today.

It's being shipped to me from the manufacturer in Australia.

Time to make rad music and piss off the neighbors...win, win.

The Echo Park Stripper Pole

My friend Vivian is awesome for a lot of reasons, but she had a party last night that just added to her awesomeness reserves. Viv has a house in Echo Park overlooking Echo Park Lake. She recently decided to install a stripper pole in her house, because apparently she's always wanted one and figured now was a good of time as any to get one.

Stripper pole + a ton of booze + 4am = A bunch of really drunk people attempting to dance with the pole.

Too hilarious.

Couple photos from the Friday trip to the race track

It was my friend Rose's Birthday.

These photos were taken right after betting on a horse named "Ghetto" and right before getting the Journey cover band to sing Happy Birthday to Rose.

Race tracks are fun.

Amsterdam Afternoon

Love The New Amsterdams. Always have. Always will.



Side note...the piano player in this video isn't the usual band member...it's their manager, Alex, who's a friend of mine. The piano player got sick right before they went on Letterman, so Alex had to step in. Imagine not being a professional musician and then having the first time you ever play with a band be nationally televised. Still give you major kudos for that one Alex.

Loving my city today...

I could never imagine living anywhere else.

LA In A Minute (TIMELAPSE) from Avi Cohen on Vimeo.

Traffic School part Deux

Another Saturday morning of online traffic school.

It's kind of amazing the types of things that they have to post in these chapters...mainly it amazes me that there are people out there that require being told not to do certain things.

Here's an actual line from a chapter that I just read:

* Don’t honk at a blind person, as this is rude and may startle or confuse them.

Really? There are people out there that need to be told not to honk at blind people?

Fuck we are a dumb species.

Last Night...

Went to the race track and bet on horses with stupid names. Then a Journey cover band played. Pretty fantastic night.

Yup, talking about Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros again

Just in case you needed any more convincing about just how amazingly epic Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros are...check out their brand new music video. It was released just this morning!

Truth...

Some of the best/most hilarious parts of my day, I'm not allowed to tell you or show you anything about. It's kind of a bummer.

Welcome to the entertainment industry.

Early morning at the Fantasy Factory

This is how I feel right now too.

Theremin Time!

I have wanted to learn to play the theremin for a while now and while watching random videos about the instrument today, I stumbled upon this (which makes me REALLY want to learn ASAP). This guy is awesome!!!

Tomorrow could be painful...

Just counted...and at most I will be getting 4 hours of sleep tonight.

Gold Room with some of my favorite people + having to get to work early tomorrow morning = probably a bad idea.

But it's so much fun!!!!

Hey...you gotta do what you gotta do!

UPDATE: Gold Room got cancelled tonight. Probably for the best. I'm very excited to sleep now!

Nitro Circus Office

They tend to do some crazy stuff in the upstairs office. Today they found a bungee cord and this was the result. We tend to stay more low key in the Fantasy Factory offices...we stick to gambling and periodically throwing dangerous objects at each other.

Of all the movies I've ever seen...

This scene still traumatizes me the most. I first saw it as a child and have been scarred ever since.

Nooooo!!! Bill's Killed!

What?....Too soon? My bad.

Missed the show last night

Wasn't able to make it to the Tanner Horn and the Sextronauts show last night, but I was there in spirit! So I thought I'd post their music video (and they're filming another video soon, so keep a look out for that). And Tanner, I promise I'll definitely be at the next one!!

Also, if you're in LA, they're going to be opening for Steel Panther at Key Club in September. Be there!!!!

Hmmmmm...

My days at work are getting sketchier and sketchier every week...which is exactly why I love my job. You'll see...wait a few months, then you'll see.

Shane with the sketchy box.

Dark Cabaret kind of day

Drinking tea.

Listening to Mr. Lewis & The Funeral 5



I wish it was raining. Then the day would be perfect.

Proof my friends know me really well...

Retarded Birthday cards (courtesy of Barry & Jen):



And wind twirly things (courtesy of Sergio):



There's also lots of other not pictured goodies and treats as well. About to hit the sushi bar for PBR that comes in a paper bag. My friends seriously are amazing.

And then there was Lauren

26 years ago today I decided to grace you all with my presence. You're welcome! :)

Just added to the Netflix queue

Can't wait to see this! It's being shipped to me now!