iPhone Follies: Gotta Love A Good, Old-Fashioned Detour

God, Macy's is my kryptonite.



So my plan today was to go see X-Men: First Class today at the Loews Theater on 34th Street with my best friend Ryan Mason, and then enjoy a Cinnabon at Penn Station before heading home.

Of course, plans don't always work out the way you hope or think they should. Especially when your best friend is Ryan Mason.

Instead, I had to choose a change of destination, because I refused to spend my last weekday of freedom in my stuffy apartment, waiting for my mom to get home from work.

I had three options, really: go into Manhattan, go to the Queens Center Mall, or take a return trip to Green Acres Mall.

I chose the latter. The trip would be shorter and I would still be able to get my Cinnabon in the end. Isn't that all that really matters anyway?

Anyway I'm on the bus there now, just for a quick little trip. Earlier in the ride, when I was talking to Ryan, he told me he was available if I needed someone to stop me from buying something while I'm there.

Please. If anything, I would call Candace (one of my best friends who I consider my sibling) and have her help me buy something.

And the perfect songs to aid me in my detour to shop? Gaga's "Fashion of His Love" and "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion". Both have fashion in the title, both are bonus tracks off of Born This Way, and both are considerably awesome.

Now excuse me while I try not to max out my Citi Forward card.

By the way, Ryan and I will be going to see X-Men: First Class tomorrow. The review will be over at our new joint blog, pop.pol.tech. Check it out now at poppoltech.blogspot.com.

Songs listened to while writing this post:
Beat of My Drum - Nicola Roberts
Fashion of His Love - Lady Gaga
Black Jesus + Amen Fashion -Lady Gaga


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPhone Follies: Discovering "Change" with the Sugababes (and some help from Subway and Twitter)

If there's one negative word that I can freely admit describes me to the letter. it's "sap".

I prefer words like "sentimental" or "emotional" or "reflective", but I can understand the intent behind it and how it applies to me.

I'm someone who relishes in two things: overanalyzing my life, and a really good ballad. When the two converge into one another, it creates one of those moments of absolute clarity, erasing whatever indecision or doubt I had about the choices in my life.

I just had one of those moments, in the Subway restaurant by my apartment, while I was listening to my Top 200 playlist. I was flipping through my Twitter timeline when I saw multiple mentions of the Sugababes. I was compelled to go to my playlist and pick the highest track of theirs on the list.

That song was "Change".

Released in 2007 from the album of the same name, I regard as one of their best singles. Not just because they sound amazing together, but because the chorus may be one of the best of any girl group ever. It all lies with that killer last line: "Ain't it crazy how you think you got your whole life planned, just to find out it was never ever in your hands...change..."

Hearing that really made me think a lot about the changes in my life, past and future. It's kind of crazy to think about how different my year would've been without the changes I made to my life, like getting involved in SGA, the dynamics of some of my friendships, and getting my first credit card. Lord knows the latter decision ended up being a doozy.

There have been a lot of changes in my life this past year, with both good and bad results. However, I know that all of them have contributed to the person typing on this iPhone at the moment. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but that person isn't too shabby considering everything.

So when I hear that last line, I think about how those changes were meant to happen. How, even if the immediate consequences were good and bad, it all worked out in the long run for me, and it will continue to do so.

I guess you can interpret that whole thing, and the Sugababes song for that matter, as a commentary on fate. Ironically, I believe in fate, but it took Subway, Twitter, and one of the best songs from a hot mess of a British girl group go help me truly understand it.

Told you I was a sap, huh?

Songs listened to while writing this post:
Change - Sugababes
Untouchable - Girls Aloud


Listen to "Change" by the Sugababes below:


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPhone Follies: Macy's Sale + A Celine Dion-Assisted Ride Home = Happy Brandon!

There's nothing more satisfying than a good bargain, especially when it's at your favorite store.

I traversed through the Macy's Men Store twice, thinking I would find nothing, until I came upon Sean John. What caught my eye? Only a 75% off sign, sticking out of a racks of suits. With my internship at TV Land starting in a week and a half, it was like kismet. More proof of the clandestine meeting was the suit themselves, in dark blue and light grey, with blue lining, and they were 75% off!

It didn't take long before I was swiping the good ole' Citi Forward credit card, for a cool $150 (I saved $267.50!).

And to think, I was about to drop some serious cash over at the Perry Ellis and Marc Ecko Cut & Sew sections (there my go to brands).

Now I'm on the way home, listening to the oh-so-fitting "That's The Way It Is", feeling incredibly satisfied with my day. A shopping spree and a Cinnabon will do that to you. What I love about this song is it's power to just make you either feel good when you're sad, or better if you're already happy. Plus, Celine has that voice where you adapt whatever emotion she's singing, regardless of your mood. And on top of that, she is one of three best singers of all time (we'll save that for another post).

Songs played while writing this post:
That's The Way It Is - Celine Dion
All For You - Janet Jackson


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPhone Follies: Ellie Goulding Lights Up A Bus Ride

I hate traveling.

I love the places that I go to, whether its college, home, or the mall, where I'm heading now (Green Acres Mall, in Valley Stream, which basically the slightly awkward border of Queens and Long Island). But the actual task of getting there is so irksome to me. Sometimes I just wish I had the ability to teleport, although with my luck I would probably send myself to Timbuktu instead of the mall.



The annoyance of traveling is one of the reasons why my iPhone is a crucial part of what makes the insanity that is me. When my headphones are plugged on, I can zone out the endless chatter on an already irritatingly long (to me anyway) trip to the mall. Just now, a bunch of really loud obnoxious high school student just got on the bus, but did I hear it? Nope, not really, because I had my iPhone on semi-full blast. No need to reciprocate the annoyance, right?

So what song is currently doing it for me at the moment? Ellie Goulding's "Lights". Anyone who knows me knows that I have an affection for electropop ballads, like Girls Aloud's genius "Call The Shots". "Lights" is right up that alley, except a lot more wistful and mystical. Goulding has a very soothing effect to her voice, which is pretty magical when paired with the disco-lite production. This sounds corny, even to me, but it's a song that begs for dancing and dreaming simultaneously.

Since I can't very well dance on the Q85 (yet these high school girls in the back of the bus can scream at each other, go figure), I just allow myself to go the journey in my mind the song takes me.

Side note: these girls screaming in the back are certified hot messes.

Even though these kids, and this ride, should make me want to strangle someone, I'm not the least bit bothered. When you have Ellie Goulding "lighting" things up for you, there's no need to be.

And then there's those times when the music stops and the screaming and cursing slips through the white earbuds.

Songs played during this post;
Lights - Ellie Goulding

Location:Guy R Brewer Blvd,,United States

iPhone Follies: On The Road with Gaga's Born This Way (Country Version)

Welcome to my first iPhone Follies post series, where I share some silly musings about my life and how the music I'm playing on my iPhone at that moment is thrown in the mix. Hope you guys enjoy the read



I'm not going to lie: I hated the Country Road Version of Lady Gaga's #1 hit "Born This Way". It just seemed really cheesy to me, and wholly unnecessary.

But I never listened to the song while driving down North Conduit Blvd, which my purchase of the deluxe edition of Born This Way from iTunes allowed.

Call me crazy but I felt like I was driving in a truck down a dirt road in Texas. Granted, I was in a Hyundai by the Belt Parkway, but humor me. It was a pretty awesome feeling to have, more awesome that it came from Gaga. The pop star has made me feel many things in her three years of pop dominance, but I could've never guessed one of them would be feeling like a card-carrying member of the Lone Star State (Texas readers, ain't that a kick in the head?). One other use for the southern-styled version of the song? A wonderful buffer between me and my mother while shopping at BJ's out in Valley Stream. My summer breaks at home can drive me crazy, especially when I'm stuck in a car with my mom for what seems like an eternity (it's only 15 minutes). I usually sleep, so letting my imagination run wild via Gaga was a nice change of pace.

Songs played while writing:
Government Hooker - Lady Gaga
Born This Way (Country Road Version) - Lady Gaga
You and I - Lady Gaga
Notorious - The Saturdays

Are there any songs that take you to another place? Leave a comment and let me know!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Brookville Blvd,,United States