Dunk 'em or Dump 'em

Happy Birthday Oreo!!!! 

The Oreo cookie had it's 100th birthday this year. So, in honor of the Oreo, and my burning  passion of a thousand suns for them...I share with you my taste critique. =) I would consider myself an Oreo expert, so you should take this critique seriously. I can successfully taste test Oreos blindfolded and tell you what kind it is. Woah. Get ready. 

We must start with The Original Oreo. This was my favorite for many years. I liked to keep it Original. Unfortunately, The Original Oreo has become much smaller. There is much less icing than a few years ago. In result, I must buy the Double Stuf Oreo to get a sufficient amount of icing. 


Sorry, Oreo. It's on the borderline. I say Dump 'em, but it's always nice to have a dunk for old times sake. 


3.5 out of 5

Double Stuf time! This is definitely many people's go to Oreo of choice. I'm not as obsessed with the icing as others. Sometimes I feel like I'm eating pure icing. These make me full quickly, especially when dunked with milk. I only eat about 5 and I'm done. They have been packaging them with less and less cookies over time. =( Nevertheless, Double Stuf is a solid Oreo cookie of choice. 


Dunk 'em!

4 out of 5

Mini Oreos! These little bitty Oreo's are delicious morsels of goodness. They are great for On-The-Go Oreo cravings. They aren't the prettiest oreos of the bunch, but they get the job done. These little Oreos are good for people who aren't huge fans of the icing, but love the cookie. 

Warning: You will eat about 58 of them before realizing you've almost the entire bag. 

Dunk 'em! 
(This may be difficult, but hey...Oreo cereal anyone)?


4.5 out of 5

The Golden Oreo. It's hard for me to call these cookies an Oreo. They are a really good vanilla flavored cookie with icing...but not really an Oreo. Don't get me wrong. I love these, but I'm not reaching for them when I'm craving some Oreos. They are missing the chocolaty goodness that makes an Oreo, an Oreo. I would recommend these for vanilla lovers...or for those people who somehow hate chocolate (what?). 

Dunk 'em! 

4 out of 5

The Cool Mint Oreo. I have to admit, I was nervous to try these Oreos. I really didn't think I would like them. I took them to work for my co-workers to demolish. I made a friend taste one and they really enjoyed it. Once you open this package an enticing mint aroma fills your nostrils which sends a direct message to your brain to inhale the bag of Oreos immediately. I am a huge fan of these Oreos. If you like Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies...this is the Oreo for you. 

DUNK 'EM! 

5 out of 5 

Peanut Butter Oreo Fudge Cremes! Even the name of this Oreo is mouth watering. I had to find pictures of these oreos online because this was the first bag of Oreos I finished when I received them for my birthday. They are scrumptious. Sadly, you don't get very many of these Oreos in a package. If Tagalong Girl Scout cookies are your favorite, you will appreciate this Oreo. They aren't as good as Tagalongs, but they will hold you over until the next Girl Scout Cookie season. 

Dunk 'em. 

4.5 out of 5

Heads or Tails Oreos. Whether you choose heads or tails you lose with these. I was not impressed by these Oreos. This Oreo is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but not my taste buds. The vanilla part of the Oreo overpowers the entire thing, which makes it just another package of Golden Oreos. Interesting idea, but not a unique taste. 


Dump 'em.  

2 out of 5

Triple Double Oreo. This Oreo is intense. It's a triple decker Oreo, but do not be fooled by it's appearance. This cookie is harder to bite into, because of its numerous layers. The 3 layers of cookie are overpowering to where you can't even taste the icing. It's sad but true. I suppose this cookie, like the Mini Oreo, would be great for people who aren't a fan of icing but love the cookie. 

Dump 'em

2 out of 5

Handi Snacks Oreo. (They need to work on a better name for these) BUT CHECK THIS OUT! Have you ever seen these before?!?! Neither had I. They take me back to the good ol' days of DunkAroos. Remember those? This is the same idea. You have oreo sticks that you break apart and dunk into the icing pool as much as your heart desires. These would be an excellent dessert to be tossed into a kid's lunch box. (Take note Moms). I'm a fan. 

Dunk 'em

4.5 out of 5

Winter Oreos!!!!!!! Yes, that many exclamation points mean these are my favorite Oreos of all time. ANY type of Holiday/Season Oreos ARE THE BEEESSTTT! They make a few different kinds: Spring Oreos (yellow icing),  Summer Oreos (blue icing), Halloween Oreos (orange icing), and Winter Oreo (red icing). They aren't sold in all stores. You can always find these types are Target. Any time these Oreos are in store, I buy about 3 bags. These Oreos taste the best. I promise you. They have the perfect amount of icing. They are sweeter and taste the most fresh. People don't want to believe me, but trust me...I know my Oreos. Get a glass of milk ready. 

DUNK 'em!!

5 out of 5

Toughest Town for Singles

Ello Poppet!

Quick Update: So its been 6ish days without candy, chocolate, sweets, AND OREOS of any kind. It sucks, but I'm staying strong. I have to go at least a week!

Living in a big city makes it easy to feel lonely. You are one small person in such a huge place. It can be over whelming. When I first moved here I probably went about 5-6 months without any human contact of any kind. Sometimes you just need a hug. I've even forgotten how ticklish I am (it's ridiculous). 

It's been a big change going from Bloomington, IN where you are squished into a town with 40,000 other people your age. Half of those being guys (and mostly attractive ones, I might add) to a huge city with 4356840684 cultures and age groups. I find it very hard to meet people around my age, especially guys. I think dating in Los Angeles is difficult. So I started doing some research to see if there was any evidence to support my dilemma.

I found an awesome article written by Dr. Ali Binazir (Sounds legit) that points out things that are SO true about dating in LA. He finds Los Angeles to be the toughest city in the country to be single in. 

These are the reasons why:

1. The sex ratio (# of Men for every 100 Women) SUCKS!

"In places where the sex ratio is low (i.e. excess of women over men), social mores are relaxed, women go out a lot, and everyone has a ball.  Where the sex ratio is high (i.e. excess of men), people go out less and attitudes are more conservative. No one knows exactly why this is, but it makes sense."

Apparently New York has a surplus of 211,000 women over single men (according to the 2006 US Census) while Los Angles has 89,000 more single men than women. Where are all these men hiding!?

"Accordingly, dating in New York City is fun, while dating in Los Angeles sucks.  This statistic alone may be the single biggest cause of the lackluster love lives of singles in LA."

 2. Commuting distance

Everyone knows the traffic sucks in LA. Imagine you met some awesome guy who lives in "Silver Lake" (hipster guy I assume), but you live in Culver City. That's the worst 20 mile commute ever. 

"It’s 20 miles through one of the most car-jammed concrete jungles on the planet, with no efficient public transport to speak of.  And your helicopter’s in the shop. Again."

The commute in New York is comparable, but the public transportation is much better. So people are much more likely to meet up.

3. Less Pedestrian interaction
Who do you know walks to work in Los Angeles? Go ahead, I'll wait.

 "Whenever I visit Boston, New York or London, I bump into friends – on the sidewalk, on the subway, in the parks. This casual, unforced, unpremeditated contact is the cornerstone of building social relations. That’s why our closest friends tend to come from work and school. "

Everyone is constantly stuck driving in their cars (with road rage). You have to make efficient effort to coordinate busy schedules and travel (see #2). People get tired of using so much energy just to plan a date, they would rather just chill on the couch at home (or go out with friends that live near by).

4. People flake out due to travel challenges.
WHY THE HELL IS THERE TRAFFIC AT 2AM!? Oh, yeah...It's LA.

 "Traffic in LA is unpredictable; as a result, even the best-intentioned people end up being late more often than they wish. Showing up late, not showing up at all and breaking promises can then become the norm. When that happens enough times to enough people, you end up in a legendarily flaky city, and social and dating life encounter more obstacles."

5. The temporary and unreliable atmosphere of the Entertainment Culture  
Millions of people (like me) move to Los Angles to pursue a career in the Entertainment Industry. It's not easy!

"A peculiar energy permeates a town when so many people are trying to advance an ego-based agenda – my role, my song, my script – which may not be the most conducive energy for building meaningful, lasting relationships.  Bringing us to…"

6. Dating people in the Entertainment Industry brings unique challenges
Haha...

"Dating people with uncertain finances, erratic schedules and fragile egos is a challenge requiring saintlier patience than most people possess."

I can't hate on Entertainment industry people, because...well, I am one. Yes, I see where Dr. Binazir is coming from, which is why I see myself dating another person in the industry because they will understand how it all works. We are incredibly busy and have to put all our blood, sweat, and tears into our jobs. I'd just like to date someone that works at a different company, preferably in a different field as me. That way we are never in competition with each other for the same job. 

Last, but not least. 

7. The Los Angeles night life is a joke.
I don't know about you, but I stayed out until the bars closed at 4am in Bloomington. I was SHOCKED that Los Angeles bars close at like...2am. Meaning last call is at 1:50am. Dude, that's like when you just get to Kilroy Sports Bar.

"Lack of public transport also means that people stay sober enough to drive back home.  As a result, the social lubricant effects of alcohol don't operate in the same way as in a city with public transport. Mathematically stated, less party time + less imbibing of adult beverages = less fun.  This, plus the other six aforementioned factors, may very well make LA the toughest big city in the US to be single in."

 How much is a membership for Match.com again?

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-ali-binazir/is-los-angeles-the-toughe_b_379298.html

No Sweets November

You Guys have "No Shave Novemeber" so I thought I'd try to stop doing something as well...

I whipped out my gel pens from the 8th grade (Yes, I still have them) to create a calendar to mark off my progress. I'm going to try to not eat sweets for the month of November. Do I think I can do it? Of course not. (Let's be real) But I want to try! To start, I'm giving myself the goal of going 1 week without eating sweets.

This includes:
Chocolate of any kind
Things made out of pure sugar, or lots of sugar
Oreos
Baked treats (brownies, cookies, donuts, etc)

If you know me, you will understand how incredibly difficult this is going to be for me. I have the biggest sweet tooth known to man, and I have a ridiculous weakness for Oreos. Ask anyone.

What I've been noticing is that people see results, pretty quickly, when they cut out certain things. Men seem to shred unwanted weight from cutting out fast food (or beer) completely. Women usually see results after cutting out soft drinks. (Atleast my mom did). I don't really eat that much fast food, and I rarely ever drink soft drinks (never beer) these days...So...That only leaves what I do eat too often...Sweets.

I'll let you know how I feel in a week whether I feel marvelous or if I'm dying from withdraws.

DIY Painting for Beginners

Hi People!

As you may have noticed I kinda forgot about my little blog here after I got promoted to an AE. Sorry about that. I thought time flew by in college, but it flies by even faster while working. I can't believe I'm almost done working on The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons.

Well I've decided its time to revamp my blog and take it in a new direction. 

I've recently moved into my new apartment with my best friend Kathryn Begle. Most of my free time (and money *cough*) is spent trying to make it a home. So I wanted to share with you all my projects and fun things going on in my life, rather than focusing on my job.

I know I've mentioned it before, but seriously...Pinterest is freakin AMAZING! I have to give credit to pretty much all my ideas and projects to Pinterest. It inspires me every time I log on.

Exhibit A: 

I found this picture on Pinterest which took me to a lady's blog that showed step by step how she created these paintings. I loved them so much I wanted to created my own and hang them in the dining room.

Here is the link to her blog: http://www.myclevernest.com/2012/03/fool-proof-diy-painting.html

I bought everything from Michaels. I started with only 2 canvases (they are kinda expensive), but went back to get a third one after I received a coupon for 40% off. Boom.

 I followed the technique she used by dipping half the brush in one color and the other half of the brush in another. Then I painted large X marks until it blends.

 

Almost done! 

Here is my final result! I'm happy with how they turned out. I'm not the greatest painter, so it is pretty much fool proof as she says! Oh, and you may have noticed we also painted the dining room walls a light yellow. It's becoming home-y! haha

Got that promotion!

I GOT PROMOTED TO AN ASSISTANT EDITOR!!!!!  

My cousin Kara Fischer had the fabulous idea of documenting this monumental moment so I made a video to share my excitement with you.

Thanks for watching! =D

Biking & Hiking in LA

Hey Kids,
I just got back from my bike ride. I recently cashed in my tax refund money for a new bicycle. I love it! I went to bike shop in Granada Hills that my friend Crystal recommended, called Bicycle Den. They are a family owned shop and were extremely helpful.

I really wanted a bike to ride since I live close to the Chandler Bikeway and also take it to the beach to ride along The Strand as well. Today I rode all the way to the end of Chandler and back to my apartment which is a little over 7 miles. It's a great path to run, walk, roller blade, pretty much any type of transportation other than a car or motorcycle. There are always tons of people walking and riding bikes on the path with their kids. So I definitely feel safe riding it alone during the day, but I can't say I wouldn't like some friends to join me. =)

The stretch that I ride along goes from North Hollywood to Burbank. I take the path when I ride to my friend Natalie's apartment which is close to the Warner Brother's studio lot in the Burbank/Toluca Lake area. The other side of Chandler actually goes from North Hollywood all the way to where I work in Van Nuys. A bus line has its own street where only buses and police cars can drive along. The bike path runs along beside it.

The stretch in Burbank was one a rail road. Los Angeles decided to turn it into a pedestrian bike path in 1991. The Chandler Bikeway officially opened to the public on August 20, 2004.

 

I definitely plan on making bike riding a hobby and will be checking out other bike paths in Los Angeles.  The city is good about having websites dedicated to biking, hiking and other recreational activities.  Yelp is always a good source as well!

http://chandlerbikewayburbank.com/index.html

http://www.labikepaths.com/

http://www.thishikingtrail.com/ 

http://discoverlosangeles.com/play/activities-and-recreation/outdoors-and-sports/hiking-in-los-angeles-la-s-best-hiking-trails.html 

http://www.modernhiker.com/la-hiking/ 

Happy riding [and hiking]! =)

Digitizer's Job

Happy Easter!

First I want to congratulate all my friends who participated in Campus Movie Fest this year at Indiana University. I've been watching all your films and they always blow me away. I wish I could have been there to see them all on the big screen, as well as seeing my best friend Kathryn Begle host the show! All of you are so creative and talented, I know you will go on to do big things.

I love hearing about people landing internships here in LA for the summer! Congratulations to you all as well. I look forward to seeing more Hoosiers in Hollywood!! =)

As for you students graduating in less than a month, (AHHH! I know right? Crazy.) don't think you need to have everything figured out before that graduation date. YOU DON'T! Yes it is scary. Yes it is stressful, but what makes you think you'll have life figured out by the age of 22? Breath. It'll all work out. I've been talking to people about the transition from graduating to moving out here. I won't say it is easy, because it is not. It is very scary and stressful, but if I can do it...you can too. I promise.

I've also been dealing with my own stresses at work lately. As a digitizer, I work on all the shows of the entire company. If we have 5 shows in production, then I get shipments of XDCAM discs for 5 different shows. Recently I have been the ONLY digitizer for the company, which is a lot of work for only one person. One day my boss sent me home in the morning when I was sick. I think that's when it hit people, that I'm the only person that knows how to do my job, and without me they don't have anything to work on. One co-worker was rushing out of my work room then stopped and said, "You know you are the heart of this company, right? Without you the company stands still." Lots of pressure for one person, but I like it at the same time.

So, in order to stay on top of things I've been working 6 days a week. Let me give you a perspective of what I dealt with this past week. Before Wednesday I got 15 boxes of tapes (XDCAM discs, we still call them tapes). One box of tapes holds around 50 tapes. So after doing the math I got around 750 tapes just this week. I was swimming in tapes, literally.

A received my first compliment recently from an Editor who was being an Assistant Editor for The Real World for a few weeks. He told me, "Ashley, you are good at what you do. Very soon an AE will move up to Editor and then you will be bumped up to being an Assistant Editor. You can quickly see the people you can count on and put the pressure on. So keep up the good work." It made my day. You aren't given many compliments in this industry. Usually silence is golden. If you hear nothing back, you must have done your job right. When I first started being a digitizer I was not good. I made many mistakes and didn't understand how to do many things. So in the past 5 months I've been trying to prove myself. I think I'm finally getting there.

Keep your goals high and your head higher.

DIY IKEA Side Table Makeover

Haven't really had much to blog about the past few months. Just recently, work has become very busy once shows have gone into production. My friend Kevin Marco was just promoted from digitizer to an assistant editor which bumped me up to working his day shift. I now work 9am-6pm! I HAVE FRIDAY NIGHTS AGAIN! (First time since before September 2011). I'm still trying to get use to the different sleeping pattern. It's been a exhausting couple of weeks.

Some of you (probably girls) have heard of the website called, Pinterest. Some people, especially guys, do not understand the point of it. So! Let me explain. The website is dedicated to 'pinning' your interests. Get it? Pinterest! (So clever, right?) It is a website full of pictures put into categories from food, apparel, to photography, to home decor. EVERYTHING! I have recently become obsessed with this site because it really inspires me. I find inspiration for outfits, decorating, to baking delicious treats! Without Pinterest I would have never thought of baking my Rudolph cookies during Christmas or my peanut butter dove heart cookies for Valentines Day.

The home decor section gives me really great ideas when decorating or renovating furniture. (You can also see another one of my Pinterest inspired projects in the background that involved melting crayons onto a canvas to create a cool effect). I recently bought a side table from IKEA and decided to make it my own. I went to Lowes and matched a pretty blue color to the picture hanging above my bed. I had to buy sand paper, primer, paint, paint brushes/rollers, a drop cloth and finisher spray. It was a long process, but it turned out great! I knew I needed a cool lamp to put on my table so I started searching online. I went to every store I could think of and came to the conclusion: lamps are wicked expensive. Seriously! Luckily, I went to Pier 1 Imports and found an awesome lamp on sale for like $30. I love it. Pier 1 became my new favorite store that day. (Sorry IKEA). They had so many pretty things. I ended up buying 2 pillows along with my lamp. Their entire pillow section is amazing. I want them all.

I finally finished the table yesterday when I went to Anthropologie and bought cute nobs for the drawers. They had so many cute ones to choose from! It's an expensive store, but they have really pretty cups and bowls for decoration, kitchen ware, and for the bathroom. I wanted everything!

So, I highly recommend Pinterest. I promise you'll be inspired and motivated to create something awesome. Be sure to find me and follow my pins!

From Final Cut to Avid

Hello Kids!

Hope you had a great Holiday Season. I was fortunate enough to fly home Dec 20 until Jan 2nd to visit family and friends for Christmas. Sadly, my sister was sick the entire duration I was home and gave me a cold as well. So I arrived back with a nasty cold... It was snowing as my dad drove me to the airport early in the morning on January 2nd and I arrived in Los Angeles to 85 degree weather. It was incredibly warm. Definitely great to come back to!

When I look back to the year 2011...it was a BIG year for me. I dealt with the most stressful semester of my life, graduated from college, landed my internship, moved to LA, started a new life, got my first real job in the industry AND got promoted once! I say it was a great year. I'm looking forward to 2012!

There are big things happening at Bunim/Murray Productions starting year this year. As most of you know, the professional entertainment industry is pretty upset with Apple for releasing Final Cup Pro X which replaces Final Cut Pro 7. They no longer sell or provide services for FCP 7 which forced my boss, Mark Raudonis, to make a decision on what BMP should do. FCP X is designed for the consumer "amateur" editors which is a MUCH LARGER market. Apple would rather make more money selling to the normal consumer than help lead the way in the professional editing market. SO! Mark has decided to switch to Avid Media Composer 6.

As you can see the editing interface is different. (You can change the interface colors to whatever your heart desires in the AVID interface). The way of editing on these programs are different as well, but easy to adjust. The shortcuts or keystrokes are the main difference between the two. My way of doing my job as a Digitizer will change completely when we switch over to AVID. In the next few weeks I will be re-training and learning how to do everything I do now, but ALL in the AVID. Unlike FCP, I will digitize, and uprez footage in AVID. FCP does not have this ability. I always had to import with XDCAM transfer and then use Compressor to put it in offline format (low rez quality). This all may sound like boring technical stuff for me, but many of us are worried about the switch slowing down Post Production until everyone is adjusted to AVID after a few months.

For those of you film nerds that would be interested in reading some articles about Bunim/Murray Production's switch over to AVID here are 2 links:
We were featured on AVID's website (My boss is quoted): http://www.avid.com/US/press-room/Bunim-Murray-Selects-Avid
My boss did another article (Goofy Pictures included): http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/real-world-editing