viv laugh love

[vivlaughlove]

a chicken wing recipe

buffalo chicken wings. really recommend.

2.5 lbs of chicken wings. flats or drums, freedom of choice.

salt & pepper. i never trust a recipe that lists specific measurements for salt & pepper.

some garlic and onion powder, cayenne, and paprika. sprinkle til your ancestors tell you to stop. this motto has never served me wrong.

like a tablespoon or heaping tablespoon of baking powder. this will help your wings get extra crispy. optional.

3 or 4 tablespoons of frank's red hot. if your bottle has an extra half tbsp, throw it in at this point.

3 tablespoons of butter. i use kerrygold because it makes me feel fancy. i like to think these cows are prettier.

4-5 cloves of minced garlic. or more. you decide.

pat dry your chicken wings with a paper towel and set on a wire rack sheet tray or tupperware. this will remove any excess moisture from your wings so it'll crisp better.

season wings with salt, pep, garlic and onion powder, cayenne, and paprika.

wrap with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for like 1-5 hours. this will further dry the skin of the wings. if you can't fit a sheet tray in your fridge, that's totally fine. it'll prolly taste the same if i'm going to be honest.

preheat your oven to 375F/190C. at this time. mince your garlic.

once your oven is heated, pop your tray of wings into the oven (middle ish top ish) rack. make sure your wings are well separated for proper heat circulation. 20 minutes, flip your wings, and another 20 minutes. 40 min total

sauce: heat a pot to low. add your butter and garlic. you can pretty much let this chill for like a while. do this after you have already flipped your wings halfway.

add frank's hot sauce to the pot. stir. pepper to taste.

once your wings are done from the oven, throw them into the pot and toss in your sauce. coat every wing.

you can stop here, OR do this extra step. i'm a lazy cook, but I've never skipped this step for a reason. put your sauced wings back onto the wire rack. sauce them with any residual sauce in the pot. pop them into the oven on broil for roughly 2-5 minutes. i say this because some broilers are crazy. keep your eye on it so it gets nice and extra golden and NOT burnt.

remove your triple-baked overkill wings and plate them up. ranch and veggies are optional.

[vivlaughlove]

the nuances of high school musical

i don't want to hear you saying you know more about high school musical than me if you don't know the songs "i can't take my eyes off of you" or "just getting started." do you have the HSM All Access interactive book? didn't think so!

yes, that does mean i have a sharpay evans ID card and twinkle town program booklet.

sharpay and zeke. in a perfect world, we would all like to believe these underrated love birds ended up together. but due to the half-arsed spin-off that is sharpay's fabulous adventure, the last person we saw her with was peyton. sharpay stayed in the realm of her family's network, which isn't surprising whatsoever, just disheartening. zeke was the most loyal crush sharpay had even from the beginning of hsm1 when he gave her a tupperware of his pastries at the end of the movie. the two are also shown sending the lanterns off together at the end of hsm2 in the couples' finale, and also go to prom together. i'm glad kenny ortega saw them as an endgame from the start, but the hsm fan in me wishes for some sort of closure beyond their 30 seconds of screentime together in each movie.

darbus sending in a julliard application for troy. i don't even know if this is legal. i went through the college application not that long ago, and i'm wondering if his "application" was just a referral? how did she obtain all the forms required for the common app to send it as an application because this kid DID get accepted just based on the application darbus sent. did darbus submit a fasfa for troy while she was at it?

ryan and kelsi. we don't see their relationship until hsm3. i'm guessing that with developing the spring musical, they naturally got closer. but their interactions in the first two movies are reduced to piano interactions and team events. do ryan and kelsi end up together in the end? or were they just a cute prom date? i bring up this point primarily due to the topic of ryan and chad. if you are heavily involved in hsm discourse, you know many speculate a relationship between ryan and chad in the second movie after the scene "i don't dance." however, chad was still dating taylor. unless the two were sneaky linking during shifts...

the plot of twinkle towne. the songs in twinkle town from what we can see in hsm1 include "what i've been looking for," "bop to the top," and "breaking free." characters seen from the callback paper are arnold, minnie, mr. schain, and johnny deni. jen abidor pieced together her own hypothesis of what this hodgepodge of a musical could be by honing in on the set pieces troy and chad were called to work on, songs, cast, and more in her article, " I Pieced Together The Plot Of "Twinkle Towne" From "High School Musical" Based On What We Know." i recommend reading her theory, but in short, it's a rendition on an old hollywood love story of two actors and their movie.

the costuming in sharpay's fabulous adventure. tom mckinley and caroline b. marx led the costume design for hsm 2 and 3. plenty still look up to sharpay's iconic looks from both of these movies to this day. bedazzled golf dresses and tankinis, pink leather mini skirts, fringe boots, feather robes, the list goes on. however, we shift to sharpay's wardrobe in her own movie, and it looks like a kohl's preteen ad. i understand that in this movie, she is supposed to be "broke," even though she is in a studio apartment near nyu that is probably $2,000 a month. but we all know sharpay would never sacrifice her drip. her outfits in sfa can be summed up to hot pink sequins trench coats, cupcake freshman year homecoming dresses, and women's fit button-up vest combos. natalie bronfman was the costume designer for this film and she has also worked on the handmaid's tale. let's just say, bronfman found her niche. i want justice for sharpay.

gabriella at the end of hsm3. did she get exempt from her finals at east high to go to stanford's freshman honors program? also why is the program in the middle of the school year. we see during "walk away," that gabriella's mom sold their house and moved everything out. so when she came back for the show and graduation, where did she stay? i'm guessing she either stayed at a hotel, taylor's house, but the fact we got little explanation on how gabriella went about all of this is accurate to how everyone else felt.

[vivlaughlove]

why i could never be a celebrity

for kindergarten career day, i said i wanted to be a cowgirl. eventually with the popularity of shows such as hannah montana, icarly, etc., becoming a national posterchild seemed to be the only career to fit my personality. this could easily be blamed on my zodiac sign being a leo, but television, tabloid news, and youtube made me believe that having my face plastered on a clothing ad was the definition of success. for goodness sakes, i screamed the lyrics to "this is the life" by hannah montana up until high school. even through my high school years, becoming a television host was how i got to my major today. i had a youtube channel (with two followers; a girl from my freshman year english class and my cousin) where i was a wannabe emma chamberlain. 2017 editing and everything, trust me... you don't want to see it. to this day, i pick up occasional self-tape auditions just for the heck of it.

but i would like to dissect with you the reasons why i truly could never be a celebrity. the glitz and glam is getting its wear and tear.

i don't like wearing makeup. the thought of having to sit in a chair to have someone put on layers of foundation and powder, to only then look back on photos of a face that is unrecognizable is my nightmare. taking my face off with neutrogena makeup wipes at 12am after a long night is one of the most dehumanizing experiences in my opinion.

i don't know how i would react if i ever met andrew garfield. a couple weeks ago, i went to a concert that happened to be one of my favorite bands from when i was around 15. i happened to get the center barricade and of course, that meant i was basically at their point of contact the entire night. yes, it would fun to have my y/n moment, but luckily i didn't have to talk to them for that long. however, if i were ever at a charity gala or award show and just so happened to bump into andrew garfield, i don't know what i would do. he's been my go-to celebrity crush since the amazing spiderman came out. for context, i was an avid fan of the ellen show in third grade. andrew went on the show for spiderman promo and the next day at school, i was telling all my friends at recess about this up-and-coming british guy who is playing the new spiderman (i think before this, my celeb crush was gregg sulkin as mason greyback on wizards of waverly place. i don't have a type, i promise). having to interact with someone who high-school-me went through their whole filmography is exciting yet nerve-wracking. for the sake of andrew and i... there needs to be serious prep and organization regarding a potential meet-up any time soon.

press week seems like sorority recruitment, but somewhat worse. i would instantly get sick of the hotel conference room croissants and danishes. i honestly bet celebrities were somewhat okay with press being on zoom since the pandemic happened. i couldn't imagine sitting in an uncomfortable hotel ballroom or director's chair under beaming camera lights, being asked about whether or not we should be expecting a third movie. i understand why all actors look drunk or high on their press tours. it's rough.

being forced to interact with people i don't like, publicly. there's a handful of celebrities i would avoid, even if they weren't famous. either i don't agree with some choices they've made or their overall impact on society. however, there are unavoidable circumstances where one of them could approach me and someone just so happened to document it. now the public thinks we're friends or i'm their accomplice. oh geez or having to work on a movie with someone you don't like. professionalism only goes so far until i need my residuals tripled.

this is specifically in regards to youtube fame, but i couldn't be a youtuber simply because i hate editing. if you know me, that sentence seems confusing. i used to make fan edits for almost four years and edit youtube videos for other people. i love editing to be honest. give me a folder, and i could finish a 10-minute video in under an hour. but here's the thing, i hate editing videos of MYSELF. having to watch myself propping up a camera, running back to my original position, and walking back into frame feels like nails on a chalkboard. i'm still learning to accept what my voice sounds like, so that in itself is a challenge. imagine having to edit an hour-long vlog or haul. props to you, zoe sugg.

all in all, i like being behind the madness. i got the chance to PA a student-run reality dating show last spring and i loved it. there's something fun about the mess of the entertainment industry that i admire, but i think i would like to join in... from afar.

[vivlaughlove]

reasoning listed below

i made a mini blog because i keep crying in my journal. my therapist asked in our last session, "do you keep a journal or like journaling?" i think the dried pages of tears prove more than i can write into words. but... mini blog! inspired by idol bloggers from the early 2010s (*cough* alexa chung *cough*), this is an outlet so my three friends don't have spammed messages throughout the day from me anymore (you're welcome). instead, they can log into tumblr dot com at their convenience on all updates regarding me! how great!

so with that, let's give my first introduction slash update.

i moved into a new apartment for the coming school year. moved into the entire unit by myself, might i add. my summer goal of doing planks every day truly paid off. i am still in need of a new lamp, but that can hold off for now. command hooks are a pain in the arse. let's pray that my macrame wall hangings don't come crashing down in my sleep.

started therapy back up after a year break. my therapist is actually so great this time. unlike my other one who viewed the importance of political/human rights and paint colors to be synonymous.

turned 20! i think if you're my close friend reading this, you already know how my 20th birthday went... but, i digress. i am simply thankful to be living, breathing, and continuing.

accepted a new job position in my home state while simultaneously accepting a fellowship from university of mila kunis! so exciting. go blue and yellow.

currently consuming in media: consumed by aja barber. high school musical: the musical: the series season 3 (finally got ricky & gina content after almost a year). glee season 1. cinema by harry styles. medicine by new hope club. read my mind by the killers. young luv by stayc. margot robbie's vogue 73 questions (i believe I've found the house of my dreams and it is margot's venice beach house). & lots of architectural digest.

cheers to reviving tumblr blogs like it's 2013!