The weather is getting warmer, and I don’t know about you, but my feet are itching to get into some flip flops.  Is it summer yet?

Personally, I just survived one of the harshest winters in years (if you live in a warm climate, I hate you), combined with a crapload of work and stress.  Once summer hits, I’m going to call Benjamin Linus and ask him to freeze time so I can stay in July forever (pardon the Lost reference- I’m kind of obsessed).  I am currently making a To-Do list to make sure I enjoy every possible moment during the upcoming summer months.

1.  Music Festivals!

Once, I almost passed out due to the sweltering heat at the Warped Tour.  So worth it.  Music fests are a great way to hang out all day with thousands of strangers and listen to live music from not one, but several of your fave bands… or to discover new groups that you simply NEED to download on i-Tunes, like now.  If the festival spans a few days, make a road-trip-slash-camping-trip out of the ordeal with your favorites, and leave all of your worries behind.

A friend from England invited me to the Exit Fest in Serbia, featuring Moby, among others.  And to be honest, Serbia sounds fan-f**king-tastic right now.  But, let’s be honest.  What college student can afford Serbia in this economy?  Check out Starpulse for a rundown on festivals that might be coming to a city near you!

2.  Drive-in Movies!

When the air changes and I know it’s officially summer, I immediately crave a silver screen feature under the stars, complete with lawn chairs, blankets, and soccer-mom-vans that are oh-so-convenient on carload night.  Way more fun that being cooped up at home with a stack of Netflix orders, and cheaper than going to the cinema (you get two movies for less than the price of one!), the drive-in is a longstanding summertime tradition.

It’s too bad that many drive-in movie locations have buckled in recent years, but Driveinmovie.com has a listing of current locations across the country.

3.  Keg Parties!

Whether it’s a high school reunion in your hometown or the dudes across the hall just got their own duplex, summer is the prime time to party.  Pool parties, hot tub parties, bonfire parties… the possibilities are endless.  Plus, since so many people are on break or taking vacations, you’ll never run into the same crowd twice.  You might meet someone new who’s visiting a friend at the party, or run into someone from school you haven’t Facebooked in forever.  Besides, you can finally wear halter tops without freezing your buns off on the walk home.

4.  W-A-T-E-R!

I’m just going to lump all aquatic activities into one category.

Swimming Pools. Beaches. Lakes. Hot Tubs. Slip N’ Slides.

Jetskiing. Tubing. White Water Rafting. Chicken Tournaments.

I can’t wait to alternate my vintage style Juicy Couture one-piece (with a little ruffle to hide the thighs I wish were more toned) with the bikini that makes my cleavage take the focus off of said thighs.  As much as I’m looking forward to weekend beach trips, I’m also excited to work up a sweat at the gym and come home to dive straight into my parents’ in-ground pool.  My skin is going to get so prune-y it’s ridiculous.

5.  Road Trips!

This can apply to any of the above.  But road trips are pretty much the best part of summer.  The driving part is sometimes even better than reaching the final destination when you factor in the windows-down-sing-alongs, pumping your fists feverishly to make truck drivers blow the horn, and bonding with your pals because you’ve been couped up in a car for hours on end and will talk about anything to make the time pass.

Organize a road trip to a music festival, a crazy party, or a beach town.  Invite a group of low-maintenance, fun-loving friends, and set out on an adventure.  (Note: I say low-maintenance because you don’t want a princess who complains about rest area bathrooms, lack of electrical outlets for her hair straightener, or the fact that you keep driving through dead zones and she can’t call her shnookums and tell him how much she misses him already).

With the possible exception of the music festivals, all of these totally fun events can happen pretty much spur-of-the-moment.  I plan to live totally spontaneously this summer in order to make the most of every sunshine-filled day that passes.  What’s everyone else looking forward to this summer? I want to add to my list….

This organization has set out to bring peace in Northern Uganda, quite an ambitious endeavor. Initially, Invisible Children was just a documentary. Three filmmakers from Southern California filmed this in 2-3 days. They were ages 24, 21, and 20 at the time. They traveled to Sudan to ‘find a story’.

Instead, they ended up deep in Northern Uganda, witnessing thousands of people suffering from brutal attacks from a rebel group called LORD’S RESISTANCE ARMY. After finishing the film, the three filmmakers knew that they had to do more. They turned Invisible Children into a full fledged nonprofit organization.

Their mission is simple:

To improve the quality of life for war-affected children by providing access to quality education, enhanced learning environments, and innovative economic opportunities for the community.

Simple and yet simultaneously complicated.

Luckily, they have thought of an array of ways in which you can help. They’ve got t-shirts, videos, bracelets, etc. for sale and the profit goes straight toward the cause. Read more about Invisible Children here.

Maybe it was Hot Topic’s fault. Or better yet, maybe it was TV’s fault. Either way, something turned a huge part of our heterosexual male population GAY over the last five years or so…and they all turned gay without even being homosexual. It’s a tragedy, really, and these way too femme boys who supposedly still like girls have even made my own love life tragically hellish.

Katy Perry’s hit single “Ur So Gay” couldn’t have come at a better time. Well, wait… I’d actually say it’s a bit overdue. I could have really used it to get myself through my last break up with a boy who told me that he had shaved his arms so that they’d ‘feel nice’ for me…

ANYWAY, It didn’t take me long to become a fan of this girl. Does Madonna love her? Sure she does. Does Myspace love her? Duh. But that’s not why I like her. I like her because she’s openly quirky. She’s intelligent AND fun and YES, that combination certainly does exist in female society and I’m proud to finally be able to add yet another awesome artist to the soundtrack of my life.

Katy isn’t just all fun and intellectual games, though. She is a real musician equipped with a guitar. She’s not a novelty act. Yes, her hit single is hilarious and awesome, but just go check her out live and you’ll see the difference. She’s mesmerizing. A bona fide performer, comedian, and gifted songstress. If you missed her on the tour she’s on now…don’t worry. She’ll be giving us all a reason to actually buy a ticket to the Vans Warped Tour this summer.

Ironically, the girl who is calling out all gay but not gay boys will be on a tour with lots of gay but not gay boys. I really hope they all come out of Warped tour with some sense knocked into them…

[Perry's album, One of the Boys, comes out June 17th]

Have you ever wanted to just grab your friends, a tent, some brews, and head to the desert for some good ass music and partying? I have. And apparently I’m not the only one.

A bunch of artists back in 1999 put this little festival together known as Coachella. And every year, friends of mine are attending it, playing it, working it, or doing SOMETHING for or to it. So I believe it’s time for a CollegeCandy style expose on this powwow.

The three day festival takes place every year. I like to say it’s a cross between Warped Tour and Bonnaroo. It’s not quite as punk/rock/retarded as Warped Tour, but it’s also not as artsy fartsy hippietastic as Bonnaroo. Boasting acts like Rage Against the Machine, Beck, Radiohead, Pixies, Arcade Fire, The Cure, Bjork, Amy Winehouse, The Black Keys, and Peaches (as well as about 100,000,000,000 other musicians), I’m confident that you can see what I mean here.

In the shadows of the pop culturally apocalyptic Woodstock ’99, Coachella was treading on more than cautious ground in the land of outdoor music festivals. They weren’t initially allowed to offer on-site camping and those restrictions remained in place until 2002. Through financial and legal difficulties, awesome bands are what have helped the festival persevere. The George Clooneys and Natalie Portmans of the music industry — “A-list” bands, if you will. But I guess this all makes sense considering the fact that the said ‘artists’ who initially orchestrated the festival were, in fact, the bands Tool and Pearl Jam.

So it’s a liberal desert hippie dance rock party and the attendees tend to look the part. They dress and behave for the paradoxical festival which is Coachella while also suiting up admirably for the desert. While this festival has all of the makings of an atrocious disaster, it has yet to provide anything but fun for thousands each year.

And since scoring Led Zeppelin for a lineup doesn’t seem that far fetched anymore, perhaps I’ll scope it out myself next year if they can, in fact, land the greatest of great rock bands ever to play one of their stages.

What’s better than a southern punk rock sounding band comprised of tattooed boys who have some serious chips on their shoulders? A southern punk rock sounding band comprised of tattooed boys with serious chips on their shoulders who are FROM ENGLAND.

Most people call them Gallows, but after spending a couple months on Warped Tour alongside them this past summer; I call them The UK’s Answer To The Shitty American Hottopic-esque Bands Polluting The Minds Of Today’s Teens, instead.

They’re angry. But they’re honest. They don’t prepackage themselves with the sorta fashion you’d expect out of a festival like Warped Tour these days. In fact, Gallows pretty much don’t give a f*$k about anything.

The singer literally spits lyrics about a girl cleaning his cum off of her face. Now, hold your feminist horses….because believe me….I have a point. Maybe you don’t like the idea of this dude singing with lyrical content like this, but let me ask you:

If you were a singer who was angry and writing lyrics about an ex, can you swear to god that you would never ever arrogantly reference your sexual past with that person as a sort of bargaining power for an even more vengeful song? I certainly cannot.

It’s not like Gallows are womanizing or degrading…they just tell the truth. I LIKE the fact that the singer is so brutally honest. I LIKE that he’s not some eyeliner wearing emo boy trying to serenade his way into a girl’s pants. And…I know I might be crazy, but I like the way he simulates jerking off while singing the above lyrics at a show. It’s not proper. No freaking way. But if you are into punk music and have been asking yourself:

“What the hell happened to the scene? When did it become so lame?”

Then go listen to Gallows. Now.

http://www.myspace.com/gallows

Plus, you might as well admit it: British guys can get away with talking a lot more shit than American boys. It’s the accent. End of story.