Even though I'm a little behind in picking up on the awesomeness of Hot Chip, I'm currently obsessed with the song Ready for the Floor from their most recent album, Made in the Dark. Seriously cannot stop listening to it. The video is a little jarring for me, but if you can make it to around the 1.33 mark, you just might be handsomely rewarded.
People going in and out of blocks with cut-outs totally reminds me of these awesome dudes:
When Human Tetris came into my life, it was a glorious day, much like the day I became aware of the leprechaun from Mobile, Alabama, but not nearly as glorious as the day the pole-climbing, cuff-breaking, flip-turning midget from Cops actually changed my life. I'm seriously so glad Hot Chip took me back to all my favorite viral videos.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Oxford Comma
Unlike most music snobs, I've got nothing against Vampire Weekend and actually enjoy listening to their album on occasion. They debuted the video for their song Oxford Comma on MTV this weekend, and provoked pure genius from this video responder. Thanks, Stereogum for making my Monday a little less atrocious.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Pregnancy pact
Since yesterday afternoon, the blogosphere has been a-buzz with the story about the 17 Massachusetts teenagers who made a pact to get pregnant. Of course, there are lots of important things that can be dissected in this story: who's to blame for this sort of psychology (parents? movies like Juno?), what to do about teaching abstinence vs. safer sex practices in schools, etc. But what I was most struck by in the story was this paragraph:
The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."
How effing sad and crazy is it that these girls are having children to fill some sort of emotional void in their lives? Sure, high school is a time of silly boyfriends and what you might think are the most devastating of failed romances. Everything just seems so important and dramatic and is even more frustrated by the fact that the only thing on the dating horizon is moving into more adult years where the pressures to meet someone really special continue to mount, but what sort of insecurity and desperation lead a girl to think that having a baby is the only way to avoid any of this emotional strife and preempt the feeling of loneliness? And, I just can't believe that there are seventeen girls who think this is an okay and celebratory thing to do. What the hell is going on in Gloucester? Do these girls have any pets? If not, they should definitely get a cute little kitten or a dog or something that will love them conditionally without all of the other nonsense that comes along with an actual living, breathing child. Insane.
The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."
How effing sad and crazy is it that these girls are having children to fill some sort of emotional void in their lives? Sure, high school is a time of silly boyfriends and what you might think are the most devastating of failed romances. Everything just seems so important and dramatic and is even more frustrated by the fact that the only thing on the dating horizon is moving into more adult years where the pressures to meet someone really special continue to mount, but what sort of insecurity and desperation lead a girl to think that having a baby is the only way to avoid any of this emotional strife and preempt the feeling of loneliness? And, I just can't believe that there are seventeen girls who think this is an okay and celebratory thing to do. What the hell is going on in Gloucester? Do these girls have any pets? If not, they should definitely get a cute little kitten or a dog or something that will love them conditionally without all of the other nonsense that comes along with an actual living, breathing child. Insane.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
To add to your lexicon
I've never been much of a trendsetter, though I would consider myself to be moderately trendy. Still, I'm hoping to break some real trendsetting ground by bringing the following phrases to the populous, in hopes that they will catch on and I can feel as though I've actually given something to society. Ha.
Weak sauce. Basically, a synonym of lame. I've seen this one used on Gawker once, so maybe I shouldn't be trying to pass it off as my own, but not taking ownership of something that at least a few people are confident you came up with all on your own is total weak sauce.
Crab trap. I have to be honest: this one was the product of an inebriated night spent watching Deadliest Catch with my roommate and so she gets at least partial ownership even though she's not writing about it on her blog, which I think she last updated about three months ago. Anyway, I got this gem up on Urban Dictionary, and my trivia team used it as our name the first night we ever won. I'd say it's got some real legs.
Weak sauce. Basically, a synonym of lame. I've seen this one used on Gawker once, so maybe I shouldn't be trying to pass it off as my own, but not taking ownership of something that at least a few people are confident you came up with all on your own is total weak sauce.
Crab trap. I have to be honest: this one was the product of an inebriated night spent watching Deadliest Catch with my roommate and so she gets at least partial ownership even though she's not writing about it on her blog, which I think she last updated about three months ago. Anyway, I got this gem up on Urban Dictionary, and my trivia team used it as our name the first night we ever won. I'd say it's got some real legs.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The only thing more awesome than my CSA...
. . . is my friend Ryan's show that opens today at The Painting Center. Check it out, ya'll.
(It's totally obvious that I'm riding out the last leg of my current employment, huh?)
(It's totally obvious that I'm riding out the last leg of my current employment, huh?)
Community Sponsored Agriculture
Locavore seems to be the buzz word of year, with Michael Pollan telling us all that we should, in fact, kill our own chickens in order to really understand the full impact of our eating patterns, and with many New York area restaurants featuring menus derived only from food and ingredients that are locally grown. A few weeks ago, there was this piece in the New York Times encouraging even the most lazy of people to order and have delivered some locally grown and organic foods. I won't lie: The Omnivore's Dilemma had a pretty big impact on the way I think about the food I eat and while it is sometimes easy to forget how evil corn is and that I probably shouldn't buy avocados shipped across the country from California, I'd like to think that, for the most part, I'm pretty conscious of the foods that I buy, where they come from and how they arrived at my kitchen table. Which is why I love, love, love green markets and am falling even deeper in love with my CSA. Here's a picture of the vegetable share I got last week (spring onions, peppercress, Jerusalem artichokes, lettuce and strawberries):
This week's share is looking even more promising with sugar snap peas, more strawberries and radishes awaiting me at the Freeze Peach. And next week I get to start picking up my fruit share and the smoothies I've started to make on a daily basis are going to be even more delicious!
This week's share is looking even more promising with sugar snap peas, more strawberries and radishes awaiting me at the Freeze Peach. And next week I get to start picking up my fruit share and the smoothies I've started to make on a daily basis are going to be even more delicious!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
ABT's Don Quixote
Ballet is one of those things that for me has always been strikingly beautiful, but just beyond the grasp of my own abilities; plus, I'm too short. Still, I love to watch it, to wear a nice dress to Lincoln Center and wonder at all the leaps, spins, and feats of incredible balance, strength and elegance. Last night, the premier American ballet company, American Ballet Theater, began their week-long run of Don Quixote, with Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murhpy dancing the lead roles. While the ballet itself did seem to lack a certain over-arching narrative, I honestly have to say that, for the most part, the dancing was so mesmerizing that I just didn't care. Murphy's interpretation of Kitri was loud, confident and just oh so exciting. And Stiefel's Basilio was charming, funny and bold.
The only missteps came in the middle of the second act, with one of the corps members actually falling and one of the soloists nearly falling out of a combination. It was upsetting, not least because I feel as though these ladies (and gentlemen) are meant to be the best in the nation (and maybe even the world) and it's always discouraging to see that they are not, in fact, perfect little wind-up dancers who float effortless through the air and dance on pointe as though they were barefoot. But the whole production managed to recover from this bobble and Act III was danced with such fervor that I wanted to leap from my seat during the coda in the final pas de deux. So many pirouettes and fouette turns! In truth there is only one word that I can find that might truly do justice to the entire performance: magnificent.
If you want a more authoritative review of the performance, check out this review in today's New York Times.
The only missteps came in the middle of the second act, with one of the corps members actually falling and one of the soloists nearly falling out of a combination. It was upsetting, not least because I feel as though these ladies (and gentlemen) are meant to be the best in the nation (and maybe even the world) and it's always discouraging to see that they are not, in fact, perfect little wind-up dancers who float effortless through the air and dance on pointe as though they were barefoot. But the whole production managed to recover from this bobble and Act III was danced with such fervor that I wanted to leap from my seat during the coda in the final pas de deux. So many pirouettes and fouette turns! In truth there is only one word that I can find that might truly do justice to the entire performance: magnificent.
If you want a more authoritative review of the performance, check out this review in today's New York Times.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Yes We Can!
I hope it's not wrong of me to first want to talk about how amazing Michelle Obama looked last night in St. Paul. That purple dress was dazzling! Now, on to more important matters. . .
At the risk of repeating every played-out phrase of the news media and political pundits, I'm so very proud that our nation has made history this primary season, choosing not just the first black man as its Democratic nominee but also a man that has skyrocketed to the very height of political success in such a short period of time. Think about it: four years ago most Americans had little to no idea who this Barack Obama figure was, and now a great deal of our fellow countrymen have rallied behind his message for hope and change. This has always been, for me, one of Obama's selling-points. He has enough experience and intelligence to get the job done, but not so much that he's fallen into the same tired and stale politics that have stymied our country for as long as I can remember. His clinching of the nomination is so very refreshing, inspiring and, indeed, hopeful that it's hard for me to not jump up and down screaming his name like so many people were last night in St. Paul.
Even though I've felt politically exhausted since oh, I don't know, March, Obama's victory speech completely rejuvenated me and I'm excited to see what happens between now and November. Excited to see how Hillary Clinton might swallow her pride and rally behind a man who shares many of her common goals and ideologies, proving that the Democratic party has not been divided during their epic battle for the nomination. Excited to see an America emerge that can look back on Tuesday, June 4th and say "this was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals."
At the risk of repeating every played-out phrase of the news media and political pundits, I'm so very proud that our nation has made history this primary season, choosing not just the first black man as its Democratic nominee but also a man that has skyrocketed to the very height of political success in such a short period of time. Think about it: four years ago most Americans had little to no idea who this Barack Obama figure was, and now a great deal of our fellow countrymen have rallied behind his message for hope and change. This has always been, for me, one of Obama's selling-points. He has enough experience and intelligence to get the job done, but not so much that he's fallen into the same tired and stale politics that have stymied our country for as long as I can remember. His clinching of the nomination is so very refreshing, inspiring and, indeed, hopeful that it's hard for me to not jump up and down screaming his name like so many people were last night in St. Paul.
Even though I've felt politically exhausted since oh, I don't know, March, Obama's victory speech completely rejuvenated me and I'm excited to see what happens between now and November. Excited to see how Hillary Clinton might swallow her pride and rally behind a man who shares many of her common goals and ideologies, proving that the Democratic party has not been divided during their epic battle for the nomination. Excited to see an America emerge that can look back on Tuesday, June 4th and say "this was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals."
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