dirty thirty!

this is my 30th blog post.

i'm snowed into my house. there was basically a tornado this morning that tore through maylong drive and woke me up at around 630. Now flakes are calmly drifting outside. I'm doing laundry and plan on wrapping myself in toasty cloth.

On days I don't go to the gym I want to punch things, kick, or shout.

La mia vita é noiosa.

You're the man now, dog!

The New York Times blew its load all over my laptop this morning, in the form of a glowing (and that's putting it lightly) review of "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days." And that is fine, don't get me wrong. "4 Months..." just might be The Romanian Classic, and quite frankly it sparked my interest enough to watch the trailer and cross my fingers that the film would make it to the slums of Rochester NY. Maybe?

But here's what got me about the whole thing:

"You may already have heard something about “4 Months,” which was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year, only to be shut out from Academy Award consideration a few weeks ago by the philistines who select the foreign-language nominees. The Oscars are absurd, yet they can help a microscopically budgeted foreign-language film find a supportive audience."

True as that may be, it was written in the fucking NEW YORK TIMES. The NYT claims to be all highbrow and intellectual, but come on. It's published by the Sulzberger family, something that is somewhat of a machine, publishing the god damned paper in some form since 1896 — how much culture and intellectualism and diversity does that really foster? The company is just recently trying to buy out the Boston and NY metros, FREE DAILIES. You advertise and basically whore yourself out to Mark Zuckerberg — it doesn't get much more philistine than that. Having money and power does not make you the intellectual and underground beacon of hope — it makes you the man. But let's let those park slope mommies believe they're being subversive by watching a movie on abortion and communism, right?

The same thing happens with the Village Voice, and plenty of other magazines and papers. They act all intellectual, even self indulgent, better than their audience in a sense, and yet are owned and operated by huge corporate machines, the likes of which run on the low brow tastes that they scorn.

So think about that next time you want to call the Oscars out, NYT. Because there are just as many stupid things you do, and daily.

Snap 2 0

This came from the BBC's day in photos. "Children have been learning how to make radish dim sum in the shape of a mouse to celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year in Hong Kong." I just wish I could dress up like a cat and make radish dim sum. Instead of slum around this house reading books.

black stretch pants

I had a job interview today! With an IT consulting company. Considering I find this really funny, and am honestly surprised I didn't do this before Cracked, I think I was pretty well qualified for the job.

In any event, I got dressed, which was invigorating, and met her at a Tim Horton's on Ridgeway Ave. Here's something they never tell you when you're a bright-eyed college freshman, drinking whatever you can get your grubby little hands on, flirting with who ever seems attractive at the time, smoking hookah outside on the quad on a sunny day. They never tell you that one day in the not-so-distant future, you'll be sitting in a Tim Horton's on Ridgeway Avenue, wearing trousers and heels, drinking hot chocolate and staring down at your resume, letting your eyes wander to the teenagers eating breakfast sandwiches next to you. No one prepares you for that moment. And what was my choice of action as the woman walked in and said, "Aw, I wish you'd have let me buy you a cup of coffee!" ? I blurted out that, "Yeahh, this is weird, but I quit coffee in October. Cold turkey. I switched to tea instead." (polite laugh from woman). "So this is hot chocolate. Anyway, I brag about it to anyone who will listen. Including you. It's a feat, to give up coffee."

This is how I kick off my interviews. She was really nice, and the company and job seemed like a great opportunity. For someone inclined to enter the business world. I don't have anything really against a corporate job, and since watching The Office, who wouldn't hope to find a suit-wearing, grinning, sarcastic guy like Jim Halpert? But they asked for a commitment, which I couldn't give, because I am crazy and would like to move sometime within the year. To Colorado for school or to New York to be poor. One of the two. WHo wants a stable, well-paying job when you can be a mentally ill fact-checker or gallery worker, or a hopelessly penniless graduate student, looking for people to discuss Foucault and Facebook?

Anyway, I have to get back to my blogs. Clearly, as soon as I got home I changed into my pajamas and roamed the internet. I don't think I'll ever change.

The Truth, or, my personal ad.

Since graduating college, I wake up every morning and go to the RAC for women. I then mostly spend my days eating orange foods (oranges, carrots and goldfish). I also drink tea while spending hours on the internet looking for stories I can comment to no one about. I compulsively go on gchat while sending my resume to places I don't especially want to work for. I finish the day by watching something stupid on the t.v. or the office on dvd. i then read and go to sleep, only to wake up and do it over again.

also, I've watched the following video nearly 20 times (thanks, cassie howe):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

if you still want to be my friend, thanks. i dont probably want to be your friend unless you find this kind of lifestyle appealing.

p.s. i laugh at roseanne.

the thing is ...

The thing is I've stopped blogging here cause I'm blogging elsewhere. Sure, it's not paid. But it looks good.

Anyway, I've gone crazy. Today I brushed my teeth in the campus center bathroom. The smelly one. Never in my life did I picture myself as this person. It's just so hard to get up in the morning, and after stretch and coffee ...

Legitimately, though, I've started to go crazy. What with wanting to write my hip hop article (and facing the staunchest of critics!) and figuring out grad school and looking at the GRE (ack!) ... I'm just out of it. I love being stressed out and busy, but at the end of the day it's the same thing. I come home and read, and fall asleep. I feel like an infant. I just need someone to pet my head and rub my back and say "shhh ... go to sleep ... you'll grow up to be whatever you want someday."

The thing is, no one does this. No one does this because people expect us to be able to do it for ourselves. And after 21 years of telling myself "you're brilliant, you can do this, good things come to those who hustle, good things happen if you're a good person ..." It's god damned exhausting.

So, I believe I am going to go home for the weekend for rehabilitation. To have my dad cook for me and buy me a dress for Chris and Ellie's wedding. And to sit in bed and take a practice GRE. gah.

apologies to the chef

HEY! sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I haven't been keeping up with anything. I have been hiking, walking and climbing, which is just as good as the internet, right?

In any event, here's something else I've been doing. MAKING LISTS.

I haven't been able to write lately. I've been thinking, but mostly scattered thoughts. So, in an attempt to feel less psychotic, I've taken those thoughts and clumped them together:

"Things I like about myself."
"Things I like about living right now."
"Ways people probably think I'm annoying."
"Places I want to go."
"Options for the next six months."
"Things I want to do in the next six months."
"Things I DON'T want to be when I get old."

Any other good list ideas? Let me know! And I'll get back to posting links / etc soon.

jokes.

This is not a joke. The Beatles' "All You Need is Love" has turned into a commercial for "All You Need is LUVS." Diapers.

I don't know if you need any more information from me. Damn you, Michael Jackson. Even Thriller, The Free Willie Theme, and Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough, do not excuse this.

Good things happen to those who hustle.

I would take him back. I'd never have lost him, though. Damn, I love Pete Doherty.

And then I read this:
"I honestly feel that if I never had sex, I would still feel happy and fulfilled." Which could only be said by a 27 year old virgin. And I suppose, if you don't know what you're missing, you can't miss it. That logic seems kind of boring, though, but that article is reallyyyy something.

On a side note, today's my last day in New York. i'll miss it more than i ever expected. Been reading a lot of Anais Nin, lately, too. At lulls in the day. Clearly, this is not a good practice for those apt to strong location bonding.

big baby jesus.

the future of hip hop is white people. in cargo shorts. who bought wu-tang albums to feel cool way back when. and probably like to go off on how great phish is, too.

I personally suggest everyone read Miles Davis's autobiography. He talks about the same thing happening to jazz ... suddenly, when white people buy it, it becomes legit. The thing is, all that stuff was cool back in the 90s. Just everyone had their heads up their asses. Gentrification of genre.

pinot + piano

I have a lot of things to say today, but I think I'm gonna save them for a little later.

watch dave matthews and tim reynolds, instead, please. What do I think? Glad you asked. I think those lyrics are weak. I think the guitar playing was good, not as mind blowing as it could have been. Tim Reynolds, obviously, is always impressive. But Dave Matthews really needs to step it up. His voice, too. I need that soul, Dave. Give me soul? Where did it go? Maybe I didn't listen hard enough?

Oh and last night I saw Jean Michel Pilc. He was wonderful. Really, it was a sweet show, I couldn't take the smile off of my face. His playing went from "Sesame street" and charlie brown delight to really dark and stormy (does that make sense?). extremes. Just like what you get from living in New York. And I'll credit that thought to my new friend Anthony Ina, who gets MVP for best conversationalist I may know in the city.

santi moix is the man for me.

Stuff and things to fill your TIME (get it, like the magazine? which is where most of this shit came from because they were on a ROLL):

Time magazine thinks BOYS have it rough. I know a handful of feminists who would claw their faces off for that. Also, that opening photo made me feel weird.

Also thinks ... Fat people are contagious. And they're dumb. Seriously.

--I am convinced that it has less to do with fitting in and more to do with obesity's link to the lower income bracket. But what do I know?

Best headline ever. Also -- J.K. Rowling is really just J. Rowling? MIND FREAK!

and speaking of mind freaks ...
Am I gonna be a crazy cat lady? sitting at my window and applying makeup all day? wearing animal print and white gloves? all because I like to get high and watch criss angel on youtube? and laugh and laugh?

And laugh all the way to sant tropez or the french riviera with BONO AND HIS HONEYS?

and lastly, a word of good spirit to all of those who know what it's like to edit. I salute you. Actually, Gary Kamiya salutes you. I just agree with him!

"You must feel so good about yourself to have all these things!"

NYT tells me there's a witch of a girl who's ruining the grammar of privileged American children (I say privileged, because, face it, the NYT wouldn't cover the problem unless it had something to do with the richies. The only time we see anything about the poors and reading is when it's discovered that they're either really stupid and can't pass state tests, or are surprisingly passing those said state tests. but I digress) Considering I don't have a child, this may not seem relevant. But I loved this quote from this little girl:

“My dad doesn’t like the grammar,” said the Bartells’s youngest, Mollie, 9. “And I guess that’s important, because maybe when you grow up and you’re at work and you say, ‘I runned,’ people will get annoyed at you.”

Girl's got a point. I hate people with bad grammar. But I have a sneaking suspicion that a good dose of kiddie lit, even with bad grammar, doesn't hurt. As long as elsewhere, the kid hears the correct usage of the word. No?

The girl said something else funny, too.

“I’m also not allowed to watch R-rated movies, but nobody is these days.”

I love when kids use phrases like "these days." Phrases they no doubt get from their annoying parents who won't let them indulge. Let the kids see boobs! Let the kids hear swears! Cause face it, they're gonna see it anyway.

Side note: the title quote is taken from "La Dolce Musto" this week. Said by Chita Rivera.

fiji water ... better than evian

nobody fucks with zucks.

there's a BIRD in her HAIR!

I'm sick. So sick that I couldn't even really make it out of bed all day. Only to make tea and talk to my best friend on the phone. And my dad. He sent me a text message today, by the way. cute.

Anyway, I missed the documentary on Tom Zé that was playing at the MoMA today. Damn. Tom Zé is Brazilian. He's CRAZY and I love him and I'm bummed about missing it. He's on Luaka Bop, David Byrne's cute little side thing. I never really thought I was cool enough to be a full out Talking Heads, or David Byrne, afficionada. But everything I've heard on that label is great. Including Nouvelle Vague — ridiculous, yes, but good, that too. Luaka Bop has a free podcast, you should check it out.

put your hands up for detroit~!

The Wall Street Journal called out some BRATZ. And I didn't wear a bra to work today (FUN! WOmen's lib!). And for the second time this week, my internship included a bonus cupcake upon reaching the afternoon.

I wish it weren't pretentious to speak italian in an italian restaurant.

pleated shorts.

Take a few minutes to read this article on 'New-Vics' in the New York Oberver. It's a week old, but I just got wise to it now. Sadly.

Okay, so it's a little pretentious to dub a new trend with a catchy little moniker. But Lizzy Ratner made really great, interesting points that kept me talking and conversing with a friend all night. I know plenty of new-vics, but I was especially curious as to WHY they became this way, not just that they exist.

If you have any comments, send them my way. I'm curious.

and enjoy the sunny, pretty day.

peach iced tea. you're gonna hate it.

surely, if the NYT would just hire me already, I'd have been deployed (employed) to write this article.

FYI weekend roundup:
The best cure is less democracy. from the New Yorker, books.

I love Ungawa by San Francisco band, CHOWNASTY. KEXP gave me two songs by the band in the last few weeks, which probably indicates that I'm way behind in my decision that they should be rockin' everyone's faces off!!! (by the time KEXP gives it out, all indie music heads are already turning their noses down at it, all "MAYBE A FEW WEEKS AGO i liked those guys! paw shawwwwww"). Anyboo I think they're mighty fun, maybe you will too?

And, uh, you wouldn't want to miss this. At least not that opening photo.


ONE LAST QUESTION ... does anyone understand this?

swiffer and me and a bottle of pledge make 3

If this is true I will be very sad. I don't care if my friend Clair wrote a long essay criticizing Jane for being anti-femministe. Jane gave my apartment 69 great things about being in your 20's, plus 7 that really suck. RIP :(, my excuses for being a whore.

Last night I got too lazy to see Ben Greenman, so I saw Jerry Stahl in Union Square instead. I liked him mostly because he gave the interviewer, Katherine Lanpher, a hard time. I didn't like her much, she's the kind of woman whose jokes you'd laugh at out of pity. Big smile, well done make up. Short, no fuss, hair. With highlights. She'd make horrible jokes and he'd just look at her like she was a stupid idiot. I laughed out loud numerous times, just at the guy's facial expressions. Ran into him about an hour afterward and thanked him for making me laugh. Didn't buy any of his books, though. Young & poor.

Teddy Thompson played alongside him. He's got the voice of an angel. He's this charming brit, who wore flip flops with a nice suit and had an orange tie. He was cute and his voice could have lulled me all night. If you like old country, you should buy his new CD. I bet you'll love it.

kickin' ass and takin' names.

Two things.

First, check out this thang in the Voice about the re-release of Manhattan. I don't even really know why I read the Voice anymore. Usually it's at the bottom of my list of blogs/sites to read, cause I think it's boring and un-funny. But I liked reading this. For the record, I'm on the side that loves the stylized Manhattan. Actually hanging out here makes me realize it's stylized, but it's fun to dream that once, long ago, it was teeming with Woody Allens, sarcasm, ladies like Diane Keaton (or Mary, or Annie Hall). You know?

And Second, I tried to say in my last post that I don't much care for people who mock the people's republic of Harry Potter. Probably, those people are just lazy. Or out of touch with their inner child.

One thing I will admit to: the possibility that many people view the stuff as kiddie porn. ferreeeaaallzzz. Scroll down on that page to see Harry Potter in leather. With nothing under it. Suspicious, Details. Very suspicious.

bonus opinion: the word ginormous is stupid. And I hope this new change doesn't encourage its use.