Song: Nobody Does It Better

Nobody Does It Better
I've collected a few renditions of this song, and each one is different in it's own right.
Download to listen and make your own opinion.

--> Carly Simon
--> 8mm
--> Aimee Mann
--> Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
--> Travis

I used this cool website called DivShare to upload the files, so downloading them from here shouldn't be too hard for yous.

Song: Bubbly

A little thing I think is just swell:
The new song "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat.

The lyrics are trite, the video is remarkably similar to anything Sheryl Crow has ever done, the sunshine branding is so forced that liking this song will make you feel shamefully unoriginal.

However.
HOWever. I don't think that truths like those should ultimately determine whether you should dislike or disregard a song. I'm just not that kind of girl. Music is music, baby.

As a (pop) song, "Bubbly" is beautiful. Perfect, really. The chords are lullaby-esque. The chorus is memorable. So sweet, so simple, so easy to sing, so easy to play on the guitar yourself. It's classic, it's tender, it's lovely. An instant top ten on the radios.

Who said sunshine is so bad anyway?

Watch the video: here

Fashion: Shoes

Silver shoes with teal trim
Dillard’s.


Orig. $79.00
Now $19.75











Mary Jane Beige Pumps
$19.99
Target

TV: The Office

"Hey I like you… what's not to like? But you need to access your uncrazy side."

Life: 32

When I turned 6 my mom threw yet another birthday party for me in the backyard of our house. She put a lot of planning into those parties. In the same the vain that we never wore plastic, store-bought Halloween costumes (except one year, when she caved, and let me buy a Strawberry Shortcake costume which included a plastic bonnet and apron that I coveted for years), our birthdays were always very home-grown and creative.

So when I turned 6, she wrote a full-length story about a princess who had lost her name, so she had to go through a series of adventures to find it again. Any time we reached a new climax in the story, an activity would be presented and we would have to "reenact" the princess's tale. One turn of events found the princess in a "Carrot Forest". My mother set up the big drying rack (normally used for laundry) across the lawn and hung big orange carrots from strings across the length of the rack. All the kids walked underneath the carrots and we had to "eat our way through the forest". I still remember this and how beautiful it was to be underneath all of those carrots glistening like gold in the backyard sun.

Yesterday I turned 32. Things have changed, and things have stayed the same. My sister met me for dinner on 98th street at Hunan Balcony. Before we moved to the big house with the backyard, we used to live on 98th street in a little one-bedroom apartment that was originally my father's bachelor pad. When my mom moved in, and after I was born, they converted his darkroom into a bedroom for me. Then my sister was born and my earliest memory is when we were all gathered in the living room of that apartment, talking about the new baby.

Two years in a row now my sister and I have met at that same Chinese restaurant for dinner on my birthday, underneath our old apartment. Before the city was a place to meet friends, it was a place where our parents would take us out out to dinner for a fun family night. We always went back to Hunan Balcony, even after we had moved out of the city, and always ordered the same dishes, happily.

Last night my sister and I recreated those dinners. But now it was me at 32, she at 29. After our meal, as we lamented our shitty fortune cookies, my mom suddenly walked into the restaurant to surprise me. She had a huge bouquet of birthday flowers and a big smile on her face. We three women ended our evening sharing laughs across the table, overlooking a busy Broadway street in a neighborhood that my mother insists is not like it used to be.

Life changes, families move, people age, names disappear. But chicken with snow peas will always taste the same.

Movie: Into The Wild

I don't really know how to write about this film. But Into The Wild is the kind of movie that lights a fire inside of you and takes a long time to extinguish.

I tend to like movies where people chuck it all. I like stories about giving it all up, tossing it in the back seat, and running with it. Emile Hirsch plays Christopher McCandless, a 23-year old young man with a passion for life and a quest to live it to the fullest. How trite that must sound, but how hard that is to actually accomplish.

I really don't know what to say. I loved this movie. I'm captivated by this true story. I'm vibrating still from the power of it. I'll never forget it and I'll continue to think about what I think about it.

I know a lot of the critiques, I know the naysayers. I don't really care about them. Who cares. It's a great film that is told in such a way that it gets under your skin, and stays there for a long time.

There are a lot of articles written about this movie now. I recommend this one: Emile Hirsch Walks Into The Wild. It talks about the unique process of making this film and what Sean Penn (the director) was going for.

News: A Mock Columnist, Amok

A Mock Columnist, Amok

By MAUREEN DOWD

I was in my office, writing a column on the injustice of relative marginal tax rates for hedge fund managers, when I saw Stephen Colbert on TV.

He was sneering that Times columns make good “kindling.” He was ranting that after you throw away the paper, “it takes over a hundred years for the lies to biodegrade.” He was observing, approvingly, that “Dick Cheney’s fondest pipe dream is driving a bulldozer into The New York Times while drinking crude oil out of Keith Olbermann’s skull.”

I called Colbert with a dare: if he thought it was so easy to be a Times Op-Ed pundit, he should try it. He came right over. In a moment of weakness, I had staged a coup d’moi. I just hope he leaves at some point. He’s typing and drinking and threatening to “shave Paul Krugman with a broken bottle.”

I Am an Op-Ed Columnist (And So Can You!)

By STEPHEN COLBERT

Surprised to see my byline here, aren’t you? I would be too, if I read The New York Times. But I don’t. So I’ll just have to take your word that this was published. Frankly, I prefer emoticons to the written word, and if you disagree :(

I’d like to thank Maureen Dowd for permitting/begging me to write her column today. As I type this, she’s watching from an overstuffed divan, petting her prize Abyssinian and sipping a Dirty Cosmotinijito. Which reminds me: Before I get started, I have to take care of one other bit of business:

Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay.

There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too.

So why I am writing Miss Dowd’s column today? Simple. Because I believe the 2008 election, unlike all previous elections, is important. And a lot of Americans feel confused about the current crop of presidential candidates.

For instance, Hillary Clinton. I can’t remember if I’m supposed to be scared of her so Democrats will think they should nominate her when she’s actually easy to beat, or if I’m supposed to be scared of her because she’s legitimately scary.

Or Rudy Giuliani. I can’t remember if I’m supposed to support him because he’s the one who can beat Hillary if she gets nominated, or if I’m supposed to support him because he’s legitimately scary.

And Fred Thompson. In my opinion “Law & Order” never sufficiently explained why the Manhattan D.A. had an accent like an Appalachian catfish wrestler.

Well, suddenly an option is looming on the horizon. And I don’t mean Al Gore (though he’s a world-class loomer). First of all, I don’t think Nobel Prizes should go to people I was seated next to at the Emmys. Second, winning the Nobel Prize does not automatically qualify you to be commander in chief. I think George Bush has proved definitively that to be president, you don’t need to care about science, literature or peace.

While my hat is not presently in the ring, I should also point out that it is not on my head. So where’s that hat? (Hint: John McCain was seen passing one at a gas station to fuel up the Straight Talk Express.)

Others point to my new bestseller, “I Am America (And So Can You!)” noting that many candidates test the waters with a book first. Just look at Barack Obama, John Edwards or O. J. Simpson.

Look at the moral guidance I offer. On faith: “After Jesus was born, the Old Testament basically became a way for Bible publishers to keep their word count up.” On gender: “The sooner we accept the basic differences between men and women, the sooner we can stop arguing about it and start having sex.” On race: “While skin and race are often synonymous, skin cleansing is good, race cleansing is bad.” On the elderly: “They look like lizards.”

Our nation is at a Fork in the Road. Some say we should go Left; some say go Right. I say, “Doesn’t this thing have a reverse gear?” Let’s back this country up to a time before there were forks in the road — or even roads. Or forks, for that matter. I want to return to a simpler America where we ate our meat off the end of a sharpened stick.

Let me regurgitate: I know why you want me to run, and I hear your clamor. I share Americans’ nostalgia for an era when you not only could tell a man by the cut of his jib, but the jib industry hadn’t yet fled to Guangdong. And I don’t intend to tease you for weeks the way Newt Gingrich did, saying that if his supporters raised $30 million, he would run for president. I would run for 15 million. Cash.

Nevertheless, I am not ready to announce yet — even though it’s clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative.

What do I offer? Hope for the common man. Because I am not the Anointed or the Inevitable. I am just an Average Joe like you — if you have a TV show.

October 14th, 2007
The New York Times

Product: Hoodie

Practice Hoodie
The Practice Series is your old-school college sweatsuit with new feminine detailing and added stretch for uninhibited motion.

Made from cotton fleece with a soft, brushed inner, these semi-fitted pieces all feature rib trim.

The Practice Hoodie has a cinch hood, ¾ sleeves front kangaroo pockets, a full front zip, tonal floral print at front, and striped taping inside hood and cuffs.

Sold at Athleta for $69
And I want it.

Product: Earrings

Can you believe these earrings? Aren't they darling?

They are made from sterling silver, cotton, and glass. Tell me, when was the last time you owned a piece of jewelery that contained all of those materials?

I saw them online at the Anthropologie store. I so fell in love with that store when I walked in it for the first time this summer. It's a wonderful, wonderful store. Such beautiful fashion. Such unfordable prices.

These puppies are $68.
That's 6 thousand 8 hundred pennies. Start saving ladies.

Zoom in on them here.

Video: 2 Hearts

I wonder what it feels like to be immortalized.

Although, actually, I guess that statement is an oxymoron.

Video: Clumsy

Say what you will about pop music, but I think this is one of the most creative music videos I've seen in a long time.

Video: SNL digital short - Iran