airport security

The 7 Dumbest Things Ever Done by Airport Security
The last time I flew (nearly five months ago), I almost had forty dollars worth of cosmetics taken from me because I didn't care enough to put them in a quart sized plastic bag. "Please, don't! That's from Sephora! It's really expensive." This situation made me realize two things:
1. It's unnecessary to own forty-dollar face lotion at age nineteen, and..
2. The TSA is out of their fucking minds.

global scamming?

UN Blowback: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims
“The [global warming] scaremongering has its justification in the fact that it is something that generates funds.” -Dr. Eduardo Tonni
Amazing.

puff puff puff

I know this is an old topic to talk about, but after not thinking about this for a while, I've been rudely reminded of it. Why is it socially acceptable for people to be outwardly rude to smokers? As I walked down 10th street today, the cross country team or fraternity brothers or some other homogenized group of male college students jogged past me. One of them shouted "smoking is cool!" and I grinned. Acting like an asshole to strangers as you jog by them on the street is cool, too! For the past few years I've recieved more than a few comments like this from strangers, as I'm sure any smoker has. I specifically remember standing outside of a restaraunt once in a designated smoking area and being yelled at by a fourteen-year-old on a homecoming date twenty feet away about how his "date doesn't want to smell like fucking smoke." I understand that people don't like second-hand smoke, and I always try my best to not blow it in their precious eyes. People on the street might complain about passing my smoke for a half-second, but they can walk forever next to cars and buses and trucks without a problem. It seems that in the last few years smokers have become the new "dirty people of society". As a result, non-smokers will naturally feel a heightened sense of superiority . It's the same sense of superiority that some people feel over the 700 lb man on TLC.

But really, what's worse, being a smoker...or being an asshole?

5 songs

As evidence of Stephen's obsessive compulsive behavior rubbing off on me...I've decided to make a list. "5 Songs I Like But You Probably Don't"

1. "Nobody's Child"- ELO
How can you resist the wailing and piano pounding? I can't. This song is melodic and majestic, and I'm pretty sure it has almost made me cry at least once. Actually, the way I feel about this song is the way I feel about Electric Light Orchestra in general...You all roll your eyes while I close mine and am taken away to another planet on the spacecraft pictured below.


2."I'm Eighteen"- Alice Cooper
This was "my song" for the 18th year of my life. Like it, love it, like it, love it, eighteen, eighteen, eighteen and i like it.

3. "Kokomo"- The Beach Boys
Geography is nice and so is the sun.

4. "Gypsy"- Fleetwood Mac
I think I read once that Stevie Nicks was inspired to write this song when her friend died of leukemia.

5."California Waiting"- Kings of Leon
I'm a little bit embarassed to have this song on here. A lot of you might like it, but even more of you make fun of me for liking it. The Kings of Leon are an 8th grade guilty pleasure that I never want to grow out of. Yee haw!

bloated horror

Bloated bodies, snarling faces and deformed figures make up an exhibition by Chinese sculptor Chen Wenling. The collection is on display at the Asia Art Centre in Beijing.

innocence and experience

"Casanova’s first orgasm, Hitler’s famous mustache, Bob Hope’s last jokes: for every thing, there is a season. Herewith a compilation of great moments in precocity, endurance, and procrastination, organized instructively by age."
Innocence and Experience

it's in the bag

A high school in Cedar Lake, Indiana is going to ban students from carrying any sort of bag during the school day. This also includes purses, which apparently can assist in the transport of handguns as well as tampons. Maybe this means cargo pants will be making a comeback for the 2009-2009 school year!

dutch baby

1/3 cup butter (this is a lot)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in 10 inch pan while beating the eggs, milk, and flour until frothy. Remove pan from oven and pour in the batter. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and fruit! Mmmmmmm...

Performance

Last night my boyfriend and I rented "Performance". Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg, it's one of those films you've always heard about but probably never got around to renting. Overall it was certainly worth staying in to watch. It is bizarre, it is clever, and Anita Pallenberg looks amazing.

bigfoot

A policeman and former corrections officer from north Georgia claim to have found and frozen the large, hairy bipedal hominoid known as Bigfoot. The discovery was made in Palo Alto, California, in conjunction with a group called "Searching for Bigfoot Inc". They waited to release their HUGE find on the internet radio show, "Squatch Detective"...because everyone listens to that. DNA tests on the body have begun, and "extensive scientific studies" will be done on the body by scientists, including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist and a paleontologist. Come on, chupacabras! Go suck a ton of goat blood soon. I want to see you guys in the news, too!

XXIX

The Olympics kind of suck, and so does the Chinese government. However, NBC spent $894 million on broadcasting rights, so I had to tune in! What have I learned?

1. Michael Phelps is deformed. He has an abnormally long torso and freakishly short legs. Probably has fins, too. And seriously, who would sleep with a guy who has Olympic rings tattooed on his hip? I wouldn't. I don't care how many gold medals you have.

2. A panda bear that is scratching its feet and eating bamboo is really adorable. This scene was used as the background to a short word from the sponsors during the men's gymnastics high bar competition, which brings me to my next observation...

3. The USA men's gymnastics team refers to one another as "baby".

chicago cabbie alert!

Reports claim that Obama's national trip director Marvin Nicholson left Obama's birthday present- and his suitecase- in a Chicago taxi cab last Sunday night. You'd think a "national trip director" would know to memorize his cab's number- something most of us learned to do when we were fourteen.

"Clues: The cab was yellow, the driver was playing 70's songs."

air questo

Apparently Ahmir Thompson(Questlove) of the Roots has a new sneaker line coming out for Nike & some desperate losers in Philly have been camping out since Saturday morning in hopes of being the first in line. Why are people always waiting in hell lines for things they really don't need? Playstations, iPhones, Jonas brother tickets, and now sneakers.

lollapalooza

Like (more than?) about 80,000 others, I spent my weekend getting sore and crispy at Lollapalooza. Last summer I blew my $190 bucks on a pair of boots that didn't even last until Christmas, so I figured it was time to blow out my eardrums with damage that will last forever. In the end, I'm glad I did. Even though I prefer smaller venues and bands that have been dead for years, it felt great to be surrounded by such an enormous collection of fresh acts. But really, the most fun I had all weekend was spent sitting in the shade with my painfully handsome boyfriend and a drink; something I probably won't be paying nearly $200 for ever again.

on this day

One of the most influential jazz performers of all time, Louis Armstrong, was born on this day in 1901. On this day in 1914, Britain declared war on Germany in World War I. Anne Frank's twenty-five months of seclusion ended with the arrival of the Nazi Gestapo on this day in 1944.

BUT WHO CARES, RIGHT? People magazine just realeased the first images of Angelina Jolie's twin girls!

trends in trade

A TOUCH OF CRASH

Women's fashion and incessant worry over the plummeting stock market. Pretty much my life.

'Ich bin ein Berliner

Earlier today while Barack Obama gave his "We are the World" speech before a sea of nearly 200,000 Germans in Berlin, John McCain ate cream puffs at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

banksy

He has depicted Queen Elizabeth II as a chimpanzee, tagged the West Bank border fence, and even sneaked his own Mona Lisa into the Louvre. Twenty years of work has caused Banksy to become a household name in the world of street art - all the while preserving his anonymity. Unfortunately, the on-going game of intrigue seems to be over. A photograph taken in 2004- including photographer Peter Dean Rickards- supposedly reveals Banksy as Robin Gunningham, a 34-year-old Bristol, England native. His elusiveness added to the themes of social injustice and hierarchies of power, which were a focal point in his art. Personally, I'm a little pissed that the mystery seems to be solved for good this time. Part of me is hoping this is just another "false" Banksy, but if not, then congratulations Robin Gunningham for climbing the bright shiny ladder of commercial success without a first or last name.

fur is dead

el topo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPnZ4_OFNmg&feature=related

I've realized recently that I have a growing interest in things (art, buildings, clothing, etc) that are aesthetically "bizarre". In addition to "El Topo", I'd really like to see "The Holy Mountain". Both are eccentric, groteqsue, and directed by Alexandro Jodorowsky.

ben weiner

About a month ago, a friend sent me a link to artist Ben Weiner and I immediately fell in love. He creates hyperrealistic oil paintings of close-up real life environments. His work is on exhibit at the Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica, and has been featured in various shows around New York City. http://www.benweiner.com/