Joy and Pain

wow. the song, the two disparate tableaus of human emotion. it's almost TOO perfect.

are we sure this isn't some elaborate form of performance art?




from Max Silvestri Tumbles This Inside You:

aaronmeyers:

Yesterday while seeing some of the Siren Festival at Coney Island, we detoured to Beer Island for some drinks. At the table right next to us, this couple was having the most intense fight for the entire hour and a half we were there. Meanwhile, this kind of crazy older lady comes in and starts busting all these dance moves (sometimes scandalously involving younger male patrons). Jeff caught this amazing little clip of both things happening. Just to be clear on the context, this is not a little isolated moment… these two things were both happening next to each other for a LONG TIME. Beer Island = awesome.

Champion of My Heart

This is the most amazing song ever recorded. Adding to its potency is that, according to legend, a California rapper named Richie Cunning recorded this as a joke, sent it to his friends and the rest is history.



We may never know the true origin of this masterpiece, but its performer is channeling some SERIOUS 80s Michael McDonald... which I love.

Lyrics to "Champion of My Heart":
transcribed by me for what I believe is the first time on TEH INTERWEBZ!

1. 2. 1. 2. 3. AGGGH!

When the darkness closes in
and the animals run for shelter,
a bird still sings for you.
When you think you've lost it all,
'cause the other guy knows karate
and you don't know what to do.


How will you know? (How will you know?)
How will you know? (How will you know?)
That your punch is filled with fury and your kick is f*ck*ng lethal?
Will you be strong? (Will you be strong?)
Will you be strong? (Will you be strong?)
Will you wave your flag of glory? As the lightning strikes the steeple?


OOOH!
You're the champion of my heart! You're the champion of my heart!
Cast away the shadows and brace yourself for battle!
'Cause you're the champion of my heart! You're the champion of my heart!
There's only room for one on top. You had the world and you threw it all away.


1. 2. COME ON!


When the enemy swords are drawn
and the prophecy has come to pass
that you are the chosen one.
When your heart begins to flutter
like the delicate wings of the hummingbird
and there's no where left to run! Run! RUN!


How will you know? (How will you know?)
How will you know? (How will you know?)
That you were born a warrior! And warriors don't surrender!
Will you be strong? (Will you be strong?)
Will you be strong? (Will you be strong?)
When the moonlight falls upon your face! I want you to remember.


That you're the champion of my heart! You're the champion of my heart!
Cast away the shadows and brace yourself for battle
'Cause you're the champion of my heart! You're the champion of my heart!
There's only room for one on top. You had the world and you threw it all away.


Then the fire burns within.
Your battle cry echoes through the night
And you write your own final chapter.
And so you call upon the gods
and the deity appears before your eyes
and he passes you the scepter! Scepter! SCEPTER!



How will you know? (How will you know?)
How will you know? (How will you know?)
That you've always been a legend! You just have to believe!
Will you be strong? (Will you be strong?)
Will you be strong? (Will you be strong?)
Will you fulfill that which is destined? Will you fight your way to victory????


OOOOH!
You're the champion of my heart! You're the champion of my heart!
Cast away the shadows and brace yourself for battle
'Cause you're the champion of my heart! The M*TH*RF*CK*NG champion of my heart!
There's only room for one on top. You had the world and you threw it all away.

This is a fanmade video - the people in the video aren't the people singing.

Next to The Darkness' I Believe in a Thing Called Love, I don't think there's a better song in the world.

via VIDEOGUM (the best site ever).

Black/African-American Literary Fiction

I've been writing lately. And, as always, reading.

My literary blog has existed since March and I'm thrilled to have won places on the blogrolls of several prominent literary bloggers (seems inconsequential and terribly meta, but I figure it's got to be worth something).

What's been plaguing me is this: I'm young; I'm a woman; I'm Black; I'm a writer of what I hope will be considered by those whose opinions I value, literary fiction. Assuming I ever write anything I (and eventually a publisher) deem(s) worthy of public consumption, is there a market for what my work will be?

Black Literary Fiction!

A Google search of the exclamatory term above hasn't inspired much confidence. My most relevant results are aggregated below for anyone who's interested.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/books/review/Southgate-t.html

http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/blog/703071

http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/tags/literary-fiction

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Young-Black-Literary-Fiction/lm/2NYLTOJYFJP0L

http://www.boldaslove.us/2008/02/excellence-and.html

http://www.theroot.com/views/break-street-lit-habit

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203517304574304274003899240.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

http://inknoire5point0.com/2007/03/17/new-black-literary-forum/

http://reviews.aalbc.com/rspns_their_eyes_were_reading_smut.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/opinion/04chiles.html

http://callaloo.tamu.edu/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6706212

http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_11743549?source=commented-

http://cherrylfloyd-miller.blogspot.com/2007/07/out-on-bohemian-limb-alas-there-is-name.html

http://studiowmuyumba.blogspot.com/2006/04/no-name-in-street.html

http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/archives/2006/09/you_said_it_not.html

http://www.amazon.com/tag/african-american%20fiction/forum?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx18XVRE23GCRU2&cdPage=1&cdThread=Tx5JS1FN4KX7VZ&cdShowEdit=Mx15BEB930NSVLQ

It's presumptuous to consider marketing at this point, but practical - if only because I worked in marketing, promotions, and public relations for the first three years of my adult life and until earlier this year - but mainly because I want my writing to eventually be my livelihood.

Next year, I'll be making a project of reading (solely???) Black Literary Fiction. I'd start this year, but I've an extensive reading list through which to first plow.

Mad Men Season 3 photos!!!

I CANNOT WAIT FOR MAD MEN SEASON 3!!! It's going to be awesome.

Rampant, institutionalized racism and sexism aside, I was clearly born in the wrong decade. I love (and have posted about) standards/traditional pop, Mad Men (1,2,3), vintage dresses, and literature of the 40s-early 60s (rereading Revolutionary Road AGAIN).

August 16th on AMC, everyone!

Until then, check out these Season 3 promo photos (via Jezebel):

Favorite Recut Trailers

There are some real editing wizards out there on YouTube. Here are some of my favorite recut trailers:


The Progenitor of all recut trailers, Scary Mary:




Home Alone - The Thriller:





Mrs. Doubtfire - Suspense Thriller:





The Ring - a tearjerker:




National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - action thriller:




There's Something About Mary:





Royal Tenenbaums - thriller:

Brandon Johnson - Day 1

Brandon Johnson is my new favorite person. Every day, I will post something related to this hilarious man of many talents, and infinitely more voices.

Brandon Johnson's oeuvre is bound by no terrestrial limits, as will be proved to all 3 readers of my blog in the coming days.

You may not understand why I'm saying this yet, but YOU'RE WELCOME.



Be forewarned: "every day" will probably only persist for 4 or 5 days.

Best. Commercial. Ever.

seriously, who doesn't want ice cream and cake right now?
and a dance afterwards to burn off the calories?

bird season's over, butt-horn!

Gotta love Gary Busey.

Stupid Olay Regenerist Commercial!

Holy red herring, Batman!

I can't stand this Olay Regenerist commercial. According to the product's website, Regenerist was formulated as an ANTI-AGING TREATMENT, not a superior moisturizer. What bothers me is not that the moisturizing properties of the product are mentioned as a selling point, but that Olay chose to only highlight these properties as if they were Regenerist's sole purpose.

From Olay Regenerist's website:

Olay Regenerist beautifully regenerates skin's appearance, renewing its outer layer one cell at a time.

You don't want to take drastic measures like a chemical peel.* With Regenerist, immediate and long-term significant continuing effects can be achieved at home. Formulated with the exclusive Olay Amino-Peptide Complex, Regenerist combines a specific pentapeptide, Pal-KTTKS, with other proven anti-aging ingredients (vitamin B3, vitamin E, pro-vitamin B5, green tea extract, and allantoin).

This unique complex helps to regenerate skin's appearance without compromising skin's moisture barrier. It renews skin's outer layer, helps skin appearance regenerate quickly and strengthens skin's moisture barrier.

The result is skin that looks, feels, and behaves more like new skin.

Why compare how well your product moisturizes against other anti-aging creams? Why not mention, AT ALL, how well your product prevents and reduces the appearance of wrinkles?

I don't have wrinkles, and probably won't for a few decades, BUT STILL....

Wag of the finger to you, Olay.

Henry Louis Gates' Mugshot

Long story short - Henry Louis Gates (Harvard Professor of African-American Studies) got locked out of his house. He and a friend (another Black man) had to break in. A neighbor called the police. The police showed up once Gates was already in his home, asked for ID, which Gates produced, along with his Harvard teaching ID, yet Gates was still arrested.

Gates accused the officer of racism (I can't say whether the cop was racist or not) and was jailed for several hours - only to have the charges today dropped.

I say all that to say this: I need this mugshot on a tee, like, yesterday.

In all seriousness, though, I respect and admire Gates. I've seen him speak, have a few of his books, signed, and think this was a HORRIBLE situation - and tricky when it comes to race politics.

check out my signed copy of "thirteen ways of looking at a black man" - droppin' straight exclusives!

Maybe I'm just really sensitive right now because I just watched "Prom Night in Mississippi" last night, and last week "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus" (which was amazing and has inspired me to read some Harry Crews), but I hope this incident doesn't become fodder for hyper-polemic and divisive political bantering over the next few news cycles.

Funniest line from the police report:

I again told Gates that I would speak with him outside. His reply was "ya, I'll speak with your mama outside."

Love it. I want that on the tee too.

Fake Moustache Hookup

now you guys didn't hear about this connect from me. and don't tell anyone, because i don't need the fedz all up in my operation.

Stella
Fake Moustaches
www.comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

don't say i never put u fools up on anything.

Oversharing on the interwebz (lessons from lincoln!)

we all need *do you REALLY want to post this?* buttons on twitter, tumblr, blogger, facebook, etc.

I often find myself writing long, heartfelt or, conversely, bitter, pithy posts or statuses - and thinking, moments later - CRAP, I shouldn't have posted that on THE WORLD WIDE WEB!

Our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, can advise this predicament of the 21st century, the technological age. I read Lincoln on Leadership about 5 years ago and have never forgotten the passage about his writing venomous letters and never signing or mailing them.

i'm hiding behind this book!!!

The Huffington Post's Dan Quigg wrote about the oversharing phenomenon and how Lincoln would have handled our modern conundrum:

So why do I say we needed Lincoln? Let's turn to Doris Kearns Goodwin, the historian and author who tends to get treated as the Lincoln administration's de facto press secretary. Here is Goodwin discussing Lincoln's Twitter use -- sort of -- during an interview with NPR's Fresh Air: "When he was upset with somebody, he would write what he called a 'hot letter,' where he would write it all down. He would put it aside until his emotions cooled down and then write 'never sent, never signed.'"

So, instead of venting via my blog, or writing passive-aggressive tweets, I'll take a lesson from Lincoln and write something BY HAND, far far away from THE INTERWEBZ to get the feelings out of my system.

Bookshelf Upgrade

Here's what my bookshelf looks like now:

and here are the Carl Kleiner/FC United bookshelves i have in my imaginary life (in this fantasy world i also own all of The Great Books):

in my literary utopia, i have this staircase, as well (though I would worry too much about kicking the book spines!!!):

the view from above:

SOUR '日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro)' - THE COOLEST VIDEO YOU'LL EVER SEE!

From the youtube description:

This music video was shot for Sour's 'Hibi no Neiro' (Tone of everyday) from their first mini album 'Water Flavor EP'. The cast were selected from the actual Sour fan base, from many countries around the world. Each person and scene was filmed purely via webcam.
Director: Masashi Kawamura + Hal Kirkland + Magico Nakamura + Masayoshi Nakamura
SOUR official site: http://sour-web.com
2009 Zealot Co.,ltd / Neutral Nine Records

From weloveyouso.com:

The amount of pre-planning and choreography by the directors Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura and Masayoshi Nakamura remotely from the other side of the world is of Michel Gondry level complexity.

Ryan Reynolds as The Green Lantern???

Wait!!!!

Didn't Ryan Reynolds JUST play Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine?????

He's double dipping in Marvel AND DC characters???

How quickly we forget. Halle Berry played both DC's Catwoman and Marvel's Storm.

There you have it, people.

And didn't he play Hannibal King in Marvel's Blade Trinity????
I love Ryan Reynolds, but when it comes to comic book movies, at least, Hollywood's pool of actors seems to be very shallow.

Vulture Realty - 2011

Vulture Realty: "2011" from steamclam on Vimeo.

Vulture Realty
Myspace, Website, Eric Lodwick's Website, Facebook, Muxtape,

and let's just stop and talk about Vulture Realty's Eric (sometimes Lyle?) Lodwick.
21, model, musician, Capricorn.











Eric's older brother, Jakob, founded Vimeo, Busted Tees, and is an investor in Tumblr, Muxtape, etc. Talented(, good looking) family.

Beer Pong Kit by Walgreens

sooooooo, a Walgreens in Wisconsin's University Square grouped these items together in the display below: ping pong balls, plastic cups, folding tables.

Nowhere on the display was beer pong mentioned, but I think everyone knows what going on here.

HA!

story.

OMGDARIAISCOMINGOUTONDVD!!!

OMG!

According to Jezebel, Daria will be released on DVD in 2010. If you read this blog, you know I LOOOOVE Daria - so this is amazing news.

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day error

maybe the folks at merriam-webster are drunk with holiday patriotism, because this is the first error i've noticed in the word of the day service since i subscribed YEARS ago:

awesome.
merriam-webster should invigilate the word of the day phonetic spellings more closely lest the pronunciation of words be misconstrued.

=)

THE LEDGE!

I'm going. Looks awesome:



From Huffington Post:

The balconies are suspended 1,353 feet in the air and jut out four feet from the [Sear's Tower]'s 103rd floor Skydeck. They're actually more like boxes than balconies, with transparent walls, floor and ceiling.

Visitors are treated to unobstructed views of Chicago from the building's west side and a heart-stopping vista of the street and Chicago River below - for those brave enough to look straight down.

photo from Gawker

photo from ChicagoBreakingNews