Monday Round-Up

Let's just start out right away with those lovely shoes that aren't my size, once again.

• Miu Miu Platforms 99 cents! crazy pattern
• Miu Miu wedges $9.99 pretty sleek.

A few interesting links to peruse this week:

• The Sad Fate of the Comma
  
• "Facebookers are strivers" (Newsweek)
• The Night Ryan Met Elton

Funny weird VH1 Classic-trying-to-make-a-music-video-of-a-song-that-never-had-one of the Day!

• http://youtube.com/watch?v=LmWRjjpBlWw

NOTE: new calendar on the right!

Congressional Checkerboard Bludgeon

Oh, how those spam subject lines get more interesting everyday!

To start off this post how I ended the previous post, following are a few eBay items that I highly recommend. While last time they were not my size, this time they are just above my I-have-no-money-but-I-buy-things-anyways limit of 25 dollars. These Miu Miu pumps are kinda crazy, exactly how I like them. I have had a pair of these in my "My eBay" for a least a year, but every pair I put in there gets too expensive. Perhaps not for you. The Marni ones fail in the size category as well as the price category (although just by one dollar, I am a stickler to my rule or I would be broke). They are really quite fab, however, with that trusty black, gray, and white combination.

Yesterday, I attended the last Indie 103.1-presented "Also I Like to Rock" events at the Hammer Museum featuring Sea Wolf and Midnight Movies. While I've been to MOCA's Nightvision and LACMA's night events (with a title I can't remember) and Getty's Fridays off the 405, even Hammer's own Hammer Bash!es, I had never been to one of these before. Not much difference, except that the overall hipster quota was more than met--to an obnoxious extent, actually. We had all ages represented here, too. The whore-y 13yr-olds in their leggings tucked into cowboy boots with American Apparel lamé (isn't it great how if you type that without the accent it's just lame; really quite a revealing fact, I say) leotards underneath some horrible empire-waisted tunic, the summer-before-college-just-graduated-high-school "I-am-so-awesome" boys with their skinny jeans, the mid20s-mid30s alcoholic folks with posses, and the old men sort-of-dancing and just looking creepy. Going to the events which I do, I have come to expect such ideas of cool. This just had so much of it that I was overwhelmed.

OK, now that I have finished ranting, y'all really should check out Sea Wolf. I started mentioning him to my friends around June of 2006 after I saw him open for Seu Jorge (weird pairing) at the El Rey. While most of the crowd was bored, and I was admittedly a little myself at first (although probably just not in the mood to have anything get in the way of Jorge's Brazilian excitement), I ended up really enjoying their set. Especially the songs "Middle Distance Runner" and "Black Dirt." But when I got home and looked them up, there was barely any info anywhere. Then suddenly a few months later, they were everywhere. Now they are signed to Dangerbird Records and being touted by indie tastemakers everywhere! crazy. And it seems that most of the people at the Hammer last night were there to see Sea Wolf and not the, at-this-point stalwarts, Midnight Movies. Too bad they didn't perform either Middle Distance Runner or Black Dirt. (Correction, he did play Black Dirt.)

Check out the post I wrote about the Alex Church & co. at the UCLAradio.com blog back in August of last year to hear their single, "You're a Wolf." The EP Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low is out now, first full length out in September.

Download: The Garden That You Planted (mp3)

and you know what? arrivederci

The title of this post comes courtesy of ex-Making The Band choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson, except she said "arrivedirtchi" and quite intensely. Too bad this was used to one of the contestants and not to Diddy three televisionminutes later.

On another TV note, I finally finished watching the 22 Sundance-provided hours of Live Earth last night. Which means, I finished about 3 hours of Live Earth last night and a tremendous long time of fast-forwarding. A few observations:

1. John Mayer needs to button his shirt, thanks.
2. Hologram (or whatever) Gore is creepy.
3. Crowded House song about taking the weather with you is quite lovely.
4. "Hey You" at the end of every commercial break was super excessive. Now I hate the song, whereas previously I only disliked it.
   
5. Madonna is awesome. Her keyboardist was really cute. But, why was she playing the guitar during Ray of Light? Totally ruined it. And it's her best song!
6. La Isla Bonita was awesome. Kudos. yes, I am a gazillion days behind on this one.

Side TV note, Brendan Benson's "What I'm Looking For" in Sears commercial, applied to kitchen cabinetry. hmmm.

And now for the problem of the day: Every time I get my teeth cleaned, I receive a nice little free bottle of Listerine. Now, I love mouth wash so this is always quite exciting. Customarily, I am given a 3 fl oz glass container of CoolMint Antiseptic Listerine which claims to kill "germs that cause Bad Breath, Plaque & the gum disease Gingivitis." First, do many people really need the description before Gingivitis? Second, note the gkla-esque capitalization. These are such convenient little bottles that usually I save them for trips and such and, instead, use the huge 2.1 liter bottles I get from Costco. Yesterday, upon finishing the citrus flavored huge bottle, I notice it expired in 2006. GREAT.

Anyways, this brings us to the crux of the matter. Last time I was at the dentist, they give me a 8.5 fl oz plastic bottle of Listerine Tooth Defense Anticavity Flouride Rinse. "For me?!" I asked shyly. While it was no glass jar, how nice of them to give me such a present. I used it for the first time last night. It tasted quite different, but pretty good. This morning, I pondered the different taste and decided to read the fine print beneath the "peel here" label. In bold, This product is not intended to help prevent or reduce plaque and gingivitis. What? I don't understand. Why am I using this mouth wash then? Well, I guess the fluoride is good for my weak, cavity-loving teeth. But, I don't want no gingivitis. What to do, what to do?

Also, radiating pain from the back of my jaw on each side. I think it may be time to remove those wisdom teeth. Boo.

And now for a few things I want but are not in my size, so you who fits them should buy instead. Just thank me for the guidance! ;-)

• bee-you-tea-ful (and only $11.04) Marc Jacobs shoes
• fancy fancy satin Miu Miu stunners $9.99!
  

tasty, tasty

Yo folks,

I'm back to give you a run-down of what I deem fantastic at each of the following restaurants. I guarantee it (if, of course, you have the same tastes as me, which you should)!

Damon and Pythias - Portabella Caprese Sandwich Portabella Mushrooms on Grilled Foccacia Bread with Roasted Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Fresh Basil and Mixed Baby Greens.

Novel Cafe - Chinese Chicken Salad. not your average chinese chicken sald. In fact, the only resemblence to the usual one is the mandarin oranges; oh, and the chicken. Otherwise, a world apart and delicious!

Soliel - Chicken Crepe. AMAZING, seriously. The crepe is a beautiful thing in general, and this one specifically has a fantastic light cream sauce with tons of mushrooms. Plus it comes with a scrumptious salad and superb skinny skinny fries.

California Chicken Cafe - Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Vinagrette Dressing. Oh man, what a salad. Just go taste it as soon as possible.

California Fresh - Grilled Chicken Combo/ Pizza. This place is full of great deals. A large pizza is 7 dollars. The Grilled Chicken combo comes with two sides. I always choose grilled vegetables and humus and pita. They are on Westwood and La Grange, a bit south of the village.

Sprazzo - Pappardelle Quattro Funghi. Wide egg pasta with shitake, oyster, porcini, and champignon mushrooms in a light wine sauce.

Nizam -7.99 All You Can Eat Lunch Buffett. tastttttty food. especially the Chicken Makhni, Samosas, Mango, and Naan.

La Serenata - Crispy Chicken Tacos. with some odd but awesome rice and tomatillo sauce.

Gyu Kaku - Chicken Tare, Original Bibimba. Japanese food Korean style. "a yakiniku dining experience"

Okay, go try all of that! Report back your opinions.

there's a particular alley

I am just finishing up an essay about castrated boys in Italy singing opera in the 18th century. So exciting, right? Too bad I am really not interested and definitely disgusted. Right now I am listening to bossa nova and jazz greats like Joao Gilberto and Thelonius Monk; I sure do love Monk. Turns out, Summerschool is lame. Also turns out, however, that I know this and yet continue to enroll in it quite frequently. It seems that the thought of taking four classes for three quarters is much more frightening than summer school. Yet, I have now spent some weeks studying opera and feminism and partially-castrated sexually-promiscuous Italians and a runonsentence of more things I don't care about, and perhaps I would have been better off taking four classes a quarter.

I went to my new apartment on Thursday to measure it and drew up little floorplans for the two rooms, split into the bedroom, closet, living room area, dining room area, kitchen, and library nook. I am going to have a library nook! There's this really random area created by some weird walls so I am going to put bookcases covering the walls plus a table for my record player and an old antique lamp I rescued from my grandmother's garage. This is right next to the kitchen, which is kinda weird, but whatever--it's a library nook!