Gimme Shelter

Roofless Church, New Harmony, IN

Bruno Taut's Glass Pavilion
Gaudi, La Sagrada Familia

I don't have a real point to this post, these are just some places I've been thinking about and wanting to visit (even though the glass pavilion no longer exists, R.I.P) My main goal in life is to become fabulously wealthy so that I can have a few dozen houses all designed by famous architects. And each house will have a room just for piling up money!

Listening To:
Beach House - Used to Be
Otis Redding - Pain in My Heart

Pick Up Lines

When I went to France for the first time, I was 16 and everything felt new and special just because it was french. I was walking around Paris like I had never seen a car before ("omg smartcars!), or a person wearing a scarf (how do they tie them so perfectly?) And while the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower are all well and good, the one thing that makes me the most nostalgic is Pick Ups, a delightful German graham cookie with a pat of milk chocolate on top.
Whereas American chocolate bars are stingy and give you one bar in a pack, Pick-Ups come 5 IN A PACK!! Read the label people, that's 5X CHOCO!!

It even has an awesome catchphrase "Upupup...C'est Pickup" Try saying it with a cheesy French accent without drooling with hunger.

The moral of this blog post is that pickups are the greatest source of nourishment in the world and you should all send me money so that I can buy myself cases of this delicious elixir.

Childhood Throwback

Woah guys! An internet miracle just occurred! I was surfing around youtube and this video came up on my "Recommended for You" I never knew youtube knew me so well!



I hope y'all know that this is a live action rendition of THE BEETS from Nick's amazing show DOUG!!!
I'm sorry, but I am just so excited I found this! Seriously, the song "I Need More Allowance" basically describes my life! And you can tell these guys put a lot of effort into this (although I'd hate to be the one stuck with being the keyboardist. He looks like he's having a blast...)

So this video basically brought back all of my childhood memories, and I spent the next few hours rewatching the theme song over and over again. I had forgotten how much I LOVED this show! It taught me how to "double dog doughnut doctor dare" someone

Here's a challenge, try to listen to the theme song without it getting stuck in your head

Guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses

(the Rome in clear)

I hate wearing my glasses. Hate. I think I look like an escaped soviet socialist who escaped from the Gulag. The worst part is, my glasses are fancy and expensive and French. If I could do it over, I would definitely choose a pair of glasses from London-based Prism, because they are b-e-a-utiful.

(the New York in cream tortoise shell)

Sure, they're probably too big for my face, but I would totally get complete facial reconstructive surgery for a pair of these babies, they are just that awesome. On the flip side, I look like this when I wear my glasses, which is why I usually wear contacts!

P.S. Hope y'all had a happy Thanksgiving! I was going to make a post honoring this holiday but I decided against it since that would mean admitting that I theoretically ate half my body weight in pumpkin pie alone...which didn't happen. ever.

Gabourey Sidibe

OK, we need to take a minute to talk about how f*@%$% amazing Gabourey Sidibe is. I seriously have the biggest friendship crush on her. You know, a friendship crush, where you want to become best friends with someone because they look so amazing.


Gabourey is starring in the upcoming movie Precious, as an teenager in Harlem who is abused in all ways by her mom (Mo'Nique [I know i was surprised too!]) and is raped and impregnated by her father twice, and one of her children has Down Syndrome. Suffice to say, it's going to be a tearjerker, or what my dad calls an "Oprah moment." (interpret that any way you want)

I first saw this video of Gabourey on Ellen, and as soon as she started dancing, I was in like with her.


She's so funny and nice! I'm seriously very upset that i don't know her. And on Late Night with Conan O'brien, she talked about how she was obsessed with *NSYNC, and I knew we were soul mates.

I haven't seen Precious yet, but I am some time this week because I have to write a review of it for my school newspaper. I already know I am going to fall apart at the movie. I started crying when I was watching the trailer. In my defense, it had been an emotional week. Maybe if the review isn't total poop, I'll post it up here. But you should probably see Precious anyway, just for Gabourey (and also for Mariah Carrey without her makeup. Hopefully, Mariah's preformance will be good, so we can all move on from the Glitter fiasco...)

Songs to embarrass yourself to

When I went back home for winter break, my friend I went out to this seedy bar by my house on a Thursday night. We actually chose this night because it was KARAOKE NIGHT! I have a terrible voice, so I was pretty nervous despite the fact that the average patron was either an aging drunk or a nerdy metro station reject.

Since I knew what I was getting myself into, I had dorkily prepared some songs to choose so that I wouldn't cop out and sing Journey...total social suicide these days. And my buddy shared his secret signature karaoke song ("party all the time"), and so I'm going to fill y'all in so you don't embarrass yourself in this situation! These are the best songs for karaoke if you have a terrible voice:

Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time
Ok ok, this requires a more advanced vocal range than the other songs, and not all of us can have the finesse of Eddie, but this is a song you can get away with sounding kind of bad, because it's such a crowd pleaser! Seriously, only the worlds biggest douche would heckle you if you were singing in the note of F instead of b sharp, or whatever.

Outkast - Ms. Jackson
I'm biased because this was my junior high JAM, but honestly you could talk like Stephen Hawking people would be cheering, this song is that good. Another reason you can cruise through this song is because you pretty much stick to one note and the beat is so catchy that people won't be listening to your crummy voice.


Salt N Pepa ft. En Vogue - Whatta Man
CLASSIC. But be careful if you can't read quickly because these ladies slow down for no one! Just take deep breaths and you should be fine.

The Spice Girls - Wannabe
There is not a single man, woman or child on earth who does not recognize this song. I guarantee you that if you choose this song, everyone, even that creepy old man who looks like ed bundy's apprentice will have his hands up in the air and will probably jump on the bar as soon as they hear the words "if you wannabe my lover..."

Biz Markie - Just a Friend
This is my favorite song of all time, and it will most likely be played at my funeral (yes I already have a playlist for my funeral and maybe it includes most of the songs on the Barbara Streisand's greatest hits album) This song is so amazing because your voice will always be better than Biz Markie's!! Everyone can identify with the plight of Biz, and it's catchy enough that it won't make your audience want to kill themselves.

SONGS THAT ARE OFF LIMITS: anything by Mariah Carey, and that's it really.

P.S. I know that karaoke is sort of ridiculous but it is also totally fun, just ask these people.

Doodlydoos

Basically all I've been doing these past few weeks (besides school work, and watching 30 Rock, and solving crossword puzzles [I'm a dork]) is doodling. Since they're the only things I have to show for myself lately, I've decided to share some of my recent ones.


The goal in all of them is to make them as ridiculous and weird as possible. Before they were just faces I came up with, but I've started using real life strange looking people I see everyday as inspiration.





(P.S. these are all also my dream men...KIDDING!...or am I? I am....)

In which I explain my preferred broadcasted moving images

I'm supposed to be studying for som boring architecture exam but let's be honest here, who needs that kind of stress?? Am I right? Let me take a moment here to outline 3 of my current favorites in the TV realm. As you can see, I used an incredibly pretentious title to try and convince you that there is some kind of deeper, social and cultural meaning behind each of these programs. But you know what? I don't have the energy to do that so this is basically just a collection of funny clips that I've collected for my own self-indulgence. You're welcome!1

1. SUMMER HEIGHTS HIGH

This Australian import revolves around three characters in a public school, all played by Chris Lilley. When I first saw it I figured it was another one of those weird copykittens of the Office's mockumentary style, but this is actually so ridiculously hilarious and strangely intriguing.

2. KIDS IN THE HALL

The Daves I Know

JonathanTheGreat | MySpace Video
An oldie but a goodie! The thing about this show is it's such a 90s alternative comic sensibility, so wacky and understated and with skits that are so original and out there. But then again what do i know. I was a nerdy kid for most/all of the 90s, I'm not the authority on the decade, shit.

3. FREAKS AND GEEKS

I saved the best for last because Freaks and Geeks is clearly the greatest show of all time. If you haven't seen this, I'm disappointed.