what she never should have worn

This right here is why I love my cousin. After a lot of online gushing about how much we love What I Wore and how little money we have to replicate that style, we thought of a counter blog feature. How it all went down:

Erin: I want to be edgy and cool. I want cute clothes. I almost bought a dress on ModCloth an hour ago, then remembered that I have no money.

Me: Whatevs, rock your own style. You can use your money on better things.

Erin: My own style: currently, jeans and a horrible sweater my mom made for Colleen and Colleen didn't want.

Me: LOVE IT. I want to know what this sweater looks like that Colleen refused it.

Erin: I'll make a blog. What I Never Should Have Worn.

Me: Erin, I'm not even kidding when I say this, but that is an awesome idea.

And that's how it began. We're hoping maybe Stacy and Clinton take notice, since it's always cool to get a $5000 shopping spree in exchange for a little harassment.

warning: may cause gluttony

Move over, Julia Child. My friend Mimi and I, in a fit of domesticity, made the most delicious banana bread. I'm not sure how someone could even call this a breakfast food-it had so much butter and chocolate, it was (almost) a crime. My favorite moment: Mimi takes a bite and says, "I know this might sound bad, but this would be even better...without the bananas." So much for that fruit serving.

The recipe calls for:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 very ripe bananas

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 cup choc chips

3/4 cup walnut pieces

Butter and flour 9x5x3 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter and add to mashed bananas, yogurt, vanilla, and beaten egg. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in separate bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients, add walnuts and chocolate, and scoop into pan. Bake for 70 minutes, let cool for 20 minutes. Voila!

Taken from the cookbook How To Boil Water (I know, I know).

"oh, this old thing?"

Found the new(ish) vintage boutique in Davis Square this afternoon, called Artifaktori. Amazing jewelry, some old cameras (!!), tons of unique clothes, and a few odds and ends (a nice looking typewriter for $30!). If you're in the area, I'd absolutely suggest checking it out. Hoping to interview the owner and maybe arrange an article soon!

Also found this amazing blog called What I Wore. The creator, Jessica Schroeder, has great vintage style and beautiful photographs of all her outfits, complete with stunning detail shots (I've included some here). This girl would make the Sartorialist any day of the week-talk about a passion for fashion. Schroeder started the blog pretty recently (March of 2008) and it's got a fantastic layout as well. She seems to get a lot of things from ModCloth, a site that is currently making me wish I wasn't so poor.

quotations

Some quotations I've come across recently that I really loved:

"I sometimes think that making a film is a little bit like falling in love. At the school, I just filmed the kids who liked me and those I liked. I was thinking, 'Alex, I absolutely love you. I want to film you. I want to know who you are. I genuinely want to find out why you are here.' And so it wasn't as if I were filming somebody I didn't care about."

-Kim Longinotto on Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go

"I've always had a big passion for history...and people's lives and all the little events, how you get from A to B...all the small details of people's lives that are full of really epic qualities."

-Alfred Molina in Coffee and Cigarettes

Also would recommend taking a look at Longinotto's documentary. It follows several kids at Mulberry Bush School for troubled children in Oxford. She's been described as a filmmaker known for "creating extraordinary human portraits and tackling controversial topics with sensitivity and compassion." What a wonderful reputation to have. Ties in well with the second quotation, too, I think!

wise words

Oh, wow. Erik Lunsford's blog is so great, I don't know where to begin. Not a bad place to start: the latest, reflective entry "Do We Ever Go Back" looking at the push and pull between investing more time in a story (especially with memorable subjects) and embracing the next. And don't get me started about the thoughtful, Buddhist "Embrace". Lunsford uses his site to highlight the photography of others as well as his own, and offers musings on the field in general (which I think is where he really shines). His response to those who claim that journalism is "A Dying Field" really resonates (for me, at least!). I completely agree with his emphasis on developing news sites that are easy to navigate, unique and visually appealing, and dig his insistence on embracing the challenges. So what if the future of journalism looks like a scary black hole of doubt and uncertainty right now? Lunsford says "let's leap right in, then."

The opportunity to present work in new ways is richer than ever before. Sure, we're going to have to one-man-band it at times, and we may not like that idea one bit...Surprisingly, it's richly satisfying, because you're in control of the content...You are the only limitation and obstacle standing in the way, and once you realize how truly gifted we are as visual journalists and storytellers, then it could be the bottom of something heading wonderfully up.

Call me naive or overly-optimistic, but I've got a gut feeling we should be listening to encouragement like that.

robot comic!

Decided to take a break from the daily comics and make a more detailed one. Still based on real-life thoughts (my overactive imagination when it comes to technology), here's the final product:

Click to get full size!

health care rally

Covered a protest outside of the the Prospect Street Whole Foods Market on Friday afternoon spurred by company CEO John Mackey's Op/Ed in the Wall Street Journal. A crowd of people very upset by Mackey's call for more individual responsibility regarding health care, as opposed to Obama's interest in a government-funded public option. In his letter, Mackey encouraged high-deductible insurance plans coupled with health savings accounts as an alternative, a system that he says works well for Whole Foods employees. Protesters stressed, of course, that system is not affordable and available to all. They were also pretty riled up by Mackey's statement:

"A careful reading of the both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. That 'right' has never existed in America."

Oof. Along with Mackey's previous comments comparing labor unions to herpes, he's certainly making some enemies.

An important thing to remember, though, is that Mackey's opinion is just that-his personal opinion and suggestions regarding reform, which he is free to express just as the protesters on Prospect Street are. With people boycotting Whole Foods, the company is currently trying to remind people that they don't actually have an official position on health care reform, because that seems to be a common mixup right now. Since Whole Foods is too expensive for my struggling-student budget anyway, I don't have to even worry about boycotting it in the first place. Now I'm on a health care kick, gobbling up articles and looking into different systems in other countries (spoke to a woman at the rally from the Netherlands who was interesting)!

Update: The full article from the protest is now posted, if you want to read some quotes!

human calendar

A human calendar-what a neat idea. The creator cites a fascination with the idea of "gridded people" (as in The Brady Bunch) as the inspiration behind the design. One thought though: it might be even better (but more challenging) to do this as an everyday exercise instead, finding and photographing a random person (or several, depending on the format) each day holding the correct card or cards for that date. I've added the "portable" version of the human calendar to my sidebar!

blogging on blogging

By now you've probably heard plenty about the new movie "Julie and Julia" with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, maybe even more than you'd like (it's everywhere!). Aside from the drool-worthy dishes and Streep's ability to reach decibels that only dogs can hear, one of the most noteworthy things about the film is what it's based on in the first place: blogging.

Julie Powell, Blogging Queen

Real-life Julie Powell's blogging prowess is evidenced by the fact that "Julie and Julia," the book as well as the new movie, was based off of her online writing endeavors. Take a good idea, make it interesting, give it a free public viewing space...and voila! You've got yourself a career. Ok, it's not that easy. But the democratic aspect of getting your thoughts out there on sites like blogspot and wordpress still has a lot of potential, and Julie's success shows that. Where else can you get your voice heard-fo free?!

Yes, admittedly, blogging is a pretty narcissistic exercise (I admitted it!) but for aspiring writers (and others trying to get their ideas and work out there) it offers an open opportunity for all, assuming you don't get lost in the vast and overwhelming sea of bloggers (pretty easy to do).

In honor of Julie Powell's success, I've decided to include a few blogs that I find cool, with writing/work that's worth noticing. Sure, there are a lot of crappy blogs out there (let's be real, none of our lives are worth recording for others second-by-second...yes, I'm glaring at you too, Twitter). But these are some fun efforts:

The Self-Righteous Housewife: The bits about Mommy's Cocktail Hour and Foul-Mouthed Polly Pockets are my favorites. She's got spunk, and this sounds a bit like something my mother might write if she had the technological confidence to make a blog.

Savage Chickens: I like that these doodles, meant to beat office boredom, are done on post-its and star only chickens. Simple, endearing. Plus, he's made a post about "Julie and Julia." META META META.

Cabs Are For Kissing: This cabbie lets us take the driver's seat and tells all about some of the more memorable individuals who hop into his vehicle. Though long-winded at times, the writing is intelligent and the descriptions are often spot-on, as with "the drunk drop."

heat wave

This weather is crazy. While trying to beat the heat, I've managed to do very little except sit in front of a fan. The few things I have to show for my productivity dip (due to lack of air conditioning) include:

Stir fry made with shrimp, green beans, onion, egg, and mango (!!!).

Catching this cool light trick on a house nearby. Don't know what caused it, but it's very whimsical.

spectator and sport

While reporting on the Area 4 Neighborhood Pride Day this afternoon in Cambridge, I watched (and shot) a basketball game between a Cambridge youth team and a Medford one. The girls watching from behind the fence were from a high school team up next, and after learning a few names and asking them about the game, they let me snap some photos of them observing the boys. Once I went through the photos today, I realized I was just as interested (if not more) in capturing the female spectators as I was in the male athletes. Juxtaposed, they give a neat sort of teen girl/guy interaction from afar. The fence in this case acts as a barrier between the genders as well as between spectator and athlete. Don't want to make too many leaps, but this might be something to explore?

shakespeare gets silly

To mock or not to mock? For the Orfeo Group's production of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)"-or as they like to call it, WOWSA-there really is no question. Mock on.

I saw the show last Friday, an hour-and-a-half production that encompasses all 37 of Shakespeare's plays. While some are simply mentioned, others like "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet" are performed in full...well, sort of. The comedies are condensed to make room for more parody of the tragedies (which are, as the actors tell you, way more fun anyway). Ever seen Hamlet done backwards, in fast forward? Can you imagine Othello as a rap? What about Titus Andronicus as a cooking show?

The hilarious trio of Daniel Berger-Jones, Gabriel Kuttner and Risher Reddick use their shabby costumes and graffiti-covered set to have a whole lot of fun during the show. I found myself laughing so hard during some parts that I was tearing up. Among the best moments were: Reddick in a purple wig pretending to throw up on my sister, a clever Henry Louis Gates Jr. reference, and an actor taking a seat next to one audience member to eat some brownies from her picnic bag.

The humor of WOWSA appeals to adults and kids alike, and audience participation (and targeting!) keeps everyone engaged. They've extended their show (for this weekend and the next) at the Publick Theatre in Brighton, and the laughs are cheap (15 bucks, free with a student ID on Fridays, and free for all on Thursdays).

more zd+jgl love

This video for "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" from Zooey's musical venture She & Him with M. Ward is uber-adorable and features costar Joseph Gordon-Levitt from (500) Days of Summer. Who knew these two had such slick (and sometimes silly) moves? Directed by Marc Webb, the video is what Deschanel herself calls "a nice complement to the movie."

(Thanks to CS for showing me this one!)

Also, if you can tear yourself away from Deschanel's indie charm, you might find that the Him of She & Him produces some great stuff on his own. Here's one:

better than the brady bunch

Went to a concert for the first time in months and manohman was it an experience. A new find recommended by my housemate, we caught Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at TT the Bears in Cambridge.

A folk-rock band from L.A., the Zeros are a pleasant throwback. The ten members packed themselves onto the (very small) stage-what a feat! It became clear from the first song that the Zeros are just one big, happy hippie family, the accordion player in a sort of trance and lead man Alex Ebert prancing around shirtless with his messy hair flopping over into his eyes. My only major complaint about the show? It should have been done in a field, with circle dancing and flower crowns.

My two favorite songs from the lineup were their hit "Home" (Jade Castrinos' voice opposite of Ebert is lovely) and the bouncy "Janglin." Listen for yourself!

My housemate described the concert as "creative chaos" and I think the phrase fits the band. Band isn't even the right term. As one of the musicians states in the LA Times, "We're a kind of art troupe that plays music."

It's also worth taking a look at this bizarre video (part 1 of an eventual 12) that represents Ebert confronting the middle name given to him by his father, a Native American word that means "devil." Apparently that's his father chanting in the beginning, presumably holding little drooling Alex. Creepy.

vanishing venice

This National Geographic article, "Vanishing Venice," is worth a look. Newman's descriptions of Venice as a sort of paradox, balancing between water and land, "fairy tale" and "tourist trap" are poetic, accurate, and so well-written. Newman really captures the inevitable love affair that results from seeing the city. The feature is full of metaphors that try to describe the fantastical theatrics of Carnevale and nostalgia for the city's gilded past. It's a bit long (9 pages), but stick it out to the end and you'll hit the modern-day Romeo and Juliet story that really pulls together the theme: "Beauty is so difficult." Newman's piece tugs desperately at Venice, very aware of the aqua alta that threatens to destroy it.

I was excited to see that Jodi Cobb's accompanying photos include one of the drag show in piazza San Marco (which I went to! the emcee was a drag version of Queen Elizabeth!). I never did get close enough to take any pictures. My own attempt at capturing Venice can be seen here. Rich colors, costumes, and textures galore. Here's to hoping we can hold on to that beauty as long as possible.

summer mixtape

Way to go Grooveshark. This embedding playlists thing is very cool. Here are some songs I'm listening to right now. Some older, some newer, but all fresh (and summer-sounding) to me.

living, comically

So thanks to an online comic strip recommendation (thanks KC!) I've started a new little project. The comic, American Elf, is a daily thing done by artist James Kochalka that chronicles his everyday life. Family, friends, and his hometown of Burlington, Vermont are featured in the drawings. I'm still kind of adjusting the punchline-less quality of most of them, as his tidbits from daily activities are usually nothing stellar. It's this banality that actually makes his stuff intriguing, in a weird sort of way. After all, life isn't scripted and not every day is exciting or unusual. I'm trying to embrace American Elf's style by starting my own very simple comic journal/sketchbook, which I'm calling "Living, Comically." It's been a neat way to record some of the small moments of each day, and I have a feeling it'll be entertaining to look back on if I actually keep it up (check out a sample below!). Recording life in pictures is fun. Try it!