5 Pic FRIDAY

I'm reading Jane Fonda's autobiography at the moment (why? I don't know either!). Actually it's fascinating how people in Hollywood mingle with everyone legendary and are just like "oh yeah, Jimmy Stewart was over at dinner all the time". It's a good read. In some parts you can tell she's had a bit too much therapy and is a little too insightful on mundane events in her life, but overall I'd recommend it. This 5 Pic Friday is hers.

Warning - this is a book with Daddy issues.

(L-R: Jane, Henry Fonda, Peter Fonda)

with Robert Redford in Barefoot in the Park

One of her kitchens with ex-husband Ted Turner. I'm lovin' the Southwest vibe.

2012

BP's Gulf Coast oil rig exploding last week

Not to be depressing on a Friday (hasn't this been a long week??), but this oil spill is just crazy. Not crazy like "how did this happen?", but so crazy that I can't wrap my head around how much oil spilled. Sometimes it seems like we are leaving in the most depressing age ever. Reports say that it is larger than the Exxon Valdez spill, and the pictures of that spill made my heart hurt. All the animals that they were trying to save by cleaning off the oil was totally heart wrenching. I can't imagine it on a bigger scale.

oil slick moving toward New Orleans today

It's funny because I was thinking about oil spills and animals the other day at the grocery store. Dawn has animals on their basic dish soap with a note that says every $1 from each bottle sale goes toward helping Dawn's Animal Rescue Fund. HOWEVER, you have to go online to activate your donation by entering in your bottle code. What the heck? I want to think they're good and will help, but then I remember they are owned by Procter & Gamble.

duck from Exxon Valdez spill

Spring Songs

Now that the weather is warmer, I want to hear different music than when it was cold and dreary. Here's what itunes sez are my big hits lately:

The Ramones: I Want You Around. Rob and I watched Rock 'n' Roll High School a few weeks ago and this one really stuck with me. Watch the video: it is so cute and weird!

Nite Jewel: Want You Back. The early-80s-science-reel sound that made me love Neon Indian so is also here with Nite Jewel. This song is so catchy and dark, but not in a Knife way (not that there's anything wrong with that...I am a Knife mega-fan).

Dum Dum Girls: Jail La La. Honestly, this whole album has been topping my charts lately. More lo-fi female vocals, which apparently I just love!

Four Tet: Circling. This one puts me in a trance while I jog. Crazy but true: I listen to it on repeat while I jog!

LL Cool J: Paradise. Don't know how to sell this to you, I just like it! LL saying "Paradise is very nice" is usually stuck in my head,

just like most LL Cool J songs I love because of the way he says something (almost all of "I'm That Type of Guy" being another great example). This is the kind of song where you uncover something new with each listen--just this morning, I figured out what LL means by "touch it why don't ya/touch it why don't ya"...but I'll let you discover these things for yourself.

What springy music are you really into these days?

Real (World) Problems

Just saw this on fb as a profile pic. Nice editorial as well.

Fake Problems

From kottke.org, which is a pretty good site.

I do always wonder how difficult life must be for some people if these things count as problems. Are they just clumsy? Or is my life just too easy?

Air travel

A volcano explodes and European governments shut down the skies for a few days.

They did a good job. Government should be thinking of our safety in the skies before thinking about how to prevent airlines from losing $1.7 billion. Volcanic ash is dangerous stuff, not to take lightly. Some people did, like this guy:

"Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary called the shutdown imposed by European governments excessive. 'It might have made sense to ground flights for a day or two. That's understandable. But there should have been a much faster response by the governments, the transport ministers and the regulators,' he told The Associated Press"

Maybe he's right. But if a few birds can force a jet to "land" in the Hudson River, what could a small plume of ash do to dozens of planes thousands of feet in the air? Ryanair and co. don't want to know.

Lost Thoughts

Hurley gives a tour of select island sets. The golf course episode is still one of my favorites. I liked last week's episode, but my favorite so far was the Desmond themed "Happily Ever After". I'm conflicted about Desmond's straightened locks (Lockes!) this season - so far not digging it!

"Do yall think Middle America is worried that a juggalo will murder them?"

I'm up late writing a paper so of course I'm looking up stuff about Juggalos. It goes without saying that Hipster Runoff is obnoxious, but (like all obnoxious things/media outlets especially) sometimes I like it. This is a pretty good synthesis of all the mainstream thoughts about Juggalos lately and how mainstream America--not just folks like me who get a kick out of it--thinks about the Juggalo Revolution (I just coined that term).

In other Juggalo news, I'm worried that this Derek Erdman kid will supersede me as the preeminent scholar of Juggalo Life in the early 2000's. Derek clearly has a head start, because MTV sent him to the Pitchfork Festival AND the GOTJ to do a compare/contrast, and I'm truly impressed with the video he sent back (link here after the story). Seriously guys, this video is really illuminating. It reminds me a little of Memorial Day 2000. And should we be worried that one of the tags is "hipster juggalo war"?

Missed Opportunities

My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail. Emilio!

Other Food Finds

How could this date escape me? Today is the day of the KFC Double Down! I think we've all been salivating over the ads for a few weeks, and the Awl has a great review! Let us know if you try one! The best observation:

Pandors ads

These are the things Pandora thinks I will buy:




Nine Inch Nails+Beyonce+Muse+Ladytron=Diamonds and pools.

Food Finds

The best Crouton ever

2010 Hoops (Sucked)

I didn't watch one second of the national championship on Monday night. I knew how it would go down, and I couldn't bare to see it happen. I have avoided the highlights so far, and God willing I will never see them. It's all part of the plan to pretend it never happened.

The 2009-2010 basketball season and tournament will forever be remembered by me as the one I don't remember. UNC played its most disappointing season in its 100-year history, and the tournament was a perfect nightmare. I couldn't describe a more soul-crushing way for it to unfold.

Just a few more days and this dook thing will blow over, and I can resume forgetting it.

Bad on bad on bad

Bad news, that is! Three of my favorite places in Raleigh are going to be gone within 2 months (max). I'm sad and mad about this.

1. Rockford. Closed suddenly yesterday! Rob and I had dinner there just on Saturday and it was great. I was so thankful for the cozy little second-story space and unpretentious servers and cheap sandwiches and drinks. So thankful, but I guess not thankful enough! CLOSED.

2. Jackpot. I had mixed feelings about this place and occasionally would hem and haw about going there; but like many fun things, I quit my complaining when I got there and would usually stay until closing time. Especially after the smoking ban! Lots of complaints about "hipsters," blah blah, but it was cheap there and you'd always run into someone you knew. And the music was good most of the time. And IHOP is right across the gravel parking lot! Closing "imminently."

3. Get Dressed! If you know Greensboro, it was a little like Design Archives but not as pricey and right across the street from the bead store, Ornamentea...aka perfect! I bought a lot of things there that I now wear weekly or even daily, like my favorite little silver-feathers ring. I hate that this place is closing. It's happening next month though, so there's still time to go. I bet the final sales will be amazing.

This is all sad partly because I enjoyed these places and partly because they gave Raleigh some needed character and community. Community is a "buzzword" these days but I don't know what else to call walking into a bar and knowing everyone in it.

One commenter on the blog where I read all my bad news lately, New Raleigh, wrote this and I have to agree. Well said, "Synaesthesiac":

It is ironic that many of the qualities that make a city a popular new area for growth get bulldozed to support that growth. It occurs because of a major disconnect between developers and the street level of culture. Rarely a developer like Empire bridges the gap. It is the cultural elements that help make the headlines, attracting both good growth as well as soulless capitalists. I always wondered what is the fundamental difference between the Glenwood South scene, Jackpot, and Fayetteville St. scenes. Some casual interviews revealed that the Glenwood South crowd is dominated by very recent relocees, often northerners, whereas the other spots are mostly North Carolinians. The out of towners move here because of the headlines, but aren’t properly sensitized to understand the culture once they arrive. They have no sentimentality about a place like Jackpot, and will pay to move in to some new condo without a wince. It is a sad but inevitable process.

To Be Counted...

I didn't realize people were afraid of the 2010 Census. I also didn't realize there was a deadline - but I still got mine mailed last week. Apparently participation has been low in conservative districts and Karl Rove was recruited as the man to remind us that the Census is legit. Michele Bachmann is singled out for her part in creating some of the Census distrust last year. The message board for her article was and still is crazy! Some of the highlights:

[part of a larger argument] by imonvacation March 17, 2010 3:54 PM EDT :
"Yes, you do repeat yourself. Do you work for ACORN? Or are you a Socialist waiting for the complete take over? "

by lhearold March 18, 2010 11:00 PM EDT :
"I will only provide number of persons residing at my address, their gender and age. NOTHIG ELSE!!! Fine my $5000.00? Go ahead, you SOBs already have all I own, where do you think I wil come up with $5k? Government idiots.. "

by mattcat25 June 18, 2009 4:24 PM EDT :
"The Census form should include an indication of the total amount of SANE PEOPLE living in the Bachmann Household! "