friday...tomorrow we head to Reno to see Elvis Costello...review to come...
So, Eminem pushed the release of his record up by more than a week. Says he's concerned about "inferior" copies of it that are available online. More like he's worried about inferior profits...like the record isn't going to debut at number one anyway....poor-ass white boy rapper sport is what he is...and that new video is whack too...now excuse me, I have MP3s to go download...

Lately my inner vanity slut has been bitching up a storm with my outer feminist self.
You see, I'm not going to lie, I care about how I look - and being 32-years-old I'm not been super-pleased with the emergence of those little "think creases" between my eyebrows.
My feminist self is suggesting I just get used to them and wear them proudly as tokens of thinking - character badges of honor, if you will - while my inner vanity slut is screaming "thinking? you got those babies from SQUINTING ...just pump 'em full of Botox already".
Hmmm...keep the wrinkles or freeze my face?
(By the way the slowly-developing crows feet near my eyes do not bother me...I'm actually a fan of crows feet...remember crows feet around the eyes=sexy)
(By the way again, this is all hypothetical because frankly honey I do not have enough cash to satiate my inner vanity slut--that's probably why she's always so bitchy).

Slate had a good piece yesterday examining Lucky magazine's advocation of the stuff and the cultural evolution of our acceptance of - no make that demand for - saving face.

"If Botox is pretty much the gateway drug of cosmetic surgery—as Lucky put it, "somewhere between a two week spa vacation and a full face-lift"—Lucky's article is also a kind of crossover point. It symbolizes the moment when a normal, ever-so-slightly creased 30-year-old forehead threatens to become the equivalent of a run in a stocking, something anyone with a sense of style would tuck away."

Yep--pretty much sums up how I feel about it...one gets the feeling it's going to be a physical faux paus to sport any character lines at all.

So what's a self-respecting, Bust-reading, knee-high sock-wearing neo-feminist to do?
I'm still thinking...I'll get back to you on that...

Sorry for the long delay in posts but...well....well, nothing.
That said (or not said), here's a brief recap of all that is rocking my world these days
1. Scholarship money from Mills...comin' in outta left field and almost as good as winning on Survivor!
2. About a Boy - the movie.
3.The About a Boy soundtrack by Badly Drawn Boy.
4. Hugh Grant. I am officially a Hugh Grant fan
5. Puffy AmiYumi. Cory just got me an older CD of theirs, a Japanese import called Spike. But the best place to start is with their new compilation called "An Illustrated History". They're doing an in-store in LA today and even though I obviously didn't make it to that, I'm currently angling to get tickets to their July 9th show at the Fillmore.

NP: Damien Jurado & Gathered in Song.

Seeing as how I am a member of the media and how he used to bomb my neck of the woods, I’m a wee bit curious about the life and times of the Unabomber…so it was with fascination that I read the letters journalists wrote to one Theodore Kaczynski in the hopes of procuring an exclusive one-on-one interview. The New Yorker, Barbara Walters, Larry King, Katie Couric – it seems as if everyone is star struck. I particularly like the letter from a Wired writer who hawks a free subscription to his magazine…now that’s value-added reporting…you can read the letters at the The Smoking Gun.

So in case you don’t already realize it I am completely obsessed with “The Osbournes”. I wish Ozzy and Sharon were my parents. I love Kelly “My keys, my car, my vagina, my business” Osbourne. I want to smack Jack around like any good little brother needs to be smacked… (note to Sharon & Ozzy: military helmet = bad sign).
And because my work life and my ‘real life’ tend to overlap to the point of there being no real distinction you can read more about my obsession here.

NP: Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin

Today is a headachy day and I’m still trying to figure out why. Is it because, as I’m slowly realizing, that 2002 is a major anniversary year? The 10 year anniversary of the LA Riots; 10 years since the debut of "The Real World" 10 years since I had that really bad experience with whiskey sours at the dive bar downtown. Maybe, but it’s also the 10 year anniversary of Dan Quayle’s infamous Murphy Brown speech … and just in case you were wondering what DQ's been up to these days, he recently emerged at a National Press Club speech weighing in with his opinion on "The Osbournes" ...
coming soon: saucy rock star photos and pictures of the incredible cash-sucking school.

NP: Robert Pollard: Kid Marine
OK, the archives seem to be in order....you might go read those for amusement until the next proper update or, if you'd rather be pissed off, check out this article from the LA Times. It seems that eight San Fernando Valley high schools have enacted a policy that will only allow students bound for college, a trade or military to take part in graduation ceremonies. Excuse me? You make someone suffer through four years of rubbing elbows with the Valley Girls and Guys and now you won't let them take part in the simple act of wearing an ugly cap and gown and watching the jocks and cheerleaders do their own version of the the graduation rap?.
On second thought...maybe this should be viewed as a gift...trust me...as someone who slept through her own high school graduation....it's better this way....oh, and a heads-up, go ahead and skip the reunion too...

by the way, the archives are still tweaky, I know...hope to have it fixed later this week...

You know it’s not really officially Monday morning until you’ve overslept, spilled your coffee (on the front of your brand-new pants), and cussed out at least one rich housewife in a brand-new SUV who cuts you off because you are small, poor and puny.
Yup. The start of another work-week and once again I feel like escaping it all.
Is this really – as my mother keeps telling me - the American Dream?
So this morning – just to cheer myself up, you know, I took the “which high school stereotype are you” quiz and – surprise, surprise – this was my result:





Take the What High School
Stereotype Are You? quiz, by Angel.

That’s me. Outsider. Misanthrope. Freak.
Speaking of freaks – looks like I’ve finally found a job that will let me make a living off of my freakish talents– with an opportunity for travel!
Yes, that’s right – the Coney Island Circus Sideshow is hiring. And training!

“Work with some of the greatest talents in the business to learn the ins and outs of the working acts of the sideshow- Fire Eating, Snake … Sword Swallowing, Magic and More!! The class culminates with students actually performing in the Coney Island Circus Sideshow!

It doesn’t mention anything about compulsive nail biting, hair-pulling, inside-of-your-cheek chewing, neurotic bitching or kvetching but I’m sure they cover that part of freaking out somewhere in the curriculum, right?

Oh and tuition is only $600 – way cheaper than Mills! (But I’ll still gladly accept donations, thank you). For more information, check it out here. (courtesy of metafilter, as usual).

I've added a Notify List if you want me to be automatically notified of updates to this page. See the bottom of the right column for the form.

NP: The Replacements: “All Shook Down”

Last night while using the Internet to do research on the subject of Internet research (hey it’s the same as watching movies to study movies …right?) I came across a really helpful site. The Librarian’s Index to the Internet” is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 9,000 Internet resources. Each site is selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. The sites are ranked according to usefulness. There is also a free weekly mailing list for updates on recently-added resources. They have an entire Internet section including a very helpful Evaluation of Internet Resources section.

Next subject...The Ice Storm is one of my favorite films. After seeing the movie I went back and read the Rick Moody book it was based on. Lately, I’ve been trying to keep up with Moody’s Slate diary. Updated weekdays, it’s thoughtful and evocative – and written in the precise, unflinchingly honest voice that made “The Ice Storm” so powerful.
In today’s entry Moody ruminates on leading the supposedly glamorous life of a successful life – all while trying to deal with the reality of his personal existance:

“So, is this my job? The job of Party Witness? The job of transcriber of voices? Is my job the job of pimping the book? Is my job having my picture taken? Is my job talking on the radio about the drug-induced hallucinations of my 20s? Is my job talking about the psychiatric hospital? Is my job going to the airport on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday? Is my job trying to remember which store I was in last year or the year before that? Is my job remembering all the names? Is my job the dead spots in the next month when all I can do is fiddle around with these pictures of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden until they look like the hallucinations of my teens and 20s? Is my job putting words into books for publishers with excess punctuation in their name? …. Or is my job simply writing the novel that I haven't been able to work on all week, because I was flying home from Idaho, because I was dealing with a friend's drug problem, because I was counseling my fiancée on her job situation (as best I could), because I was doing interviews, because I was going to a book party, because I was going to a really great reading by Barry Hannah?”

OK...I think I am officially going beta with this thing. Meaning I'm giving the URL out to a few people in order to get feedback. Obviously there is still a lot of tweaking that still needs to be done (that photo of me with the yellow skin...gotta fix that)....I hope to, in the next week or so (probably more like 3 or 4 knowing my pace) get this moved over to my actual domain (www.writegrrrl.com) and have at least part of the actual site up. In the meantime I'll try to update here (semi)-regularly. I hope to add a comments section but until then there is a trusty guestbook.
So what else? Well I don't have anything particuarly brilliant to say right now so I'll just point you to this funny piece on Britney Spears...(via metafilter).