In other news..

I'm so pissed off about Playboy buying Nabokov's last manuscript I could scream.

It was his DYING WISH not to have it see the light of day. Fuck you Hugh Hefner!

Okay maybe it's more his son's fault for selling it, but still.

Happy Friday!

Quote of the Day

"One of the most powerful lessons I learned growing up in a semi-rural suburb...is that celebrities—and especially great writers, who to me were the most magical possible subclass of celebrity—were totally unreal super-beings with whom you had literally nothing in common.

"All authors existed in a Platonic fourth dimension of abstract verbal perfection (sometimes called “France” or “Russia”) where they never had to put up with subliterary indignities like being vomited on by carsick siblings or having their off-brand shoes mocked by bullies—and if they did suffer such things it would only have been by choice, as an experiment, so they could write prizewinning literature about it later.

"It was a big shock, then, to grow up and discover that this was not actually true."

-Sam Anderson, Nymag.com

Infinite Jest-isms

Ughhhh Infinite Jest was SO amazing today! I have to share with you some of my favorite lines:

-"If..you ever chance to spend a little time around a Substance-recovery halfway facility... you will acquire many exotic new facts."

• "That certain persons simply will not like you no matter what you do."
• "That no matter how smart you thought you were, you are actually way less smart than that."
• "That you do not have to like a person in order to learn from him/her/it."
• "That loneliness is not a function of solitude."
• "That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt."
• "That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do."
• "That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness."
• "That it is possible to fall asleep during an anxiety attack."
• "That most Substance-addicted people are also addicted to thinking, meaning they have a compulsive and unhealthy relationship with their own thinking."
• "That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable."
• "That if you do something nice for somebody, in secret, anonymously, without letting the person you did it for know it was you or anybody else know what it was you did or in any way or form trying to get credit for it, it's almost its own form of intoxicating buzz."
• "That there may not be angels, but there are people who might as well be angels."
• "That God might regard the issue of whether you believe there's a God or not as fairly low on his/her/its list of thing s/he/it's interested in re you."

Just.... wow.

<3333

Things I Love (mainly all music)

Hi everybodyyy! It's been a while, I know. Things at the Mac are pretty good, and I have the day off! Yay for holidays! In celebration, I have spent most of the day sleeping and watching music vids on youtube. Here are my three favorites!

Bat for Lashes- Moon and Moon
This is the perfect band to listen to while trying to fall asleep, and everything about this performance is perfect. It's insanely haunting, and her outfit is unreal (I love the huge collar and all the glitter!)

Animal Collective- My Girls
FAVORITE band right now. They are so freaking eccentric, and I love them for it. Their newest album takes that trippy feeling and makes it feel happier and more mellow, kind of like Pet Sounds on even *more* drugs. It's kind of a refreshing change- their last album was probably the musical version of a bad LSD trip.

Fiona Apple- Not About Love
Because she's amazing, and ZACH GALIFIANAKIS IS IN THE VIDEO OMG. Everybody needs to see the hangover.

Infinite Jest status 180 out of 1079! I'm gonna finish this book on the 12th of forever! Weeee!

What are you all up to? :)

Why I Hate the New Coldplay Video

Yesterday I started Infinite Jest.

There are tons of more impressive-sounding phrases I could use to say that. And that book deserves them all. But its worthy of so many of them, thousands and thousands of them, that after a certain number, the grandeur cancels itself out and is rendered meaningless. So I'll just state the (most) obvious- It's fuckin awesome.

Status: page 30 out of 1079. Go team.

==================
This weekend has been ludicrously awesome. That's all I have to say about that.
==================

I hate the new Coldplay video for Life in Technicolor. Which makes me very sad because it used to be my favorite off that album. And I tried, really *tried* to like it. But the following could not be ignored:

a) The freaking CHEESY new lyrics for a song that was perfectly gorgeous as an instrumental.

b) That they were trying way too gosh-darn hard to be whimsical.

The video starts off with a cute little British family throwing a birthday party, just after everybody's gathered around for a Punch and Judy puppet show. There's (of course) a cute little British version of Olive Hoover, and she just happens to be carrying a fake Coldplay biography, called Playin it Cool (aw! look at us being punny!)

I was actually on board for this part. And for the next part, when the show started and miniature Coldplay gradually popped out from behind the curtain.

aww lookit'em.

I was expecting it to just be the instrumental, which would have been cool, to break music video rules and have a song (gasp) without singing. I knew Chris Martin would eventually pop out, and I was okay with the awkward puppet version spinning around like the human version usually does. And then he started singing.

And then he started flying.

And then the Punch and Judy stage expanded into an arena stage.

And then there were pyrotechnics and puppet Evel Knievels flying across the stage.

And then puppet Chris Martin started crowd-surfing.

And then puppet Coldplay flew out in a helicopter.

And then Caroline vommed.

Some things don't *need* all the remixes and bells and whistles and over-the-top-ness. This would have been a perfectly great video if it didn't try to top itself in EVERY SINGLE SECOND. It's frustrating too that so many people blindly love Coldplay now, and will thus blindly love this video.

*sigh*

Rant over.

I found a fun little meme thing to keep me occupied on this rainy day. If you are reading this, you are officially tagged. If you do not have a blog, put it in my comments, cuz I'm nosy :)

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What is your current obsession?
oh my goodness, i have a few. lady gaga. animal collective. putting hot cocoa powder in my coffee. david foster wallace.


What's for dinner?
pasta! i just need to decide what kind first.


What's the last thing you bought?

thanks modcloth :)


What are you listening to right now?
The last song on my ipod was Guest Room by the National

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
i'd teleport to china, find jess harvey, and vent about the craziness in our lives. i miss her so much

What's your favorite quote (for now)?
I've got two...

"I find it so much easier to be creatively free at night. Daytime is for sleeping. Nighttime is the best time for making art. The later at night it gets the further into another world you go." - Mark Ryden

and..

"And day by day I filled my world with more words and more dreams and my heart became a place where I could escape to and talk to you (whoever you might turn out to be) and hold you close." -Rob Ryan


What's your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
I love it all.. seriously.. although recently I've fallen back in love with my black nylons.

What's your dream job?
something with theatre or writing.. maybe like a creative writing professor

What's your worst habit?
I worry too much...

Do you admire anyones style?
I really really like Alexa Chung. And Raquel Zimmerman always looks fabulous. And Lady Gaga. Duh.

Describe your personal style?
Sort of a mod Twiggy hippie. Who showers.

What are your favorite movies?
The Royal Tenenbaums. Clockwork Orange. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Anything else on my Facebook page.

What inspires you?
Love. Passion. Fearless quirkiness.

What's your favorite book?
The Broom of the System. Lolita. Lady Chatterley's Lover. I tend to like illicit classics :)

Do you collect something?
Random adventures

What do you like most about yourself?
that my imagination can be fucking crazy.

What's your go-to nail polish color?
none! naked nails babay!

Your turn :)

Good weekend. And this time I'm writing about it on a Sunday as opposed to a Tuesday. Also good.

There are a lot of things I'm excited about. And at the same time sooo much restlessness. I had a really good talk with my parents today though, and my dad launched into a "you're awesome and we're proud of you!" speech, which was surprising and nice.

Plenty more to talk about. How much time do you have?