TV Shows »Even Stevens

even stevens disney channelIn last week's review of Gym Teacher: The Movie I mentioned the exceptional Disney kids show Even Stevens, a gem of a show I dearly miss and one of the best kid shows ever made. We used to watch episodes during our lunch breaks in Austin at the urging of a friend. The weird claymation intro is burned into my brain and the little ditty that opened the show will always remind me of afternoons spent revisiting a gentler, more innocent time of being in junior high.

The entire cast was thoroughly charming (you might recognize mom, Donna Pescow from Out of This World) but of course it was the now mega star Shia LaBeouf's turn as a some what nerdy, creative and mischievous pre teen that won our hearts. Though it's only fair to appreciate minor characters like Beans and Tom Gribalski.

The series is sadly not available on dvd but I am happy to say that this month it begins airing on WGN America, so if anyone out there can satellite TV, enjoy.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Web Sites »Jezebel

jezebel websiteFrom the Denton empire, that includes Gawker and Defamer which can each get a bit too snarky at time for my stomach,?rises Jezebel, a brilliant website aimed at women, but not in that way that television and Hollywood “aim” things at women but as a genuinely engaging site that intelligent real women with a sense of humor would (and do) want to read.

I hope they're not ashamed to call themselves a feminist website, because it's time that word lost its negative connotations. It really just means you believe that women are equal to men, and since we are equal we deserve equally great blogs to read.?

Jezebel covers real issues like politics but isn't embarrassed by their love for feminine things. They delight in diving into other subjects like fashion (which they cover like pros, citing and praising Italian Vogue instead of something like Lucky magazine), celebrity (never, ever getting bitchy about weight but fairly pointing out their bull—-), and in one of my favorite recurring columns, Fine Lines, about young adult books (like this week's Forever) that we read in our pre teen years.

There are also Project Runway and America's Next Top Model breakdowns, and constantly keep us up to date with interesting tidbits of the world's going ons.

This is one of the best blogs out there, and a small victory in positive female voices in media that I can revel in compared to the dismal female characters I've encountered in all the new fall TV shows: Bone thin, humorless women who are far far too young for their jobs and painfully dull. Sure their meant to be strong (clearly – they're all wearing ass-boring suits) but do they all have to be so cardboard?

Is this the best roles they can come up with for women, god it almost makes one?praise The Closer (which started as a guilty pleasure for Jim until it became just too, too terrible to continue watching, but still, at least they let her have a personality even though its as a neurotic shrew who loves candy). But?I digress.

Read Jezebel.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Spend a Couple Minutes »John Derian

john derianIf Miss Haversham had ditched the guy who broke her mind and heart and moved on to become a stylist for London's eccentric and insanely wealthy set, she very well could have been the lady behind John Derian. Walk into his stores and you're in a land of pretty, decoupage, textiles, and cozy grandness.

While I never really shop very much and could never convince myself to be ok with such high knick knack prices (though his soon to be line at Target might be another story) these shops are wonderful places just to wander and take in. The white Astier de Villatte terracotta, delightful Hugo Guinness paintings, the whimsical paper mache figurines by Julie Arkell, and the exquisite quilts from all over the world will make you weep for the economy and the likely fact that none of us will be able to afford little luxuries like these again.

I feel like I understand Holly Golightly when she said in Breakfast at Tiffany's “Well, when I get it (sad) the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then – then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!” and I bet she'd upgrade to John Derian if it had been around back then to calm aesthetic loving women.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Spend a Couple Hours »Nick Cave Live

I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live! I'm going to see Nick Cave live!

Just thought I'd remind you to buy a ticket if you're as excited as me. But sadly, even if you are as excited but not as organized, they are sold out at the official website. High priced resells always available though!

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Drinks »New England Brewing Company

new england brewing company amber aleGenerally, a three dollar canned beer at happy hour isn't exactly something to get excited about except for the price, but the other week when our local bastion of interesting beers, The Diamond Bar was offering cans from the New England Brewing company, we all walked away happily surprised.

I had the amber, my friends the IPA and it was so tasty that we continued to order them after happy hour had passed, and I even picked up a couple six packs from Whole Foods for our fridge.

Based out of Connecticut, the brewery has been around since 1989, but until recently, it's not been really known outside of its local region. Their “where to buy” section on their site doesn't even mention anyplace outside of CT, but now that major shops and bars are starting to carry it, I hope and think they will do well as there's not a?huge number of great tasting canned beers out there. If you can find it, try it for your next get together, it beats a Bud any day.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Style Icons: Female »Judy Blume

Author

Judy Blume is more than just a talented and wise writer with a smashing smile and great age defying cheekbones.

She changed the face of reading for young women, she offered popular stories that kids could relate to and she never shied away from the realities of life in her writing.

Her boldness has often and repeatedly made her a target of censors which in turn has made Blume even more awesome in my book as an advocate for free speech.

She works with the National Coalition Against Censorship and is probably as horrified as the rest of us about the possibility of Palin becoming Vice President. While the stories of Palin’s plan to ban books has been partially untrue (that list she supposedly made of books was not likely to be her own list, just a list of commonly banned books and she never specified the banning of any particular books), she still “asked the library how she could go about banning books,” according to TIME magazine.

Blume is also very humble and personable about her talents. She’s said that she simply as always making up stories in her head and once she had two kids to tell them to, began writing them down. She was twenty seven when she began to write seriously, which can make anyone who feels like it’s too late to become a success at doing what they love feel better.

I doubt there’s many people my age who can’t recall at least one Judy Blume book in their life.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Style Icons: Male »David Lee Roth

david lee rothLet's face it, David Lee Roth, “Diamond Dave” wearer of sequined demi vests, leather chaps and underwear, of the layered mane of feather rock hair and medium level talent, has always been ridiculous and yeah, it's even more ridiculous at whatever age he's lurking around at, but back in the day that kind of cockamamie swashbuckling was pretty cool.

As a kid I LOVED his videos for Just a Gigolo and California Girls and I really hate Sammy Hagar, so that automatically puts me on the DLR side of things. I was looking at some quotes from him, knowing there'd be plenty from the guy Rolling Stone called “the most obnoxious singer in human history, an achievement notable in the face of long tradition and heavy competition”. His witticisms remind me of a certain uncle of Jim a fifty something guy going on nineteen:

“Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it”,

“I used to jog but the ice cubes kept falling out of my glass.”,

“The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the front of an oncoming train.”

He's never quite offensive in his love of bikini clad women, because ultimately he's the ditsy blond.

A friend of a friend had a run in with the man himself while getting busy in a NYC bar bathroom. Diamond Dave walked in on them and “whoa, been there, done that.” Classic.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Hunks »Duran Duran

duran duranDuran Duran was the boy band of hunks for those cool older girls when I was in elementary school. They were lucky to have these pretty British boys in the pages of their Teen Beats, as airbrushed to look like plastic dolls as they were. All we got were lots of Kirk Cameron and some Wil Wheaton.

Totally aware of their stud status for teenage girls, John Taylor described his band as “like a box of Quality Street [chocolates]; everyone is someone's favourite”. Taylor and Nick Rhodes would be my favorite. I never chose lead?singers to fall for, too predictable and as a young lady tween I wanted to be different.

Duran Duran was also always aware of changing styles and kept abreast of the look, whether it was as new romantics in blowing tops or clad in Giorgio Armani on a yacht and MTV was there to capture it all.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Albums »The Greatest

cat power the greatestThe Greatest by the eccentric beauteous chameleon Cat Power (Chan Marshall) is a bluesy album that ranges from melancholy to glee. Recorded in Tennessee with exceptional blues musicians like Teenie Hodges, Al Green's lead guitarist and songwriter, it makes sense that this showcases a different side to the fragile artist, it's not only bluesy but polished. The album also marked a shift in Marshall's personal life. Entering a hospital after what she described as “a mental break” she dealt with many long suffering problems like depression and alcohol abuse.

The title song is a beautiful one and Lived in Bars and Where is My Love are other romantic favorites of mine. As her seventh studio album, The Greatest is perhaps her most critically successful, winning the coveted Shortlist Music Prize in 2007. It was intended by her label Matador to gain her “a much wider appeal” and it worked, though she still has a bit of a cult status instead of a sold out MTV appeal, despite her becoming a very un-indie spokesperson for Chanel, De Beers, and Cingular.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Songs »In My House

in my house mary jane girlsThe Mary Jane Girls look so awesome in their In My House video, but awesome like to most awesome hooker you could meet awesome. I mean, they're the prot?g?s of Rick James, can you even begin to imagine the indecencies one would have to endure to reach that kind of position in life? I shudder to think.

But whatever it entailed, this number one hit song was a product of the collaboration and it still rules today as much as the day it was released in 1985, the same year Tetris hit the streets and everyone and their mom (literally, my mom is a Tetris genius) were obsessed with fitting shapes together,?Back to the Future was in theaters and everyone was obsessed with what we genuinely thought was the probability of flying skateboards, and the Mary Jane Girls were making us girls keen to the idea of being available night and day for booty calls

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Posted on September 29, 2008