And the best Stock image goes to....

Shutterstock! For "Concept image of metrosexual male featuring a young male using a hair dryer to fix his hair nicely, isolated against a white background"!

Congratulations, You handsome devil!

Gimme a Head with Hair

As a child, I did what many young girls are wont to do. I yearned for the physical characteristics that I could not have. I always wished that I could have been born with thick curly hair, instead of fine wispy locks my genetics predisposed me to. I remember being shocked the first time a curly-haired girl told me she wished her hair was straight.

Now I am older and can appreciate the ease of caring for my hair, and I embrace it as part of me. However, this Tumblr is kinda kindling those old wishes for the other.

 

Ich bin eifersüchtiger wenig!

Meet Manukura

The first all-white kiwi bird to be born in captivity in New Zealand since 1915! His name, given by the local Maori tribe in Wellington means "chiefly one". VIA

So it's true...

On Sunday Paul and I went to the Old Hadley Flea Market. This is our favorite place to buy new video games. I picked up Lego Harry Potter, Years 1-4 for a song.

My excitement was doubled when I realized it came with a free copy the movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001), which I watched with great enthusiasm not too long after. I don't think I had seen it since it was in theaters originally, and I enjoyed it much more now than I think I did then. Seeing these actors all grown up today, it was weird to go back and see how they were so widdle!

Caturday XXXIV- Meet Tigger- 1977

Do your ears hang low?

Wearing animal ears in public. I will not deny that I have mocked people for doing this in the past- specifically gals who maraud as cats on a daily basis. Specifically those on the Umass campus.

However, I have since realized that fuzzy costume ears are appropriate and fun on special occasions. Last summer, I wore my awesome bunny ears at the Gathering of the Vibes music festival, and got many complements. Also some sweaty hugs from stranger-hippies.

It can be fun to be in costume in public, you do get a lot of attention. Maybe that's the cat-girls angle.

Alas, at that same aforementioned event, I sat on said ears and broke them. I thought I'd have the energy to repair them, but I still haven't done it.

I stumbled upon Fuzzhats.com today, and now I'm contemplating purchasing a new attention getting headdress. 

This last one, the yeti, is a big front runner!

Indictment

Food is a huge part of what I do at work now. Thinking about how to get food to people, teaching people about cooking, and acknowledging the socio-economic causes of food insecurity. This clip from NPR artfully catches the crux of latter.



As well as the former, and that in between one too.

I have to admit, I'm compelled to try that Kool Aid Pickle.

The Precipice

I have a big presentation tomorrow at work that I feel like will define my relationship with the rest of the company. I am presenting to all the department managers. The Executive Director is going to do an introduction.

It all seems rather daunting at the moment!

Rain Rain Go Away

It's been so wet lately! AS a former boss of mine would say, "It's good for the garden." This sort of weather always makes me lethargic, and feel the need to crack my knuckles often. I fear I'm on my way to becoming the granny who feels the weather in her joints.

Surprisingly, Roosevelt maintains her going outdoors schedule even when it's dreary. She seems only mildly fazed by getting completely soaked.

Keep in mind this was taken after I tried to dry her off!

5 Characters in Search of an Exit - 1961

A tale from the Twilight Zone involving an Army Major, a clown, a hobo, a Scotsman, and a Ballet dancer who are trapped in a mysterious room with no exit, and no idea of how they arrived there.

"We are in the darkness; nameless things with no memory – no knowledge of what went before, no understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be."



Can't help but wonder if it was't the inspiration for this!

Is that bad?

Internet fashion fiends have been giving Chanel a lot of guff for these shoes that Karl Lagerfeld designed. They were featured in a recent cruise wear runway show. Apparently they're quite ghastly...

Is it wrong that I kind of love them? I like their strangeness!

Wonkzilla

Big Y's organic line, "Full Circle", has biodegradable cutlery. It's a cool idea- disposable forks and knifes that are made out of plant starches, so you can throw them in the compost pile instead of a landfill. In theory this is awesome.

In practice, well...One minute I'm enjoying a hot n' tasty burrito. The next I'm getting poked in the mouth by a Tim Burton-esque monstrosity! Apparently heat is this inventions only weakness...

Prom Dot Com

My Brother went to Prom over the weekend. It's a big event for some students, the culmination of their high school experience and a last chance to party with their peers, and dress up like celebrities.

With all the hype around prom nowadays, It's interesting to compare today's culture around the dance with the excitement of days of yore.



There are two big differences:

1. Teenagers from 1950-1960 always look so old compared to kids today. I blame the haircuts and glasses.

2. Look how calm and peaceful and positively serene this event seems. No drunken brawls, no bumpin' and grindin'. And indeed, by the end of the video folks are actually NAPPING during prom.

Compared to this Prom footage from the same town, 50+ years later, everything seems really boring!



I don't think that anybody would describe the ladies in the first vid as "Sexy Crazy prom Girls"

Caturday XXXIII

Cat tongues are so weird!

Drunk Music

Paul and I were celebrating yesterday's holiday in the supposed typical fashion; Drinking significant quantities of imported beer. Since we got 2 cars, sometimes we accidentally both buy beer on the way home.We ended up having a veritable smorgasbord of choices:

  and

 and

It all kind of reminded me of our honeymoon, where literally the only beer you could get at the hotel bar was corona and negro modelo. It encouraged me to try lots of different rainbow tinged girl drinks that I never would normally touch.


Anywho, as we imbibed, we listened to some tunes. We came to the conclusion that John Brown's Body is the best possible music to listen while getting drunk.



Eventually the session devolved into us binging on Disney movie songs, and debating the veracity of princess movies being bad for little girls' psyches.



I voted "no".

The Three Caballeros - 1944

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, enjoy the signature number from Disney's strange celebration of Latino culture. 



Donald Duck receives a magical birthday present that transports him to an abstract plane of existence. Here, he learns all about the cultures of Mexico and Brazil in a singing, dancing tourism fiesta. That's some gift!

This film is way less racist than many of the cartoons about "the other" from this period, mostly because it's celebrating the multiculturalism and the positive aspects of these countries, not just stereotyping them through one character. It's also one of the first movies to combine cartoons and live action together.

I also like this because it focuses on bird-heroes, and the birds have awesome names. Panchito Pistoles! You can't top that.

Is it time for a Corona yet?

Le merveilleux

Over the weekend, Paul and I saw a High School Production of the legendary Musical Les Miserables. I, like almost everybody I've mentioned this to, was super skeptical that high school kids could pull off such a demanding and intense show.

Finding boys who can sing is the stereotypical primary challenge of high school theater, and this is a show that demands a huge male cast. Paul and I were speculating about which male parts would be played by women (He guessed Mr. Thenadier, I guess Enjorals). Miraculously though, Oakmont High School found an ample supply of guys, and pretty much all of them were great singers!

All the leads were incredibly strong too. Marius and Cosette were impeccable. And especially the kid who played Jean Valjean. When naysayers point to why high-schoolers couldn't pull this off, they usually point to one song:



As I mentioned to my brother, who was running the spotlight, this kid they got to play the lead is like an x-men, whose only power is singing really really well. He sang "Bring him home" beautifully.

I felt just as moved, and excited and impressed by this production as I did when i saw it on Broadway. They even had that amazing rotating set that makes the staging of this show so memorable. It was a fun way to see one of my favorite shows ever again.

My brother's girlfriend was in it, and played Fantine. She was spectacular. I really can't say enough good things about this show, and the kids who pulled it off deserve a lot of praise. The audience cried at all the right parts and somebody even shouted out "no" in the audience when a particularly lovable character died (Can you guess who?).

Seeing it again has gotten me looking up all the songs on youtube. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I really like this one:

The Present

here

Wants

Totem Bowls!

Now you can appreciate the traditional symbolic storytelling of the original Americans while enjoying your cereal du jour.

These are so awesome!

Bongo - 1947

This is my favorite Disney short of all. It's a fish-out-of-water tale of a circus bear who escapes his cruel captors for the instinctual glory of nature. I have really distinct memories of so many parts of this, I must of watched about 500 times as a kid.

It's got good songs, and I like that there's a female narrator, cuz it was made in war-time.





I was talking to Paul too about how this cartoon distinctly informed my young romantic sensibilities. F Alpha males, the smart Beta is where it's at!