Forgive me. I forgot I had a blog there for a minute. I’m not crazy (well, maybe I’m crazy like a fox, but that’s a different story), just busy. Anyway, I’m back with a new post now, the much-delayed “3 Things,” April edition. Enjoy! And if you don’t, I don’t want to hear about it : )
1. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
One recent obsession of mine has been the VH1 Classic channel. For a long time, whenever I was channel surfing, I would buzz right by this station, mostly because on our satellite it’s grouped with a bunch of other crappy music channels that I really have no interest in (unless I’m watching "Engaged and Underage," but that goes without saying). I would still be buzzing by it had “Classic Albums: Fleetwood Mac” not caught my eye mid-browse. There is something you should know about me: I love Fleetwood Mac, and have for a long, long time. I’m a Fleetwood Mac junkie (as opposed to the members of Fleetwood Mac, who were actual junkies). I love the music and I love all the convoluted, overly dramatic, tempestuous relationship crap that went on (and still goes on) behind it all. Plus, if I could trade lives with anyone in the world, it would almost certainly be Stevie Nicks, not only so that I could wear her awesome clothes and sing with her beautiful voice, but also because she’s just about the coolest chick ever. She’s a little witchy and that freaks me out but in a good way. And if the life trading is possible, I think time travel should also be doable, so I would trade lives with her in the 1970s, mainly because I would want to get it on with Lindsey Buckingham when he was still hot, and have immediate access to a lot of coke. Whoo, not unlike Pam on “The Office,” I am saying a lot of things…so back to the topic at hand, Rumours. This is, hands down, the best Fleetwood Mac album of all time, and maybe the best album of its time. At the time it was recorded, Lindsey and Stevie were breaking up, as were John and Christine, and Mick was getting divorced. I think they all pretty much hated each other during the year it took them to record Rumours, but some intense, gorgeous music came out of those sessions (definitely check out “I Don’t Want to Know” - it’s not often remembered as one of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest songs, but it’s fantastic). I have but one problem with this album: How did “Silver Springs” not make the final cut but “Oh Daddy” did? This glaring oversight, along with Bjork, her music and her fashion choices, is something I will never, ever understand. It’s still an incredible album though, and it was numero uno in my music rotation for all of April.
2. Headbands
My hair is curly, frizzy, and generally unmanageable. Couple that with the fact that I like to invest little or no time in my everyday appearance, and it’s pretty much a recipe for disaster. To make matters worse, no matter what combo of products I use, I always wake up looking like a cracked out Don King. I could blame genetics (and why shouldn’t I? I blame them for pretty much everything else.), or the fact that I sleep like a madwoman, all twisty and turny. Whatever the reason, I always thought that I was destined to forever have a somewhat frazzled daytime look - until I discovered the miracle that is the headband. Hear me now: I love headbands. In style or out, it makes no difference to me. Elastic, metal, silk, patent leather, plastic – I couldn’t care less what they’re made of, bring ‘em all on. If hairstyling were like Scientology, instead of Xenu, its disciples would be worshipping the headband. With minimal effort, I can create a couple of really cute looks. Pull the hair into a low ponytail, slap on a headband, and you’ve got a simple, businesslike look. Tuck the hair up into a high bun and cap it off with a headband – voila! Instant princess. I look finished and put together without even really trying. And that is a beautiful thing.
3. The Best Fan in the World
No, I’m not talking about you, OK.NOWwhat (though I do very much enjoy your comments and appreciate your continued readership). I’m talking about the Seville UltraSlimline Fan. This is, quite simply put, the best fan in the world. Put it to you this way: If fans were like Scientology, instead of Xenu, their disciples would worship the Seville UltraSlimline. I don’t even know where to start when singing the praises of this magic machine. I just know that its tall, thin design is easy to store when it’s cold (read: anytime it’s below 75 degrees), its three “natural breeze” settings rock my world, it’s freakishly quiet even on its highest speed, and its remote control caters to all my lazy tendencies. An added bonus: It comes with a 12-inch personal fan as well! In my house, that fan belongs to the dog, Maverick. That hound is definitely the rock star of the family, so it seemed only fitting that he should get his own mini PF. And you should get one too, because if you’re reading this, you’re for sure regarded as a rock star here at Destroy All Evidence.
I hope your April was filled with great stuff like mine was. Check back in a few days when I'll be posting about a wedding I went to last weekend. Oh, the fun we shall have!
Showing posts with label 3 things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3 things. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
3 Things: March
I would now like to introduce you to "3 Things," which I hope will become a monthly tradition around here. At the end of each month, I'll hit you with three things that I enjoyed over the course of the previous four weeks. I try really hard not to be a pimp on this blog, mostly because I heard from my pals Djay and Shug that it's really hard out there for a pimp - I've got enough problems of my own, thank you very much - but also because I don't want this space to become one big billboard (especially since, hello, no one is paying us for the shout out - we ain't no fools!). Still, when I like something, I want to share it with the people around me, so I think this is a good compromise. Here we go!
1. Movie Madness Marathon (aka, “MMM”)
Last week, Andrea and I were on Spring Break. Neither of us has ever been a big time partier, generally preferring to spend quiet time at home rather than partaking in hours and hours of weirdly loud music and wildly unentertaining people. Because of this, it’s not so surprising that our big activity for Spring Break was an event that united our shared love for lounging, cooking and eating, and watching a crap load of DVDs: the Movie Madness Marathon. We’ve done this a couple of times before, once when we knocked out the whole “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in one sitting and another time when we pushed our way through almost 75% of a season of “24.” Those were exhausting times, but they were good times. It had been far too long since our last MMM, so we thought we would take this mutual time off to resurrect it, and I’m so glad that we did.
To get the ball rolling, we first used our combined Netflixing abilities to procure three movies: "For Your Consideration" (another one of Christopher Guest’s simple, brilliant mock docs), "The Departed" (Martin Scorsese’s Boston-based tale of two men on opposite sides of the law; also this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner), and "Stranger Than Fiction" (the one where your idea that it would be great to have someone directing your life, telling you what to do and what’s going to happen to you, gets totally shot to hell). Then we decided that we’d watch them in that order as well – start with funny lightness, follow it up with weight and drama, finish it off with a nudge-on-the-chin feel gooder. Finally, we figured we would make a veritable smorgasbord of delectable snacks to nibble on at our leisure while laying around in our loungewear, snuggled up in blankets and watching movies. The result: Pure magic. It turned out to be a completely marvelous day. We saw three great movies, ate some truly delicious snackery (Blue cheese stuffed mushrooms! Ham and cheese rolls! Caprese sandwiches! Limoncello cheesecake squares!), and spent hours of quality time together. And we were in loungewear! All day long in the loungewear. I defy you to come up with anything more perfect than that.
2. Which Brings Me to You: A Novel in Confessions by Steve Almond and Julianna Baggott
A few weeks ago, I was bogged down by some heavy required reading for class, and it seemed like all the books I chose to read for pleasure were inexplicably dark (and not just, “Wow, that was sad” dark, but, “Wow, if I keep reading books like this, I’m seriously not going to be able to get out of bed” dark) as well. For the sake of my sanity, I began the arduous process of seeking out some respectable (ie, non-cheeseball) light-hearted fare. I scoured Borders and couldn’t find anything that appealed to me (thereby confirming my theory that “respectable” and “light-hearted” are mutually exclusive in literary terms). I was all set to go home, defeated, and dive right into another hide-the-handgun novel when I saw something scribbled onto the back of my checkbook: the title of a novel I once read an excellent review of, jotted down hastily in purple ink. I don’t remember the last time I had a purple pen. I don’t remember when I made that notation. I don’t remember where I read that review. But none of that matters, because I trusted myself (my purple pen-having self, my checkbook writing self) and bought that book right on the spot. As it turns out, it was just what I needed to get myself out of my depressing book funk.
Which Brings Me to You is the story of a man and woman who meet at a wedding and have an awkward semi-sexual encounter that leads to the exchange of a series of letters laying out their past failures in love and life (those are the “confessions” referenced in the title). I bought it, read it in a day, and am now actively promoting it to all my friends, family, and, of course, blog buddies. Check it out – it’s smart, witty and real, which, let’s face it, you don’t get a lot of these days.
(And also, after reading this piece about his experience coauthoring a novel and this piece about his nephews and the entirety of this book tour diary, I think I sort of heart Steve Almond. How have I never read any of this guy’s work before? He’s smart, witty and real…I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you don’t get a lot of that these days.)
3. The Colgate 360 toothbrush
Two things I’m always in the business of: 1) Getting my teeth whiter, and 2) Keeping my breath fresh. This fantastic toothbrush accomplishes both things, because not only does it have some soft rubber bristles to remove stains and keep you plaque free, it also has this weird nubby thing on the backside of the head that cleans both the inside of the cheeks and the tongue, ridding your mouth of bacteria that causes bad breath. In short, the brush is genius. The bottom line is, my teeth are super white, my breath is odor free, and you should throw away your old crappy toothbrush and use this one instead. Also, as previously stated, we don't get any kind of payment for recommending things like this, but maybe if someone told Colgate I’d be willing to receive compensation in the form of a lifetime supply of these toothbrushes they'd be willing to pony up. After all, this blog gets over three views a day. That’s got to be worth something. Pass it on.
1. Movie Madness Marathon (aka, “MMM”)
Last week, Andrea and I were on Spring Break. Neither of us has ever been a big time partier, generally preferring to spend quiet time at home rather than partaking in hours and hours of weirdly loud music and wildly unentertaining people. Because of this, it’s not so surprising that our big activity for Spring Break was an event that united our shared love for lounging, cooking and eating, and watching a crap load of DVDs: the Movie Madness Marathon. We’ve done this a couple of times before, once when we knocked out the whole “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in one sitting and another time when we pushed our way through almost 75% of a season of “24.” Those were exhausting times, but they were good times. It had been far too long since our last MMM, so we thought we would take this mutual time off to resurrect it, and I’m so glad that we did.
To get the ball rolling, we first used our combined Netflixing abilities to procure three movies: "For Your Consideration" (another one of Christopher Guest’s simple, brilliant mock docs), "The Departed" (Martin Scorsese’s Boston-based tale of two men on opposite sides of the law; also this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner), and "Stranger Than Fiction" (the one where your idea that it would be great to have someone directing your life, telling you what to do and what’s going to happen to you, gets totally shot to hell). Then we decided that we’d watch them in that order as well – start with funny lightness, follow it up with weight and drama, finish it off with a nudge-on-the-chin feel gooder. Finally, we figured we would make a veritable smorgasbord of delectable snacks to nibble on at our leisure while laying around in our loungewear, snuggled up in blankets and watching movies. The result: Pure magic. It turned out to be a completely marvelous day. We saw three great movies, ate some truly delicious snackery (Blue cheese stuffed mushrooms! Ham and cheese rolls! Caprese sandwiches! Limoncello cheesecake squares!), and spent hours of quality time together. And we were in loungewear! All day long in the loungewear. I defy you to come up with anything more perfect than that.
2. Which Brings Me to You: A Novel in Confessions by Steve Almond and Julianna Baggott
A few weeks ago, I was bogged down by some heavy required reading for class, and it seemed like all the books I chose to read for pleasure were inexplicably dark (and not just, “Wow, that was sad” dark, but, “Wow, if I keep reading books like this, I’m seriously not going to be able to get out of bed” dark) as well. For the sake of my sanity, I began the arduous process of seeking out some respectable (ie, non-cheeseball) light-hearted fare. I scoured Borders and couldn’t find anything that appealed to me (thereby confirming my theory that “respectable” and “light-hearted” are mutually exclusive in literary terms). I was all set to go home, defeated, and dive right into another hide-the-handgun novel when I saw something scribbled onto the back of my checkbook: the title of a novel I once read an excellent review of, jotted down hastily in purple ink. I don’t remember the last time I had a purple pen. I don’t remember when I made that notation. I don’t remember where I read that review. But none of that matters, because I trusted myself (my purple pen-having self, my checkbook writing self) and bought that book right on the spot. As it turns out, it was just what I needed to get myself out of my depressing book funk.
Which Brings Me to You is the story of a man and woman who meet at a wedding and have an awkward semi-sexual encounter that leads to the exchange of a series of letters laying out their past failures in love and life (those are the “confessions” referenced in the title). I bought it, read it in a day, and am now actively promoting it to all my friends, family, and, of course, blog buddies. Check it out – it’s smart, witty and real, which, let’s face it, you don’t get a lot of these days.
(And also, after reading this piece about his experience coauthoring a novel and this piece about his nephews and the entirety of this book tour diary, I think I sort of heart Steve Almond. How have I never read any of this guy’s work before? He’s smart, witty and real…I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you don’t get a lot of that these days.)
3. The Colgate 360 toothbrush
Two things I’m always in the business of: 1) Getting my teeth whiter, and 2) Keeping my breath fresh. This fantastic toothbrush accomplishes both things, because not only does it have some soft rubber bristles to remove stains and keep you plaque free, it also has this weird nubby thing on the backside of the head that cleans both the inside of the cheeks and the tongue, ridding your mouth of bacteria that causes bad breath. In short, the brush is genius. The bottom line is, my teeth are super white, my breath is odor free, and you should throw away your old crappy toothbrush and use this one instead. Also, as previously stated, we don't get any kind of payment for recommending things like this, but maybe if someone told Colgate I’d be willing to receive compensation in the form of a lifetime supply of these toothbrushes they'd be willing to pony up. After all, this blog gets over three views a day. That’s got to be worth something. Pass it on.
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