Mary Travers 1936-2009

"Mary will never die - not the things she believed in, not the things she sang about." - Peter Yarrow

Marilyn & Books

These are some great photos.
Moira writes:

Close your eyes. Think of an actress who may have had an understandably desperate need to prove that she had a brain as well as a physical presence. Yes, you guessed it. Beginning this little project of unearthing photos of actors and their reading matter, I'd no idea that Marilyn Monroe would prove to have been one lady who was most often photographed in this most civilized of pastimes.

Sweetest Fanny

March 1820 (?) You fear, sometimes, I do not love you so much as you wish? My dear Girl I love you ever and ever and without reserve. The more I have known you the more have I lov'd. In every way - even my jealousies have been agonies of Love, in the hottest fit I ever had I would have died for you. I have vex'd you too much. But for Love! Can I help it? You are always new. The last of your kisses was ever the sweetest; the last smile the brightest; the last movement the gracefullest. When you pass'd my window home yesterday, I was fill'd with as much admiration as if I had then seen you for the first time. You uttered half complaint once that I only lov'd your Beauty. Have I nothing else then to love in you but that? Do not I see a heart naturally furnish'd with wings imprison itself with me? No ill prospect has been able to turn your thoughts a moment from me. This perhaps should be as much a subject of sorrow as of joy - but I will not talk of that. Even if you did not love me I could not help an entire devotion to you: how much more deeply then must I feel for you knowing you love me. My Mind has been the most discontented and restless one that ever was put into a body too small for it. I never felt my Mind repose upon anything with complete and undistracted enjoyment - upon no person but you. When you are in the room my thoughts never fly out of window: you always concentrate my whole senses. The anxiety shown about our Loves in your last note is an immense pleasure to me: however you must not suffer such speculations to molest you any more: nor will I any more believe you can have the least pique against me. Brown is gone out - but here is Mrs Wylie - when she is gone I shall be awake for you. - Remembrances to your Mother. Your affectionate J. Keats

Ree Drummond!

So I dragged my ass out of bed this morning (okay. early afternoon.) and walked into the kitchen for some much needed caffeine, and guess who I saw - right there - on my kitchen counter?? REE! Front page of the Food Section of the LA Times. It was like a nice little morning gift. And now I have something to read while I eat breakfast. (lunch.)

I can't recall if I've ever mentioned it before, but I LOVE Ree's site. You might find the link on the lower right sidebar, if you feel so inclined. Or here, if you're to lazy to scroll.

I lovelovelove all of her photography posts and can't help but love her stories from the ranch. And the fact that she's a city girl living in the country doesn't hurt. If you get a chance, check it out.

The more unhappy you are, the more ice cream you need

http://www.dashndem.com/dr_whippy.html

I love Meryl Streep, BUT

Anna Wintour is a fashion goddess. After seeing this, though, I have to say.... Meryl is a goddess in her own right. To be able to mimic Anna perfectly without overdoing it.

If you haven't seen "The September Issue" yet, please - stop reading this right now and go see it. Sarah and I saw it last weekend and were, like, "!!!!!" the whole time. It's very revealing as far as the creative process goes, and I loved getting to see Grace Coddington, the Creative Director, in her element. She's the redheaded Brit in the clip below. Fiesty. She kind of reminds me of my mom's stepmom. Now, Anna Wintour is a greaaat editor, but Grace was really the star of the documentary, I think. And I know some people who agree.

Because I'm taking the GREs tomorrow morning, pt. 2

Because I'm taking the GREs tomorrow morning

here's the first single off of Imogen Heap's new cd, which was released at the end of August. There's lots of bizarre little noises in the background of this album, and it really makes me wonder what she's using physically to make a lot of the sounds. I rather like it.

2 Things

1. I am finding mysterious insect bites ALL OVER MY BODY. I will itch them until they bleed.
Someone needs to HELP ME.

2. Florence + the Machine is vastly superior to Kate Nash. Whoever disagrees is LYING to themselves. First of all, she actually sings. And second of all, she doesn't sound like a drunk Lily Allen who skipped her antidepressants for the day.

Just thought of another one

working on not hating myself

Okay, so my initial thought was that Kelly did this to me. It HAD to have been her and those HOURS and HOURS in the car driving. Had to. Her fault.................













But, ohhh wait, what about that one obsession I had?



Shit! I forgot about them. Hmm....

I totally remember singing that Earl song in the car with my friend Kara while her mom drove AS LOUD AS WE POSSIBLY COULD.

*slaps myself* shut up shut up!




Oh or this. DAMNIT.




And her



Shitshitshit. I know where this is going... and I. Don't. Like. It.


I think I was headed this way. I should have seen it coming. But it's too late now. It's happened and I'll just have to stand up for myself.

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

OKAY

Ireallyliketaylorswift

I'm SORRY, okay??

BUT. In my defense, I don't view her as strictly country (which is something that I feel is also a strong distinction that can be made about the Dixie Chicks, Nickel Creek, and Neko Case). Yes, it's a little pop, a little rock, but what's the most important isn't the category - it's the fact that she's a crossover artist. Or has the potential to be. No, she's not as fierce (or funny) as the Chicks (and who else can sound like Natalie Maines besides Natale?), not as technical as Nickel Creek, and not as musically courageous or dark as Neko Case. But that doesn't make her songs bad, it doesn't make the emotions that she was feeling any less real. In fact, if I could say one thing about her music, I'd say that the lyrics completely make it. You can really hear her in there.

Oddly enough, I subscribe to RS and got this in the mail a few months ago. I picked it up and put it down about 10 times because I could have given a shit about a country pop star. But, I decided to read it and I was... illuminated, I guess? She seems painfully normal, which I think is what I liked about it. Her parents seem like my parents, not overly indulgent, and she seems like a normal high school kid, maybe even an unpopular one (you know how the popular kids never get subtle verbal irony? she does!). And that might actually be her biggest problem. She's 19, she graduated high school already. And most of her fans are still in middle school. If she really wants to transcend her country pop category she's going to have to appeal to people beyond her core base. I know that a lot of artists are afraid of doing that because they don't want to piss off the people who "made" them, but I really think she can do it and I hope she does!



"I love love. I love studying it and watching it. I love thinking about how we treat each other, and the crazy way that one person can feel one thing and another can feel totally different. It just doesn't take much for me to be inspired to write a song about a person, but I'm much more likely to write that song than do anything about it. You know, self-preservation." -Taylor Swift

Happy Place

Ha

Let's zoom in on that:



I'm not eligible for sustainable transportation! How sad. I guess I'll just be forced to keep polluting.