Shit That Intrigues Me: Birth control pills effecting chemistry and attraction. Apparently, when women are ovulating, they are attracted to men with more masculine features. Now, studies suggest taking the pill can affect hormones, “making less-masculine men seem more attractive.” Huh.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576313243579677316.html
Shit I Like: From the people who brought you “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”….”The Meowmorphosis”
Gregor Samsa is a humble young man who supports his unemployed parents and teenage sister by working as a traveling fabric salesman. But his life goes strangely wrong in the very first sentence of The Meowmorphosis, when he wakes up late for work and discovers that he has inexplicably become an adorable kitten.
http://thedailywh.at/2011/05/04/literary-mashup-of-the-day-2/
Shit I Like: A compilation of the best/worst impressions by Michael Scott.
“Get me Armani!”
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/watch_7_seasons_of_michael_sco.html
Shit I Like: Open window season
(submitted by Sarah Bullock)
Shit That Intrigues Me: An analysis of song lyrics from 1980-2007, alongside a questionnaire called the Narcissism Personality Inventory, show that narcissism has greatly increased….and our generation loves themselves the most. Do you think song lyrics can show this “epidemic”, or does it seem like a reach? Read the article and discuss:
Shit I Like: Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj remix of Britney’s “Til the World Ends”. Yes!
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/world_ends.html
Let’s take a moment to talk about iPod/headphone/personal music device etiquette in public places.
Shit I Don’t Like: I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that headphones are in existence so one can listen to their music and no one else will have to hear. Boomboxes, portable radios, and other noise-emitting devices are banned in most public places along with spitting because they disturb the peace and are mostly very annoying. That being said, I would like to gripe about headphone/personal music device misuse in all public places.
1. Sometimes, headphones are shitty. I get it. You put the volume up, and unfortunately everyone around you can hear the awful reggaeton that is blaring from your phone or iPod. Maybe you are hard of hearing and need to turn the volume up very high, or maybe you just don’t know that everyone around you is wishing they could stuff cotton into their ears to avoid hearing your unpleasant music. Therefore, I can’t fault you. I can only fault the makers of shitty headphones. I am nonetheless one of those people who should probably start carrying ear plugs with me everywhere I go.
a. Sometimes, hearing other people’s music can be interesting. For example, my morning subway commute was particularly crowded and unpleasant today. A businessman rudely pushed his way into the car and stood right next to me. Why was I not that upset? Because I SWEAR the Dixie Chicks were coming from his headphones.
2. If you take a moment to look around you, you will notice that this is not the stage of American Idol, America’s Got Talent, or Say What Karaoke. You will also notice that I am not sitting alongside a panel of judges, I have no prizes, and I will not be text messaging your name a thousand times to Ryan Seacrest. So please stop singing. Please stop rapping. Literally no one else but you can hear the music playing on your headphones (unless you are a perpetrator of gripe #1), so we really have no idea what it is you are singing/rapping to. Perhaps you have perfect pitch, or you want to impress people because you can rap along with Kanye at lightning speed. Unfortunately for you, no one wants to hear you. You sound like a crazy person. I’m talking to you, woman on the subway at 8am singing along with her worship songs, very badly and quite loudly.
a. As a sub-bullet to #2, a quiet public place does not mean you need to sing/rap louder.
3. If I happen to be wearing headphones, please don’t talk to me. By putting headphones in my ears, I have indicated that I do not want to be bothered, as I am quietly enjoying my music. This should be a very obvious non-communicative gesture, but it amazes me how many people do not understand this concept. Have you ever watched a person try to talk to a stranger with headphones on? Hilarious.
4. Smart phones now make it possible to combine personal music device and phone. How convenient! So what’s the problem here? When a person’s cell phone is not also a music device and the only music on this person’s phone are 30 second snippets of songs they can purchase as a ringtone. These song samples are then played over and over again, as if playing it just one more time out loud will magically make the entire song available for free. Plus, do you really want this song as your ringtone after you have already listened to it ten thousand times? Additionally, to get back to #1, just because your phone does not physically look like a boombox or radio does not exemplify it from noise-emitting devices.
There is a time and place for playing music loudly or singing along to your favorite songs. These times/places should not include public transportation, specifically during rush hour.
Shit I Like: Rocko’s Modern Life is coming out on DVD. AND Nickelodeon just announced that it will be rerunning Clarissa Explains It All! Hey Sam!
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/rockos_modern_life_coming_to_d.html
Shit I Don’t Like: According to a study in the British Medical Journal, drinking over the recommended limit “raises cancer risk”. Great.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12999000
Shit That Intrigues Me: The government is shutting down?
Shit I Like:
This is seriously SO COOL!!!
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/bach_wooden_staircase.html
Shit I Like: The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
This book is really incredible. If you have never read it, do yourself a favor and get a copy as soon as you can. I just finished reading it for the second time and it was just as amazing as it was the first time I read it (which was about a year ago). Not only is it the inspriring story of a man’s spiritual journey and quest for knowledge and truth, but an amazing collection of dimensional characters and vivid descriptive language.
One of the reasons I love this book so much is the beautiful descriptions of Paris in the early 1900s. You can practically close your eyes and see yourself in the cafes with Larry and Mr. Maugham and smell the aroma of cafe au lait.
Read the book. Really.
“It’s not hard to ask yourself what life is all about and whether there’s any sense to it or whether it’s all a tragic blunder of blinde fate.”
