THIS TUMBLR IS NOW DIAMONDS

A couple of weeks ago I added the Sesame Street Tumblr to my Google Reader. Best. Idea. Ever.

A Slightly Different Song of the Day

As If That Last Poem Wasn't Great Enough on Its Own...

Five Videos I'm Into Right Now

(because it can't all be quotes from books I'm giving away)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

...okay, so I'm always into that last one.

Gallons of River Water

Who's pumped for USA/England tomorrow? Oh, I am. Adopted country, we're gunnin' for you....no matter what John Oliver says.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
World Cup 2010: Into Africa - Two Teams, One Cup
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

LEAD FEMALE'S NAME

Covering the Year

(via The Daily Dish)

(This Year's Gonna be a Good, Good Year)

The Judge Who Allows Everything

Comedy Central Park	Watch more
John Mulaney - Law & Order
http://www.comedycentral.com/
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

"You deduce that by removing your sunglasses to the strains of a Who song?"

No joke, I am really craving Velveeta Shells and Mac now.

Clearly, I Need a Trip to the Shore

I have been slow to investigate and (as is inevitable) embrace MTV's Jersey Shore but this video may have sealed the deal.

The REAL Situation (Feat. MTV Jersey Shore's The Situation, Snooki, and Pauly D) - watch more funny videos

Guess what I'm doing over Christmas?

Maddow v. Cohen

Rachel Maddow and Richard Cohen, author of Coming Out Straight, a book being cited by proponents of the bill in Uganda to allow for the execution of gay people.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Maybe We Don't Give Jimmy Fallon Enough Credit

Because then he does something like this:

Five Things From My Google Reader

Just returned from another one of my ill-advised-but-so-worth-it epic theater road trips, driving over 1000 miles in 56 hours to catch Punchdrunk's 'Sleep No More' (and a minor cold). Show was fantastic, the company was fabulous and the cold didn't kill me. A successful weekend.

Now, 56 hours, is really not that much until you come home and log-on to the interwebs for the first time since gleefully leaving work early on Friday. 487. That's the number of posts Google Reader had waiting for me and, I am proud to say, I have finally gotten through them all! So today's Five Things will be culled from those offerings. In no particular order...

1) Via Joy, I give you the automatic packing list. I just tried it out for my upcoming weekend jaunt to New York, and while it seems pretty straight-forward it DOES save you the hassle of thinking for yourself. And in this day and age, who doesn't love that?

2) Remember, back a bit ago when Obama offered to write a little girl at one of his speeches a note for missing school? Maybe he got the idea from one of his predecessors. It seems another awesome president, this one by the name of Lincoln, once took time out from saving the Union to write a note to a little boy to confirm the child's story about meeting him. If you can't read it, it says "To whom it may concern: I did see and talk with Master George Evans Patten, last May, at Springfield, Illinois. Respectfully, A. Lincoln."

You can find the original story over The Daily Dish.

3. You know what else you can find at the Daily Dish? A baby otter. But I will save you all that tiresome clicking and just give it to you here:

4. It's only been a week but I'm already experiencing post-Mad Men malaise. This video of Roger Sterling's best one liners did a bit to cheer me up, but they left out three of my favs! A big ol' "Good for you" if you can guess the missing lines:

5. There are a lot of things that disturb me these days (previous posts), and The Disney Channel ranks pretty high up there. Through baby-sitting and my sister (who is for the record, 19) I have wound up seeing at least one episode of the following: Hannah Montana, Jonas, Sunny With a Chance, The Wizards of Waverly Place and, the subject of this Slate article, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody. None of it makes me feel great about the future. Where's Beauty and the beast when you need it?

The Last One?

Three Videos of Three Great Guys

Three of my boys were on Letterman last night. Need I say more?

Why Charlie Fink Needs a Girlfriend

I am a big, big Noah and the Whale fan, so I was super stoked to get their new album The First Days of Spring. I had high hopes considering how utterly awesome Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down was and I have to say, though not disappointed, it's not what I was expecting. The main reason I like them is that, if you listen to Peaceful, it's not really a happy album. Even '5 Years Time' acknowledges the possibility of today's happiness disappearing, and '2 Atoms in a Molecule' is really just a meditation on the inability to be with someone else. But the key is that these songs sound happy. They reflect my own personal cynicism without making me want to kill myself. FTW.

But Spring doesn't really do that. Spring is just straight up sad. The girl is gone, the boy is alone, if things ever do get better...it will be a long time from now.

And it's for this reason that having Spring be my main soundtrack for this past weekend's endless road tripping would have been a horrible idea WERE IT NOT for one key track. 'Love of an Orchestra' still contains the pessimistic lyrics I tend to love ("if you gotta run, run from hope") and is based on the idea that one doesn't need people, really, because music is just as good, but it lays all of this out over a totally infectious string-driven base that makes me grin and lunge for the repeat button.

Here, check it out:

On the actual album, the track before it is actually an extended instrumental intro which I recommend incorporating into your daily listening. Really, just go get the album. Sad or not, it's still pretty great.

A Little Free-Style Broadway Rappin' to Start Your Day?

Ask and yee shall receive...

So, I Think He Can Dance

Just so you don't think I'm all gloom-and-doom-and-civil-liberties, here's the SYTYCD audition from my boy, Evan Kasprzak:



Oh, Ryan. I love you as well.

By Our Powers Combined

I have a serious thing for Johnny Flynn, but I mean that in a "I think his music is amazing" type way. He has yet to be added to my ever growing list of imaginary boyfriends, mostly because I'm pretty sure we have nothing in common and any conversation we could possible have would go something along the lines of "....so, uh, the sky is blue." "Yeah, really blue." and then we'd be out of things to talk about. But his music is really, really good. And he plays the violin.

Another person I have a serious non-romantic musical thing for is Laura Marling. I saw her play a gig with Johnny last fall and thought her voice was remarkable and I pretty much have to listen to at least one of her songs once a day so I can remember there is wonderful, gorgeous music out there that has nothing to with the Disney channel or Apple commercials. 

You can only imagine my delight when, without even trying, I found this duet of the two of them on YouTube:

You're welcome.