The Guardian goes Chinese! (8/24/09)

Do you find reading the Guardian in plain old English to be dull? Then read it in Chinese! For reals! (One question: Is this content censored?)

Um...I'm working on a PC right now, so I don't have my usual awesome screen-capturing ability. Thus this ridiculous screenshot.

Also, if you have a weakness for Chinese takeout, you're not alone! Lily Allen does, too, and I heart this song from her latest, It's Not Me, It's You. It's about her mum! Awww! Cue heart-shaped balloon drop and all other manner of sappy things! (But don't allow the sappyness to mislead you. The track is hot.)



Anywho, if you can't read Chinese (or don't like Chinese food), that's okay! You're still allowed to read the Guardian in English. Perhaps you should check out this post about genre-repping albums. In brief, this week marks the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, aka THE jazz album to own, whether you want to give jazz a big sloppy kiss or you just wish those motherfuckers would stop soloing and play the damn chorus already. For the latter crowd, Ben Wardle offers some other options for "albums you love from genres you hate."

Miles Davis knocks it out the park on Kind of Blue. Holla.

My genre-busters aren't the same as Wardle's, but regardless, I am a big believer in seeking out something you like from every genre, which I think is absolutely possible and is always beneficial for your aural explorations. And music makes the world go 'round and all that cheesy shizz. You know what I'm sayin'. (And don't play like No Strings Attached isn't off the chain. You know you love *NSync's "Bye Bye Bye"—and its fabulous video—just as much as I do.)

Too Darn Hot (7/27/09)

Okay, so as far as I know, I am one of the only people in the state of New York who loathes the summer heat. Not for nothing, people, but miniscule apartments in the Northeast (I lovingly refer to my ant-size room as "The Cupboard Under the Stairs") don't have A/C. So heat = sweat, and I don't believe in sweating, unless you've got a very good reason for it.

Living space in The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Result: longing fantasies of life in the UK, where this week's weather forecast involves a diversified array of rain, light rain, and no temperatures over 72º Fahrenheit. Imagine the possibilities! Year-round wearing of svelte-making trench coats! Devising umbrella-centric dance routines en route to the tube! Donning jeans twelve months a year! Suede chaps being a perpetual option! (Weather-wise, that is. I don't actually recommend sporting chaps unless actual Western horseback riding is involved.)

My fave Britpopper Lily Allen lookin' all feline in a classic trench.

Alas, I am here in the NYC, where I'm finding the not-all-that-hot-really 80s pretty traumatic. But! When Filmi Girl was here a couple of weeks ago, she was rocking a folding fan, and between that and the dish on Victorian fan-usage over at Jane Austen's World, I think a little sumthin'-sumthin' to bat my lashes over is a fab idea. And so the heat is made palatable! Thanks, y'all!

James Dawson Watson, Woman with a Fan

All of that said, southern England apparently doesn't get too much snow either. I thought this video was hilarious when I saw it way back in February, and it's just as funny now. (Prepare for numerous dramatic shots of people standing around in a few inches of snow in stunning—stunning!—30º weather.)

Ruh-roh! Poor Lydia Bennet's beloved Brighton is buried in mounds of snow!

Sigh. I suppose I will have to suck it up and deal with all of this silly heat until summer's end. But I'll be dreaming of your sweet, sweet rain all the while, England. And one day we'll frolic in it together.

Too Darn Hot (7/27/09)

Okay, so as far as I know, I am one of the only people in the state of New York who loathes the summer heat. Not for nothing, people, but miniscule apartments in the Northeast (I lovingly refer to my ant-size room as "The Cupboard Under the Stairs") don't have A/C. So heat = sweat, and I don't believe in sweating, unless you've got a very good reason for it.

Living space in The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Result: longing fantasies of life in the UK, where this week's weather forecast involves a diversified array of rain, light rain, and no temperatures over 72º Fahrenheit. Imagine the possibilities! Year-round wearing of svelte-making trench coats! Devising umbrella-centric dance routines en route to the tube! Donning jeans twelve months a year! Suede chaps being a perpetual option! (Weather-wise, that is. I don't actually recommend sporting chaps unless actual Western horseback riding is involved.)

My fave Britpopper Lily Allen lookin' all feline in a classic trench.

Alas, I am here in the NYC, where I'm finding the not-all-that-hot-really 80s pretty traumatic. But! When Filmi Girl was here a couple of weeks ago, she was rocking a folding fan, and between that and the dish on Victorian fan-usage over at Jane Austen's World, I think a little sumthin'-sumthin' to bat my lashes over is a fab idea. And so the heat is made palatable! Thanks, y'all!

James Dawson Watson, Woman with a Fan

All of that said, southern England apparently doesn't get too much snow either. I thought this video was hilarious when I saw it way back in February, and it's just as funny now. (Prepare for numerous dramatic shots of people standing around in a few inches of snow in stunning—stunning!—30º weather.)

Ruh-roh! Poor Lydia Bennet's beloved Brighton is buried in mounds of snow!

Sigh. I suppose I will have to suck it up and deal with all of this silly heat until summer's end. But I'll be dreaming of your sweet, sweet rain all the while, England. And one day we'll frolic in it together.