Special Guest Blogger Mark Ingram!

I, Mark Ingram, am the guest blogger for today. Unbeknownst to Thuy I have managed to deliver her B-day gift via her own blog. So here you go Thuy, a fresh blog title illustration along with a few doodles of your favorite little animals. For all of you readers out there, don't forget to wish Thuy a Happy Birthday. Oh, and she likes to be showered with gifts too, so don't forget that either! Ok Thuy, it is time for me to sign off as your guest blogger and wish you a Happy Happy Happy Birthday. So enjoy your special prize nuggets of delight and don't forget that I love you.

BOOK CLUB!

in german, the title of this post would be "book klub" (that's probably not true, but just roll with it. it reminds me of melt!).

for the past few months my high school friends and i have been meeting in our very own book club. we don't have a name yet, mainly because they didn't like the name i suggested, the finer things club II, so i'm thinking we will not create or ever agree on a proper name. one of the main reasons i agreed to the book club is because it gives us a reason to get together once a month and share a meal together...oh yeah, and for the fine literary selections.

so far:
anthem, ayn rand
the slaughterhouse five, kurt vonnegut
the wave, todd strasser
the giver, lois lowry

you're probably wondering why we read the giver and the wave, seeing as how those are elementary level books - well, i never read the giver! i read the wave in 8th grade, but it was an interesting read, so we gave it another whirl. the giver is intense. the reading level was 4 1/2, and i have no idea what that means, because what is the scale out of? i can only assume they meant 4th grade? but really, what 4th grader would understand the implications and message behind that book. apparently, all my friends really loved it as kids, and apparently, according to joyce, i read that book before, but it seems like something i would remember. the concept behind the giver reminded me an awful lot of anthem. i'm not saying once is a copy of the other, i'm just mentioning the similarities. so this is what it is like to read!!


i just finished rereading danny, champion of the world by roald dahl, and chuck dugan is AWOL by eric chase anderson. they were more fun reads than anything else, but it's weird because i cannot remember the last time i picked up a book when i didn't have to. cheers to education!

what is up with all these collaborations? i'm loving it!

pitchfork just reported this morning that robyn and diplo are working together on a project. now, if you know me at all, you know how excited i get about robyn. apparently their "tweets" have been pretty ambiguous (i haven't read them, i'm boycotting twitter), so we don't exactly know what will come of this collaboration. whatever it is, it will probably be best track of the year. maybe they'll copy kesha. ouch.

holla.

intellectual property theft > lame.

okay, so it may not be intellectual property theft, but c'mon people, the similarities are undeniable.

so here's the stitch: something is wrong with my CD player in my car, so for the past 2 days i have been listening to the radio - it's pretty BLAH, by the way (i like KCRW, but it was talk radio at the time). so, while i was making my rounds on the radio dial, i turned to the beloved KIIS FM and this one song came on. something about parties, getting drunk, etc., and i thought to myself..."hmmm...this song sounds familiar. this can't be uffie...can it?"

who could it be?? who could it be? i come home and talk to mark about it, this uffie wannabe, but we come up with nothing. i decide to google what i remembered about the song and this is all i had to put into my search bar "new pop song crunk junk" (because i remember her talking about touching her junk...what? the line just stood out to me). anyway, the song is called "tik tok" by kesha or ke$ha, as she is sometimed referred as.

these are just some of the lyics:
Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddi
(Hey, what up girl?)
Grab my glasses, I'm out the door - I'm gonna hit this city (Lets go)
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back
I'm talkin' bout - pedicures on our toes, toes
Trying on all our clothes, clothes
Boys blowing up our phones, phones
Drop-topping, playing our favorite cd's
Pulling up to the parties
Trying to get a little bit tipsy

umm...rip of kid sister (pedicures)? rip of uffie? c'mon, people! justice is one of the most recognized groups in the world right now, and the person who produced this album didn't even notice? shame on you, kesha, producer guy and top 40 radio listeners. the end.

for your viewing pleasure.

i wish, i wish

this comment will make mark happy: i really wish i could appreciate art more. there are some pieces that i am just in awe over, and there are others that...well...are bad. anyway, needless to say, the following photos are the former, not the latter. i was looking at this very cool blog tonight the black eiffel and saw these pictures.

a book installation! whaaa? those are books that make up that "door frame" or walkway or whatever you want to call it. installation by jan raymend, photo by tim tom.


a hanging garden? installation done by gerda steiner & jorg lenzlinger.


now this is stuff to talk about!

doggy font

so, naturally, dating an artist, i come across some lots of different types of art. some i think is really creepy, and some i think is ridiculously cute. the one i present to you today is from the latter.

the dog is actually the letter "t." see the doggy stretching? as much as i want to take credit for the idea, it was actually created by manuel morillo rodas. more importantly, he has a website that allows you to type in any word, only to be spelled out by dogs: perros-perritos.com

check it out!

the age of music

so, everybody loves music, right? they have some personal connection to the smooth sounds and rhythmic time...i know...i know. with that being said, i won't go into the meaning of music in my life. what i would like to touch base on are the CDs that i enjoyed as a young'n that have somewhat forgotten, but still love dearly and am not embarrassed about liking.

circa 2002: "pinkerton" - weezer, "clarity" - jimmy eat world.

true classics. i didn't have original copies of either cd - does that not make me a true fan?

my choice for amazing CDs from the now: "junior" - royksopp, robyn's self-titled cd. let me just tell you that there is not enough hype about robyn. she is a swedish pop star that makes me laugh and rock-out - all at the same time. there is something special about a girl with a song named "konichiwa bitches."

best show of my life, so far: daft punk's alive tour. i don't even think i can explain to you how amazing it actually was - the only people that will ever know are the people who went. lights, pyramids, robots, magic. i'm sad to admit that sometimes i go on to youtube to just watch footage, just to remember the feeling.

an entertaining video i have seen lately: dirty projectors' "stillness is the move."

the scenery is amazing and the llama really is the star.

goodbye for now.