Archive for April, 2007
I’m doing the finishing touches of getting ready for my UK jaunt (London and Ireland) and I’ve realized that I love leaving in the middle of the week. You should always start long trips on a Wednesday or Thursday. If you start them on a Saturday, your Friday is a frantic day of trying to get everything done and THEN final packing. If you start them on a Monday, your weekend is good to finalize plans and packing, but things always come up and you wish you had an extra day.
Leaving Wednesday night is perfect work-wise!
Monday: Remind people you are leaving, get work done. Print out travel details, e-tickets, etc.
Monday Night: Pack.
Tuesday: Finish stuff up, put together “while you’re out” e-mail.
Tuesday Night: Look at what you’ve packed realistically, scale down and add in what you forgot.
Wednesday: Final check-in with work folk, final Is dotted and Ts crossed.
Wednesday Night: Leave!
And then you can plan to come back on a Tuesday or Wednesday, which means you have two short weeks surrounding one long week off. It’s like an extended vacation because you’re only in for a few days and then it’s the weekend again!
Popularity: 16% [?]
April 24th, 2007
So, a couple of months ago was the 10-year anniversary of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
I remember this release very specifically, for several reasons.
1) I was in college (omg I’m so old) and taking all the Shakespeare courses that the university offered. The professor was this amazing woman with a soft voice and hair kind of like Crystal Gayle. I cannot remember whether or not she liked the movie, but I do remember that we got a wee bit of extra credit for going to see it, and writing a short paper about how the play was interpretted. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do a good job explaining myself, because…
2) I was coming off a pretty serious crush on Claire Danes, fresh from My So-Called Life. It’s funny, because I’m not sure I wanted Claire herself, but rather I wanted Angela and Jordan, together. It’s kind of hard to explain. Anyway, during the movie I remember being so struck by how utterly gorgeous Clarie Danes was, and from that moment on it had nothing to do with Jordan Catalano and his leaning and everything to do with just plain Claire.
3) Back before my mister and I were even dating, we attended a college journalism conference in New Orleans. Whoever thought this was a good idea — having a college journalism conference in New Orleans — totally should have been fired. This was back in the days when you could drink there at 18, and so pretty much no one attended the working sessions, and everyone was drunk for an entire week. But! On the first day, there was a big room with a lot of swag in it. And one of the tables held movie posters, and one of those posters was the Romeo + Juliet one (before the movie even came out) and it was (is) awesome. I carried one home with me and framed it up real nice, and until we moved into our house last June, it has always hung either in my home or my office.
So, all that was roughly 10 years ago, and in honor of the anniversary, they have released a new edition of the soundtrack. It has six bonus tracks, all of which are pretty awesome, but what I really love is the old tracks, like “#1 Crush” from Garbage and “Lovefool” from The Cardigans. I already have the origianl version, of course, but it’s on my iPod with a gazillion other songs, and I never think to listen to it specifically. Hearing all this awesome music, all in one place, all over again, has reminded me that the movie did add something amazingly unique and modern to the story of Romeo and Juliet. And even outside of the movie, this collection of songs is a perfect time capsule for that time in my life.
Popularity: 13% [?]
April 20th, 2007
It’s Friday! It’s a PopGurls update! What could be better? Exactly!
+ PopGurls Interview: Heroes’ Bryan Fuller
by Amy
With Heroes set to return on April 23rd on NBC, the first of five new episodes, producer
Bryan Fuller talks to PopGurls about writing for the show and gives a few hints of what’s to come.
+ 20 Questions with Author Kristen Buckley (Again)
by Michelle
She talks about her new book, Tramps Like Us, Uma Thurman’s hugs and why Lost is driving her crazy.
Get all this and more at http://www.popgurls.com
Enjoy!
Popularity: 11% [?]
April 20th, 2007
April’s here and the weather is getting warmer. It’s only a matter of time before the ice cream man starts singing his song on your street. So while you wait — we’ve got some treats for you!
+ PopGurls Interview: CSI’s Jorja Fox
by Amy
She talks about the community on CSI, the Grissom/Sara relationship, Eric Szmanda’s
influence and being homeless in Europe at 17.
+ Fallback Albums
by Alex
Why she goes back to Ben Folds Five, Elvis Costello, John Lennon, Tom Waits and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
+ Big Batch of Books, Vol. 5
by Michelle
Books that Michelle actually liked! Plus books with good things to learn and ones destined to become Lifetime movies… AND — we’re giving away books!
Get all this and more at http://www.popgurls.com
Popularity: 14% [?]
April 4th, 2007
Or, at least she was in Kevin Smith’s Dogma. I remember questioning that casting decision until I saw the film and I was utterly smitten with her portrayal. A fun God, one that enjoys headstands and such and only smites when necessary. I should have gathered more from that moment about Alanis Morissette’s sense of humor then — but her remake of Fergie’s “My Humps” just solidified my perception of her as a really cool chick that I’d love to hang out with. No wonder Ryan Reynolds can’t keep away.
See, I hate “My Humps.” A lot. As anyone even remotely busty can tell you, we don’t walk around calling our breasts “humps” or “our lovely lady lumps.” I still have no idea how the hell that song infiltrated the airwaves with its moronic lyrics and even worse video.
However, I utterly adore Alanis’ cover. Her voice has this way of illustrating the inanity of each lyric, her video mocks the ridiculousness of each bend-over, booty shake. As Pitchfork mentioned — Morissette can barely keep a straight face in this quick, one-off video, so we’re happy to see that she’s in on the joke from the beginning.
Check it out — Alanis Morrissette’s “My Humps”
Popularity: 9% [?]
April 3rd, 2007
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