Tell Me Something New

I would do a lot of dirty things to get my feet into these shoes. 

For the next four months, I will be in London, UK - specifically around the King’s Cross area in the first zone.  London is like a gateway for foreigners to experience most of the rest of Europe through cheap airfares to almost any other country east of the Atlantic Ocean. One of their most exploited resources is English - the language.  So everyone from all of the non-english european countries conversely flock here to “improve their english” - and honor us with their adorable accents. 

In those next four months, I have developed some goal of kissing at least one guy from each country in the European Union.  Which is funny just because I don’t “kiss around;” nor have I ever really been the type to “kiss and tell.” If anyone’s ever seen that movie 27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl and the oh-so-charming James Marsden, a reporter is developing a story on a woman who has been a perpetual bridesmaid, participating in 27 weddings before her own (where she gets to marry Mr. Marsden). In all honesty, I don’t think that this actually has any parallels with my endeavor with the one exception of a great play on words.  But that has yet to be determined, I suppose.  

So, for those of you unfamiliar with the specific countries that are actually in the EU, I’ve included a list here, alphabetically.  The rules are to be determined.  If they “count” then I need their name.  Maybe I’ll try and sneak in a picture. Time will tell. 

1. Austria

2. Belgium

3. Bulgaria

4. Cyprus

5. Czech Republic

6. Denmark

7. Estonia

8. Finland

9. France

10. Germany

11. Greece

12. Hungary

13. Ireland

14. Italy

15. Latvia

16. Lithuania

17. Luxembourg

18. Malta

19. Netherlands

20. Poland

21. Portugal

22. Romania

23. Slovakia

24. Solvenia

25. Spain

26. Sweden

27. United Kingdom

britticisms:

“White Sails” by Marques Toliver

Why is Marques Toliver not a bigger thing? He’s young, a skilled violinist, a sharp lyricist, and has one of the smoothest, most pleasant, most naturally crisp voices out there. Listening to his EP and demos is pure pleasure and I’m excited to see how he further develops this music that is infinitely mature and eloquent.

Robert Reich: Why S&P Has No Business Downgrading the U.S.

S&P has downgraded the U.S. because it doesn’t think we’re on track to reduce the nation’s debt enough to satisfy S&P — and we’re not doing it in a way S&P prefers….

Pardon me for asking, but who gave Standard & Poor’s the authority to tell America how much debt it has to shed, and how?…

It’s amazing people - even of this stature - say these things.

1) S&P has been incredibly vocal about warning that exactly this would happen if the govenrment didn’t take steps to lay out a long term plan. This did not sneak up on us. They were explicit about it. 

2) You wanna know who gave them the authority? THE US GOVERNMENT gave them the authority. This is what people forget. These are not organizations that just offer opinions for the hell of it. They are ingrained in our laws. 

Then there’s the most ludicrous thing I keep seeing, and Reich (WHO I LOVE, btw) says as well: “S&P’s intrusion into American politics is also ironic because, as I pointed out recently, much of our current debt is directly or indirectly due to S&P’s failures (along with the failures of the two other major credit-rating agencies — Fitch and Moody’s) to do their jobs before the financial meltdown.”

Well, DUH. They fucked up in the past. You expect them to think “oh, in the past we fucked up and gave the economy a bunch of slack and everyone hated us for not be honest. Let’s do that again!” They are now basically REQUIRED to be hardasses, and everyone should have known that already. Even if, you know, they didn’t warn us. WHICH THEY DID. 

This whole thing sucks, but this ridiculous turn of events where we start complaining about the ratings agencies is like yelling at your credit card company when you decide to skip some payments and not take that higher paying job sitting there right in front of you. 

(via rickwebb)

1920’s flapper. More comments to come!

(via behindthesnapshot)

paul.malon.

Source:

My Body is a Cage by Anna Rose (Cover from Arcade Fire)

copycats is a fantastic Tumble-Blog for (lack of a better word) hipster-like, cutting edge and just bluntly cool music.  One of his most recent posts, “My Body is a Cage” actually takes my breath away.  A deep, sultry and down right sexy voice just embodies anything you would find in the classic 1920s prohibition speak easies; not just in the atmosphere it provides for the listener - but the actual reverberations, soul and essence of the song parallels a speakeasy secret that everyone is whispering around you. 

It’s in her voice begging us to tell her what the password is and let you in. Our innate curiosity to find out what Anna really wants to tell us keeps me pressing the play button over, and over again.  And yet it’s something about the sadness in her syllables or the longing in the drawn out vowels that makes me never to want to actually find out what she’s saying.  It’s the chase that keeps me coming back; not actually getting the answer. 

Classic vocal abilities in a contemporary era.  Undoubtedly rare - but more importantly: rare enough to be noticed and recognized with what I would assume instant appreciation.  Enjoy!

washingtonpoststyle:

Anjelica and Jerry, circa 1985.

Via BYT

Ladder to the stars…