Sunday Links

Rolling Stone: Your Favorite British Invasion Songs

Upworthy: 101 Books to Read Besides '50 Shades of Grey'

Rolling Stone: Pot Legalization is Coming

The New York Times: Are Olympic Parents Supportive or Overbearing?

The New Yorker: Our Perfect Summer

Rolling Stone: Musicians Who Defined Nineties Style

The New Yorker: What I'd Say to the Martians

The New York Times: Military Hazing Has Got to Stop

The Huffington Post: Marilyn Monroe's Career

Thought Catalog: Thought Monologue No. 3

The September Edition: Netflix Edition

Vogue has been one of the most well-known and well-respected fashion magazines in the world for decades. Each year, the journal devotes a fall issue to the designers that the editors feel will be influential in the next year. The September 2007 issue of Vogue became the biggest issue in the magazine's history. So, needless to say, someone just had to make a movie on it.

The September Issue is a 2009 documentary drama that follows Anna Wintour and her team at Vogue as they race to publish the September 2007 issue.

The film chronicles the effort that goes into publishing the most lengthy, and popular, issue of the year. Not only does it follow editor and chief Anna Wintour, but also model turned artistic director Grace Coddington, the only person with the guts to stand up to the notoriously aggressive Wintour.

The viewer is able to follow Wintour as she visits the annual Fashion Week shows, accepts or dismisses the latest creations of the biggest names in fashion, works with the models, photographers, and writers who help bring her vision to the page, and labors with her staff to determine what the world's fashionistas will be wearing for the next 12 months.

Though it is fun for fashionistas to watch Andre Leon Talley exclaim "It's the famine of beauty! It's the famine of beauty! The famine of beauty, honey! My eyes are starving for beauty!" and Anna Wintour complain "She looks pregnant, we need to fix her," the film is narrowed down to a fascinating study of the tension between creativity and commerce.

Grace Coddington (Left) and Anna Wintour (Right)

Even if you're not interested in fashion, it's still a fascinating film to watch. If not for the hysterical one liners, than for the inside look at Coddington's role at Vogue, who seems to be the real brains behind the famous magazine.

Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada is rumoured to be inspired by Wintour, and after seeing both films, it's not hard to see why. A cup of Starbucks in hand, the bob hairdo, the cutting remarks, the frenzy that ensues whenever her name is mentioned, and worse, when dazzled by her presence. Even the Vogue office seems quite similar to that depicted in the film. Even down to the many assistants scurrying about, busy executing Wintour's every command.

Even if you watch this movie for no other reason than to make fun of the dramatic and often times shallow world of fashion, I'm totally cool with that.

I mean, we are supposedly in the middle of a "famine of beauty."

You can view the trailer for The September Issue below:

Apology

Okay, I know I know I know, I have some serious explaining to do.

I've been incredibly absent from the blogosphere these past few days. But I promise I have a good excuse! Like I mentioned in my last post, I had family in town all last weekend. And though it was fantastic getting to see them, a break was definitely deserved.

However, a break is the last thing I got. On Monday, I had surgery done. I won't bore you with the details, but I promise it was nothing major.

Anyways, the surgery went great and, though I had a bad reaction to the anesthetic and the vicodin, I'm fine now and back to blogging.

For now, I'm just going to link you to my most recent post: My Top Five Most Popular Posts.

However, rest assured that there is something coming soon. I promise!

Anyways, hope all is well! Now, I'm going to bed.

Enjoy this picture of a black and white octopus man. It cheered me up, so maybe it will be you smile... or grimace. That is, if you don't have my twisted sense of humor.

Top Five

So here's the deal, this weekend is going to be totally crazy for me.  I'm having family coming to stay with me the entire weekend and, though it's going to be great to get to catch up a little, it's going to mean a few less blog posts for a bit.  I know, I'm disappointed to.  Just know that while I'm sitting out on the patio sipping lemonade and shoving food down my throat with my family, I will be thinking about all of the wonderful things I have planned for next week!

However, I don't want to leave you hanging for the rest of the weekend, so I've decided to do a little review for ya'll, just to catch you up on anything you missed!

So here we go, my five most popular blog posts so far:

1.) Nine Things You Probably Didn't Know About Singin' in the Rain

In honor of Singin' in the Rain's 60th anniversary, I compiled a list of nine things you probably didn't know about the iconic film.

Check it out!  You might learn something new, and I'm all for learning new things!

Click the link above and read away, my friend!





2.) Une Femme Est Une Femme: Netflix Edition

In order to save you from your Netflix rut, I've given you a quick review of one of the many fantastic films available on the site.

Une Femme Est Une Femme, directed by Jean-Luc Goddard, is a fantastic film, and I highly recommend that you check it out this weekend.













3.) Fifty Years of Stones: 5 of the Rolling Stones Most Controversial Moments

In honor of the 50th anniversary of their first show, I compiled a list of their five most controversial moments.

Click the link to read on, and celebrate the Stones!







4.) A Creative Whirlwind: Lenka Clayton

A short description of one of my favorite artists, Lenka Clayton!

Click the link above to read more, and I encourage you to do some research on your own. There's a lot I wasn't able to fit in the post!













5.) Woody at 100

This past week, legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie would have turned 100 years old.  In honor of his accomplishments, I put together a post detailing to high's and low's of the singers tragic life.

Click the link above to read more, and take a listen to some of his most well known songs!








Well, if I don't post something in the coming days, enjoy your weekend!  And as always, please follow by clicking the button to your right.  Also, please comment!  I would love your feedback!!

ROAD TRIPPIN'

ROAD TRIPPIN' from taylor03p on 8tracks.

I've been finding myself doing a lot of driving lately. Nothing major, but a lot of miniature day trips. Most of the time I've been by myself, so these are just a few of the tunes I've been listening to to keep myself company.

I just started reading The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson, and it's really good so far.  There might even be a book review on it in the next coming weeks...

I've also been doing a lot of brainstorming recently about some upcoming blog posts, and there's some good stuff coming up, (if I do say so myself) so stay tuned.

Hope you're enjoying your week.  If you aren't, just think, the weekend is almost here (kind of.)

Anyways, as always, please follow!  Not only would I be eternally grateful, but you might also have a plateful of chocolate chip cookies (I'm kind of famous for them, at least in my head) and a slightly inappropriate greeting card coming your way.  

If that's not incentive enough, I don't know what is.

Bunny and the Bull: Netflix Edition

Now, first thing's first - if you've never seen The Mighty Boosh, go and watch it NOW. At least scroll down to the bottom of the post, and click the link to watch the first episode.  Don't even take the time to finish reading the rest of my post, just come back to it later. I'll wait...

Okay, now has everyone watched at least a few episodes of The Mighty Boosh? Good. Time to get back to the movie pick for this week.

The first feature film from writer and director Paul King, director the cult television series The Mighty Boosh (see the connection now,) Bunny and the Bull follows an emotional basket case as he thinks back on the friend who made him that way.

Stephen, played by Edward Hogg, is a neurotic young man suffering from agoraphobia. As he toys with the idea of going out for food, he recalls a vacation in Europe with his former best friend Bunny, played Simon Farnaby.

While Stephen is quiet and shy, Bunny is outgoing to a fault. He chases women, guzzles booze and is willing to bet on anything. After Stephen is dumped by his girlfriend, Bunny suggests a trip to Europe to cure his blues. Soon after, Bunny wins a bet and the two officially decide to take the trip. Things suddenly take a turn for the worst after Stephen develops a crush on Eloisa, played by Veronica Echegui, a waitress at a local fast food chain. However, much to Stephen's dismay, Bunny sweeps her off her feet before he can make a move. The situation becomes even more complicated after Eloisa takes the two on a trip to her hometown in Spain.

Now I don't want to spoil the rest of the movie for you, but don't you worry, you're guaranteed plenty of whimsical oddballs, including a Hungarian vagrant named Attila whose drink of choice is dog's milk, a suave yet down-to-earth bullfighter, and a dry museum tour guide. Though it is no surprise these roles are played by The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, respectively, Bunny and the Bull is anything but Mighty Boosh: The Movie.

The production design is easily my favorite part of the film. The movie is played out against a semi-animated, endlessly inventive handcrafted backdrops. This includes an underpass made from newspaper, a fairground made from clock parts and a bull made out of cutlery, not to mention a wonderful credit sequence, which utilises everything in Stephen's flat from pocket calculators to postage stamps.

Though the film is, without a doubt, well made, I felt that its script was lacking. Especially compared to any episode of The Mighty Boosh. However, do not let that stop you from watching. It's a great film, and is the perfect example of the difference between British and American comedy.

You can view the trailer for the film below, and you can check out the first episode of The Mighty Boosh here.

Eating Animals

Author of two of the most admired books of the past decade, Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, for his third book, Jonathan Safran Foer chose to focus on longtime personal questions about his diet. A devout vegetarian, and occasional vegan, Foer was inspired to write Eating Animals after thinking of what he would tell his two young children about his dietary choices.

Americans love their animals. 46 million families in the United States own at least one dog, and 38 million keep cats. 13 million maintain freshwater aquariums, containing more than a 170 million fish. Collectively, these animals cost Americans some 40 billion dollars annually.

However, Americans also love to eat animals. Each year, they consume about 35 million cows, more than a 115 million pigs, and 9 billion birds. Most of these creatures have been raised under conditions that are, as most Americans should know, barbaric. Broiler chickens typically spend their lives in windowless sheds, packed in with up to thirty thousand other birds and generations of accumulated waste. The ammonia fumes thrown off by their rotting excrement can lead to breast blisters, leg sores, and respiratory disease. Bred to produce the maximum amount of meat in the minimum amount of time, they often become so top-heavy that they can’t support their own weight. At slaughtering time, they are shackled by their feet, hung from a conveyor belt, and dipped into an electrified bath known as “the stunner.”

Pretty horrifying. Yet we (including me) continue to eat bacon with breakfast each day.

Why is it that Americans are so taken with the animals they keep as pets, yet completely indifferent towards the animals they eat?

That is the question Foer sets out to answer.

For much of Eating Animals, it appears that Foer is arguing vegetarianism as the only moral option. But then, in the middle of the book, Foer becomes friendly with a farmer named Frank Reese, who raises what are known as “heritage” turkeys. “I have placed my wager on a vegetarian diet and I have enough respect for people like Frank, who have bet on a more humane animal agriculture, to support their kind of farming,” Foer states.

I am not a vegetarian. I have tried it in the past, but have always failed (much to my dismay.) I know how the animals we eat are slaughtered, yet I continue to eat them. I have read so much on vegetarianism, and agree with most of the arguments made for eliminating meat from your diet, but I still cannot bring myself to make the transition. Maybe it's just a way of avoiding those awkward questions from family. I am sure there is nothing more uncomfortable than trying to explain to your entire family on Thanksgiving day why you're not eating the turkey your Aunt slaved over all day in the kitchen. Maybe it's just a way to avoid becoming a "hassle." No one wants to be that dreaded dinner party guest who follows every course introduction with a snippy "oh, I don't eat that. It's meat."

I suppose in hindsight this all seems silly, but I think Foer does a good job of addressing it by suggesting that we are defined not by what we do, but by what we are willing to do without. A concept I'm still trying to grasp.

Regardless of your "position" on vegetarianism, I highly suggest you get your hands on a copy of Eating Animals. Foer does a fantastic job of presenting a pragmatic view of vegetarianism, and even if it doesn't completely change your dietary habits, it will make you think twice before eating beef with every meal.