Citizen Journalism!

Hey Sotans,
Apparently there's a fire on Washington Avenue near the Metrodome. It must have started recently, since I was down there about an hour ago and didn't see it. So you might want to put off that trip to the two-story Target and stay off bus route 16.

Sonnet XVII, Pablo Neruda

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so close that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

-----------------------

Happy Valentine's Day, valentines!

VD: On Valentine's Day

(Haha, get it?)

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. (Now you have no excuse to say you forgot, so don’t even try). Whenever I get visibly excited about it, at least three people give me an eye roll or an “oh my god, I totally, like, hate National Singles Awareness Day because I’m so totally defensive and view it as, like, an assault on my sad life and I love hating everything, blah blah blah face.” My arguments of “but you don’t have to have a sweetie to like Valentine’s Day!” and “just use it as an occasion to show a friend you care!” usually go unheeded.

One of my TAs coined the description “the commodification of intimacy” in class on Monday. I understand her sentiments- the pink and white displays of Spongebob valentines are enough to make even the most ardent supporters of the day (i.e. yours truly) want to throw up a little bit. But it got me thinking. Is the commodification of intimacy really worse than the commodification of Irish heritage or an illegitimate holy child? As a culture, we’ve bastardized all kinds of lovely things and turned them into tickity tack holidays.

A male friend of mine who shall remain anonymous told me, “you have no idea how much pressure there is for guys.” Possible, but I feel like most of that pressure comes from within. Most of the girls I know would be happy just to spend the day with someone special, and maybe a card if the guy’s feeling generous.

So, instead of grumbling through the day tomorrow, why not curl up and watch Ninja Warrior with your SO, or make moon eyes at each other over White Castle cheeseburgers. If you're available, plan something fun with your friends. Two VDay's ago, back when I had girl friends, a bunch of us went to the mall and bought ourselves chocolate and underwear- it was such a blast. Hell, go ahead and just embrace the excuse to eat a ton of pink-frosted cookies. Valentine’s Day is all about love, which, in my book, is definitely something worth celebrating.

My bad.

I apologize for posting so infrequently lately. Between school and the paper I'm writing for, it's hard to find time to squeeze in a shower, let alone some quality blogging. Also, I had an awesome spiel about my hideously awesome black jeans all typed it, but blogger decided to be a tool and mess up the formatting something fierce. So that's coming.

In the meantime, enjoy some of Christian Siriano's fierciest moments:



Coming soon: the promised pants post (love that alliteration) and my predictions for the end of Project Runway, season 4.

Let's Get Political

I'm fortunate enough to attend a University where kids are relatively well-educated about politics, at least on a national level. Although I do actually engage in this sort of thing, I really prefer to take a Toquevillian outside perspective, especially as it's "Super Tuesday" and thousands of students will be flocking to caucuses tonight.

On Sunday evening I had to go to a Hillary Clinton rally at Augsburg college. It was mostly a lot of clapping and yelling, as you'd expect. I did run into Walter Mondale (my hero), though, and he recognized me from his class. Oh, and I also got a press pass, which was summarily stuck to my refrigerator.

Little does anyone know, these people are actually excited because they think they're watching the SuperBowl.

Not to be undone, however, the Obama people hit the campus, presumably overnight, with a little reminder that students lovvvvve the senator from Illinois. I'm pretty sure 75% of the kids on campus would exchange both of their kidneys for an Obama handshake.

Now, I don't know where those minions found a Smurf in Minneapolis, let alone a Smurf with enough coordination to pee the word "Obama" in the snow. But I applaud them and if anyone knows, please let me know. I've been dying to catch up with Gargamel.

Coming Soon: An internship update and my evil plan to bring back the carrot cut.

I TOLD you that Levis aren't your mom's jeans...

My roommate Jess and I were just watching a re-run of the most recent episode of Project Runway (the Levi's 501 challenge). She mentioned a Levi's commercial that she saw last week and I HAD to look it up. Check out this twist on the phone booth ad we've all seen before:



HUGE kudos to Levis. I don't know how this ad will do selling jeans, though I think the two pair of men's 501s side-by-side are pretty effective. I'm really impressed that Levis went there with this commercial. It's high time advertisers changed up the message a little bit. I'm sure the Fred Phelpses of the world will be dragging it through the mud in no time but, for the time being, let's enjoy this little bit of flaming liberal heaven.

The Magnetic Fields- Distortion

Distortion marks singer/writer Stephin Merritt’s return to the indie pop goodness that we’ve been craving ever since the Fields’ 2004 I, a charming collection of love songs, ex-love songs and deliberations of craziness. In the meantime, Merritt gave us the score for the film A Series of Unfortunate Events and an awkward appearance on Fox. I don’t know, I just don’t think that brilliant gay songwriters naturally go hand-in-hand with the home of Bill O’Reilly.

I’m always nervous when a band I love comes back from a great album- Death Cab for Cutie’s Plans taught me not to get my hopes up- but Distortion is nothing short of a treasure trove for old Magnetic Fields fans. Like Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, Merritt was on the receiving end of some voice training before his most recent release. Fortunately, this didn’t rob the distinctive “humanness” from his voice.

The first track, "Three-Way," is a nearly wordless pop riff that I think really showcases the band’s charm. You can leave it on as background music while you’re cleaning your apartment, or blast it through headphones when you don’t want to pay attention to anything else. "California Girls" exemplifies the group’s penchant for combining guitar-driven, upbeat music with surprisingly angsty lyrics (think OK Go on quaaludes). You think “sure, a Counting Crows-esque tribute to the lyposucked babes of the West” but you really get:

They ain't broke, so they put on airs,
the faux folks sans derrieres.
They breathe coke and have affairs
with each passing rock star.
They come on like squares
then get off like squirrels.
I hate California girls.

Lyrics like these are so refreshing to me, especially as the best-written song I’ve heard in the past several years is Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it). I can’t fairly say that the writing on this album is as literary as some of Merritt’s 69 Love Songs, but it’s still pretty delightful.

"Old Fools" lays a dense backdrop of distorted (how convenient) guitars and lazy percussion before pouring on Merritt’s voice, equal parts Michael Buble-young Tom Waits-Robert Smith. Like many of the group’s more buttery classics, this song leaves one wondering whether to slip into something more comfortable or to slip into a coma.

The band will be on a short tour in February. Sadly, Minneapolis and Milwaukee are both absent from the list so I’ll have to get my kicks from the ensuing YouTube videos. If you have the opportunity, though, you should consider it. And if you can find a way to smuggle me in, you know I’m there.

---------------------------------------

OH! I almost forgot. If you're not averse to video podcasts, National Public Radio is embarking on "Project Song," in which songwriters are given two prompts and two days to write a song. Merritt was featured on the first installment and comes up with, in my opinion, a charming little piece about a supervillain with a million faces. Check it out.