More than a Speech

I just read a really powerful article detailing exactly how much impact Martin Luther King Jr. had on present-day society, especially for those of color. I feel a bit hypocritical posting this as a young white woman (read it and you'll understand), but isn't that what MLK wanted?  For us all to embrace the struggles of our fellow man even if we or those like us had/have a hand in those struggles?  Only then can society change for the better.  I sincerely hope that we will continue our progress for equality - be it racial, gender, religious, or social - while holding on to our past, as there is no better reminder of the consequences that await us should we fail in this endeavor.

Happy Martin Luther King Day, everyone!

Unearthed Celebrity Photos

I stumbled across this collection of rare photos and had to pass it along.  My favorites are below.

Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins

Dennis Hopper

I had no idea Mr. Hopper was such
a dreamboat back in the day!

Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth II

Check out the rest of them here.

[Via Taxidermy Church]

Addendum

Please add...

These suckers to my post regarding amazing calling cards:

Liv to my list of girl crushes:

(This photo is perfection)

This commercial to my post on advertisements:

These helmet, this basket and - dare I say - this horsey, to my list of biking "needs":

 

The following videos to my post on animals:

Dolphins are incredibly smart animals, so the fact that they devised this trick on their own and taught it to their fellow dolphins is no surprise.  Unfortunately, they're probably doing this because they are being held in captivity and are thus incredibly bored.  Can you tell that I've viewed (and loved) 'The Cove'?

This to my list of awesome online magazine offerings:

(Plus, Dominophiles should click here for some great news!)

 
[Business cards spotted on Black*Eiffel]
[Liv Tyler photo from La Vie Boston]
[Commercial from I Suwannee] 
[Rainbow bike helmet from Nutcase]
[Black bike helmet from Bern] 
[Bike basket from Bent Basket] 
[Horsey from Sub-Studio]
[Sweet Paul Magazine found here]

My New (Pseudo) Celebrity Crush

I just came across this interview of James Jagger - son of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall - conducted by the New York Times.

Don't you want to sit down with this guy for a beer and shoot the shit with him for a few hours?

And Here I Thought Reality TV Was Corrupting America...

... But I was wrong.  All this time, it was Martha Stewart.  And her stripper pole.*

(You can re-read that last sentence all you want.  It was, I'm very very saddened to say, not a typo.)

Is it wrong to wish for early onset Alzheimer's Syndrome?  Because I would pretty much do anything at this point to forget the last 42 seconds of my otherwise kick-ass life.

* I realize that "Martha Stewart" and "stripper pole" aren't terms you'd normally expect to find in close proximity to one another.  However, "Martha Stewart" and "ex-convict" are very much related entities, as are "ex-convict" and "stripper pole".  So in a "six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon" kind of way, the above video clip makes perfect sense.

[Video from I Suwannee.  I'll get you for this!]

Jimmy Kimmel Has My Heart

It's official.  I love him.

(Let it be known that I also love Brain.  Duh.)

How much is that Oscar in the window?

I hope everyone enjoyed the Acadamy Awards last night!  I didn't have the opportunity to watch the telecast as I was stuck preparing for today's clinical cases.  It's no biggie though since I only really like to tune in to see all of the starlets modeling the latest couture gowns for the photographers on the red carpet.  Thanks to People.com, I'll get to see all those gowns AND avoid Joan Rivers and her scary botoxed mug in the process... It's a win-win!

But enough of the small talk.  I saw this online yesterday and thought it interesting.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for statistics.


Source: Business Pundit

New Favorite Quote

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”       -Winston Churchill

 
I think Winston Churchill and I would have been very good friends if given the opportunity. Though I'm not sure he would have been able to handle the shame of being constantly overshadowed by all of my well-deserved fame and success.

[Quote from The Impossible Cool]

Girl Crushes

Thanks to this promo video for Vanity Fair Magazine's Young Hollywood cover shoot, I now have a thing for Emma Stone.  Though, to be fair, my "thing" is specifically directed at her voice.  It's like Lindsay Lohan's voice circa 2004.  You know, before all the cigarette smoke and illicit drug use turned her vocal cords to mush.

In other girl news, Lea Michele, who has been killing it on the Red Carpet as of late, has stolen Olivia Wilde's spot as my top fashion maven.  I mean, really, how could she not?

 

  

  

 

  

 

And here I thought all she could do was sing...

[Lea Michele photos from here]

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night

Did anyone out there catch Conan's last episode as host of The Tonight Show?  As expected, it was fabulous.  Humorous, entertaining, and heartfelt.  Conan was incredibly gracious and nearly teared up while addressing his Tonight Show viewers for the final time.  A short excerpt from his farewell speech is below.

No matter what the future holds for Conan O'Brien, one thing is certain:

[Quote from Old Sweet Song]
[Coco image from here]

Why Everything Sucks, By Craig Ferguson

This is the most informative, relevant, and logically sound argument I've heard in years.  And this is coming from a girl who is knee deep in graduate school and holds about a bajillion degrees.

 

[Thanks for the heads up, Brain.  I'm gonna keep you around!]

Happy New Year!

Loving this very applicable missive from the late, great Norma Jean Baker.  (Who, by the way, would look like this if alive today in plastic surgery-obsessed Hollywood.)

See you on the flipside, peeps!

[Letter ganked from Her Name Was Lola]

Non-related Twins

Doesn't the lead singer of the band A Fine Frenzy look exactly like a less curvaceous Christina Hendricks?

Their resemblance is uncanny... Almost as uncanny as my resemblance to Penelope Cruz!

[A Fine Frenzy spotted on Black*Eiffel]

1952-2009

Thanks for the memories, Mr. Swayze...

The Long And Short Of It

If I ever happen upon a magic lamp and the genie inside (who's voice will sound remarkably like that of Robin Williams) offers to grant me three wishes, my first two would be to have the singing voice of Priscilla Ahn and the facial features necessary to pull off an uber short 'do a la Jean Seberg.

I think pixie cuts (see: Victoria Beckham) and even buzz cuts (a la Natalie Portman) can look amazingly sexy on the right woman. I personally don't have the gamine features needed to pull it off, but God bless those ladies who do.

[Jane Seberg via Taxidermy Church Wedding]

A Heartfelt Thank You and Goodbye

I sat through a hospital orientation today and anyone who's ever worked at a hospital and attended such an event knows this is a full day dedicated to propagating complete and utter BS. You are then required to swallow said BS and, let me tell you, it is not tasty.

Every orientation is led by the same lady. You know, the one who loves her job, loves the hospital, loves the organization's mission statement and core values, loves to show pictures of the CEO and describe him as though they are BFFs and summer together in Nantucket, and who "just knows that you're going to love it here as much as she does!" In other words, a person who drank the Kool-Aid.

Well, my orientation today was no different. I was just about to mentally drift off to sleep when the lady who loves things displayed a quote that - now I'm just taking a wild guess here - she loves.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou

This widely recognizable quote reminded me of a story I recently read regarding the late John Hughes. I always knew that Mr. Hughes was a brilliant screenwriter, but until now I didn't realize that he was such an amazing human being. He will be missed.

What's Mine Is Yours

I recently subscribed to Rachel Zoe's email missive, which features her picks from fashion's latest and greatest. The service launched yesterday and, as Rachel herself would say: I die.

This got me thinking: I've signed up for a decent number of similar email-based subscriptions over the years, yet only a few remain. I thought I'd list them here with a short description of each in case any of them should find a home in your inbox as well. All are free services and a few (like Daily Candy and Shop It To Me) are customizable to suit your personal interests. Click on the title of any of the following for more information!

The Zoe Report
Shut. It. Down. Rachel Zoe, stylist to the stars, narrows down the best "fashion, beauty, and lifestyle finds". The featured items may be pricey ($680 Brian Atwood Lola platform booties, anyone?) - after all, homegirl is mega loaded, much like her star-studded clientele - but she's nice enough to include information on similar products for less. And they say Hollywood insiders only think about themselves!

GOOP
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I subscribe to Gwyneth Paltrow's email musings. So shoot me! I'll be honest, some of the editions are *ahem* less than useful (I'm talking to you, master cleanse!) but others are actually... brace yourself... quite informative. Take her latest email, for instance. She asked some of her friends and editors to list their favorite books with a short description of each, and to say that a few made it to my reading list would be an understatement. Plus, she highlighted my favorite city and appreciates "cooks", so I'm sold. Each edition features one of 6 categories: Make, Go, Get, Do, Be, and See. It's all incredibly pretentious, but once you get past loathing Gwynnie for her nepotistic successes and obvious patronizing tone, Goop is really quite enjoyable.

Shop It To Me
Scouring the sales rack has never been easier! Just sign up, click on your favorite designers, designate your desired frequency of emails, and voila! Shop It To Me will send you a single email with featured sale items, prices included.

Daily Candy
Please don't sign up for this newsletter. If you do, you'll stop reading this blog and deem me a plagerizer. Well, you would if "plagerizer" was a word.

Free Kibble
A daily reminder to log onto freekibble.com. By answering the website's daily trivia question for dogs and/or cats the website donates 10 pieces of food to hungry animals living in shelters around the country. (Fun fact: A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in 7 years!) I like to ask Brain the trivia questions each day to see if he knows the answers. Luckily for the animals, providing the correct answer is just an ego boost, as the kibble is contributed regardless of the outcome.

Word Of The Day
I originally signed up for Dictionary.com's daily emails while applying to graduate school and preparing to sit for the GRE. I took the exam over a year ago yet I can't seem to gather the strength to cancel my subscription. What can I say? I'm hooked.

[Click on image for source information]

Happy Birthday, Mister President

In honor of President Obama's Birthday, I thought I'd give his Flickr photo gallery a shout out. If you haven't yet perused the Official White House Photostream, you really should take a few minutes to do so. It gives you an inside look at a world that, in the past, very few were privy to. Pictures include President Obama with his family, working in the Oval Office, attending press junkets, and conducting meetings aboard Air Force One, among others. My favorite, which I've included below, is of the Blue Angels flying over the 2009 Naval graduation ceremony. Growing up with a father in the Air Force, my siblings and I spent many an afternoon watching the Blue Angels perform and, regardless of the number of times I've witnessed their aerial acrobatics, they never cease to amaze.


Oh, I almost forgot! Speaking of President Obama, I had to re-post this, which I left me breathless with laughter...


Happy birthday, President Obama! May you always maintain your sense of humor and, if that's not in the cards, may I lose mine before the secret service catches wind of this blog...

[Click on photos for source information]

What does a real estate heiress and fast food have in common?

Word on the street is that Ivanka Trump is engaged to be married to her on-again, off-again boyfriend and owner of The New York Observer, Jared Kushner. The first thought that popped into my head when I heard this news - which just so happens to be the same thought that springs forth every time I hear of Ivanka Trump - was, "Ivanka Trump is gorgeous. But her name is Ivanka. IVANKA. I'd rather be me."

This repetitive thought reminds me of a conversation I had with Brain the other day: We had just picked up some delicious goodness from Sonic and, after tasting the first bite of my Chicken Club Toaster sandwich, I fervently proclaimed that Sonic's number 6 combo meal, complete with tots and a strawberry-limeade-emphasis-on-the-strawberry, was quite possibly the best grouping offered at any fast food restaurant chain ever. To this, Brain replied, "You do realize that you say that every time you order and consume a Chicken Club Toaster from Sonic, right? Just to be funny, I thought about asking you if that was going to be the best fast food meal you've ever eaten right before you bit into it, but decided against it. Now I really wish I had." This stopped me in my tracks. I mean, I know I'm awesome, intriguing, and stunningly beautiful. But predictable? I had no idea.

Long story short, Ivanka is my celebrity version of Sonic's number 6 combo meal.

Why Yes, Yes I Will.

Just the other day I was flipping through an outdated magazine and caught a glimpse of Will Arnett. I fell in love with Mr. Arnett (and his wife, Amy Poehler) during his stint on Arrested Development. Sure, he's handsome. But even better than that is the fact that the man could give you a washboard stomach in no time, he's that funny. Exhibit A:

[Video straight up stolen from the fabulous Paige of I Heart You]