“If music be the food of love, play on!” Mmm, musical sustenance… so very, very important. 2011 was a huge year for artists such as Adele (21), Coldplay (Mylo Xyloto, people suddenly unironically liking Chris Martin), Lady Gaga (The Immaculate Collection Born This Way), and Rihanna (Loud), but also some good ones! (I kid, I kid!) And so…
Question of the Day: What was your favorite song released in 2011? Continue reading
Oh hi there! Are you stressed out? Got a lot on your plate? Have so much to think about that you couldn’t possibly add anything else into the mix? Too bad, because Chanukah and Christmas are in less than three weeks! Gift-buying stress and impending family gatherings for everybody!
Fortunately, there’s at least one very, very good part about those two holidays, because really, who doesn’t like free stuff? And so, to get us in the gift-receiving spirit, today’s Question of the Day: What’s the best gift you received in 2011? Continue reading
Our nation’s politics, reality stars, and Justin Biebers may make it seem like we can’t produce anything good anymore, but literature is an annual case for the fact that some excellence will always emerge no matter how hard we try to repress it with Kardashians.
And so, the Question of the Day: what do you think was the best book released in 2011? Continue reading
Why, hello there! My, how quickly this year’s gone! December already? That’s madness! MADNESS!
However, since this year is coming to a close, whether we’re ready for it or not, I thought it might be nice to devote the QOTDs of December to the glory of the past year. Or, if your year sucked, to the few good things that helped us all get to 2012. For me, it was actually a pretty big year–a year of changes, and, as every year is in some way, a year of firsts. And so, the Question of the Day:
What did you do for the first time in 2011? Continue reading
The National Books Awards announced their nominees for the 2011 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature last Wednesday, including My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and its Legacy by Alfred Marrin, Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt, and Shine by Lauren Myracle. Then, a few hours later, Chime by Franny Billingsley was added to the list, for a total of six titles. The addition of a sixth title was apparently due to “a miscommunication.” The miscommunication? Apparently, Chime was meant to be a finalist. Myracle’s Shine, about a teenage girl’s quest to find those responsible for the brutal abuse of her gay one-time best friend, was not. Instead of keeping all six finalists, as it appeared for the last five days they would, the National Book Foundation asked Myracle to withdraw herself from consideration in order to “preserve the integrity” of the awards. Continue reading
Nothing feels quite as good as ripping someone deserving to shreds, does it? Really destroying someone who seriously and unquestionably had it coming. God, isn’t that the best? I mean, besides helping the poor and hungry and stuff. That’s totes better. But second to that, there’s just nothing like an epic takedown.
Of course, not all of us are pros at The Takedown. Some of us are too nice, some of us just aren’t clever enough, and some of us just have better things to do. (Not me, obviously. I don’t even have better things to do than write a blog post about takedowns, so, there ya go.) Fortunately, there are some people out there who are simply fantastic at knocking people down to size, whether it’s with an epic rant (shown beautifully here by the blog 2birds1blog, in the greatest rant about Bobby Flay known to man, with a h/t to EPuff) or a blissfully perfect impersonation of idiocy, as exemplified by the wonderful Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Continue reading
Ugh, celebrities and their fauxlationships. Whether it’s Britney Spears and her 55-hour foray into matrimony or Hef and his grotto of sassy silicon-sporters, there’s nothing more obnoxiously predictable than when a celebrity couple falls apart.
Except when it’s not so predictable. Except when, for some reason, you thought they’d be the couple to make it. Except when you kind of think they still will, because don’t they just seem like soulmates, even after their twentieth public knock-down drag-out fight?
And so, today’s QOTD: Which celebrity breakup actually shocked and/or disappointed you? Or, alternatively, Which couple do you secretly think are destined to end up together forever? Continue reading
Thanks to reality TV, there aren’t many animals or animal parts we haven’t seen cooked or consumed–bull testicles, grasshoppers, slices of snake…mmm, delish! So how do we mere non-televised mortals stack up on the crazy-consumption food chain? You tell us!
QOTD: What’s the weirdest, wildest, most impressive and/or unusual thing you’ve ever eaten? Continue reading
I may love young adult books, but there’s no question that I’ve long passed the age of what qualifies as a “young adult.” Once upon a time, however, I was a mini version of me, and oh God did I love to read. Sure, it started with Little Bear and Frog and Toad Together, but before long, I was devouring both Sweet Valley High and the Great Illustrated Classics series that introduced me to literature greats like Robin Hood (which never failed to make me cry) and Call of the Wild. That little girl who happily curls up in any corner of a given room and shuts out the world from behind a novel? Yep, that was me. And on my less polite days, it still is. Continue reading
Reality TV is nothing without the epic battles that show the absolute worst of humanity. After all, as we all know, whether they’re Real Housewives or Top Chef wannabes, they’re not there to make friends. Continue reading