Saturday, April 28, 2012

Workin For The Weekend

Or working ON the weekend...whatever..

I feel like this today:


So I'm making myself happy by looking at things like this:



try thai food

Wine Wine Wine

totally different movie.
'nough said.

..
(I don't know why that makes me laugh but it totally does)


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Read In Your Sexy Voice

Happy belated St. George Day!



This book lovers holiday was meant to be celebrated yesterday but I kinda missed it...so I vote keep the party going! From what I understand, St. George Day is celebrated by men giving their ladies a rose and ladies returning the love by gifting their men with a book.  According to Wikipedia (yes, librarians use that from time to time too), there is a lot more to the holiday than just that but I choose to ignore it...Book love is blind!

Maybe it's wrong to celebrate on the wrong day but I don't think the giving of flowers and books ever turns out badly.  Spread the love!

St. George Day history


Monday, April 23, 2012

Speed Reader

Andy always teases me for being a fast reader.  But I'm feeling pretty slow lately and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it kinda stresses me out.  This, I know, is a GIANT sign of nerdiness.  I'm also fairly confident that I'm in a weird speed reading competition that is just not being spoken about publicly.  So when I see friends finishing books at a crazy fast pace, I realize I'm losing.

I also debate the idea of not watching television at night and reading instead but then I realize that I'd be missing some crucial information on the Voice.

Anyway, Staples has posted a speed reading test online where you read a page and then answer 3 questions to prove you read it.  I didn't feel very speedy while I was doing it but according to the test, I read 352 words per minute.  Which places me at 52% faster than the national average.  So that's cool.  However, it also claims that the average college student is reading faster than that?  I find this hard to believe but then again, I haven't had to skim a textbook chapter in a number of years so maybe I'm just out of practice?  

The great news is that I'm planning on reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck for my 3rd classic and according to this, I will be able to finish it in 7 hours and 27 minutes.  Which is pretty convenient if you ask me.  

Try your speed reading skills out!


ereader test




































Friday, April 20, 2012

Cocktails in the Sunshine



I knew I wasn't alone in my love of day drinking. But I'm now totally validated.

NY Times- The Subversive Charm of Day Drinking

Put My Name On It

name your design - welcome!

I just wandered across NameYourDesign.com via YoungHouseLove.com (my favorite blog..go fall in love with them if you haven't already) and I kinda heart them.  They make some of the cutest personalized stuff including old school metal kids lunch boxes.

alphabet soup - 4 colors available
They have even made the inside of the cover a chalkboard so you can write a little note to your punkin!

Who doesn't love a metal lunch box?

NameYourDesign.com

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Go Tell Someone About A Great Book

And for the love of god, please let that tidbit of publicity coming from your mouth not be about Fifty Shades of Crap Grey.


Also, read this fantastic op-ed piece by Ann Patchett about the disappointment of not having a Pulitzer choice for Fiction this year.

And The Winner Isn't...

Patchett mentions some wonderful books that came out this year.  I suggest reading them all.

But my tidbit of publicity will be for

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson


Read it.  It's wonderful.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Interesting Play, Sir



The 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners were just announced and they have given "No Award" for Fiction.  According to the Pulitzer FAQ
According to The Plan of the Award "If in any year all the competitors in any category shall fall below the standard of excellence fixed by the Pulitzer Prize board, the amount of such prize or prizes may be withheld"
I find this fascinating and a little bit shocking.  Granted, I suppose I'm not surprised that there was also no award for "Editorial Writing" but Fiction?  There really wasn't a single book that warranted the award? According to my quick research, the last year this happened was 1977.  Since 1918, this is only the 10th time they have abstained from awarding a prize for Fiction.  The 70's take the top honors of being owners of 3 of those "No Award"s. 

This being said, I don't have a great idea as to what should have won but considering the titles that got MASSIVE press....1Q84, Freedom, The Marriage Plot, The Tiger's Wife...

To fiction writer's everywhere--here's your kick in the ass. Love, Pulitzer.

**UPDATE** One thing I didn't realize--The Pulitzer is meant for American authors writing stories preferably "dealing with American life"..which I guess takes 1Q84 and The Tiger's Wife out of contention...

Monday, April 9, 2012

Someone Deserves A Prize

Whoever came up with this idea needs to be awarded something.  Something awesome.

Stacked Wines

Each stack of wine comes in 4 sections.  Each section is its own stemless wineglass filled with wine.  Which means that this might possibly be the worlds best picnic idea ever.  I'd like to buy a case of these to bring with me to Ravinia because you not only don't have to drag wine glasses there with you, you don't have to haul the dirty ones home! Just throw them away! (or now that I think about it, drag em home and don't feel bad if they break outside...I should really try to be more green)

It's ridiculously smart.

Buy them here- Stacked Wines

Friday, April 6, 2012

Why Wuthering Heights Makes My Brain Hurt



black line: brothers or sisters: dotted means adopted
red line: wedding: double line means second wedding
pink line: love
blue line: affection
green line: hate


yellow area includes the main characters
purple area includes random background characters


Even reading this map is exhausting....oh, and I copied it off of the Wikipedia page that I was reading to try and figure out what I was missing...turns out, I wasn't really missing anything...it just has giant gaps on purpose...uuuuuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Thursday, April 5, 2012

God's Farts


This movie looks ridiculously hilarious.  As well as just plain ridiculous.  I figure this is the sort of movie that could really screw with people on drugs.  But being a non-drug-doing type person, I'm just going to go and laugh my ass off.  

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Ya Gotta Do What Ya Gotta Do



Mike Montiero

*I'm not currently burning any bridges but I'm not scared either*

Martini And A Side Of Shame, Please



I'm sure you've all heard of it by now.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

They're referring to it as "mommy porn".  I'm referring to it as a giant pain in my librarian ass.

I could go into a whole rant about my feelings on this and the lack of common sense that I think lead to this book's popularity...but I won't...

Instead, I just think you should read this and laugh

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Fifty Shades of Grey by Julieanne Smolinsky