Monkey

My dear friend Liz sent me a birthday package which included this darling monkey. He has a little hole and you blow him up like a balloon but then he holds his shape like a lantern.
Ah, look at that tail!

aj: congrats on your new career in modeling for trendy home furnishing chains

Yes

SNL Review

Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a really great job on SNL last night. He had to sing in almost every sketch, and he looked completely comfortable the whole time. I think he's a real performer and I'm looking forward to following his career. He's also hot like spicy mustard.

In related news, Al Gore was hilarious on SNL last night. I was dying during Weekend Update when he said he was going to plant trees on politicians' lawns in the middle of the night and tape toy guns to their branches so they'd wake up and think the trees were coming back for their revenge.

is it wrong to laugh at this?

Something in Pink

Last night, Nicole won America's Next Top Model wearing... this. Where do you start when mocking something like this? Shiny cowboy fringe? Sheer bejeweled turtleneck? White slip/pencil skirt? Come on.

High Chair

Via LiveLeak.

WANT WANT WANT WANT

You're Not Going to See This on Sesame Street Anymore...

more music

here's the new
e-mixtape # 2 - precious stones by ryanwinger

or you can download it here

this one is meant to take you places. many gems, many of them stoney. this has some of my favorite songs on it. some in pairs. at first the mix wasn't sounding very good. i thought i might have to name it "mistakes were made". but it turned out precious. enjoy.

Weekend Getaway

This weekend, Tom and I were fortunate enough to be invited on a weekend excursion to Mendocino, CA.

It's only a few hours away from Berkeley, but it was breathtakingly different and really beautiful.

Gorgeous Fresnel lens at the Point Arena lighthouse.

This llama had a serious under-bite.

Point Cabrillo lighthouse.

Tom's perfectly respectable attempt to get an action shot of a cow that had crossed the traffic on PCH in order to scratch his neck on a post.

Our gracious hosts. Thank you so much.

Isn't it an El Nino year?

I took this photo last August in Vancouver, BC.

August.

It's November and Southern California has yet to proved me with anything close to precipitation. The only thing to remotely resemble a rain cloud is the thick layer of smog hovering over the 5 Freeway (so conveniently located a block away from my apartment complex). *Sigh*

I can only be patient for so long, rain! Do not forsake me!

"It Should Have Been Him"

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Vivid

Linguini-Tron

A classic from Thingpart.

Sub-par-way

So did Subway just decide it had mastered the sandwich and that it needed to move on to another food completely? Well, I've got news for you, Subway. Bad news. You are not good at sandwiches. So maybe you should focus on the war at home and leave pizza out of it. Oh, yeah, that reminds me, The War at Home also sucks.

Rain. Right?

Our very own Jordan Riggs' video is featured on Funny or Die. J, or should I say Professor Character, you are the funniest faller I've seen since Tobias Funke slipped on Gangy's "accident."

RAIN:H20...NO - watch more funny videos

Speaking of Fall

Wedding Location

This video serves multiple purposes. 1) It reminds us all of why the Grand Canyon is a perfect wedding destination. 2) It shows Ryan how he should do his hair for the ceremony. 3) The background music is perfect for a first dance.

Congratulations are in Order

My brother Ryan and his lady-love Maria got engaged this weekend! Congratulations you two! I'm looking forward to toasting to your love next year.

Berkeley Flea Market

Today the Mr. and I went to the Berkeley Flea Market at the Ashby BART station. Not too much to report. We were only there 30 minutes or so due to my headache, the massive drum circle, and our lack of interest in basketball shoes, pirated DVDs and belts. The photo theme of the afternoon was repetition.

Band of Brothers

There's nothing like watching Band of Brothers to make you feel like the biggest weenie with the least significant problems on planet Earth.

Halloweeners

Oh, I adore this time of year. Summer finally comes to an end (in theory-- summer doesn't really end until mid November in Southern California) and it comes time to cozy up with scarves and mittens and pumpkin pie lattes. Well, pumpkin flavored anything, for that matter. Pumpkin flavored babies. Haha, that's gross. I hate babies.

Tea, Glorious, Tea

These are the ingredients in my favorite herbal tea, and boy are they beautiful. (Chamomile, Spearmint, West Indian Lemongrass, Tilia Flowers, Blackberry Leaves, Orange Blossoms, Hawthorn and Rosebuds)

Backup Face

Via Toothpaste For Dinner.

Carrotmob

I just heard about this interesting concept called Carrotmob. The website says "Carrotmob is a method of activism that leverages consumer power to make the most socially-responsible business practices also the most profitable choices. Businesses compete with one another to see who can do the most good, and then a big mob of consumers buys products in order to reward whichever business made the strongest commitment to improve the world. It’s the opposite of a boycott." What they do is leverage companies against one another, getting the businesses to commit a certain percentage of the profits made from the influx of customers (the Carrotmobbers) and whoever commits the highest percentage toward sustainable modifications to their business gets mobbed with customers. It sounds like a pretty interesting idea that could really make some change if it gains momentum. For those in the San Francisco area, there's a Carrobmob coming to Shotwell's on October 24th. If you're not nearby, you can even organize one in your own in your area.

Alert

Sufjan Stevens' "The BQE (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". The answer to life, the universe, and everything. Go suck an egg, 42.

Treasure Island Music Festival

This weekend we went to the Treasure Island Music Festival. I had never been to Treasure Island before, but a quick google told me that it is an artificial island originally used as an airport and built from landfill that was dredged from the bottom of the Bay during the Great Depression. You can see it's absence on the 1915 map below. I guess one man's trash is another man's treasure... island.

Pat and Tom trying to figure out why The Decemberists sucked so much.

Courtney, thrilled about how good Grizzly Bear and Beirut were.

Tom, readying his mind for the Flaming Lips.

Puppy piling for warmth.

Flaming Lips, Flaming Lips, Flaming Lips.

Old Friends

"It is one of the blessings of old friends

that you can afford to be stupid with them."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you sure about that?

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way."

Plaid Orchids

Squirrel Sandwich

Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost

My dear friend Richard Rushfield (of Gawker fame) has just published his latest book, entitled Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost: A Memoir of Hampshire College in the Twilight of the '80s. "That sounds too topical!" you may say. Don't you want to hear the story behind the man below, an actual Hampshire teacher?

Of course you do. It's probably a really great story. His book is available on Amazon or in any self- respecting bookstore.

Congratulations, R.R.!