Friday Five

1. I adore snow days!  They are my new most favorite things.  Even today without the snow, just working in my pj's and just waiting for the snow to start, it was fabulous!

2. The Creative Faces Project: These photos are just gorgeous and so creative!  I love the idea of a twist on a classic portrait.  Not to mention, they're all Broadway peeps, so that makes them even cooler. 

3. Who knew the creatives at Pixar were so darn into classic movies? Some of these shots were a little bit of a stretch, but a lot of them are pretty amazing!

4. I love Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. It's almost annoying how witty and clever they are. Excuse the language in a few, but these thoughts on Life are 100% true.  What I wouldn't give to be able to say a few of these to random people on an everyday basis! Also, I'm thinking of using #11 in my Match.com profile : )

5. Every #Ham4Ham is amazing in its own way.  This one is doubly amazing!

Friday Five: The NYC Edition (sort of...)

1. I'm a big fan of Stephen Fry, so I was very happy to see that he was working with Heathrow on some ads.  The final video is pretty perfect for him and England.  So very true and so very cute!

2. I think I've written about Serious Eats before, but if I haven't, you must visit immediately if you love to eat and travel.  This listing of places to eat in NYC is perfect!  It's what I've been looking for all week to help with my trip this weekend.  I love the idea of organizing by neighborhood.  The only problem is now I want to eat at every single establishment in every single article... 

3. Today Tix: So here's the thing.  If you like the theatre, and you don't like spending a lot of money, this app is your new best friend.  They have discounted tickets to some of the biggest shows in the biggest cities.  The only caveat is that you have to buy them a week or less in advance.  But if you're ok with that, you can find some really great deals!

4. One of the 3 million and 32 reasons why Manhattan is one of the greatest cities in the world - they have places like 54 Below where current Broadway Stars, stop by to sing show tunes.  Do you know how poor I'd be if something like 54 Below resided in my city?  I'd be there for every show! (P.S. - This is my favorite song from Something Rotten - mine as well continue on with the theme for the week : )


5. Love me some Billy Joel!

Friday Five

1. This is a little too spot on than I would usually care to admit.  It describes the everyday inner workings of my brain to a tee.

2.  Seeing as this article is all about some crazy Russian hating one of my favorite people, you'd think it would not be a favorite of mine.  But seeing as the reason for this man hating Stephen Fry is so despicable; I'm a big fan.  For this guy to have it out for him truly means Stephen's doing something right!

3. My feelings for Etsy perfectly shared with one small little hanging.  Don't get me wrong, I love receiving clothes and gift cards like most people do.  But I get super excited when I receive something homemade.  It's most often something the other person has thought a lot about and spent a great deal of time on.  Those sorts of gifts are always the most special. And the fact that Etsy has so many special little surprises at your fingertips is just icing on the cake.

4.  Fall TV is here!  As usual there are some hits and misses.  So far I'm loving The Crazy Ones, The Blacklist and I think I'm going to love Michael J. Fox's show (how can you not?  It's Michael J Fox!) and S.H.I.E.L.D (Joss!!).  And in the oldie but goodie category there's NCIS, Big Bang Theory, Elementary and Person of Interest. 

5. If my Christmas tree wasn't solely hung with Snowheads, this would certainly be at the top of my Christmas list.  How stinking cute and completely geeky can you get!?

Russia, Are you Listening?

There are celebrities that often speak out on all sorts of causes and catastrophes for nothing more than simple attention.  Then of course there are others that believe in the cause and have a stake in following through with it. Because of this, in this case, I am inclined to believe and fully support the work Stephen Fry and company are doing in regards to the Sochi 2014 boycott.  This boycott could send a strong message to the Russians, that this behavior will no longer be overlooked and will hit them in each country's most painful spot; their checkbooks.  Russia holds a huge financial stock in making this Olympics profitable for the Russian government, the lack of funding from other countries, as well as lack of viewers would be quite painful to an already struggling economy.  A complete withdrawal of the Olympics from Russia (there are at least a dozen other countries that could support the games) would be the ultimate sentence and the strongest most potent message to the Russians: The world will no longer stay silent and allow you to continue your campaign of hatred.

What Mr. Putin is doing in Russia to repress the LGBT community in his country, or rather not doing as the case may be, is repulsive.  These individuals are living in secret, in fear they will be persecuted or even harmed or killed for being who they were born to be.  And their persecution by homophobic citizens as well as the government, is being left to continue unchecked.  The Olympics has always been a time for unity and a chance for all different cultures to come together as one. If everyone isn't included in that sentiment, then what exactly is the point?  

Friday Five

1. Once again, my favorite thing for the week was spending the evening with my favorite 4 year old.  The best Natalie-isms of today were her informing me that her grandparents "have already arrived on vacation" and after complete silence in the car while playing with the iPad, randomly yelling (while scaring me half to death) "Oh!  I am winning this game!."  Seriously?  What 4 year old says "arrived"?  How is she so darn cute!?

2. Best news I've read all week!  It's Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry AND Shakespeare, all rolled up into one awesome event!  How could it possibly go wrong!?

3. Etsy: I've ordered 2 fairly nifty items this week and I cannot wait to receive them.  I happen to love that we live in a world where Etsy exists.  There are so many cute things on this darn sight that it's slightly overwhelming.  But whenever you need an idea, or just something different, you will always find something perfect!

4. I think that this video has been out for a year, but I saw the real trailer earlier this evening at the movies and it made me think of this one.  As much as I want to see the actual movie, I think this little teaser may be even funnier than the first and second films put together.  Love these little yellow guys!

5. Another BuzzFeed Special but it's officially the only place I read about this story.  If it were up to me it would be written about in all the major newspapers.  This is a fantabulous (so cool I had to make up a word!) idea.  I'm in love with whomever finally realized that making Chemo a little more bearable for kids was a good thing.  Next stop: bringing it here!

Writer Love

The first thing I always notice when watching movies, television or reading is the style of writing.  I'm far from a connoisseur and I've never taken a writing class, so I don't know tricks or styles.  But I'm fairly certain everyone knows good writing when they hear it.  Because of this there are certain writers that are in the upper echelons of writing in my book.  I would give my right arm to turn a phrase or make snide comments like they do.  My list currently includes:

- Anthony Bourdain: I wish I was brave enough to be as open with my thoughts as he is. "A Cook's Tour" will always be to me, one of the best books ever written.

-Stephen Fry: Probably one of the smartest men on earth while never lording that fact over your head and a race-car quick wit.

-Bill Bryson: He sets a stage like no other.  Whatever country or place he's visiting, you feel as if you're standing next to him about to fall into the same ludicrous situation he is. 

-Mark Gatiss/Steven Moffat: Both are unbelievable screenwriters individually but when writing as a team, their work just leaps off the screen.  I'm positive that, aside from the dreamboat status Benedict Cumberbatch has, the reason there's so much Sherlock on Pinterest is the beautiful words these men write. There are too many scenes to choose from, but this one never ceases to make me laugh out loud.

 

Are you sensing a pattern here?  If you can't tell or you've never read any of these guys, I tend to lean toward sarcasm and wit.  If you're able to write a great pun or deliver a one-liner, you're pretty much guaranteed to make it onto my list. As someone who reads quite a bit, there are of course others: Shakespeare, Tolkien, John Rogers,  Jeff Eastin, and J.K. Rowling, etc. but I won't bore you with all the why's. If you've read or watched anything, I'm sure you have your own lists and my reasons will most likely differ from yours.

 

After rambling for the last few minutes, I should most likely get to my original point.  All of this was actually to say, I've discovered a new writer to add to my list: Neil Gaiman.  I know, he's been around forever and he's always kind of floating out there in the universe to read but I'd never really gotten around to it.  Mostly, I was a being a bit of a wimp. The covers of his books always say something along the lines of "master of horror" and I like my fantasy mundane, not terrifying.  But, I had heard the BBC was doing a radio recording of "Neverwhere" and the cover of the book has Big Ben on it, so I dove in.  How horrifying could it be if the BBC was recording it.  Thank goodness my assumptions were correct.  He's completely brilliant and I'm not sure why I waited so long.  The story was fantastic but the writing was magic.  He's sarcastic and funny and uses big, beautiful words (yes, I'm a English nerd...)  And I will most certainly be jumping into another sooner rather than later, that is when the stack that's staring at me now gets a little smaller.

Now, I'm waiting with baited breath for the premiere of the radio version.  I'm not sure it will live up to the book (do most things ever live up to the book?) but seeing the cast list, I'm sure it will come very, very close.

Hay-on-Wye

I'm sure for any normal person reading this, the words in the title mean nothing.  However, if you are (like me) a un-apologetic book fiend, you may just know that Hay-on-Wye is a county that straddles the border between Wales and England.  You may also know that according to its travel bureau, Hay-on-Wye is "world renowned for books and bookshops."  So obviously it's on my list of dream vacation destinations.  Based on my fascination with all things British AND my love of books, I'm pretty sure I'd be perfectly happy to live out my days there as well (now I just have to uproot the rest of my family and friends too).

You may wonder why I'm choosing to tell you about my love for this quirky little paradise today.  Well, according to my research (when I can't figure out what to blog about, I google this day in history), the Hay Festival began on May 26, 1987 which, if you ask me, really should be a national holiday.  The Hay Festival is a 10 day long celebration of all things Books and Literature.  Authors and writers from around the world come to speak and lecture on subjects ranging from Medicine and Social Sciences to Food and Comedy.  Each year this tiny county attracts about 85,000 booklovers who come to check out 500 different events over the course of the 10 days.  The 25th anniversary of the festival begins on Thursday and just like every year for the last 5 or so, I'll be wishing I was there.  Some people dream of beaches with crystal blue waters.  I dream about lounging with literaries in the English countryside.  One of these days I'm going to get there but for now, I'll have to be content to dream and watch the festival unfold on youtube (yes, we lit-lovers actually do that...)

Click Hay-on-Wye to see just how bookish and beautiful this book-lovers paradise really is!   

Reading the Weekend Away

After spending every free moment this weekend with my nose buried in "The Fry Chronicles", I finally finished it late last night.  I knew it would be good but I never realized how good it would be.  For those who don't know him, he's a British writer/comedian/actor/historian and all around (from what I can tell) good egg.  But the life he's led and the opportunities he's had are what make his story remarkable. 

As you learn in the book, after a fairly "normal"childhood, he faced some demons head on and went to prison for a bit.  After being released he was able to pass the test for Cambridge and became one of only a few students that attended Cambridge under similar circumstances.  From there, he jumped into acting. Then became a member of the Footlights where he met his lifelong writing partner Hugh Laurie and a slew of other big name Brits such as Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery.  As much as I loved hearing the stories of his career beginnings, what I was most interested in as a Psych major was his thoughts on living with Manic-Depression. 

In the mid-90s, at the peak of his career, he suffered a nervous breakdown per se, walked a way from a starring role on the West End and very nearly committed suicide.  After coming through to the other side, he was diagnosed with Manic-Depression and has been open about his condition ever since.  I learned none of this through the book, however.  He ended his 425 page memoir at his 30th birthday.  He failed to write about the last 25 years of his life.  I have to say I was pretty annoyed!  I'm guessing this leaves him open to write "Fry Chronicles 2" which will not be arriving in the States anytime soon (there's a 2 year delay at least between books published in UK and selling said books here in the US).

But other than the end coming much too soon for my liking, the book has reached the top ten list of books I'd take with me on a desert island (yes, us geeks have lists like that).  I knew a great deal about him already, but he's someone I can't seem to get out of my head.  He's garnered this amazing career with sheer talent and grabbing the opportunities that were thrown at him.  He's taken the difficulties that life has dealt him with grace and patience. He's a geek who loves words and dude who loves to shop.  What's not to love about him?! He's why I'm so gung-ho about finding a job that I LOVE.  He's living proof that it's possible.  Hopefully in my case though, without the prison part...