Vintage

I was obsessing over this song, ummm... about a year ago. But I was recently reminded of how simply magic it is. Colin darling, you are a doll.

Gross

For $10,000 this woman auctioned off her forehead for ad space to the highest bidder. Golden Palace won. I would start wearing bangs. Always.


Ugggh. Here she is in action.

My Top Albums of The Decade

And now for my top albums of the decade.

Runner up: Lily Allen, Alright, Still. (2006) I loved this album. I wore it out. I know every tongue-in-cheek lyric to every chipper song. The fact of the matter is, she was a play off of Amy Winehouse and to deny Amy entry onto this list means that I also must keep Lily off of the list as well. Lily, you are a train wreck, yet you inspire me to be a snarky and fashionable lush regularly.

10. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (2008) Overall, I didn't love this album. In fact the only song I loved was "A Milli." But the thing was, it was his voice. The gritty sexiness of this nasty New Orleans boy. It was so fresh. So, we mass produced it and squeezed in into every top 40 hit of 2008. Overplayed? Yes. Significant? Yes. I still have a crush on Lil Wayne.

9. Britney Spears, In The Zone (2003) You all know how much love I have for Britney and that I'm stead-fast that she is amazing. The thing about Britney is that she completely embodies our culture, so don't hate her for you making her that way. Britney is the queen of mass-produced pop and this was her queen-bee album for her to showcase that. "Toxic" grabbed you. You loved it even when you hated it. I wanted to showcase Lady Gaga on my list as well because she is today's Britney but with an edge up on tomorrow, but the problem was that Lady Gaga would have been a nobody if Britney didn't slink across MTV to "Toxic" in the first place.

8. Jason Mraz, Waiting for My Rocket To Come (2002) Acoustic, fast paced, fun, and witty lyrics. This was the album for cheerleaders to artsy coffee shop boys alike. Mraz's original skat style evoked the fast paced rap of the 90's but Mraz did it in a likable white boy kind of way. This was a whole album that was fun to listen to, and that comes around so rarely. I hate his current stuff, but for a season there, Jason, you had my heart.

7. MGMT, Oracle Spectacular (2007) Oh so hipster... well 2007 hipster. The thing is, these songs aren't getting old. Justice was a fair counter-part to MGMT's album release, but by now, who are we still gyrating to? Why MGMT of course. This sound was so fresh for such a wonderful season... so fresh that you almost thought that they might be British.

6. Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American (2001) How we loved Blink 182. And how we loved Jimmy's ability to take Blink style and mature it in such a way that 9 years later we still don't hate these tracks. The iconic album of my high school career and it made us Zonies so proud to see a band from Mesa make it big. Catchy, poppy music that's guaranteed to take you back to the days when buying a giant SUV was not an offensive purchase.

5. Gorillaz, Demon Days (2005) The perfect fusion album of pop, punk, rap, and rock. And animated monkeys... wait, what the crap? Anyways, as stupid of a gimmick as the Gorillaz insist on being, it caught people's eyes. And their beats caught our ears. The Gorillaz single-handedly are responsible for me keeping pace in my road racing days. Still love you guys at the gym... whoever you really are.

4. Frou Frou, Details (2002) Solid beats, haunting vocals, and airy vibes made this album the perfect soundtrack for your favorite indie flicks over the decade. Although other singles may be more well known, my heart will always resonate with "Breathe In." Has a more perfect chick album come out since? Not that I've heard.

3. Nickle Creek, (Self Titled) (2000) This was a country album. No one could deny that. But their clear talent as musicians committed to their craft made this a standout album for even the biggest country music hater. To this day, I cannot listen to "When You Come Back Down" without tears coming to my eyes thinking of the amazing ways my mom let me soar over these past ten years.

2. Kanye West, Graduation (2007) Every single song... played on repeat... for a year straight. Kayne, you're a cocky SOB, but dang you're good. You've had some hits over this decade, but never before and I doubt never again will you be so good. The "OJ wears isotoners" line in "Stronger" was one of my favorite lines ever. Most of my friends didn't get it. But I did. And that made me feel smart. Thanks Kayne.

1. John Mayer, Heavier Things (2003) If you know me, you know I love John. Always. But this was his most perfect album to me in so many ways. You see, Room For Squares was his pop sell-out album that he had to put out to get the attention of the mass market. John Mayer Trio, Continuum, and Battle Studies are his albums. He has enough fans now that he can play off the beaten track and call his own shots. And they're ok. I like them well enough, but not the way I loved Heavier Things. This album was his hybrid. Pop enough for the mainstream, but John Mayer through and through. Played on repeat during the most pivotal years of my life, there has never been an album that has struck my heart the way this one did. Shame on Rolling Stone for putting Mayer on your cover and then snubbing him from both your top 100 album and your top 100 singles lists for this decade. To me, John, you will always be my soundtrack of these last ten years.

My Top Movies of The Decade

These films moved me. They changed me. They changed our culture. Long live the past ten years.


Runner Up: Slumdog Millionare (2008) I know, I know this really SHOULD be on the list and you may not understand why others are there when this one is not. The simple answer, I loved this movie, but it didn't redefine anything in my life. Fantastic film though.





10. Legally Blonde (2001) This film easily was the Clueless of this generation. Fun, funny, and a film you walk away from genuinely happy. This has inspired a feature film sequel, at least two more straight to dvd sequels, a Broadway musical, and a reality TV show about the casting process for that aforementioned musical. You may not be any smarter by watching this film, but you sure as heck loved Elle Woods... I know you did. I was bend-and-snapping my way through high school.



9. Man on Wire (2008) This gripping documentary is both whimsical and empowering. The beauty of Felipe's walk across the haunting Twin Towers in New York City strikes up the rebellious dreamer's spirit in all of us. Felipe repeats again and again that he felt that those towers were built just for him, and after a while, you believe that must be true. Felipe will captivate you and if you let him, he will inspire you to do equally as beautiful things in your own life. We at Invisible Children say that our Man on Wire moment was ending up on Oprah this past May. It's true. Seriously. That really was impossible.


8.The Departed (2006) Few things are better in a movie than being taken by surprise. This ever changing plot line kept you on your toes the entire time. With a cast that cannot be topped and some "wicked awesome" Boston accents you loved this film, how could you not? As a proper "dude's" movie this one gets major props for winning my distinctly feminine heart. The story is just so good that even I was swinging my fists at the TV.



7. The Science of Sleep (2006) I really am not that romantic. So I tend to vomit at movies that rely on a romantic buy-in. Thankfully, this one did not. I watched this film on the fateful night of a break-up and as I numbly stared at the TV letting the events of my horrible evening soak in, I couldn't have asked for a better film. Stephane is a mess. An international mess to be exact. He stumbles over his own thoughts all the time and it paralyzes him. He feels like a failure. You, the viewer, love him, but he will have no idea that he is lovable. For that, I will always be grateful for this character. Stephane draws out the confused child hidden deep within all of us. He's an honest portrait of our brokenness and Michel Gondry paints this portrait in some of the most stunning shots I've ever seen. At moments this film feels over the top, but at other moments, it stops you in your tracks. Compassion for Stephane and hopefully for yourself leaves you silenced.

6.Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) The love for Gael Garcia Bernal continues. This film is the most sexually provocative film I think I've ever watched. This coming of age story is perhaps even more compelling due to the fact that it's set in another country. By overthrowing my stereotypes of Mexico and focusing on the beauty and pain of growing up... anywhere in the world, really... this film becomes a fantastic work of art. It's a story for the mature, but it will help you become that much more mature in the process of watching it as well.



5. Anchorman (2004) Simply put, if a film becomes more appealing each time you watch it, it wins. Will Ferrell at his comic best. The perfect script to be quoted by college co-eds everywhere. And San Diego as a starring role is also one of the movie's best characters (perhaps I'm biased). This movie is stupid. The plot is stupid. The characters are stupid. The script is stupid. And I loved it more than any other stupid comedy of this decade.


4. The Dark Knight (2008) To be honest, I don't remember too much about this movie, but I remember that I loved it through and through. Heath Ledger deserved the Oscar unequivocally since he is pretty much all that I walked away from this film remembering. So, for his role to be the only thing I remember about this film, but for me to still put it as #4, it's obviously that this was one hell of a role. All things Hollywood in this film, but in all the right ways. I can't imagine a comic-inspired film ever being any better than this one proved to be.

3. Into The Wild (2007) This is the only time that I can remember a film being more impressive than its book counterpart. Jon Krakauer took Christopher McCandless' story and reported all the facts. Sean Penn took the story and made it into an incredible piece of art. I had such a loving affection for Alexander Supertramp (Christopher McCandless) and his idealism. I saw myself in him. I saw my anger and my dreams. And even though I would never have half the bravery to live out my beliefs in such an extreme way, I wished that I could have. This film did inspire an impromptu trip to Salvation Mountain in the Imperial Valley; an inspiring location that could merit its own film. Since I frequently pull scenes from this film into weight towards my own decision making, the wisdom from this film must be approaching Proverbs-like status. Blasphemy much?

2. Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 (2003-2004) I'm aware of the fact that these are two separate films and I know that many people would say that Volume 1 was the gem of the two. I would completely disagree. As someone who cannot excuse a film as "good" unless the plot is also up to par (you should hear me rip apart Across the Universe or Where The Wild Things Are for their failures to deliver substantial plot-lines), I would assert that this film is ONLY good in the context of both volumes being viewed as one film. Fortunately for me, I have only watched these films as one unit. The plot seems simple: kill Bill. Yet how could such a basic task lead to such a beautiful and shocking path? Well, Tarantino is obviously one of a kind. This movie has exactly what I love in films, dark (yes, sadistic) comedy, crazy plot twists, compelling characters, love, hate, and an unsettling ending. To me, this combination is genius because it is both reflective our own broken world yet also a psychotic escape for the viewer from this mediocrity we call "every day." Oh, and I now have a girl crush on Uma Thurman.

1. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) My first memory of this film is one where I am sitting in a crowded "artsy" theatre next to my aunt who is laughing so hard at the characters running after their VW bus that she's also crying uncontrollably. A film that is an experience for you because you bond with those you care about in life is a film that you will always hold near and dear to your heart. This quirky comedy about all the dysfunctions families bring out in each other is one that you should watch with your own dysfunctional family. It also doesn't hurt that it's set smack dab in the lands I've called home, a corner of the world that I consider to be one of the most stunning. Through the laughs, this film is ultimately about love. And through my laughs I learned to love my own family more and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Parking

I like this photo.

Anjulie

I was drawn to her cd case at Starbucks. And now I love her song. Well done with your marketing little lady.

These are some deep lyrics

Child. I want you in my life. Come sing me to sleep every night.

The A Gallery

Today, as I browsed the LAMEST webpages I know of, high school websites, I stumbled upon this art teacher in Provo, UT. James Rees, thanks for at least brightening my day slightly while I was at work. Lovely painting. More of his work is on display at The A Gallery in Salt Lake City if you ever find yourself there.

La Familia

If we sleep together would it make it any better? If we sleep together would you be my friend forever?

Jon Smith

My dear friend... Yes, his real name is Jon Smith... made this stop motion video. It's interesting AND it supports Invisible Children's bracelet campaigns. Ok, pretty soon here I'll stop just reposting IC's blogroll on my personal blog.

Fun Recycling

Humans are suckers. Love what Volkswagen is doing here to milk our sucker-ness for all things flashy. Let's play the recycling game!

Legalize Marijuana?

I used to favor the legalization of marijuana in America. I've never been any sort of pot smoker myself and neither are most of my friends. I wasn't advocating for this legalization so that me and my friends could have "more fun" legally. I just felt that science indicates that marijuana really is on a similar level as alcohol and America had a double standard to be comfortable with the use of alcohol but not marijuana.

I wanted taxation on pot. I wanted to know that marijuana is free of being laced with any harder drugs. I wanted age restrictions and driving under the influence restrictions like we have to ensure responsible intoxication with alcohol. I thought that maybe legalizing marijuana would actually benefit American society.

I wasn't alone. Obviously. Here is a popular sandwich shop (designed to help you with your munchies) that you can find in college towns across the Rocky Mountain Range dedicated to the "glories" of marijuana:




What's funny is that I believed that marijuana should be legalized UNTIL I actually encountered legalized marijuana in action a year and a half ago in Amsterdam.

"Hey... I can sell you this... uh... magazine? All day, when I was your age, I used to sit in the coffee shops [marijuana shops] and smoke. It made me stupid. Now, this is the only job I can get. Selling these magazines. But... hey... on page 14 you will see a list of the top coffee shops in the district.... you know, if that's what you're here for."

A middle-aged homeless man made his living downtown Amsterdam selling these Amsterdam magazines to tourists. He obviously was who he was because he had such easy access to marijuana growing up in Holland. However, he knew that Amsterdam is the Las Vegas of Europe. People are there to party in a way that is completely illegal everywhere else in the modern world.

Being a good Christian girl, I was actually naive enough to not recognize the smell of burning pot, but when there's a coffee shop on every corner, the "smell of Amsterdam" is one that I now find drifting across certain dark corners of America on a regular basis.

My friends I met in Amsterdam told me about what the legalization of pot REALLY meant for the community.
-Yes. It increased tourism to the city. But not the type of tourists that Dutch citizens really wanted infecting their charming town. People LIVE and RAISE FAMILIES in these places where tourists were behaving at their absolute worst.
-Yes. Drugs are regulated by the government to prevent abuse. One example was that a business was prohibited from selling both marijuana and alcohol because the Dutch government knew that could be a deadly combination.
-Mushrooms and other "light" drugs were also available for purchase at these coffee shops, but not for long. Too many hallucinating tourists were jumping out of top story windows under the influence. It appeared at though the government was saying "oops, let's cut back on our liberal ways a bit here" due to all the deaths associated with these incidents.
-Regular pot smokers were frying their brain cells at a young age becoming unable to contribute positively to society in their later years. They became just a leech on society.
-The Dutch government was proactively adding many new regulations on the usage of marijuana in the country. It appeared as though they were attempting to undo the original extreme tolerance approach. It looked like they also regretted their approach to legalizing coffee shops. But how can you ever be taken seriously as an enforcer if you were too passive in the first place?

Ok, you may be thinking, Talitha, people all around the world have access to these drugs and behave in the same sort of way that you witnessed in Amsterdam. At least in Holland they're not having to hide.

Obviously, certain people are going to smoke pot no matter how legal/illegal it is. However, I know that for ME, if it's illegal, I won't touch it. But, a legalized substance, I'll at least give it a try. And there are a lot of people like me out there who respect the law enough to avoid begin using marijuana as long as it remains illegal.

I walked away from Amsterdam sad. I felt that this society was suffering from it's radical tolerance. I desired for people to be attracted to Amsterdam for its charm and beauty, not its decadence and depravity. I felt like Amsterdam had the completely wrong reputation. In your mind, you may think of this when you hear the word "Amsterdam"



But, I walked away from Amsterdam with images of this beautiful place




Maybe we can't just trust everyone in our society to maturely handle themselves in the presence of marijuana. Maybe extreme tolerance results in extreme irresponsibility. Maybe we all need a reminder of what's good for us... with the threat of punishment if we ignore that suggestion.

Thoughts?

This Is It

Saw this movie last week... Finally, I know. Anyways, there's few movies that I would enjoy watching more than once, but MJ, I honestly think I could watch you in this 100 times. Go see it. Now. Seriously.

Livestream

If you're confused about why I SUCK at posting right now, maybe this insane television channel will explain it for you

Watch live streaming video from invisiblechildren at livestream.com

Thanksgiving

I love Arizona. I love it. I find the harsh beauty of this terrain to be incomparable to anywhere else I've ever seen. I love the people here. They are sometimes tacky, self-absorbed, a little bit ignorant, but dang I love them. And the rumor is true, Arizona girls are the hottest ones in the world. Man I love my friends. Family and sunsets characterize this visit home this year.

My hometown, Chandler


Outdated family photo

Surfing

Victory. I have surfed in Hawaii. Stood up and everything. Check out this image of the beautiful Honolii Beach in Hilo. One amazing thing about this section of the world is that the fresh water from the river pours into the ocean here so the water is barely even salty.

NPR

About six months ago I started really listening to NPR and I've been feeling ever so smart as a result. I vowed about six months ago that I wanted to get Invisible Children mentioned on NPR and then, this interview fell into my lap earlier this week. Sweet.

Ok, disclaimers:
1. I am blogging stupid so you'll just have to copy and paste this link into your browers.
2. I am pretty sure that I sound about 13 years old and definitely from SoCal. Meh.

http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/hpr/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=31&Itemid=84

Senator Inouye... Rescue the Child Soldiers

Yesterday, in 30 cities across the USA, our Invisible Children supporters and staff gathered to petition the remaining big dogs in DC to sign onto the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. Senator Inouye is the second most senior senator on the floor right now, so we were excited to be able to rally Hawaiians together to get his support of this bill that will rescue the child soldiers. We met with his staffer to express our concern about this issue and she told us that Senator Inouye had heard our phone calls and was so encouraged that so many young people care about this issue. We had over 40 Hawaiians show up, most were high schools students (represent Castle, Kalani, and Kalaheo! We love you guys). The event was covered by Hawaii Public Radio and a reporter from the Honolulu Advertiser (biggest paper in town) came out as well. Here's some shots of the day:









We still need more public support. Please go to www.wewantobama.com to sign the petition and let your voice be heard in DC to help these kids.

Yes, we went to the ocean too

Yeah, I know. It's absurd to go to Hawaii without at least a few water pics. Thanks Dana for the most incredible adventure across Oahu last sunday. This place made Sunset Cliffs look like a gutter.

Zippy's

It's pretty much a Hawaiian Dennys. Complete with mediocre food and late night characters. Oh, and their spaghetti will turn your eyes into lasers.

REVO Oahu

Incredible art piece inspired by Invisible Children. On display at the first ever REVO Oahu event. Wow, we love these guys.

Fail Blog

Spotted at the Pearl Harbor memorial. But my question is, who is October 2001 and why does he have so many roadblocks in his ownership?

boys

In case you didn't know it, there's about the same amount of men and women born into this world. Shocking, I know!

But why is there about a 60:40 ratio on college campuses of more women than men?

Or the churches? Same ratio, about 60:40 women to men.

Hmmm, well they aren't applying to be volunteers for organizations like Invisible Children or LiNK. No, about two thirds of these applicants are women. Same thing for summer camps. They're not applying to work with campers all summer long.

So, the question is... where are the men? Why can't you find them in these places? I think I know the answer. I think they're working. Making fast money. More of those labor jobs.

Ok, so the men aren't getting as educated as the women, and they're not interested in growing in the church, and they're not volunteering for community service. Yet despite their statistical lack of "well-roundedness" that these paths would offer them, men are still the ones our society deems to be the best to rule the economy, the church, and the government. Wait... why?

Stalker

It's my full time job to stalk across the internet and figure out who the most influential people are in all major American cities over students. After a while, you start to notice some trends.

Like these prosperity gospel churches; the ones where you can go to the front and get healed if you have enough faith. The places where you're promised to get rich if you pray hard enough. Anyways, I've been noticing one healing that has not been occurring... healing from bad hair.

Meet Casey Treat of Seattle and his hair plugs:


Here's John Gee of Las Vegas and his toupee:


One of the MVPs in the prosperity gospel Hall of Fame, Benny Hinn of Irving Texas and his swoop:


And the new all-star of the prosperity gospel, Joel Osteen of Houston with his deliciously gelled hair:

Telepopmusik

Yoga music. But... since I'm dreaming of being a yoga instructor this seems like a good one for my playlist.

Moloko

The obsession grows. Before Roisin Murphy was her own amazing voice, she was a part of a band called Moloko. What is it about British female musicians that I love so much? (Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Psapp...) Anyways... I guess I should move to London, because I'm a British Citizen and I CAN. Check this vid out. It's not new, but it's probably new to your American eyes... Let's be honest here, we Americans need a break from Miley.

Roisin Murphy

Well, since June 2007 this has been watched 2,294,376 times. At at least three of those times were over this past week by me. I'm proving to be pretty good at jumping on the music bandwagon late. You know this song?

Brother Bear, Sister Bear

To say that I was disappointed with Where The Wild Things Are movie would be an understandment. It was creepy. And depressing. And much too preachy and adult for its own good. BUT, maybe my problem was that I never loved the book in the first place.

This announcement that there will be a full-length feature film for The Berestain Bears, on the other hand, has me truly excited. MAYBE, this will be a children's story that will be appropriate for actual children.

Pretty my my all-time favorite book series... Well, until The Babysitters Club, or Twilight, or...

Swine Flu

Swine flu has put quite a few of my friends on their back in bed for a week straight. But then I realized that maybe I should make a more diverse group of friends from around the world.