when cupcakes takeover
It’s all over the internet. Both the WSJ and Gawker report that the cupcake economy is booming. Just more proof that Carrie Bradshaw is ahead of the curve. After all, she made NYC’s Magnolia Bakery infamous (it was already famous since the ’90s). Personally, I prefer CRUMBS hands down in NYC and Naked Chocolate Cafe in Philadelphia. Cupcake shops are popping up everywhere. But it doesn’t stop at shops, cupcake trucks are now becoming common in large cities like NYC and Philly. Reality is, in this economy people like treating themselves to a little piece of heaven to cheer up their day (without breaking the bank or going up a pant size). Odds are this bubble will burst, but until then I have no issue living in candyland.
make lovegames, not war
Lady Gaga’s St. Louis concert last week was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church. For those that don’t know, they are a group from Kansas that travels around the country with a message of hate (anti-homosexuality, anti-Semite, among other things). They’ve been known to protest soldiers’ funerals and desecrating the American flag. Last year they made an anti-Semite “demonstration” at Penn while I was still attending because of the high amount of Jewish students on our campus so I’ve seen them first-hand. As an outspoken gay rights activist, Lady Gaga has been targeted on a number of occasions (and they have claimed there is no hope for her soul). Lady Gaga warned her “little monsters” not to respond through Twitter:
Despite her warning, fans responded by bringing rainbow flags and signs that read “God loves everyone” and “God hates Figs”, and clearly outnumbered the protesters. After the concert she wrote:
Music Monday
search for something
Has anyone read the book? Should I read before seeing the movie or will it ruin the experience? The scenery in the movie must be amazing. Unfortunately, out of the three places she visits I’ve only been to Italy (multiple times). I hope to go to India this year to visit some college friends :)
vintage gaga
It’s amazing what you can find in the internet. Check out vintage videos from the Stefani Germanotta band aka Lady Gaga before The Fame. Before the monster revolution (and before the Starlight Revue), she was just a girl with a band that played in Lower East Side music clubs like the famous The Bitter End (which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to hear great live music).
sevillana
The August issue of Harper’s Bazaar US features Jessica Stam in the magnificent city of Seville, Spain (yes, I’m slightly obsessed with Spain but can you blame me?). Full editorial here.
whatever. as if…
Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the cult classic Clueless. When I watched this as a kid I thought it was hilarious but now that I’m older I see that it was actually a modern parody of Jane Austen’s Emma and more than anything else it was a cultural and social critique (e.g. Cher’s mom died of complications after a liposuction). However you interpret it, it will continue to live on as a teenage classic and is the epitome of 90s teenage movie.
thank you :)
Big thanks to WordPress for featuring me in the Freshly Pressed frontpage yesterday and for all the visitors that stopped by and commented (the acute spike on my blog stats will never let me forget this day). I loved the discussions in the comments and I hope you keep visiting my blog (and commenting!).
Merci . Grazie . Arigato . Danke . Gracias . Thanks!!! xoxo
short leash for Murdoch minions
Lots of companies in NYC have something called “summer Fridays”, which means that Fridays are only half-days so that their employees can enjoy the great weather and the amazing events the city holds over the summer. Banks and accounting firms don’t make the cut but many of the media companies do. As Gawker points out, apparently that’s not the case at News Corp.
the three New York Cities
There are roughly three New Yorks.
There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable.
Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night.
Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.
Here is New York, E. B. White, 1949
{via cdixon}
