New Feature: What I want to read/What I want to see

I’m into paperbacks this summer! They’re cheaper. I missed them the first time around. They’re probably in libraries, which are badly in need of visits! So here we go.

Paperback Books I want to read:

• 1984 book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution – 25th Anniversary Edition by Steven Levy…NPR profiles its 25-anniversary release

• McKay’s Bees: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) By Thomas McMahon…read an excerpt

• Citrus County by John Brandon

• The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (New York Review Books Classics)By Brian Moore

Movies I want to see:

• And it looks like to really know if I’ll like it, I’m going to have to see Inception for myself. But, first, here’s a prequel comic for the film. (I’m sorry I can’t remember where I got the link, but thanks whoever you are.)

• And, here’s a trailer for a new doc about grocery baggers: Ready, Set, Bag

Cool Finds Friday: The Short Version

Found a couple of cool items to share today, so I decided to put them together in a rare cool finds post. Here we go:

• Cool Book: The famous R. Crumb takes on the bible in his new book ‘The Book of Genesis Illustrated‘

• Cool Movie: Food Beware – about a French town going all organic. Opens limited today.

• Cool Music: Listen to song ‘60 Feet Tall‘ by The Dead Weather

• Cool TV: DVD actually – The Garry Shandling Show – The Complete Series is out on DVD on Tuesday!

The return of Cool Finds Friday

I’m getting back into cool pop culture, yay! So, happy long weekend everybody? What are you going to do? Vanilla Ice is playing the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, but I think I’ll pass. (Many of the finds below are via largeheartedboy)

• Coolest Book(s): We Did Porn: Memoir and Drawings by Zak Smith and Masterpiece Comics by R. Sikoryak

• Coolest Music: You’re listening to Yo La Tengo right? Their album’s out next week! If you are here’s some news about Bats For Lashes ‘Two Suns’ special edition

• Coolest Movie: Mike Judge’s ‘Extract.’It’s in theaters today. It’s been getting pretty poor reviews, but as a twitter friend pointed out to me, so did ‘Office Space‘ and that movie is a classic. Besides Slate Magazine says Extract is better than Office Space

• Most Interesting Web Article: How Fiction is good for our brains

• Coolest list of the week: Top Ten Girl-Crushes

Cool Finds Friday

• Coolest Movie: District 9 is out in movie theaters today and people seem to really like it. Also out today, but much less reviewed is Ponyo the new animated film from Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki. It follows a goldfish named Ponyo quest to become human. If it sounds like Disney’s movie “The Little Mermaid” that’s because it is based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale of the same name. Check out the trailer. But I’m dying to go and check out Paper Heart with the adorable Charlyne Yi

• Cool TV: The beginning of fall tv is upon us. On Sunday Mad Men returns to AMC. Have you Man Mened yourself yet? Here’s me if I was on the show: And here’s how to prepare for your Mad Men watching party.

• Coolest Music: This week was a bust in terms of new music. So how about going back with some cool re-issues. First release is from The Stone Roses to celebrate thier 20th anniversary. I’ve never heard the album, but Pop Candy writes how much she loves it. It comes out Sept. 8. The second re-issue is coming out in October. David Bowie is re-issuing “Space Oddity.” Bowie’s debut album is going to be accompanied with a second disc of b-sides, demos, and other previously unreleased songs.

• Coolest book: I think this weekend’s perfect for visiting your local comic book store. Here’s a few titles to pick up. Everybody’s really digging ‘Chew,’ a crime-solving story revolving Tony Chu, a “cibopath” – someone that gets psychic visions from whatever he eats…murder, whatever he eats, you see where this is going right? Also buy Hero Comics for a good cause – to support struggles comic book artists with The Hero Initiative. And you can pre-order ‘Like a Dog‘ is a collection of musician Zak Sally‘s award winning short stories. Need more book ideas? Here’s some

• Coolest website find: I Love Hotdogs – screen shots of movies which ponders is seeing one shot of the movie better than the whole?

• Coolest thing on the web: Your choice. If there’s nothing on tv, the pilot episode of South Park is streaming as is the entire Ghostbusters movie

Cool Finds Friday

Hi everybody. Well we made it through another week and now it’s time for me to take stock of my week and pick the coolest things from my week.

• Coolest Music: I had a very emotional week, so despite all the great music streaming online, I tending to do what I always do in an emotional crisis: turn to Tori Amos. So I’ve been rocking her music most of the week,but Radiohead‘s new song ‘Harry Patch: In Memory of‘ is probably the coolest music out this week, but last night I was in class and my teacher started playing music from Thievery Corporation. Have you heard of them? I instantly fell in love and downloaded all their music. Check them out!

• Coolest books: Tons of books I didn’t have time to mention this week. Death Metal Manga: Detroit Metal City, 3-part series about a guy that wanted to be in a pop band and ended up playing death metal. I’m also into learning about death metal into Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces Edited by Albert Mudrian. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall, by Kazuo Ishiguro which  “explores love, music and the passage of time…[and] “the struggle to restoke life’s romance, even as relationships flounder and youthful hopes recede.” I also came across the Oishinbo manga series. Manga that teaches you all about Japanese food. Could there be anything better? I’ve also been meaning to mention these graphic novels, but thankfully Pop Candy got to it first. And finally, how can I leave out A Cultural Dictionary of Punk by Nicholas Rombes.

• Coolest Movies: Tons of documentaries floating around the internet this week. There’s the John Lennon one. There was Iraq War sarcasm and It Might Get Loud, in theaters in NY and LA Aug. 14 (it looks like Aug. 28 in more cities). The movie follows Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page talking and playing music. And also The Cove (opening in select cities today Aug. 7) is getting some buzz. It’s the true story about uncovering who’s killing dolphins in a secret cove in Japan. Also, finally, also out today, The Paper Heart about the adorable Charlyne Yi in love. I’m in love with her! See if the movie is opening in your area today. And Julie & Julia opens today, which is getting mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it. The NY Times liked it and said it’s, “a Hollywood movie about women that is not about the desperate pursuit of men.” I like it. NPR wonders if you can poach an egg like Julia Child.

• Coolest TV: I’m in love with Kat Von Di of LA ink

• Coolest internet articles: I don’t know if these are the coolest, but my emotional week sort of surrounded feeling lonely, so I found these articles helpful and amusing. First, how much time do men spend staring at women per year? Also, 10 guys you should NEVER date (thnx @TraciRai) I think I’ve dated them all. And finally, maybe the reason I haven’t found love is because of my karma.

What did I miss? Let me know…

Cool finds Friday

Sorry, my post is late…again! I set my alarm for 7 am and so, of course that means I got up at 1 o’clock in the afternoon! And then I spent a couple hours catching up with emails.

Here’s my coolest finds of the week:

• Coolest music: A good week for music! I’m seriously into Yacht. You can still get their album for only $5.99 on Itunes and see a video for Psychic City. Also The Arctic Monkeys streamed a live performance of new songs from their upcoming album ‘Humbug’ due out Aug. 25. I’m also planning to see Super Moth Black Rainbow tomorrow night. Check out a few tunes on Myspace

• Coolest book: Classic novels being re-imagined as graphic novels is perhaps the coolest idea ever! I am in love with graphic novels. Fahrenheit 451 is being turned into a graphic novel. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

• Coolest TV: I’m really into the Travel channel’s Bite Me with Dr. Mike on Tuesdays @ 10pm. I love what he does in the name of science research and good tv. Last week I watched him eat knowingly the organism that turns into a tapeworm and then subsequently watching what it turned into was crazy fun. Follow him on twitter. Also, a cancelled show, but a great one The Middleman came out on DVD this week. Definitely check them out! Also BBC show Spaced (with my celebrity crush Simon Pegg) is now on Hulu as is my favorite show as a kid She-Ra!!!

• Coolest movies: Hmm. I’m torn between checking out 500 Days of Summer or Funny People – both are getting mixed reviews. And I still haven’t seen The Hurt Locker, which is supposed to be amazing. But I might just sit home and catch up on my Netfix viewing. The Coolest movie news by far this week: Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are bringing former TV show Dark Shadows to the big screen.

• Coolest news of the week: Is actually the hottest. The West coast is in the middle of a dreadful heatwave. It’s even too hot for the Smash Comics characters

And finally, a special note to Tori Amos fans: Thanks to all of you who read my Tori Amos concert review. I had lots of fun writing it! I am overwhelmed by the support of Tori Amos fans. Nearly 200 people checked out my twitter review. Thanks for the love. And so here’s Tori’s performance of Silent All These Years and Maybe, California from her stop in Atlanta this week.

Cool Finds Friday

We made it through another week. This one flew didn’t it? There was a lot in the way of pop culture items to choose from. So hopefully I’ve picked the best that I’ve come across this week. And man, I was a busy girl. Here we go:

• Coolest Book: Adland by James P. Othmer out September 15. It’s about advertising, but that sounds lame. The sub-title for this book is: Searching for the Meaning of Life On a Branded Planet. It’s a comical look at how we live “30 seconds at a time.” Here’s a video to help explain what the book is about:

• Coolest Music: Metric. I caught them on It’s On with Alexa Chung and liked them instantly. You can see the performance here, or check them out on The Late Show with David Letterman TONIGHT!

• Coolest TV: It’s not a new show, but I really enjoyed Eureka last week and I think it’s worth a mention. Are you watching it? The new season just premiered last week and I thought it was just the right mix of comedy and science that I like from my sci fi. It’s on the Syfy channel Fridays @9pm. Here’s a review of the show

• Coolest Web article: Lists 18 different websites to stream music.

• Coolest free music download of the week: NPR is planning live coverage from both the Newport Folk Festival, Aug. 1-2 and the Newport Jazz Festival, Aug. 8-9. You can download free 12-song sampler each of the musicians playing the fests.

• Coolest Movie: This week really belong to TV. (If you were in a cave yesterday, Emmy nominations came out this week). So how about some maybe less cool, but some big celebrity movies that might be good. I can’t wait for Whip It! Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page and rollerderby, could there be a better movie premise. But it doesn’t come out until October. If you want something a little more recent here’s the trailer and Judd Apatow interviewing his former college roommate Adam Sandler about their new movie Funny People out July 31.

Friday Finds

Some really cool finds this week. I’m really excited to share them, so let’s go:

• Coolest use of Twitter: This is beyond cool. @ImogenHeap and her twitter followers stopped the internet leak of her forthcoming album! The power of twitter is almost scary…ok it is scary. Thank god it’s being used for good rather than evil!

• Coolest Marketing idea: Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid, which holds a concert to raise money for struggling American Farmers- a very worthy cause. This year, organizers are revealing the location of the concert one tweet at a time for the next 7 days. Here’s some more info.

• Coolest Music: If you haven’t heard Ida Maria yet, here’s your chance! Download her Daytrotter Session.

• Coolest book: Novelist Carol Tyler’s first graphic novel “You ‘ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man.” Part memoir, part scrapbook, with the book the author tries to bring to life her father’s memories of World War II. Read 20 pages of the book here. (Also want to honor a really cool book I mentioned earlier this week: David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives)

• Coolest thing on the internet: If you love a good rant as much as I do – wasn’t George Carlin’s rants the best – then you, like me, will frequent this website called: Project Rant! Actors protray actual comments made by real people on various places around the internet.

As usual if you’ve found cool things you want me to share email me.

Interesting Finds Fridays

The CT version

Interesting Music: This week there were a lot of lists floating around to discover new music and here’s some more:

• Celebrate Independence Day – that is Independent Music Day by discovering a new indie band. Very cool feature on phoenix.com. What new bands have you found. Let me know

• -or- check out Stereogum‘s independence day music party list

• –or- here’s from Pop Tarts blog: (indie record label) Matador Records Top 20 Albums of all time

• -or- Still not enough new music to discover. Here’s some lists of the top albums of 2009 so far from: (found via largeheartedboy.com)
• Drowned in Sound
• Metro Edmonton
• and finally, On the Record – lists their top 25 albums of 2009 so far.

Interesting Movies: In lieu of a new movie to go see, you’re checking out hidden music gems, now for this weekend check out undiscovered movies. The Huffington Post has a nice list of “overlooked movies” to add to your queues.

Interesting TV: In the same idea as above, one of my favorite shows when I was a teen was Daria. The series finally comes to DVD in 2010!

Interesting Cause: Help out India by wearing the same dress every day for 365 days

Interesting Internet: The most interesting internet article this week has all the info you ever wanted and probably more on how to keep your pets safe when their fireworks involved.

Have a very happy 4th of July! See you Monday back in Miami 🙂

Interesting Finds Fridays 6.26.09

I can’t believe how much Michael Jackson’s death has effected me. I learned of it late and then stayed up half the night watching his videos. The silver lining, if there is one, is my re-found love of his music. My hope is that a whole new generation discovers it now.

Anyway, the show must go on as they say. I was told once you honor the dead by living your life the best you can. So here’s my weekly summary of the most interesting stuff I’ve found on my internet searches this week.

• Most interesting Movie find: $9.99. The meaning of life is on sale and the price is only $9.99. This stop-motion animation fable stars Geoffrey Rush and Anthony LaPaglia. Playing in selected cities, but be on the look out for it.

• Most interesting book find: The Ramen King and I – How the inventor of instant noodles fixed my love life by Andy Raskin. It’s about well Momofuku Ando, inventor of Ramen Noddles, but mostly it’s about the author. Raskin’s book is life lessons learned on the road to redemption. One lesson in particular: “you have to give up your desires and embrace your limitations before you can start the climb up towards the light.”

• Interesting TV find: The Goode Family is the new series by Mike Judge ( of King of the Hill, Beavis and Butthead/ Office space fame). It’s about a family that tries to be good, that is politically correct, but things have a way of going completely wrong. I think we will see ourselves in this family and hopefully we can laugh about it. Airs tonight @8:30pm on ABC

• Most interesting music find: How about an import from the United Kingdom. You can hear some tracks online. I’m looking forward to the release of Lungs, the new album by Florence and the Machine out July 7. Sounds Bat for Lashes – ish. I’m sure FATM will soon to be on tv drama soundtracks. Hear some tracks on myspace.

UPDATE: Mog.com has some covers performed by Florence and the Machine like Beyonce’s Halo.

• Most interesting web find: I’m not sure if it’s the most interesting, but it sounds like a good idea. I need some comfort food today. Follow Pizza Hut on twitter, facebook or other social networking sites and get some free food.