this is awesome and i want it. [ via. ]

wow these would make great gifts for valentine's day

this & this. if you're a dork. (you are.)

so here's my problem with the new apple thing. & then that's it.

Everyone is pointing out that it does exactly what their other products already do without bringing anything new to the table. And it's true. It's like the lame space in the venn diagram that's supposed to be so goddamn special because it represents the overlap, the coming together, unity, hippie bullshit like that. But the biggest problem is that the product will convince people that they actually need something that occupies that space in addition to what they already have (an iPhone, an iPod, a Mac book.) The iPhone convinced people they "needed" something they could watch YouTube clips on-- wherever you are! You don't. No you don't you piece of shit watching motherfucking YouTube videos at the bookstore where I am trying to motherfucking read a motherfucking book.

[I'm just a grouch. I fucked up my haircut/trim (that I was cutting behind my head, where I can't see) and now I'm pretty sure I look like a dyke from San Antonio. Who knew my hair would stick up like that? Nobody around to fix it for me til tomorrow. I guess I can go out in public and see what it's like to be part of another persecuted minority group. Gee.]

If I ever get a tablet, I want it to replace my computer. I don't mind a plug-in keyboard but I need a keyboard. I like the physical pounding of it, I like that it's on my desk and I have to go to it and use it. I have no interest in handwriting things on a screen. That iPad thing needs a camera, too, or else what's the point of the portability? (Though we all know that's coming in 4 months after everyone has bought the other one.) That was one of the things I liked about the Windows one, it showed a "designer" taking a picture of swatches and being able to archive it for reference. I need to be convinced that these machines are helpful in professional or practical settings. All I see now is luxury. (Though THIS is what I really want.)

now i know. i wish i didn't.

"The fucking man," The Rejectionist says, "always wins." Indeed he does. It also tipped me off on places to avoid like the plague-- Urban Outfitters has a blog. (Of course they do, ugh and I know people like that-- so glad they're moving to Philly.) But the reason I mention this is because I had really wanted to change the way this bloggyblog looks, somehow, to something different, and for a second had toyed with making it all in Courier, or maybe the posts. Which I find hard to read, but I thought, well this is still supposed to have some semblance of the punk blog it started as (cos I posted punk music), and besides, like Impact (white on black, pink on gross, blahblahblah) Courier is so omgDIY and I am so omgnotDIYcosIgetmad BUT in other news FOUND my Fred Perry button that fell off because that is what happens when you buy those shirts on eBay from Bangkok because that's what happens when- OH- Urban Outfitters (the one time I woulda) & Bloomingdales only sells boy Fred Perrys- so I gotta sew that shit back on. (Yes, 99x is excellent and does sell them but I had a Bloomingdales giftcard.) Oh whoa, bummer, 99X shut down. That's too bad, the people there were awesome. I'll blame Urban Outfitters for it. goddammit the man does always win. The question, why give attention to something you are trying to argue is not worth our time? Because I'm a girl. And that's what we do.

Anyway, I'm jettisoning the Courier idea faster than an escape pod leaves a Rebel blockade runner. The Urban Outfitters blog uses it like it's going out of style. Which it should have. & now I know that the winds of change etc. (LOOK UP THERE I DID IT IN PAINT TOO SO IT'S SUPER WHATEVER.) Speaking of the man, I love what the Simpsons did with the company that makes myfuckyouTunes.

The Case of the Disappearing Jewlery Co., or, what's up with that maaaan?

So I bought this beautiful ring in a ten minute window of my self-control collapsing-- also got a nice necklace & a bracelet that I've had my eye on for about a year-- all at like 40% off, which was sweet. (I mean, I still spent money, but I can rationalize it to some extent.)

Problem was-- note the solid gold band-- it was the wrong ring. Or rather, an incomplete ring. That shit's supposed to have a lovely filigree band-- not a scary cigar-chompin' hairy mobster solid gold band. I mean, I do like it, I really love it-- it's quirky and sort of Victorian, makes me think of British Egyptmania. It also makes me think of the Mummy Returns. Like Patricia Valasquez. Like shut up, I love those movies.

Funny thing is, if you go on Etsy, it's a pretty standard ring band, that filigree one. Check it out here-- same exact one Lucky Loo Loo advertised on their website. I have always liked Lucky Loo Loo, which does rockabilly and costume jewelry, and I have a few pieces from them. They've always had great costumer service, and the jewelry, despite being purchased a week or so before Christmas, showed up in a few days. Awesome. They had also included a pair of free earrings, which are kinda ugly? but it was a nice thought. So I wasn't going to be too cranky about calling in and requesting an exchange.

But they never answered my phone call or my email. And then. . . this. They're gone!

Oh well. It looks like they're still selling stuff at other sites. And anyway, I still have a pretty sweet ring that it turns out is quite dangerous. The pointy scarab legs have ripped a pair of my tights and cut my finger. So I guess if I ever get in a fight. . . I will still lose, but it will be more colorful.

at least it's not being used for any sort of. . . social commentary.

it just keeps on going & going.

Since I don't have anything smart to say about it because I'm somewhat shocked & most of all disgusted, hopefully this will be the last that we hear of these types. But I want to go on record that I've never liked Westwood's stuff anyway. So there.

cream

In November, Salon posted AP's top compensated private school presidents according to their filed taxes. My alma mater's prez made it at #5, which I didn't really want to see, especially because he came in about $100,000 over the NYU guy. This is mostly because about 70% of interactions I have had with NYU kids over the years-- NYU undergrads who are still in school-- has gone like this--

NYU kid: Where do you go?
Me: Columbia.
NYU: Oooohh. CO-lumbbiaaah.
Me: Oooh. Fuck off.
NYU: Columbiiaaah. Polohhh. Yachts. Rooohwwwwing.

Despite the fact our tuition ends up about the same and I'd wager we have just as much nasty little New York private school grads as they do in our graduating classes. It's just hard to draw out the vowels in NYU into a sort of blue blood accent thing.

But beyond this silly faux rivalry that only crops up when you have nothing else to think about (and the other kids always bring up), I had trouble with Salon's posting this list because it seemed like it was trying to imply something but the original poster was too lazy to think about what, exactly, was being said.

I had a great experience at Columbia with the professors, the classes, facilities, co-workers, and the other kids there, and so I am happy to defend it. I don't pretend that there is transparency where there is not, and I don't pretend to get mad at what little gets through the bureaucracy just so I can have something to be outraged by. I think Columbia has made some ostensibly stupid decisions, like giving into the hunger strike kids to pour more money into some kind of ethnic studies program-- whatever that means-- and pouring sunshine and justification into their liberal middle-class/white guild souls. I certainly think they need to make sure that the kids are better taken care of, and I think, like everyone, that I-- and, especially, my family-- should not have been forced to incur so much debt. But I also think they-- PrezBo included-- have made some wise decisions, including allowing the President of Iran to speak, despite what the hysterical groups on campus tried to suggest. (And waiving some overdue fees too after I graduated, but that's because they were lazy, I think.)

So I thought, ok, who cares, I don't care if PrezBo and his hair are getting fabulously overcompensated, nothing I can do. Nothing I can do. Columbia has a stupid amount of money, and it should be seen in context, right? Thing is, Salon ran the list without commentary, they're being as lazy as I am, so it's cool. But what are they saying, or trying to say? They're clearly trying to elicit an immediate reaction-- because indeed, that is too much to be making, for anybody to be making-- but now what? There is no breakdown, no indication of what percentage of the universities' endowments these salaries are being snatched from. A well-compensated president means he probably has a name in the field and can thus solicit donations and attract top-of-the-field professors, which increases the prestige of an institution and frankly, makes (or would I guess in a different economic climate) your degree & diploma worth a little more.

And just like any professional, he is extorting the institution (think baseball players)-- his skills for millions, or else he'll take it somewhere else (maybe to NYU, Harvard, Brown!) The downside, and source of understandable moral objections, is that he is a single individual occupying a massive part of the budget, in part necessitating those donation solicitations that ensure he has a job as top salesman-- one of the many reasons I did not contribute to any of the senior funds. C and J have recently been having huge problems with getting their tuition covered, despite having already completed 75-90% of the degree. College is fun and it is stimulating, and when within the community it is easy to forget that you are dealing with a sprawling business, easy that is, until they suddenly decide they "can't" give you money. Yes, then it is especially frustrating to realize that this one guy is making a bazillion dollars. But Salon didn't discuss any of this and the more incendiary comment on the post (kill them, etc, education should be free) doesn't even discuss why it is such a problem that these salaries are so outrageous-- something I would have liked to see from a respected source that would know more about the politics and ideas behind both education and economics. I want a description of reasons to be opposed to this logically, morally, theoretically, not just emotionally, which is all posting a list sans commentary will result in.

The best comment on the post came from october271986, who copied a similar list.

1. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame $3,300,000

2. Pete Carroll, Southern Cal $3,000,000

3. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa $2,850,000

4. Mack Brown, Texas $2,550,000

5. Bobby Petrino, Louisville $2,500,000

6. Jim Tressel, Ohio State $2,450,000

7. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma $2,400,000

8. Tommy Tuberville, Auburn $2,200,000

9. Joe Paterno, Penn State $2,100,000

10. Philip Fulmer, Tennessee $2,050,000

11. Bobby Bowden, Florida State $2,000,000

12. Dennis Franchione, Texas A&M $2,000,000

12. Urban Meyer, Florida $2,000,000

Notice where the presidents' list starts--

1. Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $1,598,247

2. David Sargent, Suffolk University: $1,496,593

3. Steadman Upham, University of Tulsa: $1,485,275

4. Cornelius M. Kerwin, American University: $1,419,339

5. Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia: $1,380,035

6. Donald V. DeRosa, University of the Pacific: $1,350,743

7. John E. Sexton, New York University: $1,297,475

8. Jerry C. Lee, National University: $1,189,777

9. Nicholas S. Zeppos, Vanderbilt: $1,275,309

10. Amy Gutmann, University of Pennsylvania: $1,225,103

As the poster points out, #1 paid Ms Jackson would be the 34th highest paid coach. Now I like college football as much as the next guy-- okay, maybe not as much, but I enjoy it-- but if this puts anything into perspective, it is that fabulous amounts of money are being drained into the accounts of individuals all over the country, for a wide range of difficult to defend reasons.

With the crisis in the UC system (as well as the accompanying poorly planned protests which begged the question why didn't you protest when the government made the cuts, why wait until the schools were forced to carry them out) and the mounting inability to afford higher education, particularly by the middle class whose economic situation is virtually ignored by the formula for calculating financial aid, it is definitely an uncomfortable experience to see how much money is going to one individual in an institution that is supposed to be the sum total of all its participants in quality and output and, implied by this, is supposed to be a result of an even distribution of investment in each individual. But frankly, killing these guys & making education free (that commenter also makes what are either bad jokes or sincere I-wear-Che-shirts statements about kulaks, so I'm not sure what he/she is up to) is a silly suggestion because it does not address the problem. I still believe one of the first steps is to eliminate ETS (and here is where I say violently, if necessary, by tearing their ability to hold tests violently away) and breaking apart all markets-- test aid, test prep-- that have formed around it.

Fantasy Shopping for the Purposes of Auto-Housewarming

So I'll be moving apartments by the end of the month (or we better be-- either that or stuck in Maison Shithole with Wop Slumlord for another month. I'm not kidding. Our building is sagging and the windows are not lined up.)

Been wistfully looking at house decor that I (still) can't afford; but it's warranted to some degree. We'll finally be moving into a real apartment (we aren't squatting, because we're paying a rent, but we're zoning squatting in that we're living in a commercial/light industry space. . . as is the child-beating fortune-teller downstairs.) So in this new fantasy apartment we actually have a stove, a kitchen sink, all mod cons. Like real people. With real stuff.

I'm looking for something that crosses a faux camp boudoir or rococo-ish (lamps, couches) aesthetic with clean modern lines (in cabinetry and bath and curtains especially) and a little whimsy. So I want all those punk rock flyers and posters we've got in nice frames. I want to look like adults live in this new place. Of course, I'm talking like this is going to happen tomorrow-- it's not; we're dealing with the snakiest of snakes: Manhattan brokers on what was originally listed as a NO FEE apartment. But it is just too nice to pass on: French doors, a kitchen, nice building, good neighborhood near the bars (and near the Joe Strummer mural.)

So now that those brokers are about to break the bank, let's talk fantasy purchases because that's as far as we'll get after we're done funding their Jets tickets and fashionable coke habit. Of the products I've found this is my favorite. Useless, sure. But cute. Why do I need a cream caddy? Because real people have cream caddies. (Which aren't called cream pitchers or jugs or cream thingies.)

Cute though is a problem. My roommates are an ex-Marine and a guy who was in Subincision. . . so I guess the bedroom will keep looking like this: Continue reading!

(Which like I said, I love. But I want FRAMES dammit.) Because it looks pretty swell when it happens. Check out our NWA poster (we also have a Bad Brains in a frame-- all found on the street when FIT kids-- urkkk-- evacuated for the summer, from what I remember):

Pure class, eh.

Here are some other favorites:

OUTRAGEOUSLY priced sofa from Urban Outfitters. (not pictured because UO is a dick, not news) . . toothbrush holder in the shape of Bambi's absentee father. . . TOAST CLOCK. Shiiiit. . . This Sweet Throw Pillow.

YEAH PS Urban Outfitters (besides PS- thanks for letting every Douchebag Mackelroy go around wearing Fred Perrys that I still can't afford- or fit, since you're not carrying girls. . . ) This looks like it's supposed to be used for something else. I don't know what. But something.

Mindless Drug Hoover: "Fuck Off." From Jim's sweet SFRP mix :)

Penguin Merch

I totally want these, though I can't decide between the two. And while I don't want a deck chair, I wouldn't say no to this one.

Cutest Sea Slug Ever

I've recently been really into underwater creature photography, despite my general dislike for sea creatures (they're CREEPY.) But not this little guy, he has a little hat!

And then there's my second favorite from this series: he's on fire! These photos are from a sweet collection of sea slugs prints from the National Geographic print store, starting at $20 for 10" unframed. Check them out! They're all really quite remarkable (and colorful.) It's interesting to see their camouflage evolutions.

Southern Gothic Wine

Hey all, my turn to apologize for the MIA- it's midterms time, which has come in the form of EIGHT BILLION PAPERS to write, and as you can see, it's been some time since the last post. The problem is actually deeper than that, because I was supposed to throw up a VD mix and some other things, but just completely ran out of spare time. So I'm gonna go back to smaller posts, and I will be doing my best to reply to comments, but just be warned things will be a bit spotty on both counts for the next week or so.

For now, as if James Jean's art wasn't good enough-- it now comes encasing alcohol. (Distraction: Is anyone gonna drink that Schaefer in the fridge? Will anyone notice that it's gone?)

Of the three triptychs being used, one of my favorites of his work, Southern Belle is being used as the label for a shiraz. So if you are wine inclined. . . I'm not, but if I get my hands on some discretionary income- ie, rob a bank- I might pick this up for the after party. It is, it seems, a "Deep crimson color with complex aromas of black currant, leather and molasses. Rich, dark berry fruit palate of cassis and fruitcake, finishing with soft oak spice."

LIFE photo archive hosted on Google

This is a great resource for photos, especially for candid shoots. Search format/start page here. I'll try to post some favorites as I explore the archive.

The photos are also available for purchase. It's pricey, but if you can find a way to buy it without the frame (I'm not sure if this is an option, I really wish it would be), these photos would make beautiful personalized gifts. The photos themselves are of good quality; if you have a good printer and some nice photofinish paper, it might make a fun gift to go with a nice frame from a vintage or thrift shop to go with it.

Gift Ideas: 5 Jewelry-Things!

I meant to put this up before Cyber Monday since most of these sites were having sales (this being the first year I'd even heard of this Cyber-Monday thing), but Final Paper Deadline Tuesday prevented that from happening. Still, you can at least browse the websites and see if you like anything :]

From left to right: Orange Earrings from KnitKnit @Etsy | Heart Attack from LuckyLooLoo | Happy Robot Earrings from Shana Logic | Mexican Loteria Charm Necklace by Sweet Romance from Pin Up Girl Clothing | Handy Girl Necklace Set (of 3) by Girls With Tools from Shana Logic

10 DVD Gift Ideas

Because we here at sayNA want to help you out this holiday season :) These DVDs are fancy, quality cinema, and oh-so-pretty. And guess what? All under $50! (The links go to Amazon, but if you're interested in any of these, check out half.com & Amazon Marketplace, too.)

1 & 2. Godfather Part I & Part II, Coppola Restorations

3 & 4. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy & Smiley's People

5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army, 3 Disc Special Edition

6. Burn Notice, Season 1

7. The Complete Thin Man Collection: The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man / Alias Nick and Nora

8. The Premier Frank Capra Collection: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington / It Happened One Night / You Can't Take It with You / Mr. Deeds Goes to Town / American Madness / Frank Capra's American Dream

9. Rio Bravo: 2-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition: Features

10. John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection: The Searchers Ultimate Edition / Stagecoach Two-Disc Special Edition / Fort Apache / She Wore a Yellow Ribbon / The Long Voyage Home / They Were Expendable / 3 Godfathers / The Wings of Eagles