Finer things make the world a better place

I have been extra culturally cognizant the past few days. First, for Book Klub, we have been reading Three Cups of Tea, a story about a mountaineer who becomes a humanitarian and builds schools in poor villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I am only about a quarter of the way through the book, but so far the story is remarkable and I am devouring it. It's almost hard to believe that people like this man actually exist. He is fighting his own war on terror by bringing EDUCATION to the poor. It's freaking genius.

Tonight I also watched Persepolis, an animated film based on a true story of a girl growing up in Iran in the late 70's. I suppose I would recommend it just because it is different -- you don't encounter many first-person narratives of what it's like growing up in Iran, and the animation isn't produced by Disney/Pixar. Also, it was number 15 on the Howard 2007 Movie List. I got this image from amazon:

Helmut Newton

Apparently the people of Berlin are indifferent to celebrity. I, however, am not indifferent to seeing the paparazzi photography exhibit at the Helmut Newton in Berlin.

DanceLove

Ladies and gentlemen, I just came back from the best workout I've had in years -- Adult Ballet II at the Arlington Center for Dance (which has moved to Falls Church). It was a bit disheartening going back to a serious dance class offered by a ballet school and not my local gym. My left hamstring is still jacked up from ten years ago and the balls of my feet hurt terribly from the 10-inch stiletto heels I wear to work every day. But man oh man does it feel good to push yourself at something you love doing and then feeling remarkably exhausted and rejuvenated all at the same time. Also, this totally means that I deserve a cupcake from the newly opened CakeLove in Tysons. Yesss.

Twitch

Going back to ballet class on Saturday to start training for next year's competition, so that I can meet my love:

Pieces of Flair

Artists design lapel pins for Obama to wear: Stuck on Lapel Pins. My favorites were Daniel Young and Peter Sis, not particularly for their lapel pin designs, but for their other projects. Young is the creator of the Fortunepaper Notepad, which helps you make decisions by tearing a piece of paper with a wishbone drawn on it. Lebanese Taverna or Wildfire for lunch? *Rrrrip*. Sis is a children's book author and illustrator. I've added The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain to my amazon wishlist. It's an autobiographical picture book recounting experiences of living in Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule.

Human Tetris

Saw this back in February and I still freaking can't get enough. They think they are going to make it every time! Probably the best one is around the 5:43 mark.



Perhaps it isn't not too silly to add "Learn Japanese to fully appreciate Japanese game shows" to my Mighty Life List.

Dancing Queen

Today I couldn't help but buy the ABBA Gold album after seeing Mamma Mia at the National Theater last night. It also got me thinking about Boney M. Has anyone heard their song "Sunny"? It looks like iTunes has completely shunned them, but I remember my older brother had one of their CDs back in the day. He also subjected me to a lot of unnecessary Italian techno music in the early 90's, but then again he also gave me Depeche Mode.

P.S. I recommend Mamma Mia the musical. The movie comes out soon too.

Slacker

Despite Dana's demands for me to write a new post, I have been a huge slacker. I also call it having a lack of inspiration. So there have been no posts about the recent addition of Triplets of Belleville to my art house smut DVD collection, or my third read of the Master and Margarita, this time in English, or the fantastic new gelato place in Courthouse, or the 4th of July fireworks disaster, or the fabulous Northern Virginia winery tour, or my thoughts on the Best of Washington edition of the Washingtonian. Stay tuned for my escapades at Wolf Trap, Mamma Mia at the National Theater, and drag queen brunch at Perry's. Or, my continual slacker attitude.

U-TURN

My recent nickname at the office is U-Turn, like that character on Weeds. Nobody is really sure how it got started, but Brendan and Dana already had plans for me to get a U-Turn tattoo on my wrist, or, better yet, get it branded there. Well, instead of the brand/tattoo, today I emailed a realtor about buying a condo. Equally scary.

The impetus was Papa Tomarev calling me last weekend and telling me that he and my mom have been thinking about it and talking about it and they think it's time for me to start looking. Freaked me out. I might as well have said NO and hung up on him. And then I went on the Long and Foster website. And then I emailed the realtor of a manager from work who recently bought a house. U-TURN.