Merry Holidays

http://thehappyglut.blogspot.com/

http://tomboystyle.blogspot.com/

http://www.islandmenu.com.au/

THANKS TO THE LOVES OF MY LIFE FOR AN ANOTHER AMAZING BIRTHDAY. 

@MaxDworin:

@anoparstak where are you? We are eating ariella's cupcakes. #byeris23pic.twitter.com/eBJVr2M6

Weekend Music Rotation

Heartaches & Pain - Charles Bradley

Twist and Shout - The Beatles

Called Out in the Dark - Snow Patrol

Lonely Boy - The Black Keys

This is Not a Song - Islands

Mr. Saxobeat - Alexandra Stan

Release Me - Agnes

a pertinent quote from the edible selby article in the new york times style magazine.

Addendum: Three Ways

Addendum to this.
Four ways.

Tuxedo Ladies

LOVING THIS LOOK. 

SHAILENE WOODLEY AT THE GOTHAM AWARDS (L)

RALPH LAUREN (R)

Gotham Rhinestones

I WAS EXTREMELY LUCKY TO ATTEND THE GOTHAM AWARDS MONDAY NIGHT.

I BOUGHT THIS BATMAN CUFF AS MY STATEMENT ACCESSORY.

WHAT BETTER WAY TO SAY "GOTHAM"?

Idiotic Things: iPhone Handsets

A handset that plugs into the earphone jack of your mobile phone.
It resembles the type of landline phone you had at your parents' house - no, not the cordless kind. 

Though the iPhone and other smart phones have undoubtedly revolutionized mobile technology, they have their cons. I personally miss being able to nuzzle my flip phone between my shoulder and ear, leaving both hands free to do whatever multi-tasking I see necessary. But this is a first-world problem that is not even worthy of complaining about, and should not be solved by buying one of these handsets. Those who do look absolutely ridiculous using them in public (I actually thought a businessman on the train was certifiably crazy for using one). If you're desperate and don't like your ear burning up from long calls on your cell then succumb, but only use it in the privacy of your home. The handset also defeats the purpose of our slick, thin phones that can go anywhere. The phone attachment is bulky and will take up an unacceptable amount of room in your purse or briefcase. 

Do not buy. 

Listening Now:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM SOME AMERICAN CULTURE.

I'll Take Care of You: Three Ways

ORIGINAL

TWO

THREE

christening a new apartment

re-watching favorite movies

alex clare - caroline

Pop Up Video!

Remember VH1's Pop Up Video?

With that catchy little tune and delectably informative tidbits about each music video?

Well, looks like it's back:

Katy Perry - Firework (Pop Up Video) - Free Music Videos

See more new videos and relive your old favorites.

treats & snoozin

"Really, what you just have to want to do is take a ride."

Putty Hill DVD

"You watch Putty Hill with a sense of moment-to-moment discovery that's reminiscent of the films of Jean Renoir."

BUY YOURS TODAY.

CHUCK BOWEN SAYS SO. 

Monika Merva's Beautiful Truth

© Monika Merva

Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful?

by Paloma Faith

Sunday Night Chili

While my neighbors were screaming next door over some football play, I decided to honor their excitement by making chili. I get antsy following recipes so combined a couple for vegetarian chili and worked with the spices I had on hand. It came out delicious and was a perfect supplement to watching football Boardwalk Empire. And I have plenty of leftovers for the week. 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced 

2 1/2 cups butternut squash, cut into 1/2'' chunks

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (in substitute of chili powder)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 lb canned black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups organic vegetable broth

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

(Cheddar cheese: optional)

Heat olive oil in a large pot, add onion and garlic, saute for about 10 minutes. Add butternut squash and spices, cook for about 2 minutes. Add beans, broth, and tomatoes, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cover for 20 minutes or until the squash is tender (can take a bit longer). Allow the chili to stew longer if it is still too liquid-y for your liking.

Serve hot with some grated cheddar cheese on top. 

Steve McQueen: SHAME

Despite my best efforts, I continually fall into the movie-hype stew...only to emerge inevitably covered in disappointment. Sadly, I came out of Steve McQueen's newest film SHAME today soaking in that same dissatisfaction. The film was void of any warmth and emotion. While that may be meaningful to the plot (Michael Fassbender plays a sex addict incapable of having a sincere relationship), this coldness forced the hopeful brother-sister relationship (between Fassbender's character and his sister, played by Carey Mulligan) into sterility. Mulligan's character supposedly functioned as a wake-up call for her brother, but even during their deepest conversations there lacked chemistry and energy. Their bond, regret, history, and mistakes read as empty and cold as the film's production design. It was a tableau of clean chrome minimalism that was reminiscent of AMERICAN PSYCHO. The numerous sex scenes (worthy of bestowing the film with a NC-17 rating) were effectively influenced by this indifferent air as well - they were never sensationalized, and successfully remained as cold as the rest. 

Drinkify

Aloe Blacc - Tequila, neat with a cherry

Paloma Faith - 1 bottle of Cabernet, at room temp

Drake - Sipsmith Gin and Coco Lopez in a highball with watermelon wedge

The Zombies - Rum with a twist of grapefruit

Rihanna - Red Bull, Tabasco sauce, lemon sour in a highball with an olive

U2 - Vodka, stirred vigorously with nutmeg

DRINKIFY.

THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO DRINKING ALONE. 

Florence & the Machine: Ceremonials

It literally feels like just yesterday that I was walking around London and wondering whose face I kept seeing plastered all over the city: 

Fall 2009

Now I'm seeing the same strong features posted in multitudes on construction sites and scaffoldings all over New York City: 

Fall 2011

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

CEREMONIALS

Also, for a chuckle "like" Florence & the Machine on Facebook and follow all of Welch's costume changes, show stories, and shopping sprees. 

moving: utterly nuts

Heino Kalis/Reuters

Moving feels a bit like that. 

Snow in October

it snowed yesterday. 
october 29th. 
in its honor: 

I Can Breathe Again - Baywood by jbamn

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

After just finishing a pretty complicated Murakami novel that took me months (on and off) to read, I was impressed by the fluidity of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I could not put it down and read it in three days. 

Admittedly, I picked up the book to ensure that I had read it before the movie adaptation hit theaters - and so I could then compare the two. There's no doubt in my mind that the movie will not be able to do the multiple layers and characters' sentiments full justice. 

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

by Jonathan Safran Foer

Williamsburg: EGG

Luminous fall morning light woke me up from my friend's couch Thursday morning. I could see the bright oranges and yellows on the trees outside and could feel the sharp late October air. I wanted to treat myself to a leisurely breakfast and continue reading my book. 

It was a treat to finally eat at Egg, a restaurant I have been planning on going to for over a year now but had never made the trip once moving out of North Brooklyn. Though I was seated by the window and had too keep my Barbour on and the waitress was quite slow, the meal and tea were worth it. I indulged in the Eggs Rothko (an egg cooked to perfect runniness inside a thick piece of brioche with broiled cheddar cheese on top), but stuck to the side of kale instead of bacon so I wouldn't feel toooo guilty. 

Egg

135 North 5th Street

at Bedford Ave.

Brooklyn, New York 11211

I'm Peter Pan up in the sky

© Martin Karplus

Tongue Tied by Grouplove. 

Foster the People, more

I beg radio stations to please stop playing Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks." Yes, it is a good song - at least it was last spring before getting terribly overplayed. 

So delete that track from your iTunes/playlist/whatever and replace it with this one:

"Life On The Nickel (Mansions On The Moon Remix)"

Foster the People - Life On The Nickel (Mansions On The Moon Remix) by The Kollection

Teaser: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I was originally quite skeptical of the American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (can't Americans sit through a foreign film?!), but this teaser trailer actually got me pretty interested, even pumped. Trailer cutting at its finest - tells you nothing but is exhilarating nonetheless. 

Rihanna: We Found Love

The ever controversial Rihanna has done it again with the new racy music video for "We Found Love" (featuring Calvin Harris). Leave it to Rihanna to make complete destruction look cool. 

"I can't tell if it's glamorous or depressing."
- friend/rihanna fan

Watch it here. 

Harvest Feast

Grilled steak.
Spicy butternut squash with lentils and goat cheese.
Salad with apples, walnuts, and cheese.
Homemade apple crisp.
Washed down with some pumpkin ales (see below). 

Pumpkin Beer

it's hard to know which beer to buy when every brand's own "unique" pumpkin or harvest brew inundates the liquor store's refrigerator around this time of year. i did some taste testing last weekend and here's my rundown:

best fall flavor: shipyard - pumpkinhead

best for drinking: ufo - pumpkin

the rest:

1. sam adams - harvest pumpkin ale

2. smuttynose - pumpkin ale

3. cisco brewer's inc. - pumpkin drumkin

4. wolavers - pumpkin ale

Bohemia Leather Satchels

...and the birthday list begins being written.

on the top of the list: bohemia's leather satchel in one of the above neon colors.

just hoping that the english brand's perfect bag fits my laptop. 

How To Make It In America, Round 2

Been a little slow on my TV watching lately, but finally started (and caught up with) the long anticipated second season of HBO's HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA. 

I may have started off the first season (oh so long ago) a bit skeptical, but by episode 8 I was hooked. So far, the new episodes have kept up the pace - the music is still just as good (check out mix tape 2), Scott Mescudi has a bigger role, CRISP's quality makes me wish it were real, and that opening credits scene is still so freaking good. 

HBO

sundays

10:30pm

RIGHT NOW: LANA DEL REY

it was like james dean, for sure

© chuck grant

no questions asked. no explanation needed. if you haven't, just discover it all below. 

On Jools Holland.

Blue Jeans.

On Tour.

Monday, December 5th - Bowery Ballroom 

Video Games.  


Drama. 


Lolyta.

Drake Would Rather Take Toronto Back

From the sounds of DRAKE's "Club Paradise" the rapper has had enough. It's only been a couple years but has the limelight life proved too hard already or is he just getting started?

"But I bought it though, I believed it

Yea, I thought it, and I achieved it

Yea, so show me love, show me fucking love!'cause I thought it was all I neededYea, Clearly I was wrong about it all alongAnd this will be the year that I won't even feel shit..."
Cue Bob Marley

Review: My Week With Marilyn

I will be the first to admit that I know little about Marilyn Monroe...even though she remains arguably the most iconic blonde figure in all of American pop culture. So I will not critique Michelle Williams' performance as Marilyn in Simon Curtis' newest film My Week with Marilyn for historical accuracy. 

Instead, I will say Williams played the Hollywood starlet almost exactly as I would expect her to act. I was impressed by Williams' range of erratic emotions from timid, self-conscious actress to doe-eyed man eater to stoned, emotional temptress. And her ability to hold within her eyes an incredible gaze that simultaneously captured me as a viewer, searching for what she was thinking about, but also seemed to show that she (as Marilyn) didn't give one care to what was going on around her and that all that was up there in her head were clouds and butterflies.

The film is without a doubt schmaltzy. A young man new to movie making's charms is wholly seduced by both the business and the star of the set he's found himself on. And as any man coaxed right into the arms of America's biggest, boldest, and sexiest actress, he falls in love. Of course the boy's up against the impossible, including Hollywood and Arthur Miller. But the story is real, which may make it better than any ol' narrative forbidden love story. 

See this for the performances, take the rest for what it is. *

*Kenneth Branagh plays Sir Laurence Olivier, Eddie Redmayne plays Colin Clark (the sorry bloke who choses Marilyn), and Judi Dench plays Dame Sybil Thorndike 

october tunes

© Stefen Chow

bedroom eyes // dum dum girls

someone like you // adele

bermuda locke† (dawn golden and rosy cross remix) // †††

club paradise // drake

amor fati // washed out

moves like jagger // maroon 5

Climate Reality: Denial Hits the Fan

Sick of Summer

seriously sick of summer weather, humidity, sweating, and frizzy hair. 

replaying all my favorite fall tracks - maybe doing a fall dance too. 

2006 - The Start of Something, Voxtrot

2006 - Goodnight and Go, Imogen Heap

2007 - Come Downstairs and Say Hello, Guster

2007 - Stronger, Kanye West

2008 - I Won't Be Found, The Tallest Man on Earth

2008 - Milk, Kings of Leon

2009 - Animal, Miike Snow

2009 - Release Me, Agnes

2010 - King of Spain, Tallest Man on Earth

2010 - I Will Be Here (Wolfgang Gartner Remix), Tiesto

The Tallest Man on Earth: Weather of a Killing Kind

"NOW THERE IS SOMETHIN' IN THE WIND

HERE IS A WEATHER OF A KILLIN' KIND"

Everything is Going to be Alright: The ACE Hotel

I'm still somewhat of a newb to New York but take pride in my personal discoveries, even if they may not be cutting edge to the hippest echelon of New Yorkers. 

Thanks to my rad job, I recently had the pleasure of spending some solid time at the ACE Hotel. Though situated in one of my least favorite areas of Manhattan, the hotel emanates vibes of Shoreditch, London. It's dark, usually loud, and quite a scene. But most of the clientele seems not to notice or to care as they furiously type away on their Macbooks and drink coffee (courtesy of Stumptown, and very well priced). Most nights though there is a house or guest DJ/band playing and one of the downstair lounges often hosts special events, including film screenings.

ACE is flanked by the even more fabulous, including an Opening Ceremony store that connects to the lobby (you won't find I <3 NYC tees here), The Breslin, and The John Dory. All of the hotel's amenities, including a photobooth, give visitors little reason to leave...and why should they? They're still in Midtown. 

1969

poorly fitting jeans, old jeans that sag after wearing them for five minutes, and outdated jeans are simply the worst. jeans should be your go to on a bad day; they should make you feel put together but comfortable. jeans, now that i'm thankfully far out of my prep school days, are a necessary staple in my wardrobe. but last weekend i came to the realization - my favorite black jeans look more like the color of a fresh bruise and the hole in my blue jeans has become unsightly -- i needed new jeans. after being sorely disappointed with numerous designer brands, i thought, "why not try Gap?" always a good go-to circa 2002, right? well give me 1969 because Gap's soho "1969 Store" is incredible. they've done away with Gap's normal reflectively bright white walls for light wood, granite, and plants - and have decorated with more than anything, denim. the store is sleek - think Apple and denim's love child. it's a jean store that happens to sell some of other essentials (sweaters, shirts, etc.). i fell in love with two pairs that i'm extremely happy with, and i was far from the only one. every woman i saw trying on denim bought a pair. looks like Gap is back on the radar, but with only two 1969 stores in the country, they still think they have their work cut out for them. 

ADELE: Set Fire to the Rain

on repeat now: 

SET FIRE TO THE RAIN

by

ADELE

(also being unfortunately used as the song on the commercial of sarah michelle gellar's comeback television show)

Tacombi // Nolita

TACOMBI @ FONDA NOLITA. 

267 Elizabeth Street, NYC

http://www.tacombi.com

Literally stumbled upon this garage taqueria on the way to a different bar on Friday night. We never made it to the other place because Tacombi was too intriguing to keep walking past. Authentic Mexican food is cooked and served out of a vintage Volkswagon van (is van food the new truck food?),  horchata and aqua de jamaica is dispensed out of huge glass jars, and the cute orange faced mascot of Lupita soda winks at you from the whitewash wall.  The clientele and atmosphere was more laid back than most downtown spaces on a Friday night, but everyone was in good spirits sipping Mexican beer and eating their delectably good looking $3.69 tacos. I stuck only to horchata but will be back first chance I get for some poblanos -- dinner next weekend? Or breakfast?

Fall 2011

A list of upcoming events, movies, music, and general merriment: 

- The Toronto International Film Festival, I'm unfortunately not going but its slate is amazing

- Melancholia (Lars Von Trier)

- Drive (Nicholas Winding Refn)

- Moneyball (Bennett Miller)

- Shame (Steve McQueen)

- My Week with Marilyn (Simon Curtis)

- The Loneliest Planet (Julia Loktev)

- The New York Film Festival, where some of the above films are playing (9/30-10/16)

- Good, crisp apples...the kind that have just fallen of the trees, not the kind that have been sitting in a barn somewhere for the last 8 months

- Fashion's Night Out (Thursday, September 8th)

- Cords and scarves and tights

- Bombay Bicycle Club in NY and their new album, "A Different Kind of Fix"

(melancholia by lars von trier)

ending rooftop nights

toasting to a summer of great rooftop nights.

moving into fall

LABOR DAY HAS CREPT UP ON ME AT AN ALARMING RATE. I LOOK BACK AT THIS SUMMER AND AM NOT QUITE SURE WHAT I DID EXACTLY. AND WHILE PART OF ME IS ANXIOUS AT THE IDEA OF NOT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL, ANOTHER PART JUMPS UP AND DOWN AT THIS NEW(ISH) FREEDOM AND MY FAVORITE SEASON.

MORNINGS AND EVENINGS ARE COOLER NOW, AND THAT CRISP BUT SUNNY FEELING PENETRATES MY LUNGS. HERE'S TO HOPING THE FALL FEELS SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

David Guetta - Titanium feat. Sia [Nothing But the Beat] by Cobra Records

Somebody I Used to Know

LITERALLY CANNOT STOP LISTENING

TO SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW BY GOTYE.

((THANKS))

Neil Young//Foster the People

Foster the People - Heart of Gold (Neil Young) Sydney, Australia by fromgotowhoa.com