It’s TURKEY TIME! Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!
November 26, 2008 by Romy
What’s not to love about Thanksgiving? Great food, time off work, lots of movies on TV and if you like you’re family, it gives you that extra time to spend with them! This year, I’ve decided to create my Top Ten favorite Thanksgiving items.
Like it or not, Thanksgiving is a holiday rooted in North American History. That is to say, despite what Charlie Brown, Scooby Doo and Spot the Dog have said about Thanksgiving in their books - perhaps you’ll be thankful to read a book with a little more history. Of Plymouth Plantation is the “single most complete authority” of the Pilgrims and is a printed journal written by one of the first pilgrim’s William Bradford. There’s also America’s Real First Thanksgiving about the Spanish explorers who were invited by the Timucua Native Americans to join in a Thanksgiving harvest. The problem is, this account of Thanksgiving places the first Thanksgiving in Florida, and 50 years before the New England version of the first Thanksgiving. Let’s be thankful that there are various accounts of Thanksgiving’s history — the more, the merrier!
This little book of temporary Thanksgiving tattoos is a perfect way to scare your grandma and your mom into think you are serious about Thanksgiving. Convince your little cousins that you’ve always dreamed of having a rabbit dressed as a pilgrim for a tattoo — and now it’s a reality! Better yet, start your own reality TV show in the livingroom and call it Turkey Ink — convince your family to let you put temporary tattoos of turkeys and pilgrims on their arms.
3) Martha Stewart Holidays: Classic Thanksgiving
Anytime someone questions what I’m doing in the kitchen I reply, “Don’t worry. I saw Martha do this on her show last week.” For reasons I can’t quite explain, this “Martha-told-me-so” response is an immediate thwart to other “cooks in the kitchen” who think they have a better method of doing something. Keep this handy DVD on the counter and continually refer your guests to it. Even if you’re planning on doing something totally innovative, use Martha as your backup (e.g. “Martha says a Classic Thanksgiving isn’t complete unless you cook the turkey in a sweater”). Oh - and there are actually some great recipe ideas in here too — that’s the bonus!
I Love Twilight, You Love Twilight… WE ALL LOVE TWILIGHT!
November 26, 2008 by S C
If you were one of the millions of people who made the $70 million opening weekend for the film Twilight — then I’m sure you’ve already heard of the rockin’ soundtrack that goes along with the film.
Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, always includes a playlist to go along with her books because music and ambiance is very important for her. Some of the artists that she’s included in her “listen-along” playlists include Muse, Radiohead and the Cranberries — and she claims that she has to listen to music when she writes her books because it helps her imagine the setting like a movie.
So, you can imagine how important the real soundtrack for the Twilight film is for Meyer and her fans.
The Twilight soundtrack includes:
1) Supermassive Back Hole - Muse
2) Decode - Paramore
3) Full Moon - The Black Ghosts
4) Leave Out - Linkin Park
5) Spotlight [Twilight Mix] - Mutemath
6) Go All The Way (Into the Twilight) - Perry Farrell
7) Tremble For My Beloved - Collective Soul
8) I Caught Myself - Paramore
9) Eyes On Fire - Blue Foundation
10) Never Think - Rob Pattison
11) Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine
12) Bella’s Lullaby - Carter Burwell
American Music Awards 2008
November 24, 2008 by towerblog
Who doesn’t love this time of year? Award shows mania mixed with holiday excitement makes for the perfect launch into winter!
Tonight, Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 36th annual American Music Awards held in Los Angeles. Interesting fact: Dick Clark started the award shows in 1973 as a retaliation against the Grammys. Dick Clark thought to let the music buyers judge the best artists of the year, and not the folks in the entertainment and music industry (as is the case with the Grammys).
Nevertheless, it’s a fun show that always provides a plethora of familiar faces, great performances and a few jokes here and there from someone funny (Jimmy Kimmel this year — sans Ben Affleck, but probably avec Sarah Silverman…)
So, without further ado, I present the list of AMA Winners so far:
Pop/Rock
Favorite Male Artist: Chris Brown
Favorite Female Artist: Rihanna
Favorite Album: Alicia Keys’ As I Am
Country
Favorite Male Artist: Brad Paisley
Favorite Female Artist: Taylor Swift
Favorite Band/Group: Rascal Flatts
Rap/Hip Hop
Favorite Male Artist: Kanye West
Favorite Female Artist: Rihanna
Favorite Album: Kanye West’s Graduation
Soul, Rhythm & Blues
Favorite Female Artist: Mary J. Blige
Aussie-Pop! Where Have You Been All My Life?
November 20, 2008 by towerblog
It’s true that there’s the classic Seventies supergroup The Bee Gees and even now, Australian pop-songstress and teen Gabriella Cilmi, whose song “Sweet About Me” has been in top ten lists in at least 10 countries for the past few weeks.
But what’s really taking off is a new wave of Australian pop – just ask my headphones as of late. Bands like Van She, Cut Copy and LadyHawk have such hard-hitting bass lines, you’ll be dancing to the tunes stuck in your head for weeks. Let’s not forget about the Presets who recently toured North America with Cut Copy. The Presets, although recently having claimed a more ‘punk/electronica’ sound in their new album Apocalypso, have definitely supported the Aussie pop movement with their previous album Beams. Both of these albums are worth a listen!
Australians are also kicking international eardrums with a more pop-rock sound thanks to bands such as Kisschasy, Grinspoon and The Veronicas.
And finally, the most important shout-out goes to a rising popstar from ‘Down Under’ – singer/songwriter Sia, whose most recent album Some People Have Real Problems features the infectiously catchy tune “Breath Me.”
Give some (if not all) of these Aussies a chance. I dare you to try to stop your toes from tapping!
The Oxford, Iowa Project
November 16, 2008 by towerblog
“In 1984, photographer Peter Feldstein set out to photograph every single resident of his town, Oxford, Iowa which at the time had a population of 676 residents. He converted an abandoned storefront on Main Street into a makeshift studio and posted fliers inviting people to stop by. At first they trickled in slowly, but in the end, nearly all of Oxford stood before Feldstein’s lens. Twenty years later, Feldstein decided to do it again. Only this time he invited writer Stephen G. Bloom to join him, and together they went in search of the same Oxford residents Feldstein had originally shot two decades earlier. Some had moved. Most had stayed. Others had passed away. All were marked by the passage of time.
In a place like Oxford, not only does everyone know everyone else, but also everyone else’s brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, lovers, secrets, failures, dreams, and favorite pot luck recipes. This intricate web of human connections between neighbors friends, and family, is the mainstay of small town American life, a disappearing culture that is unforgettably captured in Feldstein’s candid black-and-white portraiture and Bloom’s astonishing rural storytelling. Meet the town auctioneer who fell in love with his wife in high school while ice-skating together on local ponds; his wife who recalls the dress she wore as his prom date over fifty years ago; a retired buck skinner who started a gospel church and awaits the rapture in 2028; the donut baker at the Depot who went from having to be weighed on a livestock scale to losing over 150 pounds with the support of all of Oxford; a twenty-one-year-old man photographed in 1984 as an infant in his father’s arms, who has now survived both of his parents due to tragedy and illness.
Considered side-by-side, the portraits reveal the inevitable transformations of aging: wider waistlines, wrinkled skin, eyeglasses, and bowed backs. Babies and children have instantly sprouted into young nurses, truck drivers, teachers, and rodeo riders, become Buddhists, racists, democrats, and drug addicts. The courses of lives have been irrevocably altered by deaths, births, marriages, and divorces. Some have lost God–others have found Him. But there are also those for whom it appears time has almost stood still. Kevin Somerville looks eerily identical in his 1984 and 2004 portraits, right down to his worn overalls, shaggy mane, and pale sunglasses. Only the graying of his lumberjack beard gives away the years that have passed.
Face after face, story after story, what quietly emerges is a living composite of a quintessential Midwestern community, told through the words and images of its residents–then and now. In a town where newcomers are recognized by the sound of an unfamiliar engine idle, The Oxford Project invites you to discover the unexpected details, the heartbreak, and the reality of lives lived on the fringe of our urban culture.”
– The Oxford Project, Publisher’s Note
