nataliepo

A Snowy Shack

courtesy of @capndesign

I've requested that Matt makes one of these videos for every season.

doe eyes

 I wish could take Rocky IV to go play out in the snow today.

paris hilton is human.

via hello.typepad.com

we've all run out of gas, and now paris has, too.

Marzipan Roses? not. mod.cult. material.

Not Modcult Material: Snarling Puppies

Look at your man. Now look at this post.

This Old Spice commercial is undeniably awesome.

I'd like to thank BUST for this post (and their awesome critique) and their ongoing non-snarky feminist analyses of pop culture. <3

A Tale of Two New Yorkers: Ms. Gaga, Ms. Spektor

Picture this:

• You're a cute teenage girl living in New York City in the late 90's/early 00's.
• You have songs running through your head non-stop like a manic depressive.  Most people think your "musical talents" are more than strange, but you know it's a calling, and you gotta do it.
• You have $20 in your pocket.

What should you do?

 A. Head over to the used book store for a few romantic classics and a slice of vegan pizza

 B. Pick up The Best of Bowie triple-disc set and a tube of glitter lipstick

If you chose A, you picked Regina Spektor.  Here's a super sweet rendition of nervous Regina on a guitar rather than a piano.  Every show she played (before 2006, for god's sake*), she rocked these lovable gems of stories sung in a too-big-for-her-britches voice with velvety poetic words and silly staccatos where they didn't belong, all with scrunched shoulders and a big blushing smile.  She always felt like the rough draft of something great...

Choice B is Lady Gaga.  This bootlegged recording of Future Love from almost a year ago evokes much of the same story-telling emotion that Regina used to show, but, good god!  Gaga's confidence adds the extra layer to cutesy piano-pillow talk, transforming a sweet melody to an anthem she screams so strongly she can't even sit in her bench! 

*It's common knowledge that Regina's stuff has gone down the tubes because she's been pressured to stop fooling around and turn out records that most people would like and all that corporate record company hoopla.  I wish the ghost of Freddie Mercury had prescribed Regina a dose of awesome so she could belt out her heart's desires in a sequined jumpsuit with earth-shattering beats! 

Oh well. I'll take Gaga.

Valentine's Day the Way I Like it: WITH GRAPHS

Who doesn't love the impressive social conclusions made every day by the ingenius data minings of Hunch?  Every quantitative-data-loving individual should, and I'm pointing my finger at you, weirdo blog reader checking this post out for the graphs.  (We have the same disease, don't worry.)

And what better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than to expose our societal approaches to love! 

And the full evaluation of the 2300 users who responded to this question is AWESOME!  If you ever really thought that v-day is a little female-biased, surprise!  More women Love It and more men are Bitter About It.  More people in relationships Love It, more people without children are Bitter About It.  

I hope this well-known stereotype is a result of a small sampling size:

Out of all Hunch.com users who responded that their EQ is lower than their IQ and played Hunch’s professions topic, 75 percent agree that being a scientist is a good profession for them. Science-related professions traditionally require a high IQ and aren’t as dependent on the social skills related to EQ. Scientific pursuits also appeal to the skepticism embraced by Bitters (which, as we’ll see, extends beyond attitudes about love). The “lower EQ than IQ” users are also less likely to agree that events planner or artist are appropriate professions for them. Both of these professions emphasize EQ-related skills such as networking and self-expression. Bitters are also stronger in mathematical aptitude than lovers.

Thanks, Internet, for the v-day present!  Although you know I like flowers better.

I am so inviting Barbie to my next coding party.

Barbie's next profession is....A COMPUTER ENGINEER!!!!!

The popular vote went to Computer Engineer Barbie, who will be launched in the fall of 2010 looking "geek chic" in a binary code-patterned T-shirt, pink-framed glasses, a pink laptop and a Bluetooth earpiece.

Today is the second time that I've ever warmed up to Barbie.  The day that I put this on my Christmas list (and did not receive it) was the first.

where the snow is

Brooklyn.

This was taken before work today, so there's about 23049829468736 more feet of snow on that sidewalk now.