to never forget your own insignificance.

To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.
— Arundhati Roy

twilight r-r-r-r-r-REMIX.

Buffy kicks Edward Cullen's ass.
Turns out that Staking > Stalking.

Brilliant mashup by Jonathan McIntosh, of Rebellious Pixels.

gr7 lexicon additions.

Ad agency Cramer-Kesselt believes that language has always been the social medium most strongly impacted by changes in society. People constantly come up with new terms to describe the cultural phenomena that surround them. The world can change in a year, a month, or even a week, and words we use in conversation often act as a cultural barometer for our common emotions. This agency believes that "so-called keepers of our lexicon" (coughdictionariescough) can't keep up with these changes so they came up with a cultural dictionary, full of relevant words and slang from the past year.

Being a language and culture junkie, this was right up my alley. Some favorites, with definitions.

Caribou Barbie (n) A nickname for former vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska

Obamanation (n) One of several terms referencing the excitement and dominance of Barack Obama's presidential election. Other terms: Bamelot, Baracklamation, Barackupied, Obamalicious, Obamarama

Frugalista (n) A person who is frugal but fashionable

Moneymoon (n) The time after your purchase of a good or service and before buyer's remorse happens

Carborexic (n) A person who is obsessed with minimizing his or her use of carbon.

Ecosexuals (n) Individuals who select their partners based on their shared environmental concerns

Gashole (n) A person who uses unnecessarily large amounts of gasoline to move from Point A to Point B, typically found driving large SUVs

Blackburied (adj) Feeling inundated and exhausted from trying to be on top of all your emails and contacts 24/7 via your handheld mobile device

Slip of the thumb (v) When sending a text message and the recipient of the message was not the intended recipient. Message is often private and/or personal in nature

Yellular (n) The loudness one adopts in response to bad cell phone connections, in the misguided hope that talking louder will improve the connection

Gr7 (adj) A little less than gr8 (great) but still good

OLO (n) Only laughed once.

Textually frustrated (adj) When texting with someone over IM or SMS takes too long , leaving you frustrated while waiting for a reply

Twitterrhea (n) Waaaaayyy too much Twitter

Gequals (n) Two people who are equal in their depth of arcane knowledge

Retox (v) To go back on your New Year's resolutions and do the opposite of the goals you set for yourself

Neologasm (n) The pleasurable feeling from having coined a new word. Combination of "neologism" and "orgasm"

Leanover (n) A small-sized hangover, usually comes with merely a mild headache, a vague fatigue and little or no sense of regret and/or shame

the year the media died.

how to be creative.

Hugh MacLeod, blogger, cartoonist and ex-copywriter on how to be creative:

1. Ignore everybody.
2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.
3. Put the hours in.
4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don't try to stand out form the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.
14. Dying young is overrated.
15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
16. The world is changing.
17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.
18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
19. Sing in your own voice.
20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.
24. Don't worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
25. You have to find your own schtick.
26. Write from the heart.
27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.
28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.
30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
31. Remain frugal.
32. Allow your work to age with you.
33. Being Poor Sucks.
34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.
35. Savor obscurity while it lasts.
36. Start blogging.
37. Meaning Scales, People Don't.
37. When your dreams become reality, they are no longer your dreams.

xkcd <3

This web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language is extremely lovable. Even though I'm one of the detested liberal arts majors mentioned in the website disclaimer below, I get a lot of pleasure out of these comics. Potential future mathlete?

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

human typography.

I'd take this over Comic Sans any day.

being an advertising nerd: take 789

I've been on the website, www.brandtags.net for more time than I would care to admit today. The 5 huge papers I have due in the next two weeks for my online "Gender and Global Politics" class have been pushed aside in the name of browsing what one word people associate with some of the brands they interact with everyday.

According to the website, the basic idea of Brand Tags is that a brand exists entirely in people's heads. Therefore, a brand is whatever they say it is. There's a large database of popular brand names, and in order to see the results of Apple, for example, you have to tag 5 other brands with your one word opinion of them. Genius, as this ensures that the results will keep becoming more and more comprehensive. The overall results for a brand are displayed in a tag cloud with bigger and bolder font, the more popular the answer is.

This is such a simple idea, but I think it's wonderful. A company can spend all the money in the world trying to brand itself, but in the end, a brand is what the consumers think it is. Having to sum up a company or brand in one word gets to the root of consumer thought and there is so, so much interesting insight in the results.

Examples:
American Apparel: boring. cheap. hipster. nothing. porn.

Apple (the darling of the brand world): awesome. creative. cool. expensive. innovative. love.

Barbie: blonde. girl. ken. pink. plastic. slut. stupid. vishnia. whore.

Burger King: cheap. crap. disgusting. fast. greasy. gross. have it your way. (on the bright side, at least their slogan is sticking in people's heads?)

HBO: SEX AND THE CITY. (haha)

Hummer: asshole. blowjob. gas guzzler. stupid. waste.

Starbucks: burnt. corporate. everywhere. mermaid (??). seattle. ubiquitous.

Target (the only company that could maybe give Apple a run for its 'brand darling' title): affordable. awesome. better than walmart. bullseye. cheap. design. everything. fun. hip. love. value.

Wal-Mart: america. big. cheap. china. crap. evil. huge. low prices. redneck. white trash.

quelqu'un m'a dit

I'm easing back into blogging by posting random links. (No, this is really not any different than what I've always done. I am aware of this.)

I was in a small shop in Argentina about a month ago and really liked the song that was playing, even though I had no idea what language it was in. I asked the clerk who the artist was, and he replied "Carla Bruni." For some reason, I didn't process that she's the current First Lady of France without hearing the last name Sarkozy added on. Anyway, long story short, after some research I'm pretty intrigued by this woman and a big fan of her music.

reabolish slavery.

This commercial for the Not For Sale campaign is absolutely beautiful.

summer in the city.

After some Franzia last summer, Sara, Claire and I decided it would be a fantastic idea to make a list of our goals for the summer. Some were brilliant, some were ridiculous, some were unrealistic (such as 'learning Meg and Sara the domestic nonsense') and all made me extremely happy when I randomly discovered this list on my computer today. My favorites are in bold. The list is as follows:
(I would like to give our scribe, Sara, a shout out for her use of such colorful language.)

Bobby – the movie
Adventure Nature Hikes
Call Sara’s mom to find out cool Minneapolis places to go. Like lakes and shit
Picnics outside
Michael’s house (slash Loring Park and free concerts)
Pewaukee for Linda Steve drama
Lake of the Isles
Aunt Mary wants to show us around
Wayzata
St. Paul downtown = real cool man
Minneapolis Public Library = free music
Farmer’s Market at Guthrie
Giant Cherry In A Spoon
Summit Ave
St. Paul in general
White Bear Lake
Dude, Canada
Lake Minnetonka. Network = get onz boat!!!!!!
Gay 90’s
Michael’s boat in redwing
Michael networks with rich friends
Make megan friends.
MIA!
Say “all up onzies”
Dresses allllllllways.
Fresh flowers yo
Good food
Wine nights
Hot TUBBBBBBB
Biking!!!!
Downtown bike riding. Please learn
Bike riding during sunrise
Sunday morning brunch
Teach Meg and Sara how to cook. Please learn us the domestic nonsense.
Walker Art Museum!!!!
Science Museum yo
Barnes and Noble by IDS
Music festivals
State FAIR
Lollapolooza
Camping Trip
Camp on a beach
Camping in Boundary Waters
Nature Hikes to prepare for Boundary Waters
Emo dress up day
Indie concertzzz
Rilo Kiley May 22
Kate Nash May 5
Steve-Linda-Betz visits MPLS!
Ok, but Chicago
Hot Library make out. Pushed up against the book shelf wall. Hottay

Some were accomplished, some were not, and some had no chance from the very beginning.

Methinks the list needs to be expanded for this summer. Suggestions?

there's a storm gathering.

"The clouds are dark, and the winds are strong, and I am afraid. Some who advocate for same-sex marriage have taken the issue far beyond same-sex couples. They want to bring the issue into my life. My freedom will be taken away."

Advertising fail by the National Organization for Marriage, a group opposed to same-sex marriage.

Not only did the organization succeed at making itself look ridiculous, this ad inspired a whole slew of parodies on YouTube and received media coverage galore, none of it positive.

I prefer Mr. Colbert's version:
(Pretend that response is spelled correctly in the title)



There are approximately 30 lines I could quote here. Just watch it.

slaughterhouse 90210

My favorite interwebz find of the week is a tumblr site that mashes up TV stills with quotes from famous literature. Pure brilliance. Some of my favorites are as follows:

“It seems to me if you add music (and books, probably, and films, and plays, and anything that makes you feel) at the center of your being, then you can’t afford to sort out your love life, start to think of it as the finished product. You’ve got to pick at it, keep it alive and in turmoil, you’ve got to pick at it and unravel it until it all comes apart and you’re compelled to start all over again. Maybe we live life at too high a pitch, those of us who absorb emotional things all day, and as a consequence we can never feel merely content: we have to be unhappy, or ecstatically, head-over-heels happy, and those states are difficult to achieve within a stable, solid relationship.”
— Nick Hornby, High Fidelity




“All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I’m not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.”
— Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time




“It was not the passion that was new to her, it was the yearning adoration. She knew she had always feared it, for it left her helpless; she feared it still, lest if she adored him too much, then she would lose herself, become effaced, and she did not want to be effaced, a slave, like a savage woman. She must not become a slave. She feared her adoration, yet she would not at once fight against it.”
— D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover




“I hate how I don’t feel real enough unless people are watching.”
— Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters




“Strange children should smile at each other and say, “Let’s play.””
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night




“Alice wonders if other women in the middle of the night have begun to resent their Formica.”
— Barbara Kingsolver, Pigs in Heaven




“There are white folks, and then there are ignorant motherfuckers like you.”
—Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father




“Maybe the first time you saw her you were ten. She was standing in the sun scratching her legs. Or tracing letters in the dirt with a stick. Her hair was being pulled. Or she was pulling someone’s hair. And a part of you was drawn to her, and a part of you resisted—wanting to ride off on your bicycle, kick a stone, remain uncomplicated. In the same breath you felt the strength of a man, and a self-pity that made you feel small and hurt. Part of you thought: Please don’t look at me. If you don’t, I can still turn away. And part of you thought: Look at me.”
— Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

dónde el corazón es.

I might just be overly emotional from watching Rachel Getting Married and listening to too much Bon Iver, but I'm ready to come home.

I somehow skipped the standard homesick stage the first two months of my trip. This is probably due to my general flexibility and ability to accept change, but a feeling's been creeping up on me the last week or two. It feels like I've done my Argentine thing and that now it's time for me to get back to my city and the people I love.

The Spanish language is beautiful. It's far more melodic than English, and it suits how quickly I talk but I'm ready to be able to communicate with others without having to translate in my head first. Saying something in Castellano correctly is gratifying, but my true love is always going to be the English language. I miss having conversation skills more advanced than a 3rd grader. I find it hard to establish an actual friendship with Argentines beyond small talk because both sides lack the skills to talk about more than where we're from and what we're studying. I miss having the ability to be sarcastic. I miss wordplay and puns, as my English is so frequently peppered with them, whether they're bad or good. I miss analyzing the small nuances of language because here I'm preoccupied with just trying to figure out the language as a whole. I miss understanding everything I read, see and hear. This may just be laziness, but it's hard to go from being extremely capable at everyday interactions with others and the world around me to being an infant who still gets excited when she manages to get her point across the way she wanted to.

I miss my family so much. The dysfunctional family interactions in Rachel Getting Married, not being home for Easter and an hour long Skype chat got to me a lot today. I miss calling my mom to talk about nothing. With the difficulty of communicating frequently from South America, it feels like every phone call has to have a purpose -- I have to fill them in on exactly what I've been doing, where I've been, how school is, and other black and white details of my life. I miss being able to call just to tell my mom about a cute kid I saw, or to text my sister about something stupid that made me laugh, or to call my dad every single morning, just to have someone to talk to while I'm walking to school. I want to be home to see my sister go to prom for the first time, and to convince her that her hair really isn't as bad as she thinks it is. (It won't be, El. Everyone's hair looks terrible for prom.) I want to continue my mom, sister and I's tradition of drinking coffee, eating cookies in the front row and becoming overly emotional as we watch my dad finish the marathon, something that's so important to him. And yes, we're very aware of how ridiculous it is that we sit and eat cookies while we watch him run. I want to wake up, drink coffee with my mom and do the crossword, while we both pretend to be gracious about the other one doing it. I want to sit and watch TV with my dad, while he falls asleep and then pretends he didn't, because it's so incredibly comforting and peaceful to just be with someone.

I want my fantastic network of friends to play a more prominent role in my life again. Two line messages on Facebook and Twitter only get me so far. I want face to face conversations, and I want wine nights where everyone tries to sound smarter than they actually are, and I want physical human contact. God, I miss hugs. I've met some amazing people on this trip, but it's a group of individuals who were smashed together in a foreign country and almost forced to be friends. It took me about 20 years to find friends that I work with, and now that I have, I am so so grateful for them. I want a repeat of last summer. Sitting on Claire's couch at UC and drinking wine on Sara's porch seemed like the most natural thing in the world. After only a few months of friendship, I felt more comfortable at their respective houses than I did at my own. Granted, Melrose wasn't exactly a palace, but friendship that you fall into that easily doesn't come around very often. I am so excited about living with them this year because that too feels like the most natural thing in the world. I can't really imagine not doing it. I do, however, miss my roommates right now and even the high level of energy that goes along with them. I miss making a giant pot of coffee and sitting on our shitty couches watching Sex and the City in the morning. And then making another pot. And another. I want to have another Norwegian Potluck with Claire, Michael, Nick and Corey. I might even bring something other than Swedish fish. I miss making indie jokes. A girl on my program asked me what indie meant a few days ago. I want to be able to text John every little thing that pops into my head, just because I can. I want to have game night. I want to take too many pictures at Pink House, which will now always be referred to as La Casa Rosada after this trip. I miss Wednesday nights. I want to eat too much Chinese food and pretend that I'm going to do homework in a litttttle bit, as I soak up my best friends instead.

I miss Minneapolis in the spring. Campus gets a different air about it -- a feeling of freshness and excitement that I love. I want to see people wearing shorts when it's 45 degrees out, as only Midwesterners can, because they're so thrilled about the first signs that the eternal winter is over. I want to go running in the slush, and when it warms up, I want to sit in the grass outside the Alumni Center, doing absolutely nothing, just being and observing and enjoying. I want to ignore the bus and walk to school from my house, just for the thrill that listening to my iPod on a crisp Minnesotan day brings me.

I miss being able to walk into a restaurant and being able to order a glass of water, without having to buy a bottle of it. I miss cups of coffee that are bigger than 'an ant's ass,' as Calla so eloquently calls the thimbles that pass for coffee cups here. I miss being able to walk into a Barnes & Noble and waste the day away in my favorite way. I'm so deprived of US media that I almost bought a Vanity Fair magazine a few days ago for US $25. I miss knowing about and somewhat understanding pop culture. I miss the food. Oh god, I miss the food. Argentina has incredible pizza and steak, but other than that, you can basically either have a ham sandwich or a ham and egg sandwich. Going into an American grocery store for the first time is going to be a very overwhelming experience for yours truly.

I'm listening to all 146 songs on my iTunes that involve the word 'home' in the song or album title. This has to be healthy.

This post has the potential to seem whiny, but it isn't...it's nostalgic. I love Argentina and have learned so many things on this experience -- about this culture, about the United States and the impact it has on the rest of the world, and about myself and the way that I behave when I'm placed in a completely foreign situation.

But most of all, I've developed a new appreciation for where I'm from and the people I've surrounded myself with. So here's to the city that I love and the people that I love even more.

And here's to attempting to write my actual thoughts down on paper more often. It's so much easier for me to just comment on other people's thoughts.

I love you.
Megan

just workin' on my fitness.

I think I need to start actually writing about Argentina.

Today I bought a membership at a gym called MEGATLON, which for some reason is a name I feel like I have to bellow. This expense derived from a desire to actually do something good for myself after sitting dormant for two months and a desire to combat my diet that has consisted almost solely of pizza, McNuggets and cerveza. Evidently that's not fantastic for your body. Who knew?

I awkwardly fumbled through the actual purchase of the membership, informed the people at the desk that yesss, the United States is actually having economic trouble right now and wandered into the most intimidating gym I've ever seen. 6 floors of perfectly thin, non sweaty people working out greeted me. Argentines are notorious for their ability to look calm, cool and collected in any situation and somehow after 5 miles on the treadmill, none of these girls' hair had even moved.

Anyway, the point of this entry is to describe the instructor of my 'BODY PUMP' class. This 5'2" stocky, muscular woman marched around the room in a pink dress bellowing in Spanish at people. On second thought, she may be the reason I feel like I need to say MEGATLON and BODY PUMP in a thunderous voice. She was teaching her third class in a row, was not fazed in the least bit, and did Tarzan-like screams (AIIIIIIIIIIIII!) every time a song hit a high point. In other words, she scared the shit out of me. And I loved every second of it. My not calm, not cool, not collected self danced around awkwardly with all the other Argentines, exchanging eye rolls when we were tired and didn't feel like a foreigner for once. Exercising doesn't require any conversation..it's mainly based off of body language and gestures, which I have become an expert at here.

they're barbie girls, in a barbie world.

An interesting article on The Washington Post examines Mattel's efforts to reach out to other economies, in light of lagging sales in our failing one.

This international toy manufacturer has its sights focused Eastward, toward the 1.3 billion potential consumers in China.

Trying to find a new consumer base didn't surprise me at all, with the current financial situation. What did make me pause, however, is the age demographic that Mattel is targeting.

The manufacturer of Barbie is trying to seduce 20-30 year old urban, professional women to their sparkly, rose-colored world. The new six-story flagship store in Shanghai has accessories, upscale gourmet chocolates and a wedding dress designed by Vera Wang.

"Chinese consumers barely know anything about Barbie except that Barbie is a pretty doll," the general manager of Barbie Shanghai was quoted as saying. The notion that Barbie is only a play thing for young girls has been left behind in North America, and Mattel is attempting to rewrite her story.

They're targeting girls of all ages, from wide-eyed 6 year olds to their more jaded mothers with the idea that Barbie-land is paradise. To do this, they've included a spa and a restaurant along with pink everything in their brand new, overwhelming (to me at least) store in Shanghai.

25 year old Cui Xiujao says "Barbie attracts me because she's very feminine and independent. She's in charge of her own life. And she has many different roles. But most important are her pretty clothes."

The store seems to be a success so far, as mobs of young women have been flocking there every weekend. If Mattel can pull off marketing Barbie to 20-somethings, I'm going to be more than impressed. Barbie's been around forever with few changes, and the brand needed some major revitalization. Changing their target market from 8 and younger to 20 and older takes the company in a completely different direction, which was necessary after Mattel's sales were down 11% in the fourth quarter of last year. If the company succeeds in getting 30 year old women to buy into their glitzy, pink, princessy world, more power to them.

you have the most beautiful face

do you realize that you have the most beautiful face
do you realize we're floating in space
do you realize that happiness makes you cry
do you realize that everyone you know someday will die

you realize that life goes fast.

"no limits on their dreams"

I'm feeling a lot less cynical than usual right now.

i am woman, hear me drum.

I spent 7 hours at the San Telmo street fair today. Highlights/people observations I enjoyed:

- Finding a vintage Argentine dress, buying it and having it fit perfectly without trying it on first.

- The beautiful dreadlocked artist who spattered paint on a black canvas with his hands while jamming to Amy Winehouse and somehow ending up with a perfect neon-colored portrait of her.

- Elle calling me. I so badly miss sporadic phone calls.

- How excited everyone in this country is about today being International Women’s Day. A huge parade of girls in bright colors wound through the crowds wildly dancing and playing drums. Each girl had on a sash that proudly proclaimed ‘Mujer.’ The spectrum of women watching this was incredible. A blonde curly haired baby wearing all pink in a pink stroller was equally engrossed as the ancient, wrinkled Argentine woman holding two roses next to her. Observing smiles on the faces of the diverse crowd around me watching this spectacle gave a whole new meaning to the idea of international sisterhood.

- The chubby five year old boy solemnly feeding the pigeons. He would throw a huge handful of corn into the middle of a crowd of people and watch intently as the awful, overly aggressive pigeons here dive-bombed the group of people to get their kernels. After making sure these pigeons had got their fill, he would repeat the action with a new group of people. These adults were obviously not pleased with the pigeon situation, but nobody could say anything and ruin the boy’s quest for country-wide pigeon obesity.

- A grandma was trying to take pictures of her young grandson in front of a flowerbed in the park. She posed him for about 5 minutes, and when she was finally ready to take the picture, he would not stop scratching his crotch. Grandma would go try to have a word with him, and he would do it again. Muy muy comico.

- Dirty hippies. Everywhere. In my next life, I am going to braid hemp necklaces on the street while listening to jazz music.

- Infinite couples holding hands. Love is everywhere here.

the pope goes viral.

In a move that I find a bit ridiculous, Roman Catholic bishops in Italy have asked Catholics to go on a technology fast for Lent. (Read the full story here)

A few Catholic groups in Italy have called for a ban on text messaging every Friday during Lent. The diocese in Turin doesn't want its followers to watch television. In the city of Trento, the church has created a "new lifestyles" calendar with different ideas for each week. These include not driving cars, recycling waste and abandoning both iPods and the Internet for a week.

Interestingly enough, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel in January, available in 4 different languages. Pope Benedict XVI is an advocate of social networking sites for forging friendships and understanding, but also thinks that online networking can isolate people from real social interaction.

I understand the ideas behind this: get rid of some of the noise/clutter in your life, get closer to God and other human beings, but I think it's unrealistic and outdated. The Church itself is using the Internet as a new outlet to bring people together. Much of our world revolves around these means of communication. How does giving up text messaging improve your relationship with a higher being? Also, shouldn't giving something up be your personal decision, not something decreed by the Church?

Personally, I've always struggled with the idea of giving something up for Lent. Most of the people I know give up eating some sort of food. A few members of my study abroad program were discussing giving up swearing, which is another conversation altogether. (Words are arbitrary, John!) To me, it just seems like a sort of micro New Year's resolution. I'm going to give up cookies for 5 weeks to reaffirm my devotion! Slash lose 5 pounds.

Call me a heretic, but I don't believe in a God who would be intensely gratified by me giving up my iPod. Especially since I agree with Sara's fantastic blog post that music is the closest I've ever been to religion.

I don't know.

i can haz bigger vocabulary?

The Oxford University Corpus is a database compiled of the most overused buzzwords in books, magazines, broadcast, online media and other sources.

Officially, the top 10 phrases that are being used to death right now are:

1. At the end of the day
2. Fairly unique
3. I personally
4. At this moment in time
5. With all due respect
6. Absolutely
7. It's a nightmare
8. Shouldn't of
9. 24/7
10. It's not rocket science

(The fact that 'shouldn't of,' instead of 'shouldn't have' is being overused makes me very sad about the current state of America's grammar.)

Flavorwire added these additional words and phrases to the list:

1. For the win
2. I can has
3. OMG
4. dot com
5. Actually
6. Snarky
7. Hipster (any derivative)
8. Literally
9. Fashionista
10. Organic

Some I would like (need) to add:

1. Word
2. Dark
3. Totes
4. Mos def
5. Hell yeah.
6. Lol
7. Go green
8. Fail
9. That's what she said.
10. Male usage of 'Dude' and 'Man'

sufjan is for lovers. and smart kids.

A 25 year old named Virgil Griffith has been using aggregated Facebook data about the favorite bands and books among students of various colleges and plotting them against the average SAT scores at those schools, to take statistical look at taste and intelligence.

Interestingly, the smartest of the smart dig Beethoven, with an average SAT score of 1371.

Also on the "smart" end of the scale were Sufjan Stevens (1260), Counting Crows (1247), Radiohead (1220), Guster and Ben Folds.

Enjoying Lil Wayne's music is associated with SAT scores dropping like they're hot. These listeners were the least intelligent, with an average SAT of 889.

I might agree with this after googling Lil' Wayne lyrics in class. Go do it, the song titles are humorous. (I felt slightly foolish that everyone behind me in class could see me doing this.)

He had to adjust measurements and weigh schools according to the number of enrolled students, as small, exclusive liberal arts colleges were dominating the rankings.

Once again, I'm not sure how valid this correlation is (even though I think Virgil Griffith is a genius). I wanted to look at his website and the entire chart, but it crashed from too much traffic the past few days.

besame mucho.

I fell in love with this song last night at an outdoor Italian restaurant.

daily musings.

Random thoughts/comments from the last few days:

1. Carneval in Gualeguaychu was crazy, but exhausting. I would have been a much happier camper if I'd gotten more than 3 hours of sleep the night before after a pub crawl to benefit Club Acorn. (Drink for the children. Rah rah.)

2. Americans starting a dance party on the beach and in the water are not inconspicuous.

3. These aforementioned Americans do very much love dance parties though.

4. Renee and I had dinner at a small family-owned Italian place with live saxophone, piano and guitar. I loved this. I ordered the one kind of pasta on the tiny menu, 'raviolone con calabaza' figuring that calabaza was some kind of cheese. Turns out that calabaza is squash. I did not love this.

5. I talked to a 7 year old girl named Maria at this restaurant. It was very rewarding to finally find someone on the same conversation level as me.

6. I walked into Subway today and it smelled exactly the same as it does in the United States. This fast food restaurant brought on a very unexpected wave of nostalgia.

7. I think I talk too much about the food I have here, but much of my day is planned around my next meal, so food is an imperative part of my Argentine experience.

8. Summer jobs and housing for next year are currently stressing me out.

9. I'm still trying to find 'my place' in this city, somewhere I can become a regular at.

10. I now somewhat understand why everyone is so nice to me here, even with my broken Spanish. I was at the laundromat today when a couple walked in and the charming husband bellowed...'Does anyone here speak ENGLISH?'. Later, the guy was badgering the cashier for a 50 cent piece, which she did not have. 'Well then, DO YOU HAVE DOS-CINCOS?' (asking for two 25 cent pieces while making a 2 with one hand and a 5 with the other) I was embarrassed. Moral of the story: you are in a different country. Try to speak the language.

The guys in our group were all about the costumes.

holy shit.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to make a proclamation that the first week of March is officially No Cussing Week in L.A.

15 year old, McKay Hatch, started this movement with his No Cussing Club (as a sidenote, the website is hideous) in South Pasadena. This club, which now boasts over 20,000 members in 25 countries worldwide, is based on The No Cussing Challenge:
I won't cuss, swear, use bad language, or tell dirty jokes. Clean language is a sign of intelligence and always demands respect. I will use my language to uplift, encourage and motivate. I will Leave People Better Than I Found Them!

One week of no cussing grants you the title of Apprentice, one month is a Journeyman and one whole year of a clean mouth officially dubs you No Cussing Master.

Hatch's hometown of South Pasadena declared itself a cuss-free zone for a week last March, and two years ago a high school in Canada threatened to suspend repeat cussers.

His goal is to get California to have a cuss-free week next year, and to eventually have a worldwide week ban on swear words.

While his club is gaining popularity, it has met resistance. 'When his No Cussing Club meets at South Pasadena High School on Wednesdays it's not unusual for a nonmember to throw open the door and fire off a torrent of four-letter words. He's also been the target of organized harassment by pro-cussers."

Assholes.

before i die.

I spent a good majority of the last half hour of my life on this site. Two artists are conducting a project where they go around the country, take Polaroid pictures of people (laame that Polaroid is being discontinued, btw) and ask them the question "What do you want to do before you die?"

In a number of years, the participants are going to be contacted to see if they accomplished their goal and why or why not they didn't.

The artists hope that 'by asking people to state out loud/write down something they want to do before they die and to be aware we will be checking up on them in a number of years, we believe that this will add significantly to their motivation to accomplish their goal.'

A human connection that shows someone cares, if you will.

The responses fascinated me. Countless people want to

• have kids
• fall in love
  
• be happy
• be a millionaire
• travel the world
• write a book
  

First of all, I'm not sure how meaningful the millions you've made are going to be to you after you die. The other answers were incredibly consistent though. Human beings want to establish emotional connections, be content, make an impact through something they do. And travel. Everyone wanted to travel. It makes me feel lucky.

What do you want to do before you die?

• 

beauty is in the brain of the beholder.

A new scientific study claims that women appreciate beauty better than men. Women apparently use their whole brain to absorb beauty, while men only use the right side of their brain. The researchers think this is linked to the way men and women process spatial information..men look at the image as a whole, while women pay more attention to the smaller details.

This makes sense to me, but it also makes me question the antithesis of this finding. Are women more apt to notice ugliness or flaws, also, then? Are we as females genetically predispositioned to notice the smallest details in things, including our own bodies and those of others, and react to them?

My logic may be way off. The fact that the sample size of this experiment was 20 people doesn't help either.

SHARP IdEa

I'm more intrigued by using this blog as a place to gather various things that I like online than I am by using it as a journal.

With ad internship deadlines approaching, I've been stalking online ad websites to find THE ads that I love and hate.

Interactive Sharpie billboards:
These allow consumers to physically interact with the product through art. And remember how satisfying it was to sign someone's blank white cast canvas?
Grade: A-



Tagline: "Keep obesity away from your child"
This fat Barbie ad is sponsored by an organization called Active Life Movement. I don't like that the premise of this ad is that Barbie in her natural form (by natural, I mean unnatural) is what's considered healthy or active. Plus, I think it focuses too much on the unattractiveness of obesity instead of the positive aspects of being healthy.
Grade: C



Yesyesyes. Go Veet.
This ad was politically relevant, clever, relatively inexpensive & striking in newspapers filled with red, white and blue.
Grade: A

teradactyl love

I am bad at updating this. I have 3 or 4 started posts that I never end up finishing. I decided to post a few of them just so they would stop annoying me.

Audra and I were talking about this a few days ago (over cafe and dulce de leche cheesecake) and I have way too much to say to even attempt to sum it up in a blog post. 18 pages later, I'd still barely be making a dent in the descriptions that I have. I never have any idea how to start these or make them coherent whatsoever. So I just don't write. Going to work on this. In summary:

We had a group trip to Tigre a few days ago, a little town north of B.A. I had no idea what to expect, but ended up really enjoying the day. Tigre is a small town where two rivers come together to make the imposing Rio del Plata. We went on a boat tour of the rivers where we saw hundreds of small houses on the banks of the river. These people take a boat to get to work everyday, and get their groceries delivered by boat. There's even a Quilmes (beer) boat that picks up old bottles and refills them. At some point in my life, I would like to spend a week by myself on a hammock at one of these little houses and have waiting for the Quilmes boat be the highlight of my day. It was pouring while we were there, which I of course was in love with, despite the grumbling of the others. This lead to the fantastic idea of sharing a few bottles of Vasco Viejo (the Argentine version of Franzia) with my friend and going puddle hopping in the rain. Twas fantastic.

My camera is broken. This frustrates me. Attempting to go to a camera store and explain technology problems in Spanish is probably going to frustrate me even more.

I've discovered that running is my favorite way of exploring the city. I'm hoping the novelty of this doesn't wear off, as exercise is fantastic for both my mood and for offsetting the results of eating pizza every.single.day.

Speaking Spanish (more like Spanglish) with locals at bars is officially my favorite way of learning the language. I learn so so much more while making conversation than I do sitting in a classroom learning words to describe my job. (Last week's theme. Very fun. Not.) I met a precious new friend last night who is going to show my gringo self around Buenos Aires the local way.

It's fantastic that Audra's here now. We were talking about the fact that we've only actually hung out in person twice, but how naturally friendship comes.

I adore my roommates.

Argentines put ham and hardboiled eggs on absolutely everything. I find this unnecessary.

I've always wished that I could combine all the worlds that I know and love. This still holds true. I want all the people I love to live in a place that combines all the elements I love about different places around the world. I used the word love too much in the past few sentences. It's ok. I'm feeling a lot of it.

i knew you'd be watching.

I am so in love with the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
Here's to hoping it wins the Oscar.

pleasure

yes, that's right, she's all wrapped up in herself, lost in that world she carries inside her, that she's just beginning to discover.
- manuel puig

I seem to only get the urge to update this on rainy days. I love the heat and the smell and the general mass chaos of this city, but today is a meganday. The gentle drizzle almost seems to calm the city and all its inhabitants. The usual hustle and bustle is replaced with freshness and peace and I wandered around in the rain listening to my ipod for about an hour today. Rainy days are good for the soul.

On this walk, I discovered one of my new favorite places in the city: a hole in the wall used bookstore. I've had an intense craving for books in English since I got here, to the point of harassing my fellow students to read their books faster so I could have them when they were done. Today I stepped inside this little bookstore on a whim, to get out of the rain for a minute, and felt more at peace than I have this entire trip. The smell of old books and rain permeated the warmly lit room while jazz music softly played in the background. I happily browsed for awhile before I purchased 3 of the only English books they had. I had extremely good intentions when I first got here and bought Harry Potter and Little Women in Spanish, only to get beyond frustrated when it takes me 20 minutes to read one page. Reading has always been pure pleasure for me, and I've wanted books to accompany this otherwise pleasure-filled vacation so badly. I would kill for a Barnes & Noble day in the US.

Anyway, the quote at the top is from Kiss of the Spider Woman, a classic by an Argentine author that I'm reading right now. If you ever get a chance to read it, please do. The language is fucking beautiful. If the translation is this profound, I can only imagine what the Spanish version is like.

mis companeras

These are my roommates, the girls that I spend a ridiculous amount of my waking time with. I am somehow not sick of either of them yet, which is surprising considering how much Megan time I usually need.

Calla, the curly haired redhead on the left is one of my favorite people on the program. She's made up of sunshine and rainbows and everything nice, but has enough spice and sarcasm to make her interesting. She started out as a nursing major at Mayo Clinic, but transferred to the U and is now a Global Studies major. Considering I'm always with her, awkward individual shots of Calla make up the majority of the pictures I have on my camera. She was a lovely sidekick to pick up.

Renee is on the right, a psychology major from the University of Illinois-Chicago. She's very very blunt, down to earth and also married (!). She also knows random facts about everything, which are a welcome addition to our nightly wine talks around the table. The three of us balance each other nicely..Calla's the optimist, Renee's the realist and I'm somewhere in the middle. Our conversations are almost always interesting, as we're all from completely different backgrounds, yet are all very opinionated. Last night's talk was regarding if love at first sight is actually possible. If I'm feeling particularly inspired, I might dive into this subject on a later post. The other thing that I appreciate about my roommates is that we are capable of comfortable silences. No one feels the need to chatter to fill up empty spaces in the conversation..we are content to leave it be and be alone with our thoughts. We went to an outdoor cafe last night to get pizza and beer ('MERICA!) and eventually I noticed that we'd been sitting in silence for about 8 minutes, without it being the slightest bit awkward. And I liked that.

This weekend, a small group of us is taking a bus 6 hours south to Mar del Plata, the biggest seaside beach resort in Argentina. A round trip bus ticket costs US $45 and the hostel we're staying in is going to end up costing us approximately $3 each. I'm ridiculously excited about this trip for a few reasons:

- It has a beach and ocean (the obvious)

- I like the idea of going with a small group -- it makes it a lot easier to get to know people when we're not in a cozy group of 30.

- I managed to arrange the entire trip speaking Spanish. Somewhere along the way, I became the group spokesperson (no idea how this happened). Managing to find an obscure bus station and procuring round trip tickets for 5 people while speaking solely in Spanish gave me the biggest sense of accomplishment I've had in awhile.

- We might do water activities. By 'water activities', I do not mean swimming. I mean windsurfing, deep sea diving, etc.

There are definitely a few people from my group that are starting to get on my nerves a bit (read: annoy the hell out of me), but the main thing that bothers me is how few people want to speak Spanish outside of class. When we go to bars, etc...we're the obnoxious, loud Americans speaking English. This does not help us make friends. I'm amazingly fluent in English..I want to learn Spanish.

I'm excited for Audra to get here.

I eat too much pizza. More on the food here later.

It's rainy today, which far from making me unhappy, is making me even happier. I need a good, gloomy day once in awhile. I've been curled up in bed reading The Hobbit, and I think we're going to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button later.

Life is still good. I'm essentially on vacation here, and this weekend I'm taking a vacation from my vacation. What? Feeling lucky and grateful and 1.4% homesick.

helado

I seem to have made it my personal mission to try every flavor of gelato in South America. The Greeks may have had gelato in mind when they coined the word 'ambrosia'.

..the guy that works at the main ice cream store here greets me by name when I walk in. Good.

My current favorite is vanilla with raspberries in it. I'll keep you updated.

cambio.

"Things change but they don't change that much."

I butchered that quote, but it came from the guest lecturer who took my art class on a tour of el Museo Nacional del Bellas Artes yesterday. He was showing us a sculpture that symbolized the torture that occurred in Buenos Aires during the 1930s and related it to the recent news that Guantanamo Bay is going to be closed. It's been 80 years, but has the world really changed that much in some aspects? Power and torture are still being misused.

Anyway, that quote seems to apply to my entire Argentine experience overall. I walk down these hot, dusty streets every day..and I really don't feel all that different. I thought that this trip would be this drastic upheaval of everything familiar in my life, but it doesn't feel like it. It hasn't really hit me that I'm in this foreign country..I just go about my day and feel normal. The atmosphere I'm in has changed, but humans everywhere are similar.

I adjusted ridiculously quickly. I didn't really have jet lag and following their schedule came so naturally. I eat dinner at midnight and it seems silly to eat it at any other time. People start getting ready to go out around 11. I exist on about 5 hours of sleep a night (on a good night) and in America, I'd be dying, but once again, it feels perfectly natural here.

I think I have verbal diarrhea. I can't stop talking. I tested into the Spanish class I wanted to, and spend 2 hours every day strictly speaking this beautiful, beautiful language. I'm picking it up again faster than I thought I would and get more confident every day. I've turned into that girl in class, the one I usually don't like, the one who raises her hand and asks a question every 5 seconds, usually about something not pertinent to what we're talking about. My teacher told me I have 'mucha energia.' I am choosing to take this as a compliment. My spanish is improving by leaps and bounds. The first day I was here, I could barely order a sandwich and now I can have entire conversations with people.

An old man in the park yesterday asked me how to pronounce a word (he obviously knew a spanish genius when he saw one) and I ended up having a 30 minute conversation with him. Diamantis, a 5'4" Greek-Canadian with an affinity for straw hats has absolutely nothing in common with me, but we talked and talked. He told me about how disappointed he is in his son and we talked about gelato and we talked about the implications that any sort of failure by Obama will have for blacks everywhere and so on and so forth. When I had to go to class, he offered me his phone number, address and his son's email address in case I lost the piece of paper with his address on it (No, I don't see the logic in this either). I now have a 60something year old friend named Diamantis to stay with if I ever go to British Columbia.

A little Argentinian girl in the same park gave me a high five, and last night we went to an American bar where I thought it would be a fantastic idea to try to talk to the locals who were there. Between their broken English and my broken Spanish, conversation flows. These are the things that make me happier than any beautiful buildings or cheap wine: genuine human interactions. It amazes me how people from such different backgrounds can reach across language barriers and communicate with each other. Everyone's different, but they're really not that different.

If things have changed from America, they've only changed for the better. I am happy here. So very very happy.

little victories

I am currently in a much better state of mind than my non-coherent last post. I'm unpacked and have somehow ended up with my own room...which is also the one with the air conditioning, a TV and a mirror. I am not sure how this happened.

I live a block off of Calle Florida, which although very prominent and busy, is super touristy. I'm not sure how fond of it I am, and am hoping to figure out how to use public transportation in the next few days.

My other roommate arrived and is a psychology major from the University of Illinois-Chicago. I like her too and think I really lucked out with roommates. (This uncharacteristic luck trend scares me a bit.)

Everyone that works at our apart-hotel is super friendly, but there's a definite language barrier that I'm trying to work through. I'm feeling particularly successful right now after figuring out how to buy an hour's worth of internet. Little victories.

6 people from my group went out last night and had a traditional Argentinian steak meal at a restaurant that was far far classier than what I'm accustomed to. (With how often I frequent Chipotle, that classiness level is not hard to top.) It was muy muy sabroso and I think I ate half a cow. After that, we went to a sidewalk cafe, drank beers, people watched and just got to know each other. It cools down a lot in the evening, and the entire night in general was perfect.

Today we walked to San Telmo and went to the weekly street fair, which was interesting but a bit depressing how so many people's livelihoods depend on their ability to sell a string bracelet.

A guy from my group that I met at the airport and I were going to attempt to scalp Damien Rice tickets for his sold out show tonight, but that didn't happen due to my inability to call anyone and lack of knowledge on how to transport myself to different parts of the city. I'm sad about this..I would have killed to see Damien live.

I have no sense of time here. Our apartment doesn't have a clock and the phone store has been closed every time I've ventured out to try to get one. I therefore take too many siestas. It's hard to not be able to just pick up my phone and text or call someone whenever I want to. I see things that I want to tell people and realize I can't, which is frustrating. I'm going to attempt to buy internet for the next 3 months tomorrow (that conversation should go well) as I've realized it would be too hard not to keep in touch with people.

I feel like I have 203947239748 things to say, but
a. don't know where to start
and
b. am running out of internet time very quickly.

Tomorrow's my first day of school. I have a pen and a notebook. Estoy lista.

i am a zombie.

a sweaty zombie.

i'm currently numb. i haven't slept in far too long, am a little overwhelmed and am hot. above all things, i am hot. it's 36 degrees celsius here. i'm still clueless about the celsius system, but know that 36 degrees celsius is spanish for 'really fucking hot'.

my apartment is adorable. i haven't let myself start taking pictures yet. (one of the many steps on my How To Not Be An Annoying American Tourist plan). one of my roommates is a global studies senior from wayzata named calla, and i like her a lot, which is an enormous relief. we're supposed to have a third roommate, renee, but she hasn't showed up yet.

so far my goal of not being an annoying american has been failing. i feel like my spanish is about the equivalent of a 2 year old here. i'm already rusty and they use the vos form, as well as talk about 19 times as fast as me. which is saying something. however, i'm forcing myself to keep speaking spanish and am bound and determined to become fluent (or at least proficient) at it.

calla and i managed to befriend another guy in our program who spent last semester in B.A. on a different program. he's a spanish whiz, and is super helpful at translating or getting us directions. ultimate friend pick-up.

i'm not even coherent right now after my 3 hours of sleep in the last day and a half. i'm going to take a nap.

this city is hot and dirty and diverse and beautiful and i think i'm going to fall in love with it.

ciao.

i'm nostalgic right now and i haven't even left yet.

things i'm going to miss:
mornings at my house. whist. crisp weather. compulsively calling my mom, dad, or sister every time i'm walking somewhere. anime peace sign pictures. conversations when i wake up. dinkytowner brunch. the running commentary on life i have with john. having my own space. wednesday night coffee parties. thunderclouding 24/7. the pink house. sara & claire's couch. my paisley couch. kark culture. you.

things i'm not going to miss:
paper all-nighters. a freezing cold bathroom in the morning. stress. writing intensives. slush.

these lists are both going to be continued. and continued. and probably continued even further, you lucky blog readers, you.

yours truly is boarding a plane to houston at 5 pm tomorrow. after arriving there, i have approximately 37 seconds of layover time to sprint to my next flight, a 14 hour joyride to buenos aires.

dinner with my mom at kafe 421 tonight was lovely. it was exactly the night i wanted.

the next time i write in here, i will be 5925 miles away. that's 9535 kilometers in case you were wondering. (the metric system is going to be interesting to get used to.)

current emotions: a;skdalsdkjfalsdkfj

america (with the a)

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

- Barack Hussein Obama

I have a good feeling about the next 4 years.

giddiness

I've been contemplating and trying to plan a study abroad experience for the last, oh say, 5 years or so. And tonight is the first time it hit me that this is actually real. I'm leaving in 3 days for a different country. On a different continent. For 4 months. Essentially by myself. I'm no longer just talking about what I'd like to do. I'm leaving and I'm doing it.

My processing of this fact may have been sped up by reading my friends' blogs who are already starting their own adventures. (And thanks for the solitary picture, Sara..that was epic.)

And the fact that today I received information about the apartment I'll be staying in. It's in the heart of downtown, in the Microcentro, about a block away from Calle Florida. Calle Florida is a huge pedestrian street that's supposed to have some of the best people watching in the city, which is right up my alley. My apartment looks pretty nondescript, but nice. I am most intrigued by the promise of breakfast delivered to my room every morning.
Home Sweet Home?

If it's possible to be in a tizzy, I am in one right now.

You will not regret clicking on this.

Calle Florida.
Glad to see the McDonald's golden arches in the distance.
I was super concerned about that.

get it on.

(Notice the reoccurring peace sign theme?)

I've officially said goodbye to Claire and Sara, the two resident thunderclouds in my life. When I was typing 'said' the first time, I accidentally omitted the i. Freudian slip? It amazes me how easy it was to fall into a friendship with these two and am so so thankful for it. Sara and I's mutual stalking paid off and I'm more than happy Claire and I managed to get past our awkward, single encounter at the beginning of freshman year. (Hey! It was great to meet you! -- Yeah! You too! -- fin) I read too much as a child, but Anne of Green Gables would probably call them kindred spirits. Cape Town and Florence are going to be phenomenal. Have fun, my friends..you are pure potential. I love you.

Skype has been a lovely new addition to my life the last few weeks. Even though I'm a compulsive phone caller (Hi Mom, it's me again. I have 4 blocks to walk. Talk to me please), seeing someone's face as you talk to them is 58x better.

A little Mum/Elle team Facebooking session.
It's little wonder I'm as creepy as I am when these are the genes I have.

My house is 57 degrees. It makes me wish I'd invested in a Snuggie.

My lifetime goal of having eyes bad enough to need glasses has finally been realized. I think I am happier about this than I should be.

This spot for Durex condoms is being frowned upon by a lot of people, but I love it. It's the first original thing that's been done regarding condoms in a long time. The smart play on words 'Get it on' as their slogan doesn't hurt either.

Currently listening to: this Fleet Foxes cover

i hope you see things that stop you

For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit... start whenever you want... you can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that stop you. I hope you feel things that you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I'm ready to leave.

bench ads i'm loving on

"use only what you need" - denver water conservation

"donated by slim fast"

kit kat - this is so simple and effective.

a bench promoting ikea in japan

my personal favorite.
becherovka, a czech liquor with the slogan "get closer". brilliant.