The Dangers of Watching Great Movies

Good afternoon, my pretties! I know it’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me but I promise I haven’t abandoned you — I merely got sidelined by germs, fatigue, and the parts of my life that don’t happen on the internet. Can you believe there are any? Neither can I, sometimes.

But now… I am back to blogging!

Ben Franklin butter statue. Nothing as American as cardiac arrest!

In case you missed it, a little over a week ago there was this big holiday known as American Arterial Distress Day, or something like that. After stuffing myself full of delicious, delicious animal fat courtesy of friend and blog reader Brent (hi Brent!), I atoned for my crass excess by having one the most pretentious weekends of all time.

Presidential Cool is All in the Code Name

Code name: EAGLE!!

It is previously documented that I have a consuming fascination with presidential security.  As such, I was extremely excited to come across a fun little quiz on this very subject as I was perusing NYMag.com this morning. Said quiz challenges you to match a series of famous political figures with their often hilarious Secret Service code names. Because I am brilliant and a total freak, I took the quiz and scored a 8 out of 9. Lila, who is special in other ways, only scored a 4 out of 9.

Take the quiz yourself at the link below, and report back with your score if you are so inclined:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/11/secret-service-nickname-quiz.html

code name: TUMBLER (yes, really)

Alright folks, that’s it for today. And since it’s fake Friday, you probably won’t be hearing from us until after the holiday weekend. Godspeed, and enjoy your turkeys and pies.

Kisses,
Tania

Three Weeks in High School with Justin Bieber and the Tweeters

I came to twitter late. I’ve technically had an account for over a year, but for most of that time I couldn’t quite get the hang of it. Then suddenly, this September, I “got it” and started tweeting up a storm.

Once I figured out how to make twitter work for me, I decided it was time to understand how twitter works for others. As part of my investigations, I spent approximately 3 weeks following Justin Bieber. The things I learned about our society were mind-blowing. Life altering, even. My powers of comprehension were thoroughly tested.

Oh, People Are Just So Stupid and Funny and Stupid

A BoBo rebellion is brewing. Yesterday, a tipster (I have a tipster!) pointed me towards un scandale extraordinaire involving Lululemon, a yoga wear retailer that has an enormous following among the sort of yuppies inclined to pay $100 for stretchy pants.  Apparently the stroller mafia is in uproar because Lululemon’s founder, an avid Ayn Rand enthusiast, decided to print “who is JOHN GALT?” in huge block letters on the store’s shopping bags.

My reaction to Ayn Rand

I may not be the greatest person to speak on the the nuances of this scandal, because I have never read an Ayn Rand novel. What I understand about Rand’s “individualist” philosophy, plus the weird, fanatical way she is spoken of by a certain type of man (i.e., the type I would never ever want to date), plus her books’ mammoth size has been enough to scare me off. But these articles on Gawker and NPR gave me enough background to understand what all the fuss is about. And BOY is it hilarious and stupid.

Today in Gchat: More Thoughts on the Princesses of Pop

In which we wrap up what has accidentally become female popstar week by expounding on Rihanna, Britney, Madonna, Beyoncé, and the packaging of female popstars:

Princess RiRi and the Technicolor Dreamporn

You’re probably aware of this already, but a few weeks ago Rihanna released a music video “We Found Love.” And though it’s technically old news by now, Lila’s post on Britney Spears was tangentially related to some thoughts I had about Rihanna after I saw this video for the first time, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to air them. In case you haven’t already seen the video (or are itching for an opportunity to watch it again), here you go:

Today in Old and Awesome: Longacre Square

“But I’ve never heard of Longacre Square!” you exclaim, “so how can it be awesome?” I myself had never heard of it until yesterday, when I was perusing my beloved Shorpy Historical Photo Archive (did you know you can subscribe for daily photo emails?? I totally did that and it’s SO exciting). As it turns out, Longacre Square was in fact a momentous little spot, as that’s what Times Square was called before the Times Tower opened for business in 1904.

So in today’s installment of Tania’s Nifty New York Photos (or, Tania Still Regrets Not Taking That History of NYC Elective in High School), I bring you Times Square before it was formally known as such. Photos and some exciting historical tidbits after the jump!