From the Interwebs- Abadnoned Places, Religion, Apps, and Hot Women

A few great links from my Twitter feed today:

1. "17 Abandoned Places Around the World that Your Probably Didn't Know About" (Thought Catalog)- A list of places ranging in site from Taiwan to Brazil to Italy. Do you think I can get a good deal on one of the futuristic houses?

[Taiwan; Thought Catalog via Wikipedia]

2. "Religion Map of Congress Members" (Huffington Post)- I think article led me to more questions that anything. Are there any agnostic or athetists? Is this just a box they checked off, or are they really practicing? 

[source]

3. "The Ten Best Writing Apps on the iPad" (TNW)- I've got my hands on an iPad for awhile (well, for the school year at least) and ran across this list. I keep seeing Evernote pop up and am super intrigued my Blogsy, which would allow me to blog away from my computer.

[source]

4. "Giada de Laurentiis to Open Restaurant in Las Vegas Next Year" (LA Times)- I'm a huge fan of good (as in not Olive Garden) Italian food and de Laurentiis, so I couldn't be more happier that she plans on opening her first restaurant a few hours away from where I live. 

[source]

5. "Sexed Up and Smart: Women Debate Marisa Mayer's Vogue Shoot" (CNN)- Attractive professional women are damned if they do, damned if they don't. Mayer is beautiful and powerful- it's not like she did a spread for Playboy.

[source]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Interwebs- Advice, Travel, Celebrity Deaths, and Pizza

[source]

1. Check out this post from What's Gaby Cooking on her trip to Alaska. I did some Googling and found out her expedition was incredibly expensive, but it looks completely worth it.

2. I love my friends and family members with kids, but this article, "5 Things Parents Need to Stop Saying to Non-Parents" in the Huffington Post is so great. I mean so, so, so great. I really hate it when people assume that my husband and I will instantly become different people when we become parents. Our lives will change when that time comes, but you know what? We don't eat over our carpet, and neither will our kids. Neither of us will have to abandon our hobbies. I will not subject myself to hours of animated animals singing. And I will never go to Disneyland more than once a year (or even less). Done. Boom. Drop mic. Walk away. The end.

3. I loved this list of fifteen favorite places in the world. Some are typical, but some are places I never really thought about traveling to before (Berline, for example).

4. This Hello Giggles article isn't exactly the best, but it did make me think about why people care so much about celebrity deaths. Take that guy from Glee- I feel badly for his parents and loved ones, and it's always tragic when someone feels so horribly about life they turn to drugs, but I'm really not affected. I know it sounds crass, but I can't muster up more than a "that's too bad."

5. I loved this story about the little girl with cancer who ends up having a pizza party. Pretty impressed that she was able to eat three pieces! And that SoCal people were nice enough to notice and send food.

From the Interwebs- Fun with Sluts, Extradition, Dyslexia, and More!

 1. While maybe not reading, you should of course check out today's Google Doodle, honoring the late Maurice Sendak, whose 85th birthday would have been today.

2. Slate's article "Where Should I Flee to Avoid Extradition" is incredibly useful if you plan on doing anything that warrants asylum. This piece was of course triggered by Edward Snowden and his current location in Hong Kong, which experts are saying may not have been the smartest place to flee to. Instead he should have tried Iceland, France (duh- they let Roman Polanski stay), or Ecuador. We'll save the PRISM discussion for another day.

[You wish]

3. Need some new friends? You might want to try sluts. Jezebel persuades their readers with "10 Reasons Sluts Make Better Friends," arguing that slutty friends are better conversationalists, more fun, are open-minded, and surprisingly sympathetic. It sounds bad I know, but I have to say that there is some definite truth to this. And for the privacy of my own friends I will now shut up...

[In Vegas... never thought I'd have a legit reason to use it]

 

4. As readers we generally try to connect with the characters we're reading about. "What Literary Character Do You Identify With" from the Thought Catalog got me thinking (his was Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, while his girlfriend was Jessica from Sweet Valley High). I definitely feel TS Spivet is a kindred spirit, but I'm sure there are more. 

5. Hungry? Need to be inspired on a culinary level? Try this, this, or this.

6. This quick blurb from Galley Cat discusses a new open-source font that helps those with dyslexia have an easier time identifying letters. Using technology for good. 

Top Ten Tuesday- Rainbows and Unicorns

This week The Broke and the Bookish ask us what we read when we want something "light and fun." Cue the puppies, kittens, rainbows, and unicorns. While there are definitely some books/authors I turn to when this is what I need, I tend to gravitate towards other reading materials when I need something that fits this bill. 

1. People.com- People is a nice compromise between, say, Jezebel and TMZ. 

2. someecards.com- I love, love, love someecards- they're snarky, timely, and funny as hell.

[any day now...]

3. Howsweeteats.com- While I adore her recipes, I love the "crumbs" section- musings about her life and great beauty recommendations.

4. Twitter- I don't take anything on Twitter seriously, ever. My absolute favorite is MLB Jesus (just ask my poor husband, to whom I constantly read his tweets to during Giants games). 

5. Thoughtcatalog.com- While the articles aren't all warm and fuzzy, I tend to read the ones that aren't depressing or dramatic. The other day I thoroughly enjoyed a speculative list of Jay-Z's 99 problems (Beyonce appeared a few times, therefore contradicting the whole " and a bitch aint one" claim...).

6.  In Style- I have subscribed to In Style for probably twelve years. I can afford maybe 5% of the clothes, but I adore the layouts and articles. 

7. Student Creative Writing Pieces- Once in awhile my students are assigned creative timed writes, most of which end up being hilarious. The topic a few weeks ago was "the last time I cried." One girl wrote a dramatic, descriptive, heart-wrenching, and totally made-up piece about her family running out of milk, making it impossible for her to have her morning cereal. Another prompt was what they would do if it was their last week to live. A student wrote a story about me, spelling my last name backwards, about how we went to Narnia and got into a "nag off." They're the best. Seriously.

8. Books by Comedians or Celebrities: I know that they go through hard times, but there's generally a lot of humor and fluff padding the pages. 

9. Nostalgic Reads: Harry Potter, Charlotte's Web, The Narnia Series, Curious George, etc...

10. Texts from Dog: Words can't describe how hilarious this site is- I've sent the links to friend before to only get texts back hours later informing me that they've spent the time in between reading the archives. 

[source; their book is come soon!]

 

From the Interwebs

[nothing to do with this post, everything to do with my new obsession]

Some articles and posts I've been digging lately:

1. State of the Uterus Address- Young House Love: One of my biggest peeves as of late has been people asking me when I'm going to have a baby. Do people not realize what exactly they're asking? They might as well say "Hey, I'm wondering when you and your husband are going to have unprotected sex in the hopes that you are both fertile and ready for an offspring to take over your lives for the next eighteen years old." Umm, personal, much? I mean if I bring it up with you, then game on, but otherwise, no. This article is much nicer than I, but she brings up some excellent issues.

2.  Will Everyone Please Eat Gluten? Please? Because You are Literally Killing Me, Kind of- Elissa Strauss, Jezebel: I so hate fad diets. People constantly are searching for the next big thing to temporarily lose a few pounds the supposed quick and easy way. Just because Gwyneth does it doesn't mean we all should! I think what irks me the most about the gluten-free one is that the Celiacs out there who truly can't eat it must adhere to the diet for survival. By jumping on the no-gluten train for a few weeks or months you're almost mocking them. Plus it's expensive. 

3.  Chinua Achebe, Writer Widely Seen as the Father of African Literature, Dies at 82- Daniel Politi, Slate: I honestly haven't read anything by Achebe, but I will in the near future. It's sad when authors die- they get 0.01% of the attention celebrities do. 

4. Chef Who Killed, Then Cooked Wife Sentenced to 15 Years to Life- Ashley Powers, LA Times: All I'm going to say is that part of David Viens defense was the line "I love my wife. I didn't cook my wife." If my husband ever starts boiling water I'm going to run the eff out of my house pronto.

5. Forget Bars. Hose the Perfect Game Night Instead- Brian Donovan, Thought Catalog: I was just talking about the lost art of game night the other day with someone at work when I saw this. Once upon a time my friends used to get together in high school for game night and it was such good, clean fun. There was so, so much Scattegories to be had! And then I grew up and wanted to go out all the time. And then I grew up some more and realized that sometimes I want to be a hostess and have people over to get drunk in my living room instead. It's so much cheaper, guys.