I love me some orange fingers.


Don't get me wrong, I don't actually eat Cheetos anymore. Mostly. But I love the idea of them so. And now there are GIANT CHEETOS. They even come in the flaming variety. But how do they stack up to regular ol' Cheetos? I dunno. Yet... Gotta get me to a 7-11 today!

MY BFF Challenge


Tuesday and I were in Los Angeles visiting one of my BFFs, the lovely Miss Amy Devers when after a lengthy discussion about blogging, promoting one's awesomeness and undergarment grafiti, we challenged each other to post more and the next thing we knew we were purchasing flip video cameras to document not only this particularly inspiring occasion, but our careers, inspirations and lives in general. Whoa, that was one long sentence. If I don't post twice a week, I owe Amy $2 in our vacation fund. And visa versa. I've posted more than twice already this week. Oh Amy... how you doing?

First Flip video, shot in LA

Lips Official State Song?

Flaming Lips "Do You Realize" was voted down as Oklahoma's state song, BUT Governor Brad Henry says he's gonna sign an Executive Order to make it so tomorrow.

Read the article, if you like.

Flaming Lips, "Do You Realize?" Live on KCRW, 2004

Tony! Toni! Tone!?

So it was one of the best junk food movies of last year and I can't wait to watch it with my husband on DVD. I'm talking Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Way back when Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's book came out, I read it in one day and emailed her for a list of her musical inspirations for the book. She wrote back and gave me a list. And it's so cool because her list follows along with the story and characters.

Here is a link to that post in case you're curious. And you should be. Rachel is cool. Her blog can be found at http://www.rachelcohn.com/

Goop, Gwyneth & Frenemies

Gwyneth Paltrow does this blog newsletter called Goop and she recently wrote about bad news friends. Seeing as my latest book is about being a better friend (and learning when it's right to cut your losses with a bad one) I thought I should write about Apple's Mom's take on the topic. And this is why her blog is pretty interesting-- she asks a question, in this case "why do we feel pleasure when we talk badly about other people"-- to several different spiritual people. And then she posts their answers.

Why do you think you get pleasure out of making fun of someone else? And you know we all do to a certain extent. I can admit it. And taking this beyond the goop question, what is the motivation for talking trash about a friend? What is the payback? Do we feel better about ourselves when we put other people down? And not to sound like a weenie, but is that any way to feel good? Aren't there other, far better ways?

The answer of course is yes. Yes, there are.

But don't get me wrong, I have to work at it all a little harder than I should, sometimes.

Whoa! I'm available on Kindle!

Didn't expect that. Publishers don't tell you anything.

My book came out, unceremoniously last week. Still, my heart sings because it's a good one and I know I did right by my friends. Check it out, it's available on Amazon.com and other fine book retailers.

Bands who Twitter

Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls

Band of Horses

The lovely Regina Spektor

Tokyo Police Club

Imogen Heap

And here is a fake Nick Cave... it's kind of funny... "Crying at my piano. Mick has abandoned me. Why did I tell him that hummus had too much tahini? Why? Why?"

This Just in:

Polaroid has been saved! An Austrian businessman/artist named Florian Kaps recently purchased the Polaroid factory in Enschede, Amsterdam. An effort called The Impossible Project , Kaps is working with photography company Ilfort to develop new (old school) Polaroid film, which will reportedly hit retail under the Impossible label by December.

Yippee!!!

Inauguration Concerts:

--Kids' Inaugural: We Are The Future will air tonight, Monday, January 19th @ 8PM ET/PT on Disney Channel. You know it includes the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato, it is on the Disney Channel after all. Also Bow Wow, Corbin Bleu, Billy Ray, Keke Palmer and Usher will be on hand. But wait, there is more: Queen Latifah, Rosario Dawson, George Lopez, Jaime Foxx and Lucy Liu, will be there, not to mention the new first family, girls and all. 13 year old Perry Rubin, the daughter of entertainment reporter Sam Rubin will be talking to the people.

--The Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration’, which will air live on ABC (8:00 - 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, Tuesday, January 20 and will feature Beyonce, Faith Hill, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, JAY-Z, Alicia Keys, Shakira and Stevie Wonder. Nick Cannon will DJ the event. I'm sure there are others involved.

-- Tonight the Beastie Boys headline the "Hey, America Feels Kinda Cool Again" Inaugural Gala at the 9:30 Club.

-- Jay-Z with be at the Warner Theatre tonight.

-- In Chicago the political organization Interchange will present the "Big Shoulders Ball" at the Black Cat with Ted Leo, Andrew Bird, Tortoise, and the Waco Brothers.

-- The Hip Hop Inaugural Ball features Russell Simmons, T.I., Young Jeezy, and LL Cool J and will be at the Harman Center for the Arts.

--Tuesday night the Creative Colaition's Ball features Elvis Costello, Sting and Sam Moore.

--The We Are One Celebration already occurred and was written about in People with pictures!

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More in Music and Politics—

Change Is Now is a CD and DVD, the latter of which which features nine iconic Obama speeches, starting with the campaign announcement in Springfield and ending with the election night victory speech in Chicago. The whole shebang to $30 and you can get it here. Here is the rundown/tracklist...

Change Is Now: Renewing America's Promise:
01 will.i.am: "It's a New Day" *
02 The Tony Rich Project: "The Dream is Real"
03 Stevie Wonder: "All About the Love Again"
04 Ozomatli: "Can't Stop"
05 Sheryl Crow: "Peace Be Upon Us"
06 India.Arie: "There's Hope"
07 Melissa Etheridge: "God Is in the People" *
08 Lenny Kravitz: "Change"
09 Robin Thicke: "Dreamworld"
10 Maroon 5: "Pure Imagination (2009 Version)" *
11 Usher: "Hush" *
12 BeBe Winans: "Born for This"
13 Wilco: "What Light"
14 James Taylor: "Shed a Little Light"
15 Jennifer Hudson: "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Bonus tracks:
16 Lionel Richie: "Eternity (David Foster Live Strings Mix)" *
17 Death Cab for Cutie: "Grapevine Fires"
18 Common: "Changes"

* includes excerpts from Barack Obama speeches

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Even more Music + Politics:

-- Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies is a recent three-disc boxed set featuring 43 songs dedicated to America's 43 presidents. There is a brand new Obama song, "Someone to Wake", which is sung by Centro-matic's Will Johnson. It's available as a free download on the project's website.

Ever wanted to be a screenwriter? Well if you think the creator of Buffy, Angel, Firefly and the wonderful Dr. Horrible is an evil genius, then this article is for you. Essentially Joss Whedon gave up his top ten writing tips to a magazine called 4Talent (to the writer Catherine Bray) and blogger Danny Stack asked permission to reprint them in full.

I'm gonna post just one here and I have to tell you, it made me laugh and laugh. I have 12 completed books under my belt, but about 100 more unfinished ones...

1. FINISH IT
Actually finishing it is what I’m gonna put in as step one. You may laugh at this, but it’s true. I have so many friends who have written two-thirds of a screenplay, and then re-written it for about three years. Finishing a screenplay is first of all truly difficult, and secondly really liberating. Even if it’s not perfect, even if you know you’re gonna have to go back into it, type to the end. You have to have a little closure.

To read the whole 10, go here.

Sherpard's showing in the Smthsonian



In front of senators, congressmen and governors, Shepard Fairy's iconic portrait of President Elect Obama was unveiled at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., alongside considerably more traditional paintings of other presidents such as Washington, Lincoln and Reagan.

"The whole idea that 'underground is good and government is bad' is a very one-dimensional idea," Fairey said, standing in front of a brand-new, 16-by-6 painting of the soon-to-be-president at his traveling "Manifest Hope: DC Gallery" in Georgetown.

"It's really about taking the opportunity to make the system what we can make it — as progressive, forward-thinking people — and raising the bar for everyone."

For more on the event, Shepard and the indelible portrait, check out the article on MTV.com

The 7 Worlds Collide team performing Radiohead's 'Fake Plastic Trees' at the first show of the tour 05.01.09. A series of concerts where all the profit went to Oxfam.

Ed O'Brien - guitar
Liam Finn - guitar
Jeff Tweedy - vocals/guitar
John Stirratt - bass
Phil Selway - drums
Johnny Marr - guitar