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

Do I even need to spell out why this clip is bizarre, hilarious and frightening? I wish I had come up with this, but alas, it's from Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic via Mother Reader.

New Jeff Tweedy song performed in Spain recently. Yippee.

This American Life segment. Illustrated by the awesome Chris Ware. Fascinating short.

Not a fan of Kenley. But I do like the girl's hairpieces.

Simplicity has a tutorial

Here is a link to her whole collection.

I like this. A lot. Hello Saferide tell these tiny little stories with their songs. This is just one...

Check out my new gig: Clea's Corner which I'm doing for Girlsense.com— I've been writing an advice column for them for almost three years, but we've decided to mix it up a bit. It's so nice when work and guilty pleasures collide.

My husband and I love this house in our neighborhood. It has a bridge to the front door. It's weird. And wacky. And wonderful. And the old couple who have lived in it since it was built in the 60s are moving out and their son called us and wanted to know if we wanted to buy it. O. My. God.

I don't have a real job. And I impatiently await to see if any of my new book proposals will be loved and purchased. Dreaming of this house got me through the tumor and the hospital stay. Weird that exactly two years later (seriously, like to the day) we get a call about this house. Yep, it's the two year anniversary of my very own heirloom tomato being removed from my heart and lungs. Yipee for me! I'm alive and healthy and well and occasionally wise.

So this being a writer thing, it's wonderful and joyous and painful and rough. I can look at other writers' books and blogs and think, why didn't I do that? I could have done that, I think. And then I proceed to beat myself up. And to an extent, rightfully so. Because I am not the most focused person in the world and I try and juggle so many different ideas and thoughts and roles and personas and geez, even blogs that I end up doing all of them sort of half-assed. Which isn't a new concept, I mean it's common, it's a cliche. I'm a cliche. It's such a cliche that I just called myself a cliche. I am so not good at the meta thing.

I probably should pick one thing to be and be it. Or at the very least one blog to write and write it.

So we got a new puppy, who is mega cute and mega annoying. She nips and barks and pips and grrs and jumps and I forgot how hard it is to have a new pup! But she is cute and the best part is how when she sleeps, she cuddles up to George our older dog like she's her own personal pillow. And George lets her. George lets her do most anything and occasionally puts Ozzie's little head in her big mouth (oh, they're just playing!)

Everyone is doing their round-ups of Best Songs of 2007 and I love this time of year because I will always find something I haven't heard of on someone's list that I give a listen to that just rox my sox. This year it's a band called Bodies of Water. This is such a Clea band-- weird choral-like back-ups, female lead vocals, peppy music that belies the over dramatic nature of the lyrics! Love it. Found this one on Bon Ton's round-up of 2007 faves.

Bodies of Water, "Our Friends Appear Like The Dawn"

I may do my own list soon, but honestly, it's going to be very predictable (in other words, Wilco will top it.) The other artist I fell in love with this year was Maia Hirasawa, from Hello Saferide, but I actually don't own the album. I want to. But it's a $32 import. I'll pony up post holidaze. I just love everything I heard from her. Fresh, clean, brisk girl-pop with a Swedish accent.

Maia Hirasawa, "And I Found This Boy"

So my book comes out January 9th, less than one month away. And I should let you know, I finished the follow up already, it's about FRIENDSHIP and I'm pretty happy with it. My editor is the best. That book just wasn't clicking with me entirely until she got her hands on it.

So anyway, 30 DAYS TO GETTING OVER THE DORK: A Heartbreak Handbook, will be out next month. Request me at your local Borders or indie bookseller! I have made these DORK BINGO game cards, got myself a bunch of bingo markers and am ready to roll. I'm going to bring them to my in-store appearances and we're gonna play games. And maybe make some voo doo dolls out of old socks, who knows. Look back here, I'm going to post some of that stuff for download on this here blog i case I ain't coming to your town.

That's the latest. Thanks for visiting and reading and just being you. xoxo

My Latest Book & Blog

Just a little reminder that I have set up a blog for my latest book, which drops this time next year. It's called 30 DAYS TO GETTING OVER THE DORK YOU USED TO CALL A BOYFRIEND. It will be released through Delacorte, the fabulous people who brought you King Dork and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The blog features the best BREAK-UP MUSIC since the book is all about moving on from a bad relationship. I'm posting over there more than anywhere else these days (although occasionally smALL AGES is still seeing some play.) Check it out and don't hesitate to leave a comment on your favorite Break-Up song, movie, book or otherwise.

Oh, and that's the current cover, although it may still change... thoughts?

Lists are better when read with a lisp.

My 20 favorite songs of the year, not really in order, but sort of.

The Young Republic, "When I See Your Eyes, I Swear to God Our Worlds Collide"
This wins for the song that stuck in my head the most this year. I don't know if this was officially even released or where it's from or if it's genuinely from this year but the Young Republic did release some stuff, ALL EXCELLENT. If they can stay together they could take this indie world by storm what with their cute boy singer with his heart on his sleeve and their cadre of strings (that's their pic up above). It just makes my heart hurt like when I was 20 and I just wanted to know him.

More about The Young Republic

Eef Barzelay, "Ballad of Bitter Honey"
Those lyrics! The heartbreaking delivery of indie rock boy posing as ho with a heart of gold! One of my husband's favorite songs of the year too.

More about Eef Barzelay

The Hussy's, 'Tiger"
If I could sing this is the kind of band I'd like to front. Silly, sassy, poptastically delish, both of their EPs from this year are so damn fun and chock filled with handclaps and woo woos, and boy o boy do I love woo woos.

More about The Hussy's

The Kooks, "She Moves in Her Own Way"
Best pop song of the year in my opinion. It's so danceable and I can practice my fake Brit accent while I sing along!

More about The Kooks

TV on the Radio, "Wolf Like Me"
It's on everyone's list. You know why it's good. Crescendos, baby. And fury!

More about TV on the Radio

The Hold Steady, "Stuck Between Stations"
Ditto. On. Everyone's. List. Obviously super-duper swell. Lyrically it stings with greatness. Oh how Springsteen has been re-invented for the new millenium.

More about The Hold Steady

Arizona, "Splintering"
The first few seconds of this song always make me question my love of it, but then it starts to flow and by the first minute mark I'm flooded with all the feelings that put this song on this list.

More about Arizona

I'm From Barcelona, "Ola Kala"
The whole things zings, such a great uplifting tune. Just try and not shake.

More about I'm From Barcelona

Jim Noir, "Eany Meany"
This is a Sunday afternoon in song. How did he capture a feeling so well? And I discovered it from a World Cup commercial, no less. Brilliance in my opinion.

More about Jim Noir

The Rosewood Thieves, "Los Angeles"
Found this via Heather at Fuel and I can't get enough. The whole ep is real good but this song, from the piano plunks onward, well, yowsa. A couple years back I went ga-ga for the first Thrills CD and this has something-something that that CD had, (a penchant for writing songs about California perhaps?) but I can't wait to see what this young guy does next.

More about The Rosewood Thieves

Envelopes, "Sister in Love"
Oh crap. It's just so fun and so freaking catchy.

More about Envelopes

Bird and Bee, "I'm a Broken Heart"
I love breathy melancholia, I love the slight tinge of Bacharach-ian pomposity, this whole EP is so shiny in a 70s lip-gloss sort of way and I love it.

More about Bird and Bee

Lily Allen, "Alfie"
Several friends sent me various Lily Allen mp3s via email because they knew I'd love her. And yes, oh how I love the ladies who can sling those zingy barbs. Her and Nellie McKay both posses this respect and knowledge of music that came before them and both readdress it with wholly new attitude and style.

More about Lily Allen

Cat Power, "The Greatest"
Never connected with Cat Power before this CD. Maybe I needed "accessible" or maybe I just needed the Memphis thang but wow, this thing, particularly this song, just hurts its so good.

More about Cat Power

Tally Hall, "Ruler of Everything"
I like every song on this really weird record. Just pop music, at once happy and dark and did I mention weird??

More about Tally Hall

Belle and Sebastian, "Funny Little Frog"
I know this song isn't about Stuart's non-existant baby, but save for the line about "not knowing how you smell," lyrically and emotionally this sums up how I felt about my baby girl (granted months after she was born, those first ones all I wanted to do was deliver her back from whence she came.) Just jubillant!

More about Belle and Sebastian

Gomez, "Woman! Man!"
I'm not a huge Gomez fan, I mean I can enjoy some of their songs, but this one from their latest rocks me socks. Maybe it's the slight Shins meet Neil Diamond vibe or maybe it's the line that makes me smile each time it resurfaces: "For hope will spring eternal, while loves got you on your knees..." I know most "real" Gomez fans don't like this song so much... but um....

More about Gomez

Regina Spektor, "Better"
I was late to this game but now, well I absolutely love her phrasing and emotion. And the simple lyrics to this song kill. "If I kiss you where you are sore, will you feel better, or nothing at all?" And the opening sequence makes me want to learn piano so I can bang along.

More about Regina Spektor

Thao Nguyen, "Moped"
Found this on Daytrotter. Just a simple girl and her guitar doesn't get me in the gut too often these days (but a few years ago... well that is a different story). But I keep coming back to this song time and time again. It's just a bit more than cute...

More about Thao Nguyen

Julieta Venegas, "Canciones de Amor"
99 Luftballoons!!!!!

More about Julieta Venegas

Zayra Alvarez, "All The Young Dudes" (Live on Rock Star)
I'll plead my case. Last year's installment of Rock STar (INXS) really seemed to be a group of mostly moderately talented nice kids in an unfortunate situation playing for a group of moderately talented and certainly likeable ex-rockers in need of a lead singer and it made for decent TV. This season's Rock Star was pretty much the opposite: unlikeable kids and an unlikeable band and most of the contestants seemed truly untalented to their core, it was still unfortunate but it didn't make for good TV, save for one person: Zayra Alvarez, her Puerto Rican Bjork voice and wild outfits were awesome through and through, on every level. And here she covers one of my favorite anthemic songs of the 70s in an utterly quirky way (and she's held back only by the limits of the house band and television's expectations) and I only wish it was way, way longer.

More about Zayra Alvarez


**I'll fix the "more about" links later tonight! Sorry!

The Bird and the Bee

Inara George is Lowell George's daughter. He was a musician who swung with the in-crowd in Cali in the 70s, with people like Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstandt, while in his own band, Little Feat. Inara put out a CD that was lovely if not a little boring a few years back. But this year, she's teamed with this guy Greg Kurstin who has set her whole sweet sound to some elctronic beats. Throw in some foul language sing-songed in that light and airy voice and you've got yourself a hit in my book. Seriously, I love this little EP they put out in advance of their full-length that comes out at the first of the new year. This is the perfect soundtrack for my MS Getting Over the Dork You Used to Call a Boyfriend !

The Bird and the Bee, "I'm a Broken Heart"

Oddly, I haven't even had this CD a whole month and look what I found in its case? Why it's Journey's Greatest Hits!

Journey, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'"

There is more Bird & Bee on their MySpace page.