I just started Malala's autobiography (or is it a memoir?), a birthday gift from my roommate. I'm only about a chapter in.

There's also Blue Apron and another similar service.

Congratulations! Welcome to the Fourth Estate!

"Bernadette" is one of my all-time favorite books. It's amazing.

Hartford Stage.

I know it's de rigueur to shit on pop music around these parts, but there are plenty of people on the Billboard Hot 100 who have good voices - Demi Lovato, The Weeknd, Elle King, Halsey, etc.

I'm stretching the bounds of "lately," but in July, the education branch of a local theater performed its annual hip-hop Shakespeare production, this year "Hamlet." It was performed by 15 or so teenagers who were not only phenomenal dancers, but were able to handle the Bard's words as deftly as their choreography. I'm…

Any of the seemingly endless onslaught of Selena Gomez songs cluttering the Billboard charts. Why are we still pretending she can sing?

Nice taste in music, Commish.

Although I had to get a part-time job to supplement my meager income, I'm starting to like it better than my FT gig; I'm working in a really cool music venue as the hostess of its attached bistro and all of my coworkers are awesome (so far).

Generally, I like his written work better than his segments on TAL.

I finished Emily St. John Mandel's superb The Lola Quartet last night, which I highly recommend. Up next on my to-read pile is I Am Malala.

John Mayer - Paper Doll
Elton John and Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart
The Pretenders - I'll Stand By You
First Aid Kit - Cedar Lane
Jack Johnson - Never Know
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
Lorde - Royals
Something Corporate - Watch the Sky
John Mayer - Edge of Desire
Haim - Days Are Gone
Vampire Weekend - I Stand…

Oh yeah, we get those too.

I'm making a concerted effort to fill in my movie blind spots, so this weekend I watched the original Bad News Bears and The Untouchables. The former is delightful, and the latter is pretty good; I realized it was the first Sean Connery movie I'd ever seen, so I was very charmed by him. De Niro's portrayal of Capone…

School board meetings are full of acronyms and annoying jargon. Don't even get me started on the Common Core and SBACs….

I've been a reporter for 4.5 years now, and I shudder to think how many hours of my life I've spent in board of ed/board of selectmen/PZC meetings. Don't lose hope - you'll have some Parks-esque moments eventually. Some of my favorite include the woman who read a Shakespeare monologue during a zone change public…

Rihanna came to mind immediately, but then there's the whole Chris Brown thing to deal with, so in keeping with the same "I'm famous, gorgeous and don't give a fuck" vein, I'll say Cara Delevingne.

My grandparents had 3 dogs in succession all named Ben. Posthumously, they're Original Ben, Ben No. 2 and Ben No. 3.

I think it's one of those things that seems weirder in theory than in practice; I fell hard for a guy with my dad's name and I didn't find it strange at all.