Anyone who read last week's TI will be un-surprised that I've been repeatedly listening to One Direction's album, which came out on Friday. I'm obviously biased and really like it, but friends of mine who have much more highbrow taste in music than I have listened to a few songs, without being told who the artist is,…

It's very dense with Pakistani history, which I understand is important to her life and her story, but it's so front-loaded with it that you quickly forget it's about Malala and her plight.

Driving the half hour to my parents' house, then having dinner with my mom's side of the family in the same town, and then dessert with my dad's side of the family, less than 2 minutes away from where we ate dinner. Gotta love small-town living.

Fuck my ignorant and, let's face it, racist coworkers who are currently, as I type this, bemoaning the fact that our governor is continuing to take in Syrian refugees and wish he was more like "the smart ones," aka the idiots who think they can close their borders to immigrants. I'm so angry at them I feel physically…

The Lola Quartet is the first of Mandel's books I've read and I thought it was good for what it was - a modern noir. I'm eager to read Station Eleven and see how it compares.

I can officially not recommend Malala's book, as much as it pains me to say that. I'm a fast reader; I can read a book a week, on average, and I've been reading her book since October 21. It's not a quick nor engaging read and I'm just skimming entire chapters at this point to finish it so I can get to the Pisa-esque…

Automatic upvote for Mouserat.

Ryn Weaver - The Fool
Little Mix - Secret Love Song Pt. II
The Dandy Warhols - We Used To Be Friends
George Michael - Careless Whisper
Lady Gaga - Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)
Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne - Rather Be
The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Only Love
Lorde - A World Alone
Col…

"Call Your Girlfriend" is pretty dark under its dance pop exterior.

Have you read Monsters of Templeton? I liked it even better than Arcadia, which I really enjoyed. Disappointing to hear her latest book isn't great, though.

I was OK with it until I was 16, upon which I was told the myth that one of the actors playing a Munchkin hung himself and you can see a shadow of him swinging from a rope in one scene. I haven't been able to watch the whole thing since.

Chris Rock hosted the VMAs one year during Marilyn Manson's popularity, and the opening bit where he was in some of MM's videos still freaks me out to this day.

Thankfully, there's Does the Dog Die?, where you can search to see if any animals die/are killed in a movie.
https://www.doesthedogdie.com/

I watched "Pee Wee's Playhouse" as a kid, but inexplicably, around age 10, I became terrified of Pee Wee Herman. A few years later, that same terror extended to Mr. Bean, also inexplicably, which made going to the local video store, where there was a large poster for the Bean movie and also one for Big Top Pee Wee, an…

My therapist sent a letter to my insurance company authorizing me to purchase a light box, but I've yet to hear if they'll help me out in any way. Fingers crossed.

Biologically having a higher tolerance for pain can be both a blessing and a curse.

Before I got on the pill, my periods were out of control awful. I spent most of the week curled up in the fetal position around a heating pad, intermittently barfing.

Chronic sinus headaches from fall allergies, which I've never had prior to this year, and are so bad that both Advil and Allegra aren't helping.
Seasonal affective disorder.

I had to work on Saturday night, but I work at a restaurant/music venue, so we all got to dress up, as did the audience for the show, so it was fun. I was a flapper, re-purposing my outfit from a Gatsby-themed NYE party I went to a few years ago. After work, I met up with a friend of mine who I happen to want to bang…

This was the first thing I'd ever seen him in and I was absolutely smitten. Andrea Martin is a goddamn delight as Julie's mom, too.