The Dud Avocado

I just finished reading The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy to and fro different locations in the city, and I have to say that I enjoyed this cult classic a staggering amount (after the first 100 pages, mind you). The Dud Avocado takes you on a whirlind adventure of the fictional young American actress Sally Jay Gorce on her adventures meeting various characters and psuedo/faithful suitors throughout Europe. If you prefer to take your sifter of brandy in the dimly lit, burgundy hued library post dinner, or just wish that you were that person on occasion, you will really enjoy this novel. Some of my favorite quotes:

-"I felt my attention wandering off. It generally does at the phrase "mere child."

-"I remember a little later wondering why things always turn out to be diametrically opposed to what you expect them to be. It's no good even trying to predict what this opposite will be because it always fools you and turns out to be the opposite of that, if you see what I mean. If you think this is geometrically impossible all I can say is that you don't know my life."

-"Tell me something,' I asked him, 'tell me exactly how we would live. This isn't just idle curiosity. It's difficult to explain, but I just somehow feel that I never really have lived; that I never really will live - exist or whatever - in the sense that other people do. It drives me crazy. I was terribly aware of it all those nights waiting for you in the Ritz bar looking around at what seemed to be real grown-up lives. I just find everybody else's life surrounded by plate glass. I mean I'd like to break through it just once and actually touch one."

-"Anyway, I said I didn't know where to put it down because I was always losing things, even in my hotel room, or they were losing me, rather. It's a gradual thing--I kind of slowly miss them--it's as if they're weaning themselves from me. I've never known a fountain pen longer than month and I'm lucky if a lipstick stays with me for three weeks."

-"It was one of those nights where the air is blood-temperature and it's impossible to tell where you leave off and it begins."

-"Don't you like me?" "I love you. If you hadn't existed I would have had to invent you."

-"[T]he question actors most often get asked is how they can bear saying the same things over and over again night after night, but God knows the answer to that is, don’t we all anyway; might as well get paid for it."

There you go...a glimpse of intelligence.

Missed Connections

MEH, if you don't have the balls to say anything the first time then it probably wasn't meant to be. I still wouldn't mind watching this though, as long as it's not similar to Paper Heart. I wanted that one to be way more poignant than it actually was.

I Wish My Name Was Valerie

Whilst browsing the self-help section of Barnes and Noble the other day (I wouldn't lie about such a thing) I noticed the song "Valerie" by Steve Winwood playing throughout the store. My mind then began to soar off into the wonderful world of Molly's whack observations. Do you realize how many great songs are about this figure known as Valerie? WHO IS SHE, huh?! I mean we all know about Miss Amanda Jones, but Valerie? What an ominous figure that one is. Here are my fav Valerie jams:




(Originally recorded by The Zutons...BUT we do Mark Ronson on this forum)

RILEYISLOVE@AOL.COM

http://rileyybobiley.blogspot.com/

THIS IS MY BEST FRIEND'S BLOG.

LET THE HILARITY WASH OVER YOU LIKE AN EXOTIC WATERFALL.

I don't even think it's a you have to know him to understand kind of thing.

Chain Reaction

I hope this individually worked out for them because altogether their like ideas worked out quite well for my entertainment.

The Swell Season- Young Hearts Run Free (Candi Staton Cover)

Now, just because Glen Hansard does a cover of a song notoriously loved by all the queens out there does not have to mean he's gay. The point of the Levi's Pioneer Sessions (essentially, pretty fantastic) is to perform songs which have inspired artists along their creative road...so okay, maybe Glen's a little gay. AREN'T THEY ALL?

Full Recording:

Justin Bieber- Somebody to Love

When you're my age you really have to knuckle down and start tackling the issue of compromise. For example, though there is a pretty definite chance that I will never read a single book from the Twilight series or see any of the movies, you can be assured that I WILL UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE AN ONGOING CASE OF BIEBER FEVER! It's all about the compromise.

Robyn- Dancing On My Own (acoustic)

Oh my...YES. The initial piano accompaniment sounds like the theme from Forrest Gump (which I so diligently attempted to learn for a piano recital when I was around eleven, naturally succumbing to playing Clair de Lune upon the request of my instructor). I digress. This is Robyn, and this is lovely.

Never Let Me Go

This looks fantastic. It's based on the book of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have a total girl crush on Carey Mulligan...maybe if she'd stop being in movies with such incredible period costumes. Apparently, it's a sci-fi movie? I don't see it, but that's all the more reason to pick up a copy of the book.

Robyn- Body Talk Part 1 OUT TODAY!!!

When I need a pop fix, and don't mistake me, I need it often, I turn up some Robyn. This is the first full length album she has released this year, and within 2010 there will be two more. That news is music to my ears (pun cheaply intended)! Here is one of the easier tracks that I quite like, "Cry When You Get Older":

Thank Heavens for Jack Zeta-Jones

A fantastic recreation of Catherine's "Send in the Clowns" performance at the 2010 Tony's. Hey, at least I only want to vomit a mere fraction compared to watching the real thing.

Catherine Zeta-Embarrassing

I'm sorry. This is just sad and awful. I am glad that everyone on youtube seems to agree. But it does not stop here. OH NO, she then went on to win an award for this crap. For those of you who don't know, basically she has absolutely no sense of what the song is about. Nevermind, you don't want to get me started on picking apart this "display". For those of you who do know, she clearly has a deadpan case of the Ramona eyes.

YAHTZEE! I Found Jarrod Gorbel

What in the world? How did I just stumble upon THIS Brooklyn-based boy wonder? Once the front man of The Honorary Title, he's acting upon his own solo musings. He's got a wicked voice, and I can't wait to keep exploring.

Here he is performing "Ten Years Older" with the PS22 Chorus (PS: Anyone who performs with the PS22 chorus can expect my reaction to involve involuntary sexual advances.I'm giving you fair warning.)