She might be a really nice HO!

New favorite thing of the moment: Of Monsters and Men's Little Talks. Of Monsters and Men is a band fresh out of Iceland with an all-around folk/indie inspired sound. However the music is more than just a few acoustic guitars, OMaM mixes in accordions, bass, piano, and drums to create a large than life yet simple and pleasant sound. Throw in a pair of rough and harmonic vocals and it's become something akin to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes or Beirut. Still in their infant beginnings, Of Monsters and Men already has a strong cult-like following in Philadelphia and I am closely and patiently awaiting their arrival on American soil (unless I can somehow make it to Iceland in the very near future).

A live recording of Little Talks. I think my grandmother had a couch like that.

Even more exciting than some cool music is the release of Jeffrey Eugenides new book, The Marriage Plot. I've been a huge fan of Eugenides work since I read The Virgin Suicides one afternoon while busing around France. The was something so invoking and relatable to me about oppressive mothers and five sisters who strangely committed suicide within the course of a year. While I don't have five sisters and my days of an oppressive mother are long gone I still find something curious and intriguing about the style and the unsatisfying ending. Eugenides sophomore novel Middlesex was also a story that I strongly enjoyed. It took me a little more than a month to read the book during my hour break at Borders a few times a week, but in the end I did and even though I am bothered by Oprah's need to put her sticker on books I can appreciate why she did it with this one. A journey through time, the story tells the experiences of a young girl from a Greek family growing up in Michigan. Unknown to her, she carries a mutated gene from generations of inbreeding that makes her a biological hermaphrodite and in the end forces her to decide upon which sex she truly identifies with. It is a beautiful story about the challenges of growing up in an immigrant family and assimilating with American culture during some of the most trying times in American history.

The Marriage Plot looks to be as exciting and engaging as The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex and I am hoping to get my hands on a copy of it sometime this weekend while I'm in Vermont. I also need to get my own copy of Middlesex and replace the one I had of The Virgin Suicides. So much to do this weekend. 

You smell funny, you smell like conniving.

I've been bad. I haven't written in ages and when I have they haven't been very intelligent or enlightening (though that last one was pretty good, I need to listen to more music). It's been hard to want to write when I've been so busy and tired from everything else that I have going on. I've been doing a lot of required reading and writing and it's taken all of the fun out of doing what I do on here. I had forgotten that I actually like writing until the other day when we had a visitor in my nonfiction class. Jennifer Cognard-Black came to speak with us on writing and she actually led our class in writing exercises. We spent a great deal of time working with imagery and how to use imagery in our writing, something I sometimes struggle with. Later in the evening I attended a reading of her short story, Burn. It was an excellent piece about a fictionalized story in Edith Wharton's life and I commend her use of "douche" in front of the department chair. Apparently the reading was quite the turn of the century little piece of hotness for one the women sitting in the front row because she seemed very flustered and turned on by what she was hearing. More than once I saw her fanning herself and making "that face." Despite the hotness, the piece was beautifully written with flowing imagery and bountiful analogies. That was another thing I need to work on in my writing, analogies. Unfortunately the only ones I'm good at are inappropriate for even this blog. Professor Cognard-Black's visit has renewed an interest in writing for me, at least on here.

In other news The League is back! I know you'd think I'd have more exciting news than an FX show, but I really like, even more than Always Sunny. This is what happens when you spend free period in the lab with a bunch of boys. Seriously though, I live for Nick Kroll. Yes he rocks facial hair and glasses, but there's more to him that makes even better than Taco. Kroll's charcater Ruxin is a sarcastic and snarky person who always tries manipulate situatuions to his advantage in his fantasy football league. He's kind of like the male version of the me that I wish I could some days be. I alway wish that I was as cool as Jenny, Kevin's football loving wife who also happens to be a Shiva Bowl winner. The next time you're flipping through your television provider's channel list on a Thursday night make sure to land on FX and watch The League. You won't be disappointed and hopefully not too offended.

The one with the glasses is Kroll. He's cool. 

I also recently discovered that my sister finally understands me (and by recently I mean a few hours ago). It's only taken her nineteen years to figure out what a dorky nerd I can be and that my glasses really do fit my face. I haven't seen Samantha since August (I think) and I haven't spoken to since maybe before that (something that demonstrates the current nature of our relationship, but somehow she must have known that I had a "lame" weekend and for the first time ever posted something other than the obligatory "Happy Birthday" on my facebook wall. Below is a collection of nerdy pick up lines that I am sure have been used by more than just the author. The pictures are also pretty cute too.

More here.