What Would Jane Austen Do?

Any introduction would take away from it: From Leslie Harpold: "Possible Scenarios for Heaven" A record arm that you can pick up and put down in favorite parts of your life to play over, like dropping the needle in the middle of your favorite song back in 1980, when you knew exactly which part of the groove was where the guitar solo to "Train in Vain" ended. Moving it there meant you could dance around your room for just one more minute before shoving off, face first, into the snow on a school day. Pick the arm up in heaven, and it's the moment right before Billy Mullen kisses you, standing in the Putt Putt parking lot, just before the street lights come on. Leave it playing through the part where you race home, feet barely touching the ground for the nine blocks you run until you collapse on the landing, face flushed. Lift it off again before you hear your mom say "Young lady..." After savoring it a moment, which might be three hundred heaven years, d...

What moron posted the wrong video and called it "The Best of the Year?" Anyway, here's the real thing: Complete with stupid hippie stoner cameraman.

Why do I have a favorite music video of the year? What am I, 15? Oh, no, my pets. This is Jim James and M. Ward live at St. David's church in Austin during SXSW. [Jim James even cut his hair -- swoon .] This is straight out of a dream. [Jim James comes in around the 3:00 mark in this 7:14 video.] Now why is this my least favorite video of the year? BECAUSE IT CUTS OFF BEFORE THE END OF THE SONG. WTF? YOU POT-SMOKING HIPPIE CAMERAMAN. Here's a more complete version, but this one cuts off the beginning. (3:07)

A Wild and Introspective Guy Because I like Steve Martin, but this thread covers a lot more about comedy and writing. Upgrades As Jason Kottke said , "No one needs more stuff. But if you've got some disposable income burning a hole in your pocket..."

I forgot to add in the last post that all week long I'll be posting my favorite writing from around the web. Here is a piece I found that was written by Ben Stein for The New York Times in honor of Father's Day. Take it away, Ben: When You Weren’t Looking, They Were Working MOST business journalism is about investments and the people who make them, usually on a large scale. Or else it is about the big dogs who run the mighty earldoms of American business and the agencies that regulate them. This is fair enough. As Calvin Coolidge said, “The business of America is business.” We all want to read about money and how it’s made and lost. But for young people who might have no idea of what business involves, or even what work beyond flipping burgers or selling DVDs might mean, here is a little primer on what it is and why it means something as Father’s Day approaches. A few days ago, I came across a draft of a memoir my father was working on before he entered immortality in 1999. ...

I thought that I would use the week between Christmas and New Year's to post some of my favorite things from the past year. True, I'm running 2 days late now, but that's not actually so bad for me. Favorite Album: My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges No contest. Favorite Movie: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Here's some better Christmas music. Happy holidays y'all. "Merry Christmas from the Family" by Robert Earl Keen. "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues with Kristy MacColl . (Thx Flubby) "Christmas at K-Mart" by Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band . "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" by the Ramones . Tell me some of your favorites in the comments.

I curled up on the couch last night and watched the SF Ballet production of The Nutcracker on t.v. with Becca. It was SUCH a great production, set in 1915 San Francisco. I'm still swooning over the costumes. Thanks for the tip MrsEm . It's repeating on PBS throughout the holidays.

3 hours of sleep + lasagna at lunch = forehead hitting desk soon.

cookie party at biz' , originally uploaded by houston mamacita . By request of a few: Nutella Cookies 2.5 cups flour 0.5 teaspoon baking powder 0.5 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup butter (softened) 1 cup packed dark brown sugar 1 cup granulated sugar approx. 26 oz Nutella (one large jar) 1 cup chopped hazelnuts 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract In one bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and the two sugars until all is integrated and fluffy. Mix in the Nutella, followed by the chopped hazelnuts. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl in three increments, integrating each one before adding the next. Chill dough while oven preheats to 350 degrees F. Scoop the dough into balls and bake for about 10 minutes.

Jim Parsons mentioned this in a thread on Houstonist about the controversial Philip Johnson building that houses the UH Architecture School. Yeah, Johnson used an unbuilt design from an 18th century French architect as his model, and at the groundbreaking, a bunch of students in Philip Johnson glasses apparently showed up and heckled him. My favorite part of the story is that Johnson himself reportedly burst through a banner showing a rendering of the building, just like high school football players do before a game. Of course, he was already 175 years old, so that took a lot of moxie. Or a banner with a Philip Johnson-shaped perforation cut into it.

trees with lights , originally uploaded by houston mamacita . I love Christmas lights in Houston. The best is when they wrap the trunks in lights and then let the lights fall down from the branches like Spanish moss.

The Orange Show (a folk art museum and amusement park dedicated to, you know, oranges ) hosted the East End Christmas Party last night. You are going to die when you hear how cool it was. First of all, there were lowriders parked all over the street. Then, as soon as I walked in, somebody handed me a hot buttered rum. Oh, yes. They also had beer and iced tea. Good call on the refreshments, eh? Upstairs they had tamales and hot sauce from Big Daddy's Ass Burn -- there were three varieties; I really liked the Flaming Lips one. It was made with pineapple juice. I talked to the guy from Big Daddy's for a minute. He's friends with the Flaming Lips , he teaches Math at Memorial High School, and he looks like a member of Metallica. He let Becca rub his beard. There were crafts for the kiddos, and the entertainment -- oh, y'all . There were three Spanish-speaking acts. The highlight -- the one who got all the Mexican teenage girls a-jumpin' -- was Chingo Bling...

This is usually Decorno's gig, but she's out cavorting in Mexico. Somebody has to step up. Do you know how much I hate Pottery Barn? Actually, I can't even say it's a pure hate. There are things at PB that aren't so bad. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm saying it's a possibility. Individual pieces, that is. But you know what offends me to the very core? A whole house full of inane bourgeois reactionary "classics." And now, your little trash/luxe-named princess can have a house full of her very own. Check it. Did Sylvia Plath never happen? Or Betty Freidan? Or ... hell, Cindy Sherman? Anyone?? But I think it's the wall-sized television shrines that get me the most. This has to be Sartre's idea of a living room. People used to dream about the future.

I hope you have an awkward teenage nephew, if only to remind you of how very glad you are not to be 15 any more. I have one -- a kid who already has long hair in his eyes and who only communicates in grunts and nods. The boy is on his way. This is what he needs for Christmas: Ramones CD subscription to MAD magazine shit-ton of fireworks

Mercy, that's a lot of Samuel L. for a Monday morning. via , via

My mom, a.k.a. Fat Grams, used to sing this to me and my sisters all the time when we were little. Now she sings it to her grandchildren. Yes, my mom is a small white lady. She's a little odd. (Video 3:25) Tip o' the hat to the sublime HOBAC .

Huzzah -- I've been invited to a cookie swap. Now I need some help figuring out which cookies to make. There's the Nutella cookies , which are molto delicioso . Or these lovely Trios that I brought to the swap last year. They taste fine, but they're mostly pretty. Or these Brown Butter-Brown Sugar Shorties -- even their creator, Smitten Kitchen , acknowledges aren't the most attractive things, but they are (supposedly) delicious. Or the Peanut-Butter-with-a-Hershey's-Kiss cookies. Everybody likes those, and they're easy. What are they called, anyway? [Please do not say, "PB Blossoms" because that is majorly gay.] Or bourbon balls . Because they will get you drunk. Care to weigh in?

I just looked up the Baker's Edge Brownie Pan on Amazon (high on my Christmas wish list). According to Amazon, "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed": Betty: Color for the Hair Down There (Black) The Ancient Art of Strangulation , by Dr. Haha Lung BIRTH CONTROL IS SINFUL IN THE CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE UFO-01 Detector (as seen on Rob and Big ) Guardian Angel Obviously, I wasted no time adding these items to my Christmas list.