Citizen Mom

Bob Ross Remixed: It'll bring a lot of good thoughts to your heart

This might the song of the summer.

 

"Happy Little Clouds," from PBS Digital Studios

Happy Birthday From The Best Ass In U.S. History (No, Not Mine)

via www.youtube.com

Three years ago today, I signed up for Twitter, beginning a love affair that now involves 2,368 people directly (952 I follow and my 1,416 charming, smart and gorgeous followers) and thousands more by association. For this, you can either thank or blame the editor who sent me a link to Ana Marie Cox's then brand-new feed and said something to the effect of, "I think you'd be good at this."

I'm certainly not as popular as Ana Marie, but I tend to my Twitter counts like an old man with his tomato plants, and have a very low "block" threshold. Also I can't bear to think about politics, cats or my pants quite that much. So it's all good.

This week also marks six years since I launched this blog, which has slowed somewhat but (like the blog world itself) definitely grown and changed because of Teh Twitter. There's so much more quick-hit posting because of the increase in mobile, plus microblogging/sharing sites like Twitter and Tumblr, and Facebook's ability to easily link from almost everywhere. So while it's meant not spending entire days sitting in front of my computer working on the blog, it's also meant I need to be more disciplined and focused on actually making time to think and write. I'm working on that.

Trust the process, I guess.

Film Shooting In Wildwood, We Have No Reason To Believe Robert Hays Will Star

Via the Twitter: Morey's Piers will host an independent film crew this weekend and they're looking for extras willing to ride the tram car for food. (Here, twist my arm.) Morey's won't reveal the name of the film yet but "We can tell you that it involves a tram car being driven by a well known female actor..." and that the piers themselves "will have a starring role!"

For details about the shoot, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19, email Lindsey.Young@moreyspiers.com and tell 'em Citizen Mom sentcha.

[MoreysPiers]

MEOW MIX: Cindy's Rocks, Celine's Tips, And My Cruise Will Go On

* So, do we know whether those NAVY and USMC pins Cindy McCain was wearing last night at the RNC were real diamonds or Swarovski? Why did they reconfigure the stage at the XCel Energy Center, anyway? Answers to these questions and more as Citizen Mom and Valania IM our way through the last night of the Republican National Convention.

* Tonight I'm headed off to review the Celine Dion show at the Wachovia Center (it's for work, I swear), and taking one of my sisters (Codename: Carmella) along. All across the Delaware Valley, you can smell the fumes of airbrushed French tips and flatirons burning as the housewives get ready for a big night out. After the show, you and Rosalie Aprile can plan your trip to Rome to see the Holy Father.

* Finally, one imagines there are more than a few Celine Dion fans among the mutinous crowd aboard the cruise ship Carnival Miracle, where passengers haven't been this pissed since they ran out of crab legs at the buffet. From USA Today:

The Carnival Miracle left New York on Friday and was supposed to sail an eight-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary with stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas and Grand Turk Island. But as Tropical Storm Hanna approached the region earlier in the week Carnival announced the ship would go no further than Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas.

Later in the week, as Hanna threatened the Bahamas, the line changed the itinerary yet again, dropping Nassau and announcing the ship would turn back northward to spend Friday in Newport. The ship is scheduled to return to New York on Saturday.

But thanks to the on-board Wifi, passengers aren't just taking this outrage lying down in deck chairs, they're protesting on the Lido Deck and taking to the message boards in protest!

"The Rhode Island announcement really put people over the edge,"  writes one passenger in a post on the message boards of cruisecritic.com. "The attitude of the captain has caused passengers to (go) ballistic."   

The poster, who goes by the handle satirical7, tells cruisecritic.com that a crowd of passengers formed near the purser's desk to chant "refund, refund" in a scene that he describes as "chaos." And passengers have "lined up for hours protesting the only (other) way they know how . . . adjusting their gratuities down to zero!"

(Hat Tip, @cegray)

MEOW MIX: No Really, It's About Cats

The Philadelphia Kittens are six wee furry ones in need of a home. If you're nearby and interested, you'll be glad to know the kittehs  can be reached at philadelphiakittens@gmail.com. It's actually pretty easy for them to type with those tiny little paws.

via @povertyjetset

Stuff That Makes Me Giggle -- Sunglasses, David Caruso Edition

Great hiccuping that's-just-silly laughs. Nice for a Monday morning.

YouTube: David Caruso One Liners II: Sunglasses Edition

We've Got The Vision, Now Let's Have Some Fun

Still not tired of this, surprisingly. Check with me again in July. A great first line, if nothing else.

"Time to Pretend," MGMT

Writing You A Love Letter

Happy Valentines Day! Go tell someone "I love you" -- and mean it.

Out Of The Cesspool, Into The Bag

So this is supposed to be a post about Snoop Dogg, revolving on his endearing "Larry King Live" appearance this week, and how I think "Sensual Seduction" is his masterpiece. But really, it's going to be about our man JW, who's been crackin' it off lately.

First, there's the whole Vampire Weekend thing -- I've known Warminsky a long time and have rarely seen such instant disdain not just for a band's sound but their whole atmosphere. God forbid they ever do a record with Arcade Fire, I think he'd actually self-immolate.

My own thoughts on the "Upper West Side Soweto": Decent live show --  I saw them last summer at Johnny Brenda's (with RaRa Riot and Tokyo Police Club, who have a new record coming). Overall,  an interesting and distinctive sound, but the record gets tiresome after a while. Listen to it on shuffle.

Take, for instance, "Mansard Roof." Excellent song, danceable and bright and not really like anything else you're hearing. But watch the video and tell that by the end of it, you don't want to smack at least one of them. Like, you know that boat belongs to one of their parents.

Over on Black Plastic Bag, JW wonders at the vast reach of the Appolonia/Vanity fashion aesthetic vis a vis "Project Runway" and "Sensual Seduction." I don't watch PR, but in re: Snoop,  the real genius moment isn't even the singing, because he doesn't do it well, but the way he references Paul Hardcastle's "Rainforest" without actually sampling.

PHAWKER: Vampire Weekend at the FU Church

RELATED: Snoop n' Lar, eating chicken and waffles

PREVIOUSLY: Where The Fury Began -- CM's Review of TPC + VW at JB's

Sock It To Me Thursday

So, I was going to post this and tell you about how good this song is for a wake-up, especially on a blue-sky morning like this one. But, uh, watch the video instead.