I'm Currently Obssesed With: Pony Pony Run Run

French Electropop trio Pony Pony Run Run has blown my mind. I have been listening to Hey You on repeat for like 3 days, and strangely, not because the sound or lyrics are anything earth shattering (though quite good, it will fit in nicely with the rest of my 800 electropop tracks), but the video is what really gets you. Its summer adventure at its best. For those of us stuck in Maine or New Jersey or wherever, its 4 minutes of magic, and who wouldn't want that?.

Hey You follows scruffy french hipster man and willowy, french hipster girl through their seemingly serendipitous meeting and travels in east Asia (Vietnam? Cambodia?). Its frames change to the beat, it's arty yet approachable, and it's exactly the travel experience everyone (ie, me) wants to have. Anyway, watch it and get swept away into their little hipster romance, only to see her walk away at the end on a white sand beach. Why does summer love always have to end so soon? Why is this song only 4 minutes long?! Why am I not leading their life?!

Anyway, I hunted down the album called You Need Pony Pony Run Run, which is only available digitally (yep, iTunes has it) and had a listen. The whole thing is really quite good, and worth your $9.99. Go ahead, you'll earn one more cool-kid gold star for that one in you're library.

I'm an awful person, but i love italy

Indeed, i'm horrible. I haven't posted in ages and i feel badly about it. So classes have resumed, i came out of the first half of the term unscathed grade wise, however my sanity may have really taken a beating. Alex would agree with me that I'm even more of a crazy woman than before, and it has much less to do with me being a woman, and much more to do with a general loss of meaningful neurosynapses. So while I'm currently out of food because I've refused to go grocery shopping, and I'm in desperate need of some clean clothes so I can begin looking cute again, I thought I'd shirk these responsibilities and write here instead. 

Italy was possibly the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life. Again, 2 days in Rome, 1 in Venice, and 1 in Florence. To begin with, don't ever let someone fool you into thinking that Stanstead airport is close to London. It takes at least an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, and then you still have to fly! Ryanair is nice, and minus the frigid temperature of our plane, we got to Rome in one piece. Its surreal to show up somewhere and not know the language, be completely lost from the get-go, and yet feel somehow connected. I don't know more than 4 words in Italian (Grazie, Prego, Pronto, Si, etc...) but on the long bus ride into Rome central from Ciampino airport, all I could think of was the ride from SanJuan to Fajardo in Puerto Rico. The air smelled similar, the radio stations sounded the same, and the scenery was somehow identical. Life is full of deja vu I guess. Our hostel was nice enough, safe, and there was a man with a huge fro who insisted on pushing this little cafe downstairs (you get cappucino and croissant for only 5 euro...). We saw the Colloseum, Palatine Hill, The tomb of the unknown soldier, and the Trevi Fountain the first day. Save for being freezing it was perfect. Some italian man did insist on telling Lisa that she was 21 instead of 20 once, but I would say that was the strangest thing that happened. Also, the pasta is fresh there and along with good house wines, Italy won my culinary heart.

Day two was the Vatican. Seriously, even if your not Catholic, even if you aren't Christian, you should see the Vatican. The Musei Vaticani is nothing less than dumbfounding. There are so many frescos your head will spin. The Sistine Chapel is much smaller than you'd think, The paintings are even more amazing than in the pictures, and apparently the way Spaniards say "what d'ya want me to do about it?!" when they walk in front of your pictures is "iiieeee!". It happened. St. Peters Basilica is also incredible. Its expansive and could make even the most staunch anti-catholic stop and think. I saw John Paul II's tomb; I sunned myself in the piazza in front, and I saw Swiss guards in ridiculous clothes.

More on Venice and Florence next. 

oh my sweet lord i'm leaving for Italy in slightly over 24 hours and i'm not even packed! Thank god for the Sartorialist and Garance Dore for getting me through my packing malaise/confusion/ripping my hair out. Props to Lucky Mag.com and Glamour for telling me what i can do with my hair without a blowdryer. But YAY! I'm going to center of the world for some delicious sights, food, and dancing. Which reminds me, I can't wait for finals to be over. Not to mention i still have to write a paper, go to meetings and fuss about and whine some more. Look at the afore mentioned blogs instead of mine for a day, and save us both some trouble. Ciao! Bacciamo! Bella! (...that's all the italian i know...)

www.garancedore.fr/en

www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com

www.luckymag.com

www.glamour.com

www.facehunter.blogspot.com

Because We're Both Still Craving Italian....

I am a huge slacker. only  in terms of this blog I'll add. So I this post is dedicated to my dad since he visited last week. We had a grand time, and every time he has come to London we have eaten at this restaurant on Goodge street called the Spaghetti House. It's a London chain, but it's probably the best Italian food on the planet, and the staff is really nice. This particular branch is a must. We would also jointly recommend the Kensington Arms pub for a good rugby match and a pint, and Phillie's Cafe which is right across High Kensington on the opposite side-street (they had both amazing sandwiches and breakfast). All of these places are reasonably priced and if I'm recommending them you know they're delicious. I have to say I'm awfully proud of him, he walked all around London with me for 3 days, and saw more than I thought was humanly possible. Also, hotel rooms here come standard with twin beds, it's insane (apparently they also come standard with fuzzy cable access porn, but that's a different story). So again, apologies for my laziness but its finals and paper time. On the bright side I'm jet setting to Italy next week for 4 days, so there will be photos and commentary aplenty. Ciao!

Heartier than most?

We have a snow day here in London! I haven't had a snow day in years, and it's conjuring up memories of when I first moved from Wyoming to Maine. In Wyoming we didn't have snow days. Sometimes we'd have indoor recess, but only if it was cold enough to get frostbite. I mean, I guess to be fair we didn't really get that much snow, but what we did get would blow around you in 70 mile/hr wind and chap your face almost immediately. I remember one day having early recess and going to school with damp hair, only to have it ice up and having the school nurse blow dry the ice out. We were all very afraid that my luscious locks would break right off. Now in contrast to this, when I moved to Maine I just assumed there were no snow days either (since I'd never had one to begin with) and would diligently wait for the school bus in my driveway. Finally cranky Mrs. Davis across the street would hobble out of her house and yell at me "There's no school! Go home! go back inside!". My bewildered self would walk back towards the door to my equally bewildered parents - what is this "snow day" that you speak of? - and crawl back into bed. After that tragic experience I would wait by the computer all night to see if they closed school. I would say after getting dressed, showered and fed and THEN finding out school had been cancelled this morning, my life has come full circle.

Inserting Foot In Mouth

I know I said that I'm taking pleasure in people's America seperation anxiety, but I'm a little sad that the commercials aren't there during the Superbowl. I still dont know why the BBC is even playing it, but rather than celebrating the whole reason we watch this game - shameless advertising - they're showing us the British commentary. So much for the "special relationship", theyre barely understanding the rules of american football correctly. I have come to realize that most Brits think that footbal is like rugby but with pads, so i'm listening to commentators explainng why they're passing the ball forward. I have a right to my commercials! Live free or die! Samuel Adams! Revolution! 

Also, we are currently in the middle of a British Blizzard a "britzard", if you will, and I am so excited to see all of London shut down in shame. They don't ice the sidewalks, and they dont plow, and for some unknown reason the Tube shuts down (do they know its all underground??). Straight up confusion.

Suck on That!

So I don't want to sound like too much of a tool, but i'm pretty excited about going to Fabric in March because, and remind yourself that I don't much love rejoicing due to other people's misery, BUT a bunch of people went there on student night and were repulsed because all they were playing was house music, and God forbid, they didn't play American music. Well truthfully I am amped about their pathetic misery because A) they deserve to be miserable if they don't want to be immersed in everything London, including the club scene, and B) i LOVE house! I think its time to make a pro and con list about this:

Pros:  1. i love house; 2. they claim it shakes your insides its so loud; 3. there will be brits, not just a bunch of American students hanging out on British turf (me and my friends aside, we're honorary brits of course!); 4. i have discounted tickets

Cons: 1. expensive drinks. that's it, and really i'm okay with that. you don't need drink to dance, and i've known that my whole life. For all intents and purposes there are NO cons!

Here's to gettin down with the brits for real.