Remember back when your parents met? How did your parents meet, anyway? Mine worked at the same ad agency and had a number of mutual friends. They courted the good old-fashioned way, with phone calls and dinner dates.

Wait a second, though—isn’t that still the way people do it?

What with your iPod in your left hand, your BlackBerry in your right hand, your laptop spread out in front of you, and your cell phone plastered to your ear, it seems a little weird to imagine dating without the technology of today.

But when you think about it, the dating of today is really just the same as the dating of pre-technology. Maybe it’s just because I never have the latest gadgets and I try to avoid logging into my Facebook account whenever possible, but I really don’t think it’s necessary to electronically “poke” my love interest or text “OMG U=SO GR8 LAST NITE!” to my boyfriend’s cell phone. Call me old-fashioned, but I actually find it annoying when my relationship becomes entangled with technology.

There have to be other people out there who feel that way. I mean, yeah, it can be nice to stalk your crush in a nonthreatening way by reading up on the interests they list in an online profile—but wouldn’t it be better to, say, ask that person out for coffee and chat about hobbies over a caramel latté, face to face? Or is that just too much to ask? Read More »

Flickr is a crazy little website. Pictures from all over the world, from crappy and boring “here’s me on the lawn, now here’s me laughing on the lawn” photos to beautiful, artist renderings of pristine landscapes — everything is contained, and easy to find, on this user friendly website.

Why, Flickr is so simple and easy even your grandma could do it!

And someone’s grandma certaily has.

I really can’t say how our office stumbled across this set of photos, but I can say that after searching through about 100 of them, I have never wished there was eye sanitizer more than at this exact moment. I mean…what.the.hell.IS.this?! Read More »

More and more people are looking for love online these days and I’ll admit, I’m one of them. I honestly don’t know where else to find a date besides the typical bar/club scene, which seems much more conducive to finding a one night stand than finding love. I don’t work in an environment where I meet eligible bachelors, I pretty much know my friends’ friends so getting set up isn’t really an option. So where else do you look? People tell me I should do something I enjoy; a cooking class, hanging out in Barnes & Noble, join some sort of sports league and I’ll meet a guy who shares similar interests with me, but as social as I am, I’m not one to go to a cooking class alone, and I have yet to meet a guy in B&N. So that leaves me with the internet.

Sure, it’s scary and I’ve had my fair share of weirdos or guys who were several inches shorter than what they claimed, or sent pictures from when they were 10 years and 50 pounds lighter, but I’ve also been taken on some pretty amazing dates and met some really cool guys, some of whom I’ve remained friends with. Obviously, my prince hasn’t come along, but maybe the timing just hasn’t been right. I’ve tried a lot of the sites out there; match.com, Plenty of Fish, okcupid, Craig’s List, eHarmony and even Jdate (yes, I’m a shiksa who likes Jewish boys). Thus far, I’ve had the best luck on Craig’s List and the worst luck with match and eHarmony (the one that claims it’ll help you find your soulmate), but as I’m still single, I haven’t had the luck I’m really looking for, so I decided to try out a new site, it’s called crazyblinddate.com, and yes, it’s crazy. Read More »

TV on the Radio: Wolf Like Me. More than just about any other band, TV on the Radio makes music that makes me want to dance. And not shuffle-from-side-to-side dance, more like jump-in-the-middle-of-the-dance-floor-and-lose-my-sh*t dance.

I wouldn’t even qualify TVotR as a dance band, but the New York-based quintet certainly knows how to produce music that makes you want to move. Their sound is eclectic, ranging from trip-hop to a cappella to jazz and Wolf Like Me (from 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain) is as dark and sexy as it is fun.

Talking Heads: This Must be the Place (naïve melody). This song has special meaning to me because it is my and my boyfriend’s “song”. It captures the uncertainty and exhilaration that accompanies love with David Byrne’s beautifully eccentric voice and the delicate musical arrangement.

My favorite version is from the 1984 documentary/live performance Stop Making Sense. In the film, David Byrne says that this is the only love song he’s ever written and as such, he is singing it to a lamp. Weird, wonderful, transcendent, just like the Talking Heads and just like love. Read More »

I’m a student. I get bored in class. Really bored. So, I take advantage of the free wireless and spend most of my time in lectures playing online. And in doing so I have come across a lot of crappy blogs.

One might make a case that my own writing frequently belongs on that list. But that is because “one” has probably never seen this one.

As if to highlight how utterly retarded it is, the name of the blog (or the blog user? or both?) is Text in the City. WOW. Lame times ten.

The actual blog, however, is far lamer yet. Judging from the title and the subject matter, one is to assume this blog considers itself a takeoff of that popular and influential show, Sex and the City… except they did it with an “in” instead of an “an” (amateurs). While I myself am not a fan of said show, I do recognize the attempt to say things in a way that have never been said before on TV. Text in the City, on the other hand, is a bland regurgitation of womens’ self-help guides from the 50’s updated with the idioms of the new millennium (at least, sort of updated).

At Text in the City, you will learn the “10 Secret Things Every Man Wants.” Wow, really? Great! I have an idea, Text in the City; why don’t you write the blandest, most annoying possible things (for instance, booking a spa day for yourself so you can leave him alone at #1 on the list) in the most mediocre way possible (”We love excitement, and we are not just talking about in the bedroom.”)? That would be cool. Wow, Text in the City, you’re the most awesome thing ever! Read More »

I write the following with the understanding that no matter how annoying Facebook can be, it will never be more annoying than Myspace. (Editor’s Note: I am not so sure…) And I will not stop using Facebook because of these things.

10. People You May Know. Otherwise known as “People that you don’t know well enough to be friends with”, “People who have rejected your friend request”, or “People you hate and would never friend even if their lives somehow depended on you friending them.” Facebook has been around long enough that if you haven’t found your friend yet, and he or she hasn’t found you, then you probably aren’t very good friends to begin with.

9. The Mini-Feed. Because you need constant reminder of the things you’ve recently done or said. Or applications you’ve added. Or songs you’ve listened to. Or things you’ve edited. The mini feed takes up like ¼ of your page (unless you are a dirty application whore: see below) and when you try to delete things, it keeps adding other things from days and weeks ago.

8. The Education and Work box. I say this is annoying, but it’s honestly the first thing I look at on someone else’s page. I do it because I am a masochist and I like to hurt myself by seeing how well these people that I hardly know are doing in places that I would love to move to. Read More »

Straight to Hell: The Clash

Does this song sound familiar? If you are a fan of MIA (and who isn’t these days?) then it should–she samples this, my favorite song of all time, on her catchy single Paper Planes. Straight to Hell most deftly and beautifully represents everything that makes the Clash so singular and so influential, mixing Joe Strummer’s rusty voice with clever world music instrumentation, wit, and a political message.

Once Again: Girl Talk

The music of Girl Talk reminds me of cheerleading remixes on crack, and I mean that in the very best way. If you aren’t familiar with Girl Talk, it’s basically a DJ named Greg Gillis who mixes, to unexpected delight, any number of seemingly disparate songs together to create a sort of fun, danceable Frankenstein. My favorite part? Mixing The Whisper Song with the Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony. Brilliant.
Machine Gun: Portishead

After 11 years, Trip Hop pioneers Portishead have finally come out with a new album, Third. Portishead was one of my favorite bands growing up, so I was absolutely delighted when they released a new album after so long and even happier when the album turned out to be really, really good.

For me, the band was most successful when they were at their heaviest and darkest, and Third is full of that density. The first single off of the album is the relentless track Machine Gun, which juxtaposes lead singer Beth Gibbons’ rich lilt with persistent and ominous synthesizers. It’s a mixture of hard and soft sounds that is Portishead’s trademark and its done to beautiful, poignant effect in Machine Gun. Read More »

I know you’re reading this on your computer right now.

I’m not trying to be a creepy stalker. But, I mean, really; I don’t know a single student – or person, really – on my campus or even enrolled in my school who doesn’t have their own computer. Whether it’s a chunky tank of a desktop or a sleek and sexy notebook, everyone at school has their own computer. It’s not even a luxury anymore; yes, libraries all have computers for your use, but who really solely depends on the library for computer use? No one I know.

Trouble is – and this is the trouble now-a-days with everything – computers are EXPENSIVE. Even the proverbial cost of an arm and a leg will probably only get you a second-hand Dell off of craigslist. Mind you, I’m not knocking the second-hand craigslist computer; I’m typing this up on one of them right now. But if you’re looking for a new compy that can keep up with you, you can expect to be in the hole about $700. Right?

Ladies (and that one gent), let me introduce you to a new friend of mine: computer shows. Read More »

No matter how hard I try, I just do not have a green thumb. At all. It’s beyond frustrating to me that plants are so fickle and indecisive. Some want lots of water, but some freak out and die if you give them too much and would rather dry out a bit. Some thrive in the sun, while some prefer shady coolness. Some people insist that plants only grow if you sit and talk to them. I don’t have time for that. So, what’s a girl to do?

In my case, I just kill every plant I come across, to the point where it’s not even worth having any. Why, oh why can’t plants just tell me what they want, I wonder.

Wait, what did you say? They can? According to Gizmodo and Yanko Design, designer Junyi Heo has come out with a digital plant that lets you know, through the use of emoticons, exactly what it needs. OMG it’s just like a Tamogotchi, only it actually grows!

Basically, the pot measures soil conditions, temperature, humidity, and water and tells you just what the plant needs and whether it’s “satisfied” or not. Hey, if my plant’s talking to me, I might even take a little time to talk back to it. Read More »

The Internet is a nasty place. Especially for women. We all know that, but yet we stay on it. Some of us constantly. Valleywag recently featured an article titled “5 reasons why women really do need to get off the Internet.”

The reasons themselves may at first seem valid until you really think about them:

Because it’s a nasty breeding ground for predators and there’s nothing women can do about it.

Because we don’t know any better than to overshare.

Because there’s nothing worse in this world than being called a slut.

Because we’re giving it up for nothing!

Because men don’t believe we’re real women anyway.

I was shocked while reading this article, until I came to the conclusion that it must be satire. Or do women actually believe we need to get off the Internet?

My reasons women should stay on the Internet:

There is something women can do about the predators: Not talk to sketchballs online. Not give away personal information. Keep your social networking accounts private. Be smart, like many of us are. Read More »