Guanaco

Guanaco, originally uploaded by David Thyberg.

Ireland

, originally uploaded by shannonerin.

'A&E'- Goldfrapp

I can hardly wait for this album.

Random ten

1. Baby I'm Yours- Arctic Monkeys
2. A&E- Goldfrapp
3. Shoot The Poets- The Cribs
4. Jailbreak- Thin Lizzy
5. Stronger- Kanye West
6. There She Goes- Babyshambles
7. Shotgun- Junior Walker & The All-Stars
8. Tragedy- Bee Gees
9. Queen Bitch- David Bowie
10. Makes Me Wonder- Maroon 5

Bonus-
11. Fast Moving Train- Restless Heart
12. Hot Stuff- Donna Summer

'Can't Speak French'- Girls Aloud

What exactly are they hinting at here?

Benefit cosmetics new blusher is called "Thrrrob." Product description?

Turn on the flush, turn up the rush…with Thrrrob, our new "turned on" face powder. This pulse-racing pink powder simulates the natural flush you get when your heart races.

Hmmmmm.....

Overheard

Comments made by employees at Iowa's Coolest Flower Shop this week. (names withheld to protect the pervy, the foul-mouthed and the hysterically tired)

-"Yeah, you get the sweet customers. I get the dipshits and the smartasses."

-"John Wayne? Why the hell would John Wayne order flowers?"

-"It'd be really handy to have a chainsaw around here."

-"I love it when you spank me hard."

-"Cozies get a lot looser when you put your bottle in and out a lot."

-"God, when she shows up, I hope she doesn't bring that big one with her again."

-"Do we have any red carnations? Do we fuck."

-"Yeah, that's what every woman dreams of for Valentine's Day. Flowers to match her damn kitchen."

These are in addition to our usual-
1. discussions on how moronic people can be
2. sighing over sweet old men buying flowers for their wives in the nursing home
3. ...or David Beckham
4. complaining about husbands and relatives
5. ...or having impure thoughts about Daniel Craig and/or Jonny Lee Miller
6. also, worrying if we can keep up with the orders
7. thinking about food
8. ...or me arguing that Drew Babyshambles is actually one of the sexiest men on Earth, and everyone else throwing things at me, both literally and figuratively
9. discussions about movies, music and other pop culture things
10. .... or sending persons on pop/change/bank runs

Let's get ducked

Hee hee. My masterpiece won't leave the hat on...

Let me get this straight

a- the fact that Amy's personal life is a trainwreck of epic proportions completely negates any artistic achivements she may make.
b- it was acceptable for Ms. Cole to take drugs on the sly, whereas Ms. Winehouse's (albeit somewhat unintentional) openness about her substance use makes her bad, bad, bad.

Hmmmm..... methinks someone is trying to jumpstart their career by kicking someone when they're down. Shut the fuck up, Natalie. Go sing another duet with your dad. That worked out well for you last time.

Singer Natalie Cole has slammed the decision to award Amy Winehouse with five Grammy Awards, claiming that it is rewarding her bad behaviour. Cole, a Grammy Award winner herself who admitted to using the drugs LSD, heroin and cocaine in her 2000 autobiography, said that Winehouse did not deserve the honours.“I don't think she should have won,” Cole, the daughter of legendary singer Nat King Cole, told People magazine. “It sends a bad message to young people trying to get into this business, trying to do it right and keep themselves together.

And so it begins

Valentine's Day is this coming Thursday. At the shop, we're battening down the hatches, so to speak- conditioning flowers, typing the cards for the orders we already have, figuring out where the hell we're going to put everything.... Today, we started with 18 orders- we ended the day with 38. Eek.

Like many professions, florists have many inside jokes. Something that my shop in particular finds humor in may sound a bit mean- we laugh about how men* will buy ANYTHING for Valentine's and/or Mother's Day. Especially at the last minute. And when I say anything, I mean it. ANYTHING.

For example, last year at Mother's Day, I sold a decorative Wellington boot with fresh flowers in it. Yes, some unfortunate mom got a fucking boot for Mother's Day. And the guy was as pleased with it as a kitten with a bowl of milk.

However, the most legendary example of The Man Who Will Buy Anything is from the old shop that Mom and the other girls worked at (before Mom took off on her own). This man-who is a totally nice guy, bought for his wife-

-at Valentine's, an arrangement of sprayed purple and orange carnations
-at Mother's Day, a "crete" (arrangement of silk flowers in concrete, intended for cemeteries at Memorial Day)

No lie. His poor wife. Of course, I am the daughter of a man who once got his wife a picnic basket that weighed 20 pounds for Valentine's Day. 2 months after he got her a rowing machine for Christmas. Both of these were not requests. Amazingly enough after this performance, my sister and I were sent uptown to the jewelry store with a blank check for every subsequent holiday.

Last week, we discussing the most random things we could pawn off on some poor soul for V-day. I glanced over in the corner, and spotted a ceramic duck planter, intended for congratulating parents of newborn children.

I'm going to do one of those bad boys up with some roses, put a sign on it that says, "You're just ducky," and watch that bastard fly out the door. Though unfortunately, not literally.

*and bless them. Makes up for the days that we don't move jack/crap out the door.

I think girlfriend may have been a bit shocked

I just want to give her a hug. And a sandwich. Keep getting healthy, honey!

Amy Winehouse won the Grammy for Song Of The Year for 'Rehab' at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles tonight (February 10).

Amy Winehouse accepts Best Record Grammy
Uploaded by TheDlisted

Kew Gardens - Statue

Kew Gardens - Statue, originally uploaded by Arnty M.

Love the Dali....

'Just A Little Bit Of Lovin'

Shelby Lynne's album of Dusty Springfield covers is both inspired and so very sexy. Well done, Ms. Moorer.

Retro-fabrication is a term you won't often hear outside of dentistry or the garment industry, but it's a concept becoming prevalent in music nowadays, as more and more artists seek inspiration in the past, a little too literally at times. It certainly looms large over most of this week's releases: for Shelby Lynne with Just a Little Lovin', it's a case of paying tribute to the greatest of all female pop singers, Dusty Springfield, by re-casting several of Dusty's signature songs in the style of Dusty In Memphis.

Phil Ramone's spare, reflective production drains away the melodramatic orchestrations of the originals to leave songs such as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart" stripped bare of any emotional cover, leaving Lynne's subtle, measured vocals inhabiting a vast landscape of pain.

Some of the arrangements pull off audacious strategies – the natural exuberance of "I Only Want to be With You" is abandoned for a much torchier tone, more akin to Julie London than Dusty, while her version of the Southern soul classic "Breakfast In Bed" is surely definitive.

Random ten

1. Caravan- Van Morrison
2. Ready For The Floor- Hot Chip
3. B.U.R.M.A.- Dirty Pretty Things
4. Breakfast In Bed- Shelby Lynne
5. Olive Oil- Happy Mondays
6. Bitch- The Rolling Stones
7. Sex Type Thing- Stone Temple Pilots
8. Liza Avec Z- Liza Minelli
9. Every Sperm Is Sacred- Monty Python
10. Sleazy Hughes- Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong

Bonus-
11. Little Baby Nothing- Manic Street Preachers
12. Revolution- Robbie Williams

You know,

some people really need to shut the fuck up. Well, jeez, Lar, at least they didn't use birth control effectively. They'd be ultra-sluts then.....

...Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, called unmarried teen parents "sluts" at a Republican caucus.

...Liston used the derogatory term during a Republican caucus lunch on health care to express his view that unmarried teen parents are sexually promiscuous and to complain that society condones premarital sex.

"In my parents' day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are," Liston said at the lunch. "There was at least a sense of shame."There's no sense of shame today. Society condones it ... I think it's wrong. They're sluts."

via

This makes me happy.*

Oh so very happy.

PAUL WELLER’s new album is already shaping up to be a belter-featuring collaborations with Britpop heavyweights NOEL GALLAGHER and GRAHAM COXON.

The modfather has called in support from the OASIS legend and the BLUR star on his forthcoming double album. And word is filtering back that some of the material is a return to his best.

A source said: “Noel and Oasis’s GEM ARCHER have spent time at Weller’s studio. Most sessions end in serious alcohol fuelled tear-ups. But the music has been brilliant.

“Weller slapped his name on the writing credits first with Noel and Gem - even though he spent most of the session getting the beers in. That’s the bonus of being 50 - and the guv’nor.”

*if it's true- 'tis The Sun, after all

Marc by Marc Jacobs@ Fashion Week

I can't decide if this dress would look adorable on either Lily Allen or Kate Nash, or if I've already seen them wear something similar. Possibly both.

"Young, beautiful scum pissed off at the world."

In this week's NME, a huge interview about Richey Edwards with my beloved Nicky Wire. Absolutely heartbreaking.

My, they were so very pretty.

Interesting

Fascinating article on why Northern Soul is, er, Northern Soul, and why Country and Western is so popular in Scotland...

In more recent times, Sheffield has shown itself to be home to music with a strong storytelling sense, with acts such as Pulp, the Arctic Monkeys and Richard Hawley. "The narrative thing I find interesting," says Frith, "because I always associated Sheffield with electronic music. It was the home of Warp and the Human League - though their songs did have a sense of narrative." Russell notes the strong love of amateur operatics in the area in the late 19th and early 20th century, "which created a love of humorous lyrics". Then, of course, came the music hall tradition. "And in some way the music hall spawned the very literate songwriting with wit and humour." It is precisely this we can see in the lyrics of Jarvis Cocker and Alex Turner.

But why does Scotland favour country and western music? "I came to Scotland in 1987 and was struck by how significant country music is," says Frith, who notes that radio station playlists in Scotland are tangibly different to those across the border, playing a considerable amount of country music. But the Scottish love of American country and western is little more than a reclamation; country and western music was largely born of the music of the Appalachian Mountains, which itself was rooted in the music brought to American shores by immigrants from Europe, especially the British Isles. So country and western has much in common with traditional British folk music, Celtic music, and Scottish and Irish fiddle styles in particular.

Aragorn a no-no

What Jessica said.

We have SEEN YOU, Viggo. We know that you are HOT. And when you are THAT HOT, it is really a crime to show up places looking like you just walked off the set of Not Without My Confederacy: The Jefferson Davis Story, now filming for Lifetime.