Some links I love this week (I missed last week, oops!):
Magic Juice from Design Sponge - It's a refreshing drink that will remind you of summer! And who wouldn't want that? Click the link for the recipe, or if you're having a rather bad day and would want something with a better kick (better = stronger), why not try Glamour's Forget The Mistake You Made At Work Margarita (feels waaaay better than their Engagement Chicken recipe, trust me)! Also, speaking of great drinks: I really swear by The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Iced Coffee recipe. I love it and not just because I have a thing for drinks served in mason jars.
Who Invented The Oreo? The Unsung Heroes of Cookie Design from The Atlantic - In which people discuss the design aesthetic of the world's most popular cookie. I really like the speculation that connects Oreo to free masons, not that it matters since Oreos, free masons or none, have a hold over people that science can't even explain. Please see: oreo cheesecake and deep fried oreos.
Know your Princeton Economist at Vanity Fair - A side-by-side comparison of new chairman of the White House Council Alan Krueger and fellow Princeton economist Paul Krugman. More than the idea of a Princeton face-off, I like the idea of a comparison of hair color in the salt-and-pepper subgenre.
The Fifty Most Powerful People in DC at GQ - GQ explores the new power structure in Washington by creating a list of men and women who truly have clout in the White House and at Capitol Hill. Oh, and ladies, Jon Favreau is on the list.
An open letter to New Yorkers on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 at McSweeney's - An open letter of a guy who learned his way from apathy to empathy, spilling his real feelings towards New Yorkers and 9/11. I love this part of the 'letter', "Since then I’ve watched countless hours of 9/11 coverage on the Internet. I try to find the best, the clearest, the most horrifying videos. I have seen so many people fall from the towers. I have felt things, I think, but still have no answers. I don’t know if I should be upset, traumatized, or indifferent like I once was."
Ultimate art lover's pilgrimages at Lonely Planet - One day, when I get a job that will let me travel and earn big money, I might be able to do this. Lonely Planet lists places of art and design beyond the usual museums, it includes artists' homes and places that inspired their works of art and design. Dali, Kahlo, Gaudi, Van Gogh and wait for it...BANKSY! All in the same list. How awesome is that?
Jonathan Safran Foer's Speechless in The New Yorker - In this snippet of literature, Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a book with a post-9/11 theme) tries to put 9/11 into really beautiful words. I have mixed feelings about Foer and his stories but his words are always, always, always right.
How 9/11 changed Fiction, The Economist - This article examines the works of fiction inspired by 9/11 and the reasons why it's so hard to write something so spot-on about something so tragic. Some writers chose to go ahead and write about the event itself while others chose to go the other route and write about human emotion and the dominant Western complacency pre-9/11. Of Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, "It had a number of touching moments but was ultimately too long to carry itself."
A man's guide to a woman's wardrobe at The Economist - "Because men, when they think of women’s fashion at all, tend to see it only in terms of how it makes them feel—whether it arouses, confuses, or repels them—rather than considering what it makes a woman feel." Gentlemen, you better recognize. Read this.
Poses by Yolanda Dominguez on YouTube - This one is a conceptual art of getting ordinary women to adopt the poses typically struck by models in fashion magazines and hold them in public. The poses look absurd and the public reaction is amusing. I found it funny, I have to admit, but the message behind this project is really beautiful. The artist tried to express what many women feel about women's magazines and the image of women in the media – absurd, artificial, a hanger to wear dresses and bags, only concerned about being skinny and beautiful. Dominguez wanted to use the impossible poses to represent this type of woman and to show how absurd it is in a real context.
100 Years of East London Style in 100 seconds on YouTube - Between this video and Alber Elbaz's Lanvin Fall 2011 Campaign with stiff models dancing, I'd say East London fashion takes the cake. Watch on full screen for better effect!
Lastly, GQ's A Buyer's Guide to Watch The Throne. I already wrote about Watch The Throne (that Kanye x Jay-z album with really horrible lyrics) and the Foreign Policy blog discussing Jay-Z's hegemony in American Hip-hop before, but people who actually have the album will know that it's practically a shopping catalog. In this slideshow, GQ echoes my sentiments. They catalog every item name dropped by Ye-Z in the album. How very depression-friendly.
PS: Do you guys have Listography.com? I found out about it from my friend Ria's blog (it's new!) and it's the next coolest thing after Twitter, Good Reads/Shelfari and all those music sites. I think it's awesome because I like making lists about anything and everything (lists I eventually throw out the window to go with the flow, but hey). I'm listed under ohoctopus over there. :)
