This is probably the most rational explanation of human relationships I’ve ever heard:

In case you missed the best part towards second 32:

“I love you too, but I don’t like you all the time,” says baby.
“Ok, thanks,” says mom.

Also, is this kid destined to be a stock broker, or what? Seriously, this clip is like the pilot for the best reality TV series ever. He’s so cute I might have to forget to take my birth control this month.

Source:
Tashan Mistree, one hot biochemist!

Don’t know how I feel about this semi-new White Stripes video. Song included, it’s just too cutesy, am I right?

I’ve always wanted to have 6,000 Swarovski crystals individually glued to my naked body over 14 hours. Spanish actress Paz Vega beat me to the itchy privilege for Elle’s Christmas special.

See, the creative and holiday spirit do belong together. The outfit says festive whore-object, or pretty, pretty mine explosion. I mean I usually just hit up other peoples’ closets for my seasonal frock, but maybe this year I will Zebra stripe myself with a glue stick and roll around in tinsel instead.

Sources:
‘Deslumbra’ Paz Vega con desnudo en Elle El Diario
More ridiculously faked pictures Elle

Run, Persopils, Run into major artistic achievement.

An awful lot relies on these craftily manipulated black and white lines. ‘Persopolis’ tells a girl’s coming of age story against Iran’s revolutionary backdrop all in mostly 2-D animation.

The abstract style effectively conveys super-realistic themes such as war through a child’s eyes, a political exile’s sense of guilt, the senselessness of suffering, and young love lost. Yes, it’s not all too upbeat of a cartoon. But, we aren’t the glassy-eyed audience we were at 8 years-old either, and graphic artist Marjane Sartrapi takes us through her transformation in an endlessly relatable way (even if we haven’t seen dead people.)

I could write a full review, but many people already have, including the Iranian government, which tried to stop it’s screening at Cannes.

Persopolis hits the N.Y. and L.A. on December 25th — but, make this a bleep on your radar, it’s bound to come to a really expensive small theater near you.

(English trailer on Persepolis website, but you’ll get the gist here.)

Sources:
Iran Protest ‘Persopolis’ Screening USA Today

Radar Magazine’s October issue hosted the Hype Report starring overly portable dogs, cupcakes and Keira Knightly. CW humbly offers the flip side. Add to the list.

TACOS
Food trends have seized classics like hot dogs and vamped them up with gourmet add-ons. The charm of an eight dollar weiner aside, tacos remain a pure every-man’s meal. The taco is endlessly modifiable without being fussy.

GARY OLDMAN
The Brit who reinvents himself completely for each role like a Spice Girl with an identity crisis. CW is especially delighted by recent supporting roles as the future Commissioner Gordon in ‘Batman Begins’ and Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series. As if playing Sid Vicious and Pontius Pilate weren’t enough to please us.

HELIO
Helio’s ‘Ocean’ offers almost all of the conveniences of an iPhone/Blackberry without looking like a yuppie dick’s must-have. The most useful feature is a GPS locator that pairs with snappy Internet access from the Sprint network. When using Google Maps, you’re actually a blinking blue dot on the screen with step-by-step instructions from where you are. The phone service was originally pitched to the Korean-American market. So, it’s therefore totally inherently good. Insert joke about kimchee and nuclear proliferation.

TIMES NEW ROMAN
Helvetica got an adoring round-of-applause this year with its namesake documentary doing well on the indie circuit. We could say Times New Roman is worthwhile for simply foiling the dominance of Comic Sans, squiggly fonts and the unforgivable Arial. However, not all defaults are bland. Add a high gird to a word typed in Times New Roman and you’ve created a clean anti-statement statement.

HOUSTON
The shadow of Austin hides a gem, albeit an industrial one like a diamond mounted on an oil drill. Edgy without being contrived, Houston also offers a ridiculously diverse and cheap restaurant scene specializing in Tex-Mex and Vietnamese. Music and nightlife in the country’s fourth largest city remain affordable even as the raw size of the diverse population ensures tour stops from wide-ranging national artists. Nicely, Houston* is still a city where you can go out for a night with only a twenty dollar bill and ID in your back pocket.

*One more note, the minority-majority city gives off the feel of a modern Constantinople. A random single strip could host a washateria, noodle shop and ice house side-by-side. Cons: No-zoning laws mean incredible sprawl with no serious mass tran options.

(I ripped off various people for some of these — Jen Turner and Caitlin WhatsHerName)

If you live in the DC Metropolitan Area, please, please, please do yourself a favor and go to Colorado Kitchen (on Colorado Ave at 16th St.) Everything is homemade, from the biscuits to the purple cow– grape soda and ice cream. It’s officially the most relaxed, come through place around. Bonus: never a wait.

I recently discovered a budding friend of mine knows the “brains” behind purseblog.com. Apparently, this girl blogger pulls down $80k a year while her sole contribution to the world is not-so-witty comments about threading and buckles. So, in the spirit of getting ad revenue to make this site better, here’s a self-evident observation about fashion:

Girl bling is huge, huuuuge in Asia. I saw girls selling produce in dusty towns on the Thai-Burma border sporting diamond playboy bunny logos on chains at the perfect bust-dangling length. While it’s fascinating to pick out foreign fashion amidst the slipstream of global pop culture, we’ve got to step it up, U.S.A.

In the name of patriotism, put some sparkle in your cleavage. For God and Country.