List: Endorsed, 5.16.12

- We're Alive: A Story of Survival, I discovered this zombie podcast a little over a year ago but struggled to get into it. Much of the acting was weak or over-the-top. However, I gave it another try on my drive up to Lancaster, PA and can say that I'm officially hooked. A few of the actors have found their footing, and I'm completely wrapped up in the story. Listening to We're Alive has the feel of an old school radio serial (a good thing!), including sound effects that completely help immerse you in the middle of that world. I dread the day I actually catch up and have to wait for new episodes!

- This zombie infograph, via The Comicbook Nerd

- Campfire Chic, While there is nothing zombie-specific about Kam's blog, she seems to be a little bit sci-fi nerd and all adventuress! Her stories of climbing, hiking, and outdoor adventures are some of my favorite. Plus, they're bound to be good training in the event zombies attack ;-)

- Newsflesh series by Mira Grant, I love the origin story and political thriller aspects of this zombie series. I reviewed the first book in the series here and can't wait to pick up the series finale when it comes out later this month.

Endorsed is inspired by the Slate Culture Gabfest (and the numerous other lists that circulate online).

Small Demons

Piece by Shaunna Peterson snapped by me at Art Whino last year

I think I just had a pop culture orgasm. I snagged a beta invite today to Small Demons, and I'm already in love. Imagine a site that takes the books we love and maps out their broader links to people, movies, music, and places referenced within its pages. As someone who has been known to fall down many a rabbit hole following the little eggs left throughout shows like Gilmore Girls or visit music clubs referenced in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, this site has potential to be such a fun tool in broadening the way we experience books and the universe the characters we read about inhabit. 

Do you read The Other Boleyn Girl and find yourself googling Anne Boleyn or the Tudors? Visit the site and snag yourself an invite.

August List #2

I'm devoting the rest of August to lists (consider yesterday #1). I find lists a little therapeutic and such an easy way to share information. List #2 are some of my favorite podcasts. These may not make your life complete, but they're bound to put a spring in your step (you know, if you have a soul).

Joy the Baker podcast (with Tracy of Shutterbean) - Believe it or not, this podcast really doesn't have much to do with baking and more to do with the utterly random. These girls are hilarious. Listen to them during your commute and turn a nightmare into a roadtrip with two people you know you want to be friends with.

How Did This Get Made - A group of comedians get together a trash crappy movies. Puts a smile on the face and saves you from convincing yourself that The Smurfs might be good.

NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour - I've mentioned this one before, but it really is a near perfect combination of high and low brow culture.

The Moth - Storytelling at its best.

Spilled Milk - Clearly I am attracted to people who don't take themselves too seriously. The folks at Spilled Milk deconstruct a seemingly random list of foods, all with an endless stream of laughter.

Bones and book plates

AMNH photo by Sean Ng via Flickr

I've been developing a preternatural obsession with the American Museum of Natural History and the New York Public Library and the amazing hidden collections they hold. I love stories of dark hallways, historic treasures and rooms filled with historic documents waiting to be rifled through. I like to think I'd have the research stamina to pour over documents in search of that one piece of evidence that would make my argument. There's also a little part of me that likes to dream that one day my personal papers will end up at a place like this and be part of someone else's research expedition. I even draw little doodles throughout my notebook specifically to entertain future generations ;-)


AMNH photo by Charlyn Wee via Flickr

My fascination has partly been triggered by the Special Agent Pendergast series I've been reading by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. While working at a bookstore for years, I continually passed these books by with no more than a glance. Thanks to a free e-book included with another purchase (great ploy, guys) I was introduced to their writing and the series. Fun! The two books I've read involve mysteries surrounding the museum and take you intimately inside various nooks and crannies of the building. There are even a couple of trips to the New York Public Library for research.


NYPL photo by Timo via Flickr

My desire to make my pilgrimage to the New York Public Library (NYPL) was further fueled by a couple of recent articles. Did you know NYPL has over 40,000 menus from around the world? I never would have guessed they catalogued seemingly arcane bits of paper; however, they make an intriguing case about how analyzing these menus can tell us a lot about different regions and the eating habits of people. I love it. Anyway, they're looking for help in transcribing some of the menus they've scanned in, and you can help. The second article was one of The Paris Review's cultural diaries. The writer Amelie Nothomb was treated to a private tour of NYPL and got a chance to check out some of their treasures, including unpublished letters written by Marie Curie, a chemistry paper written by a sixteen-year-old Hemingway, the desk where Charles Dickens wrote, and Virginia Woolf’s cane that was left on the banks of the river where she drowned herself.


NYPL photo by an untrained eye via Flickr

Seriously interesting stuff.

Brain candy

I met my new best friends today. Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon and Trey Graham of the NPR Culturetopia and Pop Culture Happy Hour had me grinning from ear to ear as I listened to their latest podcast, fighting the urge to laugh out loud. You know those people you meet (or in this case hear) and immediately want to be friends with? These are those people.

Since Gilmore Girls went off the air, there has been a void of witty, pop culture references in my life. Listening to the Pop Culture Happy Hour reminded me of Tuesday evenings with Lorelai, Rory and Google (ready to research an obscure reference at a moment's notice). Sure, the NPR podcast is a little bit bourgeois, but the hosts don't take themselves too seriously. They spent at least 15 minutes of the latest episode mocking themselves almost as much as the topic at hand.

It's official. I'm a nerdy fangirl.

teenage crushes

I was looking through a box of old photos the other day in search of a picture of me as a toddler and came across several photos of an adolescent me hanging in my room. Like your average pre-teen (hell, teen) I had adorned my walls with all sorts of random memories. This includes a lion's share of ripped out pages from magazines like Tiger Beat featuring men I thought I couldn't live with out. Looking back I have come to realize that perhaps my taste in men was always skewed. My walls featured George Michael (gay); Michael J. Fox (Alex P. Keaton so played into my republican fantasies); and Elvis Presley (what other kid gets a crush on a overweight, dead rock star). There were more photos up, but these 3 were definitely my obsession. What celeb crushes did you have when you were a kid?