Finding Love in the Post-College World: Geek Love

Here's my newest College Candy column!

*Note: A few lines were added in by the editors - the Gossip Girl line, the "Rar" line, and the very last sentence.

"Post-college geeks aren’t the same as in-college geeks. These aren’t hipster boys who wear horn-rimmed glasses or cardigans with elbow patches. These boys aren’t geek chic. Post-college geeks are a special breed of boy. They are the freaks from Freaks & Geeks, and not in an ironic way. They played Dungeons & Dragons in high school (and maybe still secretly do) and can name all the aliens that appear in the Mos Eisley Cantina in 'Star Wars.'

And they’re surprisingly date-able."

read more here

I wish I'd thought of this first!

This is the coolest idea ever! Destination Dinners will ship to you a kit which includes a recipe for a site-specific dish, like jambalaya from New Orleans or spiced lamb from Lebanon, along with spices and non-perishable items in the correct amounts, a shopping list for the fresh items you'll need, and instructions on how to set your table. The kits are only $25 (a great deal considering the kits serve four to six) and would make a fantastic gift. 

Barack Obama channels President Bartlet

For many liberals like myself, the television show The West Wing was political porn. Week after week we could watch a government run by intelligent, idealistic folk who actually managed to get things done, and President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) was preternaturally smart and (gasp!) a good person. One of the most popular West Wing scenes shows Bartlet quoting passages from the Bible in order to prove to a right wing radio host why she's wrong in her views about gay people.

Many liberals see Barack Obama as someone who is idealistic, intelligent, and so politically genius that we think he might just be able to get things done in a do-nothing Washington. The parallels between Obama and Bartlet ended there, until a speech he gave to a group of liberal Christians in 2006 was dug up.

On The West Wing the conservative radio host sites Leviticus 18:22 as why gay marriage is an "abomination." Bartlet's response:

"I want to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here: I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleaned the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? ...Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?"

From Obama's speech:

"Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?"

College Candy: The commons versus the common experience

From a post I wrote as part of my column "Finding Love in the Post-College World" for collegecandy.com

"My first night back in Los Angeles, after a year of living in New York, I ended up at a bar on Sunset called Coach & Horses. It was dark, dank, a jukebox kind of place. I started talking to a guy, a friend of a friend, about our jobs, favorite movies, favorite television shows. He worked in the writer’s room of a popular TV show, we were both addicted to 'Top Chef,' and we agreed that the first four seasons of the 'West Wing' were brilliant and far surpassed seasons five thru seven."

read more.

College Candy: Adventures in Veganism, parts 2-6

Here are links to the posts I wrote for collegecandy.com about my week eating entirely vegan:

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 6

For some reason part five wasn't published and they haven't published part seven yet.

A Poutporri of randomness

I was searching eBay for something to wear to the Americana party I want to throw later this summer, and I found this:

It was listed as a wedding dress. Amazing! If anyone wants to buy it for me (it's around $200), I'll totally wear it to the party. 

College Candy post: Sex and the Unemployed

From my collegecandy.com column "Finding Love in the Post-College World":

"It sounds like a dream: lazing in bed until eleven, having sex in the middle of the day, scoping out your city’s best happy hours in the early evening with your man. This is the life of those unemployed and in a relationship. But there’s a dark side, a very dark side, and it’s called the Wii."

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College Candy post: Adventures in veganism, day 1

From a 7-part article I wrote for collegecandy.com:

"My favorite places to eat at in Los Angeles include In N’ Out for their double-double animal-style burgers and Bay Cities Italian Deli in Santa Monica for their “godmother” sandwich, a bread and meat monstrosity with cold cuts from every edible animal. I rarely eat at home because I can’t cook, and when I do, my go-to at-home meal is a ham and cheese sandwich. I’m telling you this to give you an idea of how hard it is going to be for me to eat like a vegan for week."

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The 6/6/08 weekend top 3

A new post from my new writing gig!

"These are the three things I’m dragging my friends to this weekend in Los Angeles. See you there!

Anyone who says Los Angeles lacks culture obviously hasn’t been to Olvera Street. It’s known as “the birthplace of the City of Angels” and features the vibrant Mexican Marketplace. On Saturday June 7th from 10 AM to 7 PM the neighborhood hosts the Fiesta de las Flores. The area will be decorated to recreate scenes from old Los Angeles. There will be plenty of spots to take mantelpiece (or at least Facebook) worthy sepia-toned photos with friends."

read more at loseangeles.moleskinecity.com

The RFK Snoozefest

If I read one more article comparing Barack Obama to Robert Kennedy or 1968 to 2008 I'm going to lose it. What has happened to political journalism? After the excitement and anxiety surrounding the Hillary Clinton v. Obama primary showdown, it's like their brains have clocked too many miles and just can't go on.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITIC