The Blade seeks gardeners for Weed It & Reap who are as varied as what they grow and who dig in gardens large, small, or with unusual content. In a sentence, tell us what’s unique about you or your garden. Contact Tahree Lane at tlane@theblade.com or 419-724-6075. Name: Don Stierman, associate professor of geophysics/seismologist at the University of Toledo, living in Old Orchard. Garden specs: 80 square yards (20-by-4 yards), plus flowers here and there, and two wine-grape vines (DeChaunac, a red). I’m also part of the community garden at UT, across from the law school, where my theme is perennial herbs: mint, horseradish, chives, lovage, thyme, and oregano.When did you start gardening?  Born into it. Grandpa was a truck farmer, became known as Dubuque, Iowa’s ‘apple man’ about 1970.  We lived on the 20 acres next door.  I weeded, hoed, and helped harvest in our home gardens and in Grandpa’s commercial operation (a couple of pick-up loads a week at peak production). I learned to be ambidextrous when picking berries, apples, beans, and tomatoes. Mom canned tomatoes, applesauce, pickles, and froze corn, peas, beans, berries, and cherries. I have seven brothers and sisters, and we seldom purchased vegetables from the A&P.  Any one of us can spot the best tomato or biggest apple in the pile at a glance. Two of my brothers  managed the produce sections of supermarkets, two are avid gardeners, and one sells at a farmers’ market. We continue learning from one another.  What do you grow? Tomatoes. I’ve found the varieties I like: Better Boys, Sweet Baby Girls, Park’s Whopper, and about July 1, I plant a Brandywine because they keep well into the fall. You store them by putting the green ones in a cool, dark place in the basement until they ripen. I had a homegrown tomato at Christmas. Five varieties of peppers (Tiburon, a hot poblano-style for chile rellenos; jalapenos; Hungarian wax pepper for pickling; the big Karma bell pepper for all-around use, and a sweet banana that is prolific and early. Every year I plant a different variety of pickling cucumber to make kosher dills, dill (of course), green beans, several varieties (“chef’s blend”) of leaf lettuce,  cabbage, kohlrabi, zucchini, herbs, blackberries, black raspberries, rhubarb, ornamentals, and flowers. By now, spinach, green onions, and endive have germinated outdoors. I started leaf lettuce, cabbage, and broccoli from seed in early March using a heating pad and a fluorescent desk lamp, and will transplant them outdoors as soon as it’s dry enough.  Pepper and tomato plants are growing in the sun room; will transplant those mid-May when the danger of frost has past.Favorite plant: If I could plant only one thing, it would be tomatoes. Give us a gardening tip: Frequent shallow cultivation. I get down on my knees and use the three-pronged hand cultivator to keep the surface loose and kill weeds, trying to get around the whole garden at least once a week. Hours spent gardening: Thirty hours a week in May (weeding, mostly, and transplanting), eight hours a week in July. In August, the blackberries come in, and grapes are at the end of August. Annual expense: $40 for seeds (mail order), $15 fertilizers (I use one tablespoon of bone meal in the bottom of each transplant hole, and off-the-shelf liquid fertilizer), $10 for pest and fungus control, $60 for flats of flowers (from a local greenhouse), $20 in 2010 for Fall Red everbearing raspberry plants, and $20 this year for two Pixwell gooseberry plants from which I’ll make pies.  Each year brings some sort of long-term investment ($20 – $60) in fencing, grub virus, posts, cages, or tools. Challenges: Now that temporary fences (24-inch-tall woven ‘chicken’ wire) keep rabbits from seedling lettuce and cabbages; Japanese beetles are my major pest but they attack mostly roses.  In 2009 a groundhog destroyed cucumbers, beans, and zucchini. After eight weeks of escalating warfare, I got him and he remains in the hole he dug under the blackberry patch. I’m still seen from time to time chasing rabbits. Also, getting autumn vegetables to germinate in the hot summer sun is difficult and not always successful.  I’m proud of my wine (about 12 to 20 bottles a year), thornless blackberries (they love being the ‘rain garden’, a natural low spot where runoff drains), producing enough tomatoes and peppers for our children (four) and grandchildren (nine), growing dahlias and gladiolas that multiply so vigorously I pass overflow bulbs and roots to relatives. Usually my dill pickles bring high praise. I use my grandmother’s recipe and take a couple of jars to my 89-year-old mother in Dubuque. Canning season runs from July 20 to early September.  I make pies from rhubarb and blackberries and taught my oldest granddaughter how to make pies; our family traditions endure. People passing in cars have stopped to photograph my dahlias. Our daughter in Los Angeles is successfully growing tomatoes in patio pots and our oldest son moved his family into a house with a garden, a feature he prefers over a pool.  What I’ve learned gardening: Gardening is a religious experience for me, a practice of the virtues of hope and faith, and there is so much to be thankful for.  Seminarians should be required to tend a few vines and make wine as part of their education.  “Fruit of the vine and work of human hands” takes on real meaning when it is your hands doing the work. The parable about Jesus being the vine, consistently there year after year, and people being the branches producing the fruit is probably best understood when you have to prune your own vines.

DAVID CRARY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The images are striking: Overweight boys and girls staring somberly from billboards and online videos, real-life embodiments of the blunt messages alongside.

"Chubby kids may not outlive their parents," for example. Or: "Big bones didn't make me this way. Big meals did."

The Bears beat Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest 20-9 and the Highlanders downed Lake Brantley 17-5 in semifinal games Friday at West Orange

WINTER GARDEN – Winter Springs will get its first shot at a state girls lacrosse title and Lake Highland will get another crack at its first boys championship after both cruised to state semifinal victories Friday at West Orange.

NY Observer, Price: $4.95, Football Gifts 2011 for Kids - Original Pet Rock Throwback (We are original Pet Rock makers from the 1970s) www.thepetrockthrowback.com is the Best Football Gift 2011 for Kids, Mom, Dad, Men, Women, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Daughter, Son, Husband, Wife, Teens and Children. The 70's are back in fashion, music, style, collectibles, and rocks for pets. The Pet Rock is a whimsical cornerstone of that revival. Forget the hassles of a dog or a cat. Own the only mineral proven to make you feel loved. For a great stocking stuffer or gag gift, pick up a few Pet Rocks today. BUY NOW ! PAYPAL SAFE! Original Pet Rock Throwback $3.95+ $5.50 Shipping (+ tax in Florida only) Go to the official web sites and Buy Online: http://www.thepetrockthrowback.com http://www.thepetrock.20m.com Complete Pet Rock Catalog: http://thepetrock.20m.com/catalog_3.html Official Pet Rock Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eAjFKe6G04 tags: Football Gifts 2011 for Mom or Boyfriend - Original Pet Rock Throwback for christmas gifts holiday gifts christmas gift ideas shop for christmas christmas gift gifts baby gift best gift ideas best gifts boys gift christmas christmas gifts christmas list cool christmas gifts gift ideas gifts for her gifts for him girls gift shopping toddler gift top gifts toys xmaschristmas gifts, holiday gifts, christmas gift ideas, shop for christmas, christmas gift, gifts, baby gift, best gift ideas, best gifts, boys gift, christmas, christmas gifts, christmas list, cool christmas gifts, gift ideas, gifts for her, gifts for him, girls gift, shopping, toddler gift, top gifts, toys,

Public Opinion, Price: $4.95, Original Pet Rock Throwback (We are original Pet Rock makers from the 1970s) www.thepetrockthrowback.com is the Best Fathers day Gifts for Kids, Mom, Dad, Men, Women, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Daughter, Son, Husband, Wife, Teens and Children. The 70's are back in fashion, music, style, collectibles, and rocks for pets. The Pet Rock is a whimsical cornerstone of that revival. Forget the hassles of a dog or a cat. Own the only mineral proven to make you feel loved. For a great stocking stuffer or gag gift, pick up a few Pet Rocks today. BUY NOW ! PAYPAL SAFE! Original Pet Rock Throwback $3.95+ $5.50 Shipping (+ tax in Florida only) Go to the official web sites and Buy Online: http://www.thepetrockthrowback.com http://www.thepetrock.20m.com Complete Pet Rock Catalog: http://thepetrock.20m.com/catalog_3.html Official Pet Rock Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eAjFKe6G04 tags: Easter Gifts for Kids 2011 Men & Women Mom or Boyfriend - Original Pet Rock Throwback for christmas gifts holiday gifts christmas gift ideas shop for christmas christmas gift gifts baby gift best gift ideas best gifts boys gift christmas christmas gifts christmas list cool christmas gifts gift ideas gifts for her gifts for him girls gift shopping toddler gift top gifts toys xmaschristmas gifts, holiday gifts, christmas gift ideas, shop for christmas, christmas gift, gifts, baby gift, best gift ideas, best gifts, boys gift, christmas, christmas gifts, christmas list, cool christmas gifts, gift ideas, gifts for her, gifts for him, girls gift

Through 5/8, ChildrensPlace.com takes 20% off sitewide with code MOM2011. Check out the girls' Chambray Button Cami (pictured), which drops from $16.95 to $12 to $9.60 with code, and the boys' Madras Plaid Woven Shirt, which falls from $14.95 to $12 to $9.60 with code. Also take a look at the baby girls' Active Halter Top, originally $8.50, then $6, and now $4.80 with code. Shipping is $5 or free over $75 and sales tax is charged in most states.

Hundreds of area children gathered at the Boys and Girls Club in Charlottesville for Cops 4 Kids. The event works to help younger generations to feel more comfortable around law enforcement officers.

Tyler the Creator touches down to talk goblins, chillwave and the trouble with saying stupid stuff

Tyler Okonma, better known as Tyler the Creator, 20-year-old frontman of Odd Future, the world's most notorious rap group, is having a fit. He was sitting cross-legged on the table of a boardroom in the London office of his new record company, XL – home to Adele, the xx and Dizzee Rascal – but now he's on all fours, and in raptures.

"Oh, my gosh!" he explodes as a bowl of bacon and syrup is placed in front of him. As he smells the food he emits a raspy gasp that sounds vaguely satanic. "Suck my dick," he says to no one in particular, before tucking into his hearty American breakfast. It is 4pm. "Oooh, this is so fuckin' good," he moans in an impossibly deep voice, the one that has earned him a grievous reputation for rapping about murder, rape and all manner of depraved, disgusting acts. He resents being teased about going vegetarian. "Fuck, no," he says, lifting his head from the plate to fix the Guardian with an "are you mad?" stare. "That shit's gay."

You can't really ignore Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. Well, you could, but you'd have to not use the internet and not read any press. They are everywhere. There's a good reason for the ubiquity: OFWGKTA are astonishing, both on record and live, where they approximate the combined imagined force of the Sex Pistols, Slipknot and NWA. At YoYo in Notting Hill last week, London's most glamorous – as well as Adele, the xx, Mark Ronson, and Jamie Reynolds of Klaxons – turned up just to watch OF's in-house engineer Syd Tha Kyd do a DJ set. Tyler and OF mates Left Brain and Hodgy Beats were there, sitting in the background, holding court. Suddenly, Syd cut in an OF track and, out of nowhere, the three jolted into life and began moving manically as though they'd been cattle-prodded across the room. Even the none-more-cool crowd went wild, a scene repeated at two rammed OF appearances at Village Underground and the Camden Crawl.

And you should hear their records. No, you really should. For sustained and diverse brilliance, only the Wu-Tang Clan with their numerous side projects come close, and even they weren't this precocious (Odd Future are aged 17-23) or prolific. Over the past 18 months, the eight rapping and recording-artist members of OFWGKTA (a collective that also includes producers and illustrators), have made more than a dozen albums available for free download. Forget "mixtapes", these are fully realised works; sample-free, each meticulously crafted and worthy of major label release. There are two albums by the Jet Age Of Tomorrow, who specialise in light'n'breezy cosmic lounge funk; two collections of by turns psychotic and psychedelic crunk by MellowHype; two albums of hi-tech latterday G-funk by Mike G; some blunted beats and experimental studio play courtesy of Domo Genesis; even a suite of exquisite R&B; with soul-baring lyrics from Frank Ocean.

Then there are the three Odd Future compilations (The Odd Future Tape Vol 1, Radical and Some OF Shit) that have hinted at what OFWGKTA are capable of, and the two solo works that have made it explicit: Tyler's Bastard and Earl by Earl Sweatshirt. Bastard is ghoulish, but it's also rather gorgeous, with its stark piano lines and pillowy keyboards. There is misogynous loathing of the most extreme kind, and there is suicidal despair, all wrapped up in murderous tunes and expressed in that viscous growl, like Rakim with all the nutritional elements removed. In this writer's opinion it is one of the best rap albums ever made, free or otherwise.

Earl is an even more sick (in both senses) attraction, with its buzzing synths like drills in an abattoir made all the more menacing by the almost facetiously pretty melodies. What impresses most is the witty intricacy of the rhymes as the appallingly articulate (and, it has to be said, furiously funny) rapper, 16 when he recorded it, moves from one repugnant scene to another. The group's totemic outlaw figure, the Sid Vicious to Tyler's Johnny Rotten, only blazingly talented, Earl is currently in a facility for wayward youth in Samoa; chants of "Free Earl!" are commonplace at OF gigs.

"He's so good," says Tyler, who has finished eating and is sitting, legs outstretched, on the table. "I want to be on his level one day. That dude's sick. He has such a natural flow; I don't know how he does it."

'I don't know where all the anger comes from. It's just this dark place that I go to when I'm alone. We all do' - Tyler the Creator

What about Tyler: how does he do it? Inspiration for the plaintive atmospheres and mournful violins, he explains, comes from "a bunch of French jazz, old soundtracks, library music, shit with crazy chord progressions and changes in it." He adores Roy Ayers: "Listening to him, it's like, 'How the fuck did he find that?' That shit's tight." There are elements in his productions that rap fans will recognise – the murk of Cannibal Ox, RZA's haunting strings – while others may hear in its billowing synths echoes of chillwave (Toro Y Moi even produced a "chopped and screwed" version of Tyler's track French). "I listen to Washed Out, Beach House and Broadcast," says Tyler. "That's what I'm influenced by. [That's why] the music is a mixture of pretty chords, fuckin' hardcore drums and basslines, and really nice strings."

It was Fader and Pitchfork who first picked up on OF. They were rejected by the hip-hop blogs, and Tyler is less enamoured of the form ("I respect it but I don't really like it"). He seems happier with the notion of OF continuing a legacy of rock radicalism rather than fitting into rap history. When it's proposed that they're signalling one of those seismic moments comparable to Public Enemy in 1987 or Dre and Snoop in 1992, he seems disappointed. When I add names such as the Sex Pistols and Nirvana, making OF part of a bigger continuum, he perks up.

"You mean like how the Sex Pistols and the Doors came along and changed everything?" he wonders. "Oh, I see what you're saying now." He loves Joy Division – Ian Curtis, Hitler and late US comedian Bernie Mac would be his three perfect interviewees – and the idea of Berlin. "I've never been there but I'm expecting it to be fuckin' grimy and scary and dark, but like a really beautiful place once you look past it," he says.

You really couldn't ask for a more pithy encapsulation of the OF aesthetic. But what about those lyrics, Tyler?

"I usually just say what I'm feeling at the time, what I think is cool," he replies. "It's sporadic. It's the first things that come in my head. Like the word 'goblin'," he says, referring to the title of his imminent solo album and first official release. "It randomly came to me. Goblins are little mischievous fucks."

Brought up by his mother, a former social worker, much of the rage in his music is directed at his father, who abandoned him, and at women, for whom he reserves his most chilling put-downs.

"I don't know where that anger comes from," he reflects. "It's just this dark place that I go to when I'm alone. We all do."

Does he not consider the effect his music might have? "I never think of that. I just make shit I want to listen to. Not everyone's got to like it."

Tyler still lives with his mother and he claims she doesn't listen to his lyrics, but she has been seen at OF gigs, getting off on the music. "She just supports her son doing what he always wanted to do, being on the cover of magazines, so she can show her friends," he laughs. "I know if I was a parent and my son was on fuckin' TV, I would look past any negative shit he said and just support my kid."

'They're some of the nicest people you will ever meet. We play, we joke, we have fun. None of us wanted to grow up. This is how we keep our innocence' - OF DJ-engineer, Syd Tha Kid

And yet, for all Tyler's debased language and casual use of the word "faggot" in conversation, he and OF are not feral skatekids rampaging across the States on a diet of pills and "purple drank" cough syrup. He might announce, "I'm bad milk – drink it" on Bastard, and he might lurch around on stage in a ski mask, but actually he's a teetotal non-smoker who doesn't touch coffee.

"I'm a pretty nice dude," he says. "I have fun and people take it the wrong way. Like when I start making fun of people and fucking with them, it's just funny to me."

Is there anything he wouldn't rap about? He pauses for a moment:

"Not that I know of yet."

Has he ever been offended by anything? "Somebody called me a homophobe. I'm not homophobic. I just say 'faggot' and use 'gay' as an adjective to describe stupid shit."

Enter Syd "Tha Kyd" Bennett. She's engineered most of the group's recordings in the guest house at the back of her "upper-middle class" (her phrase) parents' home. Still only 19, she used to be a business student; she also happens to be gay. Does her presence allow the boys to "get away with it"?

"In a sense it does," she says, although she adds that, "Even if I wasn't here, they'd still be saying the same stuff." Asked whether she condones the use of brutal language against women, she replies that she must do; after all, she says, "I mixed it all. I listened to those tracks millions of times."

She argues that "offensive words don't deserve their value, their power", and that they're just words. "He [Tyler] isn't necessarily saying, 'I want to rape so-and-so.' They're just sick, twisted fantasies that he's had, based on girls that have hurt him in the past. A lot of people have sick, twisted fantasies, so why not give them something to relate to?"

She considers her male Wolf Gang members "some of the nicest people you will ever meet. We play, we joke, we have fun. None of us wanted to grow up. This is how we keep our innocence."

Just when you're reeling from the idea of OF as joyous naifs, you read Tyler's Twitter feed, where he's declaring his intention to slap a child at the airport for wearing a Donald Duck hat.

"Yeah, she wouldn't shut the fuck up," says Tyler of his message. "I didn't want her to have it [the hat]. Stupid little bitch. I shoulda socked her ass. See? A six-foot-two black guy talking about socking a seven-year-old Asian kid in the face … that's funny to me!"

By Katie Culver I was so excited about my son’s first soccer season, that I volunteered my husband and I to share responsibilities as the team’s coaches. The complicating matter: I was 40 weeks pregnant. My third child was born two weeks later, which meant that – along with rainouts – much of the season was a bust for me. Yes, I cheered from the sidelines, but it was frankly tough to watch my husband coach. As a former coach in high school and college, I was dying to get in there! Being forced to watch from the sideline, however, reminded me what a powerful role coaches play – and made clear that we need more moms stepping up. Sure, I had to sit out the season, but the sidelines provided an alarming view.  It occurred to me that our children’s recreational sports reinforce gender inequity. Why? 1) The boys (plus sisters and parents watching) missed out on the valuable example of a woman coach—a competent woman at that—demonstrating leadership and skill in an area typically dominated by DADS. 2) I—completely willing and more than able—missed the opportunity to be involved in my son’s sport because I was fulfilling the stereotypical role of care-taker to the children on the sidelines. Now I know this makes sense—I had just given birth and was nursing my very fussy baby most of the time. However, with every single team we played being coached by a Dad (many of whom never played soccer!) it was clear that I had entered territory where women were not welcome. I was determined to change this. The next spring, I again volunteered my husband and I as “co-head coaches.” I would bring a blanket and snacks for my three-year-old and strap baby TJ onto my chest in a baby carrier (yes, to coach in the sweltering heat!). As a woman, particularly one wearing a baby and toting a toddler, I was an anomaly on the field. But my presence sent an important message to boys on the team, to my daughter, and to the spectators: Moms belong here! It may stretch your comfort zone, but consider this a formal Mother’s Day invitation to get involved in sports with your kids — not on the sidelines, but on the field: ·         Don’t just bring snacks, volunteer to coach! NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! Why are Dads more inclined to coach a sport they never played? Does being a sports fan qualify them to be a coach? Well, yes, they believe so. Own that attitude. Plus just consider that coaching a team is pretty basic compared with the juggling and on-the-run problem-solving and strategizing that is part of your life. And coaching is FUN!! ·         Practice with your kids! Take them to a field to play soccer or lacrosse or to just run around. They will learn so much from you and respect you for making the effort to play sports (or just be silly!) with them. Both boys and girls need to see their moms engage in athletics to challenge the norms we associate with sports. ·         Get other moms involved. Take a leadership role in the local recreation league so you can help recruit moms to coach. Whether it’s setting league policy, organizing try-outs for placement, or planning community-building events, local sports boards need more moms to serve as leaders and organizers. How can we encourage older girls to, say, train to become referees if local leagues look like boys-only clubs?

Women's lacrosse is growing by leaps and bounds, as is the sport in general as it moves west. The most prestigious lacrosse event in the country happens in Colorado every summer. For the last 39 years, the Vail Lacrosse Shootout Presented by Harrow brings the best players around the nation for nine days of play in the Vail Valley. The dates are June 25-July 3 with play on four different fields.The fastest growing division is the Under 19 High School Division. This year, the girls H.S. division will have 24 teams, twice as many as last year and more than the high school boys. The Women's Elite division (collegiate, post collegiate and club teams) will field 16 teams. If you go: Girls High School games will be at Freedom Park in Edwards June 27-30; Women's Elite will be June 30-July 3, also at Freedom Park. Edwards is about 11 miles west of Vail Village on I-70. There is no admission charge to watch the games, and you can pick up a shootout program at each of the venues. Visit vaillacrosse.com for a complete schedule of games and venues. Also, visit coloradolacrosse.org. Recommended lodging: Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa126 Riverfront Lane970-790-6000westinriverfrontbeavercreek.comA short drive on Highway 6 takes you to Edwards. Each room of this luxury hotel has a tiny kitchen plus every amenity you could want. Restaurant Avondale, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner; plus a mountainside outdoor lounge and a swimming pool are welcome spots after the games.

 

Welcome to the tantrum!  Thought I'd show off a picture from on the way home from Tahoe last week.  That being said, it's now time to say goodbye to winter and move on to some of the great things of Spring, like this:

KENTUCKY DERBY.  Is there anything that has more tradition?  The "fastest two minutes in sports" is so much more than that.  Look I'm no poet, but if Opening Day of MLB is a sign of Spring, this right here is the apex of it!  Yeah, its turned into some commercial bullshit, but what hasn't? 

MLB.  First I write about Ozzie getting tossed for two games for going on twitter, and this week Liriano throwing the no-no against the Pale Hose?  Man, Ozzie has to be ready for the rubber room – and its only May.  Hang on boys and girls, we can have some fun with the South-siders this Summer!

Rumor alert – Jose Reyes getting traded from the Mets to my Giants!  Uh oh Phillies, don’t crown yourselves NL champs yet!  Speaking of the Giants – your hitting sucks, bring Brandon Belt back up, he’s hitting damn near .400 at AAA Fresno.

NHL.  OK fellas, I’ve been doing a lot of talking about Vancouver, but this takes the cake.  The Human Booger, otherwise known as “Vancouver Green Man” apparently has been very naughty.  Somebody complained about their standing on their head with their back and ass on the glass when a visitor spends quality time in the penalty box.  Now the NHL is getting involved – this can’t be good.

NBA.    Time to bash the Laker fans.  Hey Laker fan, everybody knows that you're a bunch of front-running douches, but you’re so damn spoiled that you boo Pau Gasol – the same guy that brought you three straight NBA Finals appearances?  Tell you what, cut him and let a “lesser team” sign him.  I’ll bet their fans would appreciate him more anyway! 

NFL .    Holy crap, if this isn't amazing I don't know what is.  Javier Arenas of the Kansas City Chiefs survived the tornadoes of Alabama by hiding in a bathtub.  Almost immediately thereafter, he drove away in his SUV and returned with said SUV filled with supplies in order to help his neighbors in Tuscaloosa.  Props to Javier Arenas.

GOLF.  Sad news from the world of Golf as one of my personal favorites ever on the PGA Tour, Seve Ballesteros, is going through a deterioration of his health.  He's been battling brain tumor since 2008.  Hey Seve, keep battling my man!  KEEP BATTLING!!!

Rant of the Week – .   

Judy Bloom books, Playboy magazines, Spice channel, the Internet - the availability of sex-Ed resources has significantly multiplied over the past 100+ years. Before the sexual revolution, past generations lived in ignorant misery. Broadway in Chicago presents the 8-time Tony Award winning Spring Awakening a new musical in town for a one week engagement. Based on the controversial play produced by Frank Wedekind, teenagers come of age in 19th century Germany. Wendall wonders about procreation. Moritz worries about wet dreams. Melchoir questions the punitive educational system within an oppressed society. Along with the other village kids, lustful thoughts arouse more questions without answers. Fornication and masturbation without education is groping in the dark for satisfaction. When the boys and girls venture into the unknown, it takes a village to crush the buds of change. Spring Awakening is a beautiful lust story!

Would you name your child after a girl who is famous solely for getting pregnant before finishing high school? Apparently, for a lot of Americans the answer to that question is yes.

The UIL has now posted all the state meet qualifiers for each classification right here. Lane assignments have been made as well. Remember, at the state meet, the top times don't get the best lanes. It's a random draw. Also,...

Why We Assign Social Security Numbers at Birth U.S. News & World Report (blog) Jacob and Isabella were the most popular names given to newborn boys and girls in the United States in 2010, according to Social Security card application data released yesterday. Each name made up just over 1 percent of all births ... and more »

Goodnights is offering a free sample of their underwear for little girls and boys. This offer is available to the U.S., Canada, APO and FPO addresses while supplies last. Related Posts: Free Huggies...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

These Aussie punks are so lo-fi they make the White Stripes sound like Queen circa A Night at the Opera

Hometown: Queensland, Australia.

The lineup: Alex Wall (vocals, drums) and Jordan Malane (vocals, guitar).

The background: Some of the respondents to yesterday's act found various bad-tempered ways to declare modern music rubbish and express confusion towards such new-fangled genres as "R&G;" (we think it's a conflation of R&B; and garage, the latter being the UK urban kind, not the raucous mid-60s variety). They should prefer today's lot. This is garage in a proto-punk sense and not remotely scary and new.

Indeed, with all the recent talk, following the sad deaths of Ari Up and Poly Styrene, about punk's inventive streak, you could be fooled into believing the era was all next-level this and game-changing that. Bleeding Knees Club, two Aussie teens in love with punk, are a reassuring reminder that actually a lot of 1976 music was deeply old-fashioned. And though it felt like a million years later, it was only a decade after the "beat boom".

Bleeding Knees Club only formed in March 2010 and recorded their debut EP, Virginity, at the back of a shoe shop and it shows: not that it sounds shoey – just tinny, echoey, shambolic and raw, with some of the primal energy of the early Stones. As for Alex Wall's vocals, they have the croaky, shredded quality of early Jagger – or David Johansen, who modelled himself on early Jagger, too, only Wall is way less knowing and arch. Just as mannered, though.

This music's so thin and cheap it makes the White Stripes' Toerag recordings sound like Queen circa A Night At the Opera with arrangements courtesy of Wagner and Trevor Horn at the helm. You'd think it was a conceptual art prank, only it's not quite that clever. Camp Out, one of the tracks on their EP, is so lo-tech it hurts the ears, like having wire brushes scrub out your inner cochlea. As opposed to your outer cochlea. They write a lot about girls, do BKC: there's one called Teenage Girls that would be a bit creepy were the boys not fairly young themselves. Deja vu will probably set in after three tracks but that's probably half the point: loads of the same, with maximum impact achieved cumulatively. Don't expect layers of meaning: Have Fun is about having fun, though as regards the video, chaps, a Volkswagen Beetle is not the sort of vehicle you want to be using to get your kicks. It is the least rock'n'roll car this side of the Daihatsu Sirion, and that includes the 1.3 model with SE trim.

The buzz: "Surf-trash-pash-punk songs about bad guys who smoke all night, staying out after dark, being loud and high, having fun and losing your mind" – duckduzz.com.

The truth: This duo doen't rock as hard or heavy as Black Keys, but there's a ramshackle quality you might like.

Most likely to: Still be virgins.

Least likely to: Sign to Virgin – they're indie through and through (until they get signed by a major, anyway).

What to buy: The EP is released by Noir on 6 June.

File next to: New York Dolls, Saints, Black Keys, White Stripes.

Links: myspace.com/thebleedingkneesclub.

Monday's new band: Sam Gyllenhaal.

MTV's Teen Mom has affected baby names, as parents have increasingly named their newborns after Maci Bookout and her son Bentley. The Social Security Administration announced that "Maci and Bentley had the biggest jumps in popularity." For boys, Bentley had a 414 percent change, going from the 515th to 101st most-popular name between 2009 and 2010. For girls, it was Maci, with a 423 percent change, going from the 655th most-popular name in 2009 to... keep reading »

» read the full story and comment, or find the latest news about Teen Mom
» follow reality blurred on Twitter and on Facebook.

The list of top trending baby names in 2011 is further proof that "Teen Mom" may be ruining the next generation. The most popular boys and girls names so far this year are Bentley and Maci. (Bentley, of course, is the name "Teen Mom" Maci, ahem, gave her son.) Okay, if you say so, new parents. Also on the trending list are Quinn (from "Glee," who I should note was also a pregnant teen) and Knox (from the Jolie-Pitt brood. What? No love for Viv?). In other baby news, Bryan Adams named his daughter Mirabella Bunny after … the Easter Bunny. This is a strange world we live in. [MSNBC, Huffington Post]

Happy Oaks, boys and girls.

E! Online (blog)

The Hunger Games Cast Thrown Into Stunt Boot Camp, "Get Along Great" E! Online (blog) With just a month left before The Hunger Games begins shooting, an inside Hunger source tells us the entire cast is currently enrolled in physically demanding stunt training! And while these pretty boys and girls are battling it out in training, ... and more »

This summer, Universal Orlando Resort’s 2011 Summer Concert Series will feature the most dynamic lineup in the event’s history. Six hit artists – including Drake, Boys Like Girls and Trey Songz – will take center stage every Saturday night from June 11 to July 16. With a combined total of 30 platinum albums, this year’s [...]

Click on the photo for this week’s hottie index Each week the boys at Brobible take on the task of ranking five girls that tickled their fancy for the week.  It’s a lovely little segment and I highly suggest you do your best to read it.  Other than that I got nothing.   Thanks. More suggestions [...]

Jacob Lusk is gone from American Idol.

The Compton, California native Steven Tyler dubbed "Baby Luther," in honor of the late R&B legend Luther Vandross, was eliminated on Thursday's episode.

PHOTOS: American Idol's Most Memorable Contestants

Lusk, 23, received the lowest votes after his performances Wednesday of Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown's duet No Air, and Nazareth and Roy Orbison's Love Hurts, failed to impress the masses.

"I got to share a little bit with America, and I think America's fallen in love with me," Lusk said after he was ousted from the show's 10th season. "Now I can go and put out that good-feeling R&B music that reminds you of Luther or those great old singers."

PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes at American Idol

The remaining contestants in this year’s competition include boys Scotty McCreery and James Durbin; and girls Lauren Alaina and Haley Reinhart.

American Idol returns Wednesday on Fox at 8/7c. This season's champ will be announced on the show's May 26 finale.

 

RELATED STORIES:

Eliminated Idol Casey Abrams: 'Steven Tyler Is A Better Kisser Than Jennifer Lopez'

VIDEO: Casey Abrams Voted Off From American Idol

VIDEO: American Idol's James Durbin 'Just Might Win The Whole Thing,' Says Randy Jackson

Early-1971, in an effort to attract as many youngsters to the premises as possible, staff at the newly-opened public library in Troy, Michigan, wrote to a number of notable people with a request: to reply with a congratulatory letter, addressed to the children of Troy, in which the benefits of visiting such a library were explained in some form. It's heartening to know that an impressive 97 people did exactly that, and below are just four of those replies, all from authors: Isaac Asimov; Hardie Gramatky; Theodore Geisel; and E. B. White.

(Although sadly a common situation these days, it's worth noting that Troy Public Library is currently dodging closure. How long it remains open is a mystery.)

Transcripts follow. All images courtesy of Troy Public Library.



Transcript

16 March 1971

Dear Boys and Girls,

Congratulations on the new library, because it isn't just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you---and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life.

(Signed, 'Isaac Asimov')

Isaac Asimov

Transcript

Hardie Gramatky
60 Roseville Road
Westport, Conn.

April 26, 1971

To the Young People of
The Troy Public Library
Troy, Michigan.

Dear Boys and Girls:

I have just heard the good news about your having your own Public Library. How can anyone be so lucky. You must be proud and happy, indeed.

You already know, I am sure, of the wonderful new worlds this immediately opens to you. The chance to meet the most interesting people and the chance to make many new friends. What a choice you will have.

And how many of us likes to travel? We all do! The joy of it all is that through reading books we can visit the most exciting far-away places. Then when we actually go there we will have enough knowledge to make that place ten times as interesting.

How I envy you, boys and girls. Your new library brings you more joy than you can have in a life time. Be sure to use it.

All my love,

(Signed, 'Hardie Gramatky')

[Illustration]
AND LOVE FROM LITTLE TOOT

Transcript

Dr. Seuss
7301 Encelia Drive
La Jolla, California 92037

Dear Children of Troy:

Read!
Read!
Read!
Read!
Read!
Read!

That's the advice of your good friend, Dr. Seuss

Transcript

E. B. WHITE
NORTH BROOKLIN, MAINE

April 14, 1971

Dear Children of Troy:

Your librarian has asked me to write, telling you what a library can mean to you.

A library is many things. It's a place to go, to get in out of the rain. It's a place to go if you want to sit and think. But particularly it is a place where books live, and where you can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books. If you want to find out about something, the information is in the reference books---the dictionaries, the encyclopedias, the atlases. If you like to be told a story, the library is the place to go. Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together---just the two of you. A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people---people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.

(Signed, 'EB White')

In the latest of our London 2012 boxing series, a Q&A; with Anthony Ogogo

To claim middleweight silver at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last autumn, Anthony Ogogo beat "The Indian Beckham" in controversial circumstances in the semi-final. He also appeared in Big Brother Celebrity Hijack (this was a version of the show intended to invert the format of the original and featured young people with talent rather than the fame-hungry).

As well as taking that Commonwealth medal at 75kg, he won the Amateur Boxing Association of England title last May, two years after taking the welterweight crown. Then in November he took the middleweight title at the inaugural Great Britain Championships a few days before turning 22.

When and where did you start boxing and why?

It all started when a couple of my friends fell out during a game of football at school when I was 12. They came to blows but the mad thing was that the smaller, weedier guy got the better of the other guy who was much bigger and stronger. I asked him where he learnt to do that and he said it was at Triple A Boxing Club in Lowestoft. I decided to see what it was all about and because I did not want to go on my own, I dragged along the friend that came off worse in the dust-up! From the moment I walked into the gym I fell in love with it and have been going ever since.

Is there a history of boxing in your family?

None.

What other sports are you good at and were you ever tempted to stick with them rather than boxing?

I played football to a good standard. I was captain of the Suffolk Schools team and also played for Norwich City until the age of 14 but when it came to a choice between football and boxing I chose boxing.

Who has been the biggest influence in your career?

My mum and my four sisters are a big influence insofar as they have made me the person I am and I want to do well and make them proud.

From a boxing perspective, my coach at Triple A, John Cremin, has trained me for over 10 years and played a huge part in getting me where I am today.

What is the toughest part of your sport and how do you cope with that?

The thing I find toughest is the disappointment of losing. It is especially tough in a sport like amateur boxing where you have a judging and scoring system that can have a degree of subjectivity and means that sometimes you lose a contest that you think you have won. When that has happened to me I have been very frustrated by it.

Boxing is a weight-making sport so how do you cope with the pressure of constantly monitoring your weight?

Making weight is always in the back of your mind but on the GB programme we get a lot of help from the sports science and medical team provided by the English Institute of Sport (EIS). We have a big support team which includes a full-time nutritionist, who oversees what we eat in training camps and does a lot of education work with the GB squad about what to eat and drink when we are at home. It is a big help and takes away a lot of the stress around making the weight.

How would you describe your boxing style?

Orthodox but adaptable. The most important thing is to find a way to win.

What do you think of the point-scoring system and how does it affect your strategy in the ring?

The key thing is that I have learnt to be more patient. In the past I might have panicked if I was down on points after the first round, but one of the best bits of advice I have picked up from Rob McCracken, our performance director, is not to panic. He has taught me that if I stay focused and do what I am good at then the points will come.

Are three three-minute rounds better than four two-minute rounds?

I enjoyed four twos but I think three threes has made me a better boxer.

What is it about boxing that makes it special?

For me it is the sense of individual achievement. When I played a team sport like football it seemed that defeats affected me more than everyone else, so I just think I am more suited to an individual sport when I am in control of my own success or failure.

Who are the jokers in the squad?

Something funny always seems to go on around Tom Stalker. You can spend 23 hours with him and then the next day he will have a story about something funny that happened to him in the hour when you were not with him. Rob McCracken is also a source of funny boxing stories.

What do you do to relax away from training?

I just like to chill out and spend time with family and friends. As part of the GB boxing squad we spend a lot of time travelling abroad so it is really nice to be at home, although my mum and my four sisters do tend to boss me about a bit once I am back.

What music do you listen to?

I like all sorts especially R'n'B.

Favourite film?

I go to the cinema loads. The best film I have seen recently was The King's Speech. Not a great deal happens but it just left me feeling inspired and proud to be British.

Favourite all-time fighter?

Muhammad Ali. Not just for his boxing but for everything else he did outside of the ring.

Favourite current fighter?

I am patriotic so I like to see British boxers do well. Amir Khan has got great hand speed and is a really exciting boxer. I also like Carl Froch. His coach is Rob McCracken, so Carl regularly trains with us in Sheffield. He is a great boxer but very down-to-earth and a really nice guy. I've also sparred with Carl quite a few times and I hope I don't ever have to box someone that hits as hard as him in the whole of my career!

Who is the most promising amateur boxer in the country?

We've got lots on the squad here but the two that I would pick out are Luke Campbell and Martin Ward. Luke has a style that is so difficult to box against and he can beat anyone on his day. Wardy is just a great talent. He has a really relaxed style and I love to watch him box.

How many medals do you think Great Britain can win at the 2012 Olympics?

I don't want to put a number on it because you have to allow for issues like injuries and luck of the draw, but I think we will do well and expect both the boys and girls to win some medals.

I confess that I love the 1978 movie, Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John - and I still own the original soundtrack on vinyl. It's just a feel-good film with groovy music that I've always found to be thoroughly entertaining. So I was quite curious to see the original stage version of Grease that Chicago's American Theater Company is currently reviving for the first time since it debuted in the Windy City back in 1971. Director PJ Paparelli and original co-creator Jim Jacobs have teamed up to bring back the raunchy R-rated humor of the show that was cleaned up for Broadway and Hollywood. With some charming performances by its talented young cast, this latest production of the musical is often enjoyable and definitely worth seeing. But is it better than the movie adaptation? To answer this question, I thought it would be fun to compare a few songs, characters and scenes between the two versions. And if you were hoping for a critique of the 1982 film sequel, Grease 2, I will only say that actor Maxwell Caulfield still makes my raspberry swirl - but the movie does not.

1) Patty Simcox
Movie: The annoying cheerleader is barely seen.

Original: Patty is one of the show's stars. After trying to persuade audience members to do the Lindy Hop with her during the pre-show, she addresses the class of 1960 at their 50th high school reunion (actress Susan Fay, who looks nowhere near age 68, gamely gives it her all as the older Patty). We then return to 1959 and meet a young Patty played by a delightful Alaina Mills. The character is someone we immediately like, and I'm hoping that she will end up with the boy of her dreams - Danny Zuko.

Best Patty: Original

2) "Summer Nights" vs. "Foster Beach"
Movie: Danny and Sandy share their summer romance with the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies with the catchy musical number, "Summer Nights".

Original: Danny and Sandy sing "Foster Beach" with the Burger Palace Boys and the Pink Ladies about their summer romance - but with lots of Chicago references.

Best Song: The movie's "Summer Nights", which replaced "Foster Beach" in the 1972 Broadway production, is better.

3) Betty Rizzo
Movie: Stockard Channing makes you care about the sharp-tongued leader of the Pink ladies - especially in her memorable eleven o'clock number, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do".

Original: Jessica Diaz's hard-edged performance is good, but when she angrily sings her big number - which is directed at Sandy - I'm not nearly as moved as much.

Best Rizzo: Movie

4) The Pink Ladies
Movie: Didi Conn's "Beauty School Dropout" Frenchy is funny, but Jan and Marty have nothing much to do.

Original: Jessie Fisher's Frenchy is funny and foul-mouthed, but Jan and Marty really get a chance to shine. Carol Rose's Marty has a nice number about her boyfriend in the Marines, "Freddy, My Love", during the girls' slumber party, while Sadieh Rifai is wonderful as the food-obsessed Jan.

Best Pink Ladies: Original

5) The T-Birds vs. The Burger Palace Boys
Movie: Jeff Conaway's Kenickie is quite memorable, but the rest of the T-Birds - Doody, Sonny and Putzie - have nothing much to do.

Original: There is an extra Burger Palace Boy - Miller - and Putzie is named Roger/Rump. In addition to "Greased Lightnin'", Tony Clarno's Kenickie gets another song, "Alone at a Drive-in Movie", which is very good. All the guys are much funnier than in the film - especially Roger, whose sweet and hilarious duet with Jan called "Mooning" is one of the highlights of the evening.

Best Guys: The Burger Palace Boys

6) Principal McGee vs. Miss Lynch
Movie: Eve Arden's Principal McGee is an amusing character - especially when teamed up with her sidekick, Blanche (played by Dody Goodman).

Original: Peggy Roeder is fine as English teacher Miss Lynch - and she even gets her own song about boys to sing to Patty. However, the tune only slows down the show.

Best Character: Principal McGee is funnier.

7) Cha-Cha DiGregorio and the Dance
Movie: The sexy Cha-Cha is Danny's old girlfriend who dances well but is rather dull - and Sandy goes to the dance with Danny.

Original: Hannah Gomez's hilarious Cha-Cha steals the show in Act 2 when she shows up at the dance with Sonny. Sandy stays home from the dance to feel sorry for herself, and everyone wears a costume for Halloween as they dance to "Boogie Man Boogie".

Best Cha-Cha and Dance: Original

8) Danny Zuko
Movie: John Travolta has rarely been better than he is in this film.

Original: Adrian Aguilar impresses me quite a bit with his terrific performance - and his hunky body is on display when he unexpectedly appears in only his tighty-whities at the beginning of Act 2.

Best Danny: A tie

9) Sandy Dumbroski
Movie: Of course, Sandy is from Australia, and she is the star of the film. And she gets to sing the lovely tune, "Hopelessly Devoted to You".

Original: Kelly Davis Wilson's Sandy, who is the daughter of a factory worker from Joliet, disappears for long sections of the show, and she sings "It's Raining on Prom Night", which is just okay. In this production, Sandy frequently blends into the background.

Best Sandy: Movie


10) "We Go Together"
Film: The kids sing this groovy tune at the school carnival as the film's finale.

Original: The kids sing the song while hanging out in the woods at the end of Act 1. And they all get wet in the rain. This is the best scene in the show in my opinion.

Best "We Go Together": A tie. As much I enjoyed the song at the end of first act, it is a perfect way to end the film. And in the 1972 Broadway production, "We Go Together" is reprised at the end.

11) The End
Film: A sexy and tough Sandy shows up at the carnival, and she and Danny sing "You're The One That I Want" before flying off into the sky while singing "We Go Together". A happy ending for all.

Original (if you don't want to know how it ends, do not read any further): A sexy and tough Sandy shows up and punches poor Patty in the face for wanting to be Danny's girlfriend. She sings "Kiss It" and - with the rest of the kids - "All Choked Up". Sandy and Danny reunite and everyone is happy except Patty. But then we return to the 50th class reunion, where the older Patty reveals that many of the kids have died as spotlights appear on Danny, Sandy, Rizzo and others. Then older versions of the remaining kids suddenly appear, and everyone sings a song called "Grease", which is nothing like the one Barry Gibb wrote for the film.

Best Ending: Movie. I HATED the original's ending because I liked Patty far more than Sandy. So I can understand why Miss Simcox's role was greatly diminished in the film - the audience has to want Danny and Sandy to get together in the end. Also, the 50th class reunion isn't necessary - we just don't need to see the older versions of these characters - and having us learn that many of the kids are now dead is a horrible idea. What a downer of an ending.

Final Totals: Movie 7, Original 6

So for me, the movie is the better version of Grease. However, I highly recommend that any fan of the film go see the original to compare the two. Despite my feelings about Sandy and the ending, it is still a fun production - and its filthy language would probably make Stockard Channing's Rizzo blush.

The Original Grease runs through June 26 at Chicago's American Theater Company (1909 West Byron Street). Tickets can be purchased online at www.atcweb.org or by phone at 773-409-4125.

Below you can watch a Chicago Tribune interview with Grease co-creator Jim Jacobs.

Adult kickball league finishes season Tampa Bay Newspapers PINELLAS PARK – The Pinellas Park Boys & Girls Club adult kickball league and fundraiser wrapped up its inaugural season May 1 with a day of elimination games and final championship. New Hope's Auto Balls to the Walls, sponsored by New Hope's Auto ...

HealthExpress

Obese teens lack vitamin D HealthExpress The study – carried out in Rhode Island, America and published in the Journal of Adolescent health – screened 68 obese teens and found that all the girls had low vitamin D levels. And so did 91% of the boys. The link could be due to the fact that obese ... 'Many obese teens lack vitamin D'Press TV Obese Teens Lack Vitamin D, Study FindsHealth.com all 12 news articles »

During the candidates' matches in Kazan, we are giving away thousands of dollars in chess stuff, courtesy from our global friends and partners. Here are just some of the prizes:

* 12 DVDs by ChessonDVD.com (approximately $300) http://www.chessondvd.com
* 10 Chess books by Russell Enterprises (approximately $200) http://www.russell-enterprises.com
* 3 New In Chess intro subscriptions (5 issues - approximately $150) http://www.newinchess.com
* 4 6 month ICC memberships (approximately $160) http://www.chessclub.com
* 5 Special GLOS Boards by Glosgames (approximately $150) http://www.glosgames.com
* 1 12 month Polgar Chess University membership ($100) http://www.polgarchessuniversity.com
* 3 2010 SPICE Cup hand signed posters (Onischuk, So, Almasi, Meier, Robson, Perelshteyn) http://www.SPICE.ttu.edu
* 3 FREE entry to the 2011 Susan Polgar World Open for Boys and Girls (approximately $150) http://www.polgarworldopen.com

and much more....

To take part in this chess giveaway promotion, all you have to do is visit http://www.facebook.com/polgarchess and click the "like" button or follow my Twitter account http://twitter.com/SusanPolgar.



You can get all the up to date chess daily news and information on facebook by visiting http://www.facebook.com/polgarchess and click the "like" button! You can also click the "like" button above.

‘Elvis’ has left — no, not the building, but the list of the 1,000 most popular names given to newborns in the United States for the first time since 1954. Jacob remained No. 1 for boys names, keeping up a 12-year run at the top, followed by Ethan, Michael, Jayden and William. Isabella sits at the top of the list for girls …

As I sit here enjoying some bit of alcohol during Cinco de Mayo - but not enough drunk enough to go into my I love everybody posts - I realize I haven't written about one key thing that happens to all people who work in advertising.

I'm talking about one word: Fear.

You see, when I started working in this business, something was wrong with me. Although I don't know what it was, I sure know what it felt like: scary. I was scared out of my ovaries. At what? Who the fuck knows? I worked, every single day, scared.

Scared about presenting to people and clients in general. Scared about committing the ultimate sin, a typo. Scared that my concepts sucked donkey balls. Scared that I got to work late. Scared that I went over an hour on my lunch time. Scared that I wasn't creative enough...

It was crippling. This is why I need to write this post, because I know that a lot of students are just joining us and have no idea on how much mistakes they will make, so if I write this, maybe you learn from my mistakes and avoid soooooo much! Does this make sense?

Wait. * Sip from white wine *. Ok, let's move on.

Listen boys and girls. You cannot, and I repeat CANNOT work afraid. You cannot work under the premise that if you don't deliver you will get fired, get a memo or be a failure. You know what? Life is 50-50. You cannot function fearing the worst, all the time. Ad agency life is tough. TOUGH. But you cannot fear the reaper every step of the way.

Get a one hour 10 minute lunch and don't worry so much. Stand up for your concept, even if it's not in strategy - it's not about if you are right or wrong (ok, if you're not on strategy, you're wrong); it's about having some sort of balls and showing them. Scream and fight all you want. Get to work late (once in three months and with a very good excuse). Do a crap ad and own it - it's not your fault, you do not suck, it's just that we are not gems of creativity all the time and it's ok to acknowledge it.

I was one of those who was so afraid of everything, I never truly grew up. It was until the moment I decided to do some very difficult and painful things at one point of my life that I realized that being scared leads to nowhere. You don't move. You don't experience growth. You just stay there. Not being able to move. When I decided that enough was enough, when I faced my fears and went all in, I realized that there were many years when I wasted my career and my opportunities because I didn't believe in myself. How simple, how cruel.

To all my young padawans out there... Don't be afraid. It's ok. Be your best and be your worst. Do one great campaign and three suck beyond belief ads. Let your creative director rip you a new one from time to time, but once in a blue moon, fight for that concept you truly believe will get approved.

So what if someone gets pissed off about your hour and a half lunch time, so what if your ad sucks. Life is not perfect all the time. Neither are all of us.

Be imperfect, have fun. Much love. Me.

We’re getting ready for high-seas adventure here at the Disneyland Resort with the World Premiere of “Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides” at Disneyland park on Saturday. Tickets to the event sold out in three days, with all proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. If you’ve been to Disneyland park recently, you might have noticed that we’ve been preparing for the park’s first 3D outdoor World Premiere ever. We’re building a 90-foot-wide, six-story-tall motion picture screen on an island created especially for this event. A state-of-the-art outdoor amphitheater – fully carpeted with stadium seating – is being built right on the Rivers of America just outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Watch for a recap of the World Premiere of “Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides” on Monday, with photos from the “black” carpet – including stars from the film and other special guests. Setting the Stage for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides’ World Premiere at Disneyland Park by Erin Glover: Originally posted on the Disney Parks Blog Disney Parks Blog

As we were eating lunch one cold day in October, our guard opened the big iron gates to our compound and in rolled three bright and shiny SUVs.  Six Americans emerged – apparently they just happened to be in the neighbourhood – and invited themselves into the house.

We offered them tea, and a place by our kerosene heater and they got down to business. How well do you know the area, they asked. And have you noticed anything unusual or interesting? Not that we think you might know anything in particular, it’s just perhaps you’ll look around a bit and notice something. Here’s our business cards, do give us a call if there is anything ...anything at all .... we might be interested in.

The location was Abbottabad, a few years ago.  And the discussion we had just had was so cheerfully and politely vague that we knew we’d been talking to the CIA.  But no matter. While we weren’t exactly shocked, we did think Abbottabad was one of the safest places in Pakistan.

I worked with Pakistani journalists – male and female - creating a viable evening radio show that was somewhat similar to ABC’s PM (or so I hoped) and was broadcast throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.  Our compound housed a radio studio, newsroom and living quarters. I was the only white woman in the group and most of the staff had come from other cities. Many were graduates from the impressive and surprisingly liberal University of Peshawar journalism school.

When we weren’t producing radio - we worked six days a week - or suffering from the long chilly winters, our days off were spent driving up into the mountains and having picnics, or gently trekking along the wooded trails of the Sarban Hills.

In Abbottabad I would go shopping with the female journalists to buy material for new salwar kameez and learn the intricacies and subtleties of having a fashionably cut outfit. (The difference  between a six inch and nine inch trouser cuff is the difference between chic and why bother?). After shopping we would go to the juice bar or coffee shop, and sit in the ladies section to keep from prying male eyes.

As you drive further north, it is less common to see women on the streets, even accompanied by a man. In Abbottabad I would go for afternoon walks around the middle class streets, where houses were fenced, gated and guarded – much ritzier and more elegant that the monstrosity that Osama bin Laden was killed in. Most of the male journalists had a hard time letting me go out by myself but had to agree I was in no danger. Abbottabad seemed a gentle town, full of good decent people.

Nights were spent having great feasts, listening to music, watching Bollywood films (which were considered a bit racy) or dancing. Boys and girls (everyone aged up to about 55 is called a boy or a girl) singing competitions were always a good evening’s entertainment. Sometimes we would drive up into the hills, to the late night cafes open in the national parks and have soft drinks and dangle our feet in the river. Or we would just go outside and sit on the porch, eat watermelon and listen to the crickets.

The drive from Islamabad to Abbottabad is longer than the 50 kilometres distance would suggest. Winding roads up mountains and then down, long haul trucks, constant road blocks and checks and the general disposition of Pakistanis to drive cautiously, means the journey can take more than two hours. If you take a public bus it could take as long as four hours – prayer stops, tea and pee stops, and driver rest breaks made the journey interminable.

Abbottabad is not like Islamabad with its concrete soulless boulevards. It is a lovely city defined by its army heritage. A great deal of the town was built by the Raj – and there are still beautiful parks and roundabouts, buildings and monuments from colonial times. Old tanks and cannons frame ornate garrison gates, statues of fallen generals with big handlebar moustaches are scattered around town.

Abbottabad is mostly middle class. The shock that residents have expressed in the past few days about having a terrorist in their midst seems to me totally genuine. It is not the kind of place for radicalism or ferment. It has good schools and a teaching hospital, there are many excellent doctors and nurses and academics and teachers. There were also retired army officers with beautiful clipped accents, booming voices and firm handshakes who can make you swoon with their good manners and correct upright posture.

One day before I reluctantly left Abbottabad the house was broken into when we were at a picnic. We gunned it back into town, arriving shortly before about 20 police filed through the front door, automatic weapons at the ready. The police moved from room to room, ready, it seems, to take out the miscreant in a hail of bullets. By this time half of our street and anyone within a five mile radius had cottoned onto this rare event – a robbery in the neighbourhood. The house was filled with people,  everyone insisting on giving their version of events - which given the house was empty at the time of the break in, was poetic embroidery at its best.

The cops started talking darkly about 'interrogations' and 'confessions'. They seemed to be indicating that an interrogation automatically meant a confession and that they would be able to stitch up their man by close of business that day. My friends told me that really, there wasn’t a hope in hell of getting it sorted, the cops were next to useless and we all better have tea. Within half an hour  the kettle was on and the automatic weapons were propped up, forgotten, in the entrance hall.

And you’re surprised about Osama bin Laden?

On Monday my friend Jamal wrote this on my facebook page:

“Virgie can u believe that we were living so much near the most wanted person on the planet. I am speechless! I appeal all the unwanted people to leave our cities and villages. Please let us live. We want peace, peace and peace. Abbottabad is famous for the best residential education institutions. Yes there is a lot of talk about Abbottabad but for (the) wrong reason. Virginia can you please share some of .... weekend outings of the beautiful hill station of Abbottabad. Let us show the world the true Abbottabad.”

Virginia M Moncrieff is an expatriate Australian journalist

• Read all responses to this article

April 4, 2011
Posted by Jay Livingston

I suspect the recent upsurge in Old Testament names for boys expresses not so much a religious sentiment as it does a desire to be different (but not too different). This trend towards trendiness and away from tradition isn’t just an American thing. It’s also true in France, where parents have had a free choice of names for less than 20 years. Before that, there was a government-approved list parents had to choose from.

The government still offers new arrivals some advice on names.Bapiste Coulmont links to a list of “French” names the government recommends to immigrants who want to become French – a process called “francisation.”* The list has about 400 names that are “French or currently used in France.”

But the French themselves don’t seem to have much use for that list. When I checked the most popular names that actual French parents were giving their newborns (the most recent year I could get was 2006), for both boys and girls, three of the top ten names were not on the list of “French” names.

Enzo (1)	Ines (7)
Nathan (4)	Jade (9)
Tom (8)	Lola (10)

From what I understand, other unlisted names – Margaux, Apolline, and Victoria – have since climbed into France’s top ten.

Japan too. Several decades ago, when I was in Japan, nearly all girls’ names ended in either ko (子), a few in mi (美) or e (江). Now none of the popular girls’ names have these endings.

The trend isn’t universal. In Italy, all the top names are traditionally Italian.** Joseph and Mary (Giuseppe and Maria) top the list.

* The counterpart of Americanization. When the movie “The Americanization of Emily” was released in 1964, that name wasn’t even in the top 250, but the title was prescient. Thirty-two years later, Emily had climbed to #1, and she held that spot for over a decade.

** Italy has no list of approved names. But the law does allow a civil official to “advise and dissuade overly-creative parents” who propose names that are “ridiculous, shameful, or embarrassing.” (A newspaper article on this is here.) In the US, you can name your daughter Brooklyn no questions asked. But in Italy, tying to name your kid Testaccio might not go so smoothly.

Dropping a brand new offering to her fans' delight, Nicki Minaj has unveiled the music video for her single "Super Bass".

The new Minaj creation features the popular singer showing off her colorful ways with the footage being put together by director Sanaa Hamri.

Tweeting just ahead of her "Super Bass" release, Miss Minaj wrote, "boom baboom boom boom baboom boom boom...he got dat super bass... boom baboom boom boom baboom boom boom.... yea dats dat super bass ;)"

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old singer spoke about the new project with MTV recently, as she told, “It’s a sexy world, it’s a playful world. Of course I have lots of eye candy for my girls and my boys. I’m going to be doing some things that people have never seen me do.”

The Rundown: Beastie Boys, Thom Yorke etc. Myspace (blog) By MySpace Music • 16 minutes ago –Radiohead's Thom Yorke made a surprise appearance at a LA nightclub yesterday to DJ and sing. Watch a video of it here. –Beyonce has released a video teaser trailer for her music video for “Run The World (Girls). ... and more »

The BBC reports a new UK survey has found that boys are more confident communicators than girls.

Boys & Girls Club pens bill to fight domestic violence Savannah Morning News Orr was motivated to change domestic violence laws after a 15-year-old friend was involved in an abusive relationship. Her winning speech, which won her the honor of “Senator For A Day, “detailed her legislative ideas about how to assist teenagers in ... and more »

<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/2/1/orig-14208121.jpg" width="235" height="235" /></p> <p>After 12 years, <strong>Mindless Self Indulgence</strong> have re-released their long out of print debut album "Tight".&nbsp; The new version is called "Tighter" and to celebrate its release here's a rundown from the band on the original songs:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/3/1/orig-14208131.jpg" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; GRAB THE MIC &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> The one thing that I always remember about Grab The Mic is my cell phone ringing when i was doing the vocals &hellip;.we left it in because it was on the beat &hellip;.you can hear it&nbsp; right in the break, before the lyrics "everything old is new again and again and again and again " <br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> There's a part in the song where I had to slide way up the neck and hit a sharp note. Luckily there was some dried up blood on the fret that I had to hit, so all I remember about this one is being loaded and thinking "find da blood sucka, find da blood"<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Hardly any drums in this song, but what was there was oddly difficult to time - especially coming in off the bass solo where there is really no track to cover any mistakes. I thought to myself "That is going to be a heart-in-the-throat moment live for the bass player and myself" &amp; it always was!<br /><br /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/4/1/orig-14208141.jpg" /><br /><br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; BRING THE PAIN &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This is the blueprint of an MSI song &hellip;. many different styles all smashed together &hellip;to invent that sound before we knew how to do it we made six different cover versions of bring the pain&nbsp; &hellip; each one in a different style &hellip; one metal /new wave / dance / hip hop ect ect &hellip;then we took the best bits from each and cut them all together &hellip; this sounds easy today but in 1996 on an Atari computer and an s950 it was insane to even try it ...but we are stupid like that<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong>&nbsp; Because the programming has all Atari and shit back then, some of the timing was a little off- there were a lot of "guessing cues" on this one.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY&nbsp; &gt;</strong> Absolutely agree with Steve - That Atari program was the bane of my existence because it was pattern-based instead of linear. If anyone tried to read the drum part that I wrote for this song, they would be like "what the hell am I looking at?!" Jimmy and I spent a lot of time during Tight arguing about what constituted "a measure" in any of these songs! haha :P</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/6/1/orig-14208161.jpg" /><br /><br /><br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; TIGHT &gt;&gt;&gt; </strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This song was about as slow as we ever got &hellip;which&nbsp; proved to be a godsend live because we could take a two minute break from going 250 bpm all night long<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> My favorite memory of this song was when Kitty asked Jimmy what the song was about. he said "it's about me not getting fucked in the ass yet". Kitty just looked at him and said "eww". I'm guessing she vurped a bit too.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Yes &amp; Yes. My favorite memory is Jimmy doing "the jumprope" with the mic cord during this song when we did it live.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/7/1/orig-14208171.jpg" /><br /><br /><br />&nbsp; <strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; DIABOLICAL &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This song to me is all about that hard rave kick drum beat and that awesome "Reign Of The Tech"&nbsp; sample &hellip;<br />The Beatnuts are mad cool for letting a bunch of crazy white boys and girls dressed in pink scream bloody murder all over that sample <br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong> I just remember that when the breakdown would happen in the middle of the song, I would jump off the highest shit that I could find at the venue that we were playing at. 11 times out of 10 nobody caught me.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Lots of cymbal crashes! Always a fun time playing this song :)</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/8/1/orig-14208181.jpg" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; MOLLY &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> Everyone thinks that this song is about them &hellip;" oh my name is Molly it's about me he wrote it for me i know him we dated once"&nbsp; blah blah blah &hellip;I DONT KNOW YOU AND IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong>&nbsp; I don't think that this one had an intro when we went to record it--I think Vanessa and I threw something together 5 minutes before they hit record. It still stands to this day as the greatest intro ever put to tape.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Jimmy found these Clarissa Explains It All trading cards somewhere &amp; somehow I ended up with a Clarissa Darling driver's license card in my in-ear box. Every couple of years I would be digging in there for an extra set of ear plugs and I would find it and crack up! So of course I left it in there, and it's still in there for me to chuckle over when I most need it on tour.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;<strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; TORNADO &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> I wrote this exactly how it sounds on this record in one day&nbsp; &hellip;I never changed a note or arrangement on it &hellip;it took me 6 hours to make it and 14 years for it to destroy me.<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong> Jimmy called me up and played Tornado to me over the phone. I just thought "a weather based song, huh? well i know blame it on the rain did really well for Milli Vanilli so.....maybe....." Lo and behold, I was wrong.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> One of my favorites to this day, never got stale for me, always got me pumped up and a great way to start live. So, it was almost always in our live set list over the entire 10 years, to the point where when we would talk about a set list it would begin "So, we'll start with Tornado, obviously..."</p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; DADDY &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong>&nbsp; I love the shortness of punk rock songs &hellip;.one minute song! done! on to the next song!&nbsp; &hellip; when we started out we had a lot of short short&nbsp; songs &hellip;.the only drawback is you end up having 25 songs in a 30 minute set &hellip;<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong>&nbsp; We recorded the CD Tight live as a 3 piece over a 2 day period and then Jimmy did the vocals in L.A. this one was so short that i don't even remember recording it. I do remember however, falling down a lot playing it live in the early, early days.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> When Jimmy first played me what he'd written for Daddy I was like "OK, in that breakdown part it's a little hard to hear the drums, can we solo it so I can hear what they're doing?" Then... "oh, that didn't help... at all..." In those days Jimmy was really into using non-drum sounds to make the electronic percussion in our songs, so when it came time to translate them to what I would play for recording and live, sometimes I had to be really creative... "hmmm, that sounds like it could be a snare, right??"</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/2/0/1/orig-14208201.jpg" /><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; P*SSY ALL NIGHT&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><strong><br />JIMMY &gt;</strong> The Backstreet Boys sounding chorus on this song is super fun to play live &hellip;.to sing in falsetto&nbsp; "I wanna give you some drugs and I hope that you like them baby" to people who love you is fun &hellip;but to sing it to people who hate you is f*cking priceless<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong> This was always one of the best songs to go buck a$s nuts to playing live. Lots of scars from this one.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> So much fun to play this one! To me, this was the classic early Mindless with lots of different song-styles mashed together - always fun for a drummer when every measure is different! See mom, all that ADHD video-game playing paid off finally...</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; APPLE COUNTRY&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY&nbsp; &gt;</strong> To me the bird twittering effect makes this song &hellip;.because you immediately imagine it takes place in a big field of trees with apples and you are laying in the grass looking at the sky &hellip;.then you're like "wait a fucking minute i was listening to an MSI record what the fuck is going on here?"&hellip;.but by then it's too late, the joke is on you b*tch &hellip;and that happens to me every time i listen to it<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong>&nbsp; It's a love song written by someone who loves apples, sung to someone who makes him feel like he is surrounded.....by apples.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong>&nbsp; I remember, Steve sang this song while playing his guitar on "clear" at a Goth club as an encore when we were just starting out. Everyone there, who just a minute ago had been like "Yeah! Brutal! Dark! Gothy!! We want more!!... Encore!!" was immediately frozen in confusion, like "OK... Uh, am I supposed to like this?? Maybe if I try doing a gothy dance to it?" It was highly enjoyable for us, especially because it was so off-putting for everyone else!! haha!<br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; D*CKFACE&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt; <br /></strong><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> Is the forgotten hero on Tighter.. just like a Korean War soldier &hellip;it is a bang`n song, fun to play, sing and listen to &hellip;..but I always forget it even exists until i see the track list for this record.. ..I love it but tomorrow I'm gonna forget it exists again.<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong>&nbsp; This song has some of the most freakoid cues and wacky timing, which makes you breathe weird when you play it live.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> In my top 10 fun tracks to play live! Super-challenging all-over-the-place bridge part for the drums, but if I hit it dead-on with the programming live, it was also super-satisfying to the point where sometimes I would yell "F YEAH!!!!" after coming back into the falsetto singy part.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/2/1/1/orig-14208211.jpg" /><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; BITE YOUR RHYMES&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This is my favorite song off of Tighter&nbsp; &hellip;super cool lyrics and programing ..super fast BPM on the drums &hellip; we only played it live once ever and it was at Vanessa's last show.<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> This one has got one of my favorite lyrics of all time- "I reign supreme in my own damn mind"- it sums up so many of us doesn't it?<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Love this song! Totally fun to play except it is all 32nd notes on the drums! Kind of feels like you are barely holding on by your fingernails the whole time you are playing &amp; you are in a fever dream where your arms are just moving all over the place, then it is over and you are breathing hard &amp; like "what just happened??" Maybe why we only ever played it live once...<br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; TORNADO LIVE &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> Sounds pretty damn good for being recorded at CBGB's<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> The best thing about this song being recorded at CBGB's was that 1 year earlier, we were "banned forever" from playing there.....they must have forgotten<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> HAHAH! "You will never play CB's again!" Cut to.... :) I'll always remember the night we recorded this, because I invited a friend who brought her boyfriend to the show. They were there for like 5 minutes making their way through the crowd when Jimmy yelled "Shoe MF!" and threw his hightop into the audience randomly hitting my friend's boyfriend in the balls! He limped out, and they spent the rest of the show standing on Bowery waiting for the madness to be over. I don't think they ever came to another show, now that I think about it....<br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; JX-47 &gt;&gt;&gt; </strong><br /><strong><br />JIMMY &gt;</strong> This is the big cult MSI song &hellip;it was written and sung by Steve &hellip;everyone loved loved loved this song they always quoted it to us at shows &hellip;.i think Steve did it once or twice at the end of a show if he drank a whole bottle of Cisco<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> JX-47 is a loving homage to my "friends".....seeeee?<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> I love this song :) Such an awesome sing-along song! I always imagine this song being sung by a pub full of drunken English soccer hooligans with deep, manly beer-soused voices waving pint glasses in the air. Can anyone make that dream come true for me? I'm just saying, I think it would be a YouTube sensation...</p> <p><br /><br />Mindless Self Indulgence's "Tighter" is available now on CD/DVD, Vinyl &amp; Digital right <a href="http://mindlessselfindulgence.com/">here</a>.</p>

The reason I ask is because I'm taking a summer course at a college this summer for about a month, along with a bunch of other teens (16-18). I'm a girl, and I love to dress stylishly, so I always put an effort into my daily outfits. However, most teenage girls I know dress fairly simply, in jeans, a t-shirt and converse. I'll usually wear a sun dress, some sandals or wedges, and some dangly earrings, for example. I don't really want to change how I dress just so I can fit in well with the other teenagers. I'm worried that they'll think I'm conceited or trying to show off for boys just because I take pride in my appearance. So, what would your first impression be of someone like this?

I don’t know how to even start with this one, so I’ll give it to you straight — a group of researchers at the Kajimoto Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have developed a “Kiss Transmission Device.” Yes boys and girls, its exactly what it sounds like: a new way to make out [...]

Isabella, however, is at the top of the girls' list. And Jacob is at the top of the boys'. Ag.

Spring has sprung, and it’s time for your children to switch over to their spring/summer wardrobe. This usually means purchasing many new items, since the odds of them fitting into something from last year are slim to none. Luckily, designers have become masters at making both parents and children happy when it comes to fashion, [...]

CANOE

Boys more confident in asserting themselves Toronto Sun The National Literacy Trust surveyed 6000 kids between eight and 16, and learned boys find it easier to express themselves than girls do. What's more, boys are more likely to aspire to job satisfaction and career success than girls. ... Are Boys Are More Confident Communicators Than Girls?Care2.com (blog) Boys Are More Confident, But Girls Are Lagging BehindJezebel all 8 news articles »

Christie Craft is Refinery29's Managing Editor. Previous to this, she served on the mastheads of SEED, Nerve.com, and BlackBook, and is credited as the founding Hip-Hop editor of BRM magazine. Follow her Twitter, here.

"Accessories are key to any look. A creature of habit in most elements of my life, mine rarely change, consisting of a small armory of pieces, all of which are some tone of gold (call me a stereotype). My necklace, a 24-carat gold nameplate pendant on a thin, constantly-replaced chain, gets the heaviest rotation. I wear it practically every day (and have since I was 13)—and as my cohorts here at the R29 headquarters can attest—with anything from jeans to an Audrey Hepburn-esque black body-con cocktail number.

"Like so many vaguely ethnic New York (Brooklyn, specifically) born and bred girls of a certain generation, I was gifted my nameplate by my dad for my thirteenth birthday. And although my family and I had since relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, this piece of jewelry still held the same significance for me as it did my cousins back east—the horrors of puberty and transition to womanhood. Of course, the prestige I felt rocking my nameplate all day long (even in gym class!) was not felt on the West Coast. Nobody really "got" it, but it wasn't so much of a curiosity, and it didn't make me cool. It just made people look at my chest more, which was mortifying.

"When I moved back to New York to attend NYU in 2000, wearing my nameplate allowed me to blend into the City's cultural scenery I wanted so badly to be woven into, avoiding the crazy-obvious conspicuousness of middle-America's freshmen transplants. My shiny golden nametag also made it easy for city boys to scam on me, which was disarming ("Yo, baby-baby-psst-psst-mami-hey, ma!"). At the height of SATC fever, every rich white chick with a TV and penchant for shitty romance analogies called it the "Carrie Bradshaw necklace," to which I immediately waxed indignant: 'My dad got me this for my birthday. Like your nose.'"

"I still wear my nameplate, goons still use it to scam on me in bodegas, and prissy girls still call it the 'Carrie Bradshaw necklace.' These things will never change, just like ID jewelry will never not be a distinct part of New York's style landscape, and—God willing—it'll be an important part of my future daughter's coming-of-age."

Boys are more confident than girls when it comes to expressing and asserting themselves, a new survey of U.K. children found.

<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/2/1/orig-14208121.jpg" width="235" height="235" /><br /></p> <p>After 12 years, <strong>Mindless Self Indulgence</strong> have re-released their long out of print debut album "Tight".&nbsp; The new version is called "Tighter" and to celebrate its release here's a rundown from the band on the original songs:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/3/1/orig-14208131.jpg" /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; GRAB THE MIC &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> The one thing that I always remember about Grab The Mic is my cell phone ringing when i was doing the vocals &hellip;.we left it in because it was on the beat &hellip;.you can hear it&nbsp; right in the break, before the lyrics "everything old is new again and again and again and again " <br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> There's a part in the song where I had to slide way up the neck and hit a sharp note. Luckily there was some dried up blood on the fret that I had to hit, so all I remember about this one is being loaded and thinking "find da blood sucka, find da blood"<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Hardly any drums in this song, but what was there was oddly difficult to time - especially coming in off the bass solo where there is really no track to cover any mistakes. I thought to myself "That is going to be a heart-in-the-throat moment live for the bass player and myself" &amp; it always was!<br /><br /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/4/1/orig-14208141.jpg" /><br /><br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; BRING THE PAIN &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This is the blueprint of an MSI song &hellip;. many different styles all smashed together &hellip;to invent that sound before we knew how to do it we made six different cover versions of bring the pain&nbsp; &hellip; each one in a different style &hellip; one metal /new wave / dance / hip hop ect ect &hellip;then we took the best bits from each and cut them all together &hellip; this sounds easy today but in 1996 on an Atari computer and an s950 it was insane to even try it ...but we are stupid like that<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong>&nbsp; Because the programming has all Atari and shit back then, some of the timing was a little off- there were a lot of "guessing cues" on this one.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY&nbsp; &gt;</strong> Absolutely agree with Steve - That Atari program was the bane of my existence because it was pattern-based instead of linear. If anyone tried to read the drum part that I wrote for this song, they would be like "what the hell am I looking at?!" Jimmy and I spent a lot of time during Tight arguing about what constituted "a measure" in any of these songs! haha :P</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/6/1/orig-14208161.jpg" /><br /><br /><br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; TIGHT &gt;&gt;&gt; </strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This song was about as slow as we ever got &hellip;which&nbsp; proved to be a godsend live because we could take a two minute break from going 250 bpm all night long<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> My favorite memory of this song was when Kitty asked Jimmy what the song was about. he said "it's about me not getting fucked in the ass yet". Kitty just looked at him and said "eww". I'm guessing she vurped a bit too.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Yes &amp; Yes. My favorite memory is Jimmy doing "the jumprope" with the mic cord during this song when we did it live.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/7/1/orig-14208171.jpg" /><br /><br /><br />&nbsp; <strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; DIABOLICAL &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This song to me is all about that hard rave kick drum beat and that awesome "Reign Of The Tech"&nbsp; sample &hellip;<br />The Beatnuts are mad cool for letting a bunch of crazy white boys and girls dressed in pink scream bloody murder all over that sample <br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong> I just remember that when the breakdown would happen in the middle of the song, I would jump off the highest shit that I could find at the venue that we were playing at. 11 times out of 10 nobody caught me.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Lots of cymbal crashes! Always a fun time playing this song :)</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/1/8/1/orig-14208181.jpg" /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; MOLLY &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> Everyone thinks that this song is about them &hellip;" oh my name is Molly it's about me he wrote it for me i know him we dated once"&nbsp; blah blah blah &hellip;I DONT KNOW YOU AND IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong>&nbsp; I don't think that this one had an intro when we went to record it--I think Vanessa and I threw something together 5 minutes before they hit record. It still stands to this day as the greatest intro ever put to tape.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Jimmy found these Clarissa Explains It All trading cards somewhere &amp; somehow I ended up with a Clarissa Darling driver's license card in my in-ear box. Every couple of years I would be digging in there for an extra set of ear plugs and I would find it and crack up! So of course I left it in there, and it's still in there for me to chuckle over when I most need it on tour.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;<strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; TORNADO &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> I wrote this exactly how it sounds on this record in one day&nbsp; &hellip;I never changed a note or arrangement on it &hellip;it took me 6 hours to make it and 14 years for it to destroy me.<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong> Jimmy called me up and played Tornado to me over the phone. I just thought "a weather based song, huh? well i know blame it on the rain did really well for Milli Vanilli so.....maybe....." Lo and behold, I was wrong.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> One of my favorites to this day, never got stale for me, always got me pumped up and a great way to start live. So, it was almost always in our live set list over the entire 10 years, to the point where when we would talk about a set list it would begin "So, we'll start with Tornado, obviously..."</p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; DADDY &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong>&nbsp; I love the shortness of punk rock songs &hellip;.one minute song! done! on to the next song!&nbsp; &hellip; when we started out we had a lot of short short&nbsp; songs &hellip;.the only drawback is you end up having 25 songs in a 30 minute set &hellip;<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong>&nbsp; We recorded the CD Tight live as a 3 piece over a 2 day period and then Jimmy did the vocals in L.A. this one was so short that i don't even remember recording it. I do remember however, falling down a lot playing it live in the early, early days.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> When Jimmy first played me what he'd written for Daddy I was like "OK, in that breakdown part it's a little hard to hear the drums, can we solo it so I can hear what they're doing?" Then... "oh, that didn't help... at all..." In those days Jimmy was really into using non-drum sounds to make the electronic percussion in our songs, so when it came time to translate them to what I would play for recording and live, sometimes I had to be really creative... "hmmm, that sounds like it could be a snare, right??"</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/2/0/1/orig-14208201.jpg" /><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; P*SSY ALL NIGHT&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><strong><br />JIMMY &gt;</strong> The Backstreet Boys sounding chorus on this song is super fun to play live &hellip;.to sing in falsetto&nbsp; "I wanna give you some drugs and I hope that you like them baby" to people who love you is fun &hellip;but to sing it to people who hate you is f*cking priceless<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong> This was always one of the best songs to go buck a$s nuts to playing live. Lots of scars from this one.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> So much fun to play this one! To me, this was the classic early Mindless with lots of different song-styles mashed together - always fun for a drummer when every measure is different! See mom, all that ADHD video-game playing paid off finally...</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; APPLE COUNTRY&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY&nbsp; &gt;</strong> To me the bird twittering effect makes this song &hellip;.because you immediately imagine it takes place in a big field of trees with apples and you are laying in the grass looking at the sky &hellip;.then you're like "wait a fucking minute i was listening to an MSI record what the fuck is going on here?"&hellip;.but by then it's too late, the joke is on you b*tch &hellip;and that happens to me every time i listen to it<br /><br /><strong>STEVE&nbsp; &gt;</strong>&nbsp; It's a love song written by someone who loves apples, sung to someone who makes him feel like he is surrounded.....by apples.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong>&nbsp; I remember, Steve sang this song while playing his guitar on "clear" at a Goth club as an encore when we were just starting out. Everyone there, who just a minute ago had been like "Yeah! Brutal! Dark! Gothy!! We want more!!... Encore!!" was immediately frozen in confusion, like "OK... Uh, am I supposed to like this?? Maybe if I try doing a gothy dance to it?" It was highly enjoyable for us, especially because it was so off-putting for everyone else!! haha!<br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; D*CKFACE&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt; <br /></strong><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> Is the forgotten hero on Tighter.. just like a Korean War soldier &hellip;it is a bang`n song, fun to play, sing and listen to &hellip;..but I always forget it even exists until i see the track list for this record.. ..I love it but tomorrow I'm gonna forget it exists again.<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong>&nbsp; This song has some of the most freakoid cues and wacky timing, which makes you breathe weird when you play it live.<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> In my top 10 fun tracks to play live! Super-challenging all-over-the-place bridge part for the drums, but if I hit it dead-on with the programming live, it was also super-satisfying to the point where sometimes I would yell "F YEAH!!!!" after coming back into the falsetto singy part.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/0/8/2/1/1/orig-14208211.jpg" /><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; BITE YOUR RHYMES&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> This is my favorite song off of Tighter&nbsp; &hellip;super cool lyrics and programing ..super fast BPM on the drums &hellip; we only played it live once ever and it was at Vanessa's last show.<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> This one has got one of my favorite lyrics of all time- "I reign supreme in my own damn mind"- it sums up so many of us doesn't it?<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> Love this song! Totally fun to play except it is all 32nd notes on the drums! Kind of feels like you are barely holding on by your fingernails the whole time you are playing &amp; you are in a fever dream where your arms are just moving all over the place, then it is over and you are breathing hard &amp; like "what just happened??" Maybe why we only ever played it live once...<br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; TORNADO LIVE &gt;&gt;&gt;</strong><br /><br /><strong>JIMMY &gt;</strong> Sounds pretty damn good for being recorded at CBGB's<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> The best thing about this song being recorded at CBGB's was that 1 year earlier, we were "banned forever" from playing there.....they must have forgotten<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> HAHAH! "You will never play CB's again!" Cut to.... :) I'll always remember the night we recorded this, because I invited a friend who brought her boyfriend to the show. They were there for like 5 minutes making their way through the crowd when Jimmy yelled "Shoe MF!" and threw his hightop into the audience randomly hitting my friend's boyfriend in the balls! He limped out, and they spent the rest of the show standing on Bowery waiting for the madness to be over. I don't think they ever came to another show, now that I think about it....<br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt; JX-47 &gt;&gt;&gt; </strong><br /><strong><br />JIMMY &gt;</strong> This is the big cult MSI song &hellip;it was written and sung by Steve &hellip;everyone loved loved loved this song they always quoted it to us at shows &hellip;.i think Steve did it once or twice at the end of a show if he drank a whole bottle of Cisco<br /><br /><strong>STEVE &gt;</strong> JX-47 is a loving homage to my "friends".....seeeee?<br /><br /><strong>KITTY &gt;</strong> I love this song :) Such an awesome sing-along song! I always imagine this song being sung by a pub full of drunken English soccer hooligans with deep, manly beer-soused voices waving pint glasses in the air. Can anyone make that dream come true for me? I'm just saying, I think it would be a YouTube sensation...</p> <p><br /><br />Mindless Self Indulgence's "Tighter" is available now on CD/DVD, Vinyl &amp; Digital right <a href="http://mindlessselfindulgence.com/">here</a>.</p>