1. LADY GAGA’S BAD ROMANCE. I know, I know — and yet, she does write her own songs, and she has her own sense of style (the wheelchair/invalid dance in Paparazzi?!), and you can play this song over and over if you’re caught in a bad roma-roma-ramma… etc. Oh, and the monster dance moves? Go ahead, watch the video now. I’m breaking out my monster claws at the next party.

2. PRESIDENTIAL FLASHCARDS. Go to the “One Spot” at Target where everything is a dollar, and get this set of Presidential Flashcards with a prez portrait on the front and fun facts on the back. I spent yesterday memorizing all of the presidents in order. I’m sure that will come in handy… never. (Whose the dude with the cool hairdo in the pic above? ANSWER BELOW.)

3. BIG LOVE. Rumor has it, the fourth season just began, but, as an HBO-less human, behind on the times, I just finished the first season ($26). There is a voyeuristic thrill in watching this rendition of modern-day polygamy, which, according to this one time I flipped on Oprah, still happens outside of crazy, fundamentalist-Mormon compounds. Oh, and it stars Gennifer Goodwin as one of the wives, and Amanda Seyfried as one of the daughters.

4. PENGUIN DELUXE CLASSICS. The covers of the Penguin Deluxe Classics almost make we want to read books I loath, such as Ethan Frome, which has its very best heartbreaking/hysterical scene immortalized on the cover. Many of the covers instead immortalize scenes in comic strips, including Chris Ware’s (you should know him) cover for Candide:

5. TRUE BLOOD (watch the trailer!). So, I was totally not on the vampire bandwagon until I watched the first season ($45 on amazon.com, but I think it’s on sale at Target!) of True Blood (the second season didn’t do it for me, so I didn’t finish it, but I still recommend the first) about a near-future world in which Vampires have come out of hiding to attempt to peacefully co-exist with humans (and have hot, naked HBO-sex with them). Sookie (Oscar winner Anna Paquin! Love her!), a minding-reading southerner, falls in love with Vampire-Bill (hot, but pale). Best of all, it’s produced — with some episodes written and directed by — Alan Ball, Oscar-winning writer of American Beauty. Finally, the title sequence runs like a music video about redemption and sin (read about it on Wikipedia):

ANSWER: William Henry Harrison! If you can’t remember anything about him, don’t worry, he was only president for thirty-two days!

A good year. Some favorites…

1. Favorite short story: “My First Fee” by Isaac Babel
Links: The Complete Works of Isaac Babel on amazon.com ($30)
Text of Isaac Babel’s (great) short story “Guy de Maupassant”

2. Favorite album: Up From Below by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Links: Up From Below on amazon.com ($10)
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros on MySpace
Song “40 Day Dream” Live (youtube)
Official Video for “Home” (youtube)

3. Second favorite short story: “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff
Links: T. Coraghessan Boyle reads “Bullet in the Brain” on the New Yorker Fiction podcast
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories by Tobias Wolff, amazon.com ($11)

4. Favorite gift: Aerial 7 Matador headphones
Link: Aerial 7 Matador Headphones, amazon.com ($50)

5. Favorite novel: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Links: Lolita by Nabokov, amazon.com ($11)
Great Review of the Novel from The Second Pass

6. Second favorite novel: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Link: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, amazon.com ($10)

7. Favorite TV Show: In Treatment
Links: In Treatment Season 1 Trailer (youtube)
HBO’s Offical In Treatment Site
In Treatment: The Complete First Season, amazon.com ($55)
In Treatment- The Complete Second Season, amazon.com (for pre-order, $55)

8. Favorite actor: James Dean
Link: S&D Guide to becoming A Rebel, Without a Cause (including trailer, etc)

9. Favorite song: Skinny Love by Bon Iver
Links: Bon Iver playing Skinny Love live (youtube)
For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver, amazon.com ($13)

10. Favorite historical figure: Napoleon (thanks, PBS)
Link: Empires: Napoleon DVD, PBS Documentary w/David McCullough, amazon.com ($17)

11. Favorite (newish) movie: Rachel Getting Married
Links: Rachel Getting Married Trailer (youtube)
Rachel Getting Married DVD, amazon.com $17

Alright, so we can all agree that life this week on Stickers & Donuts has been semi-lame. Why, might you ask, is this the case? Well, it’s because I’ve been busy with my new current obsessions (except the lip balm — that hasn’t happened to take up too much of my time). You might wonder what there is to be obsessed with this week besides Susan Boyle (yes, I am obsessed with her and with Simon’s face at 4:26). Don’t worry, I found a few things.

1. Rosebud Lip Balm ($6, I found mine at a “general store” but they also sell it at Urban Outfitters or the site linked here). This is the BEST lip balm I have ever owned (it’s The Balm, you might say) for several reasons, including: it lasts forever (last pot lasted yearS), it is like Vaseline but with rosiness, it will not ruin your lipstick, it will make your lips soft, it comes in a cute vintage tin, the packaging claims it can be used for other aliments such as blemishes, diaper burn, and detergent burn (though I haven’t tested this, it intrigues me).
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2. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Considered awesome by both Tennessee Williams and Oprah, you’ll find this book in the Classics section of any library worth its name in salt (er?). McCullers wrote the damn thing when she was 23. Makes you ashamed, doesn’t it?
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3. Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth. The main character of the title story (novella, really) is like a less-cynical JD Salinger character. You’ll have enough humor and sarcasm to get you through, though. So good I’ve read it twice!
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4. In Treatment. This five episode a week HBO drama follows therapist Paul Weston for four of his regular sessions with patients, and then a final session with his own therapist. The second season started early this month, but the first season is already available on DVD. (Image in collage from New York Magazine review of first season.)

   

5. Donald Barthelme. I just discovered (how can that be I wonder?) this fantastic and ridiculous writer. Not your typical New Yorker short story writer, so to speak. His “story” The School is very funny and at only two pages, you should go read it now.
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6. Samsung Alias Phone. I know everyone has an iphone, but since I’m saving my pennies, I’m still on a ridiculously-low-rate family plan with verizon — and I still get a free phone every two! This is one of the few verizon phones that has a QWERTY keyboard but doesn’t force you to upgrade your phone plan to anything fancy (but I did add on a 250 text messages/month plan, so I can now update my twitter from the road!). Like Oprah, I feel so twenty first century.

OMG, after one episode I was instantly obsessed with The United States of Tara, a new Showtime series which has a lot of things going for it, including:

ONE it stars Toni Collette who is gritty, fun, and just my kind of off-the-beaten-path, high-quality actress. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the mother in The Sixth Sense, she played a minor role in The Hours, and also played the mom in another favorite film, Little Miss Sunshine. (Also, did you know she’s Australian?! She and Hugh Laurie should hang out and discuss how awesome they are at American accents.)

TWO it is written by Diablo Cody, most prominently know for winning a little gold guy for her original screenplay, Juno. And, while Juno wasn’t my favorite-favorite, it does mean the show will have some spunk, attitude, and witty dialog.

THREE  Steven Spielberg is the producer and creator of the series (even though the intro sequence says Diablo Cody is the creator, apparently it was SS’s idea).

FOUR AND THE BEST REASON: It’s about a woman with Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID, the disorder formerly known as “Multiple Personality Disorder”). I was majorly obsessed with mental disorders in college (and, by the way, am currently reading the biography of Freud), and tacked a psych major on with my English major. I carried around the DSM-IV for a semester. Pocket version.

ANYWAY, the first video is a preview. The second video, after the jump, is a little one from the Showtime web-site about DID as a disorder in reality. I find that stuff fascinating. There is also a good FAQ about DID on the Showtime page. So glad that even though this an over-the-top dramatic series (as a tv series usually is), the network at least recognizes the true disorder and hopes to de-stigmatize it.

And last but not least, if you don’t have Showtime (I don’t even have cable), then you can watch the full first episode online here.

Preview:
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I have to give credit to Tricia for thinking of this one, and for making me feel, for a moment, as if I could be both as smart as Rory Gilmore and unemployed!

Rory Gilmore was the star of the now-defunct series Gilmore Girls. Rory lived with her young mother Lorelai, and they bantered back and forth for seven seasons. Rory was smart, witty, and had great journalistic-inspirations. She just happened to be almost exactly the same age as me, so I followed her through high school and college, and in her final season when she graduated (from Yale), I graduated college, too. (And also BAWLED for the entire episode because Rory was graduating, and I was graduating, and it was the end the series.) Anyway, Tricia & I love Rory, and so did my college roommate (who I think would like nearly everything on this list).

The point of this list is TWO FOLD. FIRST FOLD: Rory is smart, fun, and classy. SECOND FOLD: Because I am unemployed, and I am like Rory, we are now pretending Rory is unemployed, and would like to get gifts for use during her new-found free time. Is that too complicated? Tricia and I are complicated people.

1. I love these little Great Ideas Books (6 from amazon.com, $40) from Penguin. They’re small, beautifully designed, and each contains a single essay that you feel like you should’ve read at one point or another. Rory would definitely use some of her unemployment time to educate herself.
2. Although Rory is more of J Crew or Banana Republic kind of girl, we want you to be able to afford these gifts, so this classy Swing Jacket from Old Navy ($35) is just the thing. I figure Rory will need something to wear to all of her interviews.
3. SNACKS. You can get these anywhere (including a vending machine) and put them in a fun movie box, maybe with a gift card for netflix. Rory & Lorelai ate lots of snack food, including popcorn, and the classic tub of ice cream when depressed. In stressful situations, they were always snacking (and never gained a single pound.)
4. Rory was never a morning person and loved her coffee, so on unemployment she’ll certainly need a way to get up in the morning. Her and her mom had lots of kitchy things, and I can imagine one of them might be this Van Gogh Coffee Mug with the Disappearing Ear (Unemployed Philosophers Guild, $13).
5. Rory’s witt and journalistic-aspirations lead me to believe that she would love Sarah Vowell, the This American Life super-star, history-geek, and humorous essayist (also, Violet in The Incredibles!). Her most recent book is The Wordy Shipmate (amazon.com, $20).
6. Tricia tells me that Rory loves Elvis Costello, and I believe her because Tricia has superb-musical memory and I do not. Elvis Costello’s Momofuku (amazon.com, $13).
7. Lorelai, at the very least, enjoyed random, bad movies. In unemployment, I think Rory might try to take a crack at classic Ed Wood, who is known for being one of the worst movie directors of all time. This movie collection Ed Wood: A Salute to Incompetence (amazon.com, $9) includes two discs and SIX movies, like Glen or Glenda? and, possibly the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outerspace.
8. More classy apparel. Also interview worthy. Jeweled Satin Ballet Flats (Old Navy, $10).
9. Rory probably wouldn’t WATCH the complete series of her life, but if you are unemployed you certainly have the time to sit in bed and watch seven years worth of re-runs. Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series Collection (amazon.com, $145).
10. Finally, I think Rory would appreciate a simple, black satin dress. Since she’s not employed, she doesn’t have the money to get a brand new J Crew dress, but this Satin Rossetta Belt is a simple detail from J Crew, and it’s on sale for only $20.

Okay, you caught me. I’m addicted to AMC’s original series Mad Men (hint: if you need to catch up on episodes slash the entire series slash you tried to netflix it but so did everyone else, this might help.)

Most of the show takes place at an early 1960s ad agency.

Do you wish you were part of the show? Or is that just me? I know I wish, at the very least, that I could drink that much alcohol at work. Also, it would be nice to be alive when Marilyn Monroe was considered the epitome of hotness (great for those of us who want to continue eating).

Here’s a list of the Mad Men-related products shown at the top of the page:

1. They didn’t really have computers back then, if you can believe it. Olivetti Manual Typewriter $140 at Urban Outfitters
2. In Mad Men they drink at work, out of work, and at home. That’s why I love this article from PaperMag analyzing what each character drinks and what that says about their personality. Apparently, Peggy drinks a befitting Brandy Alexander (Cognac, dark crème de cacao, and heavy cream).
3. Women in the early 1960s were curvy, wearing clothes that accented, rather than hid, their most voluptuous features. I love this Norma Jean Winter Dress from Mod Cloth ($150). It looks more like a Peggy outfit with a Joan curve.
4. These really popular illustrations of scenes from Mad Men have made their way across the blogs. You can buy prints or use them as free desktop wallpaper. My favorite part is that the illustrator provides show-commentary with every new flickr post. (Ex. commentary from the picture above: “Commemorating the scene and outfit that ended Paul’s status as my favorite character.”) NOTE: Stickers & Donuts later did an interview with Dyna Moe, who creates these illustrations!
5. Gosh, those rotary phones must have broken some fingers back in the day! Luckily Linens & Things knew that Generation Whatever-I-Am is a little more used to “push button technology” (er, do they really need the word “technology”?). Crosley Kettle Desk Phone, $60
6. If you are going to be pretty like 1960s Joan you need thick black eyes and red lips. Imagine 1960s makeup technology? Was mascara even waterproof back then?! Could it lift and separate?! Wait, is that a slogan for bras? I’ve confused myself.
7. Since the Mad Men (and women) work at an ad agency (get it, mAD men), I thought I’d include this ad from maidenform (on the show it’s a Sterling Cooper account!). In fact, AdClassix.com, though it does have a questionable-looking web-site, includes tons and tons of ads (many of which you can purchase) from the 1920s-1970s.

Want to see more? I’ve got a picture of all the characters (I wrote on it with my notes). Also, a general trailer if you haven’t seen the show. (more…)