It’s been an odd week. I tried to figure out precisely what to say about it, but I’ve been at a loss for words. That extra day in the middle of it – February 29th – really threw me for a loop.
“How would you describe this week?” I asked Rand, hoping for a little guidance.
“It’s been a week of music and death,” he replied.
Which is true. It has. Kind of a hard thing to put a funny spin on, so I won’t even try. Instead, here’s to the weekend being a little bit brighter, and the music being a little bit cheerier.
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Davy Jones, lead singer of The Monkees, died this past week. I’ve taken the news far harder than I thought I would. I remember watching reruns of their show on MTV in the mid-80s, quietly dreaming that Davy Jones would be my boyfriend. I figured his diminutive stature would make it easier for us to hold hands (which, at the time, is all I assumed boyfriends and girlfriends did). I giggled every time he delivered a line.
With his death, I feel like a small piece of my childhood is gone. For those of you who loved Davy as much I did, I recommend watching the music video of “Daydream Believer” (which, to this day, remains one of my favorite songs). And reading Lyndsey Parker’s beautifully-written tribute to the 60s heart-throb. And then curling up into a ball and moping.
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Still confused about all this February 29th nonsense? I give you Leap Day, explained.
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Japanese photographer Tsuneaki Hiramatsu takes long-exposure photos of fireflies. Next up, he’s going to prove all those nuns wrong and show us exactly how you can hold a moonbeam in your hand (probably).
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How Samoa lost a day, and the malleability of time zones.
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Columbia architecture graduate John Locke is turning old pay phone stalls in the city of Manhattan into guerrilla libraries. Some of them have been used properly, others have been vandalized. But Locke plans to continue the project anyway.
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Russian scientists claim to have revived a plant that died 32,000 years ago. THIS IS HOW THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE STARTS, PEOPLE.
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Sometimes dark and grisly, sometimes sweet and light-hearted, Jim Benton’s sketches of the day are a delightful look into the mind of a celebrated cartoonist.
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As someone who has, in the parlance of dear Sir Mix-a-lot, a waist that is small and curves that are kicking, I have to get nearly everything I own altered. Apparently, a lot of celebrities do the same thing (but I doubt their tailors are their own mothers. And I doubt it’s because they ate too many cupcakes.)
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And speaking of cupcakes, no fewer than six people informed me about the new 24-hour cupcake ATMs that Sprinkles will soon be unveiling. Still no word yet on when I can get one in my bedroom.
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My friend Jessica (who runs a company that sells – I kid you not – fanny pack baseball caps) and recently achieved a level of internet fame for her Christmas card photo, clued me into one of the best things I’ve ever seen on the internet. The best way to describe it? A low-budget “We Are The World” type video from Russia, circa 1988. IT IS FULL OF WIN. WATCH IT.
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Fact: I am 31 years old, and I still haven’t tired of Sesame Street. This video featuring Kermit, Cookie Monster, and a mystery box proves the show is still pretty darn wonderful.
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I suppose you want to know what all this nonsense is about. You’ve come to the right page...
Everywhereist on flickr
With apologies to your Soviet readers…but Russian is a hell of an ugly language.
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Oheyo Reply:
March 2nd, 2012 at 12:13 pm
This is my fav Russian song and I find it to be quite beautiful:
http://youtu.be/kKO9h-gG4Qg
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I used to listen to the monkees all the time. Tragic news.
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I feel the Cookie Monster’s pain.
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My family has a long history with Davy. My mom would get us to listen to the chatter at the beginning of “Daydream Believer” repeatedly just to hear his little accented voice say, “Don’t get excited, man. It’s ’cause I’m short. I know.”
We spent many hours dancing in our living room, watching the reruns, and wishing our life was more full of Monkee antics.
This past year, when my husband and I got married, the father-daughter dance song was easy to choose: “Daydream Believer”. We giggled and sang our way through the song, knowing that only my mom and sister really understood why we skipped past the “Butterfly Kisses” and “Because You Loved Me” favourites for this particular moment.
It seems ridiculous to mourn someone we don’t know, but I think it is nice to think that his life had such a wide reach.
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Everywhereist Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 9:28 am
Oh, god, I used to do the same thing.
“What number is this, Chip?”
“SEVEN A!”
Loved it.
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