Soundtrack to the City

Whether you’re finding it on a Youtube Gossip Girl playlist, hearing it while ordering frozen yogurt in Pinkberry, dancing to it in the middle of a subway station as the band by the trash can rocks the public transportation system, or picking it off iTunes Top 10…
… there are some songs that just scream New York City.

Below is a tentative list of my ideal soundtrack to my city. Feel free to comment with additions; I’ll keep a running update.

NYC-Gone, gone [Conor Oberst]
Breakfast in NYC [Oppenheimer]
Hard to Live in the City [Albert Hammond Jr.]
Take Back the City [Snow Patrol]
Crash And Burn Girl [Robyn]
Timebomb [Beck]
The Moneymaker [Rilo Kiley]

Want more…?
Paper Planes [M.I.A.]
Chasing Cars [Snow Patrol]
Lights Out [Santogold]
The Little Things [Danny Elfman]
Cobrastyle [Robyn]
Cities In Dust [Junkie XL]
Shut Up and Let Me Go [The Ting Tings]
Yeah Yeah [Bodyrox ft. Luciana]
Silver Lining [Rilo Kiley]
Shove It [Santogold]
In The City [Kevin Rudolf]
Think I’m In Love [Beck]
Keep Your Head [The Ting Tings]
Faster Kill Pussycat [Paul Oakenfold ft. Brittany Snow]
Sound of the Underground [Girls Aloud]
More to come.

GREAT CITY-SONG ARTISTS:
The Ting Tings
Robyn
Santogold
(generally: Beck & Rilo Kiley)

**Want the full story? http://www.youtube.com/user/musicfromgossipgirl
Regardless of your opinion on the show, the music shares an unquestionable integrity you won’t find on Z100. Go now.**

The Picnik Phenomenon

I seem to have unintentionally started a trend.

So for those of you who haven’t gotten wind of it…

http://www.picnik.com

Online photo editor that does NOT require installation and has 1923908293819023 editing options for you to camwhore with, right on your browser.
Mind-blowingly simple to use, easily hooked up with your computer/social networking sites/etc., and produces fanfuckingtastic results.

EXAMPLE: My most recent profile picture, which has, apparently, become quite popular.

Highly recommended, esp. if you still can’t make head nor tail of Photoshop.

Decode

Sorry for the hiatus! Life’s been throwing numerous curveballs (and way too many homework assignments/collaterals) in my direction, leaving very little time for my blogging hobby. I’ll make up for it, I promise!

But enough about my life- fickle teenage worries pale in comparison to THIS.
This music video.

I swear, elementary-school cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die-style, that the second you watch this video ALL YOUR DOUBTS; I repeat, ALL YOUR DOUBTS (translates to: every doubt you ever had) about the Twilight movie will evaporate into the thin, cold, NYC air (or wherever you’re reading this from).

http://www.mtv.com/videos/paramore/294491/decode.jhtml#id=1518071

So WATCH, for Chrissake (Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger). If you have crappy internet, wait till it loads, THEN watch. And DON’T x it out because the first half is all stuff we’ve seen in the trailers. The real shit is in the second half.

If your eyes don’t have multiple orgasms you still lack faith in the film after this video, by all means, let me know. I need to expand my one-sided way of thinking.

AT LAST: An America where dreams really DO come true.

Here in New York, students of all ages sat with their eyes glued to their computers and television screens in an election where the internet and the media played a gargantuan role. Unfinished homework lay squared off to the side as the clicks of mice, “Ctrl-R’s”, and the broadcasts of CNN’s live hologram reporters provided the soundtrack to election night. Millions of Americans were doing the same. Billions of people, all over the world and from all walks of life, kept tabs on the count of electoral and popular votes. Some prayed. Some crossed their fingers. Many hoped. Others despaired.

Then. It. Happened.

Back here in New York, the streets erupted with screams so loud that anyone who didn’t already know definitely knew now. Horns honked. People cried. Fathers swung their daughters around on their shoulders. Mothers embraced their sons. Lovers kissed with a passion usually seen only on New Year’s. It WAS New Year’s, all over again- the best year many could remember. It was too good to be true until it became true.

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th president of the United States of America.

Twenty-eight presidents later, the dreams of the Civil War’s historical giants- such as Abraham Lincoln- has finally been realized.
No, this is not an end to racism. No, every American is not free of racial bias. Yes, Barack Obama’s mother was Caucasian. Yes, the election would have been even MORE of a landslide had the color of his skin taken after his mother. Yes, many supporters of John McCain were severely disappointed- a sentiment that should be respected, just as they should respect our victory. No, President-elect Obama’s grandmother was not, technically, alive to see him take the mantle of top dog in this great country.

Regardless of all these things…
It’s over.
Yes. We Could. And We Did.

Whether you cast your ballot for Barack Obama or John McCain, let us not deny that November 4th, 2008 was a great day for America.

Welcome to the true American dream- a United States where anything and everything is possible.
Where tomorrow can and will be better than today…

… and where sometimes, today is enough.

ELECTION ‘08: Worst Case Scenario

[NOTE: Don't have access/time/effort to check out the progression of the election tonight? http://www.twitter.com/karipyralis ! I'll be keeping tabs, insomniac-style, late into the night. Conservatives be warned; I'm an Obama girl. *more blogging on the new Twitter account to come*]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve noticed that the internet- and consequently every other aspect of your life, on and offscreen- is almost entirely focused on the 2008 presidential election.

“Obamarama! McPalin! Change! Maverick!”

Now that we’ve come this far, there’s no point in blogging about my own personal sentiments. [IF YOU DON'T KNOW ALREADY: Obama. Obama. Obama.]
Instead, I chose to blog about a terrible, terrible possibility that many have considered; but usually without thinking about the aftermath.

Assassination.

It’s a touchy subject. No one really wants to talk about it. When they do, they get ridiculed, cause the area around them to be filled with tension, and trigger instant subject changes/heated dismissals.
The unfortunate truth is that this theory is not groundless. It’s happened before- to Caucasian presidents. It will most likely happen again. Plans have been made and, thankfully, thwarted. Plans are still being made and will continue for the next four years of Obama does, indeed, take the role of top dog of the United States of America.

Before you condemn me for even daring to bring up this controversial topic, allow me to elaborate a little on why I believe this merits attention. I was sharing dinner with my father and one of NY’s assemblywomen (whose name I will not mention in case this somehow affects her reputation) last night. At some point during the conversation, one of us brought up the inevitable; the upcoming election.
In the midst of this discussion, my dad mentioned another story of a plot to kill Barack Obama. Immediately picking up on this new thought, I started thinking out loud; which, in turn, led me to draw some conclusions.

In the event that Senator Barack Obama is really and truly assassinated- whether before or after taking up the mantle of president- then America will be thrown into chaos.
Lincoln. Garfield. McKinley. Kennedy. Possibly Taylor and Harding. I’ve heard many say that they simply will not allow such a thing to happen in this day and age. It’s not possible.
Be that as it may- and I hope with all my heart this is the case- this is the list of presidents who were the victims of assassination attempts if not assassination itself.
Jackson. Teddy Roosevelt. FDR. Truman. Nixon. Ford. Carter. Reagan. H.W. Bush. Clinton & Bush (on which there have been TWO assassination attempts each). And now, the first African-American presidential candidate… and perhaps soon-to-be president.

It’s almost a guarantee that there will be attempts. But in the event that one of these attempts finds its mark?
Consider…

… the aftermath. The uproar. The division of the country- over race, for who will pretend that this isn’t about race after such an event? We might as well rewind right back to the Civil War. It’s been about a century and a half since then and America is, as it always was, shrouded in the beautiful concept of freedom and equality from people of all backgrounds, all colors, all ancestors.

How much of this concept is truth- and how much of it is just a pretty lie?

Allow me to wrap this up with a little food for thought. I would go into detail on what I imagine would happen to this country if Obama were to be assassinated, but to be honest, I’m not sure I need to. I think you get the idea.

As I finished vocalizing my thought process yesterday night, I gathered my chopsticks and reached for another dish, closing the subject with this statement.

“We all spend so much of our lives fighting to save the human race. But sometimes, you can’t help but wonder whether the human race is really worth saving.

Regardless, we have no choice. We cannot just condemn ourselves. So whether or not it’s right or wrong, we will keep fighting.“

[IN THE SPIRIT OF THE ELECTION:
Here are two posters my father just brought home for me from the Obama campaign headquarters in our area.]

Personally, I think they're adorable.

What Would It Be Like To Lose Control

My sister recommended this book to me.

It’s called Bloom, by Elizabeth Scott; a counterpart to Sloppy Firsts [see earlier posts]. I shouldn’t be surprised, really. Something’s always connected us in a way that we might be connected were we really sisters by blood- so much so that shouldn’t come as a shock that we managed to stumble upon the same kind of book that we both really needed to read at the same time.

I knew the second I read the back cover that once I picked it up I wouldn’t put it down. I didn’t. I flipped open the page at 11 and now it’s 1 a.m. and I did not stop for a second. Except for that one spot where I turned the book over, looked up at my ceiling the color of orange sherbet, and said, “something big is going to happen on the next page and I’m not sure I want to know what it is.”
Regardless, I kept reading.

Unlike Sloppy Firsts, it did not bring on a set of realizations. Maybe because my life is less of a mess, in terms of how much I’m fooling myself with every passing day. Maybe because I’m trying harder to stay true to myself and still get somewhere.
But all the same it’s not enough. It might never be enough.
Because we’re human.

Humans, oh, we waste so much time trying to be something we aren’t. And every one of those wasted seconds is a second you could’ve spent being free. Being you. The world is a very large place, even if high school isn’t. There is a space on this earth for everyone, for every kind of person from every kind of background. You. Me. Him. Her.
But no matter how many times we hear it- “believe in yourself. be yourself.” I don’t know if any of us actually listen.

I have to be honest- I don’t.
I’m calculating. Manipulative. Most of my actions are the result of careful thought, a pick-one-option-out-of-ten-possible-ones that has gone on for so long it is involuntary and no one ever notices, most notably myself. I can tell myself a lie as easily as I can fabricate a story about why I don’t have my homework. But the difference is, the story about my homework dies the second my lips stop moving, whereas the lies I tell myself always manage to catch up to me.
Even when I try so hard to let go, to just be for a minute, it doesn’t seem to work. I’m still trying for something. It’s as if it’s too late for me. I want and I wish and I yearn but I can’t seem to let go anymore. And everytime my exterior starts to fall a little bit someone picks it up, someone notices and calls out my attitude, asks about my day, wonders if I got enough sleep or am being intentionally bitchy or was somehow offended- does anyone ever consider that maybe I’m just a little bit tired?

My mind works so constantly that sometimes my head hurts. I’ll be standing in the line to return books at the library and my brain will be going at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour and I can’t have ONE MOMENT of peace where all the thoughts will stop going and just shut up! I grit my teeth and beg myself to stop fucking thinking for even the barest of seconds, to give me some sort of relief, but I can’t. It never stops. Life never stops. The game never stops. It’s exhausting and I want to hit the brakes but I can’t find them. I want to let go, but my hands are glued onto the rope and even when I tug with all my strength it’s still not enough.

But I live to hope that perhaps, someday, it will be.

Maybe someday I’ll graduate surrounded by the right friends, not the wrong ones- the ones that everyone’s watching to see if you have. Maybe someday I’ll be able to close my eyes and shut down. Maybe someday I’ll be able to sleep without tossing and turning and dreaming of a day where my life will be better than it is. Maybe someday I’ll look into the eyes of my children and everything will make sense to me.
Maybe someday I’ll sing because I just realized music is the one haven I have where I don’t have to think. I only have to feel. Maybe someday we’ll realize perhaps it’s not that our parents don’t listen; only that we aren’t screaming loud enough. Maybe someday we’ll tell our parents what we really want even though we know they love us and thus can’t bear to disappoint them- because if they truly, honestly love us they will never stop us from forging our dreams to get better lives. What use is a better life when you feel empty when you wake up every morning? Why be right when you’d rather be wrong? Why is wrong defined as wrong when it feels so much more right than right?

No one ever said it was easy to let go- it’s not. But take it one step at a time. Sooner or later, I hope, there will come a time in your life when you’ll have reached your limit.
Sooner or later I hope we’ll all start living for ourselves.

Protected: The Truth About Edward: Dear Edward

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For Samantha.

USING SIMPLE VOCABULARY:

This picture.
Of Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass, Gossip Girl)
Is. Amazing.

In the words of Nira: “ARE YOUR EYES NOT HAVING AN ORGASM?”

Need I say more?