Author Archives: Mallory

oh jesus, i am andy bernard.

So, what did you do late Thursday night? Put your passed out little Asian friend to bed at 8:30 p.m. and then stay up watching a cappella videos on YouTube? Oh and was your YouTube somehow in Spanish? That is so weird, because ME TOO!

Um, yeah. Maybe I’m becoming one of those creepy a cappella fanatics. Whatever, I just wrote a cover letter and writing a cover letter will drive a person to extremes like a cappella. My Upper East Side correspondent recommended that I listen to Straight No Chaser’s “Insomniac,” so obviously I listened to it on repeat for like a half hour. I will post a “video” that is really just audio with a TERRIBLE comic sans font title across the screen. Forgive me for that, but the audio is better than in other videos, and please know that I. HATE. COMIC. SANS.

Here’s another video of SNC (yeah, I’m using a cappella acronyms, OKAY?) singing Toto’s “Africa”:

I’ve added a new requirement for my future husband. Gentlemen: if any of you are tall and bearded and can cook, play the guitar, and sing, please email sixwordstochangetheworld@gmail.com, care of Mallory.

Finally, here’s Carrie Underwood singing the only other song I’ve ever truly loved in a cappella version. I couldn’t find an a cappella version on YouTube.

And yes, I know that 75% of you probably didn’t watch those videos, but posting them was more fun than editing my cover letter.

[Posted by Mallory]

6 Comments

Filed under crushes, music, post-college depression, random, YouTube

the 2001 internets hate sarah palin.

In honor of its 10th birthday, Google has put up a new link where you can go back and search their oldest available index, from January 2001. You’ll have no problem guessing what I first Googled. These were my results:

Your search – “sarah palin” – did not match any documents. 

Suggestions:

  • Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
  • Try different keywords.
  • Try more general keywords.
  • Try fewer keywords.
Just saying.

[Posted by Mallory]

Leave a comment

Filed under humor, news, politics, random, technology

roundup of rando ny times stories.

I’ve been neglecting the blog for a few days, but there have been several NY Times articles that I’ve wanted to post about. Let’s just do a roundup of the best ones:

  • It’s insulting — and unhealthy — to call elderly people by demeaning terms like “sweetie” and “dear.” Stick to the traditional, factual labels like “John McCain.” [NY Times]
  • An a cappella group from Indiana University has been reunited after ten years to sign a five-album record deal with Atlantic Records. Craig Killman, the chairman and chief executive of Atlantic, discovered the group on YouTube and smelled potential. The group, called Straight No Chaser, will be coming out with a holiday album at the end of October, and they may be touring with headliners like Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Not too shabby for a group of guys who thought they’d never sing again. I’m not one of those ex-coeds who is obsessed with a cappella, I swear, but this story is worth reading. [NY Times]
  • Seriously, WHY ON EARTH would it be a bad thing for our president to be “elite”? I want my president to be about a million times smarter than me. I tend to have mixed feelings about Maureen Dowd, but she had a great column a few days ago. This paragraph alone is pure snarky genius: “Darn right. And that, doggone it, brings us to a shout-out for the latest virtuoso of Frontier Baroque, bless her heart, the governor of the Last Frontier. Her reward’s in heaven.” You betcha. [NY Times]
  • And a few days ago, this was the “On This Day in History” thinger at the end of my daily headlines: “On October 5, 1947, in the first televised White House address, President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.” I’m not going to pretend to know a lot about anything, really, but there are still lots of starving people in the world, and still a lot of livestock in America that eat shit tons of grain each day. Basically, people around the world starve because we think it’s more of a priority to feed animals that we can slaughter and eat. Yes, I know it’s not quite that simple, but it’s worth thinking about. (And no, I’m not a vegetarian, but I’ve cut back my meat-eating by about 75% in the past month.) Just take a look at this fact from the 2004 book The New Consumers, by Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent: “If each American cut his or her meat consumption by just 5% (roughly the same as eating one less meat dish a week), that would save enough grain to make up the diets of 150 million malnourished people.” Chew on that one.
[Posted by Mallory]

5 Comments

Filed under animals, music, news, politics, thoughts, YouTube

buy me a ticket to europe.

Here is what I have been doing for the past few hours: eating my weight in goat cheese, bread, and pizza; watching trashy TV shows like America’s Next Top Model and Project Runway (totally digging Kenley again, by the way); drinking red wine with my girlfriends; and realizing as I do every day that DC is a pretty baller place to live. Randomly, I just ran into my friend Camille and her new gentleman friend on my street corner, which was wonderful and serendipitous, and in a mere three hours my favorite Asian in the world will be arriving on my doorstep like a gift from God. Basically, I’m pretty damn happy right now. 

Here is what I have been doing for the past three weeks: ignoring the Hump Day Cry Face. See, I started to think that people didn’t really care anymore. And maybe most of you are saying, “Um what is the Hump Day Cry Face and why should we care?” And that’s fine. But two of you — Kathleen and my dear friend Jed — truly care about the good ol’ CF, and I cannot just let it go. (It’s like this voicemail message my family has had for over a decade: it’s me singing a little ditty I made up all by myself when I was like twelve, and most of our friends are so over the message and want us to change it, but every so often someone will call and tell us that the voicemail made their day. So we kept it, because making someone’s day every few months is totally worth it. Cry Face is worth it too.) 

Ahem. Without further ado (or babbling), and in honor of Camille, Walsh, and Western Europe…

And yes, in that third photo, we ARE on top of the Eiffel Tower, thank you for asking.

[Posted by Mallory]

3 Comments

Filed under adventures, cry face, drinks, family, fashion, food, humor, post-college depression

sometimes i’m just happy i’m older.

I have some random song stuck in my head 99% of the time, and I’ll usually sing parts of that song out loud to my friends and express a desire for other people to be able to hear my running soundtrack. My friends will roll their eyes and point out that maybe some people don’t want to hear things like the CSI theme song or the song “Slow Motion” while they are going about their daily lives.

Lately, I’ve had the song “We’ve Been Had,” by The Walkmen stuck in my head a lot. Because I’m obsessed with her, I seem to be getting most of my musical inspiration from Dooce. But whatever, the lady’s got her some good taste. 

Aren’t they fabulous?

[Posted by Mallory]

Leave a comment

Filed under music, YouTube

i may not survive until november.

So I have this nightgown. It’s made of flannel. It may or may not be monogrammed. My college roommates may all have the same one. There is a backstory, but whatever, it’s still kind of embarrassing.

Flannel nightgowns are designed to be worn in the following circumstances: when recovering from a hard breakup; when feeling generally overwhelmed by your life and wanting to cry for no reason; when you’re exceptionally hungover; and when Sarah Palin makes you so angry you consider preemptively moving to Switzerland. 

Watch this, and understand what I mean.

Let’s just say I’m wearing my flannel nightgown.

[Posted by Mallory]

6 Comments

Filed under fashion, humor, politics

is this just a goldilocks dilemma?

I just read a balanced Newsweek article that’s worth reading, no matter which side of the fence you’re on. Here’s a quick excerpt:

The three tests of recent weeks—the vice presidential nominations, the conflict in Georgia and now the financial crisis—have raised, in a serious way not always evident in presidential politics, the key question: how would each man lead? Our view is that if you are among the 18 percent or so of undecided voters (the current figure in most national polls), we think you now have more than enough on which to decide. McCain and Obama see the world differently, and you can see how; they behave in their own skins differently, and you can see how. The drama of the autumn has served perhaps the noblest end we could hope for, shedding light on how each man would govern. McCain is passionate, sometimes impulsive and unpredictable; Obama is precise, occasionally withdrawn and methodical.

Do you want Mr. Hot or Mr. Cold as your president? It’s our choice, folks.

[Posted by Mallory]

1 Comment

Filed under news, politics, the hill

youtube clip of today: lego bruce.

This video is pretty cool, I suppose, but WHO HAS TIME FOR THIS? I just don’t understand.

[Posted by Mallory]

1 Comment

Filed under music, random, YouTube

a friday roundup of random crimes.

Come Monday, you may not have any money and our entire country might be in shambles, but for today, let’s focus on the random “criminal” shit that goes on in our world.

From Mouse, our NYC Correspondent, comes an article titled “Woman ‘tricked into sex’ by penis cream treatment.” Intrigued? Basically, this rando pilot dude convinced a schoolteacher to help him administer ointment to the end of his penis, by having sex with him:

Fadi Sbano, 38, even pretended to know a gynaecologist who advised him on how often to have intercourse with her and whether to thrust “slowly or quickly”. And, on the “doctor’s advice”, he kept a clock on the bedside table to time the sessions.

The teacher put up with the treatment for nine months before telling her doctor.

And also:

[The woman’s lawyer] said the woman found the sessions “Clinical, not at all erotic”. She consented only because she believed it was a proper treatment.

Oh Jesus. Is this lady for real? I mean, the guy is clearly a creep and I guess this qualifies as rape, but maybe the woman can get a life sentence for mind-boggling stupidity.

Then, a little story from West Virginia was brought to my attention by Dooce, my favorite lady blogger:

West Virginia man accused of passing gas and fanning it toward a police officer no longer faces a battery charge. The Kanawha County prosecutor’s office requested that the charge be dropped against 34-year-old Jose Cruz.

According to a criminal complaint, Cruz passed gas and made a fanning motion toward patrolman T.E. Parsons after being taken to thepolice station for a breathalyzer test. Cruz denies fanning the gas and says his request to use a restroom when first arriving at the station was denied.

I don’t even have to comment on that. It’s hilarious and absurd all on its own. And don’t worry: Cruz is probably still going to the slammer for driving drunk, so we should all be safe from his gas-fanning criminal ways.

Finally, from our own Kentucky/West Virginia Correspondent (she claims both states) comes a story out of Lexington about a man who has just been arrested for the 1,000th time. You read that right. Henry Earl, pictured above, has become something of a celebrity for his track record. Most of his arrests have been for nonviolent offenses like public intoxication, and Earl only spends an average of two days out of jail before getting himself back in the big house. For this milestone crime, the judge sentenced ol’ Henry to — you guessed it — 1,000 days in jail.

If we were to get serious about this, we could discuss all of the bad things this says about our criminal justice system, and talk about how sad it is the Earl seems to be totally fine spending most of his life behind bars. But instead, because it’s Friday, let’s just be glad that the Second Great Depression hasn’t officially started yet, and that we can all still pretend to afford overpriced gin and tonics. Sigh. Happy weekend?

[Posted by Mallory]

1 Comment

Filed under celebrities, drinks, humor, news

“yes.” (that’s what she said. zing!)

SPOILER ALERT!

So after three glasses of wine, a delicious meal that someone else cooked for me, a gourmet cupcake, and 45 minutes of mediocre hilarity, JIM PROPOSED TO PAM! Yeah whatever maybe it was at a rest stop but it was perfect and I cried a little. Take a peek at the expert commentary I shared with my friend Doobie:

daniel: hey mallo bar
me: DOOBIE DID YOU WATCH??!!
daniel: uh, of course!
me: i may have teared up a little
daniel: im sorry, but that proposal was super lame
me: aw see i liked it!
it was spontaneous!
and romantic!
in its own way!
daniel: and totally weak
me: oh whatever.
daniel: girls

The moral of the story is that Jim and Pam are perfect, and Sarah Palin is the worst human alive ever.

UPDATE (or the reason Doobie and I are no longer friends):

me: sir you are now famous because you are on the blog
daniel: hahahah woah, dont bring my future wife into the pictue
i would never propose to palin in that manner
daniel: i would do her up right, and hide a ring in her box of ammunition during our Adirondack hunting expedition. Then, as she took aim at the mammoth polar bear, she would see the glint of the diamond and fall deeply in love with me. (after she took down the bear with a headshot)

Sigh.

[Posted by Mallory]

3 Comments

Filed under crushes, humor, TV, weddings