Eargasm: Musical Melange

10 Nov

Happy Hump Day friendos! I come to you bearing my latest aural fixations!  Here are a few songs that are stuck on my playlist right now – some more recent additions than others. Take a moment for yourself today and feast your ears on this motley assortment of musical selections:

Jukebox the Ghost – Empire: I’ve been a fan of these guys for a while now; their pop-rock sound never fails to get me bopping around. Empire is off their latest album. Bounce away…

Dirty Projectors – No Intention: If I had a soundtrack to my life, this would most definitely be playing while walking casually down the street on the weekend. This is Saturday afternoon pedestrian music. New genre alert!

Mimicking Birds – Burning Stars: My co-worker Brad played this for me – I was immediately emo. It’s the perfect “I need to moment to myself” song when you’re tired of your Elliott Smith playlist. Not that we ever tire of it, do we folks…

Freelance Whales – Hannah: Throw out your tissues – we’re taking it back up with this electro-folk group that fuses the two genres seamlessly. (If you dig, come check them out – Wednesday 12/15 @ Webster Hall – tickets here)

My Dear Disco – Replaceable: This band was my fave new find @ Lollapalooza (though Megan and I could have SWORN the lyrics were “don’t tell me I’m a cesspool” – which changes the meaning a bit). Either way, it’s SO danceable – makes me want to get to the gym (now if only I could keep that motivation past the 3:36 mark).

Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You: Ok, bring it back down a notch, let these haunting vocals sink in and just enjoy. Or not, because it’s kind of a depressing song. But still, try to enjoy his pain – he’d want that, don’t you think?

Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man: Alright, so I know this song is blowing up right now but I think it’s one of those songs you may have heard and loved but not known what it was called. It was on my ipod for months before I realized it – I can thank tipsy iTunes exploration for that and now you can thank me.

Okkervil River – Calling and Not Calling My Ex: I really like story songs and this one is no exception. I actually spent 10 minutes google-ing this song to try and find out who his “famous ex” might be, but I came up with nothing. Except that it was a less than desirable break-up situation – at least something good came out it all?

That’s all for now folks – now get to downloading these tunes!

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Listen Up: Fitz & The Tantrums

8 Nov

Fitz & The Tantrums are in fact, tantrum-worthy – the song MoneyGrabber has been on repeat in my brain ever since my co-worker Dave played it for me a few weeks back.  I keep forgetting to tell people about this track, so here it is…


Don’t worry, I plan on having a full on “Eargasm” for you tomorrow – here’s to hoping this will hold you over until then.

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Can’t Hardly Wait: Brunch @ Penelope

8 Nov

 

How much longer?!

Most people who really know their NYC brunch spots have probably heard of Penelope – it’s got the rep for being an excellent resto.  So why, you ask, has someone like me never been?  My only answer: the wait!  C’mon – if you’re anything like me, the fear of arriving hungry to brunch only to find a 2 hour wait for a table is just too much to bear.  But this weekend, my team of researchers and I set out on a mission to try the mythical brunch goddess that is Penelope.

My dedicated troops, Rachel and Amanda, swore they would wait with me to the death through the notorious 2 hour wait time.  We decided that with the Marathon and gorgeous weather, the odds of a shorter wait would be in our favor.  When we arrived at 12:45pm, I was told we would have a 1 hour and 15 minute wait – ok, not as bad as it could be – but imagine our surprise when at 1:05pm (after just 20 minutes!) my name was called.  It was GLORIOUS!

The place is the kind of cute you associate with Martha Stewart sets (did you see what a little gingham did for that prison cell!?) and with the reasonable $14.50 prix-fixe, there’s no white collar crime happening here.  The prix-fixe brunch items come with a complimentary Apple Cider Mimosa!!!  Tasting neither too apple-y nor heavy on the champagne (shucks), it was actually the perfect fall brunch cocktail (I thought about re-creating it later in the day, but it just wouldn’t be the same).

Yumm-O!

Being a vegetarian, I heard the FBLT (Fakin’ Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich) was great and it did not disappoint – this was a ridiculously delicious sammy.  It came with a side of fries, which were ok – a little salt went a long way.  Rach had the Nutella French Toast which was pretty small but packed a big punch of YUM.  Amanda had the Sam I Am Omelet with asparagus and feta (which was sprinkled on the top, so you really got the taste – rather than having it melted in, which can mask some of the flavor).

All in all, I’m really glad I had my first date with Penelope, and even more glad that we only had to wait 20 minutes.  BUT, I’ll go ahead and tell it straight:  Penelope, any woman that makes you hang around for 2 hours probably isn’t worth the wait at all.  So, make sure you go on a holiday weekend to avoid the hungry masses – that’s when you’ll find me back for seconds!

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Deal Seeker Double Take!

5 Nov

If you plan on going out to eat this weekend – sign on to restaurant.com. If you use the code “MEAL” between now and Monday, you’ll get 70% off any resto coupon – aka pay $3 to get $25 off to some GREAT food joints!  Try somewhere new (suggestions?) or see if one of your faves is on the site – you’d be surprised!  Just make sure to check the rules to be sure you can use it during the weekend :)

Check back next week for my brunch steal of the weekend! It’s gonna be a Sunday Funday folks!

Parting is such great sorrow – till Monday, I bid you adieu!

xx

RR

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Call Your Bookie: Hunger Games Trilogy

5 Nov

Kindle says.... Read The Hunger Games! And excellent yellow nail polish...

I happen to read through books like it’s my job (Kindle OBSESSED) – soooo I’m a bit of a dork, but on the bright side, you can always count on me for book recommendations – YOU Win! See how that works?  Anyway… my taste varies from sappy rom-coms to sci-fi to suspense/thrillers –I’m an equal opportunity book reader.  That being said, I’ll do my due diligence to keep you posted on what I’m reading and let you know whether it’s worth the read as well as what kinda person it would appeal to.  Then I’ll leave it to you to decide if you ARE that type of person (c’mon – I can’t do EVERYTHING!)

My latest reading material is The Hunger Games Trilogy (Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay)by Suzanne Collins – there’s definitely a sci-fi element to these books, but don’t let that scare you off.  At the heart of it is a heroine fighting to bring down the Roman-esque Capitol who enslaves the people of its futuristic empire.  Which, admittedly, sounds ridiculous – but once upon a time, so did space travel and now we’ve got spaceships playing chicken with comets.  I digress… At least give the first installment – The Hunger Games – a try.  It’s a pretty great universal reader type of book: suspenseful, there’s some romance in there, and it’s action packed.  Solid read.  AND it’s being adapted into a movie in the very near future – keep your eyes open for that, kids.

Thanks to Ms. A Slutsky for putting the Hunger Games Trilogy on my radar.

Need a book recommendation?  Holler at me with a comment and I’ll get back to you.

xx

RR

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