Between the click of the light and the start of the dream...

So, as many all? of you know, I am a marketing teacher, a job I really love. Yesterday in class, one of my students incredulously asked me "Where do you find all this stuff?" He was specifically referring to this hilarious video I found (offensive language disclaimer) which I geniusly related to the "power of the brand." But generally referring to the (I hope) interesting and diverse examples that I like to use to color the lectures. It's 140 minutes, so I think it can get a little dry eventually. My answer? I  love pop culture. I read blogs and magazines, business and... otherwise?

I watch tv, I go to movies, I rent movies. I just calculated that I have paid Netflix about $1700 in the last eight years. I think I am going to claim that it was worth it. I've been with Netflix longer than (like more than double) my entire relationship with my man. That I am marrying in a month(!!!)
I listen to the radio, I watch videos on youtube. When people recommend music to me I go to Grooveshark and check it out. I'm a media junkie.
But the one thing I haven't done for about six months is this - read a book for pleasure. I have been binging a bit now that school is out (taking classes that is. Teaching class is much easier than taking class)

I went to my nightstand to take this picture and thought, this is really representative.
1) I am finishing up Bicycle Diaries.... Here is me working on it back in March (in Florida, obviously not Oregon since it would have been raining).

Anyway, it's a pretty cool book written by David Byrne (yes, that David Byrne and, yes, that is why I bought it. If you haven't seen Stop Making Sense, DO IT. It's really fun to make "calls to action" on my blog because I am not allowed to do that on the radio. Keep reading to learn more about what I can't do on the radio...) about biking in cities. He apparently loves to bike and has one of those foldable bikes that he packs up and takes all around the world and talks about the view from the bike in all these different countries. Really interesting, but why have I been reading it since March? And why is it on the bottom of that stack? I think I only have New York left. And the appendix about these special bike racks that he designed. That's right. Not only a musical genius, but also a city planner and small scale architect. And a pretty damn good writer and photographer. I remembering seeing that the racks won some sort of award even.

2) A Good and Happy Child. I was into this book until I found my new love, to be discussed in a bit, and it was subsequently tossed to the wayside. I bought it at Powell's (THE BEST BOOKSTORE EVER) because I liked the cover. It claims to be a "literary thriller of the first order" which I have to disagree. It's about this guy who has a baby and then he is scared that he will hurt the baby. So scared he can't touch it and, all you moms can imagine, this causes some problems in his marriage. It flashes back most of the time to his childhood where we learn he was possessed by a demon that had to be exorcised. I haven't gotten to the exorcism yet. It's a bit tedious.

3) So.... Stori Telling. No comment.

Except that I got it from paperbackswap.com and my Man saw it when it arrived and said "What could you possibly get out of this book?" Oh, I don't know, gossip?

4) GEEK LOVE! This book is a treasure. I am trying to pace myself so I don't get done with it too soon.

When I went to buy this book after reading a rec from some random friend of a friend on Facebook, the lady at the bookstore thought I was looking for Eat, Pray, Love. Oh lady, you don't even know how far off you are. Anyway, the book's about carnies. A family that purposefully breeds its own freakshow. But  the writing is incredible. And it's even set in Portland. Katherine Dunn was said to be inspired by the Jonestown Massacre and the test rose garden in Portland. Friends, the very rose garden I just went to in June!

There is so much to love about this book I can't even go into it here, because I am trying to get to the point and explain the title of this post. So i guess you should just take my word for it and buy it. If you like weird stuff. Unless your name is Ally because then you *might* already be getting a copy. My only complaint is that I WISH I could have found the printing with this cover:

Sweet little Oly Binewski....

5) And, just in case you needed more proof, I am a nerd through and through. Priceless by Poundstone has my head buzzing with ideas for research. I just did an experiment from the book on my students and it worked!

So that's it for the book review for now. But in slightly-related news, I saw Inception this week. Believe the hype, it was fantastic. I am a HUGE fan of the movie Momento - I mean I REMEMBER Sammie Jenkis for god sake. I went to see it at the Wilma back when it came out, 2001 maybe? Same director. Inception was beautiful and suspenseful and different. One of the best movies I have seen in ages, and like I told you, I watch a lot of movies. So hence the dream theme. We did a dream radio show this week too, mainly built around this little gem:


In some sad news, we may or may not be getting fired from our radio show. Apparently DJ Floyd is not welcome in the station. Who would've thought?

If he apologizes can we keep our show?

Summertime means more cooking time and again I have a great recipe from digthischick. So what if it's meant for the fall? Don't worry sticklers. We've been eating the appropriate gazpacho too. 

I love cooking with beets. 

Murder scene:

Apparently, I am not the only person in the world getting married this fall. Surprising... The most important other person getting married this fall, my brother, has the fantastic date 10.10.10. I skyped in to his bride-to-be's shower. 

Ok, back to me and my wedding. I found a wonderful hair artist. She is going to make me look like a "glamorous 40's pin-up." Sounds good to me. Is it freaky that I brought a picture of Dita von Teese to show her what I wanted?

 Can we all just try to forget that she was married to Marilyn Manson please??

For those of you (mom) who were worried that my passport wouldn't come in time for my GRECIAN honeymoon, don't sweat it! I am now legal to leave the country. 

Now all I need to do is plan the trip......