Buy this album. Just do it.

I recently got ahold of an advance copy of Coldplay's Viva La Vida, which comes out on June 17th.

Love it. Better than X&Y, better than Parachutes, maybe not to the level of Rush of Blood to the Head, but close enough.

I really really really want to go see them this summer. If anyone wants to go, I'm in for floor seats.

Sites I end up on EVERY DAY. How did we ever exist without this?

My friend Drena asked what sites we visit most often, so here ya go. Marketers, a gift to you.

I have about a thousand other sites I visit once a week or so, but these are the heavy hitters...

1. Gmail.
Does this even count as a proper site? It's email. I think we assume that everyone checks their email. Except my mom. She gets on the computer, does the daily crossword, and forgets to check her email. WTF?

2. Facebook.
Actually, I do this more than myspace now. I've found that more people that I never friended on myspace friend me on facebook - people from middle school, people from all over.

3. Myspace.
I can't help it. And yes, I've myspace stalked just about every guy I've ever dated or made out with. And every time I've dated a guy, I've myspace-stalked every girl on their page. Shut up, you do it too.

4. AJC.com
I haven't lived in Atlanta in five years, but Boston and Philly's big journalism comes in papers that are read by people all over the world (the Globe and the Inquirer, respectively), kinda like a mini-New York Times. Like New York, you can get the Cliffs Notes version that's written for absolutely retarded people (the "commuter paper") through the Herald or the Daily News. Both city papers are usually owned by the same media company, and share staff and a website, which caters to the "smarter" paper. As a result, the websites are very news-driven and have very little fun stuff. The AJC is - sorry y'all - written at a lower reading level and has more fun and interesting stories. I'm sorry, I don't mean to imply that Atlanta readers are dumb, but since the Journal and Constitution merged into one daily paper, it's just got a weird hybrid of what they pick to run. They don't care that food tends to be the lead picture on every website opening page or that whole proper grammar and punctuation thing. Henry Grady may be rolling over in his grave and may want to snatch back my degree from his journalism school since I've just insulted his paper, but I think he'd actually agree with me upon reflection. So yes, I read the AJC's website still for little news stuff.


5. Bloomberg.com
Leftover from Graduate School. Sometimes I pick a random stock I think will do well based on their news and follow it for a couple weeks. I'm usually right, but the same as you should never trust a skinny chef, never trust a broke-ass artist for financial advice.

6. CNN.com
Less often than I used to. When I dated a guy who got deployed I finally had to get my friend to password protect it and block it on the TV. You'll drive yourself nuts if you're worried about someone.

7. Craigslist.com - Missed Connections.
Check them for your city and you'll start doing it every day. You'll learn some interesting things...things like the fact that there's about 10 billion people who are in love with a redhead clerk at the Whole Foods near me, there's a pervert on UPenn's campus, and hipsters all swear they don't read CL, but they do. Come to think of it, you'll learn a lot if you peruse ALL of your city's Craig's List for 45 min or so. Be sure to hit "best of Craig's List".

8. What Would Tyler Durden Do?, The Superficial, Go Fug Yourself, Project Rungay, Perez Hilton, etc...
I'm trying to wean myself of these. But sometimes I love me some celebrity gossip.

9. Wet Canvas.
It's mostly a forum for artists, leans toward the hobbyist side of it. I'm getting tired of it, actually, I'm probably taking it off my tabs.

10. RSS reader
Pulls the new stuff from lots of different blogs I enjoy into one source. When I've read it, it deletes it unless I ask it to save it. It really helps to cut down on time spent surfing.

11. Finally, my friends' stuff.

Oprah is stupid when she says she "doesn't like surprises". They're GREAT.

I truly love a few things in this life. Crunchy Cheez-Doodles, brownies, Nicole Miller cocktail dresses, Paige jeans, Country Music and vintage leather jackets are high on the list.

What do I love MOST?

SURPRISES.

If I were an anthropologist I'd argue that the giving of presents - not the use of tools, mating for life, or feelings of love and sadness - is what really sets us as human beings apart from all other animals. Gorillas use tools, dogs can feel love, Canada geese mate for life, and chimpanzees can feel sadness. But humans? We give each other presents. I love getting, giving or even just watching people open presents. At Christmas, I drive myself crazy trying to find presents that delight their recipients upon being opened.

But it's not the element of being happy to receive something that one wants or needs that I like. It's the surprise. I drive myself crazy at Christmas because I want to find something that the person would have NEVER picked for themselves. I think it runs in the family - my uncle Rob (the only other lefty in my family), my cousin Jake and my grandmother all are known for giving crazy gifts that one stares strangely at upon opening - but those gifts turn out to be the greatest things ever. Jake gave his sister Kate got one of those milk crates that collapses and has wheels attached for Christmas one year. While she was a little confused when opening it, that girl has used that thing more often than you'd ever think. A couple of years ago, I gave my brother Parker a most unusual gift. It was a cast iron dog - but just the rear end. Meant as a garden decoration, sit it on the floor and you've got a great piece of art and a nice doorstopper. Parker loves weird stuff, but everyone else in the family was a little ticked off - because I didn't give it to THEM. My older brother got the same thing the next Christmas.

My love of surprises extends to the fact that I detest giving gift cards or cash. I love getting them, don't get me wrong, they WORK and I have bills to pay. But like a true Southerner, I consider it tacky for me to carry around a purse at my wedding, collecting wads of money. Where I come from, you get in line at that damn gift registry kiosk at Macy's like everyone else and look for the biggest item that costs the least amount of money. I have a monopoly on giving trifle bowls at this point. And by the way, I know I owe a few wedding gifts. I'm working on it.

But alas...I'm a January birthday, I'm not even dating anyone, let alone being close to engaged, and if I show up at the Babies-R-Us registry, call the Vatican, because it'll be an immaculate conception. Well, immaculate since a little while back, at least. Unless I go pull a Carrie Bradshaw and register at Manolo Blahnik for being single (which I'm tempted to do at times), I am not getting any gifts any time soon. I can buy myself presents, but that's not a surprise. Plus I really don't have the money to buy what I REALLY want and need.

What's a girl to do?

I found it.

The Something Store.

I am not kidding, and no one's paying me to write this. The concept is simple. You give them $10, and they send you something. You don't know what it is, but what they've been sending out looks to be worth more than $10. Since they want repeat business, I'm guessing they won't send you a dirty diaper or something, but something you might find useful.

So I ordered one this morning. Free shipping and everything.

I'll let you know when it comes. If I like it, I might give people somethings for Christmas.

Why didn't I think of this idea before they did?

Help bring April's cat to the states...

My friend April moved back home from New Zealand and is all lonely without her kitty cat...she's having her first baby in June and is currently trying to raise $2,000 to get her cat shipped here - yes, it costs that much, mostly because of quarantine laws, I suppose.

Click on this link to chip in to bring her back. You can pay via a secure paypal transaction, and though it's not tax deductible, it will give you warm fuzzies all day. Even $5 can help, and you can read all the cute reasons why Nala needs to become a world traveler.

I've laid grout, tile and mirror with this guy, he gets a plug

I took a class last fall with the amazingly talented Isaiah Zagar. I'm no mosaic-ist, but I live next door to the Philadelphia Magic Garden and decided it might be a good idea to stimulate creativity, meet people, create some new veins of artwork, all of the above...who knew, I had money burning a hole in my pocket, and it seemed a good way to spend it. It was an experience I can't even explain...but I'll try in a later post. I met some great people in all kinds of creative mindsets. A graphic designer, a couple who owned some sort of paint-your-own-pottery place, one was trying to integrate murals into her work in the Camden County Community Gardens, and - my favorite - a fashion designer based out of Philly. If you're like me - and by "like me" I mean "watches reality television like it's her job" - you may know him...

Jay McCarroll, the enormously talented winner of Season One of Project Runway.

Jay and I spent two days with about 15 others making a big old mosaic mural in a warehouse space in South Philly (Sidebar: part of Zagar's genius must lay in the fact that he somehow has people pay him to do his work...how can I swing that?), and while working, Jay, his sister and I had a grand old time eating Italian deli sandwiches, chatting, gossiping about the state of Britney Spears, and generally creating and contributing toward our collective artistic madness.

Anyway, I ran into him the other night on Walnut Street. Of course, it was right after my roommate and I had cried over a few glasses of wine and conversations about boys, so I got a nice little "Molly, are you okay?". Yes, Jay, I'm fine.

But since I love supporting Philly artists, great design and nice people who cure a hangover by singing "Me Against the Music" to me on rainy, cold October mornings while watching cement mix, Jay gets a free plug.

Jay just launched a new website with cute stuff for sale, has a new film in the Philadelphia Film Festival and has a blog to update you on the hystericalness of it all.

Go check it out...

PS - The picture really has nothing to do with Jay other than the fact that it was taken during Isaiah's workshop. Seriously, that's the guy's HOUSE. Every square INCH of that place is covered in his work.

My new favorite place

I've been here before, but I didn't realize the extent of it until today.
The ING Direct Cafe! It's at 17th and Walnut, right in the heart of shopping that I can't afford. I went in for some free WiFi (I write better while outside my house) and got my standard cup of black coffee. Not because I don't LIKE lattes, cappuccino, mochas or whatever, but because plain ole java is usually the cheapest thing on the menu and I can drink it slowly. With an extra shot it was only $1.50.

A BUCK FIFTY!

Why didn't I know about this before? I thought it was just a BANK. Turns out they have an ingenious marketing scheme - there's only a couple of cafes nationwide, but they serve good coffee, below cost, and just give you bright orange ING swag. I got a stress ball and an egg of silly putty and my free WiFi. They even have computers where you can use their internet for FREE. And unlike the library, there's no random bums or perverts hogging the computers.

For the record, I only know of the bums and perverts because my computer broke down in October and I had to go to the Independence Free Library to check email for a while. My purse looked like I owned STOCK in Purell, put it that way.

I have a dormant-but-still-active account with ING Direct, and since they basically gave me coffee, I will give them a shameless plug....it really is a good company. It's based in Wilmington (about 20 minutes from here), and it's like the Google of banking - everyone who works there loves it so much, I'm almost worried for them should they get a company directive to swig down some Kool-Aid. But they DO make it easy to do banking - as long as you're a customer who doesn't demand tons of TLC, they give you plenty of good benefits - higher-interest savings, high-interest checking, no minimum balances on either, and free stress balls and stuff. I love it. When I HAD money, I used to go to ingdirect.com and set up random accounts that would take $5 - $15 out of my main checking account every week or so - kind of making it painless to save. I'll tell you what - it was a helluva lot easier to ease into self-employment that way.

My dirty little secret? I used to name the accounts very odd names. A sampling:
-Mad Cash
-Go to hell, insurance!
-Received for sexual services rendered
-I swear, I'm going to just drive til the money runs out
-Bribes from congressmen
-Down payment on a house, my ass. I'm buying candy and comic books.