Friday Favorites

Happy weekend y'all!

 This made me laugh out loud! Awkward moments that every vegetarian understands. Spot on!

 VICE magazine did this short documentary that follows the true story around the criminal plot of True Detective Season 1. I'm going to avoid Ponchatoula, Louisana!

 The best 5 countries for vegetarian travelers. Yes, please! The girl pictured at the top of the article is probably my kindred spirit. Haha.

Lovely quote. Words to truly live by.

Twenty-five famous women on aging. Really beautiful and funny. Many of them acknowledge that the alternative to growing old is death so embrace those wrinkles! :)

This video of my friend, Adam Newman, doing stand up in NYC and being told to "shut the f*&k up" by the NYPD is insane...and super funny. This is the second time he has had hecklers that went viral. He has the worst luck with hecklers...or the best luck. You decide!

Hope your weekend is one for the books!

xo

Freaks + Geeks Reunion

Freaks + Geeks will always be one of my favorite TV shows ever made. Not only did I love all of the characters, but it also reminds me of such a magical time. J + I had just started dating and I lived with my best friend in a house in the woods our senior year of college and we didn't have cable or internet. We would watch the episodes all of the time - sadly it wasn't a longer series!

Vanity Fair just did a reunion photo shoot. Hard to believe that it's been over 10 years ago that the show was on the air and to see all of the actors that are still so relevant and big today!

P.S. Bill was always my favorite character!

Happy Friday!

♥

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freedom of speech

i am a HUGE bill hicks fan (this may very well be an understatement).
i definitely had this weird phase in college, where i was convinced i was in love with him even!
you can read more about my unrequited love here.

i am also a fan of the letters of note website (check out one of my favorite letters), so when i stumbled upon this letter written by bill hicks to a priest who had been offended by bill hick's "revelations" recorded stand up act, i couldn't have been more excited to share with you all (i have previously read this letter in book, love all the people)!

hope you enjoy this letter and if you don't know who bill hicks is, do yourself a favor and change that!
xo

8 June 1993

Dear Sir,

After reading your letter expressing your concerns regarding my special 'Revelations', I felt duty-bound to respond to you myself in hopes of clarifying my position on the points you brought up, and perhaps enlighten you as to who I really am.

Where I come from — America — there exists this wacky concept called 'freedom of speech', which many people feel is one of the paramount achievements in mankind's mental development. I myself am a strong supporter of the 'Right of freedom of speech', as I'm sure most people would be if they truly understood the concept. 'Freedom of speech' means you support the right of people to say exactly those ideas which you do not agree with. (Otherwise, you don't believe in 'freedom of speech', but rather only those ideas which you believe to be acceptably stated.) Seeing as how there are so many different beliefs in the world, and as it would be virtually impossible for all of us to agree on any onebelief, you may begin to realize just how important an idea like 'freedom of speech' really is. The idea basically states 'while I don't agree or care for what you are saying, I do support your right to say it, for herein lies true freedom'.

You say you found my material 'offensive' and 'blasphemous'. I find it interesting that you feel your beliefs are denigrated or threatened when I'd be willing to bet you've never received a single letter complaining about your beliefs, or asking why they are allowed to be. (If you have received such a letter, it definitely did not come from me.) Furthermore, I imagine a quick perusal of an average week of television programming would reveal many more shows of a religious nature, than one of my shows — which are called 'specials' by virtue of the fact that they are very rarely on.

All I'm doing in 'Revelations' is giving my point of view in my language based on my experiences — much the same way religious broadcasters might organize their programs. While I've found many of the religious shows I've viewed over the years not to be to my liking, or in line with my own beliefs, I've never considered it my place to exert any greater type of censorship than changing the channel, or better yet — turning off the TV completely.

Now, for the part of your letter I found most disturbing.

In support of your position of outrage, you posit the hypothetical scenario regarding the possibly 'angry' reaction of Muslims to material they might find similarly offensive. Here is my question to you: Are you tacitly condoning the violent terrorism of a handful of thugs to whom the idea of 'freedom of speech' and tolerance is perhaps as foreign as Christ's message itself? If you are somehow implying that their intolerance to contrary beliefs is justifiable, admirable, or perhaps even preferable to one of acceptance and forgiveness, then I wonder what your true beliefs really are.

If you had watched my entire show, you would have noticed in my summation of my beliefs the fervent plea to the governments of the world to spend less money on the machinery of war, and more on feeding, clothing, and educating the poor and needy of the world ... A not-so-unchristian sentiment at that!

Ultimately, the message in my material is a call for understanding rather than ignorance, peace rather than war, forgiveness rather than condemnation, and love rather than fear. While this message may have understandably been lost on your ears (due to my presentation), I assure you the thousands of people I played to in my tours of the United Kingdom got it.

I hope I helped answer some of your questions. Also, I hope you consider this an invitation to keep open the lines of communication. Please feel free to contact me personally with comments, thoughts, or questions, if you so choose. If not, I invite you to enjoy my two upcoming specials entitled 'Mohammed the TWIT' and 'Buddha, you fat PIG'. (JOKE)

Sincerely,

Bill Hicks

is everyone hanging out without me?

today i had the pleasure of reading some excerpts of mindy kaling's (i.e., kelly from the office and my great friend divya's doppleganger) new book is everyone hanging out without me?. the chapters are so funny and i feel like i want to be best friends with her. my favorite chapter is below:

"do these things, part 2

some more stuff to do that will make your life better.

1. sneakers that "tone your butt as you walk" are shams.

nobody buy these. a brilliant charlatan invented them and is making a ton of money off innocent, desperate fatties. i tried these. They don’t do anything but make you look insecure. also, only chubby people wear them. Fit people don’t because they know you need to actually exercise to be in shape.

2. don't use the word "retarded."
it is just so totally uncool to use the word “retarded” anymore to describe something you think is stupid. it is barely acceptable when uninformed small children say it (and reflects so poorly on parenting), and is completely offensive for adults. How inarticulate are you if you have to use this word? How confident are you that no one you talk to would be offended by it, or worse, have someone in his or her life that has a mental disability? a pretty funny writer with a great spec script came into The Office to meet with producers about staffing. He was a friend of two other writers on staff. i thought he was cool initially, becausehe didn’t seem to take himself seriously and knew a lot about the Lakers. Then, in describing a Kobe Bryant–Shaq altercation, he used the word “retarded,” and kept repeating it, the way I say “like.” It waslike a tiny knife stabbing me every time he used it. When our bossasked us what we thought of him, I said I liked him, but I thought his liberal use of the word “retarded” was embarrassing and off-putting. I don’t know how much I affected the outcome, but he didn’t get hired.

3. don't kiss your dog on the lips in public.
it is horrifying.

4. never have pancakes for breakfast.
Pancakes are a dead end. If I looked back on my life and saw thenumber of days that were a total wash because I had pancakes for breakfast, it would shock you. Sure, they taste about a thousand times better than the boring “Iron Man Health Scramble” you should be eating, but it is so not worth it, ever. Eating pancakes forbreakfast leads to an immediate post-breakfast nap, followed by waking up in the middle of the afternoon feeling disgusted withmyself, but still unable to motivate to do anything. Pancakes lead tolost weekends, like Trainspotting".

every chapter i read made me laugh out loud which is definitely needed mid-week while at work. so now i just have to find time to make it to the book store and pick up this new book and tina fey's new book before the beach!

who are some of your favorite female comedian authors? any that i am missing out on?

back to the grind

i hope you all had such a lovely weekend! i can't believe how quickly the weekend was here and gone - but don't all monday posts start out that way?

we finally found some new nightstands to go with our new bed (and it only took going to 4 different target stores)! they look really great and i need to take a picture to share.

on saturday, we woke up bright and early (sighs) to participate in our friends' yard sale and it was moderately successful. we were able to get rid of some furniture that was taking up space and a few random items and made around $80. we still have some stuff we need to put on ebay. in terms of people watching though, i'd say the yard sale was VERY successful. we saw some characters for sure.

then i went with my best friend hiking at sweetwater creek. we had the absolute best time. i don't want her to leave for pittsburgh, but i'm so excited for her to start this new chapter of her life. great conversation, great laughs, and great views. it doesn't get any better!



we finished off the weekend by having a pool day and cookout at the in-laws and we had such a nice time. it was so nice to have a day where we didn't have to entertain, work on the house (minus j mowing the front lawn), or run errands.

but now, we're back to the work week and already trying to figure out how to survive until the weekend.

hope this helps get you start your monday with a smile!


♥

open mic

last night, my coworker's husband was doing his first open mic comedy night so we all headed up to the vortex's laughing skull lounge. we all were so excited for him since it's always been his dream to do stand up and it was his first time - i love it when people take the risk for their bucket list.

after we grabbed some burgers (black bean burgers for j and me) and fried zuchinni (yum!) we headed into the comedy lounge. i couldn't believe how packed it was! the mix of comedians was very interesting. some really great acts and some that were - well...not so great. jen's husband was so good! his stage presence and delivery was better than most of the guys who'd been in the stand up circuit for years. i also randomally ran into my friend from college who was hands down the best act of the night! for $10, the open mic at the laughing skull is a must-do. plus you know it has to be good with images of bill hicks, lenny bruce, and andy kaufman outside.

after we got home, i couldn't wait to see what we'd gotten in our csa box. after eating all the fried food at the vortex, i was anxious to see what local produce we'd be eating this week. a lot of the standard summer items: corn, peaches, okra, and figs. too bad i've never eaten a fig before! i don't know what to even do with a fig if i'm honest; however, i definitely know what to do with that artisan cheddar cheese!

here are the goodies!


i can't believe today is only thursday. i thought it was friday all the way through lunch. only one more day until the weekend.

kind of sad i keep wishing my days away, isn't it?