Never Been Accused of Being a Slacker, but...

I think I'm digging on this new personal music/radio station site, Slacker. Just put in the names of your fav artists, and out pops a custom station. Simple as that. Here's my rockin' station.

I Can No Longer Blame My Sad GuitarHero Skills on My Carny Hands

Every Day is Earth Day

Happy Earth Day, Y'all! Since moving back to NYC, minus my cross-country flights, I've had a rather admirable carbon footprint.

• I don't got no car; take public transportation most places
• I recycles my junk
• Severely cut back on purchase of water bottles
• Utilize my re-usable shopping bags at Whole Foods
• 'Wash' my workout clothes in the shower
• Double-side print

While I'm not betting the farm on a future (at least in my lifetime) of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, I think I'll try to get a wee bit better.

+ Curtail my meat eating
+ Investigate an urban composter
+ Get me-self one of them there Sigg water bottles and completely eliminate those plastic guys (and my diet coke - boo)
+ Unplug appliances when not in use

Also, just in case, I need to get me one of these.

Fat Chicks Don't Talk Smack

Well, this one beats the Guide to Flirting hands down. These transportation managers really had women-in-the-workplace down to a science. An excerpt from a July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine offering advice to managers hiring women during WWII these gem pieces of advice:

• "Pick young married women... they're less likely to be flirtateous" (actually somewhat true)
• "'Husky girls' are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters" (except when they're hungry);
  
• Make sure to have a detailed schedule laid out because women "lack initiative" (tell that to the hordes of useless cads I've bossed around on a daily basis at work)
• "A girl is more confident and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day" (yes - to wash the stink of slimy, gropey, misogynistic managers off of them)
• "Be reasonably considerate about the use of strong language around women" (fuck that)

Um, no this isn't a joke.

Do the Wave

xTian and I went to see Oakland band Rogue Wave at the very excellent venue Fillmore East (a redubbed Irving Plaza) on Saturday eve. For me, the show started out slow - despite a rowdy prophylactic balloon bandying about - but worked up into a crescendo. The centerpiece set was an enthusiastic rendition of "Bird on a Wire" straight into a drum frenzy, followed by a raucous "Lake Michigan". Chatty (in a good way) frontman, Zach Rogue, also played a couple of great acoustic songs in a callback set (including a beautiful "California"), and it rounded out will the full band "Love's Loss Guarantee". Overall, I'd give it a 'B', which might have been a 'B+' after free $20 iTunes gift card giveaway on our way out of the show, except that it's just a bunch of $20 worth of club tunes that I probably don't want anyway. Fech.

I'm Coming Down with a Case of Stockholm Syndrome

Things happen. You meet people. And then all of sudden, you find yourself with an inordinate amount of information about Sweden. Information like: Sweden found great wealth in much of the 18th and 19th centuries because of potatoes and the polio vaccine, the names of all the floor-coverings at Ikea are slyly named after places in Denmark, the Swedes are still ruled by a king (King Carl XVI Gustaf, please and thank you) and the Swedish people actually find the Swedish Chef funny (although really, who doesn't?).

But what I'm mostly excited about is getting more plugged into the Swedish indie rock scene. I suppose indirectly, I had been for awhile - whether I realized it or not. The SD got me into Kent back in the day, and I've been known to rock out to The Hives. But these days, there is a whole buncha good music coming from that Scandanavian land (slightly larger than California). Some recent discoveries include: The Sounds, Hello Saferide, Lykke Li, Shout Out Louds, Anna Turnheim and Maia Hirasawa. You better believe I'd like me some more Swedesplease. Have any more lovely Swedish music for me?

Economics 101: Why We're Still Single

I knew I should have paid better attention in Economics! Loyal reader No. 1 (we suspect our only reader), just shared with us the real reason so many of us lovely ladies are still single. No, it's not poor geographic choices, or the fact we don't know how to flirt!

It's because we're too awesome for our own good. Slate's Mark Gamein explains our singlehood through game theory, the Eligible-Bachelor Paradox. You see, if coupling is a game, or an auction, there are some women who are "strong bidders" (attractive, high on the social ladder, etc.) and the rest of the women are "weak bidders". While it seems on the surface that the strong bidders have the upper hand, it's actually the inverse:

""In fact, game theory predicts, and empirical studies of auctions bear out, that auctions will often be won by "weak" bidders, who know that they can be outbid and so bid more aggressively, while the "strong" bidders will hold out for a really great deal. You can find a technical discussion of this here. (Be warned: "Bidding Behavior in Asymmetric Auctions" is not for everyone, and I certainly won't claim to have a handle on all the math.) But you can also see how this works intuitively if you just consider that with a lot at stake in getting it right in one shot, it's the women who are confident that they are holding a strong hand who are likely to hold out and wait for the perfect prospect.

This is how you come to the Eligible-Bachelor Paradox, which is no longer so paradoxical. The pool of appealing men shrinks as many are married off and taken out of the game, leaving a disproportionate number of men who are notably imperfect (perhaps they are short, socially awkward, underemployed). And at the same time, you get a pool of women weighted toward the attractive, desirable "strong bidders."

Where have all the most appealing men gone? Married young, most of them—and sometimes to women whose most salient characteristic was not their beauty, or passion, or intellect, but their decisiveness.""

And there you have it. I think I'm just going to pack up my lipstick tubes, my high heels, and pour myself a stiff one.

Haven't We All Worn Saturday's Shoes on Sunday Morning?

... oh, really? you haven't. Well, never mind, then. I'll just tell you about a really charming singer-songwriter that I had the pleasure of listening to this afternoon: Richard Julian. He played a live show today in the new webcast series, Live @ FYI (they've also hosted another fav, Jenny Owen Youngs) -- plus the host is utterly adorable. Richard's new album is entitled none other than Sunday Morning in Saturday's Shoes. The album has plenty of clever ditty's including corporate hegemony inspired "Syndicated" and the heartbreaking "If You Stay". A smart, funny, low-key and humble showman (except when it comes to describing his crossword puzzle skills), Richard has a perfect Sunday afternoon listening key, and the appropriate soundtrack to this Spring season. An upcoming low-key show at Rockwood Music Hall in the next couple of weeks.

Do You Say 'Bless You' When I Sneeze?

A while back, I offered up a few simple questions, which when proposed to a lady's gentlemanly suitor after the first date or two, can help said gal save a lot of unnecessary time, pain and heartache. Yesterday, I was listening to one of my fav new Muxtapes, and I heard Hello Saferide's The Quiz. Undoubtedly a case of simultaneous inspiration as opposed to out and out stealing, Hello Saferide offers up some additional pertinent questions. And her tunes are kinda fun too.

File This Under "Ugh"... A Singles Map of the United States

So the Boston Globe decides to publish this article the other day solely to depress me. Of all the major U.S. cities, New York has the greatest percentage of single women (available, desperate, oh so desperate) vs. single men. But lest you think I should have stayed westward afterall, Operation International Dating Phase: 2008 Edition, is about to commence. Swedes, Germans, Italian-sounding last names... bring 'em on.

I Figured It Out: Life Is All About Expectations

That's right. It doesn't matter if you're facing a grueling hike, an impending lay-off, or a party that you're dreading attending.... as long as you're prepared and ready to face the challenge, you'll be able to succeed - or at least get through without inordinate suffering. It's like when you're running: If you decide you're going to go out and run 6 miles, you lace up your shoes, steel yourself, and slay that 10-K. But if you decide you're only going to run 3 miles, you can't run a nano-second over 30 minutes. So there ya have it. Go out and expect things.

I Just Made You the Raddest Mux

Old skool updated. New start-up, Muxtape, allows you to make 'tapes' for your friends and share them online. Here's one for my peeps. This is gonna rock... they just need to add a few bits and bobs: sign-up to your friends mixes, overall favorites/most popular, links to buy, other songs to same artist, upload multiple tracks at once, etc. C'mon... make me a mix, yo.