The Pop Culture Addict’s Blog

I just can’t get enough:

1. Lily Allen

I first read about Lily Allen in Paper or Nylon -one of those hipster mags (thanks, MJ) and immediately went to her MySpace page to check her out. Soon after, I saw her performing Smile on Jimmy Kimmel or some talk show. I dl’d the Smile EP from iTunes and became hooked. Now her LP is out and I just love it. She sings the way I’d like to sing. Her voice sounds the way I’d like my singing voice to sound. I really dig her mixture of ska and pop.

2. Honest Tea and Honest Ade

These are my new favorite beverages. I love everything about them – their taste (smooth and not too sweet), their packaging (easily recyclable, non-leaching, plastic), their content (Organic Fair Trade Certified tea and other enjoyable ingredients). Look for them at your local deli or grocery store. I highly recommend Honest Tea (I’ve had the Peach Oo-la-long and Lori’s Lemon Tea) and Honest Ade (I’ve had the Pomegranate Blue and Cranberry Lemonade).

3. Scott Free

I’ve had the fortune and pleasure of having a chance to read Marijane Meaker writing as Vin Packer’s latest book Scott Free due out March 28th. M. E. Kerr’s newest book, Someone Like Summer is due out July 1st. In the meantime, I’m having a blast reading Scott Free. Look for it next month!

Btw, if you’re in the mood, you can listen to a clip of Just can’t get enough at iTunes.

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Happy Lunar New Year! It is the Year of the Pig. You may have heard it is the Year of the Golden Pig which only occurs every 60 years and signifies an especially lucky year. Last year was the year to get married. But I don’t particularly hold to those things. I just like to note them. I’m sure this is a good year to get married too. There is talk that this is also a particularly good year to have children- a calendar occurence that happens only once every 600 years. But if we only populated the earth once every 600 years, I think we’d be in trouble. Anyway, have some rice cake alone or in a soup to celebrate. The rice cake signifies longevity. Here are a couple of Pig fortunes for your entertainment:

Pig : 1911, 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007

With the 2006 year of preparation behind them, those born in a pig year finally come into the full energy of their own sign. With all of the patient pig’s attention to detail and hard work, the table has been set for this banquet year and pigs will enjoy sharing the feast with their family, friends and business associates. This will be a lucky year — with prosperity coming from success in business but also from unexpected money. Good fortune in 2007 is ahead for romantic adventures. A marriage for the pig this year is blessed with good omens. Family, always important to the pig, will be well taken care of and the home ruled by the pig will enjoy harmony and good fortune. Old business will be successful and new ventures will be fortunate.

http://www.chiff.com/a/chinese-horoscopes.htm

And here’s another one:

A Piggy Year

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality. Those born in pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard, and appreciate luxury. They are very loving and make loyal partners. Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ernest Hemingway, Alfred Hitchcock, Mahalia Jackson, David Letterman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were all born in the year of the pig.

http://www.factmonster.com/spot/chinesenewyear1.html

If you’re not sure what animal sign you were born under, here’s a link to a chart:

http://www.new-year.co.uk/chinese/calendar.htm

Let me refer you to what I wrote about the Year of the Dog and the Year of the Rooster. Here’s a link to an interesting article about the different kinds of foods cooked for Lunar New Year in different cultures: NYT Article.

Pigs are a symbol of wealth, red also signifies wealth and now it is the year of the Red Pig. I think wealth can be measured in terms of emotional wealth as well. So here’s to a prosperous year all around!

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Well, I admit I taped the Grammys and fast-forwarded through the boring parts which was most of it. But it started off with a bang with the reunion of the Police. They sounded great! The highlight for me was Chris Brown. Wow! He is an amazing dancer! I rewound and watched his segment several times. If you missed it, you can go to YouTube and watch it. I admit I’ve already gone a couple of times. But now I’m good. I was glad for Red Hot Chili Peppers winning for Stadium Arcadium. It is one of my faves this year. Gnarls Barkley gave a fine performance. They are truly creative and entertaining. Plus, they put out a solid album. I was surprised by how good it was. I do like Christina Aguilera a lot but I would’ve preferred a performance of Ain’t No Other Man rather than the cover she did. I’m not into JT as much these days and wasn’t feeling his performances but that winner who got to sing on stage with him did a good job. I think it was because she was truly surprised and ecstatic to be up there. I am a fan of John Mayer so I’m glad of his nominations for Try! and Continuum and his win for the latter. I’m not sure about the squishing together of Corinne Rae Bailey, John Legend, John Mayer but they sounded good at least. Tears of a Clown is one of those songs I really like musically so it was cool to hear Smokey Robinson perform it. I rewound that and watched it a couple of times. I had never heard that American Idol winner sing before and was surprised at how good she sounded singing those oldies. I already forgot her name though. She’s not Katharine McPhee. What is her name? Um… let me think…oh, Carrie Underwood. Not to jump around, but well, to jump around, while I love the RHCP, I thought their performance was good, because they are great, but not necessarily their most dynamic and that fake snow that came down better have been recyclable. It was funny that it was still coming down when Al Gore came on stage. I just remembered thinking that Shakira put on a good performance too – it was much better than the one she did for the MTV Music Awards. I’m not sure what was different but she looked great dancing and she looked like she was having a ball. That counts for a lot.

While we’re on the topic of music on tv, let’s recap how awesome Prince was at the Superbowl Half-time Show. He was on and he was such a good sport performing in the rain like that. I was reading how an electrician was actually manually connecting together a bunch of wires for the duration of the performance. As a huge Foo Fighters fan, I immediately wondered if they knew Prince was going to cover them. He totally put his own spin on it (Best of You) and made it sound so good. The marching bands were phenomenal. They worked hard and it showed. I read in EW that Dave Grohl actually did not know and was not watching Prince when he performed. So the next day, he (Dave Grohl) went to YouTube to see it. Try this link for everything but Purple Rain (that means Let’s Go Crazy, Baby I’m a Star, Proud Mary, All Along the Watchtower and Best of You) : Prince at Half-Time Show on YouTube. Then Purple Rain is here: Prince, Part 2 on YouTube. Yes, I saw Prince’s thank you ad during the Grammys. I think it was heartfelt. A fellow PCA thought it was odd and unnecessary. I thought it was very Prince and it seemed positive so let’s give it to the guy.

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