I have thought of an idea.

National Prince Listening Month.  Or NaPriLiMo.  I have been toying with the idea of listening to only one band for one month.  I am somewhat of a completist when I really like a band and I could have hundreds of songs by one of these bands, but I never listen to them in one block.  So, when thinking about the bands that I 1. have enough music by and 2. like enough of it to listen to it solely for a month, I thought of Prince.  So here’s the concept, if you want to join me.

1.   Listen only to Prince.  I am going to take a wide stance on this.  This can include all music written or sung by Prince, covered by Prince, duets with Prince, and covers OF Prince.  It includes any Champagne, Grand Central, or 94 East which include Prince.  And if you have that, I want some of it.  All music not sung by Prince (i.e. “Manic Monday” or Vanity 6) can only make up, say 20% of the entire music budget.  Also, if one song on a soundtrack is by Prince, only that song counts!  Prince side projects (Morris Day & the Time, Vanity 6, Carmen Electra) do not count unless Prince sings or composes the song.  You could do Prince songs only or open it up–I am not making these hard and fast.

2.  Other music is allowed if you are not in control of the musical choice.  For example, you don’t have to avoid all stores that play music, or commandeer a DJ stand.  However, you can’t listen to a radio station that is non-Prince.  Though you can hear some snippets of other songs while flipping to talk radio or a Prince CD.  If NPR plays a song in between a show, you are fine, but no All Songs Considered.

3. You are allowed to go to shows of other bands.

4. Report if it makes you crazy on a weekly basis.  CRAZY for PRINCE!

I am going to go chronologically, but you can do it however you want.  Ideally this would be in June, because of the Purple One’s bday, but let’s make it January.  This way people have a chance to get their Prince music together.  And it will be like a New Year’s resolution.  Who’s in?

I learned something last night.  Something very important.  How to make the most amazing apple sauce ever and be a lazy ass.  Let me teach you.

Lazy Ass Applesauce

or, How to Wake Up to a House That Smells Like Strudel

Ingredients:

• Apples.  Enough to fill up your crock pot.  In many varieties
• Water
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla
• Salt

1. After you finish dinner, cut up apples.  I know, what a pain in the ass, right?  But don’t worry about cutting them up into tiny pieces.  As long as you avoid stems and seeds, all is well.  Leave those skins on.  Don’t you like fiber?
2. Put apples in your crockpot.  Basically you will yield 1/2 the volume of the crockpot.
3. How sweet do you want it?  Brown sugar is more of a flavoring here than a sweetener.  Put in a tablespoon at least, but just crumble some on top.
4. Put some cinnamon in.  I like a lot.  How about you?
5. Put in a very small amount of vanilla.  Less than a teaspoon definitely.
6. I have kosher salt.  i just sprinkled a little bit on top.  You can always put more on later.
7. Now, I have a tendency to put more water than needed in a crockpot, because I forget it doesn’t evaporate.  More water=watery-er applesauce.  I put a few ladles full, in order to wash off the spices on top of the apples.  You shouldn’t be able to see the water through the densely packed apples.
8. Put the top on.  Put it on low.
9. Forget about that.  Do some other stuff.
10. Go to bed.  This is a marathon not a sprint.  Sleep a good 7 hours.
11. Wake up.  Feel extremely happy about the delicious smell in your house.
12. Use a hand blender to mash the now brown and gooey apples.
13. Eat
14. Optionally, you can add a teaspoon of lemon juice in step 4, but it’s mainly for color.

Wah I made the mistake of looking at Etsy.  Whenever I go to Etsy, I find something my life cannot go one without.  And this was no exception.

Book shadows made of vinyl records

Librarian necklace

PASTIES MADE OF BOOKS!

The market for crafty things that are librarian themed is boundless, but recently I saw this theme:

This made me sad.  So not useful to me, an actual librarian.  I am sort of weirded out by the whole “my job as hip thing to pretend you are” thing.  I mean, let’s face it, there’s a very easy path to librarianship.  It just doesn’t seem glitz and glam enough to make people buy pins about it, but I guess I am glad people like us!

Oddee is one of the best blogs ever.  It puts surprising photos on interesting but out of the ordinary topics in lists.  Hence, Jennycrack.  Today’s list was the 15 Creepiest Old Album Covers.  I was surprised to find three abums I actually own on the list.  Guess which ones!

I love stuff made out of other stuff.  Sure, I could say it’s because I love mother Earth, but in fact it is mostly aesthetic.  I covet things made of gum wrappers.  I have a wallet made of lawn chairs.  And I have always wanted something made of movie posters.

But I really, really want a messenger bag made of tires.  I am very picky about my day to day bags, and so far I haven’t found a tire one that meets my weird needs.  This one is pretty, but a little BDSM meets weekend LARPer.  This is the ideal shape but too small.  This bike tire one might fit the bill.  But it’s a little out of my price range at the moment.

In the meantime, while looking for this, I discovered a boatload of other awesome items, like this steel wallet, this awesome gum wrapper cuff, and this reasonably priced laptop case, which I would have immediately bought if any of the movies appealed to me.  Ecoist has really good deals.  I highly suggest it.

All this talk about how historic the election because of the race of the President-elect is makes me wish for the real historic time when the race of our President won’t be news one way or the other.  Nothing says real acceptance like banality.

Going to my polling place today made me really happy and proud of our democracy.  I felt a lot brighter about it than I had in a long time.  As the night wore on, I felt worse and worse.  And it had nothing to do with who won.  The concession and acceptance speeches both emphasized (elequantly and importantly in my mind) the importance of different beliefs in America.  One of the few things McCain did right in his campaign was stress his voting with Republicans and Democrats.

People aren’t stupid just because they disagree with you.  People aren’t less American because they disagree with you.  In fact, people are more democratic for doing so.  Remember when a few years ago lefties brought out the “Dissent is American” pins?

Yeah they still apply to the minority even if you aren’t in it.

Michael Shermer is an ass, but an amusing one:

1. Who are you voting for in November? I’m voting Democrat because I think lawyers should run the country, because the last two years under their control has gone so well, because the government has done such a great job with FEMA that they should also be in charge of our school choices, health care choices, and retirement choices, because they protect me from crime so well that I don’t need a gun, because I want to pay more taxes (especially Capital Gains), because unions need to be stronger against evil corporations, because trade with foreign corporations is anti-American and we need to protect American jobs, and mostly because I’m tired of having so many choices and want someone else to make them for me.

This is from Reason Magazine’s interviews with some public figures about who is getting their vote. It was interesting, and I was glad to see an interview with Stephen Pinker who is my favoritest public intellectual evar.

I am a registered voter.  I am registered Working Families Party, at the moment, though for some reason NYC doesn’t put that on your card.  They just put “Independent.”  Whatever.  I know I live in a voting district which will OBVIOUSLY go for Obama.  But aside from a postcard in the primary for Obama, I haven’t recieved ANY information for any candidate in any office this election.  I think that’s a first.  Apparently politicians are lazy this election.

Gain some weight!

This study says fat chicks are getting busy way more often than those uptight skinny bitches.  Word.

It also says some fairly negative things about how doctors don’t treat large ladies properly.  Lame.

You know what advice I hate, and which I find to be the most useless advice ever?  Find exercise that is fun to you and do that!  Do people who give this advice think the rest of us know there’s this extremely fun exercise acivity but we for some reason avoid doing it?  I assure you that is not the case.

Exercising is never fun.  Maybe it is for you.  Maybe you find it honestly thrilling and interesting.  I find it extremely dull at best and uncomfortable drudgery at worst.  Everything is more fun if you are sitting or laying down, in my opinion.  Everything becomes even more awesome if you could read or watch videos while laying down or sitting.  I can’t read while exercising (I have tried, but I can’t) and while watching videos is okay, it takes some preparation, or a lot of time fiddling with the tv, and yet still is nowhere near as awesome as laying down.  If exercising was so awesome and fun you wouldn’t have to remind people to do it.

I know some people honestly enjoy this activity, in the same way some people like cleaning the bathroom (which I also do not enjoy).  I am sure it makes some people feel good.  I am not one of those people.  And I am guessing neither are most Americans.  If you’re so intent on people just doing “fun” exercise, Mr. Expert, maybe you should make some sort of fun exercise.  Which I can do while napping and watching horror movies.  And snacking.