The Roaring 20s

Thus Spake the Cookie

Chances are, if you have a television or work outside your home, you have seen quite a bit of Sarah Palin this week.  One thing I bet you haven't seen is her likeness in cookie form.  Prepare to have your mind blown by the photo below. 

 

Book-Inspired Halloween Costumes

While most of Manhattan is dressing as Lady Gaga this Halloween, I decided to go with an easy costume: Sookie Stackhouse of True Blood and the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  It got me to thinking about book-inspired costumes, so here's a quick list of my most random (and cost-effective) suggestions for a literary Halloween.

Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird.  I know, I know, this is totally inappropriate.  But you can paint your face an ashen white and carry a pair of scissors--cheap and easily done!

Sabina from The Unbearable Lightness of Being.  Wear a bowler hat and take a lover.  Actually, take two lovers.

Randle Patrick McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Requirements for this one include mental instability, a straitjacket, and a great Jack Nicholson impersonation.

Henry DeTamble from The Time Traveler's Wife.  Go naked and carry a library card.

Dolores/Lolita from Lolita.  Tiny white socks, a pair of Mary Janes, a short skirt, and a lollipop.  Ask a man to buy you a drink because you're underage.

What do you think? Any book-inspired costumes I missed? What are you going as this year?

The Vampire Diaries and YA cross-over

If you're in your twenties, there's a pretty good chance you used to watch Dawson's Creek.  If you were me, you watched it all through high school, and enjoyed reruns of your favorite episodes while in college.  (Fall semester of my sophomore year was characterized by a fluffernutter in the morning, an episode of Dawson's Creek, and Spanish Literature with Professor Alonso at 10:50.) So when I heard that Kevin Williamson was adapting The Vampire Diaries for the CW, my inner teen rejoiced.  Most of my friends are fans of the CW's Gossip Girl (whether they admit to it or not), and I firmly believe that there's a significant crossover between the network's young adult audience and...well, those of us less eager to part with our youth.  If you're one of us, be sure to tune in tonight to the premiere of The Vampire Diaries, which is being heralded as a less treacly version of Twilight, and a more PG True Blood.  In honor of the premiere, I'm giving away 25 copies of The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening, to be selected at random.  No purchase necessary. The last entry will be accepted 2 days after this posting. Approximate retail value of each prize: $6.99. Estimated total prize value: $174.75. View rules here:  Download Roaring-twenties-blog-sweepstakes  Leave a comment for your chance to win!     

'Womenomics' Makes My Monday

Today I was lucky enough to sit in on a 'Lunch and Learn' event with Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, acclaimed journalists and the co-authors of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success.  Claire and Katty talked at length about the challenges facing 20something women in the workplace, and gave the group some fantastic advice on everything from maternity leave to blackberry addiction (they promise it can be overcome).  In a particularly resonant discussion, Claire observed that Generation X, more than any other age group, is a demographic that craves work-life balance where the boundaries between homelife and worklife are clear, but flexible.  Do your patrons (especially recent graduates), a favor and recommend Womenomics.  You can pre-order the book here, browse inside, or check out the book trailer.

Our Office Featured on...The Office

 

If I were a character on NBC's The Office, I'd probably be Pam, with a dash of Kelly Kapoor.  (You can tell I've thought about this a bit) So imagine my surprise when HarperCollins popped up on last night's episode. Awesome, right? For those of you who are fans, HarperCollins was featured as a paper customer of Dunder Mifflin. You can watch the episode, “Heavy Competition,” on Hulu.com. The first reference is about 10 minutes in.  Happy Friday!

Druggie-Wuggie Craves Hanky Panky

What an amazing title for a review! Last week the New York Times smiled upon Russell Brand's memoir, My Booky Wook, giving it a thorough analysis.  As you can remember, I am crushing on Russell Brand.

In one of my favorite quotes, Dwight Garner writes: "This memoir’s title is a nod toward Anthony Burgess’s singsong language in “A Clockwork Orange,” and Mr. Brand’s book is stuffed with booky-wookish references to writers as far-flung as Harold Pinter, Oscar Wilde, Roald Dahl and the children’s-book writer Enid Blyton. When a ribbon on a cake for Mr. Brand’s fifth birthday catches fire, he comments, 'Well, if this happened in a Ted Hughes poem, the protagonist wouldn’t see 6.' This isn’t the kind of stuff you’re going to read in Dane Cook’s inevitable memoirs." 

Check out the review, browse inside, and enjoy the YouTube clip below.  Happy Friday, folks!