Palm Springs Wedding - Kade & James Teaser Pic

photo by Cortney Wilson

Throw Back Thursday - High School Reunion

I didn't go to my high school reunion. It wasn't a deliberate snub. I had just moved to Scotland a few weeks beforehand, and it seemed like a pretty superfluous trip back. The pictures and stories were enough. (My favorite was Big Wang offering to kill Mike for Emily... and Wang's wife, nodding her support for the plan.) Plus, the age of social media pretty much mitigates that mixture of curiosity and velleity about peripheral classmates. 

The funny thing about that, and about my entire attitude about my childhood in Vegas, the people I grew up with, etc, is that as little credit as I gave them, as much distance as I've often tried to put between myself and them, they're still the people that require the least amount of explanation from me. The comfort level is intensely cosy. 

Last night was a kind of representative high school reunion for me in a more important way. Only a few of the key players were there actually. They were good ones though. And the build up was full of many more: from Emily, to a phone call from Brandon (on his way to state execution, natch!) to some digging in my high school boxes. More than that, I was reunited with the way I felt when I was seventeen or eighteen. Thanks to these friends, for sure. But also because we were at Jimmy Eat World. As Petie and I screamed lyrics at each other, I remembered how hopeful I felt then and I felt it again. 

Oh, our youthful loves. They die hard, don't they?

Peace Out, Mercury in Retrograde Friday Links

Who's excited for Mercury to get the eff out of retrograde this weekend?? I know I am! My poor command center alpha is no longer able to communicate with some of its programs the way it needs to, so I've invested in the future of littlewow and a new Command Center Alpha arrives on Monday just in time to start kicking ass with a clean cosmic slate. Hallelujah. 27 inches of awesome. 

Not being able to solve problems continues to be a huge source of weird anxiety for me. Any problem I can't solve on my own in a matter of 2-3 hours makes me kind of depressed. I'm really working on this, but I think I'm always going to prefer at the end of the day to be my own one woman army. 

In any case, tech-stewing aside, there's a lot to be really happy and motivated about lately. Enough waxing, you say. Take me to the links!

- Here's what they thought LA of 2013 would look like back in 1988.
- I'm still super bummed about the demise of google reader. And not impressed by alternatives.
- If people talked about Seinfeld they way they do Girls.
- This has been making the rounds, but it's damn good.
- This.
- Ma' Girl, Claire Vaye Watkins winning all kinds of awards and being everywhere!
- Children from around the world pose with their favorite possessions.
- The ten best famous graves. (Keats! Represent!)
- The life you might have lived. Missing Out by Adam Phillips.

Abandoned Nevada

When I was growing up and my grandmother would drive me all over the deep south in search of all Gone with the Wind related historical sites of interest, I was always deeply and adolescently moved by abandoned buildings. Perhaps it was just the feeling of connection to a physical manifestation of all my abandonment issues. (!) I'm still drawn by that mood. How many posts have I done on abandoned buildings like theatres? Or this in Scotland? But when I was an angst-y adolescent, it was too big to be contained. I wanted to do a book of photographs with that feeling. 

Too bad I didn't know at age 10 that Sally Mann was already doing it way better than I ever could have. But, listen, Nevada holds its own on the ghost town front. From derelict boom towns to discarded neon graveyards, Nevada knows how to love 'em and leave 'em better any pretty much anybody. 

Buzzfeed did this nice (if a little bright) photo aggregate and I just keep going back to this haunting pic (above) my friend and fellow Nevada writer turned New York writer Foster Kamer posted on a recent trip back home. I like to look and just get the sad out. 

When I Look Back On Those Neon Nights - Miss Atomic Bomb

Almost every song ever written by The Killers carries a kind of inescapable Vegas about it. They aren't just from here-- they radiate the ambience of here. A perpetual nostalgia. They also seem to understand the significance of their origin. They lean into it. Sam's Town. And this latest effort, our state motto: Battle Born. I wonder if that Vegas palate they paint with is detectable to anyone not from here. Once, in the radio station here, I told Kade that "When You  Were Young" was what growing up in Vegas sounded like. He thought about for a minute, and then agreed. 

"Miss Atomic Bomb" sees that feeling and then raises it with so much local specificity and ambience, it puts a squeeze on my heart a bit. My hometown band still has the same sound they've always had (there's a guitar homage to "Mr. Brightside" on "Miss Atomic Bomb," as if Mister & Miss were a couple) but I do think they've grown. Brandon Flowers has never sounded better. And this is one of the most beautifully shot performance videos I've ever seen. 

Shout Outs From The Swing States Friday Links

Greetings from Las Vegas in the latest adventure in returning to functioning adulthood. I'm not sure whether I'm more excited to finally have wheels again or to vote. Since it's the last links day before the election, there might be a few more of that variety on here than usual. Bear with me. It's important. 

Here are your links:

- Oh, wait, you mean the economy DOESN'T grow when you tax the rich less??
- Way to show 'em how it's done, George Lucas. Bravo!
- Another rich guy with a heap of sense. Bloomberg endorses Obama.
- More good reads on wealth in America. 
- More on values. Interesting. 
- Go balls out, I guess Jonathan Chait. No arguments over here. 
- Probabilities are not the same as predictions. AKA, get off Nate Silver's back.
- FUNNY. 
- More Cronin!
- Better Book Titles. 
- If VOTE! were on the Daily Show, might look a little something like this. And this. 
- It's the perfect time to buy the VOTE! Cast Album if you don't have it already!
- It's a little old, but I'm obsessed with this LA neighborhood demographics guide. 

Go Mighty, Camp Mighty

The folks at Go Mighty are known for awesome retreats for people (started out just as ladies) in media. There's an invite only Mighty Summit, which one day, I'd like to be invited to, but in the mean time, I'm thinking about going to the recently made co-ed Camp Mighty in Palm Springs.  (McC? Shall we? We can brainstorm our world take over? I know how you love Palm Springs!)

This year's speakers include Ben Silbermann, one of the cofounders of Pinterest, and Margaret Gould Stewart, the Director of Product Design at facebook-- to name just two. And even though I'm massively strapped for cash,  I wouldn't mind the jolt in confidence. (Doesn't hurt that it's at the lovely ACE Hotel either.)

I love their girls with big ideas vibe. And not just the big ideas part, but the implementing them part. 

I just feel like it's pretty easy to feel like you're losing your edge on being good at life. Mighty Girl, Go Mighty, Camp Mighty and the Mighty Summit make me think it's mighty easy to remember and enumerate all the reasons you are, in fact, good at life as long as you surround yourself with a community of champions. Not that they are "winners" but champions of each other. I'm very interested in that. 

Camp Mighty
Nov 15-17

Vegas Road Trip Friday Links

Today I have the great honor of showing a Brit the wonderment that is Las Vegas. Even though we'll be there less than 24 hours, I'm excited to see my Tigerlily, my Emily and my Dad. I'm excited to begin steps (again) for getting my driver's license back. I'm excited to show people the Elvis Museum. Here are your links.

- My college prof/friend/mentor's new book comes out. Nice when the Times does a feature.
- Becoming a stylish writer
- Or! Just say whatever the hell you want. Then take it back. Works for this guy.
- This was good. I went to a University with the good sense to skip fraternities, but I get it. 
- I wholeheartedly agree with this in the nerdiest way possible.
- Milo Greene at the Wythe Hotel
- Forget your past

Today I Go Here Friday Links

As I embark for my fourth and final city of residence for 2012, I wish I had something more concrete to impart to you lovely readers. I live, for the most part, somewhere far below the surface of whatever city I am in-- the inner life my friend Trevor recognized about me when we were very young. It's not that I'm not present. I think I am. Most of the time at least. It's just that I make my decisions from that place that is... well, it's not the real world, is it, the way I've been lucky enough to live so far?

Whatever kind of inner compass I have, I try not to tamper with it too much. I just try to be so very thankful for the people around me who support me and encourage me to follow my strange, nomadic inner compass. It's hard to live out of a suitcase. And hard to accept so much help from people. But the more I see of the world, the more I know that's what I'm supposed to be doing.

Your links:

- The professional photos from Aly's Wedding. Such good memories. Such wonderful friends. 
- Very cool. The American story via music. 
- Let's hope Mc, Tom & I can avoid Carmageddon II this weekend... oh shit. Traffic. Welcome to LA. 
- On my reading list: Italy, Edinburgh, Hollywood, NYC? Sign me up.
- I never get sick of this. Mansplainers. Let's just say, I had a boyfriend recently who is the very definition of mansplaining. 
- More on gender gap whatnot. 
- Unspeakable, soul-crushing awkwardness.
- America's Top 50 Cities. Um. Always with the San Francisco. Whatever. And putting LA as 50th? Listen, no way. I'm sticking up for you today, at the very least, Los Angeles. Don't make me sorry. 

Here's my favorite two quotes about Los Angeles. And a whole page of them for some laughs:

"When it's 100 degrees in New York, it's 72 in Los Angeles. When it's 30 degrees in New York, it's still 72. However, there are 6 million interesting people in New York, and only 72 in Los Angeles." - The Great Neil Simon

"Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles." -Frank Lloyd Wright."

Finally, "keep it, use it, build it, move it."

Frank Ocean & John Mayer - My New Favorite Odd Couple

My new favorite random-ass celebrity friendship is Frank Ocean and John Mayer. I mean, John did some sweet guitar work on Channel Orange, but lately, they seem to be inseparable. Frank just announces last minute that John will be joining him on SNL and then most of each song, John just stands there watching Frank sing it until it's his turn for a solo. Then, while John's playing, Frank goes to one of the several Pac Man machines and just starts playing video games, framed beautifully in profile against John playing guitar... it was wild. I love it. 

I'm glad John found something productive and not-too-talky to do while he's on hiatus from singing. (And consequently, saying fewer ridiculous statements in public.) Either way, I'm sort of rooting for this friendship. I sometimes wonder if John remembers me. (I'm guessing not.) And I want to be friends with Frank Ocean anyway, so I'd sort of like to be a fly on the wall when these two go out. Do you think John tries to wingman for Frank with hot guys? Probably not. More likely, I'd guess, Frank is helping John with the ladies. 

Check out the amazing vid for the full length version (featuring an extended, new guitar solo from JM) of Pyramids. Also check out the live versions from the SNL premiere I was mentioning. 

frank ocean [pyramids] from christopher francis ocean on Vimeo.