Wizzle World on Tour

Good morning from Boston.

xo

Projects.

From about age 5 - 17, when I lived in the same home as my parents, my dad would frequently knock on my door and ask "What are you working on?"

My answer was almost always, "Projects."

Some things never change.

xo

W.W.H.

Wizzle World Heroes, in no particular order and off the top of my head:

Dara Torres, Madonna, The Dalai Lama, Bob White, Laura Keating, Ann White, Mike Luba, Angela Bennett, Amanda Palmer, Nancy Allen, Mike Greenhaus, John Lennon, Jesse White, Katie Kay, Barack Obama, Sean Francis, Britney Spears, Eric Sussman, Idgie Threadgoode, Bill H, Jill Coy, Eric Sussman, Noel Gallagher, Chewy Smith, Trent Reznor, Elizabeth Freund, Mr. Greenhaus and the Troll Dolls, Bob Ezrin, Roy Coates, Eric Sherman, Craig Haase, Kevin Morris, Kyle Cassidy, Mark Kates, Melanie Nold, Keri Smith Esguia, Alan McGee, Irving Luba, Brian Viglione, John Raso, Heather Greidanus, BriAnna Olson, Imogen Heap, Grandma and Grampa White, Margaret Cho, Charles Attal, Lee Baron, Sabrina Gritzmacher, Maia Viglione, Marcus Russell, David Hughes, Nate Lew, Christine Maxon, David Bason, William Smolen, Jennifer Wilson, Christy Merriner, Elaine Benes, Jenny Applebaum, The Baron, Kati Turk, Ellen Maxon, Sarah Reddick, Ma Vig, Damon Albarn, Jim Anderson, JeffMaker.Com, Sue McTaggart, Lisa Simpson, Cha-Chi LoPrete, Michael Pope, Your Mom, Josh Frankfort, Winifred Chane, Jaron Luksa, Margaret Cho, Ed Valauskas.

Thank you all. There are more. I love you too.

Em Wizzle xo

Box of Fun

What would you put in the Box of Fun?


I'm open to suggestion.

Who is More Aware of the Internet: The Bees or John McCain?

I'm pleased to see the bee epidemic has inspired a nice collection of online word-of-mouth activism.

Check it:

• The Bees have grass roots organizations informing the general population of colony collapse disorder and how you can help.  
• The Bees have inspired multiple viral youtube videos featuring               K-Fed style bees dripping with hipster irony.  
• The Bees' said youtube videos have been picked up by political bloggers.
• The Bees have a documentary in production that is sure to do well in the quirky-indie community ala Spellbound, which is about another kind of bee.
• The Bees have enlisted the help of corporate sponsors Haagen Dazs to rock a fancy website (because most of their ingredients also go extinct if the bee population dies off).
• My friend Christy even manages a super hip band called Bumblebeez.

Earth-land is headed for a major food crisis.  One of the best things about the interweb is that it not only informs like traditional news, but also allows the user to take a step further and easily research how everyday peeps can help.  With bees being a massive component of the food supply, it's a bummer that John McCain can't witness The Bees' online voices. Despite being the election year of 2008, a major candidate for president has self-described himself as "computer illiterate." 

But don't worry, the McCain campaign's internet guru assured us that the Senator is aware of the internet.  

  

And rest assured that the mainstream media has no intentions off of profiting from "the news."  It's not like they're selling merch based on headlines or anything.

Don't get me wrong, I love merch and I love the shirt. Unfortunately, the above T was not produced and sold by The Onion. I wish the proceeds could be donated elsewhere. 

But, as demonstrated above, The Bees are well aware of the internet. Thus, to raise funds to help save themselves, plants, and humans; The Bees are selling merch online too: http://www.printfection.com/honeybees.

xo

One Pedal At A Time

One shocking part of moving to Miami from my northeast staples like NYC and Boston, is the lack of progressive values.

For example, when I moved into my new apartment, I was told there was no recycling! What does that even mean?  This is 2008, come on.  Being the Lisa Simpson type that I am, I contacted my local government since this is against the law. Luckily, my building complex came around, and I was willing to give them another shot and re-sign my lease. Should you have the same issue, please check out this local government page, which has all appropriate laws and contact info.

One of the most exciting parts of moving to Miami land was year round summer!  And this means, year round biking.  When telling my new co-workers that I had specifically chosen my apartment due to it's convenient biking proximity to the office, I was greeted with jaw dropping stares.  But, day after day, people look at my bike commute as less strange and often comment that they'd like to save money on gas or find a simple way to get in shape.  One bike at a time! :)

My point is, for local readers, is that Miami Mayor Manny Diaz has gotten in on the fun!  I noticed on his blog today that Mayor Diaz is actively reaching out to the biking community to improve biking conditions in our gorgeous city.  So please, local readers (and judging by my Google Analytics, there are quite a few of you), take the time to fill out the survey the Mayor has provided HERE.

Happy riding!  And hopefully soon, maybe Miami bikers won't be "Courting Death Daily."

xo

PS - Maybe it's just a cheap pick up line, but the massive chain I wear around my waist is practical and normal!  I've had two bikes stolen in NYC and never want it to happen again.  To answer everyone's question that stops me on my elevator: no, it's not heavy, and it saves me from buying a new bike every few months! :)

BritPopping into Boston

Unfortunately I was not at Glasto or Rothbury this year, though appreciated the text message updates from my various reps.

I did however, travel to Boston recently to see Amanda play two nights with The Boston Pops. SICK!

What made this particular event extra special is the location of Symphony Hall. I had a ton of different apartments while living in Boston/Allston, but one of my faves was my sophomore dorm on St. Stephen's street. I met the Baron, had a Fab roommate, and enjoyed the company of he hockey players down the hall + Tim Culley.

Said dorm room with mini-Oasis collage + Blur poster adjacent to my bed rocking swim team gear.Amanda, not surprisingly, KILLED IT at the Pops! I was so proud. It was much more than throwing a band in front of a symphony. Amanda clearly worked with Lockhart and The Pops to craft a proper show. I loved how Amanda flirted with Keith throughout (and he is kinda cute) only to end up with Brian at the end of the show. Luckily, no one in the audience broke out in a fight like Ben Folds' Boston Pops appearance last year. Ben produced Amanda's soon-to-be released solo album. Amanda covered "Brick" on night one and on night two she dedicated the song to me! It was a beautiful moment as well as surreal as I loved Ben Folds Five growing up. Onstage Amanda commented that we had bonded about it. When BF and AP first started exchanging emails (he was a fan and had been talking about The Dolls in the press), Amanda didn't really know his music. This is a girl who didn't listen to Nirvana until 1999 (or maybe it was 1996) because it was considered "jock music" in high school. It was only then she realized it was really good. Amanda Palmer is brilliant in many ways. She speaks 3 languages and knows volumes about subjects people spend years studying. However, her perspective on pop culture is different than that of Brian and myself which are straight up 90's music obsessed teenage years. I told her to start with "Brick." In related world's collide news, a little over a week later, Amanda would play her old new song "Oasis" with Ben, Sam, and Jared sitting in post-jam style at Glastonbury. The song is about a girl who gets raped but it's ok because she gets a signed photo from the brothers Gallagher in the mail. Very classic Amanda dark tongue-in-cheek songwriting. And catchy too! :)

Unfortunately I don't believe Amanda caught Jay-Z's now infamous set at Glastonbury. For those of you that have lives and don't subscribe to a gossip blog devoted entirely to Oasis, a few months ago Noel flat out said Jay-Z at Glastonbury won't work. I don't believe he was putting Jay, his music, or his show down necessarily. He was just pointing out that Glasto headliners in particular tend to be in the English guitar rock tradition. Jay-Z is certainly a rock star of this decade, and I'm all for it. Perception is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. Jay mashed up the interview into an intro montage and came out covering "Wonderwall" with a mocking tribute to Oasis. I chose this tribute due to the classic over-excited English music presenter.



Glasto is such a special place, every English-based rock fan should experience it in their lifetime. Though, not everyone is as cool as MK who introduced his bands, The Cribs and MGMT. SICK!Back to Boston. Pre-show on the second day, I was waiting for Sars outside. I ran into Brendon Downey, a staple of The Dresden Dolls' extended family, only to have Psycho Dave roll up fresh off a plane from Asia on tour with The Click Five and with new international wardrobe to show off. In classic Psycho Dave style, he rounded our mini posse up for scorpian bowls and a beer (15 minutes before showtime) at local Northeastern underage drinking establishment, Tiger Lily.It was so fun to be reunited with Dolls' family legends such as JeffMaker.com and Oedipus, but also see Boston staples like Kates. We should do this every year! :) And I'll never forget Fugakyu. Best sushi restaurant in Boston - go there!

The upside to missing Rothbury was dogsitting for Irving Luba! Irv loves my yogamat as much as I do. We had a fabulous weekend together and I had my first 4th of July in Miami outnumbered by Canadians. And sometimes Britpop legends come to Miami Beach anyway. Oh Johnny Marr, how I love thee.

I'm going to NYC on Wednesday for various reasons and cannot wait to be reunited with one of my hometowns. I've only been back once since moving, though it was for work, only 24 hours, and I was cockblocked. Although still a fun time, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone for a slightly longer visit.

xo

The Real Hipster Olympics

On my various swim teams, I was always the weird hippie music chick.  Which is funny, because to many music friends, I'm a midwestern athlete chick.  It's all about perspective.  Swimming, like any sport that breeds young champions, takes an incredibly focused lifestyle.  Elite winners have to train upwards of 20 - 30 hours a week, both in and out of the pool.  It's a full time job that is often supplemented by a strong family tradition and teammates, for better or worse, being your classmates, training partners, and social circle.  I loved the social aspect, but it's easy to grow tired of swimming culture; even for an uber swim geek like me.

Luckily, I had a few teammates who also had fantastic taste in music along with interests well within Wizzle World.  Sarah Reddick, Heather Greidanus, Katie Schmaling, and Rachel Brown are leading examples.  Rachel has a new last name now, but we'll keep it Brown for nostalgia.  Btw, nice Badly Drawn Boy song on your website, Heather!

Therefore, it's refreshing to hear Amanda Beard reveal her jamband roots a little over the halfway point in this video clip. (I don't know how to imbed a buried flash link, but I'm sure there's a way). In addition to owning a dog named Jerry, Amanda listened to The Dead to pump herself up before races. That's insane. I used to listen to "March of The Pigs." However, in retrospect, it makes sense to calm one's nerves. Hippieism is not new to the world of swimming whatsoever, as Gary Hall Jr. proved twice.  

When I was a kid, I always wanted to manage one of the Olympic swimmers.  I felt it was unfortunate that their years of work really only paid off from a media perspective for two weeks preceding and following the Olympics.  I also thought that the swimmers' media personalities were never marketed correctly. Not that I wanted to create the Menudo of swimming or anything, but I felt their was potential for 1-2 top swimmers to extend their media career shelf-life. I'm sure to EW circa 1996-2000, that meant an presenting an award at the MTV VMA's alongside Ben Stiller or something. But, it's 2008 and we live in the future.  The Speedo LZR suit and the machine that keeps Dara Torres' incredible 41-year-old body in tune are two prime examples.  Sponsorships allow swimmers to keep at it years past college and turn the sport into a career.  Swimmers aren't cool yet, but I like that Amanda Beard has entered her post-jam phase with indie-influenced photos taken by her photographer boyfriend on her hip-leaning website. Natalie Coughlin is the other swimmer I think has additional extended cool potential, though I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's her Bay-area roots, love of Macs,and slight resemblance to Natalie Portman (I've always thought they've had a similar vibe, but it's probably just due to sharing a first name).

Anyway, all of these thoughts especially cross my mind every four years during the swimming Olympic trials and swimming portion of the games.  Most people don't fully understand how INSANE the American swimming Olympic trials are.  The Olympic games are of course a huge deal, but it's really like the payoff for years of training and getting through an incredibly stressful meet.  Only the top 2 athletes in each event (sans the 100 and 200 free for relay purposes) qualify.  In a sport that separates world record holders from national class youngsters by hundredths of a second, that is nuts. One can be undefeated and the fastest swimmer of all time, but if you have an off day, years of training are often washed away in an event that only occurs every four years. And most of the races are under two minutes long.  Thousands of hours in a pool, for a a few minutes every four years.  I get nervous for the swimmers watching the trials!

I came close to making the 2004 trials, but at that point was quickly getting distracted by rock n roll.  No regrets, well worth it.

But watch NBC @ 8 PM on the 4th of July. Dara Torres is pretty incredible, whether one knows anything about swimming or not. I do not have TV service, though I do have a TV used to view digitized films, music, internet streams, and other media run through a Mac. Thus, I've enjoyed squatting TV coverage at work, my building's gym, and a sportsbar down the street this past week.  By the 2012 London games, I'm sure everything will be streamed live online.  It drives me crazy whenever there is a rare (usually live sporting) event I want to watch.  I would have no problem paying $5 to stream a live Packer playoff game (did I just admit that?), commercials included.  My fantasy is to have internet ratings combined with TV ratings, so networks don't lose their ad revenue.  aka then I can watch swimming anywhere I want.  NBC is streaming some coverage, but one must have network TV and broadband internet to see the whole trials.  Maybe I'll just have to go to London in 2012 instead.

Btw, if Mark Johnson has an in to the infamous raging party post-Olympics that sounds wilder than any tour rager I've ever witnessed, I want to go!

xo