Girl Friday

New Shoes, New Wu

I'm glad I held out on buying the giraffe shoes, because I happened to find two pairs of completely adorable while simultaneously hot sneakers the past couple weeks:

Can't. Even. Stand how cute the Vans are. I had a vision: I wanted a new pair of sneakers that looked like Topsiders, but were Vans. Lo and behold, I walked into the Vans store at the MOA and walked right up to these. Slipped on a pair of 8.5s and the rest is history.

The double-tongue strawberry Converse must have been a return to the MOA DSW store, because there was only one pair on the shelf. They're totally adorable, comfortable, of course, and will replace my very worn Chucks that Rex bought for me so many years ago. I loved the hell out of those sneakers (and still managed to keep them clean, even as seams began splitting and rubber began cracking) but their time is officially up.

In with the new!

If you don't have the new Ghostface Killah/Method Man/Raekwon album, "Wu-Massacre", then you best pull up your iTunes and BUY IT. I can't stop listening to it. Talk about the joint.

I'm in love with the Ghost all over again.

Yes.

Thank you, Taylor.

For forwarding this.

And the nominees are...

Still Alive

Wow, I haven't updated this blog since last week? For shame, Alexis. For shame.

I haven't died or anything. Rather the opposite, as this week I've been busy obsessing over obese flight attendants on vita.mn and Chris Shaffer on Twitter. He has amazing hair.

I want to give a belated shout out to Nintendo for throwing a party for my friends and me a few Sundays ago, and especially for giving everyone a free DSi. And for catering it with awesome food and for being cool with the fact that we drank every last drop of booze in under three hours.

Also, big ups to Cirque du Soleil for the gratis tickets to Kooza last week. I'd never seen a CDS show before and I was totally blown away. Highly recommended, for all ages.

Alright, my inbox is full of great stuff, so here we go:

- The Uptown Market will hold its second event this Sunday. Check out wares from local artists, crafters, farmers and food vendors from 11:00am-5:00pm. They're on 29th Street between Lyndale and Dupont.

- If you loved the antics of my fellow 10 Second Film Festival judge, the misguided philanthropist Mrs. Smith, head to Patrick's Cabaret this Friday and Saturday night. Local actor and musician David Hanbury will be performing as Mrs. Smith for "Queer Boyz Nite," starting at 8:00pm both nights.

- Minneapolis Picks has launched Minneapolis Picks Perks. Take advantage of great monthly specials at all the best local shops and boutiques in the metro area.

- Arc's Value Village is having a storewide summer clearance sale next Saturday and Sunday, July 25th and 26th. All merchandise (except white-tagged items) will be 50% off.

-The Living Room at the W Hotel is now hosting Martini & Mani Mondays. Every Monday from 5:30-8:00pm, just $17 will get you a martini and a manicure (courtesy of Denny Kemp Salon) or a martini and a massage. That, as you know, is a great deal.

- No more confusion, it's definitely this Saturday, July 25th: Blacklist Vintage is having a Digger's Sale from 11:00am-7:00pm. Owner Vanessa Messersmith says she's lining the sidewalk with $1-5 bins full of vintage textiles, clothing and housewares, and the shop's entire inventory will be 10% off. There will also be free cupcakes and drinks, $1 regular and veggie hot dogs and Transmission DJ Jake Rudh spinning from 12:00-4:00pm. Sounds like a party!

[Or is it August 22? Or 29? Or, and this is most likely, is it really this Saturday, July 25th? Stay tuned for a correction. The email I got last week definitely says "Saturday, August 25."]

Trek Yourself (Warning: Makes Noise)

This has provided an obscene amount of entertainment* today, in between all the mixing, pouring, rolling and tasting. My Pillsbury Bake-Off dessert recipe is complete! It just needs a name now. I still have to tweak my appetizer yet, but it's a pretty simple one. * In case it's not obvious, Trekking other people is way more fun than Trekking yourself.

Cast of TNG on Family Guy This Sunday

Holy mole, the cast of Star Trek: TNG reunites on this Sunday's episode of Family Guy.  They even made a trailer for the episode and it's hilarious.  I can't wait to catch the show.

Seth McFarlane is a huge Star Trek nerd; you can actually spot him in a cameo role in two episodes of Enterprise.

The Mystery of People En Español

My friends have been confronted, but so far no one is fessing up to ordering a subscription of People En Español for me.  The issues inexplicably started coming about 5 months ago and have no use in my house.  Despite my enjoyment of catching the occasional telenovela on TV, I have so little interest in celebrity culture (much less Latino celebrity culture) that this free subscription is wasted on me. 

Though I must confess that I did cut out a full-page photo of Daddy Yankee from the "50 Most Beautiful People" issue and have plans to frame and hang it in my office.  You know, for inspiration.

My Night With Chuck Palahniuk

I ticked another name off my list last night when I had the amazing opportunity to not only meet one of my favorite authors, but sit down and ask him a few questions, as well as help him throw blow-up dolls and canvas autograph hounds into a sold out crowd at the Triple Rock.

Chuck was incredibly gracious on and off stage, and thanked me profusely for taking part in the event and taking the time to come up with original questions he hasn't had to answer a million times before.  I was a little worried because he took such long pauses before answering a couple of my questions, thinking maybe I'd somehow managed to stump him or something, but the compliments from him and his publicist after the interview made me feel positively relieved.

The actual event seemed to fly by really fast, despite having short readings by both Chuck and Knockemstiff author, Don Pollock.  We also watched the trailer for the film adaptation of Choke, which will be out this September.  What didn't fly by was the personalized autograph portion of the evening, which happened both before and after the event.  Very long.  I decided to stick around 'til the end (it didn't run very late, so this was no big deal) and I'm glad I did because I had a chance to say a proper goodbye to Chuck instead of waving a "so long" at him from the side of the signing line.

Having been able to talk to him before, during and after the event, I have to say he's one of the warmest and most respectful people I've met in a long time, celebrity or not.  He's inquisitive and attentive, and either feigned interest very well or was actually engaged in me babbling about my jobs.  He was encouraging as well as kind; I'm apparently expecting a book in the mail soon that he wants me to read.

I'd never done any sort of event like that before, so it was really interesting to find out that everything was so well prearranged.  Chuck's publicist was a rock star, and I was happy to be "directed" by him from off stage.  I suppose things wouldn't go nearly as smoothly if you didn't have someone (who really knew their s**t) running the show.

All in all, a pretty exhilarating experience.  I'm glad I knew the subject matter so well and that everything was went so fluidly.  I think I would've been terrified to interview an author I wasn't familiar with and I certainly would not have wanted to be on stage any longer than I already was.

What Would You Ask Chuck Palahniuk?

What: Chuck Palahniuk promoting his forthcoming novel, Snuff
When: May 21st, 7:00pm
Where: Triple Rock, 18+
Cost: $30.00, and you leave with a signed copy of Snuff
Why should you go? Because it's Chuck-freakin'-Palahniuk!

Why else should you go?  Because the event, brought to you by Magers & Quinn, will be hosted by Yours Truly.  I am out of my mind with excitement about this!  The nice folks at Magers & Quinn (a fellow named Jay, in fact) emailed me a few weeks ago, asking if I'd be interested in hosting Mr. Palahniuk's appearance.  I don't think I took a single breath while replying to the message with an emphatic "YES!"

The format for the Q&A portion of the evening isn't finalized yet, so I thought I'd ask you guys what you would ask Chuck Palahniuk.  I've seen him read before when he was promoting Stranger Than Fiction, and the questions that the audience came up with were super lame.  We haven't figured out if it's going to be a Chuck-selecting-people-from-the-audience situation, or if I'm gonna go all James Lipton on his superstar ass.

In the event of the latter: What would you ask Chuck Palahniuk?