You might remember her songs showing up in some of the pinnacle angsty teen girl movies like Mean Girls and Thirteen. But I actually first saw her in Seventeen magazine spread about up-and-coming female singers who, as far as I remember, were all tan, blonde and wore lots of wide leg jeans. Think a 1977 filter before Instagram. But, along with fellow songstress Joss Stone, Katy Rose was the only teenager in the group, which in my 12 year old mind, makes her songs that much better.
Any gal that writes "I'll lick the blood right off your street" is a friend of mine
Look at that eyeliner!! Look at that smirk!! Look at that dress over jeans pairing!! How can you not fall in love? As if it isn't badass enough that she actually wrote and produced all of her songs in her debut album, Because I Can, when she was only 16 years old, the songs are actually good.
"Because I Can" (2004), also known as the Weetzie Bat Soundtrack
I'm a few years older than Katy Rose was when she first came on the scene, but she still sounds like she has it more together than I do. She knows who she is, what she wants, and how to get it. It's the kind of assuredness only a naive 16 year old can have and the kind I'm reminded of any time I play her music.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to need as much confidence as I can muster before I graduate, and right now, Katy Rose is on the top of my weeklong playlist.
Welcome to Totally Tubular Tuesdays!!! The day I gush about all things TV because if there's one thing I'm good it's procrastinating.
Spending my formative years in a small town in North Carolina before getting my ass hauled all the way back to the Sunshine State meant I was no stranger to the trailer house favorite, Blue Collar TV (and I can say that because my best friend lives in a trailer and it's AWESOME). Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy were household names and my friends and I spent many a night (yes, sometimes in said trailer) making up slogans for "You Might Be a Redneck".
Though it only lasted two seasons, these thickly accented comedians stole my pseudo small town girl heart. This love for redneck jokes and blue collar blues led me to a small gem called The Bill Engvall Show, which led to an even more precious gem, Jennifer Lawrence.
The opening credits are a pair of jeans for goodness sake, this is country comedy gold!!!
That's right!! Our Oscar winning Jenny was part of the Blue Collar family, and I was mesmerized by her blonde curls and sharp humor before you hipsters can summarize the plot of Winter's Bone. Talk about a star in the making, in some scenes she even outshines Bill, and his name is in the gosh darn title!
Can you imagine a time when Jennifer's character's biggest worry was finding a date to the semi-formal and not trying to survive getting killed by 23 other tributes or searching the Appalachian wilderness for her meth-junkie father?
Personally, I think Jennifer Lawrence was made for comedy (just check out any interview she's ever had... ever) and I would love to see her make a return to the genre that first put her on the spotlight. But then again, I"m graduating with a B.A. in Creative Writing and she already has an Oscar, so one of us is doing something right (and it isn't the one writing in a hilariously titled blog). You go Jennifer Lawrence, keep making us Blue Collar fans proud!!!
When "Foundations" first released, I was a fresh faced freshman, braces free for the first time since I started my monthly present. This was before I dyed my hair an Angela Chase crimson, before my first boyfriend, my first break up, gosh before Facebook! My favorite activities consisted of Buffy reruns and reading Francesca Lia Block novels. And right along side my descent into puberty was Kate Nash.
Kate Nash tapped into my inner most desires to own a wardrobe full of dresses that matched my tights and date idiot guys I could later write sassy blog posts and non fiction pieces for class about.
She made me realize I could be cute and strong and be compromised by neither. I could talk about how much I hated my partner while simultaneously missing them.
Her songs were the anthems for the undergirl who would rather spend her time reading a book than going to parties, who dreamed about kissing but had much more fun hanging out by themselves and singings songs about kissing. She even recreated the entire Buffy episode "Once More with Feeling" in a live concert. Obviously, we are Buffy soul mates. She openly talks about feminism and this influence can easily be heard in her songs emphasizing sapphic friendships and misandry. What I would give to be a part of Kate Nash's girl gang (seriously Kate, say the word and I will do it).
Even after all these years, three albums, a new look, a new sound, Kate Nash still fascinates me. No longer that same fresh faced girl from high school, her heart felt lyrics mixed in with a pinch of humor and sassy wit still get me every time. Her new album "Girl Talk" just released in the states and you can bet I will be saving up in hopes of seeing this Manic Pixie Queen live.
While most wouldnt consider working the front desk as glamorous, once you've worked for the graveyard shift at Denny's like I have, I feel like a princess wearing my business casual garb in an office that's not run by middle aged dudes that still shop at Hot Topic. It's also nice to work at a place where the worse that could happen is a paper cut and not accidentally cutting off your hand while restocking the salad bar.
I like to think of my receptionist job as the perfect manic pixie queer girl job. What other position would pay me to check my pinterest and Autostraddle (this part is usually without them knowing) while simultaneously wearing a cute outfit with a nametag that matches my bright red lipstic? Let the selfies begin!
If Peggy Olson and Zooey Deschanel had a baby, it would probably be a lot cuter and more ambitious than me, but I can sure as heck try!
The only downside (well more like a wayside-side) is having to wake up before most freshman have classes. Since I have yet to accept coffee into my life, my ability to stay awake has been due to sheer will and any makeshift snack I happen to grab before leaving the house, which strangely enough is ususally chocolate chip Eggo waffles. A bottle of syrup has become a permanent backpack staple. But in those mornings when not even premade waffles can keep me awake, I take advantage of the hour before everyone else shows up to turn the office into my own radio station.
These are some of the songs wake me up before I go-go!
Dolly Parton: 9-5
Dolly has always been a hero of mine and what better song to listen to than one made especially for the working girl! Those who haven't seen the movie should drop whatever their doing and watch the marvel that is Dolly, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda being bad ass misandrists.
I'm not quite sure what/where this performance is, but it definitely relates to my inner Disney Princess.
Marina and the Diamonds: Oh No!
Listening to Marina's music sometimes makes me feel like I"m in a jazzercise video, with neon lycra jumsuit and all, and this song is no different. Only instead of exercise, I'm at my desk wearing a headband frantically typing with one hand and holding a dumbbell in the other. This look says: Get toWork!
Billy Joel: The Longest Time
Okay so, I said I was making a playlist of songs I like to hear in the morning, I didn't say that it would make sense. I"m not sure why, but this song reminds me of when my parents would drop me off at elementary school and we would listen to Sunny radiostation. Oh youth: back when I was carefree and could wake up at 6 am without so much as a yawn before strapping on my Mulan backpack (Gay Girl Alert!).
Heart: These Dreams
And the list just gets weirder and weirder. Let me start off by saying I love Heart, the good and the bad. And frankly, I don't know how I got into listening to this song but it gets the job done, even if the music video has gives me nightmares (I'm sorry did anyone else notice the vagina at he beginning of this video?)
Welcome to Totally Tubular Tuesdays!!! The day I gush about all things TV because if there's one thing I'm good it's procrastinating.
A tuesday night staple for me is watching 'Bunheads', a seriously underrated show about Sutton Foster wearing leggings surrounded by other skinny girls wearing leggings. I am obviously their demographic.
Am I a Bunhead yet?
It was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the same woman who brought us the equally lovable show 'Gilmore Girls'. Even if this show seriously lacked any one wearing leggings, I admit this is also a favorite of mine. So much so that I spent all of last summer re-watching the entire series.
This pic really brings out the crazy in my eyes
But anyway, back to Bagelheads, I mean Bunheads. Geesh, this show really needs to brainstorm a new title. It's just embarrassing. You could be the most well read scholar, with a PhD. in (insert some extremely difficult field of study here), but the second you utter the word BUNHEADS, you'll have middle schooler's rolling their eyes.
Here are some new title Ideas:
Cute Girls in Leggings
Leggings-o-Rama
Sutton Foster Variety Hour
Okay so I'm not exactly the wittiest title creator, so I'll leave the title making in the good hands of the writers of this show, which, frankly, I worship. The way these character's talk, much like in 'Gilmore Girls', involves quips on obscure pop culture references (which I am proud/embarrassed to admit I know most) and sincere and funny emotion that sounds true of the character's speaking. It's like watching a piece I have written on TV, and that's awesome! It relies less on sensationalism and more the character's relationships and growth which lack in other TV shows (Pretty Little Liars, I'm looking at you!!).
One of these is not like the others (and she's wearing the bandana)
This show revolves around a group of ballet dancers, the said "bunheads" of the title, their quirky teacher Michelle (played by Sutton Foster) and her mother in law (played by Kelly Bishop). I have to say it's refreshing to watch a show that is focused on the friendship of these women, with the men in their lives is mere supporting cast. Friendships change, and grow; that's what I'm interested in. Not whether or not Sasha decides to date some guy who wears eye liner like it's 2006. I want to know if Boo will ever stand up to bossy Sasha, or at least get a cooler nickname. I want to know if my lesbian prayers will be answered with Ginny and Melanie making out after a derby bout. Oh yeah, did I mention one of the ballet dancers is on a roller derby team because of her anger issues? They've got her wearing bandanas on her head and everything. This gal is definitely playing on our team.
Look at that bad ass!! It's no secret she's my favorite.
I'm also a sucker for a good dance number and this show is chalk full of them. What can you expect from a show that stars two of Broadway's most famous actresses, with Sutton Foster the winner of TWO Tony's (Thoroughly Modern Milie, Anything Goes) and Kelly Bishop as the original Sheila in Chorus Line. If the show surrounding a dance studio isn't enough razzle dazzle for you, every episode ends with a dance number that surrounds that episode's theme. Well, I think. I"m not quite sure what "Instanbul (Not Constantinople)" has to do with a bunch teen girls with an affinity for food shaped hair but it's delicious and fun to watch even for just the sheer absurdity of it all.
Rumors started circulating the webz that this gem of a show might get cancelled which I pray to the Goddess it wont. "Bunheads" deserves a long run, and I'll be damned if I don't get my scene of Mel roller blading Ginny off her feet into a derby dance number. Palladino, you magical top hat wearing fairy godmother, make this happen!!!
Welcome to Nina's blog 3.0 where I've come to realize nothing makes you blog like desperation... or terrible weather. The weeklong rain/hail storm that has terrorized our small panhandle town made me realize I can't just wait to be graced by some Lesbian Godmother and take my rightful place next to my ce-lesbian elites, I have to do it myself. So naturally my protest against mother nature led me to try blogging again. Can you believe I've had some form of blog wondering around the webz since 2008?
But this time it's different (hopefully). I've got my glasses on and my sassy sockbun and I am a-noggin for some bloggin.
Since I'm actually still at work there is little that I can do in the way of funny photos of said sockbun and any other hilarity, so for my first post you will just have to do with CSS (a favorite of mine which will definitely pop up again later in this blog) singing all of my stormy weather blues away and shedding light on my new venture.
I have done it. I have succumb to the ways of the interwebz and am now a blogger. What would Virginia and Sylvia think of me? A young writer with so much promise, so much wit, and so much fashionable flair, selling her literary soul to the masses for what? Just so she can have a valid excuse for not doing her English homework?
Well you know what Virginia and Sylvia, maybe if you two had a blogspot maybe you both would have died happy old ladies snuggled tightly with your Macbook like how I intend to go.
I always thought I would be spending my procrastination time writing the great American novel but I guess this blog will do. I really don't know much about blogging and I am not tech savvy at all, though if my Creative Writing major says anything it means more time I'm suppose to be writing papers spent learning how to make a music playlist and Youtube videos.
So why read my blog? Well first of all, let's celebrate the fact that you can read and second, let's celebrate the fact you actually found this blog under the masses of search links that come up under "manic pixie queer girl". So if you found this blog by persevering through the treacherous seas of the blogosphere or are one of my friends that I have forced to read this, I promise I will make this worth your time and your optical sensory organ.
