John Mayer's new haircut

I think I speak for both myself and Nicci when I say: HOT.

Posted By: Cat

Curly Fries

My friends and I spend a lot of time at a pub/restaurant in town called The Greengage. It’s a Hungry Horse pub which means the food is cheap and probably microwaved, but for some reason I love it. What I love the most though, are their curly fries. Why do they taste so much better than straight chips? How do they even make them curly? They must be coated in crack because I cannot get enough of them.

I asked Wikipedia my questions regarding the curly fry. Here is what it said: ‘Curly Fries are a kind of french fry characterized by their unique spring-like shape. They are generally made from whole potatoes that are cut using a specialised spiral slicer.’

More worryingly, it also said: Depending on the size of the order and any additional toppings, Curly Fries (which are frequently cooked in partially hydrogenated oil) may have between 300 and 700 calories per serving. Much of the caloric total is derived from fats and oils, making Curly Fries an exceedingly unhealthy food if intake is not moderated. In addition, the salt content in Curly Fries is generally greater than that of regular fries.

What does this mean for me if I am unable to moderate my intake? Check back in six months time when this blog is renamed ‘how I reached 350 pounds’.

Posted By: Cat

Death Cab For Cutie - Live

Last week I saw Death Cab for Cute at the Carling Academy Brixton. Not only were they awesome live, but it was the best atmosphere of a gig that I’ve been to. Everyone was chilled, even sitting down until the support band played. There was no territorial ‘fuck off’ vibe that I get at a lot of gigs. I normally hate it when people spend the entire performance trying to get closer to the stage, but everyone was laid back and letting it go. I had room to breathe, which never happens and I didn’t even notice that my feet hurt from standing up for so long.

The best moment for me was Ben Gibbard’s solo performance of ‘I Will Follow You into the Dark’. This song will break your heart. When first major label album Plans was released, this was the stand out song for me, so to hear it live was just amazing. Lyrics like ‘if there’s no one beside you when you soul embarks, I will follow you into the dark,’ envoke images of love so strong that you can’t comprehend it.

Watch the video below and check out more of Death Cab’s stuff at http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/. They’re not the crazy thrash metal band they name suggests.

‘..The time for sleep is now

It's nothing to cry about

Cause we'll hold each other soon in

The blackest of rooms...’

Posted by: Cat

WALL-E

My heart broke about seven times in the first half hour of Wall-E.

Humans have left the Earth in a mess and blasted off into space to let robots clean up their mess. Poor Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth-class) is the only one still clocking in daily and is accompanied only by his pet cockroach. He breaks the monotony of compacting rubbish all day by collecting treasures in a lunch box he fixes to a hook on his back each morning and each night, hauls his finds back to his Aladdin’s cave and shelves them by category –but where does the spork go, with the forks or the spoons?

Soon enough, Wall-E’s simple existence is interrupted by EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator).She has been sent by the mother ship to access whether photosynthesis has begun again on Earth, in the hope of answering the fundamental question of ‘can life be sustained on Earth again’. For Wall-E, its love at first blast, when EVE tries to blow him up...three times. Soon, she’s back at Wall-E’s checking out his rubix cube, light bulbs and ipod video playing the old movie Hello, Dolly!. It’s when Wall-E shows her the green shoot he’s placed in a boot for safe keeping that the action starts.

I can’t understand how Wall-E is a kids film. Yes, it has a cute robot in it, but the underlying themes are rather political in nature. We have destroyed Earth because of our need for convenience. In space, humans have become fat lumps with no bone definition and no idea of life outside their hover chair. Their lack of exercise over the years means they can no longer walk as we do, let alone sit up without the help of a robot. They go through life with a computer screen in front of their faces, slurping huge drinks. They talk over IM instead of face to face while on a five year cruise that’s lasted seven hundred years.

Is it hypocritical for Disney to be preaching to us? Probably, but this is about the little robot that could, not globalisation and the death of human interaction!

The real treat of this movie is Wall-E’s courtship with EVE. The little moments they share in the first dialogue-free thirty minutes are heart warming and beautiful. Anyone who has yearned to hold another’s hand will see a little of themselves in Wall-E, who never gives up on EVE. It’s a love story that the kids won’t appreciate, but that I thought was just perfect.

Hotness rating: 0 – he’s a robot.

Posted By: Cat

Josh Hartnett

Oh Josh Hartnett! How far we have come since the days you adorned my bedroom walls. I’ve finished school, travelled the world and earned some moolah while deciding what to do with the rest of my life. Meanwhile, you have moved from one bad haircut to another and made some awful movies.

This blog is called things we like, and I promise I do like Josh Hartnett, I just like to mock him more.

It is thanks to Josh Hartnett that Nicci and I are friends across the pond. It is through our mockery of him that we bonded. I enjoyed his early foray into feature films – The Faculty was B-Movie awesomeness with a hot young cast; Pearl Harbour although awful, was made all the better by Josh in a uniform; Black Hawk Down was gritty, realistic and you could only work out who Josh was among the mud splattered faces because he had his name on his hat.

He’s dated some of the world’s most beautiful women: Scarlett Johannson, Helena Christianson, Gemma Ward, Rihanna; but yet he can’t get a decent haircut? As Nicci once said ‘here’s a super cuts voucher, get yourself a trim’. Many moons ago, an online petition started (in vain) to get him to sort it out. And don’t even get me started on the slug he’s cultivating on his top lip. Seriously?

This autumn, Josh is starring in the West End adaptation of Rain Man and I can guarantee you, I shall be in the audience.... silently mocking him.

Posted by: Cat

Boys With Guitars

When Cat and I first began our foray into randomness about 7 or 8 odd years ago we disagreed on the hotness of one Mr. Matt Damon (she called him a minger, I called him the father of my children, tomato, tomaaato or whatever). We both agree that there is one breed of boy out there that is strangely hot. Usually, their names start with J. And if they don't start with J, they are doing something else - they are holding a guitar.

Now, I will go through a list of hot guys who hold guitars.Jack Johnson. He probably wouldn't be crazy hot if he didn't play guitar.

This is Jesse Lacey. He plays in the band Brand New. I once showed a picture of him to Cat, and I think she said he was hotter holding the guitar. I might be wrong.

This is my crush of the moment Robert Pattinson. His name doesn't start with a J like the rest of the list but I think he is made exponentially hot here just buy holding a guitar with a hood over his head.

John Mayer. This is self explanatory.

JT. He beatboxes, dances AND plays guitar. Hot.

I don't have much else to say on the topic except that I probably missed some. I also meant to include Jason Mraz, but blogger was annoying me so when his picture got deleted off the post, so did his spot on the list.

Posted by: Nicci

Stripes

Stripes are my fashion du jour. Without even trying, I seem to come home with a striped item of clothing each time I go shopping. My love for stripes however, is restricted to lines of the horizontal variety, no vertical nonsense for me thank you. I understand that horizontal stripes widen the body, which can be hazardous, but the juxtaposition between the blocks of colour is too much of a temptation for me to ignore. T-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, tanks, black and white, grey and black, blue and yellow... I just don’t care.

I wonder where my love of stripes comes from. Perhaps it’s the reason I like cake so much, the cake/icing/cake/icing combo creates a stripe effect which my brain finds irresistible.

Perhaps one day I will grow out of my love for stripes, but until that day, I am happy to run around like a zebra.

Posted by: Cat

Twilight

So I had no idea what these books were about until one day I was procrastinating on facebook sending people bumper stickers and flair (which are their own kind of crack in themselves) and I saw something about Edward Cullen Bringing Sexy Back Since 1901. I was like, "Edward Cullen, who in the world is that and why do these people find someone who is like 108 years old attractive?" Then I thought, "How did I miss Edward Cullen in Harry Potter?"

Bless Wikipedia. A quick search on that fantastic site told he who Edward Cullen was and I was like, "Oh. Okay."He's a vampire who doesn't kill people, and he's in love with this Bella Swan girl. Okay. Great.

Still didn't rush out to buy the book. Then my BFF Kouri was sending flair and she texts me and asks, "Who is Edward Cullen?" I told her and that was that. Well, I did send her a piece of flair that said "I only know who Edward Cullen is because of a piece of flair."

So anyways, fast forward like a month and a half. I'm out with my parents at this Military Exchange thing where my parents always go nuts buying things because it is cheap and there is no tax on it or something, and I see a copy of Twilight. I figure, "What the hell." and I buy it.

What did I think?

I don't know.

I don't want to give anything away, because I don't want to be accused of spoiling someone or something. But I had a lot of WTF moments, and some aww moments, but the WTF moments far outweighed the aww moments. And it didn't hurt that there is a movie version being made and the hottie pants from Harry Potter who played Cedric Diggory is playing Edward Cullen. It's a kind of long book, but I read it in like eight hours. (I was kind of hung over and sad that my bff just left after her week long visit, so being lazy in my room was top priority).

I bought the next to books in the series within the next two days. I read the last, Eclipse on the treadmill at the gym. Still, a lot of WTF moments, is this really happening moments, really is this girl letting him do this, moments, and still a few aww moments. It was kind of like a bad story that people write on the internet that you're like, I'm going to read more of this because it is making me laugh. Only, this Stephenie Meyer lady is making tons of bank off this.

Breaking Dawn comes out on August 2nd. I'm going to read it. I want to know how this ends, and I'll probably see the movie on December 12th, because of the hottie pants dude.

Here are some links that I couldn't figure out a way to work into the post:
http://stepheniemeyer.com/
http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

Posted By: Nicci

Michael Cera

I have a big crush on Michael Cera. Mostly thanks to Superbad and Arrested Development, but since Juno came out earlier this year; I’ve been more vocal in my Cera appreciation.

My friends laugh when I tell them I might love Michael Cera but I’m not ashamed. The kid is smart, funny and looks like he wouldn’t pay for hookers. I might be wrong about that last part, but let’s hope not.

Watch Superbad again. Jonah Hill has the ‘big’ comedy moments – he gets hit by the cars, passes out into his crush’s face, the penis drawings... it goes on. Michael Cera’s funnies are subtle; Evan’s interaction with Maroki (the Asian kid with flour whiskers), the awkward ‘going-for-the-arm-but-hit-you-in-the-boob’ exchange and his preference for porn with production value.

Cera doesn't just say other peoples lines for money, he also created his on show on the web with his buddy Clark. I would love to be able to make a show with my friends and put it online for people to watch. I however, am not famous and do not have the built in fan base. You can watch Michael and his friend Clark be funny at http://www.clarkandmichael.com/.

Posted by: Cat

John Mayer. Shirtless.

Mr. Mayer, whose arm I had around my shoulder last month, has been continuing his tour over in the US. Apparently, he may also be drinking whiskey before his shows because he seems to have decided that he wants to be a guitarist in a rock band. While the bespectacled David Ryan Harris takes over singing duties, John sheds his shirt while rocking out to Panama by Van Halen. I for one, am all for more shirtless escapades, I’m just gutted that the two shows I went to on the UK tour didn’t include a strip tease.

Posted by: Cat

Missy Higgins

Missy Higgins is cool. She’s Australian, 24 and super talented. I sort of want to be her.

I first heard her album when I was on a trip in New Zealand. There was this one song where she was singing about lambs and I couldn’t get it out of my head. When I got home to rainy England, I snapped up her debut CD and it’s been a frequent visitor to my ipod’s ‘now playing’ screen ever since. Last year she released her second album ‘On a Clear Night’ and it too has become a quick friend.

Not only does Missy Higgins write and compose her own stuff, playing piano and guitar; but she’s also a dedicated vegetarian and recently made a video diary of her US tour in which she endeavoured to make her whole trip carbon neutral. Along the way, she spoke to different organisations and individuals to see what can be done to lower the impact we have on the planet. I think it’s awesome that someone my age in the public eye is actually going about their life and career with intelligence and grace, rather than falling out of a different nightclub every night wearing no underwear. I think we need more role models like her.

Missy makes pretty music, check it out. http://www.missyhiggins.com/

Posted by: Cat