Canadian-born songstress Leslie Feist is undoubtedly among my favorite female artists. Her collaborations and solo work are top-notch as she seems to have dipped her hand in multiple projects throughout the years, including work with Peaches and Broken Social Scene. This week Feist has been receiving a lot of attention for her latest video directed by her recent go-to, Patrick Daughters.

I definitely enjoy the concept of the video, as it is consistent with her previously released charmingly choreographed work, but it didn't replace her previous videos as my new favorite by any means. Obviously the use of fireworks and sparklers wins over my inner child, AND she makes for an absolutely adorable wizard-of-sorts twirling her magical stick about prompting outbursts of combustion. Awesome. No doubt. That being said, maybe I am being a little hard on Feist and Daughters, BUT they've made such wonderful videos together and have raised the bar of my expectations. Thus, I give "I Feel it All," a ranking of 4th place out of the five video's I'll be reviewing.

In March the duo released both "My Moon, My Man" and "1 2 3 4." Of the two I prefer the latter. "My Moon, My Man," is kind of boring to me. It gets 5th place in my ranking. As for "1 2 3 4," the one-shot take and colorful choreography, carefully matched with the musical/lyrical build-up just work so well. Apparently I'm not alone on this stance, as the video has since brough huge commercial success to the iPod Nano campaign and thus overexposed the video itself. Had it not been eaten up by Apple, maybe my love for it wouldn't have faded so quickly, but due to the nature of these things, "1 2 3 4," comes in at 3rd place.

My favorite Feist music videos and top contenders for most awesome are both off of Feist's Let it Die album. The runner up being, "Mushaboom (version II)," her first collaboration with Daughters.



I think it's safe to say that all in all it's very reminiscent of Spike Jonze's video for Bjork's "Oh So Quiet," with a dash of Mary Poppins. At least that was my first reaction, but Feist still pulls it off with a quirky casualness that wins me over time and time again. Plus, the song itself is among my favorites.

Finally, my all time favorite Feist video would have to be "One Evening," directed by George Vale. Hands down. No contest.

Ivy League comedians have recently solidified their spot in my favorite things, right between puppies and cereal. So now it goes: coffee, paychecks, puppies, Ivy League comedians, cereal.

The other night I went to see Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black perform at The Mohawk. Going into the event, I was most excited for Black as I find him both hilarious and dreamy. I mean, he is like the poster boy for I Love The 80's. However, Showalter was, in my opinion, superiorly entertaining. He performed for the majority of the event because he came on early out of sympathy for the freezing audience (the event was in an outside tent), so that may account for my preference, but if I was having a birthday party and had to choose between Black and Showalter to perform at said birthday party, I'd pick Showalter in a heartbeat.





This guy went to NYU and transferred to Brown. Smarty pants, indeed! I think his lisp is totally adorable and endearing. Showalter may even surpass Demetri Martin who has been my favorite Ivy League comedian for the past couple of years. Martin attended Yale and then NYU Law School, but dropped out to pursue a career in comedy. Sex-y! Okay, so I have a thing for geeky comedians.

Layered up and shivering on my first night back in New Paltz, I hung out with my boys on the snowy back patio at Oasis, smoking cigarettes. The cold winds stung my face as we bitched and joked about stagnant hometown life.

Jim said something along the lines of how his mother didn't like California because it lacked the gritty attitude of the northeast. I agreed and said the south was soft. Then Mikey Frecks broke it down, "They's soft, J-Skins. They's soft! They've never even shoveled snow! I've shoveled some snow. I know you've shoveled some snow." Then he proceeded around our circle announcing that we've all indeed shoveled some snow and therefore we're tougher than those pansy southerners.

As drunk as he was and as trite as his hypothesis may be, he was on point. People up north are harder, and a lot of that is due to the ridiculously cold weather that is endured year after year. It directly impacts the lifestyle. Everyone trudges on regardless of plummeting temperatures and continuous snow dumping upon the entire region. But people in Austin freak out when the temperature dips under 40 degrees. I know it's Texas and all, but it's also January. I think a cold blast is a pleasant reminder that it is actually winter. And it's not like Austin is a walking city.

I think the hardness is what I like and miss most about the northeast. I like the sass and banter. I think the discomfort of winter (the hibernation, the chapped skin, the snow shoveling) provide that rugged attitude and give depth to the human psyche. Perhaps I'm romanticizing, but I think Mikey had a point. Plus, I like feeling tough.