Saturday was a true test of stamina. We steadily and consistently drank for a good thirteen hour run. Kate, Margaret and I started things off at a barbecue on the Endymion parade route. The barbecue was at a stunning house designed by Byron Mouton. I commented on the clean, rustic design, comparing it to something from the pages of Dwell, to find out that Mouton has in fact been featured in the magazine on three occasions. I definitely appreciate smart, minimalistic design. I actually got to meet Mouton after learning this background info, and thought that was a real treat.

The location of the house was conveniently positioned at the beginning of the parade route, which allowed us to casually enjoy ourselves without prematurely surrendering to the insanity of the crowds. It was a really relaxing scene and great weather. After Kate left us to go to work, I mingled and actually learned a lot about the logistics of Mardi Gras, which made me feel less bad about our freeloading.

I'd never taken the time to think about the traditional and socio-economical aspects of it all. Basically Mardi Gras is a series of parades and each one is thrown by a different carnival organization. The particular parade we went to yesterday was Endymion. It's the largest parade of them all, making it one of the most coveted organizations. Because of it's ranking, it is very expensive to join, I believe I was told it costs somewhere in the realm of $2,500 annually. I had never even considered the people on the floats, let alone think that they were paying to be on the floats. AND on top of that, they personally spend hundreds to thousands on the loot they toss. THEN get this, as they were setting up and unloading their floats, putting the beads and loot in easy to reach places, they carelessly threw the bags from which they came onto the ground because state prisoners will later clean the streets. Talk about a socio-economic break down. Interesting, huh? I think so.


As we walked around the floats before the parade actually started moving, it was a very family friendly atmosphere. This is primarily because it was still day time and not downtown. However, one group of guys did request that we flash them to initiate a newbie on their float. No dice, buddy. We told them to work on their approach strategy.

I'm getting the hell out of dodge and heading to New Orleans for the weekend. This will be my first Mardi Gras, and I'm not quite sure what level of insanity I'll be getting into, but in my heart of hearts I expect it will be something like this, only on trash-filled streets rather than this pristine coastal setting.

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.