Clearly, I am weirdly obsessed with otters.

Seeing as my Facebook picture was this for some time:



And now I'm gushing over this video:



...it's pretty safe to say that I am going through some otter obsession stage of my life.

Watch until after 1:20 at least...around then is unbearably adorable.

Windshield art.

Love this! Thanks, Brian!


[by Helmut Smits]

Slick move of the day: busting out the Bengali.

After I finished a film at the Angelika, I decided to wander around St. Mark's a bit in search of food & fun. Wanting to get a pair of glasses, I went to a shop on the corner where I knew for a fact the men who worked there were Bengali-speaking.

I got there and was trying on some glasses when I saw a hat I liked too. Seeing as I wanted to purchase glasses and a hat, and I still needed to pick up dinner, I knew it was haggling time. I asked for the prices -- $27 for both items -- and then waited for the inevitable question.

"Where are you from? Philippines?"

"No, Hong Kong."

"You live there?"

"No, I was born there but I live here in Manhattan now. Where are you from?"

"Bangladesh."

"Ah!" I feigned surprise, "Amar nam Gabrielle!"

At this moment, the two men burst into excitement with a bunch of oohs, ahhs, giddy laughter, & giant smiles like they just discovered the answer to a NY Times crossword puzzle clue.

I topped it off with, "Kamon achen?" which elicited an even more excited response (though neither of the men actually answered the question).

To top it off, I inquired where in Bangladesh they were from, guessing, "Dhaka?" (the capital city...and the only one I can remember off the top of my head, sadly). The men shouted yes so excitedly, I was convinced that they had just completed a Sunday crossword.

After pretending to peruse a bit more, I asked for the prices again. When I said $27 was too much, they dropped it down a good amount. Still, I shook my head and they, without any reluctance, responded with, "Okay, fine, for you, $17 for both, no problem."

Three letters, one word: WIN.

LXD + Invisible Children? Love it.

[via IC]

This week was the launch of Jon M. Chu's Legion of Extraordinary Dancers - a new web series that you can watch each Wednesday at www.thelxd.com. I've been pretty excited about this because it looks pretty epic...but what's even more amazing is that The LXD is a supporter of Invisible Children, as Jon M. Chu & the founders of IC are old friends.

The LXD shirt is being sold on IC's website -- made of 100% Ugandan cotton, with all proceeds going to help IC end the longest running war of Africa.

Make sure to watch the video above. I'm loving the music too.

Meet Mallory.

[circa May 2009]

Stats:
22.
Lexington, MA to the streets of Taiwan and back.
Fights obesity in America.
4 years & counting.


Story:
I met Mallory my freshman year of college at Oyama in the East Village. Though we discovered that we lived only a few floors apart in the same tower of the same dorm and started bumping into each other at least 2 to 3 times a week, it took her nearly two months before remembering anything about me. And once she started remembering me, it was not for the best. We got off to a very rocky start due to some...misconceptions about one another. Eventually, we got to know each other better and were able to move past our judgments.

Still, there was a moment in the middle of our freshman year that I clearly remember. During a lunch with a friend in Upstein, I confided that while I hung out with Mallory a lot & certainly had no qualms with her anymore, I could not see us ever becoming very close friends and that I doubted our friendship would last very long.

Four years later, I humbly and gladly say that I was very wrong.

Mallory and I are very different people with different interests & views, but there are few people in this world that I feel as comfortable around as I do with her. She's incredibly forgetful, oftentimes crazy, & undoubtedly odd, but those are some of the qualities I've grown to really appreciate in her; they make her Mallory to me. Even more importantly, she's taught me what accountability & a loving friendship looks like; has been open & honest with me; is hilarious -- really hilarious; always shows great passion in what she does, especially within her spiritual life; is far more humble than I am; cares genuinely about those around her and therefore challenges me to care more about those around me; & often acts as my voice of reason (don't be so surprised -- she's not always a "confused goldfish"!).

For all those reasons & more, I have to say that she's become one of my best friends. We have our ups & downs but in the end, I absolutely love her.

103+ degrees?

I feel the need to announce my immense dislike for Fox "News." I find them to be arrogant with poor taste in everything.



As Kai said in his Tweet, "Hey FOX News: COME OUT TO THE EAST COAST RIGHT NOW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK NOW YOU GOONS." Eloquent & profound, if you ask me.

PS - The other day, it hit a record high of [insert absurd 100+ degree statistic here] & Con Edison met some challenges as parts of NYC were shutting down because the system couldn't handle the heat. Crazy.