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Animal

I've no idea why, but I'm feeling some serious fifth-grade, Hysteria-era Def Leppard nostalgia tonight, and the video for "Animal" is just the ticket. [1]

[1] Oh, and: Hysteria is on neither Amazon MP3 or iTunes? That seems like a bad decision, somewhere in the whole music business chain.

Coconut Cake

Last night we watched this coconut cake episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay, where Flay challenged the head chef at Charleston's Peninsula Grill to a coconut cake challenge. And Bobby Flay actually won, which seems ludicrous to me; now, obviously I didn't taste his coconut cake, but in 2004, we ate the coconut cake from the Peninsula Grill, and I can say, with certainty, that it's the greatest cake in the entire world (and it better be, with 3 pounds--12 sticks--of butter in it!).

Birds

This is pretty incredible: Edwyn Collins (of Orange Juice), who had a stroke back in 2005, drew illustrations of birds as part of his recovery process:

Then I drew my first bird, a widgeon. It's quite crude, but I was pleased with the result. Each day I drew at least one bird. I was tired back then, but my stamina has grown. I could see my progress with each bird. Up, up, up. It's encouraging. The thing is, it's not just about switching to my left hand; my brain isn't the same as it was. Until recently, I only liked to use cheap notebook paper. Pencil drawings only. Everyone is telling me to use colour, but all in good time. I need to perfect my technique. I'm a creature of habit. But I'm now using posher cartridge paper. It changes your style.

Three years after his stroke, Orange Juice will be reuniting for a show, and Collins will perform on stage. (via Idolator)

My favorite photo of the week

So small and so big, all at once.

The broccoli people

This is my absolute nightmare: little tiny green heads on broccoli stalks. I can never eat broccoli again. (via Serious Eats)

David Sedaris: "Undecided" in the New Yorker

David Sedaris starts out writing about undecided voters and, as with a lot of recent Sedaris stories--or is this just my imagination?--ends up in a depressing family anecdote.

I told my father that I had voted. "[My mother] let me," I said. "And I picked Nixon."

"Well, at least someone in the family has some brains." He patted me on the shoulder and as my mother turned away I understood that I had chosen the wrong person.

Ordinary firmness

McCain supporters in North Carolina heckle early Obama voters:

That's classy.

It also kind of reminds me of Jill Lepore's recent New Yorker article about how we used to vote:

Voting in America, it's fair to say, used to be different. "Are you not a man in the full vigor of manhood and strength?" a member of the House Committee on Elections asked another Harrison supporter who, like Kyle, went to the polls but turned back without voting (and who happened to stand six feet and weigh more than two hundred pounds). The hearings established a precedent. "To vacate an election," an election-law textbook subsequently advised, "it must clearly appear that there was such a display of force as ought to have intimidated men of ordinary firmness."

Smash

Penelope's a good sport, and she's adorable even dressed as Gallagher:

The many uses of carrots

"Shoot 'em Up" may be the best movie I've seen this year (yes, the movie's from 2007, but I only watched it tonight)!

From Ebert, who gave it 3 and 1/2 stars:

I don't need a lot of research to be confident in stating that never before have I seen a movie open with the hero delivering a baby during a gun battle, severing the umbilical cord with a gunshot, and then killing a villain by penetrating his brain with a raw carrot.

Totally ridiculous, and yet utterly wonderful.

Beyoncé: "If I Were a Boy"

New Beyoncé! That's always good news, and "If I Were a Boy" is my favorite type of Beyoncé, in the vein of "Irreplaceable": spare instrumentation, lots of private drama and emoting, and a video full of very intense and meaningful looks. There's also "Single Ladies" [1], but I'm just a total sucker for ballads, so "If I Were a Boy" hits the spot:

[1] "Single Ladies" really isn't doing it for me, yet: listening to it makes me feel like I'm losing at a video game, over and over and over.