Miss City Discovers: April 2013

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Weekend Plans Take Two!

Let's be fashionable today loves. I love how this woman transformed baggy military pants into a super sleek outfit. Heels really do fix everything. Buy the heels here.


Now that you're looking hot, let's get you some plans for the weekend!

1. If you're in the New York area, take a walk down to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Brooklyn. Here is TimeOut's quick explanation: 
Before the last pink and white petals fall off NYC’s cherry trees, head to the Sakura Matsuri festivalThe monthlong Hanami season culminates with this two-day fair, featuring a cosplay fashion show, manga workshop, tea ceremonies, flower arranging, Japanese dance performances and tours.


2. Feeling in the mood for Broadway? Check out The Trip to the Bountiful, starring Cicely Tyson, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Vanessa Williams! It's 2 hours and 20 minutes long. Excellent reviews around the town. 


3. The next couple of ideas are a little raunchy. There's an event going on called Skin Tight USA. I'll let you see what it is for yourself. 


4. And if you really just need to laugh, go see Robbyne Kaamil's Raw and Real Show. Her show is right around the corner from me on Christopher St., so this is a strong possibility for me. 



WHY CAN'T NEW YORK HAVE SUBWAY ENTRANCES LIKE SWEDEN?



Summer is coming. I've been on a workout/diet kick since Saturday- and it's been going strong except for those chicken nuggets I ate because Julian didn't finish them...thanks babysitting. 
How DELICIOUS does this Kale, Red Cabbage & Carrot Salad look??

Here are 5 Reasons to stay motivated and keep leading a healthy lifestyle! 

Annnnnd when you need to get off your diet for 5 minutes, make these. LOL SORRY NOT SORRY.


And OMG....is this our Christian Grey? The scene he did a screen test for...just omg.


Enjoy your Thursday! Week is almost over!!


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Wednesday Wonders

Sitting in Think with Nicole while writing this post BTW.  Love her. Forever love Professor McBride Social Foundations I <3 

Sorry sorry sorry - this is the last tear-jerking video I will share...I promise. (not really heheh) 

If you love Game of Thrones, you will find this BuzzFeed post called "14 Best Hodor Quotes"  absolutely hilarious.



Why Parents are Basically Just Little Children. Yes, I'm talking to you mom and dad. Number 4 is literally my mom. Like I think she figured out how to send in a screen shot of our conversations. I believe the man below is attempting to take a "selfie". annnnnd he's failing.


Sooo I was lying in the beginning of the post. Sort of. Here is a list of amazing Tearjerker movies. Good job Cosmo <3 Now please hire me as an intern and I'll add to this list. My Girl?? Just stop. Crying. I love their description of why this film made it on their list: Before Macauley Culkin was kinda weird and Anna Chlumsky was a real grownup on Veep, they were Thomas J. and Vada Sultenfuss, the two best friends that anyone could have. Until a swarm of bees attacks a certain allergic, adorable someone. Cue: Us bawling our eyes out.


If any of you actually care about what I'm doing with my education over here at NYU, I thought I'd tell you about a film that I'm writing about in my final paper in my Film and Literature of the Magreb course. It's called Viva Laldjerie (Viva Algeria). Here is it's IMDB and it's available to watch instantly on Hulu. Even though it was mandatory to watch for the class, I actually really enjoyed it. It beautifully portrays a mother/daughter relationship within Algeria. If you like foreign films, watch it! And if you do, I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts :) 


This is a list of 8 Dark Theories About Children Movies & TV Shows, and number 3 FREAKED ME OUT. It's so true.  


Want to be more "In The Know" about the Tribeca Film Festival? Gotcha covered lovas. 


BOOM. What am I looking forward to see? Stand Clear of the Closing Doors. It follows the story of an autistic boy who runs away from just as Hurricane Sandy hits. And he's from Far Rockaway-a beach that I cleaned up with the NYU Red Cross Club and the Clinton Foundation after Sandy. Robert DeNiro actually endorsed this film himself. 


13 Must Have Products Under $10. I bet that Alba Lip Gloss tastes SO good. I'm kind of imagining it as the way my favorite sunscreen WOULD taste if it didn't taste so horrible. But smells oh so good.


Since Britt, Jess and I are moving into an apartment next semester, I have been acutely aware of AWESOME stuff we need to have in our lovely home. Since I've been trying to become more of a tea drinker than a coffee drinker, I figure we'll need an electric hot water kettle to make things easier around the place :) Here are 4 Kettles the experts tried out


And since Earth Day was sometime this week (I feel like for a month they say it's Earth Day...) I thought I'd share this pretty DIY project that helps (supposedly) save our planet. 


To top today's Wednesday Wonder's off- here's one last project that I have wanted to do FOREVER. And this one seems pretty simple- so I think I could handle it. 

How cute? 























Saturday, April 20, 2013

Proposals, Homecomings & JON HAMM!!

This is also old news, but can we just take a moment and drink this all in again? Wait..and also I thought that was a lolly pop for the longest time...I was too focused on his mouth to see anything else hahaha


And, Mad Men had ANOTHER appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2010


And, as much as I think everyone looks super hot in this (back of a car??) shoot, I don't think anyone can beat out True Blood's cover..


Now, this post is going to go from VERY FUNNY to cry your eyes out. But in a good way.

Well, actually before you laugh, I've been meaning to share with you this concoction I made up for a delicious and nutritious shake. 

Honestly, I didn't write the measurements down....so just throw in what you see fit :) :) 

1.    Peanut Butter 
2. Banana (maybe like 1 1/2?)
3. Honey (just a bit)
4. Chia Seeds
 5. Milk (soy, organic, skim whatever) - this should fill up a good base in the blender
6. Chocolate Almond Spread from Trader Joe's (just a touch)

AND IT WAS SO GOOD. I also didn't take a picture..awk..so here's a picture of a pretty shake that yours might quite possibly look like!


OK, here comes the laughing....get pumped..

Both of these hilarious posts from BuzzFeed have to do with dogs. Because dogs are just so amazing. 







Ok so we are going to take this blog in a slightly different direction now. Here was Zendaya's dance from Dancing with the Stars last week that BLEW me away. She is the second female dancer (the first couple are pros) and I just love how much of a STORY came across. Her acting throughout is impeccable..I was seriously transported to a Sherlock Holmes type moment. I was prancing around the room after because I felt so much PASSION. Britt & my mom were like umm..please stop.



Speaking of passion, Roger Ebert was one of the most passionate people about film and I think we should ALL watch his top 10 favorite films. He was a huge inspiration to me. Here they are: 

1.     Aguirre, Wrath of God (Herzog)
2.     Apocalypse Now (Coppola)

3.     Citizen Kane (Welles)

4.     La Dolce Vita (Fellini)

5.     The General (Keaton)

6.     Raging Bull (Scorsese)
7.     2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)

8.     Tokyo Story (Ozu)

9.     The Tree of Life (Malick)

10.  Vertigo (Hitchcock)

OH if you feel like you need to get a good cry out, you have the following two options that will absolutely, most definitely, certainly make you ball your eyes out: 

1. Watch The Impossible. That is all. Seriously, I'm not going to even explain it. Here's a link to a quick synopsis. I don't think I stopped crying for more than 3 minutes throughout the whole thing. It crushed me. In a good way.


2.  Watch videos from the following "Feel Good" Blogs: 

1. Welcome Home Blog - Soldiers coming back from WAR and surprising their KIDS, their WIVES, FAMILIES. OMG I can't even. No.. I need to stop. Francesca has walked into our room like 10 times now with me crying and it's becoming problematic. Here is one of my favs :) :) 


2. Ring On The Finger- So this is for the romantic in all of you. These are surprise wedding proposals!! LOVE ITTTT. 







3. Mother Glow- these are all about couples breaking the news to their family, friends, parents, etc. that they are pregnant!! LOVE THESE TOO







HAHA THIS WOMAN'S SCREAM ^^



Good day!!!









Wednesday, April 17, 2013

What Should You Do This Weekend?

Hiiiiiiii

1. This is Candice Glover's audition video...it was so wonderful. Made me a happy gal. It's from Hulu so I'm not sure if everyone can watch it, but I'm ALMOST POSITIVE.


2. It is damn time for me to learn how to braid my hair in pretty ways. I honestly can't even make a regular braid look good....so here's to hoping I'll be able to learn at least one of these


3. So I love pesto pizza. I've mentioned it like 4 times already and I've only been blogging for 2 months. I can't wait to move into an apartment with a kitchen!!! This recipe looks scrumdidillyumptious....



4. This is kind of an interesting idea. Maybe if I'm ever awake at midnight and still roaming the city I'd do this...but since I love my bed and sleeping, I doubt it will ever happen.



5. Wanna know what else you could do this weekend if you happen to be in New York? THIS! I wanna go into an elevator museum....


6. And if you're STILL not sure about what to do this weekend...check out this sick list of Secret Places, bars, menus and parties in NYC :) PS this smoking image is supposed to make you want to do secretive stuff...? 




7. OMG I WANT THIS I WANT THIS I WANT THIS I WANT THIS



8. LOL story of my life..






Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Fresh, Correct Assess


The Fresh, Correct Assess

Over the last 30 years, market and market values have increasingly directed American life, prompting philosophers like Michael Sandel, author of What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, to pose questions regarding whether we have morphed from a market economy into a market society where social decisions are determined not by reasoned public debate but rather financial and economic market forces. Sandel questions if the current state of our public discourse is up to the task of tackling the numerous moral issues of what should be determined purely by the free market, what should be determined by, or at least guided by, public dialogue and lastly, where appropriate, what should be limited by shared moral boundaries through government intervention.
While Sandel’s piece does not attempt to answer these moral questions, he certainly implies through various examples that we have crossed a moral threshold into the Market Society.  Sandel adeptly raises eyebrows with examples of; A prison-cell upgrade: $90 a night; Access to the carpool lane while driving solo: $8, The right to shoot an endangered black rhino: $250,000, The right to emit a metric ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere: $10.50, The right to immigrate to the United States: $500,000, Serving as a human guinea pig in a drug-safety trial for a pharmaceutical company: $7,500, Fight in Somalia or Afghanistan for a private military contractor: up to $1,000 a day, and if you are a second-grader in an underachieving Dallas school, read a book: $2  (Freedom of speech – priceless). However, the common denominator underlying each of the above-mentioned examples is the fact that every one of them was, in fact, sanctioned or actually adopted by government, be it local or national, to either raise money for the government or achieve some other social or economic objective. For example, prisons are run by local, state and federal governments, and every extra fee charged to inmates while serving time, goes to maintaining and supporting those prisons.
If one believes, as I do, that these examples, at a minimum, raise questions of appropriate moral and ethical behavior, then perhaps the better question is whether our current democratic government system, existing within today’s political, technological and ADD culture, can continue to serve as the ultimate assessing process of societal ethics and morals.  Would Thaddeus Stevens’ quest to end slavery through eloquent and moral conviction have prevailed today?  Are we now better served to take the moral pulse of society via the monitoring of Twitter and Facebook?  If our current government system, in which we deal with these social issues, is falling short in so much as placing the problems clearly on the table, then perhaps it is time to rethink our method of evaluation for our current social difficulties. With every new “toy” or increasingly advanced technology, we should be moving closer to openly sharing our thoughts, opinions and experiences regarding the way we live. Sandel’s main argument of the nation’s necessity to ‘start a conversation’ feels outdated when I instantaneously receive a tweet from a medical scholar in China regarding a new advancement in stem cell research.
Ultimately, it is only through the authority of government that social morals, through whatever form of public discourse, can be placed on the free market system.  The idea that the government can limit exchanges between two consenting parties is certainly up for debate depending on the good in question, and how much government involvement would be necessary. However, overall government involvement concerning market regulation should be thoroughly examined and agreed upon by the general public before market values tremendously alter the way we interact and work with each other.
By way of example, it is my personal belief that one aspect of the American market that government should be involved in is our health care system. I believe that in a thriving and powerful country like the United States, the people should collectively take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. We have the responsibility to care for those who cannot provide their own healthcare, similarly to how we pay taxes for our education system to educate our youth. I believe that a human being’s health should not be placed in the same category as an inanimate object, such as the newest BMW, within our market. National provided healthcare is one social concept I agree with and I believe worthy of a robust social debate to limit the free market for the greater good of society.  
While too much government limitation of financial incentives driven by free market forces would discourage motivation for success, without any government oversight or government provided services, can society truly prosper in all aspects of life? If we had no police, traffic lights, sewers, or a public education system, could we rely totally on charity and the private sectors to fill those needs? Like Sandel, I believe that society has to determine what the minimum services are that a government should provide for its citizens and what it should not.  A basic level of health care (meaning annual health check-ups, and saving those who are dying on the street and disregarding all other health conventions) should be provided to everybody, just like protection with police, fire departments, traffic and road infrastructure. Perhaps a system like India’s, where healthcare is free, but a higher level of care must be compensated for and procured in an open market, is an option to consider.
Matt Welch, another economist who responded to Sandel’s piece, considers the example of whether kidneys should or shouldn’t be up for sale in the market. Based on the number of kidneys needed, and the number that are actually received, he says that sentencing more than 6,000 people a year to an avoidable death is less moral than allowing kidney sales into the market, because with a monetary reward, people will be more willing to give up their kidneys. It’s exactly because of markets, and their allowance of choices for the public, that Welch believes markets do not control his life. Ultimately, his point is that people are unnecessarily dying (in the case of the Kidneys) because of the public’s general disgust in markets that are simply allowing consensual behavior to occur.
One may argue that a society where “cutting lines” occurs is corrupt. However, I believe that a society that trusts in meritocracy, or the idea that people should be rewarded based on their success, may ultimately advance the society. If a professor gives every student a “C” to level the playing field, doesn’t that prevent a student who could receive an “A” or a student who may receive an “F” from learning how to achieve individual successes, innovate, and propel themselves, and the society in which they live, forward? If a student realizes early on, based on their excelling in mathematics, that they have a talent for equations or formulas, they may go on to create the newest iPhone app that allows you to enter your weight, the amount of hours you’ve been drinking, and the number of drinks you’ve had to calculate your BAC, and in turn likely saving lives with their “Call a Cab” button if they are over the legal limit.
Sandel’s questions about the morality of markets are consistent with my questioning government’s ability to truly make balanced socially responsible decisions. I believe in a democratic system to govern based upon the will of the people.  Our current culture has better tools than ever through social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to gauge our societal values and communicate them to our elected leaders. The Arab Spring is but the first of many government transformations to emerge from our tremendous ability to network, communicate and generate change.