It's All About...

PostSecret in video.

My favorite lazy Sunday activities: burying myself in the Sunday paper, picking up flowers at the farmers market, reading by my friend's pool while dangling my feet in the water, reading PostSecret.

There was a little variation on the PostSecret theme this week, when creator Frank Warren debuted a mini-movie instead of the usual 20 secrets culled from his batches of mail.

Here's it is -- with a link, if you can't see the embed:

I rather like it. The project has turned into a fascinating window into modern life's best and worst moments. This seems very Sundance, but I'd definitely be willing to watch an entire documentary -- just an idea -- about how the project is created, how it grew and how it impacts people. I've not sent anything to Frank's address, but I realized last week that I wonder often what artwork I'd used for certain sentiments. I'd say that adding PostSecret to the modern steps of grief or joy are a serious impact.

By the way,  a quick search on YouTube reveals that PostSecret is already fodder for plenty of moving amateur multimedia. (And a Flickr group of a similar idea.) Most famously, some secrets were used in the video for All-American Rejects song Dirty Little Secret. (Can't see it? Here's a link.)

New Blog: The girl Gawker, Jezebel.

I'm a little in love with the new blog from Gawker Media: Jezebel.

It bills itself as celebrity, sex and fashion "without airbrushing," which made me want to pause and read.

Just a few posts down today, you'll spot the entry about how Sassy changed women's lives, which made me want to stay and order a drink.

And then there's the headline "Return of Shoulder Pads May Be Harbinger of Bad Things to Come," which is a tad wishy-washy about something painfully obvious -- the return of shoulder pads is  unquestionably a harbinger of a terrible future -- but nonetheless makes me want to invite myself over for a sleepover, where we'll watch John Cusack movies, eat gummi bears and prattle off the list of books we keep meaning to read, but haven't.

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Read: KYKurmudgeon and Pol Watchers.
Registered Republicans and Democrats can (and should!) vote in the primary today. These blogs will help you feel informed, or make you angry enough to vote.

Read more: Cheryl Truman examines closet American Idol fans.
The finale starts tonight on Fox. Vote Team Blake!

getting a hallelujah for blogging and weekends!

Finally, finally, It's All About is back.

I'm often resentful of this blog and its knack for taking over my every waking hour. (Many of you have heard me utter the words, "I might be all about that," at seriously inappropriate times. My apologies.) Once my little cultural soapbox was taken away by a pesky little billing issue, I missed being able to prattle on about the book I'm reading or the show I'm watching or that totally ridiculous news item that people can't stop talking about.

So, I'll save my rant about Love is a Mix Tape for Monday. Let's talk about this weekend, and how this town is just dying for a good party.

To do...

Pablo Alcala/Lex H-L

Party: It's Beaux Arts Ball weekend. That means all-night imbibed masquerade zaniness, much like you see in this photo from last year's ball. This time it's at the Old Tarr Distillery, 899 Manchester St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and entertainment starts at 7:30 p.m., including the Lexington Fayette Urban Supergroup, Q-Burns, Abstract Message, CunninLynguists and The Juan Maclean, a drag show, a fashion show and performance by Mecca and the UK Dance Ensemble. Tickets are $20 in advance, $30 at the door. Need help with a costume? Check out Crystal Little's story for inspiration.

Be a Kentuckian: I'm not sure how this snuck up on me, but Keeneland's spring meet starts today, which calls for all the usual fanfare and burgoo. (No racing on Easter, you heathens.) Note that the high temperature on Saturday is a buzz-killing 41 degrees, so you might just want to stay home and figure out how to get George Clooney to come to Derby, or maybe order your limited-edition Maker's Mark commemorative bottle. They go on sale today.

See a movie: For new releases, we've got Are We Done Yet?, Firehouse Dog, Grindhouse, Nomad: The Warrior and The Reaping (with Hilary Swank?!?) Yeeeaaaahh. How about Volver on DVD instead? Or maybe Twin Peaks, Season 2? (Sorry, still no pilot episode, folks. DVD technology isn't all you hoped it would be, is it?)

Hear some music: Bill Frisell is making a rare appearance in Kentucky, so guitar lovers may want to make the trip to Louisville for tonight's show. Head in the other direction, to The Southgate House in Newport, to see Seattle band The Long Winters tonight. For those unwilling to drive, Ill Subliminal will be at The  Dame on Main Street tonight. If you missed The Whigs while watching Grey's Anatomy reruns on Thursday night, check them out at the Phoenix Hill Tavern in Louisville Saturday night.   
    Realistically, I probably won't make it to any of those shows. I'm going to sit at home and listen to the 8,496 covers of Wild Horses that My Old Kentucky Blog compiled, just so I can be absolutely sure that none sound up to the original.

Eat something: Sarah Vos reviewed FatKats Extreme Pizza in Georgetown. They've got a (meat-heavy) pie called The Gonzo! Sharon Thompson also dug out the places where you can eat off the special Easter menu.

Take in the stage: This isn't a stage show, exactly, but the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra will play a program called Music of the Horse.

Twitter

Over to the right, you'll spot the fancy new Twitter box. This is one of those widgets-of-the-moment that might be so over by the next time I restart this computer. In theory, it'll offer an interesting answer to the question "So, what's up right now?"

I'm hoping this will be a useful tool that will keep me from having to tack updates onto the bottom of a blog post every time George Clooney spews wit or a Kentuckian shows up on reality TV.

Still, the whole idea of Twitter seems immediate and self-centered  in a way that's just begging to be abused. If it starts to look like some LiveJournal of yore, complete with daily updates of mood and food, it's going away. (Flashback, courtesy of the Internet. March 1, 2003: Panchero's burritos with Jeremy. March 4, 2003: Indian food with Jeremy. March 8, 2003: Peanut Barrel veggie sandwich  with Jeremy, followed by  dessert of Mike & Ikes. Jeremy, one of my very best friends from college, has probably slimmed down since I moved to Kentucky.)

If you spot any fun, creative uses of Twitter -- like all those bloggers relying on it at SXSW -- slap 'em down in the comments section. And tell me, have you tried it? Do you like it? Or is it just one more way for the man to track all the secrets of the 18-49 demographic?

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Read: The 2007 Bloggie Award winners are up.
There were several local nominees, but no local winners that I saw. Still, a fun list of Web sites worth perusing.

rate my room: it's hot or not for homes

HGTV just opened the French doors to its addictive Web site, Rate My Room.

The idea is so simple, I can't believe it took them so long to introduce it: People post photos of their  home decorative skillz and others judge them. And by  judge, I mean offer advice, rip, rip-off, encourage etc.

It's social networking! It's thoughtless, immediate judgment! It's creativity! It's trendy! It's educational! It's the HotOrNot.com of the home, with fewer pouting lips, doe eyes and dramatic, devil-may-care bangs!

I should post my living room. This is just after we moved in, so we've already judged the futon and errant boxes to be not hot.

The cat in the corner? Totally hot. Best accessory in the room. He needs to be on Rate My Kitten.

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Watch: There's a new trailer for The Simpsons movie.
I want to be skeptical. I do. Because how can any be show still be worth watching after 18 years? But really, I still TiVo it, and I will so be in line when this movie opens.

Watch more: Relish/mourn what might be the last Studio 60.
Look, I know you stopped caring several Mondays ago, but on what might have been the show's last night, it was hysterical. As soon as that robotic baby's head was under the guillotine, I lost it.

Write: High school seniors, enter our Priceless Prom contest.
Write us a good essay and let us have some fun with your look and you could have a debt-free prom.

Gasp!: There could be a Grey's Anatomy spin-off?!
The Wall Street Journal says it will be based on Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, and that it will be written by Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes. Great character, great writer. I will totally watch that. But does this mean Addison is going back to New York? And could Alex go with her?

local bloggie nominations

Two local blog superstars and wholly nice guys are on the nomination list for the 2007 Bloggies!
Voting closes on Feb. 2, so click you're little scroll-happy cursor on the link and submit thy votes.

And the local nominees are....

You Ain't No Picasso
Created and maintained by the University of Kentucky's own Matt Jordan.
It's up for best music blog, along with the lauded/loathed Stereogum and Pitchfork. As I learned at Bonnaroo last summer, when I pestered a very patient Matt for many hours in the journalistic pursuit of story, music blogging is not easy. The industry is constantly trying to buy or sell you, the audience is demanding something revolutionary from you daily, your parents might actually want to see you occasionally and you're just trying to get homework done and rent paid. That deserves some recognition.

Fark.com
The Versailles-based compendium-of-strange-but-true and soon-to-be-multimedia empire created by Drew Curtis.
It's nominated for a lifetime achievement award. You might think this is a category that honors the old and over, as in the movies, but lo, how wrong you would be! Blogging is still new and fancy enough that a site need only exist a few years to have lived a full life. This actually will be an interesting category to watch, not just because there are some repeat nominations of much beloved blogs, but one of Fark's competitors is the venerable Slashdot. Both have viewing populations that can only be described as rabid, although that makes them seem less good-natured than I suspect they are. One can only imagine the mass voting and trickery that will be going on in the name of Web loyalty and sabotage.

Now, even if the idea of blog award voting doesn't make your skirt fly, at least check out the nominees. The Bloggies, with its ultra-loose definition of weblog as "a page with dated entries," is a resource of some of the better ways to waste your time on the Internet, while still, admittedly, wasting your time.

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Book #3: Lost Mountain by Erik Reece
Equal parts science, poetry and outrage, I would put this on the must-read list for Kentuckians. Reece, who teaches writing at UK, followed an aptly named chunk of the Appalachians for a year as it went from a lush, forested, ancient ecosystem to a plateau strip-mined of all its worth. It's not the most comprehensive look at mining and mountain-top removal, but it's a good first look at an issue that we'll be wishing we knew more about 20 years from now. (And if it seems familiar, remember that this is the extended version of an article that appeared in Harper's last year. It's worth the extra reading, I say.)

Watch: Tara Conner on Today, tomorrow.
For those keeping track at home, Miss USA and Russell Springs native Tara Conner (now with bangs!) will be interviewed by Matt Lauer Thursday on Today. You can catch a preview of it in this People story, where she says she used cocaine.

XKCD, a web comic to love

Woe, that I could create stick people with such spunk and insight.

It breaks my heart a little that this is so true.

The good news: XKCD, the Web comic from whence these little guys came, is just hilarious.

I could spend (or rather, have spent) all night reading the archives, with all the stick people and science jokes. I never stopped laughing, except for the moments when I paused to covet the author's charming brand of  geekiness, the kind that can only come with being a one-time NASA roboticist.

You won't hear reporters use these words often: I miss math. Casual math, not the life-altering stuff. This comic makes me crave the incredible satisfaction of writing numbers and symbols on papers, manipulating them until they do what you want and calling them solved, beaten, owned.

And yet, as I had this revelation, all I could think was, I should blog about this.

Tell me about other Web comics you love.
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Watch:It's Scrubs musical night!
I've been listening to Broadway soundtracks all week just to get in the mood. 9 p.m. on NBC.

Watch more: The Colbert Report
Some fourth wall of comedic television will collapse tonight when Bill O'Reilly, aka Papa Bear, appears on Stephen Colbert's show. Watch it tonight at 11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central.

fark tv's debut

Fark.com, the much beloved, much bemoaned compendium of is-that-really-true? has grown a little "walking/talking" version of itself.

Welcome Fark TV to the world!

Here's how it works: Joe, Bill and Ben, a band of good-humored miscreant Farkers with video equipment, stage fictional re-enactments of unfortunately true stories, exactly the tales you find on Fark.com. Super Deluxe, an online network of funny stuff owned by Turner Broadcasting System (where many a Fark fan is based), picked it up.

Drew Curtis, the Versailles resident and original Fark mastermind, says the ideal Fark story is the one that makes people laugh although they really shouldn't. (His example: Miss Deaf Texas hit by train.) Fark TV translates those stories into fancy moving pictures about homeless soccer and the like.

A Fark TV show only makes sense. The fake news shows -- you know the ones I'm talking about -- should probably be crediting Fark as their research departments. The shorts could eventually launch onto those old-fashioned TVs of ours, Curtis says, but he's focused more on building a Web-watching audience. (His son only wants to watch YouTube, Curtis says. Why should grown-ups be any different?)

By the way, this is just one piece of Fark's multimedia domination. Curtis' book, It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News will be released later this year. With the help of the ultra-devoted Fark audience, it's already climbing the popular pre-order lists at Amazon.com.

Happy farking!

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Read: WLAP just had a massive lineup change.
Here's your answer to where radio personalities Alan Cutler, Ferrell Wellman and Karl Shannon are landing, as well as TV guy Dick Gabriel.

Celebrate: Scrubs will be back for a seventh season!
I was worried for a second there.

the cuppycake song

Have you ever seen something so ooshy-gooshy cute that it makes you shudder and giggle like the big pile of jelly you secretly are? No, besides Stuff On My Cat? Besides Boo from Monsters, Inc.

BESIDES Cute Overload!

Just stop. Watch 3-year-old Amy Castle serenading the world with The Cuppycake Song.

In case it wasn't clear, let me explain why this deserves -- no, demands -- cooing.

1. It's called The Cuppycake Song.
Actually, it's You're My Honeybunch, but the word cuppycake is so adorable that it's the only part anybody remembers, except for...

2. Pum-be-um-be-umpkin.
I'm pretty sure she means pumpkin. Doesn't matter. Cute.

3. It's a 3-year-old singing in 1994.
In case you'd forgotten the quaint ol' 1990s, that was before MySpace, before everyone had a home recording studio on a Macbooks, before Brit and Paris and the kids from High School Musical controlled the minds of everyone under the age of 15, before kiddie thongs and Bratz. Pure cute. That's what I'm talking about. You could bottle it and make a fortune, if that weren't a very 2006 thing to do.

4. It's universally cute.
I checked this video on YouTube Wednesday afternoon and it had 360,000 views. By that evening, it had nearly 500,000. Dozens of faux-cuppycakers are lip-synching and shimmying to the 3-year-old's vocals. Do I blame them? Not at all.

Little Amy Castle (you also might remember her as the young Ally on Ally McBeal, but probably not) will likely be seeing this video on her prom night, her wedding day and on her future therapy sessions. Fame is so freaking cute.

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Prepare:  On Friday, the Herald-Leader and It's All About cover the Nude International. 
This is just a little dose of unbridled innocence before we inspire some fire and brimstone.

The Sopranos, Avatar, Scooby-Doo and ramen

Your directions for the day...

Watch: The Sopranos on A&E.
You're about eight years late, but if you really haven't caught The Sopranos on HBO or DVD, and you really think you're interested in a soaped-up version of the notoriously naughty show, it debuts at 9 p.m. tonight on A&E. Read about some of the editing in this L.A. Times story, and try to keep an open mind: If you really haven't seen it yet, maybe you won't know what you're missing.

Cheer: Avatar comes to the big screen!
James Cameron is making some sci-fi epic Avatar, but I'm talking about M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of the Nickelodeon show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I can't say I'm a regular viewer, but if I had children ages 6-11, I'd be A-OK with that programming choice.

Appreciate: Mr. Noodle
This New York Times obit  remembers an little-known hero of affordable, microwavable fare: the ramen noodle. Destined for mispronunciation, beloved as the salt lick of the college herd, "like the egg, or tea, they attain a state of grace through a marriage with nothing but hot water." Oh, how we and our rising blood pressures will miss him.

Mourn: Scooby-Doo's creator
Iwao Takamoto, father of Scooby-Doo, director of Charlotte's Web, died at age 81. The lyrics to Mother Earth, Father Time are rolling through my head.

Learn: Thanks to Open Culture.
Speaking of college, I never, you know, got over it. With students returning to University of Kentucky this week, I'm nostalgic for the smell of fresh $98 textbook. Let's thank our lucky stars that a blog is documenting tools to make us feel like we're still there, without the hemorraghing of cash. (And if your college experience wasn't based on traditional methods of mind-expanding, here's a compendium of drinking games.)