A varied collection of stuff (all interesting and important, I swear!)

Tonight, a bulleted list. Hurrah!

> Thanks to

chant_1 and triciasullivan for pointing me to this post, which had some interesting things to say in sync with my post on the Muse.

> This thing is freaking amazing. It's a video of a South African choir performing Toto's "Africa" with no instruments, complete with a choir-made auditory thunderstorm. So cool. Thanks to for sharing it!

> Some really cool creative advice from Ira Glass via mikemartin.

> I watched A Mighty Heart on Friday night. In case you don't know, it's the story of the kidnapping and eventual execution of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan and what the intervening days were like for his pregnant wife, Mariane, and his friends and family. It was, to put it mildly, difficult to watch. I don't cry easily and I barely stopped through the whole thing. Please watch this movie or read the book. I found it to be a terribly, profoundly important story on two levels. First, journalists like Daniel and Mariane Pearl put themselves on the line every day to propagate truth in the world. It's important to recognize the risks they take, on all levels, and to honor the sacrifice of those who have been killed while trying to make sure the rest of us know what's happening in the world. Second--and, honestly, this is what broke me over and over--it's a tremendous story of courage and strength. I'm dead certain that opening and email to see pictures of Ben tied up with terrorists holding a gun to his head would have irreparably broken something inside me. Just the thought of having to endure the tiniest fraction of what that amazing woman has been through opens a great, yawning maw of darkness inside me.

> The third annual Pool Party at my bro-in-law's house was Saturday. Had tons of fun, listened to my friends' band, floated in the pool, ate Jell-O shots (a couple from some rather unconventional locations...), sun bathed for as long as I could stand it (approximately 10 minutes) and indulged in not one but 2 tofu pups. Oh yeah, baby. Livin' the high life. [This poor, poor little bullet. It has no links!]

> Bought Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver yesterday and devoured it in 2 sittings (one giant sitting with a break and then one more hour to finish it off). Amazing. Review coming soon. Have you watched the trailer yet? It's exactly that. {happy, happy sigh}