L'OBSESSION : c'est cool maintenant.

Current obsessions as of late:

1. Wizard People, Dear Reader - Click Here to View on YouTube
Those of you who know me well are aware that I have an unhealthy addiction to the internet and am essentially pursuing an online degree in meme-ology. But despite all my hours of trolling YouTube, LJ, YTMND, and even the occasional short-lived foray into the hellish pornographic pit that is 4chan, I think Wizard People, Dear Reader may be the funniest, most original, most clever thing I have ever seen on teh intarwebz. Meghan Madore introduced me to this delight...essentially, it is a re-telling of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the author's (Brad Neely) own inappropriate, hilarious, and, at times, surprisingly eloquent style. It was originally an audiotape meant to be played as a soundtrack over the movie, but someone has taken the liberty of syncing up the A/V on YouTube and made this gem available to the WWW. Watching all 34 chapters took me two days, but each one was lol-worthy in its own right. If you only watch one, I recommend Chapter 21: CHRISTMAS YES! in which Ronnie the Bear (aka Ron) and the Wretched Harmony (aka Hermione) stake it out in an insult battle royale.

2. Prints
When I cast a discerning eye over my wardrobe, I don't see a passage to Narnia. If there is, in fact, one back there, it is veiled by a thick curtain of printed fabrics. I cannot stop buying prints. An obsession that once concerned itself primarily with plaid and left other patterns alone, it has now become a full-blown fixation on big, bold florals, Tahitian-inspired tropicals, and a sweeping array of other graphic delights. It doesn't stop at clothes. I see incarnations everywhere of the gorgeous pattern on my matching duvet and curtains from my host mom's house in Paris, and have essentially made it my life goal to someday trouver the same scarlet-and-cream, paisley-and-pheasants print for my OWN matching duvet and curtain set, if it's the last thing I do, dammit. Brb, shoplifting the entire Anthopologie store.

3. OhNoTheyDidnt - Click Here to View on Livejournal
My celebrity blog of choice. Everyone has one, so don't bother lying about it. What
separates ONTD from other worthy and popular opponents such as Perez Hilton is the fact that it's not just news - it's a community, and all the REAL fun lies in the comments section. There is a whole filthy internet sub-culture that bubbles seedily and frothily beneath the pages of ONTD, and I can't get enough of it. Epic late-night posts that go on for 30+ pages over such illustrious events as Aaron Carter's public release of his own cell phone number (dubbed "Call-A-Carter '09") or the latest leak of Vanessa Hudgens nudie pics, hilarious .gifs often posted in response to other posters rather than dignifying them with an actual rebuttal, and frequent wank over such subjects as racism, sexism, and obesity (always accompanied by the obligatory .gif of Michael Jackson chowing down on popcorn) make this place my little corner of internet heaven.

4. Paul Simon
Obviously the more illustrious of the famous duo (what was that other guy's name again? Fargunkle?), Paul Simon has stolen my heart and carted it off to Graceland. I can't get Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes out of my head and I can't get Paul off my Pandora playlist as of late.

5. Croques Madames
Still haunted by the memories of the Mt. Olympus of the culinary gods (Paris, France), I eat these friggin' things almost every night for dinner to remind me that all is not lost. Croques monsieurs are a very popular, very simple snack in France, often eaten for lunch and sometimes for a light dinner. They consist of 1 slice of pain de mie (white bread), sometimes a bit of butter or mustard, a slice or two of ham, and a generous sprinkling of grated cheese, usually emmental. The open-faced sandwich is then baked in an oven, heated in a microwave (if you're at the boulangerie) or put in a magical little conveyor-belted oven contraption that works much like a bagel toaster. All options give you an awesome, melty, toasty, bubbly sandwich that is always satisfying and delicious. Put a fried egg on top, and you've got a croque madame. I've been making them without the ham because I'm too poor/miserly to buy pretty much any protein, and I cook them in a frying pan instead of the oven because I'm too lazy to heat the oven, but they turn out just as well. And if you think putting a fried egg on a sandwich is weird, don't knock it til you've tried it.