Pack Rat has a new girlie crush!

A’ight, haters. I’m gettin’ ready to drop some truth…or maybe truthiness? I love me some Stephen Colbert. Say what you will about me falling in to the hipster pothole that is Daily Show/Colbert Report (now you know what I’ve been doing when I’m not writing blogs), label me “main stream” and “so 2005″ but I can’t help it. The man makes me chortle. Did you see the episode after Christian Bale’s hilarious T4 tirade hit the airwaves last month? Colbert did a parody of it with his guest star/ my other love, Steve Martin, and holy donkey turd on a Triscuit it was hilarious! No, it was so hilarious it deserves two exclamation points. Hilarious!!

But, this blog isn’t about Colbert. But rather, it’s about what Colbert has brought me. Stephen (I feel like we’re on a first name basis, since he comes into my living room every night) has a surprising soft spot for the handmade goods (please reference an episode back in December or January where he did a whole “investigative report” on a controversial knitter) and I often find myself intrigued by the cultural gems he has on display during the interview portion of his show. And that has led to girlie crush of the month, Lisa Hannigan. Featured on the March 9th episode, Lisa Hannigan is a pixie-esque Irish singer. She already had me with her breathy, ethereal tunes from her new album, Sea Sew, but then just look at her album cover. Boo-yah, that’s right! Home girl’s ma, Frances, knit the cover (and wallpaper for the site) while Lisa stitched the linear notes and such onto rough cotton–please. As if she needed any more indie street cred. And, check this action out, turns out her craftiness? It’s not just for show. Digging around on her website, I found that this genius girl has a recipe combining two of my favorite things: chocolate and cookies. Sold! Totally sold. Buying an album now. Maybe fourteen. Who can say? I start making serious impulse purchases when I’m all hopped up on chocolate and cookies.

Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew

Pack Rat’s favorite noise is snikkt!

In the words of the priest who blessed the cow pasture, HOLY SHIT. Have you people seen the trailer for the new X-Men movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine? This is like if Awesome and Hot Damn got drunk and fooled around one night, woke up the next morning and promised that it wouldn’t change their friendship, only to find out Hot Damn was pregnant. Pregnant with this movie.

O.K. I admit a little bit of skepticism and perspective are in order here. As anyone who has ever picked up an X-Men comic book before the year 2000 will tell you, the X-Men trilogy of movies was God awful. Or, maybe not so much bad as sacrilegious. And I had such high hopes, too. After growing up with these characters, to finally see them on the big screen was so exciting…until I actually saw them on the big screen. And realized that what I was getting was the watered down, Reader’s Digest condensed version of forty years of story telling. Plus, Rogue sucked in the movies and if there’s one thing Rogue doesn’t do in the comics, it’s suck.

So realistically, since they managed to botch not one, but three movies about the X-Men, I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up about Wolverine. It’ll probably be too much action, not enough character development. They’ll probably miss-cast all of the characters in an effort to get “it,” name brand stars (although I have to say that I just about peed myself when I saw Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights as Gambit). They’ll probably do a hack job editing Wolverine and Sabretooth’s back story (oh, I also almost soiled myself when I saw Ryan Reynolds was Dead Pool). And even though I love Hugh Jackman (plus, Hugh Jackman’s in this movie!!), I do have to admit that seeing him with steroid bulging, veiny muscles is kind of a turn off. If the past has dictated anything, then the odds are stacked squarely against this movie.

But have you see the part in the trailer when Wolverine is being chased by a Jeep and then all of a sudden the Jeep blows up, rolling ass over tea kettle, a huge gasoline plume of fire shooting out it’s ass, a helicopter hovering over head and all you see is this little dot flying through the air toward the helicopter? THAT DOT IS WOLVERINE!! The dot flying in the air and landing on the helicopter is freaking Wolverine. Sign me up. I am on board. May 1, 2009 son!

Pack Rat loves blowing bubbles in our chocolate milk

Don’t forget! Only two weeks left for our Birthday Contest!

Happy Monday before Thanksgiving my little Pack Ratters (I’ve been toying with changing your collective name to Pack Ratteers, but I’m a little worried that a team of Disney lawyers will come in and bust my kneecaps with a lead pipe for copyright infringement). I’m sure most of us have pumpkin pies in our eyes this week and don’t even want to think about the inevitable clean up yet, but I figured I would share this blog at The Simple Dollar for an affordable, easily made DIY laundry detergent recipe. Produced from the common household/grocery store cleaners of bar soap, borax (Jak sie masz!), and washing soda, this is a basic recipe that anyone with a large bucket can make. Use it to clean all of your table linens after the guest have gone. And, for only $10 (give or take) for 5 gallons you can save a few dollars you can use on holiday gifts.

photo copyright by The Simple Dollar

Pack Rat wants to “Show you the crafts!” with our birthday contest

Creativity is one of those traits can be expressed in a million different ways. There are your standard bearers of painting pictures, writing stories, singing songs, and snapping photos. But when you are working within a form that is widely respected and considered by all to fall under the category of “art,” then how creative are you really? One young man thinks outside the box–the shoe box that is. Ian Fieggen has channeled his creative energy into the art of lacing shoes. Yes, you read that right. Ian’s Shoelace Site is dedicated to the history, fashion, and science of shoe laces, and the technique of lacing shoes. Or, I should say techniques. Ian offers visitors thirty-four different ways that they can lace their shoes. He also provides a handy pro’s and con’s check list for each method, so you can find the variation that works best for you. Ian (who looks a little like “Come on Down!” Bob, from Bob’s Discount Furniture), started out with a single page website called Ian’s Knot page, after he invented a new, better way to tie his shoes that resulted in less lace breakage. When his new method piqued his interest in the topic, he realized that no websites existed dedicated to shoe lace information. So he created his own. Now an international sensation, Ian has even published a book called Laces: 100s of Ways to Pimp Your Kicks. So come for the crazy, imaginative variety of lacing techniques, and stay for the tips on how to replace those plastic tips on the end of your laces. Man, it sucks when those break off.

photo copyright by Ian Fieggen

Just a reminder that every Tuesday we’ll be reviewing a place or event on the East Coast that we think you’ve just got to check out. Find all of our hot spots on Yelp, and if you’re a yelper yourself, don’t feel bashful, go ahead and friend us! Today we dish about Pearl River Mart in New York.