"Classics:" The Beatles, Billy Joel, Queen, Aerosmith, Ella Fitzgerald, Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin, Jeff Buckley, Simon & Garfunkel, Van Morrison
"Modern:" U2, Alexi Murdoch, Corinne Bailey Rae, Counting Crows, The Decemberists, Fiona Apple, The Fray, Jose Gonzales, James Blunt, Keane, KT Tunstall, Live, Anna Nalick, Sheryl Crow, The Shins, Turin Brakes
Movies
The Big Lebowski. Constant Gardener. Kill Bill. Shawshank. I <3 Huckabees. It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown! Will Farrell stuff. The Last Unicorn (25th Anniv. DVD avail. now at Tarjay! Haha). And, like, other more thought-provoking movies, too, and stuff.
Television
I don't really watch TV, except for LOST. I was temporarily dragged into the world of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has its moments ("I figured if I blue myself early, I could make it to a 9:00 dinner."). I'm also planning on getting hooked on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia... once it shows up in the mailbox.
Books
Sigh... this could take a while. Tom Robbins' books, The Kite Runner, Memoirs of a Geisha, 100 Years of Solitude, The Fountainhead, Demian, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Life of Pi, Angel of Darkness, The Historian. Yes! The Historian was awesome. Recently read How We Are Hungry (Dave Eggers; short stories) and loved it. Eat, Pray, Love was good. So was Memory Keeper's Daughter. Oh, and Time Traveler's Wife. Wow. On tap: The Road. Hey--awesome! I just added my Goodreads profile to MySpace, so I don't have to update this sH*t.
Heroes
My parents, Team Jen, Cliff Huckstable (is that sad? Whatever, he's a Cancer, too), Lance Armstrong (only for his superhuman cycling abilities. Eff divorce.). Antihero: Eliot Spitzer.
George Washington University
Washington,Washington DC
Graduated: 2002
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: English and French language and literature
About me: On October 4th I will be cycling 100 miles for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society/Team In Training. More importantly, I am also committed to raise $2,800 for LLS. I urge you to help me save lives and donate at Jen's Fundraising Page.
haha jen sorry your comment was posted right under my friend ems, soooooooo, hey hope you enjoyed a totally random comment! you too are lovely and talented and deserve much hapiness. so its wasnt all in vain. sad to hear your NOT going be visiting anytime soon. i will actually be driving through your hood soon!
WHAT'S A BILLIKEN? One of the truly unique mascots in college athletics, the Billiken is a symbol of good luck that became a national craze in the early 1900s. In 1908, Florence Pretz, an art teacher and illustrator in Kansas City, Mo., received a patent for her version of an ancient Asian figure - a chubby character with pixie ears, fat cheeks and an ear-to-ear grin. A year later, the Billiken Company of Chicago adopted the likeness, giving it its eventual name. Initially manufactured as a bank and statuette, the Billiken reached its peak of popularity in 1911, when it was widely recognized as a universal symbol of good fortune.
How the name became associated with Saint Louis University remains a hotly debated issue. Whatever version you accept, it happened between 1910 and 1911 at the height of Billikenmania.
The generally accepted version of the story can be traced back to two St. Louis sportswriters who felt SLU football coach, John Bender, bore a striking resemblance to the impish creature. William O'Connor and Charles Z. McNamara noticed the similarity one afternoon at practice as Bender was especially satisfied with his team's performance. Looking at the coach with a broad grin and squinty eyes, O'Connor exclaimed, "Why Bender's a regular Billiken!" After practice, McNamara drew a cartoon of Bender as a Billiken, posted it in a local drugstore window and tabbed the football team "Bender's Billikens." The sporting public took up the name with such enthusiasm that it soon became the official nickname of all SLU teams.
Legend has it that the Billiken has three kinds of luck - good, better and best. To buy a Billiken gave the buyer luck. To have one given to you is better luck. The best luck came if the Billiken were stolen.
