We can't stop here- this is bat country!

Despite Johnny Depp's and Benicio del Toro's brilliant (and reportedly highly accurate portrayals) of Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta, I didn't love the movie; it made the story seem to dark. The book reads much funnier, like laugh-out-loud funny. So if you didn't like the movie, try the book. If you've never been introduced to either, read the book before seeing the film.

High on Arrival

by

Mackenzie Phillip

(daughter of John Phillips from The Mamas and the Papas)

It's juicy memoir, to say the least.

The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test

Over Spring Break I read Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. It made me want to stock up on Day Glow, buy and refurbish some type of large retro vehicle, and hit the road.  Minus the the whole LSD- turning-the-brain-into-mush thing,  it sounds like it was a wonderfully colorful scene that included people ranging from the literati of Stanford University to Hell's Angels. 

Grateful Dead

You're either on the bus or off the bus...

One of my favorite components of the book is how it tracks the birth of the whole LSD/ psychedelic era

No false idols here

There are four people I idolize: Jane Goodall, Greg Mortensen, Julia Chaplin, and Chelsea Handler. I saw Greg Mortensen (author of Three Cups of Tea and living proof that one person can make a difference) speak last year, and this weekend I sacrificed the majority of Ultra's Friday lineup (including Tiesto and David Guetta) in order to go to Chelsea's book signing at Books & Books and her stand-up show at The Fillmore. If you can, go see her show before you read the latest book; she recycles a lot of material.  It doesn't make her any less hilarious...you just lose some of the element of surprise.

Two down, two to go. Jane Goodall should probably be next target- she isn't exactly young.

 

(Right) Still in my Ultra getup at Chelsea's show at the Fillmore.  

Spring Break Reading

(1.) The Plumed Serpent (2.) The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

(3.) The Great Shark Hunt 

Back/slash magazine ("the unrestrained college lifestyle magazine") has a good article this month on why it's important to dress well. The cover of the most recent issue boasts a tight comic book-like drawing of LMFAO. I'm going to save the magazine in the hopes that one day I'll be able to get them to sign it.

My rommate brought home a pair of these Reef's weekend. The beads are handmade out of recycled paper by female entrepreneurs in Uganda- a very boss concept, don't ya think? Speaking of Uganda, another great organization is Invisible Children. A group of college guys have made several wonderfully done documentaries about the rebel army's practice of kidnapping children and forcing them to become child soldiers. The organization works to pressure lawmakers around the world to intervene on behalf of the kids.

A couple weeks ago, Julia Chaplin put out a gypset reading list on her website (gypset.com). I'm proud to say I'd already read a few on the list, including On the Road by Jack Kerouac and the biography on Jane Digby. Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a collection of stories and essays written in the mid to late 60s, was one of the few books on the list that I was able to get from the UM library. Didion's writing style is gorgeous, but she's such a downer. The story I liked best was "Where the Kissing Never Stops", centered around Joan Baez.

Read

Over the summer I read a biography on Jane Digby. She was the ultimate rebel, way before it was cool, spending the later part of her life split between Damascus and the Syrian desert with her sheik husband . Initially she went to Syria for a little adventure and to find a new horse. Obviously her plans changed, but what a great idea! If I was to ever buy a horse, I'd want to go to Syria (hitting Damascus, Palmyra and Beirut, Lebanon) and get a dappled Arabian from an actual Arabic person.

But then I'd outfit it with Moroccan-style gear, because it's just so awesome.

Crossfade: Miami New Times' wonderfully informative music blog

Dreams Do Come True

Chelsea Handler is coming out with a new book March 9th, and coming to the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach on March 26th!!

Chelsea Handler + Ultra Musical Festival = BEST WEEKEND EVER

Assouline publishes the chicest books in existence. It is touted as "the fashion crowd's favorite publisher." I already own Gypset Style (see my first post ever) and Be My Guest.

These are the next three I'd like to get: To India with Love, Adventure Hotel Stories, and In the Spirit of Miami Beach. I'll buy used copies on Amazon where they're a heck of a lot cheaper.

Intown Mix Dallas

Julia Chaplin & Gypset Style: Cool Incarnate

Read this cover-to-cover multiple times. Everything about it is magnificent-the photos, the lifestyle, the people. Julia Chaplin is a master at finding the grooviest people and writing stories that inspire (like the Mignot sisters who traveled caravan-style with their family in rastafari-colored boats). Keep an eye out for her work in magazines such as Elle and Conde Naste Traveler. Into the Mild and Eastern Exposure are two gypset articles of Chaplin's from earlier this year.