Marina and the Diamonds

Marina and the Diamonds is a new solo artist from Wales.  (Even though the band name implies plural, it’s just one girl – she has said that the “diamonds” refers to her fans.)  She is releasing this first single, “Obsessions,” on February 16th, along with her other single “Mowgli’s Road.”  I fell in love with “Obsessions” on my first listen.  It’s catchy and cute right away, and it has lasting power because of the lyrics and her vocal quality.  She reminds me a bit of Regina Spektor, but a little less disorganized in this song.  However, in “Mowgli’s Road,” she shows off a little more of the disorganized madness that Regina is famous for.  Listen to that one by clicking on the Read More link below!

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The Moment of Truth

I watched every episode of the show “The Moment of Truth”, which I almost hate to admit. I can’t seem to get enough. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s a game show where you win money based on telling the truth to personal questions. The contestant takes a polygraph test before the show with over 50 questions, and then on the show they choose 21 of those questions to ask. The contestant answers yes or no and if they tell the truth, they win more and more money. They can stop at any time and take the money they earned up to that point. They don’t know if they answered truthfully on the polygraph, so sometimes they think they’re telling the truth and then they find out they’re not and they lose. That’s harder to do than it sounds. For example, the one woman had to answer the question “Do you think you’re a good person?” She said yes, and that wasn’t true. Deep down she obviously didn’t think she was, and that came across on the test.

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Diary by Chuck Palahnuik

I just finished the book Diary by Chuck Palahnuik. After reading Fight Club and seeing the movie, I had high expectations of Palahnuik. His writing was so intelligent and thought provoking. However, Diary did not deliver. It was weak and tried too hard to be intelligent and artsy. It was like a Chuck Palahnuik wannabe wrote it with hopes of sounding creative.

The story revolved around a woman, Misty, whose husband was in a coma after attempting suicide. She was writing a diary for him so that she could fill him in on what he missed while he was sleeping. She also visited him in the hospital and stuck him with pins, but that’s beside the point. Misty is an artist, although she has forgotten her talent. Everyone tries to force her back into her art and she doesn’t understand why until she is drawn into a huge conspiracy. I can’t really tell more without giving away the big secret (which is a letdown anyway) but the book flops around for about 130 pages before anything really starts to reveal itself.

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