Fresh milk milk

Man, I love teal…and I love lines, the feel of the buzzers on the side of your head. With the Nicacelly Remix Bishop Turtleneck, so many of my loves have been merged into one magical piece! You’ve got teal, you’ve got some Big Daddy Kane lines being cut in the side of your head. But just like an infomercial, wait, there’s more! Contrary to all reason, it can get even better…in signature Nicacelly style, max it out with Thai fabric accents, hints of asymmetry and some extra color pop of hot pink. Mmm…delicious mad steez. www.nicacelly.com

I think I’m in love. Dirty Librarian Chains are beyond hot, especially the Card Catalog Version 1 necklace. It’s like fashionista meets Mr. T! And anybody who knows me well also knows that one of my personal goals has always been to own a genuine Mr. T chain, so this really is the ultimate necklace for me. The Card Catalog Version 1 necklace has launched my new obsession with metal tassels…
www.dirtylibrarianchains.com

Do you love pilgrims? Do you love Indians? Way back in the day, when Thanksgiving began, pilgrims and Indians were friends. In4mation pays homage to the original heart of Thanksgiving, before slaughter and small pox ensued. Check out the Bramley tweed zip off pinafore skirt (meow) and Runkel sweater. Both have subtle accents of traditional tribal patterns, the Runkel sweater also featuring arrowhead accents. Mmm…all the foxiness of Thanksgiving, without the tryptophan.
www.in4mants.com

Sort of happy Pez colors…I love this colorway (called Candy) of the Roped scarf from DeNada. Now, we all know everybody is all scarf crazy these days, but most people are wearing the same ones in the same way (like that weird keffiyeh trend…right up there with fixies). This DeNada scarf is such a different silhouette, with separate pieces and the pass through loop. Totally different take on things and super uber crazy soft (rub it all over your body, for an extra special good time).
www.denadadesign.com

The Long-Awaited Tim Breault Self–Interview (sometimes referred to as TLATBSI)
By Tim Breault

Ok, I’m a guy who appreciated reading a good interview. I like to know where people are from, what they do for fun, why they are worthy of an interview in the first place, etc. Seeing how I spend a majority of my days writing bios for other people, and it is a distinct possibility that I will never achieve anything in my life that is worthy of someone else writing a bio about me, I figured I’d try this route out. Without further adieux…

Tim: Where do you hail from? You know, where are your roots?
Tim: Agh…good question. While I’ve lived a place or two in my life, I definitely still consider Rhode Island my home. And not Providence, or some fancy joint by the beach, but Burrillville. Northwest corner of the state, borders Massachusetts and Connecticut. Pretty rural by RI standards. It’s a nice little town. My folks still reside there, and I have no complaints whatsoever about growing up there. I also spent a good chunk of time in Vermont. I went to college at a tiny school called Johnson State College. Looking back, I have no idea how I survived in that small town for four years. Once again, no regrets, but…it certainly was an odd college experience to say the least. After Johnson, I moved to Burlington, VT, which was actually quite nice. Pretty collegey, and really, really whitebread, but nice nonetheless. I enjoyed my time there. Wait…I’m rambling. In short form, Rhode Island is the answer.

T: And now? Where is home these days?
T: Portland, OR. PDX. Stumptown. The Rose City. Bridgetown. Puddlesburgh. And all the other various monikers that this place goes by. I really like it here. It feels pretty real. A little rough around the edges, but pretty polished in the center, like cheap jewelry. Hey…I like that. Portland…the cheap jewel of the west! Ha…if you print that I want $10. Or a beer. Possibly both depending on the hits your website gets. I rent a nice duplex in Southeast…I grill a lot. Bike commute. Holla at shorties. You know…the usual Portland activities.

T: Nice…we’ll keep you informed of copyright infringement that we notice. What do you do to keep yourself busy?
T: Well, I have a virtual cornucopia of employers at the moment…in-house and freelance gigs alike. They all fall under the umbrella of media services, I suppose. How about this…I’m a media services specialist? Maybe I’ll make some business cards or something. Maybe if you give me that $10 you owe me, I can get some printed. As far as summer leisure time, it breaks down like this: Sleeping too late, bike riding, river swimming, golfing, garage beers, walking around aimlessly, heavy metal, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Hamms, Coca-Cola, income fretting, golf, not driving, Party Time, pinball.

T: Any travel plans?
T: I am traveling back to the homeland (RI) in a week or so. Besides that, I’m joining the “staycation” club. This sucks…everything is so damn expensive these days. In other words, I’ll be right here if you need me.

T: How about professional goals?
T: Oh come on now…I thought this was going to be a fluff piece? You don’t really care do you?

T: Well…maybe not me. There is a possibility that someone else would want to know…
T: I suppose. Hmmm…perhaps riding this media services specialist wave into the new millennium. Or unless I find out a way to get paid by speaking in movie quotes, I’ll try that out. How about this gem here. “And if I find out you go near my locker, I swear to God I'll give you a karate chop right in the head!” Billy Brown said that in Buffalo 66. I haven’t been able to bust that one out in a while because I don’t have a locker. Maybe I’ll get one just to say that.

T: What are your thoughts on modern culture?
T: Geez dude. That’s kind of a vague question…no? Could you expand?

T: Well…in journalism school they taught me that when dealing with a particular difficult subject to interview to ask broad, open-ended questions to force them to open up a bit. So…no. No expansion.
T: I didn’t think I was being particularly close-lipped. But, if you insist…here goes. I’m not going to even mention all the screwed up things that go on these days…that’s for another interview on some negative-nancy site. This is all about being positive. I think that the advent of the internet and the creation of a “global community” is a pretty crazy thing to wrap your head around. Not too long ago we were all encyclopedias and hand-written letters. Bands had to make tapes and tour endlessly to get their name out. I’m not nay-saying technology here. I couldn’t imagine living without some of our newfound comforts, but, it’s an entirely different world and it’s both fascinating and scary at the same time. Ha…writing a blog about being weirded out by technology is such a magnificent contradiction. I love it. I was supposed to have a positive response to your question…but it didn’t really come out that way…sorry.

T: No…it’s fine. Being real is always better than trying to answer a question in a certain direction anyway. Ok…I think we’re done here. Any last words, shout outs, etc?
T: Ummm. Thanks to everyone that has helped me out along the way. Things have been great thus far, and I have a lot of people to thank for that. In the interest of time and internet-space usage, I’ll drop the catch all “you know who you are.” Thanks!

I guess Iron & Wine could best be described as “new folk.” Tones of Nick Drake and Elliot Smith…basically, damn good singer songwriter music. I first saw Iron & Wine a few years back at SXSW in Austin, thanks to my good friend Marina. When sick of current music, I’ve often fallen back on folk and singer-songwriter music, having been weaned on Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. I’m rarely inspired by today’s breed of folk and singer-songwriters, as it often goes down the wrong path into bland, preachy, or self-indulgent dreg. A few exceptions to this rule are Patti Griffin, Jonatha Brooke, and Iron & Wine.

Sam Beam (singer of Iron & Wine) has a way of lulling you, while his subtlety and softness also has intensity. Iron & Wine possesses that rare understated intense emotion that very few bands can pull off. Radiohead. Some Mazzy Star. Beck’s Sea Change album. The music that crawls in and you feel it from inside out.

At first listen, Iron & Wine could be easily taken as too mellow or possibly bland, but then you catch undertones of racier lyrics, intertwined with sweetness. “We’ll meet again. And f*#@ the man.” While previous albums took awhile to pull me in, their newest album The Shepherd’s Dog grabbed me right away. A little catchier with a slightly faster pace, undertones of Americana, and all the wonderful twang of a banjo. Banjo rules.

Most people who have ever spent a significant amount of time in an office environment of any size realize the importance of an office manager. Need office supplies? Ask the office manager. Need to make some accounts receivable calls? Yup, that’s the office manager, too. Made up an excuse to not come to work? Call the office manager. Really, this person is in an intricate cog in the gears of the apparatus we call an office.

Our office is a bit different in many regards, but most of all because our office manager is a pig. Not the eats-too-much and lacks-any-real-commitment-to-personal-hygiene type of pig, but rather an actual pig of the pot-bellied variety. All in all, she is not a very productive employee, unless the order of the day includes rooting for plant bulbs or squealing and oinking at unnecessarily loud levels, but we love her nonetheless.

Here a few quick facts about Lola for the concerned public:

-She hates men with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns.
- While once morbidly obese, thanks to a diet of healthy pig pellets, hard boiled eggs and fresh vegetables, she has trimmed down so a svelte 152 lbs.
- Favorite activities include eating books, fenceposts, grass, and the occasional pig snacks.
- Loves posing for photos (such a ham).

That is the low-down on Lola the office manager. While it’s been a while since we’ve cut her a paycheck, she hasn’t seemed to notice. She never cashed the ones we gave her to start with, so we figured maybe she is a member of Americorp or the 4H Club, and is volunteering for college credits. We’re still not sure on that one.

While other businesses spend time discussing ROI, the bottom line, and presentations, we at milk milk have an ongoing “what superpower do you want?” debate.

Sunny has long been a proponent of the time-turner, while teleportation has been my dream for many years. Time travel is wrought with problems…what about the butterfly effect? What if you run into yourself? Sunny sees it as an opportunity to explore other times and also get way more done….but I say, people would then have absurd expectations and you’d spend even more time working!

Yes, teleportation has its possible problems. If you can’t see where you are teleporting, you could end up in a block of cement. If you are Jeff Goldblum, you could end up a giant insect! And if you are Eric Stoltz, you could end up with a completely messed up dog…come on, you know you saw The Fly 2. Whatever happened to Daphne Zuniga anyway, after her Spaceballs and Melrose Place days?

Teleportation rocks for so many reasons. Imagine the possibilities.
-Never have to drive when you are tired or drunk
-Avoid airports and planes forever
-Pop over to Ireland for fish-n-chips and a pint of Guinness (it doesn’t travel well)
-Rob banks and return home, go somewhere that you’ll be on video and have a rock solid alibi

Of course, all of this speculation was thrown out the window when Hiro Nakamura of Heroes came on the scene. Hiro is able to teleport through both space & time. PLUS he can freeze time, which would be very useful.

I want to be Hiro Nakamura when I grow up.