-I broke open an egg and there were two yolks inside, pushed over each other like in a Venn diagram.

-Someone I have never met sent me an otherwise formal business e-mail and signed it "affectionately"

-I spent far too much time watching YouTube clips of "The Soup," like this one:

image via Pristine Smut

I'm not usually a fan of knits unless they are in the form of sweaters or scarves. (Somehow, macrame earrings and crocheted bracelets have never held any appeal for me.) But I have to admit these accessories by Pristine Smut--a new line founded by two Central St. Martins grads--are pretty astonishing.

Each handknit item, from collarbone-grazing earrings to feathered collars, is named after a female music legend. (Hello, Aretha.) And while the line is often described as heavily jazz-age inspired, Pristine Smut seems to me to have as much in common with 80s, Escada-style decadence as it does prohibition-era joie de vivre.

And now I can add the new album by Love is All, "A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night," to the list.

The album came out today, and is being widely compared to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which I think might only be because they are an abrasive band with a female singer. Otherwise, it's a pretty vague attempt at capturing their sound: heavy on distortion, with a 60s-via-art-punk vibe and a lot more shriek-y hyperactivity than Karen O.-style sexy swagger. They remind me more of The Concretes + Missing Persons x Bow Wow Wow. Here's one of my favorite singles:

song via Certain Songs/image via LA Times

GIVE IT BACK--LOVE IS ALL

In my apartment, food is constantly being messed with. We never eat pasta sauce right out of the jar. Instead we feel the need to add our own garlic, basil, TVP, parmesan, etc. to get it just right. Today for lunch, I added rice, a chopped tomato, basil leaves, and rosemary to a perfectly good-on-its-own tomato soup from Trader Joe's.

I know that part of the reason I like adding stuff to prepared food is because it just feels healthier when it has an element that was not frozen, boxed, or otherwise pre-packaged. And another part is maybe arrogance that I can make it better by making it uniquely me. But sometimes it also feels a little bit insane.

Do any of you guys have a food-doctoring obsession?

Doves in slow motion. A forbidden student-teacher affair (I think). Pirouetting ninjas. Abandoned castles. Male ballet dancers in Speedos. Bonnie Tyler clearly fancied herself a female Meatloaf, and I bet she is into dragons.

If you are running low on time, just start at the 5:00 minute mark for an idea of what you missed in the previous four minutes and fifty-nine seconds.