With summertime road trips in full swing, you need to have your iPod at full capacity with some rockin’ tunes. There’s nothing like cruising down the back roads with the windows rolled down and the music blasting. And of course, a sing-along is always in order (at least, in my car it is). Your Culture Gurus Clara Ritger and Lorin Drinkard have put together a killer playlist for your next beach trip:
If Looks Could Kill – Camera Obscura
Sun Was High (So Was I) – Best Coast
Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince
Feel It All Around – Washed Out
Summer Love – JT
I Only Have Love For You – The Flamingos
Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys
Overdrive – Katy Rose
Summertime Blues – The Who
Be Your Bro – Those Darlins
Protection – Massive Attack
Dusk and Summer – Dashboard Confessional
Summertime – New Kids on the Block
A Little Too Much – Natasha Bedingfield
Pack Up – Eliza Doolittle
Something Good Can Work – Two Door Cinema Club
Hey Mama – Matt Kearney
Tonight Tonight – Hot Chelle Rae
If You Can’t Afford Me – Katy Perry
Runaway Baby – Bruno Mars
Double Vision – 3OH!3
Little Lies – Dave Barnes
Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Old Alabama – Brad Paisley
Something In The Water – Brooke Fraser
A Summer Song – Emi Meyer & The Shanghai Restoration
Let’s Get Out Of This Country – Cmera Obscura
Country Girl – Luke Bryan
Girl in Love – The Smith Westerns
All Over Me – Josh Turner
All Summer Long – Kid Rock
Satellite – Lelia Broussard
JTX – Love in America
All The Pretty Girls – Fun Party
Rock Anthem – LMFAO
City Woman – Kyprios
Shake Your Rump – Beastie Boys

A few things you should know about for water cooler talk today:

Twitter’s quick-and-to-the-point approach is spilling into the world of food. Twitter just announced it’s putting out a cookbook. It’s called “Tweet Pie: The World’s Shortest Recipe Book.” It’s a collection of recipes in 140 characters or less. I know what I’ll be putting on my Christmas list!

Kid Rock is apparently getting into shape with a personal trainer and the whole nine yards. Kid Rock also likes to party hardy. Obviously it’s a little difficult to work out hung over, so his trainer, who just so happens to be a surf legend, has Kid Rock stand on a bunch of golf balls in the morning to make his hangover go away. Apparently it’s painful because of all the nerve endings in your feet, so your nervous system starts working overtime and alleviates the headache.

A Texas woman won the lottery four times, and each time, she won a few million dollars. It turns out she is a statistics professor. Some professionals in the gambling industry suspect she figured out the algorithm for where the winning spot is placed on scratch-off tickets and the shipping schedule of the tickets. Luck or math?

Match.com tells us where not to take a date.

Here’s where to gossip about your company anonymously.

And here is the video people are buzzing about today. I guarantee this will be auto-tuned ASAP!

EMBED-Grandma Threatens To Call Internet Police – Watch more free videos

-Rebekah Lowe

When it comes to attraction, should you tell that special someone how you feel or play hard to get? Earlier this week one local, Greg, shared his opinion: it all comes down to timing. And readers seem to agree with him. Check out the video below to hear what researchers suggest.

Share your relationship stories with us. E-mail me at littleredbook@northernvirginiamag.com.

-Katie Greenan

You’re attracted to someone but of course they can’t read your mind. So, do you tell them how you feel or should you play hard to get thinking that will make them want you more? Let’s find out what Northern Virginian, Greg, would do.

Thanks, Greg! Ladies, Greg is single and in his early 30s. When he’s not working as an IT Federal Consultant in Chantilly, he spends his time at LA Fitness and at wine tastings at Jaleo. His celebrity crushes include Milla Jovovich, Mila Kunis and Scarlett Johansson. He’s a normal (yes, normal!) dude who laughs easily, has a brain, and kills it at trivia night.

Later in the week, I’ll share with you what psychologists suggest in this situation, but what would you do readers? Send me your perspectives littleredbook@northernvirginiamag.com or post them below.

-Katie Greenan

By Clara Ritger

In 2008, freelance photographer Lloyd Wolf paired up with Paula Endo, a long-time friend and fellow photographer, to start the Columbia Pike Documentary Project [CPDP], a photographic history of the Columbia Pike community. The team they assembled to help complete the project has already made history. Roger Munter, a producer at the Arlington Virginia Network, created a documentary video on their work that received a regional Emmy nomination.

The documentary captured the photographers moving throughout the community. Rather than sitting them in a room and doing an interview, Munter stayed true to the project by documenting the documentary project. “They love their community, and they recognize that it is changing, and it is kind of scary. You don’t know what will still be there five years down the road,” he says.

Wolf describes the Columbia Pike community as “a wonderful, rich mix of humanity in a bland package.” He believes that the community has a lesson to offer, and his art is not just for art’s sake. “People here don’t live separated from one another like the enclaves of New York. It’s a model of how a diverse community can co-exist on the visual side. It’s a model of a way that urbanization can be done right.”

Wolf thinks the project will increase awareness of racial tolerance. “By highlighting the diversity, I believe it has political ramifications, especially with increased acceptance in the community,” he says.

“After all, the moral imperative of art is to bear witness,” Munter adds.

(August 2011)

Slideshow
Photography by Aleksandra Lagueva, Duy Tran, Lloyd Wolf, Paula Endo and Xang Mimo Ho
[[Show as slideshow]]

It’s only Tuesday, folks, so I’ve collected some entertaining factoids and such to get you through to Wednesday!

In 2010:
•Americans spent about four hours working on weekdays.
•Americans got eight hours and 23 minutes of sleep on weeknights.
•Americans got nine hours and 20 minutes of sleep on weekend nights.
•Americans watched two hours and 31 minutes of TV a day.
•Thirty-five percent of Americans worked on the weekends.
•Women took five fewer hours of leisure time a week than men.
•Women worked 41 fewer minutes a week than men.

A recent study in Australia shows that women have a much stronger immune response to rhinoviruses (bugs that usually cause colds) than men do. It turns out female hormones allow women to fight off colds better than men can!

Financial Stress Statistics:
•Women are three times more likely to experience financial stress than men.
•Financial stress causes 60 percent of illnesses.
•Financial stress is the biggest cause of overeating, smoking and alcohol and drug addiction.
•Three out of four women say they would not marry an unemployed man.
•Sixty-five percent of women would feel uncomfortable marrying an unemployed man.

‘Groomzillas’ Take the Lead in Wedding Planning:

I heard a psycho-analytic question on the Kane Show this morning. Try answering it! While reading the following question, go with the first answer that pops into your mind.
Q: You are walking in the woods. Who is with you?
A: [The person you picked] is the most important person in your life.
(Mine was my dad. Aww…)

Spinner Shark Flies Over Surfer in Florida:
 

A word to the wise this weekend: More cats and dogs go missing on the Fourth of July than any other day of the year. Fireworks may scare your pet, but don’t let him or her run away! Read here about how to keep track of your pet!

P.S. If you are planning to try out online dating any time soon, here’s what NOT to do when you make your video bio (unless you want over ten million people to laugh at you):

-Rebekah Lowe

(Video: YouTube)

But I’ll be damned if I understand how/why this would titillate any rational human being.

–Warren

Go to: Sarah Dunant’s signing at Politics and Prose downtown at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 29. She’s presenting “The Sacred Heart,” a 16th-century historical fiction revolving around a convent and perfect for anybody who was a fan of her “The Birth of Venus.”

Read: “Amazing Spider-Man” No. 600. It’s a milestone issue for Spidey, and to celebrate, Doctor Octopus is back! All eight of those mechanized arms will be in full effect, as will an appearance by Daredevil, a wedding the Webhead never saw coming and a return of someone we haven’t seen in a while. All that and Stan Lee, too.

Watch: One of three movies this week, depending on your interests (and age): the Disney family adventure “G-Force,” starring a bunch of guinea pigs who are crazy good at espionage; the chick flick “The Ugly Truth” pitting Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler in a war of the sexes; or “Orphan,” a horror movie featuring one of the creepiest little girls since those twins in “The Shining.”

Buy: “Watchmen” Director’s Cut on Blu-ray. OK, you can get the standard edition, but this is the kind of thing that makes you upgrade your current home entertainment system. While the movie was good in the theater, Zack Snyder’s director’s cut is 30 minutes longer, features more stuff cut from the Alan Moore masterpiece, and looks INSANE in high definition. Seriously, go now. Turn off the computer. It’ll still be here when you get back.

What are your feelings on standard editions vs. super-duper extended extreme editions of movies on DVD? Let me know what you prefer in the comments, and here’s your video of the next two weeks:

D.J. Gregory, an inspirational guy with cerebral palsy who walked with a different player during each PGA Tour event, talks about his experience and will sign copies of his book “Walking with Friends” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Baileys Crossroads Borders. At the Politics and Prose downtown, John Pipkin comes to town at 7 p.m. Wednesday to promote “Woodsburner,” his debut tome about the Massachusetts residents affected by a fire inadvertently set by Henry Thoreau.

The big news in the comic book world these days is the return of the thought-dead Steve Rogers just in time for Independence Day, and the original Cap is back in “Captain America: Reborn.” Suck it, Red Skull! Another fan favorite — one who actually never dies — gets a new series with “Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth,” which finds the antihero in the Savage Land seeking out the dangerous severed head of the Marvel Zombies Deadpool. (It’s a lot cooler than it sounds.) Those “Sex and the City” girls have nothing on “Marvel Divas,” which brings together Black Cat, Firestar, Photon and Hellcat all in the same book. I loved the debut issue of Grant Morrison’s new “Batman and Robin” so I’m looking forward to the second issue that pits the revamped Dynamic Duo against the Circus of Strange and the mysterious Professor Pyg. Those getting ready for “Blackest Night” will want to pick up the “Rage of the Red Lanterns” collection, and Vertigo takes ancient gods and tosses them into the back alleys of London town with “Greek Street.”

Because of the holiday, Hollywood’s throwing out its movies early, but Wednesday brings a doozy: Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies.” Love gangster flicks? Love Johnny Depp? This flick is like peanut butter and chocolate, with Depp as legendary most-wanted man John Dillinger in his glory days as a bank-robbing Robin Hood-esque figure. Oscar winner Marion Cotillard as his love interest, Billy Crudup as head FBI guy J. Edgar Hoover and Christian Bale as crack G-man Melvis Purvis.

What are your Fourth of July plans? Let the rest of us know of anything cool brewing in the comments section. Check out this brilliant video of the week, and have a great holiday!

Ethical questions are raised, tissues will be broken, but I have it on good authority that the book’s ending was a disappointment and Hollywood-esque. So it’ll be interesting to see what director Nick Cassavetes does with that. And, yes, that’s Nick Cassavetes who did “The Notebook.” So you can go in knowing that this guy can make ANYONE cry.

One of the funniest shows of the year debuts on DVD Tuesday with “Eastbound & Down: The Complete First Season.” Danny McBride, a Fredericksburg native, is a rising comedy genius, and he’s spot-on as a washed-up pitcher who’s forced to take a gym-teacher gig in his North Carolina hometown until he can get called back to the big leagues. It’s raunchy, perverse, insane and wholly fantastic. (And look out for McBride’s pal Will Ferrell as a Ric Flair-esque used car salesman.) Fellow HBO show “Entourage” also gets a fifth season released — see if the boys can resurrect Vinnie’s career after the “Medillin” disaster in time for the next season starting in July. The second season of the exceptional British comedy “The IT Crowd” is also out to tickle your funny bone. Fans of charismatic pro wrestler John Cena can watch their dude throw down with the guy who kidnapped his significant other in “12 Rounds,” and for those who prefer their creatures to be gigantic in sight and legend, there’s “Monster Quest: Season Three, Set One.”

What’s the last flick you cried during? Let me know in the comments. And here’s your video of the week — R.I.P. Mike.

It works thusly: Kids keep a reading list of graphic novels and any other sort of book they want. If they read five books total, they get 20 percent off their next purchase of an all-ages graphic novel. Read six more books, then they get 25 percent off. If they get around to seven more books after that (18 total), they then get 30 percent off! Can’t beat that.

To get the deals, children need to bring in their list to the store of what they’ve read with a parent’s sign-off. Just remember, moms and dads: Sometimes comics can get pretty racy in theme and language, so watch out for “mature” titles. You might also want to read what they’re reading, too, especially in the comics realm — you just might like ‘em!

A bunch of new comedies are out this week, starting with the quirky “Away We Go.” Opening at Cinema Arts Theatre this weekend, the indie film stars John Krasinski of “The Office” and Maya Rudolph as an expectant married couple who go on a cross-country trip to figure out the best place to raise their little one. It’s directed by Sam Mendes, who’s mainly done serious dramas (“American Beauty,” “Road to Perdition,” “Revolutionary Road”), so it’s a humorous tale that’s funny AND well-crafted.

If more mainstream romantic comedy is your thing, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds play a boss and her assistant who need to get hitched to keep her from being deported in “The Proposal.” The one reason to see this one? Betty White, the 87-year-old “Golden Girl” who steals the movie and is as feisty as ever.

And odd couple Michael Cera and Jack Black team up for the ancient laugher “Year One” as two dudes stumbling their way through Bible stories.

Pretty slim pickens in the ol’ DVD shelves this coming week (although you can find Slim Pickens riding a bomb in the newly released “Dr. Strangelove” Blu-ray). The Brendan Fraser family adventure “Inkheart” is for the little fantasy lovers in your household, the chick flick “Confessions of a Shopaholic” starring Isla Fisher will hold “Sex and the City” fans over till the next movie (or they decide to watch all the TV seasons again), and Steve Martin makes a really bad career decision with “Pink Panther 2,” taking Jeremy Irons and Alfred Molina down with him.

If you’re willing to try an odd little foreign movie, take a chance on the Oscar-nominated, animated Israeli documentary “Waltz With Bashir.”

What’s your favorite summertime comedy? Let me know in the comments. And the video of the week comes from NBC Washington, an interview with comic rapper Remy Munasifi about his viral hit “Arlington Rap” (if you haven’t seen this particular piece of local genius, here ’tis):