BCS National Championship: Notre Dame vs. Alabama

Just look at that score, and you'll understand why I think it's a wonder that Notre Dame was even in this game (not to mention how it's a wonder that it wasn't a shut out).  Let's all hope for a better match up next year, please.

The California Raisins

Today marked the first evening of my recreational volleyball league and also began my weekly return to the hallowed halls of a high school and return of less-than-pleasant memories of high school gym class. How does this tie back to the California Raisins, you ask?

Well, our assigned high school for this week's game clearly hasn't refreshed their inspirational and motivational posters collection in a few years (or decades, likely), and there was definitely a sizeable banner near the gymnasium featuring the urgent plea of a California Raisin to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle. As we all know, today's high school students are obviously very open to life advice from singing pieces of dried fruit that originated in a marketing campaign older than they are. Obviously.

This poster got me thinking back to the California Raisins, to the cassette tape I owned as a child of the fictitious sunglasses-clad group singing Motown classics, and to the fabulous claymation commercials like this one.  Eating healthy has truly never been so soulful.

Essie "Good to Go"

The reader's familiarity with the title of this post is likely an indicator that a broader audience may have less interest in the subject matter. If, due to unfamiliarity, you've used the picture as a guidepost for the content of today's writing, you've likely figured out that we're talking about nail painting. Excellent work, detective.

Source: essie.com

When the economy took a hit, there was a noted increase in the sales of nail polish as people turned away from pricier salon manicures in favor of mastering nail bling skills on their own. As a person that appreciates a good change in nail color, I know the stress of the nail painting routine, particularly the agony of the drying process.

Nail salons will use space age contraptions that expose your delicate hands to a special blue light that supposedly makes the paint dry faster, but you better believe I'm not buying one of those for my apartment (nor would I even know where to begin looking for one). Instead, I have hoped to expedite the process by waving my hands in the air as though trying unsuccessfully to take flight, and I have also been guilty of using my own breath to attempt a speedy completion of the task at hand. Pun intended.

But even as you delicately attempt to go about your day, you are bound to never have dry nail polish just as soon as you would like. The inevitable happens, and before you are sure that the nails are finished, you have just smudged that polish on any number of objects in your home (or beyond the walls of your residence, if you so boldly decide to leave in such an uncertain state), and it is time to start again.

All I can say is that after buying a bottle of Essie "Good To Go" top coat, I no longer have this issue. I had always denied my need for such a thing but cannot imagine painting my nails without it. Not only have I gotten a few minutes back in my life in which I no longer need to invent ways to dry my nail polish on my own, but it also just makes my nails look damn good. 

MoMA Free Art Fridays

Once upon a time, I lived and worked in the city that Target built. Well, considering Target was founded in 1900s and Minneapolis is definitely a little older, I should probably take that statement back. Either way, Target loves Minneapolis. Minneapolis loves Target. It's mutual. And while in Minneapolis, I recall loving "Free Art" nights at The Walker Art Center,courtesy of everybody's favorite mass merchandiser from the Midwest.

Well, little did I know this program had been extended into my very own backyard at one of my very own favorite modern art museums!

For those of you that reside in the Big Apple or are making plans to visit the City That Never Sleeps, it's already assumed that you'll be arranging a visit to the Museum of Modern Art (otherwise know in acronym form as the MoMA), so why not stop in free of charge? On Friday evenings from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., you can explore the wonders of Picasso and Mondrian on Target's dime. And if you don't like art very much, the place has very comfortable benches and clean bathrooms, so that's good too.

The line may be long (as in, around the block from 53rd Street, up 6th Avenue, and back around to the 54th Street entrance), but the line moves quickly. Bring hot cocoa and a friend, or just the cocoa if you don't have interesting friends, and it'll be worth the wait.

Downton Abbey

Yes, I know. I'm really behind the times on this one. Forgive me for not jumping aboard the Masterpiece Theater bandwagon EVERY time there's a new drama series involving British accents, Maggie Smith, and references to the Titanic. This time, however, I will admit that I was wrong to wait.

The show is basically a Jane Austen book but with more scandal and seemingly more realistic (not that I know what it was like to live in England's high society prior to and during the beginning of World War I, but I always thought those Austen novels were a little too much sometimes). Plus, there are some decent looking, chivalrous male characters with teeth that would make you think British people actually have great teeth. I'll take it.

And for those of you that, like me, have yet to experience the wonders of the series sometimes mistakenly called "Downtown Abbey" by random people (or friends of mine that really added that second "w" on their own for what they considered logical reasons), the entire first season is now on Netflix. You can lock yourself in your home and become a captive audience for the hours of intrigue, romance, and, of course, Maggie Smith.

"Ultimate Fails Compilation 2012"

On this, the second day of the New Year, we can all take a moment to look back again at this video compiling the biggest recorded fails of 2012 to (1) be thankful we aren't in any of these clips and (2) resolve that we will not end up in any sort of similar compilation at the end of 2013.

For those of you that actually find yourselves in this video, I apologize and wish you a most successful 2013.

Jane Goodall

Instead of focusing on the BCS's "Granddaddy of Them All," the Rose Bowl (and its less than successful outcome for my alma mater), let's turn our attention to one of the Rose Bowl's most honored traditions: the Rose Parade. Each year's parade is led by the Grand Marshal, and this year's festivities were graciously presided over by Dame Jane Goodall, renowned chimpanzee researcher and primatologist. And yes, she is a "Dame." It's official.

My favorite part of this is probably her response to finding out that she was named Grand Marshal: "When you grow up in England and spend all your time in Tanzania ... I hadn't heard of the Rose Parade. It was only gradually that I realized what a big honor it is." (Los Angeles Times). Nice work, Dame Jane.

Source: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America