Justin Tranter Archives

The day before I moved, I had a boxing lesson. Between that and lifting boxes, I thought my arms and legs might fall off. Like, actually FALL. OFF. I was jello. Moving sucks so much. I am relieved, though, to have that behind me and to be settling into the new place.

WHAT I READ

I finished this book called “More Beautiful Than Before: How Suffering Transforms Us.” It wasn’t a gem from start-to-finish, but a good chunk of it really moved me and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s struggling.
Padma Lakshmi wrote a powerful Op-Ed for the New York Times. Read it. All of it.
Also quite powerful and moving, this piece from Huffington Post called “Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong.”
If you are not acquainted with Justin Tranter, you should be. Read this. His is an amazing man with a big heart. I am proud to say I know him a little from my NYU days.

OTHER BLOGGERS & INFLUENCERS

Our Best Bites strikes again with this amazing recipe for QUESO.
Lindsay hit the Fancy Foods Show and found some cool, new products! I love reading stuff like this.
And how about Munchies’ recipe for beer-bettered glazed shrimp?!

PR & SOCIAL MEDIA

This is good news. Twitter will allow you to make your feed chronological.
The artist behind the ‘Awards for Good Boys’ Instagram isn’t afraid to piss off her trolls.
Kinda interesting — Facebook pages can now join Facebook groups.
Did you know ABC news is earning half a million views on their weekly “selfie style” news program? Good on them.

EARLIER THIS WEEK

An AX THROWING BAR opened in Los Angeles. AX. THROWING. WHAT?! (I’m totally going to take a lesson. No joke.)

I binged the second season of “Handmaid’s Tale.” And then I needed to take a Xanax and sleep it off.
I moderated a terrific discussion for Social Media Club LA on crisis communications. It was a great experience and I loved the three women I got to present with!

VIDEO SPOTLIGHT

This rather special seven year old brought some serious soul to the National Anthem at a recent soccer game.
Fall in love with this cheeky little Rhino:

What’s In My Pocket, Friday? The best of…. something.

This was meant for Friday, but I did not have the will to finish it on Friday. Today I decided I needed it.

While I’ve not posted here or in my other blog in a rather embarrassing amount of time, it suddenly seemed important to me to put something out into the world that wasn’t… dark. I’m overwhelmingly sickened by the state of the world right now and if you thought I was laughing before, I’m downright hysterical now.

So here are things I’ve saved in my “pocket” that, hopefully, will make us all feel a little better — even if only for a short while.

If you don’t know who Justin Tranter is, you probably know his music. He’s responsible for Gwen Stefani’s new album, most of Selena Gomez’s, a lot of Britney, a lot of Bieber… I know Justin because we share a mutual friend dating back to college when we saw him play with his band, Semi Precious Weapons, at the coffee shop at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. (His former bassist, Cole Whittle, now plays for DNCE.)

Anyway, the day after a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 at Pulse in Orlando last month, Justin got on a plane. He lent a hand wherever he could but he wanted to do more. The result is “Hands,” a track released earlier this week that features Selena Gomez, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Mary J. Blige, Pink, Juanes, Kacey Musgraves, Adam Lambert and many more. Proceeds from the song, available exclusively on iTunes, will benefit Equality Florida, the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida and Glaad.

Similarly, the Broadway community came together on an episode of “Maya and Marty” to sing their iTunes single for charity. It’s rather beautiful:

Music brings me a lot of peace and joy. So do puppies. My friend Lisa got a new puppy and I love each and every photo she shares of her on Instagram. And since I absolutely refuse to sit on the internet all day reading the news at this point, I choose to have the puppy cam on.

This post on Facebook made me laugh:

And I thought this video Rufus Wainwright posted on Facebook was beautiful:

If you just need a good, great, gut-busting laugh? Well then you should click over to Buzzfeed for some hilarious tweets about kids!

3yo (in bathroom): Mummy, can I put this sticker on Daddy’s card?
Me (in bed): Yes.
3yo: Will he love it?
Me: Yes. pic.twitter.com/TJepUORQwH

— Sarah Dempster (@Dempster2000) June 21, 2015

This quote also struck me as rather serene and I wanted to conclude with it: