Top Liners- Weekend Edition

So as I may have mentioned, I had zero intention of leaving my house tonight. It was sleeting and I'd been out both nights prior and thus had no guilt about a quiet night in yoga pants with nothing but my vampire book to chill my spine (no frozen roadways required).

Alas, when one of my favorite families' called with a last minute request for a short sit-in for sleeping kids, I couldn't very well say no. Yes, I do babysit from time to time and I will defend the practice vehemently for a few good reasons. First- I've never been one to go out both nights of a weekend so if I'm going to be hanging out with Netflix or a book, I might as well be getting paid to do so. Second- I can cancel out the cost of a night out with a night in. Third- I do really like kids and at this point I have my families narrowed down to only 3 that I genuinely like.Nate and Sadie's parents are one of those three. Two parents that met on the music scene and are genuinely cool- when I do sit for them I am usually jealous that they got the tickets to the Neko Case show or that they still pal around with Jeff Tweedy from time to time. I get new music from them whenever I'm over, which in the past has included Joseph Arthur and LCD Soundsystem. She is a very successful interior designer as well, so hanging out with a sweet art collection and lots of decorating mags ain't a bad gig. Which leads me to my next point...they probably subscribe to 15 magazines. Not including the ones they both bring home from the office (he's a marketer, mostly beer and spirits). And they are all of the magazines that I pick up when I'm feeling especially lucrative at Borders. Rolling Stone, Surface, The New Yorker, The Economist, Vanity Fair (People for grown-ups), Dwell, House Beautiful, Paper, Filter, The Week, and Metropolitan Home. Plus Men's Journal and GQ, neither of which I can seem to stop reading when I'm over there. Call it research, but some of those toys are genuinely cool and you can't beat the pictures;)

Take a look up top- I highlighted my favorite article or item in each of the books I got to and laid it out on their lovely new chaise. So for those of you who were just too social to stay in and read magazines on a cold, wet weekend night, no one at the water-cooler need be the wiser.
Fast Company- Magic Shop: Retail whiz kids at the Genius Bar are the engine driving up Apple stock through customer care. How? Thorough training and passion as a prerequisite.

TKTC Verdict: I don't think I'm unbiased enough to deliver a verdict on this one per se but I can help prove the point. I'm on my 2nd Mac laptop and third iPod. I've been to the Genius Bar several times and with a highly organized system for help and a laid back group of knowledge hounds, I feel good even when the news isn't great. Rolling Stone on Kate Nash: Lily Allen + Regina Spektor+ Granny Dress= Kate Nash

TKTC Verdict: Lily discovered her and there's a stiff resemblance. Truthfully, my verdict's still out.

Business Week- Can Greed Save Africa: Title feature speaks to high returns and low volatility among "intrepid" business owners moving into Africa. Forget the diamond mines for a moment- they're talking biodiesel and big resorts.

TKTC Verdict: Not exactly shocking that a business journal would look to capitalism to right all wrongs and I don't think they can minimize relief efforts. But if the international community is looking to create independent states out of a resource-rich and culture-dense, if oft-forgotten, continent, this is the way to do it. I'm looking for the watchdogs to keep corruption at bay- money is a highly effective but volatile catalyst."Guest Editor" Taylor should also have a word on this when he's back from South Africa.Michael Arad Profile: I can't remember which magazine I was reading about him in but it was a collection of contemporary architects and I've had a thing for them since my first time through "The Fountainhead." Architecture as a field is pretty sexy but he's just my style to begin with. That's enough, I'll try to keep better tabs next time as it was a good profile of several newer guys, including the "naturalist" working with Nobu, David Rockwell. In case you were wondering, Arad is the architect for "Reflecting Absence," the memorial for the World Trade Center.

Surface Magazine-Jean Paul Gaultier Goes Dancing: Profile for the "Le Défilé," the collection JPG did with choreographer Regine Chopinot from 1983 to 1994, displayed at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Paris.

TKTC Verdict: I saw this and had to pull it. I was in Paris in June and this time we decided to hit up Musées Arts Décoratifs in lieu on the Louvre. While the entire museum needs to be on your ABSOLUTE MUST list, particularly if you are a media hound like me, this exhibit was interesting . And I was a little scared of it. There I said it, I was just not deep enough to avoid being a little creeped out. Appreciate? Yes, but after 20 minutes we were more than ready to head upstairs to a MASSIVE compendium of the best commercials from the last 50 years organized in different exhibit rooms by country. Print ads are installed on the walls and drop flatscreens play the ads with subtitles. And don't skip the book store.Fast Company- Facebook Is the It Company: Last but not least. Facebook is making beaucoup de bucks by getting us to accidentally tell all our friends about whatever application we just had to add.

TKTC Verdict: Does this mean I don't like iLike? No. Does this mean I don't quiz myself on Office quotes? No. Does this mean I am affronted by Scrabulous? No, but I've avoided it so far. I'm just saying they've had a big year as Big Brother.

It was a great book and it looks to be a pretty solid movie...

Oh. And I also caught up on 30 Rock.