[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, Zappos, The Weather Stylist…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there. And more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

I’ve always been a pretty avid reader, but ever since I started my freshman year of college I’ve found that I don’t get to read (non-school-related books) as often as I’d like to.  Between going to class, working, studying, and still trying to have a social life, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time.

However, thanks to the nifty website DailyLit, I’ve recently found the time to finally read literary classics that I’d always wanted to read but never seemed to have the time for, like Anna Karenina and The Count of Monte Cristo.

DailyLit has made it easy to make reading part of your daily routine, by taking over 1,000 classic and contemporary books (almost all of which are FREE) and breaking them up into easily digestible installments, which users can sign up to receive on a daily basis by e-mail.

How brilliant is that, really?  We all spend hours a day reading e-mail, so now you can incorporate reading books into something that you already do, and you can stop worrying about trying to find time to sit down and open a book.

And it couldn’t be easier: you simply find a book you like, type in your e-mail address, hit “subscribe”, and you’ll start receiving your daily installments.  You can choose the length and frequency of the installment e-mails, so how long it takes you to finish a book is up to you. You can even choose what time a day the email comes, so you can coordinate reading around your schedule! Plus, if you want to finish the book even faster and you have a little extra time, at the end of each e-mail, you can click the “Get the next installment right now” link to have the next installment sent to you immediately.

So while they definitely don’t have everything I’d like to read and there’s still no substitute for curling up on the sofa with a good book (because it won’t burn your legs like a laptop), DailyLit is a great way to get some reading done every day, no matter how busy you are.

[Know of any cool websites? Pass 'em along!]

Dear (See Below) Bands,

I love your music. Love, love, love. But can you maybe try to be a little less annoying? It makes it so hard to defend you when I tell my friends about my favorite artists. Actually, it makes it hard to admit to anyone that you happen to be one of them.  And I want to make them like you, really, I do. But like that friend who has a minor character flaw that now pisses you off enough that you really can’t see the good in her anymore,  I’m finding it difficult to enjoy your music knowing how annoying you are.

Here are some heart-to-heart tips from your loving (secret) admirer to be a little less annoying and a little more rock and roll.

Fall Out Boy

You always have a spot in my 6-CD player in my car. Sugar, you’ll never go down on the playlist for me if you continue to make some of the sweetest pop punk music out there. But please, Pete Wentz, I’m begging you – cut your hair, lay off the eyeliner and put on a damn shirt when you are on a magazine cover. You need to settle down – you play bass. And, um, you have a kid?

Also, Patrick, can you please enunciate your song lyrics so I can actually sing along and not just randomly open my mouth while humming the tune to look like I know what I’m singing? And what’s up with the weird syntax and bizzare punctuation in the song titles? Thnks Fr Th Confusn. I mean, e.e. Cummings was a legit poet, while you’re just… an antithesis of all semblance of reason. And grammar. My English teacher highly disapproves.

Avril Lavigne

“I’m with you” on how most of your songs are about girl problems to which every teenager can relate. And I love how you have other gigs too, like co-writing “Breakaway” for Kelly Clarkson and even recording The Spongebob Squarepants Movie theme song (my little bro totally agrees).  But I’m pretty sure that hot pink hair, combat boots, and thick-enough eyeliner to paint a mural were out of fashion like 10 years ago. You remind me of the wanna-be punk-rocker chicks at my old high school who stood in their corner by the snack machine and talked about how “complicated” their life was and how their parents didn’t understand them. You’re married now, for goodness sakes, so do your husband a favor and stop wearing pink angel wings and acting like a “sk8er boi.” Oh, and learn how to play the guitar for real. You’re kinda getting “under my skin.”

Coldplay

The first time I heard “Clocks,” it changed my life. And continued to do so for the 100 times I listened to it on repeat afterward. You should even see my wall – there’s a giant banner that shouts, “viva la vida,” my adopted mantra para mi vida. But enough with the same gloomy, sad looks while you play haunting, heart-wrenching melodies on the piano, Chris Martin. I’m wondering if you’re able to play some different chord progressions as well, since you only seem to stick to one particular one on every. single. bloody. song. Can we maybe change it up a bit, with chords and tempos and basically not have the same harmonic patterns last throughout the whole album? Or four? Keep the accent though, please. Oh, and tell Gwyneth to lose the GOOP.

Simple Plan

My friend saw you in concert in Japan, and just like her, I must say: I’m “addicted” to your music. In a “perfect world,” I would hang out with you guys all day and do crazy stuff like dye the neighbor’s pool yellow or something, because, let’s face it, “I’m just a kid.” You seem like a bunch of cool, fun kids just making music because you can, and I love that about you. But unfortunately, you kinda remind me of blink182. But not in a middle-school-memories, emo-phase, dress-like-a-punk, nostalgic sort of way. More like a trying-a-little-too-hard, bad-album-titles, life-is-so-unfair-let’s-cry-about-it sort of way. Skateboarding is a sport, not a prop, and yelling at your parents on a rooftop in the pouring rain? Effective, but kinda cheesy I must say. Maybe there’s a reason you’re “still not getting any”…

Miley Cyrus

My guilty pleasure of all things guilt-full and pleasurable is “See You Again.” It’s on my workout playlist, my clubbing/dance-party playlist, and my blasting-in-the-car playlist. To the point where I’m headbanging and screaming out the lyrics with my girlfriends, and looking like a mad woman to the car next to us. But oh mah gah. There is so much advice and wisdom I wish to impart upon you that’s long enough to last a whole Oprah episode. You’re obviously not as big as a band, but your ego is big enough compete with one. Can you please act your age and stop dating older men that are probably not into you and more into your…assets? And stop taking those trashy MySpace pictures that even my 12 year old cousin knows not to take? You’re probably one of the reasons sexting is such a problem these days among teens. Or maybe just why television shows are going down the drain. Whatever happened to old Disney classics like Even Stevens and Sister, Sister? Dump the TV show and the drama queen act and just behave more like the role model you’re supposed to be for young girls. Then I won’t be so embarrassed when someone sees you on (every single one of) my iPod playlists.

Love,

Your (Not-So-Secret-Anymore) Admirer

I think love stories are the best example of the power of words; they strike a chord and tug at your heartstrings. As I’ve said before, the mark of a great book is one that can make you FEEL simply with words. So here is my list of the best love stories ever to be published.

1.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It’s a classic for a reason! Jane Austen’s timeless masterpiece about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy continues to captivate readers almost two centuries after its publication. It is also a great read for anyone interested in history and the society of the era as that is a major player in the novel. It’s a logical love story, but touching and, again, classic!

2. PS, I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

Even though I’m sure everyone has seen the movie, the book is great as well! It is quite different from the movie, making it a worthwhile read regardless. This book is unique because it explores a relationship and love that defies even death. Holly learns to move after her husband, Gerry, dies, but realizes that she will always love him and he will always love her, too. It’s not only heartfelt, but teaches an important lesson that just because a relationship ends, the love may not die off.

3. The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery

This is THE most important book I think I have ever read. Ever. Even though it is considered a children’s novel, it taught me so many lessons on love and life. When the little prince talks about taming something, I understood that as loving and found the passage so moving, I cried. I keep going back to this book whenever I need some inspiration or to really FEEL something. I think if everyone read this book, we would have a lot more understanding and compassion in the world.

4. Atonement by Ian McEwan

Forbidden love is often the most passionate love as in Ian McEwan’s novel. This is another book-turned-to-movie, however it is 100% worth the read. McEwan is a beautiful writer, but the love story between Cecilia and Robbie really steals the show. Cecilia is torn between her head and her heart, a plot as old as time and I believe many people can relate to their relationship. It also shows those ignorant to the situation how truly painful denying your feelings can be.

I like to think of the term in a broader sense, disregarding the time in which it was produced and whether or not it won any awards or are on any ‘best-of’ lists. No, a classic to me is something that has or will stand the test of time because of its brilliance, or its entertainment value, or its strong characterization, etc. And a movie like Shaun of the Dead has all of these things and more.

At first, it may seem like a silly zombie movie, but Shaun of the Dead, in all of its silliness, may actually be one of the most perfect movies ever made.

Shaun is a lazy television salesman, too caught up in the routine of his life to notice that he’s on the verge of losing his girlfriend, he’s neglecting his family, and, oh yeah, there is a horrible zombie outbreak. Fighting off the zombies in his favorite pub, The Winchester, Shaun has to come to terms with his own mortality and the loss of the people that he loves. At its heart, Shaun of the Dead is a movie about accepting one’s adulthood, and all the varied and often scary implications of that.

Going back to the idea of ‘classic’, if we apply the idea of the ‘classic’ movie or literary structure to the film, it has very strongly delineated acts and the main character, Shaun, goes through an inner emotional journey that reflects and is affected by his greater outer journey. This is some Chekov-level sh*t.

More than that, though, the movie is thoroughly and in every single scene absolutely entertaining. It incorporates aspects of different genres of film from the zombie movie, obviously, to romantic comedy (it’s even billed as a ‘zom rom com’), to a family drama, to a buddy film.

The director, Edgar Wright, and Simon Pegg, who plays Shaun and helped to write the script, is so good at setting up jokes and paying off what seems like throwaway plot points. In fact, it’s something that Wright and Pegg pull off to great effect in their second movie together, Hot Fuzz, as well.

What it comes down to, though, is that I can watch Shaun of the Dead over and over and still laugh at all the right parts, still gasp at all the right parts, and still tear up when I’m supposed to, even though I know how the movie ends and could probably quote it beginning to end if I had to. I can’t think of a single thing I would change in this movie and I can’t really say that about many other movies, even my very favorites. I will stand by my assertion that this is an absolutely perfect film and should be considered as such even outside the somewhat limiting horror genre. Especially because it subverts all of the familiar constructs of that genre so beautifully. It’s brilliant, entertaining, hilarious, shocking, and even sweet. It’s a classic.