Last night I listened to Madonna's Erotica for the first time in ages and I realized: this album is totally underrated compared to the Material Girl's other work. I remember that it wasn't all that well-received back in 1992, when she simultaneously released her Sex book and took on a whole new level of controversy in her career.

But as Erotica's gotten on in years, some critics have started re-evaluating it. When I went online to see what others think about the album these days, I found this awesome review (one of the best reviews for any album I've ever read):

click here  to read review

Say what you want about it...at its worst moments, Erotica's still something you can move your body to...even if, at times, it's about as sexy as a visit to the gynecologist. 

And speaking of underrated and Madonna...

Entertainment Weekly put out this list of what they consider the top ten most underrated Madonna songs....

definitely agree with this choice, in particular:

''More'' (I'm Breathless: Songs From and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy, 1990)
''Nothing's better than more,'' Madonna sings, channeling her Breathless Mahoney character from Dick Tracy. And indeed, when it comes to the movie's soundtrack, nothing really is better than ''More.'' Just when you think Stephen Sondheim's rapid-fire wordplay is about to get away from her, Madonna pushes through, proving she's got a stronger instrument than a lot of critics would like to admit.

I love the mini-trampoline I got for Christmas. For the first time in ages I'm excited about exercising. The rush I feel jumping up and down while my favorite songs dance through my body...it's almost like being a kid again. I don't stress or think about the future or worry about anything. I'm just in the moment!

It's a real high, better than any pill-induced mood!

Here's just one of the many articles on exercising with mini-trampolines (or rebounders):

read here

This book is so good I forgot to watch one of my favorite shows last night. On the surface Handling the Undead seems to be about Swedish zombies, or, as they're more commonly referred to within the novel, "the reliving."

But as I get further into the book (and further hooked) I can't help but think Lindqvist's novel is all about the unbearable pain and power of grief...because when the dead (only those who have passed away within the past two months return from the grave) start coming back to life, their loved ones will do anything to keep hold of them.

It doesn't seem to matter to the families and spouses that "reliving" means nothing more than rotting, gray flesh, rancid smells and a strictly electrical reanimation with restricted bodily movement and limited speech. The grieving will take whatever they can get!!

That's it for now...gotta get back to this marvelous, addictive read!!

 

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"-Kate Moss

A while back the famous model got into a hot mess of trouble for saying this. I remember thinking it was a somewhat reckless comment since young women and girls are so impressible when it comes to fashion and society's image of the "ideal" body...but recently I saw this essay and couldn't help agreeing with the author:

read here

I just finished reading We Need to Talk About Kevin about twenty minutes ago and I am completely drained by the whole thing. Shriver is an amazing writer who not only creates some very suspenseful moments and a jaw-dropping plot twist, but also manages to create a main character readers are sure to feel ambivalent about.

Never have I started and stopped a book so many times...not because it was boring or badly written, but because it was so disturbing and powerful at times I didn't think I could take it.

It will make you uneasy more times than not and the main character is often aloof and pretentious, even dislikable. But the thing about Lionel Shriver's novel is that it's100 percent mesmerizing from beginning to end. You may think you want to stop reading (I returned it unfinished to the library the first time I had it), but you won't be able to (the next day I pulled it back off the shelf and continued reading.)

It's creepy and well-written and full of  the kind of writing that puts things the way you wish you could say them.  Eva is never afraid to say what she really thinks, even if it makes her look bad. She wonders if her doubts about motherhood and having such a terrible time raising her son may be the cause of the disaster that has become her everyday life, which mostly consists of having people recognize her when she's out in public and visiting her son in prison on certain Saturdays of the month.

The Boston Globe called Shriver's novel "searing" and "brutally honest"  and it won the Orange Prize in 2005.  This suspenseful tale, written in a series of letters to her often clueless husband by a woman recounting a lifetime of events leading up to her son's murderous rampage at his high school, is hard to shake. Shriver takes "a calculated risk" (as the Wall Street Journal reviewed) "but the gamble pays off as she strikes a tone of compelling intimacy."

Once you finish this read, be ready to have it on your mind for several days after...it's that compelling and that good, but it comes with a price: that feeling in your stomach when a book sucker punches you.