Sarah Dessen
Song of the day: “All of Us” by Painted Palms
Anonymous asked: I Love/Hate Your Blog-
Love because its beautiful, and I feel like I know you.
HATE because it's finals week, and rather than studying I've spent hours on your blog.
Secondly-I made it all the way to page 209 and It won't let me go further than that, help?
Three things.
One, I love that you love the blog, so love all around! Two, I will not take the fall if you fail your exams so study! (I myself am facing finals week, if it’s any consolation) Three, I was able to get to page 210 without a hitch. Did you try resetting your browser? Give that a go and let me know if you’re still having trouble. If you are, I’ll be sure to help you out….but I might wait until after you’re done with finals—for your own good of course.
![Head over to The New York Times and check out their new collection of vignettes here entitled ‘Fourteen Actors Acting’. Features actors like Jennifer Lawrence, Jesse Eisenberg, Vincent Cassel, Michael Douglas and Tilda Swinton. It’s a bit like that Vanity Fair feature where they pose a scenario to an actor and have him express it in his face. Only these are videos and Vanity Fair doesn’t feature quite as much dancing with chairs or Matt Damon yelling at you. [via.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ld4nnzxJeW1qzpvhao1_500.jpg)
Head over to The New York Times and check out their new collection of vignettes here entitled ‘Fourteen Actors Acting’. Features actors like Jennifer Lawrence, Jesse Eisenberg, Vincent Cassel, Michael Douglas and Tilda Swinton. It’s a bit like that Vanity Fair feature where they pose a scenario to an actor and have him express it in his face. Only these are videos and Vanity Fair doesn’t feature quite as much dancing with chairs or Matt Damon yelling at you. [via.]
Michael Scott
According to Vimeo, this music video has been out for at least two months but who knows, maybe it was available earlier than that. Either way, check out Nicolás Méndez’s video for “El Guncho” by Bombay here. It’s provocative and bizarre but it’ll hold your attention. I love it.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Song of the day: “Tighten Up” by The Black Keys
Scientists Discover Possible Gene For Cheating & Promiscuity
In what is being called a first of its kind study, researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY) have discovered that about half of all people have a gene that makes them more vulnerable to promiscuity and cheating. Those with a certain variant of the dopamine receptor D4 polymorphism — or DRD4 gene — “were more likely to have a history of uncommitted sex, including one-night stands and acts of infidelity,” according to lead investigator Justin Garcia.
DRD4 is the “thrill-seeking” gene, also responsible for alcohol and gambling addictions. The gene can influence the brain’s chemistry and subsequently, an individual’s behavior. The desire to cheat or sleep around seems to originate in the brain’s pleasure and reward center, where the “rush” of dopamine motivates those who are vulnerable, the researchers say.
In the study, Garcia instructed 181 student volunteers at SUNY to take an anonymous survey on their previous sexual behavior, asking them questions like how many sex partners they had and if they had ever been unfaithful.
He then tested their DNA by oral rinsing with a special mouthwash — a buccal wash — and genotyped the DRD4. His team discovered that there is a variation in the thrill-seeking gene and those with much longer alleles are more prone to, well, getting prone. (An allele is part of the gene’s DNA sequence responsible for different traits such as eye color or curly hair.)
Those with at least one 7-repeat allele reported a higher rate of promiscuity — that is admitting to a “one-night stand.” The same group had a 50 percent increase in instances of sexual cheating.
“It turns out everyone has got the gene,” said Garcia, who is a doctoral fellow in the laboratory of evolutionary anthropology and health at SUNY Binghamton. “Just as height varies, the amount of information in the gene varies. In those who have more, their alleles are longer and they are more prone to thrill-seeking.”
Continue reading here.
