Jim Henson for President

There’s speculation that Donald Trump is preparing to run for president in the next election. Really? Arnold Schwarzenegger running California into the ground hasn’t taught the nation that celebrities as politicians is a bad idea? Reading this amid my frustration over our government’s impending possible shut down all but put me over the edge. What celebrity could possible turn our nation back in the right direction? Martha Stewart? After all, the woman can do anything. Still I couldn’t see her as president. There was no celebrity I could think of from my lifetime capable of leading a nation,…but then I remembered the late Jim Henson.

I set my chin on my palm and thought about it. If Jim Henson was still living and he put in his bid for a 2012 campaign, I could have gotten behind that. Imagine a ticket with Jim Henson for president and Kermit as his running mate (of course). If he won, he could easily bring in all his own people. A cabinet full of brightly colored, fuzzy monsters, with Sweetums the head of secret service. Fozzy Bear would lead the national wildlife commission. Miss Piggy would be secretary of state, ready to settle any threat with a swift karate chop and a “HI-YAH!” Dr. Honey Dew Bunsen and Beaker could oversee the FDA. The Swedish chef would be ambassador to Sweden. And Jim Henson would establish new positions like the Secretary of Kindness and create the International League of Friendship to research things like ‘words for old friends who’ve just met‘.

He would listen to the common people. Sam Eagle would ask for a return to real patriotism, bring jobs back, support American industries, support American growth. Gonzo would defend the love between frogs and pigs, between a chicken and a whatever, and the right to marry whomever one chooses. Rowlf would speak up for the arts and the importance of music and creativity. Big Bird would rally to protect public television and save education. And Emmet Otter, cap humbly in paw, would tell President Henson just how hard it is for folks right now.

Crazy Harry with his love of explosions would certainly do his part to head the military. And Animal would always be ready to shout in defense of our nation. However, when a country threatened violence it would be Kermit walking out onto the battlefield to ask, “Wait a minute…How did it get to this?” And the other nation would rant, and Animal would yell “WAR, WAR, WAR, FIGHT!” and Kermit would calmly tell everyone to just settle down, just stop it already. “Crazy Harry, do you really want to hurt someone?” He would appeal to the other side, too. He would hold Animal back. He would shake his arms like crazy and holler a few times because disagreements are frustrating, but in the end Kermit would never let anyone be killed whether they be white, black, tan, or green. Not for any reason, end of story.

That part of Jim Henson that was Kermit wouldn’t either. When I was younger and first voting I heard over and over that we need a candidate who can stand up to outside threats and I believed it wholeheartedly. Now a few years and two wars later, I’ve learned differently. I was wrong. We were wrong, we don’t need that. We need a good person. One truly good person who will unwaveringly always do the right thing. Who will look out for us and our enemies and choose fair over fear. Who will be the voice of reason in a frightening hour.

Brian Henson has a story about his father. Once they returned to their car in a New York garage to discover a camera and Jim Henson’s wallet had been stolen from it. Brian said his father responded with, “I guess they needed it more than I do.” They drove home and Henson never mentioned it again. He had known lean times before his fame, and now he had two successful tv shows, several films, a wife, kids, and a warm home. A lot of men who have fumed. Can you even imagine if someone stole Donald Trump’s wallet? He’d make certain we heard about it endlessly on every channel. There would be a manhunt. Jim Henson just let it go, he had more to spare, someone else had been desperate, and he understood that. That’s how a man leads, when he chooses how to react within his own heart, not through a world of anger or entitlement.

We elected an actor to be president in the 80′s. A mere actor. We elected another actor as governor of California, and a wrestler to govern Minnesota. Now there’s talk of a real estate mogul turned reality tv star possibly running for president. Jim Henson created his own worlds from scratch. He was a pioneer and a true auteur, writing, directing, developing new special effects, inventing filming techniques, innovating design, and radically improving the way we teach information. There was a depth and an intelligence in this man that is uncommon. The popularity of his work is a credit to his imagination and his heart. The Muppet Show is watched all over the world and Sesame Street has 20 international independent versions, it’s shown in 120 countries. Jim Henson communicated in two universal languages: love and humor. He cared about how children grew and how adults treated each other. He believed in dreams and encouraged us all to be the best we can be. He was the only person in entertainment I would have ever voted for. I don’t care how much money Donald Trump has: He’s cheap. Men like him are a dime a dozen. The Jim Hensons of the world are all too rare, which is why I suppose the man upstairs wanted his company a little sooner.

To see this post with photos and commentary, please visit my other blog here.

8 Things To Remember When Searching for Love.

The past two weeks or so, whether I’m glancing over twitter, facebook, or tumblr, my newsfeeds are full of broken hearts. Mostly awesome ladies I know who are great catches. There’s nothing wrong with being single, but sometimes you just don’t want to be. Sometimes you’re seeing someone who keeps putting you second or you’re fresh out of a break up. Sometimes you’re out rollerskating and they call everyone off the floor for the couples only skate.

I wrote down 8 things I wish someone had told me when I was looking for my other half. Some of it I learned along the way, some was told to me during my search, and some I can only see now. Now I want to share it with you ladies (and gentlemen too, if there are any gentlemen reading this).

1. Love Yourself: We’ve all heard this, and it may seem obvious. “You’ll never be able to love someone until you love yourself.” True enough, but look at it another way: If you don’t even like you, chances are you’re going to make everyone just as miserable as you make yourself. So cut yourself some slack. When you make mistakes, forgive yourself and learn the lesson. When you’re feeling down, do something sweet for yourself. Brighten up your own day whether it’s a relaxing bath, a favorite episode of a tv show, or that necklace you’ve been eying. Court yourself with kindness and you may open up to find out you do like you after all. Fall in love with yourself and the world will fall in love with you. Walk into a room already looking forward to show everyone how awesome you are. And you are awesome. It sounds corny, but you’re the only you there’s going to be and you’re the best person to showcase you. Everyone’s only got (if you’re lucky) about 70 years to see this rare and beautiful creature that will be you, so don’t steal any of that time away from the world by moping somewhere alone. Go shine.

2. Develop a Routine–and Like It: What is your idea of a perfect day off? Well, guess what, you can do it. Bicycle rides into town, lunch at the local bistro, strolls through vintage shops, painting beside a sunny window, reading next to a radio, tv in bed, a dash to the gym, ignoring the gym, anything you want. Enjoy your time and make the most of it. Spend your free time doing whatever is most fun for you so that when you do meet someone you’ll know if they’re really worth cutting into that schedule. The right person will fall right into place. The wrong person will waste an evening you could have spent listening to your favorite band’s new album in the bathtub. Cultivate the life you want in your free time, so your time is a little more valuable than dinner and a movie with your cousin’s co-worker (who’s probably not the one anyway. And you could have been laughing at 30 Rock with your friends!)

3. Take Care of Yourself: Forget dieting and eating right to look good. Watch what you eat because you’re going to feel awful if you just pile crap into your face all the time. Take some brisk walks, go jogging, do some jumping jacks because you’ll be in a better mood if you’re a little active. Pamper your skin, play with make up, curl/straighten your hair. If you go day to day throwing yourself together very soon you’re going to be standing in front of a mirror at 3am in bad bathroom lighting thinking, “My God…This is what I look like.” No, it’s not. It’s 3am. You’ve spent the week living off junk food and now it’s been almost 24 hours since you’ve slept. You just need a moisturizer or maybe some mascara. Honey, Marilyn Monroe didn’t wake up looking like Marilyn Monroe. Do it for yourself. Whatever it takes to look in the mirror and feel like a million bucks–do it for you. Eat healthy, robust meals. Get fresh air on a walk. Set a bed time, and stick to it. Spend a Wednesday night getting full blown pretty, hair done, nails did, everything big. This goes back to loving yourself. You’re worth a little extra care, whether you’re looking to impress anyone or not.

4. Have Projects: Commit yourself to the things you’re passionate about. Don’t just go to work, hang out with friends, and go to bed. If you love animals, volunteer at a pet shelter. If you love cooking, take a pastry class. If you love art, paint or go to gallery openings. Pursue your interests, develop your skills, flex your personality. Be a full person. The side projects you work on, whether it’s a novel, a comic, a garden, or a collection of vintage spoon rings, they’re going to enrich you. This goes right along with developing a routine you love. Create the life you want without waiting for some invisible partner to carry it for you. You can invite the right person into this later, and if the wrong person shows up you’re not going to let them waste time you could be using to write jokes for your stand up routine.

5. Have Close Friends of “That” Gender: When you have no close friends of the gender you’re looking to pair with, they can easily become this weird creature you don’t understand. When someone of that gender comes into your life, even if they’re a real dud, you may accept this loser for what guys or girls are like. Some of my closest friends are men. I know what is good behavior for a guy and what is bad behavior. It was hard for guys I dated to hide behind ‘boys will be boys’ when the boys I knew respected and valued women as equals and not enemies. Friends of the gender you’re after can give their opinions when you bring one of their kind around. They will look out for you, and tell it to you straight. They can also form a posse if someone treats you badly (and probably will).

6. Love is Real, Hold Out For It: We’re a society that pays top dollar for the latest video game. We wait for the best ipad, ipod, ipen, etc. We look for the organic label on apples. And then we pass on true love, thinking it’s this outdated impossible thing. We date a guy we went to school with or met at the bar. They’re good looking enough, they’re nice enough, they’ve already put in a year or two. Maybe there’s no ‘spark’ there, maybe a bell didn’t go off, no fireworks or butterflies, but hey, they’ve got a pulse and all your friends are planning their weddings. Pump the brakes, Speedracer. Love is the greatest thing there is on the planet, ask almost every movie, song, book, poem, or painting. Don’t settle for “like”. The only thing worst than having loved and lost is meeting your soul mate six months after you married Mr. Alright. Have some patience, have some faith, and give yourself some credit.

7. Spend Some Time With Couples in Good Relationships: When you’re single it can be rough to endure a happy couple’s pet names and inside jokes, but tough it out. Listen to the people who are doing it right. Your friend who just broke up with her boyfriend of six months and your other friend who’s seeing a guy who won’t dump his live in girlfriend can only give you horrible relationship advice. You’re not going to ask a bum for financial tips, so stop listening to your single friends who tell you it’s hopeless. When I was single there were 2-3 couples I could look to who were genuinely happy. Their real love easily overshadowed any temporary “like” I found as I waded through the dating pool. Their examples kept me grounded through infatuation and gave me realistic expectations to keep searching for something that felt unreal. My own parents are divorced, so I also sought out the advice of my friend’s happily married parents. Most of the things they told me are on this list.

8: Let Life Happen: Think about your three closest friends. Write their names down, and beside each: How did you meet them? What was your first impression of them? Were you great friends right away or did it take time? Did you meet on a night you went out looking for a lifetime friend? Chances are it was random and you weren’t looking for your new best friend. It just happened naturally. When it comes right down to it, your other half is going to be the person you share candlelight dinners with, sure. However, they’re also going to be the person you’re stuck in traffic with. You’re going to share a lot of waiting rooms anticipating good and bad news. You’re going to face sleepless nights sharing the same worries. You’re going to eat the same meals, watch the same movies, share a tv, a bed, and a bathroom. They better be the best friend you’ve ever been lucky enough to find, or your life is going to be dreadful. You’re going to laugh at people after Christmas parties, love the same shows, be shocked at the same scandals, chase the same dreams, and support each other through every awful flu (you know…like the one where you can’t stop pooping?). This is the best friend you’re ever going to have. Friends come to us randomly, wonderfully, without warning. Let love come to you the same way.

So live your life–fully–love yourself, care for yourself, know there’s love out there, study the evidence for it in your happy friends, and let it come to you. It may already even be there. Ryan and I were friends for about seven years before our first date. He was the guy who made me laugh the hardest, who loved my web comic, and who now keeps me up making jokes night.

What do you mean you’re moving?

Don’t worry, I’ll still post rants and lists here sometimes. However, I will be moving the majority of my blogging to this new address:

http://pseudooctopus.blogspot.com/

Please, please follow it and encourage other folks who enjoy art to as well. I would really love the feedback, and naturally the support and the audience. I’m going to be focusing on making this new blog my own Private Idaho of the internet. It’s going to be a place where I can feature my progress drawings on paintings as I go, debut new illustrations, joke about the going-ons in my life, and share my attempts to forge ahead selling prints of my work online and in real shops. I feel like it should make for entertaining reading as I share my successes and even funnier failures, and it would feel so good writing it to you folks.

That means I’m going to be scaling back on other blogs, and sort of combining them into this new venture. I’m leaving this message on my blogs across the internet in the hopes that you will all follow me to my new–and seriously permanent big girl real effort–blog. This means I’m even extending this invitation to former stalkers who only have my old blog addresses. You’ve refreshed this page every few weeks to see if I’m pregnant yet–and your efforts have not been in vain, weirdo! You can come along too. This new art blog project means that much to me.

I chose blogspot specifically because anyone with a gmail address can follow it with their google profile, and most of my friends and family have gmail now. (Like how I have Verizon, because if I ever had to pay for text messages to Preston I would have to sell my car). I also enabled a fun gadget with a little bit of hacking so everyone can subscribe to it through their email if that’s easier! Who loves you? It’s Georgia. Who taught Georgia minor html coding? Her sister. So really, thank Gracie.

One more time total commercial style in case you missed it, what’s that address again?

http://pseudooctopus.blogspot.com/

Pretty please? Cherry on top? Everyone loves cherries! First new post: “Now I want ice cream!”

My Irish Confession

I don’t really like St. Patrick’s Day. Three reasons:

1. I don’t drink.

2. No one was keen on being Irish during the centuries Britain oppressed Ireland, the famine, or the decades America fought to close its borders against waves of starving, impoverished Irish immigrants. There were no “KISS ME I’M IRISH!” tee shirts back then.

3. You’re all celebrating hating Jews and non-believers. St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland? “Snakes” was the polite term Catholics had for Jews and pagans back then. He forced the Druids and Jewish merchants out of Ireland. But no, throw a parade, totally. There are plenty of saints who did actual wonderful things for people–but I’ll bet you can’t name even three besides St. Patrick because they don’t give you an excuse to get sloppy. (Catholics, you don’t count, I know we’re all thinking St. Anthony, St. Jude, and St. Francis because they find our lost car keys, help us win the lottery, and keep our pets safe. And do we honor them with even an ice cream cone?).

I look ridiculously Irish, so all day long people greet me with, “I’m Irish today too!” or, “Bet YOU’RE drinking tonight!” And I have to dryly reply over and over again, “I’m actually Irish and thus my bloodline suffers from crippling alcoholism, so I won’t be drinking. But, no, you wear your green shirt. Yeah, please, celebrate my heritage with something that has harmed my ancestors for centuries. Have a beer for me. Hey, have a beer for all my relatives who were injured in alcohol related mill factory accidents in the 1900s while you’re at it.” Then they usually cheer because they’re gonna get sooooo wasted.

The only reason I like St. Patrick’s Day? Four words: Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Moon Honeymoon

When I was a little girl I really bought into the future. My Mom adores science fiction and from the time I could hear she told me the tales of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Space was always drifting across the television screen, the backdrop of some weekly adventure like V, Star Trek, or Earth II. Robots whizzed across the pages of my childhood books, and later rolled clumsily across construction paper thanks to my crayons and determined fingers. I knew I would see the turn of the century, like my great grandmother Irene had in 1900. Somehow knowing the amazing things she had witnessed in her life–automobiles, flight, television, the moon landing–gave me promise of the advancements I would experience. I was going to mature into a young woman in the 2000′s, and how far away and grown up that felt! Beautiful hair, ray guns, silver bikinis! I happily awaited my Barbarella futurewear.

The world I envisioned for my adulthood at the age of six resembled any episode of the

"I happily awaited my Barbarella futurewear."

Jetsons. I looked forward to robots, flying cars, and casual space travel to moon colonies and the more friendly planets. Where other girls may have been whizzing their Barbie to her daily job in her pink car, I had carefully padded a shoe box with tin foil to serve as her space ship/time machine. My Barbie navigated the vast universe of my bedroom and greeted the My-Little-Pony-people and diminutive Strawberry-Shortcake-race with tidings of peace. She bravely faced the evil Grey-Cat-Under-the-Couch and played more quietly after her spaceship collided with The-House-Plant-That-Was-Overly-Top-Heavy. Like most little girls, my Barbie’s exciting life mirrored my own desires for the future.

One thing I decided upon most certainly by grade school was my honeymoon destination. I had the perfect place picked out, it simply could not be beat for romance. A ski cabin in the woods? Bears. A train ride through Europe? Vampires. A sunny beach with warm surf? Sand. (I didn’t know what sex was exactly, but I knew it happened on honeymoons and I knew from tv that it involved a lot of rolling around and kissy faces. Eight year old me watched black and white movie love scenes in the surf with more than a little skepticism). My perfect dream honeymoon location? The Moon.

I had it all planned out. After our wedding performed by a robot (I couldn’t imagine people would be police, teachers, priests, or any other childhood authority figures. A heavy dose of Terminator had warped my sense of the future slightly dark) we would board a lovely little ship bound for space. We would travel through a dark sky and glittering stars to the American Moon colony and take up a little cabin with a big round window. If we really had to, rolling around and kissy facing would happen after a dinner of chocolates and romantic ice creams. Afterwards we would stay up talking and laughing all night, and watch the Earth Rise together in the morning.

The future has arrived, and what a gloomy outcome. My childhood dreams couldn’t have fallen further from the mark. Our generation put exploration aside to pursue adventures like ‘the end of affordable healthcare’ and outsourced technology in our ongoing chronicle: ‘the destruction of all jobs’.  Tonight Ryan put in 2001: A Space Odyssey. After watching it and talking about how wonderfully realistic all of the spacecrafts were I confessed the silly childhood dream I’d had of honeymooning on the Moon. I told him about the little room with a round space portal window, the Earth Rise, the whole story. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” I laughed. “Imagining we’d be on the Moon by now.”

He wrapped his arm around me and said, “People usually celebrate anniversaries with second honeymoons. We can always renew our vows someday when we’re older. We’ll just go to the Moon then!” Ryan said it in his casual seriousness that makes the most insane very plausible. And it struck me, that one of the best things about love is it makes you believe again in all the things you thought you learned were impossible. Love itself is one of them. When I was six I believed so simply that I was going to find a handsome, funny, intelligent, sweet, brave, great guy. He wouldn’t mind that I was confident or strange, because he would be too. We’d build on each other’s jokes. We’d go on great adventures and laugh ourselves to sleep every night. I grew up and the future wasn’t what I thought it would be. I started thinking love had been one more fairy tale I had to grow out of. Then I met Ryan, and he was just what six year old me promised. Space Barbie couldn’t have found a more handsome, funny, intelligent, sweet, brave, great guy. He’s just as bold and weird as I am. Life came back around to tell me the impossible isn’t, it’s just worth waiting for. And Ryan kissed my cheek so simply and smiled about the Moon. So, heck, we’ll give it another fifty years I guess and see what we can all accomplish by then!

The Threadless Experiment

A previous submission....

It’s rare that I’m open to collaborating unless I know the person very well. I’ve had too many crackpots approach me with work only to never pay me, or folks who are convinced they can help me get published/sell prints/get greeting cards out only to find out I’ve looked into all of that and it’s not free. There’s no publisher sitting on the other side of a desk with a big cigar who wants to make a star out of me–or them for finding me. If I’m ever successful I’ll be lucky to bring in $35,000 a year. I’m cool with that because it’s my dream to illustrate children’s books, not to be the next big ‘it’ artist. Idea men (or women) never seem to get that though. I contact agents and publishers regularly and I get rejected regularly. I listen to their feedback, I make my adjustments, I try again. It’s not thrilling work for someone who thinks they’ve got a hot idea and I can make their dreams come true by drawing a good picture for it and bam, we’ll get published!

However now and then I make exceptions. I am nearly always in collaboration on something with Amy or Preston because I think we work well together. If someone approaches me with a genuinely good idea for a children’s book, I’m on board. If someone comes to me with something that seems really out of my style, I’m honest.

Another previous submission....

Seeking free feedback and exposure has lead me to submitting my work to certain sites, and one is threadless.com. My ultimate goal with submitting to threadless has actually not been to have a tee shirt made. My goal has been to get my drawings accepted for scoring, (which I have 5-6 times out of 7-8 submissions) to get folks to see the drawings and like them, and to hopefully grab a few new fans of my work. While I like the illustrations I have sent in, I don’t really have a mind for actual tee shirt design and so every time I try to place one of my drawings on a shirt the border is an issue. Basically, I’m sticking a rectangle on a shirt and poorly trying to disguise it. Since I’m just trying to get them past scoring, I’ve never thought much beyond that. If you read the comments on one of my shirts it’s always “great illustration, you should illustrate kids books! But the border is killing this—”

So a few nights ago a guy on threadless approached me with his email and said, “I love your drawing style but I think you need help translating the image to a tee shirt. I have some ideas that I think could actually win but I don’t do art, could we collaborate?” Already I was on board. Here was someone observant, direct, and polite. Why not at least hear them out?

Today I received his ideas, and I’ve got to say, every one of them has a real chance on that site. It’s made me think of threadless a little more seriously for the first time. I’m going to try to draw 3-4 of his designs (the ones I felt would work with my style, although I encouraged him to send the others to more artists because they’ve all got a shot). I also may try to do a design Kyle had a few years back that I always felt could win and split it with Kyle if we did.

So, we’ll see how this goes! I must confess, I’m more interested to try my drawings with a person who has actual tee shirt designs to see how the score rating changes.

Top Ten Songs: Girls Want to be About Them….

…And guys/lesbians if you’ll smart the next time you’re with your gal and one of these comes on the radio, you’ll turn to them and say “Wow. This song always reminds me of you.” (Maybe not the Loretta Lynn one). You’re welcome in advance: Love, Georgia Dunn. In no particular order. (However clearly the better ones are toward the end and I’m starting off low when I begin with–)

10. Rob Zombie – Living Dead Girl. Yes, I am serious. This girl is so hot that it DOESN’T MATTER SHE’S DEAD. I’m sorry, but I know I am not the only girl who taps the steering wheel with my finger and excitedly awaits the time when I can be the hottest zombie when this rolls around on the ipod.

9. Ani Difranco – 32 Flavors. Strangely against stereotypes, it was a guy who got me into Ani Difranco. One of my first boyfriends gave me one of her cds on our second date, and while she’s sometimes even a bit much for me, she has a few songs that just nail truth down. This is one of those songs. Describing helping people who avoid you later, and rising above the biting resentments girls can hold for each other (‘everyone harbors a secret hatred for the prettiest girl in the room’), this song reads like a blue print for staying graceful in the face of unfairness.

8. Loretta Lynn – You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man. Women may not want to be the woman this song is about, per say, but they definitely want to be the woman singing it. If you can get through this song without wanting to pick a fight, you’re a stronger woman than I.

7. Peggy Lee – I’m a Woman.  There is nothing, NOTHING this woman can’t do. And you know why? BECAUSE she’s a woman. A woman in 1963 no less. Fix the car? Take care of the baby? Party till dawn? Check, check, check.

6. Bob Dylan – Shelter From the Storm. The woman in this song has always struck me as some kind of ancient-earth nurturing goddess. In a world of chaos he finds comfort in her presence, and that gives her a kind of power against the negativity in the world. Dylan lists terrible things, and ends it always with her rescue of this poor man with one simple invitation. “In a world of steel-eyed death and men who are fighting to be warm ‘Come in’ she said ‘I’ll give you shelter from the storm’.” Shitty day? She’s got you. Boss got you down? She’ll make it better. Life falling apart? Not anymore, she can pretty much fix it all. It’s later implied that he took her for granted and has missed her comfort ever since, thrown back into the world of chaos, wishing for a time ‘when God and her were born’. Without her he’s a mess…excellent!

5. Billy Joel – She’s Always a Woman to Me. The guy in this song lists a series of alternating empowering and vulnerable very real qualities, and paints a picture of this woman as an individual. She’s not perfect, in fact she is definitely flawed. But blame it all on yourself, because she’s always a woman to that dude and he thinks she’s pretty cool.

4. Janis Joplin – Tell Mama. This is another celebration of the ancient-earth nurturing woman goddess type from ‘Shelter from the Storm’ without all the bullshit that comes from a guy telling it (even if that guy is Dylan). Janis, and Etta James before her, is going to sing it to you straight. This lady is going to help you, (right out of those pants). She knows what you need, she’ll make everything alright, don’t worry now. No reason to sugarcoat it, she’s here to fix you. Fix you HARD. It’s difficult to listen to this song and not feel sexy and in control.

3. Elton John – Tiny Dancer. She has to be independent and cool because she’s a seamstress for a rock and roll band. She’s pretty eyed, with a pirate smile, she laughs off weirdos, she dances on beaches–this is one confident free spirit. It’s clear the narrator of the song is captivated by her beauty and her personality, and I challenge any female to not spin in circles to this when no one is watching.

2. Simon and Garfunkel – For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her. This song is simply gorgeous. He’s so excited to see this girl and spend time with her, even if they’re just trudging through freezing fields holding hands. It’s clear she’s someone special and he adores her. My first ‘dated several years’ boyfriend played this for me once because of the ‘honey hair’ color line. VIRGINITY K.O!

1. The Beatles – Something. An absolutely beautiful song capturing the first glow of new love, with slight uncertainty and a little optimism. She’s above all the other girls this guy has met, there’s ‘something’ very wonderful in her. He’s very clearly enchanted with this lovely creature. PS: The woman who inspired this song left GEORGE HARRISON for ERIC CLAPTON. I’m pretty sure that counts as “winning the 20th century.”