Jessie profile picture

Jessie

Dilettante Extraordinaire

About Me

Blonde yet morbid. Loves animals and dapper little old men. Laughs at inappropriate times and things. Favorite smells are lilac, pipe tobacco, skunk and hot tar.

My Interests

Reading, writing, music, ghosts, swimming, skating, Anglophilia, Hong Kong, urban exploration, comics, movies, TV, Berlin, Francophilia, fashion, knitting, animal welfare, Johnny Damon, Loveline, sushi, southern food, true crime, boating, art brut, writing real letters on actual stationery, Aubrey Beardsley and Erté drawings, Guy Bourdin photographs, looking through other people's windows, rubbernecking.

I'd like to meet:

Interesting (but not in a perverted way) Chicagoans.

Music:

St. Etienne, Stereolab, Ivy, I Am the World Trade Center, Ima Robot, The BeeGees, The Spinners, Duran Duran, Outkast, Guns n' Roses, The Hollies, Badfinger, Tears for Fears, Blondie, Cheap Trick, Squeeze, Cousteau, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, Franz Ferdinand, Sly and the Family Stone, Blur, Smashing Pumpkins, David Bowie, Scissor Sisters, Nellie McKay, Roxy Music, Tears for Fears, Morrissey, ELO, Al Green, Al Stewart, Marvin Gaye, The Sundays, Pulp, Daft Punk, Iggy Pop, Kate Bush, The Divine Comedy, Van Halen, My Morning Jacket.

Movies:

Wet Hot American Summer, Amelie, Pretty in Pink, Labyrinth, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Virgin Suicides, Alice in Wonderland, His Girl Friday, Harold and Maude, The Haunting, Crybaby, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Velvet Goldmine, Clerks, The Mayor of the Sunset Strip, Trekkies, American Movie, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, My Life As A Dog, Eternal Sunshine, Shaun of the Dead, Sixteen Candles, Carnival of Souls, Ed Wood, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Henry Darger and the Realms of the Unreal, Boogie Nights.

Television:

The Office, AquaTeen Hunger Force, Gilmore Girls, America's Next Top Model, any PBS reality series, Reno 911, The State, Austin Stories, Freaks and Geeks, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Adventures of Pete + Pete, Arrested Development, Big Love.

Books:

Donna Tart, Joyce Carol Oates, Patrick McCabe, Roddy Doyle, David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, Brett Easton Ellis, J.D. Salinger, Roald Dahl, John Bellairs, George Orwell, Shannon Olson, Lynda Barry, Gwen Zepeda, Edith Wharton, Laurie Notaro, Appleby House, the Adrian Mole series, L. M. Montgomery, The Bell Jar, Shot In the Heart, H.P. Lovecraft, Edward Gorey.

Heroes:

Johnny Rotten, Debbie Harry, my high school English teacher, my grandpa.

My Blog

Creepy chicks

I've always been big on horror. Not so much the slasher kind (I have a major aversion to gore), but the subtler, more atmospheric stuff.I grew up loving John Bellairs and Edward Gorey but it seems a ...
Posted by Jessebel on Sun, 06 Aug 2006 02:15:00 PST

Time Capsule

Next week is my niece Carly's first birthday.  Her parents are putting a time capsule together for her to open on her 16th birthday. I decided that since my greatest joy in life has always been m...
Posted by Jessebel on Fri, 04 Aug 2006 11:19:00 PST

True Crime

Some really crazy and fascinating true crime tales have come into the spotlight recently. So if you're at all interested in that kind of stuff here's some links to check out. Two are older crimes bu...
Posted by Jessebel on Thu, 11 May 2006 08:34:00 PST

Big Love

Big Love is my new show. That, Reno 911 and America's Next Top Model are all I have time for. At first I wasn't really interested because I thought it was a show about a polyamourous relationship and...
Posted by Jessebel on Wed, 03 May 2006 11:55:00 PST

More waxing poetic and talk about "feelings"

Is today the first day of spring or was it yesterday? At any rate, it's gorgeous outside. I can't believe this year someone finally responded to my threats that spring better come on time or else. ...
Posted by Jessebel on Wed, 22 Mar 2006 12:45:00 PST

A meandering love letter to my city (or what I did this weekend)

Sometimes I think I might be getting a little tired of Chicago. The winters are long and gray here and tend to wear out their welcome quickly. Some of the main drags aren't so pretty (I'm looking at...
Posted by Jessebel on Wed, 01 Feb 2006 03:36:00 PST

Sick Day

I am the pefect amount of sick today. I have a bad cold or a light case of the flu but whatever it is, it's contagious so I figured I'd better not go to class today. I feel too crummy to make the be...
Posted by Jessebel on Wed, 25 Jan 2006 02:29:00 PST

Chicken Lips

The title is kind of funny but this (scroll down a bit when you get there) is actually the most heart-rending news story I've read in a long time. What a sweet little girl! I want to adopt her (al...
Posted by Jessebel on Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:34:00 PST

La Cucaracha, la cucaracha!

Cockroach count: 4.   Something needs to be done.
Posted by Jessebel on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Paul's advice to guys who don't like the way their girlfriend or wife decorates...

"If you don't want a bunch of girly stuff hanging around your house than you need to get with a dude." Yet another reason to love him.  
Posted by Jessebel on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST