"How did you put that big smileycom on your email??" Clinton asked | Getty The 13 must-read Clinton emails Hillary wanted to make nice with Lady Gaga and Ben Affleck.

At the height of Gaga-mania in 2011, even Hillary Clinton wanted her address.

Beyond the bland day-to-day business of being secretary of state, the latest emails released by the State Department on Friday showed varying moments of candor, intensity and humor among the secretary, her staff and friends.

Here are just a few of the more notable messages to pass through Clinton's inbox, from embassy security concerns to learning how to use a new BlackBerry and getting in touch with the likes of Ben Affleck and Lady Gaga:

In an April 2009 email to Clinton, top aide Huma Abedin informed the secretary of state about increased security measures at embassies in Kabul and Islamabad.

"In the short-term, we are doubling the number of employees at the embassies in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- these are accommodations and office space not just for STATE but for other agencies like USAID, USDA, DOD," Abedin wrote.

The rest of the memo:

"• We are working fast in the short run,: we're talking about increasing the number of hooches, and doubling up staff in lodging. It looks a lot like what you'd see at Bagram or other military facilities in Afghanistan.

• In the medium term, we need to improve the security perimeter — acquiring property adjacent to our current facilities in Kabul, which is now difficult to secure.

• Long-term, we need embassies in these countries adequate to serve the mission. It's not so long ago our Embassy in Islamabad was torched, we need a facility which is structurally sound. In Kabul,•we need facilities adequate to size the mission needed."

Ben Affleck wrote to the secretary on her personal email account in April 2012, sharing information about his Eastern Congo Initiative.

"I'd like to respond to Ben Affleck. Pls advise. Thx," Clinton wrote to Johnnie Carson, then-assistant secretary for African affairs

After a back and forth with Carson, Clinton received a draft of the statement, which is fully redacted.

"Sorry for the delay. We were trying to get clearances thru the building," Carson responded.

Clinton advised her staff to be stern with the White House over a communications mix-up.

"It has been brought to my attention that I kinda blew it on the Sri Lanka and Armenia statements. I had wrongly assumed that both were run through you Big Chesses [sic] before they got to me," Denis McDonough, then with the National Security Council, wrote to undersecretary William Burns. "I know now that neither had, and I regret that. Lesson learned on that one. Won't be repeated."

"Fyi," Mills wrote to Clinton, cc'ing Jake Sullivan.

Clinton's response: "I raised both forcefully yesterday. Glad there was followup. Be sure Bill doesn't act all nice. A little sternness is in order."

In a January 2012 email from Anne-Marie Slaughter, the former top aide told Abedin that her son "said S [Secretary Clinton] looks like Lisa Kudrow! High praise indeed... pse pass it on."

"Truly, Alexander, the younger, watched her walk in to Congress and said: 'she looks like Lisa Kudrow —you know, on Friends....'," she added.

Abedin then passed along the message to Clinton, writing, "This is a nice compliment[.] Lisa is an attractive actress!"

Clinton's response is fully redacted.

Abedin's response to that email: "[Redacted] certainly thinks you are cameron diaz!! [redacted]

"How did you put that big smileycom on your email??" Clinton asked senior adviser Philippe Reines in a February 2012 email.

Later that month, Reines broke down the two reasons why he thought his boss "didn't like what are now the two old new berrys."

He continued: "1) You didn't like the physical changes in the new models as compared to your longtime berry (one was absurdly large, both had touchpads instead of trackballs, etc) 2) Less obvious, you didn't like Blackberry's most current operating system - its software interface that gives it its look and feel to the user - which came installed on the new devices. In that you are not alone. Blackberry has taken a lot of grief over it from users and critics. I can't stand it.

"So without having actually seen your latest new old berry, I'm guessing that the reason you like it is the familiarity of the device coupled with the familiar operating system. It's just like the old one. If not identical, awfully close."

"On this new berry can I get smiley faces?" — Hillary

Two months after the emails about her phone, Clinton asked Reines again about a new BlackBerry,writing,"Here's my question: on this new berry can I get smiley faces?"

Reines, who apologized for his delay in answering a previous request, responded that she could not get "smiley faces" for email, that she would need to manually type out the characters to form the emoticons, "like 🙂 for happy, or :-I I if you want to express anger at my tardiness. For text messaging, the chart might be there in the lower right, next to where you type the message. If it's not, I THINK that if you type 🙂 it MIGHT automatically convert it into a symbol."

"Try it," he encouraged the secretary.

In an email exchange with a longtime friend that touched on everything from gardening to Sabra brand hummus, Clinton remarked that "not even the allure of Mother Moon in all her glory is unlikely to impress the PM. Everything is s000 hard and not nearly as gratifying as planting your garden."

The chain with Chicago friend Betsy Ebeling began with an article from the Chicago Sun-Times in which students at DePaul University had been urged to reconsider banning Sabra brand hummus as part of a plan to destroy Israel.

"You are what you eat I guess!" Ebeling's subject line read, suggesting to the secretary that she should share the article with Netanyahu.

Clinton appeared unsure about the propriety of lobbying the Kennedy Center to honor acclaimed composer Marvin Hamlisch.

"Do you have views on whether you want to do a letter for Marvin Hamlish [sic] for the Kennedy Center Honors?" Mills asked following two separate emails from the former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands asking if the secretary would.

Clinton wrote back: "Sure. I'll do, but didn't know that was appropriate. Can you ask Ann Stock. I'd like to support him in best way possible."

Hamlisch died four months later after battling a brief illness.

"Una imagen vale mas que mil palabras [a picture is worth more than a thousand words]," Reines wrote Clinton, cc'ing Huma Abedin, who responded initially, "Did you send us spam in spanish?"

Abedin later emailed, "This looks like an endorsement to go to cuba!"

Reines' response, with Clinton included on the chain: "Yes, that inferred sign of support is not being missed by the press"

"Oh, Pleeeze!" Clinton responded.

Reines' response is redacted.

"H: My short take on the primaries, sent to Bill. Sid," longtime family friend Sid Blumenthal wrote Clinton in the May 2010 note marked "CONFIDENTIAL" at the top.

The candidacy of future Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, he wrote, is a "gift" and the party's "new spokesman on the scene."

The memo insisted that "splits within the GOP need to be highlighed" in the short term, as well as "the takeover by extremist forces emphasized; the rejection of traditional Republicans within their own party stressed; and the economic consequences of the extremists—not least now, the gift of Rand Paul, the Republicans' new spokesman on the scene—who would shut down Social Seucrity [sic], Medicare, student scholarships, and the interstate highway system—constantly targeted as a threat to economic recovery. Run, Rand, run!”

Clinton appeared to appreciate when the sartorially unique Lady Gaga leaped to defend her wardrobe choices.

In August 2011, Mills passed along a CNN blurb forwarded in which she addressed fashion criticism of the secretary of state from Project Runway's Tim Gunn.

"You know, I think Hillary Clinton has more things to worry about than her hemline," Gaga told "The View," calling Gunn a "bully."

"Can you get an address for her so I can write a note?" Clinton asked Mills.

Abedin and Mills, two of the secretary's closest confidantes, fought in an October 2010 exchange over a personnel issue that appears to involve the Secret Service.

"[redacted] just filled me in on your conversations. I would have appreciated a chance to discuss this before it was finalized. He has been a HUGE asset protecting our interests and balancing usss politics," Abedin wrote. USSS is a common acronym for the United States Secret Service.

"He has gone above and beyond in every way and anyone more stringent will make our life and travel more complicated. Starting from scratch with someone else is going to be challenging," she added.

The next day, Mills responded, "Huma: I am always happy to discuss organizational and personnel matters, we can do that in person rather than on email."

In the latest instance of Clinton getting fax pointers from her staff, Abedin explained to Clinton in May 2012 how the procedure would work with a secure connection.

"when the ste rings, just answer it. they will say we are going secure. you dont need to do anything. just dont hang up phone, the fax will automatically come thru," Abedin wrote.

During a visit to Bulgaria in February 2012, there appeared to be a bit of a flareup about the secretary's coiffure based on an email from James Warlick, the U.S. ambassador to the country.

"There is apparently some Bulgarian proverb about a woman's hair tells her mood, and one of the newspapers repeated it the morning of the visit - Bulgarian protocol brought it to the PM's attention. I think the PM was trying to lighten the mood, as awkward as it may have been," Warlick wrote. "Please reassure S that there was nothing personal intended. Add it to the lore and many stories you must collect as the Secretary travels. Thanks once again for the visit. Fyi, we are getting great traction today on the Roma event"

At any rate, he said the prime minister meant no offense.

"This is hysterical," Abedin said in passing along to Clinton.