I've been obsessed with ancient Rome since I was very small. I still love it and I frequently will make up excuses for any excesses and bad behaviours [kinda like my relationship with the Yankees]. However, I don't like many things associated with ancient Rome in this modern world, such as...okay, mainly the film Gladiator. Hate it so much. One thing I like very much is the HBO series Rome, which I only started watching 12 weeks ago due to obviously not having HBO. I love the lively credits and they feature another thing about ancient Rome that I love - mosaics [okay, mostly graffiti, but keep an eye out]. If I were in ancient Rome and had the means, I would have more grandiose mosaics than all the dormice in the city. It would be my number one priority. However, I'm not in ancient Rome and since I rent I can't really muck up the place with large-scale mosaics.
What I can do is make them on a smaller scale. Joseph has this neat thing [also from Japan] where you can create little pixellated characters from the Zelda videogames by using little Lite-Brite type things [that don't light up]. The Engrish instructions suggest "let's make dot characters and more yourself" so I made a mosaic. While watching Rome [super intense episode]. It is of Link holding the triforce aloft. I am very proud of myself and I think it looks really cool. I'm not sure what the ancient Romans would think, although Link does sport quite the fetching man dress.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Day One Hundred and Fifty-Two - Quelle Puissance
On Friday Joseph and I went to Active Surplus on Queen West - which is a super ideal place for thing-a-dayers who have above-average creativity and technological know-how. I'm not crazy about the place since I don't have these things and, even though they got rid of the giant gorilla [which always seemed like it would have a guy inside of it...one day...and it would scare the crap out of me - even though this never happened, the threat was worse than reality] the whole place is filled with creepy weirdos and smells like a giant gorilla suit that's been left out in many Toronto seasons...for years. Thankfully, I was developing DeathCold 2008 @ the time so I don't think that I smelled too much. Joseph went because he wanted to buy some LED things to possibly fix our ailing VCR remote [didn't work], but I veer towards the crafty things @ Active Surplus as they are relatively non-threatening. I bought earring hooks [FYI - their googly eye selection is subpar].
Joseph's brother Greg lives in Japan and has brought us various cool little plastic things from Japan [and also these candies that were just solidified corn syrup that I ate a million of, even though they were kinda gross]. I am a big fan of Dragonball Z [okay, not so much these days, but historically I was a fan] and he brought me this keychain with one Goku and one Vegeta figure in fighting stances. They are pretty small and cute and too easily banged up hanging from my purse/keychain/backpack, so I put them in safekeeping. Until now when I made my own earrings. I had to use some pliers to open up the earring hooks, but this was easy enough. And now, perfectly cute earrings - it looks like they are fighting each other across my head! They are really light and comfortable, so I just might actually wear them - normally earrings are painful and cumbersome for me so I never wear them.
Joseph's brother Greg lives in Japan and has brought us various cool little plastic things from Japan [and also these candies that were just solidified corn syrup that I ate a million of, even though they were kinda gross]. I am a big fan of Dragonball Z [okay, not so much these days, but historically I was a fan] and he brought me this keychain with one Goku and one Vegeta figure in fighting stances. They are pretty small and cute and too easily banged up hanging from my purse/keychain/backpack, so I put them in safekeeping. Until now when I made my own earrings. I had to use some pliers to open up the earring hooks, but this was easy enough. And now, perfectly cute earrings - it looks like they are fighting each other across my head! They are really light and comfortable, so I just might actually wear them - normally earrings are painful and cumbersome for me so I never wear them.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Day One Hundred and Fifty-One - Lights Out
Yup, me too. I know that a lot of thing-a-day bloggers did this one, and I wasn't sure that I was going to do it, but then I went and got sick and also took a bunch of Tylenol Extra Strength Nighttime pills @ 11am, and being barely awake @ 8pm, I almost had no choice for my thing de jour. So tonight I participated in Earth Hour. I turned out all the lights and also turned off electrical devices, such as my laptop and the TV. I think that was the point, but I'm not sure. I ended up playing my Nintendo DS for about 15 minutes [which I think might be not quite allow-able, but I'm not sure] before falling asleep again. When I woke up it was practically 10pm, so I guess I love the Earth doubly as much as everyone else. Please pass the Nobel Prize.
I must echo some other bloggers slight confusion over what exactly the point of all of this is. I think it has much more impact when you see whole cities dark - because very often office buildings and garish ads blare all night long [in this case very often means every night]. And that is pretty discusting, so really - bravo for turning them off for one hour. Problem solved. My carbon footprint is ridiculously small and honestly, if I didn't participate, the only difference would be that my laptop would have remained in sleep mode, I would have had one light on and maybe the TV/videogame console. I'm so sure that matters. I do resent average joes/janes like me feeling guilty over environmental concerns when big corporations are the real culprits and will ultimately be the real solution to various environmental woes. Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, none of them care and probably won't for a good long time.
Yes, I am a cheery ray of sunshine. You could power your home with my goodwill and positive energy. Of that I'm sure.
I must echo some other bloggers slight confusion over what exactly the point of all of this is. I think it has much more impact when you see whole cities dark - because very often office buildings and garish ads blare all night long [in this case very often means every night]. And that is pretty discusting, so really - bravo for turning them off for one hour. Problem solved. My carbon footprint is ridiculously small and honestly, if I didn't participate, the only difference would be that my laptop would have remained in sleep mode, I would have had one light on and maybe the TV/videogame console. I'm so sure that matters. I do resent average joes/janes like me feeling guilty over environmental concerns when big corporations are the real culprits and will ultimately be the real solution to various environmental woes. Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, none of them care and probably won't for a good long time.
Yes, I am a cheery ray of sunshine. You could power your home with my goodwill and positive energy. Of that I'm sure.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Day One Hundred and Fifty - The Thin Blue Line
[I haven't been updating due to the rarest of triple threats: 1. I'm sick [and it's gross]; 2. my internet keeps going out; 3. I'm even lazier than ever due to the first two points. The new things have been continuing and I will be updating slowly, but surely so check back often!]
In my life I have been fortunate enough to not be involved in too many crime scenes. By that I mean that I have been involved in zero crime scenes. I do watch a lot of true crime shows on TV, if that counts for anything. Well, tonight after a surprise dinner @ Juice For Life I found myself @ the scene of a crime. Of course, at the time we didn't really know it was a crime scene, just that the subways had stopped stopping @ Spadina station [and the passengers on the trains looked a bit confused as they zoomed by - I thought it might have been a "Speed" situation]. While attempting to do some investigative journalism on the situation we were ushered outside to the mysterious shuttle buses [which of course never showed up] and I crossed yellow police tape.
As it happens, people on the crime scene part of the yellow tape don't really know as much as one might think. We didn't know what happened until we got home and ventured on to the evil/stupid and poorly written CR24 website. Someone was shot in the leg, so nothing terribly exciting [although obviously unfortunate - but subways are rarely entirely shut down for jumpers so we thought it would be something much worse].
In my life I have been fortunate enough to not be involved in too many crime scenes. By that I mean that I have been involved in zero crime scenes. I do watch a lot of true crime shows on TV, if that counts for anything. Well, tonight after a surprise dinner @ Juice For Life I found myself @ the scene of a crime. Of course, at the time we didn't really know it was a crime scene, just that the subways had stopped stopping @ Spadina station [and the passengers on the trains looked a bit confused as they zoomed by - I thought it might have been a "Speed" situation]. While attempting to do some investigative journalism on the situation we were ushered outside to the mysterious shuttle buses [which of course never showed up] and I crossed yellow police tape.
As it happens, people on the crime scene part of the yellow tape don't really know as much as one might think. We didn't know what happened until we got home and ventured on to the evil/stupid and poorly written CR24 website. Someone was shot in the leg, so nothing terribly exciting [although obviously unfortunate - but subways are rarely entirely shut down for jumpers so we thought it would be something much worse].
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Day One Hundred and Forty-Nine - The Pursuit Of Happiness
Okay, I'm not the happiest camper in the whole...camp? In fact, I'm very cynical and negative and nihilistic. My blog does a pretty good job of masking a lot of that, though, which is intentional as I use it to boost me up a bit. The other day, a fellow thing-a-dayer, Colette, posted a list of 50 things that make her happy. So, in the interest of being a big copycat and as a personal challenge to myself, I made a list of 50 things that make me happy. In no particular order, here they are [if you read the whole thing I bet you probably have a pretty boring job]:
1. Ruffled chips with cream cheese dip
2. Blue cheese
3. Pizza done just the way I like it – thin crust, lots of zesty tomato sauce [lots of garlic and a bit spicy] and multiple cheeses
4. Maki with crunch that is wrapped with the seaweed on the inside
5. Noodles – big fat udon noodles, pho noodles, spaghetti noodles
6. Peanut butter and chocolate together – especially Quaker peanut butter granola bars dipped in peanut butter and Reese peanut butter cups
7. Popcorn sprinkled with parmesan cheese – this was an idea I got from DOOL where it was mentioned as a joke – it’s great, but don’t salt the popcorn or it will be too salty
8. Vegan chocolate cake @ Juice for Life
9. Crispy tofu in the Ninja bowl, also @ Juice for Life
10. Chocolate chip cookies – mainly the ones made from Amy Sedaris’ recipe and never ever eaten when freshly baked and warm
11. Soft cheese croissants
12. Coke Zero…by the bucketload – it is magic
13. Really good French fries with mayo – in Belgium
14. Chocolate waffles – with the fresh, warm chocolate – also in Belgium
15. Champagne
16. Miso soup with lots of bits of spring onion and seaweed
17. Pep – the candy bar, not the feeling
18. Email – you probably thought this was going to be 50 foods that make me happy – any kind of email – work email, personal email, forwards…I love it and I feel it’s going the way of the dodo as everyone uses instant messaging and Facebook
19. Comments on my blog – I think I’ve gotten maybe a dozen total, but it thrills me
20. Battlestar Galactica – this is only so far down because I’m hungry and feeling a
bit lonely
21. Late night TV – Jon, Stephen, Dave, Jimmy and Conan are all my favourites – I know that’s a lot of favourites…but it changes often
22. True crime shows and Bill Kurtis [he’s amazing]
23. TV that is kinda cheesy, but still watchable – examples include DOOL, classic TV shows [Wonder Years, Three’s Company, Dallas] and of course 90210
24. Bitchy, vampy TV characters who kick ass, take names and don’t give a damn – examples include Nicole on DOOL, Val on 90210, Starbuck on BSG
25. Baseball – I love watching it live, up in the cheap seats with overpriced beer and pizza, fries, hotdogs, etc. - but it’s also just fine to watch from the comfort of my sofa
26. Silence – I know, I’m old, but I just love quietness
27. When a good song comes on my nonPod and there is no one around and I can sing and air drum and make an idiot of myself
28. Egg McMuffins – without the weird piece of ham of course – McDo breakfast is such a guilty pleasure and leaves me feeling quite strange, but it’s even better if it’s a surprise breakfast
29. In fact, good surprises of any kind – I still think of my surprise birthday party as being the best ever and best holiday ever was the surprise trip to Italy – surprises don’t have to be so grand, but I’m always genuinely shocked that anyone cares enough about me
30. Really clever modern art – just being around art of most types makes me feel wonderful, but contemporary art is my favourite
31. My mum sending me $20 in the mail – it’s something that my dad used to do when I was in university, my mum now does it whenever I find myself unemployed or in school
32. Listening to classical music in the bathtub – a really hot bath
33. Surprising other people – like when I go out to the airport to meet someone, the time I bought the Wii [and hid it in the closet for a whole weekend], buying theatre tickets for my mum
34. Cooking something special – I like cooking everyday, but I love having a recipe, assembling the ingredients and ending up with some new, exciting dish
35. Grocery shopping
36. Playing board games/trivia games – but only if I win [and convincingly]
37. Being in an airplane – you can’t beat that feeling as you are powering down the runway and then you just stop being on the ground – every time it happens, it’s a marvel
38. Going out to a nice restaurant and lingering over everything – I know this can bother servers, but I tip well and I will only do this if the restaurant isn’t superbusy
39. A really nice espresso
40. My nose piercing – if I could put my hoop back in I would be in heaven
41. La Perroquet – my favourite restaurant in the world [it’s in Belgium]
42. Kitties! I love animals of all type, but kitties and monkeys/apes are my favourites – kitties win because primates don’t have an Lolcat equivalent
43. Photos of celebs without makeup/celebs with cellulite – not because of the schadenfreud [sp?] factor, but because it makes me feel infinitely better about myself
44. A really smooth ride on a roller coaster – this doesn’t happen much @ Wonderland, sadly
45. Finding clothes/shoes in my size [that don’t need to be altered] with the bare minimum of hassle
46. Boots – they give such attitude – either sexy, tight boots with a killer heel or clunky, I can kick your arse kind of combat boot – I even love my winter boots!
47. A big snowstorm – this is new for me as coming from the snowbelt I hated the snow for 6 months of the year thing, but now I like it because it takes away the pressure to leave the confines of one’s home
48. Lego Star Wars – this game made me actually kinda like the real Star Wars, plus I like playing with Joseph and I like the fact that you never really die – can’t wait for Lego Indiana Jones
49. The Bloor Cinema – often talked about, one of my favourite places in Toronto
50. The new announcements on TTC buses and streetcars – they are on the subways as well, however only the bus and streetcar ones make me feel like I’m in London on the Tube
Yes, lots of food things, which indicates my very complicated relationship with food. I think trying to cure emotional eating is very difficult - I mean, certain foods will trigger your brain's pleasure centres and it's damn tough to fight biology. I'm pleased with the list, but it's so self-serving and reflects my current lifestyle - I bet in 6 months I would come up with a totally different list!
1. Ruffled chips with cream cheese dip
2. Blue cheese
3. Pizza done just the way I like it – thin crust, lots of zesty tomato sauce [lots of garlic and a bit spicy] and multiple cheeses
4. Maki with crunch that is wrapped with the seaweed on the inside
5. Noodles – big fat udon noodles, pho noodles, spaghetti noodles
6. Peanut butter and chocolate together – especially Quaker peanut butter granola bars dipped in peanut butter and Reese peanut butter cups
7. Popcorn sprinkled with parmesan cheese – this was an idea I got from DOOL where it was mentioned as a joke – it’s great, but don’t salt the popcorn or it will be too salty
8. Vegan chocolate cake @ Juice for Life
9. Crispy tofu in the Ninja bowl, also @ Juice for Life
10. Chocolate chip cookies – mainly the ones made from Amy Sedaris’ recipe and never ever eaten when freshly baked and warm
11. Soft cheese croissants
12. Coke Zero…by the bucketload – it is magic
13. Really good French fries with mayo – in Belgium
14. Chocolate waffles – with the fresh, warm chocolate – also in Belgium
15. Champagne
16. Miso soup with lots of bits of spring onion and seaweed
17. Pep – the candy bar, not the feeling
18. Email – you probably thought this was going to be 50 foods that make me happy – any kind of email – work email, personal email, forwards…I love it and I feel it’s going the way of the dodo as everyone uses instant messaging and Facebook
19. Comments on my blog – I think I’ve gotten maybe a dozen total, but it thrills me
20. Battlestar Galactica – this is only so far down because I’m hungry and feeling a
bit lonely
21. Late night TV – Jon, Stephen, Dave, Jimmy and Conan are all my favourites – I know that’s a lot of favourites…but it changes often
22. True crime shows and Bill Kurtis [he’s amazing]
23. TV that is kinda cheesy, but still watchable – examples include DOOL, classic TV shows [Wonder Years, Three’s Company, Dallas] and of course 90210
24. Bitchy, vampy TV characters who kick ass, take names and don’t give a damn – examples include Nicole on DOOL, Val on 90210, Starbuck on BSG
25. Baseball – I love watching it live, up in the cheap seats with overpriced beer and pizza, fries, hotdogs, etc. - but it’s also just fine to watch from the comfort of my sofa
26. Silence – I know, I’m old, but I just love quietness
27. When a good song comes on my nonPod and there is no one around and I can sing and air drum and make an idiot of myself
28. Egg McMuffins – without the weird piece of ham of course – McDo breakfast is such a guilty pleasure and leaves me feeling quite strange, but it’s even better if it’s a surprise breakfast
29. In fact, good surprises of any kind – I still think of my surprise birthday party as being the best ever and best holiday ever was the surprise trip to Italy – surprises don’t have to be so grand, but I’m always genuinely shocked that anyone cares enough about me
30. Really clever modern art – just being around art of most types makes me feel wonderful, but contemporary art is my favourite
31. My mum sending me $20 in the mail – it’s something that my dad used to do when I was in university, my mum now does it whenever I find myself unemployed or in school
32. Listening to classical music in the bathtub – a really hot bath
33. Surprising other people – like when I go out to the airport to meet someone, the time I bought the Wii [and hid it in the closet for a whole weekend], buying theatre tickets for my mum
34. Cooking something special – I like cooking everyday, but I love having a recipe, assembling the ingredients and ending up with some new, exciting dish
35. Grocery shopping
36. Playing board games/trivia games – but only if I win [and convincingly]
37. Being in an airplane – you can’t beat that feeling as you are powering down the runway and then you just stop being on the ground – every time it happens, it’s a marvel
38. Going out to a nice restaurant and lingering over everything – I know this can bother servers, but I tip well and I will only do this if the restaurant isn’t superbusy
39. A really nice espresso
40. My nose piercing – if I could put my hoop back in I would be in heaven
41. La Perroquet – my favourite restaurant in the world [it’s in Belgium]
42. Kitties! I love animals of all type, but kitties and monkeys/apes are my favourites – kitties win because primates don’t have an Lolcat equivalent
43. Photos of celebs without makeup/celebs with cellulite – not because of the schadenfreud [sp?] factor, but because it makes me feel infinitely better about myself
44. A really smooth ride on a roller coaster – this doesn’t happen much @ Wonderland, sadly
45. Finding clothes/shoes in my size [that don’t need to be altered] with the bare minimum of hassle
46. Boots – they give such attitude – either sexy, tight boots with a killer heel or clunky, I can kick your arse kind of combat boot – I even love my winter boots!
47. A big snowstorm – this is new for me as coming from the snowbelt I hated the snow for 6 months of the year thing, but now I like it because it takes away the pressure to leave the confines of one’s home
48. Lego Star Wars – this game made me actually kinda like the real Star Wars, plus I like playing with Joseph and I like the fact that you never really die – can’t wait for Lego Indiana Jones
49. The Bloor Cinema – often talked about, one of my favourite places in Toronto
50. The new announcements on TTC buses and streetcars – they are on the subways as well, however only the bus and streetcar ones make me feel like I’m in London on the Tube
Yes, lots of food things, which indicates my very complicated relationship with food. I think trying to cure emotional eating is very difficult - I mean, certain foods will trigger your brain's pleasure centres and it's damn tough to fight biology. I'm pleased with the list, but it's so self-serving and reflects my current lifestyle - I bet in 6 months I would come up with a totally different list!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Day One Hundred and Forty-Eight - Art Crawl
Today was quite the momentous day for me as I did my first paid work for an art institution - ever. And, I suppose that could qualify as my thing of the day as it is obviously highly extraordinary. However, the thing that I did was so cool that it really needs to stand alone. Today I visited 21 art galleries in one afternoon. True, I was doing nothing glamorous - I was delivering packages of brochures to various selected galleries along west Queen West [and I just pray that your gallery had been selected]. It was initially very heavy-going [I had 250 brochures in my backpack], but obviously got progressively easier. I find it very amusing that after all of my education and work experience I'm right back @ my first job ever - delivering papers of some sort. My mum would be so proud.
Mostly though, it was amazing fun. I realize that my standards for what qualifies as amazing fun are amazingly low. However, the winter has been going on since approximately forever and today was another of those teasing spring-is-on-its-way kinda days and honestly, without a solid reason to get outside I would instead stay inside and watch TV [because TV is not a fair-weather friend like the weather]. Also, it was fantastic to get to see all of the galleries like that. Speed art. Not all of the art is super fantastic, but more than what I would have thought. Additionally, I was super grateful that the population of both skeevy nutcases and hipster doofuses was quite low [although ever-present]. Mostly people were very nice to me and didn't make me feel like the sweaty, wind-blown dork that I was. I appreciate that.
Mostly though, it was amazing fun. I realize that my standards for what qualifies as amazing fun are amazingly low. However, the winter has been going on since approximately forever and today was another of those teasing spring-is-on-its-way kinda days and honestly, without a solid reason to get outside I would instead stay inside and watch TV [because TV is not a fair-weather friend like the weather]. Also, it was fantastic to get to see all of the galleries like that. Speed art. Not all of the art is super fantastic, but more than what I would have thought. Additionally, I was super grateful that the population of both skeevy nutcases and hipster doofuses was quite low [although ever-present]. Mostly people were very nice to me and didn't make me feel like the sweaty, wind-blown dork that I was. I appreciate that.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Day One Hundred and Forty-Seven - Kotta-Hay Cheese?
As mentioned in my cornbread post, cottage cheese freaks me out. "It looks as though this cheese has already been eaten." Yes, that is quite an apt description. Here's what I know about cottage cheese - it is high in protein, low in fat, which makes it an ideal friend for dieters and weightlifters. It is some kinda dairy product. It looks really unpleasant. And sounds unpleasant as well when you dig into it. All squidgy. I do frequently use it in low-fat recipes, but mixed with a lot of things [it's a good companion for ricotta or marscapone or cream cheese - like a 50/50 mix]. I have not tried it on its own, although a former coworker used to go into the cafe and just eat spoonfuls of it out of the tub. I found this...curious.
I had quite a bit of cottage cheese left from the cornbread, so tonight I created a safe place for myself - cuddled in front of the TV, in the dark and actually kinda hungry and I ate cottage cheese out of its tub. What happened was - the horror, the horror. Okay - it wasn't *that* bad. I tried very hard to not smell it as I have a sensitive nose and thought it might smell of something. The sound - so squidgy, so wrong. I let the tub and contents warm slightly from our supercold fridge. The texture - really, really wrong. A lot. The taste? Very surprising. I think I thought it would taste like tofu...kinda like nothing. It doesn't. As the LolCats would say - it has a flavour. Kinda like cream cheese, but stronger. And then a bit watery. Although this was rather horrific, I managed to eat at least five big spoonfuls. Like I said, I was hungry.
I had quite a bit of cottage cheese left from the cornbread, so tonight I created a safe place for myself - cuddled in front of the TV, in the dark and actually kinda hungry and I ate cottage cheese out of its tub. What happened was - the horror, the horror. Okay - it wasn't *that* bad. I tried very hard to not smell it as I have a sensitive nose and thought it might smell of something. The sound - so squidgy, so wrong. I let the tub and contents warm slightly from our supercold fridge. The texture - really, really wrong. A lot. The taste? Very surprising. I think I thought it would taste like tofu...kinda like nothing. It doesn't. As the LolCats would say - it has a flavour. Kinda like cream cheese, but stronger. And then a bit watery. Although this was rather horrific, I managed to eat at least five big spoonfuls. Like I said, I was hungry.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Day One Hundred and Forty-Six - Alive With The Sound Of Music
Granted, the concept of having a "thing-a-day" blog is not one that is meant to be competitive. However, it's hard not to view things that way sometimes when other people are doing things much cooler than me. Truthfully, today was pretty crummy - my volunteering partner is leaving the museum, the VCR is busted, my internet was out all day - minor stuff I know, but still - too many flies in my ointment [and I'm sensitive]. So, while some days I go cool/bold things for the project - things like confidently speaking a foreign language, trying some new food, going somewhere new...there are other days when I do something less inventive like making myself sick on Shamrock Shakes, change a lightbulb or, like today when I watched The Hills. No, not the hot new episode, but an older, crummy episode.
This Extraordinary Thing [it really is out of the ordinary as I cut reality TV out of my life and I never plan to repeat this] was brought about my simple curiousity and extreme, extreme laziness [even for me - this was epically lazy]. The thing is - I know people who watch this show and I wanted to know what the fascination was - I have also seen many of the girls from The Hills on JKL and Letterman [yes, they were vapid and dim - but there had to be more, right?]. And the laziness? Okay, so I got home from the museum later than normal after a walk in the Annex and was feeling sad/tired and with the VCR being bust I watched an entire episode of DOOL, including all of the adverts...and then...I was just sitting here - too lazy to go take a nap or to even arrange the pillows/sweaters so I could nap on the sofa [which I was currently sitting on] and it was 30 minutes until American Justice. So, too lazy to fall asleep the remote control wandered up to good old channel 52 [MTV, which I never watch] and The Hills was starting. O-kay [it was a sign].
Dear god - it was frakking awful. Like...I can barely even speak on it. The girls all seem more vapid and dim than in their late-night appearances [props to Jimmy and Dave for pulling some conversation out of them], the guys were alternately skeezy/too preppy or like BOTH simultaneously. They all have money, jobs, friends, a committment to horrific grammar/language skills and perhaps most worringly - the respect/admiration of regular people. I don't...get it. With all of the backlash against reality TV, you would think that these chicks would be the first to go. But, no. Boggles the mind. Next time I will take that nap - TV, how dare you betray me?
This Extraordinary Thing [it really is out of the ordinary as I cut reality TV out of my life and I never plan to repeat this] was brought about my simple curiousity and extreme, extreme laziness [even for me - this was epically lazy]. The thing is - I know people who watch this show and I wanted to know what the fascination was - I have also seen many of the girls from The Hills on JKL and Letterman [yes, they were vapid and dim - but there had to be more, right?]. And the laziness? Okay, so I got home from the museum later than normal after a walk in the Annex and was feeling sad/tired and with the VCR being bust I watched an entire episode of DOOL, including all of the adverts...and then...I was just sitting here - too lazy to go take a nap or to even arrange the pillows/sweaters so I could nap on the sofa [which I was currently sitting on] and it was 30 minutes until American Justice. So, too lazy to fall asleep the remote control wandered up to good old channel 52 [MTV, which I never watch] and The Hills was starting. O-kay [it was a sign].
Dear god - it was frakking awful. Like...I can barely even speak on it. The girls all seem more vapid and dim than in their late-night appearances [props to Jimmy and Dave for pulling some conversation out of them], the guys were alternately skeezy/too preppy or like BOTH simultaneously. They all have money, jobs, friends, a committment to horrific grammar/language skills and perhaps most worringly - the respect/admiration of regular people. I don't...get it. With all of the backlash against reality TV, you would think that these chicks would be the first to go. But, no. Boggles the mind. Next time I will take that nap - TV, how dare you betray me?
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Day One Hundred and Forty-Five - Greater Eggs-pectations
Every year for Easter I would get unreasonably excited [egg-sited!] about colouring the eggs. I say unreasonably because essentially all you are doing is putting some hard-cooked eggs into cups of food colouring, waiting a few minutes and then taking them out and maybe slapping a sticker on. It's really not *the* most thrilling fun. Sometimes I would use a wax pencil and write things on the eggs "invisibly", however this would invariably go wrong and end up saying "Happes yster" because I am none too precise. Also, my grandma would go mental with blue eggs [blue being her favourite colour] - she would cut you to get @ the blue dye and then because the blue dye is always the most powerful, there would be dozens of blue eggs.
This year I tried researching how to colour eggs naturally - like using food products. I remember my grandma doing this with onion skins and also something that made the eggs purple/red [I think either beets or red cabbage?]. I couldn't find any information, so I bought a kit. I also realized that mixing a bit of cooking oil into the dye would make the eggs more exciting. So today I made speckled Easter Eggs with glitter. Yay for glitter! It took me way back...all the way to the year 1999 when glitter was relevant. The speckling looks very cool [the oil does that] and makes them look more like bird or dinosaur eggs...so - eat up!
This year I tried researching how to colour eggs naturally - like using food products. I remember my grandma doing this with onion skins and also something that made the eggs purple/red [I think either beets or red cabbage?]. I couldn't find any information, so I bought a kit. I also realized that mixing a bit of cooking oil into the dye would make the eggs more exciting. So today I made speckled Easter Eggs with glitter. Yay for glitter! It took me way back...all the way to the year 1999 when glitter was relevant. The speckling looks very cool [the oil does that] and makes them look more like bird or dinosaur eggs...so - eat up!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Day One Hundred and Forty-Four - The Story Of A Childhood
Today I went to the cinema and I saw Persepolis - and although the conditions were less than ideal [the theatre was beyond freezing being the main negative], it was a fascinating film. I had seen the writer/artist on The Colbert Report and had read a few reviews around the time of the Oscars, but I didn't know that much about it, though I'm a total sucker for a coming of age chick story told via graphic novel. If that's a genre, it's in my Top Five. In fact, it is how I would like to tell my own story, except that I have no artistic talent and I feel that cheapens things [also, I don't even need to say that this is a total hack move @ this point in cultural history].
A few points on Persepolis. I know nothing about Iran. I mean, I'm intelligent, I know what's going on [kinda]...but I know so little about certain histories/regions that it's quite shocking [I don't really think most people know more than me, so I'm not feeling extra stupid]. So, now I'm left with the desire just to type "Iran" into Wikipedia and see where that takes me. I'm simple. I guess others don't like Iran all that much as is evidenced by certain people's desire to bomb it and other people's desire to not give this film an Oscar [like I said, I'm simple].
On the Academy Award issue - Persepolis is only the second film to be nominated in this category with a PG-13 rating. Really. I feel like many people probably do feel that animated pictures are "G" and that those types of films are the ones that should be recognized. But when I think of animated films, I don't even really think of Disney/Pixar - it would be like when one thinks of "good" [Oscar-worthy, I mean] films as any sort of pap that appeals to the masses [I liked Starship Troopers as much as the next guy, but it shouldn't win Best Picture]. Does the story of a cartoon rat chef more deserving than the story of real people affected by war and revolution? I guess I can't judge [since I wasn't asked to by the Academy], but I do think that the animation was better and more magical in Persepolis. But again, I'm simple.
A few points on Persepolis. I know nothing about Iran. I mean, I'm intelligent, I know what's going on [kinda]...but I know so little about certain histories/regions that it's quite shocking [I don't really think most people know more than me, so I'm not feeling extra stupid]. So, now I'm left with the desire just to type "Iran" into Wikipedia and see where that takes me. I'm simple. I guess others don't like Iran all that much as is evidenced by certain people's desire to bomb it and other people's desire to not give this film an Oscar [like I said, I'm simple].
On the Academy Award issue - Persepolis is only the second film to be nominated in this category with a PG-13 rating. Really. I feel like many people probably do feel that animated pictures are "G" and that those types of films are the ones that should be recognized. But when I think of animated films, I don't even really think of Disney/Pixar - it would be like when one thinks of "good" [Oscar-worthy, I mean] films as any sort of pap that appeals to the masses [I liked Starship Troopers as much as the next guy, but it shouldn't win Best Picture]. Does the story of a cartoon rat chef more deserving than the story of real people affected by war and revolution? I guess I can't judge [since I wasn't asked to by the Academy], but I do think that the animation was better and more magical in Persepolis. But again, I'm simple.
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