Ambition

(Audio only, no real video.)

Frida Kahlo

Make art, make art.

Okay, I love sports

1. So, my mom bought a bike. She says she was inspired by the Olympic athletes. She's 48 going on 49, and she has never ridden a bike. With my dad overseas for business, she's got no one to teach her in Vancouver, so she's trying to teach herself how to ride a bike, with rear-coaster brakes nonetheless (which I never mastered). Her goal is to surprise my dad when he comes back to Canada. She is, by far, the cutest.

2. Norwegian curling team pants 1:0 Canadian cross-country skiing team fishscale suit.

On that note, the day I understood the point of curling (read: yesterday) is like the day I was granted my Canadian citizenship. I'm so proud.

3. Okay, somebody explain ice dancing to me. What the heck is it? But long live the quadruple toe in men's figure skating--to quote Elvis Stojko, "In what sport do you have to hold back in order to win?" ISU judging system is still a work in progress--it's not perfect, nor was the 6.0 judging system. I hope this doesn't get abandoned in the works. These athletes need to be encouraged to progress, not regress. Nonetheless, Evan Lysacek did skate beautifully, and I do commend the artistry of (my future husband #348204) Stephane Lambiel.

4. I have discovered my love of snowboarding. Shaun White isn't human, right?

5. I don't care if they're milking it, I love Alexandre Bilodeau and his gold.

6. I also don't care if any national media, Great Britain to say the least, is ripping apart VANOC for its various flaws; safety at these games, however, is something else. Petra Majdic's fall, the flips at the bobsleigh competitions, unprecedented number of DNFs at alpine skiing events and the tragedy of Nodar Kumaritashvili--it's terrifying, actually. I do not understand the logics behind the architecture of these athletic structures, of course, but it's disconcerting.

6. Tonight I'm going to see Shutter Island, but in turn I'm missing short-track skating. This is what they meant when they invented the phrase "win-lose situation".

A time of romance

'Shall I give you Miss Brawne? She is about my height with a fine style of countenance of the lengthened sort - she wants sentiment in every feature - she manages to make her hair look well - her nostrils are fine though a little painful - her mouth is bad and good - her profile is better than her full-face which indeed is not full but pale and thin without showing any bone - her shape is very graceful and so are her movements - Her arms are good her hands badish - her feet tolerable.... She is not seventeen - but she is ignorant - monstrous in her behavior flying out in all directions, calling people such names that I was forced lately to make use of the term Minx - this I think not from any innate vice but from a penchant she has for acting stylishly. I am however tired of such style and shall decline any more of it.'

-John Keats, in a letter to his brother George, mid-December 1818

(What do you call that, when we observe the wanted sentiment in every feature, bone, and limb in each other?)

Vancouver imagery

View at Burnaby Mountain Park

Simon Fraser University, some climb into the Trans-Canada Trail.
My aunt teaches here but I'd never visited the campus before.


Mintage on Commercial Drive. I got my (old) new favourite shirt here.

Lunch at Belgian Fries... it was probably the best poutine I've ever had.

SO MUCH OLYMPICS STUFF. Quatchi is definitely my favourite.

Gastown, of course. Nood is so awesome!

An uncle brought us a whole tuna, so we had to drop it off at a sushi restaurant to have it sashimi-fied for us. Soooooo good.

This one's from White Rock.

(Most of the pictures were taken by my sister Adelaide, who used to write a great blog (now retired), 's Stad, since my camera has a mind of its own.)

Short words

O Frailty.

Nu year

Happy 2010, friends! Hope your last days of 2009 was lovely, warm, full of good food and company. I went to the Tranzac for a phenomenal showcase of Canadian music, with Gentleman Reg, Laura Barrett, The Magic, all that for NYE--until the last minute I was set to watch the fireworks from my patio over a reflectory glass of wine, but it was a good choice to go out.

Well, it was -15 degress in Toronto, and 9 degrees in the coastal town that I've left behind. Vancouver was much kinder this time around--I did a 7-hour climb up the snowy Mount Fromme at Lynn Valley (whoo!), saw the views from Burnaby Mountain park, and I scored a Rene Magritte-inspired pipe shirt at Mintage.

Also, I read a story of a man, who had acquired a branch of orchids, and the love he put into this plant. He watered it according to schedule, moved its place daily to where the half-shade was the most ideal for his flowers, gently tied up its stem as it grew taller. And when he went on lengthy vacation some time later, meaning to find rest and purpose, he put his close friend to care for this plant. He called the friend weekly to make sure the plant was thriving, and thought about these orchid flowers whenever he saw beautiful flora in the wilderness. He found that he was obsessing over this plant, and when he came home, he promptly passed it on to someone that he knew shared more love with silent things than with people. Then he set on to part with one thing a day, to not let his rest and work be overshadowed by possession. So I've made that my new year's resolution--going on Day 3 of the year it's been pretty easy, but I'll see that as I go on in the year I'll know what I really need and what's weighing me down.

Sounds like a solid plan, yeah? Yep.

Pictures of the trip coming soon! It only rained 3 out of the 12 days I was in Vancouver, and it was warm warm warm.

A mountainous Christmas

I am on the West Coast! Spirits are as high as the mountains here, and I think I will forever be jealous of the waters and the hills here, no matter how much I love Toronto. Tonight I'm watching In Bruges, my favourite Christmas movie (though it barely qualifies... tee hee), and tomorrow I'm going up to the Burnaby Mountain Park, on a suggestion from a friend. I also booked a NYE trip to Montreal, leaving on the very day that I arrive in Toronto. EXCITING!

I did a favourites list last year, and I do miss the time I spent with the music, but I think I'll just share some Christmas music this year.

Merry ho ho ho, and everything else too. Warmth and love to you, and everything else too.











Talk soon.

Bienvenue

The first 24 seconds of this video is how I feel right now.

The other 6 minutes and 46 seconds of it is brilliant.

ps. Watch Part II for effects intended by the playwright.

De Profundis

"...but Nature, whose sweet rains fall on unjust and just alike, will have clefts in the rocks where I may hide, and secret valleys in whose silences I may weep undisturbed. She will hang the night with stars so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send the wind over my footprints so that none will track me to my hurt; she will cleanse me in great waters, and with bitter herbs make me whole."

Oscar Wilde
1897

Opening tonight

If there is any excuse for my shotty posting over the past little while, here it is.

RTS presents

AS YOU LIKE IT

Written by William Shakespeare

Rehearsed with Ian Watson

Set and costume design by Esther Kim

Lighting design by Kai Masaoka

December 1 - 4 2009

Abrams Studio Theatre

Featuring Eva Barrie, Ayinde Blake, Laurie Campbell, Sean Casey, Cassandra Dang, Patrick Godin, Kira Guloien, Kate Handford, Kirsten Harvey, Madeleine Jullian, Andrew Lawrie, Anthony Rella, Ellis Rockburn, Katie Ryerson, Harveen Sandhu, Karen Slater, Noah Spitzer, Thomas Swayne, Philippe Van de Maele and Anna Wheeler

It's my design debut! It was a strange time in my life, but I am so excited for the show to open tonight, it's been a long time since I was really proud of my work of any sort being featured in a theatre, no matter how small. After a couple 90-hour weeks, I am ready to do this all over again (and I thank everyone involved for teaching me everything I know) and keep at it for once. But before I do anything again, there's the opening night party to attend to.

The sold-out run begins tonight!

ps. Happy December, and hope you enjoyed your snow-free November, Toronto!

I'm horrible.

Speaking of places, I'm heading back to Vancouver in a little over a month, and I miss the mountains and the ocean and the extremely slow public transit, but it's kind of hard to be excited about it. Along with Christmas, along with family, comes someone and events that passed between us that I haven't been able to forgive. My mother would tell me I'm petty, but my pettiness says I decide when I want to be the bigger person, and it's not time yet.

Nonetheless, to make my second trip this year to Vancouver better than the last one (which I'm sure was an unfair, shortlived judgement of a West Coast city by a proud Torontonian) I've been reading Vancouver is Awesome. Which is awesome. Because it tells me things like this.

Here's a quote that I think will make up for my brooding and ambiguity:

...promise to yourself that you will not wait. No more waiting, you're saying to yourself while adjusting the cord, tonight will be the night. You run your fingers through your hair, button up your shirt. One last look in the mirror. On your way across the street you step on a tulip, it occurs to you that it's the freshest sound you've ever heard.

Happy belated Halloween!

I have no costume, since I have been too busy (and also, loaded with lame excuses). Truth be told, I think I'm too old for Halloween (at prime 21), and I'm not sure if I was ever hugely into it ever since I stopped going out to collect candy. I will admit to wanting to drown in a bag of Tootsie Rolls nonetheless. Did you see the Google banners? They were sooooo cute.

Anyway, happy Halloween to those who enjoyed the occasion--I may have no costumes for myself but I'm in the process of costuming 20 others, for the upcoming production of As You Like It by William Shakespeare, at the Ryerson Theatre. Stay tuned!

And happy November! I should have perhaps shared this during the month of October:

(unfortunate) Wonders of the world

So I went to see the ever-wonderful Dan Mangan last night. We packed up the place, sang along to every song, crowd-surfed a robot, and I got to play some rhythm instruments for the last song (jealous?). Dan is, perhaps, gaining momentum as fast as any that I know about, and he deserves it. When I saw him just six months ago, he was amazed that people were throwing out song requests, and that people of Toronto were listening to him at all. But that tune is changed, and his songs are aging better and better.


Anyway, my lovely friend Sharmin brought along some friends--and among them Michelle, who pointed out that Dan looks like Seth Rogen...

I'm sorry if I ruined it for anyone.

Also, I've been absent lately--things are exciting over on this end, I am doing more art than I have in a very long time, and I would love to show you what I'm working on very, very soon. Hope everyone's building nice igloos for the winter!

LOL WUT

I hearby call on Stephen Harper to sing all his rebuttals to Michael Ignatieff.

Pros and cons

Last night was Nuit Blanche in Toronto, our fourth annual, and possibly the one where out-of-towners and keen lovers of cool, contemporary-sounding art finally realized that maybe it's not worth staying up all night, waiting for insufficient transit for pretentious artist statements that make things sound a lot more cool than it actually is. I'm guilty as charged for making this judgement after having attended only one year of the nonetheless admirable efforts by Torontonian artists... and this year I went to see Whip It instead.




And Drew Barrymore and I have the same taste in music. Ellen Page = very cute.

That digressed--anyway, then there's this: Timber Timbre and Bruce Peninsula, in one night, at a library. I'm very excited, even if Taylor Kirk asked me to remove my YouTube video of his performance at Soundscapes. Well, thank you for making your home here, mes artistes.

Merits

Congrats to Dan the Man for taking home the Verge Award!

See you October 16th!

What a line-up for the award show, I wish I could've went--but my dear momma has dropped in from Vancouver for a surprise visit and we spent a nice night in, catching mice and whatnot (sad). Also, despite the general speculation among friends for Chad VanGaalen to win the Polaris Music Award, it went to Fucked Up, and I'm by no means disappointed. I hear the gala was a hoot. MuchMusic is televising it on Saturday (lol wut?) so I guess I'm staying in on Saturday night too...

Now back to regular scheduled programming, ie. employment law and Shakespeare readings.

Gratefulness

These guys won an Oscar last year for the best original song category for a little movie called Once. When they were in Toronto to promote the film over two years ago, I sang with Glen Hansard. Two weeks before that, their all-amazing tour manager, Howard, pulled a serious ninja move to let the then-underage yours truly into the vicious Phoenix concert theatre to see the band in concert.

Tonight they played a 9-song acoustic set in front of a handful of people, and I was lucky enough to witness it. I'm still not quite sure what I did to be have the privilege to be there, other than sending a desperate plea at age 18 to be let into a gig.

Over a year ago my sister and I gave them a set of paintings (the bottom half is by me), wrapped in newspaper tied with a piece of yarn from a scarf I was knitting at the time.

When I saw Glen tonight, he showed me that same piece of string, tied around his wrist, been there since the night I gave it to him on November 23rd of 2007. As I am after every night I see them, I'm full of good music and lack words of thanks. The honky-tonk piano, so out of tune, did just fine for the evening.

Next up: Chad VanGaalen! I'm really, really banking on him to win the Polaris Prize. And then Bruce Peninsula, and then the Gaslight Anthem, and then Dan Mangan, then the Swell Season (again), then the Rural Alberta Advantage, take me into winter. I'm in love.

Uno due

My Eurotrip in ten photos:

Trets-en-Provence, France; my home for 17 days

Nice, France

Florence, Italy

Corniglia, Italia

Manorola, Italy

Strasbourg, France

Bern, Switzerland

Antwerp, Belgium

Lille, France

Europa, I miss you so.

6 days to go

I saw my 33rd apartment today. Between July 23rd and August 25th, I saw 33 apartments and called over 50 places. I still don't have a place for September. FAIL.

Not all of them are horrible dumps where the landlord is looking to bully yet another student tenant, but fuck, it makes me feel like an octopus on a rock that must choose between staying ashore or going into the water. I want to do neither. Life of an octopus is rather a hard one, it seems. Oh, and dear landlords of Toronto, please stop rejecting me because I'm a student. If I was black or disabled or purple or had an extra finger, would you reject me for that? If you answered yes, plz throw yourselves into a pit of fire.

Where are my parents when I need them? I'd move back into my old room in a second. Oh right, they moved to Vancouver. I guess I'll be seeing you, West Coast.

(ETA: after all this effort, the slightest bit of hope remains that I will, indeed, find a place that I love before the time comes for me to pitch a tent in a bush.)