Erotico Tico

haven't seen you in awhile.

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:30:10 GMT

whoop! is this thing on?

so i was in west africa for about 8 months....as I told miss catherine this evening, it was the most wonderful and awful thing I ever did in my whole life.
i'm kind of a mess. home for awhile and then back to halifax and cold oceans and lakes and islands and boys who wear flannel and girls who say all the wrong things, but laugh when they're saying them, and they have big white horse teeth and red lips and colt legs and look like big horses in stripes, and are kind of great. Halifax Girls. Nice to be back.

anyway talking to cato this evening made me revisit old things...old journals amongst the many carcasses and failed projects I've abandoned online. Any of you guys still around?

If you want to read the abandoned carcass of my African adventures, it's here: http://langinaccra.blogspot.com

going to Kingston this weekend. Old boyfriends! Old sites of first kisses! Old greasy spoons and old bars stinking of beer. It's like every Tom Waits song with all the depression and none of the lilt, the horns or the glamour. I'm nervous, for some reason.

Halifax = springtime = megajazz

Mon, 28 May 2007 15:55:54 GMT

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:59:59 GMT

Shelley on the phone last night: Sometimes I check livejournal to make sure who's not dead yet, and you haven't posted in a long time, and sometimes I just thought you were dead

Me: I guess you've got a point there Shell

This entry is going to suck 'cause I'm currently on the email/phone call circuit, trying to figure out what everyone's been up to with their various adventures, travels, infidelities, etc. If you don't really feel like talking, I guess this entry will work, in the name of expediency.

here's all you need to know (in brief, to avoid boring you)

+I still live in Halifax the cold, the turgid, yet still strangely wet!
+I'm standing on the precipice of being done school for life
+Eric and I still live in a terrible apartment building above Lisa and Joey
+they are still vegans
+I have a part-time gig at the radio station where I did my internship as an audio editor
+this involves me working from 4 am to 9 am every morning whilst still in school.
+I am less than pleased about this
+but I will eventually get to learn how to anchor and use the sound board if I don't get fired in three months
+I am pleased with this, hoping it leads to my fantastical wet dream of being hard, shrewd Technogirl!
+I sing karaoke every Wednesday with Lisa
+I party and do high kicks like an eighteen-year-old every weekend
+I am reading tons and writing lots
+I am having a fantastic fucking time out here
+I still miss Queen's and the photos of the latest Fake Prom have only compounded this
+You should come and visit

I have a bunch of emails and mix CD projectos in the works to be sent out, but it takes awhile because I' either asleep or at work or drunk or working on a four-thousand word article for school. But reading week = catchup week.

Here's a preview of what you might get if you come up here sometime.
(apologies to those on Facebook, these have appeared ad nauseum.)

I GOT NOTHIN' ELSE. FINITO

some notes

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 17:33:29 GMT

1) Leaving Las Vegas is a piss-poor movie to watch when you're hungover. I guess that'd be obvious. You would think so with a film that's known for being basically the most desultory, depressing thing EVER. I also though it was quite beautiful...Mike Figgis is pretty good at avoiding the sentimental pitfalls of places that are inherently, terrifically sentimental. But yes. Overall, I'm hurting.

There was one part that killed me though....the scene whereNicholas Cage is waiting in line at the bank and rambling into his tape recorder about how he'd find the bank teller more attractive if she had bourbon running between her breasts. It cracked me right up.

2) In a similar/dissimilar vein, I'm improving at poker. Watch out JAMES WOODS...you and your doppelgangers!

3) I don't have much to say on Livejournal these days, but I'd point you to my cheesy-as-hell family newspaper blog here and read my pontifications about bullshit.

I think, reallyactually, the whole point of this entry was to post that portrait. James, James, JamesWoods, my lover, my killer. (I can't post things like that in the family blog.)

beena longa time sincea roggandrull

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 02:24:54 GMT

The only thing I'm asking for for Christmas is this.

Look at this description from the Guardian for Chrissakes:

As Lewis tears into Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll, you wonder if the kids know what they're missing. Barely two minutes long, it is fabulously, breathlessly deranged: Lewis's vocal keeps distorting, as if the microphone can barely cope, as his remarkable piano-playing tussles with Page's slashing guitar. It's great, as is much of what follows - Springsteen's Pink Cadillac, Robbie Robertson's Twilight, John Fogerty's rumbustuous Travellin' Band. Neil Young turns up singing an old Jimmy Reed song for the specific purpose of demonstrating how ill-suited his voice is to singing Jimmy Reed songs, but his guitar solo stings. There's a lot of hokey cross-talk: "Mmm-hmm!", "You're right there, Jerry Lee!", presumably to emphasise what a loveable guy Lewis is.

OH MY GOD "MMM-HMM" AMAZING.

BUM VIVANT

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:20:39 GMT

I fixed the linky to Trevty's photos in the last entry, after receiving the astute suggestions of his PR Agent Mr. Birek. Enjoy him!

This week screamed by! I can't believe it's over. It's been a maelstorm of phone calls, copy clips, terrible streeters at the mall and one clumsily-performed/edited voicer. My News 95-7 voice rings distinctly of Robin Leach. I'm such a terrible performer it's ridiculous. I either sound like a drunken phone sex operator or an arrogant prick! There must be a middle ground somewhere!

As a result of the pace I think I've made myself sick. I'm going to try and smoke less since today Nova Scotia assumed the toughest anti-smoking laws in this country. And I thought Toronto was way harsh. Ah well, when in Rome.

Meanwhile, E-Rakk rented Clerks II and I'm so excited I could shit. Really. It's big t-shirt and blanket time!

no more monday mornings, cause i just quit my job

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:55:34 GMT

i haven't quit my job. i don't have a job. but japanther says i should quit. who am i to dispute the mighty japanther?

And hey, really, you should take a look at Trevty's photos if you don't know of him already. HIs work rings distinctly of J. G. Ballard, of Cronenberg and other violent mechano-body-artists. Building edges are jutting hipbones, curves of light are the bodies of beautiful ladies when you look closer. The city is good for some.

I'm a wee bit drunk. I sang "Rock and Roll Suicide" at karaoke tonight. I feel my only legacy will lie in my astute karaoke choices. I don't think this is good. I am bed.

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:59:35 GMT

I'm about to start week two of the radio internship. The newsroom is constantly churning with activity. The staff are all fairly young, skittish, and curse often. The deadlines are insane. The stories don't go longer than 45 seconds. This is "infotainment." Nobody takes lunch breaks, so I don't either.

People record their voicers in studio - there's no private sound booth or anything, which I think is both bewildering and fantastic. So basically, as you hear "I'M BLAH BLAH BLAH REPORTING FROM HALIFAX" boom across the room, it heralds SHUT THE FUCK UP TIME. I have been doing a lot of writing, audio editing and recorded one story for air but I have no idea if they used it. I was told that my performance was "too CBC" and that I needed to re-read at twice the pace. I phoned the RCMP and got a break on a story on a missing woman, which will sound paltry to everyone else but gave me a queer little thrill. Overall I'm loving this internship. I am beginning to think I'm not a CBC person and I'm glad I wasn't one of the many journalism students jockeying for an internship there...I'm enjoying this breakneck pace.

If this were NewsRadio, my news director with the cold eyes and weird laugh would totally be Dave Foley, and the hotshot Phil Hartman character is completely this man. He makes jokes about grabbing underage tit. He's also hilarious, deceptively intelligent and was one of the first people to introduce himself to me. You can read in the Wiki article about how he tore Nova Scotia's premier a new asshole on air about his marital infidelities. He's interviewing Michael Ignatieff at the station tomorrow - I wish I could be there to witness it.

Other than that, not much new. Eric got extensions on all his festival submission deadlines which is wicked awesome and means he doesn't have to keep killing himself. The Sylvan I work at on Saturdays is completely falling to shit and succumbing to nightmarish levels of disorganization, so I'm looking for another job. Haligoons? Anyone know of some jobs kicking about? Help a friend. I would really love to work at this the best video store i've ever seen but I don't know....it's minimum wage, but it also offers unlimited rentals.....oh jesus....

You know, you think you're at that point where you're beyond taking jobs like this....then you realize you're deluding yourself...."Don't think you're any better than this" - Geordie. Wise words from a redhead.

I'm really looking forward to coming home for Christmas and seeing my nephyah. I also hope to see a lot of YOU...can this be done?

embarrassing truth: I actually really liked a will ferrell film

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 23:10:50 GMT

I was shocked and delighted at how much I enjoyed this. Really.
The review I've linked to unpacks it very well: it's a movie for people who wish that more films were as good as novels.It has a little philosophical undercurrent for people who are into that. But it's mostly just delightful.

I have work to do but YOU go see this film! NOW!

joanna newsom

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 03:21:37 GMT

Okay, I really really want to like her. Her elf face and eyes make me want to cry. And the music is so beautiful, and lyrically she is a humdinger! (riverrunriverunriverun) I feel very good looking at her because she looks like one of these:

which is really wonderful and every time I see her I think of the movie, which reminds me of my childhood and making forts and it's really warm and delightful and nice.

But the VOICE! The FUCKING VOICE!

"PEACH PLUM PEAR!!"
Me: "HAIR SKULL BLOOD!"

I wish I had a mute knob for horsey whinny sounds on the computer, then I would listen to her all the time. Sorry Bryan. I've been trying all this time. I give up.

Actually, music is just dumb! I quit music. I'm gonna work on my poker skills, instead.

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 18:45:13 GMT

I actually had a real entry with pictures and thoughts in it today, but LJ is broken I think.
So I've never done one of these movie surveys before because I was frightened......I bit the bullet.
Apparently if you've seen 83 of these 240 mostly abysmal films, you have no life. I have seen 173 of them.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
(_) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane

Total: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) AnchorMan: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
(x) Saw
(_) Saw II
(_) White Noise
(_) White Oleander
(_) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(_) The Princess Diaries
(_) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total: 13

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
(x) Scary Movie 2
(x) Scary Movie 3
(_) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
(_) American Pie Band Camp

Total: 22

( ) Harry Potter 1
( ) Harry Potter 2
(_) Harry Potter 3
(_) Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1
(x) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
(x) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch

Total: 28

(x) Finding Nemo
(_) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (new one)
(x) White Chicks
(_) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(_) Robots

Total: 35

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
(_) Deep Impact
(x) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
(_) Eight Crazy Nights
(_) Joe Dirt
(x) King Kong

Total: 43

(_) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
(_) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
(_) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(_) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
(_) Final Destination 2
(_) Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(x) The Ring
(x) The Ring 2
(_) Surviving X-MAS
(_) Flubber

Total: 49

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
(_) Ghost Ship
(x) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
(x) The Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
(_) The Whole Ten Yards

Total: 57

(_) The Day After Tomorrow
(x) Child's Play
(x) Seed of Chucky
(x) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
(_) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(_) Remember the Titans
(_) Coach Carter
(x) The Grudge
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask

Total: 66

(x) Bad Boys 2
(x) Joy Ride
(_) Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Identity
(_) Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
(x) Predator II
(x) The Fog
(_) Ice Age
(_) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(_) Curious George

Total: 75

(x) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
(_) A Bronx Tale
(_) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn
(x) My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) Frailty
(x) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(_) Rush Hour 2

Total: 85

(_) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
(x) Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(_) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3

Total: 96

(x) X-Men
(x) X2
(x) X3
(x) Spider-Man
(_) Spider-Man 2
(_) Sky High
(x) Jeepers Creepers
(x) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) old and new one Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
(_) Cruel Intentions 2
(_) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2

Total: 110

(x) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
(x) The Notebook
(_) K-Pax
(_) Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
(_) Ice Castles
(x) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old-virgin

Total: 117

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Indiana Jones and the Legend of the Peacock's Eye
(N.B. the last one is not a movie yet)

Total: 123

(x) Baseketball
(x) Hostel
(x) Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
(x) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
(x) Highlander
(_) Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
(x) Three Amigos

Total: 132

(x) The Jacket
(x) Kung Fu Hustle
(_) Shaolin Soccer
(x) Night Watch
(x) Monster
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
(x) Willard

Total: 140

(x) High Tension
(x) Club Dread
(_) Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(_) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
(x) Orgazmo
(x) Phantasm
(x) Underworld

Total: 148

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
(x) Wolf reek
(_) Kingdom of Heaven
(x) The Hills Have Eyes
(x) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
(x) The Last House on the Left
(x) Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness

Total: 157

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Starwars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
(_) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
(_) Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Total: 163

(x) the Matrix
(x) the Matrix Reloaded
(x) the Matrix Revolutions
(x) Animatrix
(x) Evil Dead
(x) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America World Police
(x) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal

173 fucking movies. I should get an award.
I feel like I ought to be embarrassed, but you know what? I'm secretly kind of proud that I've avoided Harry Potter all this time. And my knowledge of Stephen King's film oeuvre is unparalleled. UNPARALLELED.
I guess you're supposed to pass this on or whatever, but most of you are into art/good films and I doubt if you can beat my estimable tally. But you can certainly try.

dumb etc

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 03:11:06 GMT

I was just "cleaning" (trying to clean, we have fruit flies) and i put on a CD Andrew Lee made and burst into tears.

It was funny though, because the CD is very much the Andrew Lee-style of wonderful ridiculous remixes and sexy music, mashups of the Cure and Pharrell etc, and I just crumpled on the floor heaving to the booty sounds. it was like SAD GRINDING.

a little homesick, methinks? Halifax makes me miss all my silly friends because I think of what good times people might have here. no, not might, would. AND WILL.

In other news, I need to figure out a Christmas present for a smart, alarmingly big baby. I would get him a book but he tends to eat them.

private dancer

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:05:13 GMT

You know, i get stressed out and think I'm crap at everything and I'm broke etc
but despite all that, life is really quite a wonderful treat at times.

K - OS FRAC-AS

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:16:56 GMT

Wow! Meghan just sent me these links this morning:

http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/10/hiphop_artist_a.php
and this resulted:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-10-26/music_feature2.php

Incidentally, I was listening to Mr. Lif's "Live From The Plantation" (lyrics here) as I read these very articles - a song that references the same "sambo" slur that K-os put on his Myspace, but in an intelligent and somewhat more appropriate context. Maybe Mr. Brereton could take a lesson or two from him.

Anyway I appreciate the links Meaghan, as I think I might suggest this as a 2-min commentary/rant for one of our shows next week, considering he JUST played Halifax. I would be amused seeing one of my angry colleagues get all Rick Mercer on this shit.

What do ya'll think about this? Is it justified? Do you think less of him now?

things i looked at this morning

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:29:57 GMT

I'm taking one of those "mental health days," as it were. Hence, non-school reading. Internet and fun! come on over.

I have noticed this morning that Dio is rejoining Black Sabbath . They're calling themselves - what else? - Heaven and Hell. I'm excited. Dio is the world's most intense man under five foot six. My little muffin!
Maybe the poor man's version of "Guns n' Roses" coming here will cancel due to torn septums or some such, and they can come instead!

The Herald is still writing articles about Peter MacKay's dog comments. Enough awwready! When Nova Scotia natives are in the news, the press here really shakes the shit out of it. Like a dog with a bone - punnnnny!

....Or a dog on, say, a skateboard. Is it terrible that I've watched this four times already this morning? It makes me feel fantastic. Ready to take on the day.

Eric put the trailer for his film on Myspace yesterday. You can see it here. Go to the "videos" section. Matt Faris is in it - for the Queen's folk. GORE!

I think that's about all. I tore my stocking. I need big breasts for my Hallowe'en costume, also. Big, pendulous breasts that will hang to my waist.(For those who don't know me in reallife my breasts are quite small, and pointyish.) If anyone in this resourceful group knows how to make convincing big breasts that will stay put, I will thank you.

stay gold.

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 21:54:29 GMT

i cut my hair guys! thanks for the input.

we just finished The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.....jesus h. completely, utterly, overwhelmingly intoxicating.
If you're like me and you passed over it a million times in the art-fuck section of Classic Video because it looked like a british comedy of manners....my God. See it now.

And I'm now officially an intern at a rogers station in Halifax. i better go get some sensible blouses. let's go drinking!

re:vanity

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 00:54:04 GMT

I really hate doing this but I need help. I require hair maintenance. Desperately. I can't make eye contact with anyone because my vision is obscured.....with HAIR. I also haven't gotten my hair cut in at least a year, due mainly to
a) psoriasis and thusly = embarrassment
b)i don't trust anyone except hillary ellis to cut my hair, and unfortunately, I live about sixty million miles away from the lovely lady at the moment.
I am thinking of something like this:

yeah i know it's really hipstery, but it's also really short, badass, and seems low maintenance which is fine.

I also looooooooooooorve this one, but it would take panache and I don't think it would go with my weirdo heart-face:

or maybe I should get this one

and magically become a 40 years old loose housewife! HAHAH AAUGHH

for reference, this is what my "hairstyle" looks like now - aka, Poor.

this was taken last night. that's me with the gesticulating and shitty bangs.

Good Idea/Bad Idea?

any and all good-natured humouring/criticism is appreciated.

notes

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:51:26 GMT

+I am a TIRED monkey today, friends and neighbours!
No matter. Tomorrow: end of boot camp. Tomorrow: the hopeful cessation of dreams full of flying split infinitives soundtracked by dead radio air. Tomorrow: the beginning of my life, growing back, to its previous form.
I intend to be cleaner and less distracted and drink less and make my diet not entirely sandwich-based. "To hell with good intentions" well, maybe, but I want to stick with mine. Seriously.

+what are your good intentions? A band? More money? Getting into law school? Making a bowel movement? Tell me.

+The Chronicle-Herald asked our Liberal candidates which song, book, or piece of art from Atlantic Canada made an impression upon them. Two candidates mentioned Alistair McLeod, and I clapped. Ignatieff said his great-grandfather. I didn't know you were allowed to cite long-dead relatives as pieces of art. Ignatieff reminds me of one of those rats that hangs about with Gonzo on the Muppet Show.
EDIT: Eric said "well hey, at least they know where the Martimes are."

+My radio friends: what do you think a radio internship would be like? what do you think about Rogers? would it be a better idea to choose a private radio station?

+I don't like this time of year for the one reason that HOUSE is kicked out of its timeslot for football or something. Meanwhile, we get LOST in all its glory. Its bullshit. I hate LOST. It's like a poorly-written Twin Peaks for the Survivor generation.

+Saturday I am going to learn more about Atlantic Canada when we drive to Cape Breton with Joey and Lisa, to camp. The colours are out and I'm bringing a sketchbook. Also, a camera, because I can't draw. These moments are precious. You need to have a backup.

No one updates elljay anymore. Hello....hellohello...is anybody in there? (THAT'S PINK FLOYD)

oh, well, here's some more

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 03:41:08 GMT

i hate how babies have to change.

We have three artworks by Mr. Ben Nelson in our apartment.

beat poetry/fed up, etc

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 03:34:24 GMT

my eyes are full of blood. they're dry and crackly, like scarecrowes. glutty dead-shards.
i think i'm.....dying*?

*pleas for attention

after my brain and eyes gored each other to death, i made a cut-up w/ instructive journalism papers from class
....and guess what?
STILL BORING.
"nut graf" sounds dumb no matter which way it goes.
Say it again. "NUT GRAF" --- THAT'S DUMB.

uh, a vignette

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:55:35 GMT

After interviewing burlesque dancers for my radio voice report, I decided to walk through the Commons. Many people have told me that this is a bad idea, but tonight I was too tired not to take the shortcut. The Commons is an interesting place right now. You might have heard that pale wizened men are going to play a big concert here, in a Very Significant Cultural event. They're to be joined by an angryish black man with a gold-painted harem. And a aging goth wizard! And some shaggy hometown treasures!
The stage being set in place for all these men is hanging off in bits and pieces. The cast iron bleachers flank it forebodingly in tonight's cold half moon and fog. This stage feels like it will never be finished. It's a scaffolding graveyard. Lisa, Joey, Eric and I are all secretly excited even though we should be bitching about the terrible noise like all the other people in this neighbourhood.

Anyway, I was stepping over some sleeping people and dodged their dog, who looked either nonplussed or angry, I wasn't sure. I was listening to this ancient 1970s cassette recorder my prof insists we use that's bigger than your head. I was listening to this burlesque dancer tell me about how she sometimes pretends to be a cat onstage, replete with a bowl of milk. "I'm not really prop-oriented, but that's my prop," she said. I'm listening to this and I walk face-first into a fence. It's ten feet high and sort of iron, and it's gating the entire Commons in.

I walked around for about half an hour, cursing vaguely, wondering if I was going to have to sleep in the park.
Did I make it back? YOU BE THE JUDGE.

"we're cutting off our arms!"

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:35:35 GMT

I just finished an essay. Nothing ever changes.

MEANINGLESS HALIFAX-CENTRIC QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"AM I METAL NOW"
~me, Saturday night, at the exorcism of the soon-to-be dead Sharp Like Knives.
Then I threw myself into a crowd of small boys!
Note: Paul Hammond looks a lot like LUKAS NEVILLE I think, only shorter. Discuss?

(photo gracelessly stolen from Halifax Locals.)
9/11 anniversary: During a gulping beer break in the precious hour between classes, a few of my school friends and I agreed that we like it much better when our guest lecturers are working journalists who don't lecture often and take a gristly, bare-bones approach to everything, like Peter Cheney, the Globe & Mail writer who talked to us about his crazy series on 9/11 survivors. Obviously, when confronted with real writers like these, I feel like the hack fuck I was meant to be. I am rapidly approaching sensory overload. I've been going back to my old articles from here and there, and I come away from them, sometimes happy, often cringing. These past six weeks have been just LOUSY with self-reflection.

On the non-journo front: I just watched Breathless. It was my first Godard film. It made me bristle in a fun fashion. I find myself relating it to everything. I dreamt of it last night. Everything I am doing now seems immediately applicable to the dialogue and characters, especially the things they talk about in bed.

Speaking of the French, there was a french party. Apart from a couple of small distasteful incidents, it went very well.

Lisa La Resistance.....

a self-made man, and trillium....

Geordie gives great Quebecois

This guy is the new j-school equivalent of Denis Coyne, if more taciturn. I know, I didn't think it was possible either.

those ubiquitous baguettes!

lotsa stripes and dancey picnic boys

the obligatory LANG FISTPUMPING SHOT, the obligatory indications of excessive homemade wine!

We call this one Greg Chapeau! All he eats are cigarettes and cake.

autumn's here in halifax. is it like that in toronto? my fingers are tingling and i couldn't be happier.

all creatures great and small

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:55:56 GMT

I'm sitting here in our computer lab at school. I just finished, simultaneously, a TV voiceover edit that was due today, and also an interview with a classmate, also due today. Everyone is busting asses trying to get these things done. We are all very, very tired. Nine hours of class per day is taking its toll.
I'm a little overwhelmed by the TV class in particular. The jargon comes as easily to me as Esperanto. Which is to say...not at all. We are supposed to refer to this frequently. Up to this point, the only "vet" I was aware of were James Herroit:

Aw! The moors!

But yeah, I'm amused by the people who said I wouldn't learn anything while I was here. Or be "bored"...one of my Journal friends actually said that. I laugh at the memory now. I don't have time to be bored here. I don't have time to do anything. This is not a complaint.
However, I still occasionally feel utterly out of my element. Print is not too bad. Print, I'm okay. In TV and Radio-land, however, I'm adrift at sea. Two completely different ways of writing and thinking and I'm supposed to have some sort of clumsy grasp on them in five week's time. Ahahahaha!

On the nice side, I'm really enjoying the people here. Even as the first-years come filtering through, this campus is small. Everyone already knows everyone - we know security guys by name. Our profs always stop and ask how things are going. No one's cutthroat - not yet anyway. We help each other out. And my classmates are an interesting collection. Everyone has a history. Everyone likes to drink.

What a ridiculously boring post. The next will be a doozy, let me tell you. Tonight, lobster dinner at the Duncan parental residence, in celebration of Eric's movie being sort of kind of in the bag. Tomorrow, Value Villages, outdoor markets, beaches, perhaps a dog show.
Sunday night, all forty-two journalism students are apparently coming over to our house for a "Menage a Long Weekend" - a French-themed beer party. It's an equal opportunity French-ing too, because some of our class is Quebecois, and some are Acadian, and some simply want an excuse to dress like Audrey Tautou. Lisa, Eric and I are downloading lots of Les Breastfeeders/Francoise Hardy and practicing our accents/accidents. I will post some photographic evidence of the savages I go to school with and also the hovel in which Eric and I currently reside. Hold onto your butts.

time to poo your pants!

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:37:05 GMT

The tentative lineup for Halifax Popsplosion:

*The Weakerthans
*Christine Fellows
*Fucked Up
Cadence Weapon
Duchess Says
We are Wolves
Jon-rae the river
Great Lake Swimmers
Maximum RnR
The Spades (Holland)
Julie Doiron
Joel Plaskett
The Bicycles
dd/mm/yyyy
Geoff Berner (with band!)
Barmitzvah Brothers
Pony Up
Raising the Fawn
Randy (Sweden)
Hope
PMK (Scotland)
The Beginners (Mike O’neil/Mike Trachtenberg)
Shotgun and Jaybird
Five Blank Pages
*Risky Business
*Dollarama
*Garbage! Violence! Enthusiasm
The Stance
*A/V
Eugene Ripper
*Wooley Leaves (Will from the Constantines)
*Windom Earle
The Establishment
Kelly and the Kelly Girls
Die Brucke
Be Bad
Lil Andy
Gamma Gamma Rays
Bless
Spesh-IllK
Stephanie Hardy
Jon Mckeil
Hotchiwitchi
Rembtika Hipsters
The Superfantastics

Holy shitload of Toronto bands, Batmaaaan. S'like I never left.
I have to say I'm really excited to see Mike O'Neill's band with Mr. Trailer Park Boys himself.

TAMBOURINE AT YOUR PERIL

Sat, 26 Aug 2006 20:56:27 GMT

AUGGGHGHGH!

Yes, that bruise was tambourine-based. See the crescent shape? I did it at karaoke....oy....call me Sally Overzealous...

now that that's all over and done with, here's a picture of two of my favorite little princes singing, uh, "Two Princes" during the night of my self-mutilation.

Here's some other things we've been doing!

Here's a man playing piano in cow gloves down by the harbour! His hands looked like little cows doing soft-shoe on the keyboard.... alarmingly compelling....

In Halifax, people like drinking out of these....

Then this happens!

THEN...(well, earlier) you run into a very drunk Brian Borcherdt (one of my favorite Canadian musicians, Mom) ON THE STREET! "HOLY F**K!!" we should (which is his BAND'S NAME as well as an exclamatory statement, quaint.)

I love how I get to explain all these references to my mom.
Anyway, here's the picture. It's terrible because I was right in the midst of my "good times" but you can see Brendan's quite happy about the situation.

Egads what a picture bonanza. We'll take a little break. Tomorrow, Eric is filming the VERY GREEK wedding of his boss from Gus's Pub and I am his Nia Vardolos. We are off to the Darmouth Value Village to go get him a "nice" suit. Wish me luck - that's a lot of free food and Ouzo....oyo....