the jerk

So "The Jerk" was on this morning while I was eating my breakfast and it made it really hard to actually make it to work. How can you walk away from "The Jerk?" It's almost impossible it's so funny. Here's a hilarious and completely ad-libbed scene from Steve Martin. Kudos to Bernadette Peters for sure -- I would never have been able to keep a straight face.

the luckiest girl alive

In case you weren't already jealous of Sarah Silverman, this just might do it for you. First she manages to be both "girl next door beautiful" as well as classically and stunningly beautiful. Add to that she's hilariously funny. Add to that a hilariously funny boyfriend. Now add that her hilariously funny boyfriend loves her fat!! Wha??? Huh???

She was just voted one of People magazines 100 Most Beautiful People and her quote reads:

"Thank God for Jimmy, because all the things I don't like about myself are the things that he likes the most. Like my inner-thigh fat. He grabs it and he's like, 'I love this!' "

Yup, unfair.

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 24th

CKLU 96.7 FM
* denotes Canadian talent
italics denotes a new release

• Wyckham Porteous -- Deep Into The Water -- 3 AM *
• Calexico -- Deep Down -- Garden of Ruin
• REM -- Mr. Richards -- Accelerate
• Brent Randall & His Pinecones -- This Absence of Mine -- Strange Love (single) *
• Broken Social Scene -- Hotel -- Broken Social Scene *
• Ox -- Promised Land -- Dust Bowl Revival *
• Kris Demeanor & His Crack Band -- I'm Not That Kind -- Party All Night: Live at Ironwood *
• The Flaming Lips -- It's Summertime -- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
• The Kooks -- Stormy Weather -- Konk
• Guided By Voices -- Dirty Water -- Earthquake Glue
• Joan Jett & The Blackhearts -- Crimson & Clover -- I Love Rock n'Roll (vinyl)
• Plants & Animals -- Mercy -- Parc Avenue *
• Teenage Head with Marky Ramone -- Picture My Face -- Teenage Head with Marky Ramone *
• Constantines -- Time Can Be Overcome -- Kensington Heights *
• Willie Nelson -- September Song -- Stardust (vinyl)
• Nick Drake -- Fruit Tree -- Five Leaves Left
• The Priddle Concern -- Faucet Dripping -- The Priddle Concern *
• Cuff the Duke -- Blackheart -- Life Stories For Minimum Wage *
• Loose Fur -- Hey Chicken -- Born Again in the USA
• The Kinks -- Something Better Beginning -- Kinda Kinks
• Ghost Bees -- Tasseomancy -- Tasseomancy *

Notes this week:

• "Time Can Be Overcome" is 5 minutes and 44 seconds of perfection;
• All CD copies of Stardust should be destroyed, leaving only the vinyl in existence;
• How good is the new Teenage Head record you ask? So good I actually added a PS about it in a work email I was writing to the label head. That's how good. He assured me that they are just as good live now as they ever were. News like that makes me really happy;
• Joan Jett's cover of "Crimson & Clover" also makes me really happy. Still;
• Ah The Kinks. For some reason their "kickassitude" has been the subject of 3 separate conversations in the last 3 weeks. There has been great discussion about how they should have been The Rolling Stones if only they could have caught a break/got their shit together. Talk about the British invasion. I also readily admit that although "Come Dancing" is their standout cheesy 80's hit for the mainstream -- I still think it's a kick ass song and shouldn't be given such a hard time. If you can't have a dance party to that song than I question your ability to recognize good music.

old man bailey

So my puppy is sick and I'm worried. Marc is taking him to the vet tomorrow. Hopefully it's nothing really major but it's safe to say he's aged about 5 years in the last 5 days.

healthier tara = good: salba salba salba etc

One of the funnest things about my health kick so far has been playing at the health food store. In the past, I really didn't need an excuse to play at the health food store but now I feel like I actually know a bit more about what I should be buying and what I need etc etc. In an attempt to cut out most of the sugar etc from my past eating habits, we've been finding all kinds of fun alternatives. I've adopted my dad's honey in coffee habit instead of sugar and I'm 100% loving it. I've just started using honey or molasses etc in place of any type of sugar. 

The last time Marc went to the health food store without me he came home with a bag of Xylitol -- the hippies are all aflutter over this stuff and we thought we'd give it a try. It's basically a completely natural sugar substitute that strangely also works as a cavity reducer and obviously has a fraction of the calories.  It's naturally found in fruits and vegetables and is also sometimes called "Birch sugar" and in a nutshell, acts like sugar without all the nasty side effects -- "Although xylitol tastes and looks exactly like sugar, that is where the similarities end. Xylitol is really sugar's mirror image. While sugar wreaks havoc on the body, xylitol heals and repairs. It also builds immunity, protects against chronic degenerative disease and has anti-ageing benefits. Xylitol is considered a five-carbon sugar, which means it is an antimicrobial, preventing the growth of bacteria. While sugar is acid forming, xylitol is alkaline enhancing. All other forms of sugar, including sorbitol, another popular alternative sweetener, are six-carbon sugars which feed dangerous bacteria and fungi."  

I still prefer honey in my coffee though but the Xylitol is a good substitute for just about anything else.  And it won't give you brain cancer like other sugar substitutes.

Another fun thing we've discovered is Salba.  In my attempt to get healthier I've started making a point to eat all the "super foods" you read about every 2 minutes on every website.  They are  right, after all.  So the avocados, the quinoa, the berries, the wheat germ -- you name it, we've been eating it.  Add to the mix, Salba.  Sorry quinoa, but you're apparently not the holder of the "Superhero Super Food" title.  Gram for gram, Salba has 6 times more calcium than milk, 3 times more iron than spinach and 15 times more magnesium that broccoli.  It's completely all-natural, no trans-fats, gluten-free and has almost no carbohydrates and is the richest source of Omega 3 fatty acids and fibre found in nature.  You can add it to pretty much everything and I believe even use it in place of eggs in baking.  Sunday I whipped up a batch of Salba Cranberry Muffins and they're pretty damn yummy not to mention completely healthy unlike a lot of muffins out there.  

Anyway, just thought I'd pass these 2 things on for any one else that's trying to jack up their diets.

weekend round-up

Ahhh the weekend. Weekends are great. Weekends are still great even when your plans pretty much go to pot. That's pretty much what happened on Friday night. The plan was to go home, eat a nice dinner, chill out for a bit and then go out to catch the Cuff the Duke show at the Townehouse. What ended up happening, was me staying home playing nursemaid to our hopelessly arthritic dog. Poor Bailey -- he's old and Friday was the first full-on rainy day we've had in awhile. As a result, the poor guy seized up to the point where he was laying spread eagle on our front walkway (in the pouring rain no less) unable to stand up or make it up our steps. We rigged up a towel sling contraption and managed to shuffle him into the house where he pretty much flopped onto the floor and stayed there the entire night looking incredibly pathetic. We wrapped him in warm blankets fresh from the dryer, gave him many hip massages, called Gramma to come over to look at him and basically TLC-ed the heck out of him. About 5 hours in the same spot passed and we again towel-lifted him up to go outside, half-carried him back in the house where we managed to actually get his bed under him before he flopped down again where he pretty much stayed until the middle of the night. So yeah, I missed Cuff the Duke but when your puppy needs you, your puppy needs you.

Saturday it was miserable, cold and rainy so we ran a bunch o'errands, watched many episodes of Carnivale and Big Love and ate a supremely deliscious meal of turkey meatballs, penne and spinach. Spinach sauteed in oil and garlic is one of my most favourite things ever. Toss in some cherry tomatoes and you've got yourself a sidedish of perfection. We also had a lovely surprise visit from friends MIke and Tara and their mega-cute baby girl Charlie. Thanks for the visit guys -- I'd be lying if I said I didn't drink the leftover wine myself!!! That is an outstanding way to spend a rainy Saturday.

Sunday I pretty much domestic goddessed myself out. Buckets of laundry, cleaning, craft project, slow-cooking and baking - I did it all (baking post forthcoming). Monday back to work -- sigh.

dear birthday fairy take 5...

...a shiny Vespa. There isn't a word for how happy I would be on a shiny new Vespa. I have wanted one of these since I was old enough to know what a Vespa was. Seeing them in the millions on the streets of Rome succeeded in making that desire exponentially stronger. Undeniably stylish factor aside, our car leaves our driveway usually once during the week and a couple of times on the weekend. If we had a Vespa, our car could pretty much go away for the whole summer with the exception of long distance trips, grocery shopping and taking Bailey somewhere. AND I'd look awfully cute zipping around the city on my snappy Vespa -- like a woman on the way to someplace ultra-fun. I know there's tons of scooters out there now but come on, a Vespa is a Vespa and nothing else has that same look or feel.

is nothing sacred?

According to the Chicago Sun Times, if you've got $22 million, you can own a piece of movie history. At least, a nearby piece. Below is the story:

LOS ANGELES — The world-famous HOLLYWOOD sign that has been used by TV and movie directors in more scene-setting shots than a film student could ever count was first erected in 1923 to promote real estate in the fledgling capital of celluloid.
Eighty-five years later, some fear the sign and the hillside on which it sits are threatened by, yes, a real estate deal.

Potential sale of property on Cahuenga Peak near the sign has raised objections from many people and is forcing the city to consider buying the property. An investment group that owns 138 sage-covered acres above and to the left of the 45-foot-high, steel-and-concrete H put the land up for sale last month for $22 million.
Some Los Angeles residents are afraid mansions will be built there, spoiling the sign’s uncluttered, postcard-perfect backdrop. They worry, too, that the land will no longer be accessible to the hikers, sightseers and romantics who often climb the hill for solitude and a panoramic view of the Los Angeles basin.
Residents led by a city councilman are fighting to preserve the parcel, known as Cahuenga Peak.
‘‘That is our Eiffel Tower,’’ Councilman Tom LaBonge said. ‘‘There is the Hollywood sign. There is the open space. And that’s all there is. This is ours and it should remain ours.’’ The parcel has a distinctly Hollywood back story: It was once owned by billionaire Howard Hughes.
Lore has it that Hughes bought it in 1940. In fact, most people here assumed the property had long ago fallen into the public domain.
That is, until Fox River Financial Resources, the Chicago investors who quietly purchased the peak from Hughes’ estate for $1.7 million in 2002, put the one-of-a-kind parcel on the market recently.
Based on the bargain-basement price paid by the investors, it appears the Hughes estate’s trustees were unaware of what it was worth or too busy managing the billionaire’s vast holdings to care, said Ernie Carswell, a real estate agent handling the property.
Either way, the current asking price stems from valuable information the owners unearthed after buying the property: In 1949, Hughes secured the right to build a hillside road on land owned by the city Department of Water and Power. That would make the hill more accessible, and thus more attractive to homeowners.
Carswell said the parcel is farther away from the Hollywood sign than many people realize, and that at a distance, even a mansion would be a mere ‘‘speck’’ on the mountain.
To the many fans of the Hollywood sign, however, carving up 1,820-foot Cahuenga Peak makes as much sense as cutting up the Hope diamond to make a lot of engagement rings.
‘‘I think people would do everything from bake sales to jog-a-thons to stop this,’’ said Yvonne Chotzen, who often walks her dog on the trail below the sign. ‘‘There is huge passion for it.’’
LaBonge wants the city, which owns the ground the sign stands on and the land on three sides of it, to acquire the old Hughes property. But he said the city cannot legally pay more than $6 million, a price based on its most recent appraisal.
The councilman is talking to conservation groups about buying the land. Another option, he said, is asking Hollywood heavy hitters to chip in as they did in the 1970s, when Hugh Hefner, Alice Cooper and other celebrities paid $28,000 each to replace the sign’s nine crumbling letters.
Historian Marc Wanamaker, president of the preservation group Hollywood Heritage, doubts the Ginger Rogers-Howard Hughes love story. But he said there is no denying the significance of the Hollywood sign, which is instantly recognizable around the world.
‘‘It’s true the Hollywood sign was originally a sign to help sell development. But by 1945 the City Council of Los Angeles had made it the official iconic sign of Los Angeles,’’ Wanamaker said. ‘‘It’s just become part of the culture and landmark status of Los Angeles, extremely important.’’
Carswell said there is something ironic about the effort to block real estate development around the site.
‘‘Those letters were a real estate developer’s advertisement. That’s the whole way the sign got there,’’ he said. ‘‘So I think it’s the perfect circle.’’

amy pohler: queen of the world

In case you needed more of a reason to love Amy Pohler, check out her interview in the Village Voice -it's completely laugh out loud funny. I friggin hope she's serious about her and Tina Fey doing "Cagney and Lacey." Cuz that is a perfect, perfect idea.

(PS. I also want her top)

dear birthday fairy take 5

I love all of Robert Ryan's screenprint and tile work. So adorable and warm and fuzzy but so graphically appealing all at the same time. Here are some of my faves:

dear birthday fairy take 4

These cream and grey Fluevog Operetta Viardot's would go with any of the 2 dresses I want to buy for our Awards gala. Plus they would make my already cute feet look even cuter. Size 6 please...

moms are awesome..

..cuz you get to be warm and dry while they get soaked. Moms rock.

happy birthday helen hunt...

...who apparently just turned 80.

Yeesh.....maybe this is why she hasn't been seen in public lately.

more hillside gossip...

Here's some more performer listings for Hillside as they slowly start trickling out into the worldwide web:

Hawksley Workman
Hayden
Cowboy Junkies
Bell Orchestre
Plants & Animals
Kelly Joe Phelps
Harry Manx
The Arrogant Worms
Black Cabbage
The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir
The Sadies
The Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean

I'll keep you posted as they are released. Hayden was there our very first Hillside -- how nostalgic. Strange ticket info: the redeeming of holiday gift certificates that, when I called them in November, the office told me they weren't doing this year. Funny how that happens. Not to mention the pre-selling of Early Bird Passes in person only -- what's up with that?? God help us all if we don't get tickets this year. We'll have one sad T-Bone on our hands.

wait a minute...

...these look like people I know! Here's our pals Lisa and Cindy with the littlins' Levecque and the Six String Nation guitar at the Exclaim Hockey Summit of the Arts.

Ahh such fun. Here's a refresher of Dennis and I's pic with the guitar at the 2007 OCFF conference in London.

new way to impress your lunch date...

...by dangling them hundreds of feet in the air while you eat! Here's a picture of some journalists dining at a new event venue that offers dinners ‘in the sky’ on a platform lifted by a crane above Heroes Square in Budapest. I could totally do it but know many, many people whose lunch wouldn't be spending too much time in their tummies...

room o'colour

Oooooh thanks to Abbey for posting this great image from the MOMA Colour Exhibit. Artist Jim Lambie created his signature installation of coloured electrical tape on the ground floor and I just think it's fantastic. Every time he does this project it varies based on the measurements of the room. The lines and the colour -- with buckets of patience a person could easily re-create this. Imagine being a kid and having this as your bedroom floor? Talk about being the coolest kid on the block. Abbey suggested a mud room but I don't know if I'm that brave. I also don't have a mud room.

talk about flushing away money...

In honour of Earth Day let's talk toilets. Say what you will, but in our house we follow the "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" rule. When we remodel our bathroom we'll get those new fangled European-like toilets with the 2 flush options but in the meantime, that's what we do. We've been following that rhyme for about a year now and here's some interesting notes. According to our water bill, we're using half the water we were using this time last year. Half the water!!! Just because of that! Friends of ours have been doing this for even longer and went so far as to keep a tracker in their bathroom, making a note on the page every time they didn't flush. They also have an older toilet so every time they didn't flush saved them about 4 gallons of water. Add up the number of times 2 people in a household take a non-flushable #1 and you're saving like 30 gallons of water in one day!  That's insanity!  

Bottom line - cutting our water bill in half is fine by me.

dear birthday fairy take 3...

I would also be very happy with these 2 puppies from the madras plaid dog bed ad on the JCrew website. Seriously JCrew, how do these ads keep getting cuter and cuter?? When will it stop?? The little paws, the noses, the sleeping....my heart hurts.

more earthy goodness

This earth tee from EveryLittle Counts. Fun!

.

earth = good

Happy Earth day fellow Earthlings. I'm thinking extra earthy thoughts all day today. You should too.

stuff I saw and liked in saturday's globe and mail

In honour of our Earth Day celebrations, here are some eco-friendly finds from this past Saturday's Globe and Mail.  

Urban Tree Salvage:  This Toronto company takes advantage of the 9000 trees that are removed from the city annually and uses this old-growth wood to make great furniture and accessory pieces.  I've always wanted a huge harvest table made from reclaimed wood and these folks just might be the answer to my prayers.  Because so many of these trees have been growing in challenging environments, the resulting grain patterns are really unique and beautiful.  I'm also quite partial to the live edge Maple serving platter.  It's purdy.  Good on them from saving these great trees from the mulcher -- for once urbanization might work in your favour!

Green Is Black:  Here's a great store on Yonge Street in Toronto offering chic (gasp!) eco-friendly clothes by cutting edge designers.  Stuff like this little black dress made from 2 vintage trouser coats and this Lottie Wrap dress.  They've also got great bags -- some made from candy bar wrappers that they apparently can't keep on the shelves. 

 

dear birthday fairy take 2...

I haven't loved a dress this much in a long time.  For realsies I swear!  This Slide Rule dress from Anthropologie is exactly the dress I want for a work event on May 9th.  Since my birthday is the 4th, this would be a perfect gift (provided it fits perfectly on the first try).  The colour and the adorable tie at the back - its got Tara written all over it.  It would also give me an excuse to get new shoes...maybe some great ivory wedges or something?

weekend round up

Thanks to the beautiful weather this weekend, we spent a good chunk of our time "manicuring the estate" as my father would say.  We managed to dig out way to the bottom of the huge sand pile on our lawn (thanks for nothing Mr. Snowplow) and get all our shrubs uncovered, leaves raked, ugliness removed etc.  Thankfully, all of the shrubs we planted last year for the wedding seemed to have survived the winter quite well and underneath the 2 feet of leaves tons of my flowers are already sprouting.  Gotta love spring when it starts out in your favour!

After all the yard silliness, we packed up Bailey and my parents and headed downtown for lunch and Earth Day festivities at the Farmers Market. AND I got to bust out my new Kate Spade sneakers.  Not earth-friendly I'm afraid and a blatant example of rash consumerism but red and sassy all the same! Let's also take a moment to appreciate the wonderfulness of Liana B, pal and proprietor of Books and Beans downtown.  At 25 minutes to closing, she was kind enough to make all 4 of us a mess of sandwiches even though all she wanted to do was go home.  Things like that are what make us all love Liana.  Add to that she's super funny, sassy as all get out, loves our dog and is one of those rare lovely people and that leaves you with no reason not to love her.  Plus she likes to gossip just like me and in my books, that's a personality plus.  Please don't make a habit of ravenously descending on her minutes before closing though -- I feel bad enough. Blurg.  

 Saturday also meant the inaugural Siposberry campfire of the season!  Yay!  Thanks to the Siposberry's for their hospitality and giving us all a reason to sit outside under the stars in the middle of the city.  Hopefully it's the first of many this summer!

Sunday I had the workout of the century and as a result I expect to ache head to toe tomorrow.  Getting in shape is for sissies I say.  Ow.  Ow. Ow. I hurt in places I didn't even know I had.  I drowned my sorrows in new birdfeeders for the yard.  Does anyone else have a similar problem with birdfeeders?  I find myself always wanting to buy a new one when I see them.  Marc is probably more than tired of hearing me say "Come and see the birds at the feeder!  They're eating!  At the new feeder!  Look how cute!"

Yup, I'm that person now I guess....

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 17th

CKLU 96.7 FM

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

• Sean Clarke -- Song for Leah -- True Love Anarchy *
• Stars -- Fairytale of New York -- Your Ex-Lover Is Dead single *
• Shotgun & Jaybird -- Slowdown 45 -- There are Days and Then There are Days *
• Tangiers -- I've Been Calling -- Never Bring You Pleasure *
• Entire Cities -- Talkers -- Deep River *
• Uncle Tupelo -- Punch Drunk -- Still Feel Gone
• The Specials - Man at C&A -- Too Much Too Young
• The Jealous Girlfriends -- I Quit -- The Jealous Girlfriends *
• Pixies -- Letter To Memphis -- Trompe le Monde
• Rilo Kiley -- Small Figures in a Vast Expanse -- Take Offs and Landings
• Malajube -- La Monogamie -- Trompe - L'oeil *
• The Superfantastics -- The Astronomer -- Choose Your Destination*
• Laura Nyro -- And When I Die (live) -- Uncut by REM
• Neko Case -- Rolling Stone -- A Tribute to Nashville *
• Tanya Donelly -- Breathe Around You -- Lovesongs for Underdogs
• Claire Jenkins avec band -- Harold, Coco -- Crow's Nest/Nid de Pie *
• Goldfrapp -- A&E -- Seventh Tree
• The Black Keys -- Remember When (Side A) -- Attack & Release
• Phantom Planet - Leader -- Raise the Dead
• Gogol Bordello -- American Wedding -- Super Taranta!
• Reverend Gary Davis -- If I Had My Way -- If I Had My Way: Early Home Recordings of Reverend Gary Davis
• Sarah Slean -- Goodnight Trouble -- The Baroness *
• Merle Haggard -- Workin' Man Blues -- Greatest Hits

Notes this week:

• Remember when we saw the Black Keys at SXSW???  Oh no wait..........we missed that one because of my stupid camera.....
• Seriously, I wish I was friends with Gogol Bordello so they could play at all my parties...

dear birthday fairy...

Again, since my birthday is fast approaching let's just run with that theme for a little bit. Maybe the next 17 days...

This morning Kaili posted a pretty great entranceway shot from Design Sponge that contained an over the moon adorable owl umbrella holder. Now, who doesn't love owls I say? Crazy people that's who. I love this and it would look great in my soon to be finished entranceway. I also have a husband who, for some reason, can't find our umbrellas even though they're always in the same spot. If I had this, I could say "Honey, they're in the owl!" and he'd know exactly where to look. You can buy it at burke Decor. I might even like it more than the Umbrella Pot that captures the rainwater from your umbrella and uses it to grow a plant. You can get that at Kyouei Design.

friday cuteness

So it's not fashion or celebrity gossip or home decor....but I couldn't not post these. They're panda cubs napping and eating apples! I also think the bottom picture pretty much sums up how I feel today...

just putting it out there....

Here's a picture of a cake that Marc's co-worker made for her little girl's birthday. The "soil" is made from Clodhoppers and the flower petals are just flattened out gumdrops. I think this cake is more than a little bit super fun. My birthday is in 17 days. Just puttin' that out there into the world....

weekend round up

Weekend round up on a Tuesday? I know, I'm a bad blogger. I don't know what it is but I can't seem to get my head screwed on straight this week. I should be lucky I've managed to make it to work this week. Sheesh...

Anyway it was a great weekend full o'family. My aunt Lorraine and uncle Dail came to town and brought with them the always fun Kaili and LB. I feel like it's been forever since we've seen our Ottawa family so this weekend was long overdue (Liam -- stop fighting it, we'll get our hooks into you yet!!). Not only was the company fun, but houseguests gave me an excuse to buy new bedding for the guestroom! Yay excuses! I scored a great set on sale at Linens n'Things that I really love -- it's got a really big modern floral print on it and I super love it. Poor Kaili and LB, every time they stay in that room it's in varying stages of renovations. At least this time there were proper walls though. That's something. One day, it might actually be completely finished.

We spent the weekend visiting, buying cheese, shopping at Joe Fresh, drinking Marcolinis, cooking, cheating on our regimes and staying up late. Way fun! Despite I'd say we made up for not seeing each other in so long. AND she brought me a great present -- doesn't get better than that.

Saturday was my niece Emily's 3rd birthday so I took her, her 2 sisters, her mom and myself to the theatre to see "Muncha Buncha Munsch" a collection of Robert Munsch plays. It was her first theatre experience and it was beyond cute. She was all wide-eyed when the curtain went up, looking all over at everything on stage, singing along to all the little songs and clapping -- so adorable. I love seeing plays with little kids because you forget how cool all that stuff is when you see it for the first time. Even something small like a set change is seen with awe. I highly recommend it.  Below is a picture of Emily (and her mom!) pre-show, clutching her program in her little hands -- so exciting!
And here's a picture of Erin, Elizabeth and Sarah with the "Fart" character from the play.  That squished terrified thing in between the girls is Emily.  For someone who claimed to be terrified of him, she sure talks about him a lot...

This week, back to the grind that only gets worse with every passing week. We're putting on a big conference at work the weekend of May 9th so this is crunch time. Can you say mega time off this summer? I know I can!!

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 9th

CKLU 96.7 FM

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

Sorry I'm so late posting this -- I can't seem to get my blog s@#t together this week.

• Ben Sures -- She Can Tell, She Can Tell -- Field Guide to Loneliness *
• Local Rabbits -- Poured All That I Got -- This Is It (Here We Go)*
• Sahara Hotnights -- Alright Alright (Here's My Fist Where's The Fight) -- How We Rock
• Billy Bragg -- M is for Me -- Mr Love Justice
• Woody Guthrie -- Los Angeles New Year's Flood --Library of Congress Recording (March 1940)
• REM -- Driver 8 (live) -- Wendell Gee EP (vinyl)
• Les Georges Leningrad -- Mammal Beats -- Sangue Puro *
• Black Keys -- Strange Times -- Attack & Release
• Tom Waits -- Everything You Can Think -- Alice
• Hot Chip -- We're Looking For A Lot of Love -- Made in the Dark *
• Gary Louris -- To Die A Happy Man -- Vagabonds
• The Tom Fun Orchestra --Heart Attack in an Old Motel -- You Will Land With A Thud*
• Horrorpops -- Keep My Picture! -- Kiss Kiss Kill Kill
• Spiral Beach -- Casual + -- Ball *
• Statues -- Attention Shoppers -- 7 inch *
• Dragonette -- You Please Me -- Galore
• The Kooks -- Naive -- Inside In Inside Out
• My Morning Jacket -- One Big Holiday -- It Still Moves
• Andy Swan -- The Sound of Snowflakes Falling -- Ottawa *
• Beth Orton -- Paris Train -- Daybreaker
• Tift Merritt -- Broken -- Another Country
• Thao -- Swimming Pools -- We Brave Bee Stings and All
• The Magnetic Fields -- California Girls -- Distortion

Notes this week:

• That Ben Sures song is really, really sweet;


• New Black Keys = oh yeah, that hits the spot;


• Is it wrong to have a crush on Patricia Day? If it is, I don't wanna be right...


• Dear Europe: Keep your eyes open for Statues -- they're headed your way on tour.


• "Paris Train" played for Drinky: "Now you're sitting on a Paris train/ laughing at your own jokes again/ Sun splits the trees into/ beautiful broken light/Never cry more tears than you could hold in your hands."


• Dear Thao -- thanks for writing such a great pop song. And I mean, it's really really good.

islands in the stream

Remember back in March when I mentioned the upcoming duet between the Contantines and Feist on Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream?" Well, Arts and Crafts is streaming the track here and it's pretty freaking great. Really stripped down, not at all chaotic and cheesy and over-Feist-ed like I feared a teeny tiny bit it might be. Yup, I'd buy that for a dollar!

healthier tara = good update

Into week 3 we go and our hopes are high! This morning I triumphantly slid into a pair of jeans that used to require an exhausting amount of effort to button. Yay! And that's even after a weekend of semi-cheating! I'm pretty pumped. A while back I had a trainer at the gym who used to insist I never use the scale in the gym changeroom because the true measure of weightloss is not, in fact, shedding pounds but shedding inches. You can gain weight but lose inches and it's far too easily for a woman to become a slave to the scale. I don't own a scale and I never want to so I've been guaging my success by trying on pants that I previously couldn't fit into. Imagine my glee when my jeans slid on effortlessly without the help of a team of dressers! To treat myself, I bought these cuter than cute Kate Spade Hayley sneakers in the hopes that come summer I can wear them with new cuter than cute outfit (hopefully in a smaller size!).
To celebrate I plan on eating an entire bag of Sunchips all by myself.

Just kidding....

healthier tara = good temptation #2

Current Score:

Tara - 1

Deluxe Chicken on a Bun Dinner - 0

HA! Take that biggest temptation!!

And you thought you could take me down.....

new tradition

I'm so in love with Jordan and her husband's photobooth tradition I'm seriously considering pilfering the idea for Marc and I. Every so often they take $20 and head to the nearest photobooth and take pictures until the money runs out and put them all in a giant album. I love it. I love it even more after seeing the pics she posted this week about taking their newborn son for his first session. What a great souvenir.

Yup, idea = stolen.

mountain battles

So The Breeders released their first record in 6 years, Mountain Battles. The reviews are good. Very good. I'm excited. Very, very excited.

those of you afraid of heights look away now...

Lifting off Wednesday, the CN Tower sported North America's first and the world's highest glass-floored elevator. One of the Tower's glass-fronted elevators now also presents a view 346 metres straight down through two glass floor panels.

Cooooooooooooooooollll...........

operettas viardot

Hello beautiful....

mystery bag

I have very strong feelings against Anne Hathaway but I have very strong feelings in favour of the bag she's carrying. What is it??????? It's so librarian chic!

healthier tara = good: week one

Well I made it through the toughest part of this whole thing and now all I have to do is keep on keeping on and it should be alright.  The first week is designed to get your kickstart your metabolism and pretty much kick your ass.  I did hardcore cardio and strength training every day last week (except for Wednesday cuz I was at work till about 10 -- but I did combine it with my Thursday workout so it's all good) and it just about levelled me.  Although I did feel better in general, I don't think my body has ever been more sore or more tired.  It's strange to feel both energized and wiped all at the same time.  Thankfully, that was the worst of it and week two presents a much more acceptable workout schedule that won't leave me crying myself to sleep.

On a whole though, it wasn't as awful as I was expecting it to be.  Menu-wise, I found it harder to actually remember to eat than anything else.  I'm not used to all those little meals and snacks and found myself an hour behind schedule on more than one occasion.  Thankfully, I never really felt like I was missing out on anything.  The meals were pretty kick ass and have actually inspired us to be more creative with future meals.  I've been wolfing down some of the best sidedishes we've ever made so there's no way I'm leaving them behind after all this is over.  I'm also consuming more fruits and vegetables than I probably ever have and that feels pretty good.  A lot of my tummy problems have been kicked to the curb too which I suspect has to be a direct result of a better diet.  Cooking has actually started to feel interesting and productive to me instead of this chore facing me at the end of the day.

Wish me luck for the rest of this whole silly process!  A big family function this weekend could prove a bit of a test as will a birthday lunch for a co-worker at Deluxe -- the happiest place on earth and my Achilles' heel.  Oh chicken-on-a-bun dinner -- why did they make you so perfect??

weekend round-up

Such glorious weather this weekend! Finally! I was thinking that it's time to dryclean all my heavy duty winter coats but last year I think I jinxed everything by doing that and caused a big spring snowstorm. Maybe this year I'll wait until the middle of June before I try that again.

Friday Marc and I had the pleasure of seeing the fruits of our friend Anita's labour -- her final project in her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She wrote a play called "All My Friends Are Superheroes," cast a bunch of people we know and it was great -- yay Anita!! I haven't seen theatre produced by a friend in years and it was great to be back in the vibe. Also, watching friends onstage just makes me miss it so much. I did a ton of theatre in high school and university and I always secretly wish I had time to get onstage again. Anyway, buckets of congrats to Anita for all of her hard work and for writing such a touching piece of theatre. The star of the show, of Friday and maybe of everything was our friend Matt. Not only does he make me laugh every morning when I get my coffee, he's also clearly the greatest theatre actor ever to tread the boards. Charlton Heston died this weekend and I didn't even notice -- after seeing Matt onstage, Charlton is dead to me. Dead! He sings, acts, dances, plays the guitar and on more than one occasion I've seen him rescue not one, but two baskets of puppies from a burning building filled with orphans. They say that Matt McLean's tears can cure cancer, only Matt McLean has never cried. He also says I never write about him in my blog. This should fix that.

Post play we ended up at the Buddha for drinks and the Townehouse for post-play silliness. Quel surprise.

Saturday was more glorious weather and buckets of errand running. We headed out again in the evening to catch our friend Vince's audition for our summer festival, the Northern Lights Festival Boreal (Canada's longest running music festival). He's playing with some new folks doing an upright bass, banjo, mandolin, guitar kind of thing that is pretty great. Calling themselves "Three Penny Opus." It was great to see him even if it was only for 2 seconds. Marc and I managed to grab a quick drink just the two of us, which almost never happens and was kinda nice. Chilled out for the rest of the night and watched SNL hosted by Christopher Walken. Holy. Craptown. It was so funny. Usually, SNL is funny for a couple of skits with the Weekend Update being the highlight. This time it was the total opposite -- every skit had me peeing my pants and the W.U was the lamest part of the show. Beyond hilarious and I highly suggest YouTube-ing as much as you can get your hands on. The fave for me had to be the re-doing of the "Grease" lyrics by the highschool drama teacher cuz the old ones are inappropriate:

"Go Gene Rayburn, you're burning up the quarter mile

Gene Rayburn, go, Gene Rayburn!

Hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba Fleeeeeeeeem.

With new pistons, plugs and shocks....Flocks, flocks, flocks!

You know that I'm not braggin' Have you ever seen a dragon?

Gene Rayburn!"

Sunday, was various home improvement activities that involved me watching Marc, my father and my brother stare up at the ceiling fan questionably. So I left for awhile as clearly I could be much help. Prep for week 2 of the "Healthier Tara = Good" plan and that's about it.

Best part of the weekend was busting out my new cowboy boots for the first time on Saturday night. Sweet cowboy boot action.....

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 3rd

CKLU 96.7 FM

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

• White Cowbell Oklahoma -- Shot a Gamblin' Man -- Cincerro Blanco *
• Horses -- Lay Down -- Horses *
• The Raconteurs -- Hold Up -- Consolers of the Lonely
• Elliott Smith -- Good to Go -- Elliott Smith (vinyl)
• Jason Collett -- Bitter Beauty -- Motor Motel Love Songs *
• Jale - Ali -- So Wound *
• The Sadies -- Anna Leigh -- New Seasons *
• Kate Maki -- We Are Gone -- On High *
• Danny Michel -- Old Tattoo -- Fibsville *
• Lou Reed -- Street Hassle -- Rock n Roll Diary 1967-1980 (vinyl)
• Constantines --Million Star Hotel -- Kensington Heights *
• The Raveonettes -- That Great Love Sound -- Chain Gang of Love
• Tijuana Bibles -- Go Go Rock n Roll -- Fists of Fury
• The Queers -- Janelle Janelle -- Don't Back Down
• Gillian Welch -- One More Dollar - Revival
• Al Green -- I'm Glad You're Mine -- I'm Still in Love With You (vinyl)
• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds -- Lie Down Here (& Be My Girl) - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
• Ben Kweller -- I Need You Back -- On My Way
• The Vinaigrettes -- Easy Ellie Taylor -- Gross Negligee 
• Hi Lo Trons -- Deep River -- Happymatic *
• Bright Eyes -- When the President Talks to God -- Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran

Notes this week:

• Feist's billing on that Jason Collett record illustrate how old this record is: she's listed as Leslie Feist and her backing vocals sound nothing like how she would do it now;
• Kate Maki is heading to New York next week to tape a TV show -- hopefully it will end up online somewhere!
• I played "Old Tattoo" cuz I've got a new one;
• "Street Hassle" -- 11 minutes of sheer perfection just for Marc;
• New Constantines record = today is a good day.  Especially when it's got lyrics like this: "I need to see the country doctor/Able body's easily confused/We need to lie together/in the dirt and changing weather/Teach the animals a thing or two/I'd just like to get out of the city tonight/Fall back where we first fell/I'd just like to see you in a natural light."
• Tijuana Bibles was one of the funnest shows I've been to mainly cuz I love any band that sells and wears Mexican wrestling masks;
• Check out the cover to that Al Green record, it doesn't get better than that;
• Body of War: a collection of songs with all proceeds going to Iraq Veterans Against the War, assembled by a paralyzed Iraq veteran.  Dear Conner Oberst: You so ended up on some government watch list with the song you contributed.  Good on ya!
  

i wish i could quit you

I have such a love/hate relationshhip with Pitchfork in case you haven't noticed. I hate them cuz they are everything bad that comes along with being hopelessly cool and in touch in that they know they are more in touch than all of us and hold the strings to "the next great discovery" that we music nerds are always looking for. Like it or not, it's often Pitchfork that is calling the musical shots. You just might not be aware of it. I love them because with every visit to the page I find something I want to check out, aware the whole time I'm being manipulated to do just that. They also do cool stuff like Pitchfork TV that is set to launch this Monday. And in true Pitchfork style, they're doing it up super cool.

They've already announced their launch schedule would have exclusive performances from Liars, Jay Reatard, A Place to Bury Strangers, and the Thermals, plus the Pixies documentary loudQUIETloud, a trip to Philly with Man Man, an interview with Swedish pop star Robyn, a tour of Brooklyn's Death by Audio venue, and music videos galore.

Add to the pile the newly announced Radiohead special performance of In Rainbows CD2 "Bangers & Mash", which the band recorded exclusively for the launch of Pitchfork.tv. Shot on Wednesday in Nigel Godrich's basement studio, the performance will serve as the site's first-ever music video.

That's cool.

critter wallets

Something about this little Bird vs. Bird coin purses (made from recovered banner vinyl) is making my heart hurt. I think they are beyond adorable despite my hatred of mice. Maybe it's because that white-bellied deer mouse just looks like you told him he's stupid and wrong and I'm feeling sorry for it and its hopelessly cute mouse face. As a Northern Ontario girl I'm also programmed to love chipmunks.

reason #23 why mariah carey is one of my favourite gossip subjects

Because of pictures like this! Who signs autographs like this?? I LOVE how in every paparazzi shot she looks like a blow-up doll. Even the ones that are supposed to be "caught in the moment" shots she's all pouty with boobs front and centre. Classic. This woman maintains her sky-high cheese factor at all times -- that can't be easy and few celebs do it better or more hilariously. Here are some shots further illustrating my point: