Wednesday, January 28, 2009

equation

If you take Neko Case, my favourite female performer who I haven't seen live in over 6 years;


And add to that Trinity St.Paul's cathedral, home to my favourite live-recorded vinyl record of all time The Trinity Session by the Cowboy Junkies;



And that will make April 18th the best day of the year for this girl.

God bless you Jocelyne for making this day happen for me.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

cherry blossom girl

So here's my new favourite blog. I'm likely late to the Cherry Blossom Girl party but at least I'm here now. She's Parisian Alix Bancourt and she has the most enviable collection of girly girly girliest dresses and shoes. Her photos are killer and she's started designing her own line of clothes that you can pick up at online French fasion boutique L'atelier de la Mode. And she's 23!!!  Seriously, her site has become like crack for me and I think I'm about 100 clicks into it at this point....

ginch gonch

Remember those great Underoos from when you were a kid? Well here are some cuter than cute grown-up versions from Ginch Gonch. Tractors and jackhammers and all things construction and fun.


lisa perry



This puff dress is too adorable.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

safe and supremely chic


So Jane posted about these Borsalino bike helmets a while back and I fell in love.  If I had a helmet like these I might not pout and moan about having to wear one.  And beside the helmets, the men's clothes???  Handsome handsome brilliant Italians...

Friday, January 16, 2009

tara and bella

I know this story has been making the blog rounds but I've been in the hospital so I've gexcuse for missing the boat.  Here's the story of Tara and Bella, an elephant and a dog who are best friends.  And of course, this video kills me.  I think it's the foot on the belly part at the end that's the clincher....


Sunday, January 11, 2009

blech..



Uhhhmmmm.....here's Jessica Alba on her way to party the other day. Looking like my 2nd grade teacher in the early 80's. This is the worst look I have seen in a long while. I know they say motherhood can tone down the sexpot thing but dude.....really? High waisted lavendar slacks? With a bow belt?????

weekend round-up

So I'm posting my weekend round-up before my weekend is technically over but I'm pretty confident that nothing else of any substance is going to happen.  We kicked off the weekend doing......drumroll......not a whole lot actually.  We ordered some pizza and watched some episodes of The Wire, chilled out and really just appreciated the fact that it was Friday.

Saturday we had another giant successful puppy get together in the park.  We've now officially dubbed these puppy parties "Dogs = Awesome" and I think we're going to make an effort to do them with a bit more regularity.  They are SO fun!!  And our town doesn't have a dog park so really, it can be hard to socialize your dog sometimes.  This time around we had about 8 dogs: some repeat customers like Murray, Soup, Nelly and Gypsy and a few new faces like Pico, Milo, Kelly, Beni and even Samson who just happened to be in the park at the right time and numbers were exchanged so they can come to the next puppy party.  Sadie basically fell into a coma the second we got home which is A O.K in our book.  The only downside, I got peed on by a dog and had to make a pitstop at the drycleaners on my way home to shed my coat right then and there.

We spent the rest of the day prepping our pulled pork sammiches to bring to a potluck at Peter and Lara's place.  And when I said "we" prepped, I mean that Marc woke up at 4 AM to turn on the pork so that it would be ready in time for the party.  I gotta say, waking up in the morning to the smells of pulled pork cooking away is a pretty amazing smell.  We bought an entire pork shoulder which amounts to 12 pounds of pork.  It was really something.  It was photo worthy.
Sunday brought a pretty slow morning as I may have had a bit too much wine at the potluck.  Maybe.  Possibly.  We did manage to get ourselves out for a great 2 hour hike out at the conservation area with Sadie though which really turned out the be the cure all.  The weather was beautiful and we were lucky enough to stumble across a guy with a GIANT Alaskan Malamute pulling a dogsled with a sweater-clad pug riding IN a box on the sled.  It may have been the funniest thing ever.  Especially to stumble across in the middle of the bush.  And Sadie also managed to almost make a grown woman cry out of fear.  I get that some people are afraid of dogs and all, I really do, but she's a fat, fuzzy puppy wagging her tail being adorable.  There's no reason to hide behind your husband and yell "Attendre le chien!! Attendre le chien!!!!!"  Whatever.  She really only made it worse by freaking out cuz then all Sadie wanted to do was to go and see her cuz she was raising her voice and hiding.  Anyway, we were out there for hours and then ran some errands and Sadie passed out the second we got home.   Here are some pics of the resulting exhausting cuteness.


These are the stages of a puppy falling asleep:





Tonight, my plan is to eat leftover pulled pork sammiches and watch the Golden Globes.  Now I wrote in my Golden Globe rundown that I haven't actually seen many of the movies nominated this year but I've managed to knock a few more off my list.  We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and liked it quite a bit.  Brad Pitt is probably the best I've seen him but having said that, that really still doesn't say much mainly because he's pretty much dwarfed by a tremendous supporting cast.  Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton in the same movie???  How did he think he was going to get noticed??  And as I said, my pet peeve about David Fincher is that every one of his movies is SO dark.  Seriously dude, hang some lights or something.  Not everything has to be done in the dark.  Crazy impressive make-up work though and Cate Blanchett is just simply luminescent.  She's so gorgeous in this movie it's hard to watch.  Good story too - has kind of a Big Fish feel to it and is really a great story for anyone who thinks about losing the people they love be it a husband, wife, mother or friend.  There were lots of crying women around me that's for sure.

And continuing on the Brangelina train, we also saw Changeling which wasn't a bad little movie at all.  The best thing about this movie though is really the story itself.  A true story that's almost hard to fathom, it's almost enough to carry the movie on its own.  Angelina, well she's fine.  Not bad at all, not one bit, but nothing amazing.  Unless you count the skeletal nature of her body as something award-worthy.  Seriously skin and bones.  I was honestly happier to see Amy Ryan and Colm Feore show up in the movie.   But the movie is gorgeous to watch and probably the first Clint Eastwood film I've actually really liked.  Don't even get me started on the stinkfest that was Million Dollar Baby, I don't care what the Oscars said.

And on another sidenote, just to let everyone know, I'll be out of commission for a bit to take care of some medical business.  The only good thing about all the hoopla this fall was that they discovered something we probably would never have known about and is likely what caused the miscarriage.  So on Tuesday I'm going to get some surgery to take care of it all and then, fingers crossed, life will move on as it should.  But unfortunately, I'm going to be out of the game for a few weeks.  I'll likely be blogging from my sofa at some point but likely not for the first week or so anyway.  I'm toying with the idea of pre-programming some stuff but we'll see.  I've got to get all my pajamas in order for my convalescence!!  I got to look cute for the orderlies don't I??

So bear with me while I'm gone and don't forget about us!  I'm going to be watching buckets of bad television and ordered fancy cable just to keep myself entertained.  And I guess I'll try to read some books in the middle of it all to keep myself from getting stupid.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

forgot one...

I got this record so late in the year that I completely forgot to include it on my top records of 2008 List!

Ray Lamontagne - Gossip in the Grain
I 100% owe my love of this man to my friend Matt. He put 2 of his songs on a mixed CD he made for me for my birthday and as good as the rest of the CD is, I usually find myself replaying those 2 songs ("Crazy" and "Trouble") over and over. His new CD is amazing. He's got a voice as rough as sandpaper and yet smooth like Otis Redding and everytime I hear it I feel like I just want to turn myself inside out. He's insanely talented and doing something that really, not many other artists his age are even attempting. Seriously, I want everything he's ever recorded.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

dead man's bones




 So joining the ranks of celebrities with bands is Ryan Gosling.  However unlike Joaquin Phoenix and his strange foray into the world of rap, Ryan seems to have done something actually pretty cool.  His band is called Dead Man's Bones  and after seeing this video he's clearly made himself out to be the love child of Nick Cave and PJ Harvey.  A child who maybe grew up next door to The Zombies.   It's gospel-y and kinda gothic for sure and I like it enough from this video to give the actual record  a fair peruse on iTunes when it comes out.

Also, let's just have a Ryan Gosling handsomeness appreciation moment.....

Sigh....

best of 2008

So it's a New Year and with that comes a reflection of last year.  At least where music is concerned.  I've been thinking about my favourite stuff from last year and after weeks of reviewing my radio playlists, poking around my iPod and going through my CDs, I think this is finally it.  So here it is.  My top records of 2008.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
This record is pretty, chanty, quiet and great.  It's chock full of harmonies and "White Winter Hymnal" is easily one of my favourite songs of 2008.

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Duh.  This record is so good it's beyond words.  I was waiting for this record to come out for months.  So much so that I got an iTunes gift card for my birthday in May and I saved part of it to use specifically on this record when it came out in the fall.  I'll admit, I was wary of Jenny without the Watson Twins but in all honestly, she doesn't need them at all.  In fact, I think Zooey Deschanel's voice blends so well with hers it's hard to believe they haven't been singing together forever.  Kind of like Neko Case and Kelly Hogan.  Anyway, I love me some Rilo Kiley but they seem to have been losing their touch since More Adventurous and maybe a move away from her ex's band is a good thing in the long run.

Hayden - In Field and Town
I haven't liked a Hayden record this much since Skyscraper National Park.  And I like that record a lot.  IFAT though, well it might have taken it's place as my favourite Hayden record to date.

Constantines - Kensington Heights
They never fail to impress.  I'm always, always happy to see a new record from them and with tracks like "Time Can Be Overcome" of course I'm on board.

Teenage Head with Marky Ramone
I know the material on this record isn't new but the fact that I can't put this record on without wanting to bust some sweet, sweet party dance moves means I can't keep it off this list.

Nick Cave - Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!
I know 2007 had me on a solid Nick Cave high pretty much the whole year but I can't help it!  His stuff is so good and it's just never, ever boring.  Even when you've listened to a record 20 times you can still listen again and hear something new.  And as I've said before, the packaging of a Nick Cave record never fails to make a record buyer feel appreciated.

She and Him - Volume One
Here's another obvious choice.  This record is so refreshingly pure and great -- nobody else has their sound right now and even after all this time, I still can't get enough of this record.  Seeing them live really clinched it for sure though.  I anxiously await Volumes Two through One Hundred please.  $20 says the next one has her new Death Cab fiance all over it though.

Cat Power - Jukebox
There's not much that needs to be said about this record except wait for it to snow, put it on, open a bottle of wine and try not to be alone.  She kills me.  Completely and totally.

Black Mountain - In The Future
Everytime I saw this record at the radio station I had to play it.  Even if I'd played it every week for 6 weeks before that.

Jason Collett - Here's To Being Here
This record came out 2 seconds into 2008 and I proclaimed it would be on my favourites list for 2008 for sure.  Yup, I was right.  I don't like this record as much as I liked Idols of Exile but it's still head and shoulders above most of the stuff that's out there.

Bon Iver -  For Emma,  Forever Ago
This record might very well be on this list solely because of the song "Re: Stacks."  Thankfully the rest of the record can stand up to the  6 minutes and 41 seconds of perfection that is that song.

Honourable Mentions include:
  • Amelia Curran - War Brides: I haven't heard this whole record which is probably the only reason it didn't make the full list.  This is a voice that should only be listened to through headphones.  It's gravely and rough and yet smooth like nothing else.
  • Danny Michel - Feather, Fur and Fin:  This record is really good but can't touch a couple of this other ones so it doesn't make the list.  I do always love me some new Danny Michel though so it still gets a thumbs up.
  • Jenny Omnichord - Charlotte or Otis:  A sweeter title track I have never heard.
  • Sebastien Granger & The Mountains:  This record rocks the crap out of something.  I'm not sure what yet but I'll figure it out.  Death From Above who????  



real gossip girl gossip


So here is Kelly Rutherford working the baby bump in real life.  Does this mean that Lily Van der Woodsen Bass and Rufus are going to get knocked up???  Cuz that would be crazy!!  Then Dan and Serena really couldn't date!  Even more than they shouldn't already be dating!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009