Notte Sento

I can't remember where I first saw this, so if you're the lovely person who shared it with me... I apologize. I saw it in my favourites today and took another look at it and couldn't not share it here. This short film is made from 4500+ photographs, and all of them are gorgeous.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I'm no fashionista. Big name designers don't design for me. I do more classic styles, with some trends that I can pull off, mainly trendy colours. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the beauty of well-made clothes, I just can't pull a lot of it off. For this reason, I was a bit nervous when the lovely Andrea invited me to be her right-hand girl at Edmonton's Fashion Week last night.

I shouldn't have worried. For starters, a glass of red while making fun of the "model" talking herself up to a group of young 4H girls does a lot to ease the mind. Secondly, Andrea is fabulous. Finally, it wasn't really all that impressive (though I had been warned).

Some of the stuff that went down the runway was just sad. The music was strange, the girls looked uncomfortable and awkward, the clothes didn't fit, the seams buckled even though the garment wasn't too small and there were loose strings everywhere. Heidi Klum would not have approved. Since I don't subscribe to the same journalistic principles as A., I can let you tell you the good, the bad and the ugly. And oh, was it ugly.

And then there was Tressa Heckbert.

Her show was cohesive, a dash of futuristic, the clothes were well-tailored, the girls looked cool and we couldn't help but comment on the shininess of their hair. Little details made us squeal in delight. The show had been thoroughly thought through and it showed. Not a rogue thread in sight. No "dog fur" poufs chasing the girls down the runway. Everything about Tressa's show was fabulous. It was enough to make us actually want to go to St. Albert.

For more, check out Andrea's take on the show here.

If

This week's Monday Memories is not a cop out, I swear. I've been busy at work, and at life, but the following is something I've been meaning to post for a long time. It was one of the first poems that really spoke to me, I'm pretty sure it had some influence over both my writing and the kind of life I wanted to lead.

This poem is one of those things that serves to ground me when I get stressed out. It's relaxing to recite the words over in my head, calming my nerves. It sends me back to the primary grades, where it was initially taught, and then forward to fifth grade when we were forced to memorize and recite poetry. It's always been a favourite, so today, dear readers, I'm sharing it with you... in hopes that you'll share your favourites back.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Also, check out the video I posted over at www.intervivos.ca. A co-worker emailed it to me this morning and it just amazed me.

Me, I want a hula hoop!

Heights of Fashion: A history of the elevated foot is definitely something I want to check out before the exhibit's March 8 best-before date. The hise and fall of the high heel in Western fashion over the past 500 years. Gorgeous shoes and history? Sign me up.

The other thing keeping me going today is this classic Christmas tune. I remember the movie from when we were kids, even more than that, I remember the book. With the lyrics to this song. Please Christmas, don't be laaate! Only two weeks!

Real Mary hits Edmonton

My good friend Mary and her lovely hubby were in town this weekend to visit with the Edmonton contingent of the Western PR crew.

We suffered heinous service at 100/Hundred on Friday night. Bimboed staff were flitting around the restaurant in their extra-long tank tops sans pants, though it seemed as though our bimbo was no where to be seen. The food was great, the service was poor. Thankfully, we got on the discussion of "If we were the New Kids [on the Block], where would be we right now?" [The much-loved boy band is in Edmonton for their tour stop at Rexall.] Inquiring minds didn't lead us too far, but it lead to a discussion about favourite members of the boy band and how Donnie was the one all the trashy girls like(d). We concluded we needed a little help from the master, and wandered across the street to Sherlock Holmes' pub, hoping to at least get a few tips from Watson.

Saturday night was a flood of rum, vodka and pink cupcakes as a pre-birthday for Ms. Mary herself. The night was split between drinks at Roomie's and my downtown condo and a pub down the street where we did some shots and drank beer in bulk. At 5:30 a.m., we finally called it a night.

Yesterday, after much complaining and a lot of water, Roomie and I pulled ourselves together to head to the Jubilee to see Hairspray. The show was fun, hilarious and made us want to sing and dance. The Jube's new parkade leaves something to be desired, however, as it seems they didn't account for the fact that all vehicles would be coming (and later, going) at the same time. If you get the chance to see Broadway Across Canada put on the show, I highly recommend it.

Sweet, sweet Friday

Ironic moment of the year: a couple smoking away under a Caritas “Cure or no Cure” lottery for cancer billboard. My guess, they’re banking on “cure”.

Conservative candidates across the country have been foregoing youth election forums to knock door to door. My thoughts: It’s ridiculous to discount the youth vote. We are ones who will decide the direction of government as the population ages. They may not fear losing their seat in this election, but it wouldn’t hurt to lay some ground for the future. If you make people think you don’t care about them, good luck convincing them down the road.

Give up speaking to an auditorium of people in favour of talking one-on-one with others? Lame. "Every single person that would be at a forum or panel, we're hoping to meet at the door as well." If that’s the case, why not make it more efficient by speaking to them all at once? Merely by showing up to the event, these young people demonstrate they are eager to place a vote. Why not convince them to do it for you?

There are better ways of politely declining an invitation than you tell the university it’s a “no-fly zone”.

Hopefully, at least one of the many Conservative candidates in Edmonton will show up to the interVivos election forum.

Took my friend Artie to see Rachel Getting Married as the last film of my film fest adventure for 2008. This film was excellent, and Anne Hathaway was absolutely brilliant. All of the Oscar buzz is for good reason.

Mothers & Daughters

Girlfriend and I went to see Mothers & Daughters tonight.

At the beginning of the play, the director spoke about how it's his first comedy. It was so not a comedy. The end where all the relationships went from turmoil to show the love from the daughters for the mothers was the best part. Otherwise, all of the daughters seemed like ungrateful jerks.

Which, you know, a lot of the time we can be ungrateful jerks.

There were some really sweet moments in the movie, but there were also parts that seemed to be a bit too drawn out. 

Maybe it's just that I already realize how amazing my mom is, that I don't appreciate others being dimwits. There were a couple characters (who were surprisingly both mothers) whose story lines were pretty great. They made it worth watching.

We didn't stay for the Q and A. Girlfriend had to pee. Though a lot of people left when we did. 

The super hot un-autumn days we've been having have at least brought pleasant nights. It was fabulous to walk around downtown and eat on a patio after 9 p.m. All in all, it was a pretty great girly date night.

Tuesday: the new Monday?

I have a pair of black work pants that have been out of commission for a while. The stitching in the hem managed to rip out after getting caught up in one of my heels (no, I didn’t fall, though I can see how you’d imagine that). Roomie received a sewing machine for Christmas and has promised she’d fix them for me. That day came Sunday. I don’t know if alcohol was a factor, but I put them on this morning and the left leg was a good two inches shorter than the right. It’s a good thing I’ve taken to keeping extra clothes at Boy’s house.

I have a paper-cut on the crease of my pointer finger, so whenever it bends (like, say, typing) the weirdest, most annoying sensation flows though my digit. On top of that, I managed to pull something in the back of my knee at soccer last night. All of this has happened since I bruised a finger on my other hand last night by smacking it against my bedroom door. Seriously. No one would ever be surprised if I ever mumbled, “I fell”.

The only redemption of today is a girl-date for film fest. Mothers and Daughters. A movie I clearly couldn’t convince Boy to attend.

Metal on Metal

I managed to score some free film fest tickets from my publicist friend.

Took the Boy to see Anvil! on Saturday night, since he’s all about the metal. It was amazing. Anvil is a Canadian metal band who influenced some of the bigger bands, such as Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica. They nearly made it big in 1984 in Japan when they played with many bands that went on to be huge, like Bon Jovi.

Anvil! is a tale about how the most important thing is doing what you love. Lips and Robb have been friends since they were 14 years old. Now in their 50s, they’re still making music because it’s what they love to do. Even when it seems as though their dream has been shattered, Lips remains so incredibly positive it’s enough to break your heart. If you have a chance to see this documentary, you’ll sit in awe of their positivity, their long friendship, and cheer for them along the way.

The coolest thing about film fest is the question and answer period after shows, which is especially cool when it’s a documentary. The band members were all there. All in all, it was a great date night.

When the boy's away... this is how the girls play...

We watch girly movies and go to a musical.

Roomie and I went to see Spamalot on Sunday. It was glorious. Hilarious, had all of the legendary parts of The Holy Grail without copying the movie too much. I would see this 10 more times. Or more. Highly, highly recommended.

Yesterday, we watched Penelope. This is the best girly fairytale movie ever. Rather than being based on the "Prince Charming solves everything" sort of plot that plays out through most fairytales, the curse in this one is broken when Penelope loves herself and accepts herself for who she is. Aww. There are still (less than charming) princes. However, it's refreshing to see something aimed at young girls which doesn't preach beauty plus prince equals happily ever after.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to continue the countdown 'til boy is back. T-8 hours...

"Jesus" fails to live up to the hype

Last night, the roomie and I did something we absolutely love to do together. We went to the Jube. For the past year we've been hitting up every "Broadway across Canada" event we can fit in, which really just consisted of The Producers (her Christmas gift from me last year) and Mamma Mia (my birthday present from her). For her birthday this year, I got her tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar, a show that she's been wanting to see since she took her musical Broadway class in university. Last night was the night.

We performed our regular routine of pre-show Starbucks and catch-up (these days we don't see all that much of each other, even though we live in the same apartment) and squirmed with excitement.

All of this excitement was for naught. I never thought I'd say that Jesus let me down. I'm a pretty easy person to impress, really. And it seemed like roomie and I were the only two un-enthusiastically clapping politely and remaining in our seats at the end of the show. The entire time I was just thinking about this article from the Journal back in November about how Edmontonians give the standing-O too freely.

In the "Stand Off" which coincides with the article, "Hal" says, "Edmontonians tend to give anyone recognizable a standing ovation. The quality of the performance isn't taken into consideration. It appears that some performers get a standing ovation just for being here."

I think this is definitely what happened here. Ted Neeley, almost 40 years after appearing as Jesus in the rock-opera, has resurrected his role here in Edmonton. Neither roomie nor I was impressed with his very 62 year old sounding voice in the role of a young prophet. He sounded old. His rock and roll wailing grew old fast. If you're going to make Jesus a rock star, make him a rock star.

Last night's show at least was riddled with technical difficulties. From the back of the auditorium we could hear the microphone feedback. We couldn't hear one solo artist who was obviously singing his heart out. Sound levels fluctuated often.

Not to say that there weren't good moments. There were a few good songs, namely the Jesus Christ Superstar title song and the section of the play which featured King Herod. The comic relief. The actor who played Judas was also extraordinary and personally, I feel his talent far exceeded that of Neeley.

Both roomie and I, neither of whom are overly religious, came out of the theatre feeling blasphemous. It irked us how Mary was portrayed for outright throwing herself at Jesus and claiming she's in love with him (whereas our impression from her Catholic and my Lutheran bible-studying upbringings lead us to believe otherwise) and for having it seem like Jesus was falling for her wanton ways. Yes, it's speculated by some that the two may have had a love affair, but there was much lost by this portrayal. Also, Jesus' mother Mary reaching out to Jesus from afar as Jesus wheezes and wails and begs for water on the cross? Someone gave that boy some water, yes? Not here. The two main women in his life merely watched while he died of thirst.

Also, I felt the ridicule of the crown of thorns, the throwing lots for his clothes, carrying the cross through the streets were all completely lost. Because the show didn't feature any of this, which is kind of big in the story. As well as the other criminals on the mount, one asking for a place in Heaven. That's the whole point of Jesus dying, yes? So the sins of others can be forgiven?

We felt as though this Jesus was whiny. Annoying. Very un-superstar. At one point roomie turned to me and whispered, "Will he just die already?"

For the Journal's bit on JCS, go here.

Haunted by lemony visions... and the prospect of more weddings

A couple weeks ago I had this incredibly random dream which involved light, fluffy, lemon cupcakes. I can not gets this vision of cupcake heaven out of my head, even though I have long since been a huge lemon fan. Must. Make. These. Cupcakes. The need haunts me and I know not why.

I think there may be a problem with the fact that every time I get a drunk-dial in the middle of the night I fear it is another friend telling me that they are engaged. Who calls me after 4 a.m., boyfriend in tow, merely to tell me how in love they are and yet how they are thinking of me at the same time? ...oh right, Erin does. Stay away from the Koolaid.

Speaking of weddings, my cousin is getting married in Cuba in the spring and I'm seriously considering going. Even with the prospect of Europe. One of my friends called me "moneybags" last night when I was explaining this to which I say... no mortgage, no little family, no car... what else is there to spend money on but travel? Works for me.

Megpie's wedding countdown is three weeks. Brother is getting married in five. Airplane tickets have (finally) been purchased and I don't nearly hate Air Canada so much anymore due to the lovely ticket counter lady at the airport. Though I still hate them plenty. West Jet is my airline love. The dress is nearly ready. My bags are far from packed. My duties are still a little bit unclear. But I am getting a little bit excited. It'll be good to go home and see all the friends/family who I have left back in Ontario. And I shall get to spend the night with the littlest sister in her university abode, which will be all sorts of girly fun (though she must wake up in the morning for class before we head home to the farm).

Still reading Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Still loving Klosterman. Even though at times he is ridiculously pretentious and I don't particularly agree with him... I can't remember actually laughing out loud at a book so much. In weird places. Like on the bus surrounded by sweaty strangers. Hilarity. People should read this book if only for this reason. The man is funny.

Last night, went to Packrats with my peeps. Had the best wine of my life. And the food. Oh the food was amazing. Everyone must go (or try to go) here. My new favourite restaurant. Ever. Also, check out the Fringe. Because it is arty and awesome. And deliciously dirty.

Speaking of the arts...

... this is the absolute coolest photography ever. Love, love, love.