the vanity parade continues....

if i'm not careful - this blog is going to turn into a vanity piece! who knew? i know it appears as though i obsessively take pictures of myself with my digital camera - but this honestly isn't the case! really! (i know, i know, even to me this argument sounds weak)

anyway - this morning i woke up feeling the need for change. i'd been pulling my hair back into pigtails, ponytails & braids for months and wanted something different. i woke up thinking today was the day for something radically different. i was, in fact, getting ready for the gym - but then called to see if my stylist at coupe bizzarre was available. she was. and presto - i have a bob! i was so shocked when she started cutting huge pieces of hair off - but am pleased with the result. so so different.... i was actually thinking more of a 'fun' style - but instead i got more sleek and elegant... and that's ok by me.

my new hair

i'm off now to go to the killers' show... here's hoping the baby band with one album can actually fill a good sets worth of material.... stay tuned for the review tomorrow....

also - did you know that happiness is creating a playlist of all the radiohead albums on your ipod and listening to them in the sunny toronto weather?

[music | radiohead, "the bends"]

the eyes have it

i went to my local mac cosmetics counter to have my face done.... i wanted some ideas for something new, since i felt i was in a make-up rut. anyway - so i go and have a great time this weekend.... lovely.... the artist was fun, she introduced me to blue colours for my brown eyes (i'd never used blue before, i had horrible images in my head from the 80's!) and i felt like i had the ocean on my lids.... i felt like such a gurl!

but then something horrible happened.... later that evening my contacts began to feel like i had a film on them. everything was blurry, was my house filling with smoke??? i washed off all the stuff and toddled on off to bed, eventually. the next morning, my eyes were pasted shut and so bloodshot - i looked like a scary bride of frankenstein..... so not the glamourous image of the day before! i thought i'd gotten pink-eye from the makeup... i was so upset. i stayed indoors all day with my glassy pink and runny eyes... boo... turns out though, that it wasn't pink-eye. it was just an irritation to the shadows - i guess... since i'm back to my ravishing self today... (haha)


oceanic lids! shimmermoss, jewel blue, blu noire and brill

[music | david usher, "souring"]

the net police

scary thing i discovered today... yes, we all know it happens, but *shudders*

in a post of mine a few days ago, i rambled on about the last episode of the show 24 and in it i wrote about cisco systems and how their brand was very front and centre in many scenes this season....
whatever, right? and what's my point anyway? i checked my traffic stats and one of the visiting IP's was for www.cisco.com

boo!

hahaha

i'm not quite sure if i think this is more disgusting or more just clever... heehee....
just when you think there's nothing out there to love, you discover some juvenile genius...

http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/03/1728717.php

can i help you save yourself?

very recently there were the season finale's for the shows i use to rot my brain with. 24, desperate housewives and lost. since buffy ended a few seasons ago - there's been no well written/performed on tv... these three really are examples of the best out there now (is there anything else, actually?)

24, however, is coming OFF my list of good tv... this past season was so bad for so many reasons. the only reason i watched until the last ep was because of some sort of twisted sense of loyalty to keifer sutherland (once upon a time, i had a cat named keifer - but he was named after keifer of 'the lost boys' era, which helped usher in my 'love of vampires' era). but this season of 24 was beyond disappointing. even if i look the other way over the horrific racial stereotyping and negative portrayals of people of middle eastern decent, there was the implausible 'time travel' of some characters. the producers sold us out and totally abandoned the 'day in the life of jack bauer' signature - it seemed as though characters had found some sort of worm hole to get from point a to point b in a matter of minutes.... and then there was the ominous 'cisco systems' logo EVERYWHERE. man - after watching the show all season, i feel deficient, because i don't have cisco... anyway - i'm not sure i'm going to care next season - even though they seem to be setting it up as a 'the fugitive' type thing.... *sigh*

lost, on the other hand makes me want to watch more and more and more... sure, i get frustrated with the teases and the lack of actual information that we get (still have no freaking clue as to what the 'security system' is) but overall - i want to watch more to find out more... what is going to happen to walt? how tied into the destiny of the island inhabitants is he? is he why they're all there or is hurley? is sawyer dead (please, no - he's such an interesting character)? when is charlie's survivor-intervention coming? when will shanon run out of nail polish? and will vincent kill a polar bear - feeding them all for weeks? seriously though - what was with jack's comment to kate "if we survive tonight, we're going to have a locke problem." buddy - where have you been? you've had a locke problem for quite some time now... maybe if you spent less time working on sculpting your tattoo'd arms, you'd of realized that sooner.

desperate housewives could go either way. it could continue with the promise of the first half of the season - or it could just spiral further down into the confusion and inappropriateness that was the hallmark of the second half of the season. what made the show such an instant frenzy was the 4 women together as friends mixed with a nice blend of creepy murder drama and dark wit. the later episodes became much less about an ensemble cast and more about edie interacting with them as individuals and at times it seemed as though the women never left their houses. and then there was the stupid dumbed down jokey humour (a sensational example of this was the reaction of the lawn boy when gabrielle told him that she was pregnant and that it might be his). rumour has it that the cast of women all hate each other's guts. who the fuck cares. they are paid to act and recite lines - just do your jobs and spare us the un-scripted drama (if, indeed this is the case).

side note : there is one of those "which desperate housewife are you?" quiz on the ABC site - i took it and it told me i was susan. figures, she's the character i like the least...

[music | david usher, "numb"]

belinda stronach and the little things

leading up to last weeks budget vote with the potential for a vote of non-confidence and the ensuing fall of the minorty liberal government, stronach crossed the floor to join the liberal party. now, this sort of thing happens from time to time in canadian government (as well as MP's leaving their own party to stand as an independent member), but i really think this is the first time someone left their party on the eve of such an important vote, especially when they had previously ran for leadership of that party. (jean charest's situation was not the same, leave a comment if you want to debate it)

personally, i'm not a liberal (i grew up in alberta through the trudeau years - and the west's perception of trudea-mania is somewhat different than most other parts of the country) and i'm also not a conservative. i do not belong to any political party - and find myself voting NDP or Green Party most of the time - however, I do try to make sure i cast my voting rights for the candidate in my riding that seems to make the most sense... (often a fruitless endeavour). i like the idea of democratic capitalism with a socialist conciousness - otherwise known as utopia.

looking at the fallout and the media coverage stronach's decision, i was sickened. if a man made this same controvercial move - would we hear about who he'd been sleeping with in the party and bits and pieces about the end of that relationship? i honestly think we wouldn't. would we have quotes about a man 'whoring himself out for power"? or that he was an "attractive dipstick"? (not even really sure WHAT the hell that comment meant, thanks for adding to the filth anyway, bob runciman).

it's those little things, those little comments and digs that make it very clear that sexism is not only alive and well - but rampant in today's political landscape. to me, that's the bigger issue. sure it's difficult to fuly believe stronach's statements that the main reason she defected wqas because she seeing more and more that the conservative party under stephen harper would never understand the complexities of canada (did she NOT know that prior to running in the last election under harper?). but i think the real reason she crossed the floor is that she wants to be prime minister. and she knows that she's ultimately too left for the conservative party rank and file and i think she also has her eye on the gomrey hearings.

yes, i've over-simplified - but my personal belief is that paul martin will be implicated through the gomrey commission and that his career will be over. and stronach with her high profile will potentially be poised to make a credible and successful run for the leadership of the liberal party. and canada being canada (or more specifically, ontario being ontario) we know already that the next election will most likely bring in another liberal goverment. and chances are it will be a majority this time - canadian's don't like the uncertainty that a minorty government brings.

[music : david usher, "everything is alright by me now"]

message from david usher

posted on his forum in response to a raging debate about what some people have assumed to be his beliefs.... thought i'd post it here, because it's interesting... and this is my space to do with what i will!
may 23/2005

hi all
sorry its been so long since ive posted
but things are really busy right now
funny how people can assume so much
last time i checked democrats were capitalists as well as republicans
i just think that the people who have benefited the most from a society and an economy should give back to help those who havent done so well
i think there should be a strong separation between church and state
to have equality in a nation, religous rights of the individual citizens must be protected ie if the government and legal system represent one religion, then by default other religions or those that dont believe become second string
the idea isnt to persecute the religious, it to create a level playing field by keeping religion and politics separate

and lets be clear, bush did not go to war in iraq to bring democracy
his reason and the one he tried to sell to the american people and the world was iraq had weapons of mass destrution and was somehow linked to 911
both of which have now proven to be false
if you want to say its now about bringing democracy to a third world country thats fine but that is not the reason bush invaded
now that we are there i think everyone wants and needs democracy to flourish
you seem quite religious so i should probably let you know i believe
a woman has the right to an abortion if that is her choice
gay people should be able to marry and have the same rights the rest of us have when they do
and we should live in a capitalist society but with social programs like health care and daycare to help the most vulnerable segments of society.
i think the great thing about living in a capitalist society is that you can do well and prosper
but when you do you should give back and help single mothers, kids, the elderly, the poor etc. its really not that difficult an idea
i like this kind of debate on the board, because even though we may not agree at least we are talking about something interesting
debate will always be welcome here
the only thing that i wont tolerate are racist sexist or homophobic comments
im glad you guys are talking
xo
david
***********************************************
and then debate raged on.... prompting david to post again later that day :

you jump so far so quickly
social programs for the most vulnerable segments of society to marx and the communist system is a pretty big leap
there are a lot of shades of gray between those 2 things
i actually think canada has a pretty good health care system
its not perfect and could use improvement but at least everyone is insured
40 to 50 % of americans are not and they do not qualify for medicare
for my family to get coverage in NYC costs $1000 a month
not very affordable
do you really think the waiting lists are shorter for someone on medicare

the separation of church and state
i love the use of sensationalist examples “the kkk”
the reason i dont want god in the capital is because i feel the government and legal system is suppose to represent a broad range of individuals that make up the nation
if a buddist goes into a public school where the money comes from tax dollars that are paid by people of different religions they should not have to say the lords prayer
we have great diversity in north america and thats the amazing thing about it
the idea is to find ways of living together without trampling on each others beliefs

to allow gay marriage doesnt mean you have to have a gay marriage
it means 2 consenting gay people can get married and get the same rights and protections under the law that the rest of us have
why such extreme examples “muhammad had 13 wives”
christians had the crusades, the inquisition and burning women at the stake, so what

we are just going to have to disagree about wmds

i find it interesting
-you dont support social programs and think social programs are “marxist”
-but you would like to force women to have babies they dont want to have
-and dont want to help raise these kids when they are born
interesting logic


good chats, gets my blood flowing

ps

i support my mothers right to choose
xo

music and why is it.......

that the free download of the week on itunes is NEVER one i'm interested in, unless, of course, i already have the album.......

i also want to know why the new hot hot heat single "goodnight, goodnight" blows.... i mean - when i got their first album i nearly lost my mind... it was fresh, irreverant and fun - and fucking great. now why is it that i haven't seen the new video more than a handful of times (song sux) and why is it that i only hear about them from the never-ending propaganda machine that is their record label's email lists? this little rant is prompted by a suck-heavy performance on Late Night With David Letterman last night. man. you know it's bad when all you do is look at the singer and wonder just when exactly sideshow bob & kalan porter got together to snuggle into creation this hell-spawn? buddy, your hair? and lay off the lip gloss. ewww. i love men in makeup, but this men with lipgloss trend has to come to a slamming and screetching halt. now. desist, please? oh, whatever.

and while i'm at it - why is it that the killers video for their new song "all these things that i've done" is so gawdawful bad? i'd read a review with brandon flowers whining about how much he hated the video and that the label wasn't letting them do another one. i thought that it was just more of pouty mr. flowers just talking to be heard again - but then i actually saw the damned thing. and damned it is. it's like a spaghetti western in the vomit grounds of dead and dying vegas casinos with babes in hot pants chasing the cowboy clad band about. it's bad. so so very bad. little pencil moustaches and everything. and i actually like that song. however, i went looking and found a UK site with a link to a different video for the song. this one is very lo-fi, it's the band wandering the streets lip-synching the song with an army of fashionably trendy fans culminating in a blue robed gospel choir and live stadium shots. couldn't we have that one over here in north america? no? what if we asked nicely? very excited about their show in a week or so.... yey!

and finally - why is it that the spice girls are talking about reforming for a special gig (you just know that they'll be unleasing new music on us too, don't you?) don't they know that their moment in the sun came and went and then went even further? well, i guess if alanis can give us an acoustic version of 'jagged little pill' 10 years after it was first released - i guess the girls can get back together too.... who needs new music?

[music, yeah yeah yeah's, "maps"]

things that freak me out

i'm not a flakey freak-out pre-disposed sorta gurl. i'm a taurus - i'm an earth sign & pretty unshakable (i think, anyway), BUT there are a number of phenonena that really creep me out and i have an admitted and severe illogical response to them.

conjoined twins (formerly known as siamese twins)

spontaneous human combustion - actually, it's more just pictures of burn victims

ants on the honey jar in my cupboard

i mean, when my dad needed stitches because he nearly severed his thumb, i was in the room with him as the doctor stuck a giant pointy piece of surgical steel through his skin again and again... no worries. i can get catch bugs in jars to let them free outside. i can and have dealt with a number of situations on the farm i grew up on that would probably make others sick (one example, i watched/helped a barn cat give birth to a very large and stillborn kitten). ok - i'll move on. good times...

for some reason those things above really get me... ok, the ants thing is just gross & it's only on the list because it happened to me today! ewwww! my kitchen has a rash of ant activity (thank the gods it's only ants) and i innocently opened the cupboard to get some honey for my tea when i was confronted with a rockin' party on the jar - except it was one i didn't want to be invited to. ick. i took the jar of honey (stuff i brought back from portugal - but am now experiencing severe adversion to) and put it in the sink and washed the little buggers away.... ew! and then boiled water and placed the jar in boiling water in an attempt to sterilize it.... double ick!

and as far as the whole burn victim thing goes... well - i think it goes back to a past life thing... it's too vicseral of a response. i feel as though i'm going to be ill. i remember as a child that i used to just absolutley HAVE to sleep with the closet door closed (no matter how many toys, clothes, books, boxes were piled in it). why did the door need to be closed? well, 'cause i used to have nightmares of bonfires in the closet. great huge consuming leaping flames. burn the witch, anyone? i also had a recurring dream of one of my aunts coming to set fire to our house. and of course it was to the corner of the house by my bedroom. and no - this was no aunt trauma like above - i really liked this aunt! and finally as a wee gurl of about 8, i saw a tv show about fire safety and in it they showed grotesque pictures of people who survived fires. i still remember a picture of someone's arm. they were holding it out at a 90 degree angle from their body & the forearm was so swollen and large - it looked like a sick parody of the popeye cartoon.... *shudder* and the spontaneous human combusion thing is just cool. frightening as fucking hell - but cool. as long as it doesn't happen to me!

and then the number one on my hit parade of disgusting things - conjoined twins. i don't even want to type about it, truth be told. so i won't.

[music | tori amos, "mother revolution"]

interpretations

so i went to the gym again today (yey me!) and tried to take it much easier - don't need to be achey for 3 days again! ;) i did 20 minutes on the cross trainer, but this time figured out how to set it for a manual session. see - i'm not a total git....

after an hour or so at the gym - i went to see a movie - i picked the interpreter with sean penn and nicole kidman. overall, it was a good film - but some of the dialogue really clunked - and it was pretty sad to see sean penn having to say quite a bit of that bad dialogue. the film was meant to be a sociopolitical thriller with a message of personal triumph over adversity. i think it could of been much better, but then again - it could of been much worse (like the manchurian candidate - which was largely unwatchable). basically nicole's character is the interpreter and she overhears a conversation in a fictional african dialect (called ku) where she just happened to grow up - and her parents and sisters were blown up by a landmine during one of the rebellions against the genocidal dictator at the time. (i'm guessing the fictional country is supposed to be rwanda or the sudan). the contents of that overheard conversation indicate that the president of that country will be assassinated.

anyway, long movie short - it seems as though the president of that country (can't remember the name! mubuto? not sure - sorry!) is coming to the UN to make some speach to try to legitimize his actions. sean penn's character is secret service & is assigned to shadow kidman's character and to prevent the assassination (to stop political fallout). there are many conversations between kidman and penn (most of the bad dialogue happens here) and at the end both characters help one another deliver themselves of some pretty significant personal demons.

the biggest thing i took away from the movie is that catherine keener is a kickass actress & everytime she was on the screen (as sean penn's partner in the secret service) i wanted more of her. she has such presence and a real bite! i think she might of been better in kidman's role. where kidman played her character with her typical ethereal presence - i think keener could of added some needed energy.

[music | david usher, "mutations"]

shiatsu - ow!

so what with the decision to go back to the gym - i decided that going to a few shiatsu sessions will help to unblock some energies before i start creating new blockages at the gym....

i went monday and it was quite painful... i learned that my muscles were a lot tighter than i had realized.... that and that i had mucho blockages (i know this because i wanted to throw up or laugh or cry at many points in the session!) the fucked up thing is that i was so drained after the session that i could barely drag myself home in time to take a 3.5 hour nap & then run downtown to meet my friend michael for a hangout and dinner... i thought you were supposed to leave these shiatsu thingies feeling refreshed and envigorated or at the most, relaxed. i didn't realize i'd be nearly comotose!

i'll go back next monday and have round two done... we shall see how much better it feels.... and hopefully i won't feel like crawling under the nearest rock and laying there for a few days....

[music | david usher, "going home"]

summer weddings

i got an invite in the mail for the wedding of one of my cousins (janna)... it will be in edmonton on september 17th... i am pretty sure i won't be there for it... you see, her brother (chad) is also getting married this year - in august in regina, saskatchewan. i will be going to that wedding.

chad is a few months older than me & we spent a lot of time together growing up. even though he and my cousin mardy used to torment me and were cruel-as-only-kids-can-be-cruel (ah, childhood, the eternal confidence-killer) i really want to go to his wedding. i think of all of my cousins, that he and i are most similar. that's not to say i'm at all like him (he's a chiropracter in calgary), but i really get along with him.... :)

and also - plus marks to janna for the tasteful invite... it's a cream & brown simple card with one quote "how beautiful is the day that is touched by love" (i know, gag), but other than that quote i'd have to say it's one of the nicest invites i've ever seen. not flooncy or lacy or flowery or gag-worthy in any other way! :) i guess it's pretty hard to escape a quote like that - and perhaps it's not nearly as naueseating if you actually are in love! lol

[music | the killers, "somebody told me"]

if god had curves : everything is alright by me now

i put this review up on the amazon.ca site - but thought i'd put it here too!

this fourth solo album by david usher continues to prove that he's never been just a pretty face - but that he's becoming one of our most brilliant and talented singer/songwriters....

earnest and moving tracks like 'souring' and 'the long goodbye' sit nicely beside the sardonic bite of 'hey kids' and the darkly moving 'everything is alright by me now'. 'going home' and 'faithless' seems to be both more obviously personal tracks than david usually gives us including mentions of his child and new home-base of nyc.

the only complaint on this album is that it's over all too soon - but i guess that's what the repeat button is for....

[music | david usher, "hey kids"]

gym for you, gym for me, but mostly gym for me

so, after signing up nearly 2 years ago & having not gone in about 8 months - i have gone back to the gym today. we'll see how long it lasts. heehee....i loved going when i was going regularily - and the only reason i stopped last time was because i started working crazy long hours and just had no time to go. so my plan now is to drag my sorry ass out of bed every morning and hit the gym by 10:00am. i have the time now, so an hour at the gym 5-days a week isn't a bad thing.... they also have yoga on site - i'll check out their instructors, i have yoga-snobbery. i just keep thinking that any yoga offered at a gym won't be good... we shall see......

it was so not fun trying to figure out how the damned machines worked again.... :( on the cross trainer i just did the basic quick start. must remember how to set it for time/resistance. and the weight machines.... oy! they moved the ab machine - i almost couldn't find it! and the blood pressure was 124/88 - that was after the workout - i will measure it pre-work-out too on monday.....

[music | garbage, "why do you love me"]