so we've started a pool at work - a rockstar pool. or rather, i should say - i've started a pool! i've never run one before and i've never even BEEN in one. it's fun making up the rules. heehee. and somehow, i'm in the lead!

so, before i start sobbing like dilana (not to mention throwing red goblets around), lets go into the performances. even though it is oh-so-lame to let the fans pick the songs. i'd rather see the band pick songs for the performers.

lukas rossi - lithium (nirvana)
how can this guy not be the winner? just how? i usually can not stand it when the 'rawkers' mess with nirvana - but that was brilliant.

magni - i alone (live)
yet another live cover. i don't like live - but magni puts that band to shame. he is really oh so good. and he wipes up the floor with live. what a voice.

ryan starr - clocks (coldplay)
gag. can't say i enjoy his falsetto. rough rough rough. did he lose his razor? he is fake. contrived. and a poser.
storm large - bring me to life (evanescence)
this was not at all in her style or register - but she pulled it off. she pulled it off so much that i forgot to type and just watched the performance. :-) and toby was incredible too.

toby rand - rebel yell (billy idol)
oh - if only he'd of coloured his hair platinum for this week! :-) i bow down to you toby. this was entertaining, and perfect for him. and the crowd ate it up. so did i. and oh, with the fans, so so so freakin cool. so much fun. it's now between toby and lukas.

dilana - mother mother (tracy bonham)
i can't believe i feel this way - but i really never need to see this woman perform again. and she's got the chipmunk voice going on again - just like when she sang the supernova song.

my picks for bottom three - storm, ryan and magni. my pick to go home - though i'd do cartwheels to see ryan go home - i'm afraid it's magni's week. he's just not disturbed enough to front that band.

rockstar : supernova : week eight

apparently the last episode of rockstar : supernova is on september 13th. that's pretty close. these are the best performers on the entire season (well, with a certain exception that is. zayra should be there instead of patrice) and evey week should be outstanding. so what is in store for us this week?

patrice pike - beautiful thing (original)
if you've been reading this - you know i detest this woman's performance. this didn't do anything to help change my mind. well, except for the fact i liked her eye-makeup. is this song still on? it's v.e.r.y. long. very.

magni - smells like teen spirit - nirvana
ooh - what's with the touque? no no no. that being said - he always delivers a very impassioned and professional performance. he's incredible.

ryan star - back of your car (original)
ok, his reprieve of a few weeks ago has spent itself out. yes, it's loud and yes it's fast. however, it's also flirting a bit too much with radio-land for me. it's ok to be commercial and sell records and be on billboard's charts - but i just don't go for the live/goo goo dolls thing. many many people do though.

storm large - crying - aerosmith
i really think she should of fought for her original song - i mean, the broadcast royalties off of that thing alone! all the markets and territories that the show is aired in - major money folks. but i digress. i think she did a great job on that song. her vocal delivery was sultry and powerful, her performance was interesting too. yey storm!

dilana - every breath you take - the police
dilana is fabulous. we all know this. but for some reason i just didn't feel a connection in this performance until she hit the latter half of the song. i really hate to say it, but most of this performance felt like a wedding band.

toby rand - layla - eric clapton
i think that after patrice leaves this week, that we will see toby go home next. i think we've seen all the tricks in his bag. he does have a very very very hot body. ;-)

lukas - all these things that i've done - the killers
i loves me some killers. swoon. really really do. he did a great job at this song. the beginning gave me such goosebumps, it got a bit patchy for a bit and then it got really good again. but like gilby mentioned - it is very very odd when lukas turns his back to the crowd so often. so strange. regardless. lukas will win this competition. is it ok for two canadians in a row to win?

pages of a not-so-open book

don't ask me why, but i was inspired by an email i recieved - feel free to post the same on your own blog...

2 moments in your life you’d like to erase

1 - the time i was too afraid to go to a concert by myself. after a phone interview tori amos asked me if i'd be going to her upcoming show in toronto. i'd told her i wasn't able to afford a ticket and she said, 'what's money between friends. i'll put you on the list. i'd like to meet you.' comes the day of the show and i was throwing up all day. could of been 24-hour flu or it could of been nerves. i've regretted it ever since. it taught me to hate regret and taught me to allow myself the strength to make choices that i won't regret.
2 - the time i had to help my mom hide the easter baskets for myself and my younger brother and sister.

3 moments you'd like to re-live

1 - any moment where i was laughing to the point of tears. i love those moments.
2 - when my in grade 7 my phys. ed. teacher told me i was very graceful; as i'd lived my life believing i was clumsy and awkward.
3 - the feeling i had sitting by the sacred lake at karnak temple in luxor, egypt.


2 places you wouldn’t want to go again

1 - high school - for obvious reasons
2 - athens, greece - i got yelled at too many times for it to have been enjoyable.

3 places you can’t wait to visit/visit again

nyc - my current travel-crush
montreal - it's been so long... i miss the people and the streets and the shopping
london - to see the things i didn't care to see when i was silly and 24.

2 foods you can’t stand

meat - i'm a veggie
daal - i love indian food, but can not stand to eat daal. *shudder* it's the texture, i think.

3 foods you love

tofu and veggies in thai red curry
dishes with mushrooms and tomatos (fresh or sundried)
my mom's saskatoon pie


2 current songs that make you change the station

i don't listen to the radio anymore - there are FAR too many songs that made me want to change the station that i eventually turned it off for good.

4 current songs you play over and over

the music - david usher
when you were young - the killers
is it any wonder? - keane
lips like morphine - kill hannah

2 books you’d never finish/read again

the english patient - michael ondaatje - tried several times, but found it way to pretentious
when we were orphans - ishiguro kazuo - could not get through this one and won't try again

4 books you have read more than once

the chronicals of narnia (all volumes, several times)
neverwhere - neil gaiman (have re-read all of his novels)
eva luna - isabelle allende (loved this one so much that i read it a second time right after the first time)
dracula - bram stoker (probably partly responsible for my love of vampires and bats)

[music | muse, "starlight"]

toronto zoo and tattoos

the things we do to entertain ourselves. my past weekend involved the zoo and a tattoo. a virtual study in extremes.

first, i had a tattoo re-done on saturday. the poor thing (a bat on my upper arm) was done in august of 1993 and the artist that did it has died of a drug overdose. lovely. i now go to a new artist, one who does not seem like a heroin addict and he did a great job of making my poor sad and neglected bat look all shiny and new again. if you're interested in getting work done - go to jay at passage. he's incredible.

and for all those lovely individuals out there who told me that getting a tat retouched hurts because they're going over scar tissue - you're wrong. getting the damned thing feels exactly the same as getting any old tattoo. what should be said, however, is that the healing process is much longer, much more intense and generally not fun at all. i'm now just hoping that all the colour took - so i can avoid the healing again!

also - i ended up booking a new appointment for a new tattoo... :-) i'm getting it at the end of october. as long as the money holds out, i'll be inking myself.... i can feel the images attaching themselves to my skin as i tap away.

but the real reason for my post today is to put up some pictures of the animals at the toronto zoo. i went on sunday and it was an incredible day. the weather really couldn't of been better (sunny and clear) and it was a fantastic day. i ended up leaving just before closing. i walked my little feet off and was feeling a little strain around my left foot for days afterward!

this guy was the coolest thing ever. i seriously fell in love with him. he'd float over the the glass, stare at the silly humans standing there, practically wink at us, and then push himself off of the glass with his back paws. really quite dramatic. you go bear!

and here he is pushing off. brilliant.

this bear was playing with a giant rubber ball. he'd push down on it with his front paws until it went shooting across the cement pond. it looked like fun and made me laugh!

the zoo now has 2 hippos in their vastly improved habitat. they spent about 30 minutes wrestling with each other. and by wrestling, i mean opening their mouths and lip wrestling. seriously. :-)

i have admitted to myself that i have a thing for giraffe's. i really do. can't get enough of them.
as evidenced by the 20-odd images on my digital camera.

this is the matriarch - tara. we happened to hit the elephants at the same time the elephant keeper was doing a q&a. hence the knowledge of the name of the matriarch... ;-)

the rhino brigade. i love the fact these three large barrel shaped tanks are standing in front of the red rocks. it's like they know a good photo op when they see it.

nothing more graceful than a swan. and this one really knew his angles. i have a second picture of him with the only difference being the fact that he's looking the other direction. very very nice.

a flock of flamingos going though some pretty serious politics. they all seemed to be having a bad day.
a very bad day.

[music | nxl, "i got a lot"]

rockstar : supernova : week seven

at this point i'm not sure why some contestants are still there. well, actually just one. i'm looking at you ms. pike. and a comment about clothing... where on earth did brooke pull out that polyester nightmare? i'm figuring either an airline stewardesses or a newscasters closet - both circa 1974. and poor tommy lee. when my roomie saw him she said, "looks like tommy picked up his outfit from janet jackson's 'rhythm nation' outlet store". i thought it was pretty funny.

regardless - our 'rockers' have come to sing covers once more. and here are my thoughts, comments and other nonsence ramblings. i'm not feeling very chatty today - these will be short.

zayra alvarez - original song
for her original song, she decided to give us a very pretty spanish-language song. very pretty, her voice really suited it. would supernova do this sort of material? not in your life.

magni - starman (david fucking bowie)
entertainment weekly seems to think the gig will either go to magni or to dilanah. and with this performance i can see why. i already thought he was a strong contender - but now he's just getting better and better.

patrice pike - message in a bottle (the police)
i can say nothing nice, positive or constructive here.

lukas rossi - hero (chad kroger)
well, lukas has really found his singing voice at this point in the competition. very nice delivery. however, i hate the song he covered. and i didn't like it with lukas doing it either. it will be interesting to see what will happen as this competition goes on.

storm large - i will survive (gloria gaynor)
this was sort of lounge-singer meets drunken sailor. poor stormy. she just didn't pull this one off. and holy, holy - the comments from the band and mr. dave were really pretty rough.

toby rand - solsbury hill (peter gabriel)
why on earth are vests coming back? practically no one can pull them off. a little too cutesy for me. his voice was a little tight in his throat and a bit like a muppet's.

ryan star - in the air tonight (phil collins)
i think if i don't have to WATCH ryan that i prefer him so much more. he get's this strange and awkwardly intense look on his face and it becomes kind of funny. this song is supposed to be intense and sexy. he got the intense bit down - sort of.

dilanah - cats in the cradle
why is she acting out the song? the hand guestures were really not necessary. i think she might be getting a bit close to 'coasting-ville'.

and as far as bottom three goes. i think it'll end up being patrice, ryan and zayra - though storm may find herself down there. and who goes home. it has to be patrice.

rockstar : supernova : week six

week six. it's going to get a bit better now - a lot of the people who shouldn't be there aren't there anymore. and oddly - no one seems to want to play in front of members of the band that they are there auditioning to play with. so so strange. don't they know why they're there?

dilanah - won't get fooled again (with gilby clarke) - the who
i am a dilanah. yes i am. but i have to say this was the most luke-warm i'd left one of her performances. her uniqueness was gone. less sparkle than usual. maybe it's the fact that she said she did not know the song until this show. i don't know. but i think gilby out-sang her on the chorus! (p.s. and from watching monday night's show - she doesn't seem to be much of a songwriter... i'm worried)

jill gioia - mother, mother - tracy bonham
i have to give her some credit for not screetching this song out at us - but at the same time, did she need to play dress-up and go as avril-lite tonight? i think that this gurl is another one with an performance identity-crisis. and i think we'll see her go home this week.
ryan star - paint it black - the rolling stones
i really enjoyed his vocals on this song - but did not enjoy his performance. something about his costume reminded me of a collegiate spiderman. like when toby mcguire first became spidey and made his costume out of his gym clothes. Something smacks of poser.

storm large - we are the champions - queen
she has to be the strongest and best 'singer' in the competition. she did a great version of this classic classic song. not easy to do. and that middle part where she gets the crowd involved. brilliant! way to go stormy-gurl!

zayra alvarez - all the young dudes - david bowie
i had a hard time understanding some of the lyrics in this song - but does this gurl understand spectacle, or does she understand spectacle. i think bowie would be proud of what he's wrought. her voice has some very pretty moments to it too.

josh logan - interstate love song (with tommy lee) - stone temple pilots
i spent the entirety of this song trying to block out josh's vocals to listen to tommy's drumming. i really hadn't ever paid much attention to it before. he's good. that supernova will have a good drummer holding things together. and it will get much better when southern-fried mr. agreeable (aka : josh) doesn't sing in front of it!

magni - the dolphin's cry - live
he made me forget the original version of this song. this is another performance that i'd purchase. he just laid this song down and left no questions that he has already had a career of being a rockstar. it's a lot like being big in canada - no one in the states knows who you are - unless you're a female.

patrice pike - instant karma! - john lennon
ok. we all know i don't appreciate this performer. and i did not appreciate her rendition of this lennon song.

lukas rossi - creep - radiohead
back on the bandwagon, baby. i'm so so so so sorry i hopped off. wow. i'm all a-tingle. someone i know from toronto is in l.a. right now and is going to see lukas on rockstar. i hope she was there for this performance!

toby rand - burning down the house - talking heads
finally he broke out of the seemingly self-imposed purgatory he'd put himself in the past two weeks. this was great. loads of energy and heaps of talent (but i'm with dave - i hated the megaphone. *shudder*). i think toby's discovered his unique brand of demented.

bottom three at the end of the show were jill, zayra and patrice. i agree with this - but i'd like to see josh in the bottom three. as my friend said, "who the hell out there is voting for josh every week????" i don't get it. one last note - jason newsted was very annoying this week. a little preachy. ease up there, jason.

rockstar : supernova : week five

so. how hot is it in toronto these days? so hot that my modem refused to work last night. i think it had a heat stroke or something. it was so disgustingly hot last night that i went to see a movie after work (devil wears prada - and though i enjoyed it, i have some commentary on this puppy. maybe tomorrow!) and then i went to go check out slute at the crowbar. one of the new guys at work is the guitar-god in training in this band. incidentally - slute's writers are signed to the same publishing company that lukas rossi is.... it's a tiny ole world, huh?

so - regardless of the fact i'm a day late and the elimination show is on in the background, here are my comments on week five.

patrice pike - higher ground
i'm ready for this one trick pony to go home.  tommy lee was incredible
and loud on the drums, but she is just boring as hell on stage.  i
don't agree that she's changing it up from week to week.  i think the
positive response was because of tommy lee.

josh logan - santaria
ok, i change my mind.  THIS one trick pony needs to go home.  he does
not know why he's there and it's a waste of time and the house band's
time, supernova's time and really, you'd think the producers would know
better than to bring this guy in for supernova.

dilanah - can't get enough
it does not matter what song she's given, she just nails the song every
time.  good song, bad song - it makes no difference.  she is perfect.
done and done.

toby rand - pennyroyal tea
it had moments, but overall i hate to say it, but i'm just not feeling
toby's performances.  and he re-arranged on of my most beloved songs
ever.... it's hard to love that.

zayra alvarez - 867-5309/jenny
gotta hand it to this girl - she believes in every performance.  she's
so not right for this band - but man, she's got a star magnet.  i'd
listen to her performances over the brit's and jess's and x-tina's
every week. 

magni - clocks
where is the runaway train?  maybe a giant rock was rolling after magni
and the band?  that must be the reason for the crazed-speed, right? 

jill gioia - don't you forget about me
yes, she has an incredibly powerful voice, but she has not learned how
to control her voice apparently.  why did she decide to go for the
shrill shriek?  she looked a bit like a stripper without her pole this
week.
 
ryan star - losing my religion
ok.  i take back a portion of the mean things i've said about him.
that was amazing.  really really spine-chilling.

lukas rossi - celebrity skin
what did you have against the audience this week lukas?  much of the
performance was with his back to the crowd - never a good move.  i did
not get it this week.  not at all.

storm large - changes
she picked the right time in the show to show vulnerability.  and what
a great song to do it with.  she's been rocking the shit out of things
and this week she delivered a beautiful song in a beautiful way.

dana andrews - baba o'reilly
she looks nearly identical to the way she looked last week.  but i'm
not sure if she had the chain.  i think i liked her performance, but
i'm not sure i loved it.