Weekly Web-Links

• I spent way too much time this week looking through the archives on Bent Objects (above).

• I think my cat might be trying to kill me.

• When I was young, I used to make forts and mazes with my bookshelves, secret places for me to be surrounded by the books I love. One day, maybe, I'll have this grown-up version.

• These fake Facebook statuses always crack me up.

• My sweet-tooth is salivating over the mere idea of Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-Dough Cheesecake Bars and Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies.

• What is up with this traffic jam in China? 11 days and counting? Is BP managing China's traffic control?

• Ask my friends, I've been ranting for weeks about the exploitation of vulnerable people on TV for viewing pleasure. This article agrees with me.

• I still have a soft spot in my heart for River Phoenix, who would have turned 40 this week.

• I love stumbling across forgotten bookmarks... don't you?

• It must say something about me that I think that the viewing schedule of the guy who holds the Guiness Book of World Records record in film viewing is completly reasonable, and that by the time I'm his age, I'll have surprassed his number.

• The lovely Jamie-Ann" posted the below video. I love it.

Thankful Thursday #9 - The marks are in.

I have a lot to be thankful for right now, but the most glaring relief of the day is that the mark for my Shakespeare class was just posted and I got a B-!

I know, that’s not really anything to do a dance about; however, I handed in my final paper 1 week late and was penalised 11% off my final course mark. Although I hadn't received anything lower than a B+ in the class, I did the math - I was expecting a C, crossing my fingers for a C+. The B- means that I either got an A+ on my final exam, or my prof decided to claw back some of the late-penalty on my B+ paper (which was a bit harsh if you ask me). Either way, I'm happy.

My British Lit class went as expected; overall, my GPA is looking pretty good. Not phenomenal, but decent considering I work a little more than full time and have been feeling a bit burned-out lately. I'm now seriously contemplating what to do when school is finally over. Do I really want to commit to another 4 or 5 years of school and another $10K in tuition for a Masters degree in Liberal Studies? Although I won't be done my undergrad until 2012,the decision is weighing on me. Keeping me up at nights.

I think you may call this a classic example of a "first-world problem".

I have 13 days left to relax and do some pleasure reading before the whole cycle starts again. Next up? 20th Century American Lit and a Humanities course on Ancient Greece. Only five more semesters... the end is in sight!

Tuesday Tunes #10 - August 2010

August has been a month of viewing live performances for me. Almost every day of each weekend has been a scheduled event which was purchased throughout the year, but which ended up all taking place in August

Remember way back in April when I bought tickets for the Lion King? Well, the day finally came around earlier this month, and it was AWESOME! Here's a clip from the show, but it really doesn't do the live performance justice.

I actually had no plans the next weekend, but a friend who was going on a trip offered me two tickets to Chris Isaak w. guest Mia Dyson which he wasn't able to use. Who could say no to that?

We in Vancouver have a soft spot for shows filmed here, especially older ones like the Chris Isaak Show, X-Files, and 21 Jumpstreet. The Chris Isaak band has been together for 25 years and each member has a great personality, which we're all familiar with from their show. Everytime they're in town, it feels like they've come home again.

Here's the sweetest song from their new album... I just can't get it out of my head:

It felt like the stars aligned for me when the clouds parted on Sunday and the sun shone down on the Malkin Bowl at Stanley Park, especially since the weather forecast was rain. I was so freaking excited to hear that Black Francis (aka Frank Black / aka Charles Thompson / aka Frontman for the PIXIES!) was opening for Swell Season, but I can only describe my feeling at actually seeing him live as disappointing. He wasn't bad, but I felt no connection to the mellow middle-aged guy singing about divorce, when all I wanted to hear was Here Comes Your Man.

BUT, as soon as the Swell Season came on stage, everything turned around. They were a bit rattled from a terrible incident which happened at their last show, but pulled no punches delivering to the Vancouver crowd. I was prepared for Glen Hansard to blow the roof off the place, but I was surprised at how amazing Markéta Irglová was live; better even than when recorded. Bonus, they closed the show with a cover of Where Is My Mind with Frank Black singing vocals, so overall I left overjoyed - best duet I've seen since Radiohead's Thom Yorke joined REM on stage at UBC a few years ago.

This isn't my favourite Swell Season song, but I love the video. Enjoy!

Weekly Web-Links

• Aren't these Cheesy Wedding Cakes a great idea? Mmm. Cheese.

• Everything you need to know about your favourite fruit.

• Don't you just love Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Here is a short film he entered into the 2010 SXSW Film competition.

• My cat is just like Party Cat!

• Friend of the family, Chelsea, founder of Blushing Bride Studios has had some of her photos published in Glamour Magazine! Congrats!

• Is there anything more fun than Giant Bubbles on the beach?

• Just one more reason to go to Iceland.

• If not Iceland, maybe a trip to stay in this Mirrorcube Tree Hotel in Sweden! (Reminds me of a fancy version of the Free Spirit Spheres on Vancouver Island.)

• The below wedding video is just darling, isn't it?

Hello again.

My friendlies! I simply can’t believe that it has been over a month since my last post. I must apologise; I’ve been swamped with schoolwork and I promised myself I wouldn’t write anything other than school papers – no lengthy emails, no blog posts, no twitter or facebook status updates. Well almost none.

But I’m back. In my absence I've been busy:

• I wrote over thirty-five pages of English papers. One final to go, scheduled for Saturday night from 7 -10. For REAL!

• I took a week of vacation and spent it with friends at my family’s cabin. This was a much needed break, filled with hiking and beaches and closure. I’m sad to let it go, but once there, I realised that it was more work than I am able to take on. It’s beautiful, but not for me. My aunt and uncle have officially put it on the market at an asking price of almost $100K more than they offered it to me for, so I think it will work out for everyone. I’m happy.

• I saw the theatrical production of the Lion King. Simply amazing.

• Also saw Chris Isaak in concert, thanks to friends who were going out of town and couldn't use the tickets. As usual, he gave a stellar performance; I’m somewhere between amazed and jealous when I see someone with so much talent on stage.

• I went to an Aquafit class with Lindsay. I was nervous at first, but it was so fun! Any and all exercise is very much needed appreciated as my greasy keyboard reminds me that when writing papers I snack constantly.

• Saw Inception and Scott Pilgram vs The World. Both quite good in their own ways.

• Worked until 5am twice. Yep.

• Spent lots of time reading your blogs, keeping me in contact with the outside world. I was even happy to see the weird asian spam comments that I keep getting on my last post. I have oversea fans!

Mushrooms on Toast

When I was growing up my mom used to make left-over roast-beef and gravy on toast for a quick meal. When I became vegetarian, I searched for replacements for these homey meals that I remember loving as a kid, and this is how I discovered mushrooms on toast.

This recipe is awesome in the winter as it's earthy and filling, but even better in the summer as there are so many varieties of fresh mushrooms to experiment with. Last week at the farmer's market I grabbed a bag of fresh morel mushrooms, and their texture and flavour are just amazing - perfectly featured in this dish.

Served with a quickly microwaved sweet-potato, dinner is thought to plate in about 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 - 3 cups mixed mushrooms
1 tbsp butter
1 splash of oil
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parmesean cheese

2 slices of bread

1 med sweet potato (optional)


Pre-heat oven to broil.

Finely chop garlic, Rince and roughly chop mushrooms.

Place pan on medium heat, add oil and butter (the oil stops the butter from browning). When butter has melted, add garlic, wait toss, for 45 sec, then add mushrooms. When mushrooms have started to reduce (2 min?) splash white wine and mix, add salt and pepper to taste. (if I just have button mushrooms I often add some basil, or for a change oregano and some halved cherry tomatoes now)

While mushrooms are cooking, the toast will probably pop up. The mushrooms will be done in about 5 minutes, pour over the 2 pieces of toast, shave some parmesean on to the warm mushrooms and place in oven so that the juices soak into the toast.

Poke holes in sweet potato with fork, wrap in a paper towel and place in microwave for 7 min. When sweet potatoes are done, take the mushroom toast out of oven, plate the sweet potatoes and enjoy.

Old Spice does it again

Okay, this can't wait until Sunday to post - this can't even wait until tomorrow to post!

Everyone knows that The Old Spice guy has a new commercial? Well, now he's answering twitter/facebook comments in youtube format (sample above).

One would assume that the tweets were pre-scripted, but why bother when there are thousands upon thousands of people out there willing to write for free? Many, many more here.

Tuesday Tunes #10 - Covers

It's Tuesday. Half my office is out of town on vacation and I've told my remaining staff member that he can work half days this week as a summer bonus. I'm drowning in schoolwork and hampered by banker's hours. Let's listen to some covers to pass the time.

I saw this Quebequois (from Quebec!) band during the Olympics at a French Jazz music festival. They perform jazz-style covers of 80's pop songs like Michael Jackson'sBillie Jean, AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long, and Stevie Wonder's Part Time Lover. Even though they went platinum in Quebec and were nominated for two Juno awards last year, you probably haven't heard of them. Let me introduce you.

Nouvelle Vague is a French (from France!) collective of famous french singers (like Broken Social Scene?) who seem to do a lot of English covers. Here they are singing Depeche Mode's Master and Servant. I love the contrast between the sweet girl-pop singer and the darker Depeche Mode lyrics and tone.

How could I listen to contemporary Nouvelle Vague without thinking of 1990's Frente? I've always loved this cover of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle. Angie Hart's voice is so pure... if you like this, you'll love her single Blue.