April 24, 2007
It's hard to find good music
Indeed, I successfully defended my Masters Thesis yesterday, and came home to this beautiful bouquet sent by my family. Lucky I, and luckier still for this Saturday afternoon Stuart and I are going out to celebrate the end of school in the fashion I have chosen, and it is a very special fashion. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Linkylink:
-Find an update over at my hobby blog Now Doing! Posted are pictures of the blanket I knit this winter, and my current patchwork project.
-I was thrilled to find out that the marvelous Saffrina Welch has started a blog. Saff is a friend of Stu’s from uni, and when she and her boyfriend Ivan came to stay with us in December, we had a brilliant time. So it will be fun to see what she gets up to online.
-Bookwise, I was happy to see that Karen Connelly’s The Lizard Cage has been nominated for the Orange Award for New Writers. As I expressed when I read it last March, The Lizard Cage is an extraordinary novel, and deserves so much recognition.
-I’ve never read Barbara Pym, but I feel like I ought to after having read this wonderful feature on the Barbara Pym Society Conference.
-And on an unrelated note: Kirsten Dunst is credited with saying: “I was brought up on Guns ‘N Roses, the Les Miserables soundtrack and anything my mother listened to. But it’s much harder to find great music these days.” Bless.
Still reading Happenstance very happily, though copy errors make my eyes bleed. I also picked up the new Hart House Review today and it’s absolutely beautiful. The ever-accomplished Rebecca Rosenblum took a top prize for fiction. Congratulations RR! Some poetry as well by other creative writing comrades. What a bunch.
March 11, 2007
Round the Back of My Hotel
We just got The Fratelli’s CD “Costello Music” which we’re obsessed with.
We were also happy to find that they are our age. Stu went off The Arctic Monkeys when he found out they were still in their teens (though I actually don’t think they are anymore).
February 8, 2007
At 57 Mount Pleasant Street
Bronwyn and I once had the pleasure (or terror) of seeing The Proclaimers live at the T in the Park festival in Scotland, and I must say I’ve never been part of a scarier crowd. We both very nearly cried, but then neither of us thrive in chaos at the best of time. We just thought that we like “500 Miles” sort of, and we could hum along with it, but the experience was like being at a ten-thousand-strong revival when you’re sort of not bothered about Jsus. It was a cultural thing, and I thought of it whilst reading this article about how the English just don’t “get” the point of those bespectacled boys. The Costa Book of the Year has been won, and it’s a book researched entirely in the British library which takes place in Northern Ontario. Ohhh! CanCon (sort of). On movie/book cover tie-ins. Irène Némirovsky. And last night I was lucky enough to attend Trudeau night at The Kama Reading Series which was lovely, except that Stephen Clarkson and Peter C. Newman never showed!
Today I’m starting Jacob’s Room for the first time.
January 3, 2007
Short
I’ve taken a one-week break from my long project to write short stories– two or hopefully three. Concurrently, I’m reading Cathedral and listening to my new Badly Drawn Boy CD for inspiration.
December 29, 2006
Soundtrack of our Lives
There was always a radio playing somewhere when I lived in England, and I’ve got a ridiculous attachment to the soundtrack from those days. I remember getting drunk watching Pink sing “Just Like a Pill” on Top of the Pops my first weekend there, when Girls Aloud got the Christmas Number One in 2002, walking down Nottingham Road listening to “Clocks” by Coldplay on my walkman. “The Tide is High (Get the Feeling)” by Atomic Kitten, which drove me to tears of joy on one of my first dates with Stuart (though I was deranged then). Daniel Bedingfield, Sugababes, Will and Gareth. A word about my weakness– I’m totally addicted to bass. Darius and Busted (who switched on the Christmas Lights in Market Square in November 2002 and I was in the crowd). DJ Sammy, which our favourite DSS neighbour used to blast out her windows (until someone smashed them and after that the plywood panes sort of muffled the sound). Robbie Williams and “Feel”. Nelly and Kelly’s dilemma, Big Bro’s Nu Flo, and Xtina when she was dirty. Do you see? I’m absolutely obsessed. Part of it was that that time was so formative; it’s when I fell in love with my husband. Regardless, the point of all of this is my new favourite wikipedia entry: the marvelously thorough 2002 in British Music. And don’t worry, this continues into 2003, when R Kelly’s “Ignition” dominated the charts, Junior Senior with “Move Your Feet”, 50 Cent, Black Eyed Peas and Westlife got to number one with a cover of “Mandy.” Etc. etc. etc. Were there ever old days any gooder?
December 6, 2006
Mochi
Mmm. One of the benefits of where I live is international delicacies on demand. Yesterday I had a hankering for mochi, which was one of my favourite treats when I lived in Japan. And so I just picked some up on my way home yesterday, and am snacking my way through the toil. I’ve been displaying strange side effects from an overdose of undergrad papers however: I’ve been preoccupied with Petula Clark all the live long day.
November 25, 2006
Gig Songs- Update
I am compiling a list of songs about live performances. So far, the list is short. I’ve got:
Woodstock: Joni Mitchell
Rock and Roll Song: Valdy
Garden Party: Rick Nelson
Piano Man: Billy Joel
Killing Me Softly: Roberta Flack
Super Trouper: Abba (thanks CG)
Don’t Play That Song: Aretha Franklin (thanks KM)
By the Way: Red Hot Chili Peppers (thanks C-Dawg)
Who else can help? Anyone? Anyone? (By which I mean you, Bueller. Oh, and you too.)
November 23, 2006
I miss English pop culture
The Beatles, U2, Westlife and Oasis are vying for the top spot on the UK album chart this week. Elton John has been forced to back Westlife due to a dispute over milk. The Sun is excited. Tesco sales are expected to tip the scales in Westlife’s favour. Which is sort of unfortunate. Oh, but I am on the edge of me seat.
November 11, 2006
Lately
What I’ve learned lately includes Noel Gallagher, such a rockstar! Here for Hilary Mantel on Alice Munro’s new one. Though it’s quite last week, Philip Marchand thinks Toronto has no stories, or novels at least. And this wonderful obit of Alexander Graham Bell’s granddaughter, from last week’s Globe. Most significantly, and disturbingly, after four years together, my husband and I have only just learned that we know different versions of “I’m A Little Teapot”.
October 29, 2006
Writing Tunes
When I write, I require silence or else music to block unsilenceable outside noise. When I listen to music while writing, I can only listen to one song on repeat, or possibly an extremely seamless album. The top ten most played songs on my itunes are as follows:
Feel Flows: The Beach Boys
Turn Me On: Kevin Lyttle
Helpless: Buffy Saint-Marie
She’s a Rainbow: The Rolling Stones
Crazy English Summer: Faithless
More Than This: Roxy Music
Sweet Thing: Van Morrison
Get Along With You: Kelis
Clocks: Coldplay
Tangled Up in Blue: Bob Dylan
