nightlight

I've been busy and away for the past little while and it looks like I may continue to be for a while so I thought I should post a little something to fill the gap. Here's a picture from my recent trip to Quebec City.

spring blooms

my ice cream with hot sauce day

I had one of those strange Canadian weather moments yesterday as I headed out to my (last ever undergrad!) class. The snowbanks were almost as high as ever yet the temperature was +15 or so (Celsius) with a beautifully warm sun to heat things up even more. It is not unusual to have strange and seemingly paradoxical weather systems in close proximity in Canada; my Mom frequently quotes someone who said "In Canada it's always 40 degrees...above or below zero." But I've never experienced both at once.

It reminds me of the story I read in one of my readers when I was younger (this is a great post for not citing references) about a spoiled prince who, having run out of things to demand, came up with the idea to crave a dessert that was both hot and cold at the same time. This demand came with the punishment of death to all the cooks if they could not come up with it in a certain amount of time. Of course all the cooks wracked their brains and feared for the receptacles of said brains until, with the deadline quickly approaching, one of the kitchen boys heard of the reason for their fright and quickly came up with the solution. He made ice cream and poured hot chocolate sauce over it. I'm not sure if he's credited for the invention of both these things or merely the concept of serving them together. Either way, I'm sure you've guessed why this story in particular stuck in my mind from the myriad of snippets that I read as a child.

All that to say: as I sauntered to the bus in a tanktop, walking beside snowbanks that still are taller than I, I felt the novelty and thought that I should take a picture to keep this moment in more than just my thoughts. I don't think that this novelty of tanktops on snow will take on such popularity as sauce on ice cream but I think they're both worth noting.
On my way to class beside a snowbank that still rises above my head. 07 April, 2008

architects of change

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not political legislators, who implement change after the fact. art exerts a profound influence on the style of life, the mode, range and direction of perception. Art tells us what we know and don't know that we know.

You can't tell anybody anything he doesn't know already.

-William Burroghs

I like the two points being made here. I don't know if I fully agree with the second. I'll have to think about it a bit more. It does tie in with the concept of education that connects its function to the roots of the word itself--a leading out of knowledge already possessed. I do agree with it to a certain extent but the jury's still out whether I take it as a complete model of how things work.

someone to love

My brother accused me of cynicism the other day. Perhaps I am tending more in that direction as I age but I am in good company as Elizabeth Bennet says: "the more I see of the world the more I am dissatisfied with it" so what can I say?

This following is a video of the Fountains of Wayne (the band that is probably best known for "Stacy's Mom") song "Someone to Love". There are many reasons that I love this video. I am a fan of the band (also for many reasons) because I love the way that their songs usually tell stories, the way that they pump out consistently great melodies and catchy rhythms etc, I like that they have a song with "Janice" in the title (there aren't that many out there!), that they aren't hugely popular but have a decent following and I like the fact that they wrote the song "That Thing You Do" for he equally great movie of that title. I also enjoy the video because it features Demetri who plays Demetri (they're so good with finding original names!) in the last episode of The Flight of the Conchords (you know, the one who joins with Bret in the 'Original Flight of the Conchords' and plays the keytar...good fun). The video stays true to the style of Fountains of Wayne and I would say even improves a bit on the story it illustrates (and is that not the point of a music video?).

I inserted the first paragraph into this post because of the ending of the video (which I enjoy thoroughly. I think it makes the video). In a way it's cynical but it also sheds light on the reason they cannot find love. but then I don't want to give too much away so I'll leave it at that.
Enjoy!

Compostable Clothing

What with the dryer sending out enough sparks for it to be deemed broken and my ever-present laziness combined with the poor weather outside these past few days, I am almost out of clean clothes. But with necessity as the mother of invention, I have thought of a great idea: one use, compostable clothing. These items would need to be strong enough to hold up in a rainstorm or worse, of course, but would easily break down once disposed of. It would be the equivalent of paper plates in the clothing aisle. One would not necessarily use them with any exclusivity. Some may stock a bunch as a back-up when situations (such as the one I am in at present) present themselves. Some may supplement their usual clothing habits with the occasional freebie. It would remove the problem of loaning one's clothing and never getting it back: there is no need to return such an item. The list seems to go on and on. I think I have hit some great idea.



But since technology has not been able to keep up to my lightning-quick smarts and there are no compostable clothes in my drawers at the moment (along with all the other really good things that are not in my drawers) I shall have to hope for some good weather so I can hang some of this laundry to dry outside.


These pictures were taken last year towards the end of March (just a few days earlier than it is now) and there was no snow around. Not only was there no snow, the grass has the first tinges of green and I have been wearing tanktops and t-shirts in nice spring colours. I have a feeling that this will be a late spring.

This Song Is

About abhorrent astronauts
bombing boring bins
crash into catastrophe
deadly dumbing din.

Everybody's eating Everest
faking forkfuls fine
good-for-nothing gargoylesques
happily hitting hine.

Isthmus is in Indonesia
justly jousting jammers
a kind of kine cacophony
with leaping lively lemurs.

Many men make mustard mud
none need neater numbers
over oily ocelots--
pummeled pasty plumbers.

Quirky queens quail quietly
'round rather fun rum-runners
saying sweets so sickening
their tummy-tums take tumblers.

Under udders ukuleles
very vilely vanish.
Wonkily (when wounded wound)
Xavier examines Xerxes.

Yuppie Yonkers yowls to your
zoned and zonked zebras.
Yet two more lines are necessary
before this song can leave us.