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floating · in · a · gravity-free · universe
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Some things I don't know are... - what 'late model' means when it refers to a car
- long division
- how long food can be in the refrigator before it goes bad
- method acting
- why asian pudding comes with such tiny, tiny spoons
- exactly what shuffleboard is
- fashion
- if any gods exist
- what's on TV lately
- why people get so excited about sports
- .... and not environmental degradation or human rights abuses
- what to make for supper tonight
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Great Canadian Novel
1 cup wind 1/2 cup dust 2 cups loneliness 1/3 cup family 2 tbsp immigrant experience 1/4 tsp nameless narrator 1/4 cup social climbing/heartless success/ poor-city-kid-makes good story 1/3 cup quirky plot 2 tsp magic realism 1/4 cup extreme weather event In a large valley, mix wind, loneliness, dust, and family. Slowly add extreme weather event, stirring constantly. Fold in nameless narrator, poor-city-kid story, quirky plot and magic realism. Roll in to modest, unassuming balls and place on a large praire sheet. Bake at 350F for one hour, removing when top is a gentle wheat colour. Cool and sprinkle with immigrant experience. Serves 30 million.
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Lifted from 444 and Nscafe.... WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Lisa
4 LETTER WORD: leap
BOY NAME: Landon
GIRL NAME: Lily
OCCUPATION: Lamplighter. Or a 21st century one... lapdancer
A COLOUR: lilac
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: lederhosen, loafers
BEVERAGE: liquor!! Does that count? <sigh> ...fine. Lait. Oh, it has to be in English now? Okay then.... limeade.
FOOD: licorice
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: lipstick
PLACE: Lala-land. Also Lima.
REASON FOR BEING LATE: lost (my way, my keys, the address....)
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Look out! You know the drill, copy, paste and enter your own answers using the first letter of your name. Enjoy!
I am off to continue the fight against the Formicidae family; I don't mind them as neighbours, but I object to them as roommates. They drink milk straight out of the carton and throw wet towels on the bathroom floor. |
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My life would be a 1960's technicolour musical, written by Joss Whedon, directed by Tim Burton, with music by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. The character of me would be played by the illegimate offspring of Tim Roth and Katherine Hepburn, and the important people in my life would be variously interpreted by the cast of the American version of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" |
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Wow, David Lynch looks like a Democratic candidate these days. Some of his thoughts on creativity here |
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I wish this was satire. Paint by numbers is bad enough, but write by numbers? And digital cameras make you a photographer, and the internet makes anything publishable. And every one of us is an artist, and every one of us is a critic, and every thing that we make is reduced to one common denominator. Meaning is lost in the general noise. GOOD ART TAKES TIME AND DEDICATION, and using a formula produces formulaic drivel. Let's be honest with ourselves here, people. Art (of any kind, and my definition is broad) is a lifestyle, not something you do in your spare hours from investment brokering to make some extra cash. Or so that you can make a check mark beside "write a novel" on your list of "Things to do before I die", and make all of your aquaintances jealous of your bitchin' obituary. It's because you need to do it; and it is as natural as being alive. And like life, sometimes it's hard to start, and your purpose seems murky, and nothing makes sense for a while. But when you get it right you'll know it. Standing back gazing at the finished piece, it will somehow all make sense. Tools of the trade are fine and necessary, but for gods' sakes, if you are going to make art, at least do it yourself. Or perhaps I am just old-fashioned. |
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The Wrigglekick Poem “Mira, sweet Mira”, I patiently said, “It’s three in the morning – you must go to bed! But you wriggle and kick like a wrigglekick fiend Northward and southward and points in between- You’d think all that motion would tire you out, But it’s just made you hungry; you’re starting to shout! Wriggling and kicking alone in your crib I think I’ll give up and I’ll get you a bib I’ll feed you once more, and when you’re done eating I’ll lay you down softly and leave you to dreaming. So I hope, at least, or I’ll not get a wink, And drowse off tomorrow as I stand by the sink. I’ll fall to the floor with a clatter and crash, Spilling my coffee and scaring the cats! (I imagine I might be quite startled as well And say a bad word that I can’t even spell) So Mira, sweet Mira, you’d best go to bed, Dreaming wriggles and kicks in your sweet little head. |
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This for explanations, if needed, and this for the lol part. Mmmm .. quantum physics are delicious! |
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Since you haven't succumbed to the evils of Facebook yet, 444, I thought I'd post my little Miracle.
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Collectively, we have about .9 of a kilometre to go, I figure.
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Two, possibly one, maybe three weeks of no workdays have started. I need projects I can do sitting down, that don't require bending, lifting, or resting things on my belly. Any ideas? I guess that until the baby comes, I will amuse myself with things like this. Or maybe we should pick out a name? I suppose that even a couple of artists can't really call their child "Untitled" (mixed media, 2008). |
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Well, we are taking a page from 444's book and ditching the unclean apartment. The Boy found three fat, contented cockroaches in our utensil drawer, so an executive decision was made, I was duly informed, and the household voted to relocate (except for one nay-saying furball who likes to hunt and eat the six-legged prey). Hopefully we will find a good place for November.
Also, the Canadian gov't clearly got a cut-rate bulk deal on breadline communist-era, Kafka-inspired passport offices, and had them shipped complete (including redtape and surly staff) to cities all across our otherwise friendly and efficient land. Although for some inexplicable reason, the surly bastards running my passport office have french accents. FIVE HOURS in various line ups - FIVE HOURS. All to go to the US of A for a business trip, where they no doubt have my name red-flagged and an orange jumpsuit waiting for me at the customs desk in Charlotte, NC.
BAH. |
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So here is my summer in brief....
It's been really hot here, and damn I wish we had air conditioning. No camping yet this summer - The Boy has been working like crazy doing all sorts of sucky jobs, trying to make the tuition for fall. It is hard to find time to do anything together. Saw a couple of movies - Transformers (yay) and Harry Potter (also yay), and a Quebecois film on DVD that my friend lent me called Une Crabe Dans La Tete (also also yay).
Our friends Colin and Ashleigh will be moving here soon - we found a pretty sweet apartment for them a 1/2 block from our place. They will have a kick-ass rooftop terrasse, lucky people! Our friend Michael moved in across the alley, which is cool, and we still have sunday brunches going sporadically with the best of the west. Some of our unwelcome six-legged critters are back in the kitchen - we will move next July. Also, it seemed that a bunch of the stray cats we were feeding have disappeared - I hope that there isn't some sicko poisoning them or something. There is a new one- a sweet little gray boy who actually honestly says "mee-ow'" when he talks.
At the end of June it was announced that my workplace was moving its customer service to South Carolina, due to a merger. Sucky, but there was a severance package. I decided to try for another job in the company, which would be a raise and a promotion. There were three positions open. I got it, and the other two people hired were my two closest friends at work (remaining, anyway. The other one got a killer job and left).
I have been doing a bit of drawing for the SPCA, I found a painting I want to finish that I hadn't yet unpacked, and I have ideas for more and for a drawing. I read the Life of Pi - the author (Yann Martel) of whom is sending a book a week to Stephen Harper to try and convince him that the arts are important, which is very cool if likely futile. I also reread some Calvino and some Gibson.
Life is pretty good.
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... because he said to, and well, he's 444.... 1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4-7 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest (unless it's too troublesome to reach and is really heavy. Then go back to step 1).
6. Tag five people. "she is sustained by her insatiable passion for reading...."
Forced to abandon the novel Looks down in the gather-
ing shadow because of a production defect in her copy,
the young Sultana wrote to the translator, protesting.
Marana rushed to Arabia. "an old woman, veiled and
bleary, motioned me to follow her.In a roofed garden,
among the bergamots and lyrebirds and jets of
fountains, she came toward me, cloaked in indigo, a mask
If on a winter's night a traveller by Italo Calvino Which, unfortunately, doesn't capture the spirit of the book at all, which is written to directly address you, the reader, and the path upon which you are set when you buy Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveller, and the relationship between the reader, the writer, and the read. Of course, the damn thing assumes the reader is a man, but then it was 1979 and it was written by an old European guy, who may not quite have caught up with the times. It is still one of my favourite books. Not being a dedicated livejournal-ist, I don't think I know 5 people.... so I guess you are it, Jamie Q! |
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The fire-escape kitten now looks like this, and it has found a home for mid-June. Yay for fire-escape kitten! I took part in the Echo show at the Long Hall here in Montreal (thanks Jamie and Vanessa!) and I made a new drawing for it. it is 15x22 mixed media - I might do more of them. |
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A project done by Robert Weschler, a young American artist who has a talent for infusing the mundane with a lovely sense of the bizarre. I also really like "Vacancy" and the series done with school desks. "Applied Geometry"
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