So Succexy

I just got back from a photoshoot for Chart with Emily Haines (oooh!) of Metric and Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace. The shoot was for an upcoming issue featuring Canada's sexiest musicians. And good lord, thems is sexy people! Even before hair (Marc freaking Anthony! I was ashamed of my borderline mullet...) and make-up (Sharon Hughes from Cargo), they are both freakishly attractive.

Emily's much smaller than I had imagined, and has an effortless, pixie-esque sort of beauty. Adam is a healthy, strapping lad with great hair and a fantastic everything else. (Rob - he's from Peterborough!) They were both pretty good sports about answering the fluffy questions I had for them, and I had fun helping Emily put gold glitter and vaseline on a frock to spell a certain word (pick up the issue in October to see which word). It was like grade three.

I need to figure out how to become a quasi-famous rockstar, and fast. I want Marc Anthony mussing with my hair! I want a bucket of Cargo cosmetics slathered on my face! I want a cool wardrobe to choose from! I want I want I want!

Um. But it would be all about the music, of course.

(Now playing: "All Dressed Up", Thrush Hermit)

Death to Death

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is dead? I don't believe it!

I HATE that Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is dead! I FUCKING HATE IT!

If I give you twenty bucks, will you make Elisabeth Kubler-Ross not be dead?

It's very very sad that Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is dead.

Well, I guess we all die someday. Even Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

The Kids Aren't Alright

I'm currently interning at a local community paper.

It's so boring I could die.

I mean, the people are nice and I'm learning stuff, but there isn't a whole lot for me to do there. Repeatedly checking my email gets old fast.

This morning, the nice managing editor man took pity on me and sent me on a field trip to the library to find some old articles from the paper on microfilm. It was awesome! And not just because I got to eat lunch at Manchu Wok, neither. I also unearthed this gem from the 60s:

The North York Mirror

Aug. 26, 1964

Goof-ballers and teen drunks like our centre

Don Mills centre has become one of Metro’s meeting places for goofball-doped and drunken teenagers.

Bruce Pattison, general manager of shopping centres for Don Mills developments, says: "Don Mills is no exception to teenage vandalism. There is no question about it, and there’s no use hiding it, vandalism is a problem in all shopping centres, not just one."

He notes that ‘gangs’ often roam from shopping centre to shopping centre.

"The automobile has made it easier to travel, they can get around more."

He warns it would be unfair to say all the vandals come from outside the area.
"It might be nice to think that they are from the outside, but every area, no matter what its economic condition is, has its share of delinquents."

Don Mills shopping centre has a policeman on duty at nights to help, but Pattison says not all centres can afford special guards.

Geoffrey Still, manager of Don Mills centre, says they are dealing with vandalism in a "very strict sense". He says the policy now is to charge anybody who is caught.
Still lists knifed awnings, broken and uprooted trees, defaced signs and broken exit and entrance lights as examples of vandalism.

He blames it on "a small minority living the wrong kind of life."

According to Still most of the vandals are 10 to 14 year olds and 16 to 22 year old "ne’er-do-wells".

"Most of the damage occurs late at night or early in the morning when they are drunk."

He says the youngsters may be suffering from "tremendous boredom" (ed's note: There was rampant boredom in North York/Scarborough 40 years ago? Hmm. Plus ca change.)

Still describes their reaction to any type of authority as a "get-even" attitude. That is, no matter what you tell them, they feel they have to get even.

He adds that since the police have been on duty, costing the centre $80 a week, the vandalism has been reduced.

If anyone knows what "goofballs" actually are, please clue me in. I do declare I would like to get hepped-up on them.

(Now playing: "She's Losing It", Belle & Sebastian)

Scream and Yell

This is sad. Hopefully, they'll recover them. I'm happy I got to see them both at the AGO'S Munch exhibit when I was seventeen, at any rate.

Yesterday was Janki's bridal shower. She looked beautiful and very much like a grown-up. I wore heels and a skirt and expensive lipstick and offered up a big wrapped present with a big gold bow and a plate of home-made shortbread cookies. I felt like my mother.

So, here's the ongoing tally:

Number of couples of my approximate age who I know personally who are married: 7
Number of couples of my approximate age who I know personally who are engaged: 5

Fair word of warning: if anyone else I know gets engaged within the year - ass? Kicked.

(Now playing: "Please Stay (Once You Go Away)", Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers)

Every Day I Read the Book

Since I've been home, I've taken up the art of "reading" again. I have all this spare time and since it's been unseasonably cold/cloudy out, I've been spending a lot of my time indoors with a book. In the past week, I finished "Miss Wyoming" by Douglas Coupland (which was all right) and the novella "Bear" by Marian Engel (which I quite enjoyed despite the TOTALLY FUCKED UP factor, but now I'm worried I'll blush like a schoolgirl everytime I see a bear. I feel like a co-conspirator...)

I was hoping people could leave their recommendations for good summer reading in the comments section of my blog. Is there one particular novel that has bowled you over, and that you think about on a weekly basis? Is there a character that sticks in your mind years after reading about him/her? Maybe it's your favourite book. Maybe it isn't. But when you were reading it, you were utterly absorbed in the author's fictional little world. I need that. I want that. Tell me what to read, please.

Just so I'm being completely fair, here are my recommendations to you:

• "Fall on Your Knees", Ann-Marie Macdonald
• "Lolita", Vladimir Nabokov
• "The Robber Bride", Margaret Atwood
• "Cannery Row", John Steinbeck
• "High Fidelity", Nick Hornby
• "White Teeth", Zadie Smith
• "Written on the Body", Jeannette Winterson
• "Nights at the Circus", Angela Carter
• "Life After God" and "Microserfs", Douglas Coupland

That was in no particular order, although the first two really are my very favourites.

Okay. Don't let me down, now.

(Now playing: "Golden Brown", The Stranglers)

Just Get Me to the Church on Time

My Hello! account is malfunctioning, so I'm trying a different avenue of photo posting.

This here is me at the Wolfe Island Music Festival with my future husband, Joel Plaskett.



Note how entirely calm and together I am.

(Many thanks to Jeremy Bradbury for taking this shot!)

(Now Playing: "Sugarcube", Yo La Tengo)

It's Always Better on Holiday

I have no classes in August. No work, either. No responsibilities of any kind. It is sweet. So of course I have spent the past couple of weeks playing tourist in Montreal, as well as going on a whirlwind tour of exotic southern Ontario (mainly Kingston, but I'll be in Kitchener-Waterloo tomorrow for Lindsay's fancy dinner party).

Here's what I have been up to over the past little while:

• Went to the Biodome with Catherine, where we saw emperor penguins, lots of beautiful birds, capybaras, a golden tamarin monkey and an otter.
• Enjoyed two Montreal museums with Toronto Ben.
• Spent a day acting like spastic, ADHD-stricken six-year-olds at La Ronde with some of my favourite people.
• Bought cute new shoes that hurt my feet a little. But they are so insanely cute, the pain will be happily tolerated.
• Saw Buck 65 and Jason Collett with Rob and Mitch .
• Attended the Wolfe Island Music Festival, where we enjoyed the musical stylings of Sir Joel Plaskett, Pete Elkas, The Sadies, Jay Harris, Matt and Jill Barber, an incognito Luther Wright and the Wrongs, Sarah Harmer and a host of others. I'd never been to Wolfe Island in my four years spent in Kingston, so that was exciting. It is very cute and very quaint and very boring and smelled like home fries. I also ran into a bunch of people there who I hadn't seen in forever, and thought I'd probably never see again.
• Did all of my usual favourite Kingston things (Common Ground, The Toucan, the Kingston tour trolley, the UBS, White Mountain, shopping on Princess Street, Zap Records) and saw most of my favourite residual Kingston people (Rob, Kem, Tiffany, Meghann, Yonek).

I'll be spending the balance of August in the GTA, spending time with my family, seeing friends, and interning at a community newspaper. Expect fewer posts than usual. I find that nothing much of interest ever happens around here.

(Now Playing: "Where Do The Days Go", The Flashing Lights)

You're So Pretty When You're Faithful to Me

Jesumaria!

Sonic Youth - tonight!
Liz Phair - in two weeks!
The Pixies - secured tickets this morning for November show!

I am currently making up for all of the bands my mom wouldn't let me go see in 1994.

If only a Hoon-less Blind Melon were to reform...

(Now playing: "Bone Machine", The Pixies)

Queer Like Me

Yesterday, I attended my first-ever Pride parade. I'd always wanted to go to the one in Toronto, but I would either a) be working b) be sick or c) feel sort of lame because I didn't want to be the tagalong straight girl.

I got over c) and embraced my inner dyke. She's easily coaxed out. Especially when I wear my Lara Croft-esque green tank top, my watch with the thick leather strap, zero make-up (not even mascara!) , earth mother-y sandals, and a kickass rainbow wallet chain, courtesy of Montreal Benjamin. Whenever I caught glimpses of myself in storefront windows, I had to do a bit of a double-take. Visually, I make a very convincing homo.

The parade, although 1.5 hours late, was quite the spectacle. Lots of beautiful people. Lots of not-so-beautiful-people. Lots of drag queens. Lots of balloons. Lots of Britney (but no Madonna or Cher, as Benjamin pointed out. Blaspheme)!

I found parts of the parade incredibly moving. Especially the lesbian mothers with their babies, and the really impassioned gay youth groups who were very Hooray For Everything in attitude, but far from cookie-cutter in appearance. Their energy and optimism was inspiring. I was proud by proxy.

Later that night, we went to La Salla Rosa for Meow Mix, which was this lesbian cabaret and burlesque show. It was less sexy than cheeky and absolutely hilarious. I kind of want a pair of sparkly red pasties. (Just for my own personal use, of course.)

On the way home, Liz and I talked about how many interesting people we've met since living in Montreal. (We met a lovely male-to-female tranny named Jessa, which got us on this topic). At Queen's, everyone was pretty Children of the Corn. We could think of very few exceptions.

Liz: "Are you white, straight and upper-middle class? Come to Queen's!"

I knew ONE gay person at Queen's, and I have already made five gay friends here. That's pretty neat, I think. Montreal seems to have a really supportive queer community. You're probably 100% less likely to get a pounding from a loutish jock here than in Kingston.

(Now playing: "God Makes No Mistakes", Loretta Lynn)