Raindrops on Roses, Whiskers on Kittens

Musical year-end lists are maddening, but necessary. Mine has changed pretty much every day since the beginning of December. Considering it's almost the last day of 2004, I should really post My Definitive List:

Fave albums

1) Mike O'Neill, "The Owl"
2) AC Newman, "Slow Wonder"
3) Morrissey, "You Are the Quarry"
4) By Divine Right, "Sweet Confusion"
5) DJ Danger Mouse (+ Jay Z + The Beatles), "The Grey Album"
6) Franz Ferdinand, "S/T"
7) The Hidden Cameras, "Mississauga Goddam"
8) The Libertines, "S/T"
9) Stars, "Set Yourself on Fire"
10) The Killers, "Hot Fuss"

Honourable mentions:

The Smugglers, "Mutiny in Stereo"; Boy, "Every Page You Turn"; The Organ, "Grab Your Gun"; Modest Mouse, "Good News for People Who Love Bad News"; Hayden, "Elk Lake Serenade"

Fave songs

1) "Stay With Me", Mike O'Neill
2) "You Know I Couldn't Last", Morrissey
3) "The Town Halo", AC Newman
4) "Diamonds", Boy
5) "Almost", Sarah Harmer
6) "Come on Petunia", The Blow
7) "My Wife", Hayden
8) "Give Me the Chance to Fall", Gentleman Reg
9) "10 A.M. Automatic", The Black Keys
10) "Mushaboom", Feist

Honourable mentions:

"Float On", Modest Mouse; "Dark of the Matinee", Franz Ferdinand; "Pirate Ships", The Smugglers; "Crabbuckit", K-Os; "Andy, You're a Star", The Killers; "Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)", The Arcade Fire

Fave shows

1) Morrissey (w/ The Dears) - The Hummingbird Centre
2) Mr. Joel Plaskett, The Sadies, Jill Barber, Luther Wright and the
Wrongs, et al. - The Wolfe Island Music Festival, Wolfe Island
3) The Pixies (w/ The Marble Index and The fucking Datsuns) - CEPSUM
4) The Apples in Stereo (w/ the High Water Marks) - The Horseshoe
5) By Divine Right (w/ Jessie Stein) - Le Swimming
6) The High Dials - Cafe Campus
7) The Salingers - B-Side
8) Matt Barber and Pete Elkas - Nia (R.I.P.)
9) The Hidden Cameras (with The Blow) - El Salon
10) Les Sequelles (w/ More Plastic & The World Famous Riflemen) - L'Hemisphere Gauche

Fave videos (click to view!)

1) "Don't Be Afraid", Sweatshop Union
2) "Semi-Sweet", Lederhosen Lucil
3) "World on Fire", Sarah McLachlan
4) "10 A.M. Automatic", The Black Keys
5) "Almost", Sarah Harmer

(Now playing: "Brother", The Organ)

Memory Lane

I'm not yet ready to commit to a list of my favourite albums of the year, so I'm just going to list my five favourite blog posts from The Bee's Knees this year. Shamelessly self-indulgent? Maybe. But I think you will enjoy. Do keep in mind that these posts do not reflect my favourite parts of 2004. In fact, I tend to be a funnier blogger when I am bored/tired/frustrated/emotionally distressed. The Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Four has been a year of rapturous highs and low low lows, but the lows are mainly reflected in the following posts. Let's laugh at my pain together! Ready? Let's go!


Five Easy Steps to Illicitly Acquiring An Isic Card for Fun and Profit

Dressy Bessy

Degeneration

Walk Like an Egyptian

Jay & Erin: A Like Supreme

Mike O'Neill and friends played the Horseshoe the other night. The evening has been thoroughly documented by other members of the Queen's University Alumni Inbreds Appreciation Society (that's QUAIAS for short), so I don't think I need to say very much about it. Except that Mr. O'Neill played everything I wanted to hear (including Alsatian exactly when I wanted to hear it) and when he broke down during a charming rendition of "What a Wonderful World", I yearned to hop onstage and hold the dear man. The Most Endearing Moment in Indie Rock History? I think so.

It occurred to me as I was leaving the Horseshoe that, if the tavern was hit by a rocket or something, it would be a national tragedy. Some of the most brilliant Canadian songwriters of our time were housed in the Horseshoe that night: Mike O'Neill, Dave Ullrich, Matt Murphy, Ron Sexsmith, and Jill Barber. It they ever joined musical forces, the land would be devastated by the sheer magnitude of melodic awesomosity.

Finally, many thanks to Doug and Dave for throwing the finest (and fucking classiest) Festivus party I've ever had the pleasure of attending. See you next year. (And then never again.)

(Now playing: "Stop-Start" The Superfriendz)

Spreading Holiday Cheer Far and Near

My dear friend Jenny is quite the master baker. She and I have been swapping cookie recipes lately via email. But why should we be greedy and keep these culinary delights to ourselves?

Sofi Papamarko wrote:

Recipe for Mission Iron Eagle Democracy Freedom Cookies

1 cup of freedom
2 1/2 teaspoons of stars and/or stripes
3 cups powdered bones of terrorists

Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.

Add blood of homo-sek-shuls to taste. Roll out dough and cut into star shapes.

Bake at 300 degrees F on greased cookie sheet in pre-heated oven for 5-10 minutes. Do not allow to brown. No one likes coloured cookies!

-Sofi

Jennifer Gregg wrote:

Mission Iron Eagle Democracy Freedom Cookies (Iraqi variation)

Omit Homo-sek-shuls. Reduce terrorists to 1 cup. Add 1 cup
insurgents and 3-4 cups Innocent Men, Women and Children. Just before
baking, run through meat grinder (Careful! Those insurgents
multiply!)

To serve: sprinkle liberally with censorship and hypocrisy flakes, and
MASS DESTRUCTIFY!

-Jenny

(Now playing: "Big Sky", The Kinks)

Leisure

This is probably the last extended holiday I'll ever get to enjoy before joining the world of the working adult. So I'm milking it, babies. Social calendar CRAMMED!

Wednesday: Bonded with Susan, who I haven't seen since the summer. Bonding included shopping, dinner and a kick-ass Woody Allen double header (Annie Hall, which is one of my favourites, and Manhattan) at the Revue Cinema.

Thursday morning: Helped supervise a field trip for the kids in grades 3 and 4 at Grenoble P.S. to see The Polar Express. The horrendous film destroyed all of my fond childhood memories of that gorgeous, haunting book. The kids seemed to like it, though.

Thursday night: Went to potentially socially awkward videoFACT party. Managed to have an alright time, due in no small part to my charming companion, who is definitely in the running for the title of coolest boy in the world.

Friday: Christmas shopping with Alison in the afternoon. Also, I just got back from a lovely dinner with Lindsay, Lee, Katherine and Ben. They are my favourite. Whenever we get together, I laugh 'til I can't laugh no mo'. So much fun was had that I've already almost forgotten the fact that my bill came to more than I normally spend on groceries for a week. Ouch.

Next week: Ben's 24th birthday, fun with Tony, Mike O'Neill at the Horseshoe with Lisa and Cowan, and Christmas! Holy shit! How do I find the time to sleep?! I don't even know!

(Now playing: "Supernova", Liz Phair)

Colder Than You

I came home to a broken furnace. Wonderful.

Last night was so freezing cold, I barely slept. I was too distracted by my own epileptic shivering and violent cursing. It's supposed to get fixed this afternoon, but in the meantime I will continue to remind myself that it couldn't be worse than the entirety of my winter in third year university (when I could actually feel the icy wind blowing through the walls of our century-old house on Frontenac and heated my room by lighting candles).

In slightly warmer news:

ExecProducer to me

At 09:55 PM 11/3/2004, you wrote:
Message From..: null
Subject.......: Brilliant music!

Dear Exec Producer + writers:

I loved Degrassi when I was a kid, and now in my mid-twenties, Degrassi:
TNG is a guilty pleasure and weekly ritual for my housemate and I.

I just wanted to thank whoever has been selecting the music lately. I am
always pleasantly surprised by the lovely CanCon (By Divine Right, "Sweet Confusion" - nee hawww!) but I was REALLY impressed that you used a Sekiden song (I think) in the most recently-aired episode.

So thank you for that.

Also:

Will you be my boyfriend Degrassi: TNG?

Love,

Sofi

---

Hi Sofi!

Thank you for your support of Degrassi: The Next Generation. We will be
sure to forward your comments onto our writers, cast and crew.

Stay tuned to www.degrassi.tv for latest news and updates.

Best Wishes,

The cast, crew and producers of Degrassi: The Next Generation and Degrassi.tv

ps. yes, we will be your boyfriend!

(Now playing: "Everywhere With Helicopters", Guided by Voices)

Homeward Bound

Toronto people: I plan on being back there early this week. I just have to tie up a few loose ends here (phonebills, internship applications, etc.) and I am on the next wildly over-priced train ride home.

I'm coming back a few days earlier than anticipated in order to surprise my parents. Hmmm...maybe I'll have my younger brother tell them that I won't be able to make it for Christmas because of schoolwork, but then I will suddenly pop out of the pantry (my lovely shiny blonde ringlets bouncing) and Bob Cratchit will hug me and be happy. Uh. I mean my dad. My dad will hug me.

Yesterday was the first major snowfall of the season. I usually hate the snow, but it's just so clean and beautiful right now. Last night at sunset, the sky was this amazing violet colour, and it made the snow look pale blue. I'm pretty enamored with it at the moment, but I'm sure the novelty will quickly wear off.

Finally, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a big metal fan. All that aggression and testosterone, ugh! However, I would be remiss to not mention the incredibly senseless murder of Darrell Abbott the other day. Jay's blog has really nice tribute that I think you should all read.

(Now playing: The Witch Hazel Sound, "Blue City")

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat

I am convinced that the very best thing in the world is a kick-ass concert punctuated by tequila shots and lovely company to suck them back with.

(Now playing: "Up All Night", The Scott Richards Case)

The Good Folks at Visa are Extremely Concerned About My Personal Well-Being

Me: Hi, I'd like to activate my new credit card.
Visa: Of course. (Gets my vitals). While we're waiting for authorization, I'd like to take this opportunity to make you aware of an amazing program that we're offering.
Me: Mmhmm.
Visa: A great deal of people have already taken advantage of it.
Me: Mmhmm. (twiddling thumbs, awaiting authorization so I don't have to deal with her lame pitch anymore. I used to do this shit myself, so I know how scripted and awful it is.)
Visa: Blah blah blah, in case of a personal medical emergency, such as a stroke, cancer, heart-attack.
Me: (laughing) Uh...I don't think I'll be needing this. I'm 24.
Visa: Well, you never know. These things happen. Let's say you got diagnosed with cancer..
Me: Thank you, but I'm happy with my Visa as is.
Visa: And I have no doubt about that, but personal tragedies can strike people at any age. Strokes...heart-attacks...
Me: (not even attempting to be polite, at this point) OK, you know what? I'm not at all interested. Thank you.
Visa: (sighs) Well, all right. (tsks, ominous) Things happen.
Me: Has my authorization gone through yet, please?
Visa: One moment. (Hold) All right then, Ms. Pepapmarroh. Your Visa is now active.
Me: Thank you. Bye.
Visa: Thank you for choosing Visa. We appreciate your patronage and sincerely hope...
Me: *click*

(Now playing: "You Just Haven't Earned it Yet, Baby", The Smiths)