YES!

someone on the internet has succeeded in perfectly summing up my feelings toward Quebec separatists. This is taken from the comments (which are a mindfuck and a half!) on CNN about a few protesters at the Royal visit here:

"Why don't these dopey nationalists jeer the French when they come to town? Sure, Quebec considers themselves an occupied people. But it was France who abandoned their own citizens 200 years ago and no one else.

When de Gaulle shouted "vive le quebec libre," the Quebequois did not know they were being laughed at! Who was de Gaulle to shout such a thing when it was he and his race who abandoned these people.

Britain might have been the conquerors. But the traitors were France.

These spineless Quebequois want to jeer someone? Let them jeer the people who left them to the mercy of the crown of England!" - Arklady

oublions l'amerique

You voted for mandatory sentences for pot smokers in supermax prisons. You voted for a man who doesn't like gay marriage or gay rights, who wants to make education more of a business than an institution. A man who wants to almost immediately create a metered internet and monitor online communications between citizens. You voted for a man who wants to send troops to Iraq.

And you did it all for.. money.

from Reddit.

i slept on it and i'm still upset. i'm sick of Harper. i'm sick of politics. i think i'll leave for awhile and come back in a few years in time for the next election. that way, i get to skip all the bullshit in between.

Chain Of Flowers: Always keep the faith

Chain Of Flowers: Always keep the faith: "Happiness. Does it truly exist? Or is it, as some say, just an imaginary concept created by Man to give life meaning? And what of its pursui..."

---
I've been visiting COF every day since 1997 - i can't believe it's been almost 15 years. Craig, who runs the site isn't usually cryptic, but i think in this last post he is hinting at something. Sounds to me like The Cure might be doing a show in 2011 for the 30th anniversary of the Faith album. I will do everything in my power to be at that show, wherever it may be!!!

Busy!!!!

I'm halfway done my CELTA course!! So far i've taught in front of a classroom for 4 hours with another 4 to go. Two assignments out of four done. Two more weeks of getting up at 7AM. It's not easy, and I don't know if i'm going to be able to work regular business hours full-time. I'm just not wired that way. it goes against my nature. 10AM until 6PM i could handle, maybe.

I have to write my lesson plan for tomorrow's class which takes me about 3-4 hours. All i really want to do is finish Dragon Age 2 (yes, i'm a nerd but the story is really compelling! haha)

Vice just launched a new music site @ Noisey.com . Lots of good bands like No Joy and Das Racist on there. Many hours have already been killed there today.



I've also spent the last hour laughing at Business Cat . It's been that kind of day so far, doing anything but what I should be, pissing away my one study day during this intensive course. But hey, at least i'm having a ton of fun doing it!!

bassists are always the best

case in point:

exhibit one





exhibit two




in other news, i have strep throat which is very unsexy. it's good in a way because 1) i'm forced to clean up my act and no booze, cigarettes and other things means more money in my pocket 2) it hurts to swallow so i'm not eating as much as normal and as such will hopefully lose a few pounds in the next couple of weeks because 3) as of today we are booked and I'M HEADED TO CUBA IN 15 DAYS!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!! so i'd much rather get sick now than on vacation like i usually do.

it's been especially nasty weather wise the last seven days or so, after a very mild winter thus far. Just last week I was thinking about how warm and snow-free this winter had been so far, jinxing all of eastern Canada in the process. I have seen enough -20's to last me for this season, thanks!!!!

Robert Smith's signature Schecter guitar has gone on special and is now only $786,91!

If only i had a US mailing address and $786.91!

In the meantime, i am getting into Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire (the latter makes me wanna dip into the bottle of Canadian Club in my freezer... stupid illness!!!!), and listening to lots of dub to get into beach mode. Beach mode is so fucking far removed from Montreal in January, it's not even funny!

re-re-visited

a close to dvdrip quality version of Black Swan leaked yesterday. it may or may not be on my hard drive at the moment (if it were, no guilt because i paid to see it twice - that's how it works, right? like you're allowed to download cd's that you already own?)

anyway, i had the chance to watch a couple things closely today, even though i should be cleaning the apartment and finishing my unpacking (yes, i moved in close to 6 months ago).

so a little more indepth analysis of my two favourite scenes from the movie.

**major spoilers lie ahead**

When Nina gets home from the club and walks in the door to her apartment with Lily. That's what we see, but it becomes obvious later on that Lily isn't actually there and from what i gather stayed at the club when Nina got in the cab. According to someone on imdb there is an audio cue that plays everytime Nina is 'hallucinating?' but i haven't caught it yet (that's gonna take another couple viewings i think! haha). anyway, Nina and Lily walk in to the apartment and the point of view is from a mirror within a mirror. The way Nina and Lily are standing, the view through the mirror (audience's perspective) is half of Nina and half of Lily form one person before they split apart when one of the turns around. ingenius! then, as Nina's psychotic mother questions her about where she's been, Nina says: "to the moon..." then cut to Lily leaning against the wall opposite, whispering the completion of the sentence as Nina finishes it "...and back". the whole segment lasts less than 60 seconds but is pulled off so well that it's one of the best parts of the movie for me. I wish i was still at Dawson studying cinema so that i could write a monster of a paper on the intricacies of Black Swan.

As for my other favourite scene, it has to be right before the end in Nina's dressing room as she has her "holy shit moment" and comes to realize what she's done. as she looks down and sees the blood and pulls out the shard of glass. this is Nathalie Portman's shining moment in the film for me. a splitsecond before she glances down at her dress, you can see her eyes well up with tears and they fall just as she lowers her head. she pulls out the glass and the strings and horns swell - so, so, so, beautiful. so well done. it's an INCREDIBLE scene. honestly, i never really liked Nathalie Portman that much in anything prior to this. i doubt she has ever delivered a performance even half as intense as this. And i know that she never will either. This role was her masterpiece and I'm really happy that she took advantage of the opportunity and pulled it off so brilliantly.

The dinner club scene is also very cool, because Arronosky actually manages to translate the euphoric, dissociative and general warm, hazy and unfocused feel of a mdma trip on screen - the lights, the cuts matching the beat. bonus points for that, because it could have been a little cheesy.


Ok, i'm done. I promise, no more gushing about this movie (at least until Oscar time).