echetonic

I've started a photoblog documenting my life and travels in Europe:

echetonic

eye towards lotus land

I am loving my Manitoba visit - so many get-togethers with friends and family already, so many good times shared. I am so excited about going to Delft. But right now the sight of this really tugs at my heart-strings:



I went over this bridge nearly every day, and I miss it.

Sonya in...tulip land?

Big news!

I've just booked my flight...and I will be headed to TU Delft in the Netherlands for 2 years to do a masters of architecture degree!

Initial fears have been mostly replaced by euphoric excitement! Yes, the program is in English. they have a lot of international students and the program has a great reputation.

So if you're in Winnipeg during August, I'll be there from the 1st to the 26th. Hopefully we can meet, because I'll be a little further away for two years than originally anticipated.

coffee, tea, spices

coffee, tea, spices, originally uploaded by infi9ite.

I uploaded a few more photos that Ryan shot with black + white film. This one documents my pilgrimage to Starbucks the Original. They're from our trips to Seattle and Osoyoos. I'm having to correct the exposure on the photos with photoshop so I'll keep updating them in batches.

view the others here.

atelier bow-wow

Atelier Bow-Wow has a crazy take on urbanism in Tokyo.

They began with a study of "pet sites," which occur as very small areas of land left over by redevelopments, roads, etcetera, are used.


Interestingly, this is beginning to happen in Vancouver, too. The Sam Kee building in Chinatown is famous as the narrowest building in North America.


And Ryan and I came across this very narrow wedge-shaped starbucks in Richmond over a year ago.


But Tokyo pushes these limits far more than Vancouver does (yet).

This house, which was designed after the studio's study of these "pet sites," is built around a staircase. There are no true "rooms" with separate doors, but every landing contains a room with varying degrees of privacy.





Atelier Bow-Wow is studying more unusual building types that arise as Tokyo grows and pushes outward. One such type is the development of new fire-resistant commercial "fortresses" around very old wooden residential areas to protect them. And suburban lots are beginning to be subdivided as the city expands and living costs rise. According to the article, development in Tokyo is fairly low-rise, and redevelopments create narrow streets and narrow building projects like the ones seen above.

cyberia: TED: Ideas worth spreading

ted.com is amazing. AMAZING. Go check it out.

Lecture picks:

Blaise Aguera y Arcas demonstrates Photosynth This is so amazing that the crowd gasps and give Blaise a standing ovation after his talk. He demonstrates new software that is able to create three-dimensional models of known landmarks by compiling many photos. These aren't professional high-resolution images either - these are images compiled from a flickr search. The size of the data isn't an issue in this program. The model is infinitely scaleable, and each photo used in the compilation is tagged with its location on the model.


Eva Vertes on the future of science I haven't seen this yet but it sounds fascinating. Eva Vertes was 19 when she delivered this lecture, and had already been involved in discovering a potential cure for Alzheimers. She is now investigating cancer. She's described as approaching medicine "like a designer" - questioning the given and proposing very creative potential solutions to the problems of these two diseases.

badlands: Canada's Next Top Model

Come on: who doesn't love the show that may as well be titled Canada's Next Girl who Would Probably Not be Signed by an Agency but whose Diamond in the Rough Qualities Have Been Noted and Dramatized Courtesy of Jay Manuel for our Viewing Entertainment?

I sure do!

Now, while Canada exports a proportionately large number of genuine grade-A supermodels (Daria Werbowy, arguably the top model in the world right now, among them!), I doubt these girls are going to get signed by Elite and go walk the Paris runways post-show. Also, looking at the ridiculously beautiful CNTM judge and real model Yasmine Warsame alongside the competitors is a wee bit depressing. If she were in the competition she'd kick their asses. But that said, it's fun to speculate about who might (perhaps, sort of, maybe) have a chance at real-world success out of the bunch. Here's my Rankings of the Moment:



1. Rebecca
I love her striking and highly unusual face and her sense of style. I hated her idotic makeover. The cut was all right, but the colour was ridiculous. I preferred her with her Irina Lazareanu lookalike hair. While the judges still seem to subscribe to the "distinctive and edgy look" theory of model styling, I think the "neutral palette with a striking face" theory is generally used for actual models, which limits dye jobs to colours within a natural human range.

What if the designer wants a natural, fresh look for their collection? Are they going to cast crazy fire-hair, whose look is not easy to adapt to this style? Conversely, if the style for the show is wild with crazy hair colours, it's easy to slap a bright wig on the models so they look consistent. It's not easy to fake "natural." I think even a more orange, natural-redhead shade would be preferable to the one they chose. CNTM is hardly an indictor of the real-world modeling business, but regardless, this choice was stupid and not overly flattering.

I think Rebecca is going to be a top 3 contestent, but if she isn't, I hope she runs directly from the show to the nearest hair salon, restores her hair to brown, and takes herself to an agency whose employees do not watch CNTM. Good luck to her!



2. Tara

Tara is quickly getting the bitch-edit and has also suffered an unfortunate makeover - somehow all that long, straight hair looks just wrong on her. I preferred the afro (which could have been straightened for shoots when necessary). But she has a good face, gorgeous skin, modelesque body, photographs well, and is confident. Also, she's more exotic than most of the predominantly white crowd which should work to her advantage. I call her for top 3.



3. Tia

This is not an entirely logical choice given the show's editing (and as I link this photo I am hating the red clown-lips they gave her for this shoot), but from my first preview of the contestants I've thought she had the most unusual face of the bunch. Alien-face girl (which is intended endearingly; come on; some of the best models look alienesque, or, for that matter, like fourteen year old boys) has proven to have a sweet disposition and take a good shot. She is also the contestant who has me the most plagued with worry for the inevitable clash between "judges who worry her hips are too wide" (which I don't really see, like, at all, even by modeling standards. She's pretty waifish in my opinion) and "happy go lucky girl who just wants to eat three pudding cups and also be a model." Girl, I'm on your side, and not just because it's the side with the pudding cups. You show 'em. I just hope you are tall enough.



4. Sinead

Sinead is the most naturally gorgeous girl of them all and benefited greatly from her Natalie Portman by way of Sinead O'Connor restyling. She seems smart, articulate, and saintly: witness the Passion of Sinead where poor Sinead is sticken by a fainting spell (and, to her credit, recovers with quiet grace and doesn't cop out of the rest of the judging session), and miraculously does not come off as greedy in the least after her hard-won $5000 shopping spree at Holt! And she takes a stunning, magazine-worthy beauty shot. The only question is whether she will rest on her beauty and great personality or progress and take risks with her photos. If she doesn't become a model she'd make a lovely actress.



5. Cori

I like Cori more than I thought I would from the previews I saw, she has a runway-type body, and she's quite a photogenic girl. However, she looks like she's more suited to advertising skin products for Biore than high fashion. Nothing wrong with that, though! We'll see if she can discover some edge and come into herself a bit more.



6. Jacqueline

She's already out, so this is moot point. I had a soft spot for the Vancouver curly-head and thought her face was stunning, but her physique didn't look like a contemporary fashion model's. And there was nothing she could have done about it either - contrary to the judges' "politically correct" comment that she should "tone up", there was nothing un-toned about her physique at all. Unfortunately, models who are less than waifish won't get hired until governments pass some mandatory BMI or health-tests governing the industry. I hope she pursues some sort of modeling career. Her face alone should have carried her through a few more rounds.



7. Mo

I quite like Mo's face and her accent is totally charming. But she absolutely needs to find a better angle for her shots than the hideous upwards perspective they have been using, which makes her chin look huge, and her wide-set eyes bug-like. She's prettier than that.



8. Gina

We are past the era of the Cheryl Tiegs all-American girl-next door model, and therefore Gina is way too sports model/girl from the mall for my taste. However, she's really statuesque and her new brown hair colour works wonders for her. Contrary to the judges' hate-fest over her photo, I loved her calamari beauty shot, because she managed to NOT look like the conventional beauty she is.



9. Steff

However great a sense of style she may have, I just don't think her face looks like a model's. This week she has to find a way to make the camera love her or it's over.

everyday: life with curly hair (a gentle manifesto).

If you know me, you have probably always known me as a curly-headed person. Rare is the occasion on which I will appear with sleek, styled tresses. Sometimes people who don't know me well think I curl my hair daily. That's pretty surprising - I tell them that my "hairstyle" is what happens when I roll out of bed in the morning and gravity pulls my hair downward - somewhat downward, natch. I am not a person who can tolerate spending hours each day on her hair and am more than happy to be as curly as nature intended me to be.

Granted, this style isn't for everyone. It can look a bit unruly on a bad day, and I'm sure some people would like to attack my head with a brush. But I quite like my curls, and when I let them do their thing, taking care of my hair is ridiculously easy. On some occasions I'll be asked what exactly I do to my hair to get it to curl the way it does.

So here's a curl primer for beginners, in case you have ever wondered about the mystery behind curly hair care.

1. You don't need to brush your hair. If you have some natural curl in your hair, the hair tends to curl together in waves/ringlets according to a natural curl pattern. You may notice your hair beginning to do this when you leave it for a while after brushing it. As soon as you brush your hair, you start to mess with your natural curl pattern. Brushing encourages frizziness, as your hair tends to rebel against brushing and the curliness in your hair will make each hair stand apart from the others. Curly hair tends to be somewhat coarse in texture, and it's therefore easy to break hair when you pull a brush through it. Hair breakage also contributes to frizziness. If left alone and unbrushed, the natural curl pattern will begin to define itself and form curls/waves.

Of course, un-brushed hair is different from brushed hair. Brushing naturally distributes oils from the root to the hair shaft. And oils are good for curly hair, which tends to be dry. Therefore, in order to properly moisturize your hair, you will need to adjust your hair cleansing technique.

2. You don't need to use shampoo every day. Most of us like a clean scalp, and so most people achieve this by using shampoos that contain detergents, to lift away the layer of dead skin/oils on the scalp. But, unless you are using uber expensive salon products to wash your hair (and I certainly don't), chances are the detergent in your shampoo is the same as the detergent in a bottle of dishwashing liquid. It's harsh stuff, and it dries out your hair and scalp pretty effectively. Curly hair tends to be dry to begin with, and dried-out hair becomes frizzier and less manageable. However, the scalp tends to have the opposite problem, producing more oil to compensate for the removal of oil by detergents.

3. You can cleanse and moisturize with conditioner. For the curly-haired, conditioner should suffice to cleanse the scalp and moisturize on most days. I use one kind of conditioner to "wash" my hair, using it as I would shampoo. Then I rinse that out and use a second conditioner, applying it to the hair just off the roots (as you would apply conditioner normally). I let that sit for a while and rinse most of it out, but leave in a little to help moisturize my hair. Rinsing your hair in this manner takes literally four seconds.

Of course, you will be used to a squeaky-clean scalp, and the odd feeling of your non-scrubbed hair will drive you batty at first. If you're interested in trying this, it works well to ease into the routine. Try using half the shampoo you normally would for a while. Then try using it every other day. Then try going for a week using just conditioner.

It is necessary to do something to clean the hair beyond using conditioner occasionally. To thoroughly clean the conditioner/skin residue on your scalp (once a week or less), first coat the ends of your hair in conditioner to protect it, and then use a very small amount of shampoo on your scalp. Or, instead of shampoo, fill a water bottle with two tablespoons of baking soda, mix it with water, and slowly rinse your hair in the mixture, lightly massaging your scalp as if you were washing with shampoo. I do this every week and a half or so - it's cheap and effective.

4. Let your hair dry without doing things to it. There are several schools of thought about hair-drying. I have heard it recommended that you should let your hair air- dry in the morning while you are sitting upright so the curls fall naturally into place. My hair takes at least 3 hours to dry, so I usually just sleep on a towel overnight with wet hair. Since my curls are fairly loose, my hair curls the most effectively this way. Other people recommend using a diffuser on a cool setting and scrunching the hair (cupping the hand under the curls, lifting towards the scalp gently for a few seconds, and releasing). I find this makes my hair a bit frizzy, but it may work for you. The most important thing to remember is to not pull at your curls, attempt to smooth them down, or arrange them vigorously. When you towel your hair, pat it gently dry without squeezing or rubbing your hair unnecessarily. Hair curls best when the curl is allowed to just do its thing.

5. A curl-specific haircut can make a huge difference. The best way to cut curly hair is when it's dry. This is because you can see the natural shape of the curl and cut it correctly - at the end of one of its curves, not in the middle. When curly hair is cut incorrectly, the ends flip out in unpredictable ways, which is very frustrating to style.

I tried for several years to find a hair salon that would cut my hair dry. I didn't have any luck in Winnipeg. When I moved to Vancouver, I found a stylist who would cut my hair dry. He cut it short, I decided to grow out my hair shortly after, and I went literally a year without another haircut. It only looked a bit out of shape in the last couple of months, but otherwise it curled quite nicely. It was an expensive cut, but I think it was worth it - it was definitely less, total, than the 3 haircuts I typically get per year. I've been back once since then, and received the best haircut I've ever had in my life.

Hair salons tend to be a bit touchy over the issue of dry haircuts, and most refuse to do them. If they don't want to cut your hair dry, go elsewhere, and find someone who will be happy to do so and who knows what they're doing. And when you are searching for someone who does a curl-specific haircut, seek out someone who has been recommended by a curly haired person who wears their hair curly.

Even if a stylist has curly hair themselves, this does not necessarily mean they know how to cut curly hair. I went into several salons to inquire about curly haircuts, and was told, "oh yeah! stylist X has curly hair! she knows all about how to deal with it!" Enter stylist X, who has evidently been spending quality time with the straightening iron and sports stick-straight locks with a blunt-edged cut. Sure, she knows how to torture her hair into being straight, but she may not know how to properly cut curls. That funky-layered edgy cut is totally not going to work for your hair if you like to wear it curly.

Likewise, if you are told that "it's the same to cut your hair wet if we cut it in layers!" don't believe it. In two months or less, you will be cursing the strands of hair that stick out from your head at a ninety degree angle. Or else you will be sporting the lovely "shelf look", the result of misapplying the jennifer aniston shag to curly hair, and your hair will have a distinct line between top and bottom layers, which looks hideous.

A good haircut should make styling painless. The curls should fall into place - maybe with a little help from gel - but they should be cut according to the natural direction of your hair and should not require a lot of taming.

6. Certain products may help out your curls, but it is not necessary to spend a fortune on them.

Salon products are lovely, but the drawback is, of course, price. I personally believe they do make a difference - my hair is far less weighed down and curls more nicely when I emerge from the salon having had my hair lavished in expensive curl-specific shampoo, conditioner and gel. Additionally, if you use salon stuff, you may be able to go two days with one hair-rinse, as there will be less build-up of product on your hair, and your curls may still be curly (as opposed to weighed down by heavier, cheaper products.) However, I'm simply not going to shell out $20+ for a small bottle of shampoo or conditioner at this stage of my life.

I am going to do a little "high/medium/low" categorization here of my favourite products.

High:
$30/100 ml: Momo styling gel. Made in Italy specifically for curly hair! smells divine-ly of grapefruit and myrrh! gorgeous minimalist packaging! I use it sparingly for special occasions so the bottle lasts me a year. To be applied to damp hair.

I haven't bought the conditioner or shampoo but it is also recommended (as per my salon visit) for those of you with silver-lined pockets.

Medium:
$12/250 ml: Lush Coolaulin conditioner. This conditioner doesn't smell pleasant, exactly, but it works exceptionally well for its cost. It's lightweight yet moisturizing. I am a supporter of Lush in general.

$8-11/250 ml: John Freida Brilliant Brunette conditioner. I stock up when it's on sale. It works decently and whether or not you believe it will improve your hair colour, it seems to have a positive effect on your hair condition. (Of course, there are versions for blondes and redheads too). I found it seemed to improve my hair colour over the winter months, when hair is naturally bit darker at the roots; the chestnut tones in my hair seemed nicer than they are typically during this time. It is a more heavyweight and leads to more build-up than the Lush conditioner, but moisturizes equally well.

$8-11/250 ml: John Freida Frizz-Ease Calming Masque. This resembles the intense, thick conditioner that comes along with hair-dyeing kits. Fun to use twice a week, especially on frizz-prone areas!

Low:

$5-7/900 ml: TreSemme Extra Moisturizing Conditioner. This stuff is the most lightweight, gentlest, best-moisturizing conditioner you can buy for the price. I use loads of it as my hair-cleansing conditioner.

(almost free!) baking soda rinse. As described above, mix a couple of tablespoons of baking soda with water in a water bottle. A honey bottle or sports-drink bottle with a nozzle also works well to pour water on the roots of your hair.

You can make more hair-care recipes yourself, such as hair scrubs and conditioning masks, but this is getting quite long, so I'll leave that for another day.

Curl Handbook:

Curly Girl: Lorraine Massey's handbook on curl-care discusses the method behind the madness. I don't own this book - yet - but I have read much of its contents online. Most of the techniques I've talked about come from this source.

naturallycurly.com: this is a great resource. I have found the salon search tool to be most useful. There are articles on hair types, expert q+a, and online forums.

small dwellings for water people

small dwellings for water people, originally uploaded by infi9ite.

today I managed to exist on ibuprofen swallowed amid a sea of drinking water, tottering fore and aft the shoppers drug mart as along a gangplank, and baked goldeny brown chocolate cookies worthy of pirate spoils. they will certainly add to my booty (heh.)

new abstracts also uploaded.

greenhouse gases heat me up:

...not to vexation, but to discussion! Roslyn's brother Jeremy recently posted his thoughts on the documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle," and I did a hostile takeover of the comments with my links to studies and my thoughts on the arguments. Please, take a read, and leave your thoughts (whatever your opinion may be). Not only will this richen the discussion, it will balance the 2000 + word monopoly I hold on the comments section.

go here.

hinterlands: recent discoveries

Happy Friday! Here are some recent musical discoveries that have delighted my ears.

I read an article about Wolf Parade a short while ago. They were formed in Victoria, BC, and now play out of Quebec, as does just about every hip young Canadian band these days. Wolf Parade

I downloaded a couple of songs and thought they were all right. I even played them for Ryan, who though they were all right. This was over a month ago. Then two days ago Ryan was going on about this great new band he'd found who were formed as a warm-up act for Arcade Fire that sounded a bit like Victoria band Hot Hot Heat. He'd found their entire album "Apologies to the Queen Mary". He couldn't remember what they were called but hearing one of the tracks was enough to jog my memory and I started yelling that I'd found them first. Like it matters; I'm still on the "at least one year behind everyone hip" path of musical discovery. Anyway, thanks Ryan! The whole album is pretty great.

some videos and things here

One of my co-workers is crazy about all kinds of music and every so often he puts a few mp3s on our server (ssh). The next two offerings were discovered this way:

Calexico: I knew of them because of their collaboration with Iron and Wine and they're not exactly a new band - they're going on 10 years. "You and Me" off Garden Ruin has the distinction of moving me to tears while at work. Usually only Pat Metheny can do that. Garden Ruin is described as "more mainstream" than their previous work but I found the album quite eclectic, from folk to country to rock to big-band horns to world-music with lyrics in english, spanish and french. It improves with each listen.

the Besnard Lakes are another husband-wife duo out of Montreal (now with some additional band members). Their sound is unlike anything I've ever heard (more accurately, unlike any collage of existing musical styles I've ever heard): imagine a girl and a guy channeling the beach boys in their vocals while riffing in the style of the Doors and then go listen to Disaster (from The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse) on their webpage. It's a fantastic mashup. The main fun of their album is hearing which part of rock n roll history they'll emulate next.

Happy listening!

the sun, here it comes

I was in the Vancouver Sun Run this Sunday!

here is my time. I was ahead of Ryan (who ran alongside me the whole way) by 0.01 of a second! For the record, he could have finished faster but chose to run with me. Awww.

Overall, I'm happy that we finished under an hour (our goal) but we've definitely had faster runs. We waited over an hour in the starting lineup and got completely numb with cold as we were dressed in our running t-shirts and shorts. I could barely feel my limbs for the first 3 k. As a result of the freezing (or the hour wait?) I desperately had to use the washroom at the first opportunity, which led to a 5-7 minute wait at the port a potty lineup. Bah. I had an injured knee, which spasmed near the finish, and necessitated a short break. The constant dodging and weaving around other runners took its toll, too. I was suprised at how much people bunched up on the final hill before the finish - sprinting was simply not possible.

Without the bathroom break we definitely could have hit 55 - on a very good day we could have made 52 minutes or lower. I'm already looking into other 10 k runs - I had a blast training for this one and I want to keep running, after my knee heals up. I'm proud of us for finishing our first 10k!

still blogging this?! crazy canucks

I am watching the Canucks vs. Stars. They are tied at 4 and are in their 4th overtime period. To clarify: this is the seventh full period of play. Over 120 minutes of hockey. The game started at 7 and it is now after midnight.

Please! Canucks! Score!

UPDATE: Canucks won! Henrik scored off a pass from Daniel! (see post below for reference). Hurrah!

so blogging this: coffee to go

This morning on my way to work I passed by Starbucks. Outside was a cyclist, emerging from the Starbucks and getting back on his bike. He had two water bottle holders on his bike: one on the crossbar and a vertical holder on his seat-post. The crossbar holder contained a regular water-bottle. The vertical holder contained a venti-sized Starbucks beverage.

Then he pedaled away (wearing a helmet! I hope the coffee didn't splash and burn his legs!) and pretty much epitomized Vancouver.

Road Tripping

Sun Spiral, originally uploaded by infi9ite.

a few more photos are on my flickr page.
here

Road to Osoyoos

empty road, originally uploaded by infi9ite.

It's been a while. But this happened: Ryan and I went on a day-trip to Osoyoos, BC, with Ryan's co-worker and his wife on Saturday. Things got quite interesting, as we all took our turn at our various cameras during different points of the trip. At one point I think Svetlana had three people taking pictures of her simultaneously. Poor girl; luckily she's photogenic.

Fun was had by all, and more photos will follow.

I'm so blogging this: Sedin twin!

Yesterday I went for coffee with Ryan in Yaletown. As we strolled along Hamilton St. in the rain, I chanced upon a familiar visage and my brain registered the following in sequence:

Red hair!

Beard!

Talking loudly in Swedish!

SEDIN!

For the uninformed, the Vancouver Canucks have twin brothers, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who play on a line together.

I had no idea if it was D. or H Sedin as they are identical down to their beard grooming, but this one was next to a cute smiling blonde woman (who, at the very least, understood Swedish, and appeared Swedish also), who was pushing a baby in a stroller. Awwww.

Wikipedia tells me it was probably Daniel, as the kid in the stroller looked about a year old:

Daniel Sedin

If you haven't yet, meet the Sedins: (safe for work, though you might not believe it at first:)

Knut!

In the midst of a hectic time, let us be comforted by the cuteness of baby polar bear Knut, as presented by Steven Colbert:



"His eyes are like little buttons!" Brilliant.

3 for 3

I was also accepted at the University of Toronto.

Where to go...where to go?

where do we come from? what are we? where are we going?

Citizens of the interweb:

You have created a gleam of light in my otherwise dull-grey day. Indeed, on a day when I have spent many hours hiding behind a mask of concealer, twitching from too much coffee intake, feeling like I and all the happiness in my heart of hearts have been steamrolled by the proverbial truck that seems to flatten many people, I was quite cheered to witness this:


People from faraway lands! How are you coming here? Is Google directing you here when you search "David Bowie?" And instead you are coming to find emo poetry and amateur movie reviews? I'll bet that's it.

_

(from Jan 06)

she left
her coat behind
on a blue snowbank
she pounded down the winter plains
they broke away to dusty canyons
filled with dry sunlight
under her feet
as she ran

i'd watched her stand in church,
her face was
painful in its purity
she was all
fire and proud young bones
and shorn hair and sweet voice

my heart quiet within me measured
my shrinking soul in the presence
of hers, giant

next evening i flew away
under cover of darkness, no one heard
my ascending, my landing,
where I fell and
gathered my brokenness in the shade of mountains,
i find myself on the side where
it always rains, where fog is softer than
sunlight, greenest in the sea

where i'd spend my long silence
and she'd steal, fierce in her loudness,
through my heart's eye, and whisper terribly,
you and i, we are two, who dared
i to run into the sun
you into the rain

weekend epic

Friday:

Abbotsford, BC.
arrived via trusty 1982 Volvo a.k.a. "Olga"

watched: The Prestige
It was decent. The first act was a little clunky and took a while to find its tone. The second was fairly successful, and finally builds enough momentum to justify its frantic pacing. David Bowie as Tesla was a highlight. The third act gets a little crazy, pushes the audience's ability to suspend disbelief and ventures out into the realm of science fiction. The actors do a fairly good job of selling it to the audience, and I have to give due credit for involvement- just before the final denouement I was yelling out a plot solution at the screen and I was half-right (sorry, Ryan's family!) Throughout, some interesting points are raised about the nature of magic and human optimism, and there is an interesting flip in the portrayal of which of the two magicians is the "good" or "bad" guy.

Overall comments: I am getting really sick of Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as the female seductress. The only time this was interesting was in Lost in Translation and, arguably, Girl with the Pearl Earring, where she wasn't a very overt sexpot. Please change it up, or change the way you act these characters. Hugh Jackman's American accent really bothered me (apparently this was explained in five seconds in an early scene which I missed), but then he played a totally great out of work actor-lush with a passable accent and I forgave him that. I didn't find the final twist overly compelling, but again, I have to give credit for simplicity, as venturing out into another weird science-fiction twist would have been too much for the audience to bear. However, if it could have been guessed in the first act: "haha, wouldn't it be simple if X were the case all along," I don't think it counts as a compelling plot twist.

Also, there are a few instances that I think may be plot holes (like whatever happened to that kid in the first act who disappears the rest of the movie? Why does the "manservant" only appear in the middle of the second act when he must be there for the whole thing for the bait-and switch to make sense? (SPOILER: Why does the "mentor" character appear to know about the final plot twist beforehand but allows this person to be framed for murder and sentenced to death, and person's brother isn't mad in the least? is the point that he preserves all magician's secrets at the cost of their lives and everybody thinks it's worth it?/END) or it could be that I didn't pick up on some things at first go-round.

There are many more funny, twisty moments that are pretty redeeming, or at least amusing, that I can't reveal without also revealing too much of the plot. Overall, recommended as a decent Hollywood-style movie.

Saturday:

Wal*Mart (bought a sport watch for $30; every time I go in there a little bit of my soul stays behind and, hopefully, is claimed by a child labourer in China.)

Sport-Check
Ethical Addictions for an americano and chat with Ryan. I saw a Jeremy Penner doppelganger but I don't think it was him.


The Da Vinci Code (p. 150-375?) I am reading this and while I'm actually not a fan of this book and Dan Brown hitting the reader over the head with his overstatement of every single "fact" and clue as if we are idiots (come on. two experts on Da Vinci fail to recognize mirrored writing?), for some reason I'm devouring it quickly. I am just to the part where we are discovering the Big Plot Twist, and since I've seen the movie and know what it is I feel like he's being cheap about it as he is totally misleading the reader and we are supposed to be all "oh wow, he's like SO clever I totally never would have guessed." Ha.

At least the book lacks Tom Hanks saying hambone lines such as "surely this cannot be the keystone!" with a pained expression on his face at having to play Robert Langdon, but it has more than its share of writing that is as elegantly phrased as, say an installment of CSI, and is similarly replete with awful one-liners. Also it lacks Ian McKellen's awesome scenery chewing which was maybe the only redeeming part of the movie. Nobody can have more fun in a bad movie than a really good British actor.

More later.

F1 racing
Canucks game

Sunday:

epic run in Abbotsford - 55 minutes
home-made waffles
D.V.C. (p. 375-420)

Coquitlam - Ryan's Grandparents
UBC: guided tour by my former co-worker Aiden

Ryan's apartment
Sushi from Samurai on Davie

Sonya's apartment
Laundry
Phone call from Mom

Hinterlands: Sigur Ros

I'm going to talk about people, groups, or other arts ventures I think are interesting and recommend them for perusal every so often. I'll concentrate on lesser-known artists, but I don't have the expertise or desire to talk about, say, bands that will be huge in 5 years that are still playing five chords as they gestate in someone's garage. (Unless I have some sort of insider connection to their work, such as that demo of Sheree Plett's I heard via Rebekah, in which case, I'll absolutely do that sort of thing. I think Sheree/husband Jeremy know more than 5 chords, though.) These are groups or people you might have heard about in passing but are not part of the canon of north american pop-culture. If they've attracted your interest, you may know a lot more about them than I do (if so, please enlighten me)!

This particular group barely qualifies as "less well known," since this is a band with a large international/celebrity following and 4 critically acclaimed albums.

Sigur Ros!

Mention must be made of my source: Ryan's sister Erin and her good taste in music. Thanks Erin! It was as Ryan was shopping for Erin's Christmas gift that I got a taste of their work.

Firstly, their sound is remarkable. It is by turns ethereal, heavy, subtle, dramatic, heartfelt. Those adjectives don't actually seem sufficient now that I write them. The band utilizes a classical songwriting arc that expands an introductory theme rather than a verse/chorus structure. Music students, correct my terminology: many of their songs seem built around a simple unfinished cadence sequence that repeats to a point of tension before resolution. It's beautiful.

Secondly, there are some amazing music videos they've done that fully exploit the dramatic potential of the music. Again, put to paper, the sales pitch seems quite bald. Beautiful Icelandic children are led on a journey by a pied piper; they jump off a cliff and float away borne by the air. It sounds very cliche. But! Behold:




This could win an award for 'most beautiful floating children video ever'. It's a simple idea, but it's done with utmost tenderness. The pacing and narrative and composition of each frame are strikingly beautiful.



Old people fight in a graveyard! The symbolism may be a bit more heavy-handed, but it refrains from silliness by virtue of the production quality. Again, it's a simple idea well executed.

I was intrigued to discover that Sigur Ros collaborated with Radiohead for a modern dance piece called "split sides," where the bands performed live.

Very bootleg video is here (I hope it doesn't disappear overnight):



A track from their official website is here

Official website:
http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/

with love, from cyberia

In search of my old photobucket account, I just found my favourite creation, like, ever. EVER.









Keep in mind that I made this to learn how to make animated gifs before Ryan and I were dating. Before. Truly, I am now astonished at his bravery.

fun with dick and jane

Sonya and Ryan are in Ryan's apartment, watching tv.

a "credit union" commercial begins. Do you Manitobans have those? or are they the progeny of the credit unions of BC? Anyway, it begins and the dialogue sounds something like:

Lady Bank customer 1: "Just a minute; I've got to use the bank."
Lady bank customer 2: "But your card won't work here."
LBC 1: "Yes it will! It works ubiquitously!"
LBC 2: "...do you mean to say it works everywhere?"
LBC 1: "Yes! it's omnipresent!"
LBC2: (eyeroll)"That's a malapropism."
LBC1: "a what?"
LBC2: "never mind!"

Meanwhile, Sonya the TV-starved non-TV owner has been cooing that this commercial is cute and she likes it and is chuckling, but not as hard as she chuckles every time she sees that travel insurance commercial where the couple returns home to find their couch floating and the guy in a full-body cast is stuck in the car going downhill yelling "parking brake!"; seriously, that commercial NEVER gets old.

Ryan, snarkily: "I don't think they used that last word correctly."

Me: "HAHAHA! nice one."

Ryan: "what?"

....then I called him an "idiot savant" and then I got in trouble. I only wish I could be as clever an idiot savant, self-aware or otherwise.

I've been Art Garfunkled

One rule of blogging I've encountered (because some bloggers feel the need to establish rules of blogging) is that you never write about your dreams, as they are boring and no one really cares about them.

This one is too good to pass by without recording. Last night I dreamt I was at a party hosted by a former classmate named Greg, along withmy boyfriend Ryan. We found ourselves sitting on a couch chatting with a rather crazy-haired man. Eventually we made the discovery that he was none other than Art Garfunkel.

What luck! We descended upon him with questions. What was it like being in Simon + Garfunkel? What about his time in Architecture school? What about that pesky drug conviction last year? Even better, suddenly Ryan was a newspaper reporter. He had whipped out his notepad and pen and was recording all the answers. Unfortunately, I can't remember a single one.

I also didn't remember this dream as I actually listened to S+G this morning ("What a Wonderful World") but did remember it as I crossed the street on the way to work. So, I am left with two pressing questions: How come I never get to be the newspaper reporter in my own dreams? Also, how can I purvey a "press hat" like the one Ryan was wearing in the dream and make him wear it?

Please advise.

in search of a palatable nihilism

My friends and countrymen,

I have been accepted into two graduate architecture programs: UBC and Manitoba. Manitoba's only sent me an email to let me know instead of the official package, but it's pretty much a sure thing. The past week or so has been a heady blur of rumors, gossip and subterfuge as my far-flung architecture friends and I weaseled out who was in, who was maybe in, whose friend of a friend was in and how we were getting in nowhere, and how we'd rather not even think about who was getting in or not, yet how we couldn't stop emailing each other and discussing these things.

So. I still have to hear back from Toronto, but I'm happy to have two choices. For the past month I've been a blissful slacker (well, except for some overtime at work, beginning training for a 10 k run, and a bit more yoga than normal), and thoroughly enjoyed it, though now I'm beginning to think, couldn't I have at least thought about school a bit more? Like at all? Like somehow numbered the choices from one through three as I had a full month to do such a thing?

As it stands, I have until March 30th to respond to UBC. I can do the research on the actual programs myself, poll my friends, troll archinet and other school type websites, and look into scholarships, as well as actually see what package the U. of M is offering me. Your task is to offer up superficial reasons to choose one place - Vancouver or Winnipeg - over another. Anything is fair game. Try me.

Go.

(Also, I totally stole the post title off of Death By Architecture.)

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