I'm Back

Ordinarily, I'd archive this page and start a new one. But somehow this week got away from me and here it is Friday already. How does that happen? Anyway, I'm a little mopey, now that Mr. Boy has returned to England, but going to see the very toothsome Mr. Heath Ledger grappling with the hardly less scrumptious Mr. Rufus Sewell tonight in A Knight's Tale will surely be just what the grumpy love doctor ordered.

The visit w/Mr. Boy was even lovelier than usual, and we had a spectacular time at home in Philly, where we were not really wined, but most certainly dined (very very well -- I really need to get my Mom's recipe for curried chicken salad w/grapes & almonds, because it is to die for), by my family and friends. The blend of eating, socializing, and puttering around was perfect, and while we weren't exactly happy to leave, we were glad to come back to Toronto. We museumed, we cooked, we went to the movies, we strolled around town. Oh, and I got my nose re-pierced. It was a great visit. And as you can see, regular posting has resumed.
Friday, May 11, 2001 10:59 a.m.

Can I Get An Amen?
I am printing out this Tomato Nation and will refer to it daily. Sarah Bunting explains every major, cringe-worthy grammar error, in clear, plain English. And she provides examples of correct usage. This just about made my week. Please, English teachers of the world, take Sarah's words to heart, and let them be your battle cry.
Friday, May 11, 2001 10:57 a.m.

Why, Rhino, Why????
Just as I'm making serious headway in my resolution to be waaaaaay more thrifty with my music purchases, along comes Rhino to fuck it all up. In a good way, of course, with Nuggets II. Cue drooling. Not only does it feature nearly $22,000 worth of 60s Britpop singles on 4 CDs, but the very first track is The Creation's "Making Time," my 2nd favourite song from Rushmore's soundtrack (#1 being The Kinks' "The Ooh-La-La," of course). Cue truly excessive drooling, and thanks to Matt for the link.

And: I was really hoping to unite my two twisted loves of standardized tests and music by taking the RMAT this year. It's the Rhino Musical Aptitude Test, it's a huge number of questions in 60 minutes, covering every genre of music, and it is damn difficult. And I want to take it. But those Rhino punkasses aren't offering it in Toronto this year. Damn. I missed in in Philly last year, and now I'm kicking myself. Sigh. For those of you residing in the few lucky locales where it will be offered, the RMAT will be held next Thursday, at locations around the world. Interested? Check out the info here.
Friday, May 11, 2001 10:57 a.m.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Trailer
If you've seen and enjoyed the works of Kevin Smith, you will love love love this trailer. Exploding cars, exuberant profanity and in-jokes abound, including one great little meta-bit, in which Ben Affleck, reprising his role as Holden McNeil (from Chasing Amy, which used to be my most hated movie, ever) says of a projected film about all of Smith's characters that Miramax will probably get Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to play him and Bankie (Jason Lee). I'm so not doing its hilarity justice.
Friday, May 11, 2001 10:50 a.m.

Textism
A new blog for my ever-swelling bookmark list, full of recipes, links, and beautifully wrought snarkiness. Via the excellent links page of the now sadly defunct Open Letters. I plan to mine this one for aaages.
Friday, May 11, 2001 10:48 a.m.

Buffy Berkeley Dreams?
Ok, I lied. I couldn't pass this up, though. Marti Noxon on a musical episode of Buffy for next season: "It is an all-singing, all-dancing Buffy, with music written completely for the show by Joss." I think that's a joke. I hope it's a joke.
Thursday, May 3, 2001 05:27 p.m.

It's That Time Again

I'm taking one of my periodic breaks. Mr. Boy is coming to town for a week, I still haven't finished my last paper of the semester (shut up) and we're going to visit my family for the weekend, starting tomorrow. Hi, family! See you tomorrow afternoon. If I do any updating, it'll be through the notify list.
Thursday, May 3, 2001 11:58 a.m.

Boox
If the fictional Malcolm of Coddler Books were a librarian, he wouldn't feel any moral ambiguity about suggesting $100 worth of books to a would-be novelist. The future bestseller writer could borrow the books and still have his or her $100 for groceries or rent leftover. Yet another reason to go to library school rather than joining the ranks of retailers. Via New Pages weblog.
Wednesday, May 2, 2001 09:13 a.m.

Jonathan David
No, it's not the name of anyone I know, but it is the name of the forthcoming Belle & Sebastian EP, to be released just three short days before my birthday! Yay! That Stuart, he knows that new music is this girl's best friend.
Wednesday, May 2, 2001 09:11 a.m.

Andrew Continues to Dominate the Internet
Seriously. The man who brought us diaryland, pitas, notifylist, signmyguestbook, and benicetobears.com continues his inexorable march towards total web domination with the fun & frisky zeepo.com. I am now thoroughly obsessed with this t-shirt. I want everyone I know to get one in either red or white, so we can stage faux poultry-punk rock rumbles when we go out on the town on Saturday nights!
Tuesday, May 1, 2001 06:46 p.m.

Avant Garde Made Easy: Sun Ra
This is a cool occasional series brought to you by the nice folks at Fresh Air. So far, Kevin Whitehead has examined the music of two other musicians besides Sun Ra: Lester Bowie and Anthony Braxton (any relation to Toni?). Of the three, Sun Ra's the only one I've heard of so far, so this will be a fun introduction to them. This whole series is a really good idea. I mean, how many people are just going to go out and buy Lester Bowie albums without ever having heard any of his music or knowing the context of his artistic vision? Way to make lesser-known musicians accessible without dumbing it all down, Kevin!
Tuesday, May 1, 2001 06:41 p.m.

Disney Gives Shrek The Nizz
Apparently the new animated film from Dreamworks (based on William Steig’s book of the same name) takes one too many wicked shots at the Mouse, so Disney has banned all ads for Shrek on its radio stations and TV network. Way to be good sports, guys.
Tuesday, May 1, 2001 06:39 p.m.

Culture Jamming?
This has completely done my head in. Is he really a culture jammer, or merely a corporate tool pretending to jam? Aaaaagh! Via pearls.
Tuesday, May 1, 2001 06:39 p.m.

How I Became a Pimp For The Tipping Point
Gentle readers, Malcolm Gladwell should be paying me for the free publicity I'm giving him. I'm going to keep this short, because I've been raving like an evangelical lunatic about this book for about a month now, and even I am getting tired of hearing myself talk about it. Gladwell writes for The New Yorker. Before that, he was a health/science reporter for The Washington Post, for whom he covered the AIDS epidemic. While he was there, he started thinking about how strange epidemics were -- the way they spread from one or two people to a huge percentage of the population, only to burn out and drop away eventually -- and started to think that maybe social phenomena behaved like viruses. So he began to think about how social epidemics -- crime, popular television shows, smoking, the effectiveness of Paul Revere's ride to warn the Massachusetts countryside that the British were coming -- might behave like viral epidemics. And this book is the result of all that smart thinking. It is brilliant, and has changed the way I look at all kinds of trends and movements. I really can't recommend it enough.
Monday, April 30, 2001 10:39 p.m.

Pearl Harbor and Kate Beckinsale
Will this big, splashy, Bruckheimer cheesefest be her tipping point into American movie stardom?
Monday, April 30, 2001 10:38 p.m.

Mr. Showbiz Shutdown
And they just redesigned, too. I'll have to look elsewhere for my celebrity gossip links. Not that there's ever a shortage of those around the Internet.
Monday, April 30, 2001 10:35 p.m.

2Pac's Life After Death
A few weeks ago, I posted a link from the NYT about Tupac Shakur's posthumous career. Not to be outdone by the national paper of record, Entertainment Weekly now publishes this incredibly in-depth, incisive piece that has caused my tongue to be so firmly placed in my cheek that I fear it'll get stuck like that and I'll never be able to talk again.
Monday, April 30, 2001 10:32 p.m.

O, My Prophetic Blog
I mused about the potential goodness of a Screamin' Jay Hawkins biopic, and now one will premiere at Cannes next week. It doesn't have Don Cheadle in the title role, but I'm not fussy.
Monday, April 30, 2001 10:29 p.m.