accidental music

for the past few days i've been sleeping at jo's, so i haven't been near a computer. hmm where to begin. i've had an amazing time.

i worked tuesday-thursday. one of those nights we watched Rocket Science, which was amazing. I admittedly have a thing for Aaron Yoo but beyond that the film was very well done and showed considerable depth without being overly sentimental. The soundtrack was also very good.

We went to Dance Cave on friday night after we saw Razzle Dazzle at insideout. The film was very well done, and hilarious, but admittedly i have a predisposition to Australian accents in comedies. DC was fun. This guy totally looked and me, then Johannah, then me, at our hands together and then us again and then left. It was funny, to the point where we joked about it. THEN the next day we went to a party and guess who walks in the door. We actually asked him too, if he was there last night and he totes was. Speaking of the party, it was rad. Right near a hipster party though. AA fashion show to the max with an average age of 19. We did go to some random guy's house above the party, enjoyed some tunes.

Yesterday we saw Femmetastic! at insideout. I will hold back too much ranting, but I have to say that we really have to move beyond a butch/femme binary. What was so offensive was that most of the short films in the program tried to pass themselves off as being revolutionary. Bring proud of being femme is one thing, but doing so only in relation to butch is hugely counterproductive and not at all progressive in my opinion. Yes, femme lesbians often have to deal with the validity of their sexuality being questioned, and get a lot of flack for "passing" but shouldn't we invent new ways of talking about identity beyond such prescriptions. If we are so fucking liberated by coming out in a sexually oppressive society, then lets not use its words to describe how and why. We did talk to the director of the best film in the program, and she gave us some hope for the future of queer female filmmaking.

So i needed my filmic pallet wiped after some ranting with Krista and Jo and some ice cream/book shopping. we watched Smart People. It was good but an hugely hurried ending. Ellen Page showed depth and was not at all a Juno type character. I was happy.

ps the subject title refers to seeing Los Campesinos briefly, and Chantal Kreviasik (or whatver) while finding Jo in Dundas Square.

cinephelia in cycles

many awesome filmie adventures were had in the past couple days. FIRST, i met John Greyson which was exciting. it was very quick since he was going into the theatre, so i just basically ripped his ticket. still, it was good. I worked the filmmakers brunch as well and talked to some cool people. So many of them were supportive, and were actually interested in what we were doing too. Volunteering at InsideOut was so encouraging. Plus, people I was volunteering with were so cool, and I hope to see them in the future.

The other day we saw Nosferatu with the music from Radiohead's Kid A and OK Computer (dubbed "Kid Vampire") at this place on Bathurst called 'Cineforum', which is basically this guy's living room. The chairs are nice office chairs and he has a big screen and a projector. It's right across from the beer store, so the guy who runs it told us to get beer, which actually costs less than getting theatre snacks. Not to sound like an alkie, just sayin'. We now have memberships so hopefully we can go again in the future.

Yesterday, we saw Patti Smith: Dream of Life at InsideOut. The tickets were free, so that was already amazing but the movie ended up being really really good. Poetic, informative and interesting. Her philosophies on life, especially when talking about inner narratives was particularly interesting. Some live footage, and cameos provided good accents to the film. I'd strongly suggest seeing it, if you ever get the chance.

Toronto has provided endless fun, and I am glad the DJs play good music. We went to Sneaky Dee's and they threw some Hole and Pixies in the mix which was good. The Beaver had some good tunes as well. Other than that, I have just been experiencing the city as much as possible as well as film festivaling and working at Queen Video. filmgasms, all the time.

punchbugied by a stranger

the other day, Jo and I were walking down the street and I saw a beetle so i punch buggied her. As I laughed and walked a bit ahead, another man talking on his cell phone proceeded to punch buggy her too! haha! you know you must be AMAZING at the game when even people you don't know are beating you.

in other news, i adore my job. I work at Queen Video on Bloor St. (drop by if you are in town) and I am starting to get the hang of everything. I'll be working those 12hr shifts in no time. I also get to talk about movies with people, which is a big highlight. AND i get to rent out free non-releases too. The people I work with are chill and we get to play our own music. Usually something hilarious happens every hour. Yesterday this girl came in and told us to remove another girl from her account, because she hates her now. She wanted to give us a picture just in case this girl tried to come in, but we kindly told her it wasn't necessary.

OH AND, to add to the excitement of my life currently, when Jo, Krista, Vic and I were at the Gladstone this guy came and gave Jo and I free tickets to the Patti Smith documentary playing on Monday. I only get so many tickets volunteering at InsideOut, and I though i'd have to miss it. Thankfully i don't. Today is my first shift volunteering from the festival at the ROM, we'll see how it goes. I have to work on my last shift, and they are already short on volunteers, so I feel bad but money overrules.

everyone should check out Ghost of The Russuan Empire. they are a great band, very dark.

bread becomes toast

the past few days have been filled with interviews and a lot of wandering. it has been really fun though, exploring the city.

so many random and funny things have happened though. on the street car last night, Johannah and I were DYING because this super lanky kid was talking to his mom on the phone. What as so hilarious was the fact that he was practically screaming, and getting so worked up over this one conversation. He kept saying "I have a backpack!! A backpack!!" "Mom, I am on the bus!! the bus!!". We both had to hide our faces because we were laughing so hard.

next order of business, Shy Child. amazing band. you should love them, especially if you are into electroclash with guts. I located the entire CD at it is pretty good, robot rock never sounded so good, i'm sure.

you can check it out here, and other tracks. this blog is always good to look over.
http://theyellowstereo.com/?p=2591

O'G(r)a(d)y's

fun was had last night. much fun. Vic and Krista and I hit up O'Grady's to eat some good food and drink some beer. the usual, just a different city. we then went to Slack's for a bit. apparently we were being loud an obnoxious because the table next to us apparently gave us weird looks (unknown to me). One of them said "good luck on your exams" as we were leaving, i think she was trying to take a stab at us. I wish i heard it initially so i could reply "i finished them a week ago!" haha.

today i had to go to the public library to print off my resume. turns out you have to a) wait in line with a 30 minute pass to use the computers and b) pay 20 freaking cents per page. 20 cents, on campus it was 8! ri-diculous. so i decided to print off just one copy and photocopy it for a mere 3 cents a page down the street. my first round of job hunting that followed went okay, though nothing too promising. at Queen Video they did ask me my favorite directors/movies which was exciting. i thought they might but i wasn't totally prepared so i just wrote down 6 of each. hopefully the film degree will help me! haha

ALSO, i had a funny moment at the library. In the film Monkey Business there is a scene where a young kid speaks and has an old man voice, which ends up sounding hilarious. While waiting for a computer there was this kid playing online games. He was dressed in cargo pants and a puffy vest and looked about 10. His mother came to pick him up and she told him his had to end his game. I was expecting a whiny "10 more minutes mom!" voice, but out comes the deepest voice I have heard in a long time. It was like Barry Manilow low. all i can say is that it took a lot for me not to laugh out loud.

"The summer movies are going to be off the chain dog"

Walking down Queen St. West was a little weird today. I was putting up posters for Inside Out which required me to walk a huge portion of the street. I felt a little self-conscious initially because everyone seemed to have that hipster look to them, but all in exactly the same way. I am not too naive to believe I am an individual, but i didn't think I would fit in so well. The problem is, there is nothing comfortable in my opinion about fitting in with thousands of strangers. It's not like I am going to change my style, and I can make use of all the sweet stores a block from my house, but it was certainly an experience.

I went to a bar last night. I met some cool people thanks to Vic, and one big lesson I learned it is that yesterday's scars are tomorrows friendships.

I also watched West Side Story. For the most part, every character in the film is not the least bit attractive, except for the two lead characters. Even then, they have unique qualities, but Natalie Wood definitely looks better in Rebel Without A Cause. Also, I want Action's sweater in the opening sequence.

fire! fire! fire!

while walking home, i heard tons of fire trucks and saw smoke. I couldn't tell where it was coming from though, because it was really windy. living in the big city, there seems to be excitement around every corner!

i am officially a volunteer for the Inside Out Film Festival, which is pretty exciting. I'll be ripping tickets, postering, and working the parties. One of the events is the filmmakers brunch, so hopefully I can meet some contacts there though we'll see. There was a girl at orientation that had an "I Survived Jurassic Park" t-shirt on. glorious. i think i am going to like this city.

i really despise Clap Your Hands Say Yeah because Alec Ounsworth's voice sounds like your dog chewing the shit of a novelty chicken that makes noise when you press it. The music itself is good, but his voice is atrocious. I don't get it, is it some indie kid competition to see who can withstand awful (avant-garde?) music the longest. If you like donkey voice, go for The Decemberists.

the first full day...

My friend Krista took me out on the town today, which was fun. We went to a really good sushi bar. At said sushi place, i definitely went the wrong way looking for the bathroom and walked through a sketchy area in the basement filled with several different rooms. The waitress literally had to find me wandering, and take me to the washroom.

We then grabbed a beer at The Horseshoe Tavern and then headed to Timothy's to meet up with some cool people. On the street car ride I not only ran into Jordan, some random person was like "you are Tanea right"...i actually don't know how to spell it but she pronounced it Tah-Nee-Uh. We went to Tangos for 10 minutes but Krista left the bar briefly to take a phone call and then couldn't get back in to the bar so we peaced.

ALSO, i discovered a new comic book shop (well new to me) called Labyrinth. The guy was really nice, and helped me fine the volume of Fell and gave me a free magazine. I also went into an Asian film store and picked up 4 movies for 10 bucks (Battle Royale 2, Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance, In The Mood For Love, and Seven Samurai). Most of those films were suggested to me by awesome people so i have a lot of movie watching to do. I have to at some point cancel my zip.ca account, but not before watching Revenge of The Nerds.

Here is a mix of five songs I adore currently:
1. Becky - Be Your Own Pet
2. The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is That They Die) - Pony Up!
3. We're From Barcelona - I'm From Barcelona
4. Killer - The Job (i just saw this band at the richmond taven, very good show)
5. Wolves In The Garden - The Deadly Syndrome

http://www.mediafire.com/?tp1mc51tgja

quick note

okay, so i made it to Toronto in one piece and am settling in nicely. Today i wandered around for awhile, after thinking i locked myself out of my house (apparently my key opens more than one lock). I also randomly got pink in my hair because i spilled Mac eye shadow in a little box and in the process of putting back in the container i got it on my fingers. I THOUGHT i washed it all off, but then when i went to adjust my hair in the mirror, i noticed it. i really hope it comes out, but the hilarity of the situation is sort of worth it.

I went to Queen video also, and felt immediately at home. They even have a Faster Pussycat Kill Kill poster on their wall. It is signed, but i am not sure if it is by Meyers himself.

I'll fill more in later, but now i have to get ready. OH also, if you are in Toronto, I live on Markham St. (in Portugal Village) so if you are near there give me a call!