rhetoric, sarcasm, bunkbeds

I feel the devil outside

2008-12-11T11:48:00.002-05:00

Video for The Stills - Don't Talk Down, Dir: Christopher Mills

from lagerfeld, with love

2008-12-04T16:22:00.004-05:00

chanel's pre-fall 2009 collection is my pre-christmas 2008 present! so. much. russian.

no smoking

2008-12-04T14:58:00.005-05:00

trojan beaver

2008-12-03T19:33:00.003-05:00

This was in a gallery on Queen earlier this summer but I'm so lazy it took me until now to empty our the contents of my camera's memory card.

so i have it for whenever i want it

2008-12-02T17:18:00.002-05:00

this disappeared from youtube for the longest time...

oh no, new scudmore

2008-10-30T12:02:00.001-05:00

Every cloud...

2008-09-23T13:57:00.001-05:00

At least maybe they'll be confined to one limited, easily identified and avoidable retail location?

i don't know what to read next

2008-05-11T20:35:00.005-05:00

pick

something

for

me

autobiography of red

2008-04-16T19:54:00.004-05:00

has lines like this in it:

"they were two superior eels at the bottom of the tank and they recognized each other like italics"

and

"meanwhile music pounded across hearts opening every valve to the desperate drama of being a self in a song"

happy usa tax day

2008-04-15T19:10:00.002-05:00

40% of every american tax dollar paid last year went to fund the wars in iraq and afghanistan.

tarkovsky's zone, from my cellphone

2008-04-03T14:28:00.007-05:00

about 15 feet down there's a bed of trash. a sofa. a screen door. a vase.

the water has carved itself an escape route through the ice floor.

here you come again was the only record and now its broken.

an excellent transom.

through a window brightly

"we are home!"

a stretcher, a snowbank.

picture pages, picture pages

2008-03-31T22:26:00.003-05:00

dot

dot

dot

i have something to tell you

2008-03-08T15:03:00.002-05:00

i just really... like you... you know?

(and i really like vanessa for showing me this site)

stillepost: time well wasted?

2008-02-28T20:15:00.002-05:00

Don't mind the self-referential circle this link might lead you into, its still an interesting story, and something I might have had no idea about if I didn't spend so much goddamn time on an internet message board:

No OHIP for Owen!

ouchmyheart

2008-02-20T14:38:00.006-05:00

Walking by this gaping hole on Queen was the saddest thing, today
No more Suspect Video, no more National Sound, no more Preloved. The eerie/tragic/beautiful first photo is by David Waldman, the rest are from random news sites.

le sigh

2008-02-17T20:40:00.000-05:00

I'm like Rain Man with this video

say something

2008-02-15T12:34:00.001-05:00

you have a stage and a captive audience, afterall

more Vivienne Westwood, less Oprah, please.

bulls on parade

2008-02-14T15:38:00.001-05:00

Man Man is the best band I've ever seen play live. They are coming to a Lee's Palace near you on April 14th.

what's wrong with me (not a question, thx)

2008-02-12T18:05:00.000-05:00

I have a few of the children's books that I was given by my grandparents still on my bookshelf. My grandmother, ever the intellectual elitist (might I even say snob?) insisted on buying us books that could still be considered literature, despite the fact that they were written for children. The illustrations are without a doubt art, as well. I have a beautifully illustrated anthology of Hans Christian Andersen stories, a copy of Peter and the Wolf to accompany Sergei Prokofiev's musical composition, as well as the Jacqueline Onassis-edited The Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales, with illustrations by the amazingly gifted Boris Zvorykin.

While I'm sure this childhood diet of incredible books has coloured my taste for the books I currently read (mainly dark and twisted things written by Eastern Europeans) I am also beginning to think they may have warped my 6 year old developing subconscious. I recently skimmed through The Firebird with a friend, who seemed somewhat horrified by the texts, and the fact that they were written for children. Here's why (accompanied by Zvorykin's beautiful drawings):

This is Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden. A child made from snow by an elderly couple who could never conceive. In this particular story, other women throw themselves into wells in jealous rages, she's dragged in front of various officiaries to defend herself against accusations of being the "other woman" and in the end, when she finally finds true love, she melts, and dies.

This is Tsarevich Ivan and Tsarevna Elena The Fair. Ivan has gone to fetch her on behalf of another Tsar, who is in love with her. Obviously and tragically, these two now fall in love (I also am easily smitten with boys who own flying grey wolves). Ivan gets stabbed by his own brother and is dead for thirty days. Elena gets kidnapped and god-knows-what by the very same brother. It ends up ok though.

This is Baba Yaga. When 8 year old Vassilissa's mother dies, her father remarries and the classic tale of the evil step mother ensues. Vassilissa is sent to ask the witch Baba Yaga for firewood. Baba Yaga eats humans and lives in a hut decorated with their bones and their fire-illuminated skulls. Vassilissa is made to be her slave with little hope of escape. I don't remember crying myself to sleep after story time but come on!

Finally, we have Maria Morevna. She gets chased back and forth across the continent by a certain Koschey the Deathless. Not an encouraging name for one's foe to have. It's basically because her boyfriend is a hapless idiot, too (he gets chopped into pieces at one point). Baba Yaga makes a cameo in this story as well, just in case your 6 year old self had managed to forget her/stop being plagued by nightmares.

I'm poor.

2008-02-12T14:56:00.000-05:00

Send cash. Or at least buy me brunch this weekend.

yes we can

2008-02-06T11:14:00.000-05:00

I could get cynical about this if I thought about it long enough, but my first reaction was "wow. this is goooooooooooooooooooooood."

oh! you pretty things!

2008-02-03T18:51:00.000-05:00

scott's finished video for when lost at sea by the wooden sky:

and Video Static is a fan....

fin

2008-02-01T14:52:00.001-05:00

I think that this is just the best. Amazing work, Scott and Lee. Just wow.

Oh, and other people like it too.

for kritty

2008-01-30T07:22:00.001-05:00

as requested: boobs!

secondarily, my creepy obsession with vintage undergarments: revealed! sadly, the only place i've ever seen any for sale is at cabaret on queen. everything they have is beautiful and in amazing condition but priced way beyond my budget. i did pick up someone's old nightgown there this week, for 45 freaking dollars.

it's cool. i love president's choice macaroni and cheese for dinner. every night. til my next pay cheque.

artovitch

2008-01-29T15:47:00.000-05:00

If you have iTunes you can take this virtual tour of the new exhibit, From Russia at London's Royal Academy.

More here

And also: I'd like to be a merchant prince, too please.