Culture Club Round-Up

NOT Kanjiklub...although everything should be about Kanjiklub (this is a semi-obscure Star Wars reference...one that bonded me with Uncle Jesse for life).

In the last year, I went from going to zero concerts for the past...6 years...to EVERY CONCERT EVER.

It's been amazing.  I couldn't love it more.  I am reborn.

It started with Jack U last year, and then since this spring it's been non-stop.


Pusha T at the Danforth Music Hall.  I love me some Pusha.  I love that he's holding the flame for rap. I love his delivery. I love the production. I love the hooks. The last cocaine superhero might be courting controversy by stumping for Hilary (from the likes of Breitbart and similar), but seriously...if you're trying to get people registered to vote, why WOULDN'T you pick a coke dealer?  That seems like pretty sound logic, to me.  Every now and then, to the great embarrassment of the Dotytron, I practice doing a Pusha-style "yuuuuch" sound and let's just say...it needs workshopping.  That show was backpacker-y realness.  I love me a multi-ethnic Toronto crowd like nothing else.  When everyone has their hands in the air and knows every word to every tune.  Pusha had us sing the chorus to "Runaway" and it was magic.  My hands didn't leave the air for a nanosecond at that show.  His last album, Darkest Before the Dawn, has so many choice tunes: FIFA, M.F.T.R., Sunshine, MPA, in particular.

From then,  I went to see Rihanna with Dr. Rei.  Robin Fenty is a queen. Nothing more to say about that.  I love that RiRi DGAF about anything.  She's so herself.  She hangs out with her regular people friends, can't really dance, is just so special and perfect.  Like, really:

Then, I saw Kanye, TWICE.  Haha.  Went first with Dr. Rei, Hanbo, the Dotytron at the ACC for the Toronto show...which was NEXT.  Look: we all know I'm huge Kanye fan, but for good cause, because he is straight-up a musical genius.  No one out there is doing what he's doing. So yeah, maybe you hate him because he's married to Kim K and she's "got no talent" (except for being an astute and canny businesswoman).  Yeah, maybe you hate him because he's "egotistical" (except, like, how come you're not dragging oh, I don't know, JOHN LENNON for the same?).  Yeah, maybe you hate him because he was "mean to Taylor Swift" (except, number one wifey, Kim K showed us the receipts on that one).  The point is, you can't hate him for his music.  That concert, and The Life of Pablo is a non-stop hit parade.  My fav tunes are: Ultralight Beam, Father Stretch My Hands Part 1, Wolves, Waves, Highlights...basically the whole album.

Then, I went to Montreal, for one glorious night, to see Kanye AGAIN, that same week.  The last time I saw Ye in concert, was about 2007 or 2008, for his Glow in the Dark tour.  Dr. Rei and I went, with both my brothers.  It was a different time.  Rihanna was opening.  The show was at the Molson Amphitheatre, we still felt uncomplicated feelings of joy when Chris Brown appeared as a surprise guest (as opposed to now, when I'm nothing but conflicted when I get goosebumps during the chorus of Waves).  Then my youngest bro got into ravey EDM music and last summer we went to see Jack U.  Kanye seemed like a perfect show for us to continue the kid #2 and kid #4 bonding experience, but now CHova is a bigshot dentist in Ottawa, and he couldn't make the TO show, so we decided to meet in Montreal.  This meant I took the train to Montreal for one glorious night.

A few things:

1) Train travel is GLORIOUS.  Wifi, not having to pay attention, 5 hours of captive time to read and relax?!?  WHAT IS THIS LIFE?!

2) I got to visit with my friend, Montreal I, and it was super cute

3) the Montreal crowd for Kanye was kind of weak (lots of butts in seats), but it was magic being able to hang with my youngest bro and Aunt Viv.  I love those guys.

Then, I went with Dr. Rei and the Dotytron to see Kaytranada and Anderson .Paak.  Kaytranada is a total babeshow who makes supremely danceable new house music and has the best back story of all time.  He also recently won the Polaris prize, and really, EVERYONE wins when that happens, because the internet is flooded with pictures of this babeshow smiling shyly in overalls.  Look: I'm obviously going to be all over a tall drink of water in statement glasses and overalls.  You can take the girl outta the Triple 5 Soul clothing but you can't take the Triple 5 Soul outta the girl, naw mean?

One more for good measure.

The show was at Echo Beach, which I personally love as a venue, but for some reason the sound wasn't as loud as it could be.  But the crowd was super cute and all respectful and loved up and I saw lots of beautiful brown faces and I was with two people I unconditionally adore, so what more can I ask for?  Not much.  I listened a bunch to the Kaytranada album in preparation, and we heard it a lot at Dr. Rei cottage times.  Anderson .Paak I was less familiar with.  That guy is pure charisma though.  I wasn't expecting him to be killing it on the drums and singing and performing his face off.  He definitely won me over.

Then, this past week was Lil' Chano from the 79th, aka Chance the Rapper, aka Chancelor Bennet, aka the love of my life.  I started listening to his latest mixtape, Coloring Book, in the early summer and I was instantly hooked.  HOOKED.  All you have to do is read like, 1 article about the guy and then you fall in love.  I am crushing HARD.  I love people who wear their hearts on their sleeves and are good people and he is all of those things.  I'm so freakin' into the guy.  It's not even funny.  Then I backtracked and listened to the previous 2 mixtapes and it was the icing on the cake.  I love the whole album, but my favorite tunes are: ...actually, I almost uniformly love every song.  The ones I like least are Smoke Break and Mix Tape.  My favorite tune is probably Summer Friends.

Dotytron and I went with our Discerning Coyote friend and we grabbed dinner and when we got to Echo Beach, it sounded like someone was already on, and I started freaking out because I was worried we were missing my boyfriend.  It turned out to be this ungainly, odd, gangly white boy with a shock of floppy hair and this kind of modern 80s, new-new wave, urban UK aesthetic singing his heart out and doing odd, jerky dance moves.  I grabbed my merch and we rolled up and within 10 seconds of listening to him, I turned to the boys and was like, "this guy sounds like a cross between David Byrne and Peter Gabriel" and we all kind of chuckled and then 5 minutes passed and I was like, "I kind of love this guy" and the Dotytron and the Discerning Coyote were like, "TOTALLY!" and I've been listening to his album, Farewell, Starlite! pretty much non-stop and I'm IN LOVE.  My favorite tunes are: See Her Out (That Just Life), Comeback, May I Have This Dance, My Citys Gone, and Friends (feat. Bon Iver).  Believe me, no one is more surprised to be into something that Bon Iver is associated with, than me.

Francis being a weird butt.

Earlier in the summer I'd watched his video for his song, Friends, which Chance's Summer Friends samples.  The video features Kanye.  Kanye and Chance are obsessed with Francis, which is good company to keep, as far as I'm concerned.  The video is so good, guys.  That dance at the end!  When he performed it at the concert, Chance came out and did the dance with him and it was magic. They actually performed it twice, once during Francis' set and then Summer Friends was the encore.  I LOVE THESE TWO PURE HEARTS SO MUCH.

Been playing this song at least 10 times a day for the past 4 days. I couldn't love this more.

It is warm, beautiful songwriting with like, totally warm 80s, new wave, almost Aphex Twin like production.  It's like Aphex Twin meets Peter Gabriel.  Which is a pretty awesome combination.

The most perfect person in the world.

And well, Chance is just a perfect person.  His show was really more than I thought it was going to be (I expected rapping along to a back track).  He had a full multi-media performance.  Live instruments, multiple puppets, animatronics...it was a whole quasi-religious journey.  It got a little *too* religious at certain points for the Dotytron and the Discerning Coyote, but it didn't bother me (obviously, I'm the ultimate Chancelor Bennet apologist).

Anyway, THAT'S A PRETTY RESPECTABLE CONCERT SCHEDULE FOR A PARENT OF THREE.  This isn't including all the films I've seen lately: Mustang, Mommy, A Separation, etc., and all the books I've read.  

Fin.

Blue Moon

The Dotytron has been obsessed with Beck's new album, Morning Phase lately and I wasn't feeling it as a whole - it's too sad and wintery and morose for me, but one of the songs that immediately grabbed me is Blue Moon.  So gorgeous.  Perfectly encapsulates this never-ending winter and grey days slowly bleeding into more sun and slightly warmer temperatures and green shoots in our garden and the promise of bike rides and beach picnics and shorts and low tennis sneakers.  I will say that the album makes for good listening while sitting on the couch at night with a quilt piled on your lap hand-sewing binding on.  Maybe the Dotytron is wearing me down?  Sewing binding on a quilt is one of my ALL TIME favorite tasks.  It makes you feel like SUCH a pioneer (and y'all know how much I love playing at pioneer life).

Guys, I just bought a jean shirt and it's CHANGED MY LIFE.  Summer uniform!  I'm going to wear it as a jacket over all my hippie sundresses and love life.  I also bought these sneakers:

I'm picturing a summer uniform of jean shorts, t shirts, and one of my many billion summer dresses all paired with these.  They're pretty cute, I must say, and I like that you can throw them in the wash.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to winter foods (I never am), but I am ready to stop worrying about losing gloves and putting a billion layers on squirmy babies.

This braised barley dish with fried eggs & parm is exactly the kind of winter food I don't want to say goodbye to, just yet.  Adapted from this recipe, and made slightly less virtuous with the addition of crisped pancetta cubes and the use of frozen beef braising liquid to cook the barley in.  So good!  I love kale.  

Sour cream peach pie.  A little watery from the frozen peaches, but I still ate the whole thing (not the slice, the whole PIE) because I'm not one to look a gift pie in the plate (new expression, trust).

My mom and youngest bro's birthday cake - a golden cake (from Smitten Kitchen, here) and a salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream.  

Friday night was crunch wrap night and we all couldn't have been happier.  Especially the Wonder Twins, who acted like they had never tasted food before.

Sunday morning breakfast was my long longed-for blintzes.  Served up very non-Kosher with English bacon.  

Fish tacos!

Fin.

In the grand tradition of me being a sucker

...for a pop lick, I'm currently obsessed with this song:

LOL!  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?  Meanwhile, I'm the one pooh-poohing Gotye (or as I call him, Peter Gabriel lite), like, every second I get.


It's like the second coming of Party in the USA.  Now I'm going to play that on repeat.

Finally, because I'm eternally a sucker for country harmonies, I'm ready to admit that I'm kinda seriously into Mumford and Sons:

Looks like me and "moochie face" Carey Mulligan have something in common!  Ha! Although I seriously have issues with the giantness of Marcus Mumford's face.  There's just a lot of face going on there.  I know, I'm a horrible person.  


Think I found my summer jam, kids ("Call Me Maybe" not "The Cave")  Phew.  So glad I have that in the bag.  I was getting kinda worried for a sec.


Tonight was me and the Yam all day. Just us. Real talk.  

I made us a dinner of macaroni tossed with peas, mint, creme fraiche and lemon.  And a big helping of my "Olive Garden" salad.


Fin.

Culture I can't get behind (aka stoops kids)

On Sunday night we watched the movie Drive.  When this came out, I felt like my FB exploded with peeps going bats**t for this flick.  After having seen it, I totally don't get it!  It was so boring!  Nothing happens!  It's all style and hipster-posturing, with no substance.  From the 80s hot-pink font of the title credits to the director's fixation with Ryan Gosling's character's gold scorpion embossed white quilted jacket (the director was OBSESSED!), I thought it was just hipster-bait.  I didn't get what there was to love about the movie.  The film's story is completely implausible and makes no sense, it glorifies in violence for the sake of gratuitous violence and the casting!!!  Egregious!!!  We're supposed to believe that Carey Mulligan (below), is a waitress, named Irene, who got knocked up at seventeen, by a dude who is in prison, and has a son named Benicio.  !!!!!!!!  

And somehow, through her moochie-face (which is what me and my sis call a certain squinty, pursed lip, Renee  Zellweger-esque face), she is the white light in Ryan Gosling's life?!?  C'maaaan.  Does that woman up there look like the kind of woman who gets knocked up at 17?!?  Jeez.  Cast like, Kristen Stewart or something.  Someone believable.  Then there was the soundtrack.  The director used Lynch's go-to man, Angelo Badalementi, which was obvious in the first few seconds of music in the film.  Here's the thing though, when you combine Lynch and Badalementi, Lynch has a way of using Badalementi's excesses and reigning them in so that you have something very eerie and surreal - something suffused with a feeling of foreboding.  This director though, just made the 80s-referencing principal refrain into a weird, cheap, music video with slowed-down shots for no reason.  Overall, I just found it boring.  As Bwong said, "Drive = John Hughes edits David Lynch footage" or as Dr. Rei said, "what's to like about this?  People turning around slowly?!?"  

We also watched 1 hour of Hugo before quitting because it was so borez0rz.  Total, total boringness.  As the Dotytron said at the point in which we stopped, "this is way too long for something not awesome to happen."  LOL!  It's so true!!! NOTHING AWESOME HAPPENS!  It's a kid's movie!!!  


So we've had bad luck on the movie front lately.  I have some good ones on deck but the Dotytron is being resistant, I'm not sure why.


In other culture news, Toronto's free weekly, Now Magazine recently published an article about this band of just-barely-not-teenagers named BBNG (BadBadNotGood) who are receiving fame and attention because they did jazz versions of Odd Future tunes and attracted the attention (and daps) of Tyler the Creator.  Here's the article: BadBadNotGood.  It was brought to my attention by the Dotytron, who was up in arms, because the stoops kids in the article dissed the school they're going to, Humber College's Jazz Music program (the Dotytron's alma mater) and the faculty, and did the usual stoops kid thing of complaining that the program is full of dorks and is stodgy and lame, etc.  So all the faculty, who are like, pretty big deals in the jazz scene generally and locally, have been posting replies, which the Dotytron got wind of.  The replies have been stuff to the effect that these kids might just want to play with the same people they're dissing one day, so that it's not the wisest move.  The author of the article is an idiot, and so are the kids, obviously, because they assume that all jazzers are boring and out of touch, SIMPLY because these kids know who Tyler the Creator and like, Pitchfork are.  THAT'S THE LAMEST SHIZ I'VE EVER HEARD!  Guess what stoops kids?  NO ONE CARES ABOUT PITCHFORK!  TYLER THE CREATOR IS NOT AN ARBITER OF TASTE, HE'S JUST ANOTHER STOOPS KID LIKE YOU.  And this is coming from someone (me) who loves nothing more than to talk about how the jazz scene is full of nerdlingers...but at the same time, there are people out there doing boss things, and even those people (like Robert Glasper, referenced in the article) are being dissed by those stoops kids.  


My problem with this is multi-fold.  


1) Those kids doing a live instrument version of Odd Future is totally musically the boringest.  It's akin to when people put out "baby" CDs with like, Metallica songs on it or like, Radiohead, but turned into lullabies. I find that stuff impossibly juvenile and boring and lame and one-note.
2) WHO CARES WHAT TYLER THE CREATOR THINKS?!?
3) Why is the media slavishly lapping up what the Odd Future kids are doing, acritically?  Isn't the job of the music journalist to be a place of sober second thought, to reflect on the work of artists, not to jump on like Tyler et al. are the saviors of rap and the new apostles?!??!!  It's embarrassing to the max.
4) Stoops kids are super-annoying
5) BTW, according to the Dotytron, those kids aren't even good musicians.  They're just aight.  


The culture of mediocrity triumphs again.  


This letter to the editor in response to the article was the best:


Jazz lesson for BBNG

NOW is at its bully-pulpit best with its cover on BADBADNOTGOOD (NOW, March 22-28). Writer Anupa Mistry – if she can explain exactly what a “deranged bebop fugue” is, I’ll eat one of my jazz students’ boat shoes  – is palpably excited at the prospect of her imminent takedown of the twin straw men of jazz traditionalism and educational institutionalism.

The article is facilitated by her trio of “jazz futurists” who uncritically grant Mistry the pretext required to rail against jazz music’s assumed “fusty codes,” cloistered elitism, fetishization of rote virtuosity over individual creativity and, my personal favourite, ossification (proven, apparently, by jazz’s presupposed reluctance to include Odd Future’s Ass Milk as part of its mouldy canon).

If I’ve understood Mistry’s “through the looking glass” history correctly, then John Coltrane and Charlie Parker (two of the most significant musicians of the 20th century who both died young and underappreciated) are part of music’s fat cat hegemony while Pitchfork Music and James Blake remain marginalized?

Andrew Scott
Toronto

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  Snap!  


For our family holiday Monday yesterday, we had fat baby with Mennonite garlic breakfast sausage for breakfast:

Then we did fun stuff like play outside and go to PacMall to get a cute Ipad cover and eat froyo at Yutopia and then we came home and had a dinner of single-crust tourtiere with pan-fried brussels sprouts and roasted carrots:

Then we watched episode 2 of Game of Thrones which is all kinds of bucksauce.  George R.R. Martin is a bit of a sick bastardo. It doesn't sound like much, but it was a near-perfect day.

Tonight we had tarte flambée (Alsatian pizza, topped with creme fraiche, caramelized onions, lardons, and for one of them, a baked duck egg) and a salad:


So good!


Fin.

Hackz0red!

So the Dotytron's credit card got hackz0red.  I manage all our finances because I'm a type A micro-managing budgeting psycho, so I was paying the bills and noticed this weird PayPal charge on his credit card.  And of COURSE I wigged out like the controlling freakazoid I am and was all like, "ummmm...what are you buying on PayPal that's not a play kitchen or clothes for the Big Yam (read: "antique milk glass plates and cutesy stuff on Etsy for me)?!?"  Then we had a message from TD Loss Prevention on home line.  So I had him call loss prevention and they're like, "this charge was made by Karl Lagerfeld on PayPal" which is weird, because his credit card isn't linked on my PayPal account and the charges weren't showing up on EITHER of our PayPal accounts.  It was annoying because the credit card company wasn't willing to refund the money and wanted us to do it on the PayPal side of things (which is stupid, since their loss prevention program was already on the case!)  So I call PayPal and talk to their fraud department and the dude is all like, "Ms. Lagerfeld, do you have a 932 area code?" Me: "no."  Then, "Ms. Lagerfeld, do you have an aol account?"  Me: "Uh...no.  Does ANYONE have an aol account any more?"  So they're going to reverse the charges.  But this is crazy for a few reasons:


1) the sophistication of the scam.  A charge made on the Dotytron's card, with MY name authorizing it.  How did that happen?
2) how insulted I was that someone thought I would have an aol email account.  What is this? 1994?  
3) this is probably an indication that I should be more circumspect about shredding stuff.  I'm always like, "oh, this credit card statement?  Booooring!  Into the recycling with you, friend!"  


In unrelated news, Purple Rain came on the radio the other day.  

My favorite part starts at the 3:30 minute mark, basically when the guitar solo kicks in and the whole tune gets launched into the slow-jam anthem stratosphere.  Singing this song and reflecting on how that anthemic-guitar-solo-accompanied-by-Prince-falsetto-hoo-hooing made me feel got me thinking about how there aren't a lot of hands-in-the-air, rock anthem slow jams.  Like, there are slow jams, but anthemic, heart-pumping slow jams?  Not as easy to pin down.  Can you think of any others?  November Rain kind of counts, but it still isn't as heart-poundingly uplifting.  November rain is a bit of a downer.  The Dotytron suggested Alone, by Heart, but again, a bit of a downer.  Let me know if you think of anything.

That being said, Alone ROCKS.  When Nancy drops to the floor on her knees and wails on the guitar in her sweeping, giant-collared, black trench coat with her magnificent heaving bosom?  Quit it!  If Heart comes back this summer, I'm so going.  When the (synthesized) drums kick in, I will without fail, do the most horrible, awkward, unintuitive and inaccurate air drum fill you have ever witnessed in your time on this earth.  And yet, I CAN'T STOP MYSELF.  

Sooooooooo...last night I was at the Eaton Centre before class returning some kiddie stuff for the Big Yam and I saw this tank top on a mannequin outside of Hot Topic and I kind of stopped dead in my tracks and I kinda sorta really really really want it.  I know.  GIANT NERDLINGER.  The thought processes are as follows:


a) how nerdlinger is it to get a Hunger Games tank top?
b) am I too old to be wearing this kind of tank top?  Note the fact that the model in the picture is probably like, 14 MAX
c) it IS pretty tasteful
d) am I too old to be setting foot in Hot Topic buying something for myself?


I feel like I need to be talked down from the ledge here, folks.  Help me help myself.


In other news, I'm still dutifully slogging my way through The Emperor of All Maladies which is that (award-winning!) biography of cancer but which is kind of mucho depressing and disheartening.  Then my Academic Book Club picked Joseph Boyden's Through Black Spruce as our next read and I'm already super-depressed.  I don't want arty-Canadian literature about First Nations people!  I want more Daughter of Smoke and Bone and I want it stat!  I know what I want, and I want it now!  


The Big Yam had his follow-up appointment with Sick Kids dentistry after Tooth-Gate-gate and his gums are healing well.  Now it's up to the pediatric dentist to monitor the situation and keep an eye on whether his bottom adult teeth grow properly and space themselves right.  Stay true, bottom adult teeth, stay true.


Fin.

Ugh.

I pretty much had to post today just so Dax Sheppard's ugly, broken-nosed mug wasn't staring me in the face every time I checked the ol' bloggy bloggy.

For some reason the Grammy nominations are super-stressing me out.  Because, you know, having a full time job, parenting, doing a full-time Master's degree, and having a million other interests isn't enough to have on my plate, I have to worry about Ye getting the Grammy nomination shaft.  I KNOW.  NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE GRAMMIES.  But still!  My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is easily the best album of last year (of all the albums I heard start to finish, which is like, 2).  It was a pop opus.  Say what you will about Kanye (and note that I am a die hard Kanye apologist), but he makes sick tunes!  Four words for you:  ALL. OF. THE. LIGHTS.  I just listened to that song a million times at my desk at work 'pon the youtube and I never get tired of it.  My whole body turns into a giant goosebump.  Bon Iver?!?  Are you trying to make my cooch dry up?  Is that your end-game here, with your snoozefest, typical, indie-bait production and your weird falsetto singing?  Because that's instantly what happens.  If I was a 21 year old today, and some guy I was about to get busy with put that on, the party room would be SHUT DOWN.  Mumford and Sons get a pass because I'm a sucker for twangy rootsy business and they do a pretty legit version.  My sis isn't going to like this, but Adele got way too much love!  There is no way in hell that Rolling in the Deep is a better song than All of the Lights.  There just isn't.  Sorry.  Rolling in the Deep is over-produced and slick, even as it's trying to sound all old-timey barn-burn-y.  Her voice is super-compressed on that tune!  And that shiz is PLAYED. OUT.  Women everywhere: get over it!  

I totally had to get that off my chest.  

In related infuriating, why, God, why?!? news, people yammering about Gotye (pictured above) have been turning up in my FB feed.  He has this tune called Somebody That I Used to Know that is the equivalent of male sprites drilling into your ears with little wee shards of sprite magic glass.  Didn't we learn anything about curly haired weirdoes being twee from Mika?  OMG.  I can't even link to the song because I'm pretty sure my vagine has crawled up into my body in displaced embarrassment.  


Jayzus.  We need a cleanse.  

Tillers hepped me to this tune at Kdubsguelph cottage last summer and I instantly fell in love.  So freakin' hardcore rave-tastic.  Ahhhhhhhh...

Fin.

I saw the sign

and it opened up my eyes, I saw the sign (life is demanding, without understanding)"


I was randomly singing those lyrics tonight during dinner and the Dotytron was all like, "What does that even mean (specifically referring to the 'life is demanding/without understanding' part)?" and then I started futzing on my computer and tuned him out while he was pondering out loud, only to tune back in to catch the phrase, "a really capitalist perspective."  So then I go, "I have no idea what you're talking about" to which he replied, testily, "I'M TALKING ABOUT THE ACE OF BASE. YOU KNOW GODDAMNED WELL WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT."  At which point, I DIED LAUGHING.  LOL!!!!!!!!  HOWLZORZ!!!  "The" Ace of Base is the best 4-word combination I've heard in recent memory.


So, I have an important fashion tip update.  The other day I rocked a pretty slamming outfit at work - my shrunken (kid's bat mitzah Value Village) blazer, my real skinnies from the Gap, and this orange patterned sleeveless blouse with this touch of black net overlay around the neck.  POP POP!  Plus I got my hair thinned by SMckay when she came over for movie night with Lolly the last Thursday before vacation ended and I had put the effort in to straighten it so I looked pretty boss.  Benetint on the cheeks + straight hair (so much easier to straighten when I have 50% less of it on mi head!) = fly.  ANYWAY, MHui gave me a good tip: ladies, don't wear your shrunken blazer with capris, otherwise you look like your clothes got sent through the dryer by accident.  It's a little too Pee Wee Herman, naw mean?  Okay good, carry on.


Speaking of the opposite of shrunken, while in the States, I went to Stride Rite to stock up on real shoes for the Big Yam, seeing as how he's walking around now and I don't want his indoor slippers getting all jacked up on concrete and whatnot (my views on indoor/outdoor shoes never the twain shall meet-ing are well known round here).  Turns out, my kid needs DOUBLE EXTRA WIDE shoes.  I liken it to stuffing a cabbage roll inside a teeny tiny miniature sneaker.  His feet are as like, as tall and wide as they are long. Not quite, but it's kind of cute...the little fat footed f**ker.


Ehmdo has some new chunes a gwanning.  She sang on this Canadian country dude, Josh Macumber's song, Tomorrow and got to be in a big, fancy video:




I kinda find that Josh guy to be...uh...not a looker, per se, but the song is catchy in a red-state kinda way and Ehmdo looks really pretty in it.  All that glamming up makes her look older than her years, though, which makes sense because they probably don't want Josh perving on some young 'un.  When I watch the video, I keep thinking to myself, "JUST COMPLETE THE PHONE CALL!" cuz the phone gets hung up so many times.  LOL!  

This is the video for the first single off her coming album (one of my favorite songs on the album):




Oh you fancy, huh?  So fancy!  I'm so proud of her.  


I took today off of work to take the Big Yam to get his 15 month shots.  He was such a trooper and we had a really nice day together.  I normally try to ditch him with his daycare provider on my days off so I can do stuff unencumbered.  Stuff like: groceries, banking, cleaning the house, etc.  But I was talking to my friend G at work and she was saying that she keeps her kids home with her on her days off, because soon they're going to be in kindergarten and she won't even have the option of taking them out to stay home and I got all guilty and totally changed my attack.  She speaks the truth!  I should cherish these days I get to spend with him...why else do I work so hard?  QT with my fam-bam and friends, that's why.  So we hung out with the roomie as well and I took him to his appointment, and we played and read books and sang songs.  It was super-cute and fun.

For dinner I made us pizzas.  Three different kinds because I'm crazy like that.  A potato, rosemary, roasted garlic oil and gorgonzola one, a proscuitto, grated parm, garlic and baby arugala one (mimicking my favorite pizza from the Magic Oven, a chain I refuse to patron because their pizza is so overpriced), and our favorite, a "spicy pig" sausage from the Sausage Partners, fresh mozzarella, roasted garlic, and caramelized onion one.  Woooeee, that last one was delicious.




So excited that tomorrow is Friday!  We thought our Cleveland friends were going to be coming into town and cleared our calendar.  As it turns out, they can't make it.  So we have an entirely free weekend, which is nice.  And as an added bonus, we can delay our top-to-bottom Chinese New Year house clean for a bit.  


Bonus shot of the Boobla rocking what we call, "The Rooster" all day:

Fin.

Favorite moments

My favorite moment of the week this week was having the three of us on Monday night, after the Boobla's bath, in pajamas, lying heaped together on the floor of the Boobla's room, while he quietly played with his toys in his post-bath glow, listening the Nat King Cole Christmas album, playing all scratchy and warm on the Dotytron's record player.

This is hands-down my favorite Christmas album - no one in the world has a voice like Nat King Cole. And on vinyl? Quit it. It's just insanely good. We suspect it was recorded pre-multi track, which is what makes it so good. Remember when the room used to matter? Like where you recorded was a big deal? It's a miraculous album.

The Dotytron was telling me about how when he was a kid, like 5 years old, he would put on the Nat King Cole Christmas album and listen to "O Tannenbaum" and go to the tree and plug in the lights and just sit under the lit tree listening to the album and be like, "this is the BEST!" D'awwwwwww...how cute is that? Picturing wee Dotytron sitting in his footed jammies alone under the lit tree, transported by the pure joy of Christmas as made manifest by Nat King Cole's velvet voice. So darned cute.





I can't wait until this little nugget does that. Well, actually, I can wait a good long time (I don't want to rush him to the age of 5), but when he decides to do it, it's going to be just as sweet:




So, I don't know how many of you know this, but Dr. Rei recently got a job at the Ministry of Magic. It's well deserved, it's what she's wanted, I couldn't be happier for her, blah blah blah. The funny part comes in because she's had a RUUUUUDE awakening these past two weeks as a member of the gainfully employed. You see, Dr. Rei was operating under the mistaken impression that doing a post-doc and being in grad school somehow approximates a job in the real world. So we've been exchanging hilarious text messages about how PWNED she's been getting having to get up early, not take a million personal calls at work, make her lunch every day, not go home when she's tired, etc. LOL! It's been making me laugh. I love that gal. I think now she's starting to understand why so many of our telephone conversations when she's called me at work have consisted of me responding to scandalous gossip with the most terse, non-committal, "uh huh" "i know" and "yeah." Ha!

This was Tuesday night's dinner - freezer polenta lasagna:

The past couple of night's we haven't had much in the way of dinner because yesterday I had this massive holiday catered staff lunch at work and today was the annual buffet at Hart House which is like eating at Hogwart's (think, long wooden communal tables, portraits of headmaster's past, a grand piano, turkey and stuffing and a carving station). So consequently, we haven't been doing much in the way of dinner around here.

Fin.

Better

I'm feeling better today. The prospect of a long weekend certainly helps. The smell of hybrid Douglas Fir scenting our vestibule is also easing things along. We're setting up the tree tonight after it's had a full 24 hours of drinking from a bucket of water. Hopefully, if the boughs drop by tomorrow, we can decorate during the Dotytron's PA day and my day off. I'm not sure how to manage vintage mercury glass ornaments & a grabby-handed piccolo bambino, but we'll figure something out.

This is going to be a fun weekend - day off tomorrow with a massage, erranding, xmas tree decorating and then I'm hosting book club. Saturday I have class followed by a carnitas dinner with Lolly and Dr. Rei and their respective SOs, coupled with a screening of a bootleg copy of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Then on Sunday I'm going to City of Craft with Dr. Rei and my friend S, followed by Momma D's side of the family's annual Christmas get together - which this year is taking the form of a jambon dinner. I loves me a jambon dinner. There are going to be a lot of rugrats running around, about whom I feel fairly indifferent, but there is the aforementioned jambon dinner to see me through things. I kind of don't like it when people dress their kids (usually daughters) up in like, ball gowns for a family Christmas, during the day. I just find it really odd and uncomfortable-looking. I kind of hate kids (usually little girls) in velvet and satin ball gowns and those shiny black mary janes. Maybe I'll be tuning a different harp when and if I have a daughter of my own...it's just not my personal style.

On Tuesday we went to see the Dotytron's winter concert - it was so cute. He's so good at his job. There's talk that the school is going to do a "pops" night which is when I'll hopefully see my dream of a kid orchestra playing Kanye's All of the Lights. I've been harping on him to do it for the past year. Any time he's talking about entering Kiwanis or something, I'm like, "you should do All of the Lights" (even though my suggestions/opinions weren't invited), to the point where now, whenever the Dotytron is talking out loud about his orchestra, he preemptively tells me to shut up because he knows what I'm going to say. He's promised that he's going to try to throw something together for the pops night, which has me thrilled. I'm actually contemplating going to the morning rehearsals, because I really want my vision to be realized.

My problem is that I'm a super-idea-generator and I'm also a control freak. After the concert on Tuesday night, the Dotytron and I spent a good chunk of time debriefing, and I'm seriously considering joining the Parent Council at his school, because I feel like I could really up the calibre of the shows. That's psychotic of me, I know. BUT PEOPLE ALWAYS SCREW STUFF UP! I just want the show to be killer. I want them to tear the roof down. I want people to be talking about that shiz for months after and for it to be sold out.

I feel like I would be an awesome school administrator. I'm so good at being organized, it's a damn shame that my talents are being under-utilized running my household and my workload at work. Like, have I told you guys about my awesome fund-raising idea for the Dotytron's band? I think they should sell raffle tickets so that the winner gets to throw a pie at a teacher's face.

...

Genius, right? It works on so many levels!

Monday night's dinner was an old standby, 'round these parts: spaghetti and meatballs. So freakin' good.

Last night we made curried potatoes and cauliflower on brown rice, which I supplemented with Malai Kofta and Kari Pakora from MotiMahal in Little India. Malai Kofta are paneer and potato balls in a creamy tomato sauce. Kari Pakora are chickpea balls in a tangy, yogurty sauce. I kind of got stressed out because it seems like the Big Yam isn't so down with Chinese food, but he freakin' YAMMED (har) that Indian food like it was what he'd been longing for all his life. Fistfuls of cauliflower, spoonfuls of kari pakora-soaked brown rice. I feel like he's a traitor to his race.

My fears were somewhat assuaged tonight when he ate a big bowl of kimchi fried rice. Guys, kimchi fried rice is the lick. I fried up some ground pork in some garlic and ginger, added soft scrambled eggs I had cooked up in another pan, cold leftover brown rice, two jars of kimchi, some frozen peas, and chopped scallions and tossed everything together in a bit of canola oil until hot. SO GOOD! So very, very good.

Tell me that kid orchestra doing this isn't going to be murderation. I can see it in my head: stage is completely pitch black, single spotlight on the Dotytron while the cellos start up, then when the first lyric kicks, full blast lights on, horns going - goosebumps! As I listen to the lyrics, I think we might have to do some rejigging of the lyrical content, but that's a small concern. EEKS! It's gonna be so good!!!

If the Dotytron can realize my vision, that is.

Fin.

I love this show

I don't know how/why this came up, but it did today (came up in my head) and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share it with y'alls. This show is still consistently winning me over, unlike say, other comedy winners of years past like Modern Family (too sentimental!) and Community (too something - too caught up in its own shiz). The best thing about Community right now is Donald Glover, who is one of those insanely multi-talented people (like Mindy Kaling) that I aspire to be. He wrote for 30 Rock, he's an actor on Community, he does stand-up, and he produces some pretty good tunes with one of the best names of all time (other than Gucci Mane, natch), Childish Gambino (from the Wu-Tang name generator, natch natch). And he does most of his own production:

Seriously? Why aren't more people in my generation like this? Instead you have people who are like, mired in consumer debt, easily polarized by fringe issues (I'm looking at you, America), and who are more often than not, like the majority of my classmates, first rate dumbys. Ugh. It seriously makes me scared for the future of the public service that it's made up with so many people who are so limited (by themselves!) in so many ways. Actually, let's expand on that: I'm seriously scared by the future of our world that it's made up with so many people who are so limited in so many ways. Being smart, being politically aware, being into popular culture, and being funny are NOT mutually exclusive attributes (see also: Aziz Ansari)! The above track is like a perfect storm for Lagerfeld love - I love tinkly, anthemic, orchestral rap tracks with slow, sluggy beats. It's like my kryptonite.

This is a bit of a randomonium post. Can I also tack on that I don't like Adele? I think she comes off as phony. Her songs are such "all the single ladies" sad sack young woman bait. Meh. What I **do** love is the Prince versus Charlie Murphy skit on the Chappelle Show - so good. We watched this last Friday and were almost in tears, laughing:

Last night for dinner we had twice baked potatoes. They look like zombie potatoes because I used Guinness-infused cheddar for the topping...which obviously has to melt down like a bad skin graft. They were delicious, though.

Tomorrow is my day off - so I'm going to be doing errands and sorting out my pension and other scintillating stuff like that. We're having Dr. Rei and the Hanbo over for dinner and Settlers of Cattan, though. Maximum bo!

Fin.

One month

One month from today, I will be flashing my I.D. card at security and starting back at work. I have mixed emotions about this. Poppa D is quite ill at the moment and I think there will be a lot of additional upheaval in the months to come, in addition to the regular baggage of starting work and dropping off Master T with Jeannette, his daycare provider. He's been taking small separations in a stride. When we see Jeannette at the drop-in centre she takes him off my hands and he's been fine with it. Another caregiver at the drop-in centre calls him Mr. Independent. He's just so chill. He's fine just sitting and hanging out and he doesn't really notice that I'm not within eyesight unless I happen to pass into his field of vision. I'm sure it'll be different once he realizes that this is his new reality, but all told, he really is a very unclingy baby.

Yesterday, in addition to it being the 10th Anniversary of the First Time Americans Realized That Their Foreign Policies Make The Rest Of The World Hate Them, it was the Big Yam's 11 month birthday. How crazy is that? Super crazy, that's what.

Despite the ongoing stress of Poppa D's sickness, we had a pretty good weekend. Dr. Rei came by on Friday and we feasted on pizza pide:

We also had some serious talks and big laughs at the same time. Big laughs about the weird sexual proclivities of one of my exes, which we call "the thing" and periodically, when we're hanging out, Dr. Rei will remember "the thing" and lose her mind. Big laughs about how any time conversation turns to the gifted program, I will sit an quietly whisper "I'm gifted" until someone notices. Big laughs making up lyrics to Chocolate Rain.

How cute are these two? Especially the Big Yam in his striped jim-jams.

Saturday morning we woke up and I made the family a fat baby with cinnamon apples. We did a bunch of errands and the Dotytron spent some time with his da' at the hospital and then we girded our loins to attend our friend L's pig roast. Ummm...pig roasts are amazing. I'm totally all fired up to invest in the pig roast infrastructure. Basically, they cooked a 50lb pig over a split drum charcoal bbq on a big spit. L's friend bought the whole rig for $400 and rents it out for $100 a pop and it's booked solid every weekend!!! Amazing!!! I'm totally going to do that. I was considering doing a pig roast for T's 1st birthday, but with all the stuff happening with work and Poppa D, I figured we'd hold off until next year. Hopefully we can get our yard fenced in and our deck done and then do it up proper. The rig is going to come in handy for lobster fest and pig roasts and lamb roasts and all the rest. Hooooeeeee...I'm already so pumped for this I can't even talk about it.

It was a pretty ideal evening. We didn't think we'd get there in time to even eat the pig (L is notorious for running late) - but the pig was ready for 7:30pm - we got there just after that, ate some pig, visited with peeps, drank some beers that weren't ours, and got home by 9:30pm with our bellies full of pig, and our beers AND our dessert accidentally brought home with us. What what!

Sunday was a damn near perfect day. Ate breakfast, did some reorganizing, labelled a bunch of bins for storage, cleaned and reorganized our vestibule, cleaned up the back deck area, went to the Farmer's Market, took the Big Yam and biked to the Leslie Spit and back, finished quilting my quilt, hung with the neighbours, had the roomie over for dinner, watched an FNL and we were still in bed by 9:30pm. I love those weekends that have that balance of socializing, crossing things off your to-do list, and lots of fun family time.

I made us chicken Milanese for dinner, on top of a salad of arugala tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, and grated parm. Fresh farmer's market corn on the cob on the side.

The Big Yam likes to do this thing with the lid of his silicone storage containers where he holds it in his mouth and he looks like a demented clown. It's pretty hilarious.

We've been listening to this mix that we grabbed off The Rub's page pretty consistently. It's slick. It starts off with some pure early 90s girl group awesomeness, which inspired the Dotytron to ask me, "Who does that 'No Scrubs' song?" "TLC" "...it's a pretty good tune!" DUHHHHH. That is a jam, son! RIP Left-Eye! Then the mix goes into some new stuff and ends with a remix of Prince's 7, which is SOOOO GOOD. Here's a refresher in case you need to remember the original:

The mix has a bit too much Lauryn Hill into Fugees for me, but other than that, it's freakin' amazing. The mix also has Mary J's Real Love, which has inspired me to want to learn how to play it on the piano. HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT BE??? Like, if you could just roll up into any hotel lobby and start banging out Real Love on a baby grand? I feel like my ticket to popularity lies therin.

Fin.

my cup runneth over...

and over and over and over...sure life can be hard, and it's full of trials and tribulations and challenges, but after weekends like this, i'm reminded of how lucky i am and how grateful i am for the ability to be aware of the multitude of joys in my life. let's face it, folks, winning the vagina sweepstakes and landing in the northern (read: mostly developed) hemisphere is reason enough to rejoice in our good fortune. having a minimum of one person out there who loves you is enough and knowing that so many of us have a multiplicity of love in our lives is the sweetest, fluffiest, most decadent buttercream frosting on the cake.

this weekend was filled with moments of gratitude and laughter.

1) look at this bowl of pierogies. isn't it divine?

 

i've finally figured out my pierogi making technique. you start with bacon, sliced into little thin lardons. render those out until they're crisp, and then set aside on a paper-towel lined plate to drain. into the bacon drippings go a large spanish onion, thinly sliced, to sweat and caramelize and turn into silky shreds of allium goodness over a long, slow cook on medium heat, with some assistance from a big blob of chopped garlic. back in go those bacon bits, topped with your frozen pierogies and a sprinkling of salt and a good hit of freshly ground black pepper. then into the oven they go, to be annointed upon their emergence, all browned and crispy-chewy with a mountain of full-fat sour cream and a heap of thinly sliced scallions. that there is good stuff. and while it's not the most seasonal of summer dishes, it is an intensely satisfying one when you're coming home ravenous on a friday night.

2) the diemonds were super fun! they were on a mixed bill with some other grindcore and hardcore bands, so it wasn't the best crowd, though there were some hair-a** dudes giving it their all in the headbanging arena. there were multiple points of hilarity en route with the classic M-R-I team made up with dr. rei in the backseat nattering on and the three of us frequently dissolving into riotous bouts of laughter over the following:

i) dr. rei mistaking a fat, pasty, frequently topless and man-boobs sporting old weird-al yankovic guy for cousin al.
ii) dr. rei realizing her mistake upon meeting cousin al and seeing his neck tattoos.
iii) us going for ice cream at the drake's "ice cream and t-shirts" store. as dr. rei and i are ordering our scoops, we see the server's eyes get big as she gasps out, "that's not a bench!!!" as we hear a crash behind us, to find that the dotytron has tried to sit on a remarkably bench-like piece of furniture that it turns out is ACTUALLY a miniature bowling game, but that has stupidly been placed in the EXACT spot in the store where you would expect a bench-shaped piece of furniture to be.
iv) the three of us getting so taken with the idea of massimo's pizza and poutini's poutine and ice cream and wanting to grab all the food in the general vicinity and then picturing the three of us, the most unlikely and out ouf place people at an 80s hair metal show, grooving in a corner to grind core with our hands full of pizza, ice cream, pop and poutine. lol!!!
v) it taking us AN HOUR to get home, more than 45 minutes of which was spent arguing with an overweight, highly stressed out mcdonald's drive thru clerk who was losing his mind, forgot to punch in 1 of our big mac combo's and then insisted that we would have to DRIVE AROUND TO THE END OF THE 15 MINUTE LINE OF CARS WE JUST SAT THROUGH TO GET TO THE PICK-UP WINDOW AND REPLACE OUR ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was unbelievable.

3) this is c.c. diemond. who is AMAZING. i mean, i love my l.a. glam metal as much as the next person, but i've never beeon one to find the rangy, skinny, acid-wash jeans-bedecked dudes attractive. but there's something about the boozy decadence of c.c. diemond that is VERY appealing. he EMBODIES this scene. the tightest jeans you've ever seen, a tiny shrunken leather vest, ankle boots, giant hair, pure swagger. boss.

4) saturday we loafed around and dr. rei watched me bake and we went grocery shopping and i told sordid tales from my promiscious past which titillated and shocked dr. rei and then we watched the cameroon denmark world cup game and hated the danes and their winning ways.

5) this is us at ribfest. ribfest was decent. the food was aight. not as good as dinosaur but i've come to expect that at ribfest. we shared a full rack of ribs with beans and coleslaw and a pulled pork sandwich and corn that was FOUR DOLLARS AN EAR and sat on a tablecloth i had brought and listened to crappy blues. i'm never going to quibble with this ribfest's food because the proceeds go to a camp for kids who are burn victims, which totally made the dotytron tear up when he found out about it, which in turn makes me grateful i found such a sensitive, good hearted bloke.

 

 

bwong was supposed to meet us but was like a billion hours late because he was secret-shredding a billion pages of paper on his way down with his cousin of privilege. they finally met up with us while me, dr. rei and the dotytron were playing a game of 2-on-1 basketball and then 21 with this random dude lee at the basketball courts at jimmy simpson park. basketball is fun! it's a good workout...but only if dr. rei is with me going 2-on-1 against the dotytron. otherwise, it's pretty unfair if it's just me and him playing.

we came home with bwong and the cousin of privilege in tow and ate peanut butter pie, but not before bwong was again mysteriously waylaid on the way to our house - for THIRTY MINUTES?!??

6) sunday morning we woke up and then biked out to mitzi's on sorauren for a father's day brunch with poppa d and the d family. the brunch was really good, although i think it was a titch overpriced for the serving sizes. everything was also priced the same, which made no sense to me - there's no way that french toast costs the same amount as scrambled eggs. i had poached eggs on a sausage hash with a tomato-y sauce and homefries - i shared with the dotytron who had scrambled eggs with basil and parm with an olive biscuit and homefries. they were good...i wish i had photos to show you. i don't know that we'd come all the way back though. after biking home we google mapped the distance and we had biked over 25km!!! it was crazy!

7) then we had my family over for a father's day dinner with big d. i made us a pile of big d's favorite things: clam linguine, steamed lobsters, and his favorite dessert, chocolate swiss roll cake with whipped cream:

 

 

 

do you see what i have to be so grateful for? how much better can a summer weekend get? how lucky am i to have spend my weekends surrounded by friends and family and laughter and being outdoor and active in the sun?

tonight we're having tuna mac salad for dinner with a bean and grape tomato salad in a mustard dill vinaigrette. tuna mac salad was something that my sister and outlaw bro introduced me to that i'm OBSESSED with. at it's most basic, it's essentially cold pasta (shells or elbows), chopped celery, canned tuna, and mayonnaise. but the end results belies the simplicity of the ingredients. i'm going to make it the classic way this once and resist the urge to muck around by adding red onions or garlic or parsley or herbs. it was so good when it was kept simple that i want to replicate what got me hooked in the first place.

we also have a standing date with the kids across the street to play frisbee. K seems to think our date is for "after school" so i had to gently tell him that i get home after he does and that i also have to eat dinner first. there's also a potential visit from the roomie in the works for this evening.

my cup continueth to be filled and runneth over.

fin.