Filed under: fall 09, Uncategorized | Tags: costumes, fun, halloween, holidays, office
Cleopatra, Disco Chick
I’ve had that song from 30 Rock stuck in my head since last night.
It’s that time of year! Pumpkins are being carefully chosen and carved into jack o’ lanterns, the bags of teeny, tiny chocolate bars that were stocked to the ceiling at Wal-mart are flying off the shelves and the kiddies are looking for the biggest bags they can find to take out on their trick-or-treat missions.
Once again, the creative juices began flowing at my office this month as we decided on costumes.
Today marked our annual Halloween celebration and once again, I was beyond impressed with the stellar ideas that my co-workers came up with. I LOVE Halloween and I really appreciate the opportunity to dress up every year. I originally wanted to be Gilly this year. I even perfected the dance and bought the wig (which Jessi ended up using for her Disco costume, so at least it didn’t go to waste…) but I couldn’t find the right dress and I didn’t have the time to spend searching for it. So I settled for being Cleopatra instead after I fell in love with the black and gold sequined outfit in the store. I love a chance to play a brunette for a day.
To check out all of the fun, creative and down right creepy costumes that showed up today, you can take a look at my Halloween 2009 set on Flickr.
Edward Cullen and Bella from Twilight
Mad Hatter
Kate Gosselin
Magda and Puffy
One Night Stand
Preggers Nun, Cleopatra
Paul Mitchell
Geico Cavemen and Dumb Donald
Madonna
Tinkerbell, Wild Cowboy
Photo via We Heart It
When we speak these days, I melt…
It’s always a question of where I look,
what I say (to make you see) and
how much I give away.
Sometimes I get glimpses of it working,
of you seeing what I see.
Other times I think I’m alone in this.
Filed under: sports | Tags: basketball, events, NBA, steve nash, vancouver
Photo: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun
Victoria-raised point guard and two-time NBA most valuable player Steve Nash was front and centre when his Phoenix Suns took on the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA exhibition game at GM Place last Thursday. The event drew a sellout audience of 19,700 cheering basketball fans, including me and my dad.
The game marked the return of the NBA to Vancouver for the first time since Nash and the Suns faced the Seattle Sonics two years ago. These “teaser” games are always somewhat bittersweet for me because having been a Grizzlies season ticket holder for the duration of their run in this city, I am reminded of the horrible way that Michael Heisley broke his promise, broke my heart and stole the NBA away from Vancouver in 2001. I can’t help but wish that we still had an opportunity to see live NBA games on a regular basis. Hell, we can’t even go down to Seattle to watch a game any more. The whole evening was a flashback to the days of the Vancouver Grizzlies and I miss those days very much.
Photo: Globe and Mail
Fans in Grizzlies jerseys holding a “David Stern, give us back the NBA” sign were given a loud ovation when they appeared on the big screen.
“I feel like it was unfair that the [NBA] team was taken away from the city,” Nash said. “I think my teammates are in total agreement. Someone said they were glad that our owner wasn’t here because he might want to move the team.”
Steve Nash and the Suns may have dropped the preseason game to the Trail Blazers, 111-93, but that fact seemed to wash over the fans and everyone else who was at the arena. We were just pumped to be watching the action.
I still believe that the Grizzlies never got a fair chance in Vancouver.
Is it Vancouver’s fault that Stu Jackson had absolutely no clue how to run a basketball franchise? He drafted Bryant “Big Country” Reeves after all. Was it Vancouver’s fault that Steve Francis is an a-hole and didn’t want to play for them? Then the franchise sold to a guy who had an agenda to move them and the Vancouver Grizzlies were no more. It felt like we were trapped in the movie Eddie, only our story didn’t have a happy ending. Since the move to Memphis, things have not gotten any better for the franchise on the court. I also think you could argue they had more support in Vancouver than they have now in Memphis. They draw an average crowd of 12,745 a game in Memphis, giving them the second lowest attendance in the league. Just sayin’.
I think the NBA should be in Vancouver permanently and I wish it still was.
HUGE thanks to Steve Nash for bringing it back to the city for the night.
Filed under: life, Uncategorized | Tags: dating, love, relationships, social networking, technology
Photo via istock photo
Love in the age of technology is most decidedly a departure from the days of yore and needless to say, it’s shifted more than just the way we do business. It’s changed the way we love – how we seek it, how we find it and above all, how we keep it. Today, courtship has become a flurry of status messages, e-mail flirtation, Twitter updates and not so uncommonly, breakups that play out publicly for all 400 of your not-so-closest friends.
It used to be that courting, flirting, dating and ultimately love was conducted in public and in real time: in bars, in restaurants, on boardwalks, on moonlit patios at dusk. Lovers once stole kisses and canoodles in plain sight of prying eyes; now, they steal glimpses and glances for hours over cell phones, ichats, text messages and emails. Truth be told, there are people who I communicate with more frequently via BlackBerry Messenger than anything else.
The casualness of e-mail and text messaging has certainly blurred those lines between acceptable and unacceptable. There is space for just a minimal number of characters on that little cell phone screen- not much room for recounting disastrous misunderstandings, sleepless nights and awful embarrassments. Hasty typing and shorthand can cause further difficulty, as it sometimes has to be decoded. Feelings aren’t always easily expressed in such few words. The backspace key has become an all-around superstar.
Text messages can be either a curse or a blessing- especially when it comes to flirting. The question is not simply whether to send a text message, but what to write and when to send it. And after a message is sent, what if there is no reply? The waiting begins.
This whole idea always makes me think of the film He’s Just Not That Into You, which offers a look at relationships and shows just how technology has made the dating game more complicated. Drew Barrymore’s character discusses her frustrations:
“I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he e-mailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting.”
Yes, we have a zillion gadgets at our disposal. Overuse and misuse can quickly doom a relationship. Nobody wants to receive hundreds of text messages from someone they just met. A little self-discipline is needed. If used properly and sparingly, technology can be a godsend to someone timidly placing a toe in the dating water.
Thoughts? Experiences? Please share.
Photo: Warner Bros.
The film version of Where The Wild Things Are is an absolutely breathtaking achievement for Spike Jonze. Tracy and I saw it on the big screen tonight and we both loved every visually rich minute of it.
The film engages Maurice Sendak’s 1963 storybook, all of 338 words long, in a cinematic conversation, striking minor chords and plaintive emotions. It’s perfect from start to finish.
Rather than just take the plot of the children’s book and stuff it with filler, director Spike Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers understood the feelings and emotions author Maurice Sendak conveyed in his writing and illustrations. Their understanding is what makes this film version honest, courageous, heartfelt, and completely magical.
The story is complicated and deep for those who understand what Jonze is saying. The acting is superb and the movie will reward repeated viewings, at least in my world.
I love what my friend Pat wrote about the film:
“[it's] insanely spectacular. to the point where people who don’t like it don’t have a soul and have no concept of childhood imagination. it’s the kind of movie where you can relate to the characters in so many different ways you can’t help but think back to our own childhood and remember the same kinds of situations and stories you went through and made up along the way.”
Everybody should see this film- especially while it’s on the big screen. Sheer brilliance. Sheer, beautiful brilliance.
Filed under: random thoughts, Uncategorized | Tags: life, personal, random
Photo: i love my marc
I find it ridiculous that my hormones have the ability, in the blink of an eye, to make me feel like a complete crazed maniac who has been zipped into a fat suit. One minute I’m fine and the next I feel like “fat Monica” and could very easily burst into tears at the drop of a hat. Quel horreur!
I’ve been in full-on recluse mode, having cancelled all of my plans this week in favor of staying in under large blankets to bond with my big screen tv. I’m planning to break out of this bubble of reclusion tomorrow and become social again.
Tonight, however, I likely won’t accomplish more than finishing season one of 30 Rock. How in the world did I show up so late to the party on this one? Considering it’s a brilliant show that’s basically about my dream job, it’s actually quite embarrassing that I only just watched my first episode last night. Needless to say, it was love at first sight.
Halloween is crouched on its haunches yet again, ready to pounce at our throats. I’m not ready! In truth, I never am, even though I’m obsessed with it. I love dressing up, but I always end up running around like a stress case, trying to throw something fabulous together at the last minute. I vow year after year to plan ahead, but I never do. I will attempt to create my masterpiece this weekend- or at least buy some kind of extravagant yet lame and grossly overpriced package should I get lazy. All I need is one brilliant idea. Are you dressing up this year? Do you all have your costumes ready?
Filed under: books | Tags: art, beauty, makeup, marc jacobs, Nars, photography
Photo: WWD
François Nars, founder and creative director of the beauty brand that bears his name, is celebrating the company’s 15th anniversary with a new book.
Combining two of his favourite things, beauty products and photography, the book, named ‘15×15′, features portraits of 15 famous faces – including Marc Jacobs, Naomi Campbell, Isabella Rossellini, Daphne Guinness and Amber Valleta – all made up with Nars products.
With each image created to represent an iconic image or person, Nars did both the make-up and the photography for the 15th anniversary book himself.
“When you do something for 15 years, you want to do something fun but still a nice piece of work. Plus, the Nars brand people wanted me to do something to remind people I’m still here,” Nars told WWD.
Browsing through the images – all of which are brilliantly creative – my favourite has to be the Marc Jacobs portrait. The designer poses in false lashes and red lipstick, with tomato-red nails and cartoon-esque tattoo drawings in a Richard Avedon inspired shoot.
The book is set to sell from mid-November for 30 days only at 15×15project.com.
This year I had what I would describe as a non-traditional Thanksgiving. When my parents announced that they would be going out of town for the long weekend, obviously my brother and I (spoiled as we are) were shocked and disappointed. Was this a joke? No turkey dinner? No Yahtzee tourney? Dad not there to keep our wine glasses full at all times? What the hell were we supposed to do?
So on Saturday afternoon (in an attempt to retain my favourite tasty tradition,) I packed up the pumpkin pie that I had slaved over (…selecting from the Whole Foods bakery, that is…) and headed out to the Stoddart family maison in the valley, even though it wasn’t going to be a full house.
It was going to be a weekend of brother and sister bonding.
I forget sometimes how similar the two of us are. When we get together, it usually ends up being kind of like a variety show. You can count on lots of singing (often songs we make up, sometimes ones that we made up years ago about our neighbours and still know all the words to.) There are lengthy conversations in various accents and voices, countless skits with characters being invented every few minutes, not to mention more new laughs being made up and practiced than you could ever imagine. I can comfortably be “me” with my brother, perhaps because that “me” is just like him. You can’t argue with genetics, I suppose. We’re cut from the same cloth and we think we’re hilarious. When we’re approached by talent scouts who want us to drop by 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York for an interview, we’ll be ready. If anyone understands just how much I want to be the next Kristen Wiig, it’s him. Let’s be real, the poor guy was subjected to watching my audition reel on repeat all weekend. I took the fact that he genuinely laughed at me as a compliment.
Movies, TV shows, laptops, Canucks, music, conversations, good food and a few beers. It turned out, left to our own devices for the holiday, my bro and I were absolutely a-okay. We ended up having a super fun weekend, just the two of us.
You’re cooking a turkey for Christmas though, right Mom?
Photo: Laiiis on Flickr
I’m having flashbacks.
Glimpses.
Even with friends closer than usual,
I can’t run fast enough to catch them tonight.
I stop myself in doorways
and on steps,
leaning backward to moments
I feel so far away from now.
They were small then,
I didn’t realize I would feel this way.
I want to stay up and talk to you tonight,
about how much I want the opportunity for great love.
I have experienced this feeling in muted ways-
but not in its entirety.
Those grey glimpses are what will let me know
that I have found it when I do.
The thing about these flashbacks,
is that they make me look forward
to what is next.
Now if what is next could only hurry up…
