Obsessed with

Modern Family.
Cam: "I'm kind of like Costco....I'm big, not too fancy, and I dare you not to like me."

Run for the hills

This is a pretty spot-on remake of the Hills. I watched the season premiere (2 entire days off at home have made me go squirrelly) and I can't get over how out of touch these kids are with reality and how out of control their sense of self importance is. I think Audrina put it best when she said to her ex, "you're selfish, you're self-centred, all you care about is yourself." So eloquent, these girls.

I think I watched because I really wanted to see Heidi's bizarre face that makes her look like a 40-year old trying to look like a 20-year old. And I feel the need to satiate this irking curiosity. I can't explain it. I find myself always wondering, "Is this real or fake? This is too ridiculous to be real." It's the same way I feel about Jersey Shore- I haven't given in to that yet, though. And I'm not sure I'll watch the entire season of the Hills- the production of the show is infuriating. Every 20 seconds there's a musical interlude and clips of them all looking at each other with those blank stares. Sometimes I think I can see tumbleweeds blowing by behind their eyes.

Reading

The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho

On my whereabouts

Luc and I jetted off to Saskatchewan on Friday to spend time with the family and celebrate his grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary. It's been nice to have some time to unwind after an intense school year. I'll be back to reality on Wednesday, but for now I'm quite enjoying my mental vacation.

Confessions

I threw out my neck using the salad spinner. On the bright side, the lettuce was really dry.

If I were a flower and you were a bee...

A silly, old timey video of Kristen and Luc. Just a couple of goofballs in love.

Obsessed with

iMovie. When I said I wasn't going to make a slideshow for our wedding, what I really meant was....I'm going to dramatize the past 5 years of our relationship to music using iMovie.

The end is nigh but the road is still long

The week is coming to an end, and so is my final year of school. By no means am I completely finished (hello internship and thesis...), but tomorrow we're wrapping up our big term projects and saying au revoir to course work. We got out of our offices at school before sundown for the first time this week and there was even a rainbow to greet us. The pot of gold was waiting for me at home - it took the shape of the Canucks winning their first playoff game. Hallelujah.

If all goes well tomorrow in the unveiling of the editorial workflow system prototype we've been building online for the past 9 weeks (if you're interested the presentations will be live blogged HERE beginning at 1:00pm tomorrow afternoon), I should be settling into my second glass of wine by about 4:30pm and prepping for the first weekend without papers and readings lurking in my subconscious.

For those of you interested in technology, WordPress, magazine publishing, workflows, content management systems (have I bored you yet?), or if you just have that insatiable curiosity to learn about anything and everything, check out our final report below. It's chockfull of interesting screenshots, so if you don't want to read the whole thing, you can still see what it is we crazy grad students were doing! 

Two bad reviews, two equally bad photos

Yann Martel recently got slammed by reviewers for his most recent novel Beatrice and Virgil. I haven't read it yet, and I'm honestly not sure that I'll buy my own copy now that I've heard that it's supposedly such a festering turd of a book. The reviews in question (NY Times &  Edward Champion) encited a discussion in class of the classic question: is all publicity good publicity? "Not if you're in the paper for being a pedophile," whispered my friend Liz. Thanks for the insight Liz, that was really deep. In the case of this book review though, I don't think so. The consensus in class, however, was that because the book is purported to be so atrocious, most people want to read it to see for themselves. But this is a class of curious bibliophiles- will the general public feel the same? I anticipate these reviews to have the same effects as a crushing movie review. If everyone is telling you how awful the movie (or book) is, you're not likely to waste your time and money just to see what the fuss was about. Many people buy books based on heartfelt recommendations and glowing reviews, and they use these tools as means to avoid wasting their time with a boring/unspiring read. Despite these sensational reviews, I doubt people will buy the book just to see for themselves how dreadful and pathetic it may be. And as for "all publicity is good publicity", that may be true for celebrity scandals, but when a critic says your book is "the literary equivalent to being completely submerged into a vat of shit," that's actually not so great. 

Reading

Catch Me If You Can - Frank W. Abagnale

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

I knew I had been listening to American Idol performances for too long when I began thinking to myself, "gee, this prepubescent guy is doing a pretty sweet cover of the Beatles." And then I opened iTunes, listened to the original and remembered what music is supposed to sound like. However, after a long day at school, something to zone out to was definitely on the menu. American Idol requires little thinking, and only that little aggressive part of my brain that likes to judge and pretend I know everything about music needs to be alert. "Hmm...it was OK, but too pitchy. And I don't know if I really believed that performance. They didn't sell it with the high notes."

I'm too impatient for all of the judges' comments and the commercials and the useless banter, so I watched about 10 performances on the American Idol website in the same time it would take me watch one bloated commercial break. Overall, not impressed. One girl, Crystal Bowersox, is fantastic- she's natural, she plays the guitar, she doesn't give these awkward, affected performances like the other chumps on the show, and she used a didgeridoo in one of her songs. Overall though, the entire show could use more cowbell.

Listening to

Kandi - One Eskimo

Escaping the city for the weekend

I'm baaa-aaack

This morning I was wiping my eyes with makeup remover until I realized, oh, that's not smeared mascara, those are just tired bags, they're not going to rub off. I've just returned after a long weekend of "repose" (and by repose I just mean no school work or wedding planning) to my final two weeks of classes and two papers, a presentation and a final project.

The long weekend was anything but restful in the physical sense, but it was the longest mental vacation I've taken in a while. Every night was a late one, and every day was long and enjoyable one. I didn't have time to think about school, which was great. But I did have to get up at a decent hour every morning. But if you have to get up early, there's no better way to do so than having the cutest twin four-year-old girls jumping on your bed and giggling like wild hyenas. Luc and I spent the long weekend at West Edmonton Mall with his family; eating, drinking, swimming, shopping, amusement parking (yes, I'm making it a verb), and hanging out. And now it's back to writing, reading, busing, budgeting, and stressing out.

Reading

Nikolski - Nicolas Dickner

What they were really thinking

We are sorry super pissed off we couldn't be a part of  stop that stupid punk from ruining your special day. Wishing Hoping to god you all take these flowers and make the best of this crap situation in your future life together. From the team incredibly stressed out group at Mayfair Lakes your former wedding venue that burned down.

Thoughts

The universe is most definitely trying to distract me-- there is a Simpsons episode on where Marge is planning a wedding. Give me a break, I'm trying to get some work done here!

Cat-templating life

He's contemplating the fragile state of the universe; he's considering whether to use his birthday wish for good or evil; he's wondering how you get a corner piece from a round cake; but above all, he wants to know why the hell he's dressed in a t-shirt.

That's not my name

I was just reading an article about Dree Hemingway, model and granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway. The reader is given a "word of advice" though, to not ask Dree about her family tree. I always find this amusing, and disrespectful, when these young celebrities scoff at people referencing their famed pedigree- especially when 99.9% of them have gotten where they are because of where they came from. This always elicits a long and pained eye roll from me. I understand the desire to be called by their own name and not simply "daughter of" or "nephew of". But they're always saying, don't even ask me about my famous daddy, I totally became a supermodel on my own. Right...

This post is brought to you by...

We watched our first episode of Modern Family last night. It was funny, but I don't know how I feel about a show that dedicates an entire episode to product placement. The plot revolved around the iPad- it was the Dad's birthday and the family was desperately seeking out an iPad on its release day. There were quotes galore gushing over the iPad, but I can only remember a few...

-said adoringly while cradling the iPad in his hands: "who's ready for the first day of the rest of their life?"
-"it's a movie theatre, a bookstore AND a music store ALL IN ONE!!"
-blowing out candles on the virtual iPad cake...."it did not just DO THAT!!" .... "But it DID!!"

I know it's naive to complain about product placement, but this was beyond excessive. I'm certain that the writer's didn't originate this iPad-episode concept. It's kind of a chicken and egg question- what came first, the money from Apple or the iPad idea from the writers? I'm going to say the money from Apple...then the writers worked with that they were given. I wonder if this is something we should get used to? Product placement so heavy that entire episodes are based on them. Maybe the Lost survivors on the Island will find a bag of Doritos and spend the whole episode on it?

Monthly Photo - April 2010

5 months until our wedding day!

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