I'm-a start rocking gold teeth and fangs
Saturday I finally crossed the line between just casually talking about going to hot yoga and actually putting my money where my mouth was and attending. Jabez took me to Moshka and I emerged sweater than I've ever been and on an endorphin high.I didn't even get sick or need to take a break like I thought! Though this pose is something I need to work on; I'd rather not start retching in front of the whole class.
Despite the girl in the change room after talking about how it "really aligned her chakras" the Moshka experience wasn't all new age-y and pretentious at all.I mean, they played Michael Jackson during the ab exercises and the instructor sang to us at the end when we were in corpse pose at the end. Definitely not the experience that I had expected.
Last night Lo Pub had a birthday party for Art and there was a fun crafting table for making silly hats, live music and visuals and some leftover brandywine from Half Pints which we definitely drank.
We experienced and were consequently amazed by the Winnitron. So cool!But it's dinner time and we're going to watch French Connection, so I'd better go.
You know it's true.
You've been a juvenile with a dolphin smile
Had to full-on stop in order to get a shot of this guy because I didn't realize there was someone channeling Mudkipchan on campus today and it still turned out blurry.I've seen this guy around the city a few times but have been too slow on the uptake to snag a decent picture of him in his Pokéclothes (Pokéregalia? Pokéhat?) and suddenly BAM he's all fanboying it up right in front of me on campus so I had to act fast.
To be fair, I was busy having my mind blown from my Philosophy class which I am no longer waitlisted for, thank you v much.
The class is Historical Existentialism and while I loved the pretentiousness of it all
("how can we assume that nihilism exists in truth because is it possible for someone to believe that there is truly nothing when their perceptions -perhaps falsely- indicate that there must be something because we exist" and so forth)
it was a bit mind-boggling and even though it's an intro level course there are peeps clearly far beyond that level quoting philosophers I've never even heard of which left me a bit in the dark; I feel like there's going to be a lot of supplementary reading (read: wikipedia) going on so I can keep up with the fourth-years taking Intro courses for credits.
Also my professor looks almost exactly Sybil Trelawney from Harry Potter which just makes it all the much more hilarious to me.
Speaking of crazies of course everyone has been losing their shit about some new astrology sign showing up and throwing everything out of wack today and apparently I'm no longer the pretend animal that I used to be(Scorpio FTW just saying)
and am now... a Libra, I think? That's the one that comes before Scorpio, right?
Whatevs, it's ridiculous and apparently not even that real depending on what variation of pretend animals in the sky you believe in anyway?
What?
I can't believe I actually spent several minutes reading those articles just so I could keep you guys well-informed, I could seriously have been doing much cooler things like watching video clips of The Trip like this one:
Happy almost-Friday!
You spend half of your time modeling, and the other half next to me
Today I learned something:If Rogers is telling me that I have full Dukes (connectivity bars) and won't even send a simple text, I will become increasingly enraged as I try to send and re-send a text that wasn't terribly important to begin with, but now has become my sole reason for living and the bane of my existence.
Why can't you just send my text, Rogers?! Why must you lie to me so?
At least tell it to me straight: I have no connectivity and can expect no reception on campus. Don't fill my heart with these fabrications of Dukes and then trap me in a web of unconnected loneliness leaving me to rot with texts and tweets unsent.
Why, Rogers, why?
What's your middle name?
Outside it's cold January but inside my heart it's warm, warm, warm.School's back in the swing. Classes are classes, we're reading Ondaatje in Lit and I like it. English classes are (usually) a fine excuse to read good literature.
Next up we're reading Fall On Your Knees by Anne Marie MacDonald which is one of my all-time favourite books.
Have you read it?
Make sure you do, it's unbelievable.
I've never owned a copy of Sylvia Plath's work but I've always loved it. Today I watched a movie about her life called (simply) "Sylvia" with Gwyneth Paltrow and delicious Daniel Craig and need to snag myself copies of The Bell Jar and Ariel, respectively.
I wonder if they're on iBooks?
Which do you think is more pretentious, sitting in a coffee shop reading a battered copy of Ariel by Sylvia Plath, or sitting in a coffee shop reading a copy of Ariel by Sylvia Plath on your iPad?
Because I'll gladly do both.
If this was the Cold War we could keep each other warm
Watched 'Catfish' last night and just like the trailer suggested it wasn't at all what I was expecting.
What I anticipated was something dark, creepy, and mind-blowing and while that's exactly what I got it wasn't at all how I'd expected I'd get it. I had to pause the movie a few times to get up and defrag and shake off the intense discomfort that settles over you like a heavy blanket as the film progresses and you find yourself giving confused and uncomfortable looks to the people watching it with you.
Without giving too much away (I hope) it made me reconsider what a social medium like FaceBook is capable of and how much we can really expect to ever know about someone we meet online until we see them in the flesh. The ability that we now have to craft these perfectly tailored online versions of ourselves is at the same time exhilarating and terrifying.
When it was all said and done the thing that blew me away the most -and why I am highly, highly recommending it to you- is that it is apparently all based in truth. It's not a mockumentary, but apparently genuine fact.
The story is almost too good (read: crazy) to be true, and if it is in fact a total fabrication then it's one of the best pieces of metafiction I've ever seen, because the sheer amount of work that would go into building, maintaining and upholding a story of that magnitude would be phenomenal.
But if it's true, as the directors/producers/actors claim, then it is truly an example of how real-life is always stranger than fiction.
Cruel snow, cracked lips, sun lost by four
Here's something to warm your heart:
Until a few days ago Ted Williams was a homeless man with a stunning voice begging for change on the streets of Ohio. Now the YouTube vid has gone viral (thanks to some help from Reddit) and he's voicing commercials for Kraft.
Just in case you ever doubted that the Internet could be used for good.
We all live underground
We Live In Public from IndiePix on Vimeo.
Chilling out with Gretchel and catching up on the Internet makes me a happy lady (even if I am totally aware of the irony of my online presence while watching this type of documentary).
Personally? I'm not afraid of the over-share. I have friends who freak out about things like FourSquare, and Places but honestly everything that you punch into a search engine, every word you write, and each time you use your debit card or your data plan is being tracked and cataloged anyway.
If I'm going to be tracked every time I do anything I might as well make the best of it and become excited about what the best of the Internet has to offer in connectivity and social media tools. The Internet -like life- is what you make of it, right?
I'll always love you, Internet, no matter how crazy you might make some people become.
Clock's ticking I just count the hours
Most people say "I don't believe injust making New Years Resolutions" and neither do I.
But that being said the start of a new year is just as much as valid time as any to make decisions, changes, take action. Because it seems that most of the time when people decide to make changes in their lives that it's usually the result of something negative.
Doctor says you're too fat so you start working out and eating better.
You lose a loved one and are struck with the fleeting nature of life.
Bad investments make you more frugal in the future.
Someone breaks your heart and you learn more about yourself.
The list goes on.
And while these are all fine reasons to make changes in your life I don't understand why so many people pooh-pooh deciding to use New Year's as a catalyst or turning point for that change. Probably because most follow through and maybe they don't, but that isn't really anybody's place to judge but theirs, right?
I guess the difference lies in the term Resolution. To resolve is to say you will, to make a goal is to set a specific target to work towards.
Which is why I make Goals. My Resolution is to work towards those goals.
2011 will be the year where I: drink more casually. Study harder. Love more fierceley. Speak more honestly. Learn all the Inuit words for 'snow'. Show how much I really appreciate all the amazing people in my life. Call my Grandma more often. Forgive more easily. Eat healthier. Exercise more often. Drink more water. Host more potlucks with friends. Be more well-rested. Paint. Bake a souffle. Discover more music. Appreciate more local art. Make new friends. Distance myself from negative influences. Take more photographs. Spend more time at the beach. Camp. Discover more about myself.
Blog like there's no tomorrow.
Thank you for sharing this amazing year full of challenges and changes with me, I appreciate every single one of you who visits here each day and wish you all the best.
Happy (almost) New Year's to all of you
xo Alyson
A long way down
Saw Black Swan last night with Ty and Cenquist yesterday and can flat-out say I was blown away.The film was so intense I had trouble walking afterward because I'd unintentionally been clenching all the muscles in my body the entire time. It left me astounded and breathless.
I has expected to be impressed by the performances but I found myself being so on-edge with Natalie Portman's depiction of the perfectionist ballerina that it made me nervous to watch.
I'm glad to see Mila Kunis has come into her own as an actress since That 70's Show, providing the perfect antagonist and I'm glad to see she's come into her own as an actress since That 70's Show and Vincent Cassell (as always) seduced me completely. The ferocity between all the characters was almost palpable and was enhanced by absolutely stunning camerawork.
From the opening scene (one of the most intense in recent memory) to the credits it captured my attention and held on tight until well after the film was over.
Discussing it with the boys afterward over drinks I realized that I've seen most of the major blockbuster films to come out this year that are contenders for Best Picture (except 127 Hours which I have yet to see), and that, for me, Black Swan blows them completely out of the water.
From the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack -which I am currently listening to- to the razor-sharp performances given by the cast, it overshadows anything that's come out this year, by far.
Definitely go see it.
Everybody only wants to fight
If I could I would write all day. I would clear my cluttered mind of all that's nagging me and keeping me from being productive, eating, sleeping, everything.
I would explain in-depth the loss I feel, the pain over the disrespect and the complete disregard for my thoughts and needs. That while I do my best to be considerate I don't receive the same in return and no amount of talking or explaining is changing that.
There's a simple solution but nothing is, really.
