Aqua Books and Eat! Bistro announced they're closing today

August 11, 2011 - 3:37pm - by admin

which is super sad

the restaurant had a really bright, cheerful atmosphere and their food was top notch. Not to mention their cupcakes.

CBC says the owner's reasoning behind the closure is a "cultural shift away from reading" which on one hand I understand, but that place was always packed to the tits whenever I went there so it eludes me as to how it's gone under

I'll never know, I guess but it's sad that the used bookstore's failure cause the restaurant to go down, too. I feel like I didn't eat there enough.

isn't that how it always is?

last night we went to Rumors Comedy Club with Komus and Shawnypoo and saw Reese Waters who was way funnier than I'd expected



The tickets were free (thank you @rhondalmartens) so it didn't really matter if he was dunny or not, so it was a pleasant surprise. We had a few Fort Garry Darks while the he told some jokes and I realized I hadn't been there in ages, either

though comedy is hit-and-miss and usually I prefer my stand-up on YouTube so I can close the browser if it sucks unless it's Daniel Tosh, who we saw at the Centennial Concert Hall last Friday and was so funny I almost cried

I love when American comedians come to Canada because they can pick on all the sensitive topics that we're way too polite to discuss and when they say what everyone's already thinking it's just that much better because you think "see, they get it"

there was a dude in front of us who got offended over some of the comments but honestly you can't come to a Tosh show and not expect to have your gender/sexual preference/race/sports team/etc mocked and belittled

besides mockery is the sign of a good friend which is why I need to make sure I have a thick skin tonight when @rhondalmartens and @kenquist come over for wine and Scrabble

generally I'm good with words but Scrabble stresses me out and Ty gets all Nazi about which words you can and can't use on the board he's like Hitler or something

and yes I realize that calling someone a 'Nazi' and 'Hitler' over Scrabble is horrible and offensive but if Michelle Bachmann can run around saying that Minnessotas' educations standards could lead to Auschwitz and comparing raising taxes to the Holocaust then obviously the words don't mean anything anymore

I'm being sarcastic, of course, hopefully the meaning of those words will never lose their meaning and will always remind us of how evil and cruel humans can be to one another.

Besides which, the only person who's acting like a Nazi is Michelle Bachmann.

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Don't get a boob job

August 9, 2011 - 7:53pm - by admin

by Alyson S.

Back in April I got a breast reduction that took my massive 36DDD chest and made them a happy 'n healthy 34C cup and since then it seems like everywhere I go people are talking about getting implants and, ladies, I just don't get why. My huge boobs took over my life; they bothered my back constantly, made it hard to find clothes that fit my ribcage and my chest, and it's all people saw when they looked at me. Having a surgically enhanced chest seems to be the first thing women think of when they want to feel better about themselves, and here's why I disagree:

1. They won't suit you
I'm serious, I've never looked at a woman who has implants and thought "wow, those look so realistic and natural". Listen, if the top of your breast is as round as the bottom, you just don't look right. Why do you want to go from having to wear a push-up bra to looking like you've got one on 24/7? It's not natural, and it's not sexy.

Case in point, Donatella Versace:



Do you really want that to be you some day?

2. You "like how fake they look"
Do you also not like having a personality? Because that's what that attitude says about you. Because believe me, the guys who hit on you because of your impossibly unnatural tit-to-hip ratio don't give a damn what university you attended and whether you read Mother Jones on the regular. You know what implants tell other people? That you're insecure. In fact, you're so insecure with yourself that you paid someone to shove chunks of saline under your chest because for some reason not being able to see your feet past your cleav makes you feel better about yourself.

Which leads me to my next point:

3. It's a waste of money
My reductive surgery was 100% paid for by the government because believe it or not it's a huge (har har) hassle to have huge boobs and they were actually detrimental to my lifestyle. Here in Canada at least it's considered a necessary surgery, but implants (surprise surprise) are not. The approximate cost for breast implants in Canada is $6,000-$7,000 for saline and $7,000-$10,000 for cohesive gel. That's a year (or two) of university, or a down payment on a car, or a really great trip somewhere. Go have the time of your life on a topless beach somewhere with your bra-less, scar-free boobs and get over your tit envy. You'll thank me later.

4. You think it will make you more attractive to the opposite sex
If this is your reasoning, start hanging around with some men who are actually adults and don't care about shallow shit like how big your cup size is. Honestly.

5. You're "sick of being a AA"
Stop for a second and think about how much you weigh, then think about your cup size, and odds are your little boobs fit really well onto your frame, whether or not you think so. Sure your breasts might not be spilling out of that tube-dress but at least you don't look like you've been jamming yourself into it and let's face it the fashion industry is geared towards women who are waif-thin, so you're ahead of the pack already. Plus you don't have to deal with gross droopage down the line, and no amount of surgical maneuvering is going to be able to stop that.

6. You think having bigger boobs will make you more popular/successful/etc
Recently I read something on Raymi's blog that shocked me. She's been talking quite a bit recently about getting implants and in her most recent post responded to someone encouraging her not to by saying "but then i can skyrocket to infamy fast like heidi montag and make a lot more money then retire in portland. business investment. plus they’ll take the heat off my nose" and while you need to take most things Raymi says with a grain of salt this really bugs me because she's become so huge already without slicing herself up and it's one of the things I've always respected about her.

Besides, do you really think huge boobs will make people like/admire/appreciate/find you more attractive than they already do? They won't. Your friends love you for who you are (if they don't ditch them asap) and if you're dating/looking for a man with any sort of integrity he'll love you regardless of what cup size you are.

7. "I don't care what people think. My implants are for me"
No, they aren't, because if you didn't care what people thought you wouldn't be caving to social pressure and walking around with big fake boobs on your chest for all to see. Do you really think that unless there was that societal pressure to be rail-thin and have boobs the size of Mount Everest you'd be feeling the way you do? Of course not. Back before the industrial revolution girls were supposed to be plump because it was a sign of social status (aka they weren't working out in the fields all the time). But now heaven forbid if you can't squeeze into that size 00 dress around your waist while filling a D cup on top. See how times change? Which one seems more healthy (both physically and mentally) to you? I shouldn't have to tell you the answer.

Listen, everyone struggles with self-image issues but implants are the most overt way you can tell people "I don't like how I look" without flat-out screaming it at them. By letting someone slice you open and shove saline under your nipples (which might lose sensation, don't forget) you're not taking a stand for women or even for yourself. You're letting your own insecurities rob you not just of your own personal finances, but also of other people's respect.

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Saw an art show last week

August 9, 2011 - 4:43am - by admin

where they had dried squids hanging from the ceiling with bubbles made from pig intestines and green and yellow embroidery on them

the installation(s) are about fragile ecosystems being invaded by hostile species like jellyfish, the work is meant to examine things on a mollecular level and I'll be honest that wasn't what I thought about at first

I thought there are some squids hanging from the ceiling

and it seems weird that embroidering on dead cephalopods is how someone wants to express their thoughts on something though I guess that's what art is, how you express yourself about whatever you're feeling & thinking

does that mean that when I fill up my online cart at F21 in a manic mega stress-out shopping bonanza and then realize I don't want/need/can afford to buy a bunch of dresses and scarves and shoes and unload it all back out that I'm an artist?

maybe I should do a video of me shopping, punctuated with dubbed-in audio of me talking about how my university doesn't offer any of the classes I need to get my degree, or offers the ones I can take all at the same time, or that student aid thinks I make 'too much for a student' even though I don't live at home and have to pay rent to live in my apartment and also for food and stuff you need to live

I can call it Back to School and maybe have a cute intro/outro all 80's style or something because 80's are cool again, right?

but that's not art. It needs to be edgy with music everyone hates.

okay, an intro with some glam rock because nobody likes glam rock

(don't comment and tell me you like glam rock)

the video will become an overnight success because miserable people love misery and what's more miserable(ly pathetic) than someone filling and re-filling their online shopping basket with cheap clothing you can only wear for one season while lamenting over the same crap that every university student goes through every year when they register?

nothing, that's what

there isn't a university around (that I've heard of) that has their shit together enough that they can properly allow students to register, select, plan and attend their classes hassle-free and because most of us don't have rich parents or trust funds we get to deal with the goulag that is (Manitoba) Student Aid so believe me when I say I know my trials and tribulations aren't unique but art is showing how you feel in a way that makes people stop and pay attention and my video would combine two major thematic elements of the modern young woman: a shopping problem and issues with school.

if I broke up with Ty it'd be an overnight success, could you imagine? (not happening)

he brought me a glass of cucumber water just now which is sweet because I yelled at him earlier for something that was totally not his fault, I'm just in a snit because of the stuff I mentioned above and no matter how huge my F21-addicted ranting videos made me I'd have to keep him around for stuff like that. It was because I wrote a blog post that was stupid and asked him about it and he didn't 'get it' and I felt stupid and he felt stupid and I got mad because, well, I'm a bitch sometimes

maybe that's my art form

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Hip Hop Sunday #10: Shad - Rose Garden

August 7, 2011 - 7:34pm - by admin

Shad is one of my fav, fav, fav Canadian rappers

his ish is so smooth, so catchy

I've been feeling a bit stressed lately, with school starting and etc

and this track keeps me smiling

Happy Hip Hop Sunday my loves

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