to brighten your monday

you're welcome.

for lack of a more original title,...let it snow

almost a year ago today, i experienced my first montreal snow fall. of course, in true university fuck-work-anything-is-cause-for-celebration fashion, my friends and i proceeded to down bottles of 8 dollar white wine, dance to cheesy music, and those of us with the highest sense of adventure (coincidentally it was the same people who had consumed the most wine) risked hypothermia and went outside to build snowmen. six months later, my SAD in full swing, i couldn't have hated montreal winters more - i was tired of having a permanently bruised tailbone from one too many wipeouts on the way to class (followed every time by a silent cursing to the gods for the fact that there were no montreal by-laws enforcing sidewalk shoveling), staticky hair, and wearing winter coats that somehow make anyone look ridiculous. that being said, i never thought i'd see the day when i was actually WAITING for it to snow, but...here i am. if we're going to have sub-zero weather, mother nature may as well give us some snow sooner or later, no? i think i have this picture to blame for the fact that i have begun romanticizing my least favourite season of the year, but it's so darned PRETTY, how could you not get excited for snow?
until then, i'm going to keep up my winter habits that i've only recently begun: drinking copious amounts of hot chocolate, reveling in the tacky-yet-endearing christmas decorations at department stores, and listening to "ice skating" from the charlie brown soundtrack on OCD repeat. i mean...it couldn't hurt, right?

uh, hello?!?

i came across this photo and couldn't help but think how ridiculous it was.  it is a part of this very informative article from the new york times.  in the article the writer talks about about how there is a build up of foreign cars in the ports of southern california because demand for the vehicles have lessened so much.  it's the economy, they say.  

now, i am as aware as the next person that the economy is in trouble.  and i'm sure that this is why there is an excess of cars simply sitting, not even in an attempt to be sold, in acres of parking lot in the ports of SoCal.  it is the economy, after all, that is causing us all to take a look at out pocketbooks and think about whether or not we can afford one more vehicle that, even after we have paid for the lease and the insurance, we must then feed with ever-expensive gas.  but then again, lets think about what else we're paying for with these oh-so-necessary vehicles of transportation--oh right, global warming; oh right, the environment.

as bad as it sounds, maybe this crash in the economy is what we need.  here's what the auto industry should take from this photo: people can't afford brand new cars.  GM's struggle to stay afloat should tell the government not that they need a bail out, but that the industry needs to start focusing their attention on something that doesn't take gallons of oil to run and doesn't spew tons of carbon dioxide.

i will now step down from my environmentalist soap box. 

superbad

alright so. this is my first time doing a piece of writing of this nature, namely on a blog, for the world to see, so cut me some slack if im not super fun and interesting. practice makes perfect people. that being said here goes nothing.

i know that seth rogan and his counterpart judd apatow have been wildly successful in their recent string of comedies. however, i have some less than positive comments about his latest "zack and miri make a porno".  i realize that most audiences of boys would enjoy this movie. it does have a few very funny moments. but they are funny in a crude, disgusting, low brow culture way epitomized in the obsession with the lower body exhibited in my cultural studies course. god im a nerd. and that sentence didnt make sense. but seriously, its a bit much. especially the scene where theyre shooting stacy and lester having anal sex and of course the camera man ends up with shit all over him thanks to some loose bowels. god i cant even write this its so DISGUSTING. and yet audiences, not me, but someeee people are bound to find this funny. half of me, the part that grew up with two brothers and a father who are very into toilet humour, finds this hilarious. but the other half, the girl who went to a prim and proper all girls school is completely disgusted by some of the scenes. another example is the scene where the ginger hooker whos in the porno displays her valuable skill of being able to blow bubbles with air coming out of her vag, explaining her very apt nickname, bubbles. but i dont think im completely alone in these thoughts. some of it is just over the top. and the whole plot of the movie is, excuse my french, fucked.  like is it actually possible for people to be best friends for 20 years, then suddenly have sex and then realize that they are in love with each other. does that actually happen in real life? i would like to know. however, it is also important to realize that movies are a fantasy world in which things happen that we wish could happen in our real everyday lives.  but this is never true. although im sure there are some incredibly CUTE couples out there that were best friends, and then had sex with CHANGED everyyyythinggg. because as is shown in other movies, boys and girls, comes to mind, sex does change everything.  whatever. bottom line: not impressed with this movie. and it was also like TWO HOURS. when did it become okay for hollywood movies to be two hours. that kind of movie length is only okay for harry potter, titanic, war movies (maybe), pirate of the caribbean movies (just because it is expected of them), and basically any other profitable series that is out there like james bond etc. not that i would know seeing as i have never seen a bond film. so sue me. to conclude, apologies in advance for being a negative nancy and for offending any die hard seth rogan fans out there. im also running off an inadequate amount of sleep, making me a little cranky. my next post will be all sunshines, rainbows and ponies i promise. so until then, its better to burn out than to fade away. 

xoxo

elle

some kind of wonderful

i must admit something right here and right now: i love john hughes's movies.  for the uninitiated these include: the breakfast club, pretty in pink, 16 candles, ferris bueller's day off, weird science, and my all time favourite some kind of wonderful.  if you have never  enjoyed the viewing pleasure of these films, i suggest you get on it.  

the thing is that--perhaps the breakfast club aside--none of these movies are particularly profound or insightful post-view.  when i first started watching these movies i watched like any awkward adolescent might: for entertainment and for the fantasy of the finding love at 16 and fitting in with the popular kids (or losing that ever-pressing need to).  all of the films are about similar things and address similar themes, all are emblematic of the decade in which they were made (the 80s) and they all take place during high school.

now that i have graduated from that sometimes fun often painful chapter of my life, and moved onto the next (as university student--more fun, less painful), i watch these films and see the pureness that makes them.  high school is an extraordinarily common stage for any cultural text--there are songs about it, books and tv shows set during it, but films are perhaps the most prolific and common when it comes to representing it.  recent efforts include the vulgar and comedic (superbad and the american pie series) to those that attempt to be insightful and realistic (juno stands out in my mind).

what's different about john hughes's movies is their truthfulness.  they aren't realistic in any sense: there is always a happy ending, usually involving the loser/poor kid with the popular/rich/hot kid.  but it's the interaction between the characters that is so truthful--the way they all struggle to fit in and rise above or through the status quo.  when i think back on high school now, this is what it was all about--finding your place within the establishment.  it is almost eerie, the way that my own school of 800 girls in uniform somehow melded into a community that isn't far off from the ones represented in the world of john hughes and the real world beyond that.  

when i watch these movies now it's with a little nostalgia for a time when little problems seemed like the whole world and going to the big party each weekend was a big enough goal.  but these films are still fantasy--if only we could all fall in love and fit in.  if only the beautiful boy had kissed me over my 16 candles, or i had written a letter to the principle explaining that you can see us as you want to see us.  somehow, even after our lives have moved beyond this stage, these movies are instantly relatable.  like ferris bueller famously said: "life moves pretty fast.  you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."  this is what these films are about--enjoying our high school experience when we couldn't.

blackberry, or boyfriend?

as a child of the new technological age/generation Y-er, i took pride in my old silver motorola phone. before it, i had the drunken tendency to use my phone a) to break my falls, b) as an object of dramatic expression (i.e. to throw in the toilet after an angry phone call), or c) thoughtlessly drop in the snow. i got a rather rude awakening when rogers, my cell phone service provider, informed me that i had run out of gratuity points in being able to buy cheap phones from them and the only one that i could afford was the aforementioned brick of a phone at a not-so-cool $99 price tag. at a record-topping casualty rate of 4 phones in six months, my mother informed me that this time around, i was going to suffer the financial burden, so i KNEW i had to take good care of it. that was a year and a half ago, and my ghetto silver phone and i spent 16 glorious months of attempting-to-be-witty text messages to prospective boys, endless hours of tetris while taking public transportation, and, of course, the unavoidable drunk dials. now, i've upgraded to a phone that could kick my old cinderblock of a phone's hypothetical ass, one that is so gimmicky that it's not a phone, but a "smart phone"....the blackberry. don't get me wrong. i fully realize how obnoxious and how much of a symbol of social status they are (my bbm contacts boasted what i thought was an impressive 22 contacts...i was soon put in my place when i discovered my friend had a braggable 106). but still, i LOVE it, so much so that my roommates have coined it my "boyfriend". yet, alas, like all passionate relationships, it does indeed have its fallbacks. like the fact that i check my phone at a frequency of five times in ten minutes. (embarrassing. i know.) and can't seem to sit through an episode of gossip girl without simultaneously trying to beat my high score on brick breaker. and call me neurotic, but the fact that you can see when someone has received your bbm message (and the consequent WHY HAVEN'T THEY WRITTEN BACK YET thoughts) causes me to break more of a sweat than the thought of my mom and her boyfriend PDAing (yuck). so...i've enlisted myself in a kind of couple therapy of sorts. i try to check my phone less, i've restricted my facebook use to laptop only, and i NEVER try to pull off the phone-on-the-dinner-table move. thus, like all relationships, it's a continual work in progress.

post script: on thursday, november 13 at approximately 11:10 pm, my beloved blackberry and i were separated in a mob of moshers at the girl talk concert and have yet to be reunited, if ever. my life is essentially meaningless as i have no connection to the outside world. the funeral will be held this friday. gifts of the ben and jerry variety are appreciated.

big birthdays

i am in the midst of a birthday blitz of sorts.  i have celebrated over the last month or so an inordinate amount (my own not included).  this, of course, is no complaint, as most celebrations include copious amounts of dancing, drinking, and general debauchery--even in the case of my mother's 49th celebration.  these parties have, however, gotten me thinking about growing up, getting old, and hopefully gaining some wisdom along with the inevitable disadvantages of gravity.  though my own birthday isn't until the summer of next year, it will be marking the chapter-ending, double-decade  20 whole years lived in this great wide world.  

when i was back in toronto for thanksgiving a month or so ago, i brought up my fear of turning the big 2-0 with my mum.  this would be the end, i insisted, of carelessness, of freedom, of no expectations and yet every expectation possible.  mum, being the nostalgic hippie that she is, was quick to jump in: "the 20s were the best, most fun decade of my life!"  i raised my eyebrows.  "except for those with you and your brother and your father, of course."  right.  either way, it makes me wonder.  

maybe the 20s will be everything they should be--the best decade of my life.  maybe for all the reasons i'm afraid of them, they will actually be amazing.  instead of fearing what i'm going to do with my life i might actually just figure it out.  maybe i'll see the world beyond the shelter of my parent's kind donations.  there are the obvious reasons why my third decade could be great:

1.  sleeping with men, not boys, who know what they're doing

2.  leaving behind the drunken mistakes and conversations that shouldn't be had

3.  inevitable adventures

the teenage years were, if anything, a decade of firsts, of experimentation, of figuring out why you can't do some things and figuring out how to get away with doing others.

so i must wish all of my celebrating friends a happy birthday.  most of them are on the same precipice where i find myself now.  although i still maintain some trepidation, i hope that when the time comes in a few months to make the jump i'll be ready.

in the meantime, i will continue to make mistakes--i need to collect them now, while i still can.

come back jimmy dean

i had always heard of the rebel-cum-legend james dean (mostly through my mother's squeals of delight every time he was mentioned -- insert inevitable eye-rolling here), but admittedly had never actually considered watching any of his three films that are hyped with an amount of practically cult-like status. i'll confess that i wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the prospect of watching one of his first films, east of eden -- as a mandatory part of my intro to film course, i'll admit i had little devotion regarding the task -- until i heard that mr. jimmy dean himself played the starring role. at risk of of sounding like a superficial boy-crazy teenager, i'll admit that my excitement increased tenfold when i saw his broody (smoldering, but broody) gaze beneath the glossy cover of the dvd. to be perfectly honest, i don't think i would be able to recount the plot of the movie with the amount of detail that is probably necessary to write about it for my class -- i was far too distracted by a little something -- or someone -- else. needless to say, i even risked the cliche-ness of the quote "dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today" splashed across my macbook desktop only because his (for lack of a better word) SEXY self apparently was quoted saying this but more importantly because his jude law/brad pitt/james franco-gorgeousness-all-rolled-into-one face is depicted over top of the quote. ...sigh.

i now understand the cult-like, legendary status surrounding this hot piece of ass. i can TOTALLY relate to my mother's squeals when he is mentioned (except after my roommates watched this movie as well, there are three other shrieks to accompany mine).
i guess i am a superficial boy-crazy teenager after all.

mes ami(e)s

hello.