Trade Mark Launch Party

This post goes out to Jen Beaudry - my second confirmed blog-reader (I know I was supposed to mention you in this blog for some drunken reason...)

Last night was the Trade Mark Artists launch party that we held at the swanky tattoo shop Black Line Studio

It turned out pretty fabulously - the fashion show rocked and the crowd seemed pretty happy. We were even visited and photographed by former mayoral candidate/entertainment columnist Enza (supermodel) Anderson.

I will post some pics when they become available.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Recently my friend Erin told me that she was reading the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This book tells the story of the murder of Danny Hansford by his lover/employer Jim Williams, a wealthy socialite/art dealer, and the subsequent trial. The story takes place in Savannah, Georgia.
I decided to rent the movie and was totally amazed by the scenes of Savannah: the cool buildings, parks, Bonaventure Cemetery, and the weirdo characters that were portrayed. I found a gallery of Savannah pictures at this link, to give you some idea. Also, some great pictures of the cemetery can be seen at flickr.


Next I will have to read the book.

Strangers With Candy & Robert Pickton

Watched the movie Strangers With Candy on dvd this weekend. My verdict on this one: it was hilarious, but I guess you have to be a fan of low brow humour, as I am. For some reason I wasn't at all interested in it when I started seeing the previews and promos several months ago. The fact that it was written by Stephen Colbert should have told me that it would be at least a little bit good, but I think I was turned off by the revolting-looking main character.
Today is the beginning of the Robert Pickton trial, and I think it's going to be bizarre, if any information can get out (I'm not sure what the status of the publication ban is). Pickton is the British Columbia pig farmer who has been accused of murdering 26 women, although I think this trial is only concerning the murder of 6. Apparently the DNA of 39 missing women has been found on his property. Stevie Cameron, who has written many Canadian "true crime" books, including "On the Take" about former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, is supposed to be in the process of writing a book about Pickton called "The Pig Farmer".

Andrea and the Internet

I recently bought a computer for my room at home, after years of being computer-less outside of work. One of the best things I've discovered is streaming video. Last weekend I watched three Robert Greenwald documentaries: Iraq for Sale; Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism; and Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price. Of those, the Iraq doc. was the best - the usual mind-blowing stories about war-profiteering by American corporations, and the close ties these companies have to American politicians/policy-makers. I also watched a film of the Ryerson University Kodak Lecture Series where Bruce Labruce interviews Harmony Korine. It's pretty long (over two hours) and gets off to a bumpy start, but is eventually really interesting with lots of classic/hilarious Harmony Korine stories.

the bunny boy - gummo

High School Musical

So, another one of my guilty pleasures is the Disney movie High School Musical. It seems to play at least once a week on the Family network, and me and my roommate never miss a chance to watch it. Actually, now we want to buy the dvd. This morning Tyler found the most awesome video on youtube - two 18 year old boys lip-synching one of the songs from the movie. It's freakin' hilarious. Enjoy!!

High School Musical follow up: Just found this item in Gawker about High School Musical that perfectly explains/describes my High School Musical obsession...

High School Musical, like most musicals, is about a boy and a girl (Troy and Gabriella) who are destined to be together. They are also destined to be cast as the leads in the high school musical, but first they must surmount some obstacles. These obstacles are named Sharpay and Ryan and they are the best part of the movie. Drama queen and king of East High, respectively, they blow their American-idol-reject competition out of the water at the musical auditions, which are held by a drama teacher who pronounces it "musiCALE" and seems to be channeling Meryl Streep channeling Anna Wintour. Anyway, Sharpay (who is blonde and sparkly and a huge bitchy queen bee a la Paige from Degrassi) and Ryan (who bears an eerie resemblance to Richie Rich and who we only later in the movie find out is Sharpay's brother -- ha!!) belt out a song and dance number that brings the house down. Awesome!

Then Troy and Gabriella sing the same song in a soulful and sweet and super boring way. They don't immediately get cast as the leads in the musical, though, because then there would be no movie. Instead we watch as Troy struggles to reconcile his desire to sing show tunes with his role as captain of the basketball team. This is funny in and of itself; it gets funnier when the basketball team does a super homosexual dance number about how Troy needs to "get his head in the game." Another dance number born of Troy's inner turmoil is the awesome 'Stick To The Staus Quo,' in which students in the cafeteria confess to their secret passions (a fat nerd likes hip hop! A stoner plays cello!) The rest of the movie is okay too; we did stay awake for it but we don't remember it super clearly. Lots of romantic duets btwn Troy and Gabriella, we think. Sharpay is awesome. And Ryan wears a different gay hat in every scene he's in. Anyway, don't pretend to be too cool for High School Musical because you are only cheating yourself.

Daily Dose of Imagery

Here is a neat photo blog called "Daily Dose of Imagery" that you will probably enjoy. Lots of neat Toronto/World scenes.

4 Days Into the New Year....

....and so far so good. I spent a very low key NYE with Tyler at home, watching movies and eating Chinese food - a plan that we have every year, but never actually go through with. We re-watched Gladiator and watched Gangs of New York for the first time. The costumes in Gangs of New York were really, really cool. Also saw something called Strings which was a Scandinavian puppet movie that was pretty cool.



gangs of new york

I got the dvd series of Twitch City which was a Canadian sitcom (I know, an oxymoron) from the late-1990s, starring Don McKellar and Molly Parker. It's pretty funny and reminds me of the good ol' days, living in crappy, low-rent apartments with too many (crazy) roommates!

I am reading the newest Al Franken book "The Truth, With Jokes" which is not only pretty funny, but also a little scary. It's amazing how corrupt the Bush administration really is. The chapter on Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay was mind-boggling.

Anyhoo, that's about it for now. Hope everyone is having a good year so far.