This year Tyler and I were dressed as Twi'lek Jedis. I was Darth Talon and I forget Tyler's character's name.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Happy Hallowe'en
This year Tyler and I were dressed as Twi'lek Jedis. I was Darth Talon and I forget Tyler's character's name.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
London Street Fashion!
Just found a blog called The Style Scout and was looking through their shots of London street style. I found this one funny:
A total throwback to late-80s/early-90s Toronto goth! And the comments after are pretty good too, people in their teens and early-twenties think his shoes are really cool! This just as I was listening to a radio report that it is the twentieth anniversary of Pretty Hate Machine! I think most of the boys I had crushes on at the Lollapalooza (1991?) featuring Nine Inch Nails were wearing this outfit, lol.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Contest
Last year I was looking for inspiration for my Hallowe'en costume and found some amazing pictures from a set tagged Kawasaki-Hallowe'en 2006 including the ones I posted in the three entries above (these photos are by a great Tokyo-based photographer whose work can be found here: http://www.danzintokyo.com/ )
Recently I was asked to post a contest to win a Harajuku Lovers Fragrance prize pack. Here's what I'm thinking: send me a picture of your favourite Harajuku inspired costume (doesn't have to be a Hallowe'en costume) and I will pick my favourite! The prize pack is valued at $250, so let's get a little creative here folks! You can email me your pictures at andrearaggedy@hotmail.com and I will post them here.
Official Rules & Regulations
The Contest will run from September 16, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) [ET] to October 23, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. [ET] (the “Contest Period”).
The contest is sponsored by Coty Canada Inc. and Matchstick Inc. (the “Sponsor”). The contest is hosted by Raggedy Andrea in the Garden of Good and Evil (“The Host”).
1. To Enter:
No Purchase Necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Limit of one (1) entry per household, per person, per email address. Enter online:Go to http://raggedyandrea.blogspot.com/ (the “Contest Website”) during the Contest Period, complete the fulfill contest entry specifics and submit as instructed. Any attempt or suspected attempt to enter more than once shall be deemed as tampering and will void all of your entries. Any use of robotic, automatic, programmed or entry methods not authorized by these rules will void all entries affected by such methods and shall also be deemed as tampering and will void all of your entries.
General Conditions of Entry:By entering this contest, all entrants consent to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information by Sponsor and Host for the purposes of running the contest or for any other purpose to which entrants consent. Once submitted, entries become the exclusive property of The Host and The Sponsor and will not be returned. Personally identifiable information received will be used by the Host only to verify eligibility, ship samples and award prizes. Upon completion of the contest, The Host will destroy any and all entries and personally identifiable information for all contestants. All personal information received by the Sponsor will only be for the purposes of fulfilling the prize and collected, used and stored in accordance with its Privacy Policy, located at: www.matchstick.ca/privacy.htm
2. Eligibility:
To enter and be eligible to win, an entrant must be a legal resident of Canada (excluding Quebec) who is over the age of majority in their province or territory of residence. Employees of or those residing with an employee of Coty Canada Inc, the Sponsor or Host, their agents, representatives, parents, affiliates, subsidiaries and dealers, advertising and promotional agencies, sponsors, suppliers of prizes, materials or services related to this contest, including the independent judging organization are not eligible to enter this contest.
This contest is subject to all applicable federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations.
Each entrant is only eligible to win one (1) prize during the Contest Period.
3. Prizes to be awarded:
Entrants are eligible to win one (1) Harajuku Lovers Fragrance prize packages with an approximate retail value of $250.00 each.
The Sponsor reserves the right in the event that a Prize or any component of the Prize cannot be awarded as described for any reason, to substitute another Prize of equal or greater value, without liability.
Any costs or expenses incurred by the winner in claiming or using his/her prize will be the responsibility of the winner. Winner is responsible for all taxes and expenses which are not included in the prize description above.
In the event of a dispute, entries shall be deemed to be submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address submitted at the time of entry. “Authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an internet access provider, on-line service provider, or other organization (e.g. business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Illegible entries, bulk drop-offs, mechanical reproductions or facsimile entries are ineligible.
4. Winners
A winner for the contest will be selected by The Host and announced November 13 2009 on or around 12:00 p.m. EST.
Entries will be judged by the Host. Entries will be judged based upon the following criteria: creativity, inspiration, originality, and my taste on the day of judging! The decisions of the Host are final in respect of any matter relating to this contest. Odds of winning depend on the number and calibre of entries received.
Selected entrants will be contacted by telephone and/or email at the Host’s discretion. Only the selected entrants will be notified. Before being awarded the prize, selected entrants must first correctly answer without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or otherwise, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question with the Sponsor. If an eligible entrant is selected but cannot be reached after four (4) attempts and the skill-testing question is not administered within 20 business days of the selection, the selected entry will be deemed void and an alternate entrant may be selected.
Only upon signing and returning the Declaration and Release Form described below in Rule 5 and correctly answering the skill-testing question, will a selected eligible entrant be declared an official winner.
5. Release Forms:
The selected entrants of a prize will be required to sign and return, within the time stipulated by the Sponsor, a full release and indemnity form (“Declaration and Release Form”) stating that he/she has read and understood these Official Rules and Regulations (“Official Rules”), grants all consents and authorizes the Sponsor to broadcast, publish and disseminate his/her name, address, photograph, likeness, sobriquet and voice, in connection with any promotion or publicity, and/or for general news, entertainment and information purposes relating to this Contest at no additional compensation, beyond the awarding of the prize. Selected entrants must also agree to accept the prize as offered.
The Declaration and Release Form also releases The Sponsor, The Host, its affiliates, subsidiaries, related companies, and all their respective directors, officers, employees, shareholders, representatives and agents, successors and assigns from and against any and all liability, claims of damages and causes of action, of any kind whatsoever, whether at law or in equity, and including but not limited to death, personal injury and loss or damage to property, that the winner or any of the representatives, heirs, next of kin or assignees (collectively, “Representatives”) may have or which may hereinafter accrue to the winner’s Representatives as a result directly or indirectly from their participation in the contest or receipt or use or acceptance of the prize.
In the event of non-compliance with these requirements (as applicable) or with these Official Rules, or if prize notification is returned undeliverable, Sponsor shall have the right to disqualify the potential winner, and select an alternate potential winner and shall be fully and completely released and discharged from any liability or responsibility in this regard.
6. Limitations of Liability:
Neither The Sponsor nor The Host will be liable for: a) any incomplete, incorrect or inaccurate capture of information, whether caused by the Contest Website users or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest, or by any technical or human error which may occur in the processing of entries; b) the theft, destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries; c) any problems with, or technical malfunctions of, telephone networks or lines, computer on-line systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, viruses or bugs; d) any failure of any email to be received by or from Sponsor for any reason including but not limited to traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or combination thereof, interrupted or unavailable networks; e) damage to a participant’s or other person’s system occasioned by participation or downloading of materials in this Contest; f) late, delayed, damaged, misdirected, destroyed, lost, illegible, incomplete, incorrect, fraudulent, stolen, postage-due or wrongly addressed entries which will be deemed void.
7. Right to Terminate:
The Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion to terminate, suspend or modify this Contest, without notice, at any time should i) any electronic messages or any other materials used in this Contest be tampered with, mutilated, altered, forged, reproduced, not legitimately obtained; or ii) other types of fraud are suspected; or ,iii) entries are illegible or contain or reflect printing, production or other errors; or iv) virus, bugs, technical failures, human, printing or distribution errors or any other cause beyond the control of the Sponsor corrupt the administration, security, safety, fairness, or proper conduct of any element of this Contest as described in these Official Rules. Without limiting the foregoing, if, for any reason, the contest is not capable of running as originally planned should any error, whether human, electronic or otherwise, or any other event interfere with its proper conduct as contemplated by these Official Rules, Sponsor reserves the right to cancel the online portion of the contest and conduct the draw from all other previously received eligible entries.
8. Miscellaneous:
By entering, entrants agree to abide by the Official Rules and agree that the decisions of The Sponsor and The Host are final and binding in all matters relating to this Contest. The prizes must be accepted as awarded and no transfer or substitution of the prize, whether for cash or otherwise, will be permitted except as expressly provided in these Rules or at the Sponsor’s sole discretion. Prize may not be exactly as shown on Promotion publicity or promotional materials. The Sponsor reserves the right to substitute this prize with a prize of equal or greater value if for any reason the prize cannot be awarded as contemplated in these Official Rules.
Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify, from this Contest and any future contest, sweepstakes or other Contest conducted by Sponsor, any individual that it finds or believes to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or Contest Website; to be acting in violation of the Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER PERSON TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
Recently I was asked to post a contest to win a Harajuku Lovers Fragrance prize pack. Here's what I'm thinking: send me a picture of your favourite Harajuku inspired costume (doesn't have to be a Hallowe'en costume) and I will pick my favourite! The prize pack is valued at $250, so let's get a little creative here folks! You can email me your pictures at andrearaggedy@hotmail.com and I will post them here.
The contest starts now and ends on October 23, 2009. Winners will be announced on October 30.
Here are the official contest rules, for your info.:Official Rules & Regulations
The Contest will run from September 16, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) [ET] to October 23, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. [ET] (the “Contest Period”).
The contest is sponsored by Coty Canada Inc. and Matchstick Inc. (the “Sponsor”). The contest is hosted by Raggedy Andrea in the Garden of Good and Evil (“The Host”).
1. To Enter:
No Purchase Necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Limit of one (1) entry per household, per person, per email address. Enter online:Go to http://raggedyandrea.blogspot.com/ (the “Contest Website”) during the Contest Period, complete the fulfill contest entry specifics and submit as instructed. Any attempt or suspected attempt to enter more than once shall be deemed as tampering and will void all of your entries. Any use of robotic, automatic, programmed or entry methods not authorized by these rules will void all entries affected by such methods and shall also be deemed as tampering and will void all of your entries.
General Conditions of Entry:By entering this contest, all entrants consent to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information by Sponsor and Host for the purposes of running the contest or for any other purpose to which entrants consent. Once submitted, entries become the exclusive property of The Host and The Sponsor and will not be returned. Personally identifiable information received will be used by the Host only to verify eligibility, ship samples and award prizes. Upon completion of the contest, The Host will destroy any and all entries and personally identifiable information for all contestants. All personal information received by the Sponsor will only be for the purposes of fulfilling the prize and collected, used and stored in accordance with its Privacy Policy, located at: www.matchstick.ca/privacy.htm
2. Eligibility:
To enter and be eligible to win, an entrant must be a legal resident of Canada (excluding Quebec) who is over the age of majority in their province or territory of residence. Employees of or those residing with an employee of Coty Canada Inc, the Sponsor or Host, their agents, representatives, parents, affiliates, subsidiaries and dealers, advertising and promotional agencies, sponsors, suppliers of prizes, materials or services related to this contest, including the independent judging organization are not eligible to enter this contest.
This contest is subject to all applicable federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations.
Each entrant is only eligible to win one (1) prize during the Contest Period.
3. Prizes to be awarded:
Entrants are eligible to win one (1) Harajuku Lovers Fragrance prize packages with an approximate retail value of $250.00 each.
The Sponsor reserves the right in the event that a Prize or any component of the Prize cannot be awarded as described for any reason, to substitute another Prize of equal or greater value, without liability.
Any costs or expenses incurred by the winner in claiming or using his/her prize will be the responsibility of the winner. Winner is responsible for all taxes and expenses which are not included in the prize description above.
In the event of a dispute, entries shall be deemed to be submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address submitted at the time of entry. “Authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an internet access provider, on-line service provider, or other organization (e.g. business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Illegible entries, bulk drop-offs, mechanical reproductions or facsimile entries are ineligible.
4. Winners
A winner for the contest will be selected by The Host and announced November 13 2009 on or around 12:00 p.m. EST.
Entries will be judged by the Host. Entries will be judged based upon the following criteria: creativity, inspiration, originality, and my taste on the day of judging! The decisions of the Host are final in respect of any matter relating to this contest. Odds of winning depend on the number and calibre of entries received.
Selected entrants will be contacted by telephone and/or email at the Host’s discretion. Only the selected entrants will be notified. Before being awarded the prize, selected entrants must first correctly answer without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or otherwise, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question with the Sponsor. If an eligible entrant is selected but cannot be reached after four (4) attempts and the skill-testing question is not administered within 20 business days of the selection, the selected entry will be deemed void and an alternate entrant may be selected.
Only upon signing and returning the Declaration and Release Form described below in Rule 5 and correctly answering the skill-testing question, will a selected eligible entrant be declared an official winner.
5. Release Forms:
The selected entrants of a prize will be required to sign and return, within the time stipulated by the Sponsor, a full release and indemnity form (“Declaration and Release Form”) stating that he/she has read and understood these Official Rules and Regulations (“Official Rules”), grants all consents and authorizes the Sponsor to broadcast, publish and disseminate his/her name, address, photograph, likeness, sobriquet and voice, in connection with any promotion or publicity, and/or for general news, entertainment and information purposes relating to this Contest at no additional compensation, beyond the awarding of the prize. Selected entrants must also agree to accept the prize as offered.
The Declaration and Release Form also releases The Sponsor, The Host, its affiliates, subsidiaries, related companies, and all their respective directors, officers, employees, shareholders, representatives and agents, successors and assigns from and against any and all liability, claims of damages and causes of action, of any kind whatsoever, whether at law or in equity, and including but not limited to death, personal injury and loss or damage to property, that the winner or any of the representatives, heirs, next of kin or assignees (collectively, “Representatives”) may have or which may hereinafter accrue to the winner’s Representatives as a result directly or indirectly from their participation in the contest or receipt or use or acceptance of the prize.
In the event of non-compliance with these requirements (as applicable) or with these Official Rules, or if prize notification is returned undeliverable, Sponsor shall have the right to disqualify the potential winner, and select an alternate potential winner and shall be fully and completely released and discharged from any liability or responsibility in this regard.
6. Limitations of Liability:
Neither The Sponsor nor The Host will be liable for: a) any incomplete, incorrect or inaccurate capture of information, whether caused by the Contest Website users or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest, or by any technical or human error which may occur in the processing of entries; b) the theft, destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries; c) any problems with, or technical malfunctions of, telephone networks or lines, computer on-line systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, viruses or bugs; d) any failure of any email to be received by or from Sponsor for any reason including but not limited to traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or combination thereof, interrupted or unavailable networks; e) damage to a participant’s or other person’s system occasioned by participation or downloading of materials in this Contest; f) late, delayed, damaged, misdirected, destroyed, lost, illegible, incomplete, incorrect, fraudulent, stolen, postage-due or wrongly addressed entries which will be deemed void.
7. Right to Terminate:
The Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion to terminate, suspend or modify this Contest, without notice, at any time should i) any electronic messages or any other materials used in this Contest be tampered with, mutilated, altered, forged, reproduced, not legitimately obtained; or ii) other types of fraud are suspected; or ,iii) entries are illegible or contain or reflect printing, production or other errors; or iv) virus, bugs, technical failures, human, printing or distribution errors or any other cause beyond the control of the Sponsor corrupt the administration, security, safety, fairness, or proper conduct of any element of this Contest as described in these Official Rules. Without limiting the foregoing, if, for any reason, the contest is not capable of running as originally planned should any error, whether human, electronic or otherwise, or any other event interfere with its proper conduct as contemplated by these Official Rules, Sponsor reserves the right to cancel the online portion of the contest and conduct the draw from all other previously received eligible entries.
8. Miscellaneous:
By entering, entrants agree to abide by the Official Rules and agree that the decisions of The Sponsor and The Host are final and binding in all matters relating to this Contest. The prizes must be accepted as awarded and no transfer or substitution of the prize, whether for cash or otherwise, will be permitted except as expressly provided in these Rules or at the Sponsor’s sole discretion. Prize may not be exactly as shown on Promotion publicity or promotional materials. The Sponsor reserves the right to substitute this prize with a prize of equal or greater value if for any reason the prize cannot be awarded as contemplated in these Official Rules.
Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify, from this Contest and any future contest, sweepstakes or other Contest conducted by Sponsor, any individual that it finds or believes to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or Contest Website; to be acting in violation of the Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER PERSON TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
Friday, August 07, 2009
New Hair Idea
So, I've been contemplating a change of hairstyle and was inspired by Gisele Bundchen's hair in these Dior ads:
The consensus online seems to be that this is horrible hair, but I love it!
The consensus online seems to be that this is horrible hair, but I love it! Check back here soon! I will be posting details for a contest to win a Harajuku Lovers perfume prize pack.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Long Time No Blog
Oh my goodness, it's been forever since I've blogged! Sorry faithful reader(s)!! I wish I had a good excuse, but I really don't. I have been using twitter and yelp quite a bit, and I guess I just have too many websites to fuss over. Yes, I know, weak!
So, first things first....television! Tyler and I finally took the plunge, expense be damned, and subscribed to HBO Canada, which is actually really awesome, though questionably worth $20/month. We did this to facilitate my addiction to the series True Blood, or as I like to call it, "the best show on television". This season is even better than last season, and I almost went into shock when I found out that it wasn't on last night (4th of July holiday). If you haven't seen it yet, all of the episodes are available on demand if you get HBO Canada. I also watched the first episode of Hung, about a male escort living in Detroit. We also get the Movie Network and the Movie Network on Demand, so I have been able to catch up on some movies, including the amazing documentary "Roman Polanski, Wanted and Desired" about the great director. This is really worthwhile, and probably one of the best documentaries I have seen. Otherwise, I have been watching the new season of Weeds (still freaken hilarious) and as always, tons and tons of Law and Order.
I found an interesting Toronto blog the other day called Me and My Toronto . I haven't really had a chance to check it out thoroughly, but what I did see was pretty impressive.
I spent the weekend basically relaxing at home, including a Saturday night of (nearly excessive) wine drinking. Enjoying the summer, even if it doesn't really feel as if it's started yet, and looking forward to seeing Bruno next week!
So, first things first....television! Tyler and I finally took the plunge, expense be damned, and subscribed to HBO Canada, which is actually really awesome, though questionably worth $20/month. We did this to facilitate my addiction to the series True Blood, or as I like to call it, "the best show on television". This season is even better than last season, and I almost went into shock when I found out that it wasn't on last night (4th of July holiday). If you haven't seen it yet, all of the episodes are available on demand if you get HBO Canada. I also watched the first episode of Hung, about a male escort living in Detroit. We also get the Movie Network and the Movie Network on Demand, so I have been able to catch up on some movies, including the amazing documentary "Roman Polanski, Wanted and Desired" about the great director. This is really worthwhile, and probably one of the best documentaries I have seen. Otherwise, I have been watching the new season of Weeds (still freaken hilarious) and as always, tons and tons of Law and Order.
I found an interesting Toronto blog the other day called Me and My Toronto . I haven't really had a chance to check it out thoroughly, but what I did see was pretty impressive.
I spent the weekend basically relaxing at home, including a Saturday night of (nearly excessive) wine drinking. Enjoying the summer, even if it doesn't really feel as if it's started yet, and looking forward to seeing Bruno next week!
Saturday, June 06, 2009
parlour introduces suzzi raposo
parlour salon is proud to introduce the newest member to their team: colourist Suzzi Raposo!
book your appointment with Suzzi at www.parloursalon.com or by calling 647-345-6663, or stop in and say hi! parlour is located at 6 ossington, just north of queen.
book your appointment with Suzzi at www.parloursalon.com or by calling 647-345-6663, or stop in and say hi! parlour is located at 6 ossington, just north of queen.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
parlour salon - store of the week in now magazine!
sergio @ parlourCongratulations to my good friends at parlour salon for being named Store of the Week in Now Magazine! You can contact parlour via their website, or at 647-345-6663. parlour is located at 6 Ossington, downtown Toronto at Queen and Ossington.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
I Am Yelping Now
Yes, I have joined a new site - yelp! Apparently I can be found at raggedyandrea.yelp.ca
Yelp is social networking for people reviewing businesses in their neighbourhoods. I sort of like it. I have reviewed Sweaty Betty's and parlour (of course!) so far.
ophelia - dog in the city - Toronto Waterfront May 4, 2009
Sweaty Betty's May 3, 2009
parlour salon - 6 ossington - may 3, 2009Thursday, April 16, 2009
parlour salon - earth day ad!
this week parlour salon celebrates earth day. parlour always donates their hair clippings to an organization called matter of trust. matter of trust recycles this hair to create mats for collecting and containing petroleum spills, and reducing the environmental impact of these spills.
parlour salon - 6 ossington avenue - toronto - 647-345-6663
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Otto; or, up with Dead People - A new movie by Bruce LaBruce
Back in the late-1990s I used to read Bruce LaBruce's columns in Exclaim! and eye weekly with religious fervour. I think I have also read pretty much everything else that he has ever published that is available online. I never did see any of his films, though I always intended to. On Sunday my roommate and I went into Queen Video to rent some Bill Murray dvds, and discovered a new LaBruce film....a zombie film called Otto; or, up with Dead People! Now obviously both of us were attracted to the zombie, so we decided to pick it up. It is a zombie film, gay porn, and social commentary, all rolled into one funny and cute movie.
There is a good Interview Magazine article about the film here: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/blogs/film/2009-02-13/otto-bruce-labruce/
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday, April 03, 2009
Ossington Avenue, Toronto
I spent last night hanging out on Ossington Avenue, my new favourite street. I started at parlour drinking wine with Tyler, Franzis and friends, moved on to Watusi (Bovine Darryl's new bar/resto) for some drinks and delicious chick pea fries, and ended up at Baby Huey's.
Ossington reminds me of how Toronto used to be, with lots of cool, independently owned businesses, bars and restaurants, and fun/non-pretentious people. Even "West Queen West" has turned into an outdoor shopping mall at this point, and it's refreshing to find interesting places to go without having to travel very far.
tyler & aaron @ baby huey
Ossington reminds me of how Toronto used to be, with lots of cool, independently owned businesses, bars and restaurants, and fun/non-pretentious people. Even "West Queen West" has turned into an outdoor shopping mall at this point, and it's refreshing to find interesting places to go without having to travel very far.
tyler & aaron @ baby huey 
tyler @ parlour
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Gretchen Ryan - Artist - Little Pretty
Earlier this week I started following Courtney Love on twitter, and man, is she prolific! We are talking 10+ posts per day. Anyways, it's entertaining if you like Courtney Love, which I do. Today she posted: i love this obtuse shit. however i love Oil Paintings of Pageant kids more and so am going w Lachapelle to Gretchen Ryans gallery ! hardonThis made me curious enough to google Gretchen Ryan, who I discovered is an American artist who has painted a collection of portraits of children's beauty pageant contestants. Her paintings are beautiful and inspire in me that same creepy feeling I get from seeing children in beauty pageants. She will be exhibiting her work in New York City this April, and someone has blogged about her in more detail here: http://girliegirlarmy.com/blog/20090313/little-pretty-the-art-of-gretchen-ryan/
In other news, I am excited about the upcoming Metric album. I think it has leaked on the internet, so will put some effort into finding it this weekend. Also, I heard that there will be a new Strokes album out sometime this year which is always a good thing!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Parlour Salon - 6 Ossington Avenue - Toronto
Opening very, very soon: parlour salon ! The brainchild of my wonderful roommate Tyler, his business partner/colourist extraordinaire Franz, and stylists Brionie, Charlotte and Sergio.
As the Now Magazine blurb below says, "parlour will offer a full range of salon services including cuts, colour, student rates, and more. Book now - doors open March 24th".
As the Now Magazine blurb below says, "parlour will offer a full range of salon services including cuts, colour, student rates, and more. Book now - doors open March 24th".
parlour is located at 6 Ossington, downtown Toronto at the corner of Queen and Ossington, phone 647-345-6663. You can find the parlour website at www.parloursalon.com
(click on the photo above for full size image)Friday, March 06, 2009
The Norman Elder Museum
From about May of 1994 until the spring of 1998 I lived in what one of my roommates of the day described as "the worst apartment in the best neighbourhood of downtown Toronto"...or something like that. This was part of a complex of eight shabby apartments located at 128/130 Avenue Road above a flower store and an upscale kitchen gadgets store. The apartments were arranged in a sort of Montreal-esque way, with a "courtyard" dividing the two blocks of four apartments. The rent was only $750/month when we first moved in, and there were usually three of us living there at any given time. I met a lot of cool people living in that neighbourhood, and heard a million stories about our mainly off-the-charts rich neighbours. Let's face it, rich people are weird.
One of our neighbours was the eccentric Norman Elder who lived one block away at 140 Bedford Avenue in a large house known as the Norman Elder Museum. Being a semi-recovering goth at the time, I was attracted to his house because of the high wrought iron fence that surrounded the front yard (missing from the picture above), and the Addams Family feel to the place. Though I never did meet Norman Elder, I was told that he was a collector of odd objects, artifacts, stuffed (taxidermied) animals, live snakes, a live tortoise, and so on and so on. David Cronenberg filmed scenes from the movie Naked Lunch in the house. Most of these rumours that I heard also appear on the wiki page that I found recently.
One day when I was hanging out in a coffee shop down on Bloor Street, a cute young guy approached me and asked if i wanted to go with him to visit the place where he lived, the Norman Elder Museum. He described the oddness of the place to me, and told me that I might even be able to move in if I wanted. I was a grumpy and very shy girl at the time, and declined politely, a decision that I regret now. My friend Rene told me that she too was approached by someone and asked to visit the museum, and she actually ended up living there for a spell.
Somebody named Hamish (who lived in the house in the 90s) has a site dedicated to Norman Elder, with a very cool photo gallery: http://hame.ca/norm04/ (the photo above was taken from his site)
and someone else has blog about Norman Elder here: http://www.michaelmurray.ca/blog/?page=news&id=19
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Online Dating Adventures
Most of my faithful readers probably do not yet know that I recently signed up at the online dating site Plenty of Fish. About two or three years ago I discovered that my social life, that consists almost entirely of hanging out with 22 year old gay boys, is not conducive to healthy/hetero relationships...as fun as the relationships have been. So, being the proactive individual that I am, I decided to enter into the online dating fray. FYI - I haven't actually been on any dates yet. How have things been going? I will excerpt an email that I sent my friend Daniel about the situation:
oh my god dan....there is so much comedy in online dating, i am practically crying here. today i got two messages in a row from a guy whose picture of himself is of ~a racecar~....~a racecar~!!! like, are girls supposed to think "wow, what a hot guy! looks flashy!" or make the association like "his picture is of a racecar, therefore he must be rich!"??? also, yesterday i got an email from a middle aged man and in his picture he is HOLDING A GUN!!! like yeah, i would feel really safe going to meet you. maybe we should meet in the wooded area next to the abandoned mental asylum.
the other thing is that i have already run into my ex-boyfriend on plenty of fish, and another guy i know who used to have a crush on me years ago! so much for anonymity!!
Anyways, I will keep you posted about any more progress I make, or comedic scenarios I encounter. P.S. Erin - don't try to figure out which ex-boyfriend (though pretty obvious) and which ex-crush!!
oh my god dan....there is so much comedy in online dating, i am practically crying here. today i got two messages in a row from a guy whose picture of himself is of ~a racecar~....~a racecar~!!! like, are girls supposed to think "wow, what a hot guy! looks flashy!" or make the association like "his picture is of a racecar, therefore he must be rich!"??? also, yesterday i got an email from a middle aged man and in his picture he is HOLDING A GUN!!! like yeah, i would feel really safe going to meet you. maybe we should meet in the wooded area next to the abandoned mental asylum.
the other thing is that i have already run into my ex-boyfriend on plenty of fish, and another guy i know who used to have a crush on me years ago! so much for anonymity!!
Anyways, I will keep you posted about any more progress I make, or comedic scenarios I encounter. P.S. Erin - don't try to figure out which ex-boyfriend (though pretty obvious) and which ex-crush!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Racialicious - The latest blog I discovered....
Not much time to post today but I wanted to highlight a blog that I just discovered called Racialicious
According to the blog: Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Check out our daily updates on the latest celebrity gaffes, our no-holds-barred critique of questionable media representations, and of course, the inevitable Keanu Reeves newsflashes. Latoya Peterson is Editor of Racialicious and Carmen Van Kerckhove is founder and Publisher.
I just started reading it today at lunch and it is great. They provide a really interesting analysis of pop culture, fashion, and the media. Oddly enough, I was turned on to this blog by a twitter post by Anderson Cooper, in some roundabout way or other.
According to the blog: Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Check out our daily updates on the latest celebrity gaffes, our no-holds-barred critique of questionable media representations, and of course, the inevitable Keanu Reeves newsflashes. Latoya Peterson is Editor of Racialicious and Carmen Van Kerckhove is founder and Publisher.
I just started reading it today at lunch and it is great. They provide a really interesting analysis of pop culture, fashion, and the media. Oddly enough, I was turned on to this blog by a twitter post by Anderson Cooper, in some roundabout way or other.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Television!
For the past couple of weeks I have been watching even more television than normal....that's a whole lotta television, for those of you who don't know me. First of all, I have been going totally LOST crazy. To put this in perspective, I started watching Season One last Sunday (the 8th), and I am almost finished Season Three (today is the 18th). I'm pretty sure that I will be caught up by the end of the week. Sad, I know.
On Sunday afternoon I discovered some new and enjoyable reality dreck: Rupaul's Drag Race which is basically America's Next Top Model for drag queens, but with crappier prizes. I thought that I would get tired of it, but it was pretty funny, and I actually liked the contestants.
I watched most of Heroes on Monday, and I'm still lost. It doesn't help that they interrupt the show every 2 1/2 minutes for commercials but also, my commitment just isn't there anymore. I can't stand Claire, first of all, and have little interest in any of her story lines. I used to love her father's character, but he has been kind of blah this season. Finally, it's just too freaken complicated....I guess I'm just too stupid for it.
Ok, this is actually a busy day for me at work so I better get back to it.....
On Sunday afternoon I discovered some new and enjoyable reality dreck: Rupaul's Drag Race which is basically America's Next Top Model for drag queens, but with crappier prizes. I thought that I would get tired of it, but it was pretty funny, and I actually liked the contestants.
I watched most of Heroes on Monday, and I'm still lost. It doesn't help that they interrupt the show every 2 1/2 minutes for commercials but also, my commitment just isn't there anymore. I can't stand Claire, first of all, and have little interest in any of her story lines. I used to love her father's character, but he has been kind of blah this season. Finally, it's just too freaken complicated....I guess I'm just too stupid for it.
Ok, this is actually a busy day for me at work so I better get back to it.....
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Waltz With Bashir
There is an interesting looking Israeli animated film called Waltz With Bashir that I've been reading about recently. According to the wiki page, the film documents the attempts of Ari Folman, a 1982 Lebanon War-veteran, to recover lost memories of the events revolving around the Sabra and Shatila massacre. The film has won many awards, including a Best Foreign Language Golden Globe. It has been nominated for an Academy Award. I love these kind of darker animated films, and also have an interest in the various Israeli-Arab conflicts, and look forward to seeing this film. I also read on The Nation today that a Waltz With Bashir graphic novel will soon be available.
Friday, January 30, 2009
CBC Radio 3 - Canada's Best Music Venue in Canada Search
I just heard Grant Lawrence on cbc radio, talking about radio 3's search for Canada's best live music venue. My two cents for best venue in Toronto is the Mod Club. It's in a great neighbourhood, is the perfect size for medium-sized acts (Amy Winehouse, Metric, CSS, etc. etc.), has great staff, a great bar, it's slick, and hell, it's owned by Mark Holmes, former singer of legendary 80s band Platinum Blonde! I have never had a bad time there. The next show I'm contemplating seeing there is the Alan McGee-championed Scottish band Glasvegas.
My two cents for most over-rated venue is Lee's Palace. I have never had a completely good time there. The staff is surly, the bar is always crowded, and don't even get me started about how horrible it used to be when they allowed smoking in there. Yarg. I even wrote a little article about their neanderthal bouncers once, years ago. It was published in eye magazine, but I have since lost my only copy, and it's not in their archives unfortunately.
If you haven't seen this site, check out daily dose of imagery. This guy's photos are awesome, and his more recent additions give you some idea of just how freaken cold it's been in Toronto this winter.
My two cents for most over-rated venue is Lee's Palace. I have never had a completely good time there. The staff is surly, the bar is always crowded, and don't even get me started about how horrible it used to be when they allowed smoking in there. Yarg. I even wrote a little article about their neanderthal bouncers once, years ago. It was published in eye magazine, but I have since lost my only copy, and it's not in their archives unfortunately.
If you haven't seen this site, check out daily dose of imagery. This guy's photos are awesome, and his more recent additions give you some idea of just how freaken cold it's been in Toronto this winter.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Prop 8 Google Map Mashup
So, yesterday on cbc radio Elvira Kurt was talking about a google map that someone has put together, mapping the donors to the Prop 8 campaign. These are the people who cared enough about opposing gay marriage that they donated money to the cause. You can find this map here: http://www.eightmaps.com/
I love maps, and find this totally fascinating, in spite of the privacy concerns that such a map presents. I am also fascinated by the sheer amount of money these people have. I have NEVER been in the position to donate $1000.00 to any cause, never mind $5000.00 or $25,000.00 for that matter. Also, I am amazed that people care about gay marriage so much that they would donate any money to oppose it. Finally, suprised that companies would want to attach their names to an anti-gay marriage bill - like "here is an affirmation that our company does not like gay people". Crazy.
I love maps, and find this totally fascinating, in spite of the privacy concerns that such a map presents. I am also fascinated by the sheer amount of money these people have. I have NEVER been in the position to donate $1000.00 to any cause, never mind $5000.00 or $25,000.00 for that matter. Also, I am amazed that people care about gay marriage so much that they would donate any money to oppose it. Finally, suprised that companies would want to attach their names to an anti-gay marriage bill - like "here is an affirmation that our company does not like gay people". Crazy.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Through Black Spruce by Jospeh Boyden
I just finished reading Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. This novel was the winner of this year's Giller Prize, and I was fortunate enough to attend an informal question and answer with the author at the Paddock the night after the Gillers. The book was great, telling stories of the lives of an older Cree man and his two twenty-something nieces. The events take place in Moosonee, a small town in Northern Ontario near James Bay, as well as Toronto, Montreal, and Manhattan. There are great descriptions of life in the north that are going to stick with me.
In other First Nations thoughts, I think I am going to start lobbying the cbc to bring back a radio show (or at least bring back the host for a different show) they had on this summer called Revision Quest which was a darkly funny show debunking myths and misconceptions about Canadian Natives. You can listen to past episodes on the cbc site and I would totally recommend them!
In other First Nations thoughts, I think I am going to start lobbying the cbc to bring back a radio show (or at least bring back the host for a different show) they had on this summer called Revision Quest which was a darkly funny show debunking myths and misconceptions about Canadian Natives. You can listen to past episodes on the cbc site and I would totally recommend them!
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