Heading to the Markt

Spring has finally sprung here in Toronto, so that means getting out of the condo and actually doing stuff. This morning I tagged along with a couple of friends (hello Arren and David!) to the Meister Markt Collector Show held at The Markham Fairgrounds, just north of Toronto. Alas, I didn't buy anything, but there were many interesting shots to be had.

It's all in the deets

I've been noticing lately that someone in my condo's management has been playing around with clip art.

I like this new turn of events. It gives those important notices a fun, playful touch. After all, why be so serious all the time?

Photos by Laura Muir

A stroll down the back alley...

...in search of a bit of inspiration and colour.

Photos by Laura Muir

Not seeing this is not an option

Favourite quote from "Inside Job" said by Citigroup chief economist Willem Buiter: "Banking became a pissing contest. 'Mine's bigger than yours.' That kind of stuff. It was all men that ran it, incidentally." 

I admit it. I can be a bit overzealous when it comes to certain documentaries. I see a documentary that outrages me or that is wildly edifying, and I get all riled and wish I could scream from the rooftops (or my soapbox) that it is everybody's absolute duty as a responsible member of this society to see this documentary. Something like, you know, not littering.
That's how I felt when I rented the Oscar-winning doc "Inside Job." It's good because it clearly explains the financial meltdown, how it happened, who was involved. (Here's an interesting interview with filmmaker Charles Ferguson.) It's also good because Ferguson himself is a no-holds-barred interviewer who asks pointed questions that really expose the amorality (aka scumbag-ness) of not only the financial industry and political system, but also the corruption in American academia, something not really covered before.
So, yeah, I do believe it's everyone's duty to see this flick.

Other light-shedding documentaries I think are must-sees:

• "Taxi to the Dark Side" — directed by Alex Gibney
• "The Fog of War" — directed by Errol Morris
• "Food, Inc." — directed by Robert Kenner (I actually haven't watched Food, Inc. because, to tell the truth, I'm afraid that seeing the mistreatment of animals will traumatize me. And I figure I'm already a vegetarian and eat mostly organic, so why put myself through that. But I know a few people who have changed their eating habits since viewing it.)
• "Capturing the Friedmans" — directed by Andrew Jarecki
• "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" — directed by Seth Gordon
• "The Thin Blue Line" — directed by Errol Morris
• "No End In Sight" — directed by Charles Ferguson

Photo by Laura Muir

Coming soon

"Limitless" starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and ... this dude:

Photo by Laura Muir

A brief absence

Sorry for my lack of posts in the last little while. I've felt uninspired — sort of like the view that surrounds me in all its various shades of beige and grey.

Photo by Laura Muir

12 Ways to Chill Out

I recently emailed a friend and told her I was feeling a bit robotic lately: Get up. Put on clothes. Type at computer. Put on boots. Go outside. Come back home. Sit at computer. Watch TV. Take off clothes. Go to bed. 
Busy with stuff and no time for fun, I found things becoming a bit routine and lifeless. Not good. When I went through the same kind of zombie-like stage last year, I started planning and saving, and I took a big inspiring seven-week trip to S.E. Asia. The Vitamin D alone did me a world of good. But there's obviously not always enough time and resources for the big getaway, so I try to recharge by changing things up in cheap and cheerful ways. One of my big ones is taking a couple hours and meeting a friend for a coffee or tea break and a chat. 

I wanted to know what other people do for a quick pick-me-up, so I posed the question: You're busy, you're feeling a bit burned out, and you have a limited amount of time. What do you do or what helps you de-stress and recharge? 

Here's the fun stuff people had to say (and thank you to you all!):

• "A cup of tea, feet up and, *gasp* (should I admit it?), trashy reality TV on the PVR!" — Erin Feasby Ventresca
• "If I can get to a hot yoga session, that helps instantly, especially being reminded to keep slowly breathing. If I only have a few minutes, I like to turn off all devices, like TV, music, phone, and just do my nails or have a bath in silence!" — Sandi Tower
• "I always like to have the ingredients for an Emergency Hot Fudge Sundae on hand." — Arren Williams
• "A cup of tea." — David Pimentel
• "Hot hot bath with dimmed lights." — Emily Norris
• "Getting my makeup done at Bobbi Brown." — Jaimie Nathan
• "What I should do: yoga. What I usually do: eat a cookie." — Virginia Macdonald
• "I drink red wine." — Sheila Tutty
• "Crank the tunes." — Ian Cobb
• "Sit in front of a Tissot at the AGO." — William MacDonald
• "Hunker down and read a book (currently the fourth installment of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie 'trilogy')." — Katie Hayden.
• "Eat." — Lynda Harrison

Photos by Laura Muir

Post-Oscar Day Update

See where cynicism gets you? (See predictions below.) I just knew The King's Speech deserved the big prize, but I thought the Academy was going to favour an American movie. But enough excuses. When all is said and done, how about that 83rd Academy Awards show, hey? How many awkward moments did you count? 83? And why didn't they get Alec Baldwin and Morgan Freeman to host? But with all of this year's suck-age, there were some good moments.

Off the top of my head, here's a list of 10 awesome moments:

• Anne Hathaway's self-deprecating reference to an Academy Award-blunders drinking game.
• Cate Blanchett saying: "That's gross."
• Melissa Leo's zoned-out Farrah-Fawcett-on-David-Letterman-esque speech.
• Natalie Portman unabashedly letting everyone know who she has sex with.
• The Coen brothers not paying attention at all.
• The creepy Bob Hope hologram looking more alive than James Franco.
• Jeff Bridges.
• Mila Kunis's dress making me go all "The Kids Are All Right."
• The intense sexual chemistry between Helen Mirren and Russell Brand.
• The King's Speech's writer's speech.

Happy Oscar Day!

I'm going out on a limb and, for fun, publishing a few predictions for tonight's winners. Some of my guesses are kind of informed, and some, well, I may as well be throwing a dart. Some of my picks are based on hope, and some based on cynicism. (Academy voters can be dopes, and I'm still pretty bitter about this and this.) Anyway, here I go. Let's hope that when it's all over, I don't have to eat too much crow:

Best Picture: "The Social Network" (although I think "The King's Speech" should win) x 
Best Director: David Fincher, "The Social Network" x
Best Actor: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech" √
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan" √
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter" √
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter" √
Best Animated Feature Film: "Toy Story 3" √
Best Art Direction: "Inception" x
Cinematography: "The King's Speech" x
Costume Design: "I Am Love" x
Best Feature Documentary: "Inside Job" √
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): "The Social Network" √
Writing (Original Screenplay): "The King's Speech" √

Photo by Laura Muir

Construction sites

They can look rather interesting at night:

 

Photos by Laura Muir

14 College Street

Just a little bit of architectural interest and charm among the street poles, condo towers and ugly office buildings that dominate the area where I live.

Photo by Laura Muir

So close and yet so far

I only buy Lotto 649 tickets when the jackpots start getting massive, as if winning something like $3.5 million just wouldn't be enough. I wasn't a $41 million winner (not this time!) but this turned out to be a nice bit of excitement for the long weekend. What will I do with my windfall? (It's always the question.) Maybe invest in a new blender. (Pretty crazy I know.)

Remnants of Valentine's Day?

This afternoon on my way to the store, I came across this:

On my way back home, taking another route, I came across this:

Somehow, they just seemed to go together so well.

Photos by Laura Muir

Reading list

A couple years ago, a friend posted a question on Facebook that went something like this: without thinking about it too much, list 15 books you've read that really stuck. I liked the question, and when I took on the task of creating my list (you were only supposed to take 15 minutes), many of the books that quickly popped into my head were accompanied by a flood of significant memories — some good, some bittersweet. Did these particular books "stick" because of nostalgia? Do these books help conjure up certain life events I don't want to forget? We know that's one thing we love about music (the whole "soundtrack to our lives" thing), and it's fun to think that a book sitting on a bookshelf — about the oil industry no less — can help us do that too. Anyway, without much further ado, here was my list of books (all of which I still highly recommend by the way):

The Human Stain by Philip Roth
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Oil & Honor: The Texaco-Pennzoil Wars by Thomas Petzinger
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Fall of Japan: The Last Blazing Weeks of World War II by William Craig
1984 by George Orwell
Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Naked by David Sedaris
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

(If it was 16 books, I would have included Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.)

Photo by Laura Muir

I can believe that @#*!

Winnebago Man is about Jack Rebney, that pissed off RV spokesguy who turned into a viral-video sensation even before the invention of YouTube. The film rated 91 per cent on the tomatometer and was listed on Roger Ebert's ten best documentaries of 2010, so how can I not respect that. But, I don't know. What came between me and a real appreciation for this movie was its director, Ben Steinbauer, who tracked down Jack Rebney and then didn't know what to do with him. I kept thinking: "Let the man speak!" Does this guy seem like the kind of guy who wants to open up about his childhood? Let him rail against Dick Cheney, for $%!@ sake! 

Maybe five minutes of altercation between Ben and Jack would have told a story, but it seemed to go on and on. Until, finally, Ben steps out of the way and the movie takes off and we get to see Jack at his finest and receive the round of applause he deserves for, guess what, expressing his contempt for Dick Cheney (among other things).

So, I recommend renting (or ordering?) this documentary because you just gotta meet Jack. The confrontation between him and a Walmart manager is worth the price of admission. I just wish that someone like Steve James or Errol Morris or even Michael Moore had found him first.

Photo by Laura Muir (from YouTube)

Fun with macro

It's cold outside, work is busy, and I'm feeling a bit Vitamin D deficient. But rather than neglect my blog, I decided to putter around my condo and take pictures of things with my Canon G10 set on macro and see how that turns out. An organic strawberry made for a pretty subject:

How about that mundane cord on my sun blinds...

...or my vintage tin toy phone.

Photos by Laura Muir

Where would you be?

I was sitting on the streetcar today gazing out the window...

...and that's when my mind started wandering to, well, other locales. Wouldn't it be nice, I thought, to be accompanying my brother on that United States/Mexican road trip he's on. Or, it sure would be great to be hopping on a flight to Bali, just like that woman who I talked to last week about S.E. Asia. Then, my little daydream got me wondering, what do other people think? So I asked some folks the question: "If you could be anywhere but here, where would you be?" Here's what I found out (and thank you to you all!):

"Paris, sitting at Le Sévigné in the Marais." — Virginia Gaviller.

"New York, for love and fashion." — Kimberley Brown.

"Tahiti. I've never been, and always wanted to go. If I win the lottery, I'm retiring there. Besides, it's a French territory, so has excellent healthcare for my golden years, and there's no fear of civil unrest like in nearby Fiji." — Darren Simonelli.

"Driving with the top down through the Coachella Valley desert on our way to Palm Springs on a warm spring evening." — Arren Williams.

"Kelowna, where we're going skiing in March. I've never skiied out West and I'm really looking forward to skiing a mountain, as opposed to the smaller hills at home, and skiing for seven days in a row and hanging around in my long underwear." — Claudine Quinn.

Photo by Laura Muir

Power in numbers

I live right along protester alley here in Toronto. After gathering at Queen's Park, protesters make their way east down College Street, passing right underneath my south-facing 10th-floor-condo window, before they turn up or down Yonge Street, whatever the case may be. It's like having my own CNN such as it was back in the old days under the tutelage of Ted Turner. (I wish I had my handy G10 during the city's G20 protests.)

Today when I heard a group of anti-Mubarak demonstrators marching this way, I ran downstairs to take some snaps.

Photos by Laura Muir

Soul food

Yesterday during a visit with teacher/world traveller/blogger David Pimentel, I felt nothing short of crazy excited when he offered to make sandwiches for lunch. There's something about having a sandwich made for you that rekindles the spirit. And what spirit doesn't need a bit of rekindling right in the middle of a long, cold, grey winter?

First David started off with some freshly baked bread straight out of the bread maker...

... and if you're lucky enough to have a bread maker, here's the recipe that he kindly shared with me:

Then he heaped on vegetables, sprouts, a couple types of cheese, and (instead of mayo) hummus and vegetable spread...

...and the final creation came out like this:

I could go on and on, but I think this video says it all.

Photos by Laura Muir

The strum of a ukulele will never be the same again

Blue Valentine is as intense, raw and heartbreaking as everybody says it is. Indeed, I haven't been as unhinged by a relationship drama since watching Brokeback Mountain. I'm not sure why it didn't get more Oscar nods including a nomination for Best Picture, instead of The Kids Are All Right, and one for Best Actor for Ryan Gosling's performance. (As you probably know, Michelle Williams is up for Best Actress.)

I like how writer/director Derek Cianfrance explains the movie in this interview: "I wanted the past to feel like they were fish in the ocean and the present to feel like they were in a bucket."
And just something to keep in mind: instead of quickly getting up and putting on your coat after the last scene, pay attention to the closing credits. You'll see what I mean.
Photo by Laura Muir

There was a guy...

Just farting around on YouTube on a Sunday morning.

Have you listened to this song today? You should.

Cooking up a storm

At the beginning of December, I discovered a delicious-looking quinoa-lentil-shiitake bake recipe posted on No Substitutions, a fantastic blog aimed at vegans, vegetarians, people with food allergies — anyone with "tricky eating habits," as they say. Friday night, feeling in an adventurous mood and ready to expand my culinary horizons, I printed off the recipe and headed out to gather up my supplies. 

This is my creation right before popping it into the oven:

And about 35 minutes later, viola! I was ready to eat my dinner. I paired it with my own version of a tomato and avocado salad, but, as No Substitutions says, it would go well with some crispy greens. I recommend this tasty bake to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Photos by Laura Muir

Highly recommended

A couple of nights ago, I had the great honor of attending the dress rehearsal of Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer, at Toronto's Elgin Theatre. Invited by a friend (hi Meg!) who was invited by a friend (hi Virginia!), I was one of a small crowd of lucky people who fit in the centre orchestra section (aka primo seats) to experience this once-in-a-lifetime "private screening."

Just so you know, Plummer's Toronto presentation is a reprise of his Tony award-winning tour de force and reunites the original Broadway team, including director Gene Saks and set and costume designer Santo Loquasto. I say run, don't walk, to get your tickets for an amazing night at the theatre. The show starts tonight!

Photos by Laura Muir

Maple Leaf Gardens

I was in the right place at the right time today and managed to get a peek inside the Maple Leaf Gardens, (which is being turned into a Loblaws and sports facility for Ryerson University). I was struck by its massive size. It reminded me of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, where the main character builds a city within a city.

Photos by Laura Muir