Daily Archives: December 6, 2012

8 posts

Project Runway All-Stars Season 2 Episode 6 Liveblog

Here we go again, people! Well, last week, we bid adieu to Kayne, who made a truly hideous garment last week. Verily, the androgynous garment challenge was not for him. Again, Emilio knocked it out the damn park with his garments. Seriously, can we just go ahead and give this season to him?

Tonight’s fresh hell brings us a “going green” challenge. Oh, this isn’t going to be funny and stupid at all! Let’s snark, shall we? Cozy up, grab a drink or three, and let’s make fun of this challenge and the sewtestants in the comments! Continue reading →

The Hollywood Caller: John Travolta and Olivia Newton John Are Coming for Christmas Prepare Thyself

There is a double Johns (Travolta and Olivia Newton) music video that you must see to be believed; Lifetime to get preachy; George Zimmerman is still a horrible human being; Rom-Com aficionado, James Marsden, tackles the hapless female (Oy); Justin Bieber will be Grammy-less and people (one person) is mad; BWAP, BWAP, BWAP A Tron Sequel trailer will make this noise we bet. Continue reading →

A Sandwich for Liz Lemon

A couple of weeks ago when I first heard the news that Liz Lemon was getting married – and that guests were asked to bring their own snacks – I decided to make a meal that was fitting for the occasion. In fact, a friend of mine and I even decided to have a little party to celebrate. But, life intervened and we couldn’t get together, so I completely spaced my food plans.

However, after writing about nutritious food all day on Thursday the 29th, I looked at the calendar and realized that it was Liz Lemon’s wedding day, and I had nothing prepared to munch on in front of the television! (Except for two types of lentil salad.) Continue reading →

A Day to End Violence Against Women

Today, December 6, is Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Every year on this day, Canada commemorates a terrible act of violence directed at women solely because of their gender.

L’Ecole Polytechnique is an engineering school affiliated with the Universite de Montreal. On December 6, 1989, a deranged gunman named Marc Lepine entered L’Ecole Polytechnique. He went into a mechanical engineering classroom, ordered the men to leave the room. He asked the female students if they knew why they were there, and told them it was because he was “fighting feminism”. He told them that they were women studying to be engineers, that that made them feminists, and that he hated feminists. He then shot every one of the nine female students. Six were killed. Continue reading →

Searching for the Perfect Job

We’re two weeks past Thanksgiving, but I am still puzzling over the dinner conversation. As four 20-something guests talked about hopes and worries, I began to wonder if the pressures they feel reflect a generational terror.

The cast of characters, besides me, was my adorable 23 y/o crypto-nephew and three young women, none of whom I’d met before. You know how it is: crypto-nephew wants to invite his favorite roommate. A couple of days later she asks if we can include one of her friends and then a few days after that, how about another friend at loose ends? Boom! You’ve agreed to feed one person you know and three you don’t.

Despite my apprehensions (who are they? will they throw up on my couch?) they were great. A wonderful time, as the saying goes, had by all—especially by me. Their conversation about ambitions, expectations and fears was as fascinating as it was startling.

They are preparing for, striving towards, in search of nothing less than the perfect job. Continue reading →

QOTD: Music To Have A Recession To

If you were to run your eyes over the lists of best-selling singles and most downloaded songs of the past few years, it would be hard to find many songs that directly mention the late-2000s recession, despite the massive impact it has had on much of the public. This is hardly surprising; political songs rarely chart highly, love is always going to be a more popular song theme than unemployment and one of music’s greatest assets is its capacity for escapism which is much needed by many at the moment.

You could say that there are subtle nods towards the situation, such as the appearance of slightly dystopian or politically charged videos from some of the most popular artists around, less songs dismissive of the poor compared to ten or fifteen years ago, less conspicuous consumerism and lower budget videos, but a lot of these trends can be explained by other influences. Lower budget videos are a direct result of the internet and how we watch videos now (I’ll let “Michael Destiny” explain this one). Continue reading →

The New Star Trek Movie Is An Abomination!

The trailer for the new Star Trek movie, the punctuationally-challenged  Star Trek Into Darkness, is here at last. GIRD YOUR NERD LOINS AND PREPARE TO ENGORGE WITH NERD RAGE! Gawk at British thespian Bandersnatch Crustypants! Groan at the BWAP! noise from Inception, which all trailers are legally required to use! Shriek at the Space-fu jumping around! Gabble with anger with your nerdquaintances over who the villain is! Gape at the explosions and spaceship crashes! Yell at all the yelling!

Actually, it doesn’t look too bad. But seriously, it’s time to retire the Inception BWAP! noise. Please. Continue reading →