Canada 2006

I have pictures of our trip to Canada on the internet. There were a ton more pictures on the camera than I put up, but these were the highlights. If you are truly interested in seeing the other pictures, just imagine more of the same and then just add 3 feet of snow.

Canada 2006

The Trifecta of Fashion

In high school, I watched a lot of Fashion TV on VH1. I knew what real fashion was then. I don't know a good pair of Jimmy Choos from Payless anymore, but if Fashion TV was still on, I think I'd be the chic-est girl on the block.

There were 3 people on that show that guided me to expensive taste:
Elsa Klensch
Andre Leon Talley
Anna Wintour

They made me wish I could afford a John Galliano or a Badgley Mishka. They made me wish I was Eva Herzigova in a slinky Herve Leger. They made me believe that the models were from another planet.

Quick. Name All the Hip Hop Groups You Can.

Remember back in the 90's when you could name all the hip-hop acts on 2 hands? There weren't enough acts that they had only a one hour show dedicated to hip hop (Yo! MTV Raps, for those of you who don't remember).

Today, there are literally as many hip hop acts as there are rock acts. Way too many to keep track of. And now they have their own channel.

You know what - good for them. I'm glad that they've come into their own and became legit. They even have different styles of rap. Like how rock could be broken down to modern rock, alternative, goth/industrial, etc. There's like gangsta rap, old skool...different sub-genres. It's crazy.

The Mozzer Finds a Reason to Live

Is anyone else here as surprised as I am that Morrissey is still alive? When I was about 14, I was so sure that I'd see a tribute article in Select magazine celebrating the genius of a guy that is possibly the most miserable git on the face of the planet. Of course, it wouldn't be an easy death. Morrissey is the type of guy that would go for the suffering. Something like hanging or drowning would only do for the Mozzer.

[I am also surprised that Dave Gahan has narrowly escaped death by his own hand on several occasions, but that's a whole other blog all together.]

And yet Morrissey this time around has finally found a reason to live. And then decides to sing about you-know-what. Yeah. I can't believe it either. Never in my lifetime would I peg Morrissey for being happy or finding sex. Yeah, the most asexual guy on the planet sings about a good old romp. Who would ever guess? But he did it on his newest album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, due out in 2 weeks. You can actually preview the entire album right now on MySpace.

I've never been a big Morrissey fan. I like the radio singles and that's about it. Although I'm happy for his newfound happiness and love, I think I'm just gonna wait for his greatest hits album.

New Goal

Ok, so I've failed miserably at completing my goals from the beginning of the year. I just haven't had time to devote space to Cutlery Corner or post pictures (mostly, I just don't have any worthy pics to post). So it's time to state some new things to accomplish for the summer.

Create Summer Concert Series 2006 (aka Peepo Stock)

I've just had a craving to go to shows lately. Something I really enjoyed doing back in the day that I haven't been doing lately. I haven't been listening to cool new music lately, mostly because cool new music is near impossible to find on the radio or on TV. But since Joe got Sirius, I've been hearing some decent stuff. So I guess I was wrong about the state of affairs in the music industry. There's stuff out there, you just have to find it. Plus, the bands I like are either aging or becoming irrelevant or breaking up. So let's get started.

* Gogol Bordello play at the Troc in April. Aaron and Alisha love them, so this is a likely starter for the summer series.

* Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights, All American Rejects play in Hershey in May. Yeah, these are C-list bands right now. Yeah, the concert is on a Wednesday. So a more likely choice for May could be...

* HFStival. This year this concert is allegedly at Merriweather, which is cool. I like Merriweather. Line-up is still in the rumors and wishlist phases, but this would be a great opportunity to see some great favorites and some new up and comers. Some of the rumored include Smashing Pumpkins or Chili Peppers or Dave Matthews. But on the more interesting note, Angels & Airwaves, Depeche Mode, The Strokes are also rumored to be there.

I haven't seen any interesting bands playing out towards June and July, but I'm looking. I'm getting excited about the prospects of making this a fun summer.

Out of Office Assistant

We're off to Canada next week. Take some time to soak in some cool clean air. Taste some glacial water. Relax in a remote town where no one speaks English. We'll get a chance to head up to Saint Sauveur for some snowboarding and see how much I've really learned this year.

This will be the first time we'll see little Isadora. Play with Gabby and see how the barn is coming along. We're going to have lots of fun.

I always always always freak out before a trip. Even though it's no big deal if I forget something and I can always just go out and buy an extra pair of pants or something, I feel like there is never enough planning to do ahead of time. Right after this I'm going to start putting together mix-n-match outfits for the week, so I can save space in my duffle. Toiletries. Sleeping clothes. Snowboarding equipment. Clearing out the fridge. Getting the cats' stuff packed for boarding. Light cleaning (I like coming home to a clean apartment). Charge the batteries. Pick out CDs. Launder clothes I want to bring.

Ugh, I gotta go. I gotta get started.

Sushi

Sushi eaters in my area are funny. They still treat it as a novelty instead of just going somewhere to eat food. This is usually how an outing goes:

First you need a group of people, but there are times I've seen just 2 people at a table. One person out of the group is the designated sushi expert and within 5 minutes becomes the designated Japanese culture expert. The only apparent qualification to gaining this designation is that you have eaten sushi at least once before. The expert makes suggestions as to what is good to eat and what things are probably most like regular American food. The rest of the group listen attentively and then start discussing the menu choices they are about to make. And then comes the safety net.

Typically, newbies are unsure they will like salmon and tuna in their raw form. So they also ponder the hibachi choices. You know, just in case.

When the food comes out, this always happens. Everybody asks what everyone else ordered and then stares at it. But let me make the distinction here between this situation in a sushi restaurant and this situation at an American restaurant. At your common steak house, you may ask your friend what they ordered and you may even ask if it's good. But you never ask if it's good and then watch them take a bite to see if they go choking out of their chair. That's the difference. At sushi restaurants, people here watch the expert eat their piece first and wait to see if everything is ok before they attempt their own piece. It's just a look on their face that makes this situation different.

The rest of the meal also usually incorporates more conversation about the food (at the steak house, you ask if it's good and then you move on to normal conversation topics) and then here is where the expert whips out Japanese culture as if they used to live there.

"You're suppose to eat the beans, not the whole pod, silly."
"Wasabi is pretty strong so be careful. It's actually a vegetable, did you know that?"
"There's tofu in your soup. It's really good though, you should try it."
"You just put it in your mouth and it clears your palate for the next piece. That's how the Japanese use it."

This goes on throughout the entire meal until they leave. I've been witnessing this over and over again to the point of wondering when people will ever just get over it and just eat the stuff.