I’m one of View The Vibe’s cultural tastemakers
I was asked recently to be interviewed for View The Vibe, an online magazine that profiles Torontonians in the food, beauty and cultural sectors. It was a fun little interview where I talk about travelling, writing, and crying into my lattes (sort of). I also use the word “ejaculate.”
*tumbleweed*
. . . . . .
YOU SEE CHRISTINE, THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
Anyway, check out the interview here! Enjoy and leave a comment 
Ermahgerd! I’m returning to Europe with Eurail.com!
Some MORE exciting travel news to announce! This has been in the works for a little while now and I’ve had to keep a lid on it, but now I’ve been given the green light to tell all of my little munchkins!
I have been selected by the good people at Eurail.com to blog, tweet, vlog & photog my way across Europe, armed with some wanderlust and a Eurail Global Pass. I have to hit up at least 12 cities in my favourite continent within 30 days, along with the challenge of posting daily about the adventures I’ll have, the people I’ll meet, the wonderful places I’ll see, and relaying some tips, tricks, and advice about rail travel.
But there’s a catch (of course!):
I have to live on €15 a DAY.
A DAY, PEOPLE!
Eurail.com will provide me with the rail pass and the funds, I just have to use the funds EXTREMELY WISELY.
FINALLY MY PARSIMONIOUSNESS IS BEING PUT TO GOOD USE!
Many of you are probably thinking you could never travel on such a tight budget. Well, as the most frugal backpacker on the planet, I am here to tell you that yes you can.
Many people don’t travel because they think they can’t afford it, that it is a luxury reserved for the rich and idle. I know from years of travel experience that, as long as you rely on your resourcefulness & ingenuity, remain flexible, read the fine print, and pre-plan, you can have an amazing holiday adventure that costs less than a day’s wage. And guess what, you don’t have to skimp on luxury or security (or hygiene, haha) just because you’re not paying top dollar.
I’m going to start this European extravaganza directly after my Thailand & Cambodia Situation (which I have tentatively dubbed The SituAsian. See what I did there?), so expect a more detailed plan of attack around mid-November.
So how did I score this deal?
Many of my long-time readers know that I work hard to have a social media presence. Interacting and engaging in social media has not only rewarded me with writing gigs (yay paycheques!) but also with a quality of living I wouldn’t normally be able to afford (I always say that if I wanted to be rich, I wouldn’t have become a writer).
Everything from VIP music performances (DeadMau5, Dragonette, Estelle, USS, et.al.) and Toronto International Film Festival galas (barf!), to major travel opportunities.
Ford lent me car so I could take a road trip to Montreal.
Karikuy Tours sent me to Peru so I could climb Machu Picchu.
And Via Rail put me on the cross-Canada train from Toronto to Vancouver, culminating in my lecture at the Social Media Week Conference about my experiences.
And by the grace of Twitter, that’s how I managed to be selected for this opportunity as well. A little over a month ago, I saw this below tweet pop up in my feed.
It generated a lot of discussion in the travel circles, and I noticed a lot of travel bloggers vying for the gig. I ruminated on this opportunity for a few days before finally getting in touch with them and making a case for myself. I had a lot of ideas, and of course a lot of travel experience, so I knew if I were chosen for this I would definitely be able make the experience worthwhile & exciting.
After about a month of discussion and negotiations (they raised it from €10 a day to €15 a day! PHEWF!), Eurail.com chose me for the experience!
ERMAHGERD! TERVERL!
I will be revealing more details about this cross-European extravaganza around mid-November. Right now I have to divert all my efforts into preparing for my Thailand-Cambodia-SituAsian (I’m sticking with that name, I don’t care what you say).
In the meantime, munchkins, I hope more of you will be encouraged to push yourselves out of your comfort zone & experience something new!
Get cape.
Wear cape.
Fly.
SEVEN years of The Spadina Monologues!
I can’t believe I’ve been running this blaaaaag for SEVEN FUCKING YEARS. I’m either tenacious, dedicated, insane, or I just have a lot to say.
I started this thang in April 2005 after my one-act play called The Spadina Monologues was staged at the New Ideas Festival at Alumnae Theatre in Toronto …. I think I started it as a way to just promote my writing, to talk about my experience of living in the city, to talk about my life through storytelling and prose … but most of all, it was just an excuse to write every day.
It has morphed over the years from writing experiments, personal stories, and self-promotion into theatre and film critiques, travelogues, backpacking, travel photography, adventure activities, street art, graffiti, and urban culture.
This blog has seen me get my first publications and theatre productions, seen me backpack all around the world, seen my fall in love, seen me fall spectacularly out of love, seen me move to the other side of the planet for a few years, seen me star in a reality TV show, seen me partake in global campaigns … and seen me be super boring sometimes when I talk about drinking coffee or buying skirts or other bullshit I have been known to blog.
Lately I find talking about myself super-lame. Instead of talking about my life, I talk about urban experiences and people can still get a sense of who I am through the things I choose to cover on here. Pretty much the same thing. Fanks to all my readers who have stuck around through the good and the clusterfucks. You guys are the ruling class.
Anyhoo, here’s to another SEVEN YEARS!
(good gawd)
BLOG IT LIKE IT’S HOT!
(Photo by Chris Luckhardt)
on hiatus
“But whereas a girl of nineteen draws her confidence from a surfeit of attention, a woman of twenty-nine is nourished on subtler stuff. Desirous, she chooses her apéritifs wisely, or, content, she enjoys the caviare of potential power. Happily she does not seem, in either case, to anticipate the subsequent years when her insight will often be blurred by panic, by the fear of stopping or the fear of going on. But on the landings of nineteen or twenty-nine she is pretty sure that there are no bears in the hall.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night
blog it like it’s hot
click on the above image to check me out in today’s Street Style section of BlogTO. BlogTO is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) Toronto-centric blog out there (along with fellow high-ranking blogs Torontoist, Now Toronto, and The Grid) …. and the trolls who scavenge through the Street Style comments are infamous for their brutality. BRING IT ON, i can take it! (ha, no i can’t. total fragile ego right hurr).
but the best way to respond to internet trolls is to kill them with awesome. case in point:
i love how my wifey and i ended up juxtapositioned next to each other. it’s KISMET!
fanks to Paul Hillier for being such a fun photographer!
I like being weird. Weird’s all I got. That and my sweet style.
never met this guy before in my life, but this tweet was most welcome! read more about my running ethos here.
and for the record, it was a Raider’s hoodie that an old boyfriend from high school left at my place that I claimed as asshole tax. I love that hoodie. and I can’t even remember that boyfriend’s name. It had to have been one of the jocks, surely.
this one time, on the internet …
late last night i tweeted this, and i broke the internet.
then this happened:
and then this followed:
until i somehow became the top tweet in the category:
unlike old twitter where you could see exactly how many people RT’d you, new twitter doesn’t allow you to see beyond 100 RTs, so i have no clue how many times this was RT’d. by the massive cornucopia of mentions that were vomited all over me in the period of a few hours, i’m going to estimate it was somewhere hovering around the 500-600 mark, but really, who knows.
my follower count jumped well over 3,000 too.
tweets of mine have gone viral before (see here and here for previous examples) but those occurred by and large because a celebrity RT’d me to get the ball rolling. in this case, i couldn’t find a celeb or an influential tweeter who RT’d me. so i guess i struck a nerve.
in any case, hello new readers and followers! you have excellent taste.
now shut up and show me your tweets.
foxymoron
“Girl you’ve got balls……I have been following your blog for a few months….Very enjoyable, I like your attitude about what you want to do……Clear one thing up, I am not hitting on you, although if I was 40 yrs younger it would be a good idea………I like looking at blogs of young people and especially attractive young ladies, as you are…..Much better than young men……Most of the people I go to lunch with are young ladies. I like being around young people…….And a young attractive young lady with balls is very entertaining.
I really was going to write you a while back when you were talking about being bullied by a classmate. Scott I believe……Christine I have no idea what you looked in grade school but if it was bad you sure grew out of it….Just because a person has tits and a vagina does not automatically make them attractive to me…..You are on fine looking lady…..I saw a pic of your Mother, I am older than her, so again this is not interweb sex . I am just an old shit and wanted to say hi and how I enjoy watching your life on the web……
I saw you mention something about a health issue…..I hope it is nothing serious…..Have you posted about it?
Just keep on being you and having a good life……………….
Be well“
-(redacted for privacy), Kansas, USA
fanks dirty old man! i have a soft spot for dirty old men, it would seem. they’re sweet, in a pervy kind of way. they fall in love with me, i turn them into friendly father figures who can soothe me about my life when it seems in shambles, and everybody prospers.
“blogging isn’t journalism, it’s graffiti with punctuation”
The Toronto Star recently profiled Deadboy, who, as most of you know, has been a friend of The Spadina Monologues for months now, and I’ve always profiled his work. In the article, The Spadina Monologues got a brief but important mention in reference to Deadboy’s work and my profiling of graffiti. Check out the article, because I’m pretty sure this means I am now a Toronto graffiti authority. Called it.
My panel discussion, Brands, Agencies, and Influencers Unite, at the Social Media Week conference went really well! There was easily 100 people in attendance, and they were all live-tweeting almost every point we made.
that’s darren on the left, our moderator. him and i had plenty to chat about, as we’re both playwrights and theatre nuts. bruno is sitting next to me, we took the Via train together and shared so many experiences that by the time we got to this panel, we were ribbing each other with our elbows like old chums. he’s mah boy! next to bruno is stéphane from the NFB, and not pictured is Yves from Via Rail, who took us all out to dinner afterward. Loved them all!
first they introduced the videos that bruno and i made about our train experience, and then we began to talk about brand-agency-blogger relationships.
i was able to make several important points that i’ve been wanting to express for a while, since my life as an “influential blogger” or whatever began.
#1: most of the daily pitches i receive from brands or agencies are clearly cut n’ paste with my name jammed in at the top
#2 most of the pitches basically say, “please do my job for me. FOR FREE.”
#3 these agencies or brands will mass-email-blast their pitches to a cornucopia of bloggers, rather than actually doing research into the bloggers they’re pitching, nor understanding whether or not the pitch will be suitable for these bloggers.
#4 I blog about graffiti/street art/culture-jamming….and travel/adrenaline junkie activities ….. and theatre/film. so why am i getting pitches about Mattel’s new barbie and ken dolls? or Dunkin Donuts’ national donut day campaign? or vodka tastings? Those are beyond the voice of my blog, they don’t fit with my ethos, and my readers wouldn’t give a toss about those campaigns.
#5 brands and agencies should be more concerned about pitching to influencers whom they actually want to build long term mutually-beneficial relationships with, rather than EVERYBODY for a short period of time.
according to the panel’s program, i now am the NFB’s co-director with Stéphane.
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST. I GET STEPHANE’S PAYCHEQUE THIS MONTH. IT’S IN PRINT!
s’okay, my nametag was correct.
Via Rail put me up in the posh and luxurious Opus Hotel in the heart of trendy Yaletown in Vancouver. my room was so lush. when a single gal with an orgasmic rush of energy is given a sexy, mojo-enhancing room like this, there’s only one thing she can do.
what did you think i meant? get your minds outta the gutter!
or back in the gutter?
in the morning, with the sunshine pouring in through my massive window, i knew i was going to have a classically cool Vancouver day.
Opus’ communications manager left me a lil’ gift and an awfully kind note at the front desk too. he had heard me speak at the panel the night before. fanks Jer!
i decided to only wear black and white all day.
i let my personality fill in the colour.
summer 2011 is officially over. this was an exceptionally difficult summer.
i quit my job. i went through a heartbreak. and then received a bad health diagnosis.
i will not miss this summer at all.
Yet despite all of that, happiness still abounds in my life.
Life always finds a way.
#VIAyvr: travelling on Via Rail from Toronto to Vancouver
I just got off The Canadian! I boarded at Union Station in Toronto on Thursday night (the 15th), and spent three days and four nights weaving through the thick green forests of North Western Ontario and Manitoba, then zooming along the flat amber prairies of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and finally the lush and ornate Rocky Mountains of British Columbia.
The colours beyond the train windows were glorious, and they dazzled my eyes with so much beauty, it almost hurt my heart.
I’ve ridden the rail networks of Europe and Asia extensively, so I know what makes an enjoyable journey, and what makes a hellish one. This journey was luxurious, relaxed, and such a wonder. You can fit Europe within the borders of Canada, but unlike Europe, you won’t need a passport to make this journey. At each stop, the terrain changed, the people and communities changed. No two cities or town or hamlets or villages were alike. This is an amazing country we live in, and we need to explore it more, on top of exploring other countries.
We all love to fly and save time, but last year when I flew from Toronto to Vancouver, I never saw or experienced what I did on the train. I got to see what most people just pass over.
The world is a massive place, and I feel sorry for those who spend their entire lives in one place. That would be an awful waste.
The food on board was something I wasn’t expecting! Included in the price of your berth or cabin (I had a cushy cabin all to myself!), you get three squares a day, and they weren’t something just thrown together and microwaved (I’m looking at you, Europe!). I’m talking sumptuous hearty meals that I often couldn’t finish, the portions were so hearty and rich!
My single cabin had it’s own bed, chair, sink, loo, electrical outlets, towels, toiletries, a fan, and even little chocolates left on my pillow!
And the great thing about long rail journeys is the people you meet! I met some other like-minded travellers who were looking for adventure and taking adventure of everything Canada has to offer. Each night, I would encounter someone new. There was one interesting fellow from Victoria who cycled from Victoria to Halifax this year, and he’s 57 years old! He left Victoria on D-Day, and arrived in Halifax on the anniversary of 9/11. Talk about an adventurer!
Recognize the bloke in the middle? That’s Omari Akil Newton, who stars in Blue Mountain State, a huge hit on the Spike Network. Him and I spent many nights yapping it up in the dining car, he was totally cool, and a fellow West Island native too (we grew up in the same small town of Kirkland Quebec!). Even celebs take the train.
This was the journey of a life-time, one that I won’t soon forget, and I’m so grateful that my wanderlust and thirst for adventure facilitated such an experience! Tonight I’m talking on a panel at Social Media Week Conference here in Vancouver about the journey. So if you’re about, here are the details! I’d love to see your faces!
Remember what St. Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”
the more i know people, the more i love the smiths
i leave today! Via Rail is putting me on the cross-canada train from Toronto to Vancouver (with a brief stop in Jasper, Alberta) to blog, vlog, and live-tweet the train experience, and upon arrival in Vancouver, I will be speaking on a panel for the Social Media Week conference. The panel is “Brands, Agencies, and Influencers” and we’re discussing how to build personal brands, the relationship between brands and bloggers, and the ethics therein. if you’re gonna be in Vancouver on September 19th, register to hear a sistah speak here!
most of you know that i’m a huge travel junkie, so being able to explore my own country as much as i’ve explored others is a huge opportunity, one that i couldn’t pass on. it takes a bigger woman than me to refuse such a generous offer.
i’ve travelled the european rail networks extensively, and i swear by them because they’re fast, they’re efficient, and they’re inexpensive. i’ve always been a critic of our canadian rail system, so this experience is the opportune time to prove me wrong.
time to whip out my backpack and load it up with travel essentials. tell me, what does one wear to a panel discussion? business casual? i have my pencil skirts and blouses buried somewhere.
more importantly, what does one wear on a train for three days? Via Rail has set me up in the swanky sleeper touring class cabin, where i will apparently get my own shower, and my meals prepared by a kickass chef. i get my own cabin as well, NO SHARESIES!
when i rode the rails in europe, I always had to settle for the 4 bed or 6 bed couchettes shared with complete strangers who snored, had screaming children, or yipped out the window at every train platform we crossed.
one time, when travelling for over 24 hours from lisbon to budapest (it’s a fricken lonnnnnng train ride, with stopovers in paris and vienna), there were no couchettes left, and i had to sit upright in a compartment with 4 others all night. it was THE WORST.
in india, you didn’t even get a separate compartment. you just slept right out in the open, no curtains, no privacy, and everything at risk of being stolen.
anyway, ADVENTURE TALLY HO!
see ya on the west coast, suckas.
* * *
speaking of Social Media and influence, I tweeted this on the 10th anniversary 9/11:
as you can see, it was RT’d by more than 100 people, which actually happens quite a lot on my end, but that number was probably increased when it was RT’d by my main man:
now i finally know what celebrity tweeters have to endure. some people were INCENSED by those nine little words. amazing how one little pacifist sentiment can incite so much furor. some of the messages i received in response to that tweet were ripped right out of Team America, surely. most of them were xenophobic and racist comments directed toward arabs and muslims, i might add. twitter really is the only refuge for the scoundrels.
hey everybody! got an opinion? you should post it on twitter.
PEOPLE WILL SHIT THEMSELVES.
I worked at the CN Tower during 9/11. I quit shortly thereafter, as did everyone else. I don’t just mean employees, I also mean guests and customers. Towers became taboo.
“Hi Christine,
i’ve been blogging about Deadboy‘s street art and graffiti for months and months now, and we talk often.
guess who i finally met?
YES YES YA’LL.
Deadboy had informed me a few weeks ago that he had been asked to participate in the street art showcase which drops in toronto on september 24th, and the official media announcement was last week at City Hall, so i went to support the man in the mask.
i actually didn’t realize he was the one in the mask until he waved at me and came over to say hi. seeing as how we’ve never met before, and i have no clue what he looks like, i just assumed he was someone else. as he got closer, i looked at his mask and was like WAAAAAIT A MINUTE, that’s the mask used in his street art!
anyway, we spoke for about an hour, and the press conference was actually super interesting. turns out the Street Art Showcase has received invitations from Bristol (banky’s hometown) and 5Pointz in Queens!
imma be out of town on the 24th (going to Peru!), but you should definitely check out the showcase. follow them on twitter for updates. support Deadboy, tell him Estima sent ya.
speaking of City Hall….
..and another one…
see what i did there?
lol.
interesting viewpoint.
do i think that graffiti and street art is vandalism?
the short answer to that is no.
the long answer is FUCK NO.
another brilliant and colourful Spud bomb, right across the street from MuchMusic.
CHRISSY MAD! CHRISSY SMASH!
i’ve not blogged about the Good Bike project lately, because there are just soooo many bikes to cover, and i see so many of them, i doubt i could ever photograph them all before they’re busted or ripped up. but this one on queen and spadina caught my eye because it had a name on it.
the Good Bike project ladies put Jane Jacob‘s name on another bike, so i’m wondering if Isabella Angel is an activist like Jacobs?
site specific work is the most ingenious work.
i love the idea that someone saw that sewer hole with the pylons and envisioned something else for it, something that is clever and provocative and colourful.
* * *
speaking of colourful, i was invited to the Diet Coke TIFF fest this year.
i went last year, and as you can see from my blog post at the time, it was a much smaller affair, just our little twitter crew. we all fit into 2 limos at the time. now the Toronto twitter crew has grown so much such that the attendance was easily over 500.
i didn’t bring my camera but raymi‘s photographer colleague made up for that.
there’s ameet off to the left. we met last year when he used to date a friend of mine, but we kind of run in the same circles, so we bump into each other from time to time.
this looks inappropriate.
raymi says she looks like sharon stone in this pic.
and i look like rachel weisz.
our movie would be box office poison.
my friend paul wrote a round-up of the night’s events for The Grid, and decided to link up one of my tweets about the night in the article (go to 10:30pm, and the hyperlinked “REALLY” in brackets at the end of the paragraph).
i stand by my love of veggie poutine, dammit.
and hey, i write for The Grid too, ya know.
Estelle was brilliant, and i managed to elbow my way to the front.
she’s so gorgeous.
and her shoes were fierce, miss thang.
reg and i were made into flipbooks. watch this video until the very end, where i vent my frustation in caption-form.
* * *
i meandered by a venue last night that i shouldn’t have. i saw the scooter and took off running.
go away. please go away.
have love, will travel; if you need loving, oh baby, i’ll travel
this is the first of many more TIFF film reviews to come. Sigh, bring on the festival clusterfuck! Every year I say I won’t do TIFF again, and every year I cave. I just love movies too much, and reviewing them! Being a freelance film critic always wins out over sense and reason. I’ve been covering TIFF for donkey’s years, but I’ve been a patron for a lot longer.
Actually, guess where I was the morning of September 11, 2001?
It was the really crap film Century Hotel, I only wanted to see it because I was a huge OLP fan at the time, and Raine Maida acted in the film (badly). The screening started at 8:45am. After the 90 minutes of pure oblivion, I walked out of the screening, which took place at the ROM, and called mum to say I was headed back to university for my classes.
She told me what had gone down.
I don’t think I understood the full gravity of the situation over the phone.
So I flippantly giggled.
And that’s all I want to say about that.
montreal graffitigasm time!
this was on boulevard st laurent, i think he’s holding a quill, but he’s wielding it like a weapon.
the pen is mightier than the sword, indeed.
this “world of shit” tag was everywhere.
this was off of avenue Duluth, and the following were a series of wheatpastes on the same wall. they blew me away.
the tag on them says “what if art ruled the world?” and i found similar wheatpastes by the same artists all around the plateau.
i LOVE wheatpastes, i think they are the probably among the best kinds of street art you can do. stencils, and sculpture are also among that group.
when pigs fly!
these two colourful spraypaint murals were across the street from the wheatpastes.
i don’t remember my visual mythology well, but phil said this was Thor.
oh phil, thmile when you thay that.
ha!
hahahah!! for those of you who don’t speak french, this translates to ‘the duchess of my balls.”
now now, don’t get teste.
this was buried deep an alleyway that had zero illumination, so my flash was the only way i could make out the details.
i just liked the face with the hands. his arm is like a branch i’d like to swing on.
this was purposefully placed (probably by the owners of the house) on St.Denis.
i wonder if this guy actually climbed the street light?
phil and i found this while cycling along the canal off of vieux montreal. it’s like looking in a mirror, non?
she’s SO me.
i think the tag says “dayo” and i saw that tag a lot. anyone know who “dayo” is?
i was never a separatiste, but i appreciate the sentiment.
all of the abandoned buildings along the canal are perfect graffiti spots. as our bikes approached this building, i squealed and screeched to a halt on the grass, nearly knocking myself over.
close up! i’m assuming this was done by someone named ezar. i like the mathematical symbol before his name. i learned math in french, so that symbol will always mean “donc” to me. in english, i guess you could call it “therefore.”
donc ezar, this piece looks like a memorial to someone you loved. or someone you lost. or both.
either way, nicely done.
emotions are apathetic.
this was placed on Rue Jarry, on a wall that i think belonged to a dépanneur.
i’d like to think this is a comment on what you can find in a dep.
this was in the mile end area, and i got really excited, because i’ve seen this work in toronto before!
here it is again!!
le snob. le sigh. le tired. le mew. le meow.
i think this wheatpaste is by the same “what if art ruled the world?” wheatpaster guy. it’s the same theme and style.
awww, raccoon looks snuggley. i like how this piece has the painted frame. like it’s gallery work but buried in an alley next to a construction site.
curb your enthusi-gasm.
here he is again, the “what if art ruled the world?” guy.
this “teenage hookers” was spraypainted on the sidewalk in mile end, not far from casa del popolo
we went to the Belmont, and they projected this onto the wall.
i love the word ‘scrotum.’ it’s hard to weave that word into everyday sentences. it should be a ubiquitous word, like fuck or shit.
this was in an alleyway near sherbrooke and de maisonneuve. the fleur-de-lis on the corners of the portrait make me think this dude was a quebecois political figure.
same alley.
now for some street culture in between the street art! we went to mont royal for the Tam Tams! it’s a drumming circle, similar to the one held at trinity bellwoods, except this seems to be a festival where vendours can sell things as well.
i’ve always wanted to play a djembe, but who can afford them?
i’m sorry, but i am an extremely talented photographer.
case in point!
ps, krista, that girl looks like you!
the whole weekend, i kept repeating the same dyslexic-freudian-slip in my mind:
“i freak spench and english!”
also just like in trinity bellwoods, there are tightrope walkers at the Tam Tams. this one guy was so talented, he went there and back without falling, even though it was super windy.
omfguy. i don’t know whether to sleep with him, or stuff him into a bong and smoke him.
moment of clarity, scene of beauty, mind of chrome, skin translucent.
back to graffiti!
it’s also a long way down.
you just love me for my money. ADMIT IT.
clearly commissioned, but beautiful nonetheless
for what? zee germans?
“drunk asshole construction” was actually tagged all over the plateau. either someone isn’t happy with all of the development in the area, or that’s actually his name.
i don’t know who these two guys are, but i love this stencil. it’s full of heart. stencils are great, because they force you to pay attention to the negative space, and they take a lot of prep work:) this was in an alley off of avenue Duluth, right before it pissed with rain.
woah, hello.
i don’t understand the message, but the visuals are incredible.
have Spud, will travel.
fromage.
this piece was brilliant. it’s carefully drawn, almost like dot-matrix design, then cut into stickers, and carefully placed.
it’s the kind of scene you’d find on a church window mosaic. absolutely genius.
massive wheatpaste on the Studio de la SOCIETE CANADIENNE D’OPERETTE building on rue st. denis.
this building is famous for having other wheatpastes put in this spot.
this was written on a church that was under construction. it translates to “a house of slaves, at least.” although, you could translate it to also say “a house of lesser slaves.“
someone has gone over the original tag to make it say, ‘une maisoner de se espérée en moins.” which kind of makes sense, and translates to “a home to hope less for oneself.“
when it comes to religious institutions, i am forced to agree.
i have so many TIFF film reviews to write (and more to see!), but instead, i’m making googley eyes at you.
priorities: check.
ps: i’m fucking endearing in this video.
je veux que moi sur les photos, et je veux poser pour st lau!
This past Labour Day long weekend, Ford Canada generously offered to lend me a Ford Fusion 2.5. So I decided to take a road trip to Montreal! I haven’t been back to the place of my birth since 2005, so I was long overdue for a catch-up with la belle province.
I was blown away with the Fusion’s features. Not only did it have GPS, and Sirius Satellite radio, but it also SYNC’d with my Blackberry through bluetooth, so I could PLAY THE MUSIC FROM MY BLACKBERRY ON THE CAR’S SPEAKERS!! I didn’t know cars could do that! It also had a USB port to charge my phone.
It handled like a dream, such a smooth ride. I’m used to my old rust bucket cars where you think it’ll fly apart once you hit 100 kph, but as soon as I hit the Trans Canada Highway, I looked down at my speedometre and realized I was going way faster than I thought I was, because the ride was so smooth!
But I think the best feature of the Fusion 2.5 was how fricken fuel efficient it was. I kid you not, it only took a HALF TANK OF GAS to drive from Toronto to Montreal. A HALF TANK!!! When I was a little girl, and we were moving from Montreal to Toronto, we used to have to stop in Lancaster to gas up the empty Ford Taurus on the way to Toronto! My, how Ford’s have changed.
Thank you Ford Canada for lending me the sweet ride! I was really upset to have to part with that puppy!
I made a video of my Montreal extravaganza! It features me, my gay boyfriend Philip, Montreal graffiti, Bixi bikes, the Tam Tam’s drumming circle on Mont Royal, and lots and lots of hipster douchebag locations on the plateau, Mile End, Rue Duluth, Boulevard St Laurent, Boulevard St Urbain, Papineau and the gaybourhood! Enjoy!
we spies. we slow hands. killer for hire, you know not yourself
in the middle of the night, i am the girl biking in and out of toronto alleyways. my basket carries music, sending the raccoons scurrying behind wheelie bins and the cats under mufflers. the pavement echoes the grind of my chain and my voice, cooing. i look up to the sky, which is gauzed behind the strobe of tree tops and aching branches.
my thighs burn acid, and i need to go alkaline without the alchemy.
my body is in a constant state of metallurgy.
since my above The Grid article came out, it’s been the top story on their website, see:
if you haven’t checked it out yet, do it now.
fitting that as soon as my Rob Ford graffiti photos are published, Deadboy comes out with a new batch of Ford pieces that are so brilliant, it’s as if stephen hawking, a messiah, and gandalf made a spawn.
Deadboy, you are made of perfect jesus wizard sauce.
seriously, he is making some of the most thought-provoking street art in toronto.
he let me know the locations of his new work: Rob Ford and Doug Ford aka Tweedledee & Tweedledum:
an alleyway near Ossington and Humbert.
Queen Street West and Claremont
“Graffiti isn’t the problem. It’s society not knowing what to do with artists . . . Oh look, there’s a rose. LET’S PAVE OVER IT.”
-Ron English
Chinatown/Kensington Market
i have some exciting news to announce (and more which i cannot announce just yet, as it’s still in the works… suffice it to say, September is going to be an exciting month).
the first is that Ford Canada is lending me car for labour day weekend.
yes, you read that right.
sometimes having a social media presence has untold perks, which has slowly begun to reveal itself to me.
they approached me with the offer, and we’ve been ironing out the details for a while. so what am i going to do with a luxurious hybrid from september 1-6th?
i’m driving to montreal.
i haven’t been back to la belle province, the place of my birth, since 2005, so i am long overdue.
and you will witness the rediscovery of my hometown, as i will be blogging, vlogging, and tweeting the snot outta this trip!
thanks Ford Canada and the good peeps at National (hi matt!). we fit together like the ignition and the key.
vroom vroom.
i always thought “Adam’s Apple” was a strange name.
eve gave adam a forbidden fruit, he swallowed it, and desire caused their expulsion.
now, men must forever carry lust in their throats.
and isn’t it just so apropos that women, naturally, are rather good at bobbing for apples.
a conversation i overheard this week:
Gal #1: “I’m from the south, flirting is part of my heritage!”
Gal #2: “What does that mean?”
Gal #3: “It means her mother was a slut too.”
my past few posts have detailed the good bike project here in toronto, and here are more finds to add to the growing list of fluorescent cycles peppering the city, adding flavour.
this albany find was particularly important to me.
if you don’t know, jane jacobs was a local activist & urban planner who singlehandedly prevented the spadina expressway from ruining toronto-the-good. without her intervention, the city would have erected that gaudy monstrosity, destroying homes, communities, urban flow, cultural contentment….and even this blog.
odd that the albany-jane-jacobs bike wasn’t placed on spadina….
i see this “TOKYO!” tag all over the city, although many of their occurrences have been painted over or blasted off since the spring.
as Rob and i spent a night pushing our dead-body bikes across Bloor street, we came across this virtually untouched tag.
i cannot pass this tag without humming this chorus. it’s like a tick.
…where the demons from my past leave me in peace.
this is better than “stop, hammertime.”
the first photo at the very top of this post was an outtake. i’d heard a beautiful mural of a couple kissing was going up near Bloor and Bathurst, and snuck around the area at night to photograph it. My camera kept going out of focus right when the shutter clicked.
so i decided to make something out of the outtakes (creativity always affects something previously thought unusable. there are no lost causes).
hence, the photo at the very top.
and this one below.
can’t you see what you’ve done to my heart and soul? this is a wasteland now.
my next girl will be nothing like my ex girl; i made mistakes back then, i’ll never do it again
nicely done, deadboy
* * *
EDIT!!
guess who just sold the above photo, along with many other of my Rob Ford graffiti photos, to The Grid! I love adding “photographer” to my growing portfolio. Check out the spread here, munckins!
* * *
sometimes i share the emails i get here, sometimes not, but this one came with the tacit authority to share, and it’s rather lovely, so why not.
Hello!
My goodness! I’ve just spent the past three hours reading through your blog and I’m still not finished. Now I see you’re on Twitter, as well. Where do you find the time?
I “stumbled upon” your blog while browsing something totally unrelated (don’t know how Google always manage to do that) and I was so intrigued (yes, it was because of a photo of you) that I decided to peruse through it. Very entertaining, indeed. Informative at times… even inspiring (the bit about eating healthy). There’s so much material to cover that I doubt I will get to it all.
Portuguese and Lebanese, eh? I see it now. Beautiful combination. You kinda got that Nelly Furtado-Kim Kardashian thing going on, eh (Apologies if you can’t stand those two!).
Another thing from your blog which stood out in my mind is the part about how you would fill in the blank to end the sentence on the picture you saw at the hipster house party. I thought your response was brilliant. Deep with a dash of humour. I wonder how many people actually got it? I also made note of the part where you blogged about traveling to NYC because of a love interest but things didn’t go well and you were left crying on the steps of Union Square? I assume figuratively and not literally because, His loss, I assure you!
Anyway, it’s been fun reading. All the best to ya!
-”AWspicious”
fanks mate. for the record, i didn’t travel to NYC last summer for the guy, but i’ve known him for years and he’s always good for givin’r, so he just factored in to the trip. he’s in a relationship right now, so when i went to NYC earlier this year, i didn’t bother contacting him. if i did, the response would be silence. but if i’m being honest, he was probably one of the greatest longstanding affairs i’ve ever had.
technically, that’s not saying much.
and fanks for the “his loss” bit . . . it’s not his loss just yet, but give me some time, and it will be.
Banksy’s latest, in response to the News Of The World phone hacking scandal.
last week, i collaged about “the good bike” project here in toronto, which has been getting so much attention not just around town, over the pond in the UK, the guardian has even taken notice of our Mayoral clusterfuck.
anyway, here’s another find. this is the first blue one i’ve found, it was on bloor near dovercourt. i want to find the green “jane jacobs” one, anyone know where that’s located? i know it’s on Albany, but where?
i still need a name for my new bike (since my old bike Bea Arthur was totaled by a raging syphilis-cyclist, i hope she dies of a rectum rash), but i’m leaning toward calling it Aunty Edna. old lady names for bikes=boom goes the dynamite.
this is the mural at luna cafe on dovercourt and argyle. i always ride Aunty Edna past this lovely converted grocers, and i adore how they have kept some of the grocer’s painted adverts on the window. gives it such a great feel. people who live in and around argyle street are so lucky. i want to live there, the area kiboshes the annex.
text messages from august 10th:
mr k: your mind shines as brightly as your eyes do.
me: how is it you always know just what to say?
mr k: i just kinda adore you so it’s natural… everything about you just feels so organic. you blow my mind.
at the Ali Baba falafel place on bloor street with nate, a delightfully schizo’d woman heard me say that i was portuguese, so she came over and said that i was a beautiful portu-geezer, and proceeded to kiss my head about 16 or 17 times. i actually don’t think i processed what she was doing. i kind of tuned out, not even realizing it was awkward or weird. i let her kiss my hair, and stared at a point on the street outside the window.
it felt like everything and anything, except like what it was.
this photo was taken last year at the TedxTO afterparty, but i was only recently tagged in it on facebook. i don’t at all remember taking this shot, or frankly, who the dudes in it are. Reg, any clues?
i’m such a glad-hander.
i’ve blogged about fauxreel twice before, but this old piece of his from 2009 that went up in our fair city still gives me pause.
i was at a funeral once. as is expected, it was a very sombre, melancholy event. it was a hot july day, and the church had left the windows open for ventilation. as family members came forward to give their speeches, a car outside on the street was blasting its crap music (as most low rider douchebags who drag The Danforth are known to do). unfortunately, it was this song. the fucking car was stopped at a really long red-light outside, and because all the church windows were open, the song invaded the ceremony. we were trying to have this respectful, reflexive, and downright sad experience to mourn the loss of life…
…and instead, we were paralyzed with a case of the giggles. everyone had their hands over their mouths, unsure of whether to choke back tears, or choke on our cackles.
horribly hilarious, i was uncontrollably laughing at a funeral.
that’s what going to Moth-Up the other day was like.
someone walked by me, pretending not to see me. But seeing as how i’m an adult, i made the courteous move to say hello. i had forgotten that we weren’t talking … and now i remember why.
in hindsight, i probably should have checked the FB event page to see who would be at Moth Up so i could have avoided it altogether, but i have completely given up stalking on FB. if people didn’t show up in my FB newsfeed, i’d never know what others are up to. i absotively posulutely refuse to look at anybody’s profile but my own. i have extended this ban from FB to twitter, and even some blogs. … mostly, because i couldn’t give a shit.
luckily, i was with someone worthy of my attention. we giggled like conspirators well into the night, actually leaving the event early for more one-on-one.
we bounded out the door, taking the steps two at a time, and disappeared into the velvet black of midnight… i didn’t bother to take notice of what i left behind.
life is right in any case.
and my heart is open as the sky.
“your mind shines as brightly as your eyes do.”
i heard the piledriver’s waltz, it woke me up this morning
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: having a social life.
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: rain, no matter how nice it makes the grass smell.
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: walking through High Park with one of your best friends, checking out geese, turtles, and swans.
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: a Stepford wife prancing about in come-fuck-me heels, and sporting a face that looks like a campaign poster for neglected horses.
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: sucking on a popsicle and getting popsicle-tongue 
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: having to tell someone to calm the fuck down and speak to you the way you’re speaking to them (because that’s how adults behave).
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: watching people lose their cool and completely wig out. (high-larious!)
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: censorship
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: being told that your writing is on par with Michael Ondaatje
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: time lost.
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: waking up leisurely to the sun, having a Timmy‘s cuppa, hopping on your bicycle with the front wicker basket and yellow flowers, and writing in your journal at The Common
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: every time something funny happens to me, i always want to tell you . . . and then i remember that we’re not talking.
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: having trouble coming up with another one of these…..ummm…….
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: The Big Chill and Taste Of Little Italy
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: …..errr……..seriously, what’s another thing that’s not great in my life right now?
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: so many opportunities falling into my lap, and people coming into my life at just the right time.
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT:……….
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: life, and it just keeps getting better.
* * *
some great street art and graffiti hauls this week.
i am continually inspired by the artists in toronto, defying conventions, fucking-the-lot … jail be damned.
Vicki calls this “the god of high park.”
well done, mr partridge. you sir are a rembrandt.
found some retro video game love on dovercourt. see it?
jarvis and i found this pillar next to ronnie’s local in kensington market.
“don’t cry. bike!”
“make good choices.”
that’s ALL i’ve been doing lately….well, in actual fact, they’re not necessarily ‘good,’ but hey, they’re choices.
* * *
Rich Lam’s photo (via Getty) of the Vancouver riots.
He shoots.
They score.
don’t sit down ‘cos i’ve moved your chair
YOU STILL HAVE 3 DAYS to enter The Submarine Contest, sponsored by Alliance Films and The Spadina Monologues. Get a pass for you and a friend to attend the advanced screening of Submarine, and you could win a prize pack as well! clicky the poster for your chance to be a wiener winner.
* * *
i was invited to the Pepsi Throwback event in Toronto.
the weird thing about having a rising stock in the social media world is you get invited to so many events, it’s kinda redonkulous. i’ve always said that as a writer, were it not for twitter, i would have no social life. so i try to go out to as many events as possible. and i like the fact that after years of my crazy ramblings and musings, i have leveraged my online presence into something that provides a constant stream of super fun happy times at someone else’s dime. but at the same, i’m a bit of a jovial anarchist.
jovial in that, well, i’m a generally happy person with a penchant for the shits n’ giggles.
anarchist in that, well, i don’t believe in promoting brand-awareness, and my body is an advertisement-free zone. seriously. next time you see me, try and find a single brand on me.
i shop no-names exclusively, and if i do have a brand, i bought it second-hand for 50 cents.
but when you’re in social media, everybody is for sale, and brands want to buy you. everybody is willing to drink the brand kool-aid for the right price.
now, that’s not to say there’s something inherently wrong with that. everybody needs to eat, and if you can paid just on the popularity of your blog or twitter or tumblr or whatever, then more power to you.
but i think too many people follow the formula of CONSUME. STAY QUIET. DIE.
stop buying. start living.
regina won the best dressed female costume competition, and it was well deserved. hottie pulled a Filipino madonna, and she got game.
here’s reg and i dancing at the event. she is a normal dancer. i am a fembot.
raymi says, “me and christine. how far do we go back? since before twitter, her name is synonymous with spadina monologues i think she trickled in around the MG days? did you know christine also made her way onto a reality show on a tropical island to boss around men and it was broadcast in the uk or something? huge. ask her about it. maybe that’s why she does that british accent voice? (stop doing that sorry ilu but be you) anyway i love this broad and am proud she’s a lifer like me, it’s good to see her face in the scene.”
i swear if i do a brit accent, i’m not aware. SWEARSIES. i love you luh-ren THIS MUCH. raymbo gives me a grizzle in my vizzle tizzle fo’shizzle.
playing air-guitar-leg. i am so attractive. oh hai katie!
rannie takes the greatest photos. i look so happy and my hair is the stuff of Pantene commercials. i’m doing the running man here. either that, or the roger rabbit. should i make this my FB profile photo? you tells me.
scott’s arms go on and on and on. like, if this photo’s proportions are to believed, scott must tuck his hands into his socks.
there’s nothing about sheldon that isn’t made of wizard juice.
photographers at this place weren’t on their game, they needed to sort their tech shit out, so i handed mr levy my blackberry and we busted out these hot shots, our hands were in inappropriate places, it was some sweet action.
some of the coolest people i know. raymi luh-ren, shawn, plankin-casie, scott, and my husband sheldon.
dan easily had the best 80s costume. he looks like van halen and miami vice just exploded all over him.
keshia chanté and madame stewart, cindy loo hoo?
i dunno what it is about scott, but his pepsi throwbacks bring all the boys to the yard.
i look awkwardly attractive here. most people know me as the gal with the curves, but here i look like my hips have teenaged-boy’d-out. wassup? where’s my crescent moon hips? not even a hint of a bosom! my breasteses are big. pinky swear.
i really like kelly and i really like this photo. her and i were rocking the onesie and we’re giving each other a solid. her boyfriend mark took this photo, and from this photo’s POV, you get a sense of just how fricken tall he is!
he doesn’t like to be blogged about. but how can i not post a photo of that face?
you guys see this? it’s called being one smooth mother fucker.
* * *
for the past couple of weeks, i’ve been riding on the back of an electric scooter on the weekends, and have whizzed past this above awesome mural that’s on an underpass near the junction.
that is, until this happened
literally kicking myself that i didn’t take the opportunity to photograph it (like i always do) when i had the chance. i loved this mural. LOVED IT.
check out the artist’s website and show him some support.
some street art and graffiti that i’ve managed to photograph lately, more to come!
it’s that time of year again when i get to house-sit!
last year i house-sat 4 times, this year so far i’ve done it twice, and now a third on the horizon.
will be downtown with a couple of putty-tats in little italy, just a bike ride away from work and the people who make me feel special about a little guy i like to call ME.
the lovely june weather makes me feel like my body is a boat, and you are traveling in me.
Alliance Films & The Spadina Monologues present The Submarine Movie Contest!
I made this poster myself, can I get a whut-whut up in dis hurr bitch?
Alliance Films is proud to present the upcoming release of their new film Submarine, a dramatic comedy about a 15-year-old named Oliver Tate. Oliver has two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life. Submarine is produced by Ben Stiller and features some rockin’ tunes from Alex Turner, lead singer of mega-rock-band Arctic Monkeys (personal fav, download their new song “don’t sit down cos i’ve moved your chair,” it’s made of wizard juice)!
Alliance has partnered with The Spadina Monologues to give you a chance to win passes to the advanced screening of Submarine on Thursday, June 9th, before the rest of the planet gets a glimpse. As a film critic, I’m always talking about what it’s like to attend press screenings, advanced screenings, and reviewing films. Now is your chance to have the film critic experience. Oh, and did I mention that I will also be at this advanced screening with you? You can tell everyone you’re on a date with me. I won’t deny it. Swearsies.
How To Enter:
I have 19 double passes (yes, that means you AND a friend) to give away. All you have to do comment in the comments section below, and tell me why you want to see this film. But be sure to be creative, because 4 lucky winners who impress me the most with their mad-comment-skillz will also get a copy of the novel Submarine by Joe Dunthorne, which the Independent Review calls, “the sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a periodically troubled male teenager’s coing of age since The Catcher in The Rye.” That’s a pretty glowing review. I never give such high praise (I’m a tough book critic as well). Make sure in your entry to include either/or/both your email address and your Twitter handle so I can notify my lucky winners!
Details and Contest Rules:
Contest closes Wednesday June 8th at noon. All entries must be received by then. No duplicates will be accepted. Imma be tough up in hurrr.
The advanced screening is Thursday, June 9th at Cineplex Odeon Varsity & VIP Cinemas in Toronto (55 Bloor Street West in the Manulife centre). Prize does not include transportation to the venue. The screening begins at 7pm sharp and no latecomers are admitted (overbooked to ensure capacity, and all that). I will be at the cinema for 6pm to hand out the passes and prize packs, but will only stick around until 6:30pm (I wanna get a seat too, ya know). So arrive early!
Enter now, movie munchkins!
talk qwerty to me
welcome! i have found another way to waste time. huzzah!
now i’m the most wordpressiest wordpresser who ever wordpressed.
i use wordpress at work all day long, so there are many features i’m already acquainted with, but for the most part, i’m confused by it. Blogger is more user-friendly….in that, it’s idiot-proof. works well for a nOOb like me.
i will keep my old blogger up, so that people who have outdated links will find their way here. also, even though i imported all of my archives to wordpress, the import has caused them to double up (raymi has the same issue with her archives), so it’s a bit messy, with wonky formatting.
i used to redesign my blog once a year, but my previous purple design has been up since 2008. so i was overdue for a change. i have pretty much all of my old features up here. if you’re looking for the blogroll, it’s located in the links tab up above. my bio, my writing portfolio, my media coverage, it’s all pretty much here….just needs a bit of a clean up.
i don’t like the photo uploader wordpress has. i can upload several photos at once, no problem, BUT for whatever reason, i can only embed them in the post ONE AT A TIME. zomg pain in the ass, way to kibosh my wordpress-buzz.
so until someone tells me how to get around that, i’m going to continue to upload photos to picasa and just embed the links here.
thoughts, comments, and tips for improvement are all very welcome, as everything you see on this site at present was designed solely by me, and i barely know what i’m doing.
also, i’ve activated my domain email address -> christine@christineestima.com
dunno why i never activated it before, it came with the domain i bought.
prince wills and kate were hanging around “queen” and spadina (how apropos).
back off bitch, he’s mine.
what a similar photo. reg can be my kate middleton.
this was taken at Foursquare Day festivities . . . some sweet gifts were handed out, one being a hot red protective holder for my blackberry, it was pretty sweet, seeing as how i need one and didn’t even hafta pay for it. then later, i won a gift certificate to the sewing studio, which i’d never heard of before, but hey, i have some skirts that need hemming, might be fun to try it out. i’m holding up my winnings above with zach, reg, tony, sacha, john, and lauren‘s boyfriend whats-his-name.
oh good gawd. when horses are this lame, they shoot ‘em.
i’m a chris, he’s a chris . . . it’s chris squared.
brennan is the king of cool
i was trynna pull a geordie laforge here, i don’t think it quite worked
like glamour shots
was interviewed about my foursquare activities for a yet-to-be-seen vid. i look like a snobby venomous cunt in this shot, but trust me, i was adorable in the video.
i voted today at an advance polling station. since today is a holiday, i knew i’d have the time. may 2nd is a work day and i’ll probably be too whipped to make it out to the polling station. i arrived at the voting booth located in a catholic school, only to realize i wasn’t wearing a bra.
see! voting is sexy.
most torontonians are hearing about bullet for adolf now, a new play written and directed by woody harrelson that he’s premiering exclusively here, and not at some big monster theatre either, but at unassuming hart house. i knew about it way back in january when they announced that they were only casting non-union non-equity actors. i figured i might as well submit, didn’t get asked in for an audition, but considering the way i look and what they were looking for, i kinda understand why.
it’s produced by a couple friends of mine, and the entire cast is on my facebook. in addition, i attended this is our youth a bajillion years ago when woody harrelson directed it at canstage. i knew he was a great director, but i didn’t know what his writing skills were like….all of this compounded in my absolute NEED to see this play.
i bought my ticket well over a month ago, way before all these chumps now clamouring for tickets. i paid full price, and of course now, all the discounts for arts workers (me), tweeple (me), facebook friends (me) are coming out. pfft. whatever. i’m over it. booking so far in advance scored a wicked seat. row A seat 13..AKA FRONT ROW CENTRE. lots of leg room, no one’s head in my way, unobstructed view, felt like i was in the action.
i put a stupid little copyright on these photos, just in case anyone felt like stealing. anyway, the play was really funny! i was surprised, it was really well written, go harrelson. although it’s not the greatest piece of comedic theatre i’ve ever seen, i was humbly impressed, and i was actually expecting the worst. i think what made this play was the performances. specifically, i was blown away by david coomber as “clint” and billy petrovski as “dago czech.” brandon coffey was also note-perfect as woody’s alter ego “zack.” but specifically david coomber was a talent that i was not expecting. he was absolutely flawless, impeccable comic timing, acting chops like i’ve never seen. mark my words people, that dude is going places.
during intermission, an equity actress made a flippant remark about non-union talent that was so typical of the industry. she said that essentially she was shocked non-union actors were so good. stupid thing to say. you can’t measure talent like that. besides, paris hilton is a union actress . . . remember that next time, will ya, when ya wanna shoot your mouth off.
the play started with woody harrelson popping up over the speaker and telling us to turn off our cells. cute. and away we go. the play weaves theatre with film sequences and 1980s nostalgia. it’s essentially a retelling (with bits embellished here and there) of woody’s time in texas working construction, the friends he made, the racial binds that gripped the time, and a really cool old german guy with a gun.
some of the best lines were about child molestation (‘sexy kids’) and about abstract art (“it’s someone’s lack of imagination asking you to apply your own.”)
it’s about love, it’s about life lessons, it’s about friendship, and it’s just a hella-funny story.
there was a talkback after the show, where woody and the cast answered questions from the audience. here woody is saying “thanks fer comin’, tell yurr friends!” in his thick southern drawl. woody loves toronto, he’s here all the fricken time, so i don’t think torontonians are particularly starstruck by the sight of him anymore. he does yoga shows here, he does vegan events, pot events, and like i said before, plays. toronto is the kind of place where celebs come because they don’t really get hassled here. we’re too polite to try to chat up a movie god. either that, or we just don’t care.
anyway, you should go see this play!
there were lots of celebs and media and notables in the industry the night i went, so surely it will be like that all through the run.
layne’s in town for a month. we’ve managed to hang out twice so far, and it’s always like we pick up where we left off. we try to stay in pretty constant contact over email anyway, so it’s easy to always launch right back into things. but it’s hard having a best friend live on the other side of the country. hell, i moved to london, then he moved to the land that time forgot (aka sasquatchenon aka saskatchewan). long distance friendships take effort, and we do our best. last night we had dinner at queen mother, then walked over to canstage to see the cosmonauts last message to the woman he once loved in the former soviet union (fanks ashley for tickets!)
that title is asking a lot from an audience, i think.
anyway, some of the cast members are my friends, so i was excited to see it. layne had sat in on the auditions last year and had read with the actors, so he sorta knew what the play was about.
it was . . . interesting.
how to sugar coat this?
it touched on some interesting notions of longing and technology and relationships . . . at least, i think.
sigh. it was bad. it was just bad. the first act was like watching paint dry, the second act picked up a bit in steam, but it was terribly flat like gwyneth paltrow’s singing voice.
i mean, raoul was great, but raoul’s always great. he’s an actor you can bank on. it was just surprising, seeing as how canstage’s season this year has been STELLAR. from fernando krapp, to the andersen project, to studies in motion, to the middle place, i have been consistently impressed with matthew jocelyn‘s choices.
now, not so much.
i hate saying this cuz i’m always encouraging people to see more theatre. but i suppose in order to know what good theatre is, you have to see a lot of bad theatre.
this was written on the wall at work. it accurately describes the content that i’m writing, the audience who reads it, and basically, myself. totally femmebitious fembot….i’m eFEMMEral (see what i did there?)
i’m so femmebitious that i’m the last one to leave the office every night. once i locked up at 9:30pm. i’ve only been there two weeks, but i’m really busting my hump, i want to learn everything, and i feel like my perfectionism is holding me back. i need to write more content in a day, but i keep lingering over phrases and words and sentence structure, i can’t just let things go.
the office already presented me with my business cards, which was pretty nifty. i’ve been to a couple events already, representing the publication, handing out my card, networking, trying to find story ideas. everyone so far has commented how cool my card is. #win.
speaking of work, i was sent by them this week to get a reiki treatment, and then write about it. and write i did. my editors told me they thought it was a great article, but i think i came across a tad bitchy.
either way, it’s a funny piece about reiki and how, even though i’m all about alternative therapies, this was just a hill of beans.
first wordpress blogpost done….only took me 12 hours.
hashtag fail.
>if you’re the chosen one, how does it feel to be loved by no one?
>
canadian election time. i think the winner should be determined by robot wars.
when you make the decision to go to a cattle calls open call, you are accepting the fact that you will be treated poorly, wait outside in the bitter cold, and basically be reduced to a number in the herd. but i still saw a few friendly faces i knew from around the theatre scene, and out of the hundreds that turned up, i was lucky number 50 to be seen. was done my audition by 11:08am. i’m proud of what i did, hit all my notes and gave ‘em a go.
i sang this song because it has a punk rock message….and also because it’s what i secretly wanted to say to the auditioners for being twats. as i sang the chorus, i pretended i was mocking the lady behind the table. that felt good.
not holding my breath for a call-back. but hey, i had a giggle and a good time.
my bus to NYC leaves at 6:15am tomorrow.
here goes something.
if you’re the chosen one, how does it feel to be loved by no one?
canadian election time. i think the winner should be determined by robot wars.
when you make the decision to go to a cattle calls open call, you are accepting the fact that you will be treated poorly, wait outside in the bitter cold, and basically be reduced to a number in the herd. but i still saw a few friendly faces i knew from around the theatre scene, and out of the hundreds that turned up, i was lucky number 50 to be seen. was done my audition by 11:08am. i’m proud of what i did, hit all my notes and gave ‘em a go.
i sang this song because it has a punk rock message….and also because it’s what i secretly wanted to say to the auditioners for being twats. as i sang the chorus, i pretended i was mocking the lady behind the table. that felt good.
not holding my breath for a call-back. but hey, i had a giggle and a good time.
my bus to NYC leaves at 6:15am tomorrow.
here goes something.
>and all the houses they built in the 70s finally fall, meant nothing at all
>
“Dear Christine, You are amazeballs! I found your blog through a BOY who shall remain nameless for now in order to protect his identity. Obviously things didn’t go so well with him, but I stumbled across the awesomeness that is you…..
CHICKS BEFORE DICKS.
i’ve been invited to a super exclusive screening for new Canadian film A Wake tonight. it stars people i know, which is always a bit of a mind-fuck, but i love supporting the toronto theatre community in all their filmic endeavours. i won’t tell you how i feel about the film because i’m reviewing it for the magazine, so just watch the trailer here:
speaking of theatre, i’ve been invited to see the play St Carmen of the Main, a michel tremblay translation, at CanStage (fanks Ashley!) over the weekend, and next week i’m seeing the play Highway 63, co-created by my bestest friend ever Layne Coleman! it’s running at my old haunt Theatre Passe Muraille (fanks Amanda!), love returning to my hoooooooooood.
as if i haven’t pestered you enough already on this blogtopia – get thee to a playhouse! go see theatre! it’ll change your life! your regional theatres are producing exciting, cathartic, reflexive, and dynamic works about YOU! it’s like seeing your autobiography on stage without writing it! win-win situation.
and speaking of theatre people in film (again), a couple years ago i saw the play Scorched at Tarragon Theatre, written by fellow lebanese-quebecois wajdi mouawad, and last year it was made into a movie called Incendies which premiered last year at TIFF. since i was covering so much during TIFF, i didn’t get to see it, but i’ve just been given run-of-engagement passes to see it any time i like!
jealous?
youu’rrrrrrrrrrre jeaaaaaaaalous
it’s been nominated for an Oscar, ya know, which is gonna be a tough race ‘cuz Biutiful is also up for the same foreign-language Oscar. both are staggering examples of heart-breaking genius….so i’m kinda torn! go canada? or go inarritu?
watch the Incendies trailer here:
i received a phone call today . . . something exciting is soon to be announced in terms of my writing career . . . it’s not life-altering-lottery-winning-high-rollers-club, but it is definitely an honour, and dove-tails off of previous achievements i’ve made. i’m really excited about it and humbled as well. it seems things are slowly falling into place. i’m not allowed to say anything about it right now until the press release goes out next week . . . but when i’m allowed to say something, you’ll be the first to know.
trust me, it’s goooooooooooooood.
i’m being an asshat with all the bragging.
lashing of apologies all around.
(not really)
a pitched an article to a quebec newspaper the other night.
the next day, the editor got back to me with:
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your pitch. I will pass on this particular one, but am always open to ones that have a more local (i.e. Montreal) focus. I enjoyed your writing samples, BTW.
so i replied:
thanks for getting back to me so quickly, and thanks for the compliment!
Will keep the Montreal-focus in mind:)
and then surprisingly, he wrote back (they usually never respond after a rejection):
Is 18 hours really “quickly” these days? God, people are right: editors ARE assholes …
so i raised and eyebrow and wrote back:
I feel like this is a trick question.
So I will just smile with a bit of teeth.
and he goes:
Passed!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. dude. friend me. you eat awesomesauce for breakfast.
what if all the clocks are wrong (especially the handsome art-deco ones)?
peek-a-boo
that’s Figgy the fish, but whilst he was under my care, i re-named him Sid Fishous. i think he appreciated the bad-ass-ness more…and dude really liked to play with my emotions. i’d wake up in the morning and he’d be floating at the waters surface, freaking me ouuuttttttt. so i’d wiggle that little water-tree in there, and he’d finally move his fat ass.
JERKFACE
oh sid fishous, i can’t stay made at you.
gimme some gill.
yes, my FB is set to french. as is my Twitter, my phone, my emails….everything.
how else is a sistah gonna practice?
and all the houses they built in the 70s finally fall, meant nothing at all
“Dear Christine, You are amazeballs! I found your blog through a BOY who shall remain nameless for now in order to protect his identity. Obviously things didn’t go so well with him, but I stumbled across the awesomeness that is you…..
CHICKS BEFORE DICKS.
i’ve been invited to a super exclusive screening for new Canadian film A Wake tonight. it stars people i know, which is always a bit of a mind-fuck, but i love supporting the toronto theatre community in all their filmic endeavours. i won’t tell you how i feel about the film because i’m reviewing it for the magazine, so just watch the trailer here:
speaking of theatre, i’ve been invited to see the play St Carmen of the Main, a michel tremblay translation, at CanStage (fanks Ashley!) over the weekend, and next week i’m seeing the play Highway 63, co-created by my bestest friend ever Layne Coleman! it’s running at my old haunt Theatre Passe Muraille (fanks Amanda!), love returning to my hoooooooooood.
as if i haven’t pestered you enough already on this blogtopia – get thee to a playhouse! go see theatre! it’ll change your life! your regional theatres are producing exciting, cathartic, reflexive, and dynamic works about YOU! it’s like seeing your autobiography on stage without writing it! win-win situation.
and speaking of theatre people in film (again), a couple years ago i saw the play Scorched at Tarragon Theatre, written by fellow lebanese-quebecois wajdi mouawad, and last year it was made into a movie called Incendies which premiered last year at TIFF. since i was covering so much during TIFF, i didn’t get to see it, but i’ve just been given run-of-engagement passes to see it any time i like!
jealous?
youu’rrrrrrrrrrre jeaaaaaaaalous
it’s been nominated for an Oscar, ya know, which is gonna be a tough race ‘cuz Biutiful is also up for the same foreign-language Oscar. both are staggering examples of heart-breaking genius….so i’m kinda torn! go canada? or go inarritu?
watch the Incendies trailer here:
i received a phone call today . . . something exciting is soon to be announced in terms of my writing career . . . it’s not life-altering-lottery-winning-high-rollers-club, but it is definitely an honour, and dove-tails off of previous achievements i’ve made. i’m really excited about it and humbled as well. it seems things are slowly falling into place. i’m not allowed to say anything about it right now until the press release goes out next week . . . but when i’m allowed to say something, you’ll be the first to know.
trust me, it’s goooooooooooooood.
i’m being an asshat with all the bragging.
lashing of apologies all around.
(not really)
a pitched an article to a quebec newspaper the other night.
the next day, the editor got back to me with:
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your pitch. I will pass on this particular one, but am always open to ones that have a more local (i.e. Montreal) focus. I enjoyed your writing samples, BTW.
so i replied:
thanks for getting back to me so quickly, and thanks for the compliment!
Will keep the Montreal-focus in mind:)
and then surprisingly, he wrote back (they usually never respond after a rejection):
Is 18 hours really “quickly” these days? God, people are right: editors ARE assholes …
so i raised and eyebrow and wrote back:
I feel like this is a trick question.
So I will just smile with a bit of teeth.
and he goes:
Passed!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. dude. friend me. you eat awesomesauce for breakfast.
what if all the clocks are wrong (especially the handsome art-deco ones)?
peek-a-boo
that’s Figgy the fish, but whilst he was under my care, i re-named him Sid Fishous. i think he appreciated the bad-ass-ness more…and dude really liked to play with my emotions. i’d wake up in the morning and he’d be floating at the waters surface, freaking me ouuuttttttt. so i’d wiggle that little water-tree in there, and he’d finally move his fat ass.
JERKFACE
oh sid fishous, i can’t stay made at you.
gimme some gill.
yes, my FB is set to french. as is my Twitter, my phone, my emails….everything.
how else is a sistah gonna practice?
