She & Him Volume 2

I'm currently listening to the first song on She & Him's new album Volume 2, which can be heard in its entirety at (on?) NPR. It arrives just in time for sunny days (Halifax has been mostly gorgeous for the past little while - I think it might be a real spring!), although She & Him manages to make me feel sunny even when the world outside isn't. I love the power of pop music.

Currently obsessed with robots

photo by flickr user NYCArthur

I'm so glad I went to class yesterday morning instead of "accidentally sleeping through my alarm clock" like I thought I might. My prof made the brilliant choice (coinciding nicely with the day we had to fill in her evaluations) to show us TED videos all morning. The videos were, as per usual, engaging and thought-provoking, but I found one particularly inspiring. It was about robots, and about making them seem more human by having them recognize and reflect emotions (and making them look like Einstein or Philip K. Dick). My mind ran to the future, and I started inventing a world, one where my grandchildren come tell me that they are in love with their robots (and I wear powder blue to their weddings). I think that at heart I'm a sci-fi geek who doesn't really read much sci-fi... that needs to change. But I really want stories with heart. Literary fiction with robots. A Tale of Two Cogs, or some such. (After googling, I'm guessing I should start here.)

In a related turn I came across a retweet from Kris Krug about the Cyborg Reconstruction Fund, which led me to explore Amber Case's work as a Cyborg Anthropologist (um, awesome). I've been going on about how we're all already cyborgs for ages, in my own little I don't really know what I'm talking about but look at hearing aids and contact lenses way, so I'm glad there are people out there who can actually put these thoughts into coherent, academia-approved reflections on the world.

As I realized in class yesterday morning, it's amazing how deeply science fiction films have affected me, and to a certain extent I've already thrown up my hands and am just waiting for the day my robot companion turns on me. Somewhere deeper, though, I find this all so inspiring. I'm excited about the future. Oh wait, it's actually the present. Rad.

Happy return of Nurse Jackie day!

Nurse Jackie is my second favourite show currently on TV (next to Friday Night Lights), and I am so excited for the second season. Which starts today.

Unfortunately I don't have cable, so I will have to wait for some future day to watch, but I wanted to celebrate anyways. And say, if you haven't already watched the first season, DO. And I am a little bit envious of you.

Les petits

For some reason I was craving this scene the other day.

I'll always be a Truffaut girl, me. 

Visiting home with Google Street View

Ahhhh! Surreal feeling.

I've been longing for Vancouver a little bit lately, especially after what I assumed would be Olympics madness turned out pretty awesome. Springtime is slowly starting to peek out at Halifax, although I'm still skeptical about how long it might stick around. I was so sad last year, arriving back home in May, to find that the cherry blossoms had already come and gone even though the trees were barely budding here on the East coast.

So today I went back home, by way of Google Street View.

There is my house. Ack. Following the arrows down the street actually felt surprisingly real.

I also walked ("walked") along the seawall for a little bit. And looked around downtown.

If only technology had evolved enough to let me hear and smell and taste (selectively, of course). I could definitely go for some Japadog right now.

Confidence aka the decision

One part 1920s Parisienne, one part monk, one part four-year-old, and one part fashion. I love it. Oddly enough, I feel eminently more feminine with short hair. And free. And stylish. If only springtime would arrive so I could pair it with cute dresses, and stop ruining the effect with my stompy snow and salt-stained winter boots.

I also decided to try the recent tip I found via A Cup of Jo on how to look confident in pictures (hint, it involves a mysterious chemical food product). I think it works, especially when combined with taking 8000 pictures and sorting through them meticulously.

I know where I'm going!

 

It's "reading week" here at Dalhousie, and I have been reading. I've also been watching. Last night I made myself one of my favourite pastas (minus the cheese and butter & plus a couple of soft fried eggs on top) and sat down to watch one that I picked up at the library on a whim, I Know Where I'm Going! (1945). I loved it, but it served to remind me that I really really really want to have a screening room some day. A big screen and wonderful sound and me in the dark with everything that could possibly distract me taken away. For some reason I had a really hard time concentrating, and I hate the fact that I paused the movie twice to check things online. Ugh, me. Because this movie was so beautifully shot, in ultra-gorgeous black and white, and I wish I had been able to just shut the rest of my brain off and enjoy, to be completely immersed in it.

It was great. Joan Webster has known exactly where she is going since she was a tiny girl. Now, at 25, she is on her way to a small island in Hebricles, Scotland. There she will marry the very-very wealthy Sir Robert Bellinger. That is, if she can get there. The weather (or fate?) does not seem to want to cooperate, so she waits on the mainland with the requisite cast of colourful characters. I loved watching the headstrong Joan come up against forces greater than herself (you know, nature... love), trying as hard as she can to control everything. The accents were especially fabulous (and ridiculous). I love discovering new old movies. I've watched lots that I love (It Happened One Night, Imitation of Life, and on and on) but I know there are tons out there I haven't seen, especially ones that have gotten a little lost in the interim. Do you have a favourite (or ites) I may have missed? Please recommend.

Blog names

Trying to come up with a blog name gives me the same feeling as when I was a teenager and tried to come up with great band names.

The Anachronism

 

I worked on this! Barely, but I did.

Just read this article on the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, and thinking about what I might do. Oh the possibilities.