Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together ...

The tall, skinny guy kicked off our Christmas-themed weekend with the purchase of Home Alone (beloved) and that Christmas Vacation movie (despised) as well as some holiday cds on Friday night. The tall, skinny guy kinda reminds me of Kevin from Home Alone ... the way he talks to himself all the time and tries to shave like a grown-up. And the whole 'shop-lifting the toothbrush thing,' I've seen the tall, skinny guy do that at least a dozen times. He's terrified of bearded men with shovels.


First on the task list for Saturday was the purchase of a tree for decorating. Things were going good - we found a nearby place with decent prices - until the tall, skinny guy landed his heart on a grossly overweight tree. I tried to talk him out of it but there was was no reasoning with him and now we're stuck with a Christmas beast I'm referring to as 'the big fatty.' It's more wide than it is tall and takes up about half of my living room but the tall, skinny guy is happy so I guess that's all that counts.


Saturday night we hit up a friend's holiday party and proceeded to sing Christmas carols into the night. This party was hosted and visited by musical theatre nerds (myself included) so there were many renditions of 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" to be heard, all of which were belted at full volume and accompanied by jazzy hands. It's always strange when a group of people enter into a hour long session of praise and worship entirely unknowingly (although trust musical theatre kids to make even 'Silent Night' absolutely ridiculous). Needless to say, we had an absolutely lovely time. Sunday was reserved for shopping, church, and congratulations to my British friend for finally getting a job over drinks at Clinton's. All in all, a delightful weekend.

I see a red door (and I want it ... )

I must apologize for my absence. I have neglected my blog for quite some time but I have good reasons ...

1. The Walmer Centre Theatre Work Weekends ... were amazing but TONS of work. Check out the sweet poster the tall, skinny boy made and a few pictures of the final product.

















2. The Walmer Centre Theatre Open House ... stole my life from me but was worth every second. Arts, artists, and the community coming together to commission the theatre. 'Twas a beautiful thing.


3. DreamNorth Theatre Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream ... is underway and I'm loving every minute. Yet, again, the tall, skinny boy made us a poster.


Let's move from the larger picture to the smaller one. So, this weekend. Firstly, we picked out new clothes for the tall, skinny guy and, I've got to say, a cute boy in good clothes becomes A TOTALLY DROP DEAD GORGEOUS boy. I hate to admit my own shallowness, but, seriously. I was going to publish some pics of the stuff we bought but the H&M website let me build my own model (measurements and all) so I made this one with all of the tall, skinny guy's stats and some of his new clothes:


Virtual tall, skinny guy sure is a dead ringer for the real one, eh? ;) 100% Hottie! Side note: the real tall, skinny guy built me a patio when I was out of town last weekend, complete with flowers and a bbq and baby trees and everything. Pictures to follow. As my lovely friend Jen the existential clown said yesterday at rehearsal, "he's a keeper!"

The weekend was also ripe with theatre, theatre, and more theatre. We saw The Pessimist at Tarragon, Necessary Angel's The Eco Show, and the bloodbath/sexual innuendo gore fest Evil Dead: The Musical. Most importantly, though, after the Eco Show I bought Lisa the Knitter's assbike! I am going to miss her terribly but her ass bike will keep me good company in her absence, I am sure. I'm pretty sure that /dr. is going to try to nab it when he returns from India because he has prior claim but, really, I deserve it more. Seriously, I mean, what's he been doing with himself lately? Feeding the poor on the streets of Calcutta? Some of us are far busier shopping with our boyfriends and planting roots of empathy. Priorities, people. Also, it's a girl's bike. Seriously!!!

Peaceout.

P.S. /dr. and team, you are missed!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

Okay, so, this is a little hoaky (is hoaky a word?) becuase I get totally different celebrities depending on which photo I submit but I like this one the best because it lands me near to Vivien Leigh - HOW COOL IS THAT!?! And, is it just me, or is the Freddy Prince Jr. resemblance stunning or what? Twins seperated at birth perhaps? I think so! Check it out:



The website is www.myheritage.com in case you're interested. I have no idea why it's cut off like that but whatever ... you get the point (Claire Daines is the only one you can't see). I've been really busy lately (hence no posting) but I promise to write something of value on this blog of mine in the near future. Somethat that has nothing to do with celebrities or my face. Promise*

Penny Lane; There is a barber 'showing' photographs ...

A few pictures I took on our weekend adventures. The tall, skinny guy's shots are about 1,000 times better but I'm still learning so it's okay.











He's probably not going to dig the fact that I posted this last one but, now that he's focusing on being a male model full-time, he better get used to the exposure.

Peace.

Long and winding road ...

My dad sent me an e-mail today with this picture attached. The picture was entitled "kate is young" and the e-mail was blank.


This photo finds me in Grade 4 at the height of my tomboy phase (I choose to sport that florescent yellow chip & pepper t-shirt - chip and pepper before they were high end cool like they are now - and the 'matching' new kids on the block purple sweat pants every day for about two years). These were the days when my nose showed promise of a certain 'button-like' quality; a promise my nose failed to keep, I might add.

Naturally, I wrote him back with the following photo and the caption "dad is old."


COMING SOON (aka TOMORROW ... I Think): Tim teaches Kate how to take photographs ... and you get to see the results! Aren't you lucky?!!

Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman

I was sitting at my desk a few moments ago rolling around with the question of what I should write in my next blog post. It wasn't as easy as usual. My problem being that I don't have any particularly interesting stories of late - I haven't met any famous people or spilled anything gross on myself this week (this is due largely to the fact that I've spent every second of my spare time at the 2007 Festival of Original Theatre which was brilliant but hardly the stuff of a good blog post). And it has come to my attention the masses aren't all that interested in the future of Canadian arts and culture abroad (note the lack of comments) so anything of a political nature is out. "What to write?" I asked myself with an unusual degree of seriousness, "What to share?" And then, just then, the answer walked right through my door.

Moments ago, a very attractive tall man with an over the shoulder bag and a beautiful army green sweater asked if he could come into my office. When I said yes, he approached me with a perfect mix of timidity and dreamy-ness and handed me a simple postcard. Before I had a chance to figure out exactly what this was all about, he wished me a 'good day' and then he was gone. Vanished, really.

The Postcard
"Altered Bas Jan Ader" by Corwyn Lund, 2007

On the back, was written a note from my friend Katrina about some art exhibit she'd seen at Harbourfront, telling me to ask her all about it. When she returned from across the street, I did ... and this is what I discovered.

That Bike is Pimped! by Victoria Lund

"In order to more accurately reflect the values of German youth, MTV Germany altered the hit TV show Pimp My Car to Pimp My Bike. Toronto's own Corwyn Lund has pimped a bike so hard, he's gonna head up bike pimping operations for MTV World. Well, maybe one day he will. But for now, he is delivering missives and enunciations to the citizens of Toronto with this luminous bike – but only on Mondays.

Artist Corwyn Lund spent 4 months fashioning the scarlet-hued cycle as a sculptural piece for the group show currently mounted at the Harbourfront Centre. The concept for the piece, titled "Prototype For a Stolen Bike," came about after Lund decided to replicate in his own way a painting technique employed by common thieves.

Bikes crudely spray-painted all one colour to prevent them from being recognized by their rightful owners are a classic indication of stolen property. Lund noticed that bikes painted thief-style take on the look of a tidy minimalist sculpture. So he decided to make his own, but make it as refined and beautiful as possible. The bike was tinted red though a chemical process called anodizing which involves dipping the metal parts into a vat of chemicals. The rest of the red parts were gathered bit by bit from cycling suppliers around the world.

The bike is being used to courier postcards with personal hand scribbled greetings to people whose addresses are within the border of St. Clair & Queen's Quay and Roncevalles & Carlaw. The cards – that depict a man casually riding his bike into a Dutch canal – are being dispatched every Monday until they have all been delivered.

If you would like to send a card to someone and have it delivered by Corwyn Lund’s fleeting "prototype for a stolen bike," go by the York Quay Gallery and jot one down. Love letters get delivered first.

Hey MTV, we need a Pimp My Bike Toronto!"


This was overwhelmingly exciting to me for a number of reasons. Number 1: Corwyn Lund, the artist and messenger, is THE Corwyn Lund of the imfamous "Secret Swing." He also designed one of the Parlour of Twilight at the Gladstone. Number 2: I couldn't help but imagine Lisa the Knitter, distracted by some strange physics equation or something, accidentally riding her assbike into a Dutch canal. And the whole German Youth pimp my bike thing totally sealed the deal. Number 3: It kinda felt like magic. I've been feeling a little blah lately so I think magic is just what the doctor ordered. I went to see Pan's Labyrinth last night becuase I needed some fanciful abandon in my life. But this was even better ... the real thing always is.

Arts & Culture Crisis

Please find below an online petition to restore cultural funding to Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). If you feel inclined, please clink on the link to sign the petition and pass it on - the more signatures the better!





http://www.petitiononline.com/DFAIT07/


The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance
The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Honourable Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage


We are writing in response to the announcement of cuts to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) for Public Diplomacy. This funding currently supports the creation, dissemination and promotion of Canadian arts, Canadian cultural initiatives, and business opportunities for Canadian artists internationally. The health and expansion of existing international networks depend on DFAIT funding not only to create opportunities for artists to participate in an expanded, global economy, but also to bring professionals and key decision-makers from abroad to Canada to create and promote cultural exchange and business opportunities here at home.

The $11.9 million cut over two years represents a 100% withdrawal of the Public Diplomacy budget * funds that would normally enable Canadians to participate in international festivals, exhibitions, concert and lecture tours, dance and theatre productions, conferences, and academic exchanges. These cuts to the Public Diplomacy budget will jeopardize Canada's longstanding international reputation as a free and democratic nation with a commitment to supporting Canadian values through its arts.

We believe that fiscal responsibility involves securing our long-term investments into the arts and cultural industries in Canada, and that sustaining Canadian culture abroad is an effective and productive use of our tax dollars. The effects of the Public Diplomacy cuts are aimed at hard-working Canadians who depend on international recognition to succeed in their field. This withdrawal of support to diplomatic funding is particularly disconcerting considering that other governments are continuously increasing their Public Diplomacy funding, such as the United States, which has tripled its efforts in cultural diplomacy since 2001.

We, the undersigned, would like to see the international dissemination of Canadian culture and values maintained as a priority for Canadians. We urge you to reverse your decision to cut these funds to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.