Saturday, June 24, 2006

Everybody Has Their Price, I Guess

You guys know how I feel about reality television, and the Idol competition in particular. Sure, we all know that pop music is as much a product of corporate manufacturing as Microsoft computers and vinyl siding, but let's not rub our faces in it. I've always felt, though, that Canada--and Edmonton in particular--has a strong, vibrant independent arts scene, and that belief has let me feel pretty strongly that whatever cultural pabulum Corporate America (or Canada) has to feed us, there are smart and talented people who are fighting the good fight, in their own way. People like my friend Heather, who is the most amazing director/dramaturg I've ever had the pleasure of working with--and stronger performers than me can say the same. People like Tania, who is opening her own belly dance studio this fall. Other cool, talented people that I know like Scott Sharplin, Kyla Fisher, Saskia Aarts, Janaya Ellis, and Christine Sokaymoh Frederick. People that I don't know like Darren Hagen and Sheldon Elter, who pretty much make a career out of Fringe theatre. Then, the other day, I was watching TV and an ad for Canadian Idol came on, announcing this year's competitors, including Edmonton's Sheldon Elter. I figure, no way--not the Metis Mutt guy. Must be a coincidence. So I go online and, sure enough, it's him.
Granted, I don't know the guy personally. To be honest, I'm not even all that familiar with his work. For all I know, he's been dreaming of reforming 98 Degrees ever since Nick up and married Jessica. I had a pretty strong feeling up until now, though, that if I ever did meet him, there was a good chance that we could sit down and talk about what's wrong with culture production in North America today. So maybe I don't have the right to feel betrayed by what I see as an obvious sellout by the poster boy for indie arts in Alberta--but I can't help but wonder how the ticket sales for his Fringe show this summer are going to go.
So. In the spirit of Mr Elter's stint on Idol, I have mapped future career paths for each of you.
Mom: doing advertising artwork for Ritalin.
Trent: playing backup bass for Britney Spears' next Pepsi ad.
Heather: directing said ad.
Tania and Aunt Deb: developing a way of maximizing the fat-burning movements in belly dancing to incorporate them in a "Look Like Paris Hilton in 2 Easy Weeks" diet and exercise manual.
Roz: developing a bacteria that eats body fat so that the wealthy don't have to learn the belly dance exercise regime.
Toni: organizing the women in the correctional facility to perform unpaid manual labour in the production of Sheldon Elter's debut album.
Heidi: launching a subliminal ad campaign to convince Banff vagrants to do roadside advertising for the album instead of begging for change
Phidit and Brad: engineering a computer that will eliminate the need for reading--just input the titles (or just the picture of the movie version you saw on the cover if you can't remember the title) of whatever books you happened to see in the bookstore, and the computer will generate academic essays, witty party repartee and well-considered opinions for multiple situations from job interview to date to a chance conversation with the author.
That's it. That's all I got. Go forth and corporatize, my lovelies.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

I Blame Nikki

In an effort to assuage the pain of my broken heart (so close! two little goals!) I'm going to tell you about my Friday adventure. I work 45 hours a week at the greenhouse this month plus, on Fridays, I TA for a summer course, not to mention all the reading I'm supposed to be doing, so I have to schedule time out. Every Friday afternoon, my friends Nikki and Meg and I meet for coffee. Last Friday, the sun came out and it was beautiful, so we had cold drinks on the waterfront. We were sitting on the wharf, about to head off home when Nikki pretends to hitch a ride on a passing boat. The guys on it laugh and keep going, but a minute later, they reappear, heading the other way. Meg says she thinks they might be stopping. Sure enough, our new friends Peter and Norm offer us a ride around the harbour. It was gorgeous! We went out to McNab's Island, past the dockyard and back. It was so fun! Nikki had her camera; I'll post some photos soon.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Was that the Bird or a Thumbs-Up?

There are now three of us in Halifax with Oilers car flags: me, Trent and the lovely English department grad secretary, Mary Beth. Most of the time, I don't even think about it--just get in my truck, pop on the flag and get going--which sometimes gets me teased at work. Whatever.
So last week, I was driving on campus to meet Nikki for a coffee. I'm on University Avenue which, while not technically a pedestrian street, tends to see more foot traffic than vehicles. This student is crossing the street in front of me, then all of a sudden he stops and starts punching the air. I'm thinking, what is this, some new pedestrian-automobile road rage that I haven't heard of yet? The guy looks really serious and he's waving his fist up in the air like he wishes it were soebody's face and finally, I realize that he's giving me some kind of uber-serious Go-Oilers-Go signal. I guess I could have honked my horn or punched the air back at him, but I was so honest-to-god relieved that he wasn't going to jump on Hana's hood and start kicking the windshield out, all I managed was a smile.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Everybody Blog Now!

Seriously. Make a Blog. Name it something silly. Phidit, you do the Wyoming Tumbleweed Blog; Roz, you can do the Harry Potter Fan Blog or the I Just Dodged Bonerville Blog; Trent can do the Transplanted Musician Blog, Paul can do the Only 26-Year-Old in Lethbridge Blog. Aunt Deb, you make the West Coast Granola Blog, Julie and Heather can compete for World's Cutest Baby Blog, Junaid can add to the world's store of I Love Gandalf Blogs, Toni can replace the Marathon Blog with the My Husband Makes Up Words Blog (Shramp Blog for short)... you get the picture. Just Blog. Because I'm addicted. I love Blogs. I love reading other people's Blogs, I Blogging, I love reading the comments you guys put on my Blog.

My Mommy Blogs. http://esmeandron.blogspot.com/. Just some incentive for you. Also, look at what I just noticed: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16479204&postID=112752646194116885. See, Tania is not the only one to learn that ANYONE can read your Blog! (Good story, that. Another good story is the one about the time she went on a date with and subsequently injured the guy who posted anonymously to her Blog. Geeks are fragile! Cute, but fragile.)