Bang ON!!!

Just wondering if any of you think its a coincidence Sheldon Cooper's new potential love interest goes by the name of Amy...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ......

Much Better :)

Worthy Note: Arkells

(Arkells / Them Crooked Vultures Show @ACC)

My new favourite band is the Arkells. I have to say that my love for them has grown and they are now situated in my top ten list of besties. My friend Rajiv game me their CD about 2 years ago and I'll admit it wasn't love at first listen. It wasn't until I gave their album Jackson Square a solid thorough listen, that songs like "Oh, the Boss is coming!" appealed to my head and heart. They are witty, smart and have thought provoking and relatable lyrics.

I saw them live at Edgefest last summer but considering my friends and I were very preoccupied with the rain, mud and beer I didn't get the full effect. Later that year on my birthday I saw them again at Lee's Palace. And my heart stopped beating. They put on a great show and are extremely talented guys. Maybe it was the beer talking but I was convinced the lead singer was giving me loving looks. ha ha. Maybe he just has that kind of face.

(Max's "Love Eyes")

Recently they opened for Them Crooked Vultures at the ACC, which I attended. I was much more excited and involved in their performance than I was TCV. TCV got a little boring after a while, I'll admit it. But it was a great show. Here is some footage!

The Forgotten Garden

I few weeks ago a friend of mine caught me off guard by asking me what my favourite book was. My first reaction was that this would be an easy answer considering the amount of books I read. But to be honest I had no response. I mentally went through my library and had nothing that stood out the same way my favourite shirt does. Then, I was roaming around Chapters and the book The Forgotten Garden caught my eye. After reading the gist of it, I was sold. I was looking for a lighter read after the darker books I had been reading and The Forgotten Garden was exactly what I was looking for on both agendas, it has taken top spot and lit my heart.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is an amazing story of a four year old girl found alone on a wharf in Australia in 1913. She doesn't know who she is or where she came from, all she has as a reminder of her past is a book of fairytales. She is found by a man who adopts her into his family and names her Nell. On her 21st birthday her father reveals to her how he found her and that he is unsure of her past. Her whole life is changed but Nell doesn't begin her search of who she really is until 1975. Shortly after, her granddaughter Cassandra comes to live with her and she gives up her investigation to take care of her. In 2005, when Nell passes away, Cassandra learns her grandmother's secret and starts out to finish what Nell started.

After reading this book I am convinced that Kate Morton is one of the best writers I have read to date. Her book bounces between different times as she tells the stories of Nell's family in the early 1900s, Nell's discoveries in 1975 and then the present investigating of Cassandra in 2005. She writes it so well that I never felt confused or overwhelmed. She even wrote out some of the fairytales in Nell's books and they are very well written.

Please see the video below of Kate herself discussing the book and what inspired her to write it. And for anyone struggling with what to read next pick this up because you won't be disappointed. I'm going to give it 5 fairy tales out of 5.

South Park Prediction

Although the show may be a little too rough around the edges for some people, South Park is one of the smartest animated shows on T.V today. Not only was the recent episode poking fun at the Tiger Woods fiasco eye-opening and gut busting, they followed up with a brilliantly funny look at how we have evolved due to social media sites like Facebook in their episode "You have 0 friends."

Today, I was floored when I stumbled upon Miley Cyrus's newly released music video for her song Can't be Tamed. In March 2008, around the time Britney Spears had her famous shaved head meltdown, South Park created an episode called "Britney's New Look." In this episode, the boys witness Britney's biggest meltdown when she shoots herself in the head. She survives but her head is reduced to only a jaw. We then find out that it is a country-wide conspiracy to get Britney to kill herself as a ritualistic sacrifice to improve the corn harvest and they were using the media to do it. It is a very sad interpretation of the media's impact on celebrities today. At the end of the episode their next sacrifice is revealed and it is none other than young Miley Cyrus.

It amazes me that this South Park view seems to now be coming true. Miley seems to be the successor to the Spears throne and she has taken her first very obvious step in that direction. Miley's new music video seems to share Spears' sound, sexiness and even dance moves. Also, her statements on the video seem to emulate Britney's when she took that "sexy leap."

"It is a sexy video, you can't take that away from it but it's not the premise … The video is not about being sexy or about who can wear less clothes. That's what every other video about. It's about explaining the song and living the lyrics... It's the first step to growing up but I think it's done the right way. I'm really proud of it."

This just proves, to me, the true brilliance of the show and if I was Miley I would take very good care of my hair.

Erostos Domenos Pretos! Hobibos Hoyivey doyemos!

To watch the South Park episode click here

BAZINGA!

Big Bang Theory is probably my favourite show and this is my favourite scene to date. Oh the things I would do to Dr. Sheldon Cooper (insert girly sigh here).

Click Here to watch... stupid youtube disabled embedding.

Many Hands Make Light Work

So I can finally check one thing off my bucket list. On April 28th, the advertising agency I work for, McDonnell Haynes, participated in a Habitat for Humanity Toronto build. I was a little nervous because I've never been a part of building a house before and wasn't really sure what to expect. What I found out was that they assign you to a task quickly, teach you and then instantly put you to work for the rest of the day. And it was HARD WORK.

My task was putting up drywall. I had no idea that installing drywall was such hard work. Maybe because I am used to cutting up foam core at work for mounting projects that I underestimated the weight of sheets of drywall. They are pretty damn heavy. My muscles the next day were furious with me. I know I sound like I'm complaining, its only natural for me considering I have never built anything bigger than a paper doll! But I had a great time, it was fun to wear plaid, a tool-belt and wield a drill like Mike Holmes. Plus, I learned a lot about building and it was for an amazing cause. I would do it again in a heart beat.

For more information on how to get involved with Habitat for Humanity Toronto please click here.

Here are a few pictures from the build too! Taken by Vanessa Galle