Got up this Mornin'

The past few weeks have gone by in a blur, and I'm tempted to skip recounting my trip to Toronto, but will instead give up some jot notes.

The city is crazy. I don't like crowds of teenagers. I'm jealous of their public transportation system. I wish we had a Sephora here. The weather was awful. The people were rude. I had a great time hanging with two good friends. I wish we had a weird hippie village that extended further than the Black Market.

Oh yes, and I love roller coasters:

Heh heh heh

When I returned back east I was greeted by three weeks of bad weather and an impending move that hurt my head. A bunch of broken stuff and a wad of cash later, I bid a sad farewell to my apartment of two years, a mere five minute walk from downtown. It caused me a lot of stress, with appliances breaking, the wind rushing in during winter, and a few mice (the folks downstairs swear they saw rats), but I will miss it.

I'm Littlest Hobo-ing it by staying with a friend until the lady whose house I'm going to be looking after flies off to Greece on the 18th (all together now--jealous!). So my Hali-ventures continue for a little while longer.

Virgin Festival was great, dirty fun. I ruined a pair of shoes, got splattered in mud, and had unfortunate run-ins with drunk, shirtless, sweaty guys... the worst type of concert-goer. I enjoyed just about everyone who played, but especially got a kick out of seeing Dinosaur Jr., Hey Rosetta!, and the Handsome Furs. The Offspring were a lot of fun in a weird, nostalgic way... I used to love Smash back in the day and may have gotten a little excited when they played "Come Out and Play" and "Self Esteem".

Offspring! Before I got punched a lot and moved back from the front.

This Saturday is "stand outside the Commons and listen to Macca for free" day. It's also filled with Jazz Fest goodness (side note: Sa-ba-da-OW!). I'm checking out Verbal Warnin' at the festival tent and most likely skipping Retro Night for some Pixies goodness at the Seahorse.

Sunday is... drumroll... Twitter Rafters! My organizational skills have been put to good work. I think it's going to be a great day. Day trips are lovely, especially when complemented with friends and activities that are potentially detrimental to your well-being (I have waivers for us to sign). Goodness.

6 months, 120 movies

This is my second year of attempting to log all of the movies I watch. It's harder than it sounds, and I am not sure if the mid-year total 120 is 100% accurate, but it's definitely better than last year's score of 140/12 months. I don't think I'm watching more movies, but I am more diligent about updating my list.

It has been six months of highs and lows. I started off strong with a roster of Paul Verhoeven and a few other Dutch films, and made an attempt to watch the majority of Oscar-nominated movies for that year.

February was mostly a month of cheesy horror and sci-fi, with a healthy dose of Jean Claude Van Damme. I believe Valentine's Day was spent watching Total Recall and either Bloodsport or Kickboxer. Romance is still alive and well.

I don't understand what was going on with me in March. There's no theme. It's Rock n Roll High School 2 followed by Network. The one weird Saturday where I watched Mad Max I and II and probably almost died. A little bit of David Cronenberg and a sparked interest in Bruce McDonald. Alrighty.

Every single movie I watched in April was completely awesome in its own way. Except for The Haunting in Connecticut. And How To Lose Friends and Alienate People. With apologies to Simon Pegg. Obvious winners of April include Straw Dogs, Heat, Gone With the Wind, and Vertigo. The award for "most hilarious movie featuring creepy incest" goes to Flowers in the Attic--well done, V.C. Andrews!

May was chock full of bad VHS and movies that I would never have rented/downloaded that were on TV. I watched Star Trek and The Fall twice. I subjected myself to a Donnie Darko spin-off. Aging myself about 25 years, I complained about the noisy teenagers during the opening night of Drag Me To Hell and got free movie tickets.

This summer will bring a good selection for the alFresco filmFesto (including one of my all-time favourites Harold and Maude) and, if I'm lucky, involvement in a few short films, including one I'm in the process of writing. I'll be needing extras with a strong stomach who can stand a little (or a lot) of fake blood and dermawax, and a willingness to hang out with me in Woodside. You have been warned.

East Coast Throw Down

Classified feat. Joel Plaskett




vs.

Matt Mays feat. Buck 65



Matt may have the upper hand... he's got Bruce Frisko in his corner.

902/416

I'm moving in less than a month, and have been pretty good about getting things packed away and making arrangements to get my stuff outta Halifax. Moving is the worst, but I'm getting some enjoyment out of sorting through all of my things and dreaming of my new place, which comes equipped with a real-life washer and dryer (it has been nearly TWO YEARS of carting my laundry to friends/family... I hate laundromats) and an Arabian Nights room (more on this later).

Before I get the heck out of the South End, I'm going to have to pack for another purpose--a trip to the T-dot-Ohh (Ohhh!) to visit mein friend, Josh, at the end of the month. We've got awful and wonderful things planned, like descending upon MuchMusic like the 13-year olds we are and verbally abusing the Jonas Bros and Lady GaGa. Good times. It will be my first visit to the fair hamlet of Torontonia, so I expect I'll be floored by the big buildings and what-not... edifices too controversial for Halifax.

Not that Halifax isn't cool beans. Lately I've been provided with many an awesome night out, in the form of Cirque de Soleil's Alegria (inspiring, amazing, and for me, terrifying), Joel Plaskett's Rebecca Cohn show (fantastic), and a lovely little film called DRAG ME TO HELL (so fun).

A neat opportunity that's coming up next weekend is the once-a-year opening of Georges Island. For around $15 you can take the ferry over and explore the ruins of Fort Charlotte and check out a very unique view of Halifax. Next weekend is also the much-beloved Greek Fest down on Purcell's Cove Road. This is where I go (almost) every year to eat way too much and yet always manage to sneak an extra piece of baklava. It's $5 for a weekend pass--whadda steal.

On the VHS adventures front, I've been awful and re-watched Titanic and Devil Wears Prada instead of The Dentist or every single Highlander movie. Another let-down was the waste of time that was Terminator: Salvation, which was the least fun movie I've seen in a long time (and I JUST watched Tetsuo: The Iron Man aka LIFE RUINER). SHAME on you, McG, SHAME! Please redeem yourself by giving Crispin Glover more Charlie's Angels cash. The man needs to make more movies! And come back to Halifax. And give me a tour of his castle in the Czech Republic. Just sayin'.

On a positive note, I'm getting Romero's Martin in a few days, and I'm fairly certain it's going to be great. Coming along with said movie is a book on how to make special fx gore on a budget. Time to raid Sobey's for some corn syrup, coffee grinds, and food colouring. I'm helping out with make-up for a short film that should be a lot of fun. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have some photos to share. If not, stay tuned for the Zombie Walk in August... I've got plans...

Disconnected and it feels so good

I have long suspected that my cat hated my laptop... probably because I pay attention to it when I should be showering her with attention/treats (mostly treats). This laptop has been scratched, slept on, clogged with fur, and generally abused by my cat for many months. I had my suspicions, but I didn't know how far she'd go.

Last Friday must've been her last stand against technology, as when my boyfriend stopped by my place to check the internets, he discovered that the laptop's screen was, basically, cracked in two. The culprits? Likely a combination of cat and gravity.

This is pretty much what my screen looks like now:

I can see things on one corner of the screen, and at a moment of desperation managed to check my email/Twitter on a teeny-tiny Firefox and squint at mini-Facebook, but it's really not worth it. El laptoppo is dead, RIP.

Not having the internet to contain my attention led to some good things and some bad things.

Good: I made it out to the K-os show and really enjoyed myself. The opening band, Lioness, was a lot of fun. I will be inviting them to future Dance Parties via their sweet self-titled album. K-os was pretty fantastic, as predicted. I coveted his outfit and his ability to perform high kicks. Let it be known that "Crucial" and "ELEctrik HeaT - the seekwiLL" are my jams.

This weekend marked this guy and I's fourth anniversary, and we celebrated by going on an epic antiquing excursion, followed by martinis and Star Trek (lovelovelove). Despite my initial excitement over both Wolverine and Terminator: Salvation, I think Star Trek might win the nerd war, due to an unfair advantage: it has SPOCK.

One last good: Drag Me to Hell looks kind of awesome.

Bad: I watched 11 movies this long weekend and I will never get that time back.

• Snow Angels : Dartmouth and Halifax lookin' pretty sad. But a good movie, nonetheless.
• Taken : Liam Neeson kills everyone in Paris and gets away with it.
• A Night to Remember : Also pretty good.
• Star Trek : LOVE LOVE LOVE.
• Re-Animator : "You killed him!" / "No, I did not. I gave him LIFE!"
• Children of the Living Dead : Tom Savini kills zombies and it's funny for a bit, but then proceeds to ruin your life.
• Wolfen : Fell asleep...
• April Fool's Day : Kind of enjoyable (cheese) but mostly lame. Didn't like the rip-off ending.
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man : Very cool, but may have ruined my life forever.
• Storytelling : Very good.
• Candyman : Need to watch sequels.

This week has considerable less time allotted to hermit-ing. Third Wednesday is this week at the Foggy Goggle from 5 to 7 PM---please come out and say "hi"! We'll be discussing how Nova Scotia election candidates are/aren't using social media.

I'll be checking out the Terminator premiere this Thursday. I may have harsh words for this "McG" character once its over. Usually a friend of Crispin Glover's is a friend of mine, but I may have to make an exception...

Vamos

Internet,

There are a few things we need to talk about.

1. Che part one and two are currently playing at the Oxford, with back-to-back showings. That's 257 minutes of Benicio's scraggly beard. I don't tend to enjoy Steven Soderbergh's movies that much , but these two sound better than solid. A poster on the outside of the Oxford tells me that Public Enemies is coming soon. Johnny Depp is a notorious bank robber and G-man Christian Bale is going to take that sucker down. This is coming from the writer and director of Heat, my favourite "cops and robbers" movie, so I expect good things.

2. The last Dartmouth Thrillema was good fun, and a little bittersweet (there's a few photos up on my Flickr). Empire 6 is now offically closed, after almost 20 years of entertaining the good folks of Dartmouth. I had a lot of fun at that movie theatre. I laughed, I cried, I threw handful of Fuzzy Peaches across the aisle at the annoying girls from school. RIP Empire 6, and F-U Dartmouth Crossing.

3. One of my favourite bands (of high school) might be coming to Halifax with the now-confirmed Virgin Festival. The rumoured line-up is: Stone Temple Pilots (yay!), The Tragically Hip (ok!), The Offspring (what?), and Matt Mays (does El Torpedo exist anymore?). I predict that if this is the real line-up, concert-goers will be extreme jerks. Myself include. Look out.

4. Wolverine, Star Trek, and Terminator: Salvation all premiering within the same month is too much for little nerd heart. I've already seen the admittedly-lame Wolverine twice. Not good.

5. My adventures in VHS haven't been progressing very quickly, but I've managed to sneak in a few good movies. Out of the lot, one of the best has to be Straw Dogs. It's one of the strongest films I've seen in a while, resting on a rising wave of tension that explodes into gruesome violence (I think Kevin from Home Alone studied this movie well). Hard to believe this came out in 1971,

6. I will be re-appraising Retro Night at the Paragon Theatre this weekend. They got rid of the ridiculous mandatory coat-check that was bringing everyone down last time... smart move. Enjoy your weekend, folks

A Tracklist of Waste and Despair

Such are the activities of the unsavoury and obstinate creep! Items such as "have more nightmares about Bette Davis" and "acquire more VHS" have been solidly realized, while actions like "pack away your apartment" and "cut your hair, you be-mulleted goon" remain unmet. ("Woe!" -- J. Lawrence)

I usually fall in and out of love with Halifax on a weekly basis, but the past little while has been good, in terms of occupying my time and keeping me from constantly wondering: Barney and Robin... WILL THEY OR WON'T THEY?!

In typical Lauren-fashion, here is what should have been several blog entries, condensed into one paltry bulleted list:

*International Record Store Day was last Saturday, and I was lucky enough to spend it at Taz Records, which was stuffed to the gills with bike ridin', scarf wearin', greasy hair'ed locals. We were treated to tunes by the fantastic Tom Fun Orchestra and the always charming Joel Plaskett who debuted a few songs from his new record, Three. In the spirit of Record Store Day, I looked through a weird assortment of vinyl and ended up leaving with four soundtracks: Ghostbusters, Lost Boys, The Cincinatti Kid, and Manhatten. Expect future dance-parties to come of this. Yeeeaaaah, Gershwin!

*Retro Night returned to the Marquee... I mean the Paragon Theatre... whatever. This has always been my favourite "dance night" in Halifax, but I am a little peeved at the way the "new" building looks and added "policies" like the $2 mandatory coat-check are a little lame. The main floor has been divided in two, leaving much less space for patrons. More than one person I invited ended up getting turned away quite early because the club was at capacity. I'll still be going to Retro Nights, and I am glad that the Paragon is bringing in great acts like Tom Fun, Hey Rosetta!, and Elliot Brood, but I'm definitely not getting in line to buy a "star pass".

*Thrillema in Dartmouth will be no more after next week. Sigh. I am pretty sad about that, as, if you haven't guessed already, I hail from the Darkside, and enjoyed seeing fun movies in the theatre I frequented for many, many years. The last Dartmouth Thrillema screening will be Conan the "Dartmouthian" Thursday at 9:00 PM. Last week's showing of Jurassic Park sold out at 7:45 pm due to huge pre-sales and weirdos like me showing up an hour+ early. My fake Sam Jackson arm and raptor shirt did not garner me a prize, but I had an alright time just the same. One thing that bothered me, slightly, was the loud mocking of the movie some people engaged in. I mean, I get that with some movies which are now seen as corny, or are purposefully campy, but, for me, Jurassic Park is a solid movie that deserves some respect. Yes, Lex was dumb for turning on the flashlight, but IT IS A MOVIE and not real life, so try and enjoy it instead of offering your method of avoiding T-Rex attacks to the entire theatre. Also, you know, SIR Richard Attenborough. RESPECT.

*People are beginning to not give me the side-eye when I mention Twitter. 'Cause, you know, if Oprah's doing it, it can't be that weird. Tweet-ups have been very fun, and I'm very pleased with the encouragement that I've received regarding my feeble attempts at conquering the interwebs with 140 characters. Upcoming events include one that I can help but think I inspired: '80s Games Night! Complete with a screening of the epic film THE WIZARD and maybe-if-they'll-let-me BRAINSCAN ('90s, but with Furlong and a "killer" CD-ROM, can you lose?). Be warned: my scrunchies will be EXTRA scrunched, my colour palate with be neon and glitter, and I have three pairs of Wayfarers waiting for me at home. Don't switch the blade on a guy in shades, oh-no!

Yes, it's all fun and games until someone gives you a box of VHS and you must hermit like a pro to get through them. As my movie list for the year grows steadily and I begin to forget the outside world in favour of watching Flowers in the Attic on repeat, I cannot help but be concerned. And then there goes my blog-fodder, unless this becomes a "secret diary" for Kristy Swanson and her weirdo closet family. Unfollow while you can!