sml

looking back at all the things that saved my life in 2013. here's a playlist of some favourites. one per month. backwards we go.

december:  mirror  *ellie goulding

november:  you're not the one  *sky ferreira

october:  no gun  *naomi pilgrim

september:  wrecking ball  *the gregory brothers

august:  bugs don't buzz  *majical cloudz

july:  graveyard  *feist

june:  i need my girl  *the national

may:  primadonna girl  *marina & the diamonds

april:  scary monsters & nice sprites  *skrillex

march:  oblivion  *grimes

february:  they just keep moving the line  *smash/megan hilty

january:  who  *david byrne & st vincent

a very good year for music in my ears and dancing dancing, singing, crying, dancing.

ff

I'M A GROOOWWN WOMAN! I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!

beyoncé released a secret-surprise visual album last week and the internets went INSANE. explodeexplode. (i'm super sad i lost my voice to a cough/cold, because all i want to do with my friday is belt out 'pretty hurts' over and over and over until i get evicted for beyoncéing the neighbours.) let's check out some of the good writing on the album, yoncé, feminism, and pop music.

* chris randle anticipates the revolution

* malaika jabali talks breaking from respectability 

* rookie team does a big ol' round table

i woke up like this... i woke up like this... flawless.



now i can't share the actual whole song/video with you, but i can tell you it is great. and i CAN share the talk from which she samples. chimamanda ngozi adichie. so thrilled she is getting the pop-music bump. there is so much greatness in this talk. so much. yes yes great good.



(and because chimamanda is amazing, here's another talk she gave about the danger of the single story. lovely and fine.)



happy friday, dancers.

saved my life

dance dance, christmastime. this weekend the christmas party deluge began. christmastime snuck up so fast, i'm scrambling to catch up on the christmastime spirit. here's some help.





HAPPY HOLIDAYS, ELFS!

ff

i have hearts in my eyes for geena davis, i sure do. of course, you say, we all do... why do you bring her up on the blorg today? because she wrote a little somethin somethin that i very much like about women in cinema.

* two easy steps to make hollywood less sexist

easy steps, you say? there are NO easy steps in the war that is feminism! ha HA! you're wrong, genna is right, there are easy steps. check it!

"OK, now for the fun part: It's easy, fast and fun to add female characters, in two simple steps. And I want to be clear I'm not talking about creating more movies with a female lead. If you do, God bless and thank you. Please consider me for that role.

Step 1: Go through the projects you're already working on and change a bunch of the characters' first names to women's names. With one stroke you've created some colorful unstereotypical female characters that might turn out to be even more interesting now that they've had a gender switch. What if the plumber or pilot or construction foreman is a woman? What if the taxi driver or the scheming politician is a woman? What if both police officers that arrive on the scene are women — and it's not a big deal?

Step 2: When describing a crowd scene, write in the script, "A crowd gathers, which is half female." That may seem weird, but I promise you, somehow or other on the set that day the crowd will turn out to be 17 percent female otherwise. Maybe first ADs think women don't gather, I don't know.

And there you have it. You have just quickly and easily boosted the female presence in your project without changing a line of dialogue."

 {geena davis for the hollywood reporter}

captain awkward, who is awesome, recommends that you - when struggling with something like, say, the blah-lazies of depression - do little tiny things and acknowledge them as accomplishments. small tiny things that you can actually handle and then LET YOURSELF FEEL GOOD about those things. don't say 'today i will clean this apartment top to bottom!!!' and then find yourself crushed under your pathetic inability to do so. (that's mean depression voice talking. i don't think you're pathetic.) say 'today i will do one load of laundry so i have clean underwear!!!' and be proud and pleased and satisfied with that getting done. done! you did it. it is done.

so this advice here from geena? same same! it is an incredibly easy thing to do. blammo! just like that. it is so insanely simple it seems silly. but it isn't. not at all. it is brilliant and great. be proud and pleased.

love is weird

i can't stop. thinking. about. johanna.

falling

 

GIF DAY! DIVING DAY! diving gif day for YOU!

today is the last diving day for 2013. sadface. sigh. don't worry, i'm registered for next term. i am so stoked. last week i finally got my hurdle to feel right - it is so tough when your muscle-memory just says 'NOT QUITE!' but won't tell you how to fix it... dumb muscle-memory. sure, i can't do a lot of things i could do when i was 14, but i was hoping this one would come easy. le sigh. not so. but last week! kapow! starting to make the sense again. and with that hurdle comes the height and control you need to do ALL THE DIVES! or. more of the dives... better versions of the dives i've been pretending to dive...

also, i guess this will be my awesome no-one-will-get-it halloween costume next year. yeah? haha! nonsense! fever ray. you're a weirdo. i like you. (if anyone wants to buy me a springboard, that would be cool. fyi.)

and finally: WATCH OUT! this is why you almost never see open-water diving. so dangerous.
 

saved my life

i went and saw catching fire again on the weekend... don't worry. i'm already ready to see it again. so. grimas. yes. let's. i decided the very best moment in the whole movie is when johanna is sitting on the beach, axing the sand, and says 'love is weird'. yup. it is the very best moment. oh johanna.

meanwhile. the soundtrack, the soundtrack, the soundtrack...



happy monday, tributes.

ff

have you marginalized your daughter today?!

person i know! making a great thing! i like this very much.


Kinder Surprise for Girls: Gender Surprise! by yourgeeknews

surprise! more exclamation points! (shout out to old-friend-from-stage-polaris kristen mcgregor - who plays the daughter up in there. nice one. very cool.)

happy friday, kinder.

blister, burn

holy god, catching fire is bleak. and fantastic. and devastating. and i loved it. and i want to see it again right this minute. i very much liked the first film, but there were a few punches i felt they pulled - the dogs being mutts, particularly, which is such a powerful terrible idea. which made sense cuz kids movie... but. this film doesn't pull punches. the old man in district 11. i love that the costumes and makeup look real - not polished high-def movie real. but. stagey. put on. the tributes dressed up. you see the texture, you see the fabric and the seams and the way things sit on or dig into skin. the sweat, spit, tears, hair, fire. flickerman's teeth. glass. where there is polish and where there is not. utility vs comfort vs costume. yes, this is a very well handled film. oh it is dark. 

johanna. jenna malone, who i have loved forever, is brilliant and sad. her anger is overwhelming and roiling. she is my favourite for a million miles.

catching fire was the best book in the series for me, and one of the more intoxicating books i've read. the movie does it proper justice. oh i am pleased, i am heartbroken. also, buy the soundtrack. it is really really really good. elastic heart. oh god.

also, i recommend you read this. the odds are never in our favour.

saved my life

last week i had my second of four solo-ballet-dates, wherein i take myself to the ballet and dress fancy and am glad. oh man i love the ballet. this show was all new works. including one with music by owen pallett! HOW FUN IS THAT?! very fun. and all with live musicians which is very nice. here's a little look at the piece being created.



(also one used pergolesi's stabat mater, and yes i did cry very hard when it started cause hi harmony, hi sadness.)
happy monday, brass section slowly climbing up up up...