saved my life

oh hi there. i just found some really amazing wallpaper on the internets, so i'm in a pretty good mood, i can't lie. and. here's a good tune for being in a pretty good mood, do some dancing or maybe some jumping. watch out, tho! you had better run...

happy monday! it's you i'll come for!

saved my life

moooaaar daaaancing!



happy monday, bodies.

saved my life

let's have all videos be dance videos like this video, okay?



obviously. first time ever i've liked sia labeouf.

happy monday, thick skins, elastic hearts.

saved my life

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHDVENT!

i can't believe how fast it is going, this month o' decem. ber.

this is almost too easy, this week's choice. prepare to play on repeat foreverrrrrrrrrr.



amen, amen, amen.

happy monday, mix masterz.

saved my life

duuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's yoncé.

(i could have put up a video of me & lissa singing 'firework' or 'like a prayer' or 'scrubs' or 'we can't stop'... but i have a feeling that you had to be there to experience the true epic joy that was pouring out our faces... also no one filmed it. so lucky you. god bless that tiny karaoke room with incongruous videos of completely random stuff.)



i wanna be the redhead with the bow top. also jay-z doing a cameo-roll-through makes me like him WAY more that i used to.

happy monday, knee pad dancers!

ff

can't talk now, euggie's 30th birthday, byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee!!!







happy friday, HAPPIER BUUURRRRRRTHDAAAAAAYYYY!

saved my life

sometimes i'm just not feeling inspired on monday and i look and look for something to save my life, and it just isn't happenin.

this is a lesson: wait. something perfectly groovy is about to happen. oh you groovy oldschool beats! just exactly what i was looking for.



(can't find the full video to embed, so you can go here for the dancemoves.)

happy tuesday, funk masters!

saved my life

sylvan esso! this album was on my brand-new-stuff-for-walking-around-scotland-emo-styles playlist. very good. meadows music. 'wild winters. warm coffee.' & 'blazing summer. cold coffee.'



(also, in another of their songs. 'get on the train, get on the train & ride until you're home.')
happy monday, foggy walkers.

saved my life

IT IS THE TIME! that i tell you about how this was the best season of sytycddd ever. and make you watch it all, like 'THIS ONE WAS SO GREAT!!!' or 'OH OH OH! oh my HEART, THIS ONE!!' etc. etc. you know. best. just watch them and let your heart be glad. don't be dumb about it. come on now. (hey, happy wedding e&c... this first one is for you.)













and a million more, but let's be real. no one but me and maybe mel is watching all the way through these, so, fine, i'll stop.

happy monday, beautiful bodies.

saved my life

we have come right round to where we started. the original life-saver. one of the greatest joys i know.

robyn. robyn today, robyn tomorrow, robyn forever. tonight we dance.



tonight i will see robyn for the 2nd time live. and it is everything my heart needs, she always comes at the exact right time. dearest, most beautiful pop star of my soul.

happy monday,  fembots!!

saved my life

oooof great weekends make for tiiiiired mondays, ugh. a sliiiightly slower jam from ms robyn & the röyksopp boys. hi.



happy monday, indie queens.

saved my life

you know i love a dance video. thanks brother-hoops!

happy monday, dancepants.

saved my life

ah snap, another girl i love with grey hair, shit, this is gonna have to happen, isn't it. we'll talk more about that soon. HI! birthdaymonth is going real real good. and it is THE WEEK now. HI 30! I'M ALMOST YOU!





happy monday, let's dance!!!

saved my life (still so gay olympics edition)

'sup, the internets?! how was your weekend? spent mostly watching olympics? or at the biggest greek wedding ever in missassauga? yup, thought so.

surely you already know, but:

* ellen page is gay, happy (belated) valentines day!

and in other LGBTQ news:

* CLOSE CALL, kansas...

* facebook is adding new gender options and preferred pronoun choices.

* and what about life for gay russia after the world leave?

now some dancing.










happy monday, spandex clothing.

sads chats

bring on the trumpets!

it's let's talk day, the day where we talk about mental illness! (i was proof-reading this, just now, and had written 'metal illness', which is also a real thing, like lead poisoning, but is NOT what we talk about today. get your own day, metal illness! carry on.) i wrote a something about it two years back. and i've written about depression and anxiety on this here blorg many times in many ways, and with much repetition, i'm sure. i could write and write about what all it feels like, the dusty-chalk feels, the endless expanse feels, the even-more-endless expanse where the feels should be but aren't. but i don't feel(s) like it, ha ha, so i'm gonna link to some of my FAVOURITEST THINGS! that have helped me here and there when i have needed the helping.

 {by allie brosh by way of hyperbole and a half}

* depression part two by allie brosh aka hyperbole and a half

this. piece. is. devastating. and so beautiful and so true and so hard. and also so funny and so blunt.
(depression part one/adventures in depression is great too. but when it came out those of us who suffer the depressions all went 'ooohhhh no... thiiiisss is no gooood... oh no this is where it only just begins! you think you are in the depressions, and you think "hooray finally no more feels, at least" but actually you have only just breached the surface, oh no... i'm sorry. there's so much more.')
(if you haven't already read ALL HER STUFF you should, maybe even in book form?! i have her book right next to my bed and when i am THE WORST at bedtime i read some and oh, it is so great.)

* also consider listening to her interview with terry gross for fresh air

it is hard, too. some of it. but so good. terry gross has just the best way of being unassuming while getting so much out of her guests. yes good.

* the insanely brilliant strategy of the SMALL THINGS! by jennifer p at captain awkward

all. the. hoorays. i can't tell you what a difference it has made. the breakdown is: depression makes doing anything at all so fucking hard, and not doing anything at all makes you feel like a more broken, more garbage, more totally-colossally shit person. which, you can imagine, isn't great for getting to an okay place. but small jobs help. tiny to-do lists help. they meet halfway between being easy on yourself cuz you're sick goddamn, and also accomplishing a thing! feeling like a maybe real human being.

* DIY keep your shit together by rosalind robertson aka the DIY couturier

and thank god, because i try hard not to go apeshitbananas when i read those 'secret habits of happy people' that are often boiled down to 'be positive and HAPPY and you will be GREAT!!' which is a) not a secret b) NOT A THING or at least not a thing when things make it so you aren't happy. whether that thing is depression or your house burned down or some other thing that might make it hard to just POSITIVE YOUR WAY THROUGH IT *adorable loving punch in the shoulder* you'll get 'em next time! full disclosure, i was a friggin annoying as hell optimist for a looong time who really did think that in the end i'd just positive it all and wrap it up in a bow, and wow look at me go! and i don't hate all positive thinking or people who use it. i use it sometimes too. but i hate the condescension that often holds hands with the positive. the big smiley face that tilts its head and blinks blankly saying 'well you maybe are doing it wrong, or perhaps you just don't want it? i don't know! i can't imagine why it just won't WORK if you're really WORKING it... ... .. .'

{more hyperbole and a half, duh}

because the moral: depression and anxiety, they are real things in the world that are real and hard and shitty and whatever and if i am not well it is not because i don't want to be. it is not because i'm lazy or pessimistic or dumb or broken. it just is.

lastly! i read the belljar this year, and thank goodness because i sorta felt like i had a great secret-shame in the depressive/fashioning/feminist world for not having read it... and you should think about reading it too, if you haven't. it is not fun, but it is lovely and so much more. the belljar: of course. the belljar and all its foul air.

also. after-lastly... let's dance.

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!

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...

saved my life

we are making lists, these days. lists. reminders. things like:

dogs, trees, dancing.

dancing and live music. which luckily there is a lot of here in toronto. friday sarah jay and i attended the big sound motown show. this is my second time. harmony and brass and tamborines.





(and a classic. original.)



happy monday, baby loves.

saved my life

fiiiiine i'm back to real life. ugh. don't wanna. new york some more! ugh. ugh.



happy wednesday, sleepy-deads.