Music ADD

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsevis/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I have a problem.

It’s not just me, though. I sense others may be facing the same issue. I fear Music ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) is plaguing our generation.

Back in high school, I used to listen to music on my Discman, on the 45-minute subway ride to school. I listened to the same CD, weeks on end, learning the words, discovering every nuance of every song.

Though as soon as I got an iPod and shelved my CDs, I noticed a change in my music-appreciation habits: I found myself skimming through music recklessly.

Do you have an iPod? You probably do, if you’re sitting here, reading this. Apple has sold well over 100 million iPods, so you either own one of those, or you own another type of mp3 player.

Thanks to HUGE amounts of storage space, iPods can hold thousands of songs and hundreds of albums, not to mention photos and video. I realized I could carry my entire library of music with me, and that in a few clicks, I could listen to whichever song I wanted at that moment.

For example, on a car trip, one minute I’d be listening to Be Quiet and Drive by the Deftones, and partway through I’d have a craving to hear Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root.

I would rarely listen to a whole album in one sitting. Only very very special artists had the power to hold my Music Attention for the length of an entire album. This required near-Alanis Morrissette Jagged Little Pill perfection, which the world hasn’t seen much of since 1995.

Which is what leads me to my current dilemma. I have a giftcard to iTunes and I want to spend it, but it’s taking me forever to figure out what to download! I keep playing loads of sample clips, but it’s totally infuriating because they only play random 30-second snippets. How will I be able to tell if the whole song is great?

I don’t want to buy an album where only one or two songs are good. I need something that will satisfy my disorder. I need a fix of some great music, an album that is excellent through and through.

Am I the only one who’s experienced this change in how I listen to music?

I’m trying to get better, I really am. Any tips?

¡Muchos Gracias Mucho Burrito!

Holy McDonald’s. I had the best fast food experience ever.

Mucho Burrito is my new best friend. In search of a real sub sandwich in the downtown core (not those Quizno’s toasty things), I stumbled across this gem at the First Canadian Place food court.

For about six bucks I got a “pequeño” sized burrito packed full of rice, black beans, cilantro, hot homemade salsa and “barbacoa” (shredded beef). Tack on a dollar for a heaping spoonful of bright green guacamole. Pequeño means “small” in Spanish, but this bad boy was a good-sized meal! The Mississauga-based franchise has over 20 locations in Canada, and carry three sizes of burritos on their menu, plus tacos, quesadillas and salads.

You must understand that I have a bleak view of fast food. I’ve been known to crave Big Macs on occasion, but other than that, fast food doesn’t cut it. It’s usually junk, held in steam-pans or warming drawers and it’s not made with quality ingredients. When you want fast Greek souvlaki, you end up with leather on a stick. When you want fast Mexican food, you usually get a ricey-beany-mush wrapped in something that half-resembles a tortilla.

I was head-over-heels crazy for this burrito.

If you’re from Toronto, you know the burrito hot spots. You’re thinking, “Miranda, fast food can’t compare to Burrito Boys/Big Fat Burrito/Burrito Bandidos. You’re off your rocker.”

I’ll admit, burritos from those places pack a punch, but I challenge you to find a food court stall where you can find fresh, reasonably priced fast food that tastes great. So next time you’re craving a burrito in downtown Toronto, take my word for it, try Mucho.

While we’re at it, what are your favourite burrito joints?

Tunes on Repeat

The Hood Internet.

I haven’t listened to new music in quite a while, so I the other day I flipped through Spin’s 50 Must-Hear Bands at SXSW to try and scope out some new tunes. I came across the Hood Internet, a DJ duo from Chicago that specializes in mash-ups.

They have a great track called Nuthin’ but a Journal Thang, combining Dr Dre. vs Class Actress.

Dr. Dre vs. Class Actress

Other interesting tracks include:

Passion Pit vs Juvenile – Back That Sleepyhead Up

Michael Jackson vs Ratatat – Billie “Wildcat” Jean

Drake vs The Rapture – Best Jealous Lover I Ever Had

Now, I was thinking I’d never heard these mixes before, but then I noticed they had mixed a track called Comfortable Up Here that uses Lil’ Wayne’s Comfortable, and Royksopp’s Happy Up Here. Last spring, I couldn’t get enough of it!

Their website has tons of great music, and they have a lot of mixtapes available for streaming and download.

Very cool. Happy listening!

Not a girly girl.

I went shopping today for some St. Patrick’s Day accoutrements.  We’re supposed to wear green tomorrow for work at the pub, so I got a green shirt and a pair of green thigh-high American Apparel socks to go with my black kilt. I also scooped up some temporary tattoos (shamrocks, “Kiss me, I’m Irish” and pots of gold) at the dollar store.

I went to the AA at Yonge and Bloor and it was such a beautiful day today that I decided to wander a bit and shop around.

I came back with this dress:I’ve wanted a Chambray shirt for a while. Gap came out with these really cute dresses a while ago and they’re finally on sale! As I walked out of the store, I thought “Good for you, Miranda. You bought a dress. You are a girl!”

I am the un-girliest girl. Not the un-girliest girl I know, but I have problems with most clothing out there.

I went into ZARA, and Costa Blanca, and almost immediately I walked out of both. Ruffles and flowers and prints are like my Kryptonite.

Take Anthropologie, for example. The Urban Outfitters young-professional offshoot has an absolutely gorgeous store in Yorkville. I stopped in today, hoping to find something that was “me.”

Wow, that store is not me.

It’s weird, because I think a lot of the things in there are very beautiful. I love the colours, the patterns, the bows, the sparkles…just on someone else. I feel silly in “girly” clothes. Don’t get me wrong. I love tailored dresses that fit like a glove, made of rich fabrics. Like this one that I’m wearing on the left:

(That’s my friend Avery on the right, you can read her blog here.)

I like dresses like that. I like something simple and classy. I scoured Anthropologie for something that would suit me, but I decided it’s probably just not my store. I love the things they sell, but I think I feel totally ridiculous wearing most of it!

Part of me says I should just bite the bullet and delve into frills and lace, and everything would be okay. Yet there’s also something stopping me, holding me back. Maybe I’m just destined for a wardrobe of solid colours, clean lines and classic pieces.

At least I love shoes. There are always shoes.

Photographs from my Phone

Christmas lights on Lansdowne Avenue, just South of Bloor St.

The cameraphone is a strange beast. The quality isn’t that great, there’s no flash, yet they’re a useful tool when a real camera isn’t handy. I find I always take weird pictures with mine. Random, on-the-fly type stuff that doesn’t fall into an average photo album.

Today you’re in for real treat! I figured out how to get the pictures off my phone and onto my computer, so I decided to share a few photos.

The photo above was taken just before Christmas 2009, on Lansdowne Avenue. Usually people get into the Christmas spirit and put up just a few lights. At my house, we use those icicle lights that were all the rage when they came out nearly a decade ago. Simple, decorative, and easy peasy to put up. But this house went all out. You could see it from blocks away, it was so bright and glaring. The owners had even put out little speakers playing Christmas music!! As if the lights weren’t enough. A+, well done. That’s all I have to say.

Vanilla cupcake with strawberry puree buttercream frosting

A perfect afternoon

The photos above are both from a little shop around the corner from my house. Sweet Tooth is an airy yet cozy little café that serves a terrific assortment of sweets and hot drinks. The cupcakes are sooooo tasty. They offer a really wide assortment of single tarts, brownies, squares, cookies, and meringues. They also sell colourful, stylishly decorated full-sized cakes, as well as pans of their brownies and squares. Sweet Tooth’s French macaroons (lemon, lime and strawberry – I think I’ve also seen orange on occasion) are light, crunchy and bursting with fruit flavour. Their blondies are topped with tons of chocolate chips and caramel drizzle – they’re so rich that just a small piece of the $12 pan will satisfy your tooth! I just can’t get enough of this place.

A glowing review of Little House on the Prairie: The Musical

Elizabeth, (probably) 8, leaves her professional opinion on a poster in the Canon Theatre lobby. At Mirvish’s latest disaster musical, audience members were invited to sign and write comments, and I found this one particularly cute. The house was packed, so obviously tickets were selling and the show was making money. Though the musical itself wasn’t great, I’m sure it entertained the TV series’ avid fans. It was nice to see kids and their families at the theatre, and for what it was (that is, a musical about 1880′s country bumpkins settling in Dakota Territory), it was pretty decent. Showstoppers include ‘I’ll be your eyes’, a song Laura Ingalls sings to her sister Mary, who loses her vision to Scarlet Fever, as well as a ditty in which some old bat complains about the wind and her ‘wind sickness’. Little House on the Prairie: The Musical is truly quite the spectacle.

Interior design building blocks

This photo was taken at my friend Nick’s apartment. I met him in Ottawa at university, and now he’s living in Toronto, taking an intensive interdisciplinary design program. One night this summer, we had a couple drinks and ended up playing with blocks! One of his teachers is designing on some new furniture, and lent Nick  these wooden shapes. I made a cozy living space, complete with an ample bookshelf/media unit and breakfast nook (imagine, if you will, that the glass in the photo represents a window-skylight in the kitchen).

So now I have a bit more space on my phone for those Kodak moments. What weird photos have you taken with your cameraphone?

Hollow Shell and Wooden Post: A Love Story

I’ve been sick in bed for the past few days. Don’t worry, nothing major, just a wicked cold. That said, I had to find something to keep myself occupied. I took to streaming movies online. Sunday, I watched Up in the Air. Monday, I watched Valentine’s Day. Yesterday I felt like watching something romantic, cheesy and somewhat thrilling.

That’s when I hit rock bottom. I turned to Twilight: New Moon.

I read the first book in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, and I saw the first movie. I wasn’t a terrific fan of either, but I made an effort to see what all the fuss was about. I still don’t get it.

In New Moon,  Bella discovers new feelings for her best friend-turned-werewolf, Jacob, after Edward, her vampire boyfriend, suddenly skips town.

The story is thus: vampire boy leaves girl, girl is upset, yet finds comfort in wolf boy. Girl engages in reckless activities, hoping to see the image of vampire boy, which only appears when she’s in danger. Girl dives off cliff, wolf boy saves her, but vampire boy thinks she’s dead. Without his human girlfriend alive, vampire boy wants to die.

“Edward Cullen: I love you. You’re my only reason to stay alive… if that’s what I am.”

I won’t tell you the rest. You’ll have to see if for yourself.

What would a good Twilight movie be without plenty of teen angst, G-rated kissing and a barrage of bare chests.

There are SO many bare chests in this movie. I guess now I know why this film grossed as much as it did. Chests.

When Bella crashes her motorcycle, she gets a nasty gash in her head – for Jacob, her rescuer, the obvious choice would be get her home, and get her cleaned up using something sanitary. Instead, without missing a beat, Jacob takes off his t-shirt, using it to dab at the wound. Nice.

In fact, Jacob Black and his Aboriginal Werewolf Crew are always topless. They walk around the whole movie like it ain’t no thang. Wait a minute, doesn’t this film take place in Forks, Washington? Isn’t Washington kind of chilly and damp? Oh riiiiight. I forgot: werewolves have a very high body temperature. This means they don’t need to wear shirts. Stephanie Meyer, you thought of everything!

“Jacob Black: 108 degrees over here.
Bella Swan: My hands are freezing. Must be nice never getting cold.
Jacob Black: It’s a wolf thing.
Bella Swan: No, it’s a Jacob thing, you could be like your own sun.”

Maybe I’m just a Chatty Cathy, but why is everyone in this film so quiet? It seems like all the characters in this film are drones and glide from scene to scene, not really saying much. Bella hardly talks to her friends at school, she hardly talks to her befuddled father and she barely speaks to Edward unless she’s asking him to grant her eternal life. In the film she “sort of” chats to Jacob to tell him he’s “sort of” beautiful, but aside from that there’s not a lot of dialogue. There are, however, a lot of time lapse scenes.

Besides the film’s obvious amounts of cheese and terrible screenwriting, you just can’t look away. The film has beautiful scenery – lots of moss-covered trees, lots of aerial shots of the forest, cars driving down long roads and shots of the ocean. Could you really ask for better filler? I think not.

Kristen Stewart in Twilight

Plus, they did a great job of casting this film. Kristen Stewart is perfect as Bella Swan, aka The Hollow Shell. Bella Swan’s character is non-descript and so designed so that young girls can place themselves in the story with Edward the vampire. It’s difficult work to make no character choices, and here, Stewart is a pro. She plays angry, sad, depressed, adventurous, rebellious, disgust, romantic and in heart-wrenching love all with the same level of emotion, and without committing to any of these feelings.

Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are the real money makers. Without them, this movie would have tanked. They are both terrific eye-candy for the tweenybopper set.

Lautner appeared in the first Twilight installment, but here is his chance to shine in bare-chested glory. He’s endearing as anything, and in this film, he really stands out. Maybe it’s because he’s healthy-looking and strong, against the gaunt paleness of the vampire brood.

Pattinson is the epitome of a man’s man vampire, offering grunt-like conversation. Perhaps a new title? Hollow Shell and Wooden Post: A Love Story.

I was thoroughly entertained by Twlight: New Moon, but for all the wrong reasons. I’m probably just out of that drooling ga-ga vampire phase of my life, because perhaps at one point, this film would have completely appealed to me. Would I watch it again? No. Will I watch the next installment of the Twilight Saga? Definitely. Pass the Cheese.

My Pet Peeve: Sponges

Many people I know have pet peeves and phobias. It’s pretty safe to say we all have certain things we find mildly unpleasant or totally horrifying. Andrew, 22, from Melbourne, Australia, talks to me about his severe dislike of household sponges.

Andrew and his arch-nemesis.

Miranda: Why don’t you like sponges?

Andrew: I don’t like the feel of them. The feel of them gives me goosebumps. It’s just grippy and– (groans) The same reason people don’t like fingernails down a blackboard. Just dry sponges. Wet sponges are not too bad.

M: What comes over you when you touch a sponge?

A: Goosebumps and you feel, (groans) you feel sick.

M: What’s the worst kind of sponge?

A: There’s no such thing. They’re all bad.

M: When did you first realize you didn’t like sponges?

A: I honestly don’t know. We’ve been using the detergent stick… it has a sponge at the end but you don’t have to touch it. I never liked it when I had to wash my car. I had a big sponge then.

M: What does this fear mean for you? What does it prevent you from doing?

A: Nothing, really. If I have to use one, I’ll use one. It prevents me from enjoying washing dishes.

M: Do people make fun of you?

A: Only you.

M: How do you get around your phobia?

A: It’s not a phobia, I’m not scared of them, I just dislike them. I get around it by not washing dishes, or by using the detergent stick.

M: Do you have any advice for other people with this fear/pet peeve?

A: Don’t tell anybody that you’ve got this pet peeve, because they’ll make fun of you and ask you lots of questions. Keep it in the closet.

M: How do you react to people when they laugh at your fear?

A: I just find something about them to laugh at. Ammunition against them. Find things that are funny about them.

M: So you’re saying this fear is something funny?

A: Yeah, it’s not a big issue anyway.

M: Can I post this on my blog?

A: Yeah, if you want. It’s an illness. You’re making fun of an illness.