Game of Derps, Jon Snowronto, Rasta Soap and Fiverr
May 15th
FLOWERPOWER (pants by TopShop)
HAPPY SPRING FROM THE GARDEN ON MY LEGS, BITCHES!
Bwahahaha. I don’t normally use such strong language on my blog, but that made me laugh out loud so imma keep it, The B-word is kind of neutral these days anyway, isn’t it? Flowers are not neutral (NOR IS LEOPARD PRINT AND IT NEVER WILL BE MOM.)
But Fiverr, guys. Oh my god, Fiverr.
For all of the years I’ve been using that website to pull really weird $5 pranks on my loved ones (for the price of a latte, it’s SO worth it) HOW HAVE I NEVER DISCOVERED THE RANDOM BUTTON?
Happy mother’s day?
All this time I’ve been creeping Fiverr categories like “extremely bizarre” and “puppets” when I could have been clicking “surprise me!” and finding things like Rasta Soap, foot fetish people stringy things, pudding videos and this dog who will give me freaking a tour of Ho Chi Minh city!
RAH-STA SOOOPE.
If you couldn’t tell, I said that in a really bad Jamaican accent. But of course you could.
Now, onto the very reason for this post: an illustration of Sansa Stark from the Game of Thrones that you can download a JPEG of for right now for only fiiiiive dollars (hollah!)
When the suprise button brought that up for me, I laughed at the randomness of Sansa as a character choice.
If someone were to select any character from the greatest series in the history of television (right now), why would it be SANSA? Crybaby Sansa doesn’t even have a dragon or a direwolf (anymore) or is Margaery!
And then I saw the related gigs.
Oh yes, there are more, and they’re just… delightful 
Truly. I was squealing with delight when I saw them.
Presented without comment (though I reckon you can surmise what I think of these drawings by the title of this post) Drafty Bob’s Game of Thrones fan art!
1. King Joffrey Baratheon (*cough* Lannister)
2. Brienne of Tarth:
3. Tyrion Lannister:
4. A ladymonkey Khaleesi / Danaerys Targaryen:
5. Khal Drogo (RIP):
6. Robb Stark:
7. Cersei Lannister (betch):
8. Lord Littlefinger (jerk):
9. Jaime Lannister, King Slayer (2/10, would not bang.):
10. Derpya Stark:
11. Jorah Mormont
12. Jon Snow:
I left Jon Snow for last because a) It’s just… so good… and b) I have a Jon Snow-related story.
I SAW JON SNOW ON KING ST. THE OTHER NIGHT.
That’s pretty much the entire story, save for how I stopped in the middle of an intersection because I couldn’t believe it and then asked everybody at the streetcar stop if it was actually him.
Nobody knew what I was talking about.
“DON’T YOU WATCH GAME OF THRONES?” I shouted, before promptly Tweeting out “Is Kit Harrington in Toronto right now?”
Turns out, he very much is.
You know nothing, Jon Snow.
I’d be remiss not to mention that he bent down to give money to a homeless lady outside of the Tim Horton’s right after we passed, like a true Lord. A Stark/Targaryen Lord, perhaps? JUST SAYING.
Bed time for this kitty — tomorrow I’m hitting the MESH conference thanks to my homies at NextMontreal and I could probably stand a few hours of sleep.
I’ll leave you with this, ACTUAL video I made for mother’s day, because it’s cute. I also sent flowers to her because my mom rules and has been so very patient and helpful throughout the course of this move — as in she pretty much organized my entire place for me. It looks awesome.
Poor Yeezy.
TeleFlowers for Mother Internet
May 10th
Lervlies,
I live by the personal philosophy that any problem one could ever possibly encounter as a human being living in 2013 can be solved using the World Wide Web — and I’ve got one heck of a colourful cache to show for it.
In the past 24 hours alone, I’ve used the internet to make lunch (HI COLLARD GREEN WRAPS), dress myself, show the world that Anna Wintour and Kim Kardashian are total BFF twinsies and diagnose myself with… pretty much every disease ever (just like I do every other day).
Last week, my buddy Evan challenged me to open a magical cuban puzzle box at work and I GOOGLED MY WAY TO SUCCESS with that too (he called it cheating. I called it resourceful.)
For as long as I can remember — or, for at least as long as I’ve had a smartphone — the internet has been answering most of the random questions and solving many of the problems I’ve throw its way.
And Lately, I’ve noticed that the web has started to solve the problems I didn’t even know I had yet — and well.
Regard:
I had been creeping around the member’s benefits section of CAA the other day to see how much of a discount I get on Toronto Symphony Orchestra tickets (20% for the record.)
Later, I was catching up on the goss when ALL OF THE SUDDEN a smart ad appears in the side bar of some fashion website advertising an online flower company called TeleFlora– with a subhead announcing that, as a CAA member, I can get a mad discount on mother’s day flowers.
HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT I WAS A CAA MEMBER, INTERNET?
Oh. Yeah. That stuff.
Whatever. Unlike the NastyGal and Nordstrom ads that follow me around the internet and compelling me to buy clothes I can’t afford, this smart ad was useful — in multiple ways.
a) It reminded me that Mother’s Day is on Sunday (AND NOW YOU KNOW THAT TOO… if you didn’t already.)
b) It provided me with a relevant, personalized discount based on my CAA membership.
c) It informed me (though I should likely already have known this) that I don’t need to use a telephone to order flowers for my mom long-distance anymore. Being that I absolutely hate talking to anyone on the telephone, this type of service is much appreciated. Hej do, 1-800-Flowers, HALLO TELEFLORA.
I’ll most definitely be sending Mama O’Nizzle some flowers this year, along with something else special because she’s worth more than all of the internet flowers in the world combined — plus, I like to get creative (see: last year’s gift.)
But I’d like to send these ones below out to another mother of sorts. She doesn’t give me sunshine, like Mother Nature, or help me organize my entire apartment like Mother O’Nizzle, but she does guide me through life as much as any parent must have guided their 20-somethings in the pre-digital age.
These internet flowers (currently being eaten by a LOLcat, natch) go out to you, Mother Internet.
(This post sponsored by my homies at CAA. Check out all of their wicked member benefits here.)
Rufflesock Blondebot Hologram Feist
Apr 27th
Greetings, lamblettes!
I’m not dead — just reeling with busy. Between my upcoming standup comedy re-debut and packing up my entire life, I’ve not had much leisure time (like, of the non laying on the couch and watching TV / partying with my friends variety.)
An actual bot I am. RT @casiestewart: Blondebot @laurenonizzle. vine.co/v/bP9AneiXv5H”
— Lauren O’Neil (@laurenonizzle) April 26, 2013
I’ve been spending most of my precious computer time in recent weeks writing jokes, revamping scripts, doing research, Tweeting dumb shizz and you know, working at work. So much. Newsy time right now, and those are the best times to be in news.
I’ll get funny on the blogs (/vlogs) again soon, I swear it. Big tings popping
More later. Much to document. Moving sucks. Ruffle socks rule — as does that Topshop dress above that I later learned is also owned by HRH THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE EEEEE!
1993 avec Brodie
P.S. – My homies at Samsung Canada brought a freaking hologram out at their GS4 launch party the other night and THAT is blogworthy — Enough so that I ran up to the front of the stage to Keek it, natch. Nicely done Fiestogram.
Apr 25, 2013 | Holy moly! @SamsungCanada has brought out hologram Fiest!!! #gs4canada by laurenonizzle on Keek.com
Leaving Liberty: New digs, ahoy! + SebastiAn and other things.
Apr 17th
Hey hai happy humpday ladies and gentlekids! Now please, for the love of cripes, chill.
I did not delete my blog (okay, I did, but not on purpose or for very long) I am not lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did (see?) and like, thank you white knights for your “IS EVERYHING OKAY?!” messages but I do not need your *hugz* or “to talk?”
I’ve simply been busy… and perhaps a little bit too forthcoming with the emo-stagrams?
COME ON, IT’S ENDLESS WINTER! You’re depressed too.
In all seriousness though, I’m good.
Work is awesome awesome awesome, my comedy stuff is progressing nicely, and sheet, I’ll be darned if the exhaustion of Lau is not the evolution of Lauren as well.
In fact, I have some exciting (for me) news to share on that front…
BUT FIRST — please enjoy my new favourite (actually, second favourite… actually, third favourite) dance-centric French music video of all time; Embody by SebastiAn:
UNF! Right? Such a sick video.
Also grand? This image I found on Reddit the other day called “1993″ vs “2003″ :
This white-nosed black squirrel I found in a bush on King St. yesterday (!!!) :
This :
Ha!
Annnnnd Anthony Jeselnik, Daniel Tosh (it’s Tuesday) and pretty much everything I Tumbled last night.
My longform blog here may be suffering under the weight of my schedule, but I’m active as ever out there in the weirdo clickyverse. If you want bite-sized funny, hit Clusterfizzle or Twittah.
But I digress.
Here’s what’s up: just over one week ago today, I signed the lease on a brand new pad — My first real grownup apartment. No roomies, no parents, no boyfriend, just me. BOOYAH / Holy f–k.
As cool as that is, it’s scary too. I’m stressed out about moving my stuff again, kind of nervous about being responsible enough to manage my own householdish, and still very much dealing with the circumstances surrounding this move — but I’m also stoked as heck to be in a place where I can finally afford my own apartment in downtown Toronto.
I’d always kind of assumed that as a young journalist I’d have to sell at least 50 3D-printed kidneys on the black market BEFORE I could spend money on things like… lamps and tables for lamps to go on… so this is a big thing for me.
Leaving Liberty Village was a very conscious decision – one that was bittersweet.
I loved this neighbourhood when I first moved into it a few years ago, but the deluge of new condos has made it feel like even less a part of the city than it was before, which is shocking considering how closed off it already is. There’s so little culture here too that the vibe feels almost… suburban.
My building has become choked out by new condos around it, overcrowded with obnoxious yuppies and uh, bye bye awesome view.
Judge for yourself. The rest of Toronto did, and I’m not just being a hipster. Liberty Village has changed — and in this girl’s opinion, not for the better. I will miss my crystal castle, but I’m happy about where I’m headed too (also downtown west.)
You’ll see tons of “LOOK AT MY NEW LAMP” photos once I actually move in a few weeks, but for now I’d like to reflect upon the apartment hunting process itself — because if there’s anything more hilariously frustrating than trying to find a second dancing James Brown doll to lampify, it’s trying to find a nice yet affordable 1 bedroom place to rent in a cool neighbourhood in the heart of Canada’s largest city.
Spoiler alert: I worked really effing hard.
(To be continued…)
Dogs in Pantyhose, Vadering is Stupid and thoughts on JC Superstar
Apr 8th
What up, frands?
Life is straight up crazy for me right now — so much change afoot. Good changes. Strange changes. Stressful changes. EXCITING changes!
I don’t even know where to begin with that stuff, so here’s this instead:
Dogs wearing pantyhose, or Gou Gou Chuan Siwa, is a thing right now on the Chinese Internet (which is the same Internet we’re on, only incomprehensible unless you speak Mandarin or Cantonese — in which case I’m sincerely jealous of you.) :
The photo fad is pretty self-explanatory at a tertiary glance: Dogs + Pantyhose = Dogs wearing pantyhose.
It was initiated by Sina Weibo user Ulatang according to Kotaku via Sharp Daily, and spread like wildfire after people started riffing upon his concept.
Instructions for participation: Put pantyhose on your dog. Maybe some heels, also. Take a picture. Upload it to Weibo. Laugh and laugh and laugh and wait for PETA to go HAM.
You can also try to put pantyhose on your cat, but I don’t recommend doing that. I’m down a nice pair of pantyhose and at least 3 drops of blood.
I do love a good Weibo meme — much more so than a lot of what I’m seeing on the North American viral web lately, which I’ve already betched about at length on here and on Twitter so I won’t go too deep into it.
To quote my own CBCNews piece on the lameness of a trend called “Vadering” that Mashable / Buzzfeed / All of those guys hailed as totally epic and awesome “It would appear as though some people are growing tired of these flash-in-a-pan memes…”
To quote Geekosystem’s Rollin Bishop, who doesn’t need to appear as unbiased as I do:
“At the risk of sounding like Old Man Internet telling all the new folks to get off his lawn, we all should really just agree that Vadering is not actually an Internet meme. At best it’s a sad attempt to seed the beginnings of one, and at worst it’s the scummiest kind of viral marketing. Either way, there’s definitely nothing good going on.”
laaaaaaame
Back to the wonders of Weibo, though.
Sina Weibo, as you may know, is a massively popular microblogging service often described as “Chinese Twitter” even though it’s more of a Twitter / Facebook hybrid according to people who can actually use it.
Like me, a lot Chinese internet memes are weird — at least to North Americans — which is probably why I like them. They’re fresh. Almost freshly weird the Japanese internet — like Japanese things in general. But that’s another book. Maybe I’ll write it from Osaka. A girl can dream… of STUFF LIKE THIS:
I’m not trying to say that a “dogs in pantyhose” photo meme is any more clever or cool than something like the Harlem Shake (which I openly revile, for so many reasons), but it’s definitely weirder. It’s funny, it’s odd, and it kind of makes people uncomfortable, which makes it edgy.
This is what life has come to. Hailing housepets in women’s lingerie as “edgy” on my blog. Be proud, mommy. Now, for the unfinished blog post I started last week whilst home for the rock opera holiday:
“Bonjeezy. I’m watching Jesus Christ Superstar with my parents right now because it’s Easter, and that’s what we do around these parts. That, and eat so much food it hurts.
Being that my mom and dad — who grew up in the 70′s when this film came out and still kind of believe in God stuff (mom, anyway) don’t appreciate my snarky running commentary, scream-sing-alonging and Simon-style zealot dancing, I’ve decided to share some my awesome thoughts with YOU because now even Twitter can’t even handle the amount of characters I’m about to throw down.
A little bit of background: I’ve seen this movie no less than 20 times and the broadway musical twice. I was actually pretty obsessed with in back in Grade 8 when my parents ordered the Soundtrack. I’d play it in my room and sing along while acting scenes out with my teddy bears, which tells you a lot about why I didn’t really fit in at school so well.
THOUGHTS ON JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, 2013 VIEWING.
- Judas is such a hater – like, the biggest hater ever. What does he even do in this film aside from sit in the corner and scowl before scuttling over to bitch at Jesus?
“Ugh, Jesus, I can’t believe you’re hanging out with Mary Magdalene.”
“Wahhh, Jesus you’re letting way too many people into our crew.”
“Jeeeesus, that ointment is expensive. You’re flippant and careless with your money.”
Do you know what my lady mags call people like that, Jeez? TOXIC FRIENDS.
Judas can’t handle your success right now. He’s jealous — and I’ve got half a mind to think that if Mary Magdalene weren’t so gaga for you, he’d have tried to schtoop her for spite.
Instead, he ratted you out to a bunch of murderers.
If only Cosmo had existed in 0 A.D.
- Jesus is an emo kid. If Judas is Regina George, Jesus is Daria.
You know that awesome scene were Simon and all of his cool hippie friends dance for Jesus (in 110 degree heat, by the way — not comfortable) and instead of saying “Wow, thank you guys so much! You didn’t need to do this. Like, wow… seriously. Thanks.” he’s all “NONE OF YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT POWER OR GLORY IS.”
How rude!
If I were Simon I’d have been like “I get it, you’re stressed, but I feel a little bit hurt right now. We choreographed this entire dance and danced REALLY REALLY hard for you just now and all you can do is call us uninformed? Fine, Jesus. Go save Africa then. I’m going home.”
———-
That’s as far as I got in my critique before I got mad distracted by my (now complete!) apartment hunt again.
My Easter break was nice. Always good to get home to see the fams SEE INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PICS BECAUSE I AM LE TIRED AND DON’T FEEL LIKE UPLOADING THEM ALL.
In other news, it’s April Now, which means I’m up on the Movember calendar! Cool!
Also: Did you know that there’s a subreddit devoted to GIFs of chemical reactions?
Wicked.
I’m off to watch Season 3 Episode 2 of GoT. Now matter how many cool things happen in real life, this will always be the highlight of my week
(build your own GoT family insignia here, or find out how you’d die in Westeros over at Vulture.)
Night night. More on the place sitch next time
No duckface, even. Times, as I said, they are a changing.
Has April Fool’s Day jumped the shark?
Apr 3rd
Whereas Shark = Google Nose then yes, but only on the Internet, and only in relation to tech juggernauts and marketing departments.
Be it resolved that the latest casualty in the mainstreamification of internet culture is April Fools Day as we’ve known it since the dawn of time — or at least the late 1980s. I wasn’t fully cognizant before that time, so I can’t really say for sure.
I remember the first grand-scale April Fool’s prank I pulled on my own like it was 15 years ago, because it was.
I was in Grade 6 and, for whatever reason, I decided to trick my friend Kate into thinking that some kid was holed up in her preferred bathroom stall at our elementary school — ALL DAY LONG.
Using a pair of my little brother’s dress pants, some running shoes from the lost & found, the socks off my very own feet and a crump-load of newspaper sheets, I constructed the lower half of what I fooled everybody into thinking was some unfortunate 5th grader who wouldn’t come out of the bathroom.
It worked like a charm to the point that a concerned teacher went in to coax that poor little dear out and of the stall I had to fess up. Kate was livid, the rest of my class was like “High fives, weirdo” and I was all:
‘
Since then, I’ve successfully tricked, trolled and freaked the heck out of more people than I can count. Only a fraction of these pranks actually took place on April the 1st (I just really like pranks – it’s an O’Neil thing, I’m told) but when they DO fall on April Fool’s Day, there’s an added layer of lulziness to it all.
“YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVED THAT I DIED MY HAIR BROWN! APRIL FOOL’S! BWHAHAHA”
I’m not going to say that the internet killed the spirit of April Fool’s Day — quite the contrary.
Communities like Reddit and 4Chan and even Yahoo! Answers foster that spirit all year round, going above and beyond to bring us prankspiration for the big day itself.
I wholeheartedly approve of prank idea and knowledge sharing. This is how we grow as a species. Heck, where do you think I got the fake bathroom legs idea from? Metafilter circa 1996, thankyouverymuch.
I’m not going to kvetch about news organizations running fake stories or websites switching around their layouts either, since these things have been going on for decades if not centuries (the former, anyway) and are generally pretty cute.
The BBC’s Swiss Spaghetti harvest of 1957, anybody? You click through to that link for the history of that one if you like — I’m going to post a picture of Mike Tyson’s April Fool’s Tweet from yesterday instead, because I’m a jerk who likes to laugh at people. WE ARE ALL JERKS WHO LIKE TO LAUGH AT PEOPLE… right?
A good April Fool’s Day prank is clever, creative and unexpected. It actually trickspeople — a lot of people — leaving them feeling sheepish, maybe, but laughing in awe.
A good April Fool’s joke doesn’t come out of your marketing budget, and it doesn’t have campaign codes seeded throughout it to track click-through rates. Like, ew. That’s not what this holiday is ABOOT. This is:
Metaphorically.
I can’t be the only one who’s been left with an icky taste in her mouth over the past couple of years come April Fool’s Day.
It’s not that I’m above brands trying to capitalize on holidays — I mean, that’s business — but it irks me that EVERY SINGLE TECH COMPANY does it at once, to the point that news outlets have actually have people people live-blogging April Fool’s Campaigns as they roll out.
April Fool’s Day isn’t Valentine’s Day. It’s supposed to creep up on us and catch us unawares, like Bananas in Pajamas.
I mean, does it even count as an April Fool’s Joke when you send out press releases to let bloggers know about your “prank” ahead of time?
All of Google’s “pranks” made me feel embarrassed for them (does YouTube count as Google? That was the worst one) and I’m not alone.
Let me tell you, it’s not easy to trick your coworkers into believing you’ve legally changed your name to Lauren Targaryen after they’ve already seen Mashable’s roundup of April Fool’s Day pranks so far at 1:10 a.m. on FlipBoard.
But hey, I get it, everybody wants to get in on the buzz because these days EVERYBODY DOES SOMETHING FOR APRIL FOOL’S.
Ride that SEO Wave into the roundup stories, score some of that sweet earned media, make a splash with your bacon-flavoured cat sprinkled HILARITY!
Seriously though, if I didn’t genuinely love cats, the internet would have me HATING EFFING CATS by now Marketers ruin everything. They bear the slimy touch of dork. Don’t let your culture get corrupted, friends (said the blogger, like anyone can prevent that from happening.)
P.S. Sony, DEADMAU5 DID THAT CAT HEADPHONE THING FOR REAL IN AUGUST. For Charity. Gah.
If I sound like a stupid internet hipster / hater, it’s because I actually am lately when it comes to this stuff.It’s insulting to our intelligence. Is the viral web the new boob tube or something? Has the intellect of the average netizen dropped so low that it’s worth the money spent by alllll of these brands to get do stuff like this?
Again with the freaking cats! What happened to you, Vimeo? Twitter? … Barack Obama?
The fake announcement gags worked well for Burger King with their Left Handed Whopper in 1998 and the Taco “Liberty” Bell in 1996 precisely because they were unique and relatively unexpected and a little bit believable. More so than say, anything Google did this year.
Peep this though, from Jose Canseco. Brilly.
Bwahaha.
I’ll conclude by saying this: I adore the spirit of April Fool’s Day at its core, and when companies are truly clever and play the game well (see: Netflix, Soundcloud, Digg) I love them all the more for it.
For those who can’t muster up the cleverness, stay away from the holiday — for your good, and ours. Don’t throw money at it. Don’t get interns to spew out memes and buzzwords at your. Just frig off and leave Internet April Fool’s Day to do what it does best in the marketing space — which is, of course, to serve as a soft launch for new Think Geek products.
I totally want that Eye of Sauron desk lamp.
Love always, Emo O’Nizzle, absentee blogger and insomniac apartment hunter extraordinaire.
P.S. I pranked my parents by hiding potatoes all over the house this year, which is really more of a weird thing to do than a prank, but better than nothing, which is what I have the creative energy for right now. So give a girl some snaps. I laughed my head off as I was hiding potato people in my mom’s car.
P.P.S. I do love you, Google. Thanks for Gmail and stuff. I appreciate u bebe.
GAME ON 2.0 at the Ontario Science Centre
Mar 28th
You game brah?
I certainly was after hearing that Game On 2.0 (the world’s largest celebration of video games) was making it’s Canadian debut at the Ontario Science Centre last weekend.
I was SO game, in fact, that I made it a point to go ON OPENING DAY. But alas, I was le tired on Opening day so I went THE DAY AFTER OPENING DAY!
“From Pong to Guitar Hero; the Ontario Science Centre will host Game On 2.0 with more than 150 playable games from across the history of the medium – including pinball games – as well as rarely-seen consoles, controllers and collectables,” reads the first paragraph of the OSC’s press release announcing the exhibit.
I liked Raju Mudhar’s description better: A great arcade without the quarters.
Was it ever.
But it was (sort of) educational too.
Not going to lie though — this exhibit had nothing on those video game stores in Paris I freaked over a few years ago.
Here’s the full tale of my adventure:
I woke up late Sunday morning and, after drinking coffee and showering and stuff, headed up to the Ontario Science Centre in my car car.
The horn it went beep beep!
Did I mention that I got a 20 per cent discount with my CAA card? That’s an all-year-round perk, by the way, which is awesome.
What would have been almost 25 bucks was 17 0r so, leaving me enough scrilla left over from my 20 to buy a coooold pop. I’ve definitely got time for that.
The Game On 2.0 exhibit was my final destination…
… But as you can see, it was on the 6th floor, which means that I had to pass many eye-catching exhibits along the way… and I get distracted very easily.
Squellettes!
Some elaborate Rube Goldberg thing!
WINGS! How fast can YOU flap ‘em? Me = not very fast. Especially with one arm reserved for iPhoning.
I stumbled upon a craft section that was cute — it had something to do with kinetics, maybe? — so I stopped to make a contribution to the growing body of work.
This is my contribution: Shoop.
And THIS below, THIS was the coolest. You basically sit in a booth while some machine scans your face and then PRINTS IT OUT on a huge screen of water that hovers over the entire section in water droplets.
BOW TO ME, I’M KIM DOTCOM!
No, JK.
Let’s move on to the games, shall we?
There were old-school classics like PONG, PACMAN and some Russian arcade games from what looks like a person in the 1950′s idea of what the future looked like…
ALSO COOL:
I was stoked to see some early concept sketches of Donkey Kong and Mario (nee: “Jumpman”) up close…
It was also cool to play some of the arcade games I dug as a kid. So. many. quarters. I’m pretty sure my brother and I blew our entire inheritance on Virtua Fighter at the cottage arcade when we were kids.
Don’t even get me started on NBA Jam.
I played this weird but fun jousting game from Denmark with one of the science centre technicians, a couple of my fellow nostalgic twenty somethings, and the coolest / cutest little boy EVER.
After that, I met another, considerably LESS cool little boy who wouldn’t stop commanding me to let him play Parappa the Rapper.
Boy: “KAI PLAY?”
Me: “Sure, I’m almost done.”
Boy: “GIVE IT TO ME NOW!”
Me: “No!”
Boy: “I WANNA PLAYYYYY.” *tries to steal controller from my hand*
Me: “AS IF, JERK!”
Boy: *cries*
Me: *runs away before his parents come*
That Moose was kind of a jerk too, but aside from that I had a really good time… and that’s all I’m saying for now. Go experience the exhibit yourself! Like I said – 20 per cent off with a CAA card or student card.
For more of my photos from Game On 2.0, check out the Flickr gallery here. Once again, big ups to my homies at CAA for sponsoring this post.
Peace, kids
Toronto Fashion Week (s) F/W 2013 : What I wore and other stuff
Mar 25th
Hey hi haaaARRGGGGHHH…
Toronto’s Fashion week(s) for Fall / Winter 2013 (World MasterCard Fashion Week + The spattering of off-site “rogue” shows around it) just happened or something — though you’d never know it for the BLISTERING COLD WEATHER OUTSIDE and the terribly whiney way I just started this post.
Sorry. Springtime shivers and sleeplessness do not become me.
Apparently though, my Bart sweater does! Enough so that FLARE Magazine snapped me for a street style gallery as I ran around David Pecault Square on Monday. Score!
Ironically, I was there to do the same thing for work (or, rather, to help Evan do it. His photos are dope, clickez!)
We ended up producing some fun street style stuff of our own.
I went pretty light on the WMCFW stuff this season all around, by necessity — not choice.
I loved skipping across the street to catch shows on my breaks and in the evenings last year, but this time around my schedule was a little bit more intense at work — which is a good thing.
And even outside of work, with apartment hunting, fitness stuff, Canadian Music Week and everything else going on in my life right now, shhhsbeencray.
Fashion had take a back seat, but FASHUN did not because it never doeeeesssss!
I wasn’t able to stay for long, but I actually made it to the tents every day but Friday — and I hit the shOws (which are comparable to, if not better than the main dealie) the week prior for one day too.
Jean-Piere Braganza was blowing my mind on that gothic samurai tip.
Jean Pierre Braganza FW13 at London Fashion Week via StyleSight
I was digging the sparkly socks at Comrags too.
Here are some more photos of what I wore, what I saw, and what I liked from WMCFW FW 2013. Fingers crossed I can go harder next time around when things have simmered. I really do like fashion season. Also: Neeson Season (an oldie but a goodie.)
Back to the grind of apartment hunting for me… a frustrating yet lulzy game. I can’t wait to get settled and start vlogging again. Wait for it, homies. Summer is coming
Space men, Thug Kitchen, Luck of the Irish…
Mar 20th
*turns around slowly* Oh hello there, friend. I didn’t see you come in… to my blog…
You guys know Bobak, right? Bobak Ferdowsi?
As in the brilliant-hot flight director on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission / “NASA Mohawk Guy” supermeme I covered (multiple times) at work / boy I told you I was going to marry on this here blog last August? SPACE BIEBER OF SUMMER 2012?!?
I randomly walked into him on Saturday under the St. Party’s Day tents. Talk about luck of the Irish, eh?
I could barely believe my eyes. What are the chances that a) some superfamous NASA rockstar would be chilling out in Toronto on (day before) St. Patrick’s day? b) that I’d run into him and c) that he’d be cool and kind enough to let me talk his ear off about how much I love Curiosity’s adventures, and then take some pictures with me.
I don’t even care that my eyes are pink and my tongue is green. ‘TWAS THE SEASON.
I haven’t fangirled that hard since I met moot, which would probably be weird to you if you knew of all the band guys and actor guys I’d interviewed since then. Not even a humble brag — I just really get excited over smart people. SPASE PEEPOLE.
Thursday’s night’s episode of CBC Live Online was pretty amazing.
Big ups to producer Fabiola Carletti for giving me a chance to speak with retired astronaut Dave Williams, Edward Tabarah of the Canadian Space Agency, and Chris Hadfield’s son / social media manager Evan Hadfield on the day that Canada (okay, a Canadian commander) took control of the ISS!
That experience, combined with rogue fashion week activities, solid hangouts with funny friends, some cool stories at work and… some other stuff… made for a really good week. It’s been a rough month and it’s been nice to get my head up out of that fog a bit. Fingers crossed that the swing keeps ticking up?
*sigh* time will tell.
Here are some more photos from St. Patrick’s weekend if you’re into the Green&Green&Green&Green&Green…
P.S. Thug Kitchen is my new food bible. Peep this healthy shhh:
WIN IT: Tickets to St. Party’s Day in Toronto 2013
Mar 14th
Sláinte chugaibh, my friends!
As many of you know, I’m a festive kind of gal.
I’m also Irish-ish. IrISH?
While I strongly identify as a Canada-born Euromutt (more French than anything, tbh) I feel a special connection to the Irish part of my heritage. I’m proud to be descended from the fierce O’Neills of County Tyrone! My last name may be anglicized, but the older and more like my father and grandfather I get, the more I understand how much of my personality is influenced by that part of my family; The sense of humour, the hyperbolic storytelling, the prankster gene, the feistiness…
As historian Carl Wittke puts it:
“The so-called Irish temperament is a mixture of flaming ego, hot temper, stubbornness, great personal charm and warmth, and a wit that shines through adversity. An irrepressible buoyancy, a vivacious spirit, a kindliness and tolerance for the common frailties of man and a feeling that ‘it is time enough to bid the devil good morning when you meet him’ are character traits which Americans have associated with their Irish neighbors for more than a century.”
Hilarious hotheads. Hi.
That’s me and my friend Jilly a few years back on a visit to Dublin. I did a tour of Southern Ireland after that. Got fresh with the Blarney Stone
I love Ireland. Every member of my family has been there now, though none of us together except for mom and dad. If ever I strike it rich somehow, that’s where we’ll go. Right after I ride ALL OF TEH ELEPHANTS in everywhere.
That’s not to say this has anything to do with St. Patrick’s Day — at least, the North American incarnation of it.
St. Patrick’s Day in Canada / The U.S. is it not be the most traditionally-rooted (or heck, even respectful) of holidays — but it’s not supposed to be. We here in Canada don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as an Irish holiday (though Newfoundland has declared St. Patrick’s Day a public holiday — one of only two cities outside of Ireland to do so ) — we celebrate it as a tribute to who WE are as modern descendants of old Irish clans, and we celebrate the fun-loving traits we’ve inherited from said ancestors.
Plus, it’s good craic!
I’d like to invite everyone out there to join me at the MASSIVE St. Party’s Day bash in Toronto this weekend — and I’m giving away two pairs of tickets to make it even easier for you to do so!
EVENT DETAILS:
St Party’s Day is going to be bigger and better than ever! This year the event will take place over 2 days at Ontario Place
This 2 day festival will include massive heated tents, authentic Irish music and dancers, live DJ sets, the official Budweiser Big Rig and 15,000+ attendees where you will be sure to see that old high school friend.
Event:
Saturday March 16th – 11:00AM – 8:00PM
Sunday March 17th – 11:00AM – 8:00PM? BUY TICKETS NOW ?
www.stpartysday.com/tickets
TO ENTER:
- Simply comment below with your name, email address and ONE THING you love about St. Patrick’s Day in Canada
- OR email me with the same information
- Winner will be announced Friday, March 15
