Good copy writing does make a puppy cuter

Skye is a male malamute mix born of Kamotik
and will be available for adoption on Jan 2, 2012

I like puppies.

It has been pointed out that I do speak to puppies in a different voice — dogs of all ages, really — when I encounter them on the street.

I have also been known to peruse dog adoption/humane societies' sites waiting to be taken with a dog, all the while aware it would need to be able to put the silly beast Witloof in her place.

Today I encountered the most charming such site; It is not that the dogs are cuter, or the photography that much better (but it is, really) but that the copywriting is so much more revealing — even if it veers into the naff at times, pretending the dog itself is writing the post.

They give you not only the breed and age of the animal — as do most such places — but insight into the dog's character.

And as a result you believe that Hopeful Hearts have taken extra care and that in adopting from them you can trust the animal is exactly as they describe it, important particularly when facing the potentially-complicated  future of the dogs rescued from recent puppy-mill raids.

To whit:

Lexi

About Lexi:
"Meet our newest angel from the Paws R Us bust. Lexi is a beautiful shepherd girl. She is coming along well. Doesn't take very long to warm up to you. She enjoys other dogs, mostly 1 on 1 right now. The more confident she gets the more dogs will be able to be around her."

About Rex and Rema:
"Rex and Rema came to us as a surrender from a senior couple who had to give up their farm due to health reasons. They're approximately 11 years old and have been together all their lives — possibly probably brother and sister. The enormous change from outdoor farm dogs to house dogs has been going well. Extremely timid when they arrived, they have settled in in their foster home, getting along with their foster sister and the two resident cats...."

food delivery systems

I think I am a combination of #1, #4 and #5 —  the apologetic and high-maintenance orderers with a titch of the long-pauser. I make demands but apologize for it profusely, and waiting for everyone else to order before to have the longest possible time to make my mind.

I'm  s o charming.

I'd kill orderers #2 and #4.

Courtesy Zagat.com

Poor Mr. Fox

Advice from a Robin by Ontario artist Elly MacKay. 

More beautiful artwork available on etsy.com

I bought and had framed this lovely multimedia piece of art for the amazing Gryffudo's bedroom, after the toddler informed me the other night while fighting going to bed that he needed something to decorate his walls.

Unfortunately, he informed me Christmas Day that foxes are mean and, despite loving the image on first viewing, he shall never ever have it in his room. [We hope this may change after he forgets how I chastized him for wanton destruction of presents under the tree.]

Maybe this video shall encourage a quicker change of heart.




Foxes rock.

Google interest

Always find it amusing when people tell me I've been crowd sourced.

But why are you Google-ing me, really?

Things to do this year

• Re-certify CPR and St John's Ambulance life guarding courses
• Go to Egypt
• Cello & lessons
• get voice fixed
• lose prednisone weight
• do a (try a) triathlon
• Hooping
• get funding for doc
• return to academe
• new job

The Materialist: Seriously, folks ...

Today's Groupon — LED lights colour the water coming out of your faucet

Colouring the water that comes out of the faucet to teach kids when water is hot, lukewarm or cold is idiotic and, frankly,  is another way to remove tactile learning from our children.

First, we [not me] take away falling down and eating dirt, then exercise and now telling the difference between hot and cold.

Egad.

Sosltice awakening

Was awoken just after solstice by friend with cold nose and flashing phone/camera.
I may be sweet looking while sleeping; not so much when awakened abruptly. 

"Is lifting done with a penis?"

Reading Girl on Saturday's blog post about responding to a gender-specific request from her child's school brought back memories of my mother' s activism.
As a child and pre-teen my mother was just ultimately embarrassing. [She remains a bit this way today; loud, not very conscious of others' reactions, prone to fictionalizing everything, melodrama and not adept at aesthetics.]

She was also vocal about insisting on women's equality: she coached my soccer team, briefly, tried to get me to go on all-naked-all-the-time camping trip with women when I was 12 and vociferously insisted I be allowed to try wrestling when my grade school divided our gym class along gender lines (girls to do gymnastics, boys wrestling). It should be noted, I never wanted to try wrestling but turned out to be quite good at it; being really tall helped. 

Her activism — against the use of DEET in our neighbourhood, bringing us along while she canvassed for NDP candidates, fighting to make them award us the medal for beating the boys at butterfly after they let us join the race because there was no girls' competition — was embarrassing because these were often flash-in-the-pan battles lasting as long as the attention did.

Mostly, it was embarrassing because in my life then it did not seem possible that a woman would ever be denigrated or denied anything because of her gender; being female seemed an interest quirk, not a defining attribute — and definitely not something for which one could be maligned or dismissed, however subtly.

I did not at the time understand that my mother was existing in a world where women had had to fight hard for their rights and that, continuing today, gender equality  — and the sexual revolution — are pale copies of what they once were, if not platitudes.

Learning to see myself and others as people first was a good, strong lesson to learn from my parents, one they each taught consistently despite their loathing each other.
Sadly, I encounter shock and disapprobation every day when I behave like a "person" and not a "girl."

The fight continues.

The Materialist: Summer in a jar

Blame the grey skies and freezing rain (curses, global warming), but this completely useless butterfly-in-a-jar has captured my imagination and its promises of summertime spent lazily by the creek sipping lemonade. Oh wait, that's Tom Sawyer's life.


The butterfly is operated by  triple-A batteries and it attached to a wire. Cats, according to ThinkGeek, are inordinately attracted to this mason jar of life.


Sold at ThinkGeek and Home Hardware of all places, courtesy Spydergrrl

Music for today

Getting Home

A friend has recently been extolling the virtues of Operation Red Nose as a fabulous service allowing her to go out with friends in town then get herself and her car to her suburb-home safely. [I warned her not to move to Kanata. It is not a place for the young and single.]

My strategy for never driving drunk — which one should never ever ever do — is two fold: a) live downtown b) do not drink when driving c) bring along a sober friend with car or my favuorite and most popular tactic — d) ensure you are always drinking within walking distance of home.  Simple.

But friend keeps trying to get me to drink at her suburb home or in places not close to mine, so she continues going on about this service. And it seems rather nifty. Particularly since they not only drive you and your car home, but the service is actually free (though a donation to the Boys and Girls Club is appreciated and I think, very reasonable), they will also chase around town for your wallet if you have mislaid it.

Friend's story (and pitch) below, in her words:

Remembering Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens died this morning of pneumonia, a complication of his battles with esophageal cancer.
It may seem an odd thing for me to note his passing here, given how irritating I have found many of his books and articles.
But for all his speciousness, we should celebrate how Hitchens (more so than the intellectually fallacious Michael Moore) brought — at least the possibility — of deconstructive analysis to the less-educated/American of our time, and made challenging "sacred cows" sexy again among the proletariat. I'd argue this possibility is really a side effect of postmodern criticism's penetration into colloquial thought, though he'd have hated to acknowledge that.

I link here archives of his works on various publications: The Atlantic, Slate, and Vanity Fair. I have personally always found his articles in Vanity Fair — those few I read — the most obnoxious.

Rest in peace, Christopher.

Addendum Dec. 18, 2011:

• This beautiful goodbye from Hitchens' friend Simon Schama
• And a less-flattering but pithy one from Alexander Cockburn

I particularly love this line from Cockburn, which aptly sums up my opinion of the man:

He courted the label “contrarian”, but if the word is to have any muscle, it surely must imply the expression of dangerous opinions. Hitchens never wrote anything truly discommoding to respectable opinion and if he had he would never have enjoyed so long a billet at Vanity Fair. Attacking God? The big battles on that issue were fought one, two, even five hundred years ago when they burned Giordano Bruno at the stake in the Campo de’ Fiore.

for 2011

for today

No fuddle-fuddle here

In honour of Justin Trudeau's expletive in the House of Commons today, I give you iPolitics' kindly-organized list of the 106 Things You Cannot Say in Parliament.

Please note Justin did not pretend he did not call Environment Minister Peter King "you piece of shit" in the middle of the House of Commons today. [Many tweeps suggested it was a "chivalrous" reaction to Kent maligning NDP critic Megan Leslie for not attending  the environmental Durban conference; this, after the government prevented opposition MPs from being part of Canada's official delegation to the event.] And despite the government's attempted claim Trudeau needed to apologize, the Speaker rightly admonished them Trudeau did, immediately after his visceral outburst.

Following is iPolitics' list, and the date in which they were ruled un-parliamentary.

Video: Ashes to Ashes

Just to celebrate the unearthing of a long lost Top of the Pops appearance by Bowie in 1973, in which he sang Jean Genie.

Consider this also a shout out to The Flushed Lushes. Obviously, this is the inspiration for our next wardrobe shift. For a better video of the song, click here. Stupid Youtuber disabled embedding. You're missing the spirit of the interweb, d00d.

And just 'cause it's awesome.

The Materialist: Christmas jewels

Everyone is fussing over the extraordinary amount for which Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry sold, and missing the real story — that you too could have bought a 5+ct blue-topaz, diamond-nugget 14K ring worn by Elvis Presley for only $10,365 USD.

Gotta Have Rock and Roll sells memorabilia, apparently focusing on the Bob Dylan, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Princess Di (?) set — with shout outs to Madonna, RIhanna, Katy Perry, et al too. [I note no David Bowie stuff so remain uninterested.]

So if you or someone you love need to own Elvis' stage boots, a Ramones mic, a guitar played by Slash, a Stevie Nicks stage scarf (!!), signed Beatles photo, Michael Jackson's hat, a Princess Di or Liz Taylor dress (latter for a reasonable $600) or any other sundries, this is the site for you.

Tuesday tease

"He bounded up the wooden staircase two steps at a time and entered an empty hall that displayed armor, knives, and swords. A tapestry depicting a hunting scene adorned one of the walls. Locks sealed all of the glass cases. He needed a weapon, so he hoped the museum would understand."
— The Paris Vendetta, by Steve Berry

This is my current waiting-for-doctors/MRIs-for-over-six-hours book.

I make no apologies.

Continuing the (Swedish) theme

I am giving up.

Now IKEA tells me they will not have Swedish anchovies — nor the long awaited and promised matjessill — in stock in time for Christmas.

This means I shall not, unless another sources is found, be able to make the traditional and much-loved Janssons's Frestelse for the julbord.  [If I knew of another source in Ottawa or Canada, I'd hardly be relying on IKEA ...]

I could get angry. Or bitter. But, instead, I am giving in. Giving up. Giving over to "the universe's message."

There. Much better.

hmmmmnum

Courtesy 101 Cookbooks deliciousness even-if-they-do-not-cook-meat.

I am so going to make this soup for New year's Day.

Well, this is disappointing

For all the reasons Stieg Larsson's books are disappointing, for all the lack of Swedish accents, for all the too-obvious references to infomrmation to that which should be subtly revealed, to the too mundane statements ("help me find a man who kills women") statements, this trailer is making me loathe the Americanised version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Yes, I am waving the Swedish flag today.

IKEA is pissing me off

Usually I have nothing against IKEA. Their service is good. They give me free bits when I lose said bits from my shelves. Their big opening this week of the "Largest IKEA in CANADA" did not actually disrupt my life — which was the fear as I work next door. I also enjoy their towels and, very importantly, they provide me  with a source for stuff needed to make Swedish delicacies with which I grew up.

Then I overheard a food writer today talking about instructions offered to him by IKEA on how to cook a Swedish julbord — the Christmas version of the traditional smörgåsbord, which consists of several dishes laid out as the meal.

At first I could ignore the mispronunciation of Björn — which happens to be my brother's name.

Then I overheard among the instructions from IKEA was the direction to BUY frozen meatballs, that this was "traditional."

And to use herring (herring!!!) in Jansson's frestelse.

Now everything is irritating me.

I am seriously pissed off that the only introduction most in the WORLD will  ever have to Swedish cooking is via IKEA. AND that the entire world will think we have no palate at all because their meatballs are rubbery, unflavourful balls of ... nothingness.

I wil have you know that I have made real traditional swedish meatballs* for friends and each time they have swooned over them. So much so they continue talking about them throughout the year. And ask me to make them. Often.

Twee-ness meets Twitter

Alternate hed: Fruvous is a form of nutmeg

Columnist Andrew Coyne's hunt for the Twee-est band name on Tuesday (Tuesday's Twee Twitter Test) led to a later discussion among my friends at our fave pub haunt.

It was a cocktail-fuelled discussion, punctuated by much laughter and mocking of the shutting down of said Twitter thread (which included such tweeps as CBC's Jian Ghomeshi) when Moxy Früvous was named as the twee-est of twee band names.

[It is possible I might have been the one to offer up that name. Maybe to see how Jian would react ... maybe.]

My coterie briefly pondered why and how such a name ever came into fruition. Several of us were convinced the name was obviously a reference to Douglas Adams (as früvous must be the root of Adams' "frood," as in "a happenin' frood knows where his towel is") which could have given it a certain geek cachet.

However a cursory glance of the interweb now has unearthed only a possible faux reference. By faux, I mean not included in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Aha, I thought, why not go to the source to unearth the origin of the twee band name.

So I did.

"Moxy was I think a clothing store in Toronto and Früvous is from a misheard word in a Icicle Works song. You know, the band. .... Well, look up their song Seven Horses and you can find what we misheard, something like "fruitless and awestruck". [Ed's note: it is "fruitless and unsung" See video below] Like Excuse me while I kiss the sky is a misheard lyric. So we thought they were saying fruvous but they were saying something like fruitless. Remember this is us at 21 when we were ridiculously silly. So no, it is not a Douglas Adams reference. Though I wish it was."
...

Cupcake wars

Ottawa, trying to pretend it is not a village, has entered the "big city" cute cupcake wars with little boutique shops opening up hither and thither. (Not to mention the many home-based ones delivering cakes all over town.)

Not wanting to malign anyone specifically, I must say I have yet to eat a good cupcake at one of those shops. Cute, the options have been, but also dry, boring, unflavourful, overly-sweet, badly-mixed, and cheaply-made.

Until I encountered The Cupcake Lounge last week.

I have been avoiding this shop because I am not really a sweet person and I — wrongly — thought any new shop in the Market must inevitably be targetting silly tourists and would not, therefore, produce a good product.

Wednesday video

Twee

From @acoyne: "Lotsa votes for Hoobastank, but lacks the essential quality of insufferable twee-ness".

Democratic Republic of the Congo

While the DRC election continues along establishment (tyrannical Kabila) lines, Congolese communities in Ottawa and Toronto took to the streets today in anger at international — notably Canadian — silence in the face of the daily rapes, murders that have been taking place in their country for over a decade.

That is right folks. Over a decade. Five million people have died.

We made a fuss about Rwanda when the more heinous and systemic crimes were happening next door in the DRC.

And people continue to die today. We must pay attention. And the 100 people who took to the streets in Ottawa, protesting outside the CBC and then onwards the Congolese embassy, were trying to make us see them.

Sadly, the protest deteriorated.

Tuesday book tease — literally?

"Nevertheless, glove-tip by glove-tip, finger by finger, Sugar strips, even as she walks, the soft gren leather off her hands. Unsheathed, her sweating white skin glistens in the sunshine. With a deep sigh of relief, indistinguishable from the ones she uses when a man has done to her all he can do, she flexes in the cool air her intricately cracked and flaking fingers."
— Crimson Petal and White, by Michel Faber

Feeling frivolous

Continuing a conversation from the other day, I give you a frivolous poll today.

I know my answer.

Update: You people are weird. Yes, Ryan Reynold's shoulders were delightful in that X-man movie, but Ryan Gosling would - indubitably - be a better lover. Ryan Reynolds would be all "ooh look at how hot I am" through it. And he'd talk too much. #blargh

Two lesbians raised a baby and this is what they got

Watch this if you want to feel tearfully proud, moved and impassioned to do something.

It has been a good foil to this crazy day.

What is WRONG with the world today

• Kabila is leading in DRC polls.
• An Afghanistan woman is released from jail after she promises to marry her rapist. [BBC reports she will not have to marry rapist. And what about the others jailed for 12+ years for committing adultery by being raped?]
• Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dimitry Kozak supports bill outlawing 'disgusting' homosexual activity and "propaganda of homosexuality"in that country.
• Local Barrhaven school bans female students from wearing yoga pants because they "tempt" young men [paraphrase mine] and are "too revealing."
• Israel eventually pulls ads encouraging people to NOT marry American Jews or live in the United States.
• South African fast-food chain pulls ads mocking Zimbabwe's Mugabe after receiving threats from youth group loyal to the dictator.
• Toronto mayor Tom Ford ignores Toronto Star — a major, respected daily in his city — prompting the broadsheet newspaper to file a formal complaint. Do note Ford said in a radio interview TorStar is invited to all events and receives all releases, while urging all listeners to boycott the paper. [WTF. It's Dodge City.] 
• ... and Manitoba feels the need to restrict the sale of body armour and fortified vehicles.

Today, it all just seems too much. I want off.