Motorleague

So, I had an amazing visit from my friends in Moncton this weekend.We had some good times, some Bad Times (live), and it was fucking amazing. The only regret is that after they left it just made me miss the maritimes even more. Luckily, I'll be able to see them in about a month anyway. Two videos for y'all, in case you want to feel a little of what it was like having them around. This is an interview given to hardimes.ca by Dana and Ryan (Don, Nathan and I had to go and get pretty, and pick up gear from my apartment). It's gold. Even if you have no interest in the band, you should watch it.

I Will Sing When You're All Dead

On Wednesday, I was at the bar, playing on someone else's computer, trying to think of other things to check online before getting back to an uncomfortable conversation. I wandered over to the morning news, part of my morning tradition (you know what I mean, the websites you check in a certain order every morning? right?), because they do an afternoon news update that's sometimes very amusing. If you're never checked it out, you should. It's got a nice little roundup of real news stories and just plain fun links on the sidebar (serious up top, weirder as you scroll down). Plus, the profiles and articles that are on there are great. Some of my favourite writers are contributors.
At any rate, when I checked tmn that night there was a new profile story up on Dmitri Nabokov, son of Vladimir. The title? I Will Sing When You're All Dead. I meant to read it that night when I got home, but I just got around to it this morning. It's fascinating, detailed, and well-written. If you have a few minutes you should read it. Even if you're not a Nabokovophile (I just made that one up, but it's pretty awesome, right?) like me.
Some other great TMN articles that I've particularly enjoyed over the past little while, if you're so inclined:
Henry Rollins and the Emergence of Hardcore
Boats We Missed, by the tmn writers
The Non-Expert: Is He Cute, or Is He British?
TNE:Today We Learn About Canada
And Great Lyrics Quiz Rock Roll The (these are classic songs with the words of the lyrics listed in alphabetical order, and you've got to figure out the song... some are easy, some are ridiculous. try it.)


This morning, I'm ostensibly cleaning my apartment like mad. In reality, I'm watching The Little Mermaid. Don't worry, I'm planning on fast-forwarding through the scary parts. Sebastian's kind of a douche; I'd forgotten about that.

Fanboys!

OK, so I should be in class right now, but this is way too awesome to leave for later. I finally (FINALLY!) saw the trailer for Fanboys today. If you're reading this, you should know what this movie's about: a group of dudes who want to break into Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. There's a cancer subplot/reason thing, but whatever. It looks fucking awesome. Veronica Mars? Check. That funny guy who lives in my neighborhood and was on Undeclared? Check. Incredible SW cameos? Check. SW-based plotline? Check. Kevin Smith? Check. Fucking William Shater? CHECK. Hope this release date sticks; there have been a million of them over the past year. February 9th, bitches.
Here's the trailer, for your viewing pleasure.

Academic Pursuits

For some reason, I can never spell "pursuits" correctly. I know it's just "pur" and "suits," but I can't seem to reconcile the two. Why can't syllables all just get along in my head?
I've been writing a paper all morning, and all afternoon. It's technically due in 20 minutes. I am definitely not going to class. For some reason, I'm completely mentally blocked. It's a subject I find fascinating - legal pluralism, and its application in Supreme Court cases in Canada - but I'm all over the place. Normally I can write 8 pages in about 2 hours, no problem. I guess normally I've already done the readings too, but still. I'm on hour 5 and I've only got 3 pages done. This feels like an episode of Dr. Who where I get stuck in some sort of space-time continuum and keep going back to what I've already written but not recognizing when I wrote it or why it made sense at the time. Weird, right? Also incredibly frustrating. I even missed what was sure to be one of the best classes of the semester in my Rights and Freedoms course - R v. Morgentaler. I had all kinds of wicked background on that case, plus lots of info on the next SCC Morgentaler case about the Halifax abortion clinic, but instead I had to sit here writing this stupid piece of shit. And I mean that; I know it's not going to be one of my better, fluid, here's-my-clear-and-well-stated-argument-that-you-will-use-as-an-example-of-wicked-writing papers. The SCC decision is 80 pages, the legal pluralism article I need to reference in relation is 30 pages, and the paper's just 7-8. I'm just going through frantically, finding evidence and building my arguments as I go along.
The next time I'm all set to hang out and do nothing instead of writing a paper with one of you, remind me of this moment. I'm going to try and refocus. And maybe eat some Greek salad (I'm also inexplicably adverse to eating anything today, which might be contributing to my lack of focus, but I'm just 100% not hungry. When does that ever happen?!).