Tourists in our own town

A few weeks back Michael and I took a holiday. We stayed at the Empress for a night because it was affordable (thanks to the tourist in your own town promotion) and because we needed a break from reality. It was a perfect one-night vacation, even though we were back in stress town the following day. The hallways were our favorite part, even though we didn't see any ghosts. We're all about The Shining in these parts.

Restless hands

I've been searching for a new school bag/purse for a while now, and this is one that I settled on:

I found it on the labyrinth that is Etsy: an online community of people who sell homemade goods. I just ordered it today, however, so I can't confirm the success of the transaction just yet.

Speaking of homemade goods, I find that I have a powerful urge to make something with my hands after spending so much time on the computer: yesterday I was looking into how to make my own lip gloss. I've noticed this urge during semester's past, but it seems stronger this year. If I finish my homework on schedule, I may be able to satisfy the craving with a knitting break with some buddies on Sunday. I have tentative plans to make it happen.

Habit

I finished another project for my web design class: a business website for our friend Shane's coffee shop. It was a group project and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Have a look at it here.

Update: I removed the link because the site isn't on the UVic server anymore.

Meet my arch nemesis

I heard my arch nemesis speak on campus yesterday. Senator (and former Vancouver mayor) Larry Campbell spoke to a room of 15 students about the merits of the Liberal Party. Scratch that. He spoke to us about the flaws of the Conservative Party. And Jack Layton.

I attended the speech to give Larry a chance to convince me that his pop culture cred is justified, but I came away more disappointed than ever. He rambled for 45 minutes about a variety of subjects that all ended in the same conclusion: "the members of the Conservative Party are the most immoral group I've ever met in my life." Also: "this bunch is certifiably nuts." Hey, I like slagging the Conservatives as much as anyone, but I wanted more meat and less insults. Don't tell us things we already know! Give us some Ottawa dirt!

He also threw a few insults at Jack Layton ("I blame the NDP for our current government") and almost giggled when he described the challenges the NDP will face in the next election (for example: competing for the green vote).

I like that Larry Campbell isn't your average politician, but I don't like how childish he behaves. His temper tantrums at Vancouver City Hall garnered amused media coverage, but when is it ok to bully your co-workers? I'm sure he's done some things in his life that are worthy of praise (Da Vinci's Inquest - a CBC show based on his life as chief coroner - was popular for a reason), but he's no political saviour in my books, even though he acknowleded International Women's Day at the beginning of his presentation. It'll take a lot more than that, Larry. Try going back in time to fix the mess you left when you dropped out of municipal politics to become a senator.

Let the man do the can-can

I'm taking a politics and gender class right now, and even though I'm generally overwhelmed by my classes this semester, I'm really enjoying this one. I've never taken a women's studies class, so this class was my first exposure to feminist literature (other than Bust, of course). I've learned a lot.

I just finished reading an essay by Kathleen Hanna (of Le Tigre and Bikini Kill fame). She documents her experience in the Riot Grrrl movement and she stresses the importance of reading classic feminist texts, such as Sisterhood is Powerful, to help us understand our history and our current challenges. I've got tentative plans to acquire the Sisterhood trilogy for my birthday.

I also read an article about the Guerilla Girls. I like the creativity of this anonymous activist group, especially because they expanded their protests to address sexism in Hollywood:

Speaking of Hollywood and female directors, we watched North Country in class last month. It was directed by the director of Whale Rider: Niki Caro. The movie wasn't perfect, but it is powerful and definitely worth watching. It's based on the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the US (Jensen v. Eveleth Mines). It wasn't resolved until 1998! This site has a great summary of the real-life events depicted in the movie. I was happy to read that Lois Jensen, the woman who led the lawsuit, was impressed with the film: "It's a story that compresses 20 years of stuff, and the characters are composites of several of us. But the sexual harassment depicted was true. They captured the emotions very well, and overall I think it's an incredibly powerful film that will be around a long time." Shannon, this is your next movie assignment.

I'm inspired by the materials I'm exposed to in this class. Here's a Le Tigre video to celebrate:



While looking for this video I found that a lot of people have made their own Deceptacon videos and uploaded them to YouTube. Is that a common occurance?

The merits of Alec Baldwin

I've been going on about 30 Rock and the merits of Alec Baldwin for a couple of months now. Since some of you have no idea what the fuss is about, I'm bringing a clip of the first episode to you. Now we can all have crushes on Alec Baldwin together!