I'm in love with K'Naan

I finally got a chance to give the whole K'Naan album a listen on my last couple walks to work. (I can't always listen to rap at home, cause I'm usually writing or reading at the same time, and all that talking is hard to block out.)

SO GOOD! I want to post a *favourite* but I'm having trouble choosing...

T.I.A. (I can't embed the real video, but it's great)


Somalia


Take a Minute (live on QTV)


In the Beginning


Fatima
"Is it true when they say all you need is love?
What about those who have love, only to find that it's taken away?"


And he's one of the few artists who actually still sounds intelligent in interview. (Not that Kanye West isn't entertaining as hell, but... you know.)

from a charles bukowski poem

air and light and time and space

"–you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,
something has always been in the
way
but now
I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I’m going to have
a place and the time to
create."

no baby, if you’re going to create
you’re going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children
while you’re on
welfare,
you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown
away,
you’re going to create blind
crippled
demented,
you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,
flood and fire.

baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don’t create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses
for.

© Charles Bukowski, Black Sparrow Press

[posted on this blog: http://www.christinefletcherbooks.com/blog.html]

Squeegy for President!

Speaking of monkeys. I thought of this song today. When I was little we had a couple albums of funny country songs, and this was my favourite. My favourite stuffed animal was a monkey named Squeegy Alamonzo--he was very expressive looking, and was voiced by my brother in a baby-lolcat-voice that drove my mother insane.

This was Squeegy's theme song. He used to act it out.

"Nobody dared to meet him in an open press debate
He was nominated by the folks from every state
Yes a monkey was the president, though maybe not the first
And there was peace and harmony throughout the universe."

Now someone needs to make a good video for the song.

I pity the sock!

My brother posted this Mr T Sock Monkey as his facebook profile pic, and is determined to make one. And so here, withOUT his permission, I paste for you his last email to me:


I'm positive if I bought one I'd just need a vest and some hair and some bling.

And maybe some angry eyes.

I may have to give this a go.

Maybe I have discovered a new hobby. I could make a whole collection of odd-ball sock monkeys!

There's a distinct possibility that I'll die a bachelor.

[I just found this posting which I never posted.]

One of the facebook applications I enjoy is the one that asks you for "lists of 5 things". The one I did today was 5 songs that remind you people, but I could have done more than 5! I could probably think of a song for almost everyone I know.

I chose...

Theme to Jeeves & Wooster
(1) Because my sister-in-law was the first person I knew who loved the Jeeves and Wooster series as much as me, including the music.

Paradise By the Dashboard Light - Meatloaf
(2) Because my brother and I loved this album as children and knew all the words to the baseball scene, so it reminds me of him.

Jennifer by the Eurythmics
(3) My childhood best friend (M) had this album so it reminds me of her, listening to "Jennifer" in her kitchen.

Free Love on the Freelove Highway by David Brent
(4) Gilby sang this alllll through Oxford when we visited.

Au Bal Masqué de La Compagnie Créole
(5) My step-mother: We used to listen to La Compagnie Créole when on road trips.

I could add...

This Land is Your Land - Peter, Paul and Mary
Any of the early PPM I enjoyed makes me think of my dad, cause they were his albums.

Bootylicious - Destiny's Child
Friend Mae, since she was into the song when it came out, and we started exchanging Stevie Nicks music as a result.

Take a Chance on Me - Abba
Friend Swiss, since she pointed out the "take a chance take a chance take a chic-a chance chance" line of the male background singer, which I'd never noticed.

Love (Over and Over) - Kate and Anna McGarrigle
My mum intro'd me to a lot of the bands I love. This was an early example. She had to who "Emily, Anne and Charlotte" were.

Do What You Have to Do - Sarah McLachlan
Friend Cher, ever since she told me it was on her post-Fuckwit-breakup tape.

He's So Shy - Pointer Sisters
One of my ex-coworkers. His hated ex-girlfriend used to reference this song and say how cute and shy he was.

Strangers in the Night - Sinatra
My boss has been doo-bee-doo-bee-dooing since I met him 11 years ago.

Mandy - Barry Manilow
One of my ex-coworkers used to sing: "Oh [insert my real name] you came and you told me a story." And it wasn't until I heard Mandy on the radio, years later, that I realized what he was riffing off of!

The Girl from Ipanema - various
Friend Alfonse, since he's the first person I've met who loved the song. (The only version I ever really knew was the Rick Moranis.)

Okay I'll stop now.

Kitchen?

So the kind of kitchen I actually like is an old looking one. The new style is to have the dark cabinets and they're very attractive, but I tell you... they're going to look uber-dated in a couple decades. And I'm not the rip-out-and-re-do type. I want to get a home for life, and I'm not going to constantly remodel it. Worse would be 80s style cabinets. Bleh! I didn't even like them in 80s.

I feel like these Sexy Dark Cabinet Kitchens will...

...one day look like this (to my 2030s eyes.) And no amount of Mad Men fashion will make me love these.

Old cabinets come with old homes, which Fernando doesn't want. But maybe I'd be willing to rip out 80's cabinets and install old second-hand kitchen cabinets. I assume that's a possibility, if I could be bothered.

Look what these fools did! They had great 1960s cabinets, even a silly trim on top! Out. I would happily repaint & jollify such cabinets.

I also like jolly colours in the kitchen.

I think the kitchen of the old summer cabin we went to when I was a child had yellow cabinets or something, and this imprinted on me, which is why I have a bright yellow kitchen curtain (but GRAY cabinets. Super yuck.) And I do love my red chairs. We had old brown wood chairs, so I took off the seat, painted them in red lacquer, and reupholstered the seats with a 1930s style pattern. The only furniture in my home that I love.
Alright, now let's check out some kitchens from the Nanaimo listings I looked at today (in the 150 000 - 350 000 range.)

Mid 80s cabinets. Ohhh meesa hates!

That's better.

Woah! A bit modern for me, but punchy!

Hm I like how these counters go on forever. Good exercise.

No. ...No. ...It would have to be the most superbly perfecto amazing
home before I'd settle for this size. Okay yes, there's some counter space but, like... how do you even bend over and open a cabinet??

This is nice. Quite weird.

Boring, but alright.

An example of the current style.

House of the Day... or week... or, well nevermind that.

Here's the cutest house listing I saw tonight. It's above $300 000, which the mortgage calc says would be $1894 a month, which if of course before EVERY other cost. So... not in my price range unless F or I have better paying jobs.

It's on Bush street... which isn't a great address, I admit, despite it's dirty undertone.
But it's by the hospital and college and city.

It's the windows that caught my eye. Ooooh! I suppose in
Quebec the cold air would be an issue, but not in Nanaimo.

These cupboards look alright. A good amount of them, and check out the big counter.
Plus lots of light. And the kinds of floors/counters that don't show dirt!

This bathroom is very much my taste, actually.

The basement.