Puzzle me

PS 22 Chorus.
This is my favourite Bjork song, Hoga. Teaching music must be the best job in the world. Look at the kids' faces- they're so committed and uninhibited.
Safe spaces and self expression.

All is full of love

PS22 Chorus.

Moment

Take a moment just for you. Remember you are small, but you are strong.

The calm ocean flows and recedes but over time it erodes. Life is a series of moments. They all add up to make something so much bigger. Make your equation a good one.

It's in his kiss

Definition of adorable.

I'm Yours, the awesome version

Covering Jason Mraz's I'm Yours.

I have a thing for covers, they're almost always at least a little better than the original. This is no exception. Facial expressions alone and I'm sold. Bang bang!

What Colour's the Future?

The future is blue. Squint hard
and it blackens: a bruise, sour plum,
at daylight-savings retreating,
its mouth in its hand. Is near. 
Is the refusal to harvest the root: 
carrot, parsnip, all troops deployed.
You know who I mean. The one
on the hunt, on the prowl, with blood 
on his hands. The fate of the future,
make no mistake, the favoured side
of the coin. Don't forget fear 
(o the future is here!): the rubble 
and gray of the twin match-
stick towers ashing down.
Is a gas —: burns orange, burns
white —: a year that combusts half-way, 
on the fourth of July. The future's 
a palate of colours too foreign 
to worry the tongue: cobalt, 
azure, the future is clear, 
the glass you hold up to the past 
to make it make sense. Make do. 
Make an attempt: put your 
change in the pot. The future 
is green, the green of a well, 
the o of its open, its poison, its entrance
to hell. Is road-kill, rodent, 
near-extinct reptile —: the future's 
a lizard that loses its tail. And
grows back a new one. Or doesn't. 

- Alison Pick

Gravité Gravitas

From Renaud Hallee on Vimeo.

Collected sounds made into music are like collages for you ears. I especially love the visual, you can see the sound.

Here's a small collection of similar posts you may have missed: Bonsai Music, Playing the Audience, Upular.

Tip on the Tightrope

There's a lot to love about this video: the bouncy tune, the free form dancing, the colour palette, everyone in tuxedos. I wish dance parties like that were a reality. Oh well, for now here's more Janelle Monae on Myspace. Let's have a virtual sock hop :)

Adora Svitak at Ted

I watched Adora's talk without knowing who she was or what she has accomplished in her young life and I was surprised at how commanding she was in front of such a large and intimidating audience. Then I googled her and realized that this sort of thing is old hat for her. She's a published author, a teacher and a consultant for educators. The fact that she has experience, however, doesn't make her commanding confidence any less impressive. I love that a child is advocating for children, for the worth of imagination and idealistic belief. Watching her speak took me back to when I was younger and genuinely believed that world peace and saving the planet were possible if only we tried hard enough or all worked together. It made me miss the idealistic little kid who didn't believe in limits. Thinking like her might be a good plan for my present. If all things are possible, all things are possible.

That Fantastical Fox

Mo, Lou and I watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox last night.
Oh, it was so good! Like most of Wes Anderson's work. He always manages to create such eclectically whole worlds in his films. I have been a big Roald Dahl fan since I was a young enough to be terrified of The Witches, and I'm a big fan of stop motion puppetry too. I really loved the bandit hats, the signature snapping and whistles of the characters, the word 'cuss' used as a cuss, and perhaps most of all, the music by Alexandre Desplat.

Watch it, you'll love it. I promise!

Partially related side note: As a kid I managed to get the mice from The Witches conflated with the mouse from Beverly Cleary's the Mouse and the Motorcycle. Most confusing. But it did make me think that being a human stuck in the body of a mouse wouldn't be so bad if I got my own motorcycle.

Bobby McFerrin Makes Magic Music

This is magical. Bobby McFerrin makes such unique and beautiful music. Here, with no verbal prompting, he uses his audience as an instrument, an accompaniment. This just proves how innate music is.

You so Sweet

Do you sell gift cards?

Mei Meets Totoro

I would love to have a nap on a very fuzzy Totoro. My Neighbour Totoro, by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Ugg A Wugg Ugg A Wugg Ugg A Wugg

I was obsessed with this version of Peter Pan as a kid. I loved that a girl could be a boy and that a grown up could be a kid, it is such a perfect embodiment of the perpetually young lost boys. Mary Martin has such great chemistry with the kids and she is such a joyful Peter. I hated Wendy though. When my friends and I pretended to be the characters I was always Peter, or Tigerlily.

The video taped version I watched over and over was awful quality, but I loved it anyway. Check out this awesome choreography below. I know that at least part of my lasting fascination with theatre and dance can be traced back to my studying of this production as a six year old. I should probably admit that the refusal to grow up thing really took root as well.

Old Favourites

Scuffy the Tugboat was my brother's favourite Golden Book when we were growing up. There were many requests for Scuffy at bedtime.



Theodore Mouse Goes to Sea was my Mom's favourite. She loved how Theodore Mousey would brush his teeth and comb his whiskers. I liked how he improvised a boat from his bed, and how his best buddy Beatrice had an eyepatch. Also: Pirate Cats!



My very favourite books were Robert Munsch, we were lucky enough to see him read at the Children's Festival in Vancouver. I remember how he brought the book Pigs to life and that he asked me my baby doll's name. (It was Luke, in case you were wondering too).

Music from a Bonsai

Wow!
More info here.

Consumable Celebrity

Lady Gaga really seems to have inspired the superfan. More Gaga cookies.

Lady Gaga Barbie dolls by Lu Wei Kang


The new Gaga video is packed full with references to Pop Culture, social and political issues, the ridiculous, the monstrous.







onlywordstoplaywith has posted an awesome discussion about the themes and references in the video. I wish we all took the time as a society to dissect everything we see the way she has.

Any artist that can inspire this kind of dialogue is doing something right.

Plus: catchy!

Super Hero!

Whoa. Dooood. When I was a kid I either wanted to grow up to be Peter Pan, a Ninja or a Superhero. Yeah, I had reasonable expectations. This movie looks like so much fun! A pop star would have been okay, but Lady Gaga seems to have that covered. Maybe there's room for me and cape?

And after all, you're my wonderwall

This Oasis album was the first real CD I bought at around ten or eleven years old. I can remember listening to it at the family stereo with headphones on. Of course sooner than later I found the Spice Girls and lost a whole lot of street cred in the process.

First Aid Kid Super Cute Awesome Hard Believer