Some images from last couple weeks

Invite to a very fun shopping night at West Elm.
They really know how to put on a party: Twinkly lights, Christmas cocktails and catering by Mildred Pierce.

Valerie - holding groovy tea towel - plus delish frites + mayo. yum.

Thrilled to find this Iznik Dhurrie (which I had been stalking) on super sale. (115 wow)
Valerie fulfilled her duty as perfect shopping partner and said "BUY IT!"
Here it is at home adding a nice splash of colour on my office.
One of my many decor mottos= "You can never have too many rugs."
(I am definitely not a minimalist!)

Q LIVE

Tori treated me to tickets to Q Live at Glenn Gould Studio. and it was a stellar show.

The National were the live musical guests. They played 2 brand new, unreleased songs: "Rylan" and "I Need My Girl".

.Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) then joined them for a beautiful rendition of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks.

Thanks so much Tori.


Preparing letters + Xmas gifts to be sent out to some special people. :-)

I'm back!

Hi everybody
I did a major upgrade to my computer + couldn't get into the blogger dashboard for a week --- hence no posts! Glad to be back. Lots of fun hijinks in last week : Very fun West Elm / Style at home evening with Valerie including xmas cocktails, Mildred Pierce snacks + a new orange rug i got on super sale! whoo hoo.
Plus Q Live last Thurs with Jian Ghomeshi, The National + Justin Vernon! (Bon Iver)
Thank you Tori!

Catch up posts coming soon.

Need a great xmas playlist? Down load here!

I have been screening + painting (chalkboard paint!!) all day while listening to this fantastic xmas playlist called TINSEL courtesy of the Drake General Store.

Especially like A Thing For Me by Metronomy [Breakbot Remix]
To get yours download here.

Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim. No words for how I feel about this guy.

I'm painting a mural this afternoon and when I do I need to listen to intense broadway tunes!
Just found this BBC Sondheim celebration on You tube. I can never ever listen to his lyrics and not cry. Especially from Sunday and the Park with George.
"Look I made a hat... where there never was a hat." Killer.

Best use of 1.98 in a very long time

These are my 2 songs of Summer 2011:
Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael and
At the River by Groove Armada
Thanks M.

The Social Network wins big

Am pleased The Social Network took home so many Golden Globes on Sunday.
If you visit the site you can now watch short videos on all of the creative minds behind the film including Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher and Trent Reznor who wrote the beautiful dark score that I can't stop listening to. I found the commentaries very insightful.

In related news... Don't you think Jesse Eisenberg is one of the sexiest men alive? See pic below.
What - am I twelve?

Feist on Creative Process + Collaboration

Really great interview on Q just now with Leslie Feist and Anthony Seck on Look at What the Light Did Now: A documentary film about Feist and her collaborators. I have always found Feist to be very juicy + insightful when discussing her creative process and have long admired how she includes many visual artists (including puppeteers!) into her live shows. I'll be buying the DVD as soon as it comes out and anticipate giving it a glowing review later in the month.

Wow. The Social Network.

Jesse Eisenberg as facebook founder Mark Zukerberg. Heartbreaking.

I went to see The Social Network last night and it did not disappoint.
Aaron Sorkin's script and Jesse Eisenberg's performance were both fantastic but what really stayed with me after I left the theatre was the dark score by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The music added an ominous unmistakable layer to the film.
The first track Hand Covers Bruise is particularly eerie. Trent Reznor explained that the anxious techno buzz was meant to represent a computer while the quiet piano over top of it represented the human element of the story.
Listen to it here. It's so great -- and so creepy!

The movie has an intense melancholy running through it and ends with what feels like darkness closing in on an isolated soul. Intense!
Go see it. (That means you Eric. ;-))

ps. David Denby's excellent review here.

Good Company: All Songs Considered

One of my favorite things to listen to when I'm screening is NPR's All Songs Considered. I especially enjoy the episodes where Bob Boilen brings in a guest DJ to play + talk about some of his favorite music. The listener gets music and a music lesson all in one! Tonight I screened while listening to Guest DJ Tucker Martine. He's a producer known for doing really atmospheric moody stuff. Recently he produced Laura Gibson's latest CD. He talked a lot about his creative process. He loves happy accidents (yay) and strongly believes that in art you always "Gotta leave in some of the mystery."