Friday, September 08, 2006
Creatures of Myth
Under the cover of night
Your tongue, it slipped into my song
Stole away my glittering secret
Then flew down south to love me long.
Ostrich - The Magpie
If you want to read some truly sublime poetry of the kind I haven't read in years, visit Ostrachised, although this lovely little bird rarely updates.
I'm now obsessed with two bands I've recently discovered. The first is a bossa nova fusion band called Nouvelle Vague who cover fairly classic if highly overplayed songs in an entirely transcendental way. I listened to them last night as the full moon was streaming its ghostly white light through my windows and I was lying on my bed reading about giant endangered fish in the Russian Far East.
The other is a Seattle-based, punky-sounding band called Gatsby's American Dream. They sounded deceptively generic on the first listen, but they're really growing on me. Their lyrics are incredibly sensitive, especially on the album Volcano, and I have to admire their impressively astute references to works of literature including Golding's Lord of the Flies, a personal favourite of mine.
Oh, and I'm rather enjoying The Unicorns at the moment as well. Like most interesting indie bands I like, they broke up before I even knew they existed. Go figure.
I had a job interview yesterday in a rather upper class suburb across the water from the Vancity. It was a strange interview because guy who interviewed me spoke very hesitant English (and he's the director of a language school), and he actually PAID me for the interview. I'd never heard of such a thing, but I can just about never say no to people giving me money. I hope I get the job, actually. The position is for essay-writing teachers -- definitely up my alley.
I met Kylie and a friend of hers for a fabulous sushi lunch afterwards. Kylie's finally escaped the suburban hellhole, although she's still keeping up the facade of dating a guy she's not terribly into, and to my horror she also dyed her hair black. It was actually really difficult to conceal my shock and disappointment that the most beautiful redhead I know in real life has covered up her natural auburn with cheap hair dye. Grr. She's still stunning of course, but that's besides the point given my Fatal Attraction to Redheads.
I also went to my new bookclub last night, where I was the youngest person in attendance by at least ten years and one of only three people who actually flat-out hated this month's book. I recognized one of the women there from the community center I used to go to on Thursday mornings, and we chatted for a while. She also found the book to be deeply humourless and depressing, thank god. It was a fun evening, though. Everyone was nice and interesting and opinionated, and I hadn't really expected to meet anyone from my demographic anyway. I sure called that one.
I've been feeling pretty physically lousy the last couple of days. I haven't been eating more than I need to stay alive, but my stomach seems to be tearing itself from the inside out just the same. I got what I was pretty sure was a migraine last night, but now it seems to have gone away.
Oh, and I was randomly invited to a party next week with the crew of a film being shot in the Vancity called Things We Lost in the Fire. Crazy, I know, but the offer of a party with tons of free champagne and lots of movie industry types is one I can't possibly refuse.
Everyone should go congratulate my dear friend Forgottenmachine on the birth of his beautiful new daughter, Cadence Madrigal. It's a musical name for the child of brilliant and sweet people. Congrats, and welcome to the world, little one.
I'm going to try to rollerblade to Yaletown today to hunt down some pluots. Wish me luck.
-N
