Contentment

Words of Wisdom from Cosmo TV

Here are some fun facts that I happened to catch during the commercial breaks of the ever-so enlightening, Cosmopolitan T.V. Stay tuned for future updates on things that we, as women, should no doubt be aware of. I can only hope that 99% of you find these statements utterly pointless, unrealistic, and immensely improbable.

-56% of guys have bailed on a girl after a hook up
-According to guys, the sexiest professionals are flight attendants, models, and dancers
-68% of women say that traveling alone is a great way to meet people
-Single men are less likely than married men to say they are “very happy”
-67% of people say I love you to someone every day
-86% of guys say they stress after a date about whether you had fun

Hope this was as educational for you as it was for me. Enough said. With any luck the rooms full of monkeys on typewriters at Cosmo can conjure up some more helpful gems of information to enhance our lives. Somehow I feel as though the monkeys possess infinitely more wisdom than the vapid, Josie Dye.

Hard? More like chewy, or bubbly, Madonna.

Tangy, tart, and sweet, with bursts of sugary flavor. Definitely a new, savory treat from the original pop princess, but Madonna didn’t blow my taste buds away. She gave me a pleasant melt-in-your-mouth high, but I found nothing groundbreaking about this album, and nothing that lasted longer than the typical sugar rush.
Hard Candy left me wondering why Madonna left the riveting, absorbing, thought provoking, electro/dance beat style of Confessions on a Dance Floor. In my opinion her last album was more like a pulsing, trippy, deep experience, while hard Candy offers a sampling of surface delights, but lacks the long-lasting attraction of something more substantial.

This album does have some spunk and spirit, but the tunes weren’t as riveting as I would have liked. If you like a sprinkling of pop, light sound with a lot of cotton candy lyrics that melt quickly on your tongue then this is the album for you. Granted, there were certain tracks that caught my attention, with a certain array of hypnotizing beats that managed to keep me entranced.

Songs like "Heartbeat", which begins with the simple, resonating sound of a pulsing heart, then emerges into a fast, fresh arrangement of synthesized piano keys, accompanied by a deeper, stronger beat, which pulls you in. It’s something I could feel myself moving to, because the underlying current of the song is the heartbeat itself and the flashy, throbbing texture. The lyrics are also catchy and sweet.

“On any given night, catch me on the floor, working up a sweat, that’s what music’s for.
“You know I feel it in my heart beat, it may feel old to you, but to me it feels new.
Don’t you know, can’t you see, when I dance I feel free.
Which makes me feel like the only one, the only one, that the light shines on.”

What made me take the time to finally perk up and listen is the beat of some songs in this album, which are never overpowering, but always mesmerizing, even though some of the tunes took time to grow on me.

The tracks that gave off the best first impression were ones that had a disco feel. Like something you could visualize being blasted from speakers at a roller skate rink, with tingly, soft lights highlighting the short shorts of bubble gum blondes gliding with pink wheels under their toes. Maybe it’s the retro style of some of the songs, but they do contain an element of that Saturday night boogie flavor.

“She’s not me”, especially, portrays the curled, flared, vivid feel of a retro night. The song starts off with a series of quirky handclaps, a peppery pulse, and a flash of catchy piano notes which blend right into the orange and purple wallpaper and tacky upholstery.

“She started dressing like me and talking like me, it freaked me out. She started calling you up in the middle of the night, what’s that about?
I just want to be there, when you discover. You wake up in the morning, next to your new lover. She might cook you breakfast, and love you in the shower. The flavor of the moment, cause she don’t have what’s ours.”

Hearing the spunky, kitsch sound, I can’t help but see Madonna in a sexy 50’s housecoat, preparing pancakes with murderous intentions, rollers in her hair, and a cigarette dangling from her lip as her cheating boyfriend’s beat up mustang pulls into the driveway.

The collaborations in this album aren’t too bad, with her homeboy J.T. being the most prominent. Kanye West takes the runner up position with “Beat Goes on.” I have to say that next to a veteran musical revolutionary like Madonna, Kanye’s in your face confidence sounds a little deflated. There is no doubt that he sounds like pure accompaniment to Madonna’s honed, vintage sound. I had to admit I derived a little pleasure from hearing him as a back-up singer, but the placement of vocals works sufficiently.

Aside from “4 minutes”, which definitely sparked a lot of interest when it debuted on the airwaves, the other Madonna + Justin team-up hit of this album is “Dance 2night.”

This song has a certain Beegees, meets sultry lounge singer sound. There is a story here, of boy and girl meet, take a chance and of course, boogey down. It’s purely something to shake to, but it’s catchy, funky and uncomplicated. There is somewhat dazzling, rainbow, electric kind of mood, where the purpose is to feel good, no matter what that entails.

“You don’t have to be beautiful, to be understood
You don’t have to be rich and famous to be good.
You just gotta give more, more, more, than you ever have before
And you gottta move fast, fast fast, if you want this good thing to last.”

I have to admit that this duo sounds right together, and if Justin ever entered a club looking for the hottest, toned, older foxy lady in the joint, he would no doubt find Madonna, and she would “fall for his love in the worst way.”

One of the last songs that I felt connected to from the start was, “Devil wouldn’t recognize you”, for its sharp yet murky, undulating, bedtime-story-gone-wrong feel. A tale of what to watch out for, in the form of a man turned into addiction. The light piano, strings, rippling, popping, techno sounds, and Madonna’s story-teller voice is magnetic.

“As quiet, as it is tonight, you’d almost think you were saved…
Waiting underneath the stars, there’s something you should know. The angels they surround my heart, telling me to let you go.”

The ebony tone of the song, with a poignant, accompanying chorus of voices, puts me in mind of a little red riding hood opera, where the girl in the cape meets the wolf, is deceived, yet keeps returning for more.
With Hard Candy, Madonna hasn’t lost the exquisite ability to make us move, with beats that float and dip like the lights of a rotating disco ball, or tell us simple, yet lively stories with a bubblegum taste that you can chew on as you groove. Despite the somewhat produced-pop ring to some of the songs, there is an element of original sound in this album, if you have the sweet tooth for throbbing chocolate indulgences, clusters of fizzy, popping sensations, and the sticky sweet stimulation of Madonna’s newest candy creation, with her personal invitation to, “have some more.”

Dan in Real Life

In real life, things are often impossible to plan. Impossible to contrive. Moments can be awkward, comical, uncomfortable, imperfect, lopsided, fleeting, impractical, ill-timed, chaotic, and somehow everything still works out.

Dan in Real Life is a film that so completely embodies this concept, of the many beautiful, unplanned scenarios that unravel in our lives and carry us where we need to go, regardless of how random or untimely things may seem. Basically we have no control over where life will take us, and its best to try and keep an open mind, even when things get bumpy, or we happen to take a wrong turn.

Dan, played by the ever so awkwardly amusing Steve Carell, is a widower and a single father of three daughters. His column, entitled, Dan in Real Life, is an advice feature where he shares guidance and moral reflections about raising children as a single parent. We enter Dan’s life 4 years after the passing of his wife, as he and his daughters are embarking on their yearly trip to the family cottage in Rhode Island. Only on this trip, everything unexpected will happen.

Something remarkable about this movie is the effortless sequences that portray the rituals which unfold in a household of 3 young women and a father who struggles to hold everything together on his own. A simple moment, for example, where he folds their clothes, and upon finding a thong, dutifully enquires who it belongs to. In another shot he is constructing sandwiches for all three girls, and draws a secret smiley face on the inside of one with honey. He then meticulously slices off the crusts before packing them away. It is those very real, very relatable moments of detail and humanity that truly makes this film an open portrayal of life.

Even the different relationship that Dan has with each daughter is relatable in every banter of conversation, every look, and every inevitable battle. With each moment shared between the small family unit we witness how both parties can overlook the point of view of the other. Jane, the eldest, wants to learn to drive, but Dan refuses to permit it. When she argues her point he replies, “But if I let you, you might not live.”

Meanwhile Cara, the second eldest, claims to have fallen in love with a boy, and being dragged away when the family leaves on vacation causes nothing short of a chaotic uproar. When daughter and father duel, Dan argues that you can’t know that you love someone in 3 days, as Clara repeats her mantra, “I love him, I love him, I love him”, as the car pulls away from her beloved.

Once Dan and his mutinous female crew reach the cottage, Dan’s life takes a sudden turn, which becomes enhanced by touching family hijinks and a range of emotional scenarios.

He meets a whimsical, witty and candid woman at a bookstore, who happens to be looking for something to make her laugh, and finds Dan, who she mistakes for an employee. Unfortunately, the woman who he has made a completely unplanned, unorthodox, yet surprisingly poignant connection with, is his brother’s (Dane Cook) new girlfriend, Marie. This sought after woman, who Dan’s entire family becomes enamored of, is played by the gem of an actress, Juliette Binoche, who’s mischievous, daring, and carefree performance is completely disarming. She walks into Dan’s life like a breath of fresh air, leaving him completely befuddled, vulnerable and adorably distraught by his newfound feelings for a woman who he cannot pursue.

He accidentally ends up explaining his intense feelings to his daughter, Clara, when humoring her young love. “Is it frustrating that you can't be with this person? That there's something keeping you apart? That there's something about this person that you can connect with? And whenever you're near this person, you don't know what to say, and you say everything that's in your mind and in your heart, and you know that if you could just be together, that this person would help you become the best possible version of yourself?”

I think that Dan’s especially precocious vulnerability makes him so relatable, and such a living, breathing character, who is both hopefully uplifted at moments, despairingly alone and amusingly confused as to what he should do next. His character is a near perfect portrayal of what we all encounter in life, when things don’t work out the way we plan, when we fear what others will think, question our abilities, what is right and wrong, and what we are meant for. Floundering, lovesick, Dan struggles to hide his feelings, yet finds that despite all the obstacles, what is meant to be will be. Love is messy, as his mother wisely states, and in the end, “There's rightness in our wrongness.”
When compared to other romantic comedies where siblings or friends love the same woman and complications ensue, I found that all others were left in the dust. This story, written by Pierce Gardner, and largely based on his own experiences with his family during summers spent together is so refreshingly natural, warm, intimate, playful, and absorbingly genuine, that it draws you in, effortlessly.

It feels like an authentic family, where the kids do eat in a separate room, at a small crowded table, screaming and laughing hysterically, while the adults conduct long conversations in the dining room. Where games of charades, pantomimes and crosswords are so competitive, good natured and hysterical all at once, and the boys and the girls end up duking it out for bragging rights. Where there are so many people fighting for the bathrooms, crowding the laundry room or trying to find one silent nook in which to talk, rest, gossip or simply collapse on a mattress in utter melancholy.

The warmth and the reality of family bonding which is so vividly present in this movie made it both endearing and surprisingly nostalgic, of times spent with relatives where tender moments ensued, or when you felt all alone in a crowded house because you were so absorbed in your own thoughts. The acting, the characters and the moments of humour were so natural and flowed together well, and never in an over the top or phoney way, as some comedies tend to perform.

Another element of this film which added to its relaxed and playful personality was the music, which was performed by Sondre Lerche, a Norwegian musician who combines jazz, pop and Brazilian folk with his own raw, melodic, ever transitioning sound. Both uplifting, loose, raw, dynamic and tranquil, his sound puts me in the mind of lazy hot nights, days frolicking in the lake, cool drinks, games of volleyball, every shade of woodland green imaginable and a sense of carefree serenity that accompanies the blissful nature of summer.

Director Peter Hedges was drawn to his music and handpicked Lerche as the distinct sound of Dan in Real Life. Hedges and Lerche also collaborated with the actors to create an uncluttered, under produced and natural soundtrack for the film. They wanted music to be used more sparingly than the usual Hollywood soundtrack, and for songs to accentuate the characters and the mood accurately. One especially endearing scene which Lerche helped to coordinate is when Dane Cook’s character, Mitch, serenades Marie, accompanied by Dan. They perform, “Let my love open the door” at a family talent show, and Dan ends up transforming the tune into a ballad at the end, which he sings for Marie alone.

Deep down at its heart, this film portrays human connections and a frank, accurate understanding of the relationships that unfold unexpectedly, but need no explanation. Dan in Real Life embraces life, shows us how we always have choices, whether they are difficult or easy, but they need to be made for our own happiness, which can’t always be planned, but is definitely real.

Waiting for the moon

A young owling
Trembling, her eyes glow
Somehow fails to know
Whether the moon waxes
Or wanes
And the energy spent speculating
Simply drains
In vain she tries to kiss it
Pirouettes in mid-air
Like a church choir that sing an off-key note
And God laughs
Not seeming to care
“It’s a lottery baby, everybody rolls the dice”
But she dislikes to gamble
And she can’t abide chasing mice
Her talons can’t pierce
Tender hearts for consumption
Rather, she’ll digest
Alternative luncheon
Which may be unpopular
But helps her to function
Calls once made to companions dwindle
And falter
Past nocturnal creatures linger
They halt at the prospect of prey
Engrossed in their own frenzied sport
So solitarily passing the day
She lays low, calls to the moon
And waits for an answer
Her beak quivers softly, barely a moan
Deep down she knows
What she needs, what she seeks
Will be set by another’s clock
Not her own

Summerlicious..yummm

It was shaping up to be an exceedingly pleasant evening, sitting on the cusp of King St. West inside Fred Not Here’s exposed dining area, with large glass doors open to the nightlife strolling by. Multicolored pepper lights dangled nearby and a misleading mirror loomed ahead, as the swanky atmosphere of the restaurant oozed out onto the sidewalk where couples sat an arms reach from passerbies. They pored over the diverse Summerlicious menu, which was specialized with affordable process for an everyday crowd, or your average student on summer break. The extensive dinner list was Fred’s main attraction, after researching some of the 130+ fine dining establishments promoting themselves as part of the Summerlicious festival brewing in Toronto the next 2 weeks.

The night was pulsing along to high heels of future club goers and those in search of a good meal. At 25$ a person we knew we couldn’t go wrong. Sometimes munching on a seasoned piece of asparagus with good friends, the night air hanging comfortably around you makes summer seem to fit into reality instead of existing as an elusive concept.

When my appetizer arrived, the self proclaimed, famous lobster and crab soup, I was pleasantly surprised by the bowl set in front of me. What resembled a balloon shaped pastry was protruding cheerfully from the rim. Puffy and plump, when pierced with a spoon the quandary of reaching the soup was solved with a doughy poke. Unfortunately, the soup, which I had heaped with expectations of savory seafood chunks, was devoid of anything to chew on, and lacked texture. It ended up being too spicy for my delicate palette and lost points in taste that it had earned in presentation.

Luckily my entrée, jump friend gnocchi in brown butter with sage, asparagus, artichokes and red peppers exceeded my expectations exquisitely. The brown, soft, doughy pastry had absorbed a rich, buttery taste that melted in your mouth, and was both contrasted and accentuated by the sweet red peppers strewn throughout the dish. The artfully sliced asparagus glistened invitingly with juices and was punctuated by the tangy, delightful taste of the artichokes that popped in your mouth and sang with each bite. Gnocchi just happens to be my favorite kind of pasta and the generous portion and beautiful blending of flavors made this my most appealing experience with it thus far.

Next, came the seasonal desserts…yummn. Between warm apple crumble, mango ice cream and a banana split, I had to choose the split, which had chocolate sauce and brownie chunks, a definitely sell. Needless to say I had a very comforting experience as the flavors of whipped cream, banana, vanilla ice cream and chocolate intermingled and embraced good naturedly in my mouth. Overall, Fred’s was satisfying and delivered exactly what I was hoping for. Amazing cuisine, a stylish atmosphere and a lovely experience.

By now the night had pulled down a darker shade of violet over us and the streetlights were all aglow, illuminating the outfits that passed by with intentions of dancing and drinking yet to occur. We left our perch overlooking the street, appetites enhanced by an incredibly delicious meal, because it was time to seek our own night time entertainment.