Dance party procrastination

This is my last week of university classes! I have some assignments due next week and an exam the following week, but things are winding down and the end is in sight. Mini dance parties are helping me cope with the stress. My music of choice? Neon Neon! The latest project by Gruff Rhys! Listen to Raquel if you want to dance around your computer like me. Then read what Pitchfork has to say about Neon Neon. You should know that their debut album, Stainless Style, is based on the life of John Delorean (you know: the guy who designed the time traveling car in Back to the Future).

When I'm not doing homework, applying for jobs or dancing, I'm watching dance crews on TV. Michael and I just finished watching America's Best Dance Crew. My favorite crew was Kaba Modern, but my favorite dance routine is the one posted here. I'm not a fan of the JabbaWockeeZ masks, nor is this my favorite Michael Jackson song, but wow. They were Michael's favorite dance crew, for the record.

UPDATE: The video is no longer available on YouTube do to Viacom copyright blah blah blah, and the American MTV website won't show videos to people outside of the US, so you'll have to watch these two little dudes doing the routine instead. I think you'll get the drift.

Spring bun

The UVic buns don't hold still for very long, so this picture is a prize. This little guy reminds me of my favourite passage from Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami:

* * * * *

"I really like you, Midori. A lot."

"How much is a lot?"

"Like a spring bear," I said.

"A spring bear?" Midori looked up again. "What's that all about? A spring bear."

"You're walking through a field all by yourself one day in spring, and this sweet little bear cub with velvet fur and shiny little eyes comes walking along. And he says to you, 'Hi, there, little lady. Want to tumble with me?' So you and the bear cub spend the whole day in each other's arms, tumbling down this clover-covered hill. Nice, huh?"

"Yeah. Really nice."

"That's how much I like you."

* * * * *

That's how much I like you, even if I didn't get a chance to give you any of the cupcakes I made for Things Worth Making on Saturday.

Bring Your Own Champagne

When we were in Seattle, I finally had the opportunity to buy these mini cans of champagne - a product brought to us by Sofia Coppola. I had tentative plans to buy them for many years, but I don't think they are available in Canada. I found them at my favourite grocery store: Whole Foods.

I don't like champagne very much, but these pink cans made my homework go down easier for a couple of reasons. First, they are ridiculous. Second, they contain alcohol. I wish I had one right now.

Oh yeah. I made earrings. I wrote about them on Things Worth Making.

Who says women aren't funny?

A year ago I made a website for a class project that responded to the Vanity Fair article Why women aren't funny by Christopher Hitchens. You can find the old website here, but I can't promise you that the YouTube videos are still up and running. I'm not really trying to get you to visit my old website though; I'm just trying to jog your memory, because I'm pleased to report that the magazine finally published an article that presents my point of view: Women are funny. I think you should read Who says women aren't funny? even if you know there is nothing to debate. There are some great photos in the print version, so make sure you look at those while you're in line to pay for your groceries. Aren't you exited about Baby Mama? The Tina Fey & Amy Poehler buddy movie? I am, even though Michael and I weren't impressed by the preview.

Oh yeah, one last thing: Vanity Fair focusses on 12 notable female comedians, even though they mention many more in the full article. Let's compare their shortlist to mine:

My shortlist: Amy Sedaris, Catharine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge, Margaret Cho, Samantha Bee, Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Wanda Sykes (+ Parker Posey, but I didn't include her in my website because I ran out of time).

Vanity Fair's shortlist*: Sandra Bernhard, Susie Essman, Tina Fey, Jenna Fischer, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Mann, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, Kristen Wiig.

*Click on this link to see short interviews with each comedian that aren't included in the print issue of the magazine.

You can thank procrastination for the new colours

I'm drowning in my last political science essay today. I've been working on it for days and it will not go away! I barely managed to write my Wednesday post for Things Worth Making, but I persevered and it's really good. I think. Also, I somehow found time to change the colours on this blog. Procrastination is a strange beast, friends.

The truth about Cadbury Crème Eggs*

*Where I explore a couple of the controversies surrounding my favorite Easter treat

Controversy 1: Size
I only became aware of this issue when I did some cursory Internet research about Cadbury Crème Eggs a couple of weeks ago. It seems that the American egg became smaller last year, and the issue exploded online after actor BJ Novak (he plays Ryan in The Office) complained about it on Late Night with Conan O'Brian (the video is no longer available on YouTube).

At the time, this is was the response on the Cadbury Schweppes website (Internet archive):
Why has the size of the egg changed?
It hasn't - you've just grown up!

This is what the Cadbury Schweppes website says now:
If you're eating a Cadbury Crème Egg in the UK or Canada - nothing has changed, they're the same size as ever. However, in the United States, our business partner, Hershey, elected to reduce the size of the crème egg.

Thank goodness I live in Canada! Thank goodness I live in Victoria, where I can buy British Cadbury Crème Eggs at The English Sweet Shop. Read on to find out why.

Controversy 2: Taste
It was obvious to me that a taste test is the only way to discover the true difference between the British and the Canadian Egg:

No, I didn't eat two eggs in one sitting. I needed a second opinion, and Michael grudgingly accepted the challenge.

We determined that the British egg (on the left) isn't as sweet as its Canadian counterpart. I'm sure this has a lot to do with the British preference for more cream and less sugar in their chocolate. Also, the filling isn't as runny. The Canadian egg has an icing sugar flavour, and not surprisingly, the chocolate tastes/feels a little waxy.

I'm sure you won't be shocked to find out that I prefer the British egg, but I have realized that the quality of the product has little to do with my opinion. These are the eggs that used to be available in Canada, and the flavour is all nostalgia for me. I can't remember the precise year, but at some point in the 1990s the British eggs were pulled from our shelves. My infatuation with the eggs died that year. I don't think it was resurrected until I happened to be in Ireland over the Easter holiday in 1999, and my cousin Keren showed me the light. The British eggs taste like my childhood. Now I haunt the afore mentioned sweet shop every spring, waiting to fill my annual craving and revisit the past.

Michael, on the other hand, prefers the Canadian egg. I imagine this has something to do with childhood nostalgia too. Sometimes you just like bad chocolate. Like those chocolate bunnies from the drug store. You know? Also, he claims the Canadian egg has a better aftertaste.

Tentative plans for sewing

I just wrote about my latest sewing project on Things Worth Making. By "latest" I mean the first one I've tackled in a couple of years. My sewing machine was dusty, and the lady at Gala Fabrics gave me heck for not servicing it before embarking on this project. A new tentative plan! I also have plans to get my scissors sharpened.

Remember how I planned to write about Cadbury Creme Egg controversies? That's going to happen soon! I have one British and one Canadian egg sitting on a shelf, waiting for an official taste comparison. I can't believe I've held off on gobbling them up this long.

Photo update, one of Michael's top 10 ideas of 2008 and a small complaint about Flickr

I've posted new pictures to Flickr. Jen, Tim and baby Kaden recently visited us for a week, and we joined them on a weekend adventure to Seattle. It was tops. There was lots of baby time, lots of walking and lots of good food.

Seattle is a hard city to navigate, even though we've been there quite a few times over the last 10 years, so Michael came up with a handy map idea to help with the driving and the walking. He took digital pictures of key Seattle neighbourhoods on Google maps, and referred to the camera when he needed a guide. He declared it one of his top 10 ideas of 2008. He loves the compact nature of the map (which you can still enlarge at will) and he feels it doesn't mark you as a tourist, like a regular map does. I'm not sure about that last point, but it was handy. He had me save one of the map photos as a commemoration of the trip and his great idea.

If you look at my Flickr photos, you'll see that the photo order is a little mixed up, which is my only complaint about about the program. I read about the problem here, but there doesn't seem to be an easy way to reorder the photos once uploaded. Tell me how you deal with this problem! Or are you just more laid back than me?