Vampire Weekend just blew my mind.


I am about to have an epileptic seizure from repeatedly watching Vampire Weekends music video for "Cousins".
Montage inspiration anyone?

Mom in the media

Julie Hesketh, nurse practitioner and my mother, is telling her story in today's Winnipeg Free Press. Check it out here.


She was also featured on CJOB this week, resulting in several excited texts from my fellow Cre-Comms asking 'Is your mom on the radio?'. I was proud to text back, 'Damn right she is!'


I love you mom.

Twit-book

For many of my friends, Facebook and Twitter are simply a part of the daily routine. Check your friends latest pictures on Facebook, receive news about Marc Jacobs Spring, 2010 line via Twitter, all before breakfast. The two sites offer similar alerts and services for the busy, young, thing on the go, and its rare for anyone under 30 not to have an account at one or both of these sites.


This huge audience of receptive and easily accessible young people is a tempting demographic for the PR professional. The challenge that PR professinals face is that they don't want to be sold anything. The users of Facebook in particular are much more likely to use the site for entertainment and recreational purposes. Unless you're offering them something, they would rather not listen.


Twitter is a slightly more receptive audience, with a format that is better suited for promotions and reaching a specific target audience. Twitter users readily sign themselves up to receive a streaming feed of profile updates, news and semi-disguised advertisements from the people they follow. 

Facebook is most useful to PR professionals for its fan pages and events. Many companies and organizations now have Facebook profiles with a huge audience of 'friends' from all around the world. Facebook offers a slightly more personal and friendly promotional approach to PR that while tricky to navigate can lead to impressive results.

New media has given us a unique opportunity to forge relationships and dialogue directly with our customers. By creating strategies that take advantage of both Twitter and Facebook, PR professionals have the chance to reach a young, ready to listen audience and get great results for their clients.

DIY studded dress

Materials

A large pyramid studded belt. You can usually find them in the back of your tween sister/brothers closet or at your local Value Village. I found mine at a Salvation Army on Pembina highway for two bucks, and it even has different tones of studs for my other DIY projects!

A little black dress/shirt/jacket/etc. Make sure its made of a strong but piercable material such as a rayon knit. The fabric can not be too delicate or else the studs will have no support and fall off but there is nothing fun about trying to force blunt studs through impenetrable leather either.

A pair of needle nose pliers. I don't have a picture of the ones I used but if in doubt ask your local handy man/woman. 



Directions

Flip over the studded belt, exposing the uncovered backs of the studs. Use the needle nose pliers and your fingernails to lift up the steel backing and pull out the studs one by one. For the project I did I used twenty studs, but according to what look you're going for you can go for more ore less studding.


Once you have lifted out your studs lay out your dress on a flat surface and plan out your pattern. I wanted a tribal/bib inspired neck line which I achieved by laying the studs out in a symmetrical pyramid based pattern.


Next use the needle nose pliers to peel up the stud backs so that they stand up straight and easily pierce the fabric. The final step is simply pushing the studs through the fabric of your dress, lining up the stud and using the pliers to fasten the studs in place.

The end result will be something like this handsome dress:

 Dance time!

My internet habit.

I've noticed a certain repetitiveness to the time I spend on the big, bad internet.
According to my computer history I need to stop looking at...

1.  facebook.com

2. roiworld.com

3. jakandjil.com/blog

4. watch-movies-online.tv

5. audrey.buzznet.com

6. lookbook.nu

7. tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com

8. thecoolhunter.net

9. streetpeeper.com

10. icanhascheezburger.com

What are you doing online?

In The Chamber

Maybe it was the giant red and yellow antibiotic dissolving in my stomach or maybe it was the residual fever still pumping through my body but I think even in the most perfect health a Friday night spent "In The Chamber" just wasn’t going to be my cup of tea.

This year is the fifth installment in the edgy series and features two well performed but preachy performances by Gordon Tanner and Steven Ratzlaff. Both Tanner and Ratzlaff wrote and acted in their individual pieces and while there performances dragged on, the passion both felt for their labor of love remained obvious throughout both performances.

The first monologue was "Last Man in Universe Alpha - 11," an hour long rant against factory farming punctuated with inside jokes and a slide show featuring photographs of fire charred pig carcasses. I’ve been a vegan, a vegetarian and a piscetarian but even the animal rights activist in me felt that the performance had more than a sprinkling of PETA fueled rage coating it.

The second performance “Last Man in Puntarenas" was drier and slide show free but equally long winded. As much as I tried to follow Ratzlaff’s characters retirement speech about the flaws in Canada’s health care system and his own marriage follies I found my eye lids drooping with fatigue long before he reached the end of his speech.

Walking out of the Rachel Browne theatre I didn’t feel uplifted by new knowledge or inspired by the actors passion for their craft. Simply put, "In The Chamber" was a play that I just didn't like very much.

I love you 1987

While creeping on several blogs I came across a link on Kenton's Infotainment Scan that would forever changed my life.

Portage Place circa 1987. I don't know which is scarier, Portage Place then with its muscle flexing and shoulder pads or Portage Place now with less perms but noticeably more muggings. Watch the video below and decide for yourself.

Now for extra laughs fast forward six seconds into the video. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat...

I have a new favorite YouTube video!