Chantelle's blog

Not your average movies

2008-09-06T22:27:00.002-04:00

Last night we watched Triloquist, a movie about a woman, her mute brother, and a ventriloquist's dummy who can talk on his own. They go on a crazy killing spree as they make their way to Las Vegas. The characters - the woman especially - sort of reminded me of the characters in The Devil's Rejects; they're crazy and they do things that make no sense to anyone but them. We enjoyed this movie as it had an unusual premise and it is funny in places. If you like movies of this type, you'll probably like this one.

Today we watched Yo Yo Girl Cop, a Japanese movie about a girl who becomes a yo-yo bearing cop that infiltrates a local school to find out what's going on. We'd expected something sort of light and funny and instead got a darker movie. Still, the movie was pretty good. It seemed to be part of a larger franchise because some things that were said seemed like the audience was supposed to have recognized them. We were right: it's a long-running TV, movie, and manga series. If we had all of them here I'd watch them, so you can take that to mean that we liked it :)

When we weren't watching movies, I managed to get the hand-sewing finished on my dress. Now I just have to sew the hem. I can't believe I'm almost done! It's getting to the point that I'm sick of looking at the dress. I won't have a chance to wear it anytime soon as it's going to be quite cool for the next few days.

We also went for a big long walk today, to the market, then the mall, then the Chapters, and finally home. Of course I ended up with a bit of a sunburn - oops. The walk was great, though. The day was perfect: not too hot and not too cold, with a bit of a breeze.

Errands on a rainy Friday

2008-09-05T21:58:00.000-04:00

The building where the breast screening program is located is gorgeous. It's got a great lawn and little gazebo things and stairs and flowers and it smells nice - it had just rained and it smelled like flowers and trees and not pollution. Apparently the building houses people in long-term care, and has a psychiatric long-term care facility, among others. If I had to be put away for psychatric reasons, that would be a good place to be - it's peaceful there.

The mammogram was uneventful. Because we're looking at a particular area, the technician took an extra film of that breast. She also took an extra film of the other breast because she couldn't get a good view with the normal films due to the port on that side. The films are all digital so it didn't take long for her to check them. My oncologist should have results in a week.

Remember I was talking about one of my teeth having shifted? I've been obsessively looking at my teeth and two others seem to be shifting as well. One is the lower incisor (I think) and the other is a back molar. So that's three teeth that have moved. I can also wiggle all three teeth ever so slightly, or at least more than any of the teeth that haven't changed. There is pain when I bite down on the two front teeth and my jaw aches when I bite down on the back tooth. I've had these symptoms for a few weeks and it's only recently that I've been putting them together.

My dentist is out of the office for another week and I'm not sure whether I should be trying to get in to see another dentist before mine gets back. On the one hand, I'm a bit worried because loose teeth (especially when there's any kind of pain) are bad, but on the other, I'd rather see my own dentist. I'd be willing to see Ian's dentist because he knows of the problems with bisphosphonates - but is this enough of an emergency to go to Mississauga? I don't know.

A fun-filled CT scan day

2008-09-04T22:08:00.006-04:00

Today's CT scan was uneventful. A CT scan with the contrast injection is so easy - they set up an injection line, you go through the donut, and they give you the contrast via the injection line, and you go through the donut again. The whole thing takes about 15 or 20 minutes (including waiting time). My nurse was weird - she kept calling me things like "honey" and "dear" and "my love". She called other patients these things too but it was still on the weird side.

I asked the nurse where the Freeport Health Center is and she asked me, "when you leave here to go home, which way do you go?" I told her that I went north along Weber and she told me to go south on Weber; when I got to Fairway road, keep going and it's on the left before the bridge. I said, "so it's by Fairview Mall, right?" and she said, "the parking lot is on the left." And then I said, "so it's by Fairview Mall?" and she said, "the entrance is on the left from the parking lot and it's only about 20 steps in." I think it's by Fairview Mall.

The reason that I asked is that tomorrow I get to have a mammogram there and I wasn't sure where the center was. I haven't had one of these in a while but there's a weird thing going on where I had the last biopsy done. There's some kind of thickening there again; we think it's scar tissue from the core needle biopsy. Since it's most likely scar tissue, it's probably not worth doing another biopsy so we'll do the mammogram. Besides, the cancer is more likely to grow in the breast right now since my sternal mets are stable and so doing mammograms is a good idea.

Games night fun

2008-09-03T23:09:00.006-04:00

We got to play games with our friends tonight to celebrate one of them being back in town. It was a lot of fun - we played Alhambra with one of the extensions (Wechselstube) and For Sale. I hadn't played For Sale before and I enjoyed it very much. It's fast-moving and easy to understand so everyone could play right away without too much of a learning curve.

I also got to do some sewing today - I've attached the collar and have pinned the neck facing in place. Once I sew that, all I have to do is sew the buttonholes and hem it and it's done. whoo hoo!

Tomorrow I'm the lucky recipient of a CT scan for my head. Remember I fell back in July and gave myself a concussion that took me about two weeks to recover from? My oncologist suggested that it would be good to be sure that I didn't actually do any damage to my head so we're doing a scan tomorrow. I'm actually glad that we're doing this because I've been a little worried about the length of time it took me to recover from the concussion. I'm probably just being a bit of a hypochondriac but I'd rather be sure that there's nothing bad going on in my head.

No dentist for now

2008-09-02T22:15:00.006-04:00

I called my dentist but they're on vacation until September 15th. :( Not that I *want* to see the dentist, really; my sinuses have been aching a bit, making my teeth ache, and I don't really want my dentist poking around in my mouth just now. I'll keep an eye on my front teeth for now. Hopefully they won't shift any more.

I'm getting much better at this whole "getting up in the morning and staying awake all day" thing. I almost never have naps and I've been getting up around 9:30 or 10am and getting to sleep around 11:30pm or midnight. This is great news, as far as I'm concerned, because it means that I can actually do stuff during the day, if I want.

And my pain is totally under control; I don't seem to have breakthrough pain now. The worst that happens is that I can start to go through withdrawl when the pain patches need to be changed. It starts with a woogly back and gets so that most of my skin and muscles end up twitching. Then I get clammy and start to feel anxious and nauseous. Yep. That's opiate withdrawl for you. It sucks, I'll tell you, but it doesn't happen all that often so it's a smallish price to pay to be pain-free.

I am still working on that dress - I've got the collar figured out and cut and I'll hopefully be able to get more done tomorrow. The end is in sight - I can hardly wait!

Happy Labour Day

2008-09-01T21:24:00.006-04:00

My two bottom center front teeth have moved. The right one has shifted slightly forward at the center and down (so it appears lower) and the left one has shifted slightly back at the center. I don't remember when it happened but I first noticed it last night. I had braces when I was in my teens and I think I remember that they told me that the front bottom teeth *might* move someday because they are pretty tightly packed there. I just didn't expect it to have happened in the last while. I'll call my dentist in the morning.

We watched the most awful movie this evening: Darkest Hour. We'd looked at it in the video store a couple of times and finally rented it tonight. It's about a group of people who put on a murder mystery weekend for people based on a serial killer in the area during the late '80s. During the game, someone starts really killing the players... in the same way the serial killer used to kill people! The plot isn't awful, but the acting, lines, lighting and camera-work, and sound are terrible. There's a part of the movie where we get to hear the sound mikes bumping against people's clothes. This was loudest when one guy took his shirt off: bump bump bump bumpity bump bump bump thump. Thump. Thump thump bump. Bumpbump.

Don't waste your time with this turkey - it's not even bad enough to be funny.... it's just sad.

The best part of the movie is not the movie at all - it's this article from the filmmaker. I liked this quote the best: "When you take [Government funding] they want to control your film's content. As far as I am concerned... that is unacceptable. The result is a pile of film's [sic] made with tax payer [sic] dollars that are less than spectacular." I guess that makes his movie less than less than spectacular :) Aside from the rampant inappropriate use of apostrophes, it's hilarious that he thinks that this film is good - I can't imagine what the film would have been like had he taken taxpayer money :)

Oh - Project Runway 5 is finally starting here in Canada!!!! Now that it's September, tv shows are coming back. Yay :)

More staying home with more sewing

2008-08-31T21:52:00.003-04:00

I ended up doing more sewing today. I could have gone to our friend's cottage with Ian this afternoon but I wasn't really up for going anywhere. I feel pretty good, overall, but I'm still a bit tired. I am feeling stronger each day, at least.

After all my talk about leaving the side darts alone on my dress, I did wind up moving the the dart point 1/4" down. It looks so much better than it did before! I probably could have moved it down a little bit more but it's fine the way it is. I mostly worked on the collar pieces. It fits the neck quite well but it's not quite big enough at the bottom. I need to open up the collar at those pivot points to make sure that it fits better. At least I didn't try to sew the collar on with the actual collar fabric :)

I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow. It's not a special day for me, really, because I'm home all the time - but Ian is home because tomorrow is a holiday for him (and almost everyone out there!) I think it's supposed to be nice tomorrow, at least.

A full sewing day

2008-08-30T21:51:00.003-04:00

I actually got up at a decent hour and managed to get some sewing done. I've drafted the armhole facings and attached them; they look good! I'm finally pleased with the armholes; they're the area that I've had the most trouble with on this pattern. I also managed to draft the neck facings and re-draft the collar but I haven't attached them yet.

Of course I'll baste a trial collar on first because I don't have much of that contrast fabric. The collar is basically traced off of the neckline but it's not a direct trace; there are two pivot points on each of the front and back neck (and at the shoulder) where the collar is turned. This means that the collar neckline is shaped a bit differently even though the neck measurements are the same as the dress. This is probably so that the collar will drape properly over the shoulder. Anyways, I made sure that my collar also had those pivot points in approximately the same locations.

The only thing I might have changed on this dress is that the side bust dart is a little high. I would like the point to be about 1/4 or 3/8" lower, although I'm not sure that many other people will notice this. I'm not going to go back and change this now.

The pattern calls for taffeta interfacing and I actually managed to pick some up in a gorgeous blush colour; it is 60" wide and it was 75% off. Yeah, it's polyester, but that's ok. The dress is cotton, after all; it's not like I'm making a couture gown out of rare materials, after all. I usually use fusible interfacing for my projects but it almost always bubbles up after a few washes, even though I pretreat it. So this time, I thought I would go with a sew-in interfacing. I couldn't really find anything else cheap that had the same weight and drape as the taffeta, so I went with the taffeta. If I had silk organza I'd use that but I don't have any (yet).

I'm kind of hoping to finish the dress this weekend. I've pre-washed all my fall fabrics and I'm itching to make stuff with them :)

Dare I say that I'm better?

2008-08-29T22:53:00.004-04:00

I think I'm finally feeling better because I'm hardly coughing at all. I did manage to get some sewing done today - yay! The dress I've been working on for forever is really almost done. Really! :) I've actually sewn - and serged - the major seams! Now I just need to trace new facings and a new collar piece and put the buttons and buttonholes on and it'll be done. I'm very much looking forward to finishing this project so that I can start the next one.

I've bought a lovely selection of menwear-type plaids and fabric and I really want to make some more fall-type dresses in preparation for the cooler weather. Of course it's been a cool summer and so the dress I've been working on (which is sleeveless) might not even be worn for a while. Anyways, I looked over my patterns and fabrics and am trying to figure out what to make. Doesn't this sound like a fun way to spend a long weekend?

We just finished watching Damages in a marathon viewing of fourteen episodes over three days. We loved the show in part because there was a lot of puzzle-solving and whatnot; the story was multi-faceted and unfolded in pieces. The only trouble was that our recordings missed the last couple of minutes on every episode so some things weren't totally clear. And now we're arguing over who tried to kill Ellen - I remember one thing and Ian remembers another but we don't have the recordings anymore. We might just have to buy the DVD. And you should, too, because it is a great, suspenseful show. Apparently they've committed to two more seasons and I'm very much looking forward to watching it going forward.

Sleep, sleep, sleep all day

2008-08-28T21:31:00.003-04:00

Yes, really. All I did today was sleep; I woke up when Ian called to let me know that he was coming home from work. :) I'm still quite tired and will sleep well tonight. I'm glad that I got all that sleep because I think I might be feeling a bit better, maybe. We'll see.

I tell you, I'm looking forward to being awake for more normal hours.

Not quite better yet

2008-08-27T22:06:00.002-04:00

I slept most of the day and thought I was feeling better so I went to the store. It's only a five minute walk away and I needed milk but really I thought I should get out of the house. By the time I got back I was panting and breathing heavily as though I'd just run a marathon. And then I started coughing and coughing and coughing.

So I'm not all better - but the coughing wasn't as bad as it has been, and I'm hoping that the cough will go away completely sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, I'll keep watching endless movies on TCM and reading magazines. It's Tony Curtis day today on TCM - Some Like it Hot was just on, and Marilyn Monroe was definitely sexy in it... but she might have been less sexy if she had been wearing different clothes. The clothes she wore in the movies, especially while performing in front of the band, would be scandalous today.

Still sick

2008-08-26T21:14:00.002-04:00

I'm still feeling like crap but at least I'm getting lots of sleep :) Mostly I've been sitting around doing nothing much of anything. You know, like watching nameless movies on tv and surfing the internet.

I have got the September fashion magazines and am going through them to figure out the fall trends. I'm hoping to have something for you all in the next few days.

Visit with my oncologist

2008-08-25T21:42:00.004-04:00

I saw my oncologist today. My tumour markers are hanging out at 38 - just above normal :) None of my bloodwork was abnormal or remarkable. That's all good news!

So I talked to my oncologist about my fall and subsequent concussion and she feels that I should have a CT scan done of my head. That's scheduled for September 4. She also feels that I should be having regular mammograms again so I have one scheduled for September 5.

My oncologist did a physical exam on me today and as part of the exam, she listened to me breathe. You all know that I've been sick lately and you might know that I'm not completely better. After listening to the lower right lobe and then listened to me cough (oh yes, I'm still coughing, and I'm still coughing stuff up), she told me that I almost certainly have walking pneumonia. Apparently the difference between pneumonia and walking pneumonia is that with the latter, the person can walk around and doesn't need to be hospitalized. I guess that's the "walking" part. :)

She's put me back on azithromycin and had me get a chest xray done to confirm that I do have walking pneumonia. The area she identified as being a problem is one that I've noticed because it has been feeling funny.

I tell you, I'm pretty sick and tired of being sick and, well, tired. I would love to not be tired and to not feel like crap... and wouldn't it be awesome if I could have my summer back? At this point, I'll settle for being able to enjoy my autumn.

The Olympics are over

2008-08-24T21:07:00.003-04:00

The Olympic closing ceremonies were quite spectacular. There were tons of fireworks - I wish we could have some of those awesome shapes! - and lots of movement and colour. It was very splashy and slightly more casual than the opening ceremonies. It was almost over the top, in a way. There was a hand-off to Great Britain, who are holding the 2012 summer games, and that stuff was... even more over the top. The double decker bus in the film turned into a *real* double decker bus! And it transformed into a sound stage! With dancers! It was something else, all right.

With the Olympics over, I'm not completely sure what we'll do with all of our free time. I did manage to get to the gym this afternoon. I haven't done that in a while because I've been sick for so long. The gym I go to has been bought by one of the big gym in the region so there are likely to be changes. At the very least, the company I work for used to have an employee price with this big gym and if they still do, then I could get that discount and stuff. I'll need to investigate.

Tomorrow afternoon I see my oncologist. I'm interested in knowing what my white blood counts were - when I had them done two weeks ago I was still sick. I'll also get my tumour marker results but I expect they'll be fine.

Fabric shopping

2008-08-23T21:46:00.003-04:00

The Fabricland store in nearby Cambridge is closing and all of their fabrics are 60% or 75% off the regular price. I went there today and brought back quite a fabric haul :) I bought three different plaid/menswear-type fabrics and some other great fabrics. Between everything I have, I should have enough for fall/winter clothes. Mostly, anyways :)

I still want this beautiful red poly/rayon/spandex crepe fabric - it looks fantastic and the colour is awesome, but it's $19/m and even at 20% off (which it is this weekend) I can't quite justify buying it. Interestingly, there's also a wool crepe at twice the price, but I don't like the feel, drape, or colour of the wool compared to the other.

I'm also very interested in some fabrics by Robert Kaufman. I love love love the babycord fabrics in the Cool Cords line. There's an apple print that I can find in turquoise and pink; I think I might like the turquoise one a little bit better. There are a number of new patterns in this line due in September and I might see if I can get some then. If I could afford Liberty babycord I'd get that instead :)

I also love the Robert Kaufman GreenStyle Panda prints made of 60% cotton/40% bamboo. I love the white print on black but the green or yellow on white are also beautiful! I'm thinking that I'd love to get some of that and make it up into something. They're hard to resist, aren't they?

It's busker time again!

2008-08-22T23:16:00.003-04:00

We popped into the Waterloo Busker Festival today. We had thought about staying longer but it was very crowded and neither of us felt like fighting with the crowds. For some reason, they've reduced the number of stages from six to five and so there isn't an empty stage between performing acts. As well, the parking lot where they used to have the main stage is under construction and inaccessible so they've just put the main stage facing the construction area. These two things mean that certain areas get very, very crowded and very nearly impassable. It would have been better if they'd moved the main stage down the street just a little bit so that the crowd could push back into the cross-street.

We saw Les Walkyries tonight. We'd seen them a few years ago and wanted to know how their act had changed. They take a much more comic approach now and talk quite a bit more; before, they hardly talked at all, filling time with acrobatics. They did some interesting fire things but they didn't do all of the same tricks as they did before. In particular, before they had done something where they each were spinning two poi on each hand but they didn't do that this time.The group was in better sync with their movements this year. The show was entertaining so if you're walking by and performing you could stop and watch them.

On a completely different topic, I'm also thinking about trying to change my photographs on angelstuff again. There's something about the photos that I don't like and I've started playing with aiming the lights differently and using different paper and whatnot. We'll see if it works. I'm also thinking that I'd like to re-section my items out of the colours and into sections like, "Sparkle it up", "Just for fun", "Everyday elegance", and "Inspired by nature". I'm not sure if those will be my final sections but they're what I've got in mind for now.

I'm also sort of thinking about doing some kind of banner and avatar for branding purposes. For that I'm sort of thinking of trying to use the idea of "stuff made by/from/(for?) angels" as a starting point. It's still very early in this process for me but it's something that I'm thinking I want to do.

Are all sports equal?

2008-08-21T20:54:00.003-04:00

I read an article that suggests that rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming be dropped from the Olympics because they are sports in which only women compete. Moreover, the article says that they're sports that were added before women were allowed to compete in such "manly" sports as wrestling and weightlifting.

I think that the author has a point here - I don't see why there should be any gender-specific competitions in the Olympics. So yes, either open up these sports to men or else drop them. But what should they do about gymnastics? Men and women only both compete in the vault and the floor, and even then, women perform their floor routines to music and are judged according to artistic ability. The men don't perform their floor routines to music, so why should the women?

The vault and floor aside, the men and women compete on completely different apparatus; the men on the rings, parallel bars, and high bar, and the women on the balance beam and uneven bars. Clearly the men's competition emphasizes strength - the rings and parallel bars are all about strength - whereas the women's again tend to be more artistic.

Could men and women each compete in each other's gymnastic events? Maybe. We don't really know, though, because they don't do that right now at the lower levels.... and until/unless they do, it's unlikely that there will be changes at the Olympics. Still, it would be nice if they started to look at bringing some equality to the sports competitions in the Olympics, and not just for gymnastics or synchronized swimming or rhythmic gymnastics or any of the other sports in which only one gender completes.

Crazy weather

2008-08-20T22:01:00.004-04:00

I don't completely understand why there isn't a closeable roof on the Birds Nest as it's pouring rain there. It looks like it would be difficult to run 100m on a track that is soaking wet even if they do sweep the water off. At least they're not doing any of the field events during the rain today, unlike in beach volleyball, which plays in the rain as long as there is no lightning.

I watched coverage of the men's 200m and of course Usain Bolt won gold, actually looking like he was running at the end instead of jogging. What was interesting is that both the silver and bronze winners were disqualified for stepping on the white line dividing the lanes. The bronze medal winner wasn't even notified right away - and they knew, because the announcers knew - and so he was walking around with his US flag and celebrating. How awkward. Can you imagine being thrilled that you came in fifth overall and then finding out later that you actually win the bronze? What would that be like?

It's amazing to watch Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt compete. Both are the best in their fields and are a joy to watch; there's no wasted effort and both are beautiful in motion. Both have the ideal body types for their sports and both are HUGE - Michael Phelps is 6'4", while Usain Bolt is 6'5" - but they didn't get to where they are just by having the right body type. Both obviously train very hard. I feel privileged to be able to watch athletes of that caliber because there haven't been people who could do what they can do.

Pamidronate day

2008-08-19T21:54:00.003-04:00

I got to have my Pamidronate today. Normally what happens is that I get my Pamidronate hooked up and the chemo nurses faxes the home care nurse the time that my port needs to be de-accessed. Wellll, this time, that didn't really happen. I guess the nurse didn't fax the information over until 50 minutes after the port should have been de-accessed. One of the home care nurses had left a message asking me to call her but when I tried, I got an answering machine. But it turned out that I'd called the wrong number (I thought she said "9" and she said "1"), which didn't matter because she'd stopped working by the time I'd called.

So now I have to call the home care nurses the night before I get Pamidronate along with the estimated time that the Pamidronate will be started so that I'm on their schedule and things won't be so hectic. And they want me to call as I'm leaving the hospital so that they know exactly what time they need to de-access my port. Sigh. I don't mind calling one time so that things don't get all rushed and messed up like they did today, but two times? Well, hopefully I won't have to do that forever.

I'm feeling ever so much better - I almost feel like I'm a new person and all better. This comes just in time to get knocked over by Pamidronate, of course :)

I did a little fabric shopping today and managed to get a lovely grey/black herringbone fabric that has a bit of a vertical stripe to it. I also got it on sale so I'm happy with that. This evening, for the first time in a long time, I made some earrings. It's been a while since I've actually sat down and played with my beads. I actually want to make some necklaces and bracelets, too... we'll see how that plays out.

I wish I'd woken up earlier today

2008-08-18T22:13:00.002-04:00

I know someone who was going shopping today and I'd wanted to go with them. I wasn't sure what time they wanted to go and I ended up sleeping in until nearly 2pm. It turns out that the appointment was for 4pm and if I'd managed to get up around noon I would have been able to go :( I was just snoozing the alarm, like I do, so it wasn't like I was sleeping deeply or anything... I just wasn't up and out of bed in time. I hope that the shopping was fun anyways.

I am starting to feel just a bit better now, thank goodness. I know that part of the reason I didn't want to get up before noon was because sleep helps me get better. The antibiotics are helping as well I think.

I called the oncologist's office about my Pamidronate tomorrow and they said that I should come in anyways. I guess that since I'm not running a fever, I'm on antibiotics, and I'm not coughing all the time, they figure that I'll be ok. Also, I don't have to be in the chemo suite for that long - first for about 20 minutes to get the blood drawn and then for about 15 minutes to get the Pamidronate hooked up. I'm glad that I called; now I don't have to worry about it.

Been to the doctor

2008-08-17T19:23:00.003-04:00

I decided that it was probably worth it to go to a walk-in medical clinic this morning. I've still got a cough, one of my ears hurts, and several of my sinuses hurt. I would have liked to see my family doctor but it's hard to get in to see him right away as he's not seeing as many patients per day as he used to. I totally understand that and support him in that because (selfishly) I'd like him to take care of himself so that he's around for a while.

Anyways, I went at the right time this morning because there were only four people ahead of me when I arrived and when I went in about 30 minutes later the waiting room was full. The doctor gave me a prescription for azithromycin; I took two tablets today and I'll take one every day for the next four days. I'm supposed to feel completely better in ten days and if I'm not feeling better by then, I should see a doctor for some follow-up.

The doctor also said that I should use my Rhinaris nasal spray to help clean out my post-nasal drip and I need to use my Symbicort at least twice a day. I've been waking myself up at night when breathing; I breathe in and then I hear an "oooooooooooo" sound from my lungs. It's creepy and weird because I can *feel* the sound as well as hear it. The doctor said that this was most likely because of my asthma and that the inhaler will help to take care of that and open up my airways.

I'm supposed to receive my Pamidronate over at the chemo suite on Tuesday and I asked the doctor whether I should try and go to that. If I wasn't going to the chemo suite I'd go ahead and go but people in the chemo suite almost certainly have compromised immune systems and I don't want to infect anyone while I'm there. The doctor told me to wait until Tuesday morning and then to call them, tell them what I'm taking and how I feel, and see what they say.

I took the two pills as soon as I got home and then fell asleep. I'm still feeling quite sleepy, which is no real surprise since my body will need all of its strength to fight this off. At least I know that I really am sick with something.

Radiohead

2008-08-16T21:04:00.003-04:00

Last night's Radiohead concert at the Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto was awesome. The ampitheatre apparently holds about 16000 and it was definitely packed full for the concert.

The opening band, Grizzly Bear, was ok but they were sort of forgettable, unfortunately. It wasn't that they were bad or anything; they just didn't really stand out. Radiohead definitely stood out. It wasn't just that their music was awesome (it is), but that the stage and lighting were amazing.

The back of the stage was had screens alternating with spots for big hemispherical things hold six or seven lights. So at the bottom, behind the band, was a lighted screen that was either projected or permanent LED lights, then there was a black space, and above that was a projection screen. The hemispherical light things mostly stayed above the upper screen.

In front of the screens above and beside the band, filling most of the stage, were twelve columns of six pole-things each. The poles could be lit from outside or from within. There were camera people on top of the pole structure and in other places filming the band members from different angles. Above the stage was a band of four rows of individual lights. There's an interesting discussion on the lighting and generator system they used here.

While the band played, the film from the camera people was manipulated and projected onto the upper portion of the screen at the back and onto the jumbotrons facing the crowd. Some of the manipulations were cool; for example, one of the band members was wearing a shirt with a cat's head on it, and that image was continually brought down over one of the other bandmates, turning his head into a cat. Sometimes the image was reversed and overlapped. The lower screen usually had some sort of free-flowing wave pattern on it. Everything on the back screen was pretty well monochromatic in reds or yellows or magentas or whatever.

In deference to their latest albums, In Rainbows, a lot of colours were used in the show. These colours didn't necessarily go together :) At one point the poles were cyan or turquoise in colour and the back screen was all magenta. The lights on top sometimes stayed stationary and sometimes moved; their colours varied between the pole and back screen colours. Personally, I think that much of the light show was designed to foil people with cameraphones and portable cameras. Using complementary colours of the same intensity for the poles and back screen with lots of movement in those colours, plus the fact that the band was backlit, made the pictures we saw just big blobs of colour in the centre.

Some of the things they did with the poles were just beautiful; at one point it looked like sparkly bits of light everywhere, and at another, they had a checkerboard effect moving over the poles. It was very sophisticated.

The music was fantastic. It sounded very much like the albums, which I liked. They did a lot of instrument changes in order to play all of the different songs. One of the things that I liked about the image projections was that you could see what each band member was doing (in a way) and that, together with the other lighted stuff going on, meant that the band members didn't really need to "perform". It was clear that each person was just doing what they do as though they were doing it in their own living room; they seemed sort of relaxed and intent on their music at the same time. In this way, there was less pressure on the band to be "on" as it was hard to see them as they were anyways. I'd read that they burned out after their world tour about ten years ago and I think that this technique will help them get through this world tour.

Interestingly, they didn't ever announce the band's name or the band members; in fact, the band barely spoke to the crows at all. I think the lead singer spoke to the crowd twice. They also didn't play some of our favourite older songs like Karma Police, Paranoid Android, Creep, Hail to the Thief, and 2+2=5. They do have 20 years of material to draw on, of course, and there's only so much they can play in two hours.

The band did two encores but the second one was very short. Their final exit from the stage was beautiful. They played Everything In Its Right Place while scrolling the lyrics across the poles. There's a lot of repetition in the song and as each band member set up their repetition, starting with the lead vocalist, they raised their hands to the crowd and exited the stage. Eventually the music wound down and two roadies came on stage to turn the rest off while the light show dimmed and went out. This exit gave the crowd a chance to acknowledge each band member and gave each band member a chance to say goodbye to the crowd. It was very cool.

We both enjoyed the concert very much. If Radiohead does come your way or you do get a chance to see them play live, I'd strongly urge you to go and see them. Their show is well worth the time and cost.

We got very lucky with the seats we had. They were just on the outside of what was covered by the roof and so we hardly got wet when it rained. As well, since there was only an aisle directly in front of us and we were raised above that aisle, I could see the stage quite clearly throughout the concert. Everyone stood for the whole thing so seeing was easy; if we were sitting down, I wouldn't have been able to see because people were standing in the aisle in front of us.

One thing that amazed us was the number of people who were not at all prepared for the weather. It's like they never bothered to check the forecast and so there were some very, very cold people even though they were selling rain ponchos for $4. We both enjoyed looking at all of the people and seeing what they were wearing.

Feeling slightly better

2008-08-15T09:39:00.005-04:00

I'm starting to feel better - at least my fever is down. I still have a cough but it's a productive wet cough so I guess that's ok. The cough is worse in the mornings as well.

I'm definitely going to the concert tonight :) The forecast is calling for rain/thundershowers this evening so last night we went out and bought a couple of rain ponchos. The last thing I want is to get soaked and have to sit there for another two hours! We're also bringing a variety of layers because the low is fairly low tonight and we don't want to freeze.

I'm watching the women's Canada-US soccer game and it's pouring there! They're in overtime and it's tied 1-1. Of course I want Canada to win because then they'll go to the semi-final and there's hope that we might win a medal.

UPDATE: Canada lost by one goal in the second extra period :( But they did take it through to those two extra periods and played very, very well. The US was ranked first and Canada ninth so the fact that Canada didn't lost by more was amazing. It was a very exciting game.

More Olympics

2008-08-13T21:15:00.004-04:00

How is it possible that I feel worse today than yesterday? Arrrggh. My low fever appears to be back and I've still got this cough and I feel generally icky. We're supposed to be going to see Radiohead in concert on Friday and I don't want to miss it - we paid a lot for the tickets and I was really looking forward to the concert.

We were watching the Olympics today and one of the segments was on women's epee fencing; unfortunately, Sherraine Schalm, who was representing Canada, lost in the round of 16. I was very unimpressed with her behaviour both after the loss and other times that they showed her. She screamed in triumph after every point in a very unsportsmanlike manner. After she lost, she barely congratulated the other player and claimed that the fault called against her was bad. I also clearly saw her shout "F*ck you all" after she lost. And then she tried to rush past her opponent without shaking her hand; the resulting handshake couldn't, in my mind, even be called perfunctory.

I found Ms. Schalm's behaviour extremely unsportsmanlike and I am embarrassed that she is representing this country at the Olympics. One of the commentators said that she had reason to be unhappy, and that might be true, but there is absolutely no excuse for her to be rude.

Laughter and sleep are good medicines

2008-08-12T21:21:00.003-04:00

So I think that I've got some kind of chest cold or something. I'd sort of noticed that my chest was sore last week but nothing came of it and I thought I was fine... until today. Not only did I sleep until 3:30pm, but I had to wake up periodically to cough and clear my lungs. Sigh. I'm supposed to go for dinner on Thursday with some well-fit people and if I'm still coughing like this then I'll have to cancel.

At least I'm getting plenty of rest and drinking plenty of hot fluids which will help to make me better.

They do say that laughter is the best medicine and I certainly got a big dose of that medicine today. Ian showed me the Cake Wrecks blog, which shows real cakes that people have paid for that are, well, different. The funniest ones are the ones where there are a) spelling errors or b) the decorator has taken the instructions verbatim. I'd say that you should all go and have a look because just about everyone needs to laugh more :) I've left a link on the side for your viewing pleasure as well.