Exciting News...Tomorrow.

Ok everyone, tomorrow at this time I hope to be able to share some very exciting news with you all...I'm getting super excited about it and trying not to (because I am my father's daughter and therefore follow the rule 'if it's too good to be true, it probably is, and if so keep your expectations incredibly low, just in case. And don't make a big deal out of anything. Ever.') be overly excited until it's set in stone.

So come back tomorrow and hopefully I'll have some very good news to share.

Here We Go...

Ok, everyone keep your fingers crossed.


The apartment hunting begins in earnest tonight.


Bear in mind I make very little and had to invest in an expensive car for the job...I don't want to live in a hole...but I'm prepared to the fate of a a bachelor if necessary.


If I move into a bachelor I will move to change the name...Bachelor is stupid.

My Most Favourite Show. Ever.

Ok, so one of my most favourite television shows is 'Dead Like Me'.

If you haven't caught it, it's for good reason.

It was on Showtime for only two awkward seasons. They are running the reruns on Bravo, so catch it if you can.

'Dead Like Me' is a dark comedy...just the way I like them. Because I'm uncomfortable with drama.

DLM follows the story of grim reapers, our protagonist being George, an 18 year old who was killed by a toilet seat falling from a Russian space station.

I recently got the entire series on DVD and I'm loving it.

I couldn't decide what clip to share, so here's a trailer of the first season, I'll put more up if I think they're worthy.

P.S. The next television show that gets to stand along side DLM for being way before it's time is 'Firefly'. More on that later.

Enjoy!

Rated

Ok, so some of you who scroll down to the end of this page may have noticed an addition.

I have been rated.

Yes, there is a website where you can submit your blog and they will scan it and rate it.

Apparently, this blog is rated: R. For restricted.

The reason? Because I wrote vagina like, 10 times or something.

And gay, don't forget that.

So apparently, vagina and gay are bad, bad words.

That's such crap. Oops, crap was on their list...That's such fecal matter.

So, take a look at the rating, because in defiance I am taking it down in a bit.

Vagina is not dirty. Get over it. And last time I checked 'gay' wasn't a bad word.

I'm tempted to type in some really nasty stuff to justify my point, but my grandparents frequent this site, so I won't.

Happy Canada Day!

Hope everyone had a great Canada Day!

I went to the fireworks at Byron this year.

For those of you who don't know about geography of London, Byron is one of the more affluent neighbourhoods in town.

There are fireworks at Byron, downtown and in the East end (there might be some in the North end, but I really don't care). I usually end up at Harris Park downtown with friends to watch fireworks...sitting on the banks of the Thames where there's either an excess of water or it's dried up (dried up this year) with thousands of others getting ready to watch the explosions.

But this year I found myself one neighbourhood over in Byron. This was interesting. Firstly, I don't know what it is about the suburbanites...but when shit happens in our neighbourhoods we think we own the whole freaking place.

As I was driving my car down the road with my peeps (yes, I have peeps) we saw the excess of people driving, parking and walking to Byron Optimist Park for the event. Armed with Ice Caps and Timbits, we were ready.

I remember working at Timmy's in university and absolutely HATING working on July 1st.

Because inevitably at around 7:45pm the rush of families (most often in the drive thru) who would pick up their firework snacks. I have no problem with this. This is what Tim Hortons does. They take orders, fill them and sends people on their way with re-heated carbohydrates and "nicotine laced" caffeine.

My problem always laid in the pure and simple fact that people started acting like mentally delayed monkeys while ordering.

Here are my tips for ordering on July 1st at Tim Hortons:

1. Know your order.

Tim's doesn't change. Yes, they may start making flavoured Ice Caps, or a seasonal doughnut, but it's basically the same shit. Cruellers, fritters, dips, Timbits, coffee, hot chocolate, apple juice.

2. If you don't know your order...DON'T GO THROUGH DRIVE THRU

This should always be followed, not just on our nation's birthday. If you go into the store you can spend all the time you want staring like an idiot at the board. When you're outside at the speaker and you don't know what you want and are hemming and hawing you can bet the staff inside are going crazy. Don't be the ass who makes a bottleneck happen. You are hated.

3. Don't have your children order in the drive thru

It's difficult enough hearing you let alone a tiny little voice in the back seat. Besides that, it's annoying.

4. Use smaller bills and coins

With all the traffic on July 1st...if you're going to buy $4.27 worth of product don't pay with a freaking $20 bill. That's annoying.

5. If you're buying bulk product (Timbits, doughnuts, etc.) don't start requesting flavours unless you come into the store

When someone requests a 20 pack of Timbits in the drive thru you are basically giving the staff the ability to choose what flavour goes into the box. Taking your Timbit flavour order is damn near impossible. You may say you don't want one flavour (old fashion plain for instance)...but don't be annoying. And definitely do not say that you want all chocolate. Don't be an ass. They can't make pounds and pounds of extra chocolate. You're annoying as well.

6. Tip.

Self explanatory.

7. Ice Caps take time to make, go inside.

Ice Caps are time consuming to make, go inside if you are ordering more than 3, you'll take too much time.

If you follow those rules, you won't have your coffee spit in.

Cheers!

Sunday's Post Secret

www.postsecret.com

I AM THE LAW

Alright, so you remember Pearl?

The landlord with the drinking problem?

Well, Will Ferrell has made another short film with Pearl...this time she's the law...

Enjoy!

Doggy Style Love

Um, yeah. The title of this entry is pretty self explanatory.

She Had The Moves

Ok, so the final act was this woman.

Miss Heaven Lee Hights.

Yes, you read that right.

And she OWNED that stage.

And I'm not just saying that because she had a number that was a medley of Pussycat Doll songs.

Although when I saw her perform "I Don't Need A Man" I really did believe she didn't need one.

That, and she had a rocking ass.

A Bit More Experience

Ok, so Miss Nicolette Brown took to the stage after Honey.

She definitely had great banter with the audience and chose some older tunes, ending with the crowd pleasing "Last Dance" by gay icon Donna Summer.

And her outfit made her look like a mermaid.

Miss Toronto Pride 2007

Ok, so one thing that I do love is the drag shows.

No matter if they are kings or queens, they're always a good show.

On the surface it's fun to watch them lip sync to songs you love.

On the other hand it's a beautiful commentary on gender-bending. Virtually poking fun and taking over this idea of gender. What is feminine? What is masculine? If you're a man can you be feminine? If you're a woman can you be masculine? Shouldn't we feel like we can explore both sides, given that everything within ourselves relies of perfect harmony?

Miss Toronto Pride 2007 kicked it off with a performance that showed her relative newness to the medium of drag. Still, she killed a performance of Beyoncé's "Ring the Alarm". A song that I hate Beyoncé singing, but liked Miss Brown doing. Very nice!

It's A Bird, It's A Plane!

No-

It's SUPER PRIDE!

Pascal donned his peace Pride flag, bandanna and "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" T-Shirt.

In his off days he enjoys keeping Toronto subway stations safe, for all.

Promo At Toronto Pride 2007

As we were walking down Church St. we saw this advertisment for Botox Cosmetics.

That's right. At Pride.

Hey! Let's perpetuate the stereotype that all gay men are obessed with youthful looks, including washboard abs and wrinkle free faces. Ugh.

While we're at it let's also keep up the façade of lesbians who are more concerned with softball and sport bras.

Double ugh.

I'm really quite sick of the stereotypes tha we put the GLBTTQ2 community into constantly. It seems that we (collective society) are more comfortable with our gay men effeminate and weak and our gay women butch and straight forward. Anything in between and we don't know what to think. And let's not even get into what we expect people who are bisexual are "supposed" to be like.

Live and let live, people.

TORONTO PRIDE 2007!

WOOHOO!

This past weekend I went to Toronto Pride 2007 with Andrea and Pascal (two very good buddies!).

We had a blast!

We caught the last end of the Pride Parade...same stuff as last year, half naked people, rainbows galore, and beads, glorious beads!

We then hopped a barricade and walked the rest of the parade route and found ourselves at Church Street. We walked down Church Street and as we walked farther and farther...it got more and more crowded. Suffocatingly so. Shoulder to shoulder.

Now, for those of you who know me, I don't like being touched. So this was pretty bad.

Add in:

It was about 100 degrees

My strawberry smoothy was dripping on my fingers

The loop of Village People music coming from Sailor

The nakedness

I was uncomfortable.

But, we had a blast! And we caught some drag queen and king shows. An incredible energy the whole time, sandwiched in with great people and cold, cold drinks.

If you've never been to Pride (anywhere, really) you must, must, MUST go. Gay, straight or questioning Pride is one of the most wonderful environments ever!

London Pride is having its 25th Anniversary at the end of July! W00T!

This Is The Crap I'm Talking About...

Men on pimp rap as teen flees
By JONATHAN JENKINS -- Sun Media


TORONTO (Sun Media) - A teenage girl held against her will and forced to have sex with men at strip clubs and private parties sneaked away from her captors and flagged down a passing police officer for help.

"It was fortunate for her that she was able to find him, he was virtually right across the street," Toronto Police Det.-Const. Eduardo Dizon said.

The victim, 17, escaped on May 30 after three weeks of forced prostitution, Dizon said.
Three men have been arrested in the case in the past two weeks and all face a variety of prostitution-related offences, including living off the avails of an underage prostitute, forcible confinement and sexual exploitation.

Dizon said the young woman met the main culprit through a friend and he quickly lured her into turning tricks.

PAID FOR SEX

Any illusion she may have had of having a say in the matter quickly faded, Dizon said, and she was not allowed to keep any of the money she was paid for sex.

"She was physically restrained from leaving," he said. "At times when she tried to leave or questioned whether she could leave she was assaulted and choked."

At one point, the man who first lured her left town, leaving two other suspects to watch over her.

That's when she was able to slip away from the men holding her and find the passing police officer.

Christopher Lewis, 22, is to appear in College Park court today. Garnett Grant, 25, also known as G and G-Money, is to appear in Old City Hall court today.

Released on bail June 22, Donovan Lewars, 25, will be back in court July 19.

Introducing Gizmo

This is Gizmo.

Gizmo's gender is a bit of a mystery to me.

I think Gizmo is trans, which is awesome.

Gizmo weighs about 5 pounds, but is frequently trying to dominate Toby.

Mostly dominating by mounting Toby. A male.

I love 'em.

Introducing Toby

This is Toby.

He is Rachel's dog and I've been hanging out with him for the past couple of weeks.

Awesome dog.

Even if he's a little yappy.

But he's a good cuddler. And, as you can see, a bit of a licker.

An Open Letter To The London Free Press

Re: Billboards pimping beer dumb, not offensive

Being able to connect cause and effect is vital to solving our community’s problems. It seems as though Ian Gillespie’s column “Billboards pimping beer dumb, not offensive” missed this valuable opportunity to draw connections. For those of you who are unaware London does have pimps.

Those of us working with our eyes open are very aware of this fact. What is a pimp? The short definition is that a pimp is a coward, a liar who sexually exploits others. In London’s case many are sexually exploiting children and youth.

Most people constantly ask the question “How is it that child after child is being recruited into the sex trade and is being sexually abused in London?” Campaigns such as this beer ad and Mr. Gillespie’s response don’t help by using the word in a humourous and playful manner. The word pimp is not playful.

I think reclaiming words is an interesting way some social groups go about gaining some of their power back; however in this case the persecuted people are not the ones trying to re-instate the word pimp. And since we have pimps in London and rarely in our community do the adult sex trade workers have pimps, it can only be deduced that we are trying to glorify people who take part in the sexual abuse of our children youth. That is simply disgusting.

Just because we have television shows like “Pimp My Ride” (MTV) and contests like “Pimp My Garden” (Toronto Star) and “Pimp My Library Cart” (Wisconsin Library) doesn’t mean we’ve taken back a word.

You can’t identify a pimp by what they wear. Far from popular opinion pimps do not wear grillz, bling, fur coats, feathers in their hats, carry canes or challis’ filled with alcohol. Nor do they drive Cadillacs’ with hydraulics. They look like every other person on the street. They can be young or old, male or female, affluent or poor. In fact 30% of the sexual predators (pimps included) make more than $50,000 a year from a legitimate job. 10% make more than $80,000 a year. These folks are “upstanding” citizens.

Pimp is not a word we can reclaim until we recognize the fear and violence (sexual, physical, and emotional) they disseminate throughout the young people they hurt on a continual basis in London.

As well, I take offence to Gillespie’s implication that this issue shouldn’t be talked about. Using the word pimp in our vocabulary is disgusting, hateful and offensive. Talking about this is the only way to ensure London’s youth stay safe.

This attempt to stifle conversation about this topic is reminiscent of pimps threatening kids if they talk about what’s going on, they’ll kill them or the people they love.

I guess it’s reminiscent because I see and hear it on a daily basis.


Jessie Rodger

Did You Pride It Up?

Hey!!! Hope you all had a kick ass Pride!

Update anyone?

My pictures will have to wait, but a lot happened this past week or so...

- The 3rd Regional Social Forum has come and gone (a great time for all!)

- Andrea and Pascal returned to Canada from Brazil!

- I went to Toronto Pride with Andrea and Super Pride

Lots of fun.

Stay tuned.

:)

Warning, Some Might Be Offended...

But this was too darn funny not to put up.

I found this at PostSecret.com, a great website that posts secrets people mail in on postcards.

Some are poignant, some are touching, some are depressing and some are just damn funny.

There basically secrets people tell anonymously via postcards sent to a guy in Flordia (www.postsecret.com).

I like the funny ones. Because I'm not comfortable with unhappy feelings.

This one made me chuckle because sometimes I think it's true...however we'll have to tackle it's validity on another post.

Warning: If you believe the Bible is all true, skip this post. But for those who roll around on the floor when they read Leviticus, enjoy (seriously, that part of the book outlaws EVERYTHING...)

Pretty Good 4: Rise of the Shiny Surfer

Ok, so Dad and I went to see the latest comic book sequel, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Despite some pretty bad acting, it was an Ok way of spending 2 hours.

It was kind of long.

And, as far as plots go, it was a bit far fetched. Even for a comic book movie.

And the end is annoying. Let's just say that it seems the producers of the film don't know the difference between China and Japan.

And Jessica Alba is such a bad actress ("Why are you trying to destroy our planet?").

Anyway, check out this spoof of the film, it's almost as enjoyable as the movie.

And you get to see Chris Evans' without his shirt on.

Representin' Sarnia

Mayor Mike Bradley made a dapper appearance on the red carpet.

You may remember Bradley's cameo in Moore's film "Bowling for Columbine".

He is eternally cool.

Who Invited Her?

What the hell was she doing on the red carpet?

SHIRLEY DOUGLAS TALKED TO ME!

Shirley Douglas was right in front of me...she couldn't have gotten any closer.

And she talked to me.

She asked me, "How are you doing, dear?"

Holy crap.

I love ALL the men she's related to.

MICHAEL MOORE WAS CLOSE ENOUGH TO SPIT ON (but I didn't spit...)

Ok, so Michael Moore's new film, 'Sicko', is going to be release in two weeks.

But first comes the premiere...and Michael Moore chose no other place than London, Ontario for the North American film premiere!

Moore taped a significant chunk in London at the St. Joesph's Health Care Centre.

Tickets were given only by invitation...and I didn't get an invite, but in all fairness I've really had my fill of media attention...

My buddy Holly and I showed up at Silver City at 5:30pm and staked out our position.

Again, luckily I had my trusty Cyber Shot and got some great photos from the red carpet.

If you take a look at this photo, Moore is talking to CHRW.

CHRW Radio is having quite the week. Moore today and me last Monday.

Freaking Amazing.

Ok, so I'm ready to debrief on my amazing evening of seeing the one and only Jon Stewart.

It started by almost being ended. That is there was some crazy shit going on the 401 and 403.

People don't know how to drive anymore, I mean it. We were severely cut off by an American right by the Husky station when we left town.

Not cool...and we couldn't give them the one finger salute as Andrew saw the New York licence plate and immediately his mind went to "they have a concealed weapon".

Besides that Andrew and I enjoyed watching the almost carnage unfolding a few cars ahead of us...until we realized that we were hurtling towards the almost crash at 120 km/hr.

But we did arrive at the Fallsview Casino and Hotel...and let me say...very nice.

We parked the car and headed out to find the elevators...instead Andrew took us down a hallway that was very smelly and literally led out to the edge of the cliff. Wrong way, definitely.

Then we found the elevators and headed up to the hotel/casino...very nice.

Now I thought since Andrew had bragged about being a poker savant we would head into the casino...I had $20 worth of quarters weighing me down...but no. He doesn't find that "enjoyable". There should be a law that people who can count cards (because I know you can) should ALWAYS have to drop some coin in a casino. Whatever.

Andrew and I did get to have a great dinner at the Golden Lotus...very nice Chinese restaurant in the casino...where Andrew scared all the wait staff by trying to speak English using his scary hand gestures.

But we eventually convinced Jacob (although I'm almost positive that wasn't his given name...mainly because I don't think China has a huge Jewish population) to get us some Peking Duck...mmmmm....duck....

And it was full out. Very fancy...2 courses...crispy skin...duck hash...iceberg lettuce...picture to come.

Lots of delicious-ness.

Afterwards we walked around the building...and ended up at a toy store. Luckily Andrew restrained himself from buying anything for his child who already has one of everything.

Then we got in line. I'll give you a visual. Imagine a roped off line that could fit about 50 concert goers. Now imagine that line empty...except for Andrew and I eagerly awaiting 8pm when the doors opened. Seriously, we were the only ones waiting.

Then it was time for doors to open. One hour before we were in our seats...which didn't have arm rests...which made Andrew very uncomfortable. He likes barriers. Yeah, no shit.

Then the rest of the concert goers started to come in...the audience was varied.

We learned a few things from the audience. Firstly, it seems they were giving out tickets at the early bird dinner. Lots of grey hairs. Secondly, Andrew and I were severely over dressed. But I like to think we were taking it the most serious of anyone. And we really couldn't chance anything. I was glad I dressed up when Andrew told me that there was a rumour that Stephen Colbert was opening. He didn't, but still. Close call.

As people filed in to the sold out performance we did see Jon's estranged father, Donald Leibowitz in the crowd...you know when you're a superfan when you know who the distant parents are...kudos to Andrew.

And then we heard it...Teenage Wasteland by The Who.

And if you know anything about Jon, you know that this is the song he always walks onto stage to.

Flippin' amazing.

And then mildly disturbing. I knew Jon was a short man...I had no idea he was a tiny man, too.

Wow.

Anyway he did an amazing set...albeit stuff I have on my iPod already. But it didn't matter.

He was FANTASTIC.

It was AMAZING. SOOOO AMAZING.

I HEART JON.

Our Article!

Online survey 'shocking'

Mon, June 4, 2007

More than half of London pupils surveyed have posted information that puts them at risk.
By JENNIFER O'BRIEN, SUN MEDIA

A shocking number of London kids are making themselves easy targets for sexual predators who cruise the Internet, an informal survey has found.

The alarming figures suggest one in four children 11 to 14 have met face-to-face with strangers introduced only online.

Despite years of warnings about stranger-danger, more than half of them have put identifying information such as phone numbers and addresses on public-access websites, youth workers say.

"We were shocked," said Shannon Liddington, outreach worker with RISE for Youth, a project that aims to reduce sexual exploitation.

"The children we talk to are absolutely putting themselves at risk. The level of naivete they have is incredible.

"Every one of these kids knows that if someone drives up to you at a bus stop and asks for your name and school you don't give it to them."

During education seminars, the group has surveyed 600 Grade 6, 7 and 8 London pupils and found 60 per cent have put personal, identifying information on websites such as MySpace and Facebook.

Twenty per cent of the children also admitted posting pictures of themselves online .
But most disturbing is the fact 25 per cent have met people they only knew online.

"That really did blow us away," said project co-ordinator Jessie Rodger. "It is absolutely the most dangerous thing a kid can do."

Compounding that statement is the fact London police have charged seven people with Internet luring in less than two months since the department launched its Cyber Crime Unit in April.

"It's like shooting fish in a barrel to zero in on (predators) out there," said Det. Sgt. Kelly Johnson, head of the Cyber Crime Unit.

In the seven recent local cases, Johnson said officers posing as someone else nabbed predators who thought they would be meeting youths they had befriended online.

There are likely many cases that haven't been intercepted, Johnson said, adding the unit has heard about London girls being sexually assaulted by people they met online.

Like others, Johnson warned against giving out identifying information.

"It is alarming, the number of students that give out personal information," agreed Ray Hughes at UWO's Centre for Prevention Science. "It's like posting up a sign on the (Highway) 401 with all your personal information."

The local numbers are consistent with Canadian findings, according to RISE, but slightly higher than those recorded in the U.S., said Jeff Godlis of iSafe America.

That federal web education group has surveyed more than 100,000 American children and found 20 per cent -- one in five -- met strangers off line.

The findings show that even as kids become savvy about Internet use -- through social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook -- they aren't always being safe.

"Youths don't equate strangers on the Internet with those on the street," Rodger said.
As a result, kids who would balk at giving their names or schools to a stranger on the street are willingly offering details up to online contacts.

"When they start talking to people for months online, they don't feel that is a stranger," Liddington said.

"They are like, 'It's my friend. I know what their favourite food is, I know what movie they like . . .' "

"Now predators don't even have to leave their bedrooms to find out everything they want to know," Liddington said.

Rise for Youth is a 15-month project run by Western Area Youth Services, a London group home agency that offers counselling.

The aim is to educate kids and parents about sexual exploitation. The project focuses on the Internet because that's what has opened the playing field for predators, Rodger said.

"It used to be poverty and homelessness were the biggest risk factors for kids being sexually exploited," she said. "All that has changed because of only one thing -- the Internet."
Dangers are illustrated with horrifying cases such as that of Kacie Woodie, a 13-year-old Arkansas girl murdered in 2002 by a 47-year-old predator who had befriended her while posing as a teenager online.

Liddington and Rodger suggest parents need to know their kids' online activity.
But they've met parents who don't even know how to get on the Internet, she said.

MORE INFORMATION

- www.myspace.com/riseforyouth or call 519-432-2209, ext. 3203.

TIPS FOR PARENTS

- Talk to young kids about Internet activities and Internet safety.
- Learn how to use the Internet by signing up to networking sites.
- Keep computers in a common area, not in a bedroom or secluded basement.
- Remember kids also can get online outside your home.

TIPS FOR YOUNGSTERS

- Don't post identifying information such as telephone numbers, addresses, school information or last names online.
- Don't post pictures of yourself.
- If you're going to meet someone for the first time who you've only talked to online, tell an adult, take friends and meet in a public place.

TOMORROW!

Ok, yours truly is doing something very exciting tomorrow morning.

At 7:15am I will be interviewed on CBC Radio One...On "Ontario Morning".

So set your alarms folks...

HEADLINE NEWS! ABOVE THE FOLD!

Run, don't walk to the corner store and get a copy of the London Free Press.

Do it.

Now.

Why are you still reading?

GO!!!

www.lfpress.com

p.s. I'll blog about my evening with Jon, the night was so magical I need a few days to process.

ONE MORE DAY TO GO!! GAH!

Ok...we have ONE more day until we are going to see Jon Stewart at the Niagara casino...

I am so excited.

I can barely contain myself.

And I know you're itching for another Jon Stewart fact:

He is one of the only people who can go on the Bill O'Reilly show "The O'Reilly Factor" and come out looking like a smart person. Bill O'Reilly can't even come out of that show looking smart.

Enjoy.

Reclaiming Words

I've been hearing a lot lately about reclaiming words.

The first time in the past few days has been in the context of the word "squaw". I thought that was interesting enough.

Then, when I was on Facebook I stumbled across some Facebook groups surrounding the reclaiming of the word "queer".

And because of my work I am constantly hearing about the reclaiming of "nigger".

Along with these words there are many others that are attempting to be brought back to the mainstream.

And this got me thinking about the whole reclaiming process. I guess the idea is that a minority group, whether they be women, people of colour, immigrants or whatever, takes a word that has been used to hurt, belittle and keep them down and turns it around. It makes words that used to be offensive now something to be proud of. It makes words their own. It also makes it perfectly alright for the minority to use the word, but completely inappropriate for anyone who doesn't belong to that group to use.

This is where it gets sticky for me, for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, I find something very disingenuous about reclaiming words. Imagine that the movement of people try to reclaim a word is one person. It is my belief that that person needs therapy. I think we need to examine our need to take these words back. These hurtful, disgusting words. Why do we want to use them so badly? My difficulty with this question is that I keep imagining a kid who is being picked on and to spite a bully we stoop to their level. Maybe that's just me.

Think about the motivation behind reclaiming a word. Let's take the word "cunt" for instance. This word is linked to begin with Chaucer in his writings. To make a long story short it has travelled from 1700s to today. And it's always been a word that is hurtful to women. In the past few years there has been a movement to reclaim this word. Make this word suitable for women to use to describe their...area. The idea behind this reclaiming (as it is behind much of reclaiming any words) is that to reclaim the word is to remove the power associated with it. Unfortunately the word "cunt" is still used to insult women. On a daily basis.

My basis for this argument that this particular word cannot be reclaimed also lies in the fact that there is no male equivalent for this word. There is no word for a man's...area that is as shocking or hurtful.

So when it comes to reclaiming words, is it possible to be vulgar without being derogatory?

I can appreciate the attention grabbing factor of these words. The do grab your attention. But kind of in the same way a Michael Moore movie grabs your attention. It shocks you, but you're in such shock that the message that is trying to be sent goes right over your head. You're still reeling from this word. I can only imagine what some people may think about when they see this entry...

I guess my real difficulty is that these words that are trying to be taken back shouldn't have ever showed up in the first place. And maybe, just maybe, getting rid of these words all together would be best for everyone.

I Promise This Is The Last Video For Today

Ok, this was also sent to me...and since I just learned how to embed these wonderful videos I thought I should share.

I couldn't stop laughing.

It. Is. Hilarious.

Especially if Dakota Fanning rubs you the wrong way.

I know she's twelve, but seriously. Come on.

The Fumes Are Making A Funny Taste In My Mouth

This is a picture of my office. We recently got our pamphlets re-printed. Now I have 20,000 brochures. And 5,000 posters. And 10,000 postcards.

Let's get some perspective.

My office is about 6 feet by 15 feet.

Now my office smells like cardboard. Ever smell cardboard?

If you're interested just fill a small room with 55 cardboard boxes.

I know I shouldn't feel dizzy in my office.

VALERIE PRINGLE WAS BEHIND MY WORK!!

Ok, so I was unloading my trunk and I saw CBC cameras behind our building.

To give you all a reference, I work at WAYS and my office is in a group home. The group home is on the Thames River, very beautiful.

As I rounded the corner I saw gleaming red hair.

And I don't want to hear that none of you know who Valerie Pringle is. I mean, who of us didn't have afternoon naps with Valerie hosting "Midday" in the background? The woman's a fucking national treasure.

I suspect Valerie was taping segments of her show, "Antiques Roadshow", which just recently made a stop at UWO.

And being my father's daughter (no matter how hard I try to fight it) I, of course had my new camera with me.

And being my mother's daughter (again, no matter how hard I try) I badgered the CBC staff with my RISE for Youth pamphlets and brochures.

I would love to be interviewed by Valerie Pringle. We could talk about sexual exploitation while bonding over being fair skinned and red haired (I like the term "red haired" better than "redhead", I know Valerie would, too).

I went upstairs to the group home portion of the house and started clicking away. I was taking pictures with one other boy who lives at the house. We instantly bonded.

I really need you people to understand how excited I was. I was literally jumping up and down. But that might have been from the paper fumes.

However, when I went to my department office, no one shared my joy. This just further proved to them what a dork I am.

But I know you understand.

Yippee!

YouTube.com!

It wasn't that hard, I actually figured out how to embed the videos into the blog, and they don't take forever to download.

Yea!

Check out the latest, and scroll down to see the Rachael Ray parody and the Jon Stewart "Crossfire" interview that made my frickin' year.

A Fair(y) Use Tale

Ever been confused when it comes to what exactly copyright law is all about?

I found this little video that explains it very well, and it includes all of your favourite Disney characters.

You must watch until the final chapter, I couldn't stop chuckling.

It's nice to see some academics taking on the big Disney machine.

Copyright is one of those laws that can be mysterious and intimidating at the same time for people.

5 DAYS TO GO!

FACT #5

Jon Stewart has been in many movies you may have heard of; Half Baked, Big Daddy, Playing By Heart...

But did you know there are several movies Stewart was cut out of?

Almost Romantic: (a movie made with Janeane Garofalo, would have probably been the most sarcastic movie ever made)

Bird Meets Girl: (Jon was slated to play the mascot for the Baltimore Orioles who falls in love with a female sports reporter...maybe it's good that this was never released)

The First Wives Club: (apparently his ass made an appearance in the previews, but after focus groups saw the film they were unanimous in their hatred of Stewart in the movie)

Wavelength: (This was a movie almost made where Stewart played a sarcastic, bitter MTV jock who rips the head of the network another hole and gets transfered to a small radio station in Jamaica)

and...

A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (Stewart made a cameo and it was cut out, apparently John Cusack played an evil banker who tried to bring down David Arquette's music store...whatever. Now muppets are on my shit list)

"Everytime someone says 'Happy Holidays', an angel gets AIDS."

~ Jon Stewart

EXCLUSIVE! Elf: The Sequel!

Rumours are true!

Will Ferrell will star in a sequel to Elf!

A short trailer has been produced, and the ultra-secretive sequel will be set to hit theatres in November of 2007!

Check it out!

6 DAYS TO GO!!

FACT #4

Did you know that Jon Stewart is not only considered a hermit, but also a hypochondriac?

It's true.

Stewart's nickname is "Susceptible Boy".

This Bites

Ok, so apparently I don't know how to embed YouTube.com videos into my blog yet.

I blame YouTube.

In it's place, check out our nifty postcard.

Look What I Can Do!

Yippee! I can embed YouTube.com videos into my little blog!

I'm getting quite savvy.

My first entry is a parody video of my nemesis, Rachael Ray.

Here are a few reasons I dislike her:

1. Volume: Does this woman have any other volume than off or foghorn level? Seriously, she's way too loud. Her and Ty Pennington should get together and have shouting contests.

2. Intonation: I know voice probably doesn't merit two reasons, but seriously this woman sounds like a strangled goose.

3. Abbreviations: I have not made my dislike of Rachael Ray's abbreviations secret. She calls sandwiches 'sammies'. Who does that? When she says GB I want to throw garbage at her. And stoup has to be the stupidest thing I ever heard of. A stoup being "a cross between a stew and a soup". Stop it! And the most hated: EVOO. Don't know what that means? Don't worry, Rachael will fill you in, Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Tell me, Rachael, what's the point of using an abbreviation if you're going to say what the abbreviation means right afterwards?! You're ridiculous!

4. Herbs: Ok, please stop telling me to wash my herbs and put them in plastic bags when I get home from the store. Normal people don't have time for that shit.

5. 30 Minutes in Rachael Ray World = 45 Minutes In The Real World: Her meals are NOT 30 minute meals. That's a lie.

6. Dessert: Rachael readily admits that she's no baker. Yeah, thanks for the head's up. I think we understood that when we saw you make the 'melted ice cream sauce'. Seriously.

7. Recipe Titles: "You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta". That's not clever. Or catchy. It's pathetic.

8. She Laughs At Her Own Jokes: Basically that. Couple that with numbers 1 and 2, and you've got an all out assault on the nation's ears.

9. Her "Talent": Can someone please tell the woman that carrying 15 items from the pantry to the cutting board is NOT a talent. It's a stupid way of tricking us to think that she's getting shit done faster.

10. Garbage Bowl: Incredibly wasteful. Also, see #3.

11. Pet Food: She teaches how to make dishes for your diabetic, overweight pets. Personally some of the stuff she makes I wouldn't serve to a dog.

12. Tag Line: Yum-O is not a tag line or a catchphrase. It's stupid. Stop putting it on t-shirts.

13. Eating Noises: Someone forwarded a video from YouTube.com of Rachael Ray making eating noises. It was 3 minutes long. I threw up in my mouth a little at 1 minute 23 seconds.

14. Oprah: Because of Oprah, now this woman has her own freaking show.

8 DAYS TO GO!

FACT #3

Jon Stewart's production company is called "Busboy Productions". It's named for Stewart's previous job as, you got it, a busboy.

It's tag sound is a glass being broken followed by "Oops, sorry."

Respondents Welcome On Vicarious Traveller!

Guess what? I finally took some time to look around my blogger and now I removed settings for comments on my blog.

So now anyone can leave a comment on my beautiful blog.

So now if I don't get comments I'll look like a big dork.

And coupled with the counter I just put on my blog I'm seriously looking desperate.

I Can Count

Kk, I put a counter on the old blog...sigh.

Enjoy!

9 DAYS TO GO!!

FACT #2

Jon Stewart can bring down cable news by calling Tucker Carlson a dick.

If you haven't seen this yet, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmj6JADOZ-8

Spelling Bee Napoleon Reciter

Through the magic of YouTube.com I accidently found a clip of the boy from South Carolina befuddling the Spelling Bee people when he quoted a Napoleon Dynamite line before spelling chinook.

Soo funny. The fam and I caught this by chance when watching the epitomy of stage moms and dads, the National Spelling Bee.

Check it out!

11 DAYS TO GO!

As some of you may or may not know, in 11 short days I will be seeing one of my heroes (along with Stephen Lewis and my mom), Jon Stewart LIVE in concert.

I hope you're all as excited as I am.

In commemeration for this amazing event I will be counting down the days with some very interesting Jon Stewart knowledge so that you're all informed when I go to see him at the Niagara Casinorama.

Fact #1

Did you know that Jon Stewart's original last name is Leibowitz? But do you know why he changed it to his middle name, Stewart (by the way, his middle name was spelt Stuart)? Contrary to popular opinion, he didn't change it because it was too Hollywood (by the way, this reason Stewart gave was in reference to a Lenny Bruce joke). The real reason Stewart changed his last name, along with his wife was because of a troubled relationship with his father, a physicist, left his mother, brother and him when he was 9 years old.

And there you go.

"On an average day 7 minutes of news happens. Yet there are currently 3 full-time, 24-hour news networks."

~Jon Stewart

Whose More Adorable?

Little Rachel woke up in time to attack Maggie when she came home from the Muskokas after I picked her up from the bus station.

I tried to get rid of her red eyes, but I'm still getting the hang of Picasa.

Rachel kept asking what Maggie's name was...I don't think she was too sure about the new hair.

She did give me a hug, if only to say to me, "Thanks Jessie, for bringing Maggie home."

Whatever.

Hi!

Miss me? Here's what I've been doing!

Something I Don't Expect To See In Detroit...

A game of cricket.

Something I Would Expect To See In Detroit

A jail, downtown.

After the Rosemary Attack

I'm squinting, not smiling, from the pain.

Ok, it didn't really hurt, it was just a little prickly.

I Smell Like A Leg of Lamb

Right after I took this picture some vile woman hit me with a rosemary bush.

Pretty!

Too bad we couldn't take any across the border!

Mmmm

Mouth watering...If it weren't for the incredibly horrible karaoke next to it, this would be perfect. Luckily, a picture is worth a thousand words, not musical notes.

Detroit's Eastern Market!

Very cool market, I never knew was here...

Just walk through the chicken's...um...breasts...

The Best Travelling Companions!

They're great. I love 'em.

Lots 'o fun.

Our Teeny-Tiny Cabin

Here's how we travelled from Halifax to Montreal. Our cabin. Annie and I shared. Here's a transcript of Annie climbing the ladder to get to the top bunk.

Scene: Tiny train cabin, it's dark, lights are off, Jessie is in bottom bunk.

Jessie: 'Night Anne.

Anne: 'Night.

Annie grips ladder.

[Bang!]

Annie: Ow!

[Crashing, metal pinging]

Annie: Gah! Oh...Ugh...

[Bang!]

Annie: Argh...Ugh...Gugggg.....

[Bang! Crash!]

Jessie: Need some help?

Tee Hee.

I believe this is a good metaphor for our family dynamics.

Maggie loves to tease uncontrollably and hamming it up for a camera, Annie hates, well, a lot at the moment.

My Sisters.

Nice. This is how they walk downtown Halifax.

What's That Stain On Your Jacket, Annie?

It looks like bird poop.

Um...question...

Should someone let the people of Peggy's Cove in on the fact that it's May? I froze my ass off looking at their lighthouse.

White Knuckle Squeeze

Annie is freezing. We're waiting for Dad to stop taking pictures of the damn sunset.