Jen Mann// "Bubblegum"

Jen Mann Bubble Gum- 72”x60” oil on canvas

Toronto artist Jen Mann graduated from OCAD! She just had a solo show entitled "Strange Beauties" featuring this painting above, along with many more monochromatic pieces you can check out here.

INOVA sign// college st.

The building of this pink INOVA sign at Dovercort and College should definitely be a cool restaurant. I've noticed that so many cool neon lettered signs have been taken down in the past few years, like the Tasty Chinese sign in the Grange cafeteria. Or the Lakeview Lunch original sign that I guess was switched out when it changed up management. These signs need to be preserved!!! It keeps Toronto street views interesting.

Matthew Sweet// We're the Same

Mod girls in Matthew Sweet's video for "We're the Same" directed by Roman Coppola.

Drugstore Cowboy// green tones

Yesterday, me and my sister watched Drugstore Cowboy- a Gus Van Sant movie I've been trying to track down for a while now. Matt Dillon was so impressive! I'd only ever seen him in There's Something About Mary in which he played the icky villain guy who beats up Jim Carey. But in Drugstore Cowboy, although crazy, violent, dope addict Bob isn't the most sympathetic character, Dillon manages to convince you to stay on board with his character until the end. He has this wistful look that many boys cast by Gus Van Sant posess- his gaze reminded me of Gabe Nevins' brown eyed stare in Paranoid Park.

On another note- still sticking to a Gus Van Sant theme- this week I came across a copy of a novel he wrote called "Pink" at She Said Boom used books on College St.. I had no idea that he'd written a full-length book- it looks like it's semi-autobiographical in that it's about the trials of filmmaking. It also has little doodles scattered throughout. 

Tokyo lookbook

While looking through Tokyo Lookbook, these were two looks I wanted to remember. They look like they could be in an Elle Girl photoshoot from the early 2000s!!

Norwegian Wood the movie

Last night I watched the film adaptation of Norwegian Wood, directed by Tran Anh Hung. The cinematography was crazy amazing- light was always streaming through glass, the wind constantly rustling grass, and the sixties textiles were lush and colorful. My only critique would be that the plot would be difficult to follow if you haven't read the book. There's little explanation when large plot turns happen and suddenly the main character Toru is somewhere completely different. But that said, it was a really faithful interpretation of the novel.

All screencaps taken by me.

Norwegian Wood// PEACE- California Daze

I have just finished reading Nowegian Wood by Haruki Murakami ...it was the most beautiful book I've ever read. My heart got to feeling compressed and kind of sad having intently read the last few chapters consecutively today. This line from the book I wanted to record right away so I can remember it later:

You know how they've got these cookie assortments, and you like some but you don't like others? And you eat up all the ones you like, and the only ones left are the ones you don't like so much? I always think about that when something painful comes up. 'Now I just have to polish these off and everything will be O.K.' Life is a box of cookies.

A lot like Forrest Gump's "Life is like a box of chocolates..." analogy, but far more more interesting in my opinion.

On another note, listening to California Daze by PEACE, I noticed paralels between the song and the feelings of Norwegian Wood. The lyric "Were you born to live for born to die" reminds me of the reoccuring idea in the novel that "Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it."