Coco Before Chanel is an emotionally sophisticated movie with a mostly unsophisticated plot, so depending on your tastes for storytelling you will either be engaged or bored to tears. I give the film full marks for portraying nontraditional relationships without falling back on emotional cliches and histrionics. Granted, this would be more noteworthy if this were a Hollywood film, but it's done well and I appreciated the obvious effort put into not having the characters act like 13 year old schoolgirls.

Perhaps less praiseworthy is the notion that a movie about a woman searching for her place in the world needs to revolve around the men in her life, which this film embraces, but by doing so gives the audience a glimpse into the rigid social structures of male power that ruled the times Coco lived in and, as the film postulates, represent the genesis of her style and design ethos of effortless elegance. In this case the phallocentric conceit works in the films favor giving the narrative a bit of lift

Audrey Tautou is fantastic, adding intrigue and sensitivity to a character who is for the most part cold, selfish, and sullen and she brings to life the pride and strength that carry her character through the many indignities and moral compromises that lead to her future success without disguising her self absorption and willingness to use people as anything other than what it is- a survival instinct.

All that said, this is a movie who's story is told in furtive glances and raised eyebrows, and has only a tentative relationship to the world of high fashion. The drama you might expect from the early life of such a pivotal figure in fashion's history is told with a minor score and may not be what the viewer might expect. The now classic Chanel basic black dress comes to mind as a relevant comparison.

White Cake with Strawberry Buttercream

My first attempt at piping frosting and there's lots of room for improvement there. Some planning and practice could do wonders. The cake itself was a disappointingly dense- it's a meringue based cake, and I have yet to get a successful rise out of any angel food recipe I've tried. It's either me or my oven that's fucking up. Also in the negative column, when I served out the cake I discovered I'd left the parchment paper attached to the bottom of the top layer. That was good for a laugh. On the plus side the strawberry buttercream icing is delicious.

André and I made Pies. Turkey Pies! He made the filling and I made the crust.
Wonder Twin Powers Activate!


( Photo of the Finished Product )



Yum!

The Umbrella Academy
Series 2 Issue #3
Words - Gerard Way
Art - Gabriel Bá

I find this image is even more enjoyable when taken out of the context it is originally presented in. Irrespective of the setting I particularly like how Klaus' Hawaiian Shirt has become intertwined with the car commercial Space Boy was watching on Television.

A very good series so far, but is also teetering on the edge of trying a little too hard to be off kilter and wacky for the sake of being so. Fortunately I'm a big fan of silliness and the obvious attempt to make fun an important factor in every issue renders most of this forgivable.

Hot Music + Hot Shirtless Antics = Good Times

More Here

I didn't really put anything outside the box in my concept for this challenge, but I like how the photo turned out.

Since it was Thanksgiving I drove down to stay at my mothers house. I Spent some time on my own this weekend wandering around Sarnia when I wasn't visiting with my family and I took photos of what I saw.

These photos were all taken in Canatara Park, which is beautiful this time of year.

Click Photo to see full set.

More of St Marie Among The Hurons

Our family vacation wrapped up more than a week ago, but I go lazy and held off sorting through the photos.
Here are some snapshots that I like.

We are more than a little sold on cottaging as a superior way to get the fuck away from Toronto. So much more restful than camping.

Sooooo..... when did aadroma start doing character design for Street Fighter IV?

Methinks someone at Capcom likes their men with a little extra somethin somethin.
Bully for them.

Sooo, who wants to pick a fight with me?
Bring it on ladies!

Mario Kart Friend Number- 3093-7487-5007

Super Smash Bros Friend Number- 5155-2693-7815


(My skills are actually pretty weak, but think of the satisfaction you'll get by utterly destroying me.)

I found out last week that I will be, starting on the 21st, be spending two months working the night shift while the other technicians receive training on my regular shift.
Not looking forward to that.

My favorite episode of the lot. It explores how cosmically unfair it is to be a straight horny man.

André and I have been together 5 years as of today.

I've been eager to post this episode, because It features some fairly ridiculous homemade sex toys. Brutal, evil looking sex toys that I constructed over several weeks and consequently were scattered throughout my home while I was working on them during Pride Weekend. Now, at last, I have proof for _angry_alan and iompair that the demented bric-a-brac they saw the first time they visited my home really were props for an indie movie. Seriously guys.

The first pie crust I made yesterday had too much water, so I had to start over. The second pie crust I made was dropped on the floor as it came out of the oven, so it went in the garbage. The third pie crust I made was ugly and didn't hold together very well when served, but it looked and tasted like pie and that was all it needed to do.

Following up on the question meme

Jim- I'm not sure. Maybe sometime in the spring?

André- There are many reasons but usually country music is involved.

Since I'm lacking any real content to post about- Ask Me Any Question! All comments are screened, and I will reply in a seperate post with as much candor as I am able.
Now's the time to find out if I'm as boring as you think I am!

My official time in the Chilly Half was 1h 58min 9sec.

It's a Prokofiev parody! Love it or don't! Naw, seriously, it's pretty clever.