n: vb: the spice of imagination
via Ellen Datlow:
A court case brought against Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida for denying a dying woman’s same sex partner and their children access to her in the hospital has found for the hospital.
Nicola Griffith urges us all to do something so that this outrage won’t happen again, in her post Trembling with Rage.
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Charcoal, dirty olive, raspberry and trembling dark plum…
I barely escaped alive.
Every category silently tore at me, promising comfort, confidence, femininity, warmth, cleverness, flirtatiousness or sex, laying out possibilities like tarot cards, a future with the top of my naked thigh slyly being touched under a table, a moment of enjoying someone watch me as I slowly roll them on, or perhaps only random conversation at some unknown bus-stop, “I’ve always liked teal.”, meeting, then, my future best friend. Tabs were being opened, spreading across the screen like bleeding, unrestricted stanzas of flashy curiosity equaling, I’m certain, a similarly outrageous price-tag. I had to take action. Judiciously picking my way through the impossible, I first discarded the duplicates and most banal, anything that could be bought later, that never goes out of stock, then shaving at the edges more carefully, manipulating facts, rationalizing bits and pieces away until I was left with only the most unique, red in tooth and talon, and fun.
In the end, however, I couldn’t manage to cut it down past a final batch of twelve. Some colourful tights for the upcoming winter, a pair of expensive, breathy thigh highs, some knee highs, a set of microfiber arm warmers, a pair of slate gray socks printed with birds on a wire, and a pair of criss-cross button fingerless gloves. I think, though I’m not precisely sure, they should arrive at my home in Seattle tomorrow.
So, as it’s about to be a bit more imperative: Anywhere know an equally good place to get skirts?
Bethalynne, lucky partner to my clever internet cousin Myke, has updated her website, “All freshened up pretty for Halloween” with a new collection of artwork. Go check it out! Not only is she brave and beautiful, she’s wicked talented too:
Bonus! Her chock-a-block full of wonder Etsy shop where you can admire her art then take it home. Unbelievable, right? Right. Go get some here: Etta Diem
One of the many, (you’d think unexpected), things we accomplished during Sunday’s epic bed-sit stay in was to finally nail down what we’re going as for Hallowe’en. After hours of hare brained ideas and methodically poring through costume sites, we finally decided that Tony will go as a blindfolded knife-thrower with terrible aim and I’ll be his lovely knife studded assistant! Tah-dah! Fun without slut, a pinch of the circus, (which, if we had a Thing, would likely be our Thing), and due to last year’s costume mix-up, I’ve already got the boots.
Trimpin : What an odd, lovely minded, delightful man. What odd, lovely minded, delightful art! I spoke with him after the film, and I’m going to see what I can do about making him an on-line calendar, so people will know where and when to find his installations and shows.
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Chasing the day with dinner, the present fit as right as expected, a train pour of alcohol down the table, familiar faces, names, periphery friends, lost family, personal history, remembering suddenly I had met Sara on the dance-floor we counted out New Year’s Eve together the same night I saved a life, the first good holiday midnight I’d ever had, as if the memories were only visible under blacklight or her pretty eyes. When the crowd split off for sushi, we dawdled behind over dessert, then walked out on our own, peeling away the city into paths, transit, and routes.
Frank‘s place was crowded, the floor a plane of pillows, inflated mattresses and grinning people lit by the flourish and improbable end of Buckaroo Bonzai. (A great attack of hello from Sam, a surprised, pleased greeting from Daniel.) Shedding our clothes in the storage closet felt like shedding skin, as we borrowed pyjamas to snuggle the night, clothing I haven’t worn since I was a child, and my body, strangely, just as small inside the loaned plaid flannel as it was wearing adult clothing then. Tony preferred the Strawberry Shortcake pants, he was welcome to them. In the velvety dim light of the party, he could have been handsome in almost anything. Finding a vacant beanbag, we settled in for Hooped, then Zombie Strippers, a movie that maybe should never have been made, except that parts of it were so much fun. After that we shifted to a mattress with Claire for Amazon Women On The Moon, then tried to sleep through most of Hell Comes To Frogtown, instead waking horribly to all the shooting and shouty bitz, which involved such complex philosophy as “why does that mutated(?) frog king have three snake penises, anyway?”
Shakes The Clown was next, which I wish I’d seen more of, then apparently Night Of The Creeps, which I completely missed, followed by Airplane!, which was kind enough to wake me for the lovely opening red zone white zone argument, but not keep me that way. Dawn arrived like a ghost, sliding between the cracks of the party, prying the new day out of the cracks of our long, cheerful night. I don’t know when people left, but there were only a few of us by the time morning and breakfast arrived, a small heaven of perfect waffles, strawberries with maple syrup, and bacon.
That day, once we walked home, with matching clouds of impossible hair, we stayed in all day, in bed, until it was Monday.
Just got this in an e-mail:
In case you haven’t heard, the West Coast Chocolate Festival is back with a list of exciting events that will run from Oct 15-Nov 10. Some of the more popular events to be featured are the Chocolate High Tea; Wines, Liqueurs and Chocolate; Single Malt Scotch and Chocolate; the Cooking with Chocolate seminar at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts and the Chocolat ce Soir at Horizons Restaurant with Chef Garrett and Maître Chocolatier Wim Tas of ChocolaTas. Perfect for chocoholics or just a nice night out on the town. More info can be found on the festival website at www.chocolatefestival.ca.
Proliferation, oil on canvas, 30" x 40", 2008, by Scott G. Brooks from his series Under The Skin.
If you’ve had the good fortune to see any of these, tell us how it was! We’ve got a lot of maybe’s on our list, and a few we’re deciding between, so information’s appreciated.
Friday
5:00 MEET THE FILMMAKERS: TRIMPIN + PETER ESMONDE in conversation with JEAN ROUTHIER Pacific Cinémathèque
9:30 pm Trimpin: The Sound of Invention (A documentary on one of my mother’s friends). "Peter Esmonde and Trimpin–with a sculpture for temporary exhibition in the Vancouver International Film Centre–will be in attendance for our Thanksgiving weekend screenings!" Vancity Theatre
Saturday
12:30 am Kimjongilia Empire Granville 7 Th 5
2:10 pm Splinters Empire Granville 7 Th 6
?? – Salt in Blood Alley
7 pm – Michael’s birthday dinner
9:15 pm Will Not Stop There Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)
?? – Frank’s birthday movie-night
Sunday
12:20 The Exploding Girl Empire Granville 7 Th 1 (tentative)
1:15 NFB 70th Anniversary Program Pacific Cinémathèque (tentative)
4:00 Canary Pacific Cinémathèque
6:10 Everyone Else Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)
9:15 Bluebeard Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)
9:15 Police, Adjective Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)
Monday
11:30 – Breakfast at Havana’s
1:20 Mother Visa Screening Room
@ Empire Granville Th7
4:20 Nora’s Will Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)
6:20 North Empire Granville 7 Th 4
8:45 Punching the Clown Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)
9:15 La Pivellina Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)
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HOME: Yann Arthus-Bertrand makes with the pretty. More appropriate for a younger audience, simplistic and at times heavy handed. If I was less involved with eco-activism, I might have found it educational, but instead the only new things I learned from the film are that Madagascar’s erosion wounds look exactly like gashes in raw meat and elephants look tremendously like bunny rabbits from very high up.
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