njósnavélin - undercover: December 2007

Tis 2:06 am and Christmas festivities are over (they were fun though).
Inspired by Paw's blog post about her favorite songs of year, I decided "why not? i'll do some kinda year in review thinggy". So, let's see what I can list...

3 Best Musical Discoveries of the Year (with suggested songs):

Gogol Bordello - Not a Crime/Star Wearing Purple/Wanderlust King
I was at a murder mystery party, and after the murderer was revealed, a friend blasted the music and we all had a merry time.

Beirut - Postcards from Italy/Nantes/Scenic World
Paw introduced me to them and they were awesome. So I saw them live, and they were even cooler. And I learned of "Alaska in Winter" which is another awesome band (they were the openers)

The Knife - Heartbeats
They're a band from Sweden with a few good songs here and there. Heartbeats is especially catchy. I found out about them from a blog...but only heard that catchy song when I was eating a sandwich at Santropol with a friend (on July 31, 2007).

3 songs that happened to stay in my head

Ivan Kupala - Kanareika
This is possibly one of the catchiest songs ever. Everytime I listened to it, I imagined little gnomes appearing and dancing around. That then made me smile while walking down the street and getting curious looks. It's all good though. This stayed in my head for about a month...I believe it was mid march to mid april.

Journey - Don't Stop Believing
I was perusing a friends' boombox on Facebook and that song was there. I had heard it before, but never knew who sang it. And well...I looped that song for a while. This was a 2 week disease lasting from sept 4 - 15 (it ended after I was forced to sing it :) )

Alicia Keys - No One
I'm not a huge RnB person, but this lady can sing and this song is very catchy. I looped that too...for about a week and a half. This was mid november.

3 coolest concerts (not including any of the bands mentioned above or that I've seen before)

The Polyphonic Spree
This is the HAPPIEST band I've ever seen live and they give a kick ass show. They played for about 2.5 hours. There are something like 22 people on stage, many instruments...the band director/main singer came into the crowd many times and best of all they had confetti guns. It's really fun to jump around when confetti is flying. So I'd say it was pretty magical.

The Arcade Fire
Even though they played in an arena, they managed to put on a really good show. They had neon sticks and played many songs...sound was good too :) best of all paw and I had good seats.
As a side note, there's really nothing around Pie IX/Viau metro stations.

Stars
I've been wanting to see these guys for a while. I wanted to see them at Osheaga, but it's bloody expensive. So I was really happy to learn they were coming to mtl. They put on a most wonderful show :)

3 Most Entertaining Activities

Manhunt
Playing a combo of hide and seek and tag in Montreal. Games are every other saturday and the location changes every time. Many a fun hunt were had...it's not often you are chased by people wearing orange armbands.

Pillow Fight
Early May, about 90 or so people congregated outside of Place des Arts to have a 10 minute pillow fight. Little did we know that there was a police convention happening that same day. There were tanks and horses and officers all over. So when the whistle blew at 3:00 pm, they were quite confused. But it was alllll good in the end. :)

Halloween Metro Party
It was short lived! (cote vertu - berri uqam) but it was ultra fun while it lasted. We filled up most of the last car, and everyone in costume...with some good industrialesque music playing. I hope it happens again :D!

3 Best Food Discoveries

Tiendes et Sante Vegetarienne
I'm not a big mock meat person, but this place has a big selection of fake meat stuff. My friend and I bought some "tuna" and made some premium food. Twas an improvised lemon, ginger black pepper fish, with a radish/cucumber sesame salad and these stewed green beans. Most awesome. I must go there again.

Bayou Brasil
This happened last week :) We originally planned to go to La Sala Rosa...but it appears that we had to make reservations and did not know. So we hunted along St Denis for a place to eat and stumbled upon this place. Their food is pretty good, though I should warn you alligator tastes bad (or so one of my friend's said). So if you don't eat that, everything should be A-Ok!

Kam Fung
I've had Dim Sum before, but May was the first time I went to Kam Fung. I've been to Furama and this other place who's name I don't recall (It was at the end of finals in my 2nd year of cegep...with Paw and some others). In anycase, the first time I had no idea what I was eating, so it was more of a learning experience. Furama is alright, but I think Kam Fung has more variety (though I could be wrong). Anyways, sooo goooood!!! They have the shrimp dudes in rice paper with sauce on top, shrimp/scallop dumplings, crab claw, CONGEE! and ooooh that tofu fah dessert o_o

3 Best Movie Discoveries

Little Miss Sunshine
I saw it with a friend after a day of Tea tasting and general chillage...we rented it and went to his place...at pita chips with hummus and enjoyed the awesomeness of this movie. I love that van.

Everything is Illuminated
I like this movie so much, I show it to everyone I can show it to...and therefore have seen it about 6 times in the span of 4 months. It is a most Premium movie :P that's all I'm gonna say.

Quills
It has been recommended before, but I never got around to watching it. After renting it, I got it at HMV for 12$ haha. Marquis, although a very dirty man is kinda charming in this movie...and Michael Cain does a good job of making you hate him.

Biggest Surprise of the Year
Having over a metre of snow and -20 C weather in December. This hasn't happened in a looong ass time. I could've made igloos and snowman armies if not for the fact that I had finals to study for. Right now a lot of it has melted, but it'll come back I predict. I'll get to make my snowmen!

That about concludes my year in review I think...
What do I look forward to for 2008? Graduation, heeeeellls yeah!

Inspired by a night of Tampopo watching, ramen eating (to commemorate the event) and general craziness...we have the lonely fishball- Kronk:

It all started in a kitchen
With many fish, spices and dough
A grinder, a pounder, and then a set of hands
Would soon make me the fish ball I am today.
Oh...it's a sad tale as you'll see.

Yes, I am Kronk the lonely fish ball
Of round and compact shape.
I was once in a oniony, curry sauce with my friends
and then suddenly left to face life alone, all alone.

I got into the fridge
And stayed there for a while
Hung out with my friends in a plastic bag
Until it was opened and we were poured into a bowl
Soon to face our doom in the black, rectangular food agitator

Soon enough, the flying bowl was set on a table
Next to long green things and shrimp suffocated by bean curd
In the distance, you could see noodles submerged in hot broth
My friends were taken one by one
I thought I'd be next, but by the time I knew it everyone was gone

Yes, I am Kronk the lonely fish ball
Of round and compact shape.
I was once in a oniony, curry sauce with my friends
and then suddenly left to face life alone, all alone.

I stood there, all alone, waiting in the cold
Why was I not taken?
Am I a defective fish ball, not worthy of disintegration?
I was made fun of, stared at. They stared at me affectionately...
but they did not eat me, not me

A long wait...a distant thought
while they laughed and danced and cut things beside me
A dark liquid entered the agitator
and even the fruit got preference over me
But then...

I was no longer Kronk the lonely fish ball, with no friends
Because I heard my name and the cheerful one took me in
"We should dip him in the chocolate"
And now I am with my fishy friends
In a sea of curry and sweetly dark happiness.

P.S. Tampopo is awesome, muahahahahaha!

njósnavélin - undercover

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