You've got the love.

The dog days are over.  Kiss with a fist.  Hurricane drunk.

What do all of these phrases have in common?  They are all titles of songs by the popular British band Florence + the Machine.  They are also all songs I listened to at her concert last Wednesday night.

On Wednesday, November third, Florence played at the Sound Academy in Toronto, Canada.  The following is my half-review, half-excited gushing, about the performance.

My friends and I drove there.  On the way up, we went through increasingly less impressive areas of Toronto.  When we turned into the entrance for the Sound Academy, we passed a Go-Karting rink.  To summarize, the venue wasn't incredibly impressive.

There were two opening bands.  The first was supposed to start at eight, but didn't end up going on until nine.  That was doable.  And they weren't bad - they were a lot better than they sounded, anyway, on account of the subpar sound system.

The second band was bad.  Just...  Very bad.

Florence didn't end up coming on until about eleven.  I was less than thrilled about this, as my friends would probably be able to tell you.  My feet hurt, and I was thirsty.  I was grumpy.  I was upset.  I demanded that they fetch me a litter and carry me around for the rest of the night.  But when she came on stage, none of that seemed to matter.

Florence was superb.  She was wearing a killer dress, and was so sweet that everyone immediately forgave her for making them wait.

All in all, this was a really good concert.  The audience was into it, there was the energy and drama that seems to come naturally to Florence, and it was a lot of fun.

 

Also, there were definitely people smoking pot.  A lot of people.

 

So, those are my thoughts about the Florence + the Machine concert last Wednesday night!  LISTEN TO HER, SHE IS SO GREAT.

 

Girl With One Eye

Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat.

I'm fairly certain that I have mentioned my country of birth.  For those of you who haven't caught on, I'm from Canada - you know, the true North, strong and free?  The home of ice hockey and beavertails?  Still nothing?  We're better known for being the big, cold, mostly empty land mass to the north of the United States.  Ring any bells yet?

Well, there you go.  Hopefully that is a helpful visual aid.

I love Canada.  I think it's a great country; it has a beautiful landscape, is a melting pot of cultures, and, of course, everyone loves the free health care. (Except the people trying to pay off the debt it engenders - but that's a different blog entry.)

There is, however, one aspect of Canada that many could do without - the frigid winters.  Ask any Canadian you know.  It's fun to a point.  The first snowfall is always great; then come the first snow angels, the first snowmen, the first skating expeditions.  And then, of course, there's Christmas.

But after the first two months of a constant temperature of twenty below, the magic of wintertime seems to fade in a flurry of broken down cars, expensive snow gear, and frostbite.  The days get shorter, the workload gets greater, and many people are left with a pervading sense of stress and mild to severe depression.

There's no doubt that there are downfalls to winter.  For me, though, it's worth it.  Maybe that's just because I don't have a car, or have a higher rate of study halls, or am young enough to not worry about getting to work on time.  That's probably a big part of it.  But I think it's more than that.  I've had some of the best times of my life in the winter.  Hot tubbing in February, playing Said the Whale's This City's A Mess in my room while the wind whips the siding, the first Christmas my friends and I spent together - all are irreplaceable moments in my life, things I'll never forget.

So, I wish you all a happy winter.  I know it can be unpleasant, cold, and stressful, but there's beauty in it too.  Notice the beauty, and when times get tough, band together with those around you - sometimes it's during the times of greatest trial that we begin to truly appreciate the glorious world around us.

Girl With One Eye

The school can't even handle you right now.

Growing up, I went to a private, all-girls Catholic school.  I know what you're thinking - whoa, party!  And that would be pretty accurate.

One thing I remember most about growing up in private school was the uniform.  We had to wear very specific clothes, right down do the colour of our hair accessories.



Now, I think that to go to that extent is a bit extreme.  However, is a dress code a good idea?  Should we be implementing them in public schools?

I am the last person to tell anyone what to do, or how to dress.  Admittedly, sometimes what I see people wearing at school is so questionable that I begin to consider the positives of having a stricter dress code - those being the comfort level of the students, the lack of prejudice based on clothing, etc.

However, it is not my place - nor is it anyone else's - to tell people how to dress.  It is a person's personal decision.  Clothing has become more than just a way to cover oneself - it is a form of expression, which the administration has no right to stifle.  A strict dress code is unnecessary for a high school, which is a small-scale culture to itself.

Girl With One Eye

She doesn't do major credit cards, I doubt she does receipts. It's all not quite legitimate.

The way the Canadian government deals with prostitution in this country has irked me long enough, and I think it's time that I share some of my thoughts.

Some people with whom I have discussed this issue think that prostitutes make their own decisions.  Sure, their jobs endanger them every day.  Most prostitutes have diseases, and some of them die as a result of their profession.  But it was their choice to become prostitutes, right?  They know the risks, and they could get out and get decent jobs if they wanted to.

This simply isn't true.  Most prostitutes are controlled by a pimp: a person who sells their services, keeps almost all of the money, and enslaves the prostitutes through debt and physical force.  Often, the pimp threatens the worker's family, or the worker themselves, with death if they leave.

Canada's laws regarding this issue are incredibly backward.  Technically, prostitution is legal in Canada - it is fine to exchange money for sexual services.  However, it is illegal to keep a "bawdy house", meaning that prostitutes are unable to take care of their own safety within a safe environment.  The act of solicitation is also illegal.  All this results in is the inability of law enforcement officials to prosecute the johns, while the victims of this system - prostitutes who are often controlled by their pimps - are penalized and arrested.

That's my piece concerning this issue.  But it's only a sliver of the information out there.  I highly recommend doing more research, and formulating your own opinions.

Girl With One Eye

Let's go back to the coast, baby, westward to the ocean.

Water.  Clean and fresh, water is necessary for life, health, and basic hygiene.  On the other hand, not everyone in the world has access to clean water.  Is this a basic right, or an economic good?

My country has one of the biggest fresh water supplies in the entire world.  The human population uses a ridiculous amount of water, especially in the west, and one day our supply will run out.  What will happen then?  Will we begin to sell our water to the highest bidder, give it away, or store it jealously?

It doesn't even need to come to the world running out of water.  Countries have, in the past, charged their people for water.  Collecting rain water was illegal.

In my opinion, water is a basic human right.  It is necessary for survival.  We would never deprive another person of air - why do the same with water?

Anywho.  That's my piece for the day.  Happy Wednesday.

Girl With One Eye

You want to hear about the deal I'm making?

I'm assuming that all of you have heard about the Chilean miners who were recently rescued after spending seven weeks trapped hundreds of kilometres underground.  If you haven't, then...  Well, see the previous sentence for a pretty accurate summary.  Also, you've been living under a rock.

The rescue mission was a beautiful thing to watch.  Men were reunited with their families, crying, laughing, and praising God.  Then came the endless press photos, which were aired for hours all day.

One of these photos depicted the miners sporting Oakley sunglasses.  This picture was splashed all over news stations all day.  The cost of the glasses in total was $6,300.  The cost of the advertising Oakley received as a result of this was a cumulative $41 million.

Was this morally reprehensible?  Nay, say I!  This is simply Western capitalism at its best.  Come on - the beauty of family reunions and saved lives mixed with shameless product placement.  What could be more American?  I have no bad feelings toward Oakley.  Good for them.  They had to wear somebody's glasses, right?  Three cheers for capitalism!

Girl With One Eye

Thinking is overrated.

I have friends from a variety of social milieus.  A strong percentage of my friends are huge gamers.  So, unfortunately, a lot of my time when I'm with them is spent watching them game, or listening to them talk about gaming.  Usually, I'm okay with this.  Though I am much too busy and not nearly coordinated enough to be interested in video games, I'm usually all right with this.  I have become fairly well versed in game speak, and I'm sometimes even entertained by it.

However, a while ago, the enjoyment I found in this simple activity began to dwindle.  My normally sensitive friend sniped some guy in the head from a building.  "I just raped this guy!" he shouted to us all, laughing.

I was shocked.  I looked around the room.  Nobody else seemed to be affected the same way I was. Apparently, this was normal behaviour.  Referencing one of the most disgusting indictable crimes in a casual way?  No big d.  Everyday occurance.

At first, I just rolled with this kind of behaviour.  But then I started hearing it more and more.  And not just the word "rape" being thrown around like a casual activity.  I hear "gay," "retarded," "faggot," "jew," "pimp," even the "n" word, every day.  Realistically, the chances are that almost every person around you either has been raped, is gay or a minority, or knows someone who is.  One in three girls, for example, has been sexually assaulted by her senior year.  And yet a majority of people use these words, and nobody does anybody about it.  Why?

I don't have an answer.  All I know is, using these words is simply stupid and inconsiderate.  It's not okay.  And I'm going to start doing all I can to stop the use of these words.