according to Larissa

larissa feels grateful!

2007-12-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Well friends, I am ecstatic to announce that I will be the Spokesperson (although I'm trying to push for the title of Spoke-ster) for Common Wealth Credit Union's Young & Free Campaign! Check it out: http://www.youngfreealberta.com

A huge thank you to everyone who voted and who wished me luck:

To all my wonderful supporters (family, friends, and friends I have yet to meet!)

Two small words to convey the infinite feeling in my heart: Thank you.

To recognize the fact that this innovative and exciting new opportunity has been built for me on a foundation of mouse-clicks is truly overwhelming. Each and every one of you who voted has played an equally integral part in turning what was once a hopeful objective into an incredible reality. To be able to effectively use one's passions and talents to connect with youth from all over the province is a rare opportunity, and one that I am grateful for.

I am eager to see what the coming year holds in store for all of us Young & Free-ers, and commed Common Wealth Credit Union for undertaking this fantastically imaginative and unprecedented initiative.

Keep on rocking in the (young and) free world!

larissa yearns for a cooler name.

2007-12-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

The concert last night was fantastic. Great set, great venue, great opener (Matt Costa- if you haven't heard of him before, it's worth it to check out his stuff).

I was also very impressed with the crowd. This summer, I took in a few live shows in Edmonton and area, and ticket-holders seemed more interested in the beer tents than they did the music. Not that I have anything against enjoying a brewski while listening to some tunes- but when you're engaging in spontaneous body-surfing (regardless of whether or not anyone is willing to catch you), hurling ridiculous statements at the stage (e.g. HEY GUITARIST, YOU LOOK LIKE JESUS!) mid-song, and slurring the lyrics so badly that you resemble a rude, stupid, and un-cool version of Bob Dylan... well. It can get out of control.

But happily, last night's crowd was there for the music solely. The energy was terrific.

On a semi-related note, did you know that the Bedouin Soundclash basist's name is Eon Sinclair?

How could you not have a successful life with a name like that? Even on the worst of days and in the crappiest of moods, you'd just have to say 'Hang on. My name is Eon Sinclair. How awesome is that?' and all your problems would be solved.

I think everyone on this planet has come across a point in time where they wonder what life would be like with a different name. When I was still young enough to be watching The Magic School Bus on PBS ("I knew I should've stayed home today!"), I thought I'd be better off with Ms. Frizzle's pet lizard as a namesake. I took matters into my own hands, and started signing my school papers as 'Liz'.

This lasted about one day; the confusion the sudden name-change caused my grade two teacher discouraged me from keeping up the new identity. No bother; it would be only a matter of weeks before 'Carmen Sandiego' would bump 'Liz' from my personal list of Best Names Ever.

In fact, I still have it on reserve should I become so famous that I need a double identity. I hope it doesn't have a copyright... otherwise, I will have to be the first Carmen San Francisco.

larissa looks forward to friday night.

2007-12-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

I've started this blog post 5 times over already... I'm just too distracted by the fact that I'm seeing Bedouin Soundclash in concert tomorrow night (cue happy dance)!

Is it just me, or does anybody else get a patriotic high whenever they discover a Canadian band that rocks? Just the mention of Montreal in Where Have All the Good People Gone makes me a Sam Roberts Band proclaimer (that, and the fact that I really like their sound).

It makes me happy that more and more Canadian bands are showing up on the radar. Maybe it's some sort of musical compensation for being affiliated with Celine. Who knows.

For all you Feist-y Tegans, Saras, and New Pornographers, I give you a (Matthew) good song from a (Neil) young, (Billy) talented and almost tragically hip group: Bedouin Soundclash.

P.S.- Sorry about that last sentence. I have yet to learn that excessive puns aren't funny.

larissa and the writers strike.

2007-12-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

Although it has recently dropped from front page news to something more like page A4, there's no denying the effects of the strike by the Writers Guild of America. Stock episodes are getting used up, and soon the airwaves will be rife with re-runs, gameshows, and quick-to-produce reality television (I may just be paranoid from having lost the Office and Prison Break within the span of a couple weeks, but House, Family Guy, Desperate Housewives, CSI, Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy watchers beware: it's gonna git you, too.)

I personally don't see the writers' demands as being too outrageous. Higher residual payments for DVD sales seem fair. And with online distribution being affordable and more popular than ever before, it makes sense to me that content creators would want a cut of what's generated from downloads.

What bugs me about this strike is that it has come to a complete standstill, and both parties don't seem to realize that there is a lot to lose.

The last Writers Guild of America strike took place in 1988 (hey! my birth year!), and lasted for 5 months. It is estimated that post-strike, television audiences were cut by 10%. That's a lot of converted couch potatoes.

But here's the kicker- 10 years ago, there weren't nearly as many entertainment alternatives. This time around, as soon as shows start dropping off the air, it's simply a matter of switching from one screen to another. While Hollywood struggles, online content creators benefit.

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing... having already barreled through my Arrested Development box set, Youtube is proving itself as a very useful quick fix. I just don't know if Hollywood has yet recognized that the internet is an intimidating competitor.

Whatever your stance on the strike, enjoy this clip I stumbled across today, while not watching television.

larissa flickrs.

2007-12-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

The Young & Free website put out a call today for young and free themed snapshots. Finally! A legitimate excuse to rifle through all my photographs!

I uploaded a varied selection, take a peek at:

larissa's young & free photo set

If you have some young and free photos on flickr that you want to share, simply tag them 'youngfreealberta'. They could be featured on the www.youngfreealberta.com website mainpage!

My face is doing well, thank you for your concern. The icepack helped, although I still have a lovely bruise on my right cheek. I tried putting blush on the other one to balance it out... didn't really work.

Still working on a macho bruise-excuse. Something involving gangs (it's still in the preliminary stages of brainstorming).

larissa walks into a door.

2007-12-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

I wish the title of this one was some sort of set up for a corny joke. It's not.

I just walked into my closet door, face first. Imagine the immediate pain of a stubbed toe, except radiating from your brow bone and cheek bone instead. I'm already beginning to bruise.

But now I have the opportunity to pretend I'm tougher than I really am! All I need to do is prepare an awesome excuse for when someone asks me: 'What happened to your face?'

Hmm... I am going to a concert this weekend... if I stay undercover until then, I could just say that I got a little roughed up in the mosh pit (I won't bother mentioning that it's a classical holiday music show I'm going to).

Sorry to cut this short, but I should really go ice-pack my face.

larissa can't find any good commercials.

2007-12-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

Well, today is the last voting day for the Commonwealth Credit Union Young & Free Spokesperson competition (www.youngfreealberta.com for those of you who don't want to miss the boat!)

After finally managing to accept the contest's wind-down today, I decided to do a little winding-down myself. I installed a new doorknob in my bedroom, I did some sketching, I listened to music on a set of honkin' noise-cancellation headphones... and then I decided to see what was on the tube.

Admittedly, it's been a long while since I last turned on the TV. With the writers' strike withholding my beloveds (i.e. The Office and Prison Break), there hasn't been much going aside from the evening news.

But it wasn't a particular show that led me to the box. It was the promise of the secular holiday season: Christmas commercials!

The fascination started three or four years ago, when I first went down to the Garneau Theatre to watch the best television ads from the Cannes film festival. 90 golden minutes of commercials, back to back.

It was beautiful. It was like a million little movies. They made me laugh. They made me cry. They made me run out and buy the leading brand of mouthwash.

I now see commercials in an entirely different light. I await every Superbowl and every December with baited breath, because I know that those are the peak times for advertising agencies to spend the big bucks.

Today was disappointing. I was hoping to stumble across a side-splitting beer ad, a Christmas-themed, computer-generated Coca-Cola masterpiece, or a heart-warming vignette for life insurance. No luck. All I could find was a decent Ikea ad, and a couple feeble attempts from Canadian Tire.

What has become of the great holiday commercial? In this pro-consumerism pre-Christmas time of year, you'd think we could at least be entertained while herded to the nearest Wal-mart! Is that too much to ask?

On a related note: if you see any good ads on TV, please take note of the channel and let me know.

larissa tries to make a podcast

2007-12-01T11:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I tried to record my first podcast.
(it's more of an mp3 than it is a podcast, but I can pretend.)

I've never really experimented with strictly audio before. It was strange... it felt like doing only one half of a video. There was sound, but no visuals. It was like oreos without milk, peanut butter without jelly, borscht without sour cream.

If you're going to be checking your emails and putzing around on Facebook for the next little while, why dontcha give it a listen?

larissa goes on City TV

2007-11-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the huge stir Common Wealth Credit Union's Young & Free initiative is creating, I had my fifteen- er, make that five- minutes of fame on live provincial television.

The experience itself was an educational one.

I learned that the world actually exists before 8 a.m., even without caffeine.

I learned that wearing a jumper to the studio makes the microphone-fitter's job considerably more difficult.

And I learned that the folks at Breakfast Television are super-welcoming and love what they do.

Thank you, Breakfast Television, for expanding my horizons!

larissa and PDGs (public displays of grooming)

2007-11-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

It was this past week in Vancouver that drew my attention to it.

On the bus, on the sky-train, on the ferry. It seems that public transportation is quickly replacing the bathroom mirror. Apparently, open-air preening is a growing trend.

During my short visit, I was exposed to a wide range of examples, all varying in gravity. There were the basic cases (women applying lipstick or touching up their powder on the bus), but there were also the more extreme ones (man cutting his fingernails on the ferry, woman tweezing her eyebrows on the plane).

My attention was brought to so many PDGs that I had to lay down a personal ground rule. What is it that makes public lipgloss-application acceptable and public nail-trimming offensive?

This is the guideline I came up with:

If it goes on, it goes on without any trouble (with the exception of perfume).
If it comes off, it grosses me out.

Case in point: applying hand lotion, mascara, or even deodorant won’t put me off (being heavy-handed with cologne in a small, poorly-ventilated bus will).

Anything that comes off of the groomer’s body- whether it’s facial hair, fingernail dirt, or toenail clippings- is unwelcome.

So dear stranger, next time you are sitting beside me on the plane, do not ask me for tweezers. Do not ask me for a nail file. Just keep the guideline in mind, and save yourself the breath.

larissa takes up running.

2007-11-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

This fall, I decided to take up running.

I wanted to become a part of that everlasting building block of fitness and health. The world was my racetrack, and I was ready for it.

From the first (winded and aching) day, I was a fan. It was fantastic exercise… so simple in concept and yet so challenging bodily.

I also liked the privacy. Not being the most athletic of girls my age, I’ve shied away from the gym long ago. One look at the fabutanned, spandex-laminated masses of rippling muscle on either side of my treadmill, and I was outta there.

Going for a jog in the neighbourhood was refreshingly different. Not the slightest probability of embarrassment.

Or so I thought.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary to pass others on the trail in the morning. Fellow joggers, couples out for a morning walk… This particular morning, I was about to cross paths with an older man walking his two beautiful golden retrievers.

I said good morning, and stopped to pet the friendly canines.

I should probably mention that this morning was particularly frosty. Crisp air, clear sky.

But it still took me completely by surprise when, bending over to give one of the dogs a pat, a stream of snot dripped from my nose right on the dog’s forehead.

“Oops,” I said. An awkward silence ensued. It was obvious what had happened. The clear gob was shining in the sunlight. I brushed at it feebly with my mitten.

We parted ways in total silence.

The next day, the same party of three was on the trail. Before we could cross paths, the older man cut into the field, clearly avoiding another encounter.

It hurt.

I’ve since taken an intermission from running (I’m currently on the living-room pilates program). I suppose I’ll get back into it once I can properly disguise my identity with toques and scarves. But one thing is for sure: my pockets will be STUFFED with Kleenex.

larissa has a lightbulb moment.

2007-11-28T10:24:00.000-08:00

So the other day, I realized that aside from my two cents on smoking breaks, all of you Young & Free-ers haven't had any access to my writing style.

Let's change that right now.

I am using this space to post a collage of ideas, experiences, and opinions. The posts aren't cohesive enough to make the Young & Free mainpage, but they do provide an accurate representation of how I write.

So please, make yourself at home.
Happy reading!