sing me the alphabet

Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together ...

2007-12-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

The tall, skinny guy kicked off our Christmas-themed weekend with the purchase of Home Alone (beloved) and that Christmas Vacation movie (despised) as well as some holiday cds on Friday night. The tall, skinny guy kinda reminds me of Kevin from Home Alone ... the way he talks to himself all the time and tries to shave like a grown-up. And the whole 'shop-lifting the toothbrush thing,' I've seen the tall, skinny guy do that at least a dozen times. He's terrified of bearded men with shovels.

First on the task list for Saturday was the purchase of a tree for decorating. Things were going good - we found a nearby place with decent prices - until the tall, skinny guy landed his heart on a grossly overweight tree. I tried to talk him out of it but there was was no reasoning with him and now we're stuck with a Christmas beast I'm referring to as 'the big fatty.' It's more wide than it is tall and takes up about half of my living room but the tall, skinny guy is happy so I guess that's all that counts.

Saturday night we hit up a friend's holiday party and proceeded to sing Christmas carols into the night. This party was hosted and visited by musical theatre nerds (myself included) so there were many renditions of 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" to be heard, all of which were belted at full volume and accompanied by jazzy hands. It's always strange when a group of people enter into a hour long session of praise and worship entirely unknowingly (although trust musical theatre kids to make even 'Silent Night' absolutely ridiculous). Needless to say, we had an absolutely lovely time. Sunday was reserved for shopping, church, and congratulations to my British friend for finally getting a job over drinks at Clinton's. All in all, a delightful weekend.

I see a red door (and I want it ... )

2007-05-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

I must apologize for my absence. I have neglected my blog for quite some time but I have good reasons ...

1. The Walmer Centre Theatre Work Weekends ... were amazing but TONS of work. Check out the sweet poster the tall, skinny boy made and a few pictures of the final product.

2. The Walmer Centre Theatre Open House ... stole my life from me but was worth every second. Arts, artists, and the community coming together to commission the theatre. 'Twas a beautiful thing.

3. DreamNorth Theatre Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream ... is underway and I'm loving every minute. Yet, again, the tall, skinny boy made us a poster.

Let's move from the larger picture to the smaller one. So, this weekend. Firstly, we picked out new clothes for the tall, skinny guy and, I've got to say, a cute boy in good clothes becomes A TOTALLY DROP DEAD GORGEOUS boy. I hate to admit my own shallowness, but, seriously. I was going to publish some pics of the stuff we bought but the H&M website let me build my own model (measurements and all) so I made this one with all of the tall, skinny guy's stats and some of his new clothes:

Virtual tall, skinny guy sure is a dead ringer for the real one, eh? ;) 100% Hottie! Side note: the real tall, skinny guy built me a patio when I was out of town last weekend, complete with flowers and a bbq and baby trees and everything. Pictures to follow. As my lovely friend Jen the existential clown said yesterday at rehearsal, "he's a keeper!"

The weekend was also ripe with theatre, theatre, and more theatre. We saw The Pessimist at Tarragon, Necessary Angel's The Eco Show, and the bloodbath/sexual innuendo gore fest Evil Dead: The Musical. Most importantly, though, after the Eco Show I bought Lisa the Knitter's assbike! I am going to miss her terribly but her ass bike will keep me good company in her absence, I am sure. I'm pretty sure that /dr. is going to try to nab it when he returns from India because he has prior claim but, really, I deserve it more. Seriously, I mean, what's he been doing with himself lately? Feeding the poor on the streets of Calcutta? Some of us are far busier shopping with our boyfriends and planting roots of empathy. Priorities, people. Also, it's a girl's bike. Seriously!!!

Peaceout.

P.S. /dr. and team, you are missed!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

2007-03-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so, this is a little hoaky (is hoaky a word?) becuase I get totally different celebrities depending on which photo I submit but I like this one the best because it lands me near to Vivien Leigh - HOW COOL IS THAT!?! And, is it just me, or is the Freddy Prince Jr. resemblance stunning or what? Twins seperated at birth perhaps? I think so! Check it out:

The website is www.myheritage.com in case you're interested. I have no idea why it's cut off like that but whatever ... you get the point (Claire Daines is the only one you can't see). I've been really busy lately (hence no posting) but I promise to write something of value on this blog of mine in the near future. Somethat that has nothing to do with celebrities or my face. Promise*

Penny Lane; There is a barber 'showing' photographs ...

2007-03-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

A few pictures I took on our weekend adventures. The tall, skinny guy's shots are about 1,000 times better but I'm still learning so it's okay.

He's probably not going to dig the fact that I posted this last one but, now that he's focusing on being a male model full-time, he better get used to the exposure.

Peace.

Long and winding road ...

2007-03-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

My dad sent me an e-mail today with this picture attached. The picture was entitled "kate is young" and the e-mail was blank.

This photo finds me in Grade 4 at the height of my tomboy phase (I choose to sport that florescent yellow chip & pepper t-shirt - chip and pepper before they were high end cool like they are now - and the 'matching' new kids on the block purple sweat pants every day for about two years). These were the days when my nose showed promise of a certain 'button-like' quality; a promise my nose failed to keep, I might add.

Naturally, I wrote him back with the following photo and the caption "dad is old."

COMING SOON (aka TOMORROW ... I Think): Tim teaches Kate how to take photographs ... and you get to see the results! Aren't you lucky?!!

Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman

2007-02-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at my desk a few moments ago rolling around with the question of what I should write in my next blog post. It wasn't as easy as usual. My problem being that I don't have any particularly interesting stories of late - I haven't met any famous people or spilled anything gross on myself this week (this is due largely to the fact that I've spent every second of my spare time at the 2007 Festival of Original Theatre which was brilliant but hardly the stuff of a good blog post). And it has come to my attention the masses aren't all that interested in the future of Canadian arts and culture abroad (note the lack of comments) so anything of a political nature is out. "What to write?" I asked myself with an unusual degree of seriousness, "What to share?" And then, just then, the answer walked right through my door.

Moments ago, a very attractive tall man with an over the shoulder bag and a beautiful army green sweater asked if he could come into my office. When I said yes, he approached me with a perfect mix of timidity and dreamy-ness and handed me a simple postcard. Before I had a chance to figure out exactly what this was all about, he wished me a 'good day' and then he was gone. Vanished, really.

The Postcard
"Altered Bas Jan Ader" by Corwyn Lund, 2007

On the back, was written a note from my friend Katrina about some art exhibit she'd seen at Harbourfront, telling me to ask her all about it. When she returned from across the street, I did ... and this is what I discovered.

That Bike is Pimped! by Victoria Lund

"In order to more accurately reflect the values of German youth, MTV Germany altered the hit TV show Pimp My Car to Pimp My Bike. Toronto's own Corwyn Lund has pimped a bike so hard, he's gonna head up bike pimping operations for MTV World. Well, maybe one day he will. But for now, he is delivering missives and enunciations to the citizens of Toronto with this luminous bike – but only on Mondays.

Artist Corwyn Lund spent 4 months fashioning the scarlet-hued cycle as a sculptural piece for the group show currently mounted at the Harbourfront Centre. The concept for the piece, titled "Prototype For a Stolen Bike," came about after Lund decided to replicate in his own way a painting technique employed by common thieves.

Bikes crudely spray-painted all one colour to prevent them from being recognized by their rightful owners are a classic indication of stolen property. Lund noticed that bikes painted thief-style take on the look of a tidy minimalist sculpture. So he decided to make his own, but make it as refined and beautiful as possible. The bike was tinted red though a chemical process called anodizing which involves dipping the metal parts into a vat of chemicals. The rest of the red parts were gathered bit by bit from cycling suppliers around the world.

The bike is being used to courier postcards with personal hand scribbled greetings to people whose addresses are within the border of St. Clair & Queen's Quay and Roncevalles & Carlaw. The cards – that depict a man casually riding his bike into a Dutch canal – are being dispatched every Monday until they have all been delivered.

If you would like to send a card to someone and have it delivered by Corwyn Lund’s fleeting "prototype for a stolen bike," go by the York Quay Gallery and jot one down. Love letters get delivered first.

Hey MTV, we need a Pimp My Bike Toronto!"

This was overwhelmingly exciting to me for a number of reasons. Number 1: Corwyn Lund, the artist and messenger, is THE Corwyn Lund of the imfamous "Secret Swing." He also designed one of the Parlour of Twilight at the Gladstone. Number 2: I couldn't help but imagine Lisa the Knitter, distracted by some strange physics equation or something, accidentally riding her assbike into a Dutch canal. And the whole German Youth pimp my bike thing totally sealed the deal. Number 3: It kinda felt like magic. I've been feeling a little blah lately so I think magic is just what the doctor ordered. I went to see Pan's Labyrinth last night becuase I needed some fanciful abandon in my life. But this was even better ... the real thing always is.

Arts & Culture Crisis

2007-02-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

Please find below an online petition to restore cultural funding to Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). If you feel inclined, please clink on the link to sign the petition and pass it on - the more signatures the better!

http://www.petitiononline.com/DFAIT07/

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance
The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Honourable Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage

We are writing in response to the announcement of cuts to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) for Public Diplomacy. This funding currently supports the creation, dissemination and promotion of Canadian arts, Canadian cultural initiatives, and business opportunities for Canadian artists internationally. The health and expansion of existing international networks depend on DFAIT funding not only to create opportunities for artists to participate in an expanded, global economy, but also to bring professionals and key decision-makers from abroad to Canada to create and promote cultural exchange and business opportunities here at home.

The $11.9 million cut over two years represents a 100% withdrawal of the Public Diplomacy budget * funds that would normally enable Canadians to participate in international festivals, exhibitions, concert and lecture tours, dance and theatre productions, conferences, and academic exchanges. These cuts to the Public Diplomacy budget will jeopardize Canada's longstanding international reputation as a free and democratic nation with a commitment to supporting Canadian values through its arts.

We believe that fiscal responsibility involves securing our long-term investments into the arts and cultural industries in Canada, and that sustaining Canadian culture abroad is an effective and productive use of our tax dollars. The effects of the Public Diplomacy cuts are aimed at hard-working Canadians who depend on international recognition to succeed in their field. This withdrawal of support to diplomatic funding is particularly disconcerting considering that other governments are continuously increasing their Public Diplomacy funding, such as the United States, which has tripled its efforts in cultural diplomacy since 2001.

We, the undersigned, would like to see the international dissemination of Canadian culture and values maintained as a priority for Canadians. We urge you to reverse your decision to cut these funds to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

My Digital Hipster Family

2007-02-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

Inspired by my lovely friend Sue, I decided some months ago that the best use of my spare time would be to take hipster pictures of the people and plaecs around me. Sue brings her camera with her when she goes on walks and, because she's one of those authentic artsy types (while having a Master's in science no doubt), Sue's flicker account is jam packed with magnificent and beautfiul photos. I don't even have a flicker account! I decided it was time to take some rad photos of my own ... to really tune in to the little details, to drink in the vastness of the city landscapes, to take walks for the sake of taking walks, to get a Flicker account I could name "the magical myster tour" ... time to be a little more like Sue! So I made up my mind to go out and do it.

This turned out to be a great deal more difficult than I had anticipated, however, on account of the fact that I don't have a digital camera. Or any spare time for that matter. Not to mention that I'm a pretty terrible photographer on my best days. Henceforth, I put the project on the shelf with the intension of returning to the cause at Christmas when I would be in the position to use my parent's camera. It turned out that Winnipeg was friggin' cold at Christmas (go figure!) so I was forced to limit my walks to walls of my home. Needless to say, taking pictures all over your house gets a little boring after about 35 minutes but I managed to press the shinny silver button just as many times as I needed to transform my regular family into a Digital Hipster family. Check it out:

Digital Hipster Dad

My real Dad is a ventre capitalist turned retired bohemian poet novelist musician intellectual. He shaves his head and is obsessed with his ipod. Digital Hipster Dad is like regular Dad but he only reads the paper in silouette and demands that the world approach him from behind, over the shoulder.

Digital Hipster Mom

My real Mom is a non-profit goddess turned retired gardening mentor slash public speaker. She reads books and takes lots of long walks around Winnipeg. Digital Hipster Mom is like real Mom but she learks only in the background and insists on standing beside obtrusive structures make of old brick.

Digital Hipster Bro

So, this one's a little more difficult becuase my Brother IS a Digital Hipster of sorts. He snapped this picutre of himself, actually, when he was teaching me how to take pretentious-wanna-be-artsy photos of myself for my myspace. He's a hilarious business and philosophy student slash musican producer husband-to-be. He's in a band and knows everything about wrestling and kevin smith movies.

Digital Hipser Soon-To-Be Sister-In-Law

I love this picture (and, again, it's okay that the picture isn't all that Digital Hipster becuase Ashli IS a super awesome Digital Hipster) becuase it looks like she's up to no good ... like she's just robbed a bank or something. Ashli is a music loving Gimour Girls watching soon to be school teacher slash wife extraordinaire. She likes my brother which is pretty awesome for him.

And last, but not least, the Digital Hipster View Out Of My Front Door

By George, I think she's got. I think she's got it!

Mrs. Timberlake

2007-02-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

Kathleen Lillian Anonymous
and
Justin Timberlake
request the honour of your presence
at their marriage
on Tuesday,
the Thirteth day of January
at Nine o’clock
Air Canada Centre
40 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario

Reception immediately following the ceremony in the VIP Lounge

"I so dearly hope you'll join us. This is the day I've been waiting for all my life and I'd like ever so much to share it with you. Kate has brought my sexy back and, for that, I can't thank her enough. Here's to the rest of our lives, darling! I love you."

I'm FREE!

2007-01-29T07:41:00.000-08:00

Grab Bag

2007-01-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

I have all sorts of things to share so I thought I'd throw together a little grab bag.

A charming boy I know started a blog that you should totally check out if you have a chance. It's full of all sorts of crazy links (I think this boy spends a lot of time on the Internet) that are rocking my world. For example, when my boss heads to a conference in 10 minutes, I have every intention of watching a documentary he posted about the last glass eye maker in Britain. Weird, eh? Weird, but very cool.

The reviews are in. The 'show that shall remain nameless' has been reviewed by three papers (2 campus publications and 1 on-line journal). I will save any qualitative analysis of the show at this point becuase, as I recently learned, if you can't say something nice on the internet don't say anything at all. But, I will tell you what other people thought about my performance. In their article "Lame Lysistrata," the Varsity criticizes the show for having a severely scattered vision and writes of my performance: "In the title role of Lysistrata Kate Hodgert showed good stage presence and enough confidence to justify casting her as the leading lady. What I couldn't stand was her shrill battle cry of 'eieieieieieieieieieieiei!' which she screeched at top volume on multiple occasions. The first time I heard it I thought to myself: 'this is almost worse than listening to a Kevin Federline song.' After hearing it five more times by show's end I was convinced that I'd found The Most Annoying Sound in the World, Ever. It was literally unbearable." Friggin', eh? In a 90 minute show, this screem occupies approximately 65 seconds but I'm pleased to have produced 65 seconds worthy of such attention in the presses. I have to admit that I agree with this analysis of the Zena-like screem and if I had any choice I would cut it but, hey, an actor's gotta do what an actor's gotta do! Last night I did the screem extra loud and extra long - BAM!!!

The Medium writes in their article "The Tyrannical Ws: Women and War," "Although overtly suggestive, the play portrays the power of sex, not sensuality. The difference is very important to the message it sends - "peace or no piece." Lysistrata (Kate Hodgen), first bursts upon stage dancing tribally and bounding through the air. A display of her might, Hodgen was very controlling, and convincing as the title character." Someone should definitely pass along the compliment to Kate Hodgen ... whoever she is!?!

Lastly, "Scene Changes" writes "The play was set in the future we were told, but the costuming had traces of retro toga, Roman and Greek, the men wore commedi del'arte nasal appendages which made them look like a cross between Pantalone and Pinocchio, and the women in the cast outside of the wiry hellion Lysistrata (Kate Hodgert) were often vampish and downright coy with their husbands and lovers who waited outside the gates panting in pre-coital anticipation. Sex in the City of the Sacred Rock." I have no idea if this is supposed to be positive or negative. I'm just not sure.

In other news, the website for the 2007 Festival of Original Theatre: Dissolving Borders is officially launched! It's beautiful and I love it. There are still some changes and updates that need to be made but I'm very proud of it (and proud of the charming boy for making it for me) and I want to share it with the world.

My Dad is coming to visit this weekend. Horaah!

Blog Busted ...

2007-01-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

You may be asking why all my 'hilarious' posts about the show I wrote have mysteriously disappeared? Well, friends, it seems I've been Blog Busted! Yes, that's right, Blog Busted.

Let me explain ...

The producer of the 'show that shall remain nameless from now on and forever more' googled the play's title in conjuction with the 'name of the theatre not to be listed in any way, shape, or form in this post' and landed on my blog. I know it wasn't the first hit but I do know that it appeared rather high on the list. The producer is a VERY nice guy and, instead of strangling me for being rediculously unprofessional and unbelievably unkind as he should have done, he dropped me a politely worded e-mail requesting that I "tone down the negative tone in my writing until after the show is over." My first response was "How is this possible? The world wide web is supposed to be HUGE. It is WORLD WIDE, after all, isn't it? And this show was written in 400 BC so there must be thousands of productions floating in the virtual abyss, right? Right?!?!?! Damn google." Secondly, I was mortified. I wrote him back immediately to let him know that I erased all the posts and to extend a heartfelt appology. I wasn't so much embarassed that I was 'caught in the act' of dissing my show (although this certainly isn't the classiest thing I have done). It was more a question of being embarassed that I, a Christian, used a public forum like the internet to slander other people in an effort to make myself look better ... to save face ... without even really recognizing that it was wrong. I adopted a posture of all-out-attack and went for the kill - infront of everyone! Yikes. Dissapointing. Well, all I can do it try to make it right.

I humbly appologize to everyone involved in the 'show that shall remain nameless from now on and forever more.'

I believe this whole incident is rather timely as, after a good chunck of positive feedback on my blog, I had just spent the weekend praising myself for being hilarious and popular ... captain pride, pride-o-rama, pride-er-if ic was I. I'm pretty sure the Big Guy was putting me in my place. Mission accomplished. It's funny 'cause apparently a few of my blog friends, like LtK, Jamie, and /dr., were all planning on telling me to scale down the proper names and places ... well, my darling friends, TOO LITTLE TOO LATE! :) Anyway, rest assured, I'm on it and won't make the same mistake again.

Signed,
Anonymous

Good News

2007-01-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

I am happy to formally announce that my friend Brad and I have been appointed the new coordinators of the Walmer Centre Theatre. More than just coordinators, Brad and I will be joining forces to create something of an artistic vision for this humble little theatre space. And, if everything goes according to plan, we'll be making beautiful art for the glory of God in no time!

Walmer describes their theatre as "an intimate performing arts space set aside for the intersection of faith, imagination, and culture."

Exciting stuff, eh? I must say, it's awfully nice to have a light at the end of the tunnel these days.

The Walmer Centre ...

Click here for a silly picture of me as Lysistrata in the Varsity's preview of the show.

Ready, Set, GO!

2006-12-24T13:01:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog. I decided to get a blog because I am in need of new ways of passing the time. I've got this boring desk job at the oh-so-empathetic non-profit Roots of Empathy slowing me down AND I'm getting a new laptop tomorrow morning from Santa (or so I hope) - so, yeah, it seems all the stars have aligned or whatever. I'm concerned that, given I don't like knitting and am certainly not a fan of cats, I won't have anything to write about but I'm going to give it my best shot anyhow. Here goes, I guess!

*Note: I originally wrote this on Christmas Eve but was too scared to post right away. That's right, too scared.

So, it's Christmas Eve in 'peg city. My brother and I just returned from our traditional Christmas Eve lunch at the Salsbury House (a Winnipeg dinning institution) and are about to hunker-down (is 'hunker' actually a word?) for our yearly screening of "Santa Clause is Coming to Town." We're fairly certain that this video is the best (read stupidest) Christmas flick on the market and so we make a point of watching it on VHS every year.

The bad guy, a plump chap named "Burger Meister" who speaks with an offensively German accent, outlaws all toys in Sombertown leaving the task of bring joy to the lives of all the children to a wooden puppet version of Micky Roonie (sans Judy, unfortunitely) who was abandoned at birth and left to the raising of a bunch of elves. With the help of the Winter Warlock, his animal friends, and the sexy (can a peice of wood be sexy?) Miss Jessica - who has a very unusual technicolour coming out song and dance number toward the end of the adventure that always makes us a little uncomfortable - Micky manages to find a way to deliver Kringle toys far and wide by way of ingeneous chimney/stocking manouvers and wins over the Mesiter himself with a delightful red yoyo (if all cruel authority figure).

*Note: Did I just ask if a peice of wood can be sexy? I firmly promise not to use vulgarity on my blog just to win readship. Please ignore my cleaver use of the word 'firm' in the last sentence.

So, yeah, thanks for spending time with me and my new blog. And, um, if you're feeling unfufilled ...

CATS! WOOO. KNITTING! WOOO. CATS AND KNITTING! WOOO.

I feel so empty.