What I've been doing other than SSBB

[petronia]

Taking a break
Originally uploaded by petronia.

July is in full swing, aka the month of the year where it becomes plainly impossible for my diarying to keep up with my schedule, so expect low LJ activity for the next 2-3 weeks. XD

More photos behind cut, all of crappy cell phone quality. Proper camera has been commandeered. ^^;

Took a long lunch break on Wednesday and went to the Floralies (it's about a block away from my office, both sides of the canal alongside the old grain silo). One gorgeous backyard-sized conceptual design after another, sort of sweet torture for people with cocooning lust. Favorites are the "outdoor living room" and "outdoor office" type designs, like that wireless laptop user pod-garden (though the aluminum must get hot under the sun), and the water-recycling garden with the cactus pots and whimsical sculptures and aromatic lavender baking in the sun.

May have to go again, in late August maybe, so I can take proper pictures, though I'll upload the current batch to Flickr once I scrounge up a Bluetooth connection (I've been emailing myself the best ones).

Blue Stick" installation by Claude Cormier (the person who did the Lipstick Forest in the Palais des Congrès, which I've just learnt reproduces tree trunks on du Parc, only uhm in lipstick colours), currently installed at the Floralies. Himalayan poppy blue with accents of Flanders poppy orange. *loves*





Caught Niyaz's free hour-long outdoors set at the Jazz Fest later that evening, with Erin. It transpired every single Iranian coworker of mine was in the audience not to mention boss person. XD;;



Also was in the crowd for the Paul Simon tribute concert on Tuesday - cunningly stayed in the mall until 9PM or so when the rainclouds cleared off, though I was soaked pretty thoroughly before that just dashing from office to metro. ^^; (When I was younger sunny summer days would finish off with a 6PM thunderstorm. Thanks to global warming, for the past 4-5 years we've been getting hot summers that are either dry or damp, not thunderstorm-y. This year hasn't been particularly hot but seems determined to make up for it on the thunderstorm front.)

Mostly the concert gave me an itch to hear the originals; not to sound like a purist but covering Simon and Garfunkel with full brass band plus backup choir plus steel drum troupe plus ELECTRIC GUITAR WAILING... yeah. ^^;; I did like Elvis Costello's rendition of "Peace Like a River", and Michel Rivard and Ariane Moffatt playing "The Boxer" straight-up w/ melodica. The audience seemed generally positive but stunned at the volume level (or from being rained on); clearly most of them were there because it was shiny and free and hey everyone likes Paul Simon songs, and didn't even recognize half the performers (how could anyone not have heard of Jamie Collum though XD;;).

At the start of the concert they played a recording of Leonard Cohen reading "The Sound of Silence". It turns out that if you play Leonard Cohen's voice very loudly over outdoors speakers, he sounds remarkably like the God of the Old Testament.

(And YHWH said:

FOOLS SAID I
YOU DO NOT KNOW
SILENCE LIKE A CANCER GROWS
HEAR MY WORDS THAT I MIGHT TEACH YOU
TAKE MY ARMS THAT I MIGHT REACH YOU
BUT MY WORDS LIKE SILENT RAINDROPS FELL
AND ECHOED
IN THE WELLS
OF SILENCE

...It was kind of alarming.)

***

Then on Thursday, Fantasia started. XD

Tonight: two more Fantasia movies, then The Juan Maclean / MSTRKRFT concert starting midnight.

EXPECTED: MOSH PIT FRENZY
NOT EXPECTED: SLEEP

I wimped out on John Tejada @ SAT last night because I can't go 48 hours and fool myself that I'm enjoying it anymore. Getting old. ^^;

EDIT -- Please note will be taking this down on Monday to make way for something else.