So not bloggable

I had an interesting life once. It was full of fun activities, boys and random stories. It was lovely, and it gave me something to blog about.

That life is no more. At least right now. I am hopeful my life will become interesting again soon enough.

Where did that life go? I wonder that all the time.

Well, I think I have an answer - it went to work.

Work has become very consuming as of late. I work evenings, weekends, I have been coming in early and staying late. Work has become my life.

And I am not naturally disposed to being a hardworker. In fact, I am unabashedly lazy. It takes a lot of energy for me to work this hard.

Gah.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel though, and that light looks like Las Vegas. Lis, Chunk, Autumn and I are hitting up Vegas this weekend for someone's 30th - I won't name names.

So yes, I will get a break soon. I will get to dress a little slutty, probably make some poor life choices and have a tiny bit of regret when I get back, but fuck it. I am going to Vegas!

And maybe then, there will be something blog-worthy to talk about. Or maybe, they will be too scandalous to share.

I am ok with either.

*swoon*

So, let's go from serious stuff to the shallowest of the shallow - my top five list.

Top five what you may ask. Well, this list is my of top five men. You know, the ones that make you swoon, all teenager-like. The ones that would get you to ditch your girlfriends for an evening. You know.

These are in no particular order, and only one is a recent addition. The other four have been consistently listed for years.

I'm a loyal chick, what can I say?

George Clooney
He is old school Hollywood - without the sleazy Holllywood thing. He has only gotten better over the years. That smile?! OMFG. I am not sure when he was at his hottest. I noticed him on ER, but I think I fell for him in Out of Sight.

Also, he seems like a pretty cool dude - he seems to stay out of the whole crazy life and just keeps his shit on the down-low. He is hella smart, and personally, I believe him to be an all around great guy.

We would have great conversations and laugh and play jokes and ... ah. Life would be so lovely, with George and I.



Justin Timberlake
I am not afraid to admit this, I liked N'Sync. Whatever! I am a girl, it was a group of boys singing danceable music and one of them was the cutest dude alive.

That dude was Justin.

And he has since grown into one of the most swoonable dudes alive. He is fucking funny, just Google his SNL stuff. He is uber-stylish, has a smokin' bod. He can dance in high-heels!

I once had a dream that Justin and I were dating. It was great. He is great. A beautiful man with a beautiful soul. swoon.


David Letterman
I admit, this one is a little unconventional. He isn't exactly leading-man good looking or young or anything like that.

But fuck is he funny. He is sharp and witty and self-depricating and everything I appreciate in a sense of humour. And all of this, I believe makes him smart as hell, and what is hotter than a smart, funny dude?

Nothing. That is why, even married and well into his sixites, David Letterman is still on my top five. And why I will never be able to be a Leno fan.

Chuck Bass
OMFGG. I love love love Chuck Bass. I am in my late-twenties now and this may be super lame, but Chuck Bass gives me butterflies.

There is something about his ridiculous clothes and cocky swagger - something about how they hide a vulnerable soul.

Oh Chuck Bass.

I don't really know anything about Ed Westwick, and I don't really think it's about him.

This is definitely about Chuck Bass.


Ben Affleck
I love Ben. I have since Good Will Hunting. I loved him during the Bennifer years and I just can't take him off this list.

He is way better looking than Matt Damon, he seems funnier and more socially aware. He is politically active, but not a leotard about it.

Since the media blitz of Bennifer, he has become much more low-key. And he just seems like a pretty down-to-earth dude.

Although I have a hunch that he is a Patriots fan, so that might cause an issue or two million.

Not MY Alberta Blog

Let me apologize now, this whole thing has me irked, and well, this may go all tangenty once and a while. Also, this is going to be long. I have been holding this in for a few days.

I am an Albertan. I know I live in BC now, but I am definitely an Albertan. Edmonton is my home. I grew up in Slave Lake. I spent Easters in Kananaskis and May Long Weekends in Jasper. Alberta is my home and I love it.

A lot.

Recently, my lovely home province suffered a bit of a PR ... snafu. Alberta launched a new branding campaign: Alberta - Freedom To Create. Spirit To Achieve.

The campaign was developed by the Government of Alberta and Calder Bateman. (A communications agency in Edmonton)

Sure, whatever. Really, I don't remember our last slogan, and this one doesn't stick out more than that. And I know I am not the only one that sees 'Slberta'. It is the same problem that existed with the previous brand - you couldn't tell it was an 'A'.

I was totally ready to ignore the whole thing all together. I really didn't care that much.

Until I found out it was a $25 million campaign.

Yup, you read that right. $25 million campaign.

Sure it's over three years. No big deal. Especially when for the first time in 15 years, the province will be running a deficit.

No big deal. NOT!

At this point I got pretty annoyed. $25 million for a branding campaign and three-year rollout?

Then came the kicker, the campaign features images that aren't of Alberta!

Listen, I know the Province of Alberta. I know how beautiful and majestic it. I know how many amazing pictures could be provided courtesy of Alberta's background.

These are things I know.

But apparently, the Alberta Government and Calder Bateman don't know.

Because they used an image from England's North Umberland region.

Seriously?

And this story gets so much worse.

So, the Premier goes ahead and spins the slip as best he could. "It's more broad than Alberta ... because we do care, not only about Alberta environment but the world."

What?

Through all of my irritation, I had been following this screw-up through blogs and online news.

And finally, I decided to take my concerns to the "Your Alberta Blog".

While my exact words escape me now, the comment I tried to leave mentioned how these were stock photos used, and stock photos always have location information on them and that Calder Bateman should be apologizing as well.

So, I posted my comment, interested to see if there was going to be any follow-up comments, you know, the usual bloggy geeky stuff.

I check my email and there is one from David Sands, with the Public Affairs Bureau of the Government of Alberta.

This is what it read:

Hi Irisdias;
You concern over the use of stock photos is fair comment
and I'd like to post it. However as the blog moderator I am uncomfortable with
your singling out Calder Bateman as blameworthy for something that the PAB
did.
If you would repost your comment without that (undeserved) aspect, I
will approve it. Thank you for considering this.

David Sands
Moderator - YourAlbertaBlog

Wha? I have never posted a comment on a blog that has been rejected. I am not that person.

So, I emailed back:

Mr Sands,

I am a little unclear as to why the PAB believes that blame being place on
Calder Bateman is undeserved - are they not the group that developed this $25
million campaign?

As the government put this contract out to tender, and the tax payers of Alberta paid for the $25 million price tag, I expect some accountability on the side of the contractor, as I am sure many more Albertans do. It seems absurd that the PAB is shouldering all the blame, when blame should be distributed to deserving parties, including Calder Bateman.

In my head, it made sense.

Sorry Iris, to be clear, the buck stops here, period. We will not use
our own forum to publish the suggestion that someone else is responsible for our
error.

Again, you raise a point regarding stock photos that is
worthy and fair public discussion, and I'd rather not "lose" the chance to
put that up because you and I don't agree on the fairness or
appropriateness of your ancillary point.

I'll watch the blog site to see if you can reconcile my concern with your
point of view and promptly post your comment if so.
-
ds

Ok, so now I am really annoyed and now we are here. To this blog post. About
freaking time hey?

WARNING: RANT AHEAD

Calder Bateman should shoulder some of the blame. They should apologize - and please, do so in a Google-able way. They are an Albertan company - they should just know better.

How many other shots in this campaign aren't from Alberta? Does anyone know? Didn't they think they could capture as impressive of a shot within the Alberta borders? Or by not using stock photos? The North Umberland shot was almost definitely NOT done by some Albertan dude, who got flewn over to the UK to get the shot.

Could the partnership of the Government of Alberta and Calder Bateman not come up with something more ... I don't know, authentic? Something that highlights Alberta, Albertans and Alberta talent.

Ugh.

I would welcome a list of the photographers and locations used in every shot of this brand.

I generally get over this shit really quickly, rant for a second, next day it's gone. But this has been a few days now and well, here I am. Blogging about it.

I had to though. PAB didn't want to share my comments in their entirety.

Oh thank God

I went to Bloc Party tonight at the Commodore. I was really nervous for this show - not because of the social anxiety stuff, but because the last time I saw BP, they rocked my world.

I wasn't sure if it was them, or the location (a former pool in Brooklyn) or my whole 'New York' haze.

And well, I was nervous that seeing them again would tarnish my memory of their shows. Tarnish, what up until this point, has been the best concert experience of my life.

Thankfully, tonight's show didn't ruin my memory. In fact, it reinforced it. It wasn't just the location - they really are that good.

In fact, they fucking rocked.

High energy, good mix of old and new, with a good chunk of the old coming at the very end of the show, to act as the best exclamation point on the show.

So fucking good!

There you have it, not everything in life will disappoint you.

Whoa

Two posts in a row.

Damn!

So, why the second post? Well ... I had a great weekend. Like a lot of fun.

Here is the breakdown of it:

Friday, I went over to Priscilla's for a little dinner and some company. Miss Priscilla has become a really solid friend, and has moved beyond just being my only friend in Vancouver, but to being one of my favorite friends. Period.

Saturday was great too. I have talked about my friend Josh - he is my rockstar friend. Well he was playing at the Biltmore. So I dragged Priscilla to an early (it started at 8pm) show.

First of all. I don't think I have ever been on the guestlist before. But he got me on the freaking guestlist! Who's a big deal? Yup, it's me.

Christer (the band Josh is playing with) is leaving for Australia really soon. So they played. Again, it is so interesting to see your friend up there playing music. I hate to be nice, but he is a pretty talented dude.

Anyways, after he played, we found this random Mexican place for some tacos and beer. It was great! The food was good, the place was interesting. It was like we stepped out of Vancouver for a minute and into Mexico.

Post burritos, we headed back to the Biltmore for some dancing. And dance we did.

Also, I was super popular. I saw a dude from the climbing gym, who came by to say hi. And then my new cubie randomly showed up. Random. I also knew another girl there, but didn't say hi - I think I have talked about the whole, don't say hi to people thing.

Anyhoo, we drank, we danced, and then we went to Josh's friend's place afterwards.

It was just a lot of fun. Like a lot. And totally not expected.

Also, I like that I am finding my groove. It is likely only fleeting, but there is groove. I have friends. I have people that like me enough to cook me dinner and put me on a guestlist.

That is pretty fucking cool.