delicate

Here's a fun story for you- last year I had tickets to see Damien Rice in concert which cost me $100. Although they were pretty pricey, it had been my dream for so long to see him live. Anyways, I bought the tickets about 4 months in advance without realizing that my first university class landed on this same night. Being the nerd that I was, I decided that I could not miss economics (which I later dropped anyways), so I decided that I would just go to the concert afterwards (and only miss the opening acts). However, by the time I got to the venue, he was on his last song.
Although I was completely heartbroken and cried for the rest of the night, I have no stopped loving this artist. I don't even know what to say about him- he is so unbelievably talented and amazing at what he does. All of his albums are winners, so I can't choose a favourite song (but if I had to it would probably be Delicate) haha!

Just trust me. If you've liked anything that I've posted so far, you will love this man. http://www.myspace.com/damienrice

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this is montreal

be be your love

I am officially obsessed with Super Mario Galaxy for the wii. My brother got me hooked on it a while ago. How it works is that for every level that you beat you get a gold star, and when you have enough stars you can rescue princess peach. There are 120 stars in the game, but you don't need all of them to win, so even though I already beat the game I have decided to go back and collect all 120 stars! I am ridiculously lame, I know. But it's so much fun!!!

This is what I have been doing instead of studying for my midterm on Monday. I am so easily distracted it's unbelievable. Anyways, there's this artist called Rachael Yamagata who is really great. If you haven't heard her yet, definitely listen. She just came out with a new album Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart, but my favourite song Be Be Your Love is from her older album Happenstance. Hopefully you like it! http://www.myspace.com/rachaelyamagata

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this is montreal

ottoman

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist comes out next Tuesday on DVD and I am really excited. I loved everything about this movie...if you haven't seen it yet, definitely watch it. Not only is Michael Cera in it (oh mamaaa) but the soundtrack is amazing. Although I recommend that you check out the entire soundtrack, my favourite song is Ottoman by Vampire Weekend. This band is really different and really good. So give it a listen if you're bored, and also check out these songs from the soundtrack which are equally as good: After Hours by We Are Scientists and Lover by Devendra Banhart. That's all!

http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend
http://www.myspace.com/wearescientists
http://hypem.com/track/648953/Devandra+Banhart-Lover

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this is montreal

honey and the moon

I have a lot of homework to catch up on today, so I will make this quick. If any of you used to watch The O.C on television or if you own the dvds, then you must know about an artist called Joseph Arthur. Several of his songs played on that show which is where I first heard him. Since then I have become a huge fan of his music (A Smile That Explodes, You're So True, When I Was Running Out of Time, Lonely Astronaut, ETC). In my opinion though, his best song (which played on the O.C) is called Honey and the Moon. I hope that you'll give it a listen! Oh and I've started adding the links to these songs so that people can actually listen to them without having to look for them themselves. Hopefully it helps!
http://aimini.net/view/?fid=7V4xQYGrOp1mWijnmVoc

S
this is montreal

tricky nicky

Mondays are crap. I have class from 10am-12pm and then 6pm-8pm, which means that I have 6 hours in between classes to kill. I bet that you're wondering what I do for that extended period of time. Well...if I were a regular 19 year old girl, I would probably grab some lunch with friends, and then take the subway to the mall to shop all afternoon. However, because I brilliantly decided to take architecture, I have to spend all of my free time doing homework. That's right...I give myself about 10 minutes to buy some lunch and eat it on my way to the student centre, where I get some coffee and start my work until 5:45pm. You can guess why I decided to come home early today.

On the train I was thinking of a few songs that I wanted to recommend. However, when I turned on my computer I had two new comments on this page. Not only did this make me extremely excited, but the person who wrote both of them (who shall remain infamously anonymous) was cool enough to recommend me a song. Just to let this person know how much I liked it, I am going to pass it on to all of you. It's called Tricky Nicky by Mike Pinto and it's quite nice (see comment- haha). But in all seriousness, he's got this great acoustic/reggae/ska thing going on which sort of reminds me of Bedouin Soundclash or Sublime or something. It's something new to listen to, which I always enjoy. Let me know what you think- http://www.myspace.com/littledistrict.

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this is montreal

everything's right

I can't believe that I haven't been on here since wednesday.. whoooops. I've been super duper busy with school work, my job, and watching my brother build his own computer (sooo cool). Anyway, it's saturday today, which means that everyone is enjoying the weekend! Tomorrow I am going to the Winter Antique Fair to look for some cool jewelry and some little knick knacks for my room. Also, I am going to go to Telus and price out how much a blackberry would cost me....wooohoo!

I had some trouble today thinking of what song to recommend. I received a nice comment on my last post, which made me really excited but kind of pressured to make the next song a good one! I never expected anyone to read this blog, and now that some people are I want to make sure to pick the absolute best music. That being said, I thought that I'd go back a few years to an artist called Matt Wertz. When I first started listening to him in high school, he had released a few albums but didn't seem to be all that known. Now he's on tour though and just released a new album called Under Summer Sun (which is pretty much a compilation of his older tunes, with a few new ones). Anyway, if you go to his website www.mattwertz.com you can hear my favourite song, Everything's Right. The version has changed a bit from his first CD, but it's still catchy! Enjoy :)

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this is montreal

that beep

I mentionned a while ago that I work at a restaurant, so I figured that I should elaborate on that a bit. I've worked there for about 3 years now, and I absolutely love it. It's a family owned place, which is fun since it's such a small staff. Plus, because I have been there for so long, they are really flexible with my schedule and know that school is my number one priority. That being said, it's going to be really hard to quit at the end of the school year. The only reason that I am doing this is because I would love to get some experience in an architecture firm this summer. Here is my plan for finding this type of new job:

Update Resume

- The last time that I handed out a resume was in high school when I applied to the restaurant, so I think that my resume needs to be updated a little.

Start Early

- Because summer job positions usually get filled months in advance, I think that it's important to get out to the businesses and make myself known early in the season to better my chances.

Narrow my Search

- It's a little difficult choosing which places to apply to, since there are so many architecture firms in Oakville and Toronto that specialize in different areas of the field..because of this, i need to figure out which place would be the best fit for me.

Be Flexible and Hope for the Best

- I understand that I am just a student and might end up with a crappy job, but what's going to be exciting is working in an architectural atmosphere and seeing how everything is done! so let's hope for the best.

Wow...what a novel. Anyway, speaking of architecture, there's this band called Architecture in Helsinki that sing a song called That Beep. I don't know too much about this band, but this song is really wierd (in a good way) and really catchy. You can hear it here: http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/artists/index.php?id=320 let me know what you think.

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this is montreal

come pick me up

I had the day off of school today, so I took a little trip to the music store to browse for some new tunes. I ended up buying the new Ryan Adams album, Cardinology. This guy is seriously talented. Not only has he released around 11 solo albums, but he has also made several albums with his band The Cardinals, and just came out with his own book! He is definitely one of those artists that can render a million different emotions in his audience. Some songs are heartbreakingly sad (such as The Shadowlands) while others make you feel extremely happy (To Be Young). My favourite song, however, remains Come Pick Me Up. Give it a listen, and while you're at it, find as many songs of his as you can. You will NOT be disappointed.

Anyway, I'm off again- I promise that next time I will talk about something more than just music. Perhaps I'll tell you all about my plan of attack for finding a summer job...

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this is montreal

hard to live (in the city)

it was soooo cold out today. i had a class from 6pm-8pm so i took the train downtown. Although night classes usually stink because they bring me home so late, there is something really magical about pulling up to the city and seeing the skyline of bright shiny lights in all of the buildings. It makes me excited! The song that I was listening to when this happened was Hard to Live (in the City) by Albert Hammond Jr. This guy is from the band The Strokes and recently started doing his own thing. For me, he was one of those artists that I fell in love with after hearing one song, but then had a hard time getting into the rest of the album. He has really grown on me though, and is definitely at the top of my list. Give this song a listen- it will put you in a good mood :)

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this is montreal

put your hands on me, my love

This is just going to be a quick note. I'm still reading- can you believe it? Not too much has happened since I last wrote here- my cellphone broke and now I'm super excited to get a new one! I'm thinking of getting a blackberry...but I need to price it out and see how much it will cost me!

Anyway, there's an artist called Owen from Chicago that I started listening to about 4 or 5 years ago in high school and he's since released some pretty amazing albums. Last spring, I took a little road trip with a friend to London, Ontario to watch him play in a bar and we got to meet him! There were only about 12 teenagers in the crowd, most of which were drunk and ruining his sweet sound with their loud voices. But he is so good- my favourite song is called Put Your Hands On Me, My Love. Listen to him, and listen to his lyrics. They are so real and simple that you'll want to listen to all of his albums. If you get the urge, you can hear a few of his songs on this website: http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/artists/index.php?id=284

That's all.

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this is montreal

masters in china

I have not made any progress with my reading the past couple of days. It takes so much time to read and make notes at the same time...plus I realized that my midterms start February 2nd instead of in March, so I really need to finish this reading soon. Get me off of this blog!

I went into work tonight for the first time since December. They installed a beer tap behind the bar,and as I was back there putting some glasses away I slipped and TOTALLY wiped out. I scratched up my arm and hurt my leg! Of course, I tried to act all cool and okay, but I was so embarassed. Especially since all of the customers were like "WOW- did you see that? is she okay?" Terrible night.

Anyway, I came across a new artist last night: Priscilla Ahn. She is from Los Angeles and absolutely amazing. Listen to her entire cd if you can, or just take a listen to the song Masters in China. You'll love it.

That's it for now! If any of you bloggers are actually reading this, write me a comment with some songs that you like..I'll definitely give them a listen.

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this is montreal

fortress

well...I just bought my school books yesterday at a store called David Mirvish Books on Art. It was a freezing cold day, and I had to take the subway all the way to Bathurst station, find the bookstore, and carry around 4 hardcover 300 page books ALL day! It was absolutely brutal.
More so, because I'm already two weeks into classes, I have to catch up on all of the reading that I missed. Usually I would take my time reading the chapters, but because all of the course readings are on my midterm exams in March I seriously need to keep on top of things. I hate this. The following is a list of how much reading I am expected to do in ONE week:

Renaissance Art and Architecture: page 2-56
Post-Colonial Studies in Architecture: page 27-109
Aegean Art, Archeology, and Architecture: page 600-660
Architecture: Rituals and Monuments: page 5-24 and 28-89

Can you BELIEVE that? All for one week. This is going to be a FUN semester....

Anyway, here is my song of the day- download it!
"Fortress" by Pinback. More later, once I've attempted to make a dent in my reading. Wish me luck.

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this is montreal

this is montreal

Hello!!

wow...my first post! Honestly, I have always been against blogging websites, and thought that it was a little strange that people spent so much time on them. I didn't understand how people could reveal things about their personal lives and allow complete strangers to read about it...but then I started to understand the appeal. It's a way to express yourself, and something to do when you're wide awake and have already creeped everybody that you can think of on facebook (i'm dead serious...you know that you do it too). I have always kept a journal, but have in the past year stopped writing in it because it takes so long! This way, I can just type up what I am thinking whenever I feel like it. pretty coooool...

so about myself. I'm 19 years old, almost 20. I'm very normal, and full of love for the following things:
a. architecture- i'm taking it in university right now in the city
b. music- let me tell you that the title of my blog, This is Montreal, is NOT random, but the name of a song by the band Matt Pond PA. Because I love music so much, I'm going to try to include at least one song in each of my blog posts that I would like other people to hear. I always love to hear new stuff as well, so if you've got some suggestions, let me know!
c. my friends- these people are the only ones that know me entirely as i am.

So that's about it for now. I don't really expect anyone to read this, but if you do, I hope that you enjoy it! This is my life..

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this is montreal