Stranger Than Paradise

Of Love and Labyrinthitis




Physical State: weary
Mental State: taffy
Music: Brian Bonz - The Sunday Theory ep
Fashion sense: grey polo shirt, blue jeans

Can I declare (in a Homer Simpson kind of way) that I am in love with a beer? Yes the dark beauty that goes by the name of St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout from Montreal. McAuslan is one of the best microbrewers in Canada and this beer just kicks ass (and makes a good run at Guinness for top spot for me).

Well this past weekend was quite a boring point in history. I was on my way to the Magnetic Fields concert when a sudden and severe case of vertigo hit me (an inner ear imbalance that causes you to lose your balance). I walked back to my apartment from the subway station and must have looked a sight. I couldn't focus my eyes and the ground was spinning back and forth. I was walking like I was really drunk and I couldn't hear out of my right ear. So I went home and it got so bad that I literally couldn't stand up or keep my eyes open. I was hyperventilating and freaking out (thinking that this might have been a side effect of the medication I'm taking). At a really low point I called 911 and got an ambulance to show up. They told me as I was breathing in oxygen that it was probably Labyrinthitis (a fancy word for inflammation of the inner ear, hence the loss of balance and equilibrium). What a hellish night. I then spent the next 4 hours lying on a bed in Emergency with an iv with super Gravol going into my veins. Its amazing when there's no immediate concern how long you can wait for someone to see you. So at 3am I managed to walk home (yes the hospital is less than two blocks from my home and I still called for an ambulance, I was that fucked up). No Magnetic Fields...argh!

Well it turns out that this condition can be serious if it goes unchecked and tonight I had a minor flare-up as I was exchanging some jeans. It again freaked me out. Your head starts to shift in your skull like your right frontal lobe is going to head to the floor, very bizarre. I sat down for 5 mins and took deep breaths (then it was gone again). Totally bizarre. Labyrinthitis is something that is very hard to treat apparently because its all internal in your inner ear. Of course thanks to the wonderful medical system (to be honest I can't really complain or can I?) here I have to wait a week to see a specialist and get some auditory tests to properly diagnose it. What fun.

Anyways so not the greatest summer weekend of my life (I also watched Independence Day for 3 hours last night and can I say that that is one of the dumbest scripts ever written for a movie. Will Smith has some doozies of stupid lines...thank god for CGI). :-)

Discovering Julie Doucet




Physical State: achey
Mental State: leaden
Music: Magnetic Fields - Get Lost
Fashion sense: white t-shirt, blue jeans

Happy Canada Day! In keeping with all things Canada I've also reread (for like the third time this week) an illustrated graphic novel by Montrealer Julie Doucet called My New York Diary. Julie has long been a stable artist for Drawn and Quarterly with her famous autobiographical series Dirty Plotte. She is also name-checked in the Le Tigre song "Hot Topic" among inspirational artists and women who the Tigres love. At first I didn't know if I'd like her comics but now I'm totally hooked. She is pretty frank with what she touches on and is pretty self-scathing and at times a bit raw. But I find her style very interesting (both as a writer and an artist). Of course I am more than 10 years late to the table in discovering her but I'm still glad I have. She must be a huge inspiration to young creative women around the world, she should be on the Canadian stamp. I think that she should at least have an Order of Canada (she did win a Harvey Award). Julie seems like the equivalent of a Sleater-Kinney member but as a comic artist. Her books are very beautiful in an indie-rock kind of way and I think that everyone should check them out if you haven't already. I also find her style very whimsical and gritty at the same time. She's a meticulous draftswoman as well you can tell from the care she takes in each panel. I would love to see her illustrate a comic with Chan Marshall of Cat Power, I think that would be incredible.

Kudos as well to the kind soul who works at the Toronto Public Library and decides on what graphic novels to add to the collection, kid you deserve a medal. There are many Adrian Tomine comics, Chester Brown, Craig Thompson's Blankets and Drawn and Quarterly collections to be found in the system (as well as Julie). I have been checking out a lot of underground comics lately at the shrine for cool comics in Toronto, The Beguiling. Drawn and Quarterly has done some really great work getting some of these things out there (and with beautiful printing).

Mag Fields tomorrow night! Yeah! Hope all is well.