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Anarchy

2 Rules for Creative Non-Fiction

With SweatFest behind me, and Rhythm and Blues on the loose in book stores, I feel like I [...]

This just in: Figure Skating STILL cheesy

I’ve been seeing comments on Twitter and Facebook on Figure Skating costumes at the Olympics, and how insane [...]

How to talk to writers: “The Book”

People ask me all the time “how’s the book going?” And I tend to sputter and flinch at [...]

In every end, a beginning

As I mentioned the other day, I finished looking over the copyedit of Rhythm & Blues.
How does a [...]

Which came first? The chicken or the egg on my face?

In which two parties who should know better attempt to debate the difference between satire and parody from [...]

Retroblogging: March trip – LA movie theatres

One of the things I loved best about LA (aside from the tendency of Los Angelenos to say [...]

Retroblogging: March trip- Lisa Yee in Pasadena

On my very last day in LA, Cecil & I drove to Pasadena for the launch of Lisa [...]

The Blue Dragon

I’ve been a fan of Robert LePage’s theatrical work since I was fifteen and saw Les Aiguilles et [...]

La Brigitte

Just got home from seeing Brigitte Dajczer play at Cafe Sarajevo with my fabulous friend and vocal [...]

RubberBanDance

My history considered, it’s more than a little strange that I don’t go to see live dance or [...]

“Action painting” redefined

This video of a guy painting by breaking is kind of mesmerizing to watch. Not only that but [...]

Great Classical Punks on Beige Is Punk

Jill & Cecil at the Museum of Jurrassic Technology.
I’m on vacation this week, galavanting about LA with my [...]

“going into prophylactic shock”

Someone pointed me towards this video at a party a couple of weeks ago (Yeah, I had my [...]

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

No seriously. Its a real book, its exactly what it sounds like, and its available for pre-order.
I think [...]

25 Entropic Things About Me: A Torroid Affair

So, that "25 Random Things About Me" meme finally caught up with me, and I don’t want to [...]

Win some ARCs!

Fun contests:

Cecil Castellucci & Holly Black are having an icon/avatar design contest for their upcoming anthology, Geektastic, which [...]

Sweet Dreams are Made of…

I’m so sad I didn’t take the posters for this seriously! I saw them around, but the image [...]

Your publishing questions answered!

By the helpful folks at Macmillan.
Hat tip to Editorial Anonymous for spotting it first.

Marmoset there’ll be days like these

Solid State Breakdance Takes It Back to Toronto

I have an important event recommendation for anyone reading this in or near Toronto: My dear friends JoDee [...]

Muppets 2.0

I found out about these videos after E. Lockhart (if you haven’t read her Disreputable History of Frankie [...]

The stars come out to play

Can a headline become a cliché? Who will join me in retiring this one?
“The Stars Come Out To [...]

Let me link that for you

Do, friends and family often call you with questions? Do you frequently appear to know all the [...]

Having a gay ol’ time in TO

I’d like to say thanks to the students and teachers at Sandalwood Heights Secondary school in Brampton, ON [...]

“Never Read the Comments”

You know how on a lot of blogs, you need to login or give your email address or [...]

B-girl or Breaker: What’s in a name?

I was talking to some friends recently about some of the quirks, advantages, limitations and particularities of b-girling, [...]

Hipsterical sound bites

Overheard at choice writing locations:
Hipster Guy #1 to Hipster Guy #2:
“This is why I’ve been watching The L [...]

Dancer Risks Everything!

B-girl Ms. Mighty (who has a great new blog I’m totally going to be referencing as often as [...]

What I’m Doing For Earth Hour

I’ve received a few email/myspace/facebook messages about Earth Hour– the hour on March 29th when everyone, on Earth, [...]

Jill’s guide to finding a Montreal apartment

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This week in YA blogs

Photo: James Calder
Loathe though I am to announce any regular blog feature (as I am prone to announce [...]

But what if I don’t have a gong?

Toronto, Ferry Docks underground streetcar stop

Happy New Year!

There’s no way I can out do last year’s new year post. It was the best New Year’s [...]

A short list of alternate winter holidays

Winter Solstice

Pros: Days immediately begin to get longer, although this would probably happen even without a holiday. Many [...]

La lalala la la… lalalala lalala la…

We were in Paris last week on a rare vacation (our first together, the Rapper and I, in [...]

You can contract behaviour? I didn’t even know it was contagious!

Finally, an RWA Student Bulletin worth culling for highlights again! The energy! The spirit! The punctuation! It’s been [...]

Eine Kleine Durablemusik

I just listened to the first section of Mozart’s Requiem in D-minor for an hour before getting tired [...]

Overheard at brunch

“He doesn’t look like that guy, he is that guy.”
“No!”
“Yes.“

This Week (not) in Skymall: SkyMaul

I love it when people send me presents, even air gifts, virtual gifts, and little digital gifts like [...]

Overheard at Indigo

(Disgusted)
Uhm… Eeyore is a dude not a chick. He’s a guy.

Judging the YA reader by the cover

Over on One.Blank.Cog, Ehren wonders:
Not too long ago HarperCollins Canada announced that they would be repackaging certain young [...]

Nightclubs *are* hell.

He exists! Someone who loves nightclubs as much (more?) as (than) I do!
Clubs are such insufferable dungeons [...]

We have ways of making you dance

Um… so I was going to post the next part of my NYC chronicles today, but then I [...]

This Week in Skymall: now less useful than ever

And to think, most of us are cautious about using Facebook at work:

This Week in Skymall

Publishing industry cooler than music industry

I can’t believe so many file-sharing sites were shut down so quickly by the music industry, but the [...]

Infrequently Asked Questions: Hip Hop

More and more frequently, I find myself in a position where, despite my better judgement, I feel obligated [...]

This Week In Skymall: a gift from the childless inventor

Electric Powered Bumper Cars, for home use.
<pause>
Yes, let me just give you a moment to think about this [...]

This week in SkyMall: culturally sensitive lawn/home ornaments

“Basho”: it means “tournament” in Japanese, or “if you can’t see why these are offensive, we don’t need [...]

This week in SkyMall: doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not

‘Nuff said: If they really expect these gold-plated Bon Jovi records to fly out of the catalogue like [...]

This week in SkyMall: Space-taking hot dog appliances

In my junk-food-consuming youth, I used to lie awake nights wondering how I was going to cook my [...]

This Week In SkyMall : iPhone, shmyPhone

As I’m sure you can already guess, I deliberated for quite some time over whether to post this [...]

Infrequently Asked Questions: The Plant of the Undead

YA author Mary Rose Wood asks,
There is something very strange happening on my dining room table. See for [...]

This Week In SkyMall

I love flying. I know it’s not very greenhouse-gas-reducing of me, but it’s true. I don’t fly terribly [...]

You Might Have Big Hair If…

I haven’t read Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ YA books yet, but I already feel a deep spiritual kinship with [...]

One flew over

Under the train bridge over Brock street, in Parkdale, Toronto.

Does everything but pick your nose

As a longtime user of the Swiss Army Cybertool, which contains all the usual tools plus pliers and [...]

Fight to the finish

So I guess it’s that time of year. I called home to my mom in Montreal the other [...]

State Of the Arts- Update

The launch on Sunday was a lot of fun, and the book (now available for purchase from Coach [...]

Cover Song Mania

For those of you who collect cover songs, (iMo, I know I’m talking to you), the indefatigable Marc [...]

Cooking With The Stars

The ever-industrious Jennrock had an article in The Star yesterday about “life lists” on sites like 43 Things, [...]

Bee Movie

It’s not that often that I just grab a video off YouTube and call it a post. Mainly [...]

Reveal Yourself On Random, Part 2

I’m just going to keep doing this once a month until one of us gets bored, or something [...]

Let this be my epitaph

“You think you can triumph in this world with nothing more than a keen mind, a pile of [...]

Ron, I feel the same way

What I imagine is going through Ron Sexmith’s toussled head every time I see these posters:
“Mehrrr… I hate [...]

Challenge: Reaveal Yourself on “Random”

The Onion AV Club has this fun feature where celebrities set their iPods or store brand digital music [...]

I wanna bowl with the gangstas

Weird Al is releasing videos about my family again. My brother alerted me to this yesterday, and since [...]

Great Accidents In Hip Hop

I love, love, love, love, love, love, love hip hop because some of the most fundamental aspects of [...]

The first cut is the deepest

I was working my way through a revision of my b-girl novel and kind of sweating over its [...]

Bon Cop Bad Cop

The digital ink is just setting on my latest subjectively biased movie review over on Torontoist.com.
Bon Cop Bad [...]

Wedding songs for the despair generation

Because The Delightful Rapper, More Or Les and I are getting married next April, I’ve been looking through [...]

Happy iCal Day!

This one is for all the happy Mac users out there who nevertheless remain perplexed by one little [...]

Birthday ramp-up 2006

My birthday is next week, and I wasn’t going to do anything special, but already people are surprising [...]

Kill Marissa and laugh while she bleeds

So they killed Marissa on the OC. I know this even though I’ve never watched a single episode [...]

Like a new born baby it just happens every day

Found this on the BlogTo photo blog.

Rock it, don’t stop it… until like, at least 4pm

RWA Student Bulletin highlights, June 2, 2006, DAY 1
END OF YEAR FESTIVITIES
All students are asked to respect [...]

I hereby motion

That “music” be shortened to “sic.”
Of all the short words I know, that one is just too long. [...]

This one goes out to the Large White Mocha

Stick It

I love this movie. I reviewed it already on Torontoist.com, so if you like dance movies, sports [...]

I don’t care what you call it.

It’s still CO2 to me.
Have you seen these hilarious “It’s called life” commercials from the Competitive Enterprise Institute?
 
Apparently, [...]

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I almost missed it, but…

Happy Arbour Day!

From the dept. of DJ Names Suggested by The Analysis of Email Marketing Statistics

“General Bounce”

Waiting For Guffman meets Bring It On!

Have you seen this clip with Katie Couric interviewing this chipper, chipper cheerleader who fell on her head, [...]

Landmark day for print journalism

From the London (Ontario) Free Press
“‘Ughhhhhhh!’ read one posting on the Los Angeles section of Craiglist, an [...]

I’m not alone in hating CMW/NxNE!

This is something I’ve ranted and raved about a lot, and usually people just listen to me quietly [...]

And yet the kids still don’t love it…

OK, first of all, no. The new milk song is horrible. Just like the old milk song was [...]

Just listening to some old Eminem verses

I don’t think I could ever re-marry someone who rapped so often and so publicly and so to [...]

Quick! MC Hammer has a blog!

http://mchammer.blogspot.co
It’s like, really rambly, and has a self indulgent quantity of photos of uninteresting things, yet is targeted [...]

Still using

On December 30, 2005, I declared “Mash-up” the most overused term of 2006. So far 2006 is backing [...]

Fighting competition with unoriginality

As far as I can tell, this saga implies that if Rogers ever had any ideas, they have [...]

Infrequently Asked Questions: Figure Skating

Of figure skating, Herbivore asked me:
Q: but jill……why is it just so cheeeeeeeeeezy?
A: Herbivore, this is a tough [...]

Why do people insist on skating to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons?

I know it’s pretty and dramatic and everything but it’s the music of ill portent, people. Surya Bonaly [...]

Made In China = Quality

Frankly, I’m just a little distracted by the Olympics right now.
I have paid essentially no attention [...]

And the award for the best stage design, costuming, props, pyrotechnics, musical direction, choreography, acting, dancing, musical performance, art direction, special effects, makeup and stunt driving in an opening ceremony goes to

Torino!
 
11:27 p.m. Edit: On further reflection, I think that given its connection to fascism, Italian Futurism might have [...]

Attack of the scary talking website

Sex sells. Or it can just be creepy.
http://www.lepublicity.com/
This is so awesome. I have totally always wanted web sites [...]

Preg-Pourri

OK, so this isn’t actually a real product. But wouldn’t it be awesome if it was? It would [...]

Funniest mix ever

Killing In the Name Of by Rage Against the Machine
followed by…
wait for it….
Ladies Night by Kool & the [...]

Hating on the Food Network

Over at Losing Elphie/Pinching Out The Pudge, the Purl Princess herself has compiled a very impressive and hilarious [...]

Fans of Slimy, avert your eyes

I don’t know how it happened. One day I wound him up, and he just didn’t unwind. I [...]

Smile, though your heart is aching

Selections from the Royal West Academy Student Bulletin, January 26, 2006, DAY 2
INSPIRATIONAL FUEL- A NEW YEAR [...]

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