Why You Crying- George Lopez

My family must have had some Mexican.......

I love George Lopez's stand-up. Sometimes Stagg and I have had tears running down our faces laughing. If you ever get a chance, check out or rent...America's Mexican or Why You Crying

I distinctly remember lowering my head as a kid and muttering"I can never do nuthin'"

I also remember our family saying "Is he got a collar?"

Olympics of Therapy

Some names have been changed not to protect anybody-Volume 1.


Recently, Stagg and I found ourselves laying low on a Saturday evening and with a bottle of wine. We wondered whatshould we do tonight, go out, work in the sutdio, watch a movie? We kind of just said, let's sit here and talk. Okay. We opened the wine and I don't know...both of us talk a lot. MIster Anchovy's dad used to say to me, "Candy, you could talk to a tombstone." It's true and same for Stagg. Anyhow, we found ourselves covering many topics. Sometimes, when I get going and am having trouble figuring out what I what to express I have been known to employ a diagram. I once drew a diagram of where the spirit, khrishna, humans, buddha, the earth were in an intricate diagram. Maybe I'll post it here sometime. Not now. Instead take note of the above diagram produced one Saturday evening with a bottle of wine. Good thing I went to art school, huh?

Stagg and I have both been in group therapy at various times in our life and occassionally we compare notes so to speak. Well, this one Saturday we started discussing the dynamics and weird peculiar special feeling of being in a room with several other people who are sharing their emotions and/or life stories.

You know, there is the stereotype lesson one gets from group therapy. Someone else always has a much worse story or childhood or problem. The realization that someone else had it way worse than you is humbling and sometimes it can even shake off a depression or a bad negative self-attitude. It really can. There is always someone else out there with a worse history than yours so shut the fuck up with your self pity.

You get it, right?

Well, there is also somethign else than one might learn in group therapy. And I decided to draw Stagg a diagram. It's that...It's Not A Fucking Olympics Of Therapy. No one gets a gold star for having the worse end of childhood.

I drew a diagram of one such group therapy perspective. There were about ten of us in this therapy session and we had to write notes and recall our end of childhood. The end of childhood can be different for different people, it can happen at different ages...maybe it was someone's first prom, maybe they were ten, maybe they were 14 or 16. Maybe it was when someone moved out of the house and went to college.

The end of childhood is recognizable asbeing that very first time you realized "the party is over".

The purpose of our individual and group realization of when our end of childhood occurred was so that we could analyse what events surrounded the situation and what adults or ourselves did and to see if we have any residue habits of behaviour that we are using as devices as adults to "cope" that may be counter productive. For example if a person's end of childhood was at college and they were lonely and they made friends with party kids and were able to reconcile their loneliness...but now are addicted to alcohol and drugs as a way to feel connected...well stuff like that.

What I wanted to share with Stagg was that not only can one be humbled by finding out someone's story is more tragic than one's own...is that another story is much more seemingly mundane than one's own.

In this one sessions several people had decribed their end of childhood and some of these memories could tear your heart out. Childhood family rape. Bullies in the schoolyard. Verbally abusive parents.

Then one woman described how she had really wanted this one special favourite bike. and her parents didn't give it to her. She was crying like a baby. She even blurted out how embarrassed she was that her story wasn't as tragic or violent as others in the group and she felt guilty about this but this memory was her end of childhood and her parents had acted cruel over this one particular bike.

I'm not doing a good job of describing this story at all, I know. But the point was...there isn't a scale of suffering. Yes, someone had been raped, someone else had been beaten...and they were as upset with the memory as this woman whose parents had betrayed her with a bike. To every child...pain and especially emotional pain is all the same. I remember seeing and feeling this realization with a huge passion in group that day.

No one is getting a gold star. It's not the fucking Olympics of Therapy.

No one here gets out alive.

When we feel sorry for ourselves above compassion for others we are preventing ourselves from healing and from having a good life...and it is in our hands how we approach living. It is up to us if we are happy people...if we are sore losers or good sports in the game of life.

And the ego even wants there to be a status bestowed upon suffering and tragedy...but that is not how it works. From the most tragic story, to the most seemingly mundane memory...the end of childhood is as painful for every individual as is any trama or challenge and they are not an excuse to not feel sorry for ourselves or use our history as an excuse to be depressed.

You know, actually, later during that "end of childhood" session that day...we all ended up having an incredible laugh. Even though we had all been terribly sad during moments in the therapy and discussions...it all of a sudden seemed humbling to have had someone with a so-called mundane end of childhood memory teach us all humility. Humility in the idea of ranking suffering.

You know, I think most of life's greatest pleasures are in sharing feelings and ideas with other people.

Here's a toast to spending time talking with our loved ones, neighbours and others in our towns and cities...we always have much to learn from each other....

And remember, don't get on your high horse about how hard done by or suffering your life has been...help someone else...

I Might Be Crazy...But I'm No Longer Alone!

The Green Pirate has written a review about the documentary King Korn. Check it out!

Making The New Album, , Philly Soul, Working With Other Divas,The Percolator, B More Beat

And...finally the Wu Tang Dance...

Return of The Underground Baker!

She is back...my sister has finished her last exam and last paper for this years semester at Simon Frazer University. The Underground Baker has her first post since November.

Veggies, Or How I Don't Give Up Trying To Inspire People To Think About Food.

I usually do not buy anything at Toronto's Hazelton Lanes Whole Foods Store. I find that location insanely expensive but I went in the other day to compare prices to Chicago Whole foods. Two years ago The New York Times had written an article the Whole Foods had pledged to compete with grocery store prices and I wanted to see if this had affected the Toronto store. No. But I like their veggie displays so I took some photos with my cell phone. I bought a couple of items but for the most part I shop at Noah's Foods on Bloor or The Big Carrot on Danforth...and now most grocery stores carry a wide range of organic products.

"Shopping at a Whole Foods Market in suburban Chicago, Meredith Estes said food prices have jumped so much she has resorted to coupons. Charles T. Rodgers Jr., an Arkansas cattle rancher, said normal feed rations so expensive and scarce he is scrambling for alternatives. In Oregon, Jack Joyce, the owner of Rogue Ales, said the cost of barley malt has soared 88 percent this year.

For years, cheap food and feed were taken for granted in the United States.

But now the price of some foods is rising sharply, and from the corridors of Washington to the aisles of neighborhood supermarkets, a blame alert is under way.

Among the favorite targets is ethanol, especially for food manufacturers and livestock farmers who seethe at government mandates for ethanol production. The ethanol boom, they contend, is raising corn prices, driving up the cost of producing dairy products and meat, and causing farmers to plant so much corn as to crowd out other crops.

The results are working their way through the marketplace, in this view, with overall consumer grocery costs up roughly 5 percent in a year and feed costs up more than 20 percent." From New York Times

" 1) Cows see very little grass nowadays in their lives. They get them on corn as fast as they can, which speeds up their lifespan, gets them really fat, and allows you to slaughter them within 14 months.

2) The problem with this system, or one of the problems with this system, is that cows are not evolved to digest corn. It creates all sorts of problems for them. The rumen is designed for grass. And corn is just too rich, too starchy. So as soon as you introduce corn, the animal is liable to get sick.

3) It creates a whole [host] of changes to the animal. So you have to essentially teach them how to eat corn. You teach their bodies to adjust. And this is done in something called the backgrounding pen at the ranch, which is kind of the prep school for the feedlot. Here's where you teach them how to eat corn.

4) You start giving them antibiotics, because as soon as you give them corn, you've disturbed their digestion, and they're apt to get sick, so you then have to give them drugs. That's how you get in this whole cycle of drugs and meat. By feeding them what they're not equipped to eat well, we then go down this path of technological fixes, and the first is the antibiotics. Once they start eating the [corn], they're more vulnerable. They're stressed, so they're more vulnerable to all the different diseases cows get. But specifically they get bloat, which is just a horrible thing to happen. They stop ruminating. From Michael Pollan

"My remaining cause for hope is another consequence of the globalized modern world's interconnectedness. Past societies lacked archaeologists and television. While the Easter Islanders were busy deforesting the highlands of their overpopulated island for agricultural plantations of the 1400s, they had no way of knowing that, thousands of miles to the east and west at the same time, Greenland Norse society and the Khmer Empire were simultaneously in terminal decline, while the Anasazi had collapsed a few centuries earlier, Classic Maya society a few more centuries before that, and Mycenean Greece, 2,000 years before that. Today, though, we turn on our television sets or radios or pick up newspapers, and we see, hear, or read about what happened in Somalia or Afghanistan a few hours earlier. Our television documentaries and books show us in graphic detail why the Easter islanders, Classic Maya, and other past societies collapsed. Thus, we have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of distant peoples and past peoples. That's an opportunity that no past society enjoyed to such a degree. My hope in writing this book has been that enough people will choose to profit from that opportunity to make a difference." From Collapse by Jared Diamond.

Goddesses of a Sort-13 Favourite Female Supermodels

“I never believed in the goddess thing,”says Ines de la Fressange, about her emergence as one of France’s legendary beauties. Ines de la Fressange is really one of amy all time favourite models...classic beauty and wonderful contemporary urban style and attitude. She makes a perfume but I haven't checked it out...I must try to remember that...

"Supermodels are the goddesses of our time" Camille Paglia.

"Money, power, respect; supermodels are the Greek goddesses of our time, if you want to believe Camille Paglia." Dr. Olivet on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

It is no accident that two major female characters on Law and Order have names referencing the olive tree...Dr. Olivet and Olivia Benson...conjure up the greek goddess of wisdom Athena. Athena gave us the first Olive Tree. All around us are signs that Paganism has never died away or been legislated out of our daily lives. Supermodels posing haughty and aloof on magazines are evidence of the power and need for humans to worship female energies.


There was a time when kids and young people lined up when a new movie was released featuring pop music. Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Woodstock and many others long before MTV arrived drew fans. The invention of MTV and videos was a force of nature for music lovers. Now our artists like The Cars, Michael jackson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Public Image LTd, Bauhaus came into our homes and reflected our passion for music and clothes and art. Worship of the body and face with soundtrack became "normal".

I was not a fan of the band "Wham" it was too lite and bubblegummy for my punk tastes at the time...but later when George Michaels went solo...it was a time when certain musicians could create a scandal with their videos. It used to be that vj's would announce when a new video was going to be released and critics would respond...and fans would sit by the tv and wait for it's premiere run. Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson were known for their provocative images and lyrics. To my surprise at the time
George Michaels released a solo album and his single on video became a scandal. He wasn't IN HIS OWN VIDEO! HE BURNED ICONIC LEATHER JACKET! Rumours abounded that he was ill, dying, had snubbed the record companies. In fact, the video Freedom which featured several supermodels lipsyncing was a surprisingly spiritual event. The artist had removed himself from the cult of personality and the lyrics Freedom seemed to mirror the Buddhist idea of letting go of identity or ego, and replacing it with gorgeous but superficial icons of female form...using supermodels seemed to "mean" something in the video. In fact, part of the mystique unique to supermodels is that they don't speak. Their lack of voices is part of what makes they seem otherworldly. Their lipsyncing in the video adds to this mystique somehow...In many ways Michaels had snubbed the corporate world of recordmaking: they couldn't use him to sell his single. It seems hilarious now that critics freaked out and the video made such a startling debut. The video featured Christy Turlington, Linda Evangeslista, Naomi Campbell, Tatiana Patitz and Cindy Crawford. The male models are: Mario Serrenti, John Pearson and Peter Formby.


I liked Linda Evangelista because she was one of the few supermodels who smiled.

When Linda Evangelista mentioned to Vogue that "we don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day," she may have been playfully pretending the role of an up-scale union representative, yet that 1990 comment became the most notorious quote in modeling history. In 1991, Christy Turlington signed a contract with Maybelline that paid her $800,000 for twelve days' work each year. Four years later, Claudia Schiffer reportedly earned $12 million for her various modeling assignments.[20] Authorities ranging from Karl Lagerfeld to Time had declared the supermodels more glamorous than movie stars.


Lisa Fonssagrives once described herself as a "good clothes hanger". I like her because she seems like a forerunner of the Hitchcock blonde. She was the first person on the cover of the first Vanity Fair...and I love Vanity Fair

First Name: Ling
Last Name: Tang
Nationality: Malaysian
Ethnicity: Chinese/Malaysian
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Date of Birth: October 9, 1974
Place of Birth: Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia
Height: 5'9.5" ; 176.5cm
Measurements: (US) 32-24-35 ; (EU) 81-61-89
Dress Size: (US) 6 ; (EU) 36
Shoe Size: (US) 8 ; (EU) 39
agencies: Elite Model Management - New York
IMG Models - New York

I love Karen Elson...


Karen Elson is hooked up with Jack White of The Racontuers and White Stripes.

Iman always rocks my world...and she's cool, well spoken and well...with David Bowie!

Niki Taylor is just cool. She is a fantastic host and judge of "Make Me A Supermodel" and I fell for her when she was fighting back tears at the season finale, she really seemed motherly to the models. Also, she rocks because she was unconscious for six weeks after a car accident in 2001 and recovered.

Edie Sedgewick. Models are nothing if not the embodiment of the mysterious idea of a muse. Edie was Andy Warhol's muse for a brief time before her early death but she has remainded a legend. She is also a cousin to Kyra Sedgewick...star of The Closer I love Kyra!

This picture says everything about the magic of Twiggy.


Shalom Harlow...just her name is unearthly and goddesslike!
Birthday: Dec. 5, 1973
Birthplace: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Height: 5' 11"
Eyes: Blue
Other Info
-Discovered at a Cure concert in Toronto at age 16
Known For:
-Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
-Victoria's Secret lingerie
-Appeared in Pirelli Calendar

Gisele, I just like her, she's feisty.

I wasn't a fan of Kate Moss for years. Then two things happened. She went blonde and I suddenly went wow she looks cool. she had always seemed kind of preppy to me before. Then when she was shown in photos suggesting she was doing drugs...she never ever went on the news and apologized crying repenting...or said anything...she totally ignored the tabloids. I thought that was brilliant.



Moss has appeared in music videos such as "Kowalski" by Primal Scream, "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" by the White Stripes, "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John, "Sex with Strangers" by Marianne Faithfull and "Delia's Gone" and "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash.


She also provided vocals for songs by Primal Scream (the 2003 version of "Some Velvet Morning") and Babyshambles. Her vocals are featured on the Babyshambles' song "La Belle et la Bête", singing the lines "Is she more beautiful than me?". Prior to breaking up with Pete Doherty, Moss co-wrote four songs on Babyshambles' second album Shotter's Nation—"You Talk", "French Dog Blues", "Baddie's Boogie", and "Deft Left Hand".

Moss has also DJ'd on more than one occasion at the Death Disco club with her friends Alan McGee and BP Fallon.

Moss is also known for her close friendships with many rock and roll icons and musicians such as Elton John, Mick Jones, Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Bobby Gillespie and Siobhan Fahey.

In 1999, Moss played a non-musical role in the British television comedy Blackadder: Back & Forth, appearing both as Maid Marian and as a fictional queen of England. (From Wikipedia.)


Heidi Klum because she created and produced Project Runway which I absolutely adore and am addicted to. Heidi Klum is also funny, strong, opinionated and in fact, she kind of intimidates me just a little and I like that! It's her serious German accent puts me on edge...when she doesn't like something she doesn't suffer fools. She is also married to the wonderful Seal, who on Oprah shared one of his mottos: "happy wife, happy life". Project Runway has highlighted the talents of hundreds of artists and the craft and design of making clothes...and for that, she rocks it!

The video "Freedom" was directed by David Fincher (Vogue, Aliens3, Fight Club, Se7en, Panic Room, Zodiac)

Supermodels/Visitors will be linked here...1) Gardenia 2) Traces of a Stream 3) One Gal's Musings 4) Puss Reboots 5) On A Limb With Claudia 6) A Gentleman's Domain 7) Chelle Y 8) A Piece Of My Mind 9) Red Letter Day