#the great canadian pottery throw down

[laresearchette]

Thursday, April 04, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES: STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (CTV Sci-Fi) 9:00pm/10:15pm

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA MÜSICA REBEL

NETFLIX CANADA CROOKS (DE) I WOKE UP A VAMPIRE (Season 2) RIPLEY THE TEARSMITH (IT)

CURLING (TSN/TSN5) 10:00am: LGT World Men's Curling Championship: Canada vs. Norway (TSN/TSN5) 1:00pm: LGT World Men's Curling Championship: Sweden vs. Canada

2024 IIHF WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (TSN4) 11:00am: China vs. Japan (TSN4) 3:00pm: Denmark vs. Germany (TSN/TSN4) 6:00pm: Pre-Game (TSN/TSN4) 7:00pm: Canada vs. Finland

MLB BASEBALL (SN Now) 4:00pm: Guardians vs. Twins (TSN) 7:30pm: Cubs vs. Rangers

NHL HOCKEY (SN1) 7:00pm: Pirates vs. Capitals (TSN2) 7:00pm: Lightning vs. Habs (TSN5) 7:00pm: Panthers vs. Sens (SNWest/TSN3) 8:00pm: Flames vs. Jets (SN) 10:30pm: Kings vs. Sharks

NBA BASKETBALL (SN1) 8:00pm: Warriors vs. Rockets (TSN/TSN4) 10:00pm: Nuggets vs. Clippers

THE GREAT CANADIAN POTTERY THROW DOWN (CBC) 8:00pm (SEASON FINALE): After 16 grueling challenges, Seth Rogen prepares to crown The Best Potter in Canada.

THE BRIDGE (Discovery Canada) 8:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): For a chance at £200,000, eight strangers are given 12 days to construct a 1,000-foot bridge, but little do they know that just across the beach, another team is hard at work for the very same prize.

THE GREAT POTTERY THROW DOWN (Makeful) 8:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Ten home potters from around the United Kingdom travel to Stoke-on-Trent, the home of British pottery, to take part in a competition to become top potter.

THE NATURE OF THINGS (CBC) 9:00pm: Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs

LEGO MASTERS AUSTRALIA (Discovery Canada) 9:00pm: Teams must create a bridge that can survive two shake plates, with the decision coming down to aesthetics if more than one bridge can survive all 12 levels of shaking.

WORST COOKS IN AMERICA (Food Network Canada) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Anne Burrell and Tiffany Derry are ready to transform sixteen coddled culinary novices into home cooks, but they need to see what they are working with. The recruits must recreate their favorite takeout dish, giving the chefs a look at their skills.

PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Makeful) 9:00pm: Richard Curtis, Emma Freud, Fleur East

JACK OSBOURNE'S NIGHT OF TERROR: UFOS (DTour) 9:00pm: Jack Osbourne brings friends Jason Mewes and Jamie Kennedy to the edge of the unknown in search of the truth about UFOs; they embark on an investigation to figure out if reports of unexplained aerial phenomena in Utah's Uinta Basin are real.

SEDUCED TO SLAY (Investigation Discovery) 10:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Thirty miles outside of Dallas, in Royse City, Texas, Fire Capt. Robert Poynter and his young wife, Chacey, enjoy an idyllic small-town life, but that's shattered when a dramatic physical transformation leads to infidelity and a dead body.

CANADIAN REFLECTIONS (CBC) 11:30pm: Latchkey; Babatoura

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Well if movies don't work out, maybe he can do the American version of Seth Rogen's new pottery show.

https://deadline.com/2023/10/seth-rogen-jennifer-robertson-great-canadian-pottery-throw-down-cbc-1235581611/

I don't think Chris has gotten beyond the "reflecting' on the pottery phase yet. This is too advanced for him. Perhaps just as a guest judge where he can remind people leaves are green before announcing the elimination challenge will be bongs.

[moonlightswritingandstuff]

if only i could break the chains of disappointment weighing me down (shake off the ghosts that whisper warnings)

It's the middle of the night. Frank Zhang can't sleep. Instead, he picks up his old kid's version of Journey to the West.

read on ao3

(sorry i forgot to do this one :/)

The stick burns, and Frank stares at it.

He does nothing.

It burns up. He collapses. There is nothing else.

And then he wakes up.

(The first time he had that nightmare, he tried to stop it, throw it into the snow. Frank learned quickly. Now, he thinks, he'll just be surprised to not wake up after it burns for real. Or maybe death is like sleep? He supposes he could ask Hazel.)

He wakes up in his bed in the praetors’ quarters.

It's two am, and Frank doesn't have to wake up for another four hours, but the world is quiet and Frank likes it that way. Reyna's sleeping in her room, so Frank walks out to their 'hang out room' - as they like to call it - and turns on the small lamp.

His copy of a kid's version of Journey to the West sits on the bookshelf. Reyna had raised an eyebrow at it, but to him it's a marker of when his childhood was a little easier, a little happier. His mother used to read it to him.

And then she went to war.

His mother was a wonderful woman; she loved more than Frank ever thought possible.

Emily Zhang also left.

Those two halves Frank has never quite been able to reconcile; Emily Zhang, the loving mother, and Emily Zhang, the absent parent. For so much of his childhood, it was his Lao Lao - maternal grandmother in Mandarin - and him.

Smashed pottery, pretty blue and white, and his grandmother’s disappointment.

“Zhang Fai,” she’d trill disappointingly. All of that disappointment could never hide the pain in her voice when she sent him away, could never hide the pain in her voice when she found her daughter to be dead, could never hide the pain in her voice when she spoke of her late husband’s death.

Frank had never been fully certain if his grandmother ever even had a husband. Zhang was her married name; Jade Zhang Yu has always been more Chinese-Canadian than Chinese, despite her pride.

Frank used to know his Tai Poh Poh - great-grandmother, Cantonese instead of Mandarin like the rest of them - or, he met her once in his memory. Her mind was failing her by then, her speech muddled with Cantonese words. Frank understood little - of course, his last Cantonese relative was his great-grandmother. She'd speak and through the curtain of language he could understand bit-by-bit, fragments painting a whole.

She had come from China, escaping Mao Zedong (who his grandmother always intermittedly pronounced as ze-dong or see-tong) and his communist regime with her family, moving to Hong Kong and later Canada.

But from what Frank understood, his great-grandmother was only saying a few Buddhist prayers, maybe intermixed with something else. Something for her final days, something about her late husband, Frank's grandfather.

He had never met Shen Lun, who moved up from San Francisco, to meet Frank's great-grandmother in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Frank likes Chinatown. It's sort of chaotic, but it smells strangely like a home. There's a bakery that makes amazing apple fritters and disappointing ma lai goh, a sort of spongy cake. There's Chinese herbal remedy shops whose aroma floats in the air, baskets upon baskets of herbs like star anise and ginger. There's slightly dirty shops with roast duck hanging in the window, rotating slowly. There's the gate, and the grand dragon dance on every New Years'.

Frank misses Chinatown, all the time. He misses the crowded shops. He knows that the Chinatown he knows is no longer present, he knows that Chinatown's been slowly gentrified over time. He also knows it is no longer the centre of Chinese Canadians in the Vancouver area - Richmond has taken that, but again, it was also where Frank grew up.

(But Chinatown still sounds like home to Frank. And even though he'd never met Shen Lun, he had to bear his mistakes anyway. Filial piety, loyalty to your parents. A never-ending cycle of shame and guilt given from parent to child. Frank is Chinese-Canadian. He finds other ways.)

(And that's not getting to Richmond. Because Frank knows it must've changed in the years he's been gone. Or two years. It was changing fast by the time he left.)

New Rome is too clean, clean to be unnatural. It's odd and strange and kind of weird, but Frank is praetor, and his obligations rest on his shoulders here.

Frank resurfaces back in the present, and takes the copy of Journey to the West off of the shelf. The characters and drawings are achingly familiar, a children's book that is still decently long, due to the nature of how long Journey to the West is.

Frank's grandmother's favourite goddess is Guanyin, or, as she pronounced it the Cantonese way, Ginyam, with a hard g. Goddess of mercy and compassion, a bodhisaatva in Buddhist tellings. Guanshiyin, in her long form. The children's book has a drawing of her; Guanyin sits on the blooming lotus flower, wise and compassionate.

Frank's mother liked her too.

("Mercy is restraint, Frank," Emily said. "It has just a place in war as violence does.")

Frank supposes it is fitting that he likes her too. Taoist gods are much more... well, Frank can't quite place it, but Taoist gods are different than Roman gods. They have different concepts of filial piety and duty attached to them. The Jade Emperor gained power via compassion. Jupiter’s came from force.

Guanyin is nothing but benevolent; she assists Sun Wukong in helping Xuanzang (Frank did not find the other characters as notable; his favourite was always the peaceful Xuanzang, and, well, Sun Wukong is hard to forget). Her one fault, his mother had always said, was that she was a deux-ex-machina for the protagonists. But, as Emily had always reminded Frank, deux-ex-machinas can be good things, too.

"Why are you up at this ungodly hour?" Reyna asks, stepping in place beside him, breaking Frank out of his reverie.

"Just… reminiscing. Had a nightmare.”

“Fair enough,” Reyna says, rolling out her shoulder. “Nothing important?”

“No. You can go back to sleep.”

Reyna smiles, but it’s ephemeral. “You know you can talk to me, right? We’re not super close but we are working together. And you can talk to Hazel.”

“I know. It’s nothing important.”

Reyna nods and leaves him alone to his thoughts and the kid’s version of Journey to the West.

She reminds him of the burden of duty. She’s bore it for all too long. Frank doesn’t know how she did it. He’ll be praetor for just under ten years, and the toll’s already been felt. And alone, too. If Frank’s honest, Reyna has always seemed frightening to him. She’s great at what she does, self-confident and assured in her every move. And duty is something Frank is familiar with - Shen Lun’s stain has long been felt. Frank’s grandmother’s pride had long been kept.

Reyna has a legacy. Of her family and of her own. She may have created it with her sister Hylla, but it is hers nonetheless.

Frank has one too. But his is conflicting. Shapeshifters, prisoners, immigrants, exiles, war heroes.

His mother would've told him he had his own path in life. His grandmother would've told him that children must follow their parents.

If there is one thing the Roman and Taoist gods are in agreement about, it is filial piety. It is loyalty to your parents, to the state. If there is one thing all of his ancestors would have probably agreed on, it would be that.

Obey your parents. Obey the state. Your parents gave you everything; you can never recompensate that.

He puts the kid's copy of Journey to the West back on the shelf.

He wants a good bowl of noodles - whatever it is. Crossing-the-bridge, udon (in Chinese dishes, yes, that was Chinese-Canadian). They don't have any decent Chinese food in New Rome (only terrible Chinese food allowed solely by , and he's not allowed to go to San Francisco, or, gods forbid, Vancouver. Even as praetor).

Maybe he should send one of his distant cousins a message - or his grandmother, if she's still alive. He thinks he could find her. Or perhaps it is more hope.

Plus, the praetors have their own kitchenette. He could probably make something. As long as it can be put in the microwave.

Frank smiles.

He thinks, if his grandmother is alive, she may be proud of him in this moment. For nothing else but where he's come and who he wants to be. For nothing else if that he has turned the Zhang family into what the Shen family could never be.

He thinks, if his mother were here to see him, she would be proud of him. Not for everything he's come to, but simply because she loves him. He thinks Emily Zhang would as well.

[camillabanilla]

I'm studying for an exam and I thought I'd turn a show on, something super chill and miss-able, so I pick The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down and it's super good? And one of the judges is Seth Rogen who is also super good at pottery stuff? This show is like crack to me.

[blogger360ncislarules]

Jason Priestley has boarded upcoming CBC drama Wild Cards, as the Canadian network unveils its winter slate.

The Beverly Hills 90210 star will play lead character Max’s father and master conman George in the series launching January 10 in Canada. It will debut at 8 pm January 17 on The CW in the U.S. followed by Family Law at 9 pm on the network. Priestley’s recent projects include Eastsiders creator Kit Williamson’s Ctrl Alt Del movie and Viaplay’s Börje – The Journey of a Legend.

Set in Vancouver, Wild Cards follows the unlikely duo of Ellis (Grey’s Anatomy), a gruff, sardonic cop and Max (Riverdale), a spirited, clever con woman. It has already been picked up by The CW in the States for next year.

Amongst its hefty winter slate, CBC also unveiled workplace comedy One More Time about a second-hand sporting goods store created by and starring stand-up DJ Demers. Elsewhere, Supinder Wraich and Enrico Colantoni star in Allegiance, a police drama about identity and belonging, policing and politics, and finding truth within the heart of a flawed justice system, while there are Season 3 recommissions for established comedies Run the Burbs and Son of a Critch.

In unscripted, The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down will launch February 8 featuring Seth Rogen as guest judge, while Travis Dhanraj is set to take up the Canada Tonight mantle on CBC News.

[grnolan]

A Non-Exhaustive List of Stuff to Watch During the Strike

Everybody has a backlog of things to watch, but for everyone who is like me and routinely looks at that backlog and goes "but none of those hundred things sound interesting right now", here are some recommendations.

If You Have…

NETFLIX

Avatar The Last Airbender: Animated/Fantasy; 3 seasons; A teenage chosen one reawakens 100 years into the war he’s meant to stop. If you somehow are on Tumblr and haven’t seen this show, give it a try now.

Cunk on Earth: Documentary; 1 season; A very serious documentary that very seriously tells the story of the history of human progress.

Glow Up (2019): Competition; 4 seasons; Aspiring makeup artists compete for opportunities in the industry.

Nailed It! (2018): Competition; 7 seasons; Nicole Byer and Jacques Torres laugh with people who are not bakers as they try to bake extremely complicated desserts in less time than professionals could do it.

Wynonna Earp (2016): Western Horror; 4 seasons; The cursed descendant of famous lawman Wyatt Earp hunts demons in a small Canadian town alongside her (canonically bisexual) little sister, a US Marshall, an immortal Doc Holliday, and a (canonically lesbian) local cop.

HULU

Domino Masters (2022): Competition; 1 season; A competition show where teams build Rube Goldberg devices primarily focusing on dominos.

Holey Moley (2019): Competition; 3 seasons; Increasingly ridiculous mini golf holes where the ball can go into a water hazard but the people go in much more frequently.

Lego Masters (2020): Competition; 3 seasons; Teams of two build complex Lego designs based on each week’s theme.

Primeval (2007): Sci-Fi; 5 seasons; British scientists and government officials discover fluctuating portals to various time periods, which release dinosaurs and other creatures into the modern day. You’ll watch the first season and go “idk why this is considered good” and then all the other seasons will happen.

DISNEY PLUS

DuckTales (2017): Animated/Adventure Comedy; 3 seasons; A reboot of the 80s show of the same name, but with better character development and better treatment of its female characters.

The Owl House (2020): Animated/Horror Comedy; 3 seasons; An Afro Latina human girl is on her way to summer camp to be taught “normalcy” when she goes through a portal and finds herself in the Demon Realm. She decides that it’s way better than camp and stays. Friendship, family, love, and PTSD ensue.

MAX

Baking Championships: The Baking Championships (Kids Baking Championship, Halloween Baking Championship, Holiday Baking Championship, Spring Baking Champion Championship) are all a nice heartwarming fun time.

The Great Pottery Throw Down (2015): Competition; 5 seasons; You know how chill and fun GBBO is? Imagine that but with pottery.

CRUNCHYROLL

RWBY (2013): Animated/Fantasy; 9 seasons; A group of girls join a school to train for hunting monsters and fighting crime with cool weapons that are usually some sort of melee weapon and also a gun. The animation gets better with every season.

NO STREAMING SERVICES

Board Game Club: An ongoing series on the No Rolls Barred YouTube page; a bunch of people get together and play board games. This probably sounds like it would be boring but it is absolutely fantastic.

Critical Role: YouTube; 2 completed campaigns, 1 ongoing; A group of voice actor friends get together to play Dungeons and Dragons. Increasingly well-produced over time.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: 100 episodes; An adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that takes place entirely over vlogs. Very funny, handles the confines of a vlog setting fairly well, and Ashley Clements (Lizzie) is fabulous.

Video Game YouTubers: Particularly Let’s Plays, speedruns, and challenges. I personally enjoy Pokemon challenges like by FlygonHG, and Super Mario Odyssey Hide and Seek by a bunch of different Mario streamers is great fun.

[bookgeekgrrl]

Sunday reading recap (20-Jun-21)

STUFF I WATCHED

Agatha Raisin and The Deadly Dance (s3, e2)

The Great Pottery Throw Down: s1, e3-6; s2, e1-2

In The Heights (3rd time)

Agatha Raisin and The Love From Hell (s3, e3)

Speed

F9: The Fast Saga - actually ventured out to a movie theater for this one & what a marvelous, bonkers ride it was

STUFF I READ

💜 Cinnamon Roll (Bold Brew #9) (Anna Zabo) – loved this – Max is exactly my Preferred Flavor of Dom

Murder at Elm House (A Miss Underhay Mystery #6) (Helena Dixon) – still really enjoying the escapades of Kitty and her boyfriend Matthew; Kitty gets a car & learns to drive & finds a murderer & escapes death yet again.

Clammed Up (A Maine Clambake Mystery #1) (Barbara Ross) – decent start to a new cozy series (for me)

💜 👂 Game Changer (Game Changers #1) (Rachel Reid, author; Tor Thom, narrator) – rereading this series ‘cause I had a craving. I read this in audio & the narrator made the decision to give Kip the THICKEST Brooklyn accent, which is 10000% correct as per the text but which I was absolutely not expecting. After adjustment, I loved it though, and missed it when Kip appeared without it in later books.

💜 👂 Heated Rivalry (Game Changers #2) (Rachel Reid, author; Tor Thom, narrator) – absolutely the BEST enemies/rivals-to-lovers I’ve ever read, full-stop. Featuring the most romantic tuna melt ever and Stupid Canadian Wolf Birds.

My Dinner with Hayden: A Heated Rivalry Short Story (Game Changers #2.5) (Rachel Reid) – now Shane’s gotta get this best friend and his boyfriend (formerly archnemesis) to get along

💜 👂 Tough Guy (Game Changers #3) (Rachel Reid, author; Tor Thom,  narrator) - after HR this is prob my 2nd fave – I love Ryan Price and his sweet soul and how he’s so good at something he kind of loathes doing

💜 👂 Common Goal (Game Changers #4) (Rachel Reid, author; Cooper North, narrator) – I’m a sucker for the experienced younger/inexperienced older age gap set up.

💜 💜 Subtle Blood (The Will Darling Adventures #3) (K.J. Charles) – FINALLY. A most satisfying end to Will & Kim’s Zodiac troubles. I’m just gonna quote May Peterson because she put it perfectly: “KJ’s storytelling is like if you took your favorite pulpy detective stuff and gave it much more class consciousness, hot sex scenes, and also made it about queers, so A+++.”

plus 60K of shorter fic so shorter work shout out

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Somewhere, Under Your Skin (thiccbuckybarnes) - 16K, modern AU - “Or, a Big Grump Bucky has a hot one night stand with a college kid who is popping up everywhere in his everyday life and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.” - reread, one of my favorites

wake up and smell the roses (sunshineforthesoul) - Nursey/Dex, 6K - Nursey & Dex buy each other flowers, pine, are oblivious and test poor Chowder’s friendship. 

[jaynedolluk]

TV OF 2021 PART 3

I like a lot of the comedy panel shows like Big Fat Quiz, QI, Mock The Week, HIGFY + Would I Lie To You?, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Sorry I Didn’t Know. I also tend to watch a fair few of the comedy shows that deal with current affairs like The Last Leg, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order and The Ranganation as well as Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back/Joe Lycett vs. The Oil Giant (which deal with consumer issues).

It was good to see comedies This Way Up, Feel Good, Alma’s Not Normal, Back, Dead Pixels, Code 404 and Motherland return for new series as well as one of my all time favourites, What We Do in the Shadows. And also a second series of Staged which I think it’s one of the best shows to utilise the pandemic/lockdown as the background – basically a lot of bickering between David Tennant + Michael Sheen.

New comedy series I loved – The Cleaner, Starstruck, Big Age + Dinosaur (hope they get full series), and my favourite, We Are Lady Parts (about an all-female Muslim punk band). They also showed the pilot of Douglas that Felix Dexter made which made me wish he’d been able to do a full series.

I still love Strictly Come Dancing. I love all the variations of Bake Off and Masterchef plus Great British Menu (altho’ I find that’s a bit hit + miss depending on the theme). I also love a show that’s based around some kind of crafting/creative challenge + there’s now quite a few around – The Great Pottery Throw Down, Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr, The Great British Sewing Bee, All That Glitters: Britain’s Next Jewellery Star, Glow-up: Britain’s Next Make-up Star, Legomasters USA/Australia (I still want someone to do a similar show for dolls’ houses/doll customisers), and Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker.

Plus general shows without the competitive element like Changing Rooms, Grayson’s Art Club (glad to hear it’s getting another series) and Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas

I love Drag Race (altho’ I’m a couple of seasons behind on the US version but I have watched the UK/Canadian/Australia + New Zealand plus All Stars S6) as well as other shows like We’re Here + Dragnificent + when Karaoke Club did a drag edition (which was just the best as they had Gingzilla on).

[tvrundownusa]

tvrundown USA 2020.09.17

Thursday, September 17th:

(exclusive/streaming): "Spides" (Crackle, original series premiere, all 8 eps), Bruh (BET+, season 1B resumes), Departure (Peacock, Canadian drama series stateside premiere, all 6 eps), Dragon's Dogma (netflix, anime premiere, all 7 eps), The Last Word (netflix, German drama series, all 6 eps), "Don't Let The Pigeon Do Storytime!" (HMax, readings and sketch comedy), The Great Pottery Throw Down (HMax, stateside premiere, all 24 eps), One Lane Bridge (SundanceNow, Maori mystery series premiere), We Got This (SundanceNow), Raised by Wolves (HMax, next 2 eps), Singled Out (Quibi), Star Trek: Lower Decks (AACBS)

(movies, etc.): "Spiral" (Shudder), "Residue" (Netflix), "GIMS: On the Record" (netflix, rapper documentary, ~96mins), "The Wrong Mommy" (LMN, enhanced edition of Lifetime original, 2hrs)

(also new): "Town Hall with Joe Biden" (CNN special, moderated by A.Cooper, ~75mins), "2020 Code" (MTV, "Girl Code"+"Guy Code" reunion special)

(hour 1): Big Brother All-Stars (CBS), Mysteries Decoded (theCW, "Area 51" revisited)

(hour 2): Love Island (CBS, 2hrs), Holey Moley (ABC, special clip show, part 2)

(hour 3): Love Island (CBS, contd), Celebrity Game Face (E!), Lost Resort (TBS)

[bewyldblog]

B E - INDOORS with ‘Sorry Girls’

Portrait of Sorry Girls drawn by Jordan Falzon

Since the CO-VID19 virus broke out, some of us might have been spending a lot of time indoors watching movies. The 1990 Rom-Com ‘Pretty Woman’ starring Julia Roberts, and Richard Gere, I was streaming recently, while getting a nostalgic feeling throughout it, especially when hearing Roxette’s “It must have been love”. That feeling kept growing, as Canadian dream pop duo - Sorry Girls popped up as a suggested artist on the Youtube channel with their song “Dirty Laundry”. Hit by the 80′s bug, we got in touch with them and asked them a few questions.

B E - What’s your experience with being indoors - so far, and how creative have you been?

Heather : The experience of being indoors has been varied. It feels like my personal feelings about confinement shift hourly. There’s this pressure [partly self-imposed, partly societal] to consider the quarantine and self-isolation like artistic “free time” a time to re-focus, to create, to heal, to give autonomy to one’s own productivity. However I think there’s a lot of danger in that kind of attitude. Not to go too deep into the millions of people currently suffering in a multitude of ways due to the pandemic, but, we have to acknowledge that these are unprecedented, alarming and catastrophic times and it doesn’t exactly sit right to categorize this time as “free.” There’s a lot for me to unpack, but I’m trying to accept the potential good without being in denial of its negatives.

That all being said. I have been going through peaks of super-productivity that are met with deep valleys of creative vacancy and anxiety. This isn’t extremely different to how I usually operate but I guess I’m feeling it a little more these days.

Dylan: I had an extremely isolated winter and I reached quite a low point of realizing how unhealthy that is and was beginning to take steps towards prioritizing social and community engagement.  As the winter was nearing its end I was taking steps towards getting myself back out into the world and then we all know how that story ends.  For me, the silver lining is that now that my previously self-imposed isolation has become a mandated reality it really makes me understand and appreciate how much I value social and community engagement.  Because these sentiments of getting myself back out in the world preceded social distancing, I don’t feel like this is a mere case of ‘you don’t miss your water until your well runs dry’, but of course now that I can’t have it I particularly want it.  Related to creativity,  I do feel like meaningful creative work requires a full life being lived to draw from, given the circumstances I am doing my best to turn towards nature walks, books, movies, etc.  so that I feel I have something to express.  It’s been challenging to stay on this track but rewarding when I manage to.

B E - How does it feel to be isolated in Montreal, Canada?

Heather: It’s interesting because in many ways it feels like “life as usual.” Dylan and I have the privilege of having a safe living situation and so even though we’re spending all this time inside we’re working on music, making food, watching movies and having phone calls with friends and family. It’s not really until I start having to navigate going outside that it becomes real. Right now as I understand it we’re not allowed to gather in groups larger than two, and need to keep a distance of 6 ft from each other and all non-essential establishments have been shut down and we are not supposed to travel more than a 1km radius from our homes.

Dylan: It’s like loneliness but with the scent of bagels and smoked meat coming through the windows.

B E - You had an upcoming tour with TOPS which got postponed. How did that effect your plans?

Definitely we had a plan to be on tour until the beginning of May and now we’re not really sure when shows will be a possibility again. Musicians rely almost primarily on live shows to make their income so we are definitely affected by that loss. However we are by no means an anomaly and in many ways we are lucky that this happened before we were scheduled to leave. There are so many other bands stranded and in even worse financial duress so I just feel awful for everyone who has lost their income, and for bands who’ve had tours, album releases, shows etc cancelled and I feel grateful for people, communities and organizations that are actively reaching out to help.

Dylan: TOPS is literally a long time fave band so I was sad but also it still brings me joy to consider that we were even invited in the first place.

B E - Any movies, TV series , books you suggest to others to watch, read during this time?

‘The Great Pottery Throw Down’, Seek Treatment Podcast, Meg Stalter’s Instagram, ‘Jumanji 2′, ‘Crip Camp’, ‘Cole Escola’, Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror, Lunch Poems

B E - Do you have any message you want to pass on to creatives/musicians out there finding it hard to cope during this strange time?

Try not to push too hard to create. Reach out to the people around you. Take care :)

And with that said, hopefully one day soon Sorry Girls can grace the Maltese Islands. However until that happens, tune into ‘Lockdown Sessions’ on Facebook, where today on Easter Sunday, they will perform a set online!

[laresearchette]

Thursday, March 28, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA AMERICAN RUST (Broken Justice Season 2) THE BAXTERS (Season 1-3) HOPE ON THE STREET OURIKA

CRAVE TV IN MEMORIAM (Season 1, Episodes 1-2)

NETFLIX CANADA BAD DINOSAURS RONJA THE ROBBER'S DAUGHTER

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 1:00pm: Brewers vs. Mets (SN) 3:00pm: Jays vs. Rays (SN Now) 4:00pm: Cardinals vs. Dodgers (TSN) 7:30pm: Cubs vs. Rangers (SN1) 10:00pm: Red Sox vs. Mariners

NHL HOCKEY (SN1) 7:00pm: Capitals vs. Leafs (TSN2) 7:00pm: Flyers vs. Habs (TSN5) 7:00pm: Chicago vs. Sens (SNWest) 8:00pm: Flames vs. Blues (TSN3) 8:00pm: Knights vs. Jets (SN360/SNEast) 10:00pm: Kings vs. Oilers (SNPacific) 10:00pm: Stars vs. Canucks

THE GREAT CANADIAN POTTERY THROW DOWN (CBC) 8:00pm: Four potters fight to remain in the final.

THE BRIDGE (Discovery Canada) 8:00pm

THE NATURE OF THINGS (CBC) 9:00pm: Popular nonbinary Canadian comedian and TV sitcom creator Mae Martin explores the science of gender and sexual fluidity.

LEGO MASTERS AUSTRALIA (Discovery Canada) 9:00pm: Cut-Away

PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR CELEBRITIES V KIDS SPECIAL (Makeful) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Artists from across the U.K. and Ireland compete in a battle of skill as they attempt to produce portraits of famous sitters; the winner will receive a £10,000 prize, along with their winning portrait being hung in a famous cultural institution.

JACK OSBOURNE'S NIGHT OF TERROR: BIGFOOT (DTour) 9:00pm: Friends Jack Osbourne and Jason Mewes venture deep into the woods of northern Idaho to find out for themselves if this infamous creature is real or simply an age-old legend.

I KISSED A BOY (E! Canada) 10:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Ten single guys are matched up, and meet for the first time - with a kiss, in the UK's first ever gay dating show, with pop singer Dannii Minogue playing Cupid.

TEXAS METAL'S LOUD AND LIFTED (Discovery Velocity) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMEIRE): The Wells family contends with 50 years of rust on a 1973 Peterbilt 352 COE; Josh, Mark and the Mod Mafia team give a 2018 Ford VelociRaptor a custom, high-performance overhaul.

CANADIAN REFLECTIONS (CBC) 11:30pm: Braided Together; The Walk

[samuelmmarcus]

Modern Farmhouse

  This newly-built home is easy to love. A beautiful modern farmhouse that superbly highlights all the best parts of this style. Fresh rustic, comfortable modern, and clean lines with a twist. The crisp whites and blacks are paired with exquisite accessories that complete the look. There is a down-home feeling to this modern farmhouse that invites a sense of laughter and fun.

Here, the builder and designer, shares more details:

  “The Maxwell” is a home that we designed as an infill in a neighborhood called Altadore in Calgary, Alberta. My husband and I own Trickle Creek and we rebranded our company about 4 years ago hoping to focus strongly on client care and the feeling of building your dream home. From this we determined that every home we build has a unique personality. We build our showhomes  after our kids! Maxwell is our 18 year old son and this house just screams him!”

  Modern Farmhouse

This modern farmhouse exudes beauty and a timeless appeal. Horizontal plank siding and board and batten are James Hardie Arctic White.

Columns, Rafter tails, trim: Smartboard, painted to match James Hardie Arctic White.

Wood Soffit: Natural cedar with clear coat.

Aluminum Soffit & Rainware: Alumipro: 701 White.

Decking: Natural cedar.

Roof: Asphalt Shingles: IKO Cambridge Dual Black.

Metal Roof: Cascadia Metals Black.

Windows: Lux Black metal clad exterior & white vinyl interior with SDLs.

Front Door

Front door is Fir, supplied by Lux Stained Floodpro, Polar Blue (2 coats).

Lights: Canarm Colorado – Black – Others: here, here, here, here & here.

Foyer

This home takes your breath away the moment you open the front door. How impressive and authentic is this foyer?!

Wood Ceiling: Knotty Alder, stained Minwax: Weathered Oak.

Lights: Artcraft Cityscape Chandelier – Bronze – similar: here & here.

Flowers Silk Plant: Warehouse, arrangement by Trickle Creek.

Accent Wall

Foyer Feature Wall: MDF applied mouldings painted Dulux A0148 White on White.

Wall & Ceiling Color: Benjamin Moore: OC-130 Cloud White.

Rug: Pottery Barn – Other Beautiful Rugs: here, here, here, here, here & here.

Art (Hallway): Custom by Trickle Creek.

Console Table: Pottery Barn Parquet Table – Others: here, here, here & here.

Baskets: Pottery Barn Beachcomber Rectangular Handled Basket.

Pillows and Blankets: Homesense.

Lanterns: Homesense – similar here.

Layout

This home features an open layout but you can’t see the entire home when you open the front door, which I love! Wall and ceiling paint color is Benjamin Moore OC-130 Cloud White.

Trim Color: Dulux A0148 White on White.

Flooring: Divine Hardwood Terra Oak – Naturali – Others: here, here, here & here.

Dining Room

The dining room features a gorgeous asymmetrical Oak wine rack that is, without any question, the focal point of this space.

Dining Table: Cartwright Lighting – Bois & Cuir Athena Rectangular Dining Table – Other Beautiful Dining Tables: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here & here.

Dining Chairs: Wayfair.

Light Fixture: Kichler Lighting: Elata 8-Light Chandelier, Classic Pewter.

Railing: Wrought Iron, black.

Great Room

The Great Room feels sleek and bright. Notice that beautiful fireplace with stacked wood and the many windows this room features. Wall and ceiling paint color is Benjamin Moore Cloud White.

Fireplace Tile: Euro Tile Update Series 24×48 – Taupe, straight install (Similar: here & here) – Custom Prism: 540 Truffle grout.

Fireplace: Spartherm Varia Wood Burning Fireplace.

Windows Lux: Black metal clad exterior & white vinyl interior with SDLs.

Light Fixture: Artcraft Lighting Encore Chandelier, Polished Nickel.

Coffee Table: Restoration Hardware – similar here, here, here & here (round) – Others: here, here, here, here & here.

Sofas: Pottery Barn Turner Leather Sofas, Burnished Walnut.

Side Chairs: Crate and Barrel Greyson Chair.

Side Tables: Astley End Table, Anthracite Grey.

Table Lamps: Pottery Barn – similar here.

Pillows: HomeSense – similar here.

Faux Fur Throw: here – similar.

Kitchen

“The kitchen makes a statement while still feeling like home.” – Nicole Tew.

Wall & Ceiling Color: Benjamin Moore: OC-130 Cloud White.

Perimeter Countertops: Bianco Carrara Marble.

Sink: Kohler Whitehaven Double Bowl Apron Front Sink – White.

Faucet: Aquabrass Baguette Pull-down Faucet – Others: here, here & here (on sale).

Flowers: Silk Plant Warehouse, arrangement by Trickle Creek.

Kitchen Cabinetry

Kitchen Cabinet Details: MDF Shaker Style painted, Atelier Jacobs Frosty White 1506.

Island Countertop: Oiled Walnut Butcher Block.

Backsplash: Euro Tile Scale Series Hexagon White with Euro Tile Chevron Series White – Other Tiles: here, here, here, here, here, here, here & here.

Grout: Mapei 00 White grout.

Hoodfan Wood Hood, painted Atelier Jacobs, Frosty White 1506 Metal accents, rose gold.

Cabinet Door Hardware: Top Knobs Channing Polished Nickle Knobs with Channing Polished Nickel Back Plates.

Counterstools: Crate and Barrel Tig, White Counter Stools with Brown Leather Cushion.

Lighting: 2x Matteo Lighting C64002CP, 2x Matteo Lighting C64001CP & 1x Matteo Lighting C64003CP – Copper.

Island Size 106” x 57”.

Patio Door

“X” Inset Patio Door Paint Color: Dulux A2015 Deep Onyx.

Trim Color: Dulux A0148 White on White.

Reading Nook

This kitchen features an adorable reading nook surrounded by bookshelves.

Cabinet Drawer Hardware: Top Knobs Channing Polished Nickel Cup Pulls.

Kitchen Windows: Lux Black metal clad exterior & white vinyl interior with SDLs.

Butler’s Pantry

The kitchen opens to a fully equipped butler’s pantry with Bianco Carrara Marble countertop and open shelves. Wall paint color is Benjamin Moore OC-130 Cloud White.

Shelving: White Oak, stained Atelier Jacobs Brandy – similar here, here & here.

Brackets: Kootenay Forge Large Elbow Shelf Brackets, Black – similar here & here.

Cabinet Details: MDF Shaker Style painted Atelier Jacobs Frosty White 1506.

Coffee Maker: Breville Barista Express.

Mudroom

This mudroom brings a splash of color to this home. Also notice the drop zone with quartz countertop.

Floor Tile: Euro Tile Update Series 12×24 – White, straight install – similar here.

Cabinet Hardware: Berenson Subtle Surge Knob, Verona Bronze.

Hooks: Richelieu Classic Metal Hook, Oil Rubbed Bronze.

Décor and Accessories: Homesense – similar Lumbar Pillow, Burlap Pillows & Baskets.

Countertop: MSI Surfaces Arctic White.

Paint Color

Cabinet Details: MDF Shaker Style with Beadboard backing painted Benjamin Moore: CC-758 Scenic Drive.

Master Bedroom

“The master bedroom with its vaulted ceilings, his and her closets and a crazy gorgeous en-suite is seriously next level!”

Bed: Crate and Barrel, Mason King Sized Bed, Shadow – Other Beds on Sales: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here & here.

Carpet Flooring: Dream Weaver DW066 Knob Creek, 815 Iron Frost.

Light Fixture: Progress Lighting.

Settee: HomeSense – similar here, here & here.

Nightstands: HomeSense – Others: here, here, here & here.

Lamps: HomeSense – Others: here, here, here, here, here & here.

Paint Color

Paint color is Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.

Ceiling Detail: MDF beams with shiplap between painted Dulux A0148 White on White.

Home-Sweet-Home

“We adore the unreal indoor/outdoor room that makes Canadian shorter seasons just a little more “do-able”!”

Siding: Horizontal plank siding and trim.

Ceiling Detail: Natural cedar with clear coat.

Slat Detail: Natural cedar with clear coat.

Vinyl Decking: DekSmart, Dove Gray.

Light Fixture: Trans Globe Lighting Avo 24” Pendant – Bronze – similar here.

Fireplace: Marquis Collection by Kingsman Aurora Natural Gas Outdoor Fireplace – Stainless Steel with log set & lava rocks.

Windows & Doors: Lux Black metal clad exterior & white vinyl interior with SDLs.

All Furniture and Accessories: HomeSense.

Planters: Peter the Plantman.

  “We love this home. It was designed with love after our first born and has been so fun to show people.” – Nicole Tew

  Many thanks to the builder for sharing the details above!

Builder: Trickle Creek Designer Homes – (Instagram – Facebook)

Photography: Zoon Media.

  Best Sales of the Month:

Thank you for shopping through Home Bunch. I would be happy to assist you if you have any questions or are looking for something in particular. Feel free to contact me and always make sure to check dimensions before ordering. Happy shopping!

  Wayfair: Up to 70% OFF Black Friday in July!!!

  Serena & Lily: 30% OFF Pillows and 20% OFF Custom Furniture!

  Joss & Main: Up to 70% off “Don’t Think Twice Sale”!

  Pottery Barn: 20% OFF your order plus free shipping. Use code: SUMMER.

  One Kings Lane :20% Off on order over $600 with code OKLSTYLISH20

  West Elm: 30% Off Bedding, Bath, Rugs & more!

  Anthropologie: Take an Extra 50% Off Sale!

  Urban Outfitters: Take an extra 40% off all sale items.

  Horchow: Up to 30% off the entire site!

  Neiman Marcus: Take an Extra 40 to 50% off !!!

  Saks Fifth Avenue: The Designer Sale: up to 75% off!

  Nordstrom: Anniversary Sale – Incredible Prices!!!

  Posts of the Week:

Kitchen with Blue Island.

Florida Beach Cottage.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Coastal Farmhouse Design.

Florida Beach House Interior Design.

White Kitchen Renovation.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Modern Farmhouse.

Coastal Shingle Home.

Coastal-inspired Home Renovation.

Southern-inspired Modern Farmhouse.

Coastal Farmhouse Home Decor.

New Desert Home Design.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: British Columbia.

Reinvented Classic Kitchen Design.

New England Home.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: How to Build your own Home.

Interior Design Ideas: Home Renovation.

2019 New Year Home Tour.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Urban Farmhouse.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Fixer Upper.

Small Lot Modern Farmhouse.Beach House Interior Design Ideas.

Tailored Interiors.

Modern Farmhouse with Front Porch.

Dark Cedar Shaker Exterior.

Classic Colonial Home Design.Grey Kitchen Paint Colors.

Follow me on Instagram: @HomeBunch

You can follow my pins here: Pinterest/HomeBunch

See more Inspiring Interior Design Ideas in my Archives.

“Dear God,

If I am wrong, right me. If I am lost, guide me. If I start to give-up, keep me going.

Lead me in Light and Love”.

Have a wonderful day, my friends and we’ll talk again tomorrow.”

with Love,

Luciane from HomeBunch.com

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[cvbucketlist-blog]

Bucketlist #026 - (141/312)

2017 GOALS

Art Gallery of Ontario

Toronto Islands

Ca Lem

Bruce Peninsula 

Cliff dive into water

Explore sea cave

Nuit Blanche

Catch ‘em all on Pokemon Go gen 1 (140/143)

FOOD & DRINK

Charcoal ice cream

Seven Lives

Figures

Famous Last Words

Teabot

La Carnita

Koo Koo

Fresh

Veghed

The Black Hoof

Schlouppe Bistrot Nakamichi

La Betise

Lee

Kampai Garden

Bord’elle

Le Mal Necessaire

Peameal bacon sandwich

Canal Lounge

Le Red Tiger

Big In Japan Bar

Marvens

Dine with a city view

Hibachi

Jellyfish

Butter Avenue

Red Bench

Marche Atwater

Candi Bar

Mme Lee

Romados

Wooffles & Cream

Terrasse Bonsecours

Laduree

Cafe du Monde (beignets!)

King cake

Garde Manger

Au Pied du Cochon

Deville Diner

Moishes

Live octopus

Twisters (aka Los Pollos)

The Boiling Crab

Blackstrap BBQ

Momofuku

Sweet Jesus

Deep dish pizza

Wah Sing

Mon Ami fried chicken

Kekou

Burger Priest

Mr. Puffs

Fugo

Kensington market

Doughnut cone

Pai

Chipotle

Koa Lua

Brigade Pizzeria Napolitaine

Raclette

The Lockhart

Ebisu

Randolph Pub Ludique

Thai style ice cream

C’Chocolat

The Halal Guys

Poop Cafe

Pumpkin spice latte

L’Avenue (+ check out bathroom)

Marche Jean Talon

Le Poke Bar

La Diperie

Firewhisky

Creme des Neiges

Tsujiri

Qing Hua dumplings

Escondite

Mandy’s

Cadbury creme egg mcflurry

Le Lab

Yokato Yokabai

Triple sake bomb

Nilufar

Shaved ice

Captain’s Boil

Have a huge turkey leg

Uncle Tetsu cheesecake

Baklava

Home cooked dinner by candle light

Five Guys burgers

Bang Bang ice cream with HK egg waffle cone

Ganadara

Lola Rosa

Sour amaretto

La Belle et la Boeuf

Allo Mon Coco

Kinka Izakaya

Mochi ice cream

Snakes & Lattes

Cat cafe

Kem Coba

Crawfish

Kinton Ramen

Kazu

In N Out

TRAVEL

Scandinavia

Montreal love sign

Watkins Glen State Park

Brooklyn bridge

Casa Loma

Vancouver

Canadian Rockies (Banff or Jasper National Park)

CN Tower edge walk

Go up the CN Tower

Croatia

Costa Rica

Cinque Terre, Italy

Return to Florence

Climb Stairway to Heaven in Hawaii

Alaska

Zion National Park, Utah

Travel to random location with no itinerary

Hike the Inca Trail

Thailand

Vietnam

Spain (especially Park Guell)

Visit 6 continents (no Antarctica)

Study/work/volunteer abroad

Northern Lights

New Orleans

Go on a cruise

Sunset in Santorini

Gondola ride in Venice

Real sushi in Japan

Asia tour

Europe tour

Giant turtles on Galapagos Islands

LOTR areas in New Zealand

Paris

Watch a show in Vegas

Walk across the Golden Gate bridge in SF

Broadway musical in NYC

Scuba dive in Great Barrier Reef

Stroll through Central Park

Antelope Canyons, Arizona

Board down the Alps

Road trip

Chicago

Scarborough Bluffs

Humber bridge

Toronto sign at night

Albion falls in Hamilton

Brookfield Place

Diagon Alley

Fly by myself

Hike Dundas Peak

Ripley’s Aquarium

Disneyland LA

Walk of Fame in LA

Cable car in San Francisco

Disneyworld Orlando

Drink Butterbeer at Wizarding World of HP

Pompeii

Acropolis

Colosseum

Florence

LEARN

Roll own sushi

Make pretty macarons

Take cooking class

Cook a really mean steak

Curl own hair nicely

Dance (ballroom, latin and contemporary, a little bit of hip hop)

Sewing basics

Bike.. properly (this is embarrassing)

Make pie from scratch

Make pizza from scratch (bonus: try to throw it in the air)

Billiards

Skating

Snowboarding

EVENTS

Hot air balloon festival

Osheaga

Have surprise party thrown for me

Van Gogh exhibition

Choir Choir Choir

Watch ballet

LOTR in Concert

1920s party

Obstacle course race

Easter egg hunt

Scavenger hunt (bonus: picture scavenger hunt)

Throw successful surprise party

Floating lantern festival

Attend a legit masquerade ball

Disney on Ice

White party

Toga party

Throw big house party

Igloofest

Ugly Christmas sweater party

Attend a concert

Meet Us the Duo

Chihuly exhibition

Ottawa Tulip Festival

Toronto Christmas Market

Food truck festival

Paint Night

Zelda symphony

Color Me Rad

Tam Tams

Piknic Electronik

Watch a musical

Lion King the musical

New Year’s kiss

Bake birthday cake for someone

Cosplay at Comic Con

Cirque du Soleil

ACTIVITIES

Pursuit OCR

Axe throwing

Partner yoga

Laser tag

Skyzone/iSaute

Snorkeling

Archery tag

Dragon boat

Sailing

Paragliding/parasailing

Jet ski

Stand up paddle board

Horseback riding

Archery

Paintball

Huge snowball fight with forts

Belaying/rock climbing

Bungee jump

Skydive

Beach volleyball

Dog sled

Ice fishing

Go karting

Aerial yoga

Pole dancing

Water gun/water balloon fight

Escape room

Musical swings

Spa

Zipline

Tubing

Canoe/kayak

AT LEAST ONCE

Ride a camel

Be apart of human pyramid

Swim in deep fresh water cave

Be apart of flash mob

Skinny dip

Hide n seek in Ikea

Fish pedicure

Bathe an elephant

Take antique theme photo

Climb tall tree

Infinity pool

Tandem bike

Cross hanging bridge

Build elaborate sand castle

Do flip on trampoline

Swim with dolphins

Ceramic cafe

Pottery wheel

Fruit picking

Hold/pet tiger cub

Professional photoshoot

See cherry blossoms in full bloom

Sing at live karaoke bar

Mistletoe kiss

Attach lock of love

Catch bouquet at wedding

Get drawing done by artist

Go underneath/behind a waterfall

Gingerbread house

Carve pumpkin

Hike up mountain

Shoot a gun

Ride an elephant

PERSONAL

Own 1861 dress

Sell piece of artwork

Make a singing/ukulele cover

Master the ukulele

Finish LOTR trilogy

Finish Millennium books

Have a table at a convention

Send postcard to PostSecret

Weigh at least 110 lbs

Donate blood

Watch all the Oscar’s best pictures (25/90)

Play Kingdom Hearts

Beat Twilight Princess

Be a bridesmaid

Adopt a puppy

Try watercolor

Obtain driver’s license

Reread The Little Prince

Design business cards

Make own website for artwork/portfolio/demo reel

Dye hair

Own ugly Christmas sweater

Make Facebook art page

Get celebrity’s autograph

Go to movies alone

Get gym membership

Studio internship

Inktober

Screen animation at film festival

Donate hair

Display artwork in gallery

[streetsbound]

Body Ritual among the Nacirema

“ The anthropologist has become so familiar with the diversity of ways in which different people behave in similar situations that he is not apt to be surprised by even the most exotic customs. In fact, if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe. The point has, in fact, been expressed with respect to clan organization by Murdock. In this light, the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go.

Professor Linton first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago, but the culture of this people is still very poorly understood. They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east. According to Nacirema mythology, their nation was originated by a culture hero, Notgnihsaw, who is otherwise known for two great feats of strength—the throwing of a piece of wampum across the river Pa-To-Mac and the chopping down of a cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth resided.

Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people's time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique.

The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.

While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries. I was able, however, to establish sufficient rapport with the natives to examine these shrines and to have the rituals described to me.

The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm.

The charm is not disposed of after it has served its purpose, but is placed in the charmbox of the household shrine. As these magical materials are specific for certain ills, and the real or imagined maladies of the people are many, the charm-box is usually full to overflowing. The magical packets are so numerous that people forget what their purposes were and fear to use them again. While the natives are very vague on this point, we can only assume that the idea in retaining all the old magical materials is that their presence in the charm-box, before which the body rituals are conducted, will in some way protect the worshiper.

Beneath the charm-box is a small font. Each day every member of the family, in succession, enters the shrine room, bows his head before the charm-box, mingles different sorts of holy water in the font, and proceeds with a brief rite of ablution. The holy waters are secured from the Water Temple of the community, where the priests conduct elaborate ceremonies to make the liquid ritually pure.

In the hierarchy of magical practitioners, and below the medicine men in prestige, are specialists whose designation is best translated as "holy-mouth-men." The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber.

The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the fact that these people are so punctilious about care of the mouth, this rite involves a practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger as revolting. It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.

In addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year. These practitioners have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of these items in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client. The holy-mouth-man opens the client's mouth and, using the above mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes. If there are no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so that the supernatural substance can be applied. In the client's view, the purpose of these ministrations is to arrest decay and to draw friends. The extremely sacred and traditional character of the rite is evident in the fact that the natives return to the holy-mouth-men year after year, despite the fact that their teeth continue to decay.

It is to be hoped that, when a thorough study of the Nacirema is made, there will be careful inquiry into the personality structure of these people. One has but to watch the gleam in the eye of a holy-mouth-man, as he jabs an awl into an exposed nerve, to suspect that a certain amount of sadism is involved. If this can be established, a very interesting pattern emerges, for most of the population shows definite masochistic tendencies. It was to these that Professor Linton referred in discussing a distinctive part of the daily body ritual which is performed only by men. This part of the rite includes scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument. Special women's rites are performed only four times during each lunar month, but what they lack in frequency is made up in barbarity. As part of this ceremony, women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour. The theoretically interesting point is that what seems to be a preponderantly masochistic people have developed sadistic specialists.

The medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size. The more elaborate ceremonies required to treat very sick patients can only be performed at this temple. These ceremonies involve not only the thaumaturge but a permanent group of vestal maidens who move sedately about the temple chambers in distinctive costume and headdress.

The latipso ceremonies are so harsh that it is phenomenal that a fair proportion of the really sick natives who enter the temple ever recover. Small children whose indoctrination is still incomplete have been known to resist attempts to take them to the temple because "that is where you go to die." Despite this fact, sick adults are not only willing but eager to undergo the protracted ritual purification, if they can afford to do so. No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after one has gained and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift.

The supplicant entering the temple is first stripped of all his or her clothes. In everyday life the Nacirema avoids exposure of his body and its natural functions. Bathing and excretory acts are performed only in the secrecy of the household shrine, where they are ritualized as part of the body-rites. Psychological shock results from the fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon entry into the latipso. A man, whose own wife has never seen him in an excretory act, suddenly finds himself naked and assisted by a vestal maiden while he performs his natural functions into a sacred vessel. This sort of ceremonial treatment is necessitated by the fact that the excreta are used by a diviner to ascertain the course and nature of the client's sickness. Female clients, on the other hand, find their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men.

Few supplicants in the temple are well enough to do anything but lie on their hard beds. The daily ceremonies, like the rites of the holy-mouth-men, involve discomfort and torture. With ritual precision, the vestals awaken their miserable charges each dawn and roll them about on their beds of pain while performing ablutions, in the formal movements of which the maidens are highly trained. At other times they insert magic wands in the supplicant's mouth or force him to eat substances which are supposed to be healing. From time to time the medicine men come to their clients and jab magically treated needles into their flesh. The fact that these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men.

There remains one other kind of practitioner, known as a "listener." This witchdoctor has the power to exorcise the devils that lodge in the heads of people who have been bewitched. The Nacirema believe that parents bewitch their own children. Mothers are particularly suspected of putting a curse on children while teaching them the secret body rituals. The counter-magic of the witchdoctor is unusual in its lack of ritual. The patient simply tells the "listener" all his troubles and fears, beginning with the earliest difficulties he can remember. The memory displayed by the Nacirema in these exorcism sessions is truly remarkable. It is not uncommon for the patient to bemoan the rejection he felt upon being weaned as a babe, and a few individuals even see their troubles going back to the traumatic effects of their own birth.

In conclusion, mention must be made of certain practices which have their base in native esthetics but which depend upon the pervasive aversion to the natural body and its functions. There are ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat. Still other rites are used to make women's breasts larger if they are small, and smaller if they are large. General dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbolized in the fact that the ideal form is virtually outside the range of human variation. A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hyper-mammary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee.

Reference has already been made to the fact that excretory functions are ritualized, routinized, and relegated to secrecy. Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent. When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturition takes place in secret, without friends or relatives to assist, and the majority of women do not nurse their infants.

Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves. But even such exotic customs as these take on real meaning when they are viewed with the insight provided by Malinowski when he wrote: ‘Looking from far and above, from our high places of safety in the developed civilization, it is easy to see all the crudity and irrelevance of magic. But without its power and guidance early man could not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could man have advanced to the higher stages of civilization.’ “ ~Horace Mitchell Miner, Published in American Anthropologist, vol 58, June 1956.

[lemonypinky]

Venting to Yoshiko

I finally got two nights in a row of good sleep over the weekend. Yatta! The joy was short-lived. Last night I may have gotten 5 hours at most. Oh well. I'll take what I can. 

I'm in a period of uncertainty about what to do next. I have to wait to get an ultrasound next week to see if the baby is progressing properly and if it could have Down's Syndrome. I can't really talk to anyone about baby stuff until we know more. I would like to start thinking about the future, but the doctor seems to imply that if there is a high chance of a problem with the baby, we might want to consider terminating the pregnancy... which isn't something I want to think about. I just want a healthy baby! So we're in limbo regarding that... I don't know what to do about jobs... I know that working again will stress me out and I would rather stay stress-free. But if I don't find a job, what do I do with my time? On my trip back from Japan, I sat next to a Canadian man who is looking to hire someone with my skills set for a short-term contract. I wrote to him last week with my CV and portfolio of work. Hopefully, he'll contact me so we can work together, which would be a great opportunity to do some low-key work before the baby arrives. Honestly though, I'm not holding my breath. So maybe I have to look for another short-term contract for the next 3-5 months...

  I could continue my pottery business and focus on marketing my pots. However, I am not making new things for a long time because I did not sign up for the summer session at the studio (the instructor I like is not going to teach). I have so many pots that are not good enough to give as gifts or good enough to sell... so they are cluttering my apartment. It's actually frustrating to see all the work I did just sit there gathering dust. You can't recycle pottery so I feel bad throwing them away to be dumped in landfills, too. And to be honest, since finding out about the baby and my time in Tajimi, I've lost a bit of drive to continue pottery. There is so much dust and chemicals in a studio that I'd have to be extra careful to not inhale anything. And once my belly gets bigger, it will be more difficult to use the pottery wheel anyway. 

Sorry to vent to you, I can't really talk to anyone else about it. I don't even want to talk to Nick about it because I know he wants me to find a short-term contract. He feels pressured right now because he is the only one making money for the family. His boss is not the best boss so Nick is afraid that he might get fired, which means no money and no health care. If I find a short-term contract, it would help with the money aspect, but we would still only be relying on his employer's health care. In the States, you only have access to a health care plan through a full-time job with an employer. Some employers have very minimal and expensive health care plans (like the old job I had) but Nick is lucky to have a very good health care plan for our family. So his stress is not just about making money, but about keeping the health care plan. 

And it doesn't make sense for me to try and get a full-time job now because no one would want to hire a pregnant woman who will go on maternity leave in a few months... Besides, I want to take more than a few weeks off after the baby is born and Nick is ok with that. We just need to make sure we get to the end of the year, when the baby is born, without any disruption to his job! That way he can get his 4-months paternity leave with some pay, which is excellent for a father in the U.S. My old job only had 1 week off for the father and 5 weeks off for the mother. Welcome to shitty America! In Canada, it's a year off total with some pay, divided however you want between the father and the mother. All that to say, I feel stuck until we know more about what's going on with the baby... Sigh. Thanks for reading. I know you don't have answers, but it makes me feel a little better to voice my worries.