I go with no posts for a while and then spring them on you all at once. I'm like that. Happy Thanksgiving. I figured today I'd relax and do some housekeeping--this, of course, includes blogging. I have had an eventful week since Kat left.
I'll start with the Tuesday trip to the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. Of course, we all know that George is the founder of Kodak and his house is now a major museum for photography and film. And huge into conservation. And with a large archive. If you didn't know, now you do. So we got to go into a special viewing room and basically stare for five hours at photographs that most people would be lucky to see behind glass for $10 dollars in their lifetime.
It was an incredible experience to say the least. I saw an original Matthew Brady daguerreotype. Along with two original Hill and Adamson salted paper prints that date back to 1845. Not to mention original O'Sullivan, Weston, Barnard, Baldus, Atget, Stieglitz, Cameron and Marville. Maybe you only know one or two names or none, but they are really well know to most photographers. Especially those who study the history. It was 14 hours of photography goodness. These are the days that get me more and more excited about the field I am going into.
Wednesday was my presentation. I'd hardly slept before, I was so busy preparing after getting back from Rochester. It went all right, but I thought I was going to poke my eyes out after sitting in class for over 4 hours. I then went with the Fab 5 (myself, Fran, Tess, Ali and Nadia) to get shawarmas. I napped until Shannon showed up and my house to drink my day away with some wine.
That turned into a long night and then I couldn't sleep at all. I stumbled out of bed by 9:30am and seemed unable to do much. This made Mike's class all the more hard for me. And I was so excited because we did calotypes, ambrotypes and collodion prints. I will say now that I think ambrotypes are one of my most favorite processes from the 19th century. Even more so than the daguerreotype, which is still like watching a magic trick.
This leads up to movie night Friday with the Parliament House family where Squash Matt (I live with two) rented Inside Man. It was a nice quiet family evening.
Saturday I went to the AGO with Shannon where we saw the Andy Warhol exhibit. I was pretty impressed with the curation of the exhibit. Except for one large error and that was mixing up the paneling of this one diptych. While listening to the handheld audio tour, he noticed that they mentioned the blank red panel was on the right side. Now, I mix my right and left up too sometimes, but clearly, it was on the left and not the right. Somebody wasn't paying any attention.
I also managed to learn a lot about Warhol. I didn't know he was gay or that anyone attempted to assassinate him. I also learned he was pretty obsessed with the idea that death made people celebrities and how being a celebrity was like death and just death in general. Including his own. And he wore wigs. He like 12 of them. Who knew? So, I enjoyed myself.
I then proceeded to ignore my hunger and drink a cafe mocha. Then we sat around talking until we both got the shakes and had to go home to find food or else pass out. I'm so irresponsible when it comes to coffee.
After dinner, Granville, Squash Matt and I take a trip to buy some alcohol at the Beer Store. Greatest invention in the world. You stare at a huge wall with prices of different kinds of beer, you order the beer and then your beer comes out on a conveyer belt of sorts. Brilliant.
Shannon came back over just as we were drinking and watching Legally Blond. My roommates have taste. Then we wandered over to an Irish pub for a pint or two, just to get out the house and have a little fun. Which we managed to. Until later that night when Shannon dropped me on my head. So then, I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night--just in case it was a concussion. Wtf.
So Sunday, sleep deprived and all I cook Thanksgiving dinner. I had maybe two hours of sleep. Then I cooked for six hours. Turkey, stuffing, pumpkin and apple pie, potatoes, squash and homemade whip cream. It was awesome. The entire house helped me cook, prep and clean up. And it tasted amazing. Tess also came over to help and eat. The Parliament Family managed to polish off most of the food, including two pies by Monday (which is the actually Thanksgiving, but who's counting).
After dinner and pie, I pretty much just passed out. There was no way I was going to keep my eyes open. Not after so much cooking and such a good meal. But I loved it. Even when the pie crust kept giving me a hard time. We have so many leftover apples, I'm going to make another pie. If anyone's around in Toronto that seems a little hungry for pie. Otherwise, leave it to Granville and Squash Matt to eat it all. We all toasted to the holiday with our thanks for the Parliament House--and for Tess.
And in closing, since it is Thanksgiving, I guess I'll be cliche and say the things I'm thankful for here in Toronto--especially since I was bummed this morning to find out my car is officially gone. I'm thankful for the Parliament House Family, the Fab 5, the PPCM program, art and more art, the Toronto skyline, Smarties, Shannon (since he doesn't have a group), Tim Hortons, warm boots, street cars, lots of coffee, the Beer Store and city lights, eh.
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