those liberals with their smut television and their discussions on the internets

dear friends,

i actually left the icrm to socialize last night (two nights in a row in fact), but it meant that i missed the recap of desperate houswives. so, i decided to read up on the interweb. what i found was a very interesting discussion of tuesday's election. 45 desperate houswives fans will be voting for president bush. 57 desperate housewives fans will be voting for senator kerry. below is a selection of the most interesting comments. the question was who are you voting for, bush or kerry? usernames are provided in brackets where interesting to me.

Neither one. I already voted for Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate. (Early voting started 2 days ago here in Texas.)

I am undecided, but so far I think Bush is more straightforward...Kerry is a lawyer for petes sake. so I guess I'll have to say BUSH!!!!!!!!! (Mindylou72)

I am a senior citizen.During the Clinton Administration I had an extremely good and well paying job. I took numerous vacations and had several vacation homes. Since President Bush took office, I have watched my entire life change for the worse. I lost my job. I lost my two sons in that terrible Iraqi War. I lost my homes. I lost my health insurance. As a matter of fact I lost virtually everything and became homeless. Adding insult to injury, when the authorities found me living like an animal, instead of helping me, they arrested me. I will do anything that Senator Kerry wants to insure that a Democrat is back in the White House come next year. Sincerely, Saddam Hussein

After what Mrs. Kerry said about Laura Bush...I'm BUSH! Shame on you Mrs. Kerry!Being a Mother is the hardest JOB on the planet...especially this one.With Hienz money you would never know...I'm also buying HUNTS now too! My Salute to Commander and Chief of the WAHM SAHM Librarian Society...Mrs. Laura Bush! (Mommieswin)

Teresa Heinz Kerry Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry's name has been the source of some confusion. Americans usually pronounce Teresa; as teh-REE-seh, but she favors the more European-sounding teh-RAY-zeh. In case you have trouble with this, just remember that her husband, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry wants teh-RAY-zeh your taxes! LOL! GOOOOO Bush!

Soccor Mom in Pennsylvania for BUSH!!

Kerry. I think I,m the only liberal in Nebraska so keep this to yourself.

unrelated: mr. nibbleybites has been seen again. more traps are being bought.

cam

this is a far too flattering graphical representation or mr. nibbleybites

dear friends,

the illustrious circle road manor functions quite nicely with two residents and occassional guests. recently a rodent or rodents have decided they want in on the fun. gross. and scary. mr. nibbleybites and/or mr. bo-nibbley (so as to prevent the thought of little nibblets) have not been seen in 48hours. they have not been captured by the snap traps either. i hope that this means the war has been won and that there will be no future sightings. naturally i will keep you posted on this exciting event.

i ain't afraid of no mouse...
cam

cbc's epic thriller, human cargo

dear friends,

i feel vindicated. the gemini nominees were announced today and leading the pack is cbc's "epic thriller" human cargo. i am not ashamed to say that a couple of august thursdays were spent watching this. in fact i really looked forward to the second and third installments. i mean its not as deserving of telefilm funding as something like the "mighty swans" but really what is?

for those of you unfamiliar, the residents of the icrm [avid yet selective tv viewers and readers of canadian cultural policy] have decided that the cbc should air a remake of the swan that focus on remaking deformed hockey players. just think about how messed up someone's face can get after 6 seasons in the nhl. plus, it would be great for these guys to be able to compete again. the mighty swans, coming to cbc [or more likely ctv] next winter.

unrelated: mr. nibbleybites has been spotted again. this is a declaration of war. a war of the first kind. but now i have to go back to reading about wars of the third kind for political sociology.

being nibbled to death by a mouse is so totally plausable,
cam

dispatches from middle america, the final installment

dear friends,

it is good to be home. my last days in kansas city were further evidence of the midwest blahs. i had pinned my hopes to a district known as 39th street/westport. we asked the desk staff at the hotel how far it was. i thought since we were on 45th street we could just walk. they told us it was 5 miles and that they would drive us in their van. so, chris and i get ready to go. a drive of approximtely 1 minute ensues. let's just say the leisurly walk back took us all of 7 minutes. americans are so sedentary. 5 miles, have you ever walked anywhere? anyway we ended up at a cute place called henry's which had half price food and wine until 8. this was clearly the hipest place in all of kansas city and on a saturday night it was dead. the two blocks that make up 39th street/westport were not lively at all. midwest you are a mystery to me. all in all, kansas city was awful, the conference was good, and seeing chris was super. i really hope he and megan will be able to visit montreal while i still live here.

my travel back was characterized by overpaying for airport wifi access, sitting next to a woman from minneapolis who was on her way to meet her internet boyfriend in montreal, and hassle at the truduea international. waits in line at customs, for my luggage, and for a taxi added about an hour and a half to my travel time.

anyway, while i was gone i missed the whole ashlee simpson thing. oh my. that jig.

get jiggy,
cam

dispatches from middle america, part one

dear friends,

well i have been here in kansas city for a little less than 36 hours and i am already counting down the time until i am back in cosmopoliton montreal and the cozy illustrious circle road manor. kansas city is like a bad casserole--bland, generic, favoured by moms but not by kids, and generally dull. maybe it is just because i am in the downtown core/ hotel central but the place is like a giant outdoor mall. chris and i walked blocks and blocks in search of a non-midwest/southern equivalent of kelseys or dundees to no avail. we decided that baja 600 was the least evil of all possible evils. it was blah, but it was cheap blah.

so, what to report thus far:
the trip- loooong. door to door 7:30am to 3:30pm(central time). the flight from jersey was 2 3/4 hours. also i can't believe i am thinking living in jersey would be cool.

the hotel- nice enough. but goddam i wanted a king and got two doubles.

the conference- um, sociology of religion needs to be shaken up. while we may like to blame the marginalization of the sub-discipline on academic distain for religion in reality people are doing unexciting, shotty work. i have met some very "famous sociologists" including a few potential supervisors at the schools i will be apply to this year. chris and i spend a lot of time complaining. this afternoon we went to a session specifically to ask the presenter about his former research assistant who we met at notre dame and left bitter after we found out he wasn't even there. tommorow after presentations and participation we are going to booze it up on 39th st. and complain further. super glad i am not alone among the unsocialized nerdzos.

ok, off to prepare for my 8am presentationa and watch some bad tv, i can't wait to be home...
cam

kansas city, missouri here i come...

dear friends,

tommorow i am off to the annual meeting of the society for the scientific study of religion. [www.sssrweb.org] which is being held in kansas city, missourri. this is not to be confused with kansas city, kansas.

i am sure as i will be quite the business traveller with my laptop and professional wear that i will find access to the interweb. but, should i be incommunicato please expect a belated dispatch from middle america when i return.

presentation is starting to scare me, real profs on panel. meh, my sociological imagination is up there with the best of them. right?

checkin in uber early. sleep to happen now,
cam

my indie rock internet boyfriend

dear friends,
the folks of the interweb seem to think my one true indie rock love is
conor oberst (bright eyes). apparently conor and i are moodily intense. they have suggested that "we go to a corner and cry together" and further called us "pansies!" i am crying emo tears.

who's your indie rock boyfriend?

thanks sofi for the distraction from things quantoid nerdzo

no more posts today,
cam-o

ode to the night time soap

dear friends,

mcgill says i am qualified enough to teach students about television in society. i consequently deem the prime time soap to be the ultimate genre. i miss melrose place, love the oc, and am disturbingly amused by desperate houswives.

only 17 more days till the oc premiere, wanna come over to the icrm and watch?

i heart seth cohen,
cam

i found this on the interweb, i did not make it. 

its the freakin weekend, baby i'm gonna have me some fun

dear friends,

this weekend was filled with glorious little. i have much to do before my trip to kansas city later this week. i have a looming stats assignment. i have papers to mark. but the following is what i did:

- watched "four weddings and a funeral"
- brief mouse-sighting induced panic-attack
- did not get out of my jammies until early evening sat. [refer to stomach-churning fri]
- watched growing-pains reunion movie
- watched [secretly enjoyed] desperate housewives
- fell asleep at 10pm
- woke up at 10am
- paid mad respect to the lord at st. patrick's
- unsuccessfully shopped for conference attire
- was freaked by metro explosion at guy-concordia
- took bus home... ryan got on same bus and instead of saying hello petted my hair, freaked me out more thn metro explosion
- chatted with ryan for a bit
- had falafel
- had warm bagel
- watched newlyweds with nick and jessica
- watched pimp my ride

and the weekend's not over. there is still law and order. even if it is criminal intent.

hope y'all had swell weekends,
cam

stomach i failed you, then you failed me. never again old friend, never again

dear friends,

i write you today with a disgusting stomach churning tale. caution.

those of you who have known me for a long time can attest to my on-again-off-again relationship with the hooch. those of you who knew me a decade ago can attest to my extreme conservatism and fondness for labeling myself a prohibitionist. in fact, the only thing i found problematic with prohibition was that it was a restriction of the beloved free market. later in high-school i hosted martha-stewart style drinking affairs but never drank enough to be drunk. i eased up on the prohibition and had friends barf in my parent's toilet like a normal kid. then i went away to england where i was of legal drinking age. i drank occassionally, never really being a big residence-life-first-year-away-from-home lush. except for five drunken days spent in ireland for st. patrick's day and a debaucherous night on the isle of skye i was a very well behaved girl. in second year i was back to the drinking sabbatical, no wine at wine and cheeses, no beer out of a funnel or with pancakes. this lasted until the summer before fourth year when i went to the university of notre dame. i was at a nerdzo seminar with a lot of kids from schools where they have to sign contracts not to smoke, drink or dance. [caution: smoking leads to drinking, drinking leadings to sex, and sex leads to dancing. totally fuckin' footloose at places like this] anyway my dear friend chris and i somehow began a mission to corrupt some of our fellow members of team sociology with r-rated movies and nights of drinking. it was like trying to give someone their teen-age years in three weeks. i came back and re-discovered silly drunken nights with my housemates. i began drinking at concerts. i started liking beer. at a certain wedding in the niagara region i drank enough wine to induce shawl dancing. then came grad school. that's when night's out went from being fun to being vital for my mental health. and, when i first started grad school i knew no one so these nights out were few and far between. i have a rule about drinking alone, i don't do it. anyway, so there was that time sean and hilary came to visit and i drank sean under the table. and several nights at thompson or on crescent with dave and carla. drinking wine out of a water bottle with self and hez at homecoming, and my joel plaskett birthday (and the night before that when my friend taben drank herself blind). there was this summer in poland when i boozed it up with the clergy. prior to last night however my largest booze-up was pre-poland, early in my stay at the icrm, when i had a mini high-school reunion with carrie, caryn, and ryan. carrie has followed a similar drinking-trajectory as me and we had never been drunk together in our 10 years as friends. i drank an entire bottle of southern comfort. and agreed to go to dance club called me-ow. on none of these occassions did i puke. in fact i have never puked because of drinking.

well, that last statement is no longer true. pops montreal turned out to be quite fun with a good group of people and lots of strange pops flowing and mixing with polish vodka, malibu, peach schnapps. i didn't actually drink that much (maybe someone who was there will disagree). i remember consuming the following:

- 1 malibu+ tahiti treat like c-plus product
- 1 vodka + presidents choice green able
- 1 vodka + tahiti treat
- 1 vodka + green apple

i was making the drinks myself. they were probably strong. and i hadn't had dinner (more on that later). i was feeling happy. and then somewhere around 1 just before the last of our guests left i knew i was going to puke. i ran to the bathroom and totally barfed. so gross, but i splashed some water on my face, brushed my teeth and pulled myself together. the last guests left and i confessed my totally disgusting barfy nature to luke. i am not really ashamed so much as confused. why stomach have you failed me now and not in past? i think it is not how much i drank but the combination of pop + alcohol. i feel it to be equivalent to drinking 12 mike's hard lemonade. gut rot. the thought of that makes me want to re-barf.

anyway, for added grossness i will share with you my stomach contents from yesterday:
no breakfast, 3 leacock samosas, 1 600ml diet coke, some gummi worms, more diet coke, a double chocolate pepridge farm cookie, some overly garlicy garlic bread, half a bounty bar, some chips of various flavours.

i am feeling much better now. and, i would like to publicly apologize to my stomach.
cam

a wee reminder

dear montreal area friends,

you are all cordially invited.

love,
the icrm

Tonight! Tonight! 

a quantoid nerdzo rant

dear friends,

i am not sure when it happened, but at a certain point i became a quantoid nerdzo. now, i am not a very talented or adept one, but i am a q-n nonetheless. i offer up the following as proof:

* i am currently enrolled in soci 506: quantiative methods three, introduction to event history analysis. this is not a mandatory course.
* i previously took soci 504: quantiative methods one, advanced applied regression analysis
* next semester i will be taking two stats courses
* i have both spss and stata on my computer. i use them both atleast once a week. i have a clear preference between the two [spss for data management, stata for data manipulation]
* i work on a quantitative project for dietlind stolle. i have cleaned data, merged variables, and created a codebook.
* i have written a paper that uses the social capital community benchmark survey and pimp it out at academic conferences
* i have chosen to do a quantiative analysis for my electoral behaviour class, even though there is a literature-review option
* i regularly attend a social statistics speakers series.
* this summer i had an office at the social statistics graduate cluster. my friends called it the nerd farm. hell, i called it the nerd farm. the nerdery on occassion.

so, there we have it. i am a quantoid nerdzo. and today after i had written a book review, it was time to put together a proposal for my electoral behaviour class. this lead to a 6 hour search of religion and politics data. let me summarize for you the problems encountered thus far:

the world values survey - i have special memories of the wvs. it was the first data i ever worked with in 385 at queen's. there are lots of questions on religion and on politics. but the fuckers forgot to ask people if they voted.

project canada- longitudinal data, would be good for event-history analysis, lots of religion questions. controlled by reginald bibby. canada's foremost sociologist of religion who works at the university of lethbridge. this is why sociology of religion in canada is fucked. when they finally give me my phd i am going to go scarface on the entire subdiscipline. also, the data is managed/controlled by his son reggie jr.

god and society in north america- study done by one of my old profs at queen's. super but dated and not longitudinal.

the comparative study of electoral systems- brings together the election studies of fifty countries. rad. had me super excited. then i found out the religion variables were sparce and the codebook is not unified.

the general social survey- this is my best hope. there are 1000 variables. the survey has been done every two years for the last twenty. it is the mother of all data sources. but the codebook is in notepad. motherfuckin notepad. do you know how many lines of lucida console that is. a lot. a super lot. like you can design and implement a survey, manipulate it in sophisticated software packages and have never heard of microsoft word or wordperfect.

so, memo to old quantoid nerdzos- liberate your data, cut and paste your codebook into word or hire a research-assistant/graduate student/youngster to do it for you.

and, memo to young quantoid nerdzos- i'll see you on wed. for the next speaker.

nee-ner-nee-ner-nee-ner, dance off.
cam

notepad. i have to use notepad. are we all sure this is not 1994? 

pops montreal

dear friends,

have you ever been at the grocery store buying diet coke when you think to yourself... "who buys spruce beer or strawberry soda?" i sure have. and, the answer to that question, at least this week will be me. friday brings the long talked about icrm "pops montreal" soda extraveganza. you are all invited. just come to the icrm around 8ish on friday, email me if you need to know how to get there.

i realize you may have other plans, but ask yourself this: "where i am going... will they have unusual varieties of pop?". the answer is probably no. also, if you like low scorin', smack-talking scrabble you may also be in for a good time.

it will certainly bring joy to a week thus far wrecked by the weibull model, pragmatic to the extreme future mcgillionaires (or employees of their parents), and the hectic pace of phd life. no one told me that it was going to be full work days.

peace out,
c-mac

the minor, the fall, and the major lift

dear friends,

i have decided to organize this post thematically. i thought a lot about this while on the via.

the minor--
so, when i got on the train in belleville, the car was pretty full. the "little person" who works at stauffer library at queen's actually got on right in front of me and took the spot beside the boy looking at the psychadelic furs record. yet another potentially romance spoiled by the short. (kidding, but really i should totally deal with this unfounded hatred of the short i have developed). so, i got to sit with emily, an unaccompanied minor. emily and i are best friends forever. she's 10. she told me all about living in beaconsfield and how she had visited her dad in toronto. she grew up in barrie and then moved to a small town where she went to the best school ever. at the best school ever they put on a production of the lion king. she was nyla? nila? (i have not seen the film) they even got to see the lion king in toronto. the whole school was in it. they raised 10,000 selling chocolate bars. her favourite movies are princess diaries 1 and 2 and a cindarella story. her sister (who is 12) and i both think chad michael murray is cute, she doesn't get it. she is super jealous that i have been to canada's wonderland. she pegged my age at 30. she also said she hates being catholic. so how did that come up? well, she asked what school i went to and what i studied. i explained that i was in about grade 20 and that i study people and their religion. she was like i hate being catholic. i was like really, why? she's like the bible is boring. and then we got into a big conversation about all the great things about being catholic and she asked me about other world religions and i told her. and then i told her i like hanson. and she was like, oh! i liked them too when i was in grade three.

the fall- prior to boarding the train, i picked up a copy of the globe and mail. i learned that a great philospher has been lost to the world. the father of deconstruction (and therefore grad school in the social sciences and humanities), derrida had died. he leaves a family and friends and thousands of ponytailed philosophy grad student groupies. he was predeceased by his theories.

the major lift- it doesn't take much to make me happy these days, and in addition to getting to see my two favourite ladies, my grannie and my baby neice hope, i arrived home to an inbox full of .do files [that's a STATA extension, yo!]. it is really nice to be part of a group of grad students that is way more supportive than competitive. also, it is now only 24 days until the premiere of the OC.

with thanks for heading words from leonard cohen [practically my neighbour],
cam

school of rock, times two.

dear friends,
today i read about a new tv show that i feel i will undoubtedly watch: tommy lee goes to the university of nebraska-lincon. you can read all about it at the globe and mail.

also, at my own school... fellow sociologist-in-training stefan's band general rudie is playing at el salon (4388 st-laurent, below st-joseph). from stefan:

"it's $6 to get in, the opening band should go on at 8:45, and our show should start at 9:30. it'll end pretty early because it's an all ages gig."

i will be at my grannie's all weekend, but if you are in montreal general rudie put on a really entertaining show.

trenton-comberemere here i come,
cam

let me entertain you...

dear friends,

entertainment here at the icrm comes mainly in four forms:

(a) celebrity gossip, usually first thing in the morning [in addition to or instead of the real news]

www.gawker.com
www.hellomagazine.com
www.stereogum.com
www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix.html

(b) mp3 blogs, also in the am...
http://www.tangmonkey.com/blogs/music/
www.fluxblog.com
http://music.for-robots.com/
http://www.scenestars.net/

(c) food
tonight the delightful sofi came to snowdon for pie at rockaberry. and then optimuscrime and i went to vizio. the waiters there are super hilarious. and it is nice to have such a nice place in the neighbourhood. other food delights: montreal bagels, juleps, l'academie etc.

(d) law and order
other shows are watched: csi, without a trace, that one sad day: medical investigation, but none is as entertaining as the lenny show. at least once a day. and often for a third of the awake hours of the day. you can watch it on bravo each night at 11. that's channel 34 in montreal.

in thanksgiving for entertainment enjoyed,
cam

on presidents and purses

dear friends,

this blog-aroo is proving to be quite the little distraction. rad. i will have you know however that i can resist some forms of procrastination. for instance, i am not watching the vice-presidential debate right now. i am thoroughly uninspired by american politics and the dialogue that has emerged around this election in particular. even though i am a conservative-partisan with a picture of herself with elsie wayne, i recognize that president bush [please note my use of the title president, have some respect for the office even if you don't for the man] is neither a statesman nor a scholar. that said, are there really people out there who think senator kerry is a good alternative? a cursory glance at their platforms doesn't reveal much difference. if senator kerry were to win this election [and i am going to call that as a no...] it won't be for who he is, but for who he isn't. and that is pathetic.

senator kerry is a dickweed [footnote: bill and ted]. think about it for a minute and you'll see. ask a small-o, orthodox catholic and you'll hear all about it. if you don't believe in the fundamental teachings of the catholic church you are a) not catholic, fine or b) a heretic, fine but going to hell. if you claim to be catholic and try to court the catholic vote while your actions are in contempt for all that catholics are supposed to believe you are a dickweed. senator kerry is a dickweed. and he looks like lurch. but more important, he is a dickweed.

also check my purse.
cam

this is my bag. i bought it on ebizzle.  

office hours

dear friends,

today i write you from the freezing cold sociology-ta office at mcgill. it is my office hour. also known as an unfortunate waste of my time. you might wonder why no one comes to see me. i do. tommorow is the class midterm and they have a paper due. in the last 48 hours i have gotten approximately one gabillion emailed-questions. i have also met students outside of my office hours. apparently 11-12 on tuesdays is when there is a meeting of the too-cool-for-school society. so here i sit, blog, and freeze.

i am in this ph-d game because i want to teach. i do really enjoy it. and, i don't feel i have much of a choice. seeing as how it is a direct order from the big guy upstairs. but missisauga goddam i hate office hours. i did see one person today. she was a delight to assist. patently undelightful is explaining marx to girls who have glazed over expressions and are clearly thinking about the next purse they are going to buy. [not that i am anti-purse, i just got the most beautiful one, perhaps picture forthcoming. but i also know that marx isn't just about marks.]

future mcgillionaires it is leacock 512. please visit.
cam

dear friends...

dear friends,

i have decided to replace my "dear friends" emails with this wee blog.

maybe someday i will get to wear one of these.

special thanks to mr. optimuscrime for my super-great header.

the last six days have brought six shows. tommorow brings the retirement home, or hopefully some law and order. [i miss you lenny]. sore feet and a workload that is increasing faster than my bank balance is decreasing aside, it was all worth it.

wed- tegan and sara at la salla rosa. my favourite montreal venue. delightful stage banter and femme-mullets.

thurs- luke doucet (the original pocketfriend), pete elkas (the prettiest eyelashes in all of can-con rock), and cuff the duke at cafe campus. all of whom i have seen before. all of whom i like more each time.

fri- sea snakes, jim guthrie band, gentleman reg, constantines at main hall. new venue. super-duper awesome computer-video-turn-animation back drop. jim guthrie's survior cover was the higlight pour moi. well, that and discovering a new pocket friend in gentleman reg. i also drank like britney spears. i do have to give two thumbs down to baseball hat/losing his shit guy and his best-friend-forever screech from saved by the bell who was blowing smoke rings who were right in front of me. could we all just leave a little personal space for jesus?

sat- the blocks blocks blocks showcase at casa de popolo. my favourite show of pop montreal regulation time. the pretty little phonemes. the ha-mazing hank collective. [cds added to collection] and the barcelona pavillion. steven kado is also in my pocket. to love the creeping nobodies required a y chromosone i don't have. however, i did not think they were bad. i also think i saw fefe dobson around that night.

sun- mission of burma and some forgettable openers at cabaret. bit o a sausage fest. way more weiners than tacos in the house. sore throated singer=sad sad story. that's when i reached for my revolver. that's when it all got blown away. [um, not literally]. best line of the night. mission of burma bassist "i think we played here back in the old days, i remember a checkered floor". guy on balcony "yeah it was called checkers". m-o-b bassist: "were you there?" balcony buddy: "no, but my friend was". m-o-b bassist: "is he dead now?".

mon- although pop montreal regulation period is over. the illustrious circle road manor decided to go into overtime to check out rilo kiley. featuring little hannah from troop beverly hills singing and playing the guitar. sweet as pie and a suitably delightful way to end the festival of pop.

and now i must go to bed. i am getting to be a little less hip and a little more hip-replacement with each passing day.

yours in the name of all that is sociological,
cam