Another Blast From the Past

After the Fern Gully blast from the past earlier today, I got thinking about the other environmentally themed shows I used to watch as a child. A friend reminded me of The Smoggies, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon reminded me of Captain Planet. Remember these?





Did I forget any? I feel like we had a large amount of enviro-friendly shows, do kids these day have shows along these lines?

Happy Earth Day!

In honour of Earth Day, I thought I'd share with you a blast from the past. Remember Fern Gully? The early '90s movie starring fairies, a crazy bat, a hunky logger shrunk down to fairy-size, and a creepy pollution-fueled villain? Yeah, you remember it. It was one of my favourite movies as a child, I watched it over and over again, knew most of the lyrics, wanted to be a fairy who lives in the forest, and thought Zak was a dream boat. Here's my favourite scene from the movie:



Happy Earth Day, everyone!

I Don't Know

Lisa Hannigan was on the Colbert Report last night. I am in love with this song:

The Point of the Composition

Over at Treasuing, I saw this video posted. I love it enough to post it here for you guys. Please take a few minutes to watch it, it's adorable and it has a fantastic message.

One Week

This movie looks beautiful! I want an adventure like this (minus the short life expectancy bit). It comes out Friday here, so likely I'll see it in a week or so. I expect to bawl through the entire thing. Check out the trailer:

I Wanna Do Bad Things With You

I spent my entire day today watching the entire first season of HBO's True Blood. I've already talked about how much I love vampires (I've tagged 13 blogs with "Twilight"). For years I've been reading vampire fiction and lusting over them, and Twilight completely solidified that love in the fall, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with True Blood... I mean, check out that sexy poster!

I really liked it, which I suppose one could have assumed judging by the fact that I watched 12 episodes in one day. It was like Twilight for adults - the basic girl falls for vampire, has canine-esque guy friend who is into her, vampire and guy friend have to join to protect girl... all very similar to our favourite teenage vampire saga, and a bonus of no stupid sparkles, breathy staring at each other scenes, and the girl can take care of herself. That being said, it also includes a whole lot more sex, nudity, and drugs than the sexual tension that the teen vampires tiptoed around. It is definitely an adults only vampire saga.
True Blood is set in small-town Louisiana, which I have been enamoured with for years (perhaps since seeing Skeleton Key? I'm not sure, but I've wanted to go for years because it seems like a sexy place).


Thanks to the development of Tru Blood artificial blood, vampires have been able to come out of the coffin and show themselves as a species, lobbying for the vote and equal rights. The discrimination against vampires is still strong, however, and the storyline revolves around the brutal murders of human women who are associating with vampires.


My favourite part of the storyline has to be the relationship between Sookie, a human, and Bill, a vampire (our Bella and Edward). They made me so happy like Edward and Bella did, we follow them from the time they meet through their turmoltuous relationship that is created by their differences. They have to overcome their own fears and prejudices and those of their own kind and learn to risk and trust in order for their relationship to work.

There are, of course, many other aspects of the storyline that will keep you sucked in and wanting more. Season 2 doesn't start until later this year, and I can't wait! Catch up now while you can guys!
And, if all of my sexy pictures and my semi-coherent (I'm on cold meds) descriptions didn't draw you in, watch the opening credits. They are amazingly well done and make me want to move south immediately, and they touch on all of the shows major aspects: life and death, sex and religion, the natural and the unnatural.

What a Woman!

Alright, y'all need to watch this video with Mississauga (it's right next to Toronto) mayor Hazel McCallion. She's 88 years old and she's been mayor since 1978. 1978!! That's longer than my parents have been married! It's 7 years longer than I've been alive! The woman is incredible! I hope I'm still even half as active as she is when I'm her age. Check out the video:

The Letter N

Lindsay over at Adventures of a Book Thief made a list of 10 things she liked that start with the letter m, and gave me the letter n for mine.
Leave a comment if you want me to give you a random letter for a meme of your own!


1- Night - I am almost entirely nocturnal if given the option, I would much rather sleep all day and stay up all night.
2- Neverland - Not the Michael Jackson place. Peter Pan is one of my favourite books ever, and the newer live version of it is one of my favourite movies. I would love to live in Neverland with the pirates and mermaids and Indians, and never have to grow up.
3- Nosferatu - Basically synonymous with "vampire". I have had a healthy obsession with vampires for years now, much before the Twilight Saga came out, I read Companions in the Night and Dracula and dreamed of running with the vampires.
4- North - I live in the Great White North, and I really do like it here, though I am not technically all that nothern, as I was born about an hour away from Canada's Southernmost Point (Point Pelee and Pelee Island, in case you were wondering), so technically I have spent most of my life more south than most of Canada and some of the US.
5- Narwhal - What a freaking cool animal. It's got a freaking unicorn horn, do I need to say more?
6- Ned from Pushing Daisies - He's completely adorable! Ned could bring me back from the dead and solve mysteries with me any day.
7- North by Northwest - A Hitchcock classic with Cary Grant. Action packed and full of lines such as: "You're a big girl in all the right places", you can't go wrong.
8- Nano - As in, my iPod 3G Nano. I rarely go anywhere without it. It gets me through my hour commutes to and from work.
9- Nerds - The candies! I especially love the green and yellow ones, in sour and normal.
10- Number 36 - The Dave Matthews Band song. Here, Wikipedia tells us a bit about it's history:

Four days after his assassination, the rock group Dave Matthews Band (whose lead singer and guitarist, >Dave Matthews, is from South Africa) began playing a song, #36, to honour Hani. A live favorite for years, the music evolved into the basic foundation of the 2001 single, Everyday. The Introduction to the popular hit "Everyday" starts with the crowd singing "Honey, Honey, come and dance with me", and the crowd and band occasionally use the reprise as an outro to the song as well. (It was originally written as "Hani, Hani, come and dance with me," but Matthews believed the song to be too cheery with those lyrics, so he changed it.)

Here you can watch it:

Best. Thing. Ever.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Ever Wondered About Canadian Government?

A good portion of my readers come from outside of Canada, and with the excitement going on in U.S. politics, you may not have realized that Canada's been going through big political changes of its own... sort of. Here to explain what the heck is happening in Canada is Rick Mercer. Haven't heard of him? Picture Jon Stewart, but much more Canadian. He has the Rick Mercer Report on the CBC every Tuesday (he ends every show with "See you next Tuesday", get it? Heh!), where he goes to various Canadian events and talks to/makes fun of Canadian politicians. So Rick, what's been going on in Canada?

Her Morning Elegance

I saw this video over at Jiscilla.com today, and it is amazingly beautiful. You all need to watch it, again and again, like I have been doing.

What I Do on the Internet

This week's Friday 5 is about Net Habits. It's been a while since I've done a Friday 5, so I thought I'd give this one a shot.

1. What types of blogs do you usually read?
Toooo many... there are 182 in my Google Reader. Mostly, though, they are personal blogs or art/design blogs.
Here's a few you should go read if you don't already: Bliss, Classy in Philadelphia, LilySpeak, Me Melodia, Snapshot Chicago, Stylish Handwriting, The Holly & The Ivy, The State That I Am In,The Transformation of Kern, Turquoise Ribbons, Writing to Reach You, Yes and Yes, and You Are My Fave.

2. What kinds of products do you usually buy when you shop online?
The last two things I bought online were my Matt & Nat purse (which I am still waiting for... stupid UPS...), and my Mole Book.

3. What kinds of online videos do you usually spend time watching?
Here's my fave YouTube videos:









Hope you enjoyed those.

4. Besides Friday 5, what weekly memes do you particularly enjoy?
I don't really do any weekly ones, just when the mood strikes me.

5. Where do you like to go for streaming online music?
Well, I've heard fantastic things about Pandora, but unfortunately, those of us North of the Border aren't able to listen to it. If I listen to streaming music, I usually go to AOL Radio. I will also listen to music on YouTube, which reminds me, I was doing that the other night and rediscovered the video for Crash Into Me by the Dave Matthews Band. I love the song, but it had been a while since I saw the video, so I had forgotten just how beautiful it is. Y'all need to go here and watch it (because embedding is disabled). It's like the most gorgeous dream. Seriously, go watch it.

I'm Just Waiting 'Til the Shine Wears Off

I've been a neglectful blogger again, sorry guys. It's not that I don't have things to write about... I just haven't been feeling it. Don't worry, I'll be back again shortly! Tonight I am being a domestic goddess - I put up my new shower curtain, did laundry (including trying out the at home dry cleaning kit I purchased to get the cat pee out of my coat - that's right, he peed on my coat), and currently am baking brownies. That, my friends, is about as domestic as it gets around chez Erin.
So now I'll leave you with the video to the song I haven't been able to get out of my head for weeks it's so good: Lost+ by Coldplay ft. Jay-Z. I think it's just beautiful (and this is coming from me, a former Coldplay fan who thought she was so over them).

'Cause You Might Die Trying

I love this song. Not just because it's Dave, also for the idea behind it.

To change the world,
Start with one step.
However small,
The first step is hardest of all.

Once you get your gate,
You will walk in tall.
You said you never did,
Cause you might die trying,
Cause you might die trying.
Cause you---

If you close your eyes,
Cause the house is on fire.
Think you couldn't move,
Until the fire dies.
The things you never did,
Oh, Cause you might die trying,
Cause you might die trying.
You'd be as good as dead,
Cause you might die trying,
Cause you might die trying.

If you give, you, you begin to live.
If you give, you begin to live.
You begin, you get the world.
If you give, you begin to give
You get get the world, you get the world.
If you give, you get to give.

You might die trying.
Oh, you might die trying.
Yeah, you might die trying.

The things you never did,
Cause you might die trying;
You'd be as good as dead.
You never did.

It's hard to do something to make change, but if you don't take the risk nothing will happen at all, right?
I love the idea of making a difference and changing the world, but usually when the opportunity to really do something, even something little, comes along, I freeze up and do nothing. I mean, I help people because it's my job when I'm at the shelter, but outside of work I never go out of my way to help people. I need to stop freezing and going on with my day, doing nothing.

I was riding the streetcar to work today. It was freezing outside and starting to snow. At one point, a homeless man hopped on through the back doors without paying, carrying a garbage bag full of cans. His slightly odd behaviour struck me as potentially schizophrenic, and so I got my guard up like I usually do around people with mental health issues on public transit (not without reason, I've seen a few scary incidents). Sitting on a chair was a leather glove that everyone else who got on had ignored. The homeless man grabbed it and tried it on, appearing thrilled that he would now have a warm hand. After a while, a homeless woman got on. They greeted each other and she sat down near him (in front of me). He then told her about his glove, and offered it to her. She declined, saying she was already too hot, but I was really touched by the gesture. This man who clearly didn't have very many things to call his own and who spent his time outside collecting bottles in the cold without proper winter attire, was willing to give away his newfound glove to somebody else who might need it more than he did. He was willing to try and make a difference and help somebody else. Meanwhile, I sat there with my hat and two gloves and scarf and iPod and just observed.

"Rock and roll is - and should be - a kid's place."

Guess who I'm going to see in concert on February 17th at the Kool Haus in Toronto...


Ben Folds!! Ben F*ing Folds!! (The post title is a Ben Folds quote, btw)

That's right, this Ben Folds:


... and this Ben Folds:


Not only am I going to see THAT Ben Folds, but I am going with some of my favourite kids from our camp years!
February 17th cannot come fast enough!!

On Homes

So, I've known about this for a while, but was bound to secrecy by my family until they began to tell people. Mom and Dad bought a "farm". I say farm, I mean 60-something acres of land about 45 mins from where we live now that has 2 small sections that are cleared for farming and the rest is forest. Dad hasn't been this excited in a long time (if ever...). Here they are on Boxing Day posing with their Sold sign:

My Mom, looking beautiful in spite of having spent the past year battling cancer, and my Dad, looking about as excited as a kid in a candy store, and their "farm". Mid-life crisis much?

It is a pretty large property, with a small section of farm land on either side. There is a creek that runs through it, branching off into a Y shape in the middle. It's a 5 minute drive from a beach on Lake Erie. Over the next couple of years, they plan to bring the trailer out there and spend weekends on the property. Ultimately, but not for a while, they plan to build a house on the property.

I have mixed feelings about this.

Part of me is not pleased. We have lived in our old farm house since I was in grade 2. I'm attached. Mom and Dad have put in a ton of work on the house, and the majority of my childhood memories are there. That house and its location... well, it is home to me. I am fairly attached to it, even to the town we live outside of. I hated that town growing up, but perhaps absence really does make the heart grow fonder, as I feel nostalgic and proud of it now. There was once a time that Mom and Dad planned to live in our house the rest of their lives, in fact, if you had asked me a year ago, I would have been certain that they would never move.

But Dad has always wanted a forest, that is where he is at his happiest. Give Dad walking shoes and his Tilley hat and leave him with the bugs and plants and animals and he will be content. And I think this past year has shown my parents that they have to stop putting off what they want to do. A brush with your own mortality will make you think twice about your priorities in life.

Oh, and the possibilities. I love the idea of it all. Buying a plot of land in the country, designing and building your own house in the middle of the woods... it sounds amazing. We might force him to put in internet and tv, but if Dad had his way he would live as a hermit, completely cut off from the world. I know he dreams about being self-sufficient, off the grid. Mom wants the house to overlook the ravine where the creek runs, and Dad has talked about having a huge glass wall. Their house (in my head) will look like my idea of the Cullen's house in the Twilight book, and the Cullen's house in the movie.

Remember this, anyone?



So, I suppose I'll have to wait and see. What will they do? When will they do it? What will it look like? How will I let go of the house I love now? What's most important, really, is that Mom and Dad are happy. And maybe that they stop mentioning that the forest will be fantastic for their grandchildren to play in.

Commercial Love

Every once in a while, a commercial will catch my eye. I know it's meant to sell me something, but it's also incredibly pretty.




I like the idea of discovering something new, I think I need to do it more often. When was the last time I tried something new? When was the last time you tried something new?

For Your Viewing Pleasure

This makes me laugh so hard I almost pee. I thought you would enjoy it! Found via i suwannee.

A Vlog!?

It's 20SB's Vlog Day! I've spent my day watching other people's beautiful vlogs, so it was finally time to make my own. Warning: I am awkward and there is no cameo by Thunder Kitty. Here goes! Note: Turn your volume up loud, apparently I talk quietly.

vlog #1 from Erin Walker on Vimeo.

It's Meant to Sell Gum, But...

I love this commercial. It's for gum, but whatever. I think it makes a good point - we spend so much time with people online that we really don't spend that much face time together. I mean, when you say "I poked so and so the other day" nobody thinks you actually physically poked them. And generally when you say you talked to or chatted with someone, that doesn't mean face to face, it means through the computer. Plus, the commercial is just plain adorable.