Thursday, July 31, 2014
My Little Lobster #1 - Ivany Sunshine
MyLittleLobster - IvanySunshine from My Little Lobster on Vimeo.
This is the first ever video for a "My Little Lobster" - Ivany Sunshine. This lobster was named for the Ivany Report which has been referred to quite a bit in the Halifax Chronicle Herald over the past few months. My understanding from what I've read is the gist of the report is the economy in this province is very poor and people need to do something asap.
I hope viewers see this lobster as having a cheerful, positive, creativity-promoting message while he poses against some of the fine scenery of the Lunenburg area.
The lyrics for the song are:
My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
Wants to raise Nova Scotia's GDP
My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
Made from Chronicle Herald's sustainably
Ivany Sunshine will be arriving at Jenny Jib, on the afternoon of Friday August 1st, he's made out of papier mache, painted with acrylic paint and varnish, and is $160cdn. Unfortunately he isn't weather proof and so should not be left outdoors for extended periods of time.
This particular lobster also inspired this poem, which explains a bit of the backstory of this whole project: My Little Lobster. This poem is based loosely on one of my favourite poems, Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven
Before his video shoot Ivany Sunshine did a little walking tour of Lunenburg, here are some photos.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
My Little Lobster - a poem
My Little Lobster
by Susan Paczek
inspired by Edgar Allan's Poe The Raven
Once upon a July cheery I was up late tired eyes bleary
Pondering money and wondering how I could make some more
But around my head buzzing by, there was an annoying house fly
So annoying it made me cry, “What are you bothering me for?”
“Irritating house fly” I said “What are you bothering me for??
Go on and fly out the door”
While near my ears this housefly barreled, at my feet the Chronicle Heralds
Were piled in stacks so high they had fallen cluttering the floor
I rolled one up and I swatted at the flying pest besotted
With its quick demise I plotted that I would have peace once more
If I could get rid of that fly, yes, I would have peace once more
Until then we were at war
As I wielded the business section in the fly’s general direction
Printed page reminded me Nova Scotia’s economy is poor
Expenses soaring, jobs lacking, folks had turned to minks and fracking
Likewise wondering about money and how they could make some more
It seemed that many were short of money and many could use some more
So said the Ivany Report
So now there was doom and gloom to add to the buzzing in the room
As I thought of issues troubling not just me but the whole South Shore
And suddenly out of the blue, I asked the fly “What can I do?”
“Yes house fly I’m asking you, have you any ideas I could explore?
Any ideas on what I can do to make the economy grow some more?
Something to sell on the South Shore?”
What happened next is quite shocking but the house fly began talking
While I sat there stunned and gawking, it spoke ideas I hadn’t had before
It said “I think you should worry less and come up with a smart business
Like making papier mache lobsters to sell at the Jenny Jib store.
Yes turn that Chronicle Herald into a lobster to sell at Jenny’s store
And once it sells, then make some more”
“Alright” I said “Prithee tell me, your business plan, go on sell me
Explain how to market these lobsters to have people wanting more"
But around my head buzzing by, there was an annoying house fly
So annoying it made me cry, “What are you bothering me for?”
“Irritating house fly” I said “What are you bothering me for??
Go on and fly out the door”
While near my ears this housefly barreled, at my feet the Chronicle Heralds
Were piled in stacks so high they had fallen cluttering the floor
I rolled one up and I swatted at the flying pest besotted
With its quick demise I plotted that I would have peace once more
If I could get rid of that fly, yes, I would have peace once more
Until then we were at war
As I wielded the business section in the fly’s general direction
Printed page reminded me Nova Scotia’s economy is poor
Expenses soaring, jobs lacking, folks had turned to minks and fracking
Likewise wondering about money and how they could make some more
It seemed that many were short of money and many could use some more
So said the Ivany Report
So now there was doom and gloom to add to the buzzing in the room
As I thought of issues troubling not just me but the whole South Shore
And suddenly out of the blue, I asked the fly “What can I do?”
“Yes house fly I’m asking you, have you any ideas I could explore?
Any ideas on what I can do to make the economy grow some more?
Something to sell on the South Shore?”
What happened next is quite shocking but the house fly began talking
While I sat there stunned and gawking, it spoke ideas I hadn’t had before
It said “I think you should worry less and come up with a smart business
Like making papier mache lobsters to sell at the Jenny Jib store.
Yes turn that Chronicle Herald into a lobster to sell at Jenny’s store
And once it sells, then make some more”
“Alright” I said “Prithee tell me, your business plan, go on sell me
Explain how to market these lobsters to have people wanting more"
"Tell me” I said getting louder “About this superstar of chowder
This iconical crustacean that I overlooked before
This succulent crustacean that I admit I did ignore
Though it’s popular on the South Shore”
It said, “Look at My Little Pony, do you think that small horses only
Are the sole creatures that people could collect and adore?
‘One of a Kind’ is the seduction, an antidote to mass production
Mass production can depress those shopping at a big box store
You learned yourself that mass production only makes your arms sore
While leaving your soul wanting more”
“True” I said “I do remember carving crows this past December
And giving myself tendonitis like I’d never felt before
‘Make more stuff’ I had felt strongly now I see I had thought wrongly
Though I knew quality is what customers are looking for
Have you any advice with which my motivation would restore?
Some secret I overlooked before?”
“Energy!” The fly did chatter “Energy turned into matter
Mind the energy trapped in sculptures headed out your studio door
Your studio should be your Eden, your focus should be on your freedom
Stay present and stay mindful while sculpting sculptures for the store
Relax and you’ll see that the lobsters really are a metaphor
For that which humans yearn for more
And just as we flies love honey humans love that which is funny
And people enjoy tributes to those well known in human lore
Just be sure to avoid lawsuit but I think that you can contribute
With each tasteful, thoughtful tribute inspired by those in human lore
This is all my advice for you, and now I have nothing more”
With that, the fly flew out the door.
And thus I began sculpting slowly while listening to Eckhart Tolle
Oprah, Jim Carrey and many other teachers I adore
The housefly’s point I did not miss and so now I’m focused on my bliss
And in pondering which lobster would be the first made for the store
“Ivany Sunshine” came to me as the first of My Little Lobsters galore
He’s the first, there will be more
Inspired by My Little Ponies I hope I won’t upset the bronies
Or earn a ‘cease and and desist’ letter from a Hasbro signor
If that happens I won’t be glum but switch “My Little” to “Awesome”
And carry on with making papier mache lobster décor
Dreaming of boosting GDP with this labour of amour
Sculpting lobsters evermore!
This iconical crustacean that I overlooked before
This succulent crustacean that I admit I did ignore
Though it’s popular on the South Shore”
It said, “Look at My Little Pony, do you think that small horses only
Are the sole creatures that people could collect and adore?
‘One of a Kind’ is the seduction, an antidote to mass production
Mass production can depress those shopping at a big box store
You learned yourself that mass production only makes your arms sore
While leaving your soul wanting more”
“True” I said “I do remember carving crows this past December
And giving myself tendonitis like I’d never felt before
‘Make more stuff’ I had felt strongly now I see I had thought wrongly
Though I knew quality is what customers are looking for
Have you any advice with which my motivation would restore?
Some secret I overlooked before?”
“Energy!” The fly did chatter “Energy turned into matter
Mind the energy trapped in sculptures headed out your studio door
Your studio should be your Eden, your focus should be on your freedom
Stay present and stay mindful while sculpting sculptures for the store
Relax and you’ll see that the lobsters really are a metaphor
For that which humans yearn for more
And just as we flies love honey humans love that which is funny
And people enjoy tributes to those well known in human lore
Just be sure to avoid lawsuit but I think that you can contribute
With each tasteful, thoughtful tribute inspired by those in human lore
This is all my advice for you, and now I have nothing more”
With that, the fly flew out the door.
And thus I began sculpting slowly while listening to Eckhart Tolle
Oprah, Jim Carrey and many other teachers I adore
The housefly’s point I did not miss and so now I’m focused on my bliss
And in pondering which lobster would be the first made for the store
“Ivany Sunshine” came to me as the first of My Little Lobsters galore
He’s the first, there will be more
Inspired by My Little Ponies I hope I won’t upset the bronies
Or earn a ‘cease and and desist’ letter from a Hasbro signor
If that happens I won’t be glum but switch “My Little” to “Awesome”
And carry on with making papier mache lobster décor
Dreaming of boosting GDP with this labour of amour
Sculpting lobsters evermore!
Sunday, July 27, 2014
This Week's Favourite Things! July 21 - July 27th, 2014
1. Rembetika Hipsters cd "Kafeneion". My friend plays percussion for this Greek music band in Calgary and I've been listening to the cd all week, it's all Greek to me but the music is awesome.
2. The Port Grocer - an a really cool shop/cafe/venue in Port Medway run by a group of very clever community oriented people.
3. The Mayhemingways - great musical duo that performed this past week at the Port Grocer
4. Bronies and so many youtube videos about Bronies - there are many! My first My Little Lobster "Ivany Sunshine" is coming along, there will be a lobster dedicated post and a new page soon going up on this blog. In googling more about My Little Ponies I stumbled across all this information about Bronies - adult fans of the new My Little Pony cartoon. I think it's fantastic that there's this creative community evolving via the internet, and that they even gather for conventions and make costumes and props. I'd never heard of them before I got the My Little Lobster idea.
2. The Port Grocer - an a really cool shop/cafe/venue in Port Medway run by a group of very clever community oriented people.
3. The Mayhemingways - great musical duo that performed this past week at the Port Grocer
4. Bronies and so many youtube videos about Bronies - there are many! My first My Little Lobster "Ivany Sunshine" is coming along, there will be a lobster dedicated post and a new page soon going up on this blog. In googling more about My Little Ponies I stumbled across all this information about Bronies - adult fans of the new My Little Pony cartoon. I think it's fantastic that there's this creative community evolving via the internet, and that they even gather for conventions and make costumes and props. I'd never heard of them before I got the My Little Lobster idea.
Monday, July 21, 2014
This Week's Favourite Things! July 14th - July 20th, 2014
1. This post by Mr Money Mustache: "Mr Money Mustache's Big Mistake". Mr Money Mustache is a great blog about financial independence and I stumbled across this post when I was reading up on his thoughts on leverage. This story cheered me up to no end because, unfortunately, I can totally relate to it, having made a very similar Big Mistake which I've only recently begun getting over. This story helped me see my own mistake in a more positive light and as a learning experience. So, now it is time to move forward!
2. This clip of Jim Carey on Oprah from 1997:
3. This clip of Robert Kiyosaki on Oprah:
4. My Little Lobster "Ivany Sunshine". Look, look, I've started making art again.
After last week and the Earl Nightingale challenge, I decided to google how to be a billionaire. Because, really, being a billionaire could be fun. In fact a few days ago I realized if I 'knew then what I knew now' back in 1990 at McGill when I started my biology career, if I really wanted to conserve wildlife, I might have been better off to do a business degree rather than biology degrees and make a pile of $ to buy up forests with.
A few different articles on becoming a billionaire suggested that step one was NOT to be someone's employee, but rather to start a business. Very well, that makes sense. I also realized this week that, without jobs, it's really hard to get credit from A list lenders even with rental income. So that got me to thinking about what could I do to quit expanding our nation's money supply through taking on more debt, which really contributes to inflation since whenever a banker conjures up credit, the corresponding interest is also conjured up and needs to be repaid. So having decided that perhaps we've expanded the country's money supply enough, I wondered how I could instead become a producer of goods.
And thus I became CEO of my new company: "My Little Lobster". I'm very excited about this! My Little Lobsters are made entirely from masking tape, baling wire, cornstarch, Chronicle Heralds and acrylic paints, often while I listen to documentaries on topics such as mindfulness.
I decided to name the first My Little Lobster after The Ivany Report, named after Ray Ivany who headed up the commission who wrote it. This report has been referenced numerous times in the Halifax Chronicle Herald since it came out earlier this year. I haven't read the report but apparently it says the Nova Scotia economy is screwed unless some changes are to be made quickly.
So, enter My Little Lobster, "Ivany Sunshine". He even has a jingle:
My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
He wants to raise Nova Scotia's GDP
My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
Made from Chronicle Heralds, sustainably!
He still needs to be primed, painted and varnished. And then there will be a commercial made and a special "My Little Lobster" page added to this blog. I have a lot of ideas for a lot of lobsters. The plan is for each My Little Lobster to be one of a kind, signed and numbered. When he's done there will be a post announcing the launch of My Little Lobster
Meanwhile a couple pics of the project in progress:
5. Eckhart Tolle - Enjoying Every Moment. One of the movies I watched while working on Ivany Sunshine.
6. Juice. So grateful to the friend who passed along an unused Jack Lalanne Power Juicer, and to the friends who said "you should be juicing" so I finally started using it, taking greens out of the garden, juicing them and drinking them right away. It is awesome, like drinking sunshine! Highly recommend, gardening (or buying vegetables at market) + juicing...
2. This clip of Jim Carey on Oprah from 1997:
3. This clip of Robert Kiyosaki on Oprah:
4. My Little Lobster "Ivany Sunshine". Look, look, I've started making art again.
After last week and the Earl Nightingale challenge, I decided to google how to be a billionaire. Because, really, being a billionaire could be fun. In fact a few days ago I realized if I 'knew then what I knew now' back in 1990 at McGill when I started my biology career, if I really wanted to conserve wildlife, I might have been better off to do a business degree rather than biology degrees and make a pile of $ to buy up forests with.
A few different articles on becoming a billionaire suggested that step one was NOT to be someone's employee, but rather to start a business. Very well, that makes sense. I also realized this week that, without jobs, it's really hard to get credit from A list lenders even with rental income. So that got me to thinking about what could I do to quit expanding our nation's money supply through taking on more debt, which really contributes to inflation since whenever a banker conjures up credit, the corresponding interest is also conjured up and needs to be repaid. So having decided that perhaps we've expanded the country's money supply enough, I wondered how I could instead become a producer of goods.
And thus I became CEO of my new company: "My Little Lobster". I'm very excited about this! My Little Lobsters are made entirely from masking tape, baling wire, cornstarch, Chronicle Heralds and acrylic paints, often while I listen to documentaries on topics such as mindfulness.
I decided to name the first My Little Lobster after The Ivany Report, named after Ray Ivany who headed up the commission who wrote it. This report has been referenced numerous times in the Halifax Chronicle Herald since it came out earlier this year. I haven't read the report but apparently it says the Nova Scotia economy is screwed unless some changes are to be made quickly.
So, enter My Little Lobster, "Ivany Sunshine". He even has a jingle:
My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
He wants to raise Nova Scotia's GDP
My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
Made from Chronicle Heralds, sustainably!
He still needs to be primed, painted and varnished. And then there will be a commercial made and a special "My Little Lobster" page added to this blog. I have a lot of ideas for a lot of lobsters. The plan is for each My Little Lobster to be one of a kind, signed and numbered. When he's done there will be a post announcing the launch of My Little Lobster
Meanwhile a couple pics of the project in progress:
 |
| My Little Lobster "Ivany Sunshine" before papier mache, reading some Michael Lewis... |
 |
| My Little Lobster, "Ivany Sunshine" drying on the deck and getting ready to be primed, painted and varnished |
5. Eckhart Tolle - Enjoying Every Moment. One of the movies I watched while working on Ivany Sunshine.
6. Juice. So grateful to the friend who passed along an unused Jack Lalanne Power Juicer, and to the friends who said "you should be juicing" so I finally started using it, taking greens out of the garden, juicing them and drinking them right away. It is awesome, like drinking sunshine! Highly recommend, gardening (or buying vegetables at market) + juicing...
Sunday, July 13, 2014
This Week's Favourite Things! July 7th - 13th, 2014
1. "The Strangest Secret" by Earl Nightingale. Still smitten with Earl's recordings after finding out about him last week. This one is great and has a 30 day challenge at the end to be very careful with one's thoughts.
2. Philanthrocapitalism. What an awesome word. Stumbled across it reading the wiki entry about Warren Buffet after thinking it'd be fun to be a billionaire. The article link to philanhtrocapitalism redirects to an entry on Venture Philanthropy.
3. Robin Hood. This is an anti-poverty group in New York City that was listed as an example of venture philanthropy. I like the concept of being hyper efficient with time and resources, the giving of expertise as well as funds, and the transparency about where their budget comes from and where it is going.
4. Sam Roberts Band - "We're All In This Together" especially the "we are, we are the angry apes..." part
2. Philanthrocapitalism. What an awesome word. Stumbled across it reading the wiki entry about Warren Buffet after thinking it'd be fun to be a billionaire. The article link to philanhtrocapitalism redirects to an entry on Venture Philanthropy.
3. Robin Hood. This is an anti-poverty group in New York City that was listed as an example of venture philanthropy. I like the concept of being hyper efficient with time and resources, the giving of expertise as well as funds, and the transparency about where their budget comes from and where it is going.
4. Sam Roberts Band - "We're All In This Together" especially the "we are, we are the angry apes..." part
Sunday, July 6, 2014
This Week's Favourite Things! June 30th - July 6th, 2014
1. This video with a message from Earl Nightingale
2. Electricity. So nice to have after Hurricane - turned tropical storm Arthur, thanks to all the hardworking linespeople who worked to restore it.
3. Hurricane Arthur - so happy Arthur didn't smash up our place. To be honest I didn't think it was that bad a storm by the time it reached us so the reason Arthur made my weekly list is I think he 'outed' Emera for its poor handling of Nova Scotia Power.
I polled some people who have lived in the province much longer than me and consensus was 2 days of no power for this degree of weather seemed excessive. We were surprised to lose power at all and thought maybe it'd be restored within a couple hours, not a couple of days. Seems like poor customer service to get from a company that keeps cutting and outsourcing jobs while raising power rates and giving executives big pay hikes and returning profit to shareholders. And storm season hasn't even begun! We all agreed that with this level of service, if we took a direct hit from a real hurricane we'd be screwed so it's time to solar up. If Emera keeps this up, at some point I wonder if a class action lawsuit for negligence is going to make sense.
One of the most frustrating things about the weekend was the fact that it was incredibly difficult to get through to any humans at Nova Scotia Power. We didn't have internet access because of our outage and our lack of smart phones, but the internet site that had outage information somehow went down. My pet theory as to why this happened is that the site was taken down by management because they realized that people might have seen how few crews were working and gotten upset at the company for being understaffed. Why the phone lines were overwhelmed was another good question but most times I called I got a busy signal. I wanted to report a downed line I saw so when I finally got through at 1am I decided to see how long it would take to get through to a human. About 1/2 an hour I think. It shouldn't have been that hard for people to report downed lines. At least when I finally did get through the person I spoke to was in the province and not at a foreign call center.
I also wonder why this province's utility is owned by a private corporation in the first place. I wish ownership would go back to the province, and that individual households were rewarded for selling power back to the grid via their own solar panels, windmills and micro-hydro systems. This would create incentive for individuals to invest in these technologies and take the burden off the utility for getting itself off of foreign coal. It would be nice if low interest loans were made readily available for individual investment in these things. However, as my husband pointed out, with a private corporation like Emera this would mean they wouldn't have anything to 'sell' and charge us for, so really for them it makes more sense to build a big wood-fired electric generator to start munching up all the provinces forests to burn up into power so Nova Scotia can look like Easter Island and Emera executives and shareholders can profit.
I learned a lot about local politics from Hurricane Arthur yesterday when we drove into Bridgewater looking for food; it was interesting that the side of the street with Sobeys on it had power all day, while Loblaws-owned Superstore went without. Esso and Petro-Can had no power, but it somehow miraculously reappeared at the Irving Station. Hmmm.
4. Crony-Baloney. New phrase I just thought up writing point #3. Ah, I googled it. I'm not the first person to think this phrase up.
5. This awesome video of Dongdu International's (DDI) plans for Nova Scotia! I think things are about to get interesting here, I joked to a fellow "Come From Away" several months ago that if this province doesn't get its act together some mainland Chinese investors are likely to fly in and start buying up the whole show. But I never anticipated this!! DDI has also been buying up Detroit. Not sure what that says about the province's economy... but having grown up in Richmond BC I'll be curious to see how this development impacts the province. Hopefully the government will be smart enough to ensure that it is with maximum positive benefits for its current residents; both humans and wildlife.
2. Electricity. So nice to have after Hurricane - turned tropical storm Arthur, thanks to all the hardworking linespeople who worked to restore it.
3. Hurricane Arthur - so happy Arthur didn't smash up our place. To be honest I didn't think it was that bad a storm by the time it reached us so the reason Arthur made my weekly list is I think he 'outed' Emera for its poor handling of Nova Scotia Power.
I polled some people who have lived in the province much longer than me and consensus was 2 days of no power for this degree of weather seemed excessive. We were surprised to lose power at all and thought maybe it'd be restored within a couple hours, not a couple of days. Seems like poor customer service to get from a company that keeps cutting and outsourcing jobs while raising power rates and giving executives big pay hikes and returning profit to shareholders. And storm season hasn't even begun! We all agreed that with this level of service, if we took a direct hit from a real hurricane we'd be screwed so it's time to solar up. If Emera keeps this up, at some point I wonder if a class action lawsuit for negligence is going to make sense.
One of the most frustrating things about the weekend was the fact that it was incredibly difficult to get through to any humans at Nova Scotia Power. We didn't have internet access because of our outage and our lack of smart phones, but the internet site that had outage information somehow went down. My pet theory as to why this happened is that the site was taken down by management because they realized that people might have seen how few crews were working and gotten upset at the company for being understaffed. Why the phone lines were overwhelmed was another good question but most times I called I got a busy signal. I wanted to report a downed line I saw so when I finally got through at 1am I decided to see how long it would take to get through to a human. About 1/2 an hour I think. It shouldn't have been that hard for people to report downed lines. At least when I finally did get through the person I spoke to was in the province and not at a foreign call center.
I also wonder why this province's utility is owned by a private corporation in the first place. I wish ownership would go back to the province, and that individual households were rewarded for selling power back to the grid via their own solar panels, windmills and micro-hydro systems. This would create incentive for individuals to invest in these technologies and take the burden off the utility for getting itself off of foreign coal. It would be nice if low interest loans were made readily available for individual investment in these things. However, as my husband pointed out, with a private corporation like Emera this would mean they wouldn't have anything to 'sell' and charge us for, so really for them it makes more sense to build a big wood-fired electric generator to start munching up all the provinces forests to burn up into power so Nova Scotia can look like Easter Island and Emera executives and shareholders can profit.
I learned a lot about local politics from Hurricane Arthur yesterday when we drove into Bridgewater looking for food; it was interesting that the side of the street with Sobeys on it had power all day, while Loblaws-owned Superstore went without. Esso and Petro-Can had no power, but it somehow miraculously reappeared at the Irving Station. Hmmm.
4. Crony-Baloney. New phrase I just thought up writing point #3. Ah, I googled it. I'm not the first person to think this phrase up.
5. This awesome video of Dongdu International's (DDI) plans for Nova Scotia! I think things are about to get interesting here, I joked to a fellow "Come From Away" several months ago that if this province doesn't get its act together some mainland Chinese investors are likely to fly in and start buying up the whole show. But I never anticipated this!! DDI has also been buying up Detroit. Not sure what that says about the province's economy... but having grown up in Richmond BC I'll be curious to see how this development impacts the province. Hopefully the government will be smart enough to ensure that it is with maximum positive benefits for its current residents; both humans and wildlife.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
This Week's Favourite Things! June 23rd - June 29th, 2014
1. Boney M Rasputin. Last week I got really into watching random youtube videos of things that get stuck in my head, this is just one of many awesome versions of this song which makes me nostalgic for the 70's...
2. Come on Teacher by Joel Plaskett. Ah. Heard this on the radio once a couple years ago had no idea what the song was called or who was singing it but loved it, found this after watching his "Fashionable People" video as I heard that song on the radio recently and it got stuck in my head.
3. It's yer money I'm after baby by The Wonderstuff which makes me super nostalgic for the 90's which I remember a lot more of than the 70's... only version of this one youtube is a reversed one some fan made
2. Come on Teacher by Joel Plaskett. Ah. Heard this on the radio once a couple years ago had no idea what the song was called or who was singing it but loved it, found this after watching his "Fashionable People" video as I heard that song on the radio recently and it got stuck in my head.
3. It's yer money I'm after baby by The Wonderstuff which makes me super nostalgic for the 90's which I remember a lot more of than the 70's... only version of this one youtube is a reversed one some fan made
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