...And Then There Was Nothing

It's been quiet of late. Nothing really interesting is going on. Things are in motion, but I can only do so much without headshots. Have a session on the 28th, and then I assume it'll take at least a week or so for me to choose which shot(s) to use, and then at least another week to get some printed up.

Meeting with a voice teacher tomorrow. Was at Toronto's Reference Library, where they have a surprisingly decent number of scores in a reference area. Stopped by TheaterBooks to pick up some plays for monologues. Something else to work on; I've neglected my monologues for several years now, to the point where I couldn't confidently go to an audition where they asked for a monologue.

Been reading No Logo. It's excellent. I appreciate the lack of shrillness in its tone; Klein explicitly says that the title of the book is not meant as a manifesto or pamphleteer-type slogan, and that the book itself is simply an exploration of the phenomenon of corporate branding and its results. As far as that goes, there's a number of fascinating observations about the shift in industry from selling things to selling brands (and hence, by extension, the lifestyle that corresponds to a given brand). A question, though: is it possible to buy a brand without necessarily subscribing to the brand lifestyle? Or is it assumed that any purchase is subconsciously motivated by knowledge of the brand, given the ubiquitous advertising that the world's super-brands engage in?

Along these lines, I've been looking for stores in the Toronto area which might be selling clothes done by local designers. Do such stores exist? I have no idea. One wonders if there might be a market for that sort of thing. I did, however, recently get some new ideas for making my own shirts. Well, painting my own stencils onto plain t-shirts, which amounts to more or less the same thing.

Reading it also reminds me that I meant to pick up some Marshall McLuhan. Unfortunately (though only unfortunate in the sense that I can only read one book at a time), today I cracked and bought the new-ish Jimmy Stewart biography, so that'll probably be the next book I read.

Snippets of phrases have been flitting in and out of my head over the past few weeks, but any time I sit down to try to get any of them typed out they invariably seem trite and inane. I suppose that never stopped me before.

Currently listening to some Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground and Gang of Four. I'm a little upset that I never listened to any of this stuff before. Earlier today I was snooping through the punk section at an HMV, and I noticed they had no Dead Kennedys. Not only did they have no Dead Kennedys cds in stock, there wasn't even the little band placeholder. It was as if that store was completely unaware of the band's existence. It made me sad, and a little angry, like an emo potato.

If that t-shirt wasn't black, I would consider getting it.