Putting the Fran in cisco

My blog has officially moved to "Fran in Frisco": franinfrisco.wordpress.com until I leave San Francisco...If I leave San Francisco.
XO
Fran

Scott Treleaven & AnOther Magazine

As much as I get freaked out by facebook's ability to advertise directly to my personal interests, I have to admit that it can be artistically beneficial. Today facebook displayed an ad for AnOther Magazine (based in London), which "places high fashion in a cultural context to the digital world". It allowed my discovery of Canadian photographer Scott Treleaven (who attended York for a year, transferred to OCAD and did an additional 3 years at U of T, according to his online resume). His photos in AnOther are stunning:

This one reminds me of Klimt's Judith and the Head of Holofernes

AnOTHER MAN MAGAZINE
"Scott Treleaven is something of a new wave Renaissance man, working in film, collage, drawing and photography. But this marks the Paris-based artist’s grandest entrance into the fashion arena. Stylist Alistair Mackie approached him about collaborating on a14 page story for the spring issue of AnOther Man. The quasi-surreal pictures are inspired by 19 th-century Paris’s "Club des Hashashins"-a bohemian literary group that boasted decadent gents such as Charles Baudelaire and Alexandre Dumas as members."

Maddy Muse: The Flower Sessions

This is Maddy, the daughter of my mom's co-worker. She was my flower fairy for a day. The images are numbered 1-7. Which is your favourite? and if you had to choose: 6 or 7?

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The New Moon, Chocolate Chips, Gaga sibling dynamics and Lizards

Last night I had a terrible sleep. I'm chalking it up to the handful of chocolate chips I ate before bed. That and it was a full moon last night, and I NEVER get a good sleep on a full moon. I always attributed it to the bright moonlight, but last night I was sleeping in the basement and there's only a tiny window at ground level, so I don't know why the moon affects me so much. I had a weird dream that I was hired as one of ten staff writers at couchsurfing.com, and we were all taken out back to a river, where there was some kind of skeletal dog being walked about (its legs were actually just bones...weird). One of the writers was the owner of a giant pet lizard and for some reaon I was instantly afraid of it. I climbed up a door so that it couldn't bit me, and everyone started making fun of me. The owner kept bundling the lizard up in a peice of cloth and throwing it at me, so that it would bite me. I kept throwing it back at her and getting more and more angry, not only because she was trying to hurt me, but we were also hurting the lizard, which just wasn't fair. Finally, I woke up, and the first thing that came to mind was this picture:I was instantly wracked with guilt, as I haven't been doing a good job at being a cool older sister lately (have I ever?), and it appears that Lady Gaga is like peas in a pod with her younger sister Natali. They even dressed up as each other for Halloween! Anyways, you know you're Lady Gaga obsessed when you start analyzing her sibling dynamics. And the weirdest part of my Lady Gaga obsession is this: Her "fame" has succeeded in making a fan out of me, even though I don't even like her music. How the hell did this woman become so famous so fast, and totally (re-)revolutionize pop? It just goes to show that whatever tactics she's using (tried tested and true) she has won. So weird. I remember hearing her music on the itunes top 10 canada playlist about a year and a half ago and being like "Yuck, I hope this one hit wonder Europop trash music dies quickly...This person doesn't even show their face on their album! How lame." And now I sit her analyzing the consumerism, gender politics and sibling likeness in her Telephone music video. (Her sister makes an appearance at 2:37 and 2:47...and PS I think she does an MJ dance move at 4:33).

Justin (& I) in Toronto

Facebook won't let me upload photos, so here are a few of the 178 that I was planning to upload tonight. I've decided to focus on the theme of "Justin":

Justin and our trusty Hi5 Toronto Hostel Map

Justin & Graffiti

Justin at the Ontario Academy of Art and Design

Justin on the tram (I mean streetcar...)

Young Justin drinks SOMA hot Chocolate

Justin as mafia (at Rivoli Comedy Night)

The 36 Hour Mark

So...I'm back in Canada! I arrived about 8pm on February 28th...Which was surreal since that was an hour "before" my flight took off from Seoul (since, y'know, Korea is 14 hours ahead). Suprisingly, the flight was only 12 hours from Seoul to Toronto, I had been expecting it to be at least 14 hours. The time "flew" by...Pardon the pun. I watched 6 movies: The Burning Plain, Bright Star, Whip It, The Boys are Back, An Education & Amreeka.

After surpassing the 36 hour mark in my homeland, I've noticed afew differences between Canada and Korea:

1) I can understand what people are saying
2) I don't need to air dry my laundry
3) Things are much more expensive
4) I need a car to go everywhere
5) I have hummus
6) The water is softer (it takes forever to wash soap off)

Thank you Kim Yeona --You made my last day golden.

So I'm sitting at the airport at one the free wireless Internet lounges. Now I can finally reflect on some of the things I've been wanting to write about for the past couple of days while I was busy packing up.

On my last day of work I got to come in late on the 1:30 bus. That morning I had a chi massage from my masseuse Andi, and afterwards we walked downtown to grab some kimbap (Korean version of fishless sushi). I realized half way through my kimbap roll that Kim Yeona was about to do her final skating routine. The only thing I knew about the Olympics (besides the fact that I was missing them) was that Kim Yeona was representing Korea at the games. At first I only knew her as "that ice skater who advertises maxi pads" but in the past few months she's been endorsing everything from air conditioners to nike to diamond earrings. I heard there was a lot of pressure on her to win gold because she'd already endorsed so many products (yet another example of how Korea does everything backwards from everyone else: doesn't an Olympian usually endorse stuff after they win a medal?).
Anyways, as I picked up another peice of salad kimbap with my metal chopsticks, Kim Yeona stepped onto the ice. Everyone in "Kimbap Chongu" (the restaurant) fell silent. The waitresses pulled thier chairs up to the TV. (By the way, almost every Korean restaurant has a TV in it). People starting coming in off the streets to watch Kim Yeona's routine. It was perfect. I held my breath the whole time. At the end, it looked like she was going to burst into tears. "She knows she's got it" Andi said. A smile crept up on my lips and my eyes got all teary. I was all choked up. It was 1:27...I couldn't wait to hear her score results. I bolted to the bus station and just stepped onto the bus as the engine roared to life. "Kim Yeona #1 issoyo?" I asked the old women and farmers ("is Kim Yeona #1?") It was one of those awkward moments where no one acknowledged me and you could hear crickets chirping. "fine then" I said to myself "I'm more proud of Korea than you!" Later, when the bus driver turned up the radio I head "Figure skating...Geum....Kim Yeona"...and I was pretty sure "Geum" meant Gold. As I got off the bus I asked the driver "Ajashi, Kim Yeona medal issoyo?" (Sir, did Kim Yeona get a medal?") He held up one finger, as if to say "#1!" "Yay! Hassssah!" I jumped off the bus and walked to school with a bounce in my step. I burst into the classroom yelling "Kim Yeona got GOLD!" and everyone jumped with me. I arrived just in time to see Yeona bow down as the medal was placed around her neck. It was a great way to end my last day of work. Thank you Kim Yeona for making my last day memorable. It was funny because my administrator kept talking about some other figure skater that I should be proud of and I was like "What are you talking about?" It turns out that the Canadian figure skater (whom I'd never heard of!) got bronze. "Pffft, I don't care about her! GO KIM YEONA!" "You are more Korean than Koreans!" she said. I guess so.
Tonight is the night before Korean Independence Day...I'm all nostalgic and I haven't even left yet. My co-teacher and her family as well as my administrator came to see me off at the bus station, it was so cute...I fell asleep and when I woke up we were in Gapyong, although for one surreal moment I thought I was already in Aurora, Ontario. I guess all little towns are essentially the same.

When I got to the airport I discovered I couldn't get a tax refund on my Nikon D90 and that I did indeed have to drop an extra $130 to get my over sized Pusan International Film Festival poster home...I figured that would be the case, I just couldn't bear to part with it...The colours remind me of a Buddhist painting we have at home, an inheritance that my sister and I would have fought over to inherit if I didn't have this...so it was worth it


I have the 2009 poster rolled up in my suitcase, but I don't like the artwork as much:

When I got to the airport I thought I could get an emergency exit seat, since I arrived 5 hours before my flight...haha..."155 passengers have already checked in" said the guy at the ticket counter. I'm never coming this early again! Oh well. The Korean Airport rocks, they have these "Korean Traditional Cultural Experience Centers" where you can do traditional Korean arts and crafts...why buy souvenirs when you can make them?! So awesome. I made a mother of pearl broach and an ink print. I also dressed up in Hanbok, tried on an $1100 Gucci watch, and was blinded by the white bright lights of the Duty Free shops. The only thing I bought was a water. I think I might go grab dinner now cause it's 7:30 and my flight is at 8:55.

This is Fran signing out.

See you on the other side!