Now I know it's hard when it's through and I'm damned if I don't know quick fix way

I started this blog in September 2007, when I was bored and unemployed after graduating from university. Five years and 3,897 blog posts later, I've:

• Moved three times, in my favourite city in Canada
  
• Worked for a non-profit, a startup, a media conglomerate, and the public broadcaster
  
• Gone back to school and become a Master
  
• Interviewed artists and covered some really exciting events in Canadian arts and entertainment
• Traveled in Canada: east (St. John's!) and west (Vancouver!)
  
• Traveled outside of Canada: Nairobi, Edinburgh, London, New York, Chicago, New Orleans!
  
• Laughed, danced, strengthened friendships, ate chips!

After all that and more, my interest and inspiration in blogging was bound to shift. I needed a break!

And now that I've taken one, I'm ready to re-situate myself on the internet. I've picked up some of my favourite blog posts from this site and moved them over to a new home on Wordpress, where I'll continue to do as I do.

But It's not going to be a daily deal anymore. I only want to write when I've got something I'm legit interested in sharing.

So follow me on over to the new blog. We've got a ways to go before we're out or through with each other yet.

Pop Goes Christmas: A Playlist

Holy shit guys, how did it become December already?

The Christmas season is in full swing, and I'm certainly getting into it after visiting the Distillery District Christmas market with my family on Saturday.

Sunday I dug out my Dollarama Christmas decorations and started decking my halls, while working through my pile of holiday DVDs.

I also started putting together one helluva holiday playlist, featuring some of the best, cheesiest and earwormiest versions of Christmas classics, performed by pop stars of today and yesteryear.

The list is by no means exhaustive, though it was surely enriched after I solicited some suggestions via Twitter.

So, what's your favourite Christmas song by a pop star? Check out my list thus far under the cut, and holla in the comments.

12 things I learned from The Golden Girls

I spent a good deal of this past year with the Golden Girls. In the winter, when early sunsets and hibernating friends precipitated a hardly thrilling evening routine, I turned to my complete series collection. The collector's item, a gift from my brother, is housed in a replica of Sophia's wicker purse, as if its contents weren't fabulous enough.

Through hours on my couch I really got to know Dorothy (Bea Arthur), a cranky no-nonsense divorcee, substitute teacher and oversized-frock-wearer; her mother Sophia (Estelle Getty), a diminutive, wise-cracking Italian mama with her family's best interests at heart; Blanche (Rue McLanahan), a southern belle who prides herself on her appearance and enjoys the company of gentlemen from time to time; and Rose (Betty White), a naive if-not-too-bright Minnesota native with a heart of gold.

From start to finish I experienced the highs and lows of these independent women of a certain age, who share a house in Miami. They work, they go on dates, they fight, they have sex. They live life just like any self-respecting single woman might even though they're -- gasp! -- past mid-life.

Though a TV show starring four normal-looking older women probably wouldn't make it to air today, Golden Girls solidified its place in TV history with seven successful seasons between 1985 and 1992, and 11 Emmy Awards, including one for each of its four main stars.

Just as much as the show was considered groundbreaking, it remains hilarious and heart-warming, without pandering to its audience.

Need proof? Well, okay. Here are 12 lessons I gleaned from the fab four.

Feel the possibilities

Listen to these two songs back to back, and be limitless.

Two Kelly Clarkson videos you should watch right now

1. The voice of a generation performed a medley of hits -- Miss Independent, Since U Been Gone, Stronger, and new single Catch My Breath -- at the American Music Awards tonight.



2. She also recorded a mashup of Alanis Morissette's That I Would Be Good and Kings of Leon's Use Somebody, to be released as part of a new EP called The Smoakstack Sessions Vol. 2. You'll recall she's previously performed this mashup live, and it is awesome.