So on the show “The O.C.,” one of the main characters had the Seth Cohen Starter Pack, which was a set of books, a movie and music that he would give to people as kind of a friendship primer. What would be in the Lena Dunham Starter Pack? I love Seth Cohen. That’s so good. That’s such a good question. This is just off the top of my head, here’s what I would put in my start pack currently, if I was trying to make everybody feel the inside of my brain: I’d probably put Ariel, the Sylvia Plath book of poems, I’d put the new Sheila Heti novel, How Should a Person Be, I’d put Wallflower at the Orgy by Nora Ephron. Those would be my three books. I’d put Gilda Live, the documentary of Gilda directed by Mike Nichols, I’d put An Unmarried Woman, and I’d put in Clueless and then maybe like one Sufjan Stevens for feeling feelings too: Seven Swans. Then I’m just gonna throw Betty Davis—Miles Davis’s wife Betty Davis, not the disco crazy nutbag singer—I’d put her cd in there. Right now, if I was like, I want you to feel my feelings, I’d hand you those things.
Help “Suburban Goth” become a web series! Check out the teaser edited by (my boyfriend) Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux, directed by Virginia Abramovich, and featuring music from Montreal sensations Reversing Falls and Child Actor. It stars breakout actor Alex Ozerov (of hit Canadian movie “Blackbird”) as Tyler, the titular goth. I wrote the movie!
Featured in this trailer: a mom spritzing Febreeze, my dog Lola, a sad dad and a teenage goth stapling his OWN FACE.
This is a video I made during my first week at the Canadian Film Centre. We were given an hour to shoot and two hours to edit. I got really excited when I saw the camera - after six years of writing exhaustive analytical essays about film at U of T, I couldn’t believe that someone would allow me to just make a movie. Jonathan Egan edited it and was really kind throughout the process. We both got really excited about that Notorious B.I.G. song.
I wrote about Walter Scott’s amazing “Wendy” comics for Maisonneuve’s “Best Books of 2012” list. Here is my blurb:
Wendy by Walter Scott
Self-published, 2011
Trendy Wendy by Walter Scott
Self-published, 2012
This year, I discovered the Wendy comics by Montreal artist Walter Scott. The original Wendy and this year’s sequel, Trendy Wendy, portray a confused girl living in a St. Henri squat who is ostensibly trying to make art but, instead, is completely consumed by loft parties, drugs and less-than-adequate sexual encounters. I have never related to a fictional character more in my life. Rendered in Scott’s beautiful black-and-white illustrations, the characters speak in internet LOL-isms to mask their feelings. The hedonistic core of Wendy is an outrageous slyph named Screamo, a gay scenester wearing Edvard Munsch’s The Scream as a face. As Wendy gets burned by her friends and fights over horrible musctachioed paramours, her painful coming-of-age never results in actual self-knowledge. Scott knows that the Montreal art scene is a farce, but behind his satire is a comic acutely aware of just how tender growing pains can be.
Reviewed by Chandler Levack, Maisonneuve’s Music Room columnist. Read her article “Visions of the Future” in Issue 44.
Shit Torontonians Say
INT. TTC SUBWAY CAR - DAY
Someone steps on CHANDLER’S FOOT.
CHANDLER:Oh, sorry.
INT. THE COMMON - DAY
Someone spills hot coffee on CHANDLER.
CHANDLER Oh my god, I’m so sorry.
INT. ROYAL MOVIE THEATRE - NIGHT
CHANDLER is sitting down waiting for a movie to start. A MIDDLE AGED WOMAN approaches her seat and points at her.
MIDDLE AGED WOMAN Is that seat taken?
CHANDLER Yeah, by me.
THE MIDDLE AGED WOMAN looks at her with distain.
CHANDLER (CONT’D) Sorry.
INT. THE COMMON - DAY
CHANDLER sits with a GUY IN HIS MID 20s having an intense conversation.
MID 20S GUY I think we need to see other people..
CHANDLER Oh, sorry.
INT. BLACK HOOF - NIGHT
CHANDLER and a THREE FRIENDS prepare to gorge on a plate of charucterie.
CHANDLER Toronto elite!
EXT. DUFFERIN GROVE PARK - DAY
CHANDLER sits with her friend.
CHANDLER I love Montreal.
EXT. DUFFERIN GROVE PARK - DAY
CHANDLER sits with her friend.
CHANDLER Ew, Hamilton.
INT. SONIC BOOM - DAY
CHANDLER is record shopping with a friend.
CHANDLER Yeah, Rob Ford almost hit me with his car once.
EXT. TRINITY BELLWOODS PARK - AFTERNOON
CHANDLER sits with a friend in the park, drinking coffee from the White Squirrel.
CHANDLER Yeah, clipped me. With his SUV. I was on my bike.
EXT. QUEEN WEST - EVENING
CHANDLER stares incredously at a FRIEND who has biked to meet her.
CHANDLER You’re still biking?!
FRIEND Yeah, it’s not even snowing.
INT. LIT EXPRESSO BAR - AFTERNOON
CHANDLER is working on her laptop. Shamefully she approaches an ATTRACTIVE GUY.
CHANDLER Do you know the wireless password?
ATTRACTIVE GUY Yeah, it’s “Drake3000.”
INT. DARKHORSE EXPRESSO BAR - AFTERNOON
CHANDLER is working on her laptop. She approaches a YOUNG GIRL.
CHANDLER Do you know the wireless password?
YOUNG GIRL Yeah, it’s “CNTowerlatkes.”
INT. MANIC COFFEE - AFTERNOON
CHANDLER is working on her laptop. She approaches an ELDERLY MAN.
CHANDLER Do you know the wireless password?
ELDERLY MAN Yeah, it’s “GoLeafsGo69”
CHANDLER Cool, thanks.
EXT. OSSINGTON STREET - AFTERNOON
CHANDLER is walking down Ossington. She passes someone she might recognize, but maybe not. They faintly nod.
EXT. DUNDAS STREET - EVENING
CHANDLER huddles in the cold waiting for the Dundas streetcar.
CHANDLER (TO DAVID MILLER) Where’s the fucking streetcar?
INT. COMMUNIST DAUGHTER - EVENING
CHANDLER sits with a friend drinking beer.
CHANDLER Oh yeah, Sook-Yin? Yeah I know her.
INT. COMMUNIST DAUGHTER - LATER
CHANDLER sits with the same friend drinking beer.
CHANDLER Kevin Drew? He lived with my friend
from university’s roommate.
INT. COMMUNIST DAUGHTER - EVEN LATER
CHANDLER sits with the same friend drinking beer.
CHANDLER Jian Gomeshi? I think my cousin had
sex with him.
EXT. KENSINGTON MARKET - DAY
CHANDLER and a friend are buying groceries at a fruit stand.
CHANDLER If your boyfriend lives in the Junction, that’s a deal breaker.
FRIEND I know.
INT. SWEATY BETTY’S - NIGHT
CHANDLER is drinking beers with a FRIEND.
CHANDLER Yeah I hear they have a really good hamburger, but it’s in Leslieville.
INT. HONEST’S ED’S - DAY
CHANDLER is overwhelmed by the showy bargains. She makes guttural noises.
EXT. BROADVIEW PARK - MAGIC HOUR
An epic view of the city’s landscape at its most beautiful time of year.
CHANDLER sits with a friend.
CHANDLER You know, Toronto’s pretty great.
(beat) So, tell me about your trip to New York.
THE END.
