Ponytail Picks #3 - Orange
You’ll find navel-gazing galore in this latest edition of Ponytail Picks.
WATCH
Winter On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom
I don’t get obsessed with every world event or catastrophe. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve managed to steer clear of most of the doom scrolling and case counting, mostly out of self-preservation than anything else. But this war in Ukraine is a different story. It’s in my head all the time, keeping me angry. Part of the reason might be because of the Orange Revolution.
Back in 2004, I was the kind of teenager who wore a Rage Against the Machine t-shirt with Che Guevera’s face plastered across my chest to school. I took copies of Adbusters home from the library. I read Orwell’s 1984 in my free time. I didn’t rebel against my parents; I rebelled against The System (and yes, I’m embarrassed about it).
So when the Orange Revolution broke out in November of that year, it captured my imagination. I wanted to know what it was all about. I read every story I could find about it in my dad’s copies of the National Post. I cut out the “Avenue” page showing the sea of orange in Independence Square and pinned it to my bedroom wall.
Winter on Fire isn’t about the Orange Revolution—it’s about the crisis that came ten years later—but you could argue that the story begins in 2004. Watching it will answer any questions you have as to why the Ukrainian people are so resilient in their fight for independence from Russia. If you don’t already want to tell Putin to fuck off, you definitely will after seeing this film.
-AK
READ
The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket
When I think of orange, I think of change: between days as the sun rises and sets; between seasons as the leaves burn and fall; between the ordinary and the magical as kids transform into their favourite characters and enter the candy-filled processional down pumpkin-lined streets at dusk.
The Baudelaire siblings’ story as told in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is one notably marked by change—each new entry introduces a new setting with which to surround the trio with suffering—and uniquely orange-tinted change at that, as their terrible tale begins with a terrible fire, the flames of which continue to lap threateningly at their heels throughout their tragic travels.
An early moment in the first of two orange-spined entries in the series, The Hostile Hospital, encapsulates this unfortunately orange recurring theme in the Baudelaires’ lives, when middle sibling Klaus finds a scrap of paper in the Library of Records in the Heimlich Hospital:
“This piece just says ‘fire,’” he said quietly, and the three Baudelaires looked down sadly at the dusty floor … the Baudelaires had all sorts of subconscious associations with the word “fire,” and none of them were pleasant to think about. The word made the children think of Hal, who had mentioned something about the Snicket fires that afternoon in the Library of Records. “Fire” made the youngsters think of Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, who had lost their parents and their brother, Quigley, in a fire. And, of course, the word “fire” made the Baudelaires think of the fire that had destroyed their home and had begun the unfortunate journey that had led them to the half-finished wing of Heimlich Hospital. The three children huddled quietly together under their dropcloths, getting colder and colder as they thought about all the fires and subconscious associations that were in the Baudelaire lives.
Without giving too much away, these associations do not get any less chilling or any less conscious in the Baudelaires’ minds by the end of this eighth book in the series.
-JB
LISTEN
On a lighter note (while remaining annoyingly serious of course), here are the first three songs that sprung to mind when I thought of the colour orange and what each of them teaches me when I listen.
“I’m a Tangerine” by Tommy James and the Shondells. We are all fruit, no matter our shape or colour, and we’re all in this life together whether we like it or not. Introduce yourself to someone different than you. Say, “Hello, banana; I am tangerine.” It will go a long way to helping us all get along.
“Orange Crush” by R.E.M. I’ll admit I did a bit of research for this one. The best quote I found about it came from Michael Stipe himself, who said:
“I must have played this song onstage over three hundred times, and I still don't know what the fuck it's about. The funny thing is, every time I play it, it means something different to me, and I find myself moved emotionally.”
Every time I listen to it, it means something different to me, too, Mike. One minute, its about the bravado-costume a soldier needs to wear before heading out into a shitty war. The next minute, it’s about finding contentment in the small things while living in a town that doesn’t accept you. And then sometimes, it’s just a reminder that Orange Crush exists and that you used to drink it and enjoy it. Those were the days.
“Suzanne” by Leonard Cohen. Get your head out of the books and arguments, Andrew. Drink your tea; eat your oranges. Take a moment to connect to the Moment, the Spring of Life. Your “wisdom” is destructive. Pick up your head and recognize your part in the beauty around you. Look into the mirror Suzanne is holding.
-AK
That’s all for this one, folks. Tune in next time as we think about bees.