10th of May. 8th smog alert of the year. I wonder if all the people driving alone to Toronto from Barrie or Stoney Creek or Ajax each morning feel guilty at all?

from CTV

1. When I first moved to Toronto, I had some of essentials — a pot, some dishes & utensils, some towels, a small TV — sent to me by courier so that I’d have it right away while the rest of my stuff made the trip across the country. Purolator lost one of the boxes and broke the TV.
2. They’re owned by McCain’s which makes the most consistently horrid commercials on TV (e.g., the Robbie Alomar atrocities of some years ago, the couple playing the ditty on their violin & glasses of lemonade or whatever, the neauseating pizza pocket sputum, etc.)
3. After a single attempt to deliver my copy of With Teeth (without even leaving a message or calling anyone else on my floor), they’re telling me I have to go down to the Lakeshore to pick it up. Fie, I say. Fie.

Over at Gaping Void, Hugh MacLeod gives us his vision of consumerism’s future, and I’m buying what he’s selling.

There’s a good chunk of the middle class that, although certainly nice people, hard working, reliable and whatnot, are not particularly bright, creative, or too fond of original thought, nor taking risks. This class I see being bled white over the next few decades, as their niches dry up like summer puddles.

Guardian: Wee dram can cut cancer risk, says whisky consultant

Given this news, I feel it’s in the interest of my health if I have a glass with every meal.

P.S.: Boo, Lesley Walker! What would Johnnie say?!?

What with the debilitating cold, we couldn’t do much more on Saturday night than watch another movie. For the second night in a row, as it happened, it starred Jude Law. This time: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow (imdb | rotten tomatoes).

I liked it, Nellie didn’t. Visually impressive, obviously, and it slipped in lots of fun references to other films, but I can’t stand Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie was barely in it, and I think I’m just plum burned out on Jude Law. No more for a while.

After letting my Zip movies languish on the speaker for weeks, this cold at least afforded me the downtime to watch a few. Now we just have Blue In The Face, but I don’t want to watch that until Smoke arrives.

Today was mother’s day, so I hope everyone who was supposed to call called. I heard from mine that her exciting plan today was to relax, have a cup of tea and maybe watch a DVD or two. Which, for a woman who doesn’t often sit still for long, is probably a nice mother’s day indeed.

It also happened to be brother #2’s birthday. Happy birthday, Picky.

I just got trapped by the Million Marijuana March. The parade of people walking down Bloor got turned onto Yonge just as I was about to cross it. I doubled back to the Manulife Center, crossed underground, and walked to the corner of Yonge & Bloor…and got there just as the last few people rounded the corner. Argh.

If I’d been smart I’d have just gotten into the parade and then jumped out when it got to my street. Oh well, I’m sick, I’m not at the top of my game. Besides, the way I was dressed (not to mention the way I look), I might’ve stood out a bit.

Forgot to mention that I’d watched The Take (imdb | rotten tomatoes) this week. Obviously it appealed to my ultra-lefty sensibilities, and it was interesting to see the other side of an notion which has been so forcefully presented to me throughout my commerce degree and MBA: that the World Bank and IMF are wonderful & benevolent bodies, and that unrestrained free market capitalism is a near-perfect model. Does it do more ood than harm? Perhaps. But Avi Lewis and Noami Klein, whose personal views were clear long before this movie was filmed, are intent on showing us the harm. And they should; it’s a failing of academia that people are considered part of the system, and the harmful impact on the unfortunates who fall through the gaps in the system should be front and centre in the minds of everyone involved in making monetary decisions. Too often, though, those decisions are being made by rich, greedy men in palaces and luxurious hotels.

Last night I watched I Heart Huckabees (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a movie so weird that it made last weekend’s screening of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy seem straightforward. I didn’t hate it, but I’m fairly certain that I didn’t much like it either. It’s pretty much the first movie that I’ve seen aim for “ironically deep” and end up with “cutesy”. Unless you go out of your way to watch movies which you think other people won’t like, so that you can sneer and mock and nattering masses for “not getting it”, don’t bother.

Guh. This cold isn’t just persisting, it’s picking up speed. I’m completely stuffed up, I have a wicked sinus headache, my throat is killing me, I have the cold sweats and I’m exhausted all the time. And yet, it’s my wife who’s still in bed. The girl likes her sleep.

I want to get out and do some things today, but I don’t know how much energy I can muster. And I can’t go three minutes without needing a kleenex.