My “The 265 Stupidest Things Ever Said” desk calender is usually pretty lame, but this one from last week is a keeper:
“Those who deface a Hummer in words or deed deface the American flag and what it stands for.”
That was Rick Schmidt, founder of the International Hummer Owners Group. There’s more background at epic-usa, where they’ve quoted a NY Times article.
That their group is called IHOG is just a perfect bit of irony. Outstanding, guys.
[tags]hummer, rick schmidt, ihog[/tags]
As a transplanted Maritimer I find it hilarious when native Torontonians (there are such things, apparently) are surprised to hear that the rest of the country dislikes them. By the way, using broad caricatures like “Maritimer fisherman, artsy Montrealer, Calgarian oil cowboy and Vancouver tree-hugger” probably have something to do with it.
Actually, having lived here for nine years it’s safe to say the rest of the country hates me now too. But at least I’m not surprised by it.
I’ll definitely be seeing this movie.
[tags]toronto, canada, mr. toronto[/tags]
[tags]paris hilton, retarded whore, toronto sun, mmva[/tags]
Interesting how Iran is the country that’s getting all the sabre-rattling these days when North Korea’s being much more aggressive. I suspect this has less to do with wanting to avoid conflict (although North Korea’s a less attractive prize, oil-wise) and more to do the fact that China wouldn’t suffer a military invasion on their doorstep any more than the US would tolerate an invasion of Cuba.
[tags]north korea, iran, nuclear, missile[/tags]
As I read my textbook this afternoon I came across a picture of a KFC (in the middle east; it’s an international business textbook) and remembered something our marketing prof said while on course two weeks back. He said Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to KFC because what they sold was so genetically modified they could no longer call it chicken. This is, of course, an urban legend, and I thought he was joking when he told the class…but he didn’t qualify his comment and seemed to believe it. Not being any great fan of KFC I didn’t correct him, but it’s just struck me that at least half of the people in that class — smart, educated people — probably believed him and would repeat it to someone else.
If I were introducing someone to a web browser for the very first time, and I could only give them five sites to remember, I think one of them would be snopes.
[tags]kfc, urban legend, snopes[/tags]
Just saw Mission Impossible III (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It was better than I expected. Or rather, it didn’t suck nearly as bad as it could have or as much as I expected it to. As far as summer movies go it was a decent one, with more slick action than aimless blabbing, and thankfully Philip Seymour Hoffman’s a skilled enough actor to make a stock villain seem somewhat interesting. It wasn’t as stylized as II (courtesy of John Woo and his violence doves…); instead it seemed just like an elongated episode of Alias. I wonder if that’s what the director pla…what’s that? It was directed by…ah. Okay. That makes sense then.
By the way: Tom Cruise pawing at some girl who looks very much Katie Holmes is no less creepy than him pawing at the real Katie Holmes. Just sayin’.
[tags]mission impossible III, tom cruise, philip seymour hoffman[/tags]
Last night we watched two movies. Well…we watched one movie and I finished watching a movie that I’ve been trying to struggle through for a few weeks.
Saint Ralph (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was very good. I wanted to see it two years ago at the film festival; since then Stanzi went to see it at Cinematheque and confirmed that it was, indeed, good. Great performances all around, except for a couple of wooden child actors playing Ralph’s friends. Oh, and Gord Downie butchered a cover of “Hallelujah”.
Heaven’s Gate (imdb | rotten tomatoes), on the other hand, was a pile of crap. Cinematography that could only be described as “dusty yellow”, horrid over-acting, prolonged scenes of foreign tongues with no subtitles, a criminally underused John Hurt, an equally criminal overuse of Isabelle Huppert, and a running time that seemed to stretch on forever. I honestly can’t imagine watching the original cut that ran four hours. I’d put my head through the tv in the hopes of achieving sweet, restful peace. It’s too bad; the topic — the Johnson County War — is such an interesting one, but they went and made a stinker about it. I always wanted to know if this movie deserved the “disaster” tag stuck to it. Survey says: oui.
.:.
You know…when Edmonton lost game 1 after Roloson got hurt I thought they were in serious trouble. When they got blown out in game 2, I thought they were done. They won game 3 in Carolina, but then they lost again to go down 3-1 and I figured that was it for sure. But hold on; they won game 5 in Carolina and just took game 6 by a 4-0 score, forcing a game 7. It would seem I wrote them off too soon. Prove me wrong, kids…prove me wrong!
[tags]saint ralph, gord downie, heaven’s gate, edmonton oilers, carolina hurricanes[/tags]
Walking down to St. Lawrence Market (to pick up some steaks and bacon) on a 35 degree day really works up a thirst, so we popped into C’est What for some lunch and a weissbeer. Along the way we stopped at the condo site to guage the progress — they’re up to the 38th floor now — and Nellie picked up some hair product while I sat outside in the shade.
I sometimes feel guilty for running my air conditioning, but today it was a necessary evil.
[tags]st. lawrence market, c’est what, weissbeer, air conditioning[/tags]
Now tell me you don’t want to see that movie.
[tags]road to guantanamo, michael winterbottom, guantanamo bay, tipton three[/tags]
I had a pretty good day. I got a lot done at work this morning (partly because I did a lot of prep work last night), and then at noon our department had a barbecue and team-building thingy outside. Ate a burger, drank some water, found some shade and then took part in the little team competition. I caught and returned a soccer throw-in, identified some flags, figured out the world jumble (the trick: don’t look at it for a few seconds) and kicked a penalty shot (using a winnie-the-pooh ball) past my VP. Alas, my team came in second, but we won some chocolate medals. Score.
I then had coffee (well…frozen icy chocolate beverages) with my friend Amy. She was the first person I met at this company, back in 1997, and after all the different roles and different departments for both of us (including a two-year stint at another company for me and a year of mat leave for her) we’ve ended up working on the same project. She’s like a big sister to me, but she also happens to be a very trusted colleague, so it’s great that we’ve ended up working just a block apart.
.:.
From Yahoo: Britney Spears may have baby in Namibia.
If you care about this story at all, I fucking hate you.
.:.
I am both excited and guilt-ridden about what I am about to do: turn off the computer and just watch a movie. How sad is that?
[tags]team building, britney spears, namibia, protestant work ethic[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 