I’m watching Eraserhead for the first time, and I find myself wondering: is David Lynch even human?
[tags]david lynch, eraserhead[/tags]
Month: November 2006
Theta to the left of me, sigma to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with mu
Mahir! Mahir is back! He kiss you!
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I am now officially at the low point of this MBA program. The administrators warned us we’d bottom out somewhere around the beginning of the third year, and they were right. It feels like we’ve been at this forever (it’s been just over two years, in fact) but it also feels like we’re still far from finishing (just under two years, obviously). We also just finished off one of the worst courses (as far as workload) and moved immediately into another — quantitative methods — which is as boring as watching paper turn yellow in the sun.
Quants is no picnic either when it comes to the amount of work to do: in order to avoid schoolwork over the Christmas holidays I have to read about 30 pages — of stats, mind you — each night and work on perpetual assignments. I’m trying to run 2-3 miles 5-6 times a week, plus there’s work and the usual errands like groceries. There’s also my daily RSS compulsion; I feel a little lost if I can’t see what’s going on in the world. I’d love to write more interesting things on the blog but I just don’t have the hours. Luckily Nellie takes it upon herself to cook for my sorry ass pretty much every night or I’d be the walking dead.
I’ll be really glad when I can watch TV or go see a movie without feeling guilty for not studying.
54.62% down. 45.38% to go.
[tags]mahir, i hate quants[/tags]
Since when does "card" rhyme with "world"?
More musical pain: corporate bonding a la David Brent. [via]
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The 2007 rock n’ roll hall of fame nominees have been announced: R.E.M., Van Halen, The Stooges, Patti Smith, The Dave Clark Five, Chic, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Joe Tex and The Ronettes.
The first five I agree with. Grandmaster Flash and The Ronettes I could live with. I have no freaking idea who Joe Tex is, so I’d be surprised if he/she/they made it. If Chic gets elected, I will make it a goal in life to visit Cleveland and piss on the hall of fame, nay, on the very essence of rock n’ roll.
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I watched Cinema Paradiso (imdb | rotten tomatoes) over the weekend. I liked it a lot; I’m really annoyed that I read an article several months ago giving away the last scene (the article was about films that make men cry, and this was a popular choice), but it was still very worthwhile. Highly recommended, unless you’re my mother or Stanzi, in which case you’ll cry for the last 20 minutes.
[tags]bank of america, rock n’ roll hall of fame, cinema paradiso[/tags]
Saddam sentenced to hang
Shiites celebrate, while Sunnis vow revenge.
Surely, nothing bad will come of this.
[tags]saddam hussein sentenced[/tags]
Marianne's a bitch
If you love Bob Dylan, or even like his music, or even if you know who he is, do not watch this. ‘Cause you will feel dirty. [via]
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The more I listen to Regina Spektor’s Soviet Kitsch, the more I like it. I liked her more recent album Begin To Hope immediately, and liked it even more with each consecutive listen. Soviet Kitsch took a few more listens, but I’m there now. I love the lo-fi approach to songs like “Poor Little Rich Boy” where it actually sounds like she’s using a drumstick to tap out quarter notes on her piano stool as she plays.
[tags]bob dylan, regina spektor, soviet kitsch, begin to hope[/tags]
Casting stones
While I don’t like to revel in people’s misfortunes, I admit to feeling a tiny bit of satisfaction that Ted Haggard has been caught showing the very human tendencies that he calls sins.
Because Haggard was so active in the political arena, the accusations against him have political ramifications. I’ve seen interviews with the man, including his infamous dust-up with Richard Dawkins, heard his claims that he speaks personally with President Bush on matters of religion and morality, and read about his track record on trying to prevent gay marriage. By being caught practicing that which he definitely does not preach, he may weaken the cause of the so-called evangelical movement. This, ironically, may be the most Christian thing he has ever done.
The accusations of drug use and hiring a gay escort haven’t been proven; even if they are, they’re generally regarded as minor offenses if anything. Again, more irony: the fact that he may enjoy gay sex is not that big a deal to many people, but was made into a greater sin in the public eye by Ted Haggard and people just like him.
[tags]ted haggard, gay marriage[/tags]
What's the Deal With the Hulk's Pants?
Via Cinematical we learn that Bill O’Reilly is very concerned about horror movies. What delicious irony; most of the world thinks that Bill O’Reilly is a horror movie.
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Seen Reading is a very cool little blog written by Julie Wilson, set here in Toronto, where she spots what people are reading and writes about it online. I’ve found a new favourite morning read. [via Torontoist]
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My brother points out why you should always read more than just one newspaper. Bonus: if you stick around for the comments, you can see him flick a narrow-minded Ontarian in the ear. Metaphorically, of course.
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Right, off to dinner.
[tags]cinematical, bill o’reilly, seen reading, julie wilson[/tags]
Minor payback
The Canadiens just exacted a tiny measure of revenge against the Carolina Hurricanes for knocking them out of the playoffs last season. The Habs won 4-0, and Saku Koivu scored one of the goals, which must have felt good. The last time Koivu faced the ‘Canes, Justin Williams almost skewered his eyeball.
[tags]montreal canadiens, carolina hurricanes[/tags]
What would Mallory Keaton say about Senate finance reform?
Tonight was the screening of Babel (imdb | rotten tomatoes) to which I won a free pass last week. It was, like the last Iñárritu film we saw — 21 Grams — intricate, even delicate in how it displayed human frailty and trauma. It was compelling and well told; we didn’t really notice that it was 2.5 hours long.
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Sadly, the same can’t be said for a film I watched earlier in the week. Slacker (imdb | rotten tomatoes) may be a cultural document, but it feels badly dated fifteen years on. I actually stopped it 1/3 of the way through; it was alternately getting on my nerves and boring me. I wish I’d watched it in 1991, but I truly had no idea anything like that was happening in the world in 1991. I was in cultural Siberia.
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I downloaded two new albums from eMusic: Dust Bowl Revival by Ox and Quiet Waters by Woolly Leaves. Both are alt-country/folk style, and quite mellow. Ox is a band my brother turned me on to, and they do some mean Woody Guthrie covers; Woolly Leaves are the band of a member of The Constantines.
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After giving it an honest-to-goodness try to see what all the fuss was about, I deleted my MySpace account this morning. I found it both a popularity contest (which I want no part of) and an entry-level blogging tool (which I have no use for). On top of that, it looks like it was designed by a drunk guy in 1998. MySpace is the AOL of our decade; it’ll be dead (or massively repurposed) soon enough. Good riddance.
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What would Alex P. Keaton say about stem cell research? Forget that; what would Jennifer do? Or Nick? Or Andy? Or — God help us — Skippy? By the way, whatever olympic-class fuckwit asked Michael J. Fox that question should be sterilized. No sense keeping those genes in the mix.
[tags]babel, inarritu, slacker, ox dust bowl revival, woolly leaves quiet waters, constantines, myspace sucks, alex p keaton, michael j fox[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 