I forgot to put vaseline on my nipples before my run and now the left one hurts.
That is all.
[tags]vaseline, nipple, run[/tags]
Author: Dan Dickinson
"It looks like a chicken wing or a cheese fry."
Fatblogging update:
- Original weight: 233
- Weight last week: 227
- Weight this week: 226.5
Little better. Again, not as much exercise as I would have liked. 8-8 days and a looming assignment were the roadblocks this time. I ran yesterday, and hope to run again this afternoon…hopefully I can string a few more together this week.
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We watched two movies this weekend (one last night, one this morning).
The Road To Guantanamo (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was about the Tipton Three, British friends who were in Pakistan & Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 and were taken prisoner on suspicion of being Taliban and/or Al Qaeda. They were held at Guantanamo Bay for over two years before being released…never charged, never apologized to.
Had this been a Hollywood film…well, it would’ve never been made. But had it, the drama would have been so overwrought and embellished that the story would have lost all impact. Director Michael Winterbottom instead just told the story from the point of view of the three men, even interspersing the recreation of events with interviews. The story itself is shocking enough; it needed no help in being horrifying.
There are still hundreds of men held at Guantanamo Bay, few of whom have been charged, and only one of whom — an Australian — has been convicted. For more info visit Human Rights Watch.
The second movie was much lighter: Kicking And Screaming (imdb | rotten tomatoes), much like Slacker, was something that would’ve been more interesting if I had watched it in when it was released (1995, in this case) and majored in philosophy. As it was, apart from a few funny bits, I found it pretty boring.
[tags]fatblogging, the road to guantanamo, tipton three, kicking and screaming, slacker[/tags]
Well, I guess I have to eat my wor…oh. Never mind.
Dick Cheney was right about Iraq. 13 years ago.
[tags]dick cheney, iraq[/tags]
Yea and verily, we need a no-Speedo bylaw
A rooftop pool near where I live. It always looks so great when someone’s swimming and the sun’s hitting it. I took a few pictures of “rooftop life” today, like this one, and stuck ’em on Flickr.
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Oooowheeee. After working on a stupid assignment all day (seriously, this may be the first time that I’ve hated school, rather than feeling simply annoyed or overwhelmed) it felt good to run a few miles. I spent too much time sitting on my ass this week. Why didn’t I buy an Aeron chair when I started this 3 years ago?
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Songs that won’t leave my head today: “Bridges” by L’Spaerow and “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill” by Husker Du.
[tags]rooftop life, mba, running, l’spaerow, husker du[/tags]
My slow descent into the weekend
Some lads playing cricket in Moss Park. Click on the picture to get the larger sizes.
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Today were a looooong one. Got up early to hit the bank and then the lawyer’s office where we signed over our bank accounts, our various chattels and the rights to any future screenplays we may write. In return we’ll have our very own crushing debtload come Tuesday. Huzzah!
Didn’t leave work until 8:00, by which time Nellie was happily nibbling away on something delicious at Fieramosca with her friends. They called a few minutes ago; even Mennie (the hostess) said hello. She missed me. I could tell.
Right now I’m enjoying my alone time and the clean apartment and my efficiency at catching up on stuff. I’m blasting the New Pornographers and gettin’ shit done. It may qualify as a lame Friday night, but goddamn it feels nice.
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BlogTO had a couple of great island-related features earlier this week: a detailed description of a first trip on Porter Air (who fly from the Toronto Island Airport) that pretty much removed any doubt I had about using them the next time I felt to Montreal, Ottawa or Halifax, and an explanation of why the gradual extension of the Leslie Street Spit is causing (or, rather, not preventing) the erosion of the Toronto Island beaches.
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Every time I listen to Radiohead‘s Kid A I’m struck by how good it is. Every time.
[tags]moss park, mortgage, fieramosca, new pornographers, blogto, porter air, leslie street spit, radiohead, kid a[/tags]
First rule of order: no more tuna
No matter how shitty a day you have — and believe me, I had a shitty day — these two things can make it a little bit better:Â “No Pussy Blues” by Grinderman and a little lolcat action.
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Man alive, it’s hard to function without your thumb. Buttoning a shirt, signing your name, tying your freaking shoes…all nigh unto impossible. Seriously, I’m convinced that our development of opposable digits is the only thing that’s keeping us in control of the planet right now. If dolphins (or even Jack Russell terriers) ever get thumbs, we are in serious trouble.
I, for one, welcome our delphinine overlords.
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Britain has asked Israel to re-open the case of James Miller, a reporter who was shot by an Israeli officer while filming in Gaza four years ago. I blogged about this three years ago after watching a documentary about Miller on the first anniversary of his death. It was one more tragic story from a region rife with them. This appeal will surely cause an outcry in Israel, but one has to admire Britain’s doggedness in seeking justice for one of her citizens.
[tags]grinderman, lolcat, opposable digits, james miller[/tags]
pH = 7
A thoroughly uneventful day. Not particularly busy at work, home at a decent hour, nothing startling in the news (unless you’re a Democrat), exceedingly gray weather…pretty vanilla day, all in all. I went for a run this morning…the wrist felt fine, and I could have done more than 1.5 miles but I want to ease back into it. I’ll go again tomorrow and aim for 2. Got some info about our mortgage closing (which is a week from today), got the latest episode of Entourage, picked up my outdoor speakers and had some late (and unexpected) birthday cake. That’s about as harmless as a day can be, I guess.
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I’ve picked up the pace with Zip lately. If we do decide to cancel our account I want to watch the best movies possible first. I’ve been using up my bonus points to get certain movies sent to me. Right now that The Road To Guantanamo, Notes On A Scandal and Junebug. They’ve also sent Kicking And Screaming. Next up: probably Full Nelson and Inside Man.
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Geek note: if you read my blog the old-fashioned way (on a web browser) the links in the sidebar (consumption & MP3s) should be fixed now.
[tags]democrats, wiretaps, entourage, zip.ca, road to guantanamo, notes on a scandal, junebug, full nelson, inside man[/tags]
Eat eat gain gain
Fatblogging check-in:
- Original weight: 233
- Weight last week: 226
- Weight this week: 227
Not great, but not unexpected. Vacation for three days, dinner out a few times, no exercise…yeah. That’ll do it. Now that I have my hard cast I think my wrist can handle the jolt of running, so I’m going to the gym tomorrow morning. Time to get back on the horse treadmill.
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We just finished watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It was better than I expected. It got dragged up off the bottom of my Zip list, so I wasn’t that keen to see it, but we felt like watching a movie tonight and got a pleasant surprise. The story was pretty formulaic (and was explained as such…very meta) but parts of the script were quite funny, especially Val Kilmer’s. Not a must see, but worth a watch if it’s lying around.
[tags]fatblogging, kiss kiss bang bang[/tags]
I'm starting to believe in curses
Ever feel like you’re playing bad customer service whack-a-mole? Just when we get the gas leak sorted we have to deal with UpCountry, who are being substantial dicks about the bed we ordered two months ago. They called a month ago to say they’d be following up in a few days to arrange a delivery date, and charged our credit card for the remainder of the bed…but no one ever called us. We’ve tried calling, emailing, everything…no answer, and the mailboxes are all full. Very professional.
So yesterday we went to the store and asked where our bed is. We heard some story about things going from the wrong warehouse blah blah wank, and were given the delivery service’s phone number. My first thought was, “How about you call them and sort it out?” but I realized if we rely on UpCountry to proactively provide customer service we’ll be waiting a long time. We also asked for a better phone number to call since none of the phone numbers they publish actually seem to have a human near the receiver. We were told there is another number, but there’s no point in taking it down since that number won’t be answered either. Clearly UpCountry has been taking customer service lessons from our condo management office.
Luckily, Andrew Richard Designs [caution: cheesy new-age music] next door (where we bought our balcony furniture) were actually nice, if not overly competent. We arrived to pick up the cushions for our benches, only to find out that they’d made us the wrong ones. Right color, wrong texture. However, rather than making us wait 3-4 weeks while they made the right ones, they simply gave us the wrong ones to use temporarily and submitted the correct order. As it turned out, once we got them home, Nellie actually liked how they looked, so I think we’ll keep them after all. Not a perfect experience by any means, but certainly better customer service than UpCountry. I can tolerate a mix-up; what I can’t tolerate is unwillingness to fix (or even acknowledge) said mix-up.
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So, new cushions installed, we fired up the barbeque and had CBGB over. Nellie prepared a tasty seafood feast for us as we relaxed out on the (rather windy) balcony. All very yummy, and after a quick cleanup job we crashed.
[tags]upcountry, andrew richard designs, customer service[/tags]
The good, the bad and the criminally dumbass
We saw The Bourne Ultimatum (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night after work. It was really, really good. Almost surprisingly so, considering it’s a spy/action movie. Probably the best of the three films, in my opinion. It echoed the second film and retraced an important theme from the first. There was subtlety and subtext to go along with the fight sequences and super-agent stuff. It was well-paced and well shot (I like Paul Greengrass’ hand-held style). Great cast too.
Well worth your ticket price…and with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes I guess I’m not the only one who thinks so.
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At the other end of the film spectrum we find Bratz (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which is moving at a 9% clip on RT and inspired the following analysis:
“This is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I’ll go as far as to call it one of the worst movies anyone’s ever seen. Bratz is one the worst movies a stillborn chicken in Peru has ever seen.” [Cinematical]
“But if your daughter feels far too good about herself or has bought into all this ‘It’s what’s on the inside that counts’ bullshit, then you not only owe it to your daughter to take her to this, but you owe it to the 20 or so guys that in ten years will be tagging her while she lies face first in a puddle of her own vomit. These girls don’t make themselves. They need your help, Dad. They need Bratz.” [Ain’t It Cool News]
“If you ever wanted a movie to put in the time capsule so future generations can puzzle over the bankruptcy of our current kiddie culture, Bratz is it.” [Boston Globe]
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Let me give you an example of a big reason I wanted to move away from small-town Nova Scotia. This CBC News story is about a town very close to where I grew up.
Truro won’t be flying a rainbow-coloured flag at the town hall to support gay pride activities, unlike two other nearby Nova Scotia municipalities.
…
Council voted 6-1 against raising the flag to coincide with next week’s gay pride activities in Pictou County. Mayor Bill Mills is standing by the vote, saying, as a Christian, he simply could not support the request. “God says I’m not in favour of that and I have to look at it and say, I guess I’m not either,” Mills said.
The mayor said gays and lesbians already have equal opportunities and work and pension benefits, so he wonders what else they’re fighting for. By raising the rainbow flag, he added, that might open the door for other groups. “If I have a group of people that says pedophiles should have rights, do we raise their flag too? I don’t want to lump them in with homosexuals, but that’s the point, the issues, and that’s my feeling.”
Wow. That is some well-thought-out shit right there. He wonders what else they’re fighting for? How about a mayor who doesn’t imply they’re sexual deviants? Pedophile flags? Pedophilia’s illegal, you idiot. Although, it does raise the question: what kind of equality flag would homophobic public officials fly?
For every reason I love my home province, there’s some jackhole troglodyte like Bill Mills to remind me why I can’t move back yet.
[tags]bourne ultimatum, bratz, truro, mayor bill mills[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 