Author: Dan Dickinson

Marianne's a bitch

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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

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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?

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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

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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?

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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]

The price of: rice-a-roni; parking; aiming high

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Bob Barker’s been hosting The Price Is Right longer than I’ve been alive, but he’s decided to hang it up next year. I bet he’ll be really good at grocery shopping.

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Richmond upon Thames is one of the nicer neighbourhoods in London, and has decided to triple (or treble, depending on where you’re reading this) the parking fee for SUVs. I can’t imagine a Toronto neighbourhood like Rosedale or Hogg’s Hollow trying this.

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The latest evidence that people are dumb: more of them watched CSI: Miami than watched Studio 60 (which has now been canceled). Thanks a lot, dull squishy middle.

[tags]bob barker, richmond upon thames, suv parking, csi miami, studio 60[/tags]

(3 x 0.4) + (3 * 0.08) = 1.44

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We watched a movie called Layer Cake (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. It was pretty good; I described it to T-Bone as a movie Guy Ritchie would make if he was off speed. Not that I have evidence of Guy Ritchie doing speed; it was just an apt description.

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Sir Nicholas Stern’s report on the economic impact of climate change reminded me of a story CB told us on the weekend. She described a conversation she’d had with someone else where she was told, because she’s both an atheist and very passionate about environmental causes, that environmentalism is her religion. I don’t think the person who said it was pulling a Hugh, though I don’t think it was said in a malicious way either. I wish I’d been there; I’d have pointed out (’cause I love a good debate) that the statement was backward. Environmentalism is the opposite of religion; it’s how we conduct ourselves in response to a set of facts and theory based in science, as opposed to faith in a fictional work. Passion, zeal, overreaction…these reactions are common to environmentalists and depletists just as it does to atheists and theists, but the basis and foundation for religion and the basis for environmentalism couldn’t be further apart. The “_________ is your religion” canard is just a way of deflecting rational debate. And, sadly, we usually fall for it.

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Today in line at the grocery store we were behind a guy buying candy for Hallowe’en. I don’t think he’d done it before, though, ’cause he’d just filled a plastic bag with chocolate bars. Not the bulk treats you can buy, mind you, but the full-sized versions. They weren’t in any order, and he didn’t know how many he had, so the cashier had to scan each one of them individually. Well, she didn’t have to; she could’ve scanned one kind several times, but she was a kid, so she shouldn’t have had to figure that out. Anyway, after 50 bars or so she finally finishes up…and the guy starts arguing about the price. He claims that they were on sale — 3 bars for $1.44 — but the cash register said $0.48 each. The cashier may have failed speed-checking, but she knew enough math to explain that $0.48 cents is the right price. The guy persists and goes to fetch a flyer. Finally, between the cashier, her supervisor and the withering glares coming from my wife, myself and the poor woman in front of us who only had a pear and some cheese, he got the message and paid. Then my wife decided to get her funny on:

cashier: Hi there. Double bag?
dan: No, that’s ok, we can put everything in our backpacks.
nellie: By the way, we also have 40 loose chocolate bars.
cashier: [cold look of fear]
nellie: Just kidding.
cashier: [nervous laughter; color returns to face]

[tags]layer cake, sir nicholas stern, global warming[/tags]

F**k

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F**king Firefox just f**king crashed and I lost a huge f**king post that I’d been writing for half a f**king hour. I’m not writing that f**king thing again, so you’re getting a point f**king form version.

  • Five Doors North at Yonge & Eg isn’t very good.
  • Death Of A President was pretty good, maybe a little better than I was expecting (but not quite as good as I’d hoped)
  • Irreversible, while expertly shot, was extremely hard to watch. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can sit through graphic violence and/or prolonged rape scenes.
  • Moleskine doesn’t make a Citynotebook for Toronto, but they should.

F**k.

[tags]five doors north, toronto, death of a president, irreversible, moleskine[/tags]

Pepsi sounds kinda like peptic. Coincidence?

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I just can’t get over American political attack ads. Check out this example from the Globe and Mail:

“If Brad Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals,” the ad says, as mariachi music plays in the background.

Of course there was some fuss earlier in the week about a racist attack ad aimed at Harold Ford Jr., since pulled. It also got a lot of attention north of the border as it took a swipe at Canada staying out of the Iraq war. It didn’t really bother me that much, especially once I saw the rest of the ad. Why should it? Since when should we care what a racist, or someone who’d stoop to racism, thinks about our military record?

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NBC will not show ads for the new documentary about the Dixie Chicks, Shut Up And Sing, but the speed with which the production company jumped on the story…I don’t know, it just smells like a publicity play to me.

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So, I think I might have an ulcer. Or maybe just really bad heartburn; I’m not sure yet. Basically I’ve had heartburn since I got back from the Rockies three weeks ago; a couple of days ago I started watching what I ate and have drunk only milk, and the heartburn’s gone. I even had some hot sauce on my eggs this morning and a Diet Pepsi around noon and I feel fine. I was under the impression that ulcers were caused by stress, but that’s not the case…which makes sense, ’cause I never feel stressed. I’m a very happy guy, despite what some people think. Anyway, I’m fairly certain the cause is the 3-can-a-day Diet Pepsi habit (or more; in my Delano days I got so little sleep that I drank 4 or 5 a day just to stay awake) I’ve had for several years now. Obviously, and probably for more reasons than just stomach acid, it’s time to give that up. What’s really going to suck is that I’ll now be giving up meat and Diet Pepsi at the same time. Worse yet, I need to lose weight, so chocolate’s probably off the menu for a while as well. No meat, chocolate or DP; November’s gonna be a fucker of a month.

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In happier news, we’re gonna go see a movie tonight (D.O.A.P.) with CBGB, it’s my nephew’s birthday, tonight our clocks fall back and it’s less than 8 weeks ’til I’m back on the farm for the holidays. Sounds like my whole family (including the afore-mentioned nephew and my nieces) will be there as well. I’m looking forward to it since we weren’t all together at the same time last year.

[tags]attack ads, harold ford jr, nbc, dixie chicks, ulcer, diet pepsi, death of a president[/tags]