Author: Dan Dickinson

Four things that grabbed my attention today

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1. A documentary called The Bridge. It’s about the Golden Gate Bridge, and specifically about all the suicides that happen there. The documentary consists mostly of footage from cameras set up to record the bridge continually for a year. It sounds morbid and voyeuristic, but if you watch the trailer I don’t think it comes across that way. It sounds like a fascinating look at a part of human behaviour that I just can’t get my head around. [via The Movie Blog]

2. A polemic from Christopher Hume against the NIMBY Toronto masses who light their torches and form a mob every time a building over 20 stories is proposed, lest it create shade in their neighbourhood. [via Spacing]

3. A new word: depletist. Invented (apparently) by some students at the Ontario College of Art & Design, it’s definition is as follows: “1) An individual or group showing apparent, negligent, or reckless disregard for the environmental consequences of their actions. 2) An individual or group that exhausts non-renewable resources and rejects positive environmental strategies.” I like it. Very much. Well done, OCADets. [via Reading Toronto]

4. A cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost Of Tom Joad” by Jose Gonzalez (well, by Junip, which is Jose’s new band). Check it out if you can.

[tags]bridge documentary, suicide, golden gate bridge, christopher hume, toronto architecture, depletist, reading toronto, ocad, jose gonzalez, junip, ghost of tom joad[/tags]

What's worse, thinking you're being paranoid or knowing you should be?

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We just watched a movie called Primer (imdb | rotten tomatoes), and I think I really enjoyed it. It’s hard to tell; I think I could only follow about half of what happened. I really have no idea what happened in the last quarter of the film. It reminded me a lot of Pi, but without any video or audio effects…just ultra-complex storylines and science that was pretty much over my head. I feel the need to watch it again, but not right now. I want to let it marinate for a bit.

[tags]primer[/tags]

Ben Hur race: ass lightning or spiked chariot wheels?

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Sorry about the lack of blogging over the past couple of days. I’ve been kind of heads-down with work, errands and this stats assignment. The assignment’s mostly done though, so I can relax for a few days.

Today we ran around town doing a bunch of things:

  • We went to see the World Press photo exhibit at BCE Place, which was pretty compelling. Some of the images were disturbing, none more so (to me, anyway) than the little girl crying after seeing American troops shoot her parents at some checkpoint in northern Iraq. She was covered in blood and looked terrified. You get the sense that the girl is completely, utterly lost to the world. There’s no saving her. It was awful. If the American public thinks it’s getting the real story about Iraq, they haven’t seen that picture.
  • We shook that off (pictures of animals and sports on the way out dulled the ache) and walked over to our condo’s new sales centre. They have two furnished model suites ready for viewing, one of which is ours. It was good to get in there and finally see & feel what our unit will be like. There are some minor differences — our ceilings will be 9 feet, not 8 feet like in the model, we have a huge balcony, and our unit will be much higher — but it was still a thousand times better than trying to imagine things based on a floor plan. Nellie blogged about it yesterday, and included a picture.
  • We picked up some scrumptious breads and a pie (whose scrumptiousness I can’t vouch for as yet) at All The Best, got nostalgic for lunch at the Quail & Firkin (I had a C.O.B. and many fries, after which I felt awful) and picked up a new bed for the cats at Canadian Tire. After that, and some grocery shopping, I was ready to come home and have a half-nap. Getting my ass up for the stats assignment…Herculean.

.:.

We also watched a movie called Stardom (imdb | rotten tomatoes), directed by Denys Arcand and starring (rowr) Jessica Pare. It wasn’t great, but I laughed at the parts where they skewered celebrity culture. My favourite: the “Annual Slalom for Bosnia” charity event.

.:.

The religious right is whipping the TV industry like a rented mule. Beating it like a red-headed stepchild. Smacking it like it stole something. NBC has agreed not to show Madonna singing a song from atop a cross during her TV special, airing next month.

.:.

From tederick we find this story about a woman who experienced the feeling of lightning shooting out her ass. Zowie! Is there anything Croatians can’t do?

By the way, kudos to tederick for the use of a post-carbonite-Han quote. Don’t try that at home, kids.

[tags]world press photo, condo, quail and firkin, all the best, stardom, nbc, madonna, tederick, ass lightning, han, carbonite[/tags]

So Divided

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The first half of the new …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead disc So Divided is excellent. Not as good as Source Tags And Codes, mind you, but almost nothing is. Better than Worlds Apart, even. But the second half falls off badly. I’ll probably still buy it when it’s released in November, but I wish I could buy the first five songs and just pretend it was an EP. I guess if I download it from eMusic I can do exactly that…

.:.

I dislike stats. Actually, that’s not true; I dislike stats assignments that take forever.

[tags]trail of dead, so divided, stats[/tags]

Hugh sets a trap

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gapingvoid.com

This cartoon from Hugh MacLeod over at gapingvoid.com has generated lots of commentary. It was a nicely executed little bit of wit from Hugh; I suspect his point was less about the existence of god(s) and more about how some people — atheists or theists — will wig out when their beliefs are challenged. Some of the comments are quite insightful, some are specious, but it’s an interesting conversation no matter which side of the fence you’re on.

I like that fucking Black Darjeeling

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Ah, Deadwood. If it doesn’t have the best one-liners ever, I don’t know what does. Another favourite: “He likes to berate the gimp mornings.”

.:.

Scarlett Johansson, avec Dita Von Teese (Marilyn Manson’s wife) poses for some S&M photos. You’re welcome. [via Buddha Canvas]

.:.

Speaking of Scarlett, she’s recording a Tom Waits cover album. That should…wait, what?

.:.

Shoot. The Catholic bishops have wandered into the lawmaking again. Where’s my broom?

.:.

Lunenberg might be getting a strip club. Question: would it be part of the UNESCO site?

.:.

What a coincidence that a 10,000-year-old meteorite should be dug out of the ground in Kansas. No doubt they’ll have trouble convincing some of the locals who think the earth is younger than that.

.:.

Still on the topic of idiots, a garbage disposal manufacturer is suing NBC because of a scene in last week’s Heroes depicting an indestructible girl’s hand getting mangled (and then healing, natch) when she sticks her hand in one of their products. Of course, you couldn’t really read the brand name. And even the simplest of the simple would know that sticking your hand in an operating garbage disposal would cause it harm. But yeah, sue those fuckers. Twice.

.:.

More idiots: George W. Bush and the Congress he rode in on. The bill he’s just signed into law means that anyone suspected of terrorism isn’t guilty until proven innocent, they’re in purgatory. You know it’s gotta be a peach when the executive director of the ACLU calls it “one of the worst civil-liberties measures ever enacted in American history.”

.:.

The recording industry has launched 8,000 more file-sharing lawsuits. Now where’s my buggy whip?

.:.

OK, back to the Catholic bishops: some of the quotes from Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber are just knee-slappers. Gob-smackers, even. Check it:

“As leaders, we are guardians of long traditions of wisdom”

Really? ‘Cause I was 17 when your church admitted you were wrong about the whole “We condemned Galileo ’cause he said the earth revolves around the sun” thing. Also, as I pointed out to someone recently, you still officially have it on the books that communion wafers become the body of Christ somewhere between the beak and the gizzard. You may not really admit it in public anymore, but…yeah. No need to go on, but you’ll pardon me if your promised knowledge of “long traditions of wisdom” don’t set me all a-twitter.

“People don’t really have a sense of personal sin or reflection. We are becoming a more selfish and hedonistic society.”

Catholicism (or any other religion) does not equal morality. In some cases it’s quite the opposite. Anyway, that’s the same tune that church officials have been whistling for centuries and we’ve somehow managed to avoid Armageddon.

[On the issue of gay marriage] “We really need in Canada to support families.”

Now you’re pissing me off, padre. Once again, let me help you with the math: marriage != straight-and-child-bearing-only club. Besides, if you let gay people get married, wouldn’t that just create more family units? Or would you just like Canada to support a certain type of family?

.:.

I find this whole religion thing difficult. About 80% of Canadians practice some kind of religion, including many of my family and friends and other people I respect. I couldn’t care less if they’re religious, or about the particulars of what they believe. But when religious people try to impose their beliefs on the public, and especially on the law, I get annoyed. I hope some of them do as well.

.:.

By the way, sorry for the brain dump; I was sick yesterday and this stuff just built up. OK, off to eat and watch some Friday Night Lights.
[tags]deadwood, scarlett johansson, tom waits, catholic bishops, gay marriage, lunenberg, garbage disposal, heroes, nbc, dubya, file-sharing, buggy whip[/tags]

90 Day Night Day Nights

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Today had been supermega cleaning day. Our apartment has been neglected and, as such, has turned on us. There’s still more fun to be had, like ripping the cat hair out of the carpet, but it’s nice to have a (somewhat) livable environment again.

Really, we’re just phoning it in now. Our condo is set to be ready for us by early April, and we just don’t care about the place we’re in anymore. It’s a rental, so we’re not destroying the place or anything, but there’s not exactly a pride of ownership right now either.

.:.

Day Night Day Night, one of our favourite films at this year’s TIFF, has won the award for best feature film at the Woodstock Film Festival. I’m glad; it deserves more attention than it got here in Toronto.

.:.

Scott Adams is at it again. This time he thinks he has an idea that will win him next year’s Nobel prizes for both peace and economics. It relates to the old no-two-countries-who-have-a-McDonald’s-have-ever-gone-to-war maxim, which is really just a symptom. Open trade with a country makes it much harder to go to war with them (unless you plan to overrun them completely). For example, the US will never attack China; Wal-Mart gets most of their cheap goods from China and would likely go out of business, or at the very least drastically increase their prices.

.:.

Late last night we watched Henry Fool (imdb | rotten tomatoes), the precursor to Fay Grim, another film we saw at this year’s festival. It was good, but I think I was expecting the style of Fay Grim, which was far more frenetically paced. And, of course, I wish there could have been more focus on Parker Posey, but I guess the title should have made it obvious that there wouldn’t be. I would definitely recommend watching Henry Fool before watching Fay Grim, though; it would’ve helped us out a lot.

[tags]day night day night, scott adams, dilbert, henry fool, fay grim[/tags]

Final thoughts on the Rockies

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A few last things about the Rockies trip, then I’ll shut up about it, I promise. It’s hard to believe we’ve been back a week. We’ve kind of started planning our next trip already.

The five best parts of the trip, for me:

  • Lake O’Hara (pic) was almost certainly the most spectacular place I’ve ever been. Part of what made it so incredible was the relative isolation — only 40 other people are in the immediate area, so you don’t really see anyone else apart from the bus ride in and out. Lake Oesa, where we hiked to, was like a natural cathedral.
  • Peyto Lake (pic | video) was a quick stop along the highway to Jasper, and was swarmed with tourists, but the scenery was immaculate: the mountains, the glacier, the impossible blue of the lake, the valley stretching north…it made for stunning pictures and a nice little video I posted to YouTube.
  • Moraine Lake (pic) was almost as pretty as Lake Louise and about one-tenth as crowded. Our room at the lodge gave us a beautiful view of the lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks, and was the perfect home base from which to start our trip.
  • Beauty Creek (pic) kind of snuck up on us, a short hike up a series of waterfalls and cascades, just off the highway but feeling miles away from anything. At that point in the week we didn’t really expect to be stunned and surprised anymore, but we were.
  • The Athabasca Glacier (pic). There’s not much to say about this; we got to walk on a glacier. The glacier, though huge, was dwarfed by the surrounding mountains and was one little bit of a huge ice field that fed rivers running into three different oceans. I’ve never felt so small in my life.

In general, we had some really good fortune on our trip. The weather, for example, was better than we could’ve hoped for the first five days…sunny and in the teens, with no rain or snow whatsoever until the last two days when most of our outdoor activities were finished anyway. The food was terrific for the most part, though we can thank good research for that. Our rental car was comfortable, good on gas and had zero problems over the 600+ km we covered. It had a good stereo too, not that we needed it; apart for the Calgary-Canmore stretch of highway, we turned off the stereo/radio for the entire trip. There was more than enough natural beauty to keep us occupied. Finally, we lucked out — eventually — with the wildlife. Apparently it’d be pretty hard to spend a week in the Rockies without seeing deer, bighorn sheep or elk, but we got to see chipmunks and pikas high up around Lake O’Hara, and we got even got to see a coyote and a wolf just outside of Banff.

OK, I’ll do my best to curb any more Rockies talk.

[tags]rockies, lake o’hara, peyto lak, moraine lake, beauty creek, athabasca glacier[/tags]

Like he wasn't a big enough twat already

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Darcy Tucker loves him some Dubya.

“I would like to pick his brain,” Tucker said. “I think his political views are on the same line as my own. I think the wave of the future is someone who doesn’t back down to terrorism.”

Oy.

.:.

Sometimes I hate living in Toronto. Tonight, my only option is watching the Leafs play Calgary instead of being able to see Montreal open their home season against Ottawa. And can someone explain to me why even French CBC isn’t carrying the Canadiens game?

[tags]darcy tucker, dubya, maple leafs, canadiens[/tags]