The main headlines on the issue of Toronto Life that arrived in the mail today are “Lust”, “Food”, “Politics” and “Condos”. I want to marry this magazine.

I finally got my mark back for the last course (the one that finished in November). Yeesh; build tension much? Not that I was worried — it was the IT course — but it would’ve been nice to know.

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Still on the MBA: As you can see by the counter over there on the right, I’m now officially 1/3 done.

For the last month or so I’ve been trying to decide which charity I should give money to. I decided against the humane society — both my wife and I give them money each month (though I urge anyone out there who loves animals to give what they can) — but that left me with the tough decision of where to put the money. I couldn’t decide between a local problem that doesn’t get enough attention or a global problem that…well, doesn’t get enough attention. In the end I settled on one of each.

Half of my money went to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, the other half to Autumn House, a shelter for abused women near where I grew up. I was able to make both donations at once — surprising, given how different in scope and resources they are — using CanadaHelps.org.

Rick Segal (via Scoble) shares a very cool story about digital life.

Vince Carter, wonderbitch.

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Hooray for c|net for getting into the whole “is gif pronounced ‘gif’ or ‘jif'” thing. People seem to be on the ‘gif’ (hard g) side…good; the ‘jif’ people drive me nuts. Now, to work on the “irregardless” folks…

I’m watching The Thin Red Line as I write this. I always forget how many good actors are in this movie: Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, James Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, Dash Mihok, Tim Blake Nelson, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, John Travolta, Kirk Acevedo, Nick Stahl…geez. Nick Nolte especially; he’s amazing. “I’ve eaten, oh, untold buckets of shit to get here!”

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This is really interesting: the New York Times is reporting that author J.T. LeRoy is…well, someone else. At least, the person who appears in public as J.T. LeRoy. It’s a weird story about a mysterious person. My wife and I saw the premiere of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things at the 2004 TIFF, and if there actually is a J.T. LeRoy…well, then I guess the story has gotten even weirder.

Today’s Daily Dose of Imagery is a picture of a park very close to where our new condo is being built. And if you don’t read DDOI regularly, add it to your bookmarks / feed subscriptions now; Sam takes a better picture every day than I’ll ever take in my life.

I finished two more Zip movies yesterday. Still, as quickly as I’m going through them, I’m just not keeping up. There are 156 movies in my ziplist.

A Love Song For Bobby Long (imdb | rotten tomatoes) started off slow but got better as it went. Scarlett Johansson’s acting got better as it went, and the Lawson character really grew on me. I still don’t like John Travolta, and think they could’ve gotten someone better to play that part; that he didn’t ruin the movie was a credit to the writer, who at least gave him some interesting speeches. Great soundtrack too: Trespassers William, Nada Surf, Giant Drag, etc.

D.E.B.S. (imdb | rotten tomatoes) falls into the “guilty pleasure” category: “pleasure” because I thought it was reasonably funny at times, “guilty” because it’s about some super-hot girl spies running around in catholic school outfits. It was meant to be a farce and have some tongue-in-cheek fun, but I guess not everyone found it as funny as I did. My guess is that it wouldn’t have a 36% rating on Rotten Tomatoes if the main romantic plotline was between a boy and a girl instead of two girls. Perhaps we should ask Gene Shalit.

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My Canadiens are kicking some Senator ass as I type this. As this doesn’t exactly happen a lot, I’m going to shout type it from the rooftops couch.

For fuck’s sake, when are we going to get tougher animal abuse sentences? This prick got two months in prison and a five-year hunting ban.

“When a moose wandered onto the groomed path, Norris plowed into it several times with his snowmobile until its hind legs were broken, said investigators. Norris then jumped on top of the animal, which put up a struggle to escape…Norris then killed the moose with an axe.”

More than two months ago I pre-ordered Revenge Of The Sith from Future Shop. It reached my office building (sort of) on Nov 3, two days after it was released. Our mail room, however, said they never received it. It definitely, absolutely did not show up, they said. I waited for six weeks, hoping it would arrive, but of course it never did. So, after xmas, I used one of my many gift cards to buy a copy of the DVD.

So what shows up in the office mail today? Yup, Revenge Of The Sith, two months late. The package had been ripped open, but the plastic wrap and packing slip are still intact so at least I can return it.

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I need more sleep. After the movie last night we met up with some old university friends of mine, and their SOs. 7 West was packed and their staff’s wait time estimates were shabby, so we went to the Bloor Street Diner instead. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen one of these folks, and the first chance I’ve really had to get to know his wife, who’s delightful (I believe Nellie’s quote was, “Now she’s my kind of people!”). Still, by the time we got home from that and watched the Daily Show and done odds and ends it’s 1:00 and the alarm’s only 5.5 hours from ringing. I just can’t operate on 3 hours like I could when I was at Delano.

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My Habs have gone in the tank. They’re currently tied for the last playoff spot in the east. My basketball pool has gone in the same direction, though I’m keeping things close in my hockey pool. And hey, the Raptors actually seem to be a half-decent team all of a sudden. Or, at the very least, they don’t appear to be the worst team of all time, which they were threatening to become in ’06.

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The Conservatives were leading in the polls yesterday. Big whoop; that happened last time. The Tories run their attack ads, people say “Yeah!!” and answer a poll differently, and then a week before the election they actually consider the possibility of a Canada run by Stephen Harper. Also, people who’re on the NDP/Liberal fence will engage in Jack Layton’s favourite pastime — defensive voting — and vote Liberal because Harper scares the bejeezus out of them.