Category: Entertainment

One of God's special slaves

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Quiz time: who said it, Ann Coulter or Hitler? [via Yes But No But Yes]

.:.

I couldn’t agree with Chuck Swirsky more: “The thought of seeing Alonzo Mourning receiving an NBA title ring irritates me.” In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll summarize: Raptors trade Vince Carter for two bags of water (aka Eric Williams and Aaron Williams) and Alonzo Mourning. Mourning hadn’t played in a while and told the Raptors that his injury would prevent him from ever playing again. The Raptors buy out the remaining millions of his contract. Mourning promptly experiences a miraculous recovery and signs with Miami. Raptors are left with no superstar, no centre, two men with benches stapled to their asses and a lot less money. Suffice it to say, this was the beginning of the end for Rob Babcock, but Alonzo Mourning will forever go down in Raptors lore as a whiny little whore. Cheers, ‘Zo; you’ve always been, and always will be, Shaq’s bitch.

.:.

There’s an article in this month’s Esquire about John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan fiighting with the Taliban. It’s pretty eye-opening. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to be persecuted by practically every man, woman and child in your country and not be allowed to defend yourself, to explain what happened, to tell your side of the story. I thought Tom Junod did a pretty good job of telling us his story for him.

.:.

The Much Music Video Awards are being re-broadcast right now, probably for the umpteenth time. I saw it on the guide and had to tune in so that I could put some context around Aaron Wherry’s hilarious play-by-play (found at Zoilus). However, now all I can hear from the other room is stupid kids screaming their heads off at…I dunno, Yellowcard or something. And who the hell-ass-balls is Hedley? Ugh. Gotta go turn it off.

[tags]ann coulter, hitler, chuck swirsky, alonzo mourning, john walker lindh, tom junod, mmva, popwherry, zoilus[/tags]

Personally, I think she may have lots of babies in lots of places

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I had a pretty good day. I got a lot done at work this morning (partly because I did a lot of prep work last night), and then at noon our department had a barbecue and team-building thingy outside. Ate a burger, drank some water, found some shade and then took part in the little team competition. I caught and returned a soccer throw-in, identified some flags, figured out the world jumble (the trick: don’t look at it for a few seconds) and kicked a penalty shot (using a winnie-the-pooh ball) past my VP. Alas, my team came in second, but we won some chocolate medals. Score.

I then had coffee (well…frozen icy chocolate beverages) with my friend Amy. She was the first person I met at this company, back in 1997, and after all the different roles and different departments for both of us (including a two-year stint at another company for me and a year of mat leave for her) we’ve ended up working on the same project. She’s like a big sister to me, but she also happens to be a very trusted colleague, so it’s great that we’ve ended up working just a block apart.

.:.

From Yahoo: Britney Spears may have baby in Namibia.

If you care about this story at all, I fucking hate you.

.:.

I am both excited and guilt-ridden about what I am about to do: turn off the computer and just watch a movie. How sad is that?

[tags]team building, britney spears, namibia, protestant work ethic[/tags]

Short & plasticene

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

This morning I saw Martin Short in the lobby of a hotel on my way to a presentation. The interviewer — Larysa Harapyn — was there too; she’s stunning, but she looks like she was put together in a plastic mold.

.:.

I finished watching Riding Giants (imdb | rotten tomatoes) this evening. While I have no interest at all in surfing, it was a pretty amazing film. Visually stunning, obviously, and I liked the way it was shot. It’s not deep or meaningful, but it’ll teach you things about surfing you didn’t know, and never thought you’d find interesting. It’s not gripping…just entertaining. Highly recommended.

Oh, to be a blue Versace dress…

Dan Dickinson

OK, so, the Oscars:

  • Jon Stewart: very funny. I think he kicked ass (especially the Cheney joke and the “Three 6 Mafia: one Oscar; Martin Scorsese: zero” bit) but I don’t think they’ll ask him back. I think his humour goes over the head of a lot of the viewers.
  • God bless God for making Salma Hayek.
  • Crash didn’t deserve to win best picture. It was good, but it wasn’t the best of the year. Likewise, Reese Witherspoon. Good, but not even in the same league as Felicity Huffman in Transamerica. Rachel Weisz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney: well deserved, all.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

.:.

As I said yesterday, we watched three movies over the weekend:

  • North Country (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was pretty good, but not as spectacular as we were led to believe. Basically equal parts Norma Rae and Dead Poets Society, with some Fargo thrown in accent-wise. Worth a rent, though.
  • Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was up for best documentary, so I wanted to watch it before last night. I love documentaries, and this was a good’un; slick production, topical story and a truth bizarre enough to be prize-winning fiction. Highly, highly recommended.
  • 9 Songs (imdb | rotten tomatoes) is one of those films that I think I liked, but could never recommend to people. It was porn, basically. We knew it was nothing but concert footage (of some very good bands, by the way) interspersed with some dialogue and some explicit sex scenes, but we didn’t know how explicit it would be. It’s the kind of stuff they can’t even show on cable, not even on shows about porn. But it wasn’t tawdry, or exploitative; it was a pretty accurate representation of the lives of a couple as they go to concerts at the Brixton Academy, eat breakfast, go on holiday and fuck repeatedly. If you’re the type who can see filmed sex (and filmed music) as art, you might like it. If nothing else, it’s an interesting experiment.

.:.

There’s a bunch of stuff in the news that caught my eye:

  • South Dakota has, for all intents and purposes, banned abortion. America must be a very scary place for a lot of people right now.
  • Toronto Hydro plans to roll out citywide wi-fi like some other major cities in North America.
  • Halifax is still debating the construction of two towers in the downtown core. Personally, I think they should do it; no matter what you build in Halifax, if it’s more than 10 stories, it’s going to block somebody’s view of the citadel or the harbour. I’m sure people thought Purdy’s Wharf was a giant mistake too, but it’s become just as much a part of the cityscape as another building there.

.:.

Today was a long, unpleasant day at work. [Corleone] I keep getting sucked back in [/Corleone] to the technical stuff; moral of the story: never believe someone when they say they won’t expect a temporary solution to become a production solution. They spaz when the so-called temporary solution goes away, even though it’s not your job to provide them with anything. I did my part, I was a nice guy, I saved their ass for a month, but I made sure to wash my hands of it. Still, I got it done and managed to fix a few other things as well. Best of all, I have no meetings scheduled for tomorrow, so I have a whole day to catch up on the work that I’ve missed by essentially wasting my last two weekdays.

It's hard in here for a blogger

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It’s been a busy weekend, so there’s a lot to spit out. We watched a pile of movies, and we’ve been busy all day running errands and preparing for a little Oscar get-together tonight. Best things about the Oscars so far: Jon Stewart, Salma Hayek and “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” winning for best original song. Worst thing: all the shameless whining by the academy stiffs about the evil of DVDs.

Hawks, vultures and taun-tauns

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Oh, hot dog. From the Toronto Star: Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor says he’s willing to reopen the controversial debate on ballistic missile defence if the United States extends another invitation.

.:.

My copy of Rogue Wave‘s Descended Like Vultures (metacritic | pitchfork) finally arrived today. I ordered it from Amazon two months ago and it still hadn’t shipped; I canceled the order (there were two other books and a movie) and re-did it with Indigo. It all arrived within a week.

.:.

Marten is so totally gonna get some…unless Dora guts him first.

The best-laid plans of mice and plastinated men

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We were foiled in our attempt to see BodyWorlds last night at the Science Centre last night with CBGB. Apparently we left it too late (the exhibit leaves Sunday) and it was sold out by the time we got there. I guess we shouldn’t have left it so late, but vacations and house purchases and xmas trips just got in the way and, alas, we may have missed our chance. I’ve seen the show (in an earlier incarnation) so I wasn’t that disappointed, and CBGB may be able to see it this weekend, but Nellie probably will not. I felt bad about that.

Defeated, we went back down to the Danforth and had some food & drink at Dora Keogh, then home to watch The Shield, which kicked ass.