Category: Friends

Indiana Jones and the Ill-Advised CGI

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Just got back from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (imdb | rotten tomatoes), following brunch with CBGB at Eggstasy. I felt pretty much the same about brunch as I did about the movie: it was what I expected, just like every time before, except for one little wrinkle.

When we arrived for brunch we were seated near the door. The crowds on weekends at Eggstasy are such that you don’t argue about where you sit, you just sit. So sit we did, and eat, and everything was fine. Good food, everyone’s order showed up as planned, quick turnaround and off to the movie. But it was cold when we ate, being so close to the open door & windows; not cold enough to put me off the meal, just enough to make me notice.

It didn’t stop there: when we got to the theatre it was freezing. Cold enough that the girls kept their jackets on and my nose felt frosty for the first half of the film. Somebody got a little anxious with the a/c, methinks. Anyway, the film: it was a good old-fashioned Indy movie, no doubt about it. It started fast & never really slowed down, it was exciting and funny, it gave the whip and the hat starring roles…everything I’d expect. It definitely got a little weird toward the end, but I can live with that. There was just one little thing that bugged me: this unfortunate tendency to use CGI even when the story doesn’t really need it. Indy’s Indy because he bashes things and jumps off of stuff and makes with the smart-ass, not because he gets help from CGI ewoks monkeys. That sequence added absolutely nothing to the story, and it looked ridiculous.

All in all the brunch and the movie were good…the cold air, the a/c and the CGI just left me feeling a little cold.

[tags]indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, eggstasy[/tags]

Empty (ostrich) nest

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The sexy & beautiful* girls are gone, flown back to Halifax. I miss them. It was nice having them here, and they were gracious guests: when we got home today there was a charming note and a funny list of rules on our message board and cold beer in the fridge. They’d even cleaned up the fresh cat puke.

I hope we’ll get to see them in October when we’re in Halifax. And they’d better buy some message boards; I have a few rules of my own. They involve the words “handsome” and “pipe-swinging.”

* Rebecca made me say that part. It was one of the rules. Not that they aren’t sexy and beautiful.

[tags]house guests[/tags]

Apparently I angered the fickle weather gods

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Today: not so nice. Downright rotten, in fact. Nellie and I just got soaked (despite having umbrellas and waterproof jackets) walking from Queen Street down to King, and then sloshed home after buying some shelves and lamps at InDesign.

The reason we were out in the first place was to have brunch with CBGB and parents-of-CB at Barrio, which was very tasty, and now we’re back just in time to watch Canada/Russia play for the gold medal. After that we’ll continue to clean & rearrange the condo as we started doing last night, which I like to do…change is as good as a rest and all that. If I can just make it the rest of the day without going back out into the rain I’ll be a happy man.

[tags]indesign, barrio, iihf world hockey championships[/tags]

[Journey] "When the lights…go out…in the city…" [/Journey]

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OK, it wasn’t quite that dramatic — this is a camera effect, not reality — but Earth Hour was at least noticeable from our balcony. We had CBGB over to observe the darkening, and while the effects from here weren’t as dramatic as if we’d be airborne, we could see the difference. Toronto even exceeded their 5% power reduction target.

Nellie was struggling to get good night shots — she still needs a decent tripod — but a few turned out. You can see them over at my flickr account.

[tags]earth hour, toronto[/tags]

Et le but

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night I went straight from work to the Auld Spot, to meet up with Nellie & CBGB. A good unwinding was exactly what I needed, and a few pints of Dennison’s took care of that. However, I ate way too much yesterday (big breakfast, team lunch, big dinner, beer) and I still feel gross. Clearly I can neither eat nor drink like I used to.

I got home just in time to see the end of the Montreal-Buffalo game. Montreal was down 3-1 with less than three minutes remaining in the game, but scored twice late to tie it and then won it in OT. It’s a pleasant, if strange, feeling to see my team playing so well.

.:.

The plan for today: summon enough energy to go run some errands and buy some food, and then welcome CBGB over for Earth Hour this evening. We’re still not sure what we’ll do, short of turning off all electrical draw. I don’t expect a major difference in the appearance of downtown Toronto, but there are some promising signs.

.:.

A shooting occurred last night on board a TTC subway car, near where I used to live. Crazy.

[tags]auld spot, montreal canadiens, buffalo sabres, earth hour, toronto, ttc shooting[/tags]

I Will Not Sing A Hateful Song

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Spring has a downside, one that sometimes makes me want to vom. Smokers, on the whole, are disgusting assholes.

.:.

Dinner last night at Tutti Matti was pretty good. I had a caprese salad* and the grilled swordfish and a dessert called the Gino, a semifreddo covered in chocolate sauce. Damn.

Nice atmosphere, good service, and we all enjoyed our meals. Fieramosca is the undoubted comfort zone for us in terms of Italian food, but Tutti Matti may now be a good alternative, a more “downtown” option if needed.

* It’s hard to believe, sometimes, how much my tastes have changed over the past few years. Not long ago the idea of eating a giant pile of buffalo mozzarella and tomato covered in olive oil would have turned my stomach.

.:.

Last night Montreal beat Boston for the eighth straight time this season, and eleventh straight overall going back into last season. They won in the shootout, which was the best possible scenario: Montreal stays where they are (tops in the east!) and Boston earns a point to stay ahead of the chasing teams like Toronto. There’re two reasons why this is good for the Habs; if Boston holds on to the 8th (or even 7th) spot, there’s a good chance Montreal will play them in the first round and…well, eight in a row. The Canadiens have owned the Bruins this year.

The other reason why a Boston point last night was beneficial: it makes it harder for the Leafs fans to hold on to their mass delusion of making the playoffs. With eight games left they’re four points out of the final playoff spot, and they’d have to leapfrog four teams to get there, but the delusion lives on. Rather than shutting down their veterans, letting their young players get some much-needed development and securing a spot in the lottery, they’re playing themselves into a lower draft pick.

But hey, if they want to keep it up, that’s cool. I kind of hope they win both games against the Bruins (the team they’re chasing) this week and get their hopes up even higher, so that when Montreal plays them next Saturday, I can watch live as the Canadiens crush their playoff dreams once and for all.

Wait a second…goddammit, I won’t be able to watch that live after all. Stupid climate change…must you ruin everything?

.:.

My buddy Joe sent me the new Constantines album yesterday. I’m only a few songs in but I already love it.  “Million Star Hotel” in particular is brilliant. The last two ‘tines albums were amazing and under-appreciated; if you like the rock and roll, do yourself a favour and check them out.

[tags]smokers, tutti matti, fieramosca, montreal canadiens, boston bruins, toronto maple leafs, nhl playoffs, earth hour, constantines[/tags]

Bratterscained

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Sorry I haven’t been writing much. Normally my brain is spinning with so much delicious wit, razor-sharp criticism and profound innovation that I find I need to spill some of it onto the blog, but lately I find I have only two modes: “work” and “recover from work.” I’m glad it’s a long weekend; I may yet be able to reclaim one of the other settings on that dial.

.:.

And how will I do that? By watching hour upon hour of college basketball, interrupted only by sleep and rich food. Yes, it’s March Madness time and while I haven’t been able to give it the attention I’d like, I’m still doing pretty well in my pool, so there’s that. In between games: dinner with M2 at beerbistro on Thursday (which I think made me sick in some weird way) and dinner tonight at Tutti Matti with CBGB.

.:.

Also in between games we’ve been trying to clear off the PVR. We have it down to about 50% now, having watched two movies and an episode of Extras. We waited a long time to watch the second season — not on purpose, we just never got around to it — and so far the episodes have been fairly funny, but this episode with Daniel Radcliffe killed me. Not because of Radcliffe (though it was pretty funny to watch Harry Potter throw a rubber at James Bond’s wife’s head) but because of a scene between Stephen Merchant and Warwick Davis. That might’ve been the funniest 60 seconds I’ve seen on TV in months.

Anyway, the two movies we watched were Bobby (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a terribly dull movie about a terribly interesting man, and Beowulf & Grendel (imdb | rotten tomatoes), not the recent rotoscoped film with Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie, but the one with Gerard Butler and Sarah Polley. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that good either. As much as I love Sarah Polley, she seemed out of place here.

[tags]march madness, beerbistro, tutti matti, extras, ricky gervais, daniel radcliffe, harry potter, stephen merchant, warwick davis, bobby, beowulf, grendel, sarah polley[/tags]

A confederacy of dunces

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Had dinner and a quick drink with CBGB last night at Volo. I needed to unwind after a long week at work (which isn’t done yet…see below) and a quiet, snowy evening with some friends and tasty beer was a proper way to do it.

.:.

Before I sacrifice what’s left of this weekend on the altar of work and the MBA, I thought I’d throw up a couple of thoughts. It may be the last you hear from me for a few days.

  • This just in: Toronto city councilor Rob Ford is a screaming idiot. Not just for this latest nonsense, which shows that his approach to debate is roughly that of a six year old. The man is in the hall of fame for terrible elected officials. It’s embarrassing to live in a city where people continually vote for him.
  • Holy crap…my Canadiens are leading their division! Meanwhile, here in the land of altered reality, people are still talking about the Leafs making the playoffs.
  • I find this map of religious majorities in America very interesting. Anyone know of a Canadian version? [via Richard Florida]
  • I’d used Bloomex a few times for flower delivery and thought they were ok, but they messed up my most recent order — and the customer service followup — something fierce. Luckily Nellie’s an understanding wife who doesn’t demand flowers on/near Valentine’s Day, and so she just laughed it off. I won’t bother going through all the details; I’ll just leave it at this: do not, under any circumstances, use Bloomex. The service they gave me was truly one of the worst customer experiences of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It didn’t cause me harm or anguish or anything…it was just staggeringly, monumentally incompetent. Avoid them at all costs. Warn your friends.

.:.

Guns scare me. Texas has adopted the “castle doctrine,” which means you’re now justified in shooting someone if you feel threatened in your home; there’s no longer much expectation that you take reasonable measures to avoid the threat. You can just shoot it. Some have gone vigilante and extended this to their neighbourhood, like this guy who shot two men in the back because they robbed the house next door, despite the imminent arrival of police and the pleas of a 911 dispatcher.

Militarism scares me. When the Chief of Defence Staff says democratic debate on Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan is emboldening the terrorists to attack our troops, it reeks of the same low scare tactics we’ve heard from the United States in recent years. As POGGE put it when this story came out last week, “I think we’ve just been told to shut up and salute.”

American military integration scares me. While a recent deal struck between Canada and the US is intended to let troops from either country cross the border in case of a civil emergency, the potential ramifications of misuse are staggering. There was also no debate on the topic — the deal was signed a week before the story broke — which strikes me as unusual and troubling. This could be a very big help in an actual emergency, or a very ugly tool used for political/military purposes.

[tags]bar volo, rob ford, montreal canadiens, toronto maple leafs, bloomex, castle doctrine, joe horn, rick hillier, american military integration[/tags]

This title should have been "a lassi for my lassie," but she drank beer instead

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Last night seven of us went to Indus Junction to celebrate Nellie’s birthday. It was very, very tasty…I think we tried five different appetizers and five mains. The vindaloo shrimp appetizer was excellent, as were the vegetable dumplings and the paneer & cauliflower dish. The vindaloo salmon was good too, and the soft garlic naan and dhal mahkni. A few of us had dessert; the rice pudding was apparently quite good but my double-fudge tart was just too much chocolate (!) for me.

All in all, good food, good spot, good service. We’ll be going back, I think.

.:.

The Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators early last week, but that was when Heatley and Alfredsson were injured. Last night the Senators, with their top line intact, hung a 6-1 loss on the Habs. Glad I didn’t stay home to watch that one.

.:.

It sounds more and more like Godspeed You! Black Emperor is over, finished, kaput. Granted, A Silver Mt. Zion is still active, but I’ll miss the bombast.

[tags]indus junction, montreal canadiens, ottawa senators, godspeed you! black emperor[/tags]