• The Hanging Garden (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it) was Thom Fitzgerald‘s first big movie, and starred the actor who played one of my favourite characters on TV: Chris Todson on Traders. It was a weird mix of real and surreal, sometimes in the same shot, but it was good. Hard to find, but worth a rental.
• The Station Agent (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it) was as good as I’d heard. The night that Peter Dinklage was on the Daily Show he was hilarious, and his comic timing (like when the old lady takes his picture) was perfect. Bobby Cannavalewas hilarious, and such a different character than what I’d seen him play before.
• I’m pissed at myself. I watched the theatrical version of Alien 3 (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it) but then forgot to watch the extended edition before I mailed it back. I watched the first few minutes of the extended edition and it looked much cooler (even though the sound was screwed up, so we switched to the theatrical). I’ll have to rent it again. Anyway, the rumours were true: it pretty much sucked.

Mother (or should I say Big Brother) of God…

from ZDNet: Japan school kids to be tagged with RFID chips.

Japanese authorities decide tracking is best way to protect kids
The rights and wrongs of using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on humans have been debated since the tracking tags reached the technological mainstream. Now, school authorities in the Japanese city of Osaka have decided the benefits outweigh the disadvantages and will now be chipping children in one primary school.

The tags will be read by readers installed in school gates and other key locations to track the kids’ movements.

The chips will be put onto kids’ schoolbags, name tags or clothing in one Wakayama prefecture school. Denmark’s Legoland introduced a similar scheme last month to stop young children going astray.

RFID is more commonly found in supermarket and other retailers’ supply chains, however, companies are now seeking more innovative ways to derive value from the tracking technology. Delta Air Lines recently announced it would be using RFID to track travelers’ luggage.

By Jo Best
CNET News.com
July 12, 2004, 7:55 PM PT

“Memorial” by Explosions In The Sky.

By the way, they’re playing at the Horseshoe in October for $9. It’s a bargain at twice the price, kids.

Am I spacey because it’s Sunday morning? Or because of the meds? Dunno.

• The Bourne Supremacy was good. Very good. Better than the first, maybe. I’m actually starting to buy Matt Damon as a super-killer guy.
• Title of the sixth Star wars movie: “Revenge Of The Sith”. Which reminds me, because I was a card-carrying member of the Star wars fan club when I was little, I have – no doubt buried deep in a box in a cupboard in the attic somewhere – a patch (the kind you’re meant to sew on the front of a trucker hat) that says, “Revenge Of The Jedi”. They put out some promo gear with ‘Revenge’ in the title before changing it to ‘Return’.
• I read yet another piece, this time in Backbone, that quotes the Barenaked Ladies‘ Ed Robertson argument. That argument is this:
  

  “I’m totally fine with people downloading music, as long as they steal everything that they want. If you want pants, go steal them. If you need gas in your car, you should steal it, because you can. As long as people are consistent I don’t have a problem. As long as they see themselves as thieves in general then I don’t mind if they steal everything that they like. But it irks me that it’s only okay to steal music.”

  I’ve ignored this for a while, but more and more dipshits are actually trying to use it as a valid argument. Mr. Ed doesn’t quite have his logic straight; the average user isn’t breaking into record label offices ninja-style and taking your masters, then uploading them on Kazaa. The average user is downloading music uploaded by someone who has bought your CD. The analogy then isn’t to stealing pants, it’s to using someone else’s. Let’s say I go to a store and buy a pair of pants and wear them once. I then give that pair of pants to a friend who wears them for a while and then passes them off to another friend. Both of these friends happen to know how to make clothes, and so they create their own copies of these pants – not as good, certainly, because they’re not professionally made – but serviceable. Am I to be charged because I loaned out those pants? Are the two other people thieves because they’ve taken pants that I willingly gave them and copied them? I understand that this analogy isn’t flawless, but I wanted to point out the flaw in Little Ed’s argument.

I just bought two CDs that I’m sure will end up on my year-end list: Blueberry Boat by The Fiery Furnaces (pitchfork | metacritic | buy it) and The Slow Wonder by A.C. Newman (pitchfork | metacritic | buy it).

Great article from Salon, Everything you were afraid to ask about “Donnie Darko”. I’m going to have to go pick myself up the remastered version.

here’s a petition that will have basically no impact. but sign it anyway if you want. georgebush.ca

• What I’m listening to: The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions In The Sky (pitchfork | buy it)
• What I’m reading: Moneyball by Michael Lewis and last week’s NOW Magazine, but I also have a stack that includes the book sections of the last two Saturday editions of the Globe & Mail, a Backbone magazine, an issue of Arena that my brother brought me from London and a Food & Drink magazine from the LCBO.
• What I’m watching: Stealing Beauty (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it)

I love it. 24 has dumped pretty much the whole cast (except for Keifer of course). From Yahoo.

The shortlist for the Mercury Prize is out. I harbour no illusions that Snow Patrol will win it.