Category: Movies

What would Mallory Keaton say about Senate finance reform?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Tonight was the screening of Babel (imdb | rotten tomatoes) to which I won a free pass last week. It was, like the last Iñárritu film we saw — 21 Grams — intricate, even delicate in how it displayed human frailty and trauma. It was compelling and well told; we didn’t really notice that it was 2.5 hours long.

.:.

Sadly, the same can’t be said for a film I watched earlier in the week. Slacker (imdb | rotten tomatoes) may be a cultural document, but it feels badly dated fifteen years on. I actually stopped it 1/3 of the way through; it was alternately getting on my nerves and boring me. I wish I’d watched it in 1991, but I truly had no idea anything like that was happening in the world in 1991. I was in cultural Siberia.

.:.

I downloaded two new albums from eMusic: Dust Bowl Revival by Ox and Quiet Waters by Woolly Leaves. Both are alt-country/folk style, and quite mellow. Ox is a band my brother turned me on to, and they do some mean Woody Guthrie covers; Woolly Leaves are the band of a member of The Constantines.

.:.

After giving it an honest-to-goodness try to see what all the fuss was about, I deleted my MySpace account this morning. I found it both a popularity contest (which I want no part of) and an entry-level blogging tool (which I have no use for). On top of that, it looks like it was designed by a drunk guy in 1998. MySpace is the AOL of our decade; it’ll be dead (or massively repurposed) soon enough. Good riddance.

.:.

What would Alex P. Keaton say about stem cell research? Forget that; what would Jennifer do? Or Nick? Or Andy? Or — God help us — Skippy? By the way, whatever olympic-class fuckwit asked Michael J. Fox that question should be sterilized. No sense keeping those genes in the mix.
[tags]babel, inarritu, slacker, ox dust bowl revival, woolly leaves quiet waters, constantines, myspace sucks, alex p keaton, michael j fox[/tags]

(3 x 0.4) + (3 * 0.08) = 1.44

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We watched a movie called Layer Cake (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. It was pretty good; I described it to T-Bone as a movie Guy Ritchie would make if he was off speed. Not that I have evidence of Guy Ritchie doing speed; it was just an apt description.

.:.

Sir Nicholas Stern’s report on the economic impact of climate change reminded me of a story CB told us on the weekend. She described a conversation she’d had with someone else where she was told, because she’s both an atheist and very passionate about environmental causes, that environmentalism is her religion. I don’t think the person who said it was pulling a Hugh, though I don’t think it was said in a malicious way either. I wish I’d been there; I’d have pointed out (’cause I love a good debate) that the statement was backward. Environmentalism is the opposite of religion; it’s how we conduct ourselves in response to a set of facts and theory based in science, as opposed to faith in a fictional work. Passion, zeal, overreaction…these reactions are common to environmentalists and depletists just as it does to atheists and theists, but the basis and foundation for religion and the basis for environmentalism couldn’t be further apart. The “_________ is your religion” canard is just a way of deflecting rational debate. And, sadly, we usually fall for it.

.:.

Today in line at the grocery store we were behind a guy buying candy for Hallowe’en. I don’t think he’d done it before, though, ’cause he’d just filled a plastic bag with chocolate bars. Not the bulk treats you can buy, mind you, but the full-sized versions. They weren’t in any order, and he didn’t know how many he had, so the cashier had to scan each one of them individually. Well, she didn’t have to; she could’ve scanned one kind several times, but she was a kid, so she shouldn’t have had to figure that out. Anyway, after 50 bars or so she finally finishes up…and the guy starts arguing about the price. He claims that they were on sale — 3 bars for $1.44 — but the cash register said $0.48 each. The cashier may have failed speed-checking, but she knew enough math to explain that $0.48 cents is the right price. The guy persists and goes to fetch a flyer. Finally, between the cashier, her supervisor and the withering glares coming from my wife, myself and the poor woman in front of us who only had a pear and some cheese, he got the message and paid. Then my wife decided to get her funny on:

cashier: Hi there. Double bag?
dan: No, that’s ok, we can put everything in our backpacks.
nellie: By the way, we also have 40 loose chocolate bars.
cashier: [cold look of fear]
nellie: Just kidding.
cashier: [nervous laughter; color returns to face]

[tags]layer cake, sir nicholas stern, global warming[/tags]

F**k

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

F**king Firefox just f**king crashed and I lost a huge f**king post that I’d been writing for half a f**king hour. I’m not writing that f**king thing again, so you’re getting a point f**king form version.

  • Five Doors North at Yonge & Eg isn’t very good.
  • Death Of A President was pretty good, maybe a little better than I was expecting (but not quite as good as I’d hoped)
  • Irreversible, while expertly shot, was extremely hard to watch. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can sit through graphic violence and/or prolonged rape scenes.
  • Moleskine doesn’t make a Citynotebook for Toronto, but they should.

F**k.

[tags]five doors north, toronto, death of a president, irreversible, moleskine[/tags]

Pepsi sounds kinda like peptic. Coincidence?

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

I just can’t get over American political attack ads. Check out this example from the Globe and Mail:

“If Brad Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals,” the ad says, as mariachi music plays in the background.

Of course there was some fuss earlier in the week about a racist attack ad aimed at Harold Ford Jr., since pulled. It also got a lot of attention north of the border as it took a swipe at Canada staying out of the Iraq war. It didn’t really bother me that much, especially once I saw the rest of the ad. Why should it? Since when should we care what a racist, or someone who’d stoop to racism, thinks about our military record?

.:.

NBC will not show ads for the new documentary about the Dixie Chicks, Shut Up And Sing, but the speed with which the production company jumped on the story…I don’t know, it just smells like a publicity play to me.

.:.

So, I think I might have an ulcer. Or maybe just really bad heartburn; I’m not sure yet. Basically I’ve had heartburn since I got back from the Rockies three weeks ago; a couple of days ago I started watching what I ate and have drunk only milk, and the heartburn’s gone. I even had some hot sauce on my eggs this morning and a Diet Pepsi around noon and I feel fine. I was under the impression that ulcers were caused by stress, but that’s not the case…which makes sense, ’cause I never feel stressed. I’m a very happy guy, despite what some people think. Anyway, I’m fairly certain the cause is the 3-can-a-day Diet Pepsi habit (or more; in my Delano days I got so little sleep that I drank 4 or 5 a day just to stay awake) I’ve had for several years now. Obviously, and probably for more reasons than just stomach acid, it’s time to give that up. What’s really going to suck is that I’ll now be giving up meat and Diet Pepsi at the same time. Worse yet, I need to lose weight, so chocolate’s probably off the menu for a while as well. No meat, chocolate or DP; November’s gonna be a fucker of a month.

.:.

In happier news, we’re gonna go see a movie tonight (D.O.A.P.) with CBGB, it’s my nephew’s birthday, tonight our clocks fall back and it’s less than 8 weeks ’til I’m back on the farm for the holidays. Sounds like my whole family (including the afore-mentioned nephew and my nieces) will be there as well. I’m looking forward to it since we weren’t all together at the same time last year.

[tags]attack ads, harold ford jr, nbc, dixie chicks, ulcer, diet pepsi, death of a president[/tags]

Babel-icious!

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I just won tickets to a screening of Babel next week. All I did was list my favourite scary movies in a comment on Toronto Life’s Screening Room blog.

Just for the record, mine were:

  • The Exorcist. I watched it for the first time just a few years ago, but it still scared the bejeezus out of me.
  • The Blair Witch Project. I saw it in a theatre full of shrieking people before all the hype.
  • Ringu. Upside down eyes = unsettling.
  • Requiem. From this year’s TIFF, it was haunting and creepy for all the reasons The Exorcism Of Emily Rose wasn’t.
  • Haute Tension. I was, as advertised, hautely tense.

[tags]babel, scary movies[/tags]

Four things that grabbed my attention today

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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]