"I wanted you to be present."

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Last night we watched Caché (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a rather unsettling French film. It built tension slowly and steadily, but never plodded. It showed how terror can suddenly bubble up after years and years of a low, quiet simmer. It wasn’t until the end of the film that I realized the two most effective devices: excruciatingly long POV shots and a complete absence of music.

Highly recommended if you have an adult attention span.

.:.

Liiiiink linkity-link-link-link:

* note: I do not have a happy dance.

[tags]caché, alberto gonzales, google transit planner, pogge, onion[/tags]

"Thank you, bank robber!"

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Some entertainers taking part in Buskerfest, just down the street from me. I didn’t have my camera when I walked by them earlier so I shot this when I got home.

.:.

Fatblogging check-in :

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 225.5
  • Weight this week: 224.5

I seem to be holding steady at one pound lost per week. At this point I can’t possibly get to 214 by Sep 1 (unless I go on some kind of crazy-ass weight shedding regimen to make a fight weight) but in the two weeks before I go away on course I should be around 220. The tricky part is maintaining weight while on course; we never get to use the gym anymore, and as a (near) vegetarian my meal options aren’t great so I usually end up snacking a lot more.

I really haven’t changed my eating habits too much, but I’ve noticed lately that my brain has retreated from the insanity that got me to 238 last Christmas. For example, I no longer feel the need to eat every piece of chocolate in a 10-metre radius…just some of it. Now, when I’m about to overindulge I usually hear Yoda saying “Control, control, you must learn control!” in the back of my mind. I realize that sounds geeky (and kinda dirty too) but whatever works.

.:.

Watched Inside Man (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. That was some gooooood movie-watchin’. Just Spike Lee enough to be a Spike Lee joint, but not too over-the-Spike-Lee-top. Good plot, good pacing, and the cast was like an all-star game. Highly recommended, if you haven’t already seen it.

[tags]buskerfest, fatblogging, inside man[/tags]

Like the ghost of Jacob Marley, but with a tail

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This morning, as the fog and haze lifted, all the buildings seemed to be breathing strangely.

.:.

Listen, I’m all for supporting our troops, and I have no problem with a stretch of the 401 being renamed to honor them. But really, can we not come up with something a little less cheesy than Highway Of Heroes? That sounds like a fucking Hallmark movie. Please, Ontario government, I’m begging you: give the highway a name that doesn’t sound like a Valerie Bertinelli vehicle.

.:.

My mother just sent me this email. For context: Stryder is my parents dog (a very big rough collie with a snout like an anteater), Tigger is my cat who died five years (who, for some reason, Stryder always idolized) and my mother is deathly afraid of mice and the like.

“I’m still shuddering. Someone had come for maple and we were talking in the yard when I see Stryder coming with something in his mouth. He drops it at my feet and it is a mouse! Still alive! The humans are trying to get away from him and he keeps bringing the mouse closer, trying to pick it up in his mouth. He must have had memories of his teachings from Tigger on how to catch and torture a mouse! I finally got him to drop it and come in the house. It might be playing ‘possum’ but right now it is lying belly-up. Stryder wants back outdoors but I’ll keep him here until it revives or your father comes to remove it.

I can see Tigger’s spirit watching, ‘That’s my boy!'”

I feel bad for the mouse, but I have to say, that made me smile.

[tags]401 highway, highway of heroes, collie[/tags]

Seul

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Sometimes it’s the ones you weren’t trying to take that you end up liking best. I was taking pictures of some fireworks going off over the Distillery District, et voila.

Seriously, though, I can hardly rely on this kind of serendipity next month. I need to learn to use the friggin’ camera.

.:.

Nellie’s away camping with the girls this weekend, so I have the run of the place. I can’t enjoy it too much, really; whether she’s here or not I’d be stuck in front of the computer all weekend learning about bond duration and Basel II. Still, it’ll be nice to play Mogwai all night and sprawl across the whole bed.

[tags]fireworks, distillery district[/tags]

"In 1759, Voltaire wrote a book called Candide…"

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The Quill & Quire explores the Bush administration’s recent (and rather funny) tendency to compare themselves to literary characters:

They’re doing it again: earlier this week, former Bush adviser Karl Rove compared himself to both Grendel and Beowulf. Before that, he was Moby Dick.

Now, Rove’s ex-boss, one George W. Bush, is doing it – in a speech defending America’s continued presence in Iraq, Bush cited – wait for it – Graham Greene’s The Quiet American.

It would be even funnier if anyone believed Bush had actually read Graham Greene. It gets better though:

Again, Bush was citing a book about the dangers of American overseas naïveté to support his argument in favour of staying in Iraq. The best part is, as can be seen here, Bush’s critics have often cited the character of Alden Pyle to criticize the president’s foreign policy.

I’m guessing that’s the last time Bush lets his speechwriters reference any book not containing testaments.

.:.

IndieTits raises a very good, if spectacularly crude, question about the New Pornographers.

[tags]quill & quire, karl rove, george bush, beowulf, moby dick, quiet american, graham greene, indietits, new pornographers[/tags]

Let the trumpets sound and angels sing

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Hallelujah…we have a bed. The bed we bought three months ago, that was supposed to be delivered two months ago, that has exposed UpCountry’s complete lack of customer service…is finally in our bedroom. First of all, it’s huge…not a lot of spare room left in there. Second, it took two guys three hours to set up, so I think we’ll be leaving it behind when we move. But it looks great and the cats have already made themselves at home on it, so I think we’ll keep it.

As Nellie put it, we’re now one dining table away from being real grown-ups. Guess where we won’t be buying it from…

[tags]upcountry, bed[/tags]

This is how badly I want to be done the MBA

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This time next year — and I mean exactly this time; I’ll finish my last exam by 11AM eastern time on 22 August 2008 — I’ll be done the MBA. I’m so excited about this, and so pissed that I’m missing this year’s film festival because I’ll be on course, that I’m already thinking about what I’ll do next year when it’s all over.

First of all, I plan to undergo elective surgery on the part of my brain that knows about swaptions. I really don’t see myself needing that ever again.

Second, I will immerse myself in the probably-just-released list of festival films and choose the ones I want to see.

Third, I will spend the next two weeks coming home from work and NOT studying. In fact, I may engage in the most ridiculous time wasting exercises I can think of, like counting all the cat hairs on the floor or measuring the exact height of every book I own. My aim is to revel in the sudden lack of lessons to read or assignments to complete.

Finally, I will take a week of vacation and watch as many festival movies as I can stand. I’m thinking 30 in 10 days oughta do it.

I know…sad. I’m planning recreation a year in advance. This is what I’ve been reduced to: a 15-year-old girl planning her sixteenth birthday party.

[tags]mba, toronto international film festival[/tags]

Conviction. Salvation.

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Remember a month ago when I said that the bloodthirsty hordes should wait until Michael Vick is actually found guilty before calling for his head? Well, he plead guilty yesterday. Put on your lynchin’ shoes and warm up the tar. I hope that punk gets the max.

.:.

Crapmonkey. I don’t want to watch another season of 24 but now I may have to. From The TV Show Blog:

“Although details are scarce at this point, according to Michael Ausiello over at TV Guide, Janeane Garofalo is the newest member of the cast of 24.”

Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.

[tags]michael vick, 24, janeane garofalo[/tags]

"God loves you just the way you are. But he loves you too much to let you stay that way."

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Last night we watched Junebug (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which may as well have been called “The Amy Adams Show.” The story was good enough — it was a better-than-average fish-out-of-bumpkin-water plot — and the acting was good all around, but Amy Adams was a complete standout. No wonder she was nominated for best supporting actor at the 2006 Oscars, and won a slew of other awards (as you can see on the film’s awards page over at imdb). I liked the film, and think I’ll like it even more as it sits with me a few days.

.:.

Recent songs that’ve fallen into my lap:

  • Magnetic Fields . “The Dreaming Moon”
  • John Vanderslice . “White Dove”
  • Prolapse . “Tina This Is Matthew Stone”
  • Joy Wants Eternity . “Existences Rust”
  • Shout Out Louds . “Tonight I Have To Leave It”

I fell in love with “The Dreaming Moon” when I heard an American Analog Set cover of it recorded here in Toronto. God, I wish they’d record a studio version.

I’ve avoided listening to John Vanderslice for a long time for the same reason I avoid the Mountain Goats: I like being the only indie guy who doesn’t listen to them.

[tags]junebug, amy adams, american analog set, john vanderslice, shout out louds, mountain goats[/tags]