Who's ready to speak ill of the dead? :D

Dan Dickinson5 Comments

I don’t understand how one human head can produce so much snot. Incroyable.

.:.

Link dump:

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We watched a documentary called The Bridge (imdb | rotten tomatoes) a few days ago. I’ve wanted to see it since I first saw the trailer last fall, and it was very good. Unsettling subject matter, obviously — the Golden Gate Bridge is the world’s #1 suicide site — but it was very well done and not sensational.

[tags]snot, bill maher, jerry falwell, maple sap, veronica mars, the bridge[/tags]

Touch me, I'm sick

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I feel like hell. I really hope this goes away soon; my choices right now are drug myself up on cold meds, or stay undrugged and constantly fight the urge to drill holes in my own skull.

.:.

The fireworks last night were pretty cool. From our vantage point we could see them going off all over the place, at least two dozen little spots of light popping off at any given time. There seemed to be a bunch coming from Riverdale Park or Withrow Park, but the main attraction was over Ashbridges Bay. We could see (and occasionally hear) them very clearly. Canada Day should be pretty fun to watch from up here.

.:.

Farewell, 24. You were good once, in your first season. Now you suck. I will never watch you again, unless I hear that a) Jack dies and fights Nina in hell; b) Mandy returns.

.:.

I find it freaky that every 17 years a gigantic swarm of insects emerges in the mideast US. Extremely freaky.

[tags]cold, flu, victoria day fireworks, ashbridges bay, 24, cicadas[/tags]

Clearly my timing is off

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Just in time for the warm weather coming this week, I have a cold. Scratchy throat, sinus headaches, lethargy…yay.

.:.

We finally watched Borat (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. Yeah, it was funny, but we obviously waited too long to see it since I’m pretty sure I already knew every funny bit in the film. Although, simply knowing that you’ll see Ken Davitian naked in full flight does not prepare you for the sight of it.

[tags]cold symptoms, borat, ken davitian[/tags]

We can, we're strong, we'll beat it

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New music I’ve been listening to:

  • a sunny day in glasgow . “5-15 train”
  • black taj . “woke up tired”
  • dandy warhols . “she sells sanctuary”
  • dt’s . “330 freedom”
  • fujiya & miyagi . “casettesingle”
  • jandek . “nancy sings”
  • junior boys . “in the morning (hot chip remix)”
  • katie melua . “i cried for you”
  • kissaway trail . “61”
  • maximo park . “our velocity”
  • motor . “bleep”
  • papercuts . “take the 227th exit”

The Kissaway Trail and DT’s songs are particularly good.

.:.

From the “disgusting for more than one reason” file, we have this from CNN: a woman in Texas says a jury shouldn’t blame her husband for microwaving their baby, they should blame the devil.

Holy shee-ite.

Anyway…

.:.

Wrote 2/3 of my paper today. Couldn’t bring myself to write the whole thing. Bad, bad MBA candidate…

[tags]kisaway trail, microwaved baby[/tags]

Going out with a very big bang

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Is it cruel to rename your animals after several years? Granted, they’re cats so it’s not as if they give a shit what we call them, but today Nellie floated the idea of naming them Ryan and Cyril instead of Sonny and Michael. Ryan was smart and scheming, whereas Cyril was mentally challenged, so it fits. And we could name the Roomba McManus or something.

If you didn’t watch Oz, you likely have no idea what I’m talking about.

.:.

Wow…while poking through IMDB there I noticed that John Cazale — Fredo — acted in only five feature films before his death: The Godfather, The Godfather II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. All five were nominated for the best picture Oscar. That’s a pretty impressive body of work for the final six years of one’s life.

.:.

OK, back to my [yawn] corporate strategy paper.

[tags]ryan o’reilly, cyril o’reilly, sonny corleone, michael corleone, pet names, john cazale[/tags]

Water, water everywhere, but trust me, you do not want to drink it

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On sunny & windy days, this is a pretty typical view: beaucoup de sailboats. More pics over at flickr.

.:.

Enough already with the whining about gas prices. Seriously. It’s cheaper than milk. It’s cheaper than orange juice, Coke or cough syrup. It’s cheaper than bottled water. And yet, there are people like this:

“It’s always like this,” Harris said as she filled her SUV at the Esso station at Lake Shore Blvd. E. and Leslie St. “They spike it up on weekends. They spike it up on the long weekend. They always have an excuse. It’s refinery problems, or it’s terrorism in the Middle East, or hurricanes. Oil is down, so there’s no reason for high prices.”

First of all, you drive an SUV, there’s no reason for you to complain about high gas prices either. If you can afford a gas guzzler, you can’t be strapped for cash.

Second…the same free market economy that made you wealthy enough to buy an SUV is what makes gas prices go up and down according to demand. Of course they’re out to charge you as much as they can; why wouldn’t they? YOU KEEP PAYING IT!!

And please, no excuses about “I need my car to get to work.” Buy a smaller car. Take public transit. Bike. Walk. Car pool. Choose to live closer to work in the first place. If you can’t (or won’t) do any of those things, then by all means, produce the contract you signed when you bought your car stating that gas prices would never, ever go up. Don’t have one? Then buy some oil company stock to offset the losses that you’ve chosen to inflict on yourself.

Side note: it’s interesting to watch the Toronto Star cover stories like this. On one hand, the Star wants to stick to big business and take the side of the poor consumer, but on the other hand they want to be the environmental advocate (ironic, considering they’re a newspaper) so they come across as conflicted in these cases.

.:.

As much as I despised Jerry Falwell, and as cold an emotionless as I can be sometimes, and as much as I think it’s hilarious, I simply cannot bring myself to buy this shirt.

[note: if you don’t get the punchline, read this.]

.:.

A week-old post on Torontoist that I didn’t look at until just now has some great concert footage of the Arcade Fire. The scene in the middle of the clip is the best one; my favourite part is how Richard Reed Parry replicates a snare drum sound.

[tags]toronto, lake ontario, sailboats, spire condominium, gas prices, toronto star, jerry falwell, torontoist, arcade fire[/tags]

Working for the weekend

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OK…just barely awake at this point. Got up at 6, got to work by 7, had hectic-ass day, and left work at 8…didn’t feel tired until I got to the Auld Spot, where Nellie & CBGB were waiting for me, and around 1/4 of the way through my second beer (and following a very good veggie burger) I hit the wall. Sleeeeeeeeepy. I finished my drink (I’m not dead, after all), got the bill and then got a cab. I wouldn’t have stayed awake for the subway ride home.

Now…must try to stay awake long enough to watch the end of the Spurs-Suns game 6…Icandoit…

Note to self: remember to write paper (which is due Tuesday) this weekend.

[tags]auld spot[/tags]

Paging languor

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So much for finding a little downtime. Work has been teh nuttiness for the past couple of weeks, I have a paper due Tuesday that I haven’t even started yet and the condo to-do list grows faster than I can knock it down.

Today wasn’t so bad though; despite being at work for 11 hours I had lots of energy when I got home, and I think it’s because of the concert last night. Music is my meditation.

[tags]downtime[/tags]

Us kids know

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Just got back from the Arcade Fire concert at Massey Hall. I’m very tired and I need sleep so this will be brief, but suffice it to say that since AF concerts are legislated under government law to kick ass, we enjoyed ourselves. Point form recap*:

  • I couldn’t take my eyes off Regine. She was completely full of energy tonight, and seemed to be having a blast. The way she was dancing during “Haiti” or strutting around the stage during “Antichrist Television Blues”, she was just magnetic. I watched her far more than I watched Win or anyone else.
  • Chill moments: the end of “No Cars Go”, ‘I don’t want to live in America no more…’, the end of “Haiti” (always so much better live), “Rebellion (Lies)” start to finish and the 2nd encore: “Neighbourhood #1”.
  • I apparently missed the memo, ’cause I wasn’t wearing a hoodie.
  • Massey Hall good: I can walk home in five minutes; Massey Hall bad: the crazy ass seats. No matter how many times I sit in them I will never get used to them. I guess it doesn’t matter; the second AF walked on stage we were on our feet.
  • There were a lot of…umm, older folks at the concert.
  • I have a crush on Sarah Neufeld.
  • The middle of the show dipped a bit, just because the 2nd-tier songs on Neon Bible can’t keep up the intensity of the anthemic songs from Funeral. It was kind of nice, though, to have that texture sandwiched in between all the bombast. I just wish people would resist the urge to clap along to a quiet, lovely song like “Neon Bible”.

Many thanks to my friend BN for miraculously finding us some tickets at (almost) the 11th hour, and to M2 for picking the tickets up and coming along.

Good night.

* “Point Form Recap” would be a great name for a band

[tags]arcade fire, massey hall, sarah neufeld[/tags]

Six of one…

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I don’t get all the hubbub about Scientology. Why is it such a big deal? Why is everyone so freaked out about Tom Cruise or Kirstie Alley or John Travolta being part of this religion? Why would a BBC reporter yell things like “Are you a member of a sinister brainwashing cult?” at Hollywood stars as they walk down a red carpet? Or, more to the point, why wouldn’t he yell it at Christians? Or Jews? Or Muslims, or Hindus, or Buddhists, or anyone else who’s public* about their religious beliefs? Because really, can anyone explain why Scientology should be taken any less seriously than any other cult** that’s currently in vogue? Does anyone give Madonna grief about her designer religion*** as she’s walking down the street?

Obviously, I religion’s silly in general, but I find it particularly baffling that one religious person could look at another and think they’re silly for acting that way.

* really though, in the grand Hollywood scheme of things, the afore-mentioned Scientologists aren’t very public at all. when was the last time you heard someone thank Xenu at an awards show?

** yes, cult; after all, what’s a religion but a cult with some longevity?

*** waitaminnit…is Kaballah even fashionable these days? you never hear about it anymore…

[tags]scientology, religion, kaballah, hollywood[/tags]