Today’s Dilbert pretty accurately describes what I did for a living between 1999 and 2001.
[tags]dilbert,, truthiness[/tags]
"Because of this, she is not a real Seeing Eye bitch, and is also mentally deranged."
The Onion A.V. Club sums up what’s wrong with 21st century game shows:
There’s something about Deal Or No Deal that’s more insidious than its molasses-pace and spotlit emptiness. Like 1 Vs. 100—like our culture, increasingly—it neither encourages nor rewards actual intelligence and talent. It rewards hope, self-regard, and blind persistence.
Idiocracy, here we come. Really, when you consider the success that game shows like Deal Or No Deal and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire have enjoyed recently, it’s a tribute to ABC that they’ve kept Jeopardy on the air for so long without dumbing it down.
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While the story about Toronto Transit Commission chair Adam Giambrone accepting a challenge to let the public make suggestions for the TTC website revamp was in all the Toronto blogs last week, it’s finally seeped into the mainstream media. This story makes my inner geek all warm and fuzzy. Congratulations to Robert Ouellette of Reading Toronto for getting something done, and well done Adam Giambrone.
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The Doha round of World Trade Organization talks may still have some life, though the clock (on President Bush’s “fast-track” authority, specifically) is ticking. Ultimately, this is a case where a lame-duck president could come in handy; if Bush were facing re-election in 2008 there’s absolutely no chance he’d cut $20 billion in farm subsidies.
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The Canadiens are now mired in what can only be called a slump. They’ve lost 3 straight, partly because of the flu bug that’s floored half the team, and partly because New Jersey just has their number. The Habs need to locate their scoring touch, and soon, because the Senators and the Rangers are turning on the jets.
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Last night we watched Everything Is Illuminated (imdb | rotten tomatoes), the movie adaptation of a book I read a few years back. I wondered how director Liev Schreiber would deal with the third, most fantastical storyline; it turns out he ignored it altogether. It was the right choice, if also the boring one; there was no good way to put that on the screen and still hold the other storyline(s) together, and yet that storyline was the only thing that made the book stand out from the rest of the story which had been told hundreds of times before. What remained in the film was good, but not new.
[tags]deal or no deal, 1 vs 100, who wants to be a millionaire, jeopardy, ttc, adam giambrone, robert ouellette, wto, doha round, canadiens, everything is illuminated[/tags]
You know what rule?
The platinum lounges at the Air Canada Centre. That’s what rule.
[UPDATE] We just got back from the game where the Raptors held on (barely) to beat the Wizards. We got the tickets through a charity auction at Nellie’s office, and they might have ruined our basketball-going future. I don’t know if I can go back to regular seats after this: a platinum lounge — a room just for six of us, with a TV, free food, free drinks, free ice cream, comfy chairs, etc. — and seats just a few rows behind the Wizards’ bench. The lounge’s concierge looked after us, even coming out to our seats to see if we needed anything.
If this is how the other half lives, I wanna be the other half.
[tags]air canada centre, platinum lounge[/tags]
"That's called a hangover, Amigo."
Busy day yesterday. We went downtown to see a movie, heading first to Cora’s for brunch, but the lineup was halfway to Hamilton so we settled for Milestone’s instead. While I normally despise that place, there were no Bellini-sucking wankers at 11 AM. Anyway, it served it’s purpose: fast, and close to the theatre.
We were there to see Children Of Men (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at the Paramount. It was as good as the 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes suggests: interesting, compelling, action-packed, terrifying, cautionary, visually stunning, well-acted, and a little too familiar to feel entirely like fiction. Highly, highly recommended. When I re-do my best-of-2006 list in a month or so Children Of Men will be on it.
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Last night CBGB has us over for what they called the veggie fiesta. Basically, they cooked us an amazing meal: we started with the smoked cheddar and Roquefort cheese we brought along from Pusateri’s (as well as some Prosecco), then had asparagus wrapped in a phyllo pastry, followed by a salad with green mango & chilies (with a very nice white), a red curry for the main (with Nellie’s favourite: a Tedeschi Amarone) and an amazing strawberry/rhubarb pie topped with ice cream (with dessert wine). It was a better meal than I’ve had in a lot of restaurants. If I keep eating like that I’ll forget that I ever ate meat.
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OK…have to go shake Nellie out of bed and get ready for the Raptors game this afternoon.
[tags]cora’s, milestone’s, children of men, pusateri’s, strawberry rhubarb pie[/tags]
"We just f***in' got it done."
Highlight of my day: Canada winning gold for the third straight year at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Montreal Canadiens prospect Carey Price was named to the all-star team, named best goaltender and named tournament MVP. Forward Jonathan Toews, also named to the all-star team, was so excited that he dropped the F-bomb live on TSN immediately afterward.
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Today — day 5 of vegetarianism — was the day I discovered the veggie burger at Harvey’s isn’t bad. Good to know that I can still get a decent junk food fix if need be.
In recent days I’ve realized that a lot of the food I find the most satisfying has little to do with meat. For example, we’re about to get some dinner at C’est What before we go to the movies, and I can still have the yummy antijitos and yam frites.
[tags]canada, wjc, vegetarianism, veggie burger, harvey’s, c’est what[/tags]
Where The Truth Lies
We watched Where The Truth Lies (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night, last year’s TIFF entry by Atom Egoyan. It was good, but I wouldn’t call it great. Overall the acting was good (though Alison Lohman seems to have studied at the Keanu Reeves School of Facial Expression Diversity), but that wasn’t enough. When the primary actor has to spend an entire scene explaining to the camera what happened rather than just showing it to us, I feel less like I’ve watched a film than a university lecture.
[tags]where the truth lies[/tags]
S'warm
It’s eleven freaking degrees outside. This is ridiculous.
It’s not just today either. It’s the second time this week — the first week of January — that Toronto’s had temperatures around ten degrees (Monday’s high was 9.2 degrees), I can only remember two days so far this winter that actually felt cold, and 2006 was the lowest year for Toronto snowfall on record.
I’m not really a fan of winter, but…when it’s not around I kind of miss it. Or at least worry about where it’s disappeared to…
[UPDATE] This crazy weather seems to be hard on the wildlife too.
[tags]toronto, warm weather, snowfall[/tags]
Guide dogs, polar bears and cats…oh my!
I watched most of the world junior semifinal hockey game between Canada and the US today (thanks, TSN broadband!), and watched overtime and most of the shootout in the TV room with a bunch of colleagues. It took the 7th round of a shootout for Canada to finally complete the comeback win. It just kept going on and on; I actually yelled at the TV once, “Do they not realize I have a 1:00 meeting?!??!” before Jonathan Toews finally put it away and Carey Price (Canadiens draft pick; natch) stopped the final American shooter.
I went from nearly having a heart attack to running down the street for a meeting.
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Pat Robertson has either gone senile or just hasn’t gotten enough press lately. To wit, he’s claiming that God spoke to him about some terrorist attacks. I don’t believe there is a God, but if there was, he sure as shit wouldn’t waste time talking to Pat Robertson.
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Nellie talks about all the donations made in our names this year (in lieu of xmas gifts, as per our request). There’s some great stuff on there: animal protection, environmental concerns, anti-poverty, education…good stuff, all. Makes us feel warm and fuzzy.
[tags]hockey, world junior championship, pat robertson, terrorist attacks, charitable donations[/tags]
Hello, bigoted pot? This is retarded kettle calling. You are black.
The best part about this CNN story regarding the imminent gay marriage ban in Massachusetts: the colossal irony of the accompanying picture.
[EDIT: I suppose it could be an opponent of the gay marriage ban carrying this sign, which would kill both the irony and my witty subject line. Therefore, I choose to stick with my original interpretation: the man holding the sign is a weenie.]
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The Economist’s Free Exchange blog has yet another thought-provoking post, this time about the decline of violence in recent decades and the 20th century overall (despite what the news might suggest). Being the Economist’s blog, the topic is tied back to factors like wealth and trade, and to the question of whether economic prosperity reduces violence; my opinion is that it does, but the writer himself points out one of the most common arguments against such an opinion:
“Increasing trade has made it harder to go to war without at least temporarily doing violence to one’s own economy. Of course, I believe this argument was once advanced as a reason that World War I was impossible.”
By the way…cat-burning? I couldn’t have lived in the 16th century.
[tags]gay marriage ban, massachusetts, economist, free exchange blog, decline in violence, cat-burning[/tags]
That's reassuring
The National Post has declared our nearly-completed condo building to be “the most beautiful new tower in the city”. That’s nice to hear. It was a little nerve-wracking, wondering if our tower would end up being considered a blight on the skyline.
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From an old issue of The Onion which somehow showed up in my feed reader today:
WASHINGTON, DC—Telephone logs recorded by the National Security Agency and obtained by Congress as part of an ongoing investigation suggest that the vice president may have used the Oval Office intercom system to address President Bush at crucial moments, giving categorical directives in a voice the president believed to be that of God.
$5 says this is one of those Onion articles that ends up being true down the road.
[tags]national post, most beautiful new tower, toronto, onion, bush, cheney, intercom[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 