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]

I told everybody when I came out the wilderness

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The new Be Good Tanyas disc Hello Love is good. The new Walkmen disc “Pussy Cats” Starring The Walkmen, a tribute to the Harry Nilsson album, is not good at all (unless you’re a Harry Nilsson fan, maybe). The new Bonnie Prince Billy disc The Seedling is good, but not great. If you can, find the stripped-down demo version of the title track; it’s much better than the final studio version. Raw = better.

[tags]be good tanyas, hello love, walkmen, pussy cats, bonnie prince billy, the seedling[/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]

"My two lovely friends"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It’s true: Deal Or No Deal is the dumbest game show ever. It’s so dumbed-down, and requires so little brainpower from both contestant and viewer, it makes Wheel Of Fortune seem like a Mensa chapter meeting.

.:.

Speaking of the addle-minded, I have a new name for Leafs forward Darcy Tucker: SuperPussy. On Tuesday he was so pissed about his team getting crushed (final score: 6-2) by Ottawa that he started beating on Patrick Eaves, who’s probably never fought in his life. Happily, Ottawa didn’t retaliate tonight by going after Kyle Wellwood or some similar non-combatant; instead they blasted the Leafs 7-2. Between that and Montreal’s last-second (well, almost…they scored with 1.2 seconds left) win over Boston, I’m a happy guy.

.:.

A co-worker pointed out last night something I would never, ever have guessed: many of the Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits outlets here in Toronto serve halal chicken. When she first told me I thought she meant the entire chain, and I thus deemed her insane. But in fact, it appears to be true, so…yeah. That’s pretty weird. Of all the places I expected to serve halal meat, Popeye’s isn’t one of them.

[tags]deal or no deal, mensa, darcy tucker, patrick eaves, leafs, senators, popeye’s, halal[/tags]

TViva

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The new TV On The Radio album Return To Cookie Mountain and Viva Voce‘s Get Yr Blood Sucked Out are both very good.

[tags]tv on the radio, return to cookie mountain, viva voce, get yr blood sucked out[/tags]

Kaizen

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Things seem bad sometimes. Manufactured wars. Constant, seemingly unresolvable violence in the middle east. Discrimination by religion, race, gender, sexual orientation and so on. Disingenuous, corrupt politicians. Disease. Neighbourhood crime. Rob Schneider. The list goes on; these things, and the way they’re reported, tend to make us feel as if the world is crumbling around our ears. These things certainly frustrate me, but I often think about something I heard Noam Chomsky say once.

A student attending one of Chomsky’s speeches asked him what we could do to turn things around, as the world was just getting worse and worse all the time. Normally you’d expect quite a pessimistic answer from Chomsky, but he replied that the student was way off, that life over, say, the last century has gotten — on the whole — much better.

I agree with him. There are still wars, still empires, still injustices, but there is progress. Most countries now reject aristocracy and elect candidates to positions of power. In most countries people can, to varying degrees, publicly decry unfair treatment or criticize the sitting government with little fear of reprisal. Personal freedoms are, more or less, at an all time high; it wasn’t long ago that women couldn’t vote and black people were forced to drink from separate water fountains. While too many people still live in impoverished conditions, it’s fewer now (on a percentage basis) than 200 years ago. Life expectancy has skyrocketed as diseases are cured and treatments discovered. And so on.

I’m even confident that issues like global warming, which — to my generation — seems like a circus of head-burying and political machinations, will eventually be solved. Just as it has done with every other seemingly insurmountable obstacle, mankind will slowly, irrevocably do the right thing, in spite of the conservative naysayers and authoritarian oppressors. Just
gotta keep on keepin’ on.

But first, I gotta get some sleep.

[tags]noam chomsky, kaizen[/tags]

Well, I suppose he is an expert on medication…

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I feel shitty enough that I want to go home, but not shitty enough to leave work, so it’s gonna be a long day. But as bad as I feel, I’ll take comfort in the fact that I’m not as big an asshole as Rush Limbaugh.

“He’s moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting.”

Nice.

[tags]michael j. fox, parkinsons, rush limbaugh is a big fat idiot[/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]