Ding dong, etc.

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It is done. The paper’s all put together, cited, formatted, etc., etc. Gonna get Nellie to look at it tomorrow and then I shall submit the fucker. I want nothing more to do with it.

It feels like such an ending, to finally be rid of this thing…and then I remember that between now and September 7th I still have to read 2 chapters, 2 sets of lesson notes, 6 short articles (2 of which I have to submit comments on) and one case (which I have to write a 2-page paper for), not to mention plan for the film festival and, you know, go to work.

.:.

Earlier in the week the Modern Mod sent me a link for Volo, a bar just down Yonge Street that Nellie and I’d walked by a hundred times without going in. The email pointed out that Volo’s known for their beer selection, so I thought it was high time we paid a visit. We’re glad we did.

Before leaving I was having a look at the website; one of the beers they list is the Church Key cranberry maple wheat, something Nellie’s been craving (and unable to find) ever since she had it at Smokeless Joe’s over a year ago. While she refused to get her hopes up too much, she was quite excited to find that they have plenty of it. Our server Amanda, who was nothing but black-clad fun, brought us some yummy bread, tasty bruschetta and a very nice vegetarian pasta main. For my part, I had a glass of Delirium Tremens, which the Scotsman seems to’ve gotten me hooked on.

It was a perfect night for the patio, too; it’s non-smoking out there, and great for people watching. They appear to have a decent brunch menu too. I dare say we’ll go back soon.

[tags]volo, delirium tremens, church key[/tags]

Halle-almost-lujah

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The paper is jeeeeuuuuust about done. All written and formatted; all that’s left is to fix up the citations and write out the references. I’ll dash that off tomorrow, leaving me with the rest of the weekend to relax get to the rest of the course work so I’ll have time to pick my festival movies.

I’m celebrating with a new template. And, in all likelihood, a stiff drink.
[tags]term paper[/tags]

"I believe God is a sadist, but probably doesn't even know it"

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Forgot to mention a movie I finished watching yesterday: Cross Of Iron (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a Sam Peckinpah anti-war war movie from the late 70s. Although I hated the filming style, I liked the film itself. It’s not often you see an English-speaking film about German soldiers trying to hold off the Russian army in the last days of WWII, and there’s no semblance of blind patriotism or the nobility of war.

As I said, though, I hated the style. Or maybe it was just the transfer to the DVD that made it feel so ugly and choppy. If ever there was a movie crying out for Criterion treatment, this is it.

[tags]cross of iron, criterion[/tags]

The home stretch

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The paper’s due in three days, and I’m almost done. Just a few more sections and then the clean-up. Hopefully I can get it done a little earlier than planned; I need a couple of days to prepare for the film festival. I’ve also been taking time away from the office (it’s my company’s custom MBA program, so they kindly give us a little time off when we really need it…until now I just hadn’t really needed any) and I’ve been neglecting some important work. I’ll be glad to get back into the normal swing of things. In October.

.:.

Need to move a giant statue of Ramses II? Google Earth can help you do it. And I thought it was just for showing me local pizza joints…

.:.

In what might possibly be the oddest headline I’ve read in a while, the CBC informs us of “New clues into identity of 19th-century legless, mute Maritimer“. Good, ’cause I was wondering about that.

.:.

Speaking of mute, Gilles Duceppe should really give it a try sometime.

“We have this ridiculous economic policy that when exports grow, the economy gets stronger and the value of our currency increases. Then exports decline and things get worse. It’s always like a yo-yo,” Mr. Duceppe said yesterday.

You know what else Gilles? When I turn my stove on, the water in my kettle boils. When I turn it off, it cools down again. It’s always like a yo-yo! Actually, that was giving him too much credit; what he’s saying is the boiling water in my kettle is causing my stove to switch on, and the cooling of the water switches the stove back off.

In theory — and only in theory — this man could be our Prime Minister. As much as I dislike Stephen Harper, at least he seems to grasp basic economics.

[tags]ramses ii, legless mute maritimer, gilles duceppe[/tags]

Deepak Chopra: even goofier than the Christians.

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There was a very good interview with Michael Shermer yesterday in Salon called The Joys Of Life Without God. He has a very reasonable approach to his atheism (by which I mean he’s not a “militant” atheist who’s as intent on bending religious followers to his will as they are his). His arguments are nothing we haven’t heard before, but he has a great way of putting them:

“When you study world religions, it’s obvious that, throughout time, all of these different people are making up their own stories about God. If you lived 1,000 years ago, hardly anybody would be a Christian. If you were born in India, you’d likely be a Hindu. What does that tell you? From a Christian perspective, it means we need to get more missionaries over there to tell them the truth! From an anthropological perspective, it’s another case. Christians today might say, I don’t believe in Zeus, that was a silly superstition. Yet for many people that was a real god. So it turns out there are 10,000 gods and yet only one right one. That means we’re all atheists on 9,999 gods. The only difference between me and the believers is I’m an atheist on one more god.”

He also touches on an issue that’s always kind of bugged me. Typically I hear people describe agnosticism as the belief in some sort of higher power, but you’re not sure what it is. I never bought that; to me — and I think to Shermer — it’s the idea that, if you think scientifically, whether or not there’s a God is completely irrelevant.

.:.

This is how occupied I am with this damned paper: I haven’t even watched the videos Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant did for Microsoft. I at least managed to get a quick walk in after work today, dashing over to Whole Foods to pick up some lunch for tomorrow.

OK, off to do four hours of writing.

[tags]religion, atheism, michael shermer, ricky gervais, microsoft training video[/tags]

Compulsory license this, biznatch

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T-minus six days with which to finish this cursed paper. I have 5,527 words so far; I need at least 8,000. I spent last night trying to figure out which parts of the paper need more fleshing out, where I can add more research…and I think I’m pretty close. With any luck I’ll finish it Thursday night and I can use the weekend to clean it up.

All I really want to do is peruse the full film festival schedule, which was released today. [Brad Pitt…squeeeeeal!]

[tags]term papers, film festival[/tags]

Headz!!

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Big news for my old home town (kind of; I grew up on a farm about 25km away): a game company plans to open a plant there, creating 1,500 jobs. Considering the town is only about 1,200 people today, that’s significant. Increasing the town’s population by 125% in the next 18 months or so should be all kinds of fun for the infrastructure planners.

There’re weird rumours, too, that I’ve heard through the grapevine (read: my mother) about a commercial featuring the Hanson Brothers and a woman who lives down the road from our farm. It’s all very surreal.

By the way, to help you figure out where this magical story takes place, here’s a map.

[tags]parrsboro, headz games, hanson brothers[/tags]

Sweedeedee

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Madonna reminds me of a little kid, the kind who can’t stand not getting attention. So when no one’s spending much time thinking about her, she just does something naughty, like kissing a black Jesus, simulating masturbation in the Skydome, or — her latest — performing a mock crucifiction.

The press, silly bastards, keep falling for it…for now, anyway; at some point they’ll realize what the rest of us have: that Madonna’s all used up and hasn’t released a decent album since William Orbit made one for her.

.:.

The Modern Mod sent me Cat Power‘s Covers Record today as I had nothing else to listen to. Halfway through the first listen I bought it legal-like; the cover of “Kingsport Town” alone was worth the eMusic download.

[tags]madonna, cat power[/tags]

The best music of 2006 (so far)

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In alphabetical order only.

  • asobi seksu . citrus
  • band of horses . everything all the time
  • neko case . fox confessor brings the flood
  • the heartless bastards . all this time
  • jolie holland . springtime can kill you
  • amy millan . honey from the tombs
  • mogwai . mr. beast
  • rainer maria . catastrophe keeps us together
  • regina spektor . begin to hope
  • the yeah yeah yeahs . show your bones 

Interesting…I just noticed that all the singers there are female, except Band Of Horses (who’s singer is high-pitched enough to mistake for female sometimes) and Mogwai, who barely sing at all.
[tags]best music of 2006[/tags]