Karate Snoopy

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

OK, where to begin…just after I wrote that last post England lost to Portugal on penalties. Needless to say, the crowd at the Duke of York was mightily pissed. Still, we soldiered on, determined to enjoy Canada Day. However, our nation’s birthday isn’t quite the event that my brother experienced in Ottawa, so there wasn’t really much to do festivities-wise…we walked down St. George, cut through the U of T campus, walked along College and then down University, had a gawk at the new opera house, walked across Queen to city hall, stopped in the weird little waterfall park off of Richmond, walked across to the condo site, and then strolled down to C’est What for a cold beer and the first half of the France/Brazil match. During halftime we made it back up to our apartment, settled in and watched the second half while Nellie had a nap on the floor.

That night, after a few hours of downtime, we all went to Fieramosca. As usual, it was too much great food; we were all stuffed by the time we left. I had a relatively simple penne with chicken, sundried tomato, zucchini, and asparagus; Nellie had gnocchi and TimmyD has a plate of sausage (which I had a bit of; daaaaaaaaamn) and quail. After much limoncello with the hostess, we walked home.

This morning: no rest for the wicked. We all met at half-ten (that’s what the frickin’ British call 10:30) and hit Eggstacy for some breakfast; we left, more than a little bit stuffed but ready for some shopping. Some shoes, some clothes and some books* later and we’d had about enough of Bloor Street.

After all the shopping we spent a few hours on the patio at the Bishop & Belcher, then collected ourselves at our place before heading out to the Auld Spot for dinner. Once again, I was more than impressed with the food (Nellie liked hers a great deal this time). We left, getting home in time for me to write this, check some feeds and pack for tomorrow.

That’s right, I said pack; we’ve decided to spend a night out of the city. We’re visiting our uncle & aunt near Guelph, and from there we’re going up to Elora for the night. It’ll be nice to see…you know, trees. Etc. I’ll post again when we’re back on Tuesday, at which point our visitors should be jetting back to old blighty.

* TimmyD pointed out a book, based on this website, which is quite possibly the most hilarious thing I have ever seen. We laughing hysterically in the stacks at Indigo, and at home I was actually on the floor laughing as I read it. There are pictures. Nellie says she’s never heard (or seen) me laugh that hard. I understand that some people won’t find it that funny. If you don’t find it funny at all, then I can’t be friends with you anymore.

[tags]england, portugal, u of t, toronto opera house, c’est what, fieramosca, eggstacy, bishop & belcher, auld spot, elora, mnftiu[/tags]

Tension

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We’re sitting on the patio at the Duke of York right now, having just watched England and Portugal play to a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes. Extra time coming up. There are large number of anxious England fans, and two not-so-smart Portugal fans.

We got out to the Rebel House last night, and CBGB came along. The British among us were jet lagged and left early-ish; we had a few more drinks and went back to our place…where we talked about socioeconomics until 2 in the morning. Seriously.

[tags]world cup, england, portugal, rebel house, duke of york[/tags]

Cruised

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

T-Bone claims that a guy just checked me out on our way to get a croissant from Holt’s. I highly doubt this. If he was straight, he was checking her out; if he was gay, surely he’d have better taste in men.

[tags]broken gaydar[/tags]

Happy Canada Day indeed

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

This morning the Globe and Mail replays some blog and newsgroup postings by the wives of some of the recently captured Canadian terror suspects. It’s not terrifying so much as it’s sad; as loathsome as their statements are, it’s obvious that these are the rantings of two women who obviously are not the sharpest knives in the drawer (one of them’s just a kid), and who are just parroting Jihadist rhetoric.

But what’s really terrifying is the comment section. These statements are as bad as anything the women posted online:

  • “The veil should be illegal…you live in Canada….any other citizen running around in a mask would be interogated”
  • “I’m sure that allah and/or muhammed didn’t expect muslims to become the sorriest, cruelest, least cultured, most hateful people in the world”
  • “[W]e should not let anyone in this country with different social values”
  • “I’m not sure we shouldn’t throw out the baby, the bathwater and the BATHTUB containing the Muslim immigration pool, until we have a better handle on it”
  • “You people are a very good reason and example of why we should not be importing individuals from Islamic countries”
  • “[T]hey need to be weeded out of civilized society by every means possible – including control on constitutional rights, if that’s what it takes to destroy this plague – the free world needs to eradicate it like the disease it is”
  • “These wackos are right about one thing, we should round this group up and deport the whole bunch of them…On a different point, is it a good idea to have the father of one or two of these traitors prescribing medicine to our soldiers?”
  • “Send them to Afganistan where they can joing their beloved Taliban and hopefully be bombed into the hereafter that they covet so much”
  • “Personally I think if these people are convicted we should send them to gitmo north, but let’s move it north of Iqaluit first”
  • “When you have people of a religion who’s sole desire is to murder the innocent Men, Women, and Chileren in the Name of their Religion, then you need to truly ask the question is that religion a loving and kind religion”
  • “I believe that we are at the point where we should no longer accept immigrants from Muslim Countries”
  • “[T]he only difference between a militant and a moderate muslim is the length of their beards”
  • “Happy Canada day to all who love our country and to the rest, may we soon hunt you down and eliminate you before you eliminate us!”

One of the early commenters tried valiantly to make some sense of what these women had posted, to explain how these women could arrive at such a mindset. Another, later on, asked the commenters for reason. Sadly, reasoned arguments were hard to come by in this post.

I feel sick to my stomach after reading this.

[tags]terrorism, bigotry, multiculturalism, hate[/tags]

Mystery white boy

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

One step closer to a movie about Jeff Buckley. Wonder if Brad Pitt’s still interested. He might be a little long in the tooth now.

.:.

Some of the headlining films for the Toronto film festival were announced today. I’m excited to see a couple of recent Cannes winners: The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Babel. I think we might actually see 15 movies this year.

.:.

OK…first of all, why is CNN giving commentary space to James Dobson? Second, I wonder if Dobson ever sits back and wonders just how much of a backwards, close-minded dick he’ll sound like a generation from now? In fact, that he could possibly compare denying gay people marriage rights to the struggle to end slavery is beyond feebleminded.

[tags]jeff buckley, wind that shakes the barley, babel, james dobson, irrelevant windbag, gay marriage[/tags]

Tarragon & black pepper

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Stanzi was back in town today, so T-Bone and I got to have lunch with her. We decided to swing by JS Bonbons on the way home. OK, it was completely out of our way, but it was worth it. I’d almost forgotten how tasty the salted caramel and gianduja truffles are.

.:.

More new music that I’m trying to get to: Ships by Danielson, Valhalla by Danny Michel, Ecce Homo by The Hidden Cameras, Bottom Of Barrels by Tilly And The Wall, Eraser by Thom Yorke, and Springtime Can Kill You by Jolie Holland. I’ve already decided to buy Rather Ripped by Sonic Youth, Awoo by The Hidden Cameras (when it’s released) and Begin To Hope by Regina Spektor.

[tags]js bonbons, danielson, danny michel, hidden cameras, tilly and the wall, thom yorke, jolie holland, sonic youth, regina spektor[/tags]

The invisible hand has a cramp

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Good news: a new Arcade Fire album doesn’t seem too far off.

Bad news: Sleater-Kinney has broken up. One of the best — if not the best — rock band in North America has called it quits, and were on the upswing when they did it; their last album was their best (and the best album to be released in all of 2005, in my opinion). I will miss their music a great deal.

.:.

When a guy who obviously understands the free market system as well as Warren Buffett says “A market system has not worked in terms of poor people,” you know there’s something wrong. No wonder he’s donating $31 billion to charity.

[tags]arcade fire, sleater-kinney, warren buffett[/tags]