Adam & Eva

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We just got back from watching The Sentinel (imdb | rotten tomatoes), to which we’d won free tickets from Now. It was…not so good. Basically there was nothing in the movie that you couldn’t see coming six miles away, and Eva Longoria was completely, absolutely, 100% useless. I think she just wandered by the set one day and they grabbed her, put her in a secret-service-y-looking suit and gave her a couple of lines. I’d skip this one unless you’re having a stupid day and want something predictable. Or unless someone gives you free tickets.

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Oh god no: Kerry ‘thinking hard’ about 2008 run for president.

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I finally got my economics mark back today, which means that course is officially over with. I’m well into the book for my next course — marketing — and it’s oh-so-thrilling. It’s also a bit hard to plough through, since I regard marketing as just below cheese-in-a-tube on the scale of human accomplishment. I’m trying to read this textbook at the same time as Cluetrain, which is kind of like reading Wealth Of Nations and The Communist Manifesto at the same time.

Acronymrods

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It drives me nuts when people giving presentations use dozens of acronyms…not commonly used acronyms either, but acronyms that only their team and a few other teams use. Usually I don’t care enough about the topic to ask for clarification, and I can figure out every third or fourth acronym, but I feel bad for the new people.

The best laid plans

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Well, that didn’t go as planned. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong for the Canadiens last night, including a Tampa Bay loss, an Ottawa win and a Carolina loss. The Canadiens even blew a 3-goal lead against the Devils to lose their final game, so they kind of limp across the finish line. Given their record against Carolina this year — 0 wins, 4 losses — things aren’t looking great. But the playoffs are a whole different kind of animal, so we’ll see who shows up on Saturday.

Speaking of New Jersey, the Rangers must be pretty worried right about now…how would you like to face a team that’s won 11 straight heading into the playoffs? Likewise the Flyers, who have to face the Sabres, another team that’s been on a tear lately.

No one likes a Hurricane

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Hallelujah…the Habs have finally clinched a playoff spot. Well, not clinched it so much as watched Atlanta lose their chance at one. All that remains is jockeying for first-round opponents; I’m hoping that the fates conspire to put them up against Ottawa. The Senators have been killer all season, but they’ve been beatable lately and Montreal’s done ok against them this year. The other possible matchup — Carolina — would be less favourable; the Hurricanes have demolished the Habs every time they’ve played this season.

CBGBBQ

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The Star has once again started dumping free newspapers outside my door. They do this a couple of times a year, unprompted. Normally a free newspaper is a good thing, except that I feel compelled to read a newspaper if it’s put in front of me (well…unless it’s a complete shitrag like The Sun) so I end up getting to work late every day. My own fault, I suppose, but dammit, they’re enabling me.

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Carl Bernstein, a guy who knows a thing or two about impeaching presidents, asks in the HuffPo if the president should be impeached. I have a recommendation, but I don’t think I get to vote on this.

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I’ve won tickets from Now Magazine for the second time in as many weeks. This time it’s for The Sentinel, which probably won’t be quite as good as Brick, but hey…it’s free and I was gonna see it anyway, so 3 shy little hipster hoorays for Now.

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This month’s Toronto Life, in addition to humorous letters, contains an article about the Don Valley Parkway. They make the point that further north — near Eglinton or Lawrence — it feels like a big, dead, cold highway, but the further it gets into the downtown core, it paradoxically becomes more and more green…more trees, more grass, better conformity to the landscape. Near the Bayview extension you can see the Don River, trees, fields, and the downtown towers pulling up over the trees. The first time I rode down the DVP with a friend, shortly after moving here, I was blown away as we neared the bottom of the valley at sunset, shocked by how green space I could see (I lived at Yonge & Sheppard, so I wasn’t used to seeing any), and then suddenly we were on the Gardiner and I was looking at the incredible cityscape. I remember it was the first time that I liked looking at Toronto.

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CBGB had us over last night for a barbeque, which was pretty sweet. It’s never a bad thing to have friends who own meat grilling equipment and live within the city limits in quick transit distance. And, of course, are nice enough to invite us over on a whim on a sunny Sunday afternoon for some red wine & red meat. It made us [sigh] look forward to the day when we have our own barbeque.

"When America's values are under attack, we need to act."

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From CNN: GOP hones its core agenda.

Protection of marriage amendment? Check. Anti-flag burning legislation? Check. New abortion limits? Check. Between now and the November elections, Republicans are penciling in plans to take action on social issues important to religious conservatives, the foundation of the GOP base, as they defend their congressional majority.

Hooo boy. It’s gonna get interesting down there. And by interesting, I mean bass ackwards. The quote up there in the title is from Bill Frist; I truly hope the American people listen to what he’s saying and do something…just not in the way that Frist expects.

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We finally got around to watching Hustle & Flow (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. It was pretty good, though probably not quite as good as I’d built it up to be. It’s certainly worth renting; just be prepared to have “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” stuck in your head for two days.

As only celluloid can deliver

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Just got back from V For Vendetta (imdb | rotten tomatoes). I liked it, quite a bit actually. More than I expected to, given the negative reviews I read when it first came out. Not sure what I was reading, since it’s carrying about 75% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The storyline, and the implications of the setup, were very well done, and they managed to portray the dystopian future without making the fascism over the top (usually movies in such settings are like watching the marching cartoon hammers from The Wall). There was just enough darkness, hope, and relevance to make it seem like fantasy and warning all at once.

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This NY Review essay of the new book by two writers of Daily Kos (which I found on POGGE) contains some interesting theories, such as the one that Howard Dean’s campaign was attacked from the inside by other leading Democratic candidates (John Kerry included), large political donors and media advisers for subverting the usual “kingmaking” process.
While I find this, if true, very interesting, I do not find it terribly surprising. I suspect the Republicans would have welcomed a fight against Dean (given the political capital their manufactured war had temporarily given them), so it was unlikely they who made sure Dean’s half-crazed yell from an Iowa stage was made the subject of such mockery.

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Still on some heavy topics, Scott Adams — the writer of Dilbert — often says interesting things on his blog, but I took a special interest in this one: he asks why he must be forced to respect all religious beliefs, even the ones he finds ridiculous. He stops short of saying they’re all ridiculous, but I get the feeling he wanted to. One of the commenters sums it up nicely: “I think Scott’s saying that tolerance, as a principle, shouldn’t be taken so far as to distort reason.”

Somebody write that down.

D.Y.S.

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From the CBC: Accused Serbian robber sews up lips, tongue to avoid court hearing. Ow ow OW. Surely there was a better way to avoid a hearing.

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From a letter to the editor of Toronto Life magazine (which they don’t post online, unfortunately), regarding last month’s condo story:

“If to be a hipster condo owner in downtown Toronto means saying things like ‘The very best thing about living here is Olivier at Clafouti’ without a trace of self-parody…then count me in as a renter who would rather put a bullet through his temple than live among these prats.”

I snorted my iced tea when I read this, and made a mental note not to be this kind of condo owner. If you ever hear me going on about how delightful so-and-so at Rosewater is, for god’s sake, punch me.

The new, new Hanson brothers

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The Toronto Star has alread begun fantasizing about bringing Sean Avery to the Maple Leafs. I think this is a brilliant idea; having Sean Avery, Darcy Tucker and Tie Domi would create some sort of critical cheapshot-artist mass who would form this ball of white hot goon light. It would be awesome to behold. Unless you were talented or French-Canadian in any way, and then they would stab you.

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eMusic is really pissing me off. For the longest time they didn’t list the new Magneta Lane album in their catalog; now that they finally do, they’re telling me that I can’t download it because it’s not available to Canadians. Dan != happy. Now I have to buy the disc, which seems like a big waste of my monthly eMusic fee.