Brandyland

absinthe makes you a whore

2006-09-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

um, hi, i'm back, because apparently people still check this thing (yay for bex and matrix-steve!)
sometimes hiat-i are good. (as opposed to hiatuses or hiatus' or hiatus's)
saw kasabian last night (front and centre - HUZZAH!) and it was the most rabunctious show i've been to in a long time. too many boys (can you believe i'm saying that?) all drunk, spastic and pointy-elbowed; twas a blast though, with no major injuries, no accidental stone-age like the last time we saw them ("brandy, where's your house?" "i dunno. over there maybe?" "brandy, where's the road?" "hahahahaha - dude i think we're stoned.") although i did get a whole pint of beer spilled down my back so i smelled like stale beer for the rest of the show. sorta better than the man-sweat though. candi-arse, my co-conspirator, sadly had to (attempt to) leave the mosh pit almost immediately after kasabian hit the stage (at 11 flurking pm!) but didn't quite make it out of the sea of drunktards before she passed out cold. don't worry though, it's not the first time and she was rescued by a bouncer and the bass player from the opening act. i however, held my ground and remained at the front for the whole fabulously-fantastic, sweaty-squishy and totally exhilerating performance. serge got his groove on during processed beats and it was like the best thing ever. totally awesome motherfu*kers indeed! the openers were ok; one thousand pictures (?) from san diego - before the show the lead singer was styled like a liam gallagher wannabe, but magically transformed into a killers-lead-singer double. ha. and the second band, mew, from copenhagen should not have gone on before kasabian, well maybe shouldn't have gone on at all because they were scary-weird to see perform (not to mention the nightmare-inducing images playing on a screen behind them) but their music was actually good. and candice's observation about the singer being autistic (no offence) was very accurate. plus one of the guitarists had his 95-year-old great aunt in the audience. she actually waited in line (she could barely walk) with everyone; coolest great-aunt ever!
but ugh, now i'm suffering from a post-concert hangover, wired from excitment, stiff and SO sleepy from little sleep. (actually my biggest complaint is itchy eyeballs; i couldn't close my eyes when i got home because it felt like there was sandpaper under my lids.) it's nice to know that i'm still capable of lasting through a show like that, even though the bouncers didn't ask for my id when i went in. i truely fear the day when i can't handle four hours of standing/flailing in a mosh pit!
things that have happened in the last two months:
- got my hair cut again; the girl who did it last time hath vanished and i was not impressed with the old woman who did it this time and told me i should "clean my eyebrows". i'm thinking of investing in a hair-straightener
- house was cleaned, baked a rum cake, wore a dress older than me, drank rum, had a pirate-party, house got cleaned again
- found a movie online (23) that i've been talking about for 8 years (when i saw it at tiff); it has only ever been released in germany with no english subtitles so guess what! someone made some so i can watch it again!
- saw four movies at tiff: paris j'taime (vincenzo natali is a disgrace to canada), falkenberg farewell, requiem (directed by same guy who did 23), and summer '04
- spent not enough time at erik's cottage and went to the elmvale zoo! (i ♥ lemurs)
- hit like 35,000 words on my trashy novella
- watched four seasons of monarch of the glen, two season of QAF and all three seasons of arreseted development
- worked like 40 hours of overtime
- blew some of the cash-ola made in overtime on new speakers and two swatches

and maybe other stuff i'll remember later...

call me bitch-ums...

2006-07-27T11:54:00.000-04:00

i'm complainy.

no water at work for the last ~~three~~ four hours, meaning no coffee, no bathroom, no a/c and most importantly, no water! i was planning on getting my hair cut again - shock, shock, horror, horror - but the chick who cut it so perfectly last time has disappeared from the salon and they won't tell me where she went. yes, i'm a baby - i'm not sure i can go through with another experiment on my hair. i pre-ordered poppy brite's (my like, favorite author) new book so that i'd get it the day it came out (tues. the 25th) but of course amazon.ca doesn't have any copies or is slow to get them, so i won't get it for another week or two. bastards. and oh woe, i can't seem to find enough time to finish the ~~short story~~, novella, (um shit, at what point does it become a novel?) i'm obsessed with. (hence the lack of blog lately...)

note to self: be wary of strangers.

2006-07-13T18:14:00.000-04:00

so i'm walking down my street and i run into chris, (who's leaving to cat sit the neediest cats on the planet with the exception of superweasel) so we stop to chat a bit. at some point i notice a big black guy walking down the sidewalk towards us. so what, right? when he gets maybe 8 feet away he says "excuse me" and silly me looks at him because i think he's going to ask me the time or something, i dunno. he actually meant "getdafuckouttamyway" as he's planning on continuing his path straight down the middle of the sidewalk and as i lean (clearly not enough) to one side he kicks me, hard, on the side of the foot. (way to perpetuate black stereotypes loser) i was shocked to say the least, and again my (not-thinking) reaction is to say "sorry" outloud which only causes him to turn around (still walking away praise jeebus) and say something like "next time i see you it'll be your (expletive?) face!" then chris gives me a don't say anymore look (not that i'm bloody likely too cause hello, people who kick you may carry guns too) and he keeps walking down the street. we kinda watched him (me outta fear) because he kept looking back at us and when he got near the end of the block he gave us (well me obviously) the finger. it occured to me that if my brother had been there he woulda kicked his ass, so it's probably a good thing he wasn't! i really hate feeling afraid, especially to walk down my own street, but by tomorrow it will be forgotten. there's a reason i don't watch the news. upon returning home i remembered that when i came out of the subway station people were trying to give me flyers for black history month. funny that.

rocky met his match

2006-07-12T22:33:00.000-04:00

so it's dark and i'm walking down my street and when i get near my house i see a cat climbing the telephone pole which isn't very strange because this cat is likely the same one who is quite apt at climbing up onto our balcony and howling through our screen door and besides, i have seen him up the pole before only now that i'm a bit closer i see that this time it's not a cat at all, it's a cute moderately-sized in relation to the terribly fat one that is served dinner every night on our neighbours porch, raccoon climbing the pole, but now i'm closer and when i look up there are five, FIVE raccoons all staring down at me and i truly cursed myself for not having a camera :(

2006-07-10T15:27:00.000-04:00

the season finale of doctor who hath killed me. dead. so dead in fact, i may not be able to watch series 3 without dying just a little bit more.

frinky friday

2006-06-30T13:04:00.000-04:00

sigh...

Huzzah!

2006-06-27T11:28:00.000-04:00

If I had a camera right now I'd take a picture of my desk - looks like a recycling-bin-bomb hit, and for all I know there's something living underneath all this clutter! Besides, I think the avalanche of papers and sticky notes makes me look busier, and the more frantically overloaded with work you appear, the less that gets dumped on you. Ha. But don't think I don't work - I'm just selective about it. I'm bracing myself for the blast of work that is will come when we switch our membership/accounting/everything system. Maybe this one will actually work.

Yesterday morning the ritual director told me about taking his family to the gay pride parade and how much fun they had. He was all hushed and secretive about it, even though no one else was here yet, which leads me to believe that he thinks either a) i'm a lesbian b) i live downtown and therefore know about stuff that happens south of bloor or c) i'm way cooler than everyone else here. Hopefully it's c), cause it's so true it hurts! Ha! I'm really not sure where the whole gay thing sits with a conservative synagogue, but he did dress up in drag at Purim last year...twas a sight!

This is all like, blog catch-up I guess. On Friday I was going to blog about how disgusting our lower neighbours are (after picking up their stinking trash that was all over the driveway, mostly because another neighbour complained about it) but I try not to be one to complain too much ;)

Friday after work I was greeting by a grumpy Erik who when I asked what we were doing said 'we're going to Brampton and I I'm going to sleep.' I was like, what? And he was like, 'isn't it enough that I picked you up on time?' When we got to Brampt-hoe Nic WOKE UP, Erik got into bed and we spent an hour or two keeping him awake with conversation best left unrepeated. Nic did relay a funny? wrong? story about a friend of a friend who gave some guy a blow-job and woke up the next morning with a nasty red rash around her mouth. She went to the doctor and a few days later THE POLICE escorted her back to the doctor for her results; it was FORMALDEHYDE around her mouth! Turns out the guy she was with worked at a funeral home, and well, you can figure out the rest. Then Nic and I went girly shopping, sans Erik, because he fell asleep, although he did join us later for dinner at diner which was oh so much fun because I had a blinding headache.

I spent most of the weekend writing the beginnings of something that no you can't read because you lot, well some of you lot, already think I'm strange and twisted and I don't fancy perpetuating that idea any further. Plus my abuse of the English language is astonishing; I like to make up words.

Fuck. Clearly I need more chaos on my desk...

frinky friday

2006-06-23T12:42:00.000-04:00

so really the whole point of frinky friday is to remind myself to blog more; if friday posts get too close together i can see how much i'm not blogging! (and besides, a 'lil frinkage never hurt anyone!)

i think i'm gonna make me a tee outta this one!

2006-06-22T18:08:00.000-04:00

how wrong is it that i'm really excited about this movie?

i ♥ keanu

2006-06-20T16:37:00.000-04:00

"I do look back. I still sometimes wake up and think, 'Gosh, I shouldn't have done that."
"I want to make films like the 'Matrix' series. You can talk about them after, you can relate to them."
"It's not like you're bringing them home with you and feel like you need to take a shower."
"I could do Macbeth with the Scottish accent."
"I'm just throwing it out to the universe - does anybody want to do this with me?"

(i know y'all are laughing at me. stoppit!)

um, ok.

2006-06-20T16:18:00.000-04:00

woman at work on msn with her granddaughter

HER - sounds like my granddaughter had fun at camp coochie
US - camp what?????
HER - camp coochie...camp coochiwata(whatever)
US - *hysterical laughter*
HER - and she says they had to take cold showers...
US - *laughter turning into crying*
HER - and her friend says she smells like vaseline
US - *are ded from laughter*

(actually no one else got the joke, but they're all older than sin. or maybe i thought it was so funny because it's a certain cousin-of-a-friend's favorite word to describe her, well, you know.)

bits n' bites o' boredom

2006-06-20T12:10:00.000-04:00

~~i am the most exciting person in the universe.~~
i'm obsessed with the strike-through command. dunno why. possibly it's the passive-agressiveness of it. like there's at bit of truth behind every joke, even though most people would deny it. i'm not really going anywhere with this.

i'm also obsessed with the libertines, and it is primarily about the music. (i feel the need to clarify that after someone assumed it wasn't about the music) i would never obsess over a crap band, hot or not. Collecting obsessions is a hobby of mine really, one that amuses me and keeps me sane.

anyone know how to shut up a 15&1/2 lb. cat? seriously, he sat on the floor behind me last night, stared intently at my back and meowed for like an hour. so. not. cute.

the summer storm dvd will be out on september 5th and yes i will buy it even though i downloaded it - i only steal music ;)

last week i got an hbc credit card in the mail and even though i changed my name over 10 years ago, my old last name was printed on it. i have no idea where they got it from, as all my id and cards were changed a long, long time ago. now i wonder what else ~~people~~ strangers know about me :(

(what's this? strange, guy calling and asking us what we take in our t-ho's? strange, cute guy bringing us coffee? and goddammit it figures that the bi-atch just dragged him away as quick as she could and now i can see them on the monitors outside...feck i suck. i should stick a note on her arse that says "i have herpes")

my ~~new~~ refurbished swatch is teh sex. all the way from 1987.

i watched the aristocrats and mysterious skin on the weekend; neither were at all funny and both were totally unnecessary. ~~(plus they were lacking in teh ghey sex area.)~~

(they've been outside for 40 minutes, so clearly she's ~~attempting to seduce him~~ having fun talking about ~~trees~~?...uh ~~tiles~~?...oh, snowplowing. well, some sort of plowing, heh heh heh...)

is it really sad that someone i work with wants me to come camping with her, her husband and three kids and i'm actually considering, considering all my friends suck/have no money/have no time? actually at this point i'm up for anything - day trip (boston anyone? say august 13th?) to anywhere? canada's wonderland? camping? england? anthing? anywhere? i'm bored and i need to get away, so email me, like seriously.

frinky friday...

2006-06-16T14:57:00.000-04:00

dedicated to that cigarette i was craving this week, even though i've never been a smoker! weird, huh? (and no comments about oral fixations please!)

huh.

2006-06-15T12:30:00.000-04:00

i'm ~~not~~ allowed to blog or read smuff (smut + fluff) or peruse the internet at my leisure because THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE! no seriously, there's like NO ONE else in the entire building! (one is at a meeting, one is getting a pedicure, one is on a cruise, one is off for some unknown reason, one is in Israel, one is sick, one took someone else to the hospital, two are out for lunch...) wait ONE other person is here, which means i can't eat my lunch because he is the ONE person who started the whole no more eating at your desk thing and i'm frickin' hungry NOW and why couldn't i be hungry BEFORE the few people that were here today left? maybe he'll leave. at least it's quiet - and gawd-dammit why did i say that, because now the phone won't stop ringing...

i guess it's payback for not being here yesterday, although i was ~~working~~ running our 3rd golf tournament all day. it's a nice excuse to stay outside all day, even though getting that much sun always makes me feel sick and burny no matter how much sunscreen i wear. so yes, i was the evil roommate that woke matt up at 6:30am because i screwed up my alarm clock and it didn't go off at 5am when it was supposed to. (so instead of turning my alarm off when i awoke, i turned it on to see if i'd set if for the right time and then didn't turn it off again because i was freaking out by that point) i woke up at exactly 6:05am and by 6:15am i had gotten up, dressed, shit together, out the door, halfway down the street and realised i didn't have my metropass or any money to use instead so, back to the house, got metropass/money and hauled ass to the subway station. i made it to downsview where my ride was waiting, by 6:45, which wasn't too bad considering i was supposed to be there at 6:30, and because there was no traffic, we made to the golf course by 7:01, only a minute late! i was lucky i guess. it was chaotic until 7:30, so when i finally had some coffee, it tasted like the best damn coffee ever.

ha ha. he's gone - lunchtime!

can't someone find me a dictionary with discombobulated in it?

2006-06-11T21:27:00.000-04:00

FRIDAY sucked my ass bigtime because i did not get to see mr. usher :(
it was not the first, nor the second, but the third time i was ditched/stood-up/ignored/whatever this week and therefore ~~my friends~~ everyone sux. instead i came home and watched north country (really, really awesome) and wasted time.

SATURDAY i was way too productive and spent the day doing laundry, vaccuming ~~completely nude in paradise~~, baking cookies, making hummus and then spent the evening with the boys watching asian movies, one of which made me want to throw up/cry/smack the director and i had to leave the room for the ending. (and seriously, i can usually watch anything.) oh and boys.....this is roy dupuis

~~SUNDAY~~ TODAY i accomplished nothing, at vermonty python ice cream (coffee liquor ice cream with chocolate cookie crumbs and chocolate shaped cows), and watched way too many episodes of doctor who, which included seeing the best ever cat people:

and ~~evil giles~~ the best ever tony head:

frinky friday.

2006-06-09T10:54:00.000-04:00

dedicated to Pete who's in rehab, again.

the new gaybourhood

2006-06-09T10:34:00.000-04:00

a guy walks his dog in Brampton and sees two 17/21 year old guys. after he passes by he hears:

17yr: fag?

21yr: fag.

hahahahhhahhhhahahhahhhahhhhaha.
especially because the guy is a straight-acting gay, flaming only on occasion.

(i be rollin') pennies from heaven a hitman

2006-06-08T13:22:00.000-04:00

uh, actually, that's all i had to say.

rodents in the mist

2006-06-08T09:32:00.000-04:00

apparently there's a mouse (?) roughly the size of a grapefruit galavanting around the synagogue. i imagine it looks something like this:

awwww cuteness!

hate pt.1

2006-06-06T12:43:00.000-04:00

oh bastardly bastard of an internet connection, why are you attempting to destroy the few free hours i have alone with you? is it because i've used/abused/refused to give you an evening off? sigh. and even though your absence allowed me to be (gasp!) productive, i still hate you. productivness led to sleepiness which led to an hour of doogie frickin' howser. yes, that's right bi-atch - i cheated on you with a 16 year old doctor and loved it.

uh oh

2006-06-02T13:55:00.001-04:00

frinky friday ~~broke~~ liberated my blog...
(frink post X 12)

edit: frink post X 1

frinky friday

2006-06-02T12:17:00.000-04:00

theme: ~~prison~~ striped shirts

a week already????

2006-06-02T11:46:00.000-04:00

k, i suck. dunno what i've been doing all week, considering monday was a free for all (ttc bitches, that is) and today is a holiday (jew related occupationists - and that's my own word so suck it - that is). maybe i've found my true talent in life - wasting time and being lazy. so lazy in fact, i've even given up on capital letters. ha. i know that on sunday i helped move erik/nicole/diesel to friggin' brampton, which somehow turned into 13 hours with them. although i'd have to say that one hour was WELL SPENT oogling the men/boys (not all gay, fingers crossed) at jack astors and have come to the conclusion that ALL of the good-looking guys live in brampton. farmer/hicks maybe, but who cares when even the less attractive ones are HOT. got some stuff in the mail too - some SMASHING pins from mocktherock.com (you can buy one or hundreds, $1 each with free shipping!)

and another swatch - actually the same swatch that was the first one i bought as a kid...i just have to get a new band and it'll be 1988 all over again!

and now to the ~~distracting~~ terrible task of finding frink...

Frinky Friday.

2006-05-26T10:21:00.000-04:00

a minute in the head

2006-05-25T10:39:00.000-04:00

Can you? No. Will you? No. Who does the? Me and no. Ring! I need. Pause. Definitely not this week. How about what I need! Ring. How's it going beautiful? Ewe. Barf. Say whatever it takes to get off the line. Ring ring ring where the hell did everyone go that ding-a-ling is driving me mad. Please hold. All lies. Management lies. Wait, lies are for the thinking, the thoughtful, these are not lies. Confusion. Age? Stupidity? Hell yes. What now? Hold on - one, two, three, four, five...eight hundred dollars. Ok, that's right. Bye for now. Huh? Count much? I know you're old but you counted it 3 times this morning in front of my very wary eyes. 3 times. Is he still with us? Sadly yes and his degenerating math and logic skills alone will drive me to insanity. Insanity by numbers. Death by math. Can I get his autograph? Oh dear lord. Wait no lord - I didn't mean that. How does this look? Lovely. Wonderful. Beautiful. Crap. That's gay - sorry - cutesy, doesn't go. Does it matter? On with the show and exactly 500 sheets of paper, exactly. Impressive. More death. Toll is 3. 1, 2, 3. Is it sad that I'm not? Tick. Tick. Tick. 4. If I grow old will I look at flowers too? Does a drive to the seaside to romp the dog count? Sweets or smut? Sweets or smut, sweets or smut, sweets or smut? Sweets, then smut. Ah sweet smutty sweetie smuttiness. Is that 5 I hear or have I lost count? Oh no, I can count just fine thank you very much. Count the hairs that need washed too. Vain much? Death and hairdos. Death or hairdos? Funeral and fabulous hair. Sadly I'm not sad for them. Empathetic maybe. Maybe.

2006-05-24T13:40:00.000-04:00

See the stones coming at my window
See they left man no protection
Tell his family that he will be ok
K-I-LL!

Check the angles from both forces
overcome by the need to fight it
fight it
fight it
fight it
fight it

p.s. could somebody please make me a shirt that says
whatever your question is the answer is NO.

Hey! Look! I'm blogging on the weekend!

2006-05-21T22:27:00.000-04:00

Oh lordy - why did I just watch House of Wax?
It was actually good for a teen-horror movie - way better than I had anticipated with very little dialogue from paris-i'maho-hilton, stuff that actually grossed me out (a good and hard to accomplish thing), and even some twincest...

I've recently come to the realisation that I can't write/think actual fiction anymore - everything comes out in script-form! And a story written like a script just plain sux! Freaking me out! Blogging is different - this is like writing an email to myself or my friends...hello? friends? are you out there?
I guess whenever I think about writing I feel the pressure to write a script with intent to do something with it - no writing for pleasure like I may have done before the whole film thing. Ack! I've got to write more...

Frinky Friday.

2006-05-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

Carl frink...

Pete frink...

Carl & Pete frink...

any questions?

Mehr Wurste.

2006-05-18T15:49:00.000-04:00

After a year 1/2++++ of waiting and searching I finally got a copy of Summer Storm and was able to watch it again (after seeing it at TIFF 2004). I'd say watch it yourself because it's angsty but very sweet and beautifully shot with an unforgettable soundtrack (which contains a song that I heard at the Underground at Dork U. like 10 years ago, and couldn't remember anything but a handful of lyrics to but I really wanted to hear again and then lightening sort of struck when I heard it in the movie, and I was mostly shocked because I knew that it was the song I had been looking for but didn't remember anything about), but thus far a copy is very hard to come by. (Or easy if you like that sort of thing...)

This is all Erik's fault really...

2006-05-17T15:29:00.000-04:00

I've been busy - busy sleeping, busy obsessing over Pete Doherty and Carl Barat, busy having an evil cold that won't go away, busy reading band slash, busy catching up on the work that exploded onto my desk when I was off, busy doing, well nothing really.

"nice pants" (she pants)

So imagine this, a world of expiring pants, that is to say every pair of pants carries an expiry date and when their time has come, they simply go poof! and pants you are wearing no more...it just occurred to me that they would simply HAVE to sell very broken in/destroyed pairs so that hottie rock stars could still bare flesh to drooling fans...And there’d be clubs where people would go when they knew their pants would expire (and Erik suggested that someone at the door check for underwear to avoid indecent exposure, but I think that would be the whole purpose of the club - wear underwear at your own discretion). They'd also need special "pant expiry" detectors set up at school, work etc. to avoid incriminating incidents (teacher + students - pants = time). And Erik also suggested that upon expiring the pants would celebrate their ending by setting off fireworks or confetti or something...fun times! Aren't y'all glad I'm back?

p.s. OMFG - are they touching hands?

2006-03-30T16:50:00.000-05:00

What the hell has happened to The Soapbox?!?

This weekend someone

2006-03-27T13:34:00.000-05:00

Was denied complimentary bread and pickles (on a burger) at the Pickle Barrel
Got a sexy new hair cut
Spent too much money on dvd's
Bought a new hair dryer
Had a ghostly encounter
Had dinner with their son and who they probably believe will be their daughter-in-law
Went for a walk on the rocks along the frozen Georgian Bay
Won a free coffee at T-Ho's
Drank instant coffee
Drank red wine, white wine, rum & coke, champagne & mystery shots
Was a patient designated driver
Had an alcohol induced blackout
Had boys buy them drinks
Decided that insecure boys are a thing of the past
Drunkenly gave someone their phone number
(Drunkenly) was nearly taken home by strangers and only saved by the intervention of a bouncer
Stripped in the kitchen and nearly naked ate a bowl of cereal
Hiccupped for 1/2 an hour
Slept with a dog
Invented an all-natural crotch enhancer
Had a hangover
Ate a cheeseburger
Ate a bacon cheeseburger
Ate a triple cheeseburger
Had a nap
Realized that partying like you're 19 makes you forget you're 30, getting hit on by a multitude of guys makes you forget that someone doesn't want you, and having friends to escape with makes you forget how alone you felt.

Buffa-hole.

2006-03-14T13:34:00.000-05:00

So yeah, Buffalo was a blast! I left at 9:30 am and got home at 2:30 am, and ever hour was worth it! I actually enjoy being in a car, driving around (sometimes aimlessly) so I agree that getting there is half the fun. We (being me, Erik, Mariana, Nichole and her brother Robbie - Chris was going to come but he was too sick!) made it to the border and spent about an hour waiting to actually cross it. The border dude thought Erik was nuts because when he asked him why he rented a car, Erik replied with "I was worried mine would get stolen." Either nuts or a terrorist, but he let us cross anyway. It was 1 pm-ish, so we stopped at Wendy's - it was the first thing we saw and peeing was imperative. Nerds that we are, we compared everything as we ate - cherry coke on tap? am I dreaming? - how much would that cost in Canada? - does the ketchup taste the same? - are these bigger here? - and so on... Shopping at the outlet mall in Niagara was the best - I was ecstatic about the Eddie Bauer outlet and bought two shirts I had seen in a regular store, but were too expensive for my budget. Then it was onto Buffalo, the biggest hole of a city I've ever seen. (Well, Cincinnati was a hole too.) There are so many large cities in the US, that many of them (I'm sure) have been abandoned and left to decay as people move to "nicer" cities, unlike Canada, which only has a few. The buildings were decrepit, the highways empty and the waterfront is virtually uninhabited. I'm sure there are nice areas there, but I didn't actually see them. We shopped at Target (bought some Kettle Corn popcorn and funky flavoured pretzels), Walmart (bought Cherry Coke in cans, vanilla Suave shampoo, and some chocolate), the Walden Galleria Mall (bought a union jack keychain) and finally Borders (bought the long sought after movie Bitter Moon.) We had dinner at the Olive Garden because we all miss it, and the waiter also thought we were crazy. I was envious of Nichole because he actually ID'd her and she's older than me! We drove through Niagara Falls on the way home just to see the pretty lights and the falls at night. Now I'm eager to go back!

Visit the dentist #4 for a filling was pretty easy, because there was only one to do. Now I have one more appointment tomorrow morning - on my birthday :( - and then all this catching up will be over.

P.S. This is my 100th post.

funniest episode ever = most offensive episode ever

2006-03-14T09:11:00.000-05:00

Soul singer Isaac Hayes has quit cartoon 'South Park' after an episodes lampooning religion.

Brandy vs. Reality

2006-03-10T10:22:00.001-05:00

One of the joys of having a younger brother (who also buys dvd's like they're crack) is that I exposed to all sorts of trashy programming that I would otherwise turn my nose up at. That how I was introduced to Johnny Knoxville, the world of Jackass and the amusement of watching guys get kicked in the nuts. Seriously. Sometimes it's a large miss though, like Bumfights, which was the most horrid thing I've ever seen. Teenagers paying homeless people to beat the crap out of each other. Seriously. So when he pulled out season one of Kenny vs. Spenny and said I absolutely HAD to watch it, I was a little apprehensive. I had once caught a couple of minutes of it on Showcase, and was again, horrified. The premise of the show is this: two roommates, friends since childhood, have competitions with each other and the loser at the end of each episode has to do a humiliation. Competitions like "Who can stay awake the longest?", "Who do kids like most?" and "Who can stay on a cow the longest?" usually see the eviler Kenny the winner. The show can be amusing, annoying, boring or appalling depending on the depths Kenny will go to win. In the few horrid minutes I watched initially, Kenny had a fake letter sent to Spenny telling him he may be HIV postive, and in total belief he had a meltdown. I didn't think it was funny at all, but I gave it another chance when my brother insisted I watch season one, mostly because they live and shoot the show literally down the street from my brother, on the border of the gaybourhood. One thing that kept me watching was trying to figure out how much was actually real, and how much they faked. There was one guy who was supposed to be a producer from L.A. to whom Spenny owed a couple thousand dollars too and was also the most annoying person on the face of the earth, who ended up being an actor I cast in my third year short film at York. Some of it was true though (he was not a producer from L.A. and I have no idea if Spenny owed him money...) Then there was the doctor who did rectal exams on the guys; I know him by the tasty banana bread he has brought us because he's a member of the holy institution I work at (and now I'm imagining rectal exam + baking = Ugh!) And then last night I caught an episode of season two (and I don't go out of my way to watch it.) The competition was "Who do old people like better?" Kenny had taken three little old ladies to see a singer (at another holy institution) along with his (fake) brother with downs syndrome. I also know the singer and ironically he was here (at my work) this morning and he said that he had no idea that Kenny's "brother" was a fake, and that when he finally saw the episode he was shocked and appalled, not just for being duped himself, but for the sweet little old ladies who were also lied to. I know, welcome to reality tv.

Puffles McPussy

2006-03-09T10:14:00.000-05:00

I have nothing to talk about so I'll talk about cats. Specifically, Zam the power-puker cottonball. When I got home from work the other night I looked down the hall and what do I see? Zam, wolfing down something tasty...in my bedroom. I figured she was eating food dragged out of Sammy's dish, or someone had given her some treats. As I entered my room I looked around to see several tiny piles of food-barf, and Zam finishing off the motherload. After licking the carpet clean, a satiated Zam licked her lips and sauntered out of my room. Sammy was laying on my bed looking at her with disgust. Ewe. Gross. It's not like I haven't witnessed her eating her own vomit before, but it always grosses me out just a little.

Dentist appointment #3 was yesterday morning and although it only lasted 1/2 an hour, it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my whole life. Seriously. I realise that it's my own fault for having a build-up of 15 years worth of crap under my gums, but I didn't think it would hurt so much. The hygienist did say to let her know if anything was sensitive, but everywhere hurt like hell so I figured I was supposed to ignore the pain. I probably should have asked for a topical numbing or something, but I didn't want to sound like a pussy. Clearly however, I am.

2006-03-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

My new shirt.

And the email I received from the sender:
Shirt going out today.
You should have this in plenty of time for Purim!
Thanks

Best Buy = Ass Rape

2006-03-03T10:17:00.000-05:00

If I wasn't convinced before, I am certain now - Best Buy can go to hell.
I've had complaints before, most of them about the Downsview location, but now I've decided that I'm not going to shop there ever again. Remember that QAF dvd that I was going to exchange because one of the discs was defective? It was much more difficult than I had anticipated, even more so than dealing with a defective dvd that I purchased USED!

I went to the Downsview location because it was the closest. I waited half an hour before I even got to the counter. I told the girl I needed to exchange it and she told me to go look for another copy. I looked, but didn't see one where it should have been. When I came back to the counter I had to wait another five minutes because she was helping someone else. She told me that since they didn't have another copy she was going to give me a gift card because they do not give money back on opened items. Fine. Then the conversation went like this:

- Is there any way you could find me another copy?
NO.
- Can you have a copy shipped from another store or could you order a copy for me?
NO. Check the online store yourself.
- I've already looked at the online store and it's not listed. Could you tell me if you're going to get any more copies?
NO.
- So you're telling me that you can't order one, and you can't find out what inventory you're going to get?
Uh-huh.
- Could you check the stock at other Best Buys so I don't have to drive all over the place looking for another one?
NO.
- Could you call another store?
NO.
- Can I talk to someone else about this?
NO.
- Can I please talk to a manager?
NO. There isn't one here.
- OK. How about this - is there any way that I could be notified if this store just happens to get another copy at some point in the future?
I'll have to ask.

She asked someone else and said they could do a raincheck so I would be called if they got another copy, but they wouldn't hold it for me. I protested again about getting a crappy giftcard instead of my money back because I was unconvinced that I was going to find another copy at another Best Buy, and then I would be stuck with $60 to spend there. I wanted an exchange but they were unwilling to help, so I really wanted my money back. I asked again to speak to a manager, but by this point she was ignoring me. I took the assy giftcard and left, not happy at all. So we drive to the store in Markham in hopes that I'll find another copy, but I knew that finding it again was unlikely. Of course they had every season of QAF but that season, but what they did have was an extremely helpful employee. This girl was shocked at the service at the other store, and said that not only could they check the stock at other stores, but she could find out the last time they had a copy and if any more were expected any time soon, and if there were any copies she would find them for me. According to computer system, the closest copy was can you guess where? At the frickin' Downsview store! She has to call them several times before they picked up the phone, and when they looked they couldn't find a copy. She pointed out that is was listed in their inventory and the person on the other end said it was probably in transit. Then she found the other remaining copies which were at stores in Windsor, London, some place I'd never heard of, and Newmarket. Well Newmarket was the only reasonable option, so she called them and had them put it aside for me. A couple of hours and a lot of aggravation later, I finally had my replacement. I attribute the helpfulness of the girl at the Markham store to her being a nice person and not to Best Buy, which I will not shop at again.

Brandyland

2006-03-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

My good friend Tara would like the world know that she is the "creator" of brandyland; that has been her nickname for me for many years (and I am apparently listed as Land, Brandy on her email list) and it could be my favorite nickname ever (which is why I used it to title my blog) and believe me, I've had many. Bean-uh was the first I think. In earlier years it was Bran, Brandy&BranFlakes, Marlon Brando, Brandita, Brandolin, Tall-ee (in response to my friend Shorty), Boss (although the character in question called absolutely everyone either Boss, Tex, or Newbie) and more recently (all I think from my lovely roommates) B-Ham, Brandine, Brand-Y, and Woman! (if you can count it as a nickname as it seems to come out of Chris's mouth quite frequently.) I have discovered however, that there are many many Brandyland's out there...

http://branshine.blogspot.com/
http://spaces.msn.com/brandysoy/
http://www.somethingpositive.net/brandyland.shtml (A drinking game)
http://drunkdialer.blogspot.com/ (A drinking blog)
http://www.brandyland.com/ (Gospel music site?!?)
http://brandyland.blogspot.com/
http://www.brandyland2.blogspot.com/
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=24981179

Jesus there's alot of Brandyland's out there! I still maintain that my actual online persona is Morning Glory, as I've been using it online since 1995.

Inanimate Homophobia.

2006-03-01T09:50:00.000-05:00

As you probably know, I buy alot of dvd's. Many were bought new, but the used portion is increasing. Only once have I ever had to return a disc because it was damaged to the point of not playing properly, and that one was used. It was the original British series Queer As Folk. I took it back, they sent it away to be "fixed" and it was returned to me looking and working as though it was brand new. A one time only dvd problem, which leads me to number two which has just arisen. What dvd you ask? The final disc of the US series Queer As Folk, which I bought less than a week ago brand new. And the problem is bad enough that I'm going to exchange it for a new copy. Pure coincidence? I think not. Clearly my dvd player is homophobic. Maybe I should get a new one...

So yes I have watched Season 1 (almost) in it's entirety - approximately 1100 minutes - somewhere between saturday afternooon and last night. I've been in a mood to do nothing lately, mostly due to the stress of dental visits and not wanting to eat much, more because of the thought of pain (as opposed to actual pain.) Everything is psychological, although after eating lunch yesterday my jaw felt like I'd been chewing gum for a week. That's from the visit monday night which included the filling of a wisdom tooth on the top. The dentist said he enjoyed the challenge because few people still have their wisdom teeth to be worked on. The drilling wasn't the worst part, it was the dentist asking me to open wider. There was a tooth on the bottom too, so the whole left side of my face was frozen, but that one only took ten minutes to do, as opposed to the eternity on the top. Two down, three(?) to go.

What me, update?

2006-02-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

I'm slacking already, I know. I've been busy getting that photo slider thingy in the right place. Do y'all hate me now for putting your photos up? If you're really offended, let me know and I'll remove your pretty face! I've also been busy giving myself a heart attack about going to the dentist. I almost fainted on the subway one morning, and I think it was purely the fear of seeing a dentist for the first time in over a decade. What I though was wrong was exactly right - the gums around one of my wisdom teeth (which has always overlapped my tooth a little) were inflamed and possibly infected. Chris was nice enough to come with me while I waited to go in. I was there for two hours! Mr. Nice Dentist removed a small piece of overlap and gave me some drugs. Now I have several more appointments for cleaning and fillings, but other than that my teeth have survived the long period of neglect. To reward myself for actually going, and because they were so cheap (and because Chris put the dvd whammy on me) I bought the first two seasons of Queer As Folk which I found for $50 each. I hadn't actually seen season one since it first aired, and at the time I hated it, probably because the British series was still so fresh in my mind. I watched it on and off and only really got back into the final two seasons. I think I just fell in love with all of the characters - some of the writing is pretty bland, although scripts in the hands of John Greyson or Bruce McDonald were made great, and I do get a kick out of an american tv based in my old neighbourhood (gaybourhood.) I'm at #291 for dvds, so I may have to do a poll for #300.

Yay medal for Buttle!

2006-02-17T10:13:00.000-05:00

Winner--->

Maybe now people will quit saying that it was merely a fluke that Buttle won the silver at the Worlds last year. I think he's proven himself, and I think Sandhu has proven that while he is an amazing skater, he's not a good competitor. Someone made a comparison between him and Johnny Weir, but at least Weir didn't fall on his ass. He may have have lost focus and not skated his best, but he's still my favorite.

And to answer some burning questions:
1. Jeff Buttle is 23 (not 12 as speculated)
2. Stephane Lambiel is not gay - he was dating Italian skater Carolina Kostner (won bronze at the World's last year).
3. Brian Joubert is gay because he topped his 007 short program by skating to music from the Lord of the Dance.
<---Gay.

The Hoist

2006-02-16T12:36:00.000-05:00

My best-est friend now has a web site and a blog. Be forewarned - he has already gone as low as humanly possible and written about filth beyond any comparison. Read all about his late night session getting down and dirty with, well, read it yourself...The Hoist

Someone always ends up on their ass.

2006-02-15T12:59:00.000-05:00

So apparently you can lie to the judge to get out of jury duty, if you're a big lying loser. Hi. I make $45K+++ a year and live at home under the comfort of my parents who also pay my car insurance, but if I tell the judge I live alone and need the money to pay my rent, then I can get out of it. (Because I really need the money to spend on purses, shoes and jewellery, and maybe a vacation or two.) Loser. But this is coming from someone who believes it's ok to switch $60 jewellery with jewellery in a box marked $10 and it's not stealing because it was paid for. And the person whose mother taught her how to get a hotel room when you haven't booked one - yell at the employees about how incompetent they are because they lost your booking until they give you a room, likely at a discount for all of your "troubles." Again - loser. I guess I'm just jealous that I can't get more out of my life by living amorally. Oh to be shallow and self-obsessed.

On to figure skating and the men's short program. The coverage of this was far better than that of the pairs, but I still watched both networks to see as many skaters as possible. The NBC coverage has been awful - when the pairs began the long programs they weren't showing their marks afterwards, but were wasting time with segment after segment on the new scoring system, how to do a lift, this drama and that drama. I realise now that yes, there are people watching who don't normally watch figure skating, but who cares!? If people are actually tuning in to see drama and not the skating then they should watch Skating with Celebrities instead. The most pathetic bit of filler was an actual staged soap opera scene from (I think) Days of Our Lives, mocking the judging scandal from the last Olympics. Ugh. The CBC is doing segments with skaters like Kurt Browning and Elvis Stojko to get their take on the skaters, although sometimes hearing them talk lowers my opinion of them. Like Stojko's rant on the quad not being worth more points and how a judge should be fired for giving abnormally low marks to a skater. He sounded bitter and was not well spoken at all. Browning on the other hand, was quite amiable and while his opinion was purely a personal one, he totally backed it up. Enough filler.

The current Standings:
#1 Yevgeny Plushenko (Russia) 90.66
#2 Johnny Weir (United States) 80.00
#3 Stephane Lambiel (Switzerland) 79.04
#4 Brian Joubert (France) 77.77
#5 Daisuke Takahashi (Japan) 73.77
#6 Jeffrey Buttle (Canada) 73.29
#7 Emanuel Sandhu (Canada) 69.75
...
#12 Shawn Sawyer (Canada) 67.20

Plushenko skated second and although he received a new highest score ever and was technically fabulous, I really didn't like the music coupled with the program he did. Canadian Shawn Sawyer had to skate immediately afterwards, and did a fabulous job considering his experience. His flexibility makes him stand out, and if he can handle it all mentally, then his future is bright. It's too bad Jeff Buttle fell on his ass, because he really is a great performer and I just love his short program, especially his final slide across the ice on his knees. For him to fall was unexpected, but it's exactly what I presumed would happen to Emanuel Sandhu. Like everyone reiterates, he's got it all, the technical skills and artistry, but when it comes down to the day, he is inconsistent and will at some point fall flat on his ass. What's probably really killing him though, is the fact that he's behind Buttle, who stole away from him the title of National Champion, and has kept it. I like Stephane Lambiel a lot, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather see a Canadian and Johnny Weir on the podium beneath Plushenko. And isn't Weir just the best thing ever?

No one skates as fluidly and expressively as he does and his technical skills are very, very good. What he needs is a quad and he will rule the world! It sounds like he's going to try one in the long program, which probably means falling on his ass, as he has never landed (or attempted?) one in competition before. I just hope that if he doesn't land it, the other skaters f*ck up too. I spend as much time willing skaters to fall as I do hoping they'll land jumps. Sad and evil I know. I really hope Brian Joubert falls on his ass, because I don't like him at all (and don't get any ideas, it's not because of his name). I think his artistry is very immature (007 - C'mon, loser!) and the only thing that is spectacular about him is his jumps and specifically that quad which is becoming increasingly important in competition. Loser. I'm just bitter because my favourite skaters don't have one. Yet.

This brain has performed an illegal operation and will now shut down.

2006-02-10T10:09:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those weeks where your brain starts malfunctioning and you start making uncharacteristic mistakes over and over? I remember it happening here a few years ago, and I actually told everyone at work to watch out for me! It was all minor stuff - spelling errors on publications, forgetting to do urgent things, leaving my coffee mug in strange places, but it was damn annoying. It's directly related to stuff that has to get done and the amount of stress it generates. Work is always a game of what will people complain to me the most about if it doesn't get done soon. The other day I returned a movie to the library, but forgot to put the movie back in the case and yesterday I put out the recycling/organics, not because I thought it was Friday, but because I thought it had to go out. I need a vacation!

I just bought tickets to the Stars on Ice show in April. I've never been to a real ice show and the line-up (Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko, Jeff Buttle and Jamie Sale & David Pelletier) is just too great to miss. The seats aren't the best, but they are however, right beside the entrance/exit area for the skaters. A few years ago I did see some skaters at Nathan Phillips Square (Alexei Urmanov!) totally by accident! Mariana and I were there to go skating (well, me skate and her to be pulled around by me!) and watch Great Big Sea play. Now I can't remember the last time I went skating - anybody want to go? If it's still cold, maybe I'll arrange something around my attempt at a weeklong birthday celebration in March. (Party at 3QF on March 18th - save the date!) I've decided that turning 30 is going to be so bad that I'm going to plan fun stuff to do every day for the week following, so maybe it'll be easier to bear!

And oh yeah, the Olympics start today!

I don't even want to know...

2006-02-07T09:21:00.000-05:00

Fire. Break-in. Broken water main. No water. No coffee. No heat because of no water. A dozen kids flushing toilets leading to no more toilets being able to flush. Lots of snow. Welcome to my work place. Our internet connection has been damn slow lately too. Fun. Fun. Fun. I don't think this place is any different from any other workplace though - crazy stuff happens everywhere. The difference is that here, everyone makes a huge deal about every little thing. As well, the cause of many problems is the state of this rapid deteriorating building and the inability to fix anything because of a severe decline in members. Apparently at this rate we will officially be bankrupt in five years. At least my student loan will be paid off by then!

Nerd that I am, I've been borrowing old figure skating videos from the library to fill the gap between broadcasts. Perhaps what is most appalling is the way that the skaters were filmed - one single camera simply following them around on the ice. It's actually difficult to watch given the coverage they get now. Although the US networks are bordering on avant-garde with their quick zooms and (most irritating) bird's eye view shots (shot from directly above looking down.) Maybe it looks cool, but I would like to see the performance the way the skater/choreographer intended it, not a music video thank you very much.

I tried to find an iskin case for my ipod but instead was laughed at by some dork at Best Buy (it somewhere else) and told that it was obsolete. He may be right, but he's still a dork! So much to Chris's dismay, (and mostly because of it) I defiled my ipod this weekend by putting a big sticker on it (only a temporary ipod tattoo) but I think it looks cool. I made it from the cover of an Oasis single (which is well suited considering that half of the hard drive is full of 200+ Oasis bootlegs.) It will do me fine until I buy a pretty pink iskin.

Socks?

2006-02-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

Work is socks. People sock. Idiots sock the big one. Sometimes people with no talent and are difficult to deal with maintain their business by just being nice. "Oh, he's so nice and he's a personal friend of mine, therefore we can't take business away from him even if he does do a socky job. I'll blame you instead because you're a lowly peon." That just plain socks. On the brighter side, some people don't sock, and they see that you work your ass off even though your pay socks, so sometimes you get a nice treat.

It may be second-hand, a year old, and a little scratched, but the price was right and now, after years of waiting, it's mine.

iSocks.

2006-01-30T15:02:00.000-05:00

I touched Jordan Knight - read all about it here.

Master of the Universe

2006-01-26T13:50:00.000-05:00

The best thing about working here is the occasional gift basket we as an office receive - today we got the nicest one ever (and I told the lady who gave it to us too, although she likely though I was just being polite.) Usually they're all stuffing and boring crackers, but this one contains an exuberant amount of fancy, yummy things like marshmallow chocolate bark (actually a mucho amount of chocolate), 4 pepper & olive dip, rye & caraway crackers, flavored coffee and lots of other stuff. There's also a package of shortbread cookies which my boss handed to me and said "oh these have to be for you cause you're a WASP" to which I replied "I'm not a WASP, that's Scottish shortbread and my grandparents were Scottish and doesn't everyone like shortbread?" To punctuate this, the ritual director came in and went straight for it saying it was his favorite, and now that they've been opened there's only one left. Guess I work in an office full of WASPs.

The thing about labels is they're usually as equally true as they are false. I myself am usually so ignorant to stereotypes that I'm not even sure what many labels imply. Although I suppose if everyone actually knew what they were saying about someone when they labeled them they probably wouldn't say it to begin with. Or maybe they would because they're a jerk. I didn't actually call myself as an atheist until I started working here and got tired of being referred to as the catholic girl. They still call me that, but now I correct them; the term atheist is a valuable tool in a religious institution especially when you want to clear the room. So what exactly is a WASP anyway?

(from Wikipedia)

"...descendants of colonial-era immigrants from the British Isles - especially England, Wales and Scotland (irrespective of the fact that Scots and Welsh people are Celts, not descendants of Angles and Saxons) and also usually includes persons of Dutch descent such as the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts."

A mix of Scottish & Dutch (among other things) ---> 8/10.

"...upper middle to upper class educated Protestants, members of high society, with prep school and Ivy League educations."

Designating class structure is lame, but I did go to university.---> .5/2

"Various stereotypes...boring, greedy, frugal, snobbish, distant, compulsively hardworking, emotionally undemonstrative and arrogant."

Boring - sometimes, greedy - hardly, frugal - always, snobbish - whatever, distant - eh?, compulsively hardworking - half of the time, the other half I'm a lazy ass, emotionally undemonstrative - no, arrogant - never ---> 1.5/5

"...having pale, and often sunburnt skin complexions, fair colored wavy to curly hair, and light colored eyes."

Pale skin, dark hair, medium-ish eyes(?) ---> 1/3

"...a propensity for alcohol..."

Myself, no, but it does run in the family! ---> 1/5

Congratulations! You are 48% WASP, and 52% I don't give a f*ck.

But speaking of labels, I was being introduced to the woman who gave us the gift basket and I was introduced as the person who does the website, the Shabbat Shalom, the Bulletin and all the flyers - I told her I'm the assistant bookkeeper. That is my actual title, and I actually do that job too (accounts receivable, billing, bank deposits, anything related to members financial information, etc.) it just encompasses less and less of my time as more and more things get added to my list of duties (which also include the Cantor's Assistant, solving computer issues, running reports when the computer system works and assisting in the search to find a computer program that actually works.) So I think I need a new title to better explain what I do. Suggestions anyone?

Population 5000 + one big fat stinkin' Walmart

2006-01-25T15:49:00.000-05:00

Article in The Napanee Beaver

One may believe that given my love of the whorehouse Walmart I would be delighted that they opened one up in my old town...not so. I shouldn't really care, given that hell will most definitely freeze over before I'd live there again, but a small part of me knows that this means the total obliteration of the downtown area (yes, Napanee has a downtown area.) It's not just about Napanee though; it's about all the skeezy-outdoor-plaza-thingys that seems to be replicating faster than tribbles. It all started with Tim Hortons moving into town, and the re-locating of Giant Tiger from downtown to a bigger place "uptown." (Colossal Tiger?) Before that there was a mall (AKA. Small Mall or the Not Really A Mall, Mall) with an A&P inside, a McDonalds, Canadian Tire, Beaver Lumber and a um, farm. (And I'm only talking about chain stores). In the uptown area since then a Wendy's, Dairy Queen & KFC have opened, A&P has separated from the mall and a No Frills has taken it's place, Beaver Lumber turned into Home Hardware, a big fancy new arena has been built and the mall has self-destructed. Ka-boom! Stores that have closed downtown include Bi-way, Head's Video (the best selection of horror movies ever), Lipsons (a very old clothing store), probably the health food store I loved as a teenager, Dixie Lee, Big-O's (donuts, although I never questioned the name when I was younger…) and who knows what else (because any time I've driven though the town since I don't actually get out of the car for fear of seeing people I know. I have however, heard that another Tim Hortons opened up somewhere downtown as well as some other new stores to keep people going. It probably sounds lame, but that was my Saturday entertainment when I was younger – going shopping downtown with my mom. (No wonder we do the same thing in Toronto)

For your amusement (and mine) here's a map of Napanee...

And if you're interested in my article on Purim it's here, along with a flyer I did for the Carnival.

2006-01-24T15:54:00.000-05:00

Cutest

Stickers

Ever.

:( the weekend is over

2006-01-23T14:43:00.000-05:00

I work in one of those places where everyone talks about things that should be done but no one actually does anything. So when they decided that our bulletin/magazine thingy needs more content (AFTER all the articles have gone to the layout guy)I was suckered into writing an article about Purim. Yeah, me, the atheist who couldn't give a rats ass (I would really like to meet the person that penned that one) about religious holidays - or religion for that matter - who only equates the holiday with a censored version of Halloween (like they dress up, but only as "happy nice things"), is going to write about Purim. Lovely. I'm also the newly designated editor of the bulletin, which means more work for me but also - more power! Ah ha-ha ha. Ha.

I watched the Canadian exhibition skaters this weekend. They're more laid back and so much more entertaining than the Americans are. They look like they're having a blast while the Americans are all straight faced and serious. Maybe Canadians are like the blondes of the world and have more fun. I don't mind serious skating when the skater is totally amazing and doesn't need the crutch of tricks and hand clapping to engage the audience. I was impressed to learn that Jeff Buttle has choreographed his piece that day, every move matching the music, even though it was to a Coldplay song.

I also bought and watched Gus Van Sant's Last Days, which was predictably impressive. (Also predictable was Chris's reaction to immediately go out and buy it as well because he was SO jealous that I bought it for $16.99) I say predictably because after seeing Gerry and Elephant, it seems he is interested in making good films again after the long hiatus he took when he made Good Will Hunting, which spiraled into several years of crap with Psycho and Finding Forrester. He probably needed the cash. If that's the case, expect another dark age of Van Sant stinkers because the production of Last Days clearly needed more money for dolly track. I'm referring to the complicated maneuvering techniques of removing the dolly track that the camera had passed over already and replacing/realigning it on the other end before the camera makes it there. Maybe they just didn't ask for enough on the equipment list and realized it way to late. Or maybe some dumb P.A. left a piece of track in the bushes somewhere, cause God knows shit is always left behind...

And oh I finally witnessed the first appearance of Towelie.

"Wanna Get High?"

Welcome to Brandyland

2006-01-21T17:35:00.000-05:00

I hope y'all like pink.

A sigh of relief.

2006-01-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

The Canada & US Nationals are over and the figure skaters destined for the Olympics have been chosen. Jeff Buttle won the men's title for Canada and Johnny Weir won his third title for the US. It's nice to see winners without a (successful) quad, because there has been far too much emphasis on it. Having said that, it's unlikely a skater will be at the very top on a worldwide scale because many men can do it. Pros keep saying that Emanuel Sandhu is one of the top skaters, and yet he only performs well half of the time. He seems to have improved on his ability to keep going after a mishap, but I still think he is unable to really bring it to the ice. Buttle on the other hand always is always positive and always fights his way spectacularly through every performance. The same can be said for Weir, especially after skating through the injuries he has had in the past. They are both beautiful skaters to watch, and that impresses me far more than who can land a quad. Baring disaster (or breakthrough performance by someone else), I think they'll both finish in the top four at the Olympics, as well as Stephane Lambiel(Switzerland) and Evgeni Plushenko(Russia) who will likely win the gold. But really, anything goes, and with the lack of televised events, I have seen little of the international skating scene.

He's Ba-ack...

2006-01-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

So after busting his ankle at Skate Canada back in October Johnny is BACK and skating better than ever! (Well according to the results of the short program at the US Nationals, which of course didn't air up here...) They will however be airing the free skate on Saturday, so I'm excited! It's a holy weekend of figure skating with both the Canadian and US Nationals being aired (well mostly), the results of which will determine who will get to go to the Olympics. Overall impressions of last night: Women's short (Canada) ----> meh. Pairs short ----> very fierce competition for the two Olympic spots. Perhaps the most pathetic point of the evening was the insulation that was falling from the ceiling onto the ice, care of some squirrels that clearly don't like figure skating. Or maybe they're spy squirrels sent in to sabotage Canada's chances for an Olympic medal. Note to squirrels: It's really not necessary.

This page is getting a much-needed makeover.

2006-01-12T15:33:00.000-05:00

In the mean time, check out my new music-related blog, the girl with the blues. I decided that so many of my blog posts have related to the music that I listen to, that I should just make an entirely separate blog dedicated to my latest discoveries, gossip & news, concert announcements and flat out fan-boy ramblings. And just because you don’t share my musical tastes doesn't mean that it won’t amuse you...

HEY DUDE!

2006-01-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

If Crispian Mills can resurrect Kula Shaker, then I can damn well resurrect this blog!

Stay Tuned...

This post is dedicated to my "man-rock" hating roomies...

2005-06-20T16:38:00.000-04:00

Oasis gives a lesson in cool
By J.D. CONSIDINE

The Globe and Mail

Monday, June 20, 2005

Oasis

Molson Amphitheatre

In Toronto on Friday

Has there ever been a cooler job than being a rock star? Not only are you paid piles of money for just a few hours of work, you get applause for showing up, unquestioning adoration from your fans, and the pleasure of turning playtime into a career. Sure, CEOs have more clout, but there's a reason you won't find teenagers standing in front of a mirror, holding a hairbrush and miming a shareholders' meeting.

Likewise, has there ever been a band cooler to rock stardom than Oasis? Even though the Manchester combo has been steeped in success since it exploded onto the scene in 1994 with Definitely Maybe -- and not for nothing does that album start with a song called Rock 'n' Roll Star -- Oasis has never gone in for the chipper, "Hello, Cleveland!" bonhomie of most rock royalty, preferring instead to mask their excitement with sunglasses and scowls.

Indeed, the four could have been mistaken for mannequins during their performance at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre on Friday. Noel Gallagher, fellow guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell stood stock-still for much of the show, barely moving anything but their fingers, and once singer Liam Gallagher assumed his position -- right shoulder dropped, knees bent, fists up, like a man awaiting a punch -- he stayed put until the end of the chorus (if not the song).

The two unofficial members, drummer (and Ringo spawn) Zak Starkey and keyboardist Jay Darlington, were a bit more animated, but whether that was a sign of enthusiasm or merely a function of playing their instruments was hard to say.

Still, it would have been wrong to mistake this lack of movement for a lack of commitment to the job at hand, as the playing was crisp, professional, at times even impassioned. In just under 90 minutes (an embarrassingly short set for a band with eight albums under their belt), they managed to play all the big hits as well as seven songs from their new album, Don't Believe the Truth. Even if neither Gallagher cracked a smile, there was no doubt a good time was had by the enthusiastic capacity crowd.

How Oasis pulls this off is hard to say. Clearly, a lot of it has to do with the material. Having come of age during the era of classic rock, the band members present themselves as neoclassic rockers, deftly evoking the glories of the past while somehow keeping their sound firmly rooted in the present.

Some of that has to do with Noel Gallagher's gift for musical mimicry -- the way the current hit Lyla manages to echo Street Fighting Man without sounding like outright theft -- but mostly it stems from the band's sense of rock mythology. Oasis understands the fans' need to believe, and the show's best moments took pains to conjure the Spirit of Rock, as when the lilting, sing-along Don't Look Back in Anger recalled the excitement of Saturdays spent watching Mott the Hoople on the telly --even if that was a memory few in the crowd would actually have.

Openers Jet, a garage band-obsessed Australian quartet, are equally neoclassicist, but for them the past is a source of adrenaline as much as inspiration. Unlike Oasis, they gleefully bashed their way through their set, cranking both the volume and the tempo for such tunes as Last Chance and Are You Gonna Be My Girl.

Where Liam Gallagher's onstage gait betrayed nary a hint of rhythm, Jet singer/guitarist Nic Cester couldn't stop moving to the music. Yet all that manic enthusiasm did little to make the songs sharper. By contrast, the stately immobility of Oasis did little to dent the power or appeal of Champagne Supernova and Wonderwall. Cool, it seems, really is the essential rock-star quality.

Pig in shit.

2005-04-21T13:21:00.000-04:00

Yeah that's me right about now, because MuchMoreMusic has put up David Usher's ENTIRE NEW ALBUM. How f*ckin' cool is that? I'm on round #3 now. It's supposed to be out on Tuesday, the day of the concert, so i'm overjoyed to be able to hear it before the show. Now if they'd just play the f*cking video...

No more bitching and moaning about

2005-04-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

how I really want to go to a concert but no one I want to see is playing. The price of concert tickets is burning a hole in my AMEX. It's all easily justified though - I've only been to a handful of concerts in the last few years, and if I'm not spending money on a bands cd's, then I shouldn't feel bad forking out the dough to see them live! So next week it's Mr. Usher, I just caved today and bought a single ticket to see Keane at Massey hall next month, June is the big one I've been waiting for, and in July it's Mr. Dire Straits himself, Mark Knopfler. I also REALLY want to see Kasabian next month, but have yet to convince anyone to go with me. The tickets are only $30 - anyone? I don't think I can do 2 concerts alone in a row - I'll feel like a big loser. It'll be loads of fun! I'll buy you a beer! ANYONE?

2005-04-20T09:45:00.000-04:00

Could Chris Martin be any more in love with Noel Gallagher?

Re: Yesterday

2005-04-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

My life isn’t really that exciting…I’ve been workin’ hard or too bored to blog, summit like that…

Handy guide to Oasis forum references:
Inet - The official forum, full of wankers, but usually the first place for new information.
The Soapbox – Insane lunatics! Areas to post about your fav drugs and lots of porn!
Live4Ever – Most polite, and most used to trade/share bootlegs.
The Masterplan – Created out of hatred for all the wankers on Inet and lunatics on The Soapbox, they are the most elitist, exclusive group.
And just opened yesterday, OasisInc – Created by an ex-Inet member who was banned for hooking up a webcam and doing a strip show!

The fun and excitement yesterday is the news of today; four songs off of the new Oasis album leaked online yesterday. Just for the record, only one of them actually allowed links to the new songs – can you guess which one?

Inet shut down, which is usual practice when ANYTHING happens.
The Soapbox allowed people to PM or email links to each other, but the traffic got so heavy the site eventually crashed and was down for most of the day.
The Masterplan maintained their elitism by only sharing with the regulars (= people who post every thought they have in their tiny heads) repeating over and over that no one should be sharing the songs, and then starting multiple threads to discuss the songs that no one is supposed to have heard.
Live4Ever was the coolest about it, also allowing PM’s & email’s to the links, and by being at the right place at the right time, I was *not* led to find them. It was lucky, because I rarely post on any of the sites so it was highly unlikely that anyone would send me anything – there were hordes of people asking and most of the “regulars” on all the sites were not being very forthcoming! Therefore I did *not* share what I had with the good peeps at Soapbox and Live4ever!

So finally today, there is mention of it on NME and in the Sun, the latter actually naming The Soapbox as a source for links. (But for the record, they never actually allowed links.) The Soapbox forum is now closed to anyone who had not registered and posted before all the mayhem happened.

And running parallel to the leaked songs, some shmuck was actually selling 30 CDR’d promo copies of the album on Ebay! He was caught and the auction brought down, so it’s highly unlikely that he actually had time to send the copies out, (much to the dismay of everyone who won!)

(And then I went home early because Erik has infected me with his stupid cold!)

"My computer went all crazy!"

2005-04-06T16:01:00.000-04:00

Don'tcha love it when people are so articulate about their computer issues?

Note to retards: Please don't delete things. Don't delete programs, especially if you don't understand the difference between uninstall and delete. And don't delete your personal files, especially when you have not backed them up. Oh, but please delete your old email, especially when you have several thousand dating back to pre-millennum.

Thank You.

Pants revealed!

2005-04-06T13:02:00.000-04:00

So in Britain, pants actually refers to underwear, (specifically men’s underwear) so I guess it makes sense if you think underwear is a nasty thing to talk about. It was popular in the 90’s, but appears to be coming back. Here is a great summary of pants!

And while I’m on the topic of British slang, some of my favorites…

Ned / Chav / Scally = Non-Educated Delinquent
Fud / Fanny / Twat = Vagina
Knob / Todger / Tool / Willy = Penis
Bawbag / Bollocks / Goolies = Testicals
Shite / Rubbish = Total Crap, nonsense
Gormless = Clueless
Mug = Gullible
Naff = Uncool
Pissed = Drunk
Slag = Bad Mouth
Snog = Make Out
Sod / Git = Bastard
Taking The Piss = Making fun of
Tosser / Wanker = A jerk, literally someone who masturbates

And from the school of condensed words:

Nowt = Nothing
Owt = Anything
Summit = Something

And there are no more funny insults to add, but the first Oasis single is officially on the radio today!

Insults....pants....

2005-04-05T13:31:00.000-04:00

If anyone reads the Jewish Tribune there’s an article about Beth David in it, along with my first published photo! It’s not a very good one, but it was the only photo I had. (Basically I was told to send so n’ so some pictures of the synagogue with no warning. Ironically I had just taken one while I was playing with my mom’s digital camera the day before.) I just like seeing my name on things! (And now everyone keeps commenting on how the picture sucks because it is just of the chapel with no people in it. Wank.)

I know y’all are sick of Oasis, but Oasis is to Brandy as Star Wars is to Matt! (as Dr. Who is to Jeff!)Somebody started a thread on the forum today asking about “any leeks.” Clearly they meant song leaks, but the crappy spelling and typing habits of those people drive me nuts sometimes, so I responded with a comment about making some leek soup! Oh boy the insults they can dish out! I was called a gimp, a computer tough guy, a snobby twat, an uptight virgin, and then asked to meet someone in Adelaide where I’d get the stuffin’ kicked outta me! This could keep me entertained all day! I just wish I could figure out what “pants” means….I’m bored so I started a new topic on the forum entitled Insults & Pants:

You guys all crack me up with the insults you dish out! Give me your best ones, as long as they're not sexist, racist or homophobic. Maybe if y'all vent in here, the rest of the forum will be less antagonistic!

And can anyone tell me what the heck "pants" means? I've seen it used here as an adjective and it baffles me!

Ima’ gonna’ get it! I’ll keep y’all posted!

Monday...BLECH.

2005-04-04T15:35:00.000-04:00

This weekend I was in a perpetual state of “why the f*ck did I leave the house.” Most of the time I’d rather be at home, so the fact that I make plans and try to keep them is definitely a stretch for me. It’s not that I’m anti-social, (or am I?) there are just too many things I want to do with the limited spare time I have. When I was unemployed for 6 months, I had no problem keeping myself busy every day. Now I’m grateful for the hours I can spend doing whatever the hell I want to. It’s usually a winter thing too. Come spring, summer and nice weather, I’ll be happy to go out and play! So Friday was an out of the ordinary Friday, in that I did not have plans with Erik. Instead the plan was to join the roomies and Co. for Sin City at Paramount. Chris and I ended up not getting tickets, (by a few minutes I believe) and were sadly (?) excited about missing the movie; Chris was fixated on the pizza he was going to eat, and I planned to spend the evening catching up on my “dull British tv” - Monarch of the Glen, Mine All Mine, and Coronation Street. Ah life would be sweet if I could watch BBC Canada all day. I would trade all the channels I do get, to have only BBC in my room! At least Dr. Who is going to be on CBC. Although it’s an odd coincidence that it will air in the same time slot as Mine All Mine considering they’re both written by Russell T. Davies.

The weather on Saturday was enough to make anyone lock themselves inside, but no, not me! I had committed to an evening out, and as much as I was dying to stay in my pj’s all day I pushed myself into a social mood and forced myself to venture out. Tara had organized her annual karaoke-athon. I wouldn’t sing, so really I was just going to be social and see Tara. Well there was karaoke, there was cheap beer, there were two tables reserved for Tara, there were friends of Tara……what was missing? Oh yeah, a Tara! It also didn’t help that I arrived after the call time, and still ended up standing in the bar alone like an asshole for half an hour. I was about to leave when some recognizable peeps arrived. It was nice to see Jeff and Mer, but overall the night sucked hooey and I left for home cold, annoyed, and not even slightly buzzed from a beer, only to be diverted southward because of a fire on Queen Street. I had a nice chat with Chris when I got home (he told me funny stories I’m not allowed to repeat) and ended the evening wishing I had stayed home!

I can’t really complain about going out on Sunday, because clearly it was assy out, and getting wet isn’t really an excuse for staying inside. Besides, I only went to the grocery store, so technically I was only properly dressed for about ½ hour yesterday, the rest of it being spent in warm, fuzzy fleece. Since I spent a good part of Saturday acquiring music, (I discovered that the Keane album I’ve been listening to for year, is in fact different from the one that was released in North America. I knew the tracklisting was different, but I what I didn’t realise is that they remixed/redid many of the songs. Is this common? I also acquired the Kasabian album, which I keep hearing about. They totally rock the house!) I spent Sunday working on my intersections movie and reading a book. If a book is just all right, then I feel compelled to finish it in one day, sometime more if it’s really long, but if a book is really good, then I tend to stretch it out as long as I can, drawing out the goodness I guess. And if a book is super-duper awesome then I’ll finish it right away and then read it again. After the BBC overdose, I wasn’t really in the mood for tv, so I intended to skip The Simpsons & Arrested Development, but after the Simpsons, Chris coerced me into watching Arrested Development, and then quickly started the Simpsons again. I’m a tv whore. And now I have an hour of Corrie St. to contend with every day this week.

And oh yeah my April fools day joke gone awry... All I did was make a screenshot of a desktop, make that the desktop and hide some stuff. Turns out it was a bad idea, because the user thought he had a virus and was too embarrassed to ask for help and knew he’d get lectured about downloading music so he foolishly deleted all the files on his desktop, which were in fact ALL THE FILES HE HAS. And not only that, he didn’t have any of them backed up, so they’re all gone for good! Lucky for me he has a sense of humour, otherwise I might have been out of a job and on the dole with my roomies!

Sometimes I just can't help myself...

2005-03-30T12:47:00.000-05:00

"I'm a good stuffer."
- Gay man on envelopes

"With nuts or without?"
- The Rabbi's first words upon returning from Israel (bearing chocolate)

"Oh, I thought DVD meant dearly departed..."
- The boss

All this in the last 1/2 hour...

And the coolest thing I heard all day...

2005-03-30T10:55:00.000-05:00

--------->Lyla.

The first single from the new Oasis album was leaked yesterday on a Polish radio station, and within hours it was posted absolutely everywhere. I pulled an Erik (who is notorious for burning one song on a cd and listening to it over and over again - sometimes I think it's just to torture me) so I could listen to it on the way home, and have probably listened to it a couple dozen times by now. It's good, it's happy, it's not that different from their last few first album singles. The first single is usually "safe". I also find it highly amusing that NME gets most of their "exclusive information" on Oasis, directly from the forums. (Like today's news!) The rumour about the new album being titled I Stand Alone was a rumour started by a post on a forum, and it spread until NME, HMV, Amazon and god knows who else actually listed that as the new title. All other information is mostly from the mouth of Noel Gallagher, who, in attempting to confuse and delay the leak of information, has actually lied about the album and song titles. That man is a comic genius. No really, he said so himself!

Most of the forums have a policy regarding posting songs that are or will be released, which is fair, but clearly (and thankfully) people post the stuff anyway. The mods must have had one fun day yesterday trying to delete everything. The official board is down right now, the mods are probably doing some damage control. It is inevitable; if/when a song (or the entire album) is leaked, it will be spread across the globe. I love da internet. I have no qualms about hearing the stuff early - I'll still buy the album the day it is released, and I'm not worried about spoiling my first experience hearing it. Their last album leaked a couple of months before it was to be released and I couldn't have been happier hearing it! A lot of the time when a band tours to promote a new album, the shows are scheduled within weeks, even days of it's release. I like to know the songs I'm going to hear; I go because I have the album and want to hear the stuff live, not because I need to be enticed to buy it. Like the new David Usher album is scheduled to be released on the day of his show in Toronto. Duh. And likely it will not be leaked, cause few people care or know who he is. Although his first single is #74 on itunes top 100 downloads...

Now here's where I draw the line. Sharing music is one thing, but when people start making a profit off of something that is not theirs to sell, I personally think they are big-ass scam artists. Like people selling bootlegs on Ebay. Like this f*cker who claims to be selling a recording of a song that was only played once live, and although it was recorded by someone, that person swore to keep it to himself until the new album was released. Wank.

May 31st is getting closer y'all.

Don't Believe The Truth.

That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day…

2005-03-29T12:54:00.000-05:00

While MAKING her lunch at her desk, cutting vegetables, #1 cut her finger.
#2 - What did you cut it on?
#1 - A knife, duh!
#2 - No, what kind of vegetable?
Me – Does it fu*king matter?!?!?!

Y’all wanna read more stupid office stuff? Check out overheardintheoffice.com – it’s a hoot!
This one too overheardinnewyork.com
I feel lazy and springy. I wanna go outside!

I did a whole lotta nothin’ this weekend – watched 7 movies, read 2 books, watched 3 hours of BBC tv, cleaned the kitchen, the bathroom and my room, spent several hours cutting a something for the one minute film festival, visited my mom and tortured her cat with the stickers from 2 dvd cases…all in all, a whole lotta nothin’. Soon I’ll get to those Montreal photos….soon.

A week later and....

2005-03-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy week. I was gone all weekend, have been working on the website at work, and PRIME came out Wednesday so I had to read it all. Later there will be photos from Montreal, until then, there is this:

2005-03-17T22:05:00.000-05:00

Johnny Weir was awesome tonight, finishing in fourth place,
and it's a silver medal for Jeff Buttle!

There's always David.

2005-03-17T12:27:00.000-05:00

As much as I want Jeff & Johnny to win medals, (mostly so they’ll skate in the gala afterwards) I do feel bad for Evgeni, because now he’s withdrawn from the competition completely. (Without the injury he would most definitely have won gold.) Now he won’t even skate the long program in front of his hometown. L The top pair from China pulled out last night due to injury, Takeshi Honda busted his ankle during qualifying, and Johnny’s apparently hanging on by a thread. Tis a dangerous game folks.

I just gave more money to the ticket dispending rip off factory Ticketmaster, so Candice and I can see Mr. Hottie Man himself, at the Mod Club next month. I wonder how many times I've seen him perform live......

July 17, 1997 Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto ---> Almost missed it because we were in the middle of shooting The Fishing Trip, but I had a breakdown on set and was sent home! I went with Adam Gover, a friend from York, because Candice couldn't escape the set!
Nov 21, 1997 Massey Hall, Toronto ---> Candice & I bought tickets from a scalper minutes before they got on stage, and never ended up sitting down. This was where the thigh-grabbing incident occured, and was talked about on the radio the next day.
July 1, 1998 Edgefest, Molson Park, Barrie ---> Back when Edgefest was good, Candice and I fought our way to the front and battle with the girls that would later be referred to as the "Toronto bitches." (The same snot-bag group of girls who are at the very front at EVERY show, who will push you, but if you push back there's liable to be a cat fight.)
September 12 (?), 1998 Holy Joe's, Toronto ---> David's 1st Solo show. Candice & I gave up film fest tickets to try and get in to this show announced on the radio, just hours before. This was where we met fellow fan Mark Swierciz and watched the performance sitting on a couch, only a couple of feet in front of him. Afterwards he came over to talk to us (because he knew Mark) and actually kneeled down in front of me. Could ya die?!?! (I actually have a bootleg of this performance, courtesy of Mark.)
June 30, 1999 Tower Records, Toronto ---> Candice & I got up real early to get passes for this tiny performance & autograph session.
July 1, 1999 Edgefest, Molson Park, Barrie ---> I took my brother to his first concert ever. Candice arrived later and ended up conquering the whole show alone!
Aug 20, 1999 The Dardanella, Wasaga Beach ---> Candice and I went with Shawn Cisterna to this small hick bar show.
Sept 6, 1999 Mix 99.9 Beachfest, Kew Gardens, Toronto ---> Alison Zemell and I fought our way to the front in a battle with the Toronto Bitches.
June 23, 2000 Waterfront Festival, Oakville ---> I took Erik to his first concert ever when I found out he had tickets to see Celine Dion later that summer. We also dragged Mike Thorne along, but I lost both of them the second the show started!
July 30, 2001 Ted’s Wrecking Yard, Toronto ---> I got a pass for this small performance when I bought Morning Orbit. I went alone, and sweat a lot!
October (?) 2001 NOW Lounge, Toronto ---> Alison Zemell won a pass for this one, and kindly took me along. Ironically it was to take place during my last ever shift working at Starbucks. I called in sick.
October 31, 2001 Phoenix Concert Hall, Toronto --> Halloween with Candice, Bill, and David! This was a fun show, and the first time I saw David wearing nail polish!
April 16, 2004 Brampton Theatre, Brampton --> Holy crap I can't believe that was almost a year ago! I went with Candice to this seated show, a nice change for all the geezers (and there were geezers there!), and a chance to really watch Mr. Hotty Hotpants perform.

It's very comforting to know that there will always be more David.

The rumour mill is a churning today…

2005-03-16T16:16:00.000-05:00

I had a lovely evening last night with Erik, Mariana, Matt, Chris, a mountain of thai food and two teen movies (Saved! & Sleepover). Mat & Chris & Kate got me exactly what I wanted – the newly released Criterion disc of My Own Private Idaho, which was apparently impossible to find! Another Keanu disc, eh? They must REALLY be my friends to keep buying me Keanu movies! And Mariana gave me a multi-photo picture frame in the form of a filmstrip, which I will most definitely fill with the pictures I will take this weekend on our trip to Montreal. Saved! was a frickin’ riot, while Sleepover was so bad that it made Erik yell at the tv during every scene. And even though I didn’t get into bed until 11:30 p.m., I just HAD to watch some of the men’s short program. Many of the top men skaters are injured right now, (including my little Johnny Weir) so the fight for a place on the podium is proving to be a tough one. Johnny's sitting in 7th right now, and I'm hoping there are some major f*ck-ups with the top skaters, with the exception of Jeff Buttle who's in 4th frickin' place right now --------> I hope he wins a medal just to stick it to all the people who have been saying that there's no hope for Canada to win ANY medal this year! Plus, he's a pretty awesome skater with a style not unlike that of Johnny. I think we should all give up on Emanuel Sandhu, seeing as he's clearly NEVER going to BRING IT ON!

Cake. Not the band.

2005-03-15T16:26:00.000-05:00

I just had the best kosher cake ever! It was moist chocolate with icing that tasted exactly like cotton candy. Tasty stuff. It came to us from a bat mitzvah someone had on the weekend and its arrival nicely coincided with my birthday today. And tonight there’s the chocolate Oreo cheesecake I made last night! Add the apple pie from the weekend and it’s a dessert overdose! All I had last year were rainbow cupcakes. But I’m not complaining! I did get a $100 Best Buy gift card from someone who really shouldn’t have, but probably wants me to shut up about getting an Ipod!

Top Ten Things Overheard In Rome On The Ides Of March

10. "Excuse me, Caesar. Is that a knife in your back, or are you just happy
to see us?" - Brutus

9. "Uh...Caesar dear, that Oracle-of-Delphi guy is on the phone again.
Should I take a message?" - Portia

8. "You're right, honey. It IS a beautiful day for a picnic! But I think I
should stop by the office and pick up a few things first." - J. Caesar

7. "Hmmm...looks like a clear case of suicide. You're free to go, Senator
Kennedy." - Anonymous

6. "We'll NEVER get those stains out of his toga NOW. Way to go, LUNKHEAD!"

5. "Beware the Ides of...hmmm...30 days hath September, April, June, and...oh
the heck with it! Just stay home!" - Oracle-o-Delphi

4. "Wolf Blitzer here, and the scene is one of absolute MAYHEM, if you'll
pardon the pun." - Wolf Blitzer (CNN News Stud)

3. "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" - Chorus
"No-no-NO! The line is 'HAIL CAESAR! HAIL CAESAR!'. I swear you people
are dumber than a box of sticks!" - Cecil B. DeMille

2. "XCIX bottles of beer on the wall, XCIX bottles of beer! Take one down,
pass it around, XCIIX bottles of beer on the wall!" - The Triumvirate

1. "OUCH!" - J. Caesar

Oh weekend, why do you leave me so quickly?

2005-03-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

On Friday I hijacked the Civic again for a lovely ride to work, and an evening of being Erik’s “car bitch” (although the only place he requested I take him was to work so he could use the fax machine – I denied his request and enlightened him to the fact that most convenience stores will send faxes for you.) The fax was so he could get another credit card that will undoubtedly be maxed out in a few weeks. The other reason he wants the card is because it offers car insurance on any car you rent on it. How cool is that? (Well, if you can drive and you like to rent cars.) I gotta get me one of those!

Erik & I finally got to see Michelle’s place – a lack of space has made her reluctant to invite us over – and it is an awesome space! Half kitchen and half bedroom with a big bathroom on the side! (To her delight that it is possible to entertain a place that size) we ended up hanging out there and played a wickedly evil card game entitled “Office Scandal.” Mucho fun and root beer was had.

Saturday was the biggest shoot day for Chris’s film and I got to do all sorts of movie stuff: drive real fast, haul equipment, set up a dolly, and be an extra. I haven’t worked on set in a very long time, so it was lotsa fun, and it helped that the mood on the set was light and relaxed. The best part of the day (besides Daniel & I mock-racing Matt & Chris home and losing) was the Simpson’s Road Rage-athon that lasted for four hours and the cheesiest, greasiest pizza I’ve ever eaten. I was impressed with myself when I completed several tasks on the first try, the same tasks that took me several hours to complete the first time I played the game over a year ago. I guess my gaming skills (or Road Rage skills) have improved. Matt, please hide your Game Cube!

Sunday marked the beginning of my birth-week celebrations. My mom and I went shopping for new clothes at the Eaton Centre, stuff my mom hates to shop for in the place she hates the most! Now that’s a birthday present! She scored big time with a new jean jacket, and I found some new jeans and a very pink shirt. Then we had apple-birthday-pie. Mmmmmm, Pie…..

Matt has posted a summary of the cats in his life, and I feel the need to elaborate on his impression of Sammy because for whatever reason Sammy refuses to bond with him in any way. Sammy is definitely an independent cat, but he does like people, just not everyone. Sometimes I think he likes Chris more than he likes me! (And he LOVES Erik, even though he rarely sees him.) He’s very affectionate, just on HIS terms, when HE wants it. I don’t know why, but he only really hides in fear from Matt, or loud strangers. He evens hisses at the very presence of Matt! I’ve only ever seen him hiss at the vacuum cleaner and the weasel (= Campbell, my moms cat). (But the weasel deserved it.) Sammy and Zam seem to actually like the company of each other, although their playtime may be construed as “chase to kill,” they seem to be having fun. And they quite often hang out together either in my room or Chris’s room. And oh yeah – he doesn’t have serious mental problems! I know I sound like an overprotective mother with a kid who doesn’t play well with others, but he’s my fat baby!

The Playboy Synagogue

2005-03-10T16:21:00.000-05:00

I feel the need to stress the fact that working in this synagogue is like working anywhere. Well maybe a little more perverse….
For fear of incriminating myself, I try to keep blogging about work to a minimum, but in this case, I think the people involved are guilty enough on their own. The Cantor found a naked photo of Britney Spears from Playboy, so he emailed it to the president of the synagogue, who then forwarded it to every single person on his email list. So of course we then get a phone call from a member complaining about the porn that the cantor of the synagogue sent him. The Cantor claims it is not porn, since it was from Playboy magazine (logic much?) and the president was too daft to remove the Cantor’s name from the email. It doesn’t help that he got another complaint regarding the “v-cut dresses down to the bosom” that some of the choirgirls were wearing on Sunday. Tis a lovely place I work in.

And according to the nice doctor at the walk-in clinic I have a virus and not an infection, so no drugs for me! (Although he gave me a prescription anyway, to take in case it gets worse.) I guess February is still holding on by its teeth. Let me go you damn hell month!

What’s this? A new band photo? Yee-haw!

This entry is dedicated to Sean

2005-03-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

who rescued us from the darkness last night...

So yeah, 3QF had a 3Q blackout last night. (The only power we had was 1/2 of two outlets in the kitchen.) The drama began around 9:20 pm, and after several phone calls to our landlord, an electrician, Erik, Home Depots that were not open and a visit to/from our lower neighbours, one of whom is an electrician, the problem was solved! It was 1:00 am, but hey, the my alarm clock would go off in the morning. The whole event could have been much more of a hassle if it weren't for two ironies; our downstairs neighbour (who is quite the hottie) is an electrician, and we have temporary custody of Chris's parents car. So our neighbour solved the problem, and this morning the lil' Honda Civic led me to Home Depot where I located the fuse section in like, 5 seconds. The car also led me to work, in like 30 freakin' minutes! (I need a freakin' car!) I need a nap.

This entry is dedicated to Chris

2005-03-08T15:51:00.000-05:00

who should get a prize for having more interest in my blog than me these days! One month indeed. I don’t like February, never have, probably never will. It’s not the February blahs, it’s the February-suck-my-balls-and-get-outta-my-face-or-put-me-outta-my-misery. Hate February. The whole damn month. I would summarize the whole damn month, but y’all wouldn’t have liked what I woulda had to say anyway. But it’s March now, a whole new month, and a whole lotta time until the evil month returns…

So uh, lets focus on the goodness of March:

I won a coffee the other day on my first coffee of the roll-up-the-rim-to-win season.
My cat has started sleeping on my bed again, after a month long retreat upstairs.
Russell T. Davies has a new series on.
After many rumours and much speculation, the release date/title of Oasis’s new album has finally been announced. (Don’t Believe The Truth, May 16th)
David Usher already has a new single out, and an album will be to follow in April. (Which also means His Royal Hottieness will be touring this summer.)
Poppy Z. Brite’s new book is out this month and I’ve managed to buy several other OOP books on Ebay.
My birthday is in a week and that means cake. (As well as being selfish for a week.)
Erik’s taking me to Montreal next weekend. (Part of the birth-week celebrations)
I just made $150 for an hour of easy-cheesy work.
The figure skating world championships is next week! Go Johnny!
Today Michelle sent me pictures from Halloween that are drunk-tabulous!
The snow is melting and I think my cold is going away.

Sweet, sweet ass!

2005-02-08T10:17:00.000-05:00

Guess who's coming to Toronto...

and guess who just got tickets!

Crap crap assy ass crap.

2005-02-04T14:16:00.000-05:00

I'm having one of those crappy-i-wanna-kick-ya-in-the-teeth-and-shoot-myself-in-the-face kind of days......I don't like to blog my negativity, but f*ck y'all - if I'm miserable, then you should be too! I'm mostly cheesed-off because I've just been informed that our mandatory health plan is being increased to $122/month. What the f*ck is that????? The only way out is to find another plan for myself so I can opt out of the work one. Sucky-ass shit. I also sort of feel sick, but it may be all the hostility (rage) trying to escape from my body. There are many other things annoying me right now, but I'm so annoyed I'm not going to list them. OK, one other thing. There are a whole bunch of arseholes posting rumours and garbage on the Oasis forum, and it's really starting to piss me off. Mostly cause now there's talk of them coming to Toronto in June, sourced by 102.1 the Edge, so it could be true, but it could also be a huge wanky-prank. Yesterday the board was flooded dozens & dozens of shite topics like PAUL WELLER HAD AFFAIR WITH DAVID BOWIE/FREDDIE MERCURY thanks to a "raid" by members from another forum who want to get the official one shut down. I hate those f*ckers.

Suck my balls.

Ebay's got me by the balls.

2005-02-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

Last week I bought this DVD which is next to impossible to buy ANYWHERE, and last night I bought this t-shirt, because it's vintage cool and I wanted it.
All this trying not to spend money to pay for my computer stuff is no fun! And as much as it may seem a blessing that I have the ability to turn off my spending power, when I actually buy something it's not as exciting.

I saw the movie Summer Storm at the film festival and have been bent on getting the soundtrack ever since. They have finally released the soundtrack, but since the film is German, and has only been theatrically released there, I haven't been able understand amazon.de enough to buy it. Funny thing this language barrier. Most of the songs from the movie are in english, so while (through a googled translation) skimming through a forum for the movie I managed to find some recognizable songs. This is one (download this file and have a listen) that I've been listening to nonstop since I found it.

"Here flowed with me always some tear-simply moving."
(translation by Google)

The good news is that the film will be released here in the summer, and that hopefully means the soundtrack will too!

And some things I don't like today...
1. When a web page locks the back button and you have to press it maniacally many times to get off of it
2. Diseased emails that do not cleverly cover up the fact that they contain a virus (like the one I got today from "Initiate D. Equestrienne")
3. The peanut butter flavored Cheetos someone left on my desk at work thinking I might like to eat them (having failed to actually sample the horrid things themselves)

Makeover

2005-01-31T23:32:00.000-05:00

Instead of blogging I thought I'd give my blog a makeover, but since I'm here...

I'm way to bored to blog at work these days, and way too lazy to blog at home. That's me, lazy and bored.
Friday nights continue to be the most exciting part of the weekend. Erik and I saw Childstar on it's opening night and there were only 7 people in the theatre. To make matters worse, right in the middle of the movie the lights faded back on and the movie faded into the slide projector crap they show before the movie. After about 5 minutes the movie came back on, but the problem occurred again the instant the credits started to roll. Now I feel the guilt of not watching enough Canadian films anymore. The movie was great, despite the technical difficulties (which was rectified in the end with not one but two movies passed from the good folks at Cineplex Oden) and Don McKellar was very Don McKellar-y in a very good way. Later we got drunk, watched gay porn and went to Walmart....you know, the usual stuff.

I more or less spent the rest of the weekend listening to Suede and reading The Last Party.

my tv means to kill me.

2005-01-26T19:45:00.000-05:00

I seem to have a real on-again, off-again relationship with tv, especially shows I REALLY (for moral reasons) shouldn’t be watching (or enjoying.) Like The Surreal Life. Prior to this weekend I had only seen a few minutes of the show, usually just watching long enough to figure out what it was, get annoyed and slightly disgusted, and then change the channel. (The concept as far as I can tell, is to put a bunch of useless, dried-up, irritating celebrities in house together and hope they don’t get along.) The ONLY reason I tuned in...

Jordan Knight. But he's NOT a loser! WHY is he on this show? I think watching it is a brave move on my part, considering how important NKOTB were to me as a teenager, and the fact that he could turn out a real a-hole and completely destroy my image of him. But I’ll take my chances. So far he’s just been extremely anti-social but I don’t blame him – the house is full of nuts. I won’t elaborate on the stupidity of the show or the other participants because it really is a piece of poo. Then there’s Coronation Street, which I got sucked into for a while last summer, (thanks to mom’s insistence that she saw two cute guys kissing on it) but stopped watching it because they began to focus on the boring old farts, and I just kept forgetting to watch it. I caught an episode the other night, and now I’m hooked again. And the worst, I watched American Idol last night mostly because it was on, and they were in New Orleans, and I think the losers who think they can sing are pretty darn funny. I watched Popstars the first season it was on, back when the whole concept was fresh, and I watched the (first? only?) World Idol with the winners from each country (mostly cause I knew Ryan Malcolm - the Canadian Idol winner - back when he was scrawny(er) and slicked his hair back). I heard that Mark Burnett pitched the idea for a competition to find a singer for an established rock band – now that would be cool! And finally, the second season of This Is Wonderland started last night. It’s quite funny in an anti-lawyer-ish sort of way. (And hey – the star of the show, Cara Pifko, was born on the exact same day as me!)

Pre-empted blog.

2005-01-24T19:29:00.000-05:00

Clearly I watched a whole lotta of figure skating this weekend – the men’s & pairs portion of Skate Canada & the US Gala. I love watching figure skating, but I always seem to miss competitions because I don’t pay enough attention to when they’re on, and even now, I can’t figure out when the European Champs. and Four Continents are going to be aired on a network we actually get. So I usually end up watching the men’s and the gala because they’re usually last. (And never the ice dancing, which I hate, because it makes me all agitated.) At this point I have to say that Canada is probably f*cked for the Olympics next year. The US skaters, on the other hand, are looking much better...

Cause Johnny Weir is the man!

Although he’s getting more notice this year (after winning the nationals twice) I don’t think people know what to make of his slow, purposeful style of skating. The commentators feel the need to overly justify themselves when they compliment him. It’s like they know he’s good, but because he’s not turning quads all over the place, they don’t feel confident saying he really is the best. The Americans are still not using the new point system even though it will be in place at the worlds in March. Terribly stupid. (The Americans I mean, not the new point system, which is proving to be a very wonderful thing because it allows for minor mistakes and can’t be as easily manipulated at the judges will.)
This weekend I also went to a tiny book store in an outlet mall where I found a book that I’ve wanted for quite a while, but haven’t been able to find it because it’s out of print (except on ebay from the UK which can get quite pricey.) They actually had two copies of it, brand new hardcovers, for $8.00! Lucky me! I was so excited I almost bought both copies.

I cannae be arsed.

2005-01-20T19:44:00.000-05:00

Everything is so boring right now I think I’d like to sleep for a month. I wish I were a bear or anything that hibernates for a few months. Someone in the office just said it’s amazing how her motivation just drops the instant our boss leaves. I said mine disappears the second I walk into the building. And it’s true! Mostly I waste time by reading stuff, so I know things like:

Fans of Fox's groundbreaking animated comedy "The Simpsons" have been awaiting a bombshell this season: The show will reportedly "out" one of its characters as gay.

Misery is expected to peak on Monday, as 24 January has been pinpointed as the worst day of the year.

A Brazilian man arguing with his 88-year-old mother threw her into a neighbors' yard where two pit bulls mauled her to death.
and blogs like:

Tederick (who just updated the OMFVF website)
ChiaMac (who stayed indoors and watched 9 hours of movies yesterday)
TexasGary (who is begging for donations to pay off her student loans - whom I’d gladly give money to if my own debt didn’t exceed hers!)
MattVideo (who seems more blog-bored then I am)
Ratfactory (who?)
Urban Faery (who I confused for myself today)
DocBrite (who smartly auctions off her own books to raise money for her 26 cats)
Wil Wheaton (who found a JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank today)

It’s been a very unproductive day. Fortunately I get to meet Texas and Gary tonight!

Was this ever in question?

2005-01-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

You're a Britpopper. The UK is your thing. The
Smiths really were 'terrif' and Blur are indie
no matter how much money they made. You could
drink all the other indie kids under the table.
You plan on moving to London someday and dream
of one day owning every Beatles release on
vinyl.

You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize.
brought to you by Quizilla

This ain't no Sarah McLachlin song...

2005-01-14T14:28:00.000-05:00

In the praised event that I actually fall asleep before midnight, I almost always wake up an hour or two after I have fallen asleep. It’s like there’s something programmed inside of me that insists that I should go to sleep until 2 am. Last night was one of those nights. I fell asleep shortly after 11 pm, but woke up at midnight freezing my ass of for some reason. It wasn’t really that cold, but I felt like an ice cube. So I got up and put on a sweatshirt and fuzzy socks (and I hate sleeping with socks on) and went back to sleep. I was kind of out of it, cause I kept hearing this weird end-of-the-world-ish sound over and over again. An hour later I was awoken again, this time by another noise that also freaked me out; again it sounded like the world was ending. As I lay there I tried to figure out if the sound was real, or just some leftover dream. Slowly I realised it was our doorbell ringing over and over again. Then it stopped. Was it really ringing? Was I dreaming it? Or worse, was there some axe-wielding psycho on our porch holding his finger on the button, hoping that some idiot would answer the door in the middle of the night. The ringing started again and I decided it was the killer. (Mostly cause I was still in that state of not quite awake yet.) So there I lay, listening to the ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong sound of my impending death, and waited until Chris came downstairs to face the psycho-killer. Of course there was no psycho-killer; it is in fact demon-ish possession (which was solved by a serious de-battery-ing.) Although I kind of wish it was the psycho-killer, because now, coupled with the shower of death, I think 3QF has to face the fact that our house is possessed by something evil. (Although the end-of-the-world-ish noise I started hearing again was likely the soundtrack to ZamBot27.) What’s worse? A house that is trying to drive you insane? Or a house that is trying to kill you? (Like my old residence, The Morgue) I think I’ll take the crazy, cause y’all know I’m half-way there…

I honestly think I would have fallen to an untimely death had I remained in The Morgue any longer than I did. In the 6 months that I was there, nice men from the fire department visited us several times. The first, when our carbon monoxide detector went off and the firemen informed us that our gas stove did not have proper ventilation and that we should leave all the windows open and stay out of the house for a while and never use the mo-fo again. The second, when I woke up to the neighbours banging on our door because the couch on our porch was in flames (due to someone “accidentally” setting a fire on the porch earlier that evening and failing to properly put the fire out.) We watched from our balcony as the firemen dragged the couch into the middle of the street and hosed it down. Neighbourhood entertainment. Then there was the time I was convinced that I could smell something burning as I lay in my bed trying to sleep. Luckily I listened to myself and did an inspection of my room, only to find that the outlet behind my bed had overheating and was burning a hole in my mattress. I coulda’ gone up in flames! And not to mention the fact that the previous 3 owners of the house had all died over a period of a few years. I really didn’t want to know how. And six months after moving in, I moved out. I found out that at some point after I moved out, the big tree in the backyard acquired some new tenants – termites. They infested it and the whole tree fell onto the house, crashing into what used to be my old bedroom.

Tv, Curd, Herpes & My Sausage. (In no particular order)

2005-01-11T16:50:00.000-05:00

Asking for an iron at 3QF is the equivalent of telling a really funny joke. I’m sure it didn’t help (or helped the joke) that I was in the kitchen making dinner when I asked the boys-ies if they had one. Even though (for once) I actually needed an iron (because right now my scarf resembles a really long fuzzy sausage), I’m rather impressed that not one of us owns one. It’s true, I don’t believe in ironing. I don’t enjoy ironing, I rarely think it’s necessary, they get really hot, and a few wrinkles never hurt anyone. Plus I’m real lazy.

Seriously, you should watch this show.

While it appears to be just another CSI/cop/detective shows, I can guarantee you it is not. I find with that trend of television, there is very little character development and each episode is entirely a plot of clues to figure out, with very few insights on the characters internally. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Initially the appeal of Boomtown was it’s structure, the Rashomon like way they showed each crime from many points of view, repeating, overlapping and rearranging the events of each episode. It’s not about “solving the mystery” but rather the people doing it; in many cases the guilty party maintaining their guilt, as opposed to some big reveal at the end exposing the least likely suspect. Blah. That’s stuff gets so boring. At times it can be a little dramatically heavy, but there are infusions of humour. I also love the music, the opening credits, the very charming Donnie Wahlberg (former NKOTB-er) and the fact that one of the characters often listens to Oasis.

Speaking of things I like, a co-worker went to Belleville this weekend and brought me some cheese curd (the real deal) from Reid’s Dairy. Mmmmmmm, cheese curd. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it!

What do you call two brothers that share the herpes virus?
I dunno, ask Kate. (Who should seriously consider starting her own cat fund!...)

Fart, Gary Barlow, Noel Gallagher.

2005-01-10T17:45:00.000-05:00

I’m still having trouble re-adjusting to getting up early for work. Does anyone else feel like giving up on life when the alarm goes off? Like really suicidal? It dissipates quickly after getting out of bed and injecting the caffeine, but for those first few moments every day, I truly wish I were dead.

This weekend I saw Lemony Snicket (it was way better then Harry Potter and had the best end credit sequence ever!), had a surprisingly good café au lait at Marche with three sick people (all recovering from some physical illness, but equally nutty in the noggin’ as well), finished the book (which content wise apparently would have ended up all farting and bitching about Gary Barlow & Noel Gallagher if the author had not edited the material), downloaded music for about 12 hours (Lemony Snicket soundtrack and Robbie’s b-sides – I think LimeWire is way better than Kazaa), made a pizza (mushrooms, red peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, red onion and chicken), did laundry (and ended up with a pocket full of change because I only had a $20), finished the Matrix critics commentary on Reloaded (and am getting increasingly angry about their inability to make any sense of the movie, and yet criticize it for not having enough meaning), finished knitting the scarf (all I have to do now is weave in the ends and press it into scarf shape), and watched two episodes of Boomtown (an exceptional show, even the second time around).

(Note to people I work with who won’t ever read this:
1. Slamming your mouse on the desk will not make it work better, nor will it make it cleaner.
2. I have no idea who you are talking about when you ask me if I got money from “you know that man/woman”.
3. It is not attractive when tuna falls out of your mouth as you are talking to me.
Saying the same thing five times does not make it any truer if you had only said it once.
4. I really don’t care what colour you paint the office; if you pick the colour it will be ugly and if I pick the colour you will complain about it to me for all of eternity.)

Right now, all I can think about is my bed.

Yay!

2005-01-07T12:10:00.000-05:00

This may be the only thing that could possibly tear me away from the music of Robbie.

Somebody told me The Killers are kool and I'm inclined to agree.

2005-01-05T00:30:00.000-05:00

I spent my last day of freedom yesterday almost entirely in bed. I managed to finish one set of matrix commentaries and an entire ball of black wool. So the first set of commentaries was by two "philosophers" who really like the movies, and more importantly, have some sort of understanding of them and an interpretation of what it all means. I was hoping that the second set of commentaries, three film critics who did not like the movies, would at least have some good arguments as to why they didn't like the movies. As it turns out, they didn't actually have any understanding of the films, and quite often expressed it with "well I think there's a meaning here, but I can't figure it out." Instead they make comments on how pretty Keanu is and how knows just how to sit up perfectly (and they're not being sarcastic!) It's actually quite astonishing how stupid these guys really are! (Not that I'm that swift - I just realised that Neo is an anagram for One. Sometimes I just can't see the obvious because I'm too busy looking at the big picture) I just cannot accept "I didn't get it, therefore it sucks" as a justifable opinion. Although I have to admit that once I've decided I don't like a movie, it gets increasingly difficult to remember exactly why.......like Darren Aronofsky the "genius" behind Pi and Requiem For A Dream . I dislike both of his films, who knows why? Candice says he's a schmarmy cheese-dick, and that's enough for me!

And in other useless but necessary information, Keanu's next three roles are a detective in Constantine, an undercover cop in A Scanner Darkly (dir. Richard frickin' Linklater) and a disgruntled cop in Spike Lee's The Night Watchman. Methinks he has a bad case of movie-role-tourettes. At least he's got a nice bod!

The last stretch...

2005-01-03T04:50:00.000-05:00

This is the last late night of my holidays, and tomorrow will be the last morning to sleep in...
I'm not sure what will be worse, trying to go to sleep early tomorrow night, or getting up at 7am after not falling asleep. I think the real reason I hate working is that I have to get up early, especially when every part of me is insisting I am a night person. You'd think after 2 1/2 years of getting up early would fix me, but it certainly has not. Damn the man.

I visited my mom and the weasel-cat today. We watched 7 episodes of Greg The Bunny, and when I left she said she was probably going to finish the series. I came home, and while knitting, listened to the philosophers commentary on the first two matrix movies. Groovey. G'night. A'ight. (ahhhh-iggit)

Happy 2005!

2005-01-02T01:40:00.000-05:00

This New Year's was perhaps the first one in a very long time that I didn't wish I was somewhere else. Erik and I spent the evening watching movies that I really like and coerced him into watching; Rushmore, Young Adam and Secretary. If he didn't enjoy any of them, I couldn't tell. It seems that every year new years eve gets less and less exciting, or rather I want it to be less exciting and more relaxing...Generally I think resolutions are a load of crap - if you really want to change something, do it regardless of the time of year! Having said that, this year I plan to: blog every (almost) day, keep a record of every single movie I watch, make at least one movie, keep up with the guitar and knitting learnings, and perhaps land a date this year???

2005 started well with a movie marathon of all three Matrix movies. (Chris and Matt quickly regretting giving me the boxset for Christmas, and my brother loving that he could borrow my old copies of all the movies) I have found that after watching them together, in succession, I may actually get Revolutions and am making more sense of the whole trilogy. A pickle it is indeed...

I'm back...

2004-12-31T18:30:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while, but I promise I'll attempt to blog every day in 2005. The main focus of my week has been watching movies. Since Christmas day I've watched: The Explorers & Walk Like A Man (both given to me from my brother who undoubtedly knows about every single movie I loved in the 80's) - the first made me miss River Phoenix, and the second wonder what the hell happened to Howie Mandel; Greg The Bunny, the tv series - a twisted sitcom involving disfunctional puppets & humans attempting to co-exist. The episode that made me buy the series in the first place involved the castration of a dog that tormented Greg, whose balls were then replaced by a pair of fake "Sammy Davis Jr. eyes" that were supposed to play Mr. Bojangles when shaken. Funny, weird shit. Now that I'm looking at the list, most of the movies I watched I had seen before; Regeneration (wrongly re-titled "Behind The Lines" for American release even though it's a Canadian co-production), The Legend of 1900 (very dramatic film about a genius pianist who lives his entire life on a ship), Dream A Little Dream (the 2 Corey's star in one of my fav's from the 80's), Mansfield Park (on my top 5 of all time), and Watchers (horror-ish 80's movie based on a Dean Koontz book). What I'd never seen before: Kill Bill, Volumes 1 & 2 (the first was almost pointless, but thankfully I decided to watch the 2nd one, because it was quite enjoyable. Forgetting the original intention was to make one movie, I thought that one 2 1/2 ish hour movie should have been made instead.) All three Harry Potter movies - the first two were ok, and I really enjoyed the third, especially the cinematography and the whole time travel thing. The Day After Tomorrow was definately one of the worst movies ever, but I really only watched it because I wanted to see Emmy Rossum in something else after watching Phantom of The Opera, the only movie I actually watched in the theatre. I liked it a lot, especially the stuff near the end. And although I've seen the musical and know the soundtrack by heart, for the first time I really felt connected to the characters and felt like I understood the story more then I ever had before. So considering that, I think the movie definately does the musical justice. (It's just too bad Gerry can't sing for shit!)

So that's it for 2004. I'm going to Erik's now. Until next year.....

Employee’s log, hebrew date 11 Tevet 5765

2004-12-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

9:10 am – A member here for breakfast receives call that her choir party has been cancelled and I find her and tell her. Her response is not pleasant “What do you mean? What are we supposed to do with all the food?” (Like I know!)
9:20 am – Someone calls to sponsor a breakfast next week
9:25 am – Boss’s cousin calls
9:26 am – Co-worker arrives with new glasses. He looks smarter then yesterday.
9:35 am –Member plays for us “I Just Called To Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder on a hand held tape player (in honour of his 60th wedding anniversary) He also wants to know if the old folks trip to Casino Rama is still on (not bloody likely). He doesn’t gamble, but goes to “pacify” his wife. We call someone and find out it is cancelled and then he plays her the song.
9:46 am – Caterer calls to find out how late we’re open on Tuesday
9:52 am – Employee #1 wife calls
10:01 am – Employee #2 father calls
10:06 am – Got a cup of tea
10:12 am – Misc. call for employee #2
10:19 am – After shovelling the walkways here, Boss asks employee to go to her house later and shovel her driveway too. He asks if he can have a break first.
10:26 am – Misc. call for employee who is on vacation today
10:34 am – Someone shows up for meeting with Employee #2, who is out for breakfast with #1. Did he forget? He said he’d be back at 11am…….
10:36 am – Employee #2 father calls again
10:40 am – Boss leaves to pack because she’s going to Boston tonight….maybe…Employee leaves with her to shovel her snow
(Me = annoyed. Why am I at work today?)
10:47 am – Call for boss
10:50 am – Call for boss
10:53 am – Another Co-worker who is on holiday this week calls to say hi
10:53 am – Employee #4 family member calls
10:56 am – Employee #5 brother calls
10:59 am – Employee #1 calls to tell us that #2 is shovelling his parents driveway (hence the two calls from his father), while person is still waiting for appointment…
11:00 am – Put 680 news on radio
11:07 am – The zoo is closed
11:33 am – Call for boss
11:59 am – Personal call for co-worker
12:00 pm – Call for #2
12:09 pm – Call for #2
12:19 pm – Annoying ho calls to find out exactly to the penny how much security will cost for an event happening a year from now. An approximate amount is not good enough. Are ya quoting me on this bi-atch?
12:22 pm – Call for #1
12:23 pm – Mail arrives
12:32 pm – Member calls about something stupid
12:33 pm – Call for Employee
12:55 pm – Call with a question about the rabbi
12:56 pm – Call regarding a notice for the next bulletin (which will not go out until February…)
1:13 pm – Raided chocolate drawer and got a cup of coffee
1:15 pm – Call for co-worker
1:15 pm – #1 calling to check voice mail
1:22 pm – Wrong number call
1:57 pm – Boss calls and says we can go home!
Bye!

My oh my these blog-lazy days…

2004-12-15T19:07:00.000-05:00

Right now I’m fixated on the new security monitor that has been positioned so that I can see it just about my monitor. It keeps jumping cameras and flashing back and forth between NTSC and NO SYNC. My co-worker keeps expecting an INSYNC video. One of the cameras is sporting a gorgeous lens flare. I wish I were outside.

I won my first item on Ebay last Thursday, by not bidding until 30 seconds before the time out. There was still enough time for someone else to bid, so I bid again and won with no seconds to spare. Yay me! As you’ve probably guessed, it was for a Robbie Williams DVD that is only available in the UK. I got it in the mail today. Yippee! God bless the Brits! I had a fun time to explain to my coworkers what region 2 means…

I also discovered there is a Robbie Avenue located only a few blocks away from where I work…anybody know how to remove street signs???? I’m half way through the book I got last week – I normally read an entire novel in one sitting, but I trying to make this one last cause it’s so good! I should really think about a Robbie blog like Johnny-A-Go-Go. (Then y’all wouldn’t have to hear about him so much! If there is anyone still reading this……Hello? Is anybody out there?)
Today we had a fat Hanukkah lunch sponsored by our caterer. It was mighty tasty. There were latkes, but they arrived with dessert.

Blog in Bulleted Time

2004-12-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

I made gingerbread & shortbread cookies, nanaimo bars, and brandied fruit squares
I watched The Exorcist III, Evil Dead II, and the Return of the King, extended edition
Daniel needs a time machine for Christmas
Matt’s eggnog is the bomb
1 leafy green + 1 vegetable does indeed constitute a salad
Robbie is not a "fat chutney ferret from Stoke"

Somebody stop me!

2004-12-09T17:07:00.000-05:00

What's worse?
My addiction to buying stuff online, or my obsession with Robbie Williams?

Happy 46th!

2004-12-09T14:36:00.000-05:00

This is a perfect opportunity to delve into the music archive of “pop music I couldn’t have survived without.” Now I’m not a huge fan of canned top 40 stuff in general, but occasionally something will leak through into my being and I will be hooked forever. With me, once I’m a fan, a fan forever I will be. I’m no pop music whore. I’m committed. Just ask anyone who witnessed me (ecstatically) buying Jordan Knight’s first solo album (which was promptly played in a sound room at Deluxe!) Now I didn’t jump on the Donny Osmond bandwagon until he released his (comeback?) album in 1989; in fact I had no knowledge of the The Osmonds, the purple socks, or Goin’ Coconuts. But when I heard Soldier of Love on the radio, I was in. I made special trips to Toronto to see Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat three times, although I have yet to see him in concert. (Very few concerts happen in Kingston, let alone in Napanee, one actually. Kim Mitchell did a show at my highschool and EVERYONE was there, cause well, no one played in Napanee.) I religiously watched the (new) Donny & Marie Show and discovered just how kooky he is. Like the time he demonstrated some of the different meals you could make in a coffee pot (Kraft dinner, pancakes, etc.) The charm of the show was the extent to which the brother & sister duo would verbally abuse each other. Funny stuff. I also have his Christmas album and his biography. What can I say - it’s puppy love!

Happy Hanukkah!

2004-12-08T19:30:00.000-05:00

So, uh, all the stuff I write here is true, and rarely exaggerated. So when I said I bruised my ass yesterday I was not kidding. And today I seem to be suffering from some very minor whiplash.
Ouch!
He's chosen my attic - I feel it in the static
He lives in my basement, and I can hardly face it
My performance is easy, I am the god of romance
And in my confusion I have the right to reign

(Little Robbie outburst there…)

Much to Chris’s surprise I was reading and not playing on the new baby (who really needs a name!) when he came home last night. I did spend several hours transferring and organizing my music in itunes. The only sucky thing so far about my Mac is that it will not read anything I have burned onto an HP disc, only Fuji. Unfortunately, most of my music is on crappy HP discs, so most of my “spare time” at work has been transferring my music onto Fuji discs.

Ouch.

Ouch.