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| Malaysian Idol |
| 11.30.05 (7:43 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
Sashi's Home
Those who remember the first season of Malaysian Idol will probably agree with me that in terms of actual talent, only three contestants stood out among the rest - Jac, Dina and Nikki. These three ladies had the vocal ability to outsing not only their first season rivals, but could have easily destroyed any of the second finalists as well - including the second season winner. But, of course, we all know that talent alone doesn’t quite help in such SMS-driven competitions..
Anyway, Nikki finally joins the class of 2004 in releasing an album of her own, ‘Maharani’. The pretentiousness of the title aside, I must say - having had a listen to excerpts of the song on her website - that she sounds… not bad, actually. Probably better than the rush job that was Jac’s Gemilang album. (Hopefully, Jac’s 2nd album will showcase her talent for what it is - stunning.)
So, if you want to be on local songwriter-producer Audi Mok’s good graces, you’ll buy this album. Or risk arrest, torture and naked squats by purchasing pirated copies or downloading it illegally - not recommended (see, I follow the law, kan? kan?)
p.s. Why the hell does Jaclyn Victor not have an official website? The extremely crappy Jacsville fan club homepage notwithstanding. Really malu-fying lah…
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| London 7/7: How to be Good - Part 1 |
| 11.29.05 (9:02 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://antagonise.blogspot.com/" title="http://antagonise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://antagonise.blogspot.co...
London 7/7: How to be Good - Part 1
"This is the largest criminal inquiry in English history."
- Sir Ian Blair
The Day the Bombs Came
The heat is on, on the street
Inside your head, on every beat
And the beat's so loud, deep inside
The pressure's high, just to stay alive
'Cause the heat is on
- Glen Frey
A fitting opener to an article about the explosive 7 July story that nobody in the mainstream media wants to touch. Perhaps the mainstream media won't touch it because they, like the authorities, are guilty of a mass-deception of the most egregious and elaborate proportions.
The charges are as follows:
1. All mainstream media stories about the alleged movements of the alleged London bombers on the morning of 7 July are factually incorrect and, thus far, entirely false.
2. The Metropolitan Police statement about the movements of the alleged bombers during their press conference in relation to 7 July was factually incorrect and has remained uncorrected.
3. All of the 'evidence' from which the alleged movements of the alleged bombers as issued and vaunted by the Metropolitan Police and the mainstream media is circumstantial, speculative and, even then, of highly questionable origin and very far removed from any sort of compelling evidence that could turn circumstantial evidence, speculation and presumptions of guilt into what appear to have become generally accepted facts about the days events.
These charges are the result of independently established and officially confirmed facts about the actual movements of the Thameslink train services from Luton on the morning of 7 July and the independently established and officially confirmed facts about the times at which the blast trains left King's Cross.
The remainder of this article presents facts about the events of 7 July that no mainstream media outlet has dared to report, or check for themselves. Those roving newshound journalists in the mainstream media that have bothered to check the first few facts of the 'official' story of what happened on the 7 July have remained incredibly silent about the results of that research, leaving ordinary members of the public to investigate, discover and report the facts that underlie what happened in London that fateful day in July.
The Day of 7/7
First, a brief recap of the generally reported and accepted version of events is called for. The issue here is from whence one should take the overview of what happened on 7 July. In order to avoid any controversy about the source of information for what happened that day, let's take the advice of a Detective Inspector Neil Smith at the Anti-Terrorist Branch of New Scotland Yard who says:
"I would strongly recommend the BBC website, which not only gives the broad information you seek, but also gives written and pictorial accounts of the events of that morning and the days that followed."
From the BBC London Attacks In Depth page, this is the story of 7 July:
TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS
Early on 7 July, Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammed Sidique Khan travel from their West Yorkshire homes to Luton by hire car.
At Luton station they meet Germaine Lindsay from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
The four are caught on CCTV as they enter the station.
The four bombers board a train for London King's Cross. Each carries a rucksack packed with explosives.
At King's Cross they fan out - Tanweer and Khan take the Circle line in opposite directions while Lindsay takes the Piccadilly line south.
Their bombs explode at 0850.
Nothing is known of Hussain's movements until 0947 when he blows up a bus in Tavistock Square.
That, give or take a few minor details which nobody seems to care about much, is the story of how 52 people died and 700 were injured in the attack on London. The evidence to support this version of events consists of just three photographs, included here for completeness.
The first image is of the four alleged suicide bombers together outside Luton Thameslink station.
The image is time stamped 07:21:54 07/07/05 and was released by the Metropolitan Police as the first piece of evidence showing the four alleged perpetrators of the 7 July atrocities. This image has been published as the full image seen here and also in various cut down, cropped versions with digital effects applied.
The second image is a rather curiously cropped image of one of the alleged suicide bombers, Hasib Hussain, allegedly as he boarded the 0740 Luton train to King's Cross. Given the lack of any unique point of reference demonstrating that this photo was taken at Luton station, or even a time stamp, this photo could have been taken anywhere at anytime.
The third image is a photo of Hasib Hussain again, this time walking out of Boots at King's Cross into the main concourse. We are told this picture was taken at 0900, almost ten minutes after we are told the bombs simultaneously exploded on the London underground. The scene shows what appears to be Hasib Hussain photographed, by a CCTV camera that may not be there, exiting Boots at a rather odd angle into the main concourse that, by now, one might think would be filled with passengers evacuating the station after the blasts that had occurred on the Piccadilly line train that was just 100 yards into the tunnel on its way to Russell Square.
The three photographs shown above and allegedly taken from the day of 7 July are judge, jury and executioner for the four young men they depict, for the 52 other lives that were taken that day and the only explanation for survivors and the families of the dead and injured.
The stories of the alleged bombers will never be heard, nor will the alleged bombers ever stand trial. Their story has already been written by the authorities and the media and has remained, until now, almost entirely unchallenged.
The Duty of the Press
It is the duty of the press, if not the authorities, to observe certain guidelines while going about their business of reporting the news. The following guidelines from the Press Complaints Commission are ripped straight from Bloggerheads (thanks Tim) and contain pretty much all you need to know about the Press Complaints Commission:
1 - Accuracy
i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.
ii) A significant inaccuracy, mis-leading statement or distortion once recognized must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published.
iii) The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.
All of which are rather pertinent points to bear in mind in relation to 7 July, since the original stories of power surges and train collisions, for the mainstream media has presented nothing other than inaccurate, misleading and distorted information about the movements of the alleged bombers.
How the Bombs Came
With the duties of the press in mind and a degree of faith - hitherto unattained but much anticipated by The Antagonist - that readers of these pages are imbued with the ability to draw for themselves the only logical conclusions that can be drawn from the presentation of simple, factual evidence - even if this does contradict the generally reported and accepted version of events - The Antagonist presents links to mainstream media coverage of the events of 7 July along with the offending, inaccurate, misleading or distorted information contained there-in for those who might feel motivated to ensure that the precious few facts that exist about the day that 52 people died at four locations on 7 July are reported correctly.
From the Daily Mirror:
CRICKET .., TO CARNAGE - THE MAKING OF A SUICIDE SQUAD
What is certain is that at 7.48 am they boarded the Luton-Moorgate service. Forty minutes later they got off at the King's Cross Thameslink Station where they were captured on CCTV.
Source: Daily Mirror
That the alleged bombers caught the 7.48 am Luton service and arrived in London forty minutes later is far from certain at all. The 7.48 am didn't leave Luton until 0756 on 7 July and didn't arrive in King's Cross until 8.42 am, some 22 minutes after its scheduled arrival time of 8.20 am. By 8.42 am on 7 July two of the bombed trains had already left King's Cross without two of the alleged suicide bombers on board.
Maybe a broadsheet such as The Telegraph might have checked a few facts about the events of 7/7 before publication of stories which purport to offer the truth about what happened that day but that fail to get anywhere near it. Unfortunately not, as evinced by the incontrovertible headline, "If only we had been alert, say regulars on the 7.48 to King's Cross Luton", from which the following excerpt is taken:
As their morning newspapers confirmed that the suicide bombers had travelled on the packed Thameslink train service, bankers, secretaries and doctors on the 07:48 service to London contemplated the possibility that the worst terrorist attack in British history might have been averted if only they had seen something.
Source: The Telegraph/a
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| Swank Thrift Finds By: Lezah |
| 11.28.05 (8:46 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
Thrift Store Finds (part two)
In case you missed the first instalment of this series, we have been invited to a wedding in the spring with a late 1940s/early 1950s theme. So I’ve been digging through the backs of my closets and haunting local thrift stores to see what I could find. Here are some more samples:
#1: this brown and black dress, in fact, has been in the family longer than I have: it’s the dress my mother was wearing the evening she and my father became engaged. Cost to me: $0.
#2: this black and green dress is another freebie handed down from my mom – it fact, it’s the first dress she bought after coming to Canada. Apparently, it cost the equivalent of a month’s salary – the story is that the girls walked into an exclusive dress store and figured that ALL dresses in Canada cost that much…
#3: yet another $0 outfit, this one handed down from my great aunt – but “so this year” with the 3⁄4 length sleeves, short jacket and pencil skirt.
#4: Dave calls this my Mafia wife jacket. It cost $14.99 at Value Village – but originally came from Bergdorff Goodman, New York, and I’ve been told would have cost around $1000.
#5: This black dress is another Value Village find; it was brand new, with the tags still attached. I paid $7.99. The shoes were $24.99 at Army and Navy.
#6. This black suit is again “so this season” with the pencil skirt and small jacket. How much did it cost and where did it come from? No idea, to be honest.
#7. This pink skirt came from another thrift store, brand new with the labels still attached. Cost to me - $3.99. The silver '50s top was a Value Village find - $4.99. The hat and gloves were my great aunt’s, and the shoes were $27.99 at Winners (Ross in the States). Total outfit cost: $36.97.
#8. Not the best wedding wear, but a cute outfit nonetheless – the Silver jeans were new but cost $10 at a liquidation outlet; the tunic was in the costume section of Value Village, the upper part of an Indian suit. The cost of the suit was $7.99. Total outfit cost: $17.99.
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| Mike Gillis: Coward By: Mike |
| 11.28.05 (8:45 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
image from http://www.artnet.com
http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" title="http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://sneakinout.blogspot.co...
Mike Gillis: coward
She was right there, standing right in front of me, blinking and blushing and smiling and sucking all the oxygen out of the room and crippling time and space and all I had to do... I had a fucking mouthful of beautiful words... and all I had to do was spit them into her beautiful face and bam! The sun would rise, the birds would sing, all the evil would boil and twist and stray dogs would shit money in the streets until the end of time.
But I choked.
I stammered and retreated like a good for nothing coward.
And as I walked away meteors of shame rained down, crushing me, and everyone saw and I'd never get a second chance and I was a tiny disgusting excuse for a man and I couldn't take it anymore so once I turned that corner I dropped to my knees and screamed those fucking words I've been dying to scream for so fucking long.
And then, I felt better.
Because I realized those words in my mouth weren't beautiful.
They were vomit.
And that could've been super embarrassing.
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| Bush's 'Bomb Al Jazeera' Time bomb By Antagnonist |
| 11.28.05 (8:42 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://antagonise.blogspot.com/" title="http://antagonise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://antagonise.blogspot.co...
November 2005
Bush's 'Bomb Al Jazeera' Time bomb
Word on the street is that George Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera. In Qatar. Word is that his comments were "humorous, not serious” which might be true, if only in some parallel dimension.
And, had one had a cursory glance at any government's publicly available major incident response documents, all of which discuss at great length the need to partition and disseminate incident-related information via carefully controlled media channels, one might see how taking out Al Jazeera would make perfect sense as part of any five year invasion plan of the Middle East.
Editors who report on the Al Jazeera memo have been threatened with jail, such is the true nature of the democratic society in which governments could once save themselves from being hoisted by their own petards until some years after it was too late to do anything about it.
Quoting Boris Johnson on the matter of the Al Jazeera memo:
The Attorney General's ban is ridiculous, untenable, and redolent of guilt. I do not like people to break the Official Secrets Act ... we now have allegations of such severity, against the US President and his motives, that we need to clear them up.
If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence. .. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If we suppress the truth, we forget what we are fighting for
Then a mail arrived at 8:55 pm Friday night offering The Antagonist yet another opportunity to go to go and meet Harry Roberts antagonize global super-terrorist Terrorist Tony B Liar, his cabinet of cronies and the underlying administration and establishment which has, with the full complicity, collusion and support of the equally mendacious U.S. administration and establishment, lied to and misled every human being on the planet with access to a television, radio, newspaper or Internet connection.
The Antagonist too will publish and be damned because information, like everyone and everything else, wants to. be free
The RULES of the GAME are CHANGING. Of which, more soon.
Updates:
Obviously, bombing Al Jazeera is far more cost-effective than keeping Al Jazeera journalists in Guantanamo.
They say history repeats itself and that things always come in threes: "In 2001 the station's Kabul office was knocked out by two "smart" bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad centre". [Source: The Mirror]
Watch the Channel 4 News Report on the Al Jazeera memo.
Still more downloads of the report.
Blair Watch have The full list of those who signed up for a bit of global class antagonism along with a great summary of the Al Jazeera story.
Tony is not happy.
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| Am I seeing Things? |
| 11.27.05 (4:35 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://isfullofcrap.com" title="http://isfullofcrap.com" target="_blank"http://isfullofcrap.com
Am I seeing Things?
River Oaks and Highland Park had the Christmas decorations up before Halloween to drum up shopping frenzy.
On the North end of Downtown in the Historic District (ie. where they can't afford to knock down all the buildings and put up parking lots just yet) they have these streetpost banners up:
That's right. Merry Chik-fil-A Dr. Pepper 66 SBC Big Conference Twelve College Championship, Bert! Merry Chik-fil-A Dr. Pepper 66 SBC Big Conference Twelve College Championship, movie house!
I don't think it's George's mouth that's bleeding. I think we're taking this all up some other orifice.
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| Go on- Treat Yourself! By Becks & Posh |
| 11.27.05 (4:33 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" title="http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://becksposhnosh.blogspot...
Two New Chocolate Addictions
I picked up a bar of the British-made Montezuma's Organic, Geranium & Orange Dark Chocolate a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting Avoca at Powerscourt in Ireland. The delightful, mild, perfumed overtones that hit you when you open up the box are even more subtle when you bite into, and taste, this gorgeous, slightly floral, dark chocolate bar. The emphasis is definitely more flower power than citrus fruit, and none of the flavours are overpowering. Oh yumminess of all yummy. It doesn't last long. You had better buy a few. Save up your pocket money first, though, it's Euro 3.80 per bar. But heh - it's a small price to pay for such exquisite deliciousness.
The other day I was on Polk street and decided to drop-in on one of my favourite food stores, Cheese Plus, formerly known (to me) as Leonard’s. This store is under new management and striking changes have been implemented. Gone is the mix-mash of International oddities I was kind of fond of. In their place are well presented luxurious food items I am sure I will get equally attached to. They even sell great-looking fresh sandwiches which I'll have to check out one lunchtime.
The chocolate selection caught my eye. None more than the Vosges Black Pearl Bar, flavoured with ginger, wasabi and black sesame seed. Ginger is the dominant flavour, the wasabi is less detectable and the sesame seeds give it the bar a lovely, slightly crunchy texture. A very nice, spicy bar for $5.99.
Cheese Plus: 2001 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 921-2001
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| Don't be Green with Envy |
| 11.27.05 (4:31 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" title="http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://becksposhnosh.blogspot...
Don't be Green with Envy
Be Green With Kiwi
Fred is not a breakfast guy. Neither is he a fruit boy. But when I suggested he start his yesterday with a kiwi fruit, he surprised me by jumping at the opportunity. Not only that, he declared it to be super-juicy and absolutely delicious.
Of course it tasted good! It was, afterall, a gift from the garden of a well-known food blogger. Can you guess who?
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| Santa Claus is ready to answer your requests... By Laurence Simon |
| 11.27.05 (4:29 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://isfullofcrap.com/" title="http://isfullofcrap.com/" target="_blank"http://isfullofcrap.com/
Santa Claus is ready to answer your requests...
Send all letters to Santa at santa@isfullofcrap.com.
Just be careful. He gets drunk. A lot.
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| Buy Nothing Christmas |
| 11.27.05 (1:07 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
By: Terry
The American humourist S.J. Perelman put it best: "Christmas will soon be at our throats."
I'm surprised at the number of people I meet who admit that they (like me) hate Christmas. Not the holiday per se, but the relentless consumer juggernaut that leads up to it, with the attendant inescapable soundtrack of insipid music, televised banality, false bonhomie, and ridiculous 'gifts'.
Given the old rule of thumb that for every person who speaks up, there’s 10 others who suffer in silence, the number of people with a low Christmas-tolerance threshold seems to be rising. And from the same people who brought us Buy Nothing Day to protest against the over-commercialization of day to day life, we now have Buy Nothing Christmas:
If you think Christmas has gotten too commercialized, here's your chance to do nothing about it.
Their idea: don't buy anything. Give people the gift of your time instead. Or make something and give them that (the picture above shows snow globes made from old jam jars and discarded toys). This movement was started two years ago by Aiden Enns, a Winnipeg Mennonite who was living at the time in Vancouver and, not uncoincidentally, working for Adbusters magazine. He (and Adbusters) admit that Buy Nothing Day never really caught on, but Buy Nothing Christmas is looking like it might have some legs.
Mennonites are sometimes known for taking their religion way too seriously (see Lezah's article on Miriam Toews's wonderful book A Complicated Kindness or, better yet, just read the book), but I'm happy to say that Mr Enns is not one of these. Rather, his site is a thoughtful and surprisingly in-depth examination of society's relationship with 'the annual holidays', and engages the question of what it really means to be a spiritual person. Well worth a look.
If you're still determined to spend a whack of money, why not look at some charities instead? Any of the ones that rotate through the top right corner of these pages is worthy of some attention. There are others, like Oxfam, that have programs where you can buy school dinners for 200 children (about $25), or clean drinking water for 100 people in Africa (about $150).
And finally, if you've had enough and are in a fighting mood, there's the site of the Christmas Resistance Movement ("END COMPULSORY CONSUMPTION!"). They promote activities that are guaranteed to get a reaction from people. A bit unforgiving in spots, but fun overall.
Link: http://www.buynothingchristma...
Link: http://www.vancourier.com/iss...
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| Shoes and Salad Dressing |
| 11.25.05 (6:18 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" title="http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" target="_blank"http://emptybeach.typepad.com...
Well, I did it. I bought a pair of converse high tops. My first ever. They were on sale.
They're white and I know, they're gonna get dirty. But that's ok. I was actually looking for the grey ones, but they were out. i got them at FootLocker in Mission Valley, San Diego. The saleswoman gave me a military discount (must've been my new haircut--thanks Eduardo!). She also talked me into buying a pair of insoles (remember i said converse are cool, but not very comfortable)--she was trying to win a contest for the most insoles sold that day.
Pair white converse on sale: $34
With military discount: $27
A pair of comfy insoles: $19
With military discount: $10
Total price of entire package with military discount: less than $45.
Rob's smile as he walks out of FootLocker: priceless (Albeit butch and militaristic)
Worked another banquet last night. This time for the Hilton. I swear, the moment I started pouring salad dressings into the little silver dressing boats and smelled the buttermilk and italian I was transported back to 1990, to the Cafe Del Rey Moro in Balboa Park-- that old, run-down, rat infested, crumbling WWI building with the moldy stairwells where I was a banquet and restaurant waiter for almost 5 years. Some things you never forget and funny how a song, a touch, a smell can take you back.
Pix 1 - where Rob spent his formative years. (Well, sort of. I mean, doesn't "after high school and coming out of the closet" count as formative?)
Pix 2 - I never served these ladies, though I did serve many a wedding party in this room. We used to launch silverware off the balcony and try to make it into the fountain (pictured above).
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| The Goblet of Fire |
| 11.23.05 (9:03 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://www.kbswasteland.blogspot.com/" title="http://www.kbswasteland.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://www.kbswasteland.blogs...
If you are between 6 and 11 years of age, this was the most anticipated event of the year. And as I'm lucky enough to witness and share in the excitement of one particular nine year old, I find it difficult to see the cynicism most childless adults have to this iconic series. Being in a full cinema on a Saturday morning and feeling the air buzz with nervous energy and hope for a movie is something very special, whatever the actual film in question is.
Those I know above the age of 13 that have allowed themselves to enjoy the J.K. Rowling’s books say that Goblet of Fire is their favourite - It is deeper, darker, more grown up and 3 times as long as the preceding 3, and as such, must have caused the execs a fair few headaches in pre-production. It was always going to have to be one film albeit a much condensed version of the book, purely for marketing reasons, and even at a popcorn stretching 2hrs and 40 minutes is way too short to represent its print version with any accuracy.
And herein lie all its problems; those who have not read the book will become confused to the point of not caring as key events are skimmed over in 20 seconds (if at all) and very little is explained enough to give the climax its necessary gravity. Not that what is in there is bad, it does have a different atmosphere about it, brought in by the new director, but most scenes are handled very well, especially the last half hour and the re-emergence of Lord Voldemort (a deliciously creepy Ralph Fiennes stealing the show). But there is so much missing the whole falls way short of the sense of doom that should be present as the credits roll.
Also, I have to mention the main trio of teenagers... As younger actors it was easier to forgive their inexperience and lack of emotional depth, but they have done 4 of these things now and things really are not improving; now they are just beginning to look stupid surrounded as they are by the cream of British talent. Indeed the adults were outstanding as ever in their roles, but Rickman and the rest were shamefully underused, with Brendan Gleeson as the new dark arts teacher Mad Eye Moody the only one allowed the scope to camp it up in style - he is hilarious, a great character that saves the tone from entering the realm of the mediocre more than once.
What this needs is a longer director’s cut to fill it out. I don't know if such a thing exists, but if not I may even have to think twice about buying the DVD and seeing it again... Who am I kidding? My daughter is nine! Of course we'll buy it - it's the law. 7/10
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| The Guardian’s Top 20 Geek Novels |
| 11.23.05 (9:01 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://www.sashiweb.com/" title="http://www.sashiweb.com/" target="_blank"http://www.sashiweb.com/
We know online polls don’t necessarily mean too much. Actually, most polls of any kind tend to be meaningless anyway.
As such, I’m not about to discuss the validity of this particular poll [Top 20 Geek Novels] or the interpretation of the results [Top 20 Geek Novels - Results!], and instead I’m just gonna see how many of these books I’ve actually read.
So far, 132 people have voted for the best geek novels written in English since 1932, in spite of Survey Monkey’s rubric saying free polls were limited to 100 responses. The top 20 is therefore as follows, with the numbers in brackets showing the number of votes.
1. The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four — George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World — Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer — William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune — Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot — Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation — Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic — Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs — Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen — Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon — Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas — Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land — Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle — Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods — Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age — Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy — Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19
I’ve read some of the top books on the list, while there’re some I’ve been meaning to read for ages but have never got round to yet - books like Asimov’s Foundation series, and the classic graphic novel Watchmen.
Others I’ve yet to get my hands on are Microserfs, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Diamond Age and Trouble with Lichen.
Anyway, this list comes at a good time for me - I’ve been actively increasing the size of my personal library now with the latest addition being DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little. At least lists like this make a good reference point for future titles I should look out for that appear to be timeless in nature.
Any other recommendations?
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| 40 ounces of tequila in 14 minutes |
| 11.23.05 (8:58 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://www.hoshq.com/" title="http://www.hoshq.com/" target="_blank"http://www.hoshq.com/
I've just seen this happen a short while ago, at an experimental theatre performance.
I sat in the front row; heard him crack the seal on the bottle; could smell the alcohol. It was all quite real and very disturbing.
Anyhow, I've been doing a lot of thinking, the last few weeks, about what I want to do with my life for the next few years. I've come up with the following observations.
1. Although I like working for newspapers, I'd rather be making my living from the editorial side. Meaning writing and photography would be preferable to advertising design.
2. I crave a lot of the things big cities have to offer, like higher education, variety when shopping, good live music, and desire to live in one.
3. I still have 30 car payments to make, which is a huge financial burden which is always gnawing at me.
4. I also want to travel again at some point, for an extended period, which will require saving up a lot of money.
5. In this small town where I work as a designer and write on the side, I have enormous opportunities. In terms of arts and culture, I can write about anything that happens here. The Yukon does get a fair amount of quality stuff, and as a writer trying to cover it all I have no competition. I doubt it would be the same way in a big city.
6. I'm earning a shitload of money here. More than any other time in my life. And far more than I'd be making if I was working as a reporter.
So when I consider all that, my future is clear as mud. I can either go be a reporter somewhere and be happier in the moment while slowly paying off the car and not hoping to travel again for years. Or I can stay, endure work I don't really care to do for a year or so, pay off the car, go travelling and then come back and be a reporter.
Which will it be?
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| I hate Windows XP |
| 11.23.05 (8:56 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://www.hoshq.com/" title="http://www.hoshq.com/" target="_blank"http://www.hoshq.com/
I think it's the most awful operating system ever created.
I find it incredibly annoying. It seems like in every way possible it's designed in the most backwards, vile ways. But, as it is what is used at my second job, I must put up with it.
Mostly it's the popups that get to me. It seems like whenever the cursor hovers over anything, there's an annoying yellow box with text that pops up with helpful hints about things which are already blatantly obvious. Often, it covers up whatever it is I'm looking at, making it more of an annoyance than a help.
They're everywhere, associated with everything, and for the life of me I cannot figure out how to turn them off.
When I print something, a box pops up in the task bar telling me I've printed something. Why the fuck do I need that?
And then there's those stupid, shit-kicker animations, the paperclip and the puppy dog, which appear from time to time. Every time I see them I desperately fight the urge to throw the computer out the window.
When I stick a disc in, a box pops up with a list of options, asking me what what I want to do. Why do I need that? I know what I want - I want to open Windows explorer and copy files over. There's a little check mark box which says something like, "don't show this screen again," and I always click it, but the next time I stick a disc in there's that box again.
It's like it's mocking me.
Is there any way I can fix Windows so that it doesn't do all this? If not, I may have to quit the second job soon.
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| On a happier note... |
| 11.23.05 (8:54 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://www.hoshq.com/" title="http://www.hoshq.com/" target="_blank"http://www.hoshq.com/
The Yukon seems to be experiencing a warm spell, with every day for the last five getting above zero, and with the highest high being +7. Not warm by southern standards, but still a gladly received refreshing break from the -22 (or -34 with the wind-chill) we had a few weeks ago. The forecast for the next five days calls for every day to be above zero as well.
My long hair is getting hot and annoying, and I vow, if it hits +10 at all, I will shave my head to honour the weather gods.
The days are getting very short though, with just under seven hours of daylight now, and I think the lack of light is affecting me. It's dark when I leave for work in the morning, and dark when I leave work at the end of the day. But there's only one more month till the days begin to get longer again.
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| Fact No. 736 |
| 11.23.05 (8:52 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" title="http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://sneakinout.blogspot.co...
image from http://www.customoilportraits...
Someday, I'd like to wake up in a different bed, in a different city, perhaps even in a different time, and discover that I'm a popular and influential Jazz musician.
This would be a strange and unexpected (but welcome) gift.
It would be exciting I think, to wake up in a new life, with the means to be heard, to inspire people.
And what would I do with my sudden acclaim; my instant A1 status in the realm of Jazz music and culture?
I'd release an album of course.
Called Unprotected Sax.
Don't groan.
I was gonna call it Anal Sax.
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| Excerpt From This Was Not Supposed To Be An All-Night Thing |
| 11.23.05 (8:50 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" title="http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://sneakinout.blogspot.co...
All of my tests yielded the same results.
The Tilting My Hand At Slightly Different Angles test.
The Dropping Tiny Pieces Of Litter From Various Heights test.
The Staring Into My Lighter For 15 Minutes test.
They all proved the same thing.
That the air around me was not moving.
Not in any substantial way at least.
This meant that the sound I was hearing, the sound of strong winds howling through a large pile of wet animal bones, was entirely in my head and that I was still very much on mushrooms.
Fuck.
It took me two hours to do those tests.
This was not supposed to be an all-night thing.
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| Loading my iPod Part II 9:17 AM |
| 11.23.05 (8:48 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
It's 5 hours after I started and it's only about half-way through the 2765 items I am transferring to my iPod. Man, USB is slow. My old firewire iPod can be reformatted and everything transferred over in less than 30 minutes. Granted, my Mac is an older G4 with USB 1.0, not the recommended USB 2.0, still, it's glacial. Hey Apple! Fire wire compatibility on the next one, okay?
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| Saturday November 12, 2005 4:28 am |
| 11.23.05 (8:46 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
The first Saturday I've had off in a month and I wake up at 4 am. Nice. I just can't sleep lately.
So I'm downstairs in my studio updating my new iPod. I have an older one. The last model before Apple added the click wheel. The one with the row of buttons above the wheel. It's pretty good. I gave it to my wife to keep the rugrats entertained in the car. I got the new one.
Like the last one, this one is my Christmas present. It's a pretty extravagant present, I'll admit. But screw it. I work Saturday's. Its pretty nifty. A little buggy though. For instance, if you are playing a video and you pause the video or just surf over to a song and hit the middle button, it will show you that you have switched over to the new song. It lies. The video's picture is gone, but the video's audio continues to play on, in slooowwwmmotiioonnnnn. It's creepy. You have to turn off the iPod to make it stop. You get around this by using the back button to get out of the video completely. Then you can go play a song. I should report this to Apple. They can probably fix it with a software update. They probably already have. Never mind.
It's also slow as hell to update. USB only baby. It takes forever, especially loading up videos. Other that those little drawbacks it's cool as hell. I got the big one of course. I have much, or little depending on how you look at it, to compensate for.
I love the video. I'm trying to figure out a way to pipe the video signal into my Prius display window. You can watch dvds in Japan. I want to watch my iPod here. While I drive. In rush hour traffic.
It takes a while to convert mpegs and .mov file to an iPod compatible format, but I just set those to run overnight. I'm using iSquint which can batch a folder so it's a breeze. The files aren't as small as the ones you get from quicktime and they have more artifacting, but it doesn't show up on the Pod screen and is tolerable when I'm watching on my 13 inch tv at work. Okay. Enough. So I sometimes have to work Saturdays, but I can watch tv at work. It's just that kind of job. A 60 hour week is still a 60 hour week. Alright?
I started this at 4:28. It's now 4:45. I still have about 2 hours to kill before the rest of the family gets out of bed. I guess I'll select another batch of songs to transfer to the new iPod. The last one just finished.
I've got to get some sleep.
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| Le Sept Quinze - The Parisian Bistro Brought Bang up to Date. |
| 11.19.05 (12:27 am) [edit] |
Swank Home
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Le Sept Quinze, 29, Avenue de Lowendal, Arrondissement 15, Paris 01.43.06.23.06
"La Chef" - the female chef - at Le Sept Quinze presents a quirky modern twist on classic French cooking, using the freshest ingredients in a lively, genial Bistro setting. Read on...
Even before I had bemoaned the averageness of some of our European meals on this trip, a Parisian friend had arranged to meet us for lunch near her place of work, where the 15th and 7th Arrondissements meet. "There's a place I want you to try", she said, " I think you will like it".
She was adamant we should reconnaitre at the very un-French lunch hour time of 12.30. We begrudgingly obeyed, and were first to arrive as the rather ordinary-looking little place opened its doors. No sooner had we sat down at the bar with an golden, antique-coloured apperitif of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, that the whole room quickly started to fill. Our friend bought several work colleagues along with her who apparently all find the opportunity of a lunch at Le Sept Quinze difficult to pass up.
Terrine de Lapin aux fruits sec et noisettes.
A battle was waged over the the two plates of Rabbit Pâte that someone in the know immediately demanded to keep us orally occupied whist we perused the Specials Board and the Menu. The succulent, rich meat, rilette-like in texture, was dotted with crunchy hazelnuts and juicy apricots and prunes. Good Start.
Cochon de Lait caramélisé, compote de coings au piment d'espelette. Caramelized piglet, with compote of quince and piment d'Espelette.
Everyone wanted this dish, but there was only one portion left. Perhaps, because I am English, they felt sorry for me, and all insisted I should be the lucky one. The sticky, fatty, sweet pieces of pork, offset by the sharp quince and the spicy pepper was superb. But, naturellement, I had to share and much swapping of entrees (as the first course is called in France) ensued. The glistening slivers of house-cured gravadlax were as delectable as any I have ever tasted. A salad of fresh artichoke, grapefruit and toasted almonds was bright and zinging with flavour.
St. Jacques étuvées aux herbes, croûton au sechuan. Scallops steamed with herbs and Szechuan croutons.
Heavenly little egg white-like, fluffy little perfect pillows of scallop which had been so gently prepared, they just melted in my mouth. As an added bonus, they even included the delicious corals. Amongst the herbs, tarragon most dominated the flavour. The unusual sage-looking green leaves accompanying were actually some sort of incredible-textured "acquatic plant", that almost dissolved on hitting the tongue. We could garner no further information on this vegetable from the staff. Does anyone know anything more about what it might be? I could not discern any Szechuan in the too-oily, over-cooked croutons that didn't add anything to the otherwise delightful dish.
Croustade de fillet de boeuf, tapenade Crusted fillet of beef with tapenade.
Fred's main choice made a welcome change from the more usual hefty, fatty French Bistro steak choices. A tender piece of meat was wrapped in a crusty pastry coating. Fred was very much taken with this dish, especially the mashed potato side that was provided alongside all the main dishes.
Petite pot de Chocolat, nougatine au sésame & Poire Confit au beurre salé, sablé aux amandes, sorbet cardamome.
I found the desserts to be the weakest element of this otherwise very satisfying lunch. The chocolate mousse had an overwhelming sense of alcohol which was stronger than the amaretto which provided the spirit. The caramelized sesames saved the day. The dessert du jour was equally hijacked, this time by the intensity of the cardamom in the icecream. No worries, by this point we had imbibed several bottles of red wine, and I was just grateful it wasn't me who had to go back to work for the afternoon...
PS. Merci a Valerie pour le recommendation. This review was a first impression
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| Converse-ation |
| 11.19.05 (12:26 am) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" title="http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" target="_blank"http://emptybeach.typepad.com...
I had mistakenly thought the Threadless sale was for one day but it's actually STILL GOING ON. T-SHIRTS FOR $10!!
I'm so tempted to get this one, but Ted will probably strangle me if I buy another t-shirt. Click the link - it's a pair of high top sneakers that form a map, almost like a subway map. Waaaay cool, no?
I think they appeal to me also because lately I've been thinking about getting my first pair of hightop sneakers. I've always been a fan of, and owned many lowtops-- you know, converse all stars (usually black, though I've also owned blue and red in the past). Did you know you can design your own?
For some reason I've never owned HIGH tops, just the low tops. But lately I’ve been interested in hightops. I always thought they would make my feet look funny--like a clown's--but whenever I see groovy looking guys wearing high tops with jeans--especially slightly beat up and faded high tops-- I think: that looks groovy.
So I'm going to try to find a pair of grey or white high tops in size 9 1/2(the white kind have a nifty red stripe around the rubber of the shoe). this site seems to have a good selection of them. I wonder if Santa will come early for me?
One thing though, I wish Converse were more comfortable. they're pretty flat. but i guess that's the sacrifice we make to look cool.
is it wrong for me to be 35/36 years old and wanting a pair of High Top Sneakers?
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| Orange Julius |
| 11.19.05 (12:24 am) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" title="http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" target="_blank"http://emptybeach.typepad.com...
Had an Orange Julius today for the first time in probably 18 years.
Blechhhhhhh! What was I thinking? it tasted like condensed milk and orange juice.
It made me nauseus. I couldn't even finish it.
It wasn't even blended-- I didn't see a blender used when I ordered it.
What has happened to Orange Julius?
Was it always that terrible?s
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| Arrest a Terrorist Suspect; Get a Relative into a US College |
| 11.19.05 (12:22 am) [edit] |
Swank Home
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I don't know why this amuses me since patronage has always been one way of rewarding those that help you but seeing how this applies to the war on terror, well, got to me. If that's what it takes to win the war I guess it is okay, but still...
"Countering terrorism has overshadowed just about all other foreign policy concerns, including "making friends with the sorts of characters you would not have been in the same room with before," one former foreign intelligence official said.
In Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country and the center of gravity for an al Qaeda affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah, that meant befriending Lt. Gen. Abdullah Hendropriyono, then head of the intelligence service.
Sporting black hair lacquered with hairspray and colorful jackets with matching ties and socks, Hendropriyono was more flamboyant than most chiefs. A former Indonesian special forces commander trained at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Hendropriyono was accused by human rights activists of ordering attacks that killed more than 100 unarmed villagers in 1989, according to Associated Press and other published reports. In 2004, he threatened action against foreign humanitarian groups monitoring human rights issues, published reports said.
Hendropriyono replaced an intelligence chief who had conducted surveillance against U.S. and Australian officials, according to U.S. and Australian sources. Al Qaeda leader Omar Farouq had the U.S. Embassy under surveillance and U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Gelbard believed that the Indonesians had purposely blown an operation meant to capture a bombing team targeting the U.S. compound in Jakarta.
In August 2001, Hendropriyono was "a breath of fresh air," said one CIA officer who worked with him. "He was focused, very controversial, but very dynamic." Unlike his predecessor, he was willing to work with the Americans, at a price.
Besides phone calls and office visits, Tenet worked hard on Hendropriyono's requests for goods and services. "These guys had 1970s technology," the CIA officer said. "They were dying for equipment, surveillance, wiretaps."
Tenet came through on two of Hendropriyono's personal requests as well: to provide seed money for a regional intelligence school, the International Institute of Intelligence on Batam Island, and to get a relative of Hendropriyono's into a top-rated American university. When his grades proved an obstacle, the CIA director arranged for him to attend the National War College at Fort McNair, four sources said.
Hendropriyono proved his willingness to cooperate by arresting Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni, a Egyptian who the CIA believed was linked to British failed shoe bomber Richard C. Reid. He also agreed to allow the CIA to take Madni to Egypt for interrogation under a process known as "rendition."
Hendropriyono agreed to expand the cooperation, and officers arrested a few dozen Indonesians suspected of links to terrorism. He began efforts to close down terrorist financing.
Then he secured the approval of his political leadership to apprehend Farouq, believed to be a top al Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia. "He forced [the Indonesian security services ] to work with us and we started picking up the bigger fish," Gelbard said. Attempts to reach Hendropriyono were unsuccessful."
from this Washington Post story
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| Jonathan Strange : Book Review by Kirk |
| 11.19.05 (12:20 am) [edit] |
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A quick look back over the last year of The Wasteland archives reveals the embarrassing fact that I've only managed to get through 3 books from cover to cover in a twelve month period - and one of those I read twice! This has to be an all time low in my adult life and something I definitely need to address. Of course technology is largely to blame in various forms, so it is nice that the book that had the power to grab my attention contains nothing more modern than 1818 and is over a thousand pages long!!
It concerns two magicians who live in an early 19th century England that presupposes a rich and very real history of magic alongside the facts and events we are familiar with. One (Mr Norrell) is a fussy bookworm, very conservative and twitchy in nature, whose aim is to revive the great tradition of English magic with himself and his beloved library as its exclusive centre, and the other is a young and immensely talented upstart, who begins as the former’s apprentice only to blossom into something much wilder and more unpredictable; whose goal is to restore to power the legendary Raven King of old Newcastle.
Susanna Clarke, in this remarkable debut, binds non fussy and rooted narrative with such outrageous fancies that we have no problem accepting eg: that the Napoleonic wars were influenced by spells and fairies. Wellington, Byron and the mad king George III provide a backbone of real persons around which the protagonists, together with a wealth of other vividly drawn characters, weave a strange tale indeed - of rivalry, prophecy, loss, love, ambition and destiny.
It is this range of characters that make it such a compelling read - Vinculus the filthy street conjurer; Childermass, Norrell's shady "man of business" (and my personal favourite); Stephen Black, the enchanted servant destined to be king; the elusive Raven King himself, John Uskglass; and, above all, the mischievous fairy known only as "The Gentleman with thistledown hair"... Each is so different and so alive that it is a genuine thrill to follow them through to the book's hugely satisfying conclusion.
As a debut, you first begin by wondering if the interesting premise will hold water for such a length as a thousand pages, especially as the early chapters meander in a quite pedestrian way through so many subjects it is impossible to see them becoming collectively relevant, but by the arrival of Strange in the second section of three they do; in fact becoming such indispensable details that you chide yourself for being so narrow-sighted. The second thing that happens is you begin projecting possible outcomes and start to wish for certain things to come about, which, again, they eventually do, only not, perhaps, in the way you imagined...!
By the last 3rd I was in love with this book and continued to have my expectations of it surpassed by its ingenious devices, messages and pure imagination. It exists now for me in the same league as other great fantasy tomes I have read and adored - The Lord of The Rings, Gormenghast and the His Dark Materials trilogy. It really is that good and 50 years from now will surely be revered as a classic of the early 21st century - I urge everyone to find the time to drift off into its world and allow yourself to be carried away. I believe the rights for the film are already sold (I, for one, will be submitting my C.V.), but try to read it before the images of that potential film cloud your experience of it. I can never now think of Tolkien's classic without seeing Viggo Mortensen et al, and as much as I love the movies, it is the written word and that long slow pleasure of reading that gives it its true magic. 10/10
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| The Magic Numbers - Concert review |
| 11.13.05 (7:53 pm) [edit] |
The Magic Numbers - November 6/05 Max Capacity.
Opening act: The Parallels - Richards on Richards
Swank Home
The Magic Numbers are the current indie darlings in the music world. When people speak of The Magic Numbers, words like good aura, moving, dreamy, and melodic are often used.
What makes this band the new ‘buzz’ in the music industry? To the point where some well known music reviewers are proclaiming The Magic Numbers’ June/05 cd release as the best of 2005? This next statement was actually written somewhere in a magazine, and I apologize for the lack of source as the quote’s scribbled on a crumpled napkin - ’The Magic Numbers are... The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds-era) crossed with The Beatles crossed with Pavement crossed with a bright summer day...’
All this hype made sense when the band took the stage. Awards for good looks will not be presented to this lot, however, as soon as they opened their mouths, they went beyond beautiful. Such perfect harmonizing and beautiful melodies! My co-reviewer noted that The Magic Numbers were akin to a more melodic Flaming Lips.
The Magic Numbers are two sets of brother/sister. The group’s core originator is Trinidadian singer, Romeo, who met up with drummer Sean, in London. After the two of them decided they had an act, they invited Romeo's equally talented sister, Michele, to take on bass and vocals, while Sean's sister, Angela, was invited to take on percussion and vocals. Of all the vocals, Angela’s ethereal voice keeps the audience tense with anticipation. As soon as she steps into the spotlight and begins to sing, you can literally feel the exhalations of satisfaction from those around you.
Together, this group with its odd assortment of musical instruments and vocal arrangements, has a sound that transcends most acts out there. It has that undefined, intangible, forever sought, ‘it’ factor. The Magic Numbers have ‘it’, and it will be interesting to see how much further they take ‘it’ and subsequently, the listeners.
When the opening act The Parallels took the stage, my first impression was that the fashion of old ska/punk bands (Selector, Specials, Madness) was making a reappearance. With that in mind, I was semi-prepared for some opening ska beats.
What I received was a fabulous and frenetic Joe Strummer meets The Blasters. The Parallels’ set was a tangled, combustible grouping of instruments, movement and vocals. Herky jerky, loud, abrasive and fun. From their first note, The Parallels motivated the audience to move, sway, tap, and shake.
The Parallels are Mike Flintoff, Mike ‘Mick” McDiarmid, Tyler Mounteney and Jarrod O’Dell. Having been a ‘band’ with just a year under their belt, they can be assured that if they keep going in their present direction, they will soon be headlining. Their cd is entitled The Parallels - 1961 McLean.
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| Superman flies in with Harry Potter |
| 11.12.05 (8:47 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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Image sourced from Bluetights.net
The most eagerly awaited movie of next year is without doubt Superman Returns. Slated to be released on June 30, 2006, it stars newcomer introducing-superman-all- new-and-freshly-scrubbed/ =http://www.sashiweb.com/archi...' target='_blank'Brandon Routhas the titular superhero, and is directed by Bryan Singer, the man behind the excellent X-Men movies and The Usual Suspects.
Superhero Hype, meanwhile, has received confirmation from Warner Bros that the teaser trailer for Superman Returns will be shown in theatres with the screening of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.
(This of course applies in the USA - hopefully it is also true for the rest of the world.)
Oh, and while I’m at it - guess who’s gonna be the villain for Spiderman 3? The clue is at the http://spiderman.sonypictures... website. (If you’re not into Spiderman history, Google the name Flint Marko.)
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| Time to get focused |
| 11.12.05 (8:45 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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I was thinking, now that I've gone through with this redesign, with the intent of focusing more on the textual aspects of the blog, I ought to think more seriously about developing specific themes to follow, rather than this haphazard, off the wall style.
If I can narrow it down a bit, then it should be easier to keep at it on a regular basis.
So what am I interested in? Lots of things. On the serious side there's politics, social issues and environmental issues.
On that note, I had the thought that Paul Martin should call the election today. He should do it under the premise he doesn't want to be held hostage Jack Layton and his timetable.
Those NDP are tricky bastards. Think about this: they want to call the election in early January, which means it'll be held in early February. Right after the second Gomery report comes out. If you look at the polls, support for the Liberals drops sharply when Gomery dominates the news, like he did a week ago, and then jumps back up.
The timing of the NDP proposal would put the election just a few days after the report gets released.
The further away we are from the first Gomery report the better for the Liberals, and a Christmas election is as far as it'd be possible to get.
Anyhow, I'm getting off my original topic here. What other things do I like to blog about? What subjects interest me the most? What do I think I know the most about?
There are the artistic areas, design, photography and music. I should regularly blog about some of the new indie bands I've been listening to.
Lately I've been listening to "cold" related artists. Coldplay, The Long Winters and The Decemberists.
And then I should also keep blogging about northern life and my eventual dream of escape, world travel.
That adds up to eight areas to focus on. That's not too much, is it?
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| On Remembrance Day some Yukoners are pathetic |
| 11.12.05 (8:43 pm) [edit] |
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Image sourced from yukonweb.com
Put this one under the Northern Life category.
I hop in my car this morning and drive down to City Hall, where the war memorials are. I get there at about 10:40 a.m.
There's absolutely no one there.
I say to myself they're all probably just inside, keeping warm. So I keep driving, with the intent of going to Tim Horton's to get a coffee.
Then it hits me though, and I say out loud, "I bet they can't take the cold, and they're all up at the brand-new Canada Games Centre!"
And sure enough, they were.
Which only makes sense, because Yukoners, at heart, are all a bunch of pussies. They can't take the cold.
Sure, I complain about it too, but I've only been here a short while. People who have lived here decades or even all their lives bitch about the cold and snow to no end.
Anyhow, the Canada Games Centre (a huge sporting complex recently built with the help of Ontario taxpayers) is located on a hill about a kilometre from the centre of town. The huge parking lot at the centre is full, and cars are parked on the road more than a kilometre in each direction. Being an optimist though, I pull into the parking lot.
As I'm driving around looking for a spot, a car in front of me stops and the driver gets out. The car behind me honks, and so I honk too. The driver walks over to my car and the following conversation ensues:
Me: What the hell? This isn't a parking space.
Driver: Other people are doing it, buddy.
Me: So does that mean you can do it?
Driver: Well, you don't have much choice.
Me: Well, I could fucking ram you. (I begin to inch forward)
Driver: Have a nice day, buddy.
He gets back in his car and drives on.
And it dons on me: what the hell was I doing there? To honour war veterans, or to argue with local rednecks?
So I pull out of the parking lot and head for downtown. I decide that, even if I'm the only one there, I'll honour the veterans where it's supposed to be done, rather than inside a warm, comfortable building.
And it turns out I wasn't alone. A total of 16 people had gathered at the City Hall cenotaphs.
Though no official representatives were present, there were four small wreaths. One was from the "Adult Warehouse."
At least the pornographers remembered the veterans!
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| Intravenous Eating in Paris |
| 11.12.05 (8:34 pm) [edit] |
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This isn't the way Pierre Hermés does Glucose.
We are still in Paris, but not in a good way. This morning Fred woke up with a fever and a temperature. He was dizzy and couldn't walk straight. I had to immediately cancel our imminent flights back to San Francisco and drive him to the nearest hospital where he spent hours and hours undergoing all sorts of tests. It was as tiresome as being on an aeroplane except the seats were less comfortable. All I can say is thank goodness for Carol Vorderman's Massive Book of [My new addiction].
At around 7 pm they told Fred he would have to go and spend the night in another hospital. They gave him a drip and sent him packing in an ambulance - without me. So there I was, lost in France, never having driven in Paris before today. [Crazy drivers, believe me.] I had to go home, to the house we are staying in, (our hosts are away in Belgium for a long weekend), feed the dog, and collect together Fred's clothes and toys [ipod, psp, etc], and then find my way to the other hospital. I don't know quite how I did it, but I got there in the end. When someone you love needs your help, the strength you require materializes. After more rounds of tests they decided Fred could, in fact, come home and sleep tonight, as long as he agreed to return for more prognoses over the next few days.
So here we are, still in Paris, having a quiet time, instead of eating and drinking with abandon like we did over the last week. It looks like my dear Fred is going to be ok, but we need to get to the bottom of what caused the problem, so we can fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Je t'aime, Freddo, please get better soon.
Please, can I ask you, all of my readers, to join me in sending my constant and faithful companion, Fred, some get better soon wishes, from all over the world, in English and/or Français. Thank you. Merci.
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I... CAN'T...STOP... |
| 11.12.05 (8:32 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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Just got these in the mail from EBay. They're 1.5" -- from those old fortune machines-- you put in 10 cents and it spits out a movie star picture with a fortune on the back.
18 of them for $5.00!
Walter Pidgeon, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Jack Oakie, Betty Hutton, June Allyson, Red Shelton, Capt. Clark Gable, Robert Taylon. Elizabeth Taylor, Brenda Joyce, Richard Arlen, Irene Dunne, Ginny Simms, Sonja Henie, and Jane Powell.
the fortune looks like this:
Somebody stop me...
What's next? QVC????
I need a job.
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Saab Story |
| 11.12.05 (8:30 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" title="http://emptybeach.typepad.com/emptybeach/" target="_blank"http://emptybeach.typepad.com...
So, in case you haven't read Ted's entry, or taken his poll ("What should Rob and I name our new saab"), you should know that yes-- Ted and I bought our first car together. A 1988 Saab 900 Convertible. It's greyish black on the outside and grey leather interior. It's wunnerful!
And two days ago I spent the day with it. Driving it on and off the freeway, buying 'the club' for it, making a spare key for Ted, giving it a car wash (I even bought one of those pine scented air fresheners!). It really is a great car (and yes, it does need a little bit of work, but hey! it's a convertible!).
In the meantime, I'm also having these weird stomach problems. It all started with some nausea on Sunday, which I thought was due to my having eaten a piece of thin sliced ahi tuna at the banquet (the $200,000 Bat Mitzvah) I worked on Saturday night at the Jewish Community Center in La Jolla. Let me tell you, this was the strangest, wildest party for a 13 year-old I have ever seen. Little Ali had a kids’ section and an adults’ section. In the kids’ section they had their own bar which served smoothies and kid’s cocktails (virgin pina coladas, etc). They also had a fortune teller, and two very groovy tattooed boys making funky hats for the kids, a candy store that gave out bags of gummy bears/sour patch kids, m&ms. There was a DJ with four backup dancers who taught the kids (and many adults) all of the latest dance moves and handed out prizes like gift certificates to 'cold stone creamery' and 'itunes,' not to mention they handed out feather boas, funky sunglasses, bracelets and necklaces and pins that lit up like christmas trees and rainbows--all of us banquet servers were wearing them. In fact, we were snagging whatever parting gifts we could--my favorite: a tiny microphone that records your voice (I keep using it to freak out the cats--which, by the way, have you checked out ted's gazillion photosof them lately?). There were food stations, dessert stations, frothy coffee drink stations, three bars for the adults. There was also a 20 minute film of the little girl's life-- that looked as if they had hired a professional cinematographer and editor.
Anyway. stupid me tried a piece of the ahi tuna (from the 'sushi bar') that had probably been sitting out for a few hours and now my stomach hasn't been the same. In the last 48 hours I have eaten: a bowl of soup, a power bar, and a piece of toast. but I've lost four pounds!! I'm going to the doctor today to see how long I have to live.
Oh, I voted yesterday. and even though the mayor I voted for didn't win, I am glad to know that my votes helped to crush the governator!
In other news, here is my new favorite t-shirt from threadless:
It has two of my most favorite things in the world-- cowboys and spaghetti! In fact, it's called "Spaghetti Western"!!
Saw an old Nancy Davis (Reagan) film yesterday whilst convalescing in my bed: "Shadow in the Sky", from her MGM days. A simple story about a WWII vet who is suffering post traumatic stress and how his sister (Nancy) and her husband (Ted's favorite: James Whitmore) take him in to their home--with disastrous results. Interesting little film, especially the subject matter, and it introduced to me a hunk of an actor in Ralph Meeker. But I have to say, Nancy was quite a wooden, cold actress--she has absolutely the same demeanor now as she did then!
No crockpot cooking lately--because of my stomach problems--though I did get a juicy recipe from Sandi and Cheryl that I can't wait to try as soon as my appetite comes back. Keep those recipe suggestions coming folks!
We did, however, get an electric vegetable steamer recently that Ted used last night to steam some homemade tamales (yes, they were even wrapped in corn husks) that Eduardo gave us. Damn my stomach. Damn it!
Oooh. Just found this picture of Ralph Meeker as... A COWBOY! Grrrrr.
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Nanny McPhee |
| 11.12.05 (8:29 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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The plan for Bonfire Night - a strangely unique British holiday, celebrating someone trying to blow something up and failing - was to get down to Meadowbank stadium and enjoy the pyrotechnics in the chill November air; an event which has become an annual treat. But we failed to realize that it was the 400th anniversary of Guy Faulks' plot and the extra celebrations planned had inspired everyone and their dogs to snap up all the tickets in advance!
There was nothing for it but to check the cinema listings for something suitably PG, and that turned out to be the Emma Thompson scripted Nanny McPhee.
The idea didn't exactly fill me with excitement, but the revelation of an undiscovered cinema in Edinburgh did. The Dominion in Morningside has been here much longer than I have, yet somehow it had managed to hide beneath the shadow of the multiplexes till now.
It's big appeal is that it has managed to maintain its independence with a touch of class, to say the least - a beautiful bar with regency trimmings, ushers in proper waistcoats and leather sofas and footstools in every screen! Making it more like a posh theatre than a cinema, a real flashback to how it used to be. What luxury to be able to take your shoes off and lay back while watching on the big screen - by the end I had all but forgotten there were other people there, so much was it like my own living room. Brilliant!
As for the film: not bad at all - sickly sweet and very predictable, but it is aimed at very young ones. It does have a touch of class wrapped up in an entirely British sensibility that draws obvious comparisons to Mary Poppins. There is a lot of magic in there and only time will tell if it can come close to the status that film enjoys. Personally I could have done without the talking donkey, but I am 32... 7.5/10
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Saw |
| 11.12.05 (8:27 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
http://www.kbswasteland.blogspot.com/" title="http://www.kbswasteland.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://www.kbswasteland.blogs...
And to finish off a day of movies, no Halloween would be complete without a proper shocker at home with all the lights off. Adverts for Saw II were everywhere, so I looked back on reviews of the first movie, which had passed me by, to see if it was worth a look.
To my surprise the reviews were indeed very good and I wondered why it had slipped my radar first time around. It all begins very ominously with two men chained to opposite ends of a dark and disgusting bathroom with a dead man face down in a pool of blood in the middle.
Slowly they realize they are part of a game being played by an inventive serial killer who wants his victims to appreciate the value of their lives which they have somehow taken for granted. It is effective enough in some scenes, certainly very creepy, and were it not for the plethora of clichés and some terribly camp acting this would have been much closer to its obvious model, Seven.
There are jumps, twists and gore aplenty, loosely hung on a pretty good premise that doesn't quite live up to the potential it suggests. The main question asked is would you lop off your own leg with a hacksaw if it meant you could live? Tough one!
Cary Elwes is so over-the-top towards the end that you get the requisite horror laughs too, something that Danny Glover's obsessed cop also contributes to. It is an instantly disposable and enjoyable film which for the genre actually achieves a lot more than the average fare, but is by no means a good movie. Perfect for the evening but not one for the collection. 6.5/10
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Corpse Bride |
| 11.12.05 (8:24 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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Typical - you don't go to the movies for ages then you end up going twice in the same day! Today was Halloween and collecting my daughter from school I thought it was the perfect time to go and see Tim Burton's latest animation. He has been quite prolific in the last few years and his hard work culminates in this project that was mostly done simultaneously with the live action Charlie and the Chocolate factory.
Johnny Depp provides the voice for the main character, a bumbling young man who inadvertently raises the dead when practising his wedding vows in a haunted wood. Since the days of the magnificent Nightmare Before Christmas, the animation has come on light-years, of course, and looks absolutely beautiful in every Goth tinged detail. There are some cute songs in the mix, some colourful characters of all shapes and sizes and almost too much to take in on first view, such is the depth of imagination.
Mesmerizing was never a more appropriate word and if you are a fan of what Burton does then this will be perfection for you from start to finish. I much preferred Burton’s Charlie & The Chocolate Factory to the Roald Dahl remake - it just seemed as if there were no bounds to what could happen and the simplicity of the tale made it all the more entertaining.
Taking it from a child's point of view I can only say that this movie got a better reaction from Josie than anything we have seen all year, bar none. It is very clever, very funny and has that quaint old fashioned atmosphere that Burton does so well. 9/10.
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Serenity |
| 11.12.05 (8:21 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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A good while since I went to the cinema, and an ever expanding list of things I wanted to see passing me by meant that a Halloween matinee seemed like a real treat.
My first choice would have been Broken Flowers but it was on at the wrong time so I went for Joss Whedon's Serenity, the big screen version of canceled TV Sci-Fi show Firefly. Word of mouth was very good for this unlikely success story and despite clips of scenes I'd seen looking like a slightly bigger budget TV pilot I thought I'd give it a go. Which turned out to be a good move.
Right from the start it appealed to the closet Trekkie in me and I found myself having a whale of a time being introduced to new characters, a new universe, new good guys and new bad guys. The backbone of what Whedon does well, is always create a set of rich characters with satisfying back stories being placed in interesting situations and given sparkling dialogue with a nudge and a wink to all sources of pop-culture never far away. And that's what you get here, perhaps in its most effective form ever!
Yes, it is derivative - everything from Star Wars to Star Trek to Blade Runner and Blake's Seven is paid homage to in a cocktail of all things interstellar that somehow comes together in a totally original way. The original TV cast reprise their roles with relish (as if their very careers depended on it), including main man Nathan Fillion as captain of Serenity and leader of a down and dirty crew of space cowboys down on their luck. The rest of the cast do well enough, but it is Fillion's movie - the guy is a star! He delivers lines of dry wit, sarcasm, angst and strangled heartache with real panache, convincing us that all the inevitable comparisons to Harrison Ford are not as misplaced as you might think.
Serenity has something that a lot of Sci-Fi, or fantasy films of any kind forget to have: a heart! Audiences will forgive any amount of wobbly sets and dubious plot devices so long as we care what happens to the people at the centre of it. In that, and in many other ways too, this is a complete gem worthy of more than just cult status and certainly a sequel or two. 8.5/10
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| The New superman (but remembering the old) |
| 11.12.05 (8:19 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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Superman
More and more news of Bryan Singer's exciting new Superman movie, due for release next Summer emerges every day - and with access to bluetights.net and Singer's daily video log of the production it is easy to jump on the hype bandwagon. Seeing pictures of the new guy (Brandon Routh) in the famous costume and in the garb of mild mannered reporter Clark Kent you can't help but think back to Christopher Reeve.
This led me to go out and buy the original 2 movies (3 and 4 don't could: they are rubbish!) in a secondhand boxset and introduce my daughter to them before she gets a chance to have the new images imprinted on her young brain. And I was glad I did, because you forget just how great they are!
The then totally unknown Reeve is an absolute star from the first frame he appears, and manages to create believable differences between Clark and his alter-ego with effortless grace. OK the flying scenes now look old and don't have the magic they once did, but it is the scenes as Kent in the offices of the Daily Planet or bantering with Lois Lane that still shine. The scripting is well paced, the action still worthy of the name and the emotion underneath it all is surprisingly effective. And it is the latter which truly holds the secret of Superman's success - seeing him scream and fly off around the world so fast he reverses time when he finds Lois dead at the end of the first movie really brought a lump to my throat: it is very intense, giving the whole film a credibility that has really only ever been approached by the Spiderman movies, but never bettered.
And then there's Gene Hackman! The casting of Kevin Spacey as arch nemesis Lex Luther is inspired but as with every other aspect of the production he really has his work cut out to match the original. As with Star Wars, Superman is so intrinsically a part of my childhood that it is almost sacred - be very careful Bryan... I have faith, but will not forgive easily if you mess this up!
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| Franz Ferdinand - 2nd Album Realease |
| 11.12.05 (8:17 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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Franz Ferdinand were one of the biggest bands of 2004, demonstrating a geeky chic style that was both new and retro at the same time.
In 2005 they are still huge, but are no longer the cool new thing and so a second album was always going to be difficult for them. Their eponymous debut sold by the vanload, but it was their catchy singles that got them noticed and kept them being played on ipods everywhere. I loved Take Me Out (still do!) and enjoyed subsequent releases almost as much, without even feeling they were indispensable - and that's a feeling very much carried forward to this new bunch of tunes.
It is a decent set, but it already sounds old and collectively becomes hard to listen to from start to finish as an air of repetition creeps in. Walk Away is perhaps the stand-out tune waiting to be number one everywhere, and my favourite, although there are one or two growers on there too. As a whole it falls short of the sum of its parts and is a little flat compared to its predecessor. Is it because their style is so vivid they left themselves with nowhere to go in any substantial way? They may have been adored by hoards of art students everywhere, but I predict the fanbase will disappear as quickly as it arrived, and there won't be that many tears shed by me for that. 6/10
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| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas |
| 11.12.05 (8:15 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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It seems very wrong to go from talking about Gandhi to this, but it is true that mere hours after watching the Ben Kingsley classic, a deeply emotional cry for peace in every aspect of our lives, I was beating up whores with a purple dildo and spraying anyone with the wrong coloured headscarf with various lethal projectiles...!
One of the reasons I got an Xbox in the first place was to try out this game and see what everyone had been raving about. And it is evident why it is so popular - the game is vast, graphically astonishing, very addictive, wise and knowing, but still mercilessly violent: the ultimate package.
It is pretty easy to master the basics and dive into the world of San Andreas. You have almost unlimited choice in how to live your life as Carl, resident of Ganton and recent ex-con; take a trip to the gym and work out till you look like Mike Tyson, gorge yourself on pizza or friend chicken at any of the myriad take-aways, play pool with the local shark, shop for cool clothes and accessories, or, indeed go on a psychopathic rampage and eventual high speed chase with the law, in your choice of vehicle.
Everything about the game can be customized to your taste, as long as in the end you are prepared to accept the missions laid out for you and do a bit of killing. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean to take the high ground and damn the violence unequivocally, it's fun, as long as you take it with tongue in cheek as it is meant - but there is something about it all that I find so depressing! Whenever I get the itch to play - for a while it is hilarious fun, but after an hour or two it creeps into your psyche and twists your insides a little: it is one of those games that is so huge, yet empty it leaves you feeling quite lonely and you just have to turn it off for the good of your health - does that make sense?
So it is a love hate relationship then. I love the design and scope of the game, but can't see me ever having the will to put time in to complete it. And so for that I'll have to give it a 7.5/10 from what would have maybe been a few points higher if I was a little less opposed to its sordid vibe. It doesn't have an 18+ rating for nothing I suppose!
Phew- where's my little book of calm?
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| My Lip Hair is a Wonderland |
| 11.12.05 (8:00 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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And out of nowhere, with absolutely no training, professional or tertiary, I have become a Grand Sorcerer of moustache maintenance.
I even have special little moustache preening scissors.
But even if I didn't have them, the innate ability to sculpt, to conjure subtle beauty from the hair growing out of my upper lip, would still be there.
I can see beyond layers, right into the heart of the root-matrix.
My thoughts are often heavy with concerns like curvature, length, hesh factor and soup damage.
There's nothing I enjoy more than a post-midday comb'n'snip.
If moustache sculpting was an actual profession, I would be one of its most highly paid and well recognized ambassadors.
The only problem is I find the act of touching any moustache that is not my own repulsive and insulting.
So, if anyone knows of a place or company or co-operative agency that will pay me big bucks to constantly re-imagine my facial hair multiple times a day, send the word.
"But Mike, your moustache, handsome as it is, always looks the same to me. Am I missing something?"
Yes you are. But it's ok. It's not your fault.
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| Love is Poop |
| 11.12.05 (7:58 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
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As most of you know, the theme of ‘Love’ is certainly not an uncommon one in the field of popular music. But what would happen to your favorite song titles if someone replaced Love with something entirely different? Like poop?
Let's find out:
• Can't Buy Me Poop
• All You Need Is Poop
• Poop Hurts
• Whole Lotta Poop
• Crazy In Poop
• Poop Is A Battlefield
• Radar Poop
• What's Poop Got To Do With It?
• Poop Gun
• I Stole Your Poop
• Is This Poop?
• Addicted To Poop
• Poop Rollercoaster
• Can You Feel The Poop Tonight?
• Crazy Little Thing Called Poop
• I Would Do Anything For Poop
• Poop Ain't No Stranger
• Poop Shack
• Poop Is A Deserter
• I Hate The Way You Poop
• Interstate Poop Song
• Poop In An Elevator
• All Is Full Of Poop
• Poop Will Tear Us Apart
Note: this method can also be used for film titles:
• Poop, Actually
and book titles:
• Poop In The Time Of Cholera
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| Fort Langley’s Artisan’s fair |
| 11.07.05 (9:50 pm) [edit] |
Swank Home
What a pleasant surprise (in this season of ‘craft fair’ invites) to attend a local event that actually goes beyond t | |
