Lost: Season 3
26 May 2007, the wee hours
I just finished watching the 3rd season of Lost. Best show on TV? Oh hells yes. That ending came out of no where. I have no idea what’s going on. I love this show.
Comment [2] Television
Compact Flash Woes
25 May 2007, early morning
I used dd, something I’ve never done before, to clone my fucked up compact flash card. This is something I normally wouldn’t do, but I saw instructions on how to do it, and it seemed like a good idea. I then proceeded to try and resurrect my card. Most programs for OS X seem to suck at doing this. One program looked like it was going to fix all my problems, but it couldn’t stop crashing. It would scan about half of the card before giving up spectacularly. And after a few tries, the program stopped finding any photos at all. Some how the card had got even more futzed up. God damn it. I need to dump the clone I made of the compact flash card back on to the card itself, and try once again. I’m thinking i’ll need to look at programs for XP that do this: I was thoroughly unimpressed with all the OS X offerings. Lexar (who make my compact flash card) also have software for recovering photos, but I stupidly threw away the disks that came with my card. (After all, when would I ever need to recover photos from a messed up CF card. Damn it Ram.)
Comment [1] Life | Technology
Prelude to a Suit
23 May 2007, early morning
I bought my first suit when I was in grade 12, many years ago. It was a plain black single-breasted suit with 3 buttons, and I bought it from either Moore’s or Tip Top for not much money at all. I picked it because it was one of two suits they had in my size. And when I say, “in my size,” I am using the term very loosely. (Ahilan actually bought the exact same suit for his formal a few years later: same jacket, same pants, same size. Talk about selection!) I got by with my suit for many years. I wore it to both the formals I attended in high school, interviews for jobs during University, my graduation ball, my graduation itself, a few weddings, and probably a few events I don’t recall anymore. I hated wearing that suit; it was such a piece of shit.
My formal wardrobe has only got worse since leaving school. I work at a software company that doesn’t have any issues with me wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I used to worry about wearing my FCUK zip-up to work, but all of our executives have seen me in it now, and they haven’t fired my ass yet. For a long time I had no incentive to buy a proper suit, so I avoided doing so. Instead I built up a serious-ass collection of Threadless t-shirts. (One that almost rivals Dave’s. He buys shirts just to have more than me, that punk.)
For most Hindu weddings I would wear an Indian suit my grand mother bought me. Doing so allowed me to avoid wearing my suit. This is what I did for Rishi’s wedding, which was filled with lots of brown people, none of whom were dressed like me. I should have known something was up when Rishi himself was wearing a suit to his wedding. I don’t mind sticking out, but I remember thinking, “maybe its time I buy a new suit.”
I didn’t want to get another off the rack suit. There wouldn’t be much point in that: I already had one poorly fitting suit, I certainly didn’t need two. I ended up doing something I never thought I would do, the sort of thing I make it a point of mocking Mezan about: I bought a bespoke suit. And it is awesome.
God Damn eMac
21 May 2007, the wee hours
I should have known better than to plug my compact flash card into my brothers eMac: the god damn computer crashed, taking my very important photos with it. I know they are still there, some where. My camera can’t see any photos, but it knows the card is full. Krishna’s stank eMac certainly can’t see them. I think i’ll have to spend tomorrow trying to figure out how to recover the photos. God damn it.
Barberian's
18 May 2007, early morning
Yesterday night a bunch of us surprised Patrick for his birthday at Barberian’s, a steak restaurant in Toronto. Jaclyn did a great job of rounding a lot of us up for the night. I met all the other people Patrick hangs out with — his Bizarro friends if you will — who I sort of remember from my days at Waterloo. We had a table for 15 or so people in the back room of Barberian’s, and I’d have to say they did a great job of accommodating us throughout the night.
The place is on Elm, just north of the Eaton’s Centre, in a fairly nondescript building/house. The place doesn’t look like your typical haute Steakhouse; one half of the place looks like an old pub, the other half is ever so slightly more fancy. I think the place has a nice feel to it. The room we were in was large enough to seat a fairly big party. There is also seating down in the restaurant’s wine cellar, which is supposed to be quite nice.
Barberian’s serves steaks — and a few other things. I don’t think there is much point going there if you aren’t going to buy a steak. The steak I had was amazing, and I am pretty sure everyone else enjoyed theirs. (Patrick has been described to me as both a “Steak Snob” and a “Steak Princess”, so maybe he can chime in with how the place stacks up in the grand scheme of steak restaurants.) The price of a meal ranged from about $30 – $50 dollars, depending on the entré you got. As Steak places go, I don’t think it’s particularly expensive, and I thought what I had was well worth the money. The wine list at the place is something to behold. The wine my friends and I split was quite tasty.
I think Barberian’s caters to a very diverse group of people. It didn’t have the sort of old banker feel other steak places sometimes have. I could certainly see it appealing to that crowd as well, but at the same time they had no issue with a group like ours. There were all sorts of people eating when we arrived. The staff were very helpful throughout the evening. The owner popped by briefly to wish Patrick a happy birthday. I found it to be a very friendly place. On the whole I think Barberian’s is well worth checking out.
Comment [1] Restaurants and Bars | Life
Necessary Illusion
16 May 2007, early morning
I’m working my way through Necessary Illusion, by Noam Chomsky. It’s one of the Massey Lectures books the CBC has been putting out recently. It’s quite good. It’s also a very frustrating read. I can’t get through 2 paragraphs without having to stop to take a few deep breaths: the book makes me so damn angry. Necessary Illusion is all about thought control and propaganda in a democratic society. Chomsky focuses on how the US media contorts the news to push an agenda that the state approves of. Much of his examples comes from the news coverage in the US of the war in Nicaragua: the US was terrorizing the civilian population there because they were so brazen as to support a communist/socialist party, and not another puppet leader from the US. (I need to read more about South Americas history.) It seems like every single country has been personally fucked by the US.) What the US was getting up to was bad, but the way it all was covered makes it all the worse. I am left wondering if there is any point reading the traditional press for coverage of any news of consequence.
It's So Unfair
15 May 2007, early morning
I watched Arrested Development, from start to finish, one more time with Shima. Its just as good to second time through. I still can’t believe they canceled this show. Well, I can. That’s how things go on TV. The good stuff rarely lasts. We get 3 versions of CSI, 8 versions of Law and Order, but one show about a crazy-ass family? That’s just too much for TV to bear.
Comment [2] Television
Dreamgirls
14 May 2007, early morning
I watched the Pursuit of Happiness without any sound on the plane ride back to Canada, having decided it wasn’t worth splurging the $2 for headphones. Dreamgirls was up next, and I wanted to see it, so I sucked it up and bought a pair of uncomfortable crap earbuds. I regretted not getting them earlier, since I imagine the Pursuit of Happiness would be even better with sound. Anyway: Dreamgirls was a very enjoyable film. It’s a musical about the rise and not-quite fall of Motown-esque sort of music studio. The film features several stars, including the delectable Beyoncé (meow). Eddie Murphey plays a James Brown sort of character, and is by far the best act in the movie. (The best scene in the movie has to be Murphey singing his “Jimmy Got Soul” number near the end of the film.) As I said, I enjoyed watching the film. It’s nothing brilliant, but quite fun to watch.
I'm Back Yo
10 May 2007, early morning
My plane touched down in Toronto yesterday afternoon. While waiting for my bags a random police officer person asked me what I was up to, where I was coming from, etc. I repeated everything I had told the people in customs 10 minutes back. I wonder if I look particularly suspicious or not. I’m always so curt with the immigration officers at airports because I always assume they think i’m trying to scam my way into the country. I guess they are paid to be rude, though. (Is the comma between “rude” and “though” appropriate?) It’s nice being back, though I really enjoyed my trip. Shima had tidied the apartment up while I was away. I need to tidy up for more when I get home tonight. I am so broke. I think it’s time to sit around at home and play some WoW.
It's been 12 years
4 May 2007, terribly early in the morning
I haven’t been back to London in 12 years now. Being back has been nice. One day into the trip, I’ve spent most of my time between two houses. As such, I have no real sense of what England is like now. So far it seems to be more of the same. In case you are wondering about the lack of links, i’m out of the country for a few days.
Short Hair Reprise
2 May 2007, early morning
My hair, which was long and messy this past weekend, is short once more. Not super short, but short nevertheless. I have to attend a wedding and didn’t want to deal with the constant harassment I know I’d receive from my mother if it was still long. Still, right now, at this very moment, I feel like a total goober.
City Idol
30 April 2007, mid-morning
City Idol was an excellent movie. It captures all the excitement that surrounded the City Idol event perfectly. Watching the movie you really feel like you are racing along with the contestants and organizers as they try to shake things up. I was thoroughly impressed with this film; Shima and Riadh liked it a lot as well. It was a great way to end this years HotDocs festival for myself. I think it might have been my favourite film of the bunch that I saw. After watching City Idol I am all the more depressed with the municipal political system. It is depressing that such an articulate, thoughtful, and charismatic young man like Desmond Cole couldn’t win his riding. Of course, he had to compete against Helen Kennedy and Adam Vaughn; that was a tough race to be a part of. Still, its a shame people are always willing to vote in more of the same. Cole still seems active politically and in his neighbourhood, which is great news. The movie is certainly worth watching if only to see Cole’s monologue about police harassment midway through the film. During my screening the audience started clapping after he was done. It was fucking brilliant.
City Idol was the last film I saw at Hotdocs 2007. BlogTO quite liked the film as well.
Comment [2] Movies | Hot Docs 2007
3 Times Divorced
30 April 2007, early morning
3 Times Divorced was a depressing little film about a Palestinian woman’s trouble getting custody of her children back from her abusive husband. This is complicated by the fact she’s from Gaza originally, so she isn’t a full Israeli citizen, and that she’s a women trying to deal with a deeply enshrined patriarchy in the Sharia court. It’s a film full of frustration. The production is a bit sloppy, but the footage is interesting, so I suppose that balances out. On the whole, it sort of felt like another, “look how backwards these Muslims are,” sort of film. I don’t think it covered any exciting new ground in this regard. Still, on the whole it’s a good film.
3 Times Divorced was the 6th screening I attended at HotDocs.
Forever
30 April 2007, early morning
I think I would have enjoyed Forever more if I wasn’t so exhausted. The film is a series of interviews that take place at the Peré-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, which has no shortage of celebrity graves. In terms of cinematography it was great, but on the whole I just wasn’t in the mood for this film. Compared to the other documentaries I watched thus far, it certainly is one of the ones I liked the least.
Circus School
30 April 2007, early morning
There are scenes in the film Circus School of children doing standing back flips, again and again and again. All you hear is this constant thud, thud, thud, and all you see are the grimaces on the kids faces as they are doing them. It’s kind of painful to watch. These little scenes struck me as being microcosms of the movie as a whole, which was incredibly intense. Shot almost entirely in a school for acrobats in China, the story follows the trails and tribulations of a small group of children trying to learn their tricks and make it as acrobats. The film really was excellent. My heart was beating so fast during the first half of the movie while you’re watching the trapeze artists practice and then compete. The second half of the film leaves you wondering how broken these children will be once they are done with the school. They are worked so incredibly hard. It is amazing what the kids accomplish mind you, but I’m not sure the costs are worth it. In the QA we learned the film makers didn’t think so, but this doesn’t come across in the film. There is almost no narration, no blatant editorializing. It’s just scene after scene of kids working hard to become acrobats. You need to watch this movie.
After this film, we went to watch Forever. BlogTO did the same thing. Circus School was the 4th screening I attended at HotDocs.
Go Sri Lanka
28 April 2007, early morning
Rain’s delayed the game. I might be able to make it back before the first few overs get under way. Sri Lanka need to be playing some good cricket today.
Update: Gilchrist was amazing to watch, scoring 149 off way less than 149 balls. Sri Lanka need 282 to win. This was a shortened game, only 38 overs an inning. Australia’s score is pretty damn impressive. For a while it looked like they were going to get upwards of 300. The Sri Lankan bowlers were really performing poorly. The commentators were saying it’s a good pitch for batsman, so we’ll have to see if Sri Lanka have some luck as well. The Sri Lankan batsman really have their work cut out for them.
Update: Sri Lanka lost. Sucks. They had a good run, but Australia are like robots.
Catching Up on Lost
27 April 2007, early morning
I spent 4 or so hours watching 5 episodes of Lost. The Nicky and Paulo show seemed a bit out of place in the grand scheme of things, but on the whole that was an awesome run of episodes. I’m now only 1 episode behind. I love Lost. Once you start watching its very hard to stop.
Comment [4] Television
Sri Lanka vs. New Zealand
24 April 2007, late morning
It’s the semi-finals, and Sri Lanka are squaring off against New Zealand. Sri Lanka are batting first, and off to a so-so start. The run rate is good, but they have lost two important wickets: Jayasuriya was out for 1, and and Sangakara was out for 18. Both wickets were particularly lame; I’m sure they’d both be a bit disappointed in themselves. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka soldiers on. I’m hoping it’ll be a good game — I took the day off to watch it.
Update: 289-5! What a great total. Tharanga got the team going with a really good start, but I think most people will say it was Jayawardene who really got things done. In the early part of the inning Jayawardene’s strike rate was around 30% or so, but he really kicked it up in the last 10 overs, ending the game with a 100+ strike rate — great stuff. Dilshan and Silva were both out for pretty unlikely LBWs, but that happens sometimes. New Zealand will have a tough time batting with Sri Lanka’s entire bowling line-up well rested and ready to get some wickets. Should be a good innings.
Update: Malinga takes a wicket in the second over. Holy shit. Sri Lanka’s bowling attack is killer.
Update: New Zealand are all out in the 41st over. Sri Lanka played a kick ass game. New Zealand were looking good during the 10th to 20th over, and then pretty much collapsed. I was impressed that Franklin and Patel managed to rake up 64 runs between them. Sri Lanka are on to the finals.
Last Call at the Gladstone
22 April 2007, late evening
I watched Last Call at the Gladstone tonight with Shima. (I mentioned the film a few days back.) The film follows the lives of the residents and staff at the Gladstone, as it makes its way from flop house to boutique hotel. The film takes place over 5 years, and it’s really amazing watching the transformation. The arts community is up in arms now about how they are going to be displaced by all the yuppies moving into Queen West, but these same people seem to forget that their presence has had an equally destabilizing influence on the neighbourhood as well. Of course, I don’t think you can make the argument Queen West was a health neighbourhood in the 80s or 90s. I would argue the changes have been for the better — for the most part — but the city should be more active in ensuring that people aren’t completely displaced. The movie is really well put together. It tells a complete story about gentrification, from start to finish. It’s at times quite powerful. I’ve been really impressed with all the movies I’ve seen at Hotdocs thus far, and this film is no exception. The filmmakers should be proud of what they have put together.
This was the 3rd screening I attended at Hotdocs 2007. The film was shown with To Costco and Ikea Without a Car, which was a cute little short.
Enemies of Happiness and XH-PG
22 April 2007, late evening
I went to watch Enemies of Happiness with Rishi. We met at the cinema, which was pretty packed. Hotdocs seems to be more popular than ever. Prior to the screening of Enemies of Hapiness was a screening for the short film XH-PG, a movie about the protests in Mexico following the last election. It was a series of interviews, and reasonably interesting, though I didn’t think it was anything spectacular. Enemies of Happiness followed, and I was quite impressed with the film. The film makers followed Malalai Joya as she campaigns for a seat in Afghanistan’s parliament. It was a very interesting movie, showcasing the troubles she went through to run as an outspoken female candidate in a fairly sexist society. Compared to The Devil Came no Horseback, this film was certainly more hopeful, though that isn’t saying much. It’s a good movie, well worth checking out.
The official Enemies of Happiness web site. This was the second screening I attended at Hotdocs 2007.
The Devil Came on Horseback
21 April 2007, lunch time
I’m a big fan of the Hotdocs film festival that takes place in the spring here in Toronto. As in previous years, I bought myself a festival pass, and plan to watch a crap load of films over the next week or so. The first film I saw for the festival, The Devil Came on Horseback was an incredibly depressing look at what is going on in Sudan. (I suppose it’d be tricky to make a happy go-lucky film about Sudan.) The movie follows ex-Marine Captain Steidle as he tries to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur. Steidle was on the ground as things there started to escalate, and witnessed first hand all the wanton death and destruction reigned down by the Janjaweed. He was in Darfur as a monitor with the African Union, and took countless photos of the things he saw. I don’t think I’ve ever see that many dead bodies in a single film. I honestly have no idea how he can sleep at night, having seen first hand all the things he has seen. It must be incredibly hard. The Devil Came on Horseback is excellent. It’s a very powerful film. I think everyone needs to watch it.
The official The Devil Came on Horseback web site. This was the first movie I saw at Hotdocs 2007.
Peter Brimelow is a Broken Man
19 April 2007, mid-morning
Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law. — James Baldwin
VDARE wastes no time when it comes to exploiting the dead of Virginia Tech. The bodies aren’t even in the ground, but that doesn’t stop Peter Brimelow with blessing us with this little gem:
There is one indisputable fact about Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech: if Seung-Hui Cho had not been allowed to immigrate to the U.S. in 1992, he would not have been able to murder 33 innocent people here in 2007. — Virginia Tech Massacre: Gun Control—Or Immigration Control?
Whose earliest reactions, after learning 33 students are dead, is to rush to write a diatribe against Koreans? Besides being stupid, it’s incredibly callous. Of course, it’s the sort of reaction one would expect from the people of VDARE. VDARE is anti-immigrant, which just happens to make them anti-immigration. To pretend the organization is not composed of a bunch of racists trying to legitimize their racism is disingenuous to all parties. As such, stories such as this are what they live for. You can be certain this story will be a bullet point in all future stories they write about Koreans.
Now I have no interest in writing about how Koreans aren’t all killers in training, criminals, prone to violence, etc. I certainly hope Koreans don’t take it upon themselves to do so as well. This is a stupid argument to be forced to make. You don’t have to defend yourselves to anyone, least of all White Americans. If they have a problem with Koreans because of the actions of one person, that is their problem; they are the ones who are fucked up.
What I did want to say is that Peter Brimelow and his ilk are broken — and I mean that quite literally. To be unable to look at another human and get past the fact they aren’t White is sad. It takes effort and willful ignorance to live ones life that way. It takes a rejection of your own humanity.
Michael’s turned off comments on his weblog, which is why all this stuff has spilled over to my own site, and for that I apologize. I like linking to random crap much more than writing about wing-nuts, but people such as Brimelow need to get called out for being dumb asses.
Sleeping Dogs
17 April 2007, early morning
Dave, Patrick and I watched Sleeping Dogs on Sunday night at the Royal, an independent cinema in Toronto. One of Dave’s co-workers was involved with the film, which is how we all heard about it. The film was written and directed by Terrance Odette, who I think has done a nice job with this film. Brian Stillar in the lead role was great. The plot follows Stillar, a blind diabetic alcoholic, as he escapes from a rehab clinic in search of his dog, whom his brother has taken to the pound to have put down; a nurse at the clinic tracks him down, and wanders the streets of Kitchener-Waterloo with him, as they make their way to the pound. It’s a film is about isolation; everyone in the film is alone in the world, more or less. (There is a scene near the start of the film which I thought was clumsily edited: Stillar and his brother are talking, but it is cut together such that it looks like the director spliced two distinct conversations together. Of course, it is possible I’m just reading too much into bad editing.) The film is very slow moving: the plot is light, and a lot of scenes play out without dialog. At times this works, and at times it is tedious. The soundtrack is incredibly annoying — shrill and piercing “twangy shit”. (I suspect this was done on purpose, as a character in the film talks about how annoying twangy country music is, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.) The film is marred at times by how low budget it is. At times the sound is atrocious, and it takes away from the movie. The actors in the film vary in skill from great to not so good, and the interaction between bad actors and good ones is painful to watch on the screen. (I thought all the leads were quite good mind you.) Nevertheless, it’s well worth watching — we must support our Canadian talent when we can.
Getting worked up over scarves: it's not just for soccer anymore!
16 April 2007, early morning
I don’t want to get into religious issues. I’m not a racist. I understand they’re disappointed. We’re not shutting the door on the Muslim community, we’re just enforcing the rules and regulations that are there to be respected. — Jean Flacher, Tae kwon do team knocked out for wearing hijab
I don’t know him Jean Flacher, but I am sure he’s a nice fellow. Still, using rules as an excuse for discriminatory behaviour is lame to say the least. The girls aren’t wearing baseball caps, they are wearing scarves required of them for their religion. When you don’t let them participate, you are effectively shutting the door to them and their community. (Also, people need to get over the idea that there is a giant global Muslim community. You’d look like an idiot if you started prattling on about the Christian community, but talking about all Muslims like they were a homogenous unit is quite reasonable in the West. People seem unable to get past the fact that Muslims from Pakistan are probably different than Muslims from Africa who are probably different than Muslims from Saudi Arabia.) I’m left wondering how long this rule will stay in effect. I’m also wondering if such a ban exists on turbans.
All of that said, why little girls are being asked to wear scarves? It seems a bit off from my understanding of what head scarves are for, and what they mean. I don’t see why an 10 year old needs to worry about modestly before god after all. Maybe a Muslim reader can chime in. I notice Shima thinks that is a bit off as well.
Ridley Scott is Moving In
15 April 2007, early morning
When Bloor and Lansdowne makes the front page of the Star for something that isn’t crime related, you know it’s going to be good. Yesterday, I, along with many of my neighbours, learned that Ridley Scot was planning on opening a large studio complex in my area . It’s big news for Toronto on the whole really. The building would sit just North of Bloor on Lansdowne, at 940 Lansdowne Ave. This is the sort of new development that could have a very big impact on the neighbourhood. For starters, you’ll have an influx of new people working at the studios, who will need places to eat and shop during the day; second, for something like a studio, I imagine you may attract people who want to come and check it out. I’m hoping the empty store fronts start filling up with more restaurants and shops. At the very least Dupont may get a bit less ugly.