15 September 2004, mid-afternoon
You might have thought I had slowed down with my movie watching, but think again. I watched The Ladykillers with Gary last night. I thought the film was hilarious. The movie is about a group of robbers who are trying to rob a casino. They are tunnelling from the home of a very religious, strong-minded, black women whom the leader of the group has rented a room from. The dialogue in the film is great because each of the five lead character in the movie sounds, acts, and talks totally different than the rest of the characters. The film is strange to say the least. I think the film is well worth watching.
The official The Ladykillers web site
[1] Movies
15 September 2004, mid-afternoon
I watched Bombay again with Shima yesterday. I am a big fan of Mani Ratnam, and I think this is one of his better films. The movie is about a Muslim girl and a Hindu boy’s marriage, and the negative reaction to their love from their respective communities and family. The backdrop to the whole film is the communal rioting that took place when Hindu nationalists tore down the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. The film takes a good look at the effects of the rioting in India, but makes no attempt to suggest a way to solve India’s problems (beyond the simple common sense of treat each other with respect). The movie has a great score, and great music by A.R. Rahman. If you haven’t seen too many Bollywood movies, this is definitely one to watch. I think at times the movie feels a bit too preachy or cliché. I think Kamalhasan’s Hey! Ram is actually the best movie out there on the subject of communal violence in India.
[2] Movies
15 September 2004, mid-afternoon
I finally can say I have seen The Karate Kid. I’ve wanted to see the movie for years now, and this weekend I finally watched it—on tape no less. I’m sure everybody knows this is a film about a kid who is taught Karate by a crazy old Japanese man, and in learning Karate learns that violence isn’t always the best way to solve problems. Well I think that was the message that was trying to be taught. I thought the film was entertaining in a thoroughly bizarre sort of way. If you haven’t seen it you really should just so you can say you have.
Read reivews of The Karate Kid at Rotten Tomatoes
[2] Movies
12 September 2004, early afternoon
Panorama
Carvill invited me out with some of her friends from work this past Saturday night. The plan was to go to Panorama for drinks, and then out dancing after. Apparently last weekend Panorama was closed for a wedding, so Carvill and her friends were determined to get in this time.
Panorama is a restaurant/lounge at the top of the Manulife Centre at Bay and Bloor. It boasts one of the nicest views of the city I have ever seen. I should have brought my camera.
Panorama charges a 3 dollar cover on Saturday nights. This Saturday it was quite busy. There were five of us out this evening; we were squeezed in to a ‘table’ that seats four. This was the best we could get on this particular night. We were seated out on the patio though, which was quite nice. Drinks are on the expensive side at Panorama. I bought a Lotus Martini (a pineapple martini) for 12 dollars. Beers were all about 6 or 7 dollars, mixed drinks were about 7 and up, cocktails were around 10 dollars. The place had a small selection of wines and champagnes priced at usual wine and champagne prices.
The place serves some food. There are assorted appetizers and pizzas available to eat, and a small selection of desserts. Carvill ordered a Medeterian dip appetizer, which consisted of pita bread and various dips. It was good, but not exceptional I suppose. At 10 dollars it was a bit pricey as well.
Basically at Panorama you are paying a premium for a very nice view. I think the place is worth the extra bucks you will end up dropping. Panorama would be a great place to take a date. I saw so many couples there last night, I am certain I’m not the only person that thinks so.
Lula Lounge
We followed up Panorama with a Latin club called Lula Lounge. Lula Lounge is at Dufferin and Dundas, in the Portuguese part of town. The place is big and pretty bright, with a large dance floor and stage. There are tables around the dance floor. The place has a dinner and dance lesson combo for 40 dollars. When we walked in at 11:00 there was a live band playing some kicking Salsa music.
Lula caters to what seems to be a big mix of people. Everywhere I looked I saw the oddest couples dancing with one another to the Salsa music. For the boys out there, go to Lula. You will need to learn how to dance, but I guarantee you will end up dancing with girls out of your league. I saw so many 50 year old men dancing with hot twenty somethings. I saw guys that looked like total tools, stepping on themselves and their dates, but giving it a good effort, dancing with some fine-ass women. Incredible I say!
This was my first time out to a salsa club. The people I was with commented that Lula’s dance floor was much larger, and much less crowded then some other popular salsa spots in the city. I don’t know if I’ll go back to Lula again, since I don’t salsa, but I think the place is worth checking out.
A Ram Story
At Lula lounge I met a friend of Carvill’s friend, this lady from Equador, who was really really hot.
[1] Restaurants and Bars | Music
10 September 2004, late evening
Toronto has a pretty good public transportation system. I mean, compared to other cities I have spent time in I am unimpressed, but it’s better then nothing. I recently had to make a trek from my house in the East end to an appointment in the West end. And when I say West end, I mean West; this place was at the very edge of the city. Here are the notes I made on my trip back to the East end:
- The time it took to get from my appointment to Kipling station via buses was 25 minutes.
- The time it took to get from Kipling Station to Kennedy station on the subway was 50 minutes. For those not from Toronto, this subway line run East to West, and crosses the entire city almost. This was the longest step in my trip.
- The time it took to get from Kennedy Station to the Scarborough Town Centre station on the Rapid Transit train was 10 minutes.
- The time it took to get from the Scarborough Town Centre Station to my kitchen was 20 minutes by the bus followed by a little walking.
- From my appointment back to my home took just over 2 hours on the TTC. 15 minutes of that time was waiting for the first bus I would take on my trip.
So those are some fun little TTC facts.
[8] Life
7 September 2004, late at night
I really enjoyed A Complicated Kindness. The book is a very bleak look at the life of a teenage Mennonite girl living in a small Mennonite village. To say the book is depressing would be a bit of an understatement. As you read the book you slowly see the heroine Nomi Nickel unravel before you. By the end you are almost begging for things to turn around for her. I don’t want to give away the ending, or anything else about the book, so I will say no more about it. I really do recommend you read it. I picked it up by chance at the Edmonton airport last week, and I am very glad that I did. If you love Catcher in the Rye you most definitely will enjoy this book.
I have 3 more books I plan to read, before getting back to Quicksilver. Damn that book!
[4] Comics and Books
7 September 2004, late evening
Hero is an absolutely gorgeous film. Each scene in Hero looks absolutely exquisite. The colours, the framing, everything. It’s basically perfect. The story is simple, and told in a Roshomon type fashion. A hero is given an audience with a tyrant king in order to narrate to the king how he managed to slay 3 deadly assassins who were bent on killing the king. The fight sequences are great. Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung can do no wrong. They seem to play couples in so many movies they do together. Jet Li is excellent in the film as well. It is sad to see how bad the roles he gets in North America are when you see his Asian films. Go watch this movie.
Read reviews of Hero at Rotten Tomatoes
[5] Movies
7 September 2004, late evening
Johnie To has to be one of the best directors to come out of Hong Kong. His action films are top-notch. If you haven’t seen anything by him, you should definitely check out The Mission, Expect the Unexpected and Comeuppance. I watched Full Time Killer with Mezan yesterday afternoon. The film is about two rival professional killers, played by Andy Lau and Takashi Sorimachi. I thought the film was good, but not really exceptional. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout the film, but I don’t think the film is as good as some of To’s other work. If you are stuck for something to rent at block buster, it may be worth checking out. His other films might be harder to track down.
The Full Time Killer official web site
[7] Movies
6 September 2004, mid-afternoon
I got an email from my GMail account sent to my Funkaoshi account. Now, I didn’t send it. At first glance I thought someone had hacked my GMail account, but had been nice enough to send me the new password, since the message looked like this:
Looking forward for a response :P
password: 28382
But when I logged into Gmail, I didn’t see the letter in my sent mail box. Well, also, I didn’t need to use the new password. Damn, a virus I thought. I didn’t notice at first, but the message contained an attachment. You needed to use the enclosed password to open the attachment. Once open, there is a .src file. Now, on a PC, perhaps at this point bad stuff would have started happening. On my Mac, things are less exciting. The .src file opens in GraphicConverter of all programs, and just ends up showing me a lot of hex code.
The question I have for you out there is this: has anyone else seen something like this? Has anyone else got this email from me? The message is called __ meay-meay!_ and has a playful little message inside. It is a little bit creative in that it plays on peoples curiosity.
On a side note, I get all my virus spam email from South Africa.
[4] Life | Technology
6 September 2004, terribly early in the morning
Persepolis is a graphic novel by an Iranian illustrator, Marjane Satrapi. I bought the first volume some time last summer. I saw it in Chapters and thought it looked quite interesting. The book is a great autobiography. Marjane recounts her life in Iran in a very frank and honest manner. You get to see a glimpse of what it was like for a child growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. I don’t know if I would have bought the book before going out with Shima, but since I’ve started dating her I feel a desire to learn more about where she is from. Regardless of whether you have a Persian girlfriend or not, the graphic novel is excellent.
I was eagerly waiting her follow up to the book. Persepolis ends with Marjane leaving for Austria to study in order to flee Iran’s war with Iraq. The second novel is just as compelling as the first. About half the novel discusses the four years of her life she spent in Vienna, and the difficulty she faced living in a society so different from that which she was used to. The second half of the book examines her difficulty coming back to the country she had fled 4 years prior. Marjane is rebellious and modern, a thoroughly atypical Persian heroine. The book is enjoyable to read because it presents a side of Iran you will never see watching western television, and a view I imagine the zealots in power in Iran would not like people to see. I recommend both graphic novels.
[2] Comics and Books
4 September 2004, evening time
I now have 4 GMail invites up for grabs. Now, I will probably give one to my brother if he wants one. I don’t think any of my friends want one, but I may be wrong here. Anyway, if you want a GMail account, let me know.
Update: I have 11 GMail invites now, and no one I know seems to need them. Anybody still without GMail? Comment below if you want one. I’ll give them out at random or something.
Update: Done and done.
Update: Grab GMail account at the GMail Spooler.
[24] Life
3 September 2004, mid-afternoon
I watched Magnolia again with Shima, who had never seen the movie before. I’m a big fan of the film, and of its writer/director P. T. Anderson. The movie is a look at the lives of a large group of people, and how they are all in some ways linked with one and other. The acting in the film is superb. The film has a stellar cast, including Julian Moore (who I love), Tom Cruise, and William H. Macy. Anderson has a real eye for cinema. The film is a real pleasure to watch. The movie clocks in at somewhere close to 3 hours long. I personally don’t think it feels long at all, but that might just be me. There is some great dialogue, and some great shots, all of which make for a film you have to see.
The official Magnolia web site
[8] Movies
2 September 2004, the wee hours
I love Persian food—well, kebabs at the very least. Tonight my dad, brother, and I checked out a new Persian restaurant out. The place was mentioned in the Toronto Star a few weeks back, and Martha passed a link to the article on to me. Now the article was hyping this place up big time, so I was expecting good things. The place is really just an Iranian grocery store and butcher shop, with a grill. We ordered two orders of chicken kebabs, and one order of a beef kebab, though it may have been ground lamb. Everything was excellent. I don’t know if I’ve had a bad kebab from a Persian place yet. So, this may mean that kebabs truly are the greatest food in the world, or it may mean that I’m just not picky when it comes to kebabs. Either way, Mr. Fresh Meat Chicken is worth checking out.
[2] Restaurants and Bars
26 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
I’m a big fan of The Smiths. I think they are probably one of the best bands ever. Well, at the very least they had a great guitarist and a great songwriter/singer. One of my favourite songs by them is Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want:
Good times for a change
See, the luck I’ve had
Can make a good man
Turn bad
So please please please
Let me, let me, let me
Let me get what I want
This time
Haven’t had a dream in a long time
See, the life I’ve had
Can make a good man bad
So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time
Lord knows, it would be the first time
If you haven’t heard anything by the Smiths you are really missing out.
[2] Music
26 August 2004, the wee hours
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was 30% off at Chapters which is why I bought it. This was a good call on my part; the book is quite good. The book is narrated to us by Christopher Boone, an autistic child. The book begins with the murder of a dog in his neighbourhood. He tells the reader that he intends to narrate the mystery of who killed this dog. The book is only in the most loosest sense about a autistic kid trying to figure out who killed a dog. The story is bizarre and unique. I don’t think you will find another book with such a strange protagonist. Because of the narrators autism, he has trouble dealing with people, and understanding what they are asking of him. He hits people when he shouldn’t, which gets him into trouble. He acts crazy but all his neuroses are at some level to him quite logical. The book is told in a very honest and frank fashion, sort of funny and sort of sad at the same time. The book is definitely worth checking out.
[2] Comics and Books
25 August 2004, the wee hours
I enjoyed The Village. Shayamalan is very much a modern day Hitchcock. The scenes where he wanted to thrill the audience worked well, judging by the gasps and screams that would echo through the theatre—and by the feeling of Shima crushing my hand. The movie is about a village in a valley surrounded by a forest inhabited by monsters. The monsters for some reason are breaking their truce with the village and attacking. I thought the acting was top notch. I was especially impressed with the heroine, Bryce Dallas Howard. The Village is some ways similar in style to Shayamalan’s previous efforts, especially Signs. I was glad to see Shayamalan move away from his usual pivotal scene that reveals the big twist in the movie. His previous three films all have a scene, usually done with flashbacks, that reveal the extra layer to the film we didn’t see till the end. Shalyman’s managed to make a film similar in style to his old work, but at the same time managed to get away from something that I think would quickly wind up being cliche. I recommend you check the film out, though be warned I think this is a film you will either love or hate.
I watched The Village this afternoon at the Rainbow Cinema at Fairview mall. For those of you not from Toronto, Fairview mall used to have a pretty nice cinema compared to those that existed when I was grade school. By the end of high school all those new super cinemas basically made it look pretty lame. Recently, the cinema got turned in to a Rainbow Cinema, which is apparently some chain that offers up cheap movies. If you are in Toronto, don’t watch movies at Fairview. Children will be in the cinema, and they will not shut up. Trust me on that.
The official The Village web site
[9] Movies
24 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
I check my referrer logs every other day or so to see who has been suckered into reading my site. Usually it’s poor people willing to wade through 17 pages of google search results before ending up at my site, probably disappointed they didn’t find any Bukkake. You poor sons of bitches. Hop off Kazaa already. If you search for Fuck Moveable Type I’m the third result. I would have never learnt that without checking my referrer logs. (Forget the fact the company calls themselves Movable Type — whatever that is — and that the article google brings up isn’t critical of SixApart.) Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised to find a new site linking to my blog because they like it. Well, I’m not certain people linking to my site like my site; that is presumptuous I suppose. I mean, I watched You Got Served just to laugh at how bad it was after all. My point is that your referrer logs can be full of interesting surprises.
Today, before I was about to go to bed, I noticed someone visited my site from Kotte.org. Now that was a surprise and a half. A link from Jason Kottke? That is nice. It almost makes my wasting the whole summer to work on my web site worthwhile. Almost.
We’re Bad Boy baby. Can’t Stop. Won’t Stop.
[7] Life | Weblogs
22 August 2004, early evening
I’ve been a fan of platform diving since I met my friend Tiffany. Her obsession with China’s thoroughly brilliant diver Fu Mingxia was quite infectious. China had two great divers in this years Olympics, Li Ting, and Lao Lishi. They both were amazing to watch. I was hoping Li Ting would do better, she ended up placing 6th. Her last dive was incredible though; flawless. It was the highest scoring dive of the heat with a score of 91.80. Lao Lishi got the silver medal, just shy of the Australian Chantelle Newburry. The competition this year was also interesting to watch since Canada had two women in the finals, Emille Heymans and Myriam Boileau. Heymans was looking like she might be in medal contention till she mucked up her last dive. So yet again, Canada comes up short. Least we won a gold in gymnastics.
[14] Life
18 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle is awesome. There really isn’t much else I need to say. The dude that made Dude, Where’s My Car has managed to redeem himself with this low brow yet intelligent little comedy. The film is about two stoners trying to get to White Castle, a burger joint in the states that sells tiny burgers; Hilarity ensues. Neil Patrick Harris is hilarious in his little cameo. I found it refreshing to see a movie where every single white person in the film was two-dimensional. It was a bizarre change of pace.
The official Harold and Kumar web site
[4] Movies
17 August 2004, late at night
I watched Pieces of April again with Steph last night. I was just as impressed the second time viewing it as I was the first. The film follows Katie Holmes as she struggles to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for her family. Meanwhile her terminally ill mom and family make the trek from their home to Katie’s. The film is quite funny, and at times quite touching. The film is worth watching just to see the Mom, who has to be the most obnoxious, horrible, cancer patient you will ever see.
The official Pieces of April web site
Movies
16 August 2004, evening time
I’ve been using Audioscrobbler to share my music listening habits with the internet. The problem with Audioscrobbler is that the music I listen to on my iPod is ignored; that is no good. Musicmobs is another service designed to share your music listening habits with the world. The difference between Audioscrobbler and Musicmobs is that while Audioscrobbler uses a plugin to poll iTunes and determine what you are listening to, Musicmobs requires you simply upload your iTunes library file. Once Musicmobs has your library XML file it does some heavy lifting and generates a page that describes what you have been listening to.
I’m not sure how they determine what qualifies as being in heavy rotation, but I don’t know if I like it. Listening to Toxic over and over again has managed to make me some sort of Britney Spears fan. Oh dear God no.
First impressions suggest Audioscrobbler is a better service. Audioscrobbler keeps track of more information, lets you download the data it collects, has a cleaner web interface, and may have a bigger user base. I like the fact that Musicmobs lets you process your iTunes library file. I would like something similar to this for Audioscrobbler.
[1] Interesting Links | Music
15 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
Garden State was amazing. I was quite hyped up to see the film after watching the trailers, and am glad to say the film didn’t disappoint in the least. The film looks great. Each shot looks equisite. The director/writer/star Zach Braff has done a great job with this film. The story begins with Braff’s character returning from LA to his home in New Jersey to attend his mother’s funeral; things move forward from there. The story is quite sweet. I would call the film a funny drama, with a tiny bit a romance. I will stop gushing about the movie now. Go watch it.
The official Garden State web site
[3] Movies
12 August 2004, late at night
Ivana Santilli released Corduroy Boogie last Tuesday, about five years after Brown. Once in a blue moon I would check the web to see if Santilli was up to anything new. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few weeks back her web site had changed to reflect the upcoming release of her new album. I was in Waterloo on Tuesday when the album was released, and bought it that very morning.
Read the rest of this post. (718 words)
[4] Music
12 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
Simon brought over his copy of Amadeus. Amadeus is the story of Mozart as narrated to the audience by the not so spectacular composer Antonio Salieri. The film is really good. The relationship between Salieri and Mozart, though entirely fictional according to Simon, is so much fun to watch. Salieri appreciates Mozart’s talents like no other, but is also incredibly jealous of them. Salieri stops at nothing to make sure Mozart doesn’t succeed, but at the same time is completely conflicted with his actions. The movie looks great. Though shot in 1984 it feels quite modern. The film’s score is beautiful. If I was a bigger fan of classical music I may have appreciated it much more, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. My only complaint with the movie was that Mozart’s wife was really pretty dreadful. She seems so out of place. I found her very American accent grating. I think having Mozart speak with a very American accent worked because it makes him seem so out of place and bizarre; with the wife it just comes off like an accident. The actor who played Salieri on the other hand was brilliant, as was the actor who played Motzart. This movie definitely is worth watching.
The movie is 100% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes
[4] Movies
11 August 2004, evening time
Eats, Shoots and Leaves was a pleasure to read. Lynne Truss has done an incredible job at making punctuation, a dry subject if there ever was one, interesting. The book is at its core Truss’ lamentation on the sorry state of the English language. The book begins with a lengthy introduction in which Truss makes a reasonable case for trying to save the written English language from its seemingly inevitable decline into instant-messenger-speak. The following chapters outline the proper usage of various punctuation marks, providing history and humour along the way.
The big final rule for the comma is one that you won’t find in any books by gammarians. It is quite easy to remember, however. The rule is: don’t use commas like a stupid person.
I would hope I have learnt something from the book, but frankly I have my doubts. The book is not a style guide, but does do a good job at outlining how to write properly. Eats, Shoots and Leaves was a lot easier to get through then Elements of Style. In fact, I imagine it is a lot easier to get through then most style guides.
[12] Comics and Books
