11 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
I watched Identity today with Krishna and his friends—remind me not to do that again; they like to talk way to much during a film. The movie is a thriller about a group of 10 people at a motel who must figure out what connects them and the murders taking place around them. I think the film gets quite predictable after you discover how the patrons are connected, though I thought their connection was a cool, but ultimately stupid, plot twist. I think the film was interesting, and a refreshing attempt at a different type of thriller. However, I don’t know if the film succeeds or not. I am really not all that pleased with the movie. I really like John Cussak; the film may be worthwhile just to see his performance. If you are in the mood for a thriller this might be a worthwhile movie to see.
The official Identity web site
[1] Movies
9 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
I’ve taken over 10,000 photos with my Canon S30. Mind you, I haven’t kept anywhere near that many of the photos. As of right now I have 4608 photos spread over 6 photo albums. Each album contains all the photos I took in a particular 4 month chunk of time. Because of the co-op program at my university, I have taken to organizing my life into discrete 4 month chunks.
[2] Photography
6 August 2004, late evening
Denzel Washington does a good job playing a veteran of the Gulf war in The Manchurian Candidate. Actually, all the actors in the film do a great job with their parts. Meryl Streep in particular is quite chilling as an evil senator. The movie is about a veteran who thinks he and his platoon were brainwashed during the gulf war. Complicating matters is the fact that one of the members in his platoon is now a candidate for the vice-presidency. The film is a great little thriller, with lots of twists and turns. I had originally been quite uninterested in seeing this film, but I am glad I did. It’s quite entertaining.
The official The Manchurian Candidate web site.
[11] Movies
6 August 2004, early evening
Promised a night of indie, brit, and soul, Simon and I headed down to Labyrinth to see our friend Matt kick of his latest weekly residency. As you may recall, Matt also spins Tuesday’s at IV lounge, and Sundays at Cobalt. Thursday nights he now spins at Labyrinth for a night he has dubbed Vanishing Point.
Labyrinth lounge is a nice enough place. It doesn’t compare to the places I’ve been going to recently at College and Bathurst, but it is still quite nice. The place is split in two, one side being the bar, the other side being the lounge. The lounge is actually quite nice, the bar less so. There is plenty of room to sit and enjoy a drink.
The music was great, which was to be expected. The set is quite similar to what Matt spins at Cobalt, a mix of British music. The crowd was really in to the music, and seemed quite knowledgeable about what was playing. Many of the songs I heard that I enjoyed turned out to be requests from the crowd. The crowd at Labyrinth was quite friendly and laid back. Victor showed up by chance, which was quite a surprise.
Drinks at Labyrinth are cheap, university town cheap. Domestic beers were $2.50, which is quite rare to see in Toronto. Apparently mix drinks were a similar price. Matt had a $40 dollar bar tab, which he was gracious enough to share with Simon and I; we were more then happy to impose. Martini’s at Labyrinth are quite good, and more to the point, quite cheap. The fact that Simon and I got ours for free was a nice bonus though. I think Simon and I—well mostly I—drank up more then half of Matt’s tab.
I suppose there may be some bias in everything I’ve just written. I know Matt from high school, and to boot, he bought me drinks. I think despite this the facts remain the same: Vanishing Point is at a nice venue, features great music, and has a cool crowd. What else do you need?
Life | Music
5 August 2004, mid-afternoon
Drinks @ Butt’r
Simon, Steph and I parked a fair bit west of Bathurst on College and started wandering around. The first place we ended up checking out was a place I saw on Martini Boys earlier, a resturant called Butt’r. To say we were impressed with the place would be an understatement.
The resturant has a very clean look to it. There are basically only two colours used throughout the place, brown and cream, with the occasional hint of silver to switch things up. There are several small tables suitable for intimate dining with your significant other, as well as a few larger tables for bigger groups. The three of us grabbed one of the larger tables.
The music they were playing when we arrived was house. Originally they had some mix CD on, but by the time we left there was a DJ playing. The music was chilled out and quiet. We were able to carry on a conversation without resorting to yelling.
Our waiter, who was also the bar tender, was friendly and courteous. I ordered two Gin and Tonic’s to drink, which you can’t really mess up. Simon tried the Butt’r Martini, which was probably Vodka, Rum and Pineapple Juice or something like that. I had a sip and would say it was quite good. Steph tried the house white wine, which she also enjoyed. Drinks were a bit on the expensive side, but you are paying for the ambience I suppose.
We glanced at the dinner menu, which looked quite impressive. The food was reasonably priced for a restaurant that looked as nice as this one. Since we didn’t actually do any eating, I can only guess what it would have tasted like. Reviews of the place are quite favourable, and can be read at the restaurant’s web site.
The place was empty this Wednesday night. We wanted to check another place out before we headed back home, so we started walking again. We originally were thinking of going to Orbits, which looked a lot like Alleycats. Instead we decided on a European bar called Beba.
Dancing @ Beba
Beba was a lot more lively a place then Butt’r. The bar was far from full when we arrived, but there was a much bigger crowd of people. If I had to guess the bar catered to your older Ginos and Ginas crowd, though there was a bit of a mix to the place.
Beba was dark, with bizarre paintings on the walls. I wanted to buy one of EZ-E that some dude had done, but I am broke. And I don’t think I can bring myself to spend any serious money on such art. I digress. The bar is basically split into three sections. At the front is a bar and some small tables, but mostly it is an area to get drinks and stand around chatting. The middle section is where there are sofas and tables for people to sit around and relax. Finally, the back of the bar features a dance floor. There was a set of sofa’s in the corner of this back section as well, which is where Simon, Steph and I sat for the first half of the night.
When the music picked up a bit we started dancing. The music was more or less bad. There were lots of old house and dance tunes you might remember from when you were a little kid, but nothing new. They played a tiny little hip hop and reggae set, featuring more played out or old songs.
Highlights of the night included: a drunk porn-star-looking-Gina who was dancing with the back of her tight black pants undone—charming, a group of girls with bizarre—thought I imagine stylish—haircuts, and a older lady who was trying to dance up on everyone.
Beba was fun, though I’m not sure if I would go back. Butt’r is definitely worth checking out again.
[1] Life | Restaurants and Bars
4 August 2004, late afternoon
For my 18th birthday, Dave bought me a copy of the movie A Clock Work Orange. Around this time, Dave was also in the habit of giving out fridge magnets he would make. Basically he would glue an interesting picture on top of a flexible magnet. I think all my friends received fridge magnets from Dave for their birthdays that year. The magnet he made me had a picture of Jack Nicholson from another Kubrick film, the Shining, on it.
Dave made a box that fit around the video tape he bought. He stuck the fridge magnet on the top corner of the box, and wrote me a short message on the rest of the space. The video tape and the box it came in were slid inside the shell-of-a-box Dave made. He wrapped the whole package up in Dr. Doom wrapping paper if I am not mistaken.
I thought I had lost Dave’s fridge magnet. Today I found the magnet where I had left it, in between the box for the tape and the box Dave made me. I also found this note Dave left me:
Brother Nam: in an ideal world, this would be Fantastic Four wrapping paper. however, this is not such a place, otherwise we’d all be Communists and could eat all the strawberries we would want, whenever we wanted to (besides, we all know that Dr. Doom was a Commie deep down inside. he was a benevolent dictator after all).
Finding something you thought you lost years ago is always a good feeling.
[5] Life
3 August 2004, evening time
All The Shah’s Men is a well written account of the recent history of Iran, though the book provides a good background on Iran for those like me who do not know any of the countries history. The focus of the book is on the events leading up to the US led coup of 1953 that removed the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, and replaced him with Mohammed Reza Shah. For those who are unaware, Reza Shah ruled Iran like a tyrant for the better part of 20 years before the Islamic Revolution swept the country.
The British, with their very profitable Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, were naturally upset when a fiercely nationalist prime minister came to power and declared that the exploitation of Iran’s oil by a foreign power would no longer be tolerated. The British were interested in taking military action in Iran to get back what they felt was rightly theirs. (Never mind that during this very same period of time Britain was busy nationalizing many of its own industries.) President Truman had the foresight to see that such an action in Iran would have grave consequences. While in power he would not support any such action taken by the British.
The British were lucky that with the arrival of the republican Eisenhower as the president, the United State’s foreign policy would shift so dramatically. The British wanted oil, the United States wanted a world safe from what they saw at the Soviet threat. The British convinced the United States that Mossadegh could not stop the Soviets if they rose up. This was enough for the United States to get the CIA to work on a plan to remove Mossadegh from power. 1953 would mark the first time the United States overthrew a government it was unhappy with.
The following year an international oil consortium would assume control of Iranian oil interests. Ironically, the name the consortium operated under was, National Iranian Oil Company, the name Mossadegh gave to his newly created nationalized oil company. Anglo-Iranian Oil Company would also change its name to British Petroleum. You can see BP pumps all over Britain.
If you are at all interested in politics and history, I really recommend you check this book out. The anti-American sentiment one finds in the Middle-East has its roots in Iran, and the actions the US took there. To understand the Middle-East one needs to understand the West’s involvement in the region. Had the US not intervened in Iran, would the country have experienced the Islamic Revolution of 1979? And if not for the Islamic Revolution, and the fundamentalism that came with it, what would the world look like today?
The year following the coup in Iran, the CIA would orchestrate a a coup in Guatemala to oust President Jacobo Arbenz. The United States would orchestrate such coups all over the world. The US has a long history of supporting tyrants and dictators so long as they were not communist tyrants and dictators. The United States did win the cold war, but at what cost?
[2] Comics and Books
3 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
I bought Black Orpheus a few days ago. I finally watched the film today. Black Orpheus is a retelling of the classic Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice, set during the Carnival in Brazil. The film is famous for its music, there are some nice Bossa Nova tracks mixed in with some feet stomping Samba. There are numerous drawn out scenes of the characters dancing that are shot quite well. The movie is a real pleasure to watch. The cinematography of the movie is beautiful. I imagine the film would have been considered quite progressive when it was made. The cast is predominately black, the sexuality in the film isn’t overt, but it isn’t hidden either, and the music was nothing foreign audiences would have heard before. Black Orpheus is definitely worth watching.
[1] Movies
2 August 2004, early evening
Carvill showed up at my house a little after 5:00. The two of us went to get some Sushi since my house was being overrun by my brothers friends. While eating raw fish we discussed the best way to spend the evening. I watch a lot of movies, so movies are always an option. However, sometimes it is nice to do something a bit different. The two of us came back to my place, and looked up what was happening in the city. I remembered my friend Matt was spinning at a club downtown, and looking up its address I learnt the club was at College and Bathurst. There were lots of places in that area worth checking out, so the two of us decided on some places we could go see, and left to begin our adventure downtown.
Read the rest of this post. (1086 words)
[5] Life | Music
1 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
The first series of The Office, a BBC comedy, was absolutely brilliant. The Office is a mock documentary following the lives of the people working at Wernham Hogg, a company that sells paper. The show is a comedy, though not in the traditional sense. There are no laugh tracks there to let you know something funny happened—the show doesn’t need them. The humour is subtle, but so wicked, you will end up laughing at the absurdity of it all.
David Brent, the boss, is the central figure in the whole series, played to perfection by Ricky Gervais. Brent is walking hypocrisy, a character you will laugh at from the first episode on. The other central figure in the show is Tim, played by Martin Freeman, the character I imagine the audience is supposed to relate to. During the course of the series you watch in utter frustration at what Tim puts up with in the day to day goings on of his job. The fact that he is in love with the secretary in the office, who happens to be engaged, doesn’t help his situation.
Make sure you watch this series, it puts North American television to shame.
The official The Office web site.
[1] Television
1 August 2004, terribly early in the morning
I returned to Zaffron today with a small group of my friends. Gary and I were the only two people who had been to the restaurant before. Both of us had Persian food for the first time at this restaurant, and both of us have had an obscene amount of Persian food at Shandiz in Waterloo since. Well, I should qualify. I have had an obscene amount of kebobs since my first experience with Persian food. Gary has actually made an effort to try all the dishes at Shandiz, and as such probably has a great appreciation for Persian cuisine.
The first time we were at Zaffron, I think my friends and I were all very pleased with the amiable attitude of our waiter. He explained what the different dishes were, made recommendations, and was generally quite courteous and friendly. Compared to our first visit to Zaffron, the service this second time there was quite disappointing.
The food however was quite good, much as it was the last time we went. I had the Koobideh Kebob, which is a ground beef kebob served with rice. It was quite tasty, and the rice was excellent. I have become a big fan of Persian rice since meeting Shima. I also ordered kashkeh bademjan, an egg plant dish that I love. The dish was great, not too oily, and not too salty.
Zaffron is definitely worth checking out if you are in the mood for Persian food.
[7] Restaurants and Bars | Life
30 July 2004, the wee hours
For the past few days I’ve been watching the Democratic National Convention whenever I have some free time. I was pretty impressed with all the speeches I heard during the convention. I suppose, liberal that I am, that isn’t much of an accomplishment.
I just watched Kerry’s speech tonight and thought it was great. I haven’t really heard him speak much, and since he is usually called a robot in the media, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think he did a good job at presenting himself to America. Kerry was on Bush’s ass pretty hard in the speech, basically summing up what Micheal Moore expounds on in great detail in Fahrenheit 9/11. However, I would say all the not-so-subtle jabs at the current administration were done with tact. Well, except when he called out the Saudi royal family. I wish they had people behind Kerry giving gun shots at that point.
I find when I hear Kerry speak I want to believe everything he says. The cynic in me vanishes. I agree with all the positions he brought up in his speech. I get sucked in when he talks about taxing the rich and helping out the middle class, when he goes on about improving social security and health care, when he goes on about not trying to be the biggest ass-hole country on the planet. And I’m not even a damn American. I really want him to win in November. I can’t stress how much. Another 4 years of Bush would make me crazy. I don’t know how you people living in the US can wake up in the morning.
Now, Kerry’s speech was good, but I thought Al Sharpton’s was the best I heard. There is a passion to Sharpton that I find impressive. I think it may have something to do with him being a reverend. Apparently the speech he delivered was quite different then the one he said he would, running much longer then it should have. I missed Barack Obama’s speech, which I was told he delivered brilliantly. If you like speeches as much as I do, I recommend you check out American Rhetoric. The site features some of the best American speeches in history.
[14] Politics | Interesting Links
29 July 2004, early evening
My friend Dave displays the album covers of the CDs he is listening to the most on front of his web site. Amazon’s little pictures are useful. I stole the HTML code Dave uses, swapped the ASINs and everything seemed to work. You can see a little picture of the Signs DVD in my review of Signs. Clicking on the picture takes you to the Amazon page for the Signs DVD.
Now, here is where things get corrupt. All these people on the Textpattern forum were going on about wanting a plugin to access the Amazon API. MTAmazon is a very popular plugin for Moveable Type. I never understood the appeal of such plugins till I realized all these people are probably members of Amazon’s Associates program. In a nut shell, Amazon gives you a commission from the stuff they sell when people get to their site via yours. So, the way I see it, if a billion people read my site, and they each buy 5-10 copies of Signs, I will be a millionaire. And I didn’t even do anything. I’m a freaking genius.
If you ever link to Amazon, you may as well take the time to sign up for their associates program. When you link to Amazon you are basically advertising for them. You may as well take whatever form of reimbursement they are willing to offer.
[3] Technology | Web Design
28 July 2004, the wee hours
I watched Signs again today with Ahilan and Steph. I think it is M. Night Shyamalan’s best movie. Signs opens with Mel Gibson finding a huge crop circle in the middle of his corn field. There are apparently others all around the world. Is it a hoax or not? You find out during the course of the movie, though the film is much less a sci-fi film, and much more a film about faith. Mel Gibson’s character has had his faith shaken, and the film examines this. I thought Signs was very well put together. The script, the direction and the acting are all superb. Shyamalan’s camera work is impressive, I think he shoots scenes really well. Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix do great jobs in the movie. I would say I enjoyed the movie much more watching it a second time.
Shyamalan strikes me as a modern day Hitchcock. His movies are interesting and creepy in a refreshing way. I’m looking forward to his next film, the Village.
You can read reviews of Signs at Rotten Tomatoes.
[11] Movies
28 July 2004, the wee hours
Criterion make some very nice DVDs. They are expensive as fuck, don’t get me wrong, but there is still something satisfying about owning one. They are like the Apple Computers of DVDs. Criterion have been hard at work making sure that cinema classics are maintained and presented in a stunning manner. For whatever reason, that apparently costs a lot of money. Their DVDs seem to have a median price of 50 dollars.
Why am I talking about Criterion? Well today I went to the Scarborough Town Centre with Steph, looking to blow a 100 dollar gift certificate valid at any store in the mall. The Scarborough Town Centre is, for the most part, a pretty lame mall. For example, there are three different stores that sell Rocawear and Sean Jean clothing. Trust me, you don’t need three stores supplying that stuff. One is more then enough. I decided early on to buy a DVD, a gaudy overpriced Criterion DVD I wouldn’t buy with real money.
I settled on Black Orpheus, a film I have been meaning to see for quite some time. I am a big fan of Bossa Nova music, and this movie is credited with exposing it to the rest of the world. I’ll write a ‘review’ of the film after I watch it. This is the first movie I have spent 50 bucks on. I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it again. Time will tell. I also bought the Office, a British television series that is supposed to be quite funny. I’ll write more about that as well.
If you are interested in buying some Criterion DVDs, there are sites dedicated to selling them, as well as Amazon’s own Criterion site
[4] Life
27 July 2004, mid-afternoon
I stumbled across this crazy way to turn an iPod into a universal remote. The author, Phillip Torrone, is some sort of MacGuyver. Philip’s web site features a slew of interesting and bizarre hacks that you can try at home—if you are adventurous I suppose. I found this at Waxy.org
[1] Interesting Links | Technology
26 July 2004, terribly early in the morning
I watched Chasing Amy again with Simon and Steph. I hadn’t seen the film in quite some time, but am happy to report I still found it quite funny. Chasing Amy is a film about a guy that falls in love with a lesbian. Hilarity ensues. There is nothing exceptional about the film. The acting and directing I would say is pretty good, but not incredible. I didn’t think the more serious parts of the film worked as well as they could have. However, everyone does there job well enough though for the film to be quite enjoyable. Jason Lee as Bankee is hilarious. Chasing Amy is rated R with good reason. The film is coarse to say the least. Some may be put off by the jokes and language, though I think they add to the feel of the film. Chasing Amy is worth checking out.
I say her on her hands and knees getting filled out like an application constitutes ‘being with a guy’.
The official Chasing Amy web site.
[3] Movies
25 July 2004, terribly early in the morning
I watched Starsky and Hutch tonight with Shima and Riadh. I thought the film was quite funny. The movie does a pretty good send up of the 70s, making fun of the hair, music, disco, swinging, and anything else it can. The movie follows two cops as they work on trying to make a big cocaine bust. Vince Vaughn plays the coke dealer, and does a great job at it. Frankly, I think Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson can do no wrong, so there may be a little bias with respect to my opinions on the movie.
The Official Starsky and Hutch web site
[8] Movies
24 July 2004, the wee hours
The second film following the adventures of Jason Bourne, the Bourne Supremacy, picks up two years after the first film ends. Now living in India—Goa no less—he is attacked by a mysterious assassin. This act draws him back in to the world he tried to escape a the end of the first movie. The film is entertaining to watch as the first movie, though I thought the plot was a little bit weaker. There are fewer fight sequences, but more chase sequences in this film when compared to the first. As action films go, I thought this one was quite good. The film also features a very cute Russian girl.
The official the Bourne Supremacy web site.
[5] Movies
23 July 2004, terribly early in the morning
Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation may laugh at how campy the original Star Trek series was. The fact remains that the best Star Trek movies feature the original cast. I personally think that Star Trek 6 is the best Star Trek film made, but to many, that honour would belong to Star Trek 2: the Wrath of Khan. At the very least, Star Trek 2 is the most notorious of all the Star Trek films. At its simplest, Star Trek 2 is a revenge film. Khan, a character Kirk stranded on a planet in the original series, manages to get a hold of a ship and sets off to kill Kirk. There is a lot more to the movie then simply this. The Wrath of Khan probably has one of the most famous endings out of all the Star Trek films, and features many classic moments. The film also sets the stage for the next two movies. Any self respecting Star Trek fan should have already seen this movie. I recommend it to anyone. It is entertaining to watch, though I will be the first to admit the special effects look quite dated at times.
The film is 100% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, though only from 14 reviews as I write this.
[7] Movies
21 July 2004, lunch time
I received an email from one Andy Knight, asking me to check out a web site he has set up. A dating web site of sorts no less. The thing was, it didn’t sound like spam. So, I did what any idiot would do, I wrote the dude back, and I went to the web site he sent me.
The site, Popmates, is a sort of online popularity contest. The computer dating aspect of the site is apparently the natural direction any site with a large collection of men and women on it will take. The site was also created as part of Andy’s master thesis. How can I not support something like that?
Here is a guest account you can use to look around, UN – pm2000, PW – pm2000.
Apu: I enrolled in Springfield Heights Institute of Technology under the tutelage of the brilliant Professor John Frink…
Frink: Well, sure, the Frinkiac-7 looks impressive, don’t touch it, but I predict that within 100 years, computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.
Apu: Could it be used for dating?
Frink: Well, theoretically, yes. But the computer matches would be so perfect as to eliminate the thrill of romantic conquest. Mw-hurgn-whey
Interesting Links
21 July 2004, the wee hours
So I received a book in the mail today, a $130 dollar book. Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet. I bought the book at Indigo. I should have known better. I should have bought it at Amazon. I’ve had problems with Indigo’s lacklustre shipping performance twice before. Today they left my book out in the rain. So, my book is a little bit wet. I’m looking at it now, about 6 hours or so after they dropped it off, and it’s still wet.
I should also bitch out the people that did the actual delivering of my book, Canada Post. What kind of a fucking idiot leaves a package in the rain. One in a cardboard box no less.
Incase you can’t tell, I’m really anal about my books. Really anal. In a strange and obsessive sort of way.
[7] Life
20 July 2004, lunch time
Fox News is exactly what is wrong with America. Bill O’Reilly is always fun to watch, because I honestly can’t figure out if he is acting or not. Many years ago, I was reading a transcript from an interview he did with a man, Jason Glick, whose father was killed in the 9/11 attack. Bill was unimpressed with the Jason’s position on the war on terrorism. Read more about Bill O’Reilly and make sure you watch the video at the bottom of the page. I’m fairly certain the video is from a documentary I have been dying to see called Outfoxed. Another documentary I really want to see is Control Room, which focuses on Al-Jezera.
[1] Interesting Links | Politics
19 July 2004, early evening
2 Fast 2 Furious was a whole other kind of suck. I’m not sure if 2 Fast 2 Furious is as bad as its predecessor, the Fast and the Furious. The sequel stars Eva Mendez, who is hot, so that is at least one plus for the film. I mean, the first one was bad, but at least it had lots of souped up cars. This one has almost no cars or car chases. Even the plot is lamer, if you can believe that.
The official Fast and the Furious web site
[7] Movies
18 July 2004, late afternoon
Update: Read this post carefully. I am trying to talk about not letting your curiosity get out of hand. Somethings are better left unknown.
Sometimes the word Bukkake comes up in conversation. Almost always, a girl who is out with my friends and I will ask, “What’s Bukkake?” We of course reply, you don’t want to know. This actually happens a fair bit. I’m not sure why Bukkake keeps coming up in conversation. My friends and I are a bit odd I suppose.
I found this little tidbit of advice, and I thought I would share it with you guys that don’t know what Bukkake is:
Curiosity is good, but remember: there are a lot of things out there that, if you go research them, will stick in your brain. Forever. Like “bukkake.” So be cautious. Once some shit like bukkake gets in there, it ain’t never coming out. You could be in the middle of a job interview or something, and your brain might start whispering, “Bukkake. Bukkake. Bukkake.”
From Bad News Hughes
[13] Life | Interesting Links
