AM

Karl Blau rocks Winnie the Pooh like no other...


Give me work to do. Give me health. Give me joy in simple things. Give me an eye for beauty, a tongue for truth, a heart that loves, a mind that reasons, a sympathy that understands. Give me neither malice nor envy, but a true kindness and a noble common sense... at the close of each day, give me a book and a friend with whom I can be silent.

Corn Nuts

Also...
Since Leah had never seen it, and I hadn't seen it in probably 10 years... we watched Heathers this weekend.

I remember liking this movie back in the day, and was interested to see whether it held up.

I also remembered the movie being pretty dark, and that it skewers all kinds of (80s versions of) highschool stereotypes. What I didn't remember was just how mercilessly and indiscriminately it mocks... and how unflinchingly brutal it is.

There are a few things that make me still like the movie, despite the unexpected coarseness, violence, and general anarchy...
Firstly, this might have been one of the first movies I saw that so forcefully throws (at least chapters of) the standard hollywood rulebook out the window. Characters that would typically be set up as outsider heroes end up being straight up psychotic... And the rules are broken without pulling any punches. Standard high-school movie stereotype mocking is dialed all the way up to cold-blooded murder. I think I will ALWAYS like movies that bend the rules...

Secondly, some of the dialogue is actually funny... albeit a LOT less of it than intended.

And thirdly, Winona Ryder's protagonist adds a hint of hope to an otherwise dark world. The movie basically sets her up in the (now) stereotypically clique-filled highschool movie world... which she rejects with the help of the cool outsider guy (who in this version is unexpectedly NOT the good guy, but a crazy murderous anarchist)...
Given two messed up approaches to life, she somehow rejects BOTH, opting for a much more complicated third route than is unusual for a highschool movie...


I am very glad that the producers didn't follow the original screenplay - which ended with suicide as the third option... and would have made for a pretty hopeless movie.



Your thoughts???

weekender

The big news from the weekend is of course the TTC strike... I still don't fully understand the political strategy behind losing any public support that you might have had by not giving any (previously promised) notice... and then purposefully leaving people stranded by shutting down at midnight rather than at the end of the night shift... Also, doesn't being ordered back to work by the government take away any political power that striking gave you?? I guess being considered an 'essential service' maybe gives you more political power, at the end of the day..?

In other news, we continued to rip pieces off of the front of our house. We tore off the frame and transom from the old sliding doors that were added (badly) to enclose the porch...

We also (finally) got a new oven! The landlord had somebody disconnect the old one, install an outlet in the wall, and then had a new oven delivered! I roasted some vegetables, and then baked cookies...

weekend

Friday night we went to see Second Sight, at hotdocs. It was pretty cool, especially if you like awesome old people, or Scotland, or just oldness in general. You can check out the trailer here, and read about it here, if you want to...

On Saturday we went up to St Clair to get some cat food and other stuff. When we got back we attacked the front deck, which has been full of our landlords stuff pretty much since we moved in. He finally told us we could get rid of the old metal screen doors that he had been saving with the hopes of making a couple of bucks...

Brad and Jeremy came over for dinner.

On Sunday we did laundry... and then in the afternoon, I cleaned my bike. I still need to fix the brakes, but don't have the right set of wrenches... If you or somebody you know wants to buy a pretty sweet low-rider bike for a pretty good price, let me know...

After church we watched Marion Bridge. It is a Canadian movie, so it pretty much had to involve some pretty messed up stuff (I think it is a requirement to get grants or something). But overall, I thought it was pretty excellent, and unusually redemptive for CanCon... (I would rate it as even better than Nickelback)

weekend

The weather is finally warm enough to go outside in a t-shirt, at least in the afternoon.

Tonight we are hoping to go and see a hotdocs movie about some old people (and ghosts) on the Isle of Skye.

Tomorrow is record store day. Like earth day, it is an attempt to save something that is meaningful to some people.

Drake You Ho

Here is a fairly good article on the appropriation of counter-culture into the mainstream, with specific focus on advertising... Nothing new, but always an interesting topic to think about.

etc...

Today I signed up for a 10k run, which takes place in less than 3 weeks... I should start running, I think.

I also posted some songs, for your listening pleasure, at immigrant design.

weekend

On Friday night we went to the wood's place to hang out with them and the Cumbys, which was fun.
On Saturday we made a trip to the dentist... and then went to Bradley's for a thesis practice. His thesis presentation is tonight, at 7, at the Music Gallery/church at Grange park.
We also did loads of laundry.
Last night after church we watched Hot Fuzz. I had heard a lot of hype about it, so I was nervous that it might disappoint.

It did not. That movie is hilarious.

Weather

Today is dreary and grey. It is also rainy and blustery and cold... It is supposed to be this way for most of the weekend.

Mulholland Drive

Leah and I watched Mulholland Drive on Monday.
It's been a long time since I last watched a Lynch movie, and I'm never quite sure what to make of them... His ability to blur the line between everyday banality and freaking insanity is definitely compelling! As is his incredible tight-rope walking between making sense (at least in this movie!) and not making sense.

Weakened

Don and Jessica came over for dinner on Friday night...
Saturday was a day of thesis and church related meetings.
Sunday - Leah played at an Anglican church in the morning. I went to BMV and sold them some old books. And then we went to church in the evening, as per usual.

In other news, it is finally getting a bit warmer...

Funny

Check out this sweet Frank Gehry house.

Weekender

The rundown...
Friday night we went to JFL for dinner, and then to the Freedomize coffee house...
Saturday I went to Bradley's to work on his thesis project for a bit. Afterwards I went with Leah to a Presbyterian youth gathering in Etobicoke. This was the first in a continuing series of youth services organized by Andrew Rennie and some district Presbytery that has realized that young people don't go to church anymore. The FT band supplied the music, the Presbyterians provided the pizza...
That night we went to Lee's Palace to see Basia Bulat. She and her band are fresh off of a US tour, and it is very evident in how much tighter they are. She seemed delighted to be playing to a very enthusiastic crowd - and it must have been a great thing to come home to. There was also a guest appearance by the Mecija sisters, who sang backup on the first song.
Sunday - Leah and the FT band played music at an Anglican church in High Park. I did laundry... and skipped both the Anglican church service, and the evening FT service. I ended up going for a walk, purchasing the live Mark Kozelek album, and renting A Scanner Darkly (which was average).
Yesterday I had a pretty sweet headache, so I didn't go to work. I slept on the couch all day.