Sexy Beast or You're a Whole Bag of Wrong

Just finished watching "Sexy Beast" starring everyone's favorite mahatma, Ben Kingsley. Now this role was a freakin' departure from good old Gandhi if there ever was one. He was a nutcase gangster who bullied people and was always in complete control of every situation that he was in. The film did an amazing job of presenting his character, as you could totally feel the suspense from every scene that he was in and just how afraid of him the other characters were. It's worth the price of a rental alone to see him in the film's many arguments. They go something like this: Character 1: "No" , Kingsley: "YES" , Character 1: "No" , Kingsley: "YES" , and so on. Trust me, it's freakin' brilliant stuff.
Myself, Jay, and Lee finished off watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 1" last night. The episode with the doctor's office was quite possibly the funniest god-damned thing ever. So much of the show is surrounded by awkward situations and people overreacting. It's soooooooooooo good. I hope that one day I can make something as funny as that. The sitcom idea that myself and Jay have been tossing around for a while now has some serious potential. I just wish we could get working more on it. If I wasn't in school, I could devote more free time to the generation of scripts...
On the work front, I found out that one of my co-worker's cancer has returned and he has to take time off for radiation therapy. I hope that everything goes ok for him, as he is a super nice guy who doesn't deserve to have to go through something like this... Not that most people deserve to get cancer, but he really doesn't warrant that level of life challenge. He is one of the nicest guys ever, incredibly naive and innocent, but always well-meaning. He's like a 6 year old or something. I wish him all the best.
Ever have that feeling that there is so much that you want to be doing that it all seems too much? I mean, I want to be making so many different movies, making the sitcom, making a cartoon, getting a game out there, etc... It is all in my head, but it's just not out there yet. Tangibility factor is high... Terena said that I should just pick one thing and go all out on it... It's so simple that it just might work! Only problem is every time I do that, I come up with ideas for something else and then get all excited about that. I mean this past summer I wrote a script for a college movie and I was super pumped about it. But I haven't done anything to it since then. I've been sidetracked with school and work and other things... That's it, I need to sit down and fucking focus on it like a ....ummmmm... what is it you call something with crazy focus???? Oh well... whatever it's called, that's what I'm gonna be like...

Good Times or Why I Love 99 Cent Rental Day

Thursday is the famous 99 cent rental night at Pick a Flick. All rentals, including new releases, are only 99 cents! Terena and I each rented 7 movies to tide us over for the week. I chose a bunch of flicks that I was interested in seeing but had never had the opportunity before. They included: Road to Perdition, Kung Pow, Serving Sara (Bruce Campbell is in it), Ginger Snaps, Jackie Chan's Gorgeous, Sexy Beast, and The Cat's Meow. Terena and I watched "Ginger Snaps" last night and I just finished watching "Road to Perdition." While I am on the subject of Terena and last night, I will just say that I had a great time and things went really well! Back to the movies however. "Road to Perdition" had some wicked cinematography which basically elevated the film single handedly. Not that it was bad, but the cinematography was soooooo good that it makes the movie by itself. If I was in charge, I would have chopped off the opening and closing voice over narrations and left the scenes silent. I think it would have had more of an emotional impact without the kid explaining the point of the movie. That seems to be a running theme with me. I am not a fan of voice-overs that explain the theme. Although, I love the ones in, my favorite movie ever, "L.A. Story." Go Figure! "Ginger Snaps" on the other hand, was a great little horror/teenage angst movie. I loved the parallels drawn between puberty and lycanthropy. Oh yeah, it was also pretty funny too! They just made a sequel that comes out this week, although I've heard that it is not as good. Oh well, such is life.
On an off topic.... man, the Fleischer brothers were freakin' AMAZING. We watched a bunch of old Fleischer shorts in class yesterday and holy crap! They were soooo different from what Disney was doing back then. They were filled with fucked up imagery, sexual suggestion, and Cab Calloway! Nothing beats a rotoscoped Ghost singing "St. James Infirmary Blues." Well, I am off to work tonight to make some bread. Props to Harvey Pekar!

Catching up on Things or Donald Duck vs The Nazis

The lack of updates over the last couple of days was due to my laziness, nothing else. Now to play catch up! Monday was shaping up to be uneventful until I was called into work. Oh wait, that was pretty uneventful too... The only time the day really picked up was when Terena gave me a call to chat. That was about 10pm. The conversation only ended when her phone lost its juice, which was about 2:30am. Shortest 4 hour conversation I've had in a long time. Tuesday was highlighted by our viewing of a couple of Disney wartime anti-nazi propaganda movies. "Education for Death" and "Der Fuehrer's Face." They were really neat to see because of the blatant portrayal of the average nazi as overworked or an unthinking killing machine blinded by their own propaganda. Times were different back then because no one in power would ever try to use propaganda to get people to do what they want now..... oh wait.... But the REAL highlight of yesterday was when I was watching one of my Saturday Night's Main Event tapes and came across a crazy commercial from Toledo. The commercial starred everyone's favorite wrestling big man, Vader! He was hyping up the crazy deals at some mattress place while beating on jobbers! Although this was back when he was called "Bull Power" it was still pure Vader. It was soooo weird to see him talking about zero interest and no down payments while delivering a sideslam.

Karaoke Mega Happy Party Fun-time or Infomercial Mania!

Last night myself and a bunch of friends all went out to the Limelight to do some good old fashioned Karaoke-ing. It was hella fun. Although it did not start out that way as the bar had gone through some changes. First of all they now had mandatory coat check. Part of the charm of the Limelight was that you never had to pay anything if you did not want to. Curse their need for money! The second change was they all the books of songs were sorted by song title, not artist. It took forever to find something to sing, although when you did, you found pure GOLD! My friend Jay rocked the house with his renditions of Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" and David Lee Roth's "Just a Giggolo." Personally I had a 2 for 3 night. I did Kiss's "Duece" which went pretty ok, Journey's "Anyway you want it" which went badly, and Billy Ocean's "Get outta my dreams, get into my car" which apparently was killer! I just really wanted to sing "touch my bumper" to a room full of people. There were a few kinks in the evening, mostly these 3 overweight girls who were monopolizing the mic. They would go up separately and put their names down then all come up together to sing. They went up like 8 times in total, whilst my friends and I, who had been there since 9pm only got up 3 times. Once they said there names were Bob and George and sang "Breakfast at Tiffany's." I made a promise that if I was up next I would say into the mic "It looks like Bob and George have had one too many breakfasts at Tiffany's." I have nothing against fat people, just people that hog the mic at Karaoke. I also got to see some of my old University of Winnipeg chums (Mellissa, Avital, Bavish) whom I had not seen in a while. That and I drank a whole lot. I think I had about 8 shots and about 7 drinks. This did not really have much of an effect on me though. I only had a buzz. Oh well...
After that part of the evening, we adjourned to a house that Terena was housesitting and watched assorted TV shows including a bunch of different infomercials (which are funny as hell by the way). We saw a couple of penis enlarging ones and one for this crazy blender thingy that could blend a cinder block! Perfect for the next time you're making a cinder-souffle! Terena had made these killer Skor and Crunchie cookies, which we proceeded to devour as well as some honey garlic chicken wings, which Jay proceeded to devour. After a while, Lee and Jay then went home, as they had to be up fairly early the next morning. It was about 4am at this time. That left myself, Rob and Terena to sit around and watch "Moulin Rouge" which Terena had never seen. I was in a snuggle zone with Terena for the rest of the evening, both awake and asleep, with much arm wrapping and hand holding transpiring. Not too sure if it meant anything or not. We all fell asleep too. Rob and I ended up staying the night, waking up around 11am or so. Both myself and Rob have crazy overprotective and worrying moms that always expect to be phoned with the details of whether or not we will be home, etc. Neither one of us called until about 11am. This time we had an excuse though! The phone in the house had not been plugged in, so it had no power. But still, at 24 years old, I don't think that I should still have to call my mom all the time (which I don't... which really makes her mad!) or always tell her where I am. Then again, maybe I am in the wrong here, I don't know. but all in all, I had a great time!

Gambling, Gods and LSD or I Want my 3 Hours Back

I just finished watching a 3 hour long documentary called "Gambling, Gods and LSD" that I had wanted to rent for a while after coming across it at the video store. The back of the DVD case described the film as an exploration of humankind's desire for transcendence or something like that. It made the movie out to be a journey though how different cultures search for meaning in their lives. It sounded really interesting. Man was I wrong. First of all, it was FAR too long. There was no need for it to be 3 hours. The film would have been MUCH better at 90 minutes. There was a lot of pointless and useless footage that had nothing to do with the central theme. Second of all, it wasn't really much of an exploration into anything as much as it was a travelogue of the filmmaker. It only had the occasional voice over, which was good because the ones that it did have were horrible. The filmmaker seemed to be attempting to get across what he was feeling and how it related to what the film was showing, but instead he came across as a pretentious poet-wannabee. There were so many times I felt like saying "dude, shut the hell up and let the film talk for you." In fact, I did say that... to who... well... no one I guess. Man, that movie made me mad because the theme had so much potential and it was wasted. If you want to see an infinitely better film on a similar subject, watch "Baraka." SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better. ARGH!

Another Strange Dream or That was a Little Freaky

I had this really strange and slightly terrifying dream last night that I am not sure what to make of. In the dream the top half of my head had been sawed off for work. A co-worker, Todd, also had the same procedure. After the shift was over, we were given back the top of our heads to re-attach ourselves. When I tried to put mine on, I couldn't line up the two halves. Sideburns, hairline, eyebrows, nothing lined up right. Then for some reason I had to go to work at Wal-Mart. Because I would have to work with the public, I needed to line up my head correctly. I couldn't do it so I wore a bandanna to hide the line. One of my former Zellers supervisors was getting mad at me for not following company dress code. Then I talked to Todd about whether or not his head felt funny like mine did.
I have a few theories about what this dream might mean. Right before I fell asleep, there was this thing on PBS about alzheimers. I have always been afraid of that disease because of how it robs you of your memories and essentially what makes you yourself. My grandpa had alzheimers in the final few years of his life so I am even more scared of it because it may be genetic. The other theory I have about the dream is that my buddy has been trying to get me to try mushrooms with him for a while. I would never do hard drugs ever. The only ones that I would even think about trying are ones that naturally occur in nature and even then that does not mean I want to do them. It would have to be for a good reason. For example, I am curious about peyote because of how the natives used it to go on a spiritual journey. That does not mean that I am rushing out to do it or anything, but maybe one day I will try it in a safe manner. Anyway, my theory of the dream might be that my brain does not want me to do any drug that might disconnect my mind. Perhaps it is a warning that it might never re-connect itself in the proper manner again. I don't want to lose my super-genius or lightning wit! Then again, maybe the dream didn't mean anything... I don't know...

Yoga or You Can Bend What Way?

So I decided to sign up for a Yoga class at the University this term. It worked out well because it falls right after Tai Chi, which I decided to return to after a 5 month absence. That and at the time I was looking at the brochure, a really hot girl signed up for Yoga... ANYway, my dad has done Yoga for about 15 years now, so I had an idea of what to expect, but it ended up being way harder than I thought! Some of the poses we were doing were pretty tiring. My legs were shaking like crazy! All in all it was a pretty good little workout. Besides myself, there was only 1 other guy in a class of 17. Oh yeah! Now I'll just have to work the Ian magic! I do have magic right????? Before I forget, if you have not already done so, pick up "Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 1" right away. Fuck that show is funny. It's like an entire show of George Costanza only way more awkward. All I can say is that I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

It's a Celebration! or Oh Dear God I'm 24...

So today is the day of days... it's the 24th annual celebration of my birth! Break out the party favours and assorted snacks and feel free to get a little funky. If you REALLY want to be nice, you could get me a present. :) Anyway... last night I had to go to a lecture at the University given by the director of "Monsters Inc." Peter Docktor. He basically talked all about what goes on at Pixar during the creation of a CG movie, in this instance the one he directed. It was a pretty good little speech because he didn't read from notes or anything, he just talked about what went on. He had a bunch of videos to show on the big screen and even made a "day in the life of Pixar" home movie showing you the seedy world of computer animators. Their wants, their needs, and the women who love them. Man, today I am going to do whatever the hell I want! That includes playing video games, listening to music, watching stuff, doing homework, and maybe even running around in circles for a while! Whooooooooo!

Risk 2210 or Conquer the MOOOOOOON!

So last night I got together with Dave, Trevor, and some guy who I didn't know to play a game of Risk 2210. It's the futuristic update of the classic game of world domination. It was pretty neat, what with the nuclear attacks, space commandos, underwater metropolises (that IS the plural of metropolis, I looked it up), and ability to conquer the MOOOOOOOOON! Whenever you say that, you have to stretch out the word for full effect... at least I have to... ANYway, it was fun. Once me and Trev were effectively eliminated we played around on the guy who I didn't know's "Total Gym" from Chuck Norris Infomercial fame. I had seen the infomercial before but never tried the actual product. All I have to say is DAMN! I will never doubt Chuck Norris again! The thing was great! You could do a ton of different workouts on it. All you had to do was adjust your sitting position or change grips. It was like 60 health club quality workout machines in 1!!! It did some great cardio exercising because you could go from one workout to another instantly! I am totally gonna buy one. In fact, I went to Wal-Mart (the enemy!) today (that was where the guy said he got his) to price them out and they are not too expensive. Only $279.99. Once January passes (my buy nothing month) I am totally gonna buy the thing! Think about it, no more having to hang around with all the dicks that are in the University of Manitoba gym! No more having to wait in line for access to the good machines! No more making all the poor souls feel inferior at my overwhelming awesomeness! I'll be doing some kind of community service! They should give me a medal!

These Actually Exist or I'm Not Crazy

Here are the links to the two greatest albums in existence!

Spider-man: Rock Reflections of a Super Hero

and: The Wrestling Album

Buy them now and be forever in aural bliss!

Another morning shift or Fucking Hell it's Cold Outside

So I made the dumb choice to work another morning shift today. Because I had done the same thing yesterday, I decided to sleep late and just stay up all night. Jay, Lee, and myself basically just chilled watching some episodes of "Space Ghost Season 1" , "Super Friends" , "Justice League" and "South Park." While driving downtown to get Jay, we listened to the greatest CD ever, "The Wrestling Album." Recorded in 1985, it features the vocal stylings of Rowdy Roddy Piper, Nikolai Volkoff, Mean Gene Okerland, Jimmy Hart, etc. It even has between song commentary by Vince McMahon and Jesse the Body Ventura! Seriously, it's both the most ridiculous thing ever and the best. My brother picked it up on vinyl way back in the day and I upgraded to the CD version about 5 years ago. Alongside the Spider-man Rock Opera album it is the single greatest moment in music history. While I am on the subject, the Spider-man rock opera is AMAZING! Recorded in the 70's it tells the tale of Peter Parker through good old fashioned Rock 'N Roll! If you only hear one album in your lifetime, make it "Spider-man: Rock Reflections of a Super Hero." I think I've gotten off topic again... Oh well... Did I mention that it was fucking cold outside this morning. It's no fun working in -40 degree weather. It's also no fun having to hook up a trailer to a running bus. All the fumes congregate in the space between the back of the bus and the trailer and it absolutely destroys the eyes. I hate diesel fumes... Why can't buses run on something more pleasant, like pot???

Returning From the Morning Shift or Why the Hell am I not in Bed?

I just got home from working the 4am shift today. This is after having worked until 11pm last night. 5 hours between shifts... why the hell did I agree to that again????? Oh well, at least I was able to finish reading my book last night at work (it's real quiet at the Cross-dock location, which is where I was last night). The book was "Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labour in the American Black Market" by Eric Scholsser of "Fast Food Nation" fame. It was a quick, yet entertaining read. I learned all about how the porn industry, up until the late 80's, was essentially controlled by one guy, the massive proliferation of illegal immigrants in the California agriculture industry, and the insane punishments for marijuana use and possession in certain U.S. states. While not directly applicable to life here in Canada, there is still great benefit in reading about it. Even if only for the obscure facts that aren't made readily available in the mainstream. When I feel more up to it, I'll write some down here. I have to work the morning shift again Sunday morning, but it won't be as bad because I am going to sleep late today and just stay up for work tomorrow... kinda like last week! Man, it's the circle of life in practice!

Dreams are Weird or What the Fuck????

So I had this weird dream last night where I was discussing the intricacies of Bruce Campbell's performance in "Bubba Ho-Tep" with The Honky Tonk Man...

The Bigger the Sushi the Better or The Amazing Sushi Master Headband

So I just got back from "Sushi Night" at Dave's. It's a semi-frequently occurrence where we get together and make copious amounts of sushi and gorge ourselves on the uncooked goodness. We made SOOOOO much this time that even with 5 other people joining in, we did not finish it all. I also busted out one of my bandannas to wear. I dubbed it the sushi master bandanna which did not amuse anyone. They must have all been in awe of my bulbous rolls filled with every ingredient we had! Seriously, the rolls were massive! Then we watched BASEketball and yelled out "Derp" at all the lame jokes. We rule! (Derp is what Trey Parker and Matt Stone called all the lame and obvious jokes in the movie) It should seriously be a drinking game there are so many...
I smell like fish now...

A Simple Fact of Life or Why I Rule

My excessive verbosity only demonstrates my striking perspicacity.

Saturday Night's Main Event or Why the 80's were better than today

So today I FINALLY got my long awaited wrestling tapes in the mail. Over a month ago I ordered the complete "Saturday Night's Main Event" show from the WWF circa 1985-1992. It's an 8 tape set featuring all the best in cheesy 80's wrestling! Man wrestling was SOOOOOO much better back then. While I would no longer consider myself a big wrestling fan, I do enjoy to watch the old stuff (ie. 80's wrestling). This set has it all! Rowdy Roddy Piper, Mr. T, Hulk Hogan, Mr. Wonderful, Andre the Giant, The Hart Foundation, Demolition, and the coup de grace... CYNDI LAUPER! Yes, now I can relive the Rock and Wrestling connection all over again! Oh yeah, I also have a crush on Cyndi Lauper...

Punch Drunk Love or Mixing snacks can be fun!

I just returned from an evening with Dave and Terena. We took it easy, sitting around watching "Punch Drunk Love" and eating a wide assortment of snacks that Terena brought. There were mini oreos, animal crackers, cheese thingies, and 3 kinds of nuts! The best thing was when you put a few of each into a bowl and ate them all! For some reason though my mini oreos always fell apart... what's up with that??? I had a great time battling "wits" with Terena and we seem to get along well. Dave termed our conversation a battle of nitwits, but then what does he know, he's in fine arts. :)

The Story of Anna or Stupid Circumstances!

As promised and much anticipated, here is the story of Anna, who if you remember I saw getting on a bus Sunday morning to begin a 6 month adventure in central America. She is also a friend of Dave's who happened to get hired at the bus depot (where I work) over the Christmas season. There were actually 3 of Dave's friends who all got hired at the same time. Seeing as how they are Dave's friends and all I took it upon myself to hang around and show them the ropes... well... sort of. Mostly I was just operating in my typical goof-ball mode. We all seemed to get along pretty good and I was soon asked to tag along with them to the Toad and pose as someone named JC. The elaborate ruse came about because the event at the Toad was a surprise for someone. Anna had used the excuse of having a fictional date with someone named JC as her excuse to not hang out with the focus of the surprise party. It therefore stood to reason (to whom I don't know) that I should pose as JC. Kalyn (the other girl from the depot) and Anna decided that I should act like a real dick to see what their friends would say. Even when acting, I can't be a dick... well... to pretty girls at least. Did I mention that Anna was attractive? Strangely enough she didn't really fit into what I usually find attractive in a gal. (ie. glasses and medium length hair... I'm sure that there is something in that fact... maybe I am secretly in love with myself and the only girls that "do it" for me are ones that look like me...???? hmmmm.... There might be a thesis in there somewhere....???) Anyway, this girl Anna is kind of a hippie, at least in appearance, even sporting dreads. As per usual, I busted out my typical goof-ball charm and things seemed to go pretty well with her. Taking the next logical step I asked her if she wanted to hang out sometime to which she agreed. Funny story about the way I did that too... She was pondering taking a double shift the following Tuesday because she rarely had anything to do at nights, to which I stated "I can't stand idly by as someone works a double shift. If you hang out with me that night then you'll have something else to do!" (or at least something to that effect). That approach seemed to work and the following Tuesday we hung out watching "Transformers: The Movie" and then going to the Toad to meet some of her friends. I thought that I had done pretty good on the whole excursion because she spent a lot of time talking with me instead of her other friends. She even added me to her contact list on MSN immediately after I dropped her off. This was notable because I had only passingly made note that I was on MSN right when I picked her up to begin with.
The next couple of weeks were the Christmas season and it became really hard to get a hold of her. I tried calling a couple of times but she was working two jobs at alternating times of day. I was able to talk to Kalyn a bit and she seemed to think that, while unsure as to what the hanging out was, Anna might have wanted it to be a date. Despite Kalyn saying that she was rooting for us to hook up, it took a couple of weeks before I was able to schedule some time to hang out with Anna again. Four days before she was leaving for Central America for 6 months. At this point I figured there was no real point in "making a move" so we just hung out and watched "Back to School." (she was super busy so only had a couple of free hours to hang out) She had a going away party at the Toad (recurring location here) a couple of days later which I attended. The only problem there was that she was sitting a few seats away from me so I couldn't bust out the smooth. When I finally did get a chance to talk to her, it was near the end of the night. During a conversation about how both her and Kalyn had had someone try to pick them up at work (Anna mentioned someone other than me which confirmed my thoughts that she did not know what my intentions were) I decided to just came right out and say what I was doing. I said "to clear up any confusion, I was indeed trying to pick you up, I just suck at it." Then I said that when she got back I would take her out on an actual date. The only thing I am mulling over is whether or not I should have tried to give her a kiss before she left. I am not the kind of person who is super forward or anything, I usually try to gauge the "vibe" before taking a step like that. I didn't make the effort with Anna... should I have???? I don't know...
Long story short, in 6 months baby! I got a date!

Terena or Sometimes your first judgment IS wrong

So Dave has a friend named Terena who just happens to be super hot (although that is of no bearing to the discussion). I really enjoy hanging out with her. She has a bubbly and infectious personality that makes it impossible to maintain a bad mood around her. She is also not a ditz, contrary to what I had originally thought. She has a very down to earth quality about her that is refreshing. While I tend to think about grandiose concepts and ideas like politics and creating, she seems to be more grounded in the moment. It's strange, but I feel absolutely no need to put on any sort of performance for her, or even attempt to not be an idiot. Whereas some people have responded to things I say with groans or confused looks, she says something back that reverses the situation onto me. That forces me to have to be even sharper than before. I like that. While it might be tempting to try to apply the old saying of "don't judge a book by its cover" to this situation I would hold off on that. This is merely one of the rare times where I was wrong with my first impression. And by rare I mean Volcano erupting in Winnipeg rare.

My Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Adventure into Sleeplessness.

So I had to work Sunday morning at 4 am. First of all, there should never be anything that you have to do at 4 am other than sitting on your ass or partying. Second of all, if something IS to be open that early (ie. restaurants) they should only be managed by robot waiters. No one should be forced to get up that early... Well, anyway... For about the last month or so, I have been going to bed at about 4 am and then waking up around noon. This put an odd spin to my early morning shift. I decided to simply stay up and go straight to work, mostly because I was invited to go to a Clash tribute show at the West End Cultural Centre. I then reasoned that it would be to my own personal benefit to sleep longer saturday morning. It should be put forward that this is next to impossible in my house, as my parents are really annoying. I have begun to keep my door closed in a vain attempt to block out SOME of the noise they make in the morning. It doesn't work. It can't block out things like: my mom making screeching noises in order to get my dog excited and barking, my dad coming into my room to get the soft towel for cleaning glasses for the sole purpose of cleaning MY glasses which are sitting on my dresser, my dog forcing the door open with her nose to root around in my garbage can for food (of which there is only dirty kleenex), my dad using the computer in the room next to me (our computer is kinda loud), my mom vacuuming the downstairs, my parents watching movies downstairs, my mom walking (she walks really loudly).....ARGH... I think you get the idea. Maybe all of this doesn't sound so bad to you, but I also have to contend with my parents coming into my room and asking me questions like: "are you feeling ok?" , "when do you have to go to work today?", "Is your car ok?" , "where did you go last night?" etc. It is a physical impossibility to sleep past 10 am in my house. The solution that I have come up with is to be really rude and grumpy in the morning to them so that they don't want to talk to me anymore. Unfortunately this has not deterred them. It has only made them respond to be snappy answers with comments like "gee you're grumpy in the morning!" or "you're not really a morning person!" DOUBLE ARGH!!
I seem to have gone off on a tangent here... oh well. My point is that I wanted to sleep longer but couldn't. My friends and I rushed out to the Clash tribute show, finding out at the last minute that it started at 8 pm not 10 pm only to find it sold out. So tossing a few ideas around, all-girl punk show, movie, etc. We settled on going to see Big Fish. The problem was that it didn't start till 10:10 pm, so we had a bit of a wait. Luckily Grant Park shopping centre has a Zellers and a McNally Robinson to kill time in. Zellers was closing in 10 minutes so we had to cut that short, although I did see a former co-worker from back in the day. It's been nigh 2 years since I left there! McNally was really packed. We looked at lots of books.... One thing that I noticed and I don't think my friends did was this guy sitting in one of the chairs there reading. We came into that section (Canadian and World Politics) and started looking at books and talking. He shot us a SUPER angry and indignant look, like WE were interrupting his reading and should leave. I didn't mention anything then because the place is a freakin' store, not a library. Eventually, in a huff mind you, he left (still shooting us a dirty look.) What a cock!
Once finished there, we proceeded to Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up some reasonably priced snacks for the movie. My buddy Jay bought a bag of oreos. Double Stuffed ones to boot (Jay is a larger fellow). He then stuffed them down his pants... Dave carries around a European Carry-All (ie. purse) so was able to hide his beverages, while I had to stuff mine into my jacket. I bought some Reese's bites and a vanilla coffee beverage. I didn't want to because it was a Starbucks drink and I don't support them, but I needed something with caffeine and did not feel like a soft drink. I took off the seal and stuffed it into my coat, not realizing that I had also loosened the cap! It was with good fortune that I am so slick that I was able to prevent any serious spillage into my pocket. Then I said "screw it" and just chugged the whole thing anyway...
That led to the viewing of Big Fish, which you can read about from yesterday. Following that we went to Jay's place to hang out for a while, since I needed to be at work for 4 anyway and no one was tired. The problem with Jay's place is that there is nowhere to park nearby that is not a snow route. The city has an overnight parking ban on all snow routes and I didn't feel like paying another 35$ ticket. The best thing that we have found to do is to park in a deserted lot a few blocks away and walk. The lot used to be a building until it was torn down. Now its free parking baby! (except in the day time). So at Jay's we decided to watch "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (original) as Terena had never seen it and it is one of Jay's favourite movies. That was fun.
So then comes the time when I had to go to work. The security guard wouldn't let us in without approval from his boss, so we had to wait for a while. The good thing was that there was nothing really to do anyway, so we just sat around making 13$ an hour. Once we DID get in, we found that the crew from the previous night had left us a bunch of work that they should have done. Unfortunately it required the use of the forklift, which neither me nor Darryl (my co-early shifter) could use. Darryl decided to give it a shot. Watching someone struggle to use a forklift is strangely funny at 4 am. Anyway... eventually someone came in who could use it and we had a fairly uneventful rest of the shift. Two notable events were Anna (more on her later) getting on her bus to go to Central America for 6 months and the crew getting shit loads of Bacon and Egg McMuffin's. (I hate McDonalds but was REALLY hungry...)
So now my shift is over and I think "I wonder what it will be like to stay up another whole day??" On "Downtown" Alex started to have hallucinations! That would be kinda cool! So I drive home gradually falling more and more asleep. Once I walked in the door though, that all changed, as I was greeted with my parents asking questions like "where were you last night?" , "what's wrong with your hand that you couldn't call?" , "where did you change?" , "why didn't you leave a note?" etc. etc. etc. TRIPLE ARGH!!! I am freakin' 23 years old now... Is it really necessary that I constantly tell them everything?? Should I really have to ensure that they always know where I am and what I am doing? Maybe I am wrong here, I don't know... Anyway, I was instantly annoyed so I totally forgot about my plan and ended up going to bed anyway...
I like it when you don't give the obvious ending to something that people have been expecting forever. But only when that ending still makes sense.

Big Fish

So I went to see Big Fish last night with my friends Jay, Dave, and Terena (more on her later) and I was pleasantly surprised. The reviews for the movie weren't great and the commercials made it look very Hollywood. Tim Burton's last film, Planet of the Apes was ass piss, but as it turns out, this one was a solid little film. There were some neat visuals, like the frozen time in the circus and the field of daffodils scenes. Ewan McGregor was great, as per usual, as the charming optimist carving his way in the world. I would agree that the plot might have been a little obvious, but it was the story told that I especially liked. Through a father telling embellished stores of his own life, the film dealt with the way people present themselves to others and how we in turn view our own lives. It also dealt with the sometimes difficult relationships between fathers and sons, especially when the fathers are away for long periods of time. In a subtle way, it showed how to conquer jealousy. The son resented the stories that the father constantly told about his life and seemed angry that everyone always loved them. I thought that he seemed jealous of how likeable his dad was. POSSIBLE SPOILER It was only when he shared the moment of his father's death that he truly saw that the stories were about the art of storytelling and creating a vision of ourselves that is larger than life in the service of the community. It was not about garnering attention, but enriching other's lives. The only part of the film that I did not like was the final voice over. It was a little too "hit you over the head" obvious with trying to get the theme of the movie across. On the whole though, I totally recommend the movie. ****/5

There is always a first time...

So here it is, my very first Blog entry. I figured that I would give this whole crazy thing a shot after reading a few other people's for a while. I guess the best thing to do is to give you an introduction into myself. I'm a film student at the University of Manitoba (that's in Canada if you didn't know). It thus stands to reason that I enjoy movies and the watching of said movies. But I am no film nerd, in fact I can't stand film nerds. I have found the vast majority of them to be REALLY pretentious and annoying. To look down on movies just because they are not "artsy" (what we call "art-house-fag" which is in no way a knock on gay people) is stupid and narrow minded. While I would never want to ONLY see stupid movies, there is indeed a place in the world for entertaining "schlock" every now and then.
I play the occasional video game, although not in anywhere near the quantity I used to. I have found that the industry is sinking into a phase of un-creativity. With a few exceptions, most of the stuff coming out is merely a re-hash of old ideas. Show me something new!!! I listen to music, and my tastes vary wildly from various extremes. Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Ben Folds Five, White Stripes, Ac/Dc, Dido... well you get the point. I try to keep up to date on the goings on in the world. I tend to be leftist if you are so inclined to feel the need to attach a label. I am a big goof-ball most of the time, always cracking wise. Many times, even I don't get all my jokes!
That's just about enough of an introduction as I feel like writing right now. If reading it makes you want to continue to come here... great! I promise that it will be worth your time.