Posts (page 2)

I was at the Eaton Centre in Toronto on Saturday when I saw former Prime Minister Jean Chretien at Indigo's doing a book signing. He was looking pretty haggered, I was kinda surprised to see hundreds of people lining up to see an ex-Prime Minister. It's the first time I've ever seen a Canadian Prime Minister, but I have seen two Australian PM's - John Howard and Bob Hawke. I think every leader should make a pledge to get out and see see at least 75% of their countrymen in the first 4 years that they are in power. Most people would not go out of their way to see the Prime Minister, but if they happened to be at a mall or an event at the same time I would hope they'd wander over to have a look. Most people would be inclined to vote for somebody they have seen in person, it makes them seem more accessible.

What's your favorite kind of homemade cookie?  Share the recipe if you have it.

shortbread

If your Vox Neighborhood had a potluck dinner tonight, what dish, drink or dessert would you bring?

hmm i remember when I was in grade 1, we had a party at school & we were told to 'bring a plate', which is an Australian expression for potluck.  My mom being Canadian thought it literally meant to take a plate, which is what I took .... an empty plate.  Everyone else had a plate with cookies or some kind of cake on them.

i've noticed at potluck dinners for every main meal course, you get 3 desserts .... people would rather take a dessert over a main.  i would probably take some honey garlic chicken wings.

(in case you missed the first episode)

Pistachio Episode Two

H  – how did you sleep friend?
L  –  not well Humberto, I stirred all night.
H  -  would you like a buttered bagel with a slice of tomato?
L  -  thank you Humberto, no, I do not have the stomach for food this morning.
H  -  would you like a cup of coffee?
L  -  yes, I will have a cup of coffee
H  -   (gives L a cup)  sugar?
L  -  (freezes)

Fades out

The next scene is at a table with four people playing poker  -  Liam, a dealer, pistachio and a sugar cube (SC).
D  -  (to Liam)  are you in?
L  -  I fold  (buries his head in his hands & throws his cards on the table.  The cards show  a royal flush which Liam thought is a bad hand).
D   -  (to SC)  So sugar, you in?
SC  -  I’ll call  (shows his hand, a full house.  the camera pans to pistachio, and his cards – he has 4 Aces)
SC  -  Impossible!
(Liam is overjoyed)
SC  -  What sort of funny business is this?  You are cheaters!
(shot of pistachio)
SC  -  You think you can swindle me pistachio?  I will kill you!
(Liam jumps up but bangs the table, knocking SC off, falling into a glass of water on the floor.  SC dissolves).
Liam -  (freaking out) what have I done?   I killed Sugar Cube!
(shot of pistachio)
Liam  -  we have to get rid of the body!
(Liam takes the glass of sugar water & throws it down the kitchen sink ... but there is still sugar residue in the sink.  Liam goes back to the lounge and sits on the couch next to Pistachio).
L  -  I think we are safe now.  As long as we don’t say anything to anybody and we keep our stories straight.

(The door bell rings and Liam goes to the door   -  there are 4 sugar cubes outside, Sugar Cubes brothers!)

(fades back to the present)

L   -  NOOO!!   …..    no friend, no sugar please.
H  -  Okay.   Do you want sweet and low?
L  -  Yes, I will have sweet and low.

What's been your worst experience at a restaurant?

my worst experience was at Kelsys in Newmarket, it was my third or fourth date with Stacey, and I ordered a steak.   It came with a 12 inch black hair on the side.  I normally would have picked it off & not worried, but I didn't want Stacey to think I was a wuss, so I called the waitress over.  the waitress asked if was my hair ... I have blonde hair, and so does Stacey!  so the waitress took it back, and a couple of minutes later gave me a new steak, which made me nervous (she probably spat on it or something).   when the bill came everything was on it, I thought she would have at least comped me for our drinks or something, but no dice.

Film & TV writers are on strike, which means everything except reality TV could halt production.  Do you support the strike?  Are any of your favorite shows in jeopardy?

YES, i do support the strike ... the writers should get a cut from DVD sales.  Especially if they do commentaries, which for me is a big reason for buying tv series on DVD.

I have no idea if my favorite shows are in jeopardy, I know the Daily Show is airing repeats during the strike.   apparently Jon Stewart is paying his writers & the Colbert Report's writers out of his own pocket while they are on strike. 

I wonder if Jeopardy is in jeopardy?  its a pretty sweet game-show. 

i'm about half way through 'My Boring Ass Life', I'm going to try and finish it this week. One thing I noticed today, there are at least a dozen instances where Mr. Smith writes about having to fly somewhere so he asks his assistant to re-book him for a later flight so that he can take his time and catch up on some tivoed simpsons. That really pisses me off! The guy flys first class, the airline probably charges him a penalty for changing his flight. So according to my estimation, instead of paying around $400 like the rest of us to fly LA to Toronto in coach he's probably shelling out $2000.

True it's his money, and he can do with it what he pleases … but I think it adds a new dimension to the 'is pirating movies ethical' debate. Why should I feel guilty about pirating a Kevin Smith movie when I know he will just piss the money away? And the only way to describe his spending habits is 'pissing it away' … the guy spends $800 a week on DVDs, frequently loses $1000 in online poker within minutes, and gets In N Out burgers for his dogs.

I've spent around $100 on Mr. Smith's movies and books … the question is, 'do I feel I got my money's worth?' I suppose I do, I'm a fan. You could make the argument that if I started torrenting Kevin Smith movies now I would be punishing the rest of the crew who make his films ... I think I have more sympathy for the people working 50 hours a week for minimum wage. On CNN this morning they were talking about Britney Spears new CD coming out today, and asking people if they would boycott it in protest of her biazrre behaviour. I think the better question is 'who really needs the $15, me or Britney?'.

my macbook seems to be hemorrhaging memory. I woke up this morning to a message that said 'you are running out of memory'. I was torrenting a movie & 5 CDs overnight so I didn't panic, I checked Finder and I had 300MB of space left. So I deleted 8GB of files, emptied my trash. I just checked Finder and it says I have 2GB of space left. I think its either a virus or my hard drive is dying.

this is gonna be a long day, I woke up at 3am and can't fall asleep.  I'll probably finally nod off at 6 and then have to get up at 7:30.  I've been sleeping really badly this week, I even overslept till 10 yesterday.  I thanked my mom for waking me up, she assumed i didn't have to go in before lunch.  I had to go to the office at school to let them know I was late, which I think is a dumb policy.  Instead of going straight to class you have to go to the office with a note from a parent and fill in a form.  If by grade 12 you want to arrive late to school then big whoop.

earlier this week I was thinking about skipping school Friday and driving to Ottawa for the weekend to see Stacey.  In the end I decided not to cos Stace will be home next Thursday (for her graduation ceremony), plus there have been wicked fog warnings all week.  I definitely want to drive up to Ottawa again for a weekend before Christmas. Stace has been stressing about exams for the last two weeks, she used to get worked up about school work but it seems even more intense now (shes doing Psychology at Uni of Ottawa, which is a pretty full on degree).  So I think I'll wait till the end of the month when she is pass the first cycle of exams.

This weekend should be pretty quiet, I have to work all day on Saturday.  On Sunday I'm going to check out the 07 Customs at boardsports, I'm definitely getting a new board this season, and I'm catching up with Liam probably on Sunday to get his old Vans boots.  I don't think the resorts will open before Christmas, but I'm starting to get pumped for the snowboarding season.

i'm halfway through the Kevin Smith diary, My Boring Ass Life.  He pretty much spends 2/3s of his life watching DVDs and driving to get burgers at In N Out.  And once a week he records a podcast.  I will admit I'm jealous, that sounds like a pretty sweet life to me.  that guy is whipped, his wife makes him get up 6:00am to let the dogs out and then he takes his daughter to school.  The wife stays in bed and gets up at 10:00 to NOT go to work.

the book covers the time when he filmed Catch & Release so I torrented it, I have to say its fairly decent, its not the worst movie I've seen this year .... Kevin Smith was ok playing the Jack Black best friend role, if he decided to spend the rest of his life making movies and not acting I woudly