I’m gonna say this once and once only. Stay out of Camberwick Green!
Tonight at 5:30 the people of Canada are uniting against Gee Dubya Bush. In Montreal the gathering starts at Dominion (aka Dorchester) Square. If you disagree with his policies of intolerance, warmongering, restriction of freedom and religious fundamentalism then get out there and add your voice to the crowd.
Blork have announced the November Monkey, called “Border Stumbles”. I can’t decide which story to offer, so I’ll do both:
1) After a very eventful trip to Norway one December (which is another long and intriguing story in itself) we ended up in Calais, France, catching a ferry to Dover, England. We’d spent the past 10 days eating, sleeping, and smoking illicit substances in my friend Philip’s Golf GTI, so the inside of the car had an interesting aroma, and the two of us looked quite unkempt. Of course, arriving in Dover the customs man signalled us to pull over. As soon as I wound down the window, his nose wrinkled. He asked us where we’d been, and I reeled off a list of countries and cities. As soon as I said Amsterdam, he said “step out of the car please”. Four customs officers ripped our car apart, including tearing into a petrol soaked fruit cake (don’t ask) they found in the back. They then took us to separate rooms, and strip-searched us, with not quite the full rubber glove treatment, but close enough. After finding nothing they begrudgingly let us go.
2) Jen and I were driving down to Vermont for the weekend, and because I’m not a Canadian citizen, we had to stop at the border for me to get a visa waiver. The first weird thing to happen was when the customs officer discovered I was British and asked “Oh, do you like fox hunting?” Well of course, every Brit keeps a pack of hounds handy in case there’s a fox to tear apart. The second annoyance was that they had started charging $6 for the visa waiver. Neither of us had cash, so I had to walk back to Canada to get some from the duty free shop. Nobody stopped me from doing that by the way. The final oddity was while waiting for the one-finger-typist officer to enter my details (into an Excel spreadsheet no less), I noticed a small piece of paper by the keyboard with a list of words on it. I’m pretty sure it was a list of the passwords for their computer system…
OK, last post for today, I promise. It’s Monday, so I have to do my weekly WTF is it? photo quiz. Identify the object shown in this cutout of a photo and win, well, nothing really, but you can brag to your friends, who will call you a geek for spending your day reading blogs, sending you into a spiral of self-hatred and depression and basically ruining your day. But it’s fun!
I just can’t stop posting today. It’s Monday, it’s two weeks since the last one, that means it’s quiz time tonight at McKibbins. The fun starts at 8ish (well between 8 and 10 anyway). Find yourself a team of four and come see if you can win $100.
Christmas has been on my mind lately, possibly because it’s less than a month away. I’ve been trying to decide what I want to call this time of year. In England this was never a problem, everyone called it Christmas and I never thought twice about it. We heard rumours that those silly Americans called it “the holidays” but that was dismissed as another one of those vulgar Americanisms.
Now though, I’m not so sure. Why should I keep calling it Christmas when I’m not a Christian? Why risk offending those with other belief systems? I’ve tried avoiding that by calling it Xmas, but Xmas comes from the Greek for Christ starting with X so that’s no good. I thought about referring to it as the Winter Solstice, but scientific as that might be, it has a definite new-age sound to it. So it looks like I’m stuck with “the holiday season” which is bland and ambiguous and has a similar effect on me as fingernails on a blackboard. Oh well.
Scene opens on an erupting volcano in the distance, with rocks landing all around. Suddenly a mud-splattered SUV lands in front of the camera, comes to rest, and then drives off. The small print at the bottom of the screen says “Do Not Attempt”.
Do Not Attempt?! Yes, that’s what I’m going to do if I ever get an SUV, drive it into an erupting volcano and hope to get spat out in one piece.
Another less dramatic example. The advert is for a movie trivia game in which the questions are on DVD. It shows a happy family watching TV and answering the questions. The small print at the bottom of the screen reads “TV and DVD player not included”.
Come on, is anybody anywhere really going to believe that the game comes with its own TV and DVD player? Even Dubya isn’t that stupid. Hmm, ok, I think I just wrecked my argument.
I realise these companies feel the need to protect themselves, but I would imagine if someone tried to sue a motor company because their son drove into an erupting volcano it would get laughed out of court. At least I hope it would…
It’s my Dad’s birthday today; Happy Birthday Dad! He’s 3000ish miles away in France, where he’s busy running a bed and breakfast and raising pigs. I wish I could be there to have a pint with him on his birthday, but instead I’ll open one of my bottles of Lambic in his honour tonight. Oh yeah, that’s him in the picture, I wanted to put up the picture of him when he had a perm, but I can’t find it anywhere so I found the worst photo I have of him instead.
Toilet paper manufacturer ShitBeGone (love that name) are refusing to sell their products to the red states, and giving discounts to blue staters (and I guess Canadians?). Here’s part of their statement:
We cannot in good conscience do business with states which have made an informed choice to actively sponsor war and terrorism. Nor can we support the Red States’ decision to affirm and expand policies of official bigotry and denial of human rights, up to and including false imprisonment and torture, against ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities in the Red and Blue States and abroad.
I think it’s wonderful to see companies like this backing up their beliefs with firm action, I hope more companies will follow this lead. Oh, and their toilet paper is made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials. I like this company.
Jen claims that this weeks photo quiz is too tough (pah!), so to ease the pain, here is a slightly wider shot. Now it’s way too easy…
In other news, we wrapped most of our Xmas gifts at the weekend. I don’t think I’ve ever wrapped gifts before December. I also put up the christmas lights on the tree outside. We’re getting all festive and it hasn’t even snowed yet. Talking of which, my prediction of November 22nd for the first settled snow was a horrible failure. Oh well.
Week three of the “WTF is it?” photo quiz is here. That genius of Philly, Sahfi, got the correct answer last week, and she has the advantage again this week, as she has seen this object. Can you guess what it is? Hint: the image is a cutout of a larger photo.
Jen has discovered an organic soup at Loblaws which she describes as ‘orgasmic’. Every night she has a bowl of this soup. While the soup is busy reheating in the microwave, Jen sings the soup song. It goes something like this:
Soup soup soup!
Soup soup soup soup soup!
Soup for me me me!
Soup soup soup!
Soup soup for me!
etc. ad nauseum
It’s a shock to me that her song-writing talents have thus far gone un-noticed.
As part of McGill’s Centraide campaign, there is a silent auction being held on the 6th floor of the Bronfman building (1001 Sherbrooke West) this afternoon from 4 until 6.
I went to this last year, and went a bit bid crazy, spending much more than I had planned to. I came away with:
And that’s just the stuff I had the highest bid on, I can’t remember what else I placed bids on…
So come along, it’s fun, there is beer, you might pick up some Xmas/Hannukah/Other presents, and it’s for charity!
I don’t care what superhero I am, or what drink I am, or what star wars/lord of the rings/harry potter/etc. character I am.
I don’t need a quiz to tell me if I’m smart, or alcoholic, or sexy or canadian.
I have a clock on my computer, I don’t need one on my blog.
I don’t need cute badges, stickers, buttons or banners to express my opinions.
I don’t need to beg for money using paypal (and I wouldn’t even if I did).
People can add me to their blog lists without a narcissisitic ‘blogroll me!!!’ link.
If you want to know 100 things about me, read my posts.
I know how many hits I’m getting, but I don’t need to tell the world.
Did I miss any?
Some random bits and pieces:
I’m sick. Again. Two colds in less than a month is just a tad annoying. So I’m off work today, lazing around the house in my dressing gown and wooly socks. I’m blaming Sahfi, my evidence being that she hugged me. Twice.
Talking of Sahfi, the weekend was fun. We stayed up far too late on Thursday night when they arrived, talking about politics and toilet stuff (why do our conversations always come around to toilet stuff?) My first impression of Michael was “wow, he’s tall”. He’s very pleasant though and his music is quite cool. They disappeared for most of the rest of the weekend but on Sunday we watched Kill Bill V1 together, after which Jen had to rush out to the video store to get Kill Bill V2. In between the two we had a not bad dinner of fish and chips (my deep-frying skills need some fine-tuning). The movie (it’s one big movie really) is awesome, Quentin is a twisted genius.
Last night was a late one at the McKibbins quiz. The regular quizmaster Sean was sick so Steve handled it all on his own. We did meet up with the folks from CheeseOrgy and some of their friends including Procrasto, a very nice bunch of people who smoke too much. I was already starting to get sick, so I involved myself in conversation even less than I usually do. And I managed to knock over a pint of Guinness. Doh. And we sucked at the quiz. Doh.
It’s week two of the “WTF is it?” photo quiz. This time it’s a full photograph, not a cutout. So WTF is it? Jen, you definitely can’t play this time.
Oh, and in other quiz related news: tonight is the bi-weekly pub quiz at McKibbins on Bishop Street, starting sometime after 8pm. Apparently the folks over at CheeseOrgy will be there too!
I know you’ve all been waiting desperately for the day to come when I reveal the answer to last weeks “WTF is it?” photo quiz. That day is today. As you can see, it was a bauble from last year’s Christmas tree. Garth was the closest, but no electric eels were harmed in the making of this photograph.
Garth,
Jen and I enjoy your surreal and bizarre comments, so we’re curious… Who are you? Tell us about yourself. Are you stalking us? Do you have a blog or is it just easier and more fun to comment on other people’s? Is your name really Garth? Are you Garth Brookes? What other blogs do you comment on?
We really need to know.
Our friend Sahfi has had enough of the USA and has decided to come live with us. Well, for the weekend anyway. She arrives tonight with her beau, who is completely unaware of the weekend plans. The main reason for her visit seems to be to get her hair cut, but she will also be visiting other friends and is desperate to go out dancing on Saturday night. Jen and I don’t dance, unless we’re at a cheesy party with 80s music, so she’s looking for some hardcore clubbers.
Sahfi is usually a whirlwind of energy, so I’m expecting a very hyper weekend.
We had the first sprinklings of snow yesterday, but it didn’t stay around for long. I predicted that first settled snow would be November 22nd, so my prediction is still on track.
Back in England the prediction would be whether we get any snow at all or not; I think I like it better when it’s when rather than if. Even after 5 years of freezing winters I still look forward to this time of year. I hope I never look to the snow season with dread.
Oh, and in an email today, my mum wrote:
I have been reading Marks blog which is very interesting.
So hi mum! It’s almost like being on tv.
Welcome to the first ever Monday Morning “What The Fuck Is It?” photo quiz. This image is part of a photo of something, can you guess what it is? I’ll post the answer next week. Jen, you’re not allowed to play. The first person to get the right answer wins free access to my blog for life!
According to this story:
“President Bush strongly opposes any treaty or policy that would cause the loss of a single American job, let alone the nearly 5 million jobs Kyoto would have cost”
So he’s willing to send thousands of young Americans into peril for a badly planned and badly executed “war on terror”; he’s willing to let the planet suffer from greenhouse gases which the USA output 36% of. But an American losing a job? Oh no, we can’t have that.
Someone with more intelligence and foresight might realise that many of those lost jobs will be replaced by the new industries implementing Kyoto will require. Sadly the “leader of the free world” has no vision.
I’m eating this fabulous soup right now:
Throw some cubed bacon into a frying pan. Chop up a carrot, an onion and a celery root into small cubes, small enough to be saute-able. Add them to the bacon with a knob of butter and saute for a few more minutes. Add some chicken stock (or a glass of wine if you’re feeling adventurous) to de-glaze the pan. Add some cream (I used whipping cream but you can go lighter if you want). Add a tin of crabmeat, or fresh if you have it. Throw a few chopped up mushrooms in there too (white ones are better to keep the nice clean colour). Cook until everything is heated through, serve with crusty bread. Yum.
Five months ago I started this blog. Three months later Jen started hers.
Since then, Jen has become completely addicted. Obsessed even. Not necessarily with her own blog, but with reading other people’s blogs. This has been exacerbated by the discovery of Blog Explosion which she now spends hours at skipping gaily from blog to blog, laughing at the delusional republicans, yawning at the mummy blogs and “blogmark”ing anything good.
So do I want to blog explode? So far I’ve avoided it; firstly because the viral marketing aspect of it bothers me, and secondly because I don’t need the addiction. Instead, I claimed my blog at Blog Shares. Hopefully this won’t be as addictive, mostly because I don’t have a clue what’s going on half the time. What do I buy? What do I sell? What’s a chip? It looks pretty though.
It takes a while watching movies on the way to work, especially with all the DVD special features, but I’ve finally finished re-watching the Matrix trilogy.
The Matrix – The sequels could never live up to what this delivered, it is by far the best of the three. The story is superbly mystifying, the effects were groundbreaking and perfectly executed. Add to that the fantastic extras on the DVD and you have quite a package. The commentary track is good, although Carrie-Anne Moss doesn’t have much to say and the special effects geek gets annoying. The music only track with commentary from the composer Don Davis is a really nice feature and makes you realise how much of the story can be told just with visuals and music.
The Matrix Reloaded – The 2nd best of the three. The story evolves well with the introduction of some fun new characters. The effects are once again groundbreaking. The burly brawl looks like it was a lot of fun to make, although some of the ‘virtual human’ stuff didn’t quite look real enough. The highway chase is simply stunning. Sadly the quality of the special features went down drastically with this DVD. No feature commentaries, just a couple of mildly interesting documentaries.
The Matrix Revolutions – OK so the story sucks a bit in this one, some things just don’t work, some things are left a little too open ended, some things are just pretentious gibberish. From an action standpoint it doesn’t disappoint though. The siege sequence is probably the best and the longest non-stop all-action sequence ever with incredible special effects on a massive scale. The machine city is an amazing piece of CGI. The super burly brawl feels a little tongue-in-cheek but it’s still fun, and the effect they used for the last punch is a masterpiece. Once again the extra features are a disappointment; no feature commentary and even less documentary footage than the 2nd movie.
No doubt the new 10 DVD special edition coming out in time for Christmas will have all the features I’m looking for, but I hate the way the studios are milking us with these ever growing extended-super-bonus-special-megapack editions.
The recent political tragedy got me thinking about the influences that have shaped my beliefs. What brought me to my current beliefs? Am I an independant thinker or just another member of the flock?
First I need to look at what I believe. Politically I’m somewhere around the centre, leaning slightly to the left on most issues except perhaps economy. I’m a skeptical rationalist and a strong atheist. I believe people should be free to marry or not marry whoever they choose regardless of gender. I’m not a racist or a homophobe. I’m a strong believer in free speech and freedom of expression. I’m pro-choice. I’m a pacifist and see peaceful negotiation as the primary solution to conflict, but accept that war is sometimes inevitable.
So where did all that come from? My parents? Well I never really had political conversations with them. To be honest I’m not entirely sure where they stand either politically or religiously. They chose to have me christened, probably more out of a sense of duty than any religious conviction. I have vague memories of being sent to Sunday school, but that was probably just to give my mum a morning off. So no, I don’t think I’ve been significantly influenced by my parents.
What about my peers? I grew up in a very white neighbourhood, mostly working to middle class. The norm there was racism, sexism and homophobia but somehow I managed to avoid most of that influence. None of my friends were overtly religious, but they weren’t overtly atheist either. Politics was rarely discussed at all. Throughout my life I’ve had friends spanning the full spectrum of political beliefs but none of them have had a dramatic influence on me. I married a lefty liberal, but her political beliefs are very low down on the list of reasons I’m with her.
Is it society in general? Society has certainly become more tolerant in recent years (although the past few days feel like things are going backwards again) so has that made me more tolerant? If I’d been born 400 years ago would I be a racist homophobic witch hunter? I’m sure I’ve been influenced by society, by the media, by societal norms but obviously only certain aspects of it have influenced me. I can choose which parts of society I want to accept.
I’ve certainly been influenced by the people around me in some way, but I like to think I’ve been able to make my own independant choices. I left a place rife with racism with a bit of residual racism in me but I knew how wrong that was and I made the effort to overcome it. I examined religion and decided it wasn’t for me. Nobody ever said to me “you must be an atheist, it’s the only way.” Nobody has ever spent time indoctrinating me into believing there is no creator; in fact the opposite has happened more often. I made my decision on my own using the information I had at my disposal.
I gave my 5th speech from the storytelling manual at Toastmasters last night. The objective of the project was to tell a story based on a historical event, and make it entertaining.
Because of the date, I decided to tell the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. It was a little nerve-wracking because I had to keep my facts straight without any notes, but it seems my memory is better than I thought and I don’t think I made any slips. I even managed to remember the names of some of Guy’s co-conspirators. I’m usually terrible with names.
It was a 7 to 9 minute speech, and I came in at around 8 minutes so my “counting the words and dividing by 70″ approach to timing calculations seems to be working quite nicely.
I’ve been in Canada as a permanent resident for nearly five years now, which means I’ve been eligible for Canadian citizenship for quite some time. I have the forms necessary to apply, but I’ve been procrastinating over it for way too long.
One of the problems is the section of the form that asks for every time I’ve left Canada since I came here, with exact dates. I can’t remember what I did last Wednesday, let alone the exact dates of all the times we popped down to the US for the weekend, or I visited the folks back in England.
That thing that’s happening south of the border today, and all the blog posts I keep seeing which say “You must vote!” and “Voting is important!” made me realise that there will be another election in this country sometime soon and it would be nice if I could vote in it (even if my vote would be meaningless living in a Liberal stronghold).
What else does Citizenship mean to me? Well there’s the spare passport, and the fact that I could go to the US without having to stop and deal with visa waivers and US customs officials asking if I enjoy fox hunting (yes, that did happen). It also means one less card in my wallet, as I can dispose of the Permanent Resident ID card. It means I would get to vote if they ever have another separation referendum here. And of course it means I can wear my toque with pride and proclaim “I Am Canadian (and British)!”
So maybe I’ll sit down real soon now and figure out those dates.
Yes, it’s pubquiz time again.
Tonight is the bi-weekly McKibbon’s quiz, hosted by the inimitable Sean Murphy, starting at 8(ish). Teams of up to 4 people, $2 entrance fee per person, certificates to the winners!
Tomorrow is the monthly Hurley’s quiz, this month hosted by me and Kim (Jen ducked out at the last minute because she wants to play). Expect much random useless trivia, from Canadian Idol to the Moon… Starting at 8(sharp-ish). Teams of up to 4 people, no entrance fee, cards to the winners!
Last weeks photo quiz was way too easy, of course it was a funky Ikea chair!
