Sunday, September 24, 2006
Stratford Festival
This weekend Kelly and I drove to Stratford Ontario for the weekend for the Stratford Festival. it was great. We saw "Coriolanus" with Colm Feore
Great actor this guy.
Th
e play is by Shakespeare, and one of his lesser know plays. its a great play about the things that shakespeare writes about best (relationships, revenge, hate, love, valour, pride, society, etc). I highly recommend the play. Its actually quite a hard play in the sense that you can never really get a grasp of coriolanus, do you like him, do you hate him, is he a good guy wronged by bad people, or is he too proud and maybe he deserves what he gets.anyway, like most of the great shakespearean characters, its a fine line between protagonist and antagonist.
So, since we were in stratford, we had decided that staying over was probably a good idea. hand with the after theatre crowd, go to a restaurant, have some drinks. now, this part was a little frustrating, since, um, there doesn't appear to be an after theatre crowd. all of a sudden, the street got real empty and in downtown Stratford, there was almost noone to be heard. so we went into an irish pub, had some dinner and drinks, and headed off to our Sketchy(?) hotel.
the hotel wasn't that bad, but it was a little musky and well, not worth the $200/night that we paid for it (complimentary breakfast was a coffee, juice, and your pic of bagels, scones, or cinnamon buns). and, just to show you how sketchy this place was, there was something extra in our room when we woke up....
Anyways, besides the really big gross bug, and perhaps the sketchy hotel, it was a good time. Kelly and i are now going to bug a membership to the stratford festival, and hopefully go to at least one play a year (the membership gets you advance tickets, a newsletter, and a few other little perks, unless you want to invest about $200 and up, and then, well, the perks just keep on adding up, but i'm not prepared to surrender that much money). so hopefully, we'll be able to see colm in some more plays. i knew the guy from "Paycheck" "Titus" "Riddick" and a lot of other movies, but he's definately a great stage presence and i recommend that people see him in a shakespearean play.
so now i'm back, and its back to reality (school, work, chores, cleaning blah). Hope you had a great weekend.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
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Sunday, September 10, 2006
Oh the sweet power
I went out to James Joyce tonigh with a few friends for Kelly's b-day. good club, had a good time, but lousy band. good lord. they butchered EVERY song that they did. especially lenny kravitz and red hot chili peppers.
anyways, me and livia went out for a smoke a few times, and while out there, we engaged in a conversation with the bouncer. and, let me tell you, we learned a few things.
as much as you don't want to admit it, bouncers have a lot of power. and it goes beyond just their wims of letting out in or not. i tell you this story to teach that you should always be nice to the bouncer.
case in point: we went out for a smoke, and had a nice conversation with the bouncer. there was no anomosity, just a friendly conversation. so, in exchange, the bouncer told us that there are pigeons on the overhang just above the pub, and if we didn't want to get pooped on, we should step a few inches back from the pub. but, he also noted, he was only telling us this b/c he enjoyed our friendly banter. he went on to point out that when people were giving him a hard time, he did not point out the pigeons, and a few people that were rude to him had been pooped on.
this proves the point that when there is someone like, say, a bouncer or a waitress, do not be rude to them. in fact, go out of your way to be extra sweet, flirty, etc, to them, b/c... they probably know a few things you will never know, and they have the power to screw you if they want (as in poop when you're having a smoke, or spitting in your food at a restaurant).
on another point, i want to note that i went to the movies last night and saw "The Illusionist". good movie. a little predictable, but still a good story and well presented (despite jessica beil or however you spell her name, i can't be bothered to look it up.). i would recommend the movie if you don't mind sitting thru it knowing what's going to happen. and, well, its ed norton, how can you go wrong.
anyways, me and livia went out for a smoke a few times, and while out there, we engaged in a conversation with the bouncer. and, let me tell you, we learned a few things.
as much as you don't want to admit it, bouncers have a lot of power. and it goes beyond just their wims of letting out in or not. i tell you this story to teach that you should always be nice to the bouncer.
case in point: we went out for a smoke, and had a nice conversation with the bouncer. there was no anomosity, just a friendly conversation. so, in exchange, the bouncer told us that there are pigeons on the overhang just above the pub, and if we didn't want to get pooped on, we should step a few inches back from the pub. but, he also noted, he was only telling us this b/c he enjoyed our friendly banter. he went on to point out that when people were giving him a hard time, he did not point out the pigeons, and a few people that were rude to him had been pooped on.
this proves the point that when there is someone like, say, a bouncer or a waitress, do not be rude to them. in fact, go out of your way to be extra sweet, flirty, etc, to them, b/c... they probably know a few things you will never know, and they have the power to screw you if they want (as in poop when you're having a smoke, or spitting in your food at a restaurant).
on another point, i want to note that i went to the movies last night and saw "The Illusionist". good movie. a little predictable, but still a good story and well presented (despite jessica beil or however you spell her name, i can't be bothered to look it up.). i would recommend the movie if you don't mind sitting thru it knowing what's going to happen. and, well, its ed norton, how can you go wrong.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
She's a beautiful Sheila
It was a sad day yesterday. The Croc hunter is dead. Crikey.
seriously, i love steve irwin. i though he was crazy, but still loved him. he did a lot for conservation and for crocs specifically, and despite his insane risks, noone can say that he wasn't entertaining and beneficial to the world of nature.
i think anyone that spent any time in residence that had a common room will miss steve. i can't remember a time in first year university in which at least 10 of us weren't watching steve, shouting out "crikey" every time a croc snapped at steve and almost took off his leg. it was just the culture of university, and i think most university students experienced steve and will think of him when they remember their undergrad days.
sundays in the common tv room at kuehner with other hung over people, still drinking and eating really unhealthy food, vegging out on really old, smelly, pee stained orange couches will never be the same. we will miss you steve.
seriously, i love steve irwin. i though he was crazy, but still loved him. he did a lot for conservation and for crocs specifically, and despite his insane risks, noone can say that he wasn't entertaining and beneficial to the world of nature.
i think anyone that spent any time in residence that had a common room will miss steve. i can't remember a time in first year university in which at least 10 of us weren't watching steve, shouting out "crikey" every time a croc snapped at steve and almost took off his leg. it was just the culture of university, and i think most university students experienced steve and will think of him when they remember their undergrad days.
sundays in the common tv room at kuehner with other hung over people, still drinking and eating really unhealthy food, vegging out on really old, smelly, pee stained orange couches will never be the same. we will miss you steve.
Monday, September 04, 2006
completely converted
it's official. i am completely in love with my mac, and will never again buy a pc. she's quite the minx, my mac. it took no time to make me play for the other team. after a 15 year love affair with my pcs, it took less than two weeks to leave my love/hate relationship and become forever in love with my mac.
and, i have found some great applications to make it even better. my two favourites though, i have to mention.
the first, is a freeware application called OnLife. This is an awesome program. basically, what it does is it keeps track of a lot of your activities on the mac (such as firefox, safari, word, emails, what you read etc).
it catalogs these activities by day (with the dots that you see), and you can later select if you want to see the activities by day, or thumbnail, or graph.
its an awesome program for me, b/c i will remember the day that i saw or viewed something, but i won't remember it by name. i remember what it looked like, and the thumbnail option allows me to see, for example, the sites that i visited (it even tells you how much time you spent doing a particular actitivity. i highly suggest you check it out if you have a mac, and you want to keep track of what you did. i keep it in my dock, and it starts up when i turn on my mac to make sure that it doesn't miss any of my activities.
the second, and probably much cooler, application is shareware, but for the twenty something dollars that it costs, its totally worth it. you have to have a bluetooth enabled cell phone to use this program, but if you have one, check out BluePhone Elite. this program, once paired with your cell phone, will pop up a screen on your mac that shows a caller id of the person that's calling your cell phone. for me, i often leave my cell phone in the hallway near the front door, and when it rings, i don't hear it. but now, when i'm on my mac, i'll see exactly who is calling me and if its important or if i want to get it, i'll go down and get the phone. its good for not having to get up and interrupt the work that you're doing on your computer (or your porn watching, whatever), and not missing calls if your cell phone isn't always by your side.
there are so many other apps (cocoabooklet, freemind, journler, nisus thesaurus, note to self, park, podtube, sidenote, task list [if you're still in school], file wrangler, check off, and so many others, do check out Mira and TapDex), that they just make an already great computer that much better.
now its actually a chore to go on my pcs.
and, i have found some great applications to make it even better. my two favourites though, i have to mention.
the first, is a freeware application called OnLife. This is an awesome program. basically, what it does is it keeps track of a lot of your activities on the mac (such as firefox, safari, word, emails, what you read etc).
it catalogs these activities by day (with the dots that you see), and you can later select if you want to see the activities by day, or thumbnail, or graph.
its an awesome program for me, b/c i will remember the day that i saw or viewed something, but i won't remember it by name. i remember what it looked like, and the thumbnail option allows me to see, for example, the sites that i visited (it even tells you how much time you spent doing a particular actitivity. i highly suggest you check it out if you have a mac, and you want to keep track of what you did. i keep it in my dock, and it starts up when i turn on my mac to make sure that it doesn't miss any of my activities.
the second, and probably much cooler, application is shareware, but for the twenty something dollars that it costs, its totally worth it. you have to have a bluetooth enabled cell phone to use this program, but if you have one, check out BluePhone Elite. this program, once paired with your cell phone, will pop up a screen on your mac that shows a caller id of the person that's calling your cell phone. for me, i often leave my cell phone in the hallway near the front door, and when it rings, i don't hear it. but now, when i'm on my mac, i'll see exactly who is calling me and if its important or if i want to get it, i'll go down and get the phone. its good for not having to get up and interrupt the work that you're doing on your computer (or your porn watching, whatever), and not missing calls if your cell phone isn't always by your side.
there are so many other apps (cocoabooklet, freemind, journler, nisus thesaurus, note to self, park, podtube, sidenote, task list [if you're still in school], file wrangler, check off, and so many others, do check out Mira and TapDex), that they just make an already great computer that much better.
now its actually a chore to go on my pcs.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
funniest $&#* EVER
It was Kelly's birthday today, and we went out on the town to celebrate the big quarter of a century. we hit it downtown, four of us. started with dinner at the elephant pub (or something to that effect), where we got lucky enough to get a great waitress (hostess, excuse me, didn't mean to offend). great irish food and drinks. and the group beside us was funny as hell, cause one guy was telling a story, and kept referring to some girl that he worked with as "sweet... and dirty". funny.
then we headed off to a comedy show at the Laugh Resort, which featured the funniest guy EVER, Fraser Young. i'm not kidding, it was THE funniest show i've ever been to in my life. the guy is so funny. at some point, i was laughing so hard that not only was i crying, but i couldn't catch my breath, so essentially, i was choking. i kid you not. and i couldn't stop. i'm serious, if he comes through your town, GO SEE HIM. i bought his CD and will be listening to it shortly, even though i left the house at 7am to go to work, and it's not past 1:30 am, i'm staying up to listen to this.
then we headed off to a comedy show at the Laugh Resort, which featured the funniest guy EVER, Fraser Young. i'm not kidding, it was THE funniest show i've ever been to in my life. the guy is so funny. at some point, i was laughing so hard that not only was i crying, but i couldn't catch my breath, so essentially, i was choking. i kid you not. and i couldn't stop. i'm serious, if he comes through your town, GO SEE HIM. i bought his CD and will be listening to it shortly, even though i left the house at 7am to go to work, and it's not past 1:30 am, i'm staying up to listen to this.
The End of Privacy - Whitaker