HappyHappyDonut

Ran in to my old VP yesterday while I was here in Lotus Land. Asked me how were things.

Found myself replacing sentences like "best thing that ever happened to my career" with platitudes like "oh, things, are going well", etc.

OK. Let's dial up a quote from Team America: World Police:

"We're dicks! We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong Il is an asshole. Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don't know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!"

On the road on a business trip. First stop, the capital of Lotus Land, Vancouver.

Weird sense of déjà vu. Kind of like a bad episode of MacGyver or a scene out of Romeo Must Die.

But that couldn't be.

Hmm.

A film about a font. Where do I sign?

That was the name of a domain name and web site I wanted to register in honour of one of my supporting actors, Steve Buscemi, the "indie god among video-store clerks" who has a tendencies to meet an awful end in many of the early movies in which he acted. Reservoir Dogs, Miller's Crossing, and Fargo being good examples.

New York Magazine has a good article on him here.

Aside from checking my standings in the company hockey pool, the first thing I do when I get up is to check the CNN, NY Times and BBC sites for the latest violence, the latest depths of the human soul. The current situation in Iraq is a mainstay, though Lebanon, Palestine, Somalia and Pakistan can't be forgotten. Closer to home, Haiti, the failed state extraordinaire, has its moments as well.

In political science terms, I would describe myself as a realist, which means that the happy-happy joy-joy, "can't we all just get along" stuff is pure crap. Or pure shite, if you want to say it with a Scottish accent. I think in terms of rapport de force. And the notion of the Leviathan, or the state's monopoly on violence, rings true in my mind.

Some folks like to think that we as a society (though a Western society would be more exact) are more civilized, but our ability to rapidly fallback to our baser instincts serves to remind us that nothing has changed. How many times have we seen a person (or been that person) willing to inflict pain, even death, on another for the simple incivility of being cut off in traffic? (When someone can effectively explain that riddle, I promise to buy in.) Until then, probably hard for us to tell those fighting (or looking for a fight) in the Middle East to lay down their arms.

'nuff said.

As part of the ongoing rebuild out of HHD, I added a snippet of code that points to Snap.com for all of the links on the home page. Just put your mouse over a link and a pop-up menu will appear. Neat stuff.

I looked for it and it exists. The 100 Best Fonts site offers many of the onfts I love best along with interesting articles on the fonts themselves or their creators. Ufnortunately, the whole thing is in German.

Oh well, have to dust off a textbook or two. Worth it though.

Home after my afternoon class. Had supper around 9:15 PM. A nice omelette with HCW™. Sat down at my computer and fired up the telly. On tap tonight, "Payback" with Mel Gibson, which in my mind was the last good movie he made before he weirded out with the Jesus-freak stuff and the anti-semitic ranting with the LA County Sheriff. Oh well. Mad Max and Lethal Weapon, that's enough for me.

Payback was one of the first movies I saw when I moved to MTL. Saw it at the now defunct, and disappeared!, Palace Theatre on Ste-Catherine Street, across from the Eaton Centre. Was ecstatic to finally see and English-language movie at the cinema. What a treat. Had spent a good 4-5 years before that seeing movies in English only on VHS!

Got my school marks back today for last term. Wow. Before I got them, I wrote down what I needed for each course in order to hit my overall GPA. Guess what! I got exactly the grades I needed.

This was a school term where I missed 9 out of 14 classes for one class, and moderately better for another. A term where my position was abolished and I had to look for other gainful employment. A term where I had intestinal flu (gastroenteritis.) A term where I had my laptop bag including laptop, wallet, iPod, watch(es), and sunglasses, stolen. A term where I started a new job the last week of school.

What a term!

Think I have the basic layout back in place though there are still some rough edges. I also imported some Blogger entries from earlier this month, though it is ling and painful. No luck using the conversation tricks available on the Net. Oh well. Will have to port the old stuff over for posterity I guess.

Will have to pause and do other stuff for a bit. Like build out a quick web site for my mentor. And finally publish the travelogue web site for my summer vacation, among other things. Also have to finish reading the "Watchmen" graphic novel. And finish Far Cry Instincts for Xbox while I am at it.

Ok. I finally figured out what was going on with my blogging client. So I am back to blogging with MovableType instead of Blogger...

I still have to rebuild everything from scratch though, including the template for the site. Though I have put a lot of stuff back in place, I need to fine-tune it some more. I also need to find a way to import the 70 or so entries that occurred during 2006.

The execution of Saddam Hussein's half-brother took a turn for the worse when his head apparently snapped off as he went through the gallows trap door, decapitating him in the process.

Famous movie quote this brings to mind. From 1986 movie Platoon, Kevin Dillon playing platoon soldier "Bunny", a role similar to his one in HBO's Entourage: ¨Holy shit, you see that fucking head come apart, man?"

I get to go San Francisco again, first time back in 3 years I believe, for 4 days early in February.

I am in the process of planning my time there, by myself since HCW(tm) can't come. (does not inviting her actually count that way ? :) I plan to hit a number of my old "haunts" (bg word, since I never got there as much as I would like.

I saw this on the web site for the Elbo Room on Valencia.

I also plan to hit Nikki's BBQ, Stinson Beach, Cafe du Nord, Mario's Bohemian Cafe and Cigar Shop, and others.

I plan to bring my big camera so look for pictures...

October of last year was the 10th anniversary of when I worked down there. My how time has flown by.

More surfing the Net while Canned Heat III, aka Dark Confessions, the Canada-Czech Republic co-production plays in the background.

Found out that there is such a thing as a "Chicks in Chains" movie genre.

The original Canned Heat, considered to be the ultimate movie in the genre, has the following plot summary,

"Linda Blair plays Carol, a young woman who must serve 18 months in prison after killing a man (by accident). The prison turns out to be brimming with decadence, corruption and sleaze, where the other female inmates are sadistic coke-snorting lesbian rapists and the guards and warden are no better. Racial tensions are high as the inmates is divided into two factions, blacks and whites, who must either join together against the management or kill each other trying."

I wonder if "Ilsa, She-Wolf of thhe SS" was in that group. (Turns out it is "A Cousin" to the "Chicks-in-Chains" Genre". I never actually saw that one but remember from the movie rental clubs. Oh well.

Figured out what I will study when this one is over.

Here is the prospective title: Kung-Pow and The Perfect Score (300): a demonstration of the statistical relationship between Chinese food, bowling scores, and the elderly.

'nuff said.

Something to do with the heat (planetary warming) and my current pillow. In any event, for the third night in a row I am having hard time falling asleep. Decided to get up and watch the boob tube instead of toughing it out.

Happened to catch another Canadian co-production movie gem about half-way through. IMDB describes the difference between the version of Dark Confessions that Showcase Action is showing, versus what is available in the US as follows:

"The UK video version has cut out the full frontal nudity during the white slavery auction. The sex scenes have also been toned down (especially the lesbian scenes). Also two scenes involving a monk getting whipped and a woman getting flogged have been cut out entirely. These scenes are left intact on the Canadian video version (which has not been released in the USA)."

For posterity, I came in just before the white slavery auction. :-/

Rang it on my end with a little "Mortal Kombat II on Xbox" action with my wife before settling down for some of those "comedic take on the year" TV shows popular here in La Belle Province. More news tomorrow or in the next few days.