Peek-a-boo

I couldn't resist, after I saw this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/w00kie/sets/180637/show/

Mine's not as well done or as interesting as some of these.

In other news, it looks like the blokes who swiped the 2-tonne Henry Moore sculpture have revealed their reason for doing so. Apparently they are taking it on a gnome-like tour of the world. This photograph showed up in my mailbox (possibly the word about my regret in not travelling has got around):

There's always one toy. . .

Every Christmas it seems that there is always one gift (usually a toy or gadget) that you just can't get enough of. It's usually not your own, however, which is sad. A few years ago my nephew got a Rokenbok set and Gina and I played with it for hours. I still want one of my own but nobody takes the request seriously (it took me years to convince people that I wanted a remote control car, then one year I received two!).

This year the toy that took up most of my playing time wasn't a gift to me, either. It was a Robosapien. After playing with it I'm not convinced I need (or want) one. It was a gift from B & T to their mom (somewhat suspicious, I'd say - as the claim was that it could help mom around the house).

After much playing I was able to get the little fellow to pick up a balled-up sock. It has a design feature that is supposed to allow it to throw objects but it really only manages to throw them straight down. I couldn't get it to hurl anything across the room. One thing I found it did really well was torment their dog, a young Shih Tzu cross. I would advance the robosapien up to the dog and throw out a karate-chop, complete with robot making a hi-yah sound. Or get it to sneak up behind and let out a huge belch.Perhaps Sonnet would really love one of these!

Overall the thing seems designed much like the sterotypical male: it whistles cat-calls, belches, throws karate-chops and pelvic thrusts and has a hard time picking up the laundry. But it throws like a girl.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to all of my friends. I hope to continue to spend more quality time with all of you in the new year. Thanks for the all the fun!

We'll miss you, Leo . . .

http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2005-12-16/

A New 'Do for Woo

I think bubba's choice was a good one, dharmabum. My vote is also for the Woohol.

DVD Release of Still Life With Razor

Still Life With Razor Release Date: November 25, 2005 Directed by: Ken Cameron and Dave Reynolds Starring: Anita L. Miotti, Peter Strand Rumpel Colour, 15 min. Stereo Unrated (Parental Guidance suggested)

Get your copy today! If you are credited on the film you are entitled to a free copy, otherwise they are $10 each. A notice will be sent out shortly requesting shipping and/or dropping off info.

Mmmmmm . . . cheese!

On Sunday, Gina and I went to the Springbank Cheese Co. (it's closer than Janice Beaton) and brought home 3 cheeses to try. Sampling Cheeses is fast becoming a pastime of mine. I'm also thinking that the smellier the better, in some cases you may want to avoid smelling altogether . . .

Black Pepper Brie - I love Brie - by itself, on crackers, baguette, pastry-enveloped, etc., etc. This one was good but I think the pepper was no match for the brie. I like pepper - a lot - and it was not that the pepper was too much, I just think the brie they put it in was too weak. Great starter brie if you're afraid of it.

Cashel Blue - This is a nice starter-to-mid-range blue. I found it took a while to get used to blue - especially since I've always hated crunchy bits in places they don't belong - but I started early with the run-of-the mill Danish Blue and worked my way up. I think anyone who was at our Fondue last year can attest to the value of a good Gorgonzola. This particular Cashel smelled exactly like Elastoplast bandages (Gina agreed) but was quite good on the palate.

Le Grand Chouffe - billed as "Beer-washed Belgian Cheese", this is similar to Brie in texture and in that it has a rind. The bouquet on this one is pee-filled diaper (no, really, it is) but the taste is magnificent. There is a little bit of an ammonia finish but overall, of the three, this one was my favourite.

Why go postal when you can go Dutch?

From CBC news:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/11/16/sparrow051116.html

Never have so few read so much for so little

Yes, I was a pre-judge for a writing contest in a local paper. In less than a week, I had to read almost 750 entries that included everything from How-to guides to Science Fiction. There was a ton of sci-fi, many of it written by children (the better stuff anyway), and a lot of writing for therapy (or self-self-help).

How did I do it? Well, we did only have to read the synopsis and a submitted excerpt. Some people did't even bother to submit an exceprt - for example, in one entry the would-be author wrote "I haven't had the time to write a chapter yet". So why are you entering?? Some other entrants thought that they could only enter what fit in the tiny textinput box on the website, even though it cleary stated up to a maximum of 2000 words below it.

It was a dark and stormy night. The rain fell hard on the ground but you should publish my book all the same.
(enter up to a maximum of 2000 words, unless you think we can judge your writing style with two sentences)

It was still somewhat fun to read through most of the entries. My favourite line was "Bob was a volatile explosives expert". My favourite synopsis was "It's a thriller version of Lord of the Rings with a gothic twist". If you get a chance to read the final 10 I'll let you know which one is my pick for publication.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Unfortunately the only pictures of me from Halloween are badly out of focus, otherwise I'd post them. Instead you can look at our pumpkin. I went for the classic goofy look. Our camera is sadly lacking a pre-flash with which to get focus with in low-light conditions.

Interesting Week

On Wednesday I went to a "Power Within" conference with others from work - the keynote speaker was Bill Clinton. The other speakers ranged from not bad to excellent - Peter Gruber, former CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and now head of Mandalay Entertainment (he also produced Rain Man and a slough of other films), one of the authors of Freakonomics, Herb Cohen (How to Negotiate Anything - he was hilarious!) - to name a few.

Bill spoke for about an hour, mostly about his NGOs and how - now that he is no longer president - he can actually accomplish things without having to worry about how it will affect his approval rating, etc. His message was simple - be more afraid of failure than of inaction - and he was quite a moving speaker. He pointed out that he visited Canada more than any sitting US president, that he loves it here and joked that he's been here so many times this year that Martin called him up and warned him that if he came once more he'd be subject to Canadian taxes. He also said that this was fair, considering Bush had given him 4 tax cuts he didn't need or want.

Thursday night a few of us went to see Tom Phillips perform in Hank Williams - The Show He Never Gave. It was at the Ironwood and it was quite good. I'm not a huge fan of honkeytonk but, much like I felt after watching Ray, you get a sense of how many songs he wrote and how they have had such an impact on everything. Tom was good, though he admitted after the show that he has to sing a whole lot higher than normal to play the part and that it's quite tough.

I'm off to Toronto tomorrow just for the week - back Thursday.

Dave wants . . .

Kelsey did it, Len did it, so here's mine. Put "(your name) wants" into Google . . .

Dave wants to introduce Carmen to his family in England.

Dave wants it stated that ALL bikes welcome on every road.

Dave wants a professional style kitchen complete with a restaurant size range.

Dave wants to expand the kitchen area.

Dave Wants Spicy Noodles.

Dave wants to get back with Jessie.

Dave wants to feel power and control with the gun.

Dave wants automated podcasting - it's already here.

Dave wants to know if we have seen the best of JD Fortune.

DAVE WANTS TO TOUCH IT. (emphasis not mine)

'New' Stephen King movie

Click on the following link (requires QuickTime):

http://www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov

Off to Winterpeg

At least it's supposed to be balmy this week. I'm leaving tonight, coming back Friday PM (we should be able to stop in at QTs b-day festivities after G picks me up at the airport. Jenn is going back to TO but only for a few weeks before she moves to our nation's capital.

This Thanksgiving Weekend: Played a lot of Wallace and Gromit Project Zoo on the old PS2, saw the Were-Rabbit movie with the girls on the weekend - it was amazing by the way! Sad news connected with that though, see here.

See you when I get back!

Film Fest over for another year

My Film Festival had some ups and downs this year, as some of you may already know.

First off, our film Still Life With Razor was not accepted - then it was accepted (clerical error) - then we had to rush to get a screening copy - then we dragged a bunch of friends, the cast, etc. down to a midnight screening, only to be told our film was playing the following Saturday - then it played that night anyway.

The festival as a whole was very disorganized - they had many versions of "updated" schedules and people were showing up for films that weren't playing, etc..

The best film I saw at the festival (one of the great perks of being a delegate was getting a full festival pass) was Caché (Hidden) from France, with Juliette Binoche and the old man from Amelie who get's his trinket box back. There was a total jerk who sat behind us, though - he had a cold and snivelled through the whole movie, he talked through the whole thing and then said at the end "that movie sucked ass". Anyway, it was nice to hear Juliette speaking French in a movie - it's been so long.

Another good one was Salt from Iceland, except that the entire movie was handheld and in extreme close-up so it was kind of sick-making (but that was not what it was going for). BTW, if you have a freckle-fetish you have to see this one.

Can't wait for next year!

And the hottest Premiere ticket this year is . . .

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Sorry, Autumn, I only have the one (we didn't get them at work but they came from my friend at Global). I tried to convince Gina that she didn't really want to see it but she wouldn't fall for it.

Still Life with Razor to premiere at Calgary International Film Festival

Still Life With Razor, starring Anita Miotti and Peter Strand Rumpel, was shot in the summer of 2000 but only recently completed post-production. The 15 minute short, written by Dave Reynolds and co-directed by Dave and Ken Cameron, will be a part of the CIFF's The Late Shows series, screening at the Globe Theatre midnight (11:59 PM) on Saturday, September 24, 2005.

For more details about the screening, visit the Midnight Shorts #1 page at the CIFF website, www.calgaryfilm.com.

For more details about the film, visit the projects page at thinsoapy.com

Dogville

I love Lars Von Trier movies. Dancer in the Dark was as devastating as it was brilliant. Dogville, the first of a trilogy (P2, Manderlay was at the Toronto Film Fest this week), is very impressive - both from a technical standpoint and as a scathing look at America (not just humanity, as many American reviewers see it). As in the Simpsons, the mob rules. People alone are basically good - it's when they get together when everything goes horribly wrong.

There are many reasons to dislike this movie: the minimalist theatre-like sets, the 3-hour run time and for some, Nicole Kidman (just to name three). Many think the set is very distracting and that Von Trier is being arty for the sake of it. Not at all - everything is there (or not there) with much purpose. The 177 minutes went by quickly. Nicole Kidman was excellent. The rest of the cast was great, too - Paul Bettany, Patricia Clarkson, Chloe Sevigny, Lauren Bacall, etc. etc..

I don't want to go into details about the plot and so forth but I will say that Dogville is one of those films that continues to play out in your head long after the movie is over. I can't believe it took me so long to finally view it and I eagerly await Manderlay, with Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village) in the role of Grace, and then much later, Washington - purportedly with both Kidman and Howard playing the role.

A romantic fire and . . . whoops!

Hung out at a friend's garage sale today. Cold and wet but there is a heartwarming story that may come out of it...

Young couple enters garage. He spots four E-Z-start fire logs and gathers them up like he was picking the real thing in the forest. Now one-handed, he searches his pockets all around his pants for a few dollars with which to pay. She, while looking at other stuff, notices his dilemma and sets down her purse by the $7 rice cooker. Great day for a fire, she says, as she removes small piles from the purse and sets them all around the table. He stares blankly at the rain pouring over the edges of the eavestrough. Aha! She finds a twonie and passes it to my friend. The deal is sealed, they can go home and cuddle up by the fire without messing about with kindling and paper. She returns the piles to the purse and they scurry to the car, driving off. Another friend, also hanging about, notices one small pile left behind. Among the detritus, this month's birth control packet - yesterday's dose missing but today's still intact.

Further Adventures of BikeClub

Here are a few pics from the ride out to Turner Valley. It was easier than I imagined but I think that had a lot to do with the lack of wind for the majority of the ride.

It was a perfect day for it! For more pictures and commentary, visit BikeClub and roadwarrior.

I'm ready for my close up

excellent movie, btw

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I did/did not not have sexual relations with that woman...

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Why wait for the weekend?

Like roadwarrior says: a rare weekday ride. More pics at the official bikeclub site.

trying to be quirky or just plain dumb?

Sign at Tropicana Pizza on 14th Street SW

SEEZERS
$3.50

if it's still there next time i drive by i'll take a pic.

sightings...

andj - at work; she was helping someone so we didn't say hello.

"Flaming Master" - a magnetic sign on the back of a minivan. After it turned I noticed on the side another magnetic sign that advertised a blacksmith.

A ball cap & suspender man escorting into the grocery store a young girl whose lower back was tattooed with a 6" swastika.

Who'd a thunk it?

Hitched - August 20th, 2005

yippee, a break

Two weeks off! Woohoo, time to work on the 3Rs: readin', ritin' and renovatin'. And maybe a little golf if the weather co-operates. And a bike ride or two.

Elaine! Elaine! Elaine! Elaine! Elaine! etc.

Watched this classic again over the weekend. If you've never seen it or haven't seen it in a while, you must. Don't bother watching it Full Screen, though, or you'll miss a lot of the great camera work and shot set-ups.

It has absolutely one of the best soundtracks of all time, featuring Simon & Garfunkel reworking 4 of their hits to fit perfectly with the picture. You'll also get to see the seed for many Simpsons and Seinfled gags (Mrs. Bouvier! Mrs. Boooooouvier!), and a lot of the camera work and acting styles used later in The Wonder Years.

Favourite line:
Of course, Mrs. Robinson, you're the most desirable of all my parents' friends.

Guest Stars (before they were stars)

Mike Farrell (TVs M*A*S*H*)
Norman Fell (Mr. Roper, Three's Co.)
Richard Dreyfuss (Close Encounters, etc., etc.)
Buck Henry (the screenwriter, as well you may recognize him as one of the fishermen from Short Cuts, also as the guy who pitched The Graduate: Part 2 in the unforgettable opening scene of The Player)
Plus, Aunt Agatha from TVs Bewitched!

songs my ipod played me (on the way to work)

Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Smashing Pumpkins)
Turn Me Loose (Tim Tamashiro)
Wild Horses (U2)
I'm not Sleeping (Counting Crows)
The Parting Glass (Wailin' Jenny's)
Landslide (Smashing Pumpkins)
On the Verge (Tragically Hip)
Somebody Told Me (The Killers)
Epilogue [Nothing 'Bout Me] (Sting)
Sheila Take a Bow (The Smiths)
A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles)
Right Through You (Alanis Morrisette)

jardin de victoire

cool kids never have the time...

How many horrible things about the 70s can you spot in this picture?

7508 km across Canada tour

I got to see some friends in Toronto, go to BookExpo and even managed to squeeze in a trip to Niagara Falls (first time) thanks, Jenn it was a lot of fun! Jenn rented a convertible PT Cruiser (cheesy, gutless!) and when we got to the Falls there was a PT Cruiser convention (we didn't win any prizes).

Other than that Saturday trip nothing else exciting to report - it was all mostly work. However, I thought I'd tell you about a conversation I overheard while dining at the Holiday Inn restaurant Medley's in Vancouver:

White couple in their sixties at the table across from me, viewing the menu. Server approaches.

SERVER: Have you decided?

MAN: Do you have any normal food?

SERVER: Normal food?

WOMAN: What's this thing with cab-er-net sauce? Is that gravy?

SERVER: Well it's a sauce made from Cabernet. It's wine that's cooked off, it's very nice actually.

WOMAN: You don't have any gravy?

SERVER: It's very nice. I can give it to you on the side if you'd like.

WOMAN: Well . . . okay. And the potatoes, they don't have those those things in them, do they?

SERVER: Things?

MAN: They're like onions except they're not onions.

SERVER: Oh, you mean garlic? No, I can get you them without. (then, to the Man) And for you? Have you decided?

MAN: I guess I'll have the New York Strip, very well done.

... I myself ordered the surprisingly good "Panko and Coconut-crusted Pork Tenderloin". On the menu Panko was spelled panako and at another table beside me an English woman asked the server what Ponolka was...

That said, most of the other stuff on the menu was normal.

They call me The Wanderer...

I haven't abandoned this blog but I thought I'd just add a quick note here that I'm doing a little travelling for work. Over the next few weeks I'm doing Edmonton - Calgary - Toronto - Calgary - Vancouver - Edmonton and finally back home on June 30, right before the long weekend. I may be able to post one or twice, we'll see. Have a great June, everyone!

Whoever made them, they're powerful

Click to enlarge

This image is just one of a set of 8 making the rounds via email, purportedly presented to the UNO by a Norwegian diplomat called Charung Gollar. It was a very cool idea.

Here's a link to the real story: Brazillian Artist

Borrowed from Andrea, via Bubba

what is the geekiest part of your music collection?
Sawyer Brown

what do you eat when you raid the fridge late at night?
milk & cookies

what is your secret guaranteed weeping movie?
Cinema Paradiso, no secret though

do you have a completely irrational fear?
dying before i make a great movie

what is the little physical habit that gives away your insecure moments?
avoiding direct eye contact; nonsensical verbiage

do you have too many love interests?
way

do you know anyone famous?
yes

describe your bed...
My bed is high, firm, and cozy with many pillows.

who would play you in a movie?
Pruitt Taylor Vince

what do you carry with you at all times?
debit card, stabucks card, keys

are you happy with your given name?
not one bit

how much money would it take to get you to give up the Internet for one year?
enough to make one low-budget feature film, which would keep me busy for a year

if you could only fulfill one of your fantasies, which would it be?
i choose to remain silent on the grounds...

what was the last song you were listening to?
"Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" by The Dream Academy

have you ever been in love?
Yes

do you talk a lot?
Yes

do you consider yourself to be a nice person?
Yes

favorite fabric?
thong

something you love AND hate?
sonnet (see my profile pic)

what's the one language you want to learn?
Spanish

what do you order at a bar?
trad

what's one trait you hate in a person?
religious zealotry

what was your most frivolous purchase?
the bike i had as a teen

do you consider yourself materialistic?
way

what do you cook the best?
waffles

what kind of books do you like to read?
One's about teenage girls and ... no wait, that was Andrea's answer - the kind that would make great movies

if you won the lottery, what would you do?
make a movie (and take a year off from the internet, apparently)

burial or cremation?
Cremation

what's one thing you're a loser at?
walking

how many drinks before you're tipsy?
4

do you think you're cute?
nope

Miffed Morons, Yes:

PLANKTONIC KILORAD
A LONE OWL
SINEWY SLEEK
RENTAL MONKEYS
NEED LUCK
OBERLIN SYNCHRO
RABID ARYAN
MOANFUL EX TUNA
BIRDMAN RAZES

hours of addictive fun at Anagram Server

Dream Date

Audrey Tautou (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement)

Another day another 50k

**UPDATE** links to Bikeclub should work now (thanks, Len!)

I was in Edmonton for most of last week - mostly without computer access so I couldn't post. Friday night after getting back we went to Taylor's 5th Birthday Party, which as always was fun.

Saturday we worked on the BikeClub website until it was time to join the poker tournament at Kyle and Stef's. Gina was second out but I managed to fly under the radar and squeak into 4th place (money went to top 3 - how many times in my life have I finished out of the money??

Sunday we rode 50k, over the resevoir to Edworty, then up into Strathcona and down to New Discovery and back home across the dam. A lot of climbing - read and see photos at BikeClub.

Who Says Nothing Rhymes with Orange?

On the Importance of the Hinge

(Petrarchan Sonnet)

What a bit-part actor you are, door-hinge.
Yet even they can steal the show with lust
And perhaps win an Oscar, golden trussed,
Like your own enchanting shade of orange.

The unpolished smoothness of your ore flange
And the dark, empty screw-hole filled with dust
Add to your mystery. And if you bust,
Metal empathy I will have, poor hinge.

Your cousin, the knob, has irrelevance.
So too has his brother and friend, the lock.
The door rests its life heavy upon you.

Without you, how could it possibly dance
Or keep an open mind or a closed thought?
Without you, hinge, there's nothing it can do.

©1993 Dave Reynolds

Bikes, Bikinis and Legs of Jello

50K. It might not sound like much but it was my first ride over 35K this year. Plus it was 12 degrees warmer than last weekend. Plus our route took us up 4 killer and a few not-so-killer hills. By the end my legs were shaking like a whipped puppy and I had to keep checking to make sure I wasn't just in a too-high gear (I wasn't).

Exciting moments to report? Well, there wasn't a kid on a mini-motorbike like last time. There were baby geese (or so I was told!). We saw a lot of wood ducks (the best kind). It wasn't stop-and-go traffic in Fish Creek (like last week). There were three bikini-clad girls who could have used some help getting their dinghy up the bank of the Elbow, though Gina was too far ahead for me to let her know so I had to leave them hanging. And of course, Gina had the camera in her saddlebag, so we'll have to settle for the above picture of 3/4 of the day's BikeClub members stopping for a drink. Sorry, Al.

Dinner and a Movie

Last evening's International Night was an excellent all-meat affair. It's good there are no ****tarians in the group, they would have starved eating only sauerkraut. We went to The New Berliner in the NE and I thought it was quite good. Six of us chose the sampler and it was quite the feast. I especially the liked whole ham hocks with cracklins.

Here are a few pics for your enjoyment:


Never trust a bag of tulip bulbs that says "mixed colours" - this is what you get. The entire bed is full of these.


If I had a (few) Million Dollars... this is from last week's bike ride along the Elbow River near Stanley Park.

I Knew You Were Waiting

According to this, the George Michael/Aretha Franklin duet is "my life's theme song", if I go with the US Pop Chart. However, if I go with the UK Chart, well then it's La Isla Bonita by Madonna.



Gina thinks that 18 is the wrong age for picking stuff from Pop Charts. She says 12 is when you're still at the mercy of being exclusively exposed to pop charts. This way of thinking gets me "Your Kiss is on My List" by Hall & Oates. That's more like it! (And Gina's is "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen).

I see B (at 10) with her Hillary Duff and know how she's going to be embarrased about that one!

Halfway there and back again

I put 10K on the bike this morning by riding halfway to work with Gina and then back. Feels great - if only I could ride to work. It's less than an hour each way but I have to stay mobile in case I have to visit other stores, etc. Which comes up often. This riding with Gina in the morning though will be great for me and put an extra 50K on the bike each week. My goal this summer is 1000K.

And that gap continued to grow...

I'm guessing this is circa 1974.

When I was just a little boy...

Like a Virgin...

"blog, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog."
"how many blogs is that?"
"a lot."

well I'm no pro but I've blogged a little before, so this ain't my first time. anyway, this is just to get my first blogger blog published. i'm not sure how often I'll be here but we'll see.

and now, for a photograph. this is one of a bunch of tulips in my front garden...