geekent’s stuff’n things

29/07/2004

Prince… (THE Prince)

Filed under: Live — gkentetc @ 11:30 pm

in concert at the ACC July 28, 2004

Well, first let me say that I’m not a big fan of stadium concerts… not that I’ve been to many of them but generally I’d say the sound sucks, the view is awful, and the musician/audience engagement is nil.
Nelly Furtado, opening up for Prince on July 28, only proved to reiterate all my assumptions about stadium concerts. I couldn’t hear a word she said between songs, or during for that matter (sometimes there are perqs to stadium rock) and as the star of the band she spent all of no time interacting with her musicians which I found more than distasteful. I mean, if she can’t show her musicians some respect, then why would she show the crowd some. Anyway, she bored me and I got some good reading time in.
But, man, Prince… MA-AAA-AN… the guy is awesome.

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Where the day takes you

Filed under: blogwatch, love or something like it, me me me, muse-sick, the people that you meet — graigkent @ 12:41 pm

timeline: yesterday

I don’t hate mornings…
it’s more that they hate me. They’re oppressive, and they, like The Man, try to keep you down. Morning makes bedsheets feel like ropes that have strapped you to your mattress. Your alarm clock, despite its persistence, is weak-willed and wont actually do what it takes to make sure you get up on time. And the person in bed beside you… well, come on, would you really want to leave that? They’re so warm and cuddly… Damn you mornings for driving a wedge of consciousness between me and my beloved.
Biketown…
I love biking to work, the convenience of it, not to mention the speed. On a good day (ie. strong tailwind, light traffic) I can make it to work in twelve minutes. Most days I’m well under twenty. I’d have to say that I’m lucky to live in a major metropolitan center and I’m able to get to work in less than twenty minutes… without a car.
But even after three years of this convenience (I’ve always lived within easy biking distance of where I worked) I’m still amazed at a) how ignorant the drivers are; b) how ignorant the majority of other bikers are; and c) how ignorant I can still be.
I’ve expanded upon the previous before so I will speak of the latter. Let’s discuss my bad habits.

  1. crosswalks: okay, I have this nasty habit of breezing through crosswalks, mostly because I’m too busy paying attention to vehicles and the road to notice the pedestrian at the side of the road. Also, the way I ride, my vision isn’t directed high enough to the crosswalk lights, so I rarely see them flashing (unless it’s later evening)
  2. curb jumping: if traffic is hairy and there’s a vehicle too close to the curb for my liking, I will avoid it by hopping the curb. But unlike some other people, I hop back down at the first opportunity and I always try to respect pedestrians.
  3. crossing at the lights: I don’t walk my bike across when I cross at the lights. I rarely use a turning lane (I’ll instead wait for each directional light to make a left-hand turn, which I think is safer, and plus the road sensors don’t respond to a cyclist, and you can wait there for a long time, sometimes, for a turning signal at some intersections, especially if there’s no cars behind you wanting to turn).
  4. t-intersections: I’ll slow down and perhaps hesitate before proceeding through a t-intersection (at the top of the intersection of course), and I’ll always look for peds on the cross, but I still run the red and that’s bad-like.
  5. jumping the green: We have a stupid-ass delay in Toronto between the red light change on the one side and the change to green on the other. I tend to jump the green light, which can be dangerous, but I’m mostly aware of the traffic around me and wont do it if there’s a questionable vehicle coming
  6. spacing out: sometimes I get lost in thought while I’m riding and that’s pretty scary, because I’ll usually snap back to reality just before I’m about to have an accident. Thanks spidey-sense.
  7. distraction: sometimes I get distracted by my pantleg unrolling, or by a display in a storefront I’ve passed or a person walking along the sidewalk (ahem), and I spend a little more time looking down or over my shoulder than I should. I know I’m not supposed to do that, but sometimes I can’t help myself

The working week…
This week we’re running at end of quarter, and it’s bringing the busy down on my ass. I can’t say that I’m overworked, but the pressure (as it’s my first end of quarter in my new role) is definitely being applied. I think I’m handling it okay, but by the end of the day, I’m about spent. Thankfully end of quarter madness only lasts for, at most, 2 weeks every three months.
Oi.
Meet up.now..
There hadn’t been a GTAB meet-up in some time. Or maybe there had, I just havn’t been to one in a long time. It’s been a while since I’ve met some new people, especially those who have that newly-blogging zeal that all of us who have been doing it for some time have pretty much lost (it’s as much habit as it is passion now, wouldn’t you agree folks).
Now that I think about it, a few days back was the two year anniversary of first time I met Emma… for the second time at one of these meetups ( huh, wha? ) And tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of her nipple ring (which is something worth celebrating, I say!)
And, as people have been asking, if you actually want to pin down a date for our anniversary, I was just combing through my email records, and it’s July 31. But really who keeps track of these things (we certainly havn’t been).
Anyway, I met some nice people last night (some for the second or third time), and thankfully Maria has the gift of gab, because my brain was completely on shut-down and I could hardly sustain breathing, nevermind a conversation.
I also got to meet Mr. Waddell however briefly. From my perspective - sitting on a sunken couch, my ass six inches from the floor - the guy’s a giant, and a nice guy to boot.
I had to jet out early as one of the attendees whom I barely managed to speak to (and feel quite awful about… especially since her name escapes me… Carrie thankyou!!!), was disposing of gratis Prince tickets. So I bid my adieus and trotted off to the Air Canada Centre (ACC).
The lost art of getting lost…
Firstable, I’ve never been to the ACC before, so I wasn’t really sure where it was in relation to my starting point.
So I headed off south down Church Street only to realize this was the route to the Kool Hause and not to ACC… so I took a right up a gravel road with an open fense (which I knew I shouldn’t have entered but it wasn’t marked and there you go) and walked towards the ACC which I could see off in the distance.
But, as I approached, I started to notice I was higher and higher up from the ground level of the ACC and there wasn’t an easy path down (especially considering the barbwire topped fence down at the bottom of the hill.
I was wearing a lousy pair of Doc Martin sandals which were painfully blistering my feet, and I didn’t feel like walking all the way back, so I found a good spot to climb down and… stopped.
At the bottom, on the other side of the fence was a ditch filled with water and a few homeless folks cleaning themselves… so I kept strolling a little longer, to the point where I either had to turn back or go down. After sliding down the gravel into the tall weeds and cleaning the grit out of my sandals, I noticed the barbwire of the fence was covered over with vines. Perfect.
I hopped it with ease, and landed with the grace of a siamese cat (that would be a cat joined at the head with another cat and not the version you’re used to from “Lady and the Tramp”) atop a large, thorny bush.
I looked at my battle wounds and I had a small cut on my baby finger and a few scratches practically everywhere… and brambles all over my clothes. I picked off the brambles as I approached the ACC.
The ACC security was pretty lax. Metal detectors and half assed bag searches. The “no camera” thing wasn’t very strictly upheld either (not that I brought my camera, and not like I would have gotten good pictures). My seats were officially classified as “nosebleed” (as there were only three rows behind me) and even before I sat down there was Nelly Furtado boucing around like a flea in a flea circus (from my perspective anyway) on an X-shaped stage with more musicians than she could possibly need.
I had never been to a stadium concert (oh wait.. Radiohead, last year… right) but so far I was bored.
more about the Prince concert on the sidebar
That’s where the day took me…
The walk to the TTC was painful, and the smell of Cinnabon in Union Station was way too intoxicating to resist (note to self: Cinnobons smell way better than they taste). I finished reading my book on the streetcar home, and I vegged out for the remaining hour of consciousness watching a few episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force volume 2 on DVD. It was incredibly funny but I was too tired to laugh (the absurd length of time in which the “yes you did”/”no I didn’t” bit goes on for in “Super Birthday Snake” is ungodly funny.)
I also started reading Joe Kelly/Ted McKeever’s new (already cancelled) mini-series “Enginehead” before I fell asleep, and couldn’t make damn sense of it. I think I’m going to have to reread the first two issues.
Sleep was a beconing mistress, and I answered her call.
I’m wearing my “I Pity The Fool” t-shirt that Carla got me, so I’m feelin’ good today.
-fin-

28/07/2004

as much as I hate to admit it

Filed under: DeeVee — gkentetc @ 12:20 am

You know, I hate to admit that I go through phases of being a fan of SNL.. I guess I’m a sketch comedy nut, even the mainstream stuff. But, I never thought I would want to purchase one of these compilation SNL DVDs but this one, gosh, it makes me giggle with glee:
chris walken on SNL on DVD
I love the Walken.
And you know what the Walken loves?
Hot dogs.
Is true.
Coming September 7.

27/07/2004

Televideo

Filed under: purchases, televideodisc — gkentetc @ 11:19 pm

My Amazon package arrived. Let’s have a look:

Of course I havn’t actually started watching any of them yet, but I have been watching some of my backlog of TV on DVD, including the first disc of Kids In The Hall season 2 (it’s gold baby!), the second disc of Sapphire and Steel (the second “assignment”, as they are classified by, is far and beyond better than the first), and a few more episodes of Firefly along the way.
I’m still not even close to caught up yet though.
Oi.

Rhubarb Crumble

Filed under: recipes — graigkent @ 10:46 pm

all right homemakers and homeboys, I’m going to teach you how to make a rhubarb crumble.
Step 1 Plant some rhubarb
Step 2 Wait a month or two for it to grow and get light reddish in colour. Chop off the leaves, thems is poison. Chop the rhubarb into 2cm long chunks.
Step 3 Sugar (to taste) about 4 or 5 cups of the rhubarb in an ovenproof dish, add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to rhubarblet it sit and sugarfy for a bit (freeze the remaining). Preheat oven to 425°
Step 4 Meanwhile, get yourself 1/2 cup of all purpose flower, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup of soft butter, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Step 5 In a mixing bowl, combine the above ingredients with your hands and work it, work it, work it until well mixed and slightly clumpy
Step 6 Crumble the above mix over the rhubarb… keep crumbling until the crumble’s all gone. Oooh, baby.
Step 7 Lick your hands clean, or better yet, get a sexy lady/man (depending on how you swing) to lick them for you. Trust me, your hands taste good.
Step 8 Now, wash your saliva coated hands, you dirty dirty baker
Step 9 Pop that bad boy into the oven for a half hour or so. Take out, cool off, and MANGE!
**NOTE** let it cool down, well, completely if you want a sexy lady/man (depending on how you swing) to eat the finished result off your hands (or other body parts… rrrwowr)
This recipe can be adapted to use apples or blueberries or cherries or potatoes or chicken or cat food… or whatever your favorite filling is.

25/07/2004

times (they are a) changin’

Filed under: this blog — graigkent @ 10:01 pm

you may notice a little something different about this blog… or else you’re just not very observant.
I’ve been thinking about this layout for sometime (and even discussed it previously), and now it’s finally here… and I did it all in one day (with Emma’s assistance on some php and css troubleshooting, naturally… she’s handy).
But it’s not like this is all I’ve done today (having dragged my ass out of bed around noon), I’ve also done the laundry, made a damn tasty Rhubarb Crumble, and did the dishes after dinner (and read a few comic books here and there). All in all a successful Sunday afternoon, thank you.
Now, some things that need to be figured out…
1) the leftmost panel - I had a reason for it but I don’t quite recall what it is yet. Hopefully it will come back to me.
2) the rightmost panel - is being imported from the remains of the old “what’s entertaining the geek/ent.etc.” page which noboy was reading, so via the wonders of php, it’s now up front. The goal will be to make each entry a link that pops up into a small window with a quick summary of what it is. I have a lot of restructuring to do to the existing 100 entries so that they format better (although some of the older stuff won’t be touched).
3) stylistic tweaks - the spacing and lettering will be adjusted… eventually. It looks a’aight right now, so it’ll do until I feel like playing.
4) fixing any buggy pages that pop up - I keep noticing more, so I must correct that shiznat.
5) superimposition - putting my mug into Epstein’s afro. Not a high priority.
And we out.

Emilany

Filed under: muse-sick — graigkent @ 1:41 am

Tonight : (July 24, 04)
Amy Millan (of Stars, and Broken Social Scene) opening for Emily Haines (of Metric) at the El Mocambo in Toronto
In brief :
milan_sm.jpg
Amy Millan’s set was subtle and sincere, songs of loss and heartache with a 70’s Loretta Lynn country twang (but not too twangy). I have a half realization that the new “alt.indie” music is not retro rock-and-roll, but retro country (ie. new country still sucks. Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline are where it’s at.)
Sweetly sung, almost as if whispered in your ear, Milan pleased the crowd with new material, a cover song, and a beautiful rendition of Stars’ “Look Up”. She pleased me even more by mentioning Thunder Bay in the lyrics of one song, and my Northwestern Ontario pride nearly got the better of me as I stifled a cheer.
My favorite part? Watching Millan’s shitkicker-clad feet tap in rhythm to her strumming… very cute.
haines3_sm.jpg
Playbills were passed out before Emily Haines’ set, stating “Emily Haines [plays the piano alone]“. She emerged on stage blindfolded, playing hot & cold, your left or my left trying to find center stage, her chair and her piano.
Her set, we knew already by the unique handout (scan to come), would be something different. And it was something quite special.
The last of a three-show tour (the other two in LA and San Francisco earlier this month), Haines has essentially crafted a one-woman-and-a-piano rock opera. There’s really no other way to describe it.
Heavy influence from the Who, Lennon and the Beatles abound, but she’s doing something all her own. Sitting with her back to the audience at her open faced upright piano, she brisquely played through her songs, barely pausing to breathe between songs (occasionally the slight bow to the highly appreciative crowd).
She kept her attention focussed, her mullet-meets-bob haircut and plain jeans and t-shirt threatening to masculinize her, if not for her gorgeous voice.
Three-quarters through her set, she played a pair of recognizable Metric tunes (a fact definitely not lost on the crowd) - I.O.U. and Succexy, the latter of which she egged us on (”Are you with me?”) to sing along (”Invasion is so succ-sexxy-so-succ-sexy”).
The El Mo is a wonderful place but it has one huge problem (excluding the other big problem of no-flow air) - the upstairs bar band noise will spill downstairs, and, actually, right onto the stage. Haines, just after midnight, noticed they had started playing, and mentioned that she couldn’t play through it (her hushed set would pose no match for kick-drums and amped-up bass guitar). She asked the audience what to do… they said “get up and dance”, and thus she did, before she resigned to struggling through the noise -admirably I might add- and finishing her scripted set.
My jaw was on the floor, in the end -yawning yes, but impressed to hell. I think Metric is okay, though definitely not a favourite… however this set ranks up there as one of the best I will ever hear. A stunning performance which I only hope winds up in studio somewhere with the same stripped-down zeal it had tonight.
I heard some ass comment as I was leaving say that he wished he could not only get those two hours back, but his ten bucks as well. While disgusted at his top-40-radio-listener-style ignorance, I was glad he said it. It made my appreciation for what these women are doing feel, well, more personal… like they don’t have mass audience appeal, and that these performances belong only to those that will embrace them for who they are as artists, and not any sort of attempt to cash in off of their work in the bands they play for.
Frank has the complete opposite take as I did. (And no, Frank is not a top-40-radio-listening ass…)
more pictures below

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24/07/2004

Hiding them cameras

Filed under: muse-sick — graigkent @ 11:18 am

hidden_camera_smaller.jpg As mentioned yesterday, the Hidden Cameras were to play Trinity St. Paul Church in Toronto, and I was to attend. I held up my end of the bargain, and so too did they.
I arrive wayyy too early (6:30 for an 8:00 doors) and seemed entirely too keen to be waiting on the stone steps amidst a dozen other eager beavers… at least I wasn’t the first one there. I finished reading Bukowski’s “Post Office” minutes before the doors opened and the hundred or so people clamoured to get in. I had to piss first so I’d let the later-comers than I grab seats first. I had brought my camera and knew I wanted front-center balcony, but my bladder, curses, may have foiled my plans.
After heavy relief, I assaulted the merch table for a t-shirt and a copy of the new cd “Mississauga Goddamn” (it’s got foil embossing on it. Cool.) and made my way upstairs where, I realized, I was the first one on the balcony. There was a bunch of lighting set-ups and thus blocks of seats were taped off, as well as two balcony camera set-ups (and one camera in center aisle on the floor)… I guess we can expect a concert dvd soon???
Despite my expectations, the church wasn’t at capacity… I’d approximate about 600 people maximum, but everyone was definitely eager. The choir, band, and dancers came out, draped in black (the dancers in leather bondage gear), and launched into “We Are The Same” (the title of their Toronto Dance Theatre performance earlier this year). Concluding the song to heavy applause, the dancers disappeared and everyone removed their black articles. “Want Another Enema” was followed by “Doot Doot Plot” in which the church organ was used, and it’s holy power threatened to completely drown out the subtly heathenistic sounds of Joel Gibbs voice.
“Fear Is On” mellowed things out slightly, and the band left Joel and the strings section on stage for a hushed rendition of “Builds the Bone” (in which one of the people sitting next to me commented on Joel’s on-stage persona: “he’s so weird”). Everyone reemerged, the choir in white, and the dancers in spandex and bank-robber/Michael Meyers masks. They performed the ritualistic “That’s When The Ceremony Starts” (in which the dancers pour wine and break bread etc. in coordination with the lyrics of the song… all so very literal). The choir left once again as the dancers ran around the main floor quenching the audience’s thirst with bladders of wine (or water, or juice… I’m not sure exactly what was in there). The dancers picked up some rather large, golden fans to interpretive dance to “Day is Dawning”, after which everyone went silent as Joel carried “We, Oh We” on his shoulders.
“Mississauga Goddamn”, obviously the title track of the new album, was met with confused looks by the audience, as it’s so much a 1950’s sock-hop song that people weren’t sure what to do with it. But the crowd were encouraged to their feet by the anticipated appearance of the bellaclava-ed and underwear clad dancing boys, and the Hidden Cameras launched into some old favorites, “Music Is My Boyfriend”, “Ban Marriage” and “Bboy” (the first and latter of which have finally made it to cd after being tour staples for well over a year).
They broke the dancing storm a little with a cover song, the title of which I didn’t catch because the noise of applause and appreciation (and the awe-inspiring acoustics that the church provides) made it quite difficult to hear the in-between song banter. Their final song, one I’d only heard once before at the aforementioned We Are The Same dance theatre performance closed out their set (”Fourth Of July” maybe? I’m making stuff up).
There was no doubt that they were going to be encouraged back for an encore, and they hyped the crowd up and blew their minds as they returned to perform “Golden Streams”, which involved the dancers at either side of the balcony tossing rolls of yellow ribbon into the crowd and dragging a banner of shiny golden streamers high above the stage. The equivalent of throwing a beach ball into the crowd, only messier, it was an impressive and amusing element to the show. “Smells Like Happiness” and “Believe In The Good Of Life” moved the crowd and closed out the first encore. Then people started leaving, but more people stopped leaving, and we weren’t letting the Cameras hide that easy.
They would come out and perform one more, as Maggie said, only if the crowd gave them something back, in the form of following the timeless dance moves to “Breathe On It”. Looking down and seeing 300 people on the main floor following along was an awesome feat indeed.
Overall, it was a fun show, as is to be expected from every Hidden Cameras concert, however, there’s something different about this gig. Perhaps it was the lack of a dance floor (pews, pews everywhere), perhaps it was the intense lighting required for filming, perhaps it’s the lack of familiar faces on stage (only roughly five - Joel, Owen, Maggie, Mike eb, Reg - are mainstays from when I first saw them in 2001) or perhaps it’s just that I wasn’t in the throngs of dancers on the floor that I didn’t get as caught up in this performance as I have in the past. Maybe I was just concentrating too much on grabbing the set list and taking pictures (65!) instead of enjoying myself to the fullest possible extent. It also seems that Joel’s singing in the live sets has slipped a little bit, and there’s a bit more urgency in his performing voice then there used to be. Can’t put my finger on it but it’s definitely a little different… less concentration on clarity.
Anyways, I’ve attached a dozen or so photos.
Enjoy.
breathe_on_it1_sm.jpg

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23/07/2004

Don’t be a hater, Ryan Waddell

Filed under: random — graigkent @ 12:24 pm

I’m getting the sense you don’t like cats
Hey, Ryan, I’m guessing you don’t like cats.
Heh heh.
Which is fine, that’s your perogative not to like cats.
Despite my cat playing with her shit and barfing all the time, I still love her. She’s a good companion.
Oh, I like dogs too. I like dogs more than cats, but I have an appreciation for cats, now that I have one, that I didn’t really have before, despite the fact that my best friend Ryan (another Ryan other than you, obviously) has a cat thing that borders on obsession (but not quite) and has been exposing me to cat fancy since the early ’90’s.
Now I’m not going to be one of those people that says to a cat disliker that age old line, “yeah, you may dislike cats, but you’ve never met my cat”. I’m not going to say that, because Bailey is, well, she’s high maintenance. They say that the personality of a cat reflects that of the owner and well… ahem (that’s a joke Emma!). In the end, I love that cat, dude, and you’re free to express that cats suck, because I too was of that mentality, until one became part of my family.
Now I think cats are great… they have their own special benefits that dogs don’t have, just as dogs have attributes that cats don’t have. That’s why I want both… but 1) Emma won’t let me and 2) she wears pants… not just any pants. THE pants. It’s part of being the man in a healthy, monogamous, hetero relationship… ahem.
You can crash if you want to
I returned home from an after-work going-away-party just after 8pm. Emma wasn’t ready for my second bookbinding lesson yet, and I was at the beginning stages of a headache. I took my contacts out and had a lay-down, expecting to be awakened for my binding lesson that never happened. Instead I was awakened at 1:30 by Emma yanking her pyjamas out from under me and by an urgent need to piss… and a burning sensation in my mouth that spoke “you need to brushed your teethez”. And thus I did. And slept until 7:30.
Earlier this week I fell asleep at 10:50pm and slept until 8:30.
Why this is unusual? Because I normally get a solid 6hour 1:30am - 7:30am sleep every night (except on the weekends when I may sleep in an extra hour or two). Perhaps I getting some form of narcolepsy or something. *Shrug*
Tonight Tonight
The Hidden Cameras CD Release Party

Yeehaw
Tomorrow Tomorrow, it’s only a day away
Amy Milan (of Stars and Broken Social Scene) opens for Emily Haines of Metric at the El Mocambo. Jer-bear is joining me for the female solo vocalist throw down that promises to enchant me for years to come. Hoowah!
fin

22/07/2004

out like the gout

Filed under: ent, geek, muse-sick, random, the body human — graigkent @ 3:14 pm

black spot back talk
I was standing in front of the mirror yesterday, primping and fussing when I noticed on my back (off to the left side) a small-ish (but noticable, obviously) black dot just under the surface of the skin.
At first I thought it was an ingrown hair, not that I have an obscenely hairy back, but there’s the odd dark hair that want’s to work its way out back there, and after fussing and fidgiting for a good ten minutes I gave up, cleaned up the blood, put a Band-aid(tm) on it and went to work.
After biking home (in the humidity and the heat) I needed a shower, and once again I noticed this small black dot, although it was a little harder to see beneath a scabby red sore with bits of white, torn flesh hanging out. I wanted it out whatever it was (the conspiracy theorist in me would say it’s a futuristing tracking device, and the paranoid in me would say it was insect eggs that were going to hatch larvae into my bloodstream)… so I gouged away at it with everything and anything from my from nail clippers to toothpicks and eventually it was my fingernail that took it out… it being a hard black poppyseed-sized thing.
Like a cat with a rat in its mouth, I proudly went to my mistress and showed it to her. Emma suspects it’s cat litter, embedded into my back from one of the many occasions when the cat decides to use my body for leverage… I’m still not sure.
Perhaps it is a poppyseed? Perhaps my mutant powers will be to excrete opium from my body.
Okay, whatever.
listless and fancy-free
Some loser at Now Magazine has made a list of the ten best comic-book movies… and it’s obvious he doesn’t know what he’s talking about (at number 8 he has X-Men 2 and calls Professor X “Dr. X”, and he notes that “[Kevin] Smith, a certifiable comic geek, is currently at work on a movie version of the Green Lantern”…uh, dude, it’s totally a script for Green HORNET. DUH. What a chump. He reminds me of the fake columnist Jackie Harvey, who does his Hollywood report getting everyone and everything’s name wrong. ).
My list (mentioned here), sure it contains much of the same movies, but really… the Tim Burton Batman movies do not hold up at all over ten years later, especially not at the number one spot… and the writer’s combining Blade II and Hellboy in one entry, cop out.
Sold for a smile
Inspired by my own rant yesterday, I took a few unloved (but well cared for) DVDs into She Said Boom near my place and came out with the new Beastie Boys cd (they’ve gone way old-school, and it’s awesome fun) and a half dozen books by authors like Philip K Dick, Patricia Highsmith, and Lemony Snicket.
I got some readin’ to do.
I just polished off “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” last week (which was a hell of a lot more interesting, engaging and entertaining than fuckin’ Blade Runner) and I’m currently reading Bukowski’s “Post Office” (both on loan from the GAK man in NYC).
The latter is a quick read but I’m not sold on the attitude Bukowski writes with. He certainly seems a cantankerous and curious fellow (I would love to see the new documentary film on him).
Dining Out: The Celebrity Edition
After the jaunt to She Said Boom, Emma and I jettisoned over to our local Butler’s Pantry for some light dinner-type grub.
After we were seated, in the front by the window, I heard something in the ambiance of the place that sounded familiar… a sound -NO- a voice, a very familiar voice. A voice I immediately identified as local singer/songwriter Hayden Desser
Was it on the radio?
But there was no radio and there was no music.
Nope, it was indeed Hayden and two female companions, the only other diners in the room. It was a very cool event, which I pointed out to Emma and she said in a manner in which only Emma can so ably… “Who?”
I clapped gleefully and watched as Hayden ate his lasagna. Emma asked “Are you going to ask for an autograph or are you going to be Canadian and just stare politely.”
I instinctively opted for the latter. Let the man eat his meal in peace.
Hayden and companions left before we were sereved dessert, but he came back inside… to say hi to me and tell me what a big fan he is of my fandom of him? Nay. He forgot his bicycle seat under the table.
I watched as he left, his copious wavy black locks bobbing as he walked, and I thought aloud “I’m very disappointed in Hayden for not wearing a helmet.”
The Strange Little Girl School of Book Bindery Things
After watching the tremendously enjoyable (and gut wrenchingly guilt inducing) Next Action Star (but it is less guilt inducing than watching Canadian Idol), I had Emma teach me my first lesson in book binding.
Basically my goal is to learn the rudimentary skills I need in order to bind my comic books into hardbound volumes… so that’s what Emma taught me, how to stitch signatures together (in this case the signatures are the comics themselves instead of blank pages grouped in 8’s).
My first set is the Justice League America 53 - 60/Justice League Europe 29 - 36 (the Breakdowns saga, Kieth Giffen’s last arc on the series) which totals 16 issues and is a rather large collection for the task at hand, but I was up to the challenge and finished pulling it all together by 12:30 (it took roughly 2 hours to do plus an hour of instruction).
Tonight I learn how to put the signature collection into a hardbound cover… or else I just learn how to make the hardbound cover… depends on how much time we have. But this is way cool, and I look forward to learning how to do a few more things (like making slipcases and fancy bindings… all for comic books of course).
I just have to say, it’s not hard to learn.. it takes minutes to learn actually, but it will take much practice to master… but I’m hoping I learn to do this well enough that I can offer my services at a reasonable price and bind other people’s comics should they want that done.
Photos of the end result will come. To learn more about the Strange Little Girl School of Book Bindery and Things, visit StrangeLittleGirl.com.
Fellow up
As much as I love my kitty… sometimes, man… sometimes.
While not nearly as bad as shitstorm ‘04, I think walking while half awake into the kitchen and stepping in an insanely large mound of cat puke (a doozy of a pile the size of my kitty’s head, mostly comprised partially digested kibble, I’m not sure how it came out, but it must have hurt) is not one of my favorite things on Earth. It’ ranks right up there on my list of favorite things on Earth just before George W. Bush, who himself is directly above my great love for pedophiles.
Hooray for stepping in cat barf. I should run it in the US Election. Cat Barf for President! ™.
FIN

21/07/2004

nobody not never

Filed under: ent, geek, random — graigkent @ 3:06 pm

Ol’ Drippy
I’m a 72-year-old expatriot Canadian living in Florida, yes I am.
These words actually left my mouth today:

It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity

Yes folks, it’s gross out there. Stay inside, somewhere cool and dark. Curl up with a nice relaxing CD, light up an ice candle, and chill.
DVDecision
I’ve officially resigned as a DVD collector.
At this point I could care less about owning the latest and greatest, I hardly watch what I have (and I hardly care to either) which begs the question, why have it?
I’ve been on a steady diet of rentals since the New Year began, bordering on 80 by now, and I’d say I’m having a much better time watching a broader variety of film rather than watching the same tired movies over and over again (and then watching the same tired movies with directors commentary). This isn’t to say that I can’t enjoy a film on multiple viewing or that I hate director commentaries… it’s just that most films aren’t worth multiple watches, and most commentaries are useless. Why buy? Why have it sit on the shelf collecting dust? Why spend thirty dollars to watch a film once when you can spend four or five dollars for the same priviledge.
I used to enjoy being “the DVD guy” - that guy with the great collection of movies that people would ooh and aah over when they came to visit. I also enjoyed being “the loaner” - the guy who was willing to spread the love and lend a movie he enjoyed to a friend, or acquaintance.
But I found it hard, financially mostly, to keep up this facade, and eventually my need for food beat out my need for owning shit. Alongside my money munching habit of DVD buying, I also had a comic book addiction, a cd crutch, and an action figure penchant. I’ve since booted almost all of the collector mentality from my system (although it has a tendency to resurface from time to time), and I no longer need to be the completist.
I don’t need the entire run of Grant Morrisson’s stint on X-Men and all the tie-in stories from X-Men Unlimited… and I don’t need them (uv-protected) bagged and (acid-free) boarded and sealed and stored far away from sunlight. These days I read comics to enjoy them, and have a trade system in place with Toast Boy (we’re going to need a new member or two soon)… and I keep the trades for my bookshelf.
I don’t have to have the entire back catalogue of a new-to-me artist. Yeah, I really really like Modest Mouse’s new album, and I plan to check out their previous work, but I don’t need it today. And I can still like Hour of the Bewilderbeest without having to buy the new and annoying Badly Drawn Boy album (I actually sold off the last one)… I’ve also purged about 200 cds from my collection since moving to Toronto.
I’ve stopped buying action figures altogether (first out of financial restraint, then out of Emma’s disdain for the plastic effigies, and now just because they clutter)… well almost. I did buy a Hellboy action figure this year… and a small Kubrik of the Count from Sesame Street. But those were the only in about 3 years. And I gave a whole bunch away to Jeremy a while back for some action figure comic strip thing he had planned while he was unemployed… no attachment, see.
Although I haven’t been buying movies on DVD recently, I’ve been regularily purchasing TV Shows on DVD for the past year… not a lot of them, mostly stuff I either missed the first time around, or have a desire to live through it again.
I don’t see this as being as much of a waste because you get a lot for your dollar, and you really need to own it to have the time to take it all in.
I’ve had the Firefly DVD set for about four months now and we just started disc 2 this week. It’s not that it’s a bad show, it’s just that we have time to watch it whenever we want.
I have on order, currently, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force vol 2, Sealab 2021 vol 1, Wonder Woman season 1, and Sledge Hammer season 1. The first two I know I will watch repeatedly, as is the nature of good comedy… the latter two are programmes from my childhood which I am curious to see again.
I’ve been giving away and selling off my movie collection over the past couple of years. I’ve also been lending out DVDs to numerous people (instigating a library card system so as to keep track … yeah, I know who you are, and I know what you got!). My collection right now is paltry, and really, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Oh yeah, some days I just want to go crazy and buy buy buy… some days I just want to pick up all those John Carpenter movies I need to complete the collections… some days I just want to buy Alien 3 and Panic Room special edition (3 disks???!) so that my Fincher lineup is golden… some days I just want to drop a grand so that I have Futurama and King of the Hill and Buffy and Angel and Babylon 5 sitting on my shelf (the really big sets make great bookends)… but I get a grip on myself (not in the way that you think) and I try to spend my money more wisely (I don’t, of course, but then again, there’s not as much regret sitting on my shelf in the basement as there used to be).
and then there comes this
Greg the Bunny comes to DVD - which is great news because I’ve never seen the show and Carla has told me I have to since I first met her.
Arrested Development season 1 out in October - also great news, because I’ve never seen the show, but I know it’s got to be awesome… Jeffrey Tambor and David Cross… if both those lads are on it, it has to be worthwhile.
Ren and Stimpy - all 30 of John K’s episodes come to dvd, uncut for the first time on home video. I’ve completely outgrown Ren and Stimpy but this is good news for the R&S purists.
Spongebob Squarepants season 2 out October 5th - I quite like Spongebob. I don’t love him though. I like it when there’s nothing on tv, but wait!, there’s Spongebob, but I don’t need to own dvds. But I’m glad it’s out there should the day come when I need a Spongebob fix.
Wonderfalls is another of Fox’s “too quick to can” series’. It got shut down so fast I didn’t even get to see an episode. But the DVD is coming, estimated around December 7th.
And then amidst it all, I still have to watch my Sapphire & Steel (assignments 2-6); Lexx seson four (episodes 5-24); Firefly (episodes 5-13); Samurai Jack (the complete first season); Kids in the Hall (season 2 arrived at my door last week), the Sandbaggers (season 3, which I haven’t tackled yet because I want to watch season 1 and 2 again), and wNoodle gave me a massive Manga series (CityHunterX???) to watch.
Not to mention that: Batman the Animated Series vol 1 is out now (which I’ve only seen roughly a handful of episodes from but am well aware of how great it is)… yes, I still havn’t watched anything past Buffy season 2… I want to see what Monk is all about (Tony Shaloub rocks socks)… Strangers With Candy, The Chappelle Show, the Ben Stiller Show, Coupling, and the Office all becon me… oooh and Six Feet Under is burning a hole in my stomach with desire and desperation. Thankfully I scratched the Joe Shmoe Show season 1 off my list when I found out there wasn’t commentary over every episode, just the finale (I’d be willing to pay to watch the show over again with audio commentary from Matt Kennedy Gould aka Joe Schmo, but not to just watch the show. I’ll wait for repeats on Spike or something).
Oi.
You’d think that with all this DVD watchin’ I’d have no time for broadcast television
Well, you’d be wrong on both counts. It’s precisely because I’ve NOT been watching DVDs that I’m so far behind on watching, and I’ve actually been watching a few tv show on a consistant basis. And, egads, they’re all “reality tv”.
First there’s Last Comic Standing which is just a horrendous idea for a reality show, but it plays quite well and is really quite enjoyable. I have a hidden love of comedians (also a hidden disdain, so it balances out well), so this show intrigues me to no end. It’s also very shady, and duplicitous and it makes for conflicted viewing (comedians are supposed to be likeable, aren’t they?)
Then there’s Next Action Star where Joel Silver and his team are taking a few rough around the edges commonfolk and turning them into bump-and-grind silver-screen scene stealers. My early favorite, Jared (the only guy with acting experience, and stage acting at that) has turned into an egomaniac and refuses to listen to the acting coach or the producers. He’s getting his ass canned this week for sure. With him out of the picture I’m not sure which of the guys I would actually watch on the big screen.
Of the women, Corinne (an ex-cop, I believe) has all it takes to be a big screen star. And she’s Canadian!
In the end I don’t think the show can really produce two big screen action heroes, and I don’t think it’s been successful enough for Joel Silver to really make a big budget action film around them (despite the fact that this is what the grand prize is)… it’ll likely be a direct to video curiousity (but then if Anacondas 2 can make it to the big screen….).
Joe Schmo 2 is nowhere near as engaging as the original. The 2 real people aren’t as interesting as last year’s Schmo, and this year’s show is working on so many plot twists and turns that the actors and Schmoes get lost in the mix. But the plot twists are hilarious and the show remains highly entertaining… especially the fact that Jane Schmo figure out it was all bunkum and was then brought into the fold.
I think next season’s show should unfold with the group of actors trying to fool the Schmo, but the Schmo, unbeknownst to them, is also an actor trying to fool them and throw them as much as possible. As much as Joe Schmo is a satire of reality tv this would be a satire of itself, which, dude, is totally meta.
Other than that, I’ve thankfully kicked my Idol habit. I’m actually not watching Canadian Idol, and I’m not interested either.
Confession time: I actually enjoy Fantasia Barrino, the recent American Idol winner. But shhhh. It’s our secret.

19/07/2004

Sad sad sad are the pooh people…

Filed under: the people that you meet — graigkent @ 9:44 am

and it shall fall
South-Eastern Ontario and western Quebec residents have been hearing all about the damage the freak weather system has caused the city of Peterborough (as noted in the previous post) amongst others. One town in Quebec had its only road washed out, essentially isolating them from the outside world.
Well, I was in Peterborough this weekend and thankfully my Grandmother and the rest of my family there are all safe and have had no adverse effects from the storm. However it’s not too difficult to notice the damage the storm caused, as there were many basements unloaded onto the curbside. All throughout the city you would see stacks of garbage bags, piles of furniture, and rolls of carpeting… and you would also see people rummaging through it. I imagine the people that don’t have to clean up their entire basement have no problems cleaning up a chair or a dresser from the side of the road.
The city is getting relief money from the province, but no word about the poor souls who may have lost much (or in the case of basement-apartment dwellers, all) of their posessions. It turns out that most insurance policies will cover sewer back-up flooding, but unfortunately not groundwater flooding.
My uncle was telling me about this one neighbourhood where all the houses had driveways that sloped towards the house and not away from, some on as much as a 30° angle… there were cars that were literally underwater all down the street. You have to feel sorry for those poor people. Not only that, but their garages and basements must have flooded, some garage doors caved in under the pressure.
But the troubles aren’t over. While it spat a little on Friday when we arrived, and Saturday morning promised a beautiful, sunny, almost cloudless day, by three in the afternoon, the rain came down, hard. And then harder, and harder still, with hailstones 2 cm in diameter. Just when you think the rain couldn’t get any worse it did, and the water was yet again unleashed upon the city, once again flooding downtown. I watched from my grandmother’s front steps as the water levels rose higher and higher until there was a pool straight across the street… trucks ripped down the road spraying water 7 feet high, while the cars that passed took every care to work their way slowly through the tiny lake. After nearly 40 minutes of vigourous rain, it stopped, like at the push of a button… thankfully nowhere near as bad as the 6 hour rainfall of Thursday morning, but still damaging.
Another quick, but equally painful shower hit again as we were leaving Sunday afternoon, downpouring so hard, it was hard to see past the nose of the car at times. We passed an accident site which appeared to have just happened, no doubt due to low visibility. This storm thankfully only lasted a matter of minutes, but the weather system that brought it there didn’t seem to be leaving, but we were, and heading slightly south towards Toronto, we completely exited the black clouds, and encountered the protective barrier or smog and heat that only T.dot can provide.
Peterborough is expecting another thunderstorm today, but that should be it for a couple of days which should hopefully be enough for the city to clean up and repair some of the insanely damaged roads, pump out the still flooded basements, and restore power to those still without it.
N.B.
I would have went about taking pictures but I forgot my camera at home.
Dang.

15/07/2004

from the heavens

Filed under: random — graigkent @ 4:03 pm


It’s like something out of a bad movie starring Christian Slater, Morgan Freeman and Minnie Driver. You can friggin’ jet ski in downtown Peterborough.

A state of emergency has been declared
Many flood pictures
Envoronment Canada reports
Business’ have been flooded but sadly not with customers.
THe National Post blames Paul Martin… okay just kidding.

Apparently this was caused by the same weather system as the one that wreaked havok on Edmonton earlier this week. This weather system seems to be on a vandalous rampage. Police are asking for witnesses to this mayhem to step forward and sketch artists are hard at working coming up with a composite image of what this system looks like and pathologists are examining the system’s habits and patterns, determining the mental state of this perhaps psychotic freak of nature.
If you happen to see this weather system, do not approach, it’s apparently armless, but dangerous… call your local weatherman or Environment Canada with its whereabouts.
This weather system may have ruined my weekend, thank you very much, as I was supposed to go with my sister to visit my Grandmother in P.burrow tomorrow for a couple days. If I still go, I’ll be snap happy and document some damage. Well, at least the city’ll be all rinsed clean (oh, wait, the sewers overflowed… ew.)

14/07/2004

oh no you di’int

Filed under: the people that you meet — graigkent @ 11:19 am

I passed by this old dude on the street yesterday, mid-60’s-ish, wearing a ratty tee-shirt, and he had on those tealy-blue work pants that the old folks like to wear so much. The pants were pulled up over his belly, but not hiked up to his nippels. He was almost as wide around as he was tall.
His hair was close cropped, thin and grey, flecks of white upon his scalp like he was caught in a hailstorm. And there, above his lip, it was… a Hitler-stache.
Now, far be it for me to tell anyone what they can or cannot do with their facial hair but why the Hitler-stache and the negative connotations that assiciate with it? Was he mistakingly growing a soul patch but on the wrong side of his mouth? Had he just seen Spider-Man 2 and thought the J. Jonah Jameson look was just the look for him? Is he trying to redefine the Hitler-stache into something hip and contemporary, reempowering such the stache so that any trace of Hitler is wiped out and it’s just the “Fat old-guy-stache”?
But I shouldn’t really say anything, for in its defence the Hitler-stache is, afterall, one step above those loser-ass pencil-thin facial-hair constructions the Backstreet Boys and N-Synch and O-Town and 98° used to do and that all too many neon-lit-undercarriage car-driving, white-denim-suit-wearing, pomade-using, backhair-waxing, still-living-at-parents-home-in-Missisauga-but- making-50g’s-a-year-dropping-400-dollars-at-downtown-clubs-on-the-weekend hoping-to-god-to-get-laid type guys you see around here from time to time still do.
Losers.

11/07/2004

bachin my brains in

Filed under: random — graigkent @ 9:05 pm

I made some pasta, but I was too lazy to make a sauce, so I put some salsa on it.
It’s really disgusting.
But I’m still eating it.*
Because I’m too lazy to make something else.
I’ve eaten corn chips and popcorn today and a bowl of corn pops for breakfast (okay, it wasn’t Corn Pops but it completed the trinity of corn foods that aren’t corn)
I was going to have some corn on the cob with dinner, but I thought that’d be a little much.
Oh, and I’ve watched five movies since 7:00 yesterday… Whoops, make that six.
This is what I do when Emma’s not around.
*(okay, so I couldn’t finish eating it, so I tossed it and ate the remaining sauceless noodles right from the pot… ahem)

bemusic

Filed under: DeeVee, Live, On Disc, Pages, Sequential Art, purchases — gkentetc @ 9:00 pm

cds
MC Paul Barman: Paullelujah
Ratatat: self titled
Hidden Cameras: Mississauga Goddamn
Joanna Newsom - the Milk Eyed Mender
Atomic 7 - en Hillbilly Caliente
Beastie Boys - to the 5 boroughs
Atom and his Package - hair:debatable
books
Sock - Penn Jillette
The Evolution Man - Roy Lewis
Those Who Walk Away - Patricia Highsmith
Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction - Patricia Highsmith
A Series Of Unfortunate Events : The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
A Series Of Unfortunate Events : The Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
The Evolution Man - Roy Lewis
The Cosmic Puppets - Philip K Dick
DeeVee
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury
Atom and his Package - hair:debatable
Kids In The Hall Season 2
recent watches and reads
Zen TV (DVD)
Def Jux (the revenge of the robots live cd/dvd)
The Works of Director Spike Jonze
Old School (unrated DVD)
Calender Girls (video)
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick
Post Office - Charles Bukowski
Kyle Baker: Cartoonist - Kyle Baker
live
Amy Millan/Emily Haines @ el mocambo, july 24, 2004
Hidden Cameras @ trinity st. paul church, july 23, 2004
(upcoming)
Aug 04, 2004 - Modest Mouse @ kool haus
Aug 28, 2004 - The Hidden Cameras @ harbourfront centre

10/07/2004

May

Filed under: DeeVee, mini-review — gkentetc @ 9:05 pm

(more…)

Identity

Filed under: DeeVee, mini-review — gkentetc @ 9:05 pm

(more…)

Fahrenheit 9/11

Filed under: In Theatre — gkentetc @ 9:05 pm

Fahrenheit 9/11 - a reaction… not a review

Irreversible

Filed under: DeeVee, mini-review — gkentetc @ 9:05 pm

(more…)

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