In the midst of life we are in death etc.

Friday, April 29, 2005

Warsaw

So I'm sitting in a bar in the south-east corner of the Warsaw Old Town right now. The trip is going well, this is our second full Day in Warsaw and things are good.

Took a drive past my old house yesterday and toured the city and the Warsaw Rising museum, which was pretty cool.

Tomorrow off to Krakow and another old town. Must finish my Polish beer and head off to the Castle, forget the name right now but it's here in the old town. Berlin was lots of fun, driving from Berlin to Warsaw is NOT fun.

Well beer has one more sip left, so this post is ending.

Beer done, post done.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

shoot the internet in germany is slow

the internet is too slow, blogger takes to long, morning, really early, getting ready to drive to poland. bye.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

I am a Berliner

Hello readers, I am posting this from the Hotel Trasit in Berlin, and my belly if full from my recent breakfast adn strong German coffee.

The trip has been great so far, staying up from 24 hours and having two beer is an experience that everyone should have at least once in their life. I only have one minute left so I am going to cut this very short.

Needless to say we are having a great time over here...umm I should have thought of something better to say!

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Addendum to the weekender

I don't think I mentioned this in my previous post, but during the Weakerthans concert I stood beside this guy who was taking notes and turned out to be a freelance reporter. So using the card that he gave me I tracked down his review of the concert which you can find here: REVIEW.

Now the review is fine, except the part where he talks about "Scott Sucks", it's actually "Ska Sucks", sheesh Cameron what were you and your Editor thinking? Either way I told him to write about that part.

Yeah that's right!

Fancy Dinner

This weekend Fiachra, Marge, Danielle, and I went out for afancy shmancy dinner at Rain. It was pretty cool. We went with the chef's tasting menu, this is what one of Marge and Fiachra's fancy meat dishes looked like.



And this is what a fancy cake looks like at a fancy restaurant.



So thanks again to Fiachra and Marge for the lovely evening.

The Beautiful Head of Fate

Alright, here is the explanation of why our trip to Paris was changed so drastically:

The reason that we are going to Europe in the first place is because my brothers partner, Danielle, used to work for Air Canada and hence gets cheap stand-by flights. Now the access to said flights was ending at the end of April so they decided to go on one more trip and asked us along. We said yes!

Then fate reared her beautiful head on the form of a job offer for Danielle (my brother's girlfriend) back at Air Canada, which she decided to take, and which started on the day that we were planning on leaving for Paris.

Now since Danielle really wanted to see Paris and now could not go we decided to save France for here and go on a different trip, hence Eastern Europe. We were already going to land in Frankfurt so heading east instead of west just seemed to make sense.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

So a few weeks ago I was going to be heading to France for a leisurely vacation in Paris and the south of France, ahh but fate has reared her beautiful head again and intervened.

Now I am involved in a race across the whole of Eastern Europe, traveling at breakneck speeds, in an attempt to not only drink as much cheap beer as possible but to also visit the mighty lands of my forefathers and foremothers. Yes Sir, Poland!


In a nutshell this is how the trip will be:

  1. Arrive in the morning Frankfurt (Guten Morgen)
  2. Rent a car and drive like a fool to Berlin (Ich bin ein Berliner)
  3. Check out Berlin for a day
  4. Leave central Eruope behind and travel to Warsaw. (Dzień dobry)
  5. Check out Warsaw for two days.
  6. Leave the new capital and head to the old capital Krakow. (Nie mówię po polsku.)
  7. Drive through the Sudeten Mountains and down into the Czech republic and int to Prague (Dám si jedno pivo prosím.)
  8. Stay in Prague for 1 or 2 days.
  9. Then drive through Plzen and Munich on the was back to Frankfurt to catch our plane home (Auf wiedersehen)
Ahh yes, Eastern Europe here we come…

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Ahhh now it makes sense

So today randomly (I think it was in the They Might Be Giants I-tunes playlist) I came across this song by Frank Black, it was called "Manitoba", and since that I where I spent the better part of 26 years of my life I became interested.

So I listened to the sample, and it turns out that it was a song that they always used to play on the University of Manitoba (my alma mater, Semper Fi -(fist pump) Man Man Man) radio station. Now it makes sense why the Dj's played it all the time way back in 2003, not that it's a bad song, it just makes more sense.

Manitoba

Up in Manitoba,
the sky was very blue
People were a few,
and nights were never colder

Once I heard a wailing sound
The sky had turned to red
So I got up from my bed
And I wandered far from town

[CHORUS]
I have seen the face of God
And I was not afraid
I have seen the face of God
And I have dearly paid

The darkness came right down on me
There were no more lights to follow
So I slept inside the hollow
Of a dead and fallen tree

Did you know three days I tried
To wake myself? But, no
My flesh had turned to snow
And i thought that I had died

[CHORUS]

And though I had it rough
They got me home in time
They gave me homemade wine
But it was not enough

The cold had made me dumb
And I was sent away
These walls are here today
For fifty years and some



Note, the Semper Fi, fist pump is meant as a joke, in no way shape or form did I have any "school Spirit"



Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Penny Stacking

Sorry but I thought that these were pretty cool:

Penny stacking

More Penny stacking

Now, I'm not going to do that ever, but I still think it's pretty cool.

Stupid google search

I just did a google search for "selsine" and guess what turns up number three in the list? Yeah that's right this baby! Search here.

Strangely enough I came across this as well:

http://www.blogsnow.com/trackm/637.html

http://www.blogsnow.com/trackm/506.html

What the heck is that? Of course it's probably just some program that search blogs for the names of movies, not actual people reading this shiznuff.

Freaky deaky.

I wish I could have found these yesterday

So yesterday when I was looking for wild and sexy librarians for my post below and I was having trouble finding images that would work. Granted there was lots of gross stuff, but that really wasn't what I wanted to do.

Today I find these without even trying:
one
two

Yes that it Pamela Anderson, and she actually works at a book store in the show, but in the pictures she could be a librarian, because of the books I guess. The show is on Fox and called Stacked, seriously that is what it is called.

Here is a quote from the marketing of the show:
You can't judge a book by it's cover - especially when it is only covered by a miniskirt and a baby tee.
I guess they are running out of ideas over at Fox, so this will last what, one? two? maybe three episodes before it's gone? Either that or it will be a run away success...

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Dirty

For all of you who have dirty monitors: http://mypage.bluewin.ch/screenclean/

Weekender

So I had a pretty good weekend this weekend passed. Rod and Laura came in from Kingston, and Christine came in from Windsor for Danielle's birthday weekend. Friday night was filled with some southern fried tofu sandwiches and then off to Lee's Palace to check out The Constantines and The Weakerthans. Saturday day was off to the AGO with Rod to see the "Massive Change" exhibit. Saturday evening consited off some East Indian/Nepalise cuisine over at Mt. Everest and then off to the Karaoke bar for some singing.

Whew! It was a good weekend but it took a toll on my poor body. The first night was fun, it was cool to see The Constantines, after hearing so much about them, but never hearing them. They were pretty good, and on a few songs they were great. I just though that when they weren't great they were mediocore at best. In other words I won't be rushing out to by an album anytime soon, but would definately go see them again.

The Weakterthans were pretty good, and it looks like they have a new bassist? They put on a good show but seemed a tad more subdued then I remember them, but sometimes I have trouble seeing clearly through these rose-coloured glasses. Either way the show that they put on did not disappoint. The hilight (in my opinion) being The Traveling Wilburys' song performed during the encore by both The Constantines and The Weakerthans.

The next day up early and off some some nice vegan Chinese food, and then to the AGO to see the Massive Change exhibit. The exhibit was pretty cool but text heavy (I mean for the most part it was text) and after a late night concert mixed with a few beers I was having some trouble concentrating on the text by the end. There was some cool stuff, the alternative energy exhibit was cool, as was that one room that showed different videos of the earth. Things like a video tracing all of the flights comming into and leaving North America during 24 hours.

Then it was back home for a few Boris' with Rod and off to Mt. Everest. The food was pretty good and I've eaten there before, it's not the best but tasty and the price is good. Then it was off for some rockin' Karaoke, which (as you can see from the photos below) was basically a rocking good time. I kicked the whole party into high gear with my boisterious rendition of "We did start the fire". We actually I didn't kick the part into high gear, but I did sing/speak out of key. The next and last song I did was a duet of "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Danielle where my castrato really came out to shine.

The really surprising thing about the karaoke was that everyone had fun and ended up singing. I expected more reserve from a group of librarians, but boy was I wrong. After that, a few more beers at Clintons, before heading home for some much needed sleep, well except for sleeping which did not occur till 4:00am.

Whew.

Monday, April 11, 2005


Who said Bon Jovi wasn't moving?


As if I wasn't rock'n roll enough already!


Karaoke!

Friday, April 08, 2005

Worlds smallest political quiz

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

Yeah so there is the link for the works smallest political quiz, what does a quiz mean if it's that small? Who knows, at least it's quick.

I was a liberal with the following:

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 90%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 20%.

-
Asleep you set the fire in your own house
And the night was a knife that cut
And I'm paralyzed

World of Wonders

Well that's that, I have finally defeated the Deptford trilogy and should be able to go to bed at a reasonable hour again. I finished the third book, Wold of Wonders, in the trilogy last night, and I have to say (again) that I really enjoyed it.

Now I would have to say that World of Wonders was my second favorite book of the trilogy after Fifth Buisness. Why is it my second favorite? I think it has to do with the fact that the whole first part of the book has to do with the carnival, and I'm a sucker for that.

This book is again the telling of someone's life story, in this case it is Paul Dempster, or Magnus Eisengram, the famous Magician, who was (of course) born in Deptford Ontario. Magnus Eisengram is performing in a BBC made for TV movie about the magician Robert-Houdin (who is not Houdini, Houdini took his name in reference to Robert-Houdin who is thought of as the father of Modern Magic) and during the filming of the movie, Eisengram begins to tell his life story ostensibly to valuble insights into the subtext of the movie they are making, but it's really becuase all characters involved enjoy the yarn.

Dunstan Ramsay hero(?) of the first book is again the narrator if this book, except this time he is recording the history that Eisengram is telling, for a true biography that he intends to write in the future.

No as I've said earlier I'm a sucker for carny stuff, and since Paul Dempster spends his life as a carny/vaudville type from age 10 to 20 (or so) there is plenty of it in the book. The carny stuff definately kept me turning the pages, as did some fantastic tension later on in the book between two of the characters.

Here's a great carny quote:

Willard's insitence that the Fat Lady was gaffed rose from an occupational disability of Fat Ladies; this is copious sweating, which results, in blesome chafing. Three of four times a day Hannah had to retire to the women's part of the dressing tent, and there Guy stripped her down and powdered her in those difficult areas with cornstarch. Very early in my experience on the show I peeped through a gap in the lacing of the convas partition that divided the men's dressingroom from the women's, and was much amazed by waht I saw; Hannah, who looked fairly jolly, sitting on her glatform, in a suit of pink cotton rompers, was a sorry mass of blubber when whe was bent forward, her hands on the back of a chair; she had collops of fat on her flanks, like the wiched man in the Book of Jobl her monstrous abdomen hung almost to her knees, the smart wig concealed an iron-grey crewcut, and her breasts hung like great half-filled wallets of suet far down on her belly. I have seen noting like her since, except for an effigy of Smet Smet, the Hippopotamus Goddess, in an exhibition of African art Lisel made me attend a few years ago. The Gaffing consisted of two large bath-towels, which were rolled and tucked under her breasts, given them what was, in comparison with the reality, a buxom contour. These towels were great matters of contention between Hannah and Willard for she insisted that they were sanitary necessities, and he siad that they were gross impostures on the public.. He cared nothing about gaffingl; it was Hannah who made it a moral issue and dres a sharp line between gaffed Talent, like Abdullah, and honest Talent like Fat Ladies.
Hah, "breasts hung like great half-filled wallets of suet," ick.

Anyways, good book, the ending was a bit lackluster in my opinion, especially since it was the ending of the trilogy, but aside from that a great book.

So read the Deptford trilogy (if you have not already) and you will not be dissapointed.

I could waist away with politics,
or drown myself with wine.
Confine myself to solitude,
and inject poison into my mind.
Meanwhile outside, everything still grows,
Wild like fire and fury, while I wish alone.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Ever since I was a young boy I've played the silver ball

Hey just a quick post about this pinball game makers, Sten Pinball, who are aparently the last pinball manufacturers in the world. Wierd, here's the story, it's a pretty quick read and if you like(d) pinball you might like this too.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005


What can I say?

Heck Boy

So I finally watched HellBoy last night.

Now I know that most people have said that this movie was crap and different things like that, but I still wanted to see it, maybe just because I have aweak spot for Ron Perlman and anything to do with Rasputin comming back to life. Either way I think that the comic book this movie was based upon is probably great, the movie on the other hand was not that great.

Not that it didn't have it's moments or anything like that, but the ending felt way too weak and thrown together. The climactic battles scenes weren't.

Now I'm not, what you might call, a Lovecraft fan, or one who has much knowledge of things Lovecraftian or Cthulhianbut I was savy enough to recognize Cthulhu (on an homage to it) when I see it (if I'm not, how embarassing). BUT if I did not have this knowledge I would probably wonder why the all these "gods" just seemed to look like squids, which would probably take away from their evil scarriness.

Either way if you have not seen this movie, and sorta like comics or movies with Rasputin then I would say rent it. You will not be blown away, but I don't think you'll be that dissapointed.

Monday, April 04, 2005

Happy Birthday

Well today, approximately 29 years ago, a lovely little Winnipegger named Danielle Rae Nicole Allard was dragged kicking and screaming into this world. I have no idea how long the birth lasted, nor do I know at what time it occurred, all I do know is that it was a success.

So to my lovely bride-to-be I extend a hearty "Happy Birthday!”


"My mother groaned, my father wept:
Into the dangerous world I leapt,
Helpless, naked, piping loud,
Like a fiend hid in a cloud."

Saturday, April 02, 2005

The Manticore

Well, I have now finished the second book the The Bopford Trilogy, "The Manticore". The manticore was a very enjoyable book, not as good as Fifth Buisness I think but still very good.

The Manticore tells the story of Davey Staunton, the son of Boy Staunton (né Percy Boyd) whom I mentioned in my previous post. Davey Staunton is a lawyer in Toronto who has been in a bad way for a while and seeks some therapy in Zeurich. The story is written, again, as a memoir, Davey's notes and journals of his psychotherapy.

The book is an entertaining read, one thing that I have enjoyed about both Fifth Buisness and The Manticore is the idea that you are reading a person's history, not just a moment of importance in their life, but all the important things that make up their life. It's interesting becuase as you read the novels the narrator's habits begin to make more sense as you learn more about them.

Here is a paragraph from The Manitcore that I thought was pretty cool:

"He had been given something by the doctor beforehand, and needed help as he walked. I had seen him the day before, in his cell where the lights always burned and where he had spent many days without a pelt, or braces, or even laces in his shoes--deprivations which seemed to rob him of full humanity, so that he appeared to be ill or insane. Now his surly look was gone, and he had to be pushed up the ladder that led to the platform. The hangman, whom he never saw, manoeuvred Jimmy gently to the right spot, then put the noose over his head and adjusted it with great care--in other circumstances one might say with loving care. The he slid downthe ladder--literally, for he put his feet on the outsides of the supports and slipped down it like a fireman--and immediately pulled the lever. Jimmy dropped out of sight behind the curtains, with a loud thump, as the cord stretched tight."


So now I am left with World of Wonders, and then I will be finished with the Depford trilogy and Roberston Davies for a while. I'm on to some David Eggers next, You Shall Know Our Velocity, I've never read any Eggers before and have heard both some good and bad things about him, more good them bad so I am looking forward to reading him.

And now to bed my good friends, but before I retire, a short quote:

"Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise."