Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Alex Weldon's LiveJournal:

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Friday, December 1st, 2006
3:26 pm	Guerilla surrealism There's a graffiti writer (he/she doesn't draw anything, so I say writer, rather than artist) who's been scribbling surreal statements on various things in the neighbourhood in black marker. The traffic light near my house has written on its control box: "This box has an alien in it." The lamp post down the block says: "This pole has a chocolate centre." This guy (or girl?) makes me very happy. I can't wait to see what he/she does next. Current Mood: amused (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 29th, 2006
11:03 pm	Movie Review: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Movie Review: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Boksu-neun Nae Geot - literally: revenge [is] my thing) Director: Park Chan-wook Status: On video Concept: 9/10 Script: 8/10 Execution: 8/10 Overall: 8/10 Plot in 20 words or less:Deaf-mute man kidnaps boss's daughter to raise money to save dying sister, but the plan goes awry. Bloodshed ensues. Recommendation:If you liked Park's last film, Oldboy or are a fan of Shakespearean tragedies and ultra-violence, see this film immediately! If not, see it immediately anyway. [Minor spoiler alert: In my plot synopsis, I will give away some of the events of the first 30 minutes or so of the movie, but nothing you wouldn't find on the back of the box. Still, if you like to sit down to watch a movie without knowing anything about what you're about to see, then read no further and just go rent it.] This is not a happy movie. If you've seen Oldboy, you know the sort of pathos, violence and sense of inevitability that you can expect from Park Chan-wook. I found this movie to be more affecting than Oldboy, however, because the plot is less far-fetched - one can almost imagine a situation like this actually arising. Ryu is a deaf-mute who lives with his sister, who is never named. The only other person in his life is his anarchist-revolutionary girlfriend Cha Yeong-mi, who he's known since childhood. His sister is dying of kidney failure and unable to find a donor. Ryu wants to give her one of his kidneys, but doesn't have the right blood type. In a public washroom, Ryu finds a sticker put up by a black market organ dealer (this is probably the moment in the film that requires the most suspension of disbelief) and gets in contact with her. Although his life savings total only 10 million Won (about $10,000 US), not nearly enough to purchase a black market kidney, the dealer agrees to take the money and one of Ryu's kidneys in return for one of the right blood type. Of course, dealing with these unsavoury types turns out to be a foolish idea. Ryu awakes from anaesthesia to find that the dealer has taken his kidney, his money and his wallet and clothes for good measure, and disappeared. The very next day, the hospital announces that they've found a kidney for Ryu's sister, but the operation will cost 10 million Won. 10 million Won that Ryu no longer has, since he gave it to the organ dealer. To top it all off, he gets laid off from his job. Desperate, Ryu reluctantly agrees to Yeong-mi's suggestion that he kidnap his ex-boss's daughter and ask for enough money in ransom to cover the operation. They plan to treat the girl well and return her promptly as soon as they get the money, but of course such things never turn out as planned. Through a series of unfortunate accidents, a simple plan with good intentions behind it turns into a bloodbath as Ryu, his ex-boss and the organ dealer become locked in an increasingly psychotic three-way quest for revenge from which the course of events prevents any of them from extricating themselves. The execution of this film is a little bit odd - I was never quite sure whether I liked the way it was done or not. There are a lot of interesting choices of camera angle and cuts between scenes happen at strange times, often just before some important event takes place, so that you only see its consequences later in the film. Because Ryu can't speak, he communicates with Yeong-mi in sign language; rather than use conventional subtitles for this, the director chose to have it cut to a black screen with his words on them. The same technique is also used to show Ryu's thoughts at a few points in the film. I found this somewhat distracting, but not terribly so. Although it comes as no surprise to the viewer that the plot is headed somewhere very bleak, the actual path taken to get there is quite clever. The ending is also a bit surprising and "cute," but not excessively so; there is no feeling that the rest of the movie was just a set up for the ending. My only complaint about it is that it is a bit over-explained - any semi-attentive viewer would be able to figure out what was happening without needing a voice-over of earlier dialogue to refresh his memory. Combining elements of Tarantino and classic tragedies with the bizarre, envelope-pushing style of modern Korean and Japanese cinema, Park Chan-wook has come up with another winner. Less over-the-top than Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance has not received as much attention, but I feel that it is actually the better of the two films. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for any further films from this director, and recommend that you do the same. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
11:17 pm	Non-Fiction Review: Into the Wild Title: Into the Wild Author: Jon Krakauer Informativeness: 10/10 Interest: 9/10 Writing: 7/10 Overall: 9/10 Subject in 20 words or less: Kid from rich family follows dream of living up H.D. Thoreau-inspired ideals and ends up dead in Alaskan wilderness. After originally writing an article about Chris McCandless - the boy in question - for Outside magazine, Krakauer found himself sufficiently intrigued by his life and death that he decided to do further research and write an entire book on the subject. From the emaciated self-portrait (taken shortly before death) inside the front cover, to the excerpts from the boy's journal and highlighted passages from his reading material that begin each chapter, to the interviews with his family members and strangers he encountered on his travels, Krakauer paints a remarkably thorough picture in just over 200 pages. Although no one will ever know the exact details of McCandless' final days or earlier solo adventures, everything is covered in a way so detailed and personal that you end up feeling as if you knew the boy yourself. Part of what makes it so easy to relate is that we all know someone who indulges in fantasies similar to McCandless's, of abandoning their comfortable life and worldly possessions in order to live a live of meagre survival in the wild. Many of us toy with such notions ourselves. The difference between us - or our naturalist friends - and McCandless is that he actually put his money where his mouth was. To the surprise and sorrow of family and friends, he donated the entirety of his grad school fund to OXFAM upon graduating from college, changed his name, and disappeared without telling anyone. A charismatic but solitary boy, he drove his car west across the country (eventually abandoning it after a mishap in the desert) and took up the life of a vagrant. After having many adventures and touching many lives on his way, he decided that he was finally ready to embark on his real quest, to live off the land in the Alaskan wild, living out his own version of the Jack London novels and stories he adored. He died approximately 112 days after his last contact with another human. McCandless's tale, as told by Krakauer, is both liberating and heart-wrenching. Although he freely admits that there are many others who would dismiss McCandless as suicidal, incompetent and/or insane, Krakauer and the boy himself (through his journal entries) make a convincing case that he was none of those things. He put himself at great risk to live up to his own ideals, but died not by intention or idiocy, but by a combination of coincidences, overconfidence and several easy-to-make mistakes - as close to a real-world Icarus as you are likely to encounter. The only negative comment I have to make about the book is that Krakauer's writing is not quite up to the impossibly high standards demanded by the quality of his research and the emotional punch of the story. He repeats himself a bit, overstates the obvious here and there, and so forth. These aspects of his writing are easy to understand, in light of his journalistic background, but there are times in the book where a more subtle style would have heightened its emotional impact. In fairness, though, a more graceful writer would be unlikely to have the talent for research that made the story so compelling to begin with. If you are going to put one book on your Christmas list this year, make it this one. I can't guarantee that it will change your life, but it may very well give you cause for introspection, which is, I'm sure, all that both McCandless and Krakauer want. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
1:36 am	Nutshell reviews I've been busy lately, so I'm way, way behind in the reviews I've intended to write. Rather than trying to write them all, a task so daunting that it has discouraged me from even attempting it, thus falling further behind, I have decided to pick out my favourites (who wants to read a review of something shitty, anyway?) and write little mini-reviews. Hopefully, now that I've caught myself up, I can go back to writing longer, more detailed reviews of things that I see/read from here on in. Fiction Review Title: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Author: Haruki Murakami Concept: 8/10 Story: 7/10 Execution: 9/10 Overall: 8/10 Plot in 20 words or less: Antiheroic protagonist attempts to win back cheating wife by living in bottom of well, aided by various strange, psychic women. Excellent and extremely existential story. Also rather bizarre and, like everything Murakami writes, not for everyone. In particular, if you like things to make sense and be explained, you might find this book incomprehensible and boring. However, the themes of powerlessness, synchronicity and the need for isolation resonated with me and most likely will for at least some other readers. What is with Murakami's bizarre ear fetish, though? Non-Fiction Review Title: The Serpent and the Rainbow Author: Wade Davis Informativeness: 7/10 Interest: 9/10 Writing: 7/10 Overall: 8/10 Subject in 20 words or less: Ethnobotanist's account of trips to Haiti in effort to discover chemical and, later, social explanation for "zombi" phenomenon. Fascinating, but a little bit pretentious and over-dramatic in the telling, as is often the case when scientists break away from their usual bone-dry writing style. You also get the impression that Davis may not be completely objective in his interpretation of Haitian culture. Nonetheless, the book does a good job of presenting a side to vodoun and voodoo that is a long way from what you see in movies and trashy novels, while still being extremely cool and a little bit creepy. Movie Review Title: Domino Director: Tony Scott Concept: 7/10 Script: 9/10 Execution: 9/10 Overall: 9/10 Plot in 20 words or less: Rich girl rebels from mother's dreams of stardom and becomes a bounty hunter, ironically ending up on TV anyway. This movie is a perfect example of why you can't trust previews. I went into the theatre fully expecting to see one of the worst movies of the year, given the awful cheesiness of the trailers. Instead, I saw a brilliant and ironic movie that bombed, no doubt, because it went completely over the heads of everyone brainless enough that the trailers appealed to them. Keira Knightley did the best job of playing the "tough chick" role since Angela Bassett in Strange Days, the plot is involving without being completely unrealistic or relying too much on action (except the ending) and the dialogue is overall quite funny. I have a hard time putting my favourites in order, but this movie is in one of the four I've seen this year that I would call brilliant, the others being It's All Gone Pete Tong, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Jarhead (see next review). If you agree with me on any of those, you should probably see this one (and the rest of them) as well. Movie Review: Title: Jarhead Director: Sam Mendes Concept: 8/10 Script: 9/10 Execution: 10/10 Overall: 9/10 Plot in 20 words or less: Marine scout snipers in Desert Storm try to come to terms with the utter lack of reason for their presence. Walking out of the theatre, you know that there will be plenty of people who hated the movie as much as you loved it. Anyone who wanted a typical war movie like Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now is likely to be disappointed and pissed off. Fans of existentialism, however, are mostly delighted. How do you justify your existence as a sniper, trained in the stealthy elimination of single targets from a distance, when your country's military strategy revolves around bombing every enemy installation and unit into non-existence long before you're anywhere close? Rather than being a movie about the horrors of war, this is a movie about being in a situation that is simultaneously so tedious and so surreal that you wish for those horrors, just to bring some meaning to it all. Movie Review Title: Saw 2 Director: Darren Lynn Bousman Concept: 7/10 Script: 5/10 Execution: 8/10 Overall: 7/10 Plot in 20 words or less: Have you seen the first Saw? Yeah, basically the same thing again, just with more victims. This movie was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, one of those movies that there really shouldn't be much good to say about, but that I couldn't help enjoying. I would have liked it just as much if Bousman had forgotten about bothering to have a plot and just made a series of scenes of people in various horrible, sadistic situations that force them to do cringe-inducing things to themselves in an attempt to survive. I'm sorry to all the movie snobs out there, but I couldn't help but take a sick interest in what each scenario would turn out to be. Not "art" by any means, but entertaining if you happen to like this sort of thing. Movie Review Title: Shallow Ground Director: Sheldon Wilson Concept: 7/10 Script: 6/10 Execution: 8/10 Overall: 7/10 Plot in 20 words or less: Naked, blood-covered teenager shows up in small town plagued by serial killer and various weird shit ensues. Mediocre acting, but good direction, cinematography and special effects, given the budget. It's been a long time since any movie has really scared me, but I would at least acknowledge that this one was somewhat creepy. Certain aspects of the plot don't really add up and the ending is open for interpretation and thus likely to be confusing for viewers used to being spoon-fed, but there are enough good scenes that it's worth seeing if you're willing to overlook the inexperienced actors and hot-and-cold script. Hopefully, Wilson will gain more recognition as a director in coming years and no longer need to write his own scripts or employ B-grade actors, so we can see what he's capable of in the right environment. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 1st, 2005
12:19 pm	No NaNo for me this year I've decided that I just have way too many other things on the go to do NaNo this year. :-( I still want to write this novel I've been thinking about, though, so I'm contemplating setting a sort of extended NaNo-like challenge for myself instead, like 10,000 words a month for the next six months. Then I'll still have room in my life for my other projects and things like, oh, you know, friends, family, girlfriend, sleep, food... Current Mood: disappointed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 25th, 2005
11:10 am	NaNo 2005 To NaNo or not to NaNo, that is the question. I've done it and made the 50k mark for the last two years running and I'd hate to miss a year. However, I now have a full time job and my girlfriend, with whom I already have little free time to spend, has declared that she will not be doing NaNo this year. When I say we have little free time together, I'm not kidding - I work 2-10 PM Monday through Friday, except for Thursday, when I work 10-6, then go to a night class until 10 PM. Meanwhile, she works 8 AM - 5 PM five days a week, but two of those days will be Saturday and Sunday, so her days off will be sometime during the week, when I'm working. Even assuming that neither of those days is Thursday, that leaves us with two mornings during the week and two evenings on the weekend. Since she has to get up at 6:30 to get to work on time, she goes to bed at 11 PM on work nights - I get home at 10:30. So, basically, the time we have together must be spent together, since we have so little of it; no way I'm writing when she's around. That means that I would get to write only in the mornings from wake-up to 1:30 when I go to work, two days a week (five, minus the two that she's home, minus Thursday), plus most of the day Saturday and Sunday, when she's at work. That works out to just over 20 hours a week, so less than 100 hours for the month. Writing 500 words an hour is not that hard, even for a chronic self-editor like myself, but that's assuming I manage to avoid all procrastination and know exactly where I'm going with the story. Give me some advice, people! Should I do it, or am I going to give myself a nervous breakdown trying? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 24th, 2005
12:12 pm	Movie Review: Maria Full of Grace Status: On video Concept: 7/10 Script: 5/10 Execution: 8/10 Overall: 6/10 Recommendation: Rent it if you like depressing foreign films or can't find anything else you want to see. No rush, though. When reviewing major Hollywood films, I refrain from revealing the plot any more than necessary, both because I don't want to spoil anything, and also because you've all most likely seen the previews, so it would be a waste of time. There is a good chance, however, that some of you may not have even heard of Maria Full of Grace, so I will make an exception in this case. In a nutshell, Maria, Full of Grace is the story of 17-year-old Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino Moreno), poor, pregnant and living in Colombia. She quits her job packing flowers because her boss treats her badly and starts looking for something better. Promptly, a handsome stranger shows up in her life and, when he finds out she's looking for work, offers her the opportunity to make big bucks (by Colombian standards) as a drug mule. I don't think I'm spoiling much by saying that things do not go quite as smoothly as she is told they will. The story is told in a fairly straightforward manner, without any of the bizarre twists that are popular in Hollywood films these days. The dialogue, too, is simple and serious, lacking any attempt at poetry or comic relief. This sort of restraint is commendable in a screenplay, but perhaps it was taken a bit too far in the execution. I can't recall any unusual camera angles - I may be wrong, but I think almost everything was shot straight on. The acting is somewhat minimalist as well; Maria essentially has only one mood - brave, stubborn and calmly pissed off at everyone around her - but at least Moreno does a good job of portraying it. Despite being so stripped-down, or perhaps because of it, this movie has a few strange things about it. One odd thing about this movie is how the drug smugglers don't really come off as the bad guys, although they certainly aren't good guys either. Sure, they don't have the best interests of their mules in mind, but they aren't particularly abusive and they keep their word. In contrast, the viewer's revulsion is reserved for everyone else in Maria's life - her selfish mother and sister, her asshole boss at the flower packing plant and her whiny, idiotic friend Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega). There is also a strange emphasis on the actual swallowing of the drugs. Of course, the whole drug pellet as sacramental wafer metaphor is important to the film - you don't have to see the movie to get that; one look at the cover is enough - but a fair bit of time is spent driving home the point about how large these drug pellets are, how difficult to swallow they are, just how many of them these women are expected to choke down and how bloated their stomachs feel afterwards. It almost seems like this is intended to be the greatest challenge in the movie. In comparison, the other problems, like the possibility of a packet opening en route and delivering a fatal overdose, and the need to remain calm while being questioned by U.S. Customs officials, seem relatively easy for Maria, who never loses her composure. Hopefully it is not too much of a spoiler to say that, after everything that happens, the film and its conclusion are not as depressing as one might have expected. You don't even get the feeling that the events that took place were particularly traumatic for Maria, who takes everything that comes at her with a stiff upper lip and thrust-out chin. Of course, this sort of tough grace must be the point of the film, given the title, but it is also problematic, since a mild emotional response on the part of the main character results in a mild response from the audience as well. By the time the credits rolled, I felt more empty than anything - even the final scene, intended to offer a glimmer of hope for the future of this girl, didn't elicit much reaction from me. This movie was a refreshing change of pace from the action-driven editing, overwrought plots and absurd scenarios of modern Hollywood films. In the end, though, it failed to deliver the emotional punch that the subject matter requires. If Hollywood movies take the shotgun approach to reaching the audience, this movie tries to use a silenced pistol. Unfortunately, the aim is just a little off, not missing the target completely, but certainly not finding the bulls-eye. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 21st, 2005
1:06 pm	Movie Review: The Fog Status:Currently in theatres Concept: 8/10 Script: 3/10 Execution: 5/10 Overall: 5/10 Recommendation:Rent it when it comes out on video if you love ghost movies. Otherwise, don't bother. This movie was a perfect example of why a writer, once he has a decent premise in mind, should next create some interesting characters and flesh them out until they're real people to him. If he instead starts working on a plot, deciding to leave the characters for later, he risks forgetting about them entirely and ending up with a movie like this. One thing that irks me about most "killer ghost" movies (aside from the fact that they're all titled "The [noun]" or "The [gerund]") is the lack of a well-developed back-story. Usually it involves some people dying violently, either murdered or killed in an accident, and their ghosts remaining on the spot, terrifying and/or killing whoever happens to come along. The trouble is that the circumstances surrounding the deaths are usually pretty straightforward - if being brutally murdered was enough to make one come back to take revenge on the living, there'd be armies of murderous spirits roaming the streets of every city and town. Fortunately, this movie does not suffer from that particular problem. Unfortunately for Cooper Layne, the movie is a remake of a 1980 film, so the credit for this one redeeming feature must go to John Carpenter, who wrote the original screenplay. The back-story is good enough, in fact, that perhaps Layne should have forgotten the whole ghost movie idea and made a movie about the events leading up to the tragedy - a prequel to the original movie. I won't spoil the only good thing about this movie by describing it, but suffice it to say that these events have multiple layers of tragedy, a certain amount of irony and the feeling that they take place in a larger world, with other events happening all around. Most importantly, they make sense and don't require the writer to use insanity or extreme overreaction as an explanation for why the people were killed. Also, it gives the ghosts a reason to come after the particular people they do, rather than some unlucky family that happens to move into the wrong house. Layne seems to know that Carpenter's back-story is good, because he slips in several flash-back sequences, so that the audience can see it happening, instead of just hearing it through the mouths of the characters. Unfortunately, these sequences are poorly-timed, showing the audience things before the characters in the movie have figured them out and breaking up the flow of the main narrative, thereby reducing the suspense. There was not, however, a great deal of suspense to begin with. While watching the movie, I wasn't sure why I didn't feel nervous, since there were several scenes that did have a certain well-constructed spookiness about them. It was only thinking about it later that I realised that it was because I didn't care at all about the characters. The reason I didn't care about them is because none of them were protagonists - they were all playing supporting roles, only with no one to support. Obviously, Nick Castle (Tom Welling) is meant to be the main character, but it certainly doesn't feel like it when you're watching the movie. The only attempt Layne made to establish Nick's character, as far as I could tell, was to make it clear that he was cheating on his girlfriend (Elizabeth Williams, played by Maggie Grace) while she was out of town. Aside from that, nothing - he has no personality or life story to speak of. Perhaps Nick could have been better-developed if unnecessary characters had been left out; there are far too many people in this movie who don't serve to advance the plot in any way except, in most of their cases, by getting killed. The one that most clearly could have been done without is Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair), the radio DJ in the lighthouse. She had a surprising amount of time on-camera, not to mention more personality than Nick, but played virtually no role in the unfolding of events, except as occasional narrator by way of her radio show and as the inevitable person in need of rescue. I haven't seen the 1980 version of this movie, but I suspect that it is probably much better than this remake. Inevitably, remakes either add something to the original, or take something away. In this case, what were taken away were the characters, and without characters, you have nothing. (Comment on this)
1:01 pm	Reviews Hello, everyone. It's been about a year I think, since I last wrote anything here. I sort of got tired of keeping people posted on my not-so-interesting life. I've decided to start writing again, but not about me. Instead, I've decided that I see enough movies, read enough books, go to enough restaurants, etc. that I might as well start reviewing them. The restaurant reviews won't be very helpful for most of you, since most of you live in Toronto, but hopefully I can convince some of you to see the movies I like, and dissuade you from wasting your time on the really bad ones. If nothing else, maybe it will encourage some of you to post comments of your own opinions on these films/books, since I've been out of touch with all of you for so long. It'll be nice to hear something. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 28th, 2004
2:59 pm	First post in a long-ish time I've been a bad, neglectful LJer... it's been months since I've posted anything in my journal.  Since most of you on my friends' list are people I met at last year's NaNoWriMo, I've been thinking about all of you, and figured it was about time I wrote something here.  There have been a number of events in my life recently that I haven't kept you guys posted about: 1) I've met a wonderful girl, by the name of Sam.  We've been together just over a month and things are going so well that I occasionally find myself wondering where I was hiding the secret stash of good karma necessary for this kind of luck.  Of course, it's too early to know how things are going to turn out in the long run, but I have high hopes, and none of the nagging doubts that usually start setting in at this stage of a relationship.  You should see me... I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl.  It's really quite nauseating. ;-) 2) I'm continuing my desktop publishing courses at Concordia, and I'm still thinking about having a go at getting serious about copywriting and graphic design.  I volunteered my services to my mother and her friend Roz, to do a postcard flyer for a workshop they're hosting.  Roz was so pleased with what I did that she has enlisted my services again, and is paying me this time, though I'm only charging her a small fraction of what the going rate is for this sort of work.  She also says she has several friends who might want to hire me, too.  Need to get off my ass and get my business card printed... I've designed it, but haven't gone to a print shop yet. 3) I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year.  At first, I was thinking of doing a comedy like last year, but then I decided that there was little point in that.  I've already proven to myself that I can write 50,000 words of decent (though only semi-cohesive) comedy in a month, so what's the point in doing that again?  Instead, I'm writing a sort of atmospheric horror or suspense story, with all the main characters being children between the ages of 8 and 13, and the central threat being a variation on the will-o'-wisp.  I'm actually really excited about this story! *bounce bounce bounce* Those are the important things, anyway.  Other than that, it's pretty much business as usual.  I just wanted to update everyone, and let you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, and that I'm still reading your LiveJournals... and to wish you all a happy Hallowe'en, and say that I miss you guys, and it's a shame that I can't be in Toronto for NaNo this year. Current Mood: bouncy (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 14th, 2004
1:20 pm	Really difficult astronomy test So, I've created a second test at OKCupid.  People complained that my "fiction appreciation" test was too subjective, so for this one, I've created one that's as objective as they come, an astronomy test, with one right answer, two wrong answers, and one joke answer (you get half marks if you take the joke answer; pick it if you don't know the answer... it's to discourage guessing) for every question.  Bear in mind that this is what I studied in university, so the questions are, for the most part, rather difficult.  I don't expect most people to be able to do much better than 50%, whether by educated guessing, or just picking the joke answer every time.  Consider that a challenge. Yes, I know that it's possible to cheat; all the answers are easy to find with Google.  However, if you cheat, you will have learned a few things about astronomy in the process, so I will have accomplished one of my two goals.  The other being to entertain. Current Mood: nerdy (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 31st, 2004
10:10 pm	Attn: NaNoWriMo people So, this coming weekend is the Canadian Open Go tournament, meaning I'm going to be in Toronto for the weekend, like I was in the spring.  During the days I'll be at the tournament, but I'll be free in the evenings (Friday, Saturday and Sunday... I'll leave on Monday morning).  It's Labour Day weekend, so I imagine a lot of you will have plans already, but let me know if you want to do anything Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. Hope to see some of you. Current Mood: okay Current Music: Dan Bern - Airplane Blues (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 21st, 2004
3:39 pm	Can't say no to free Maisonneuve magazine (self-described as "eclectic curiosity") is offering no-strings-attached 6 month trial subscriptions to anyone who wants them (I think only in Canada, though). I bought an issue off the newsstand last year and it's a pretty good magazine, so I'd recommend signing up to anyone who likes to read (most of the people on my Friends list, in other words).  I don't see any good reason not to. (Comment on this)
Monday, August 9th, 2004
7:03 pm	Today's project: duct tape bracers Not as ornate as the helmet, but still kind of cool. Easy to make; only took me about an hour and a half for a matching pair. ( Big picture behind the cut ) Current Mood: artistic (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 8th, 2004
2:56 pm	They laughed... ...they said I was MAD! They said making a samurai helmet entirely out of duct tape was a fool's errand. It appears they were wrong. Current Mood: crazy (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 24th, 2004
11:19 am	Mr. Popularity, continued It seems I was too optimistic in my post last night. For those that didn't read it: last night was supposed to be my housewarming party. Everyone started cancelling at the last minute, so I was predicting that 8 out of the 15 who had told me they were coming "for sure" would actually show up. The actual number who showed up: one. Current Mood: rejected (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 23rd, 2004
6:24 pm	Mr. Popularity Wow. So, my housewarming party is going to be the lamest party ever. I was expecting about 20 people but at the last minute, after it was too late to reschedule, I found out that: Patrice is working. Nick has other plans. France's mother is in the hospital. Jasmine is out of town. Lily has to study. Brian lives too far and can't borrow his parent's car tonight. Liam is too hung over from a party last night. Paul will come, but has to leave after an hour. Julia's too tired. Etc. So it's going to be me, Jesse (my co-host), Annelies, a guy from the Go club, a highschool friend who I don't hang out with anymore, the housemate of one of my friends (who can't make it himself), the girlfriend of another housemate of the same friend, and my upstairs neighbour (whom I've only talked to maybe twice). And that's everyone. 8 people total, half of whom I barely know. Current Mood: crappy (Comment on this)
12:22 pm	Interesting teachers Last night my advertising prof ran over and got in my face, her forehead almost touching mine and yelled "IS YOUR WOODY PINK?!" Needless to say, I had no good response. Mind you, it made sense in the context of what we were talking about, but it's more amusing if I leave it to the reader to try to figure out what was going on. Current Mood: amused (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 22nd, 2004
1:05 pm	Two things that annoy me 1) "Transparent" fiction, where you see right through the story, to the writer who is supposed to be invisible, running the show from backstage. The latest issue of One Story magazine is a story by a female writer with a male main character, and he just seems completely wrong to me, as a male reader. It's not so much the misunderstanding of male psychology that bothers me - how could I expect her to know? - as the fact that the whole time I was reading the story, I got the impression that she wasn't writing sincerely. She was serving a personal agenda with her writing, rather than telling the truth about her understanding of people. The whole time, I could see her behind the scenes, stewing over an unfaithful ex-boyfriend, but trying to deal with it by going "Look how mature I am! I can write a story about a guy who cheats on every woman he dates, and still make him sympathetic!" It's hard enough to make the reader feel the same way you do about your character. Trying to make the reader feel something you don't feel yourself is just a bad idea. 2) Email that won't send. Omniheurist.net has been working fine for receiving mail, but I haven't been able to send messages for a week now. Are you having the same problem, D.? To make matters worse, today hotmail has started giving me a "cannot locate server" message when sending mail, though it too works fine for receiving and reading. Current Mood: annoyed (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
10:05 am	Just a quick note... ...to reassure everyone that I'm not dead, merely moved to a new apartment. Just got my Internet set up a couple days ago, hence the period of silence. Anyway, I'm back. Rejoicing may commence now. Current Mood: okay Current Music: Beatles - Helter Skelter (2 Comments |Comment on this)