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Ye old Mo-centric Universe dead since 2007where my opinions are universal truths June 08 wow this is old and defunct. a friend told me when she went looking for my new blog the mo-centric universe that she found this one instead. i don't live here any more. but i hate shutting my old sites down. :) September 07 brother, can you spare some time?blog entry preview: in this episode, i will review the oaths i made to change my ways in january of this year -- with only four months left, i've made some progress, but still have *plenty* to do! so back again. still no satellite (which i'm also tempted to write a diatribe about because i'm determined that bell is trying to make me insane! jerkasses! anyhoo: here's the salient quote from that january entry, broken out into separate oaths (in italics, to distinguish my updates typed below each oath): i am determined to be unrelenting this year in the things i want for myself.
August 15 back from hiatusso i'm back again after a long respite!
sadly, part of the reason is that after getting home from work at 9:30, i discovered my satellite signal is *still* out. it was out last night, but i was too busy to care, and just hoped it would work itself out on its own. but alas, it turns out that there's probably something wrong with the dish itself, so i thought maybe i'd get the ball rolling again here, even if there are more pressing matters at hand.
a couple of new entries (i've backlogged a few things to write about) will be written in the next few days, but today i wanted to mention my unholy love for Mama's Family the 1980s tv show. it's timely because apparently some american premium channel scored awesome ratings (over five million people watched!) with a marathon of this program last Saturday. i recently rediscovered my love for mama and her kith and kin when i was in san diego in july and managed to catch a few episodes, and so i was pleased to hear i wasn't the only one that had hungered for more, and that the season 1 DVD will be out on September 26th. i think the reason the show is so appealing to me is that it's so alien to my own experience -- for example, one of the episodes i saw involved the family (mama, vinton, naomi, bubba) and neighbour iola putting together a jigsaw puzzle together and curing a catatonic aunt at the same time! i dimly recall jigsaw puzzles from my early childhood (70s style), and i think until my re-viewing of the above episode, i equated jigsaws with kids things, and not an adult group activity! i can't imagine anybody i know now hunkering down to a family night like that! the show is quaint and comforting, full of homey motifs, and now that i think about it, appeals to the kid in me. i always wanted a granny with tight grey curls and rolled down pantyhose!
next blog entry teaser:
in our next episodes i will review the oaths i made to change my ways in january of this year -- with only four months left, i've made some progress, but still have *plenty* to do! May 01 voodoo baby!yesterday angela and i went to the paradise toronto comicon. we saw our comic boy friend manale exiting stage right when we got there, and he warned us that the turnout was abysmal, and that the pros were abandoning ship left and right (which was disappointing because i wanted to meet david lloyd, artist on v for vendetta, doncha know)! we had been the year before, we told him, so we were prepared for the vacuum in space. however, once we went in, we actually found that the room had wayyyyyyy more people in it than last year. they really do need to do a better job of promoting this event!!
we went to visit with our other friends: michael and brian were sharing a booth (with claudia, who is no comic boy, that's for sure!), selling various books they've worked on; and j. bone (my hero!) was also there, selling books and some t-shirts he unveiled at the art show last month. i bought myself a spidey, and a shirt featuring j's own character, the owl (created of course, for owl magazine). after that, we decided to make a tour of the room.
i picked up some comics i was missing in the army of darkness series (picked up issues of army of darkness vs. reanimator for 50% off!) and we also stopped by a booth claudia recommended to us that was selling voodoo babies! that's right, you heard it here first! i think almost all of us bought one because they are so fricking cute. all of them have attributes associated with them, though the packaging has a disclaimer clearly stating that they have "no curse effect whatsoever". check 'em out on their unfortunately named website (and no, none of the voodoo babies protect you from STDs as j's boyfriend kimball pointed out): http://www.vdbaby.com/. i got piggy (who looks adorable in her blue bikini and carting around her black innertube) because of course i really need some help getting into a bathing suit for this summer, but after perusing the collection more closely, i've also decided i can't live without the monkey king, and smartie, and maybe the pirate too! the voodoo babies aren't cheap -- piggy cost me twelve dollars -- but i think that they're counting on the fact that you can't just have one. hexter was certainly interested in mine, so i'm thinking of getting one for him...
and to top it off, we got to see our pal chris stone too! chris, j and i discussed the fashion trends at the comicon (!) and then the poseidon movie's promotional hummer needed to be driven away, so we broke up the clothing klatch, and angela and i went off in search of french fries, staple food of all nerd events.
today's shout outs:
happy birthday to my niece natasha, and helen and chris mcd!
and happy penis day to everyone! (what did you think the may pole was all about, anyway?) April 14 that damn supernatural!i think that i had better stop watching supernatural on time shift! last night's episode had the boys investigating the mysterious string of deaths that all seem to lead to the same source -- an excessively spooky family portrait. and what a painting it was! uber-creepy! the merchant family portrayed had been massacred one evening, ostensibly by the father, a barber, but SPOILERS AHEAD: it was actually the adopted daughter who killed everyone, in a repeat of her murder of her biological family!
now, i think it very unlikely that nobody at the time of the second murder made the connection (this was dismissed with the 'nobody would have believed it was a kid' excuse, which i find flimsy) but nonetheless, this was yet again, a very scary episode!! the painting was horrid, and the little girl's doll was deemed terrifying by the guest star, taylor cole (she used to be on summerland) and i was in total agreement! and the little girl -- once again they played the evil kid card, and it's effective! i had to stay up for hours afterward to dispell that feeling of impending doom!
i really hope that this show gets a shot at the new CW network because it is compulsive viewing!
April 06 my new steve mcqueenso for the last couple of weeks, i've been tuning into a new show called heist on wednesday nights (after lost of course!) the main character, mickey, is played by dougray scott, who i've seen only once before, when he played drew barrymore's prince in ever after, and to be honest, he didn't exactly bowl me over then.
maybe it's that he's aged a bit, or the hair cut, or the way he's holding himself these days, but he looks A LOT LIKE STEVE MCQUEEN!
so i'm calling dibs on him now (though the imdb message board says he's dating claire forlani) because if i can just convince him to dye his hair blond, i can have my own bullitt!
here's some pictures i found -- you judge for yourself! and remember, MINE!
March 30 beam me up baby, or, if only bones were available!as many of you know, i like to go to sci-fi conventions. it all started with me wanting to buy my pal lee a great birthday present. She is a major BTVS fan, so I tried a search on google that included both "buffy" and "toronto" and wound up discovering that that year Amber Benson (who played Tara) was going to be at the Toronto Trek convention held in mississauga.
we went, and really had a good time: there was an 80s dance, and lots of people in costumes, and even klingon karaoke (and yes, they actually do some of the songs in klingon -- yellow submarine loosely translates to yellow bird of prey, and is certainly worth hearing)! since we had such a good time, we decided to try the other toronto event: SFX, which many people told us wasn't as good because it was too corporate. well, i guess we're just a bunch of shills, because we actually ended up really enjoying SFX (that year, lorne from angel hosted yet another karaoke event, and grooved to my rendition of bust a move -- always a crowd pleaser).
we did both the next year, and toronto trek actually paled in comparison. we prefer sfx because they have a lot of high profile guest speakers: uhura made me cry during her talk, angela and i swooned over billy dee williams, and we all drooled over ray park, connor trineer, the matrix twins, and adam baldwin over the years. we also love the dealer's room, where you can get t-shirts, and toys, swords, comics, and DVDs, among other things. and the cosplay kids! who could not love them?
this year, i'm taking my sfx experience up a notch, and am attending their VIP event with my good friend and co-conspirator jacquie's beau, jeff. who are the guests, you ask? well, one loves the whales, the other is a corporate shill, and they both love to warble cover songs. you guessed it, i'm going to be meeting:
leonard nimoy and william shatner!
i should say the leonard was actually guest of honour at the event a couple of years ago, and money was REALLY tight, so i couldn't even conceive of attending. but i was sad after it was over, and worried that since he's not getting any younger i lost my chance. so once i found out they were doing a tag-team appearance, i knew i had to attend. of course, that was before i talked to jeff, who convinced me that the only way to do it was all the way -- so we've paid for VIP tickets, which means we will get to meet them, and also have our photos taken with them!
try not to envy me too much!
after all, bones was always my favourite, and i'll never get to meet him... or the inimitable james doohan.
beam me up scotty! March 28 rice krispie squares are easy!i made some the other day, and though i must have known better, could not get over the fact that i didn't have to bake them! i'm usually quite suspicious of those no-bake cheesecakes, so i'll admit it's a struggle whether to admire how delightful a treat they are, or igg myself out.
anyhoo, quite a bit of time has elapsed since my last elated blog entries, and that's largely because i've been taking care of business. i got some new ikea furniture (thanks again, claudia!), and have spent the last couple of weeks organizing my living space. and vexingly, i'm stilling missing the one bookcase i've been meaning to buy for ages -- out of stock, once again! and sometimes i get discouraged when i think i still have the computer area and its environs to do -- right now i'm typing over a stack of miscellaneous tax papers, and a vitamin bottle! nonetheless, i've been really focused on improving my home because i need it to be a refuge, not a source of future angst. i've alway said if i had a place for everything, things would be much cleaner, so i guess i'm calling my own bluff.
i've pretty much got the kitchen in order, which is good considering i have been continuing to experiment there! my mum reported that she liked my carrot soup, only she wasn't sure about some of the spices. of course, i had told her to have it with a dollop of sour cream to cut the spice, knowing it would be too much for her but apparently it's too pricey these days!
i have no segue, so here's some more news: my boss offered me the opportunity to take a business trip. i can either go to alberta in april on a set of science meetings, or to -- wait for it -- san diego in july for a technology education conference. which do you think i'd prefer?cue digression:
california, joan embry, i'm awash with good carson-y feeling; how i envied johnny! i wish i could remember when exactly i wrote him that letter telling him i planned to grow up and take his job, but i couldn't have been more than ten. ah, that's the glamour of san diego! johnny bravely allowing its zoo animals to crawl all over his immaculate suits, and wide ties, the threat implicit throughout. oh, will they poop? i'm almost afraid to buy the DVDs because i don't want the dream of johnny to lose its glamour! sounds glamourous to you, right?!
so i guess we'll see if they'll actually spring for san diego at CH! i really like my boss, as you can imagine!
lots more activity in the next couple of weeks, my sister and my niece are visiting, michael's birthday, jess' visit, j bone's art show -- oh wait, that's all in one week! but i'm truly looking forward to all of it, individually. all together it's really too much to think about, so i'll stop there.
and while i'm at it,
end transmission.
in more sober family news...my uncle manuel passed away. i can't say i ever really knew him well, my mother's brother, with more than forty years and two language barriers between us. as a child i was averse to his visits because he used to pull on my fingers and toes and make them crack. i'd awake on a saturday morning to hear his loud booming voice (which was directly proportionate to his deafness) in the kitchen downstairs, talking of big cars, and big meals, and big palooka dreams.
my mother said his funeral was lovely, almost enough to reconsider Catholicism. her explanation for him was always that when they were younger my uncle had a firecracker explode in his hand, and the german doctor (or doutor alemão - one of the few portuguese phrases i can pronounce perfectly, i've heard this so many times) always said that he would never be the same! and certainly, he was missing parts of his hand, which was the fascinating thing about his visits. and by the end he was up to the shoulder. but now he is free from pain, and i really feel for his family.
rip March 06 the horror! the horror! i cringed, wriggled my spine, and averted my stinging eyes...so last week, i did the usual, and picked up some DVDs i just couldn't do without, in the 'twofer' section of HMV. i got once upon a time in mexico because it's my favourite robert rodriguez film, and the warriors - ultimate director's cut. now one of my favourite films is the director's cut of blade runner, so i'm not exactly leery when i see those words on the packaging. that being said, in the name of all that is sacrosanct, i warn you now:
AVOID THE WARRIORS: ULTIMATE DIRECTOR'S CUT AT ALL COSTS!!
after some deliberation, i *did* decide to keep the DVD, but only for the featurettes about the original film (yes -- nerd status affirmed), and will never willingly view this version again. i *love* the original cut of this film, and in fact haven't purchased it before because i usually watch it every single time it's on tv (its' cut, which is different from the original, appears more often than the original on tv. comprende?). but the abomination i bought isn't worthy. in the featurettes, walter hill explains what his vision for the film was originally, and while i like his ideas (talk about the anabasis of xenophon, of all things!) while he describes them, i abhor their execution.
just to clarify, it's not a matter of him restoring old material, or the circulated deleted scenes -- which are great, and sadly, and luckily, have only been seen in the tv incarnation of this film (see confusing sentence above), and aren't available on any DVD version. instead, he had new comic book panel sections created (i know you're thinking, 'but she loves comics!' and i do; just not here!) and re-cut the film to accommodate them. This is often (read space subtitle above) at the expense of the pacing and undermining the mood, both of which are crucial to the enjoyment this film. Had he added these comic panels at the beginning of the film only, i could have withstood it, but he's interspersed them throughout and as a consequence, defused the scene with the baseball furies, one of the most memorable in the film. one of the producers mentioned that at one point, they had intended orson welles to narrate the film, and while this intrigued me, i'm not sure that it would have actually worked. the director also wreaked havoc on the soundtrack, adding a lot of music which i found intrusive, and out of place.
for the most part, i enjoy walter hill. we seem to be attracted to similar motifs, and he's been in some way responsible for a lot of films i like, having written and/or directed, and/or produced: alien, aliens, streets of fire, trespass, and tales from the crypt: demon knight to name a few. however, i'm not sure he understands what it is that people like about his films. in one of the featurettes i mention above, he goes so far as to say that he thinks the warriors is still popular today because of the humour! i snickered when i heard that cuz *that* was funny, and certainly not why i enjoy the film. i like the fact that it's a simple tale of a bunch of posturing punks trying to get home, not knowing why people keep trying to stop them (they're suspected of killing a rival gangleader). i like that while there is a dearth of dialogue (there's more running and fighting than speaking), it's immensely quotable. i like the way it was shot, and edited, and costumed. but if i'm looking for laughs, i'll look elsewhere.
happily, there still seems to be a few copies of the stripped-down basic original on DVD out there. now i just have to get a hold of one of them before they're all gone! and hope that someday, the tv cut makes it onto DVD!
can you dig it?
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