Deepayan/Uberhero/Confidence Man/Cleo/Eric/other personalities to be added later

Retirement

2010-01-23T14:37:00.001-08:00

No, not of me, but of this blog. Looking back on it, I realise that this blog represents me at a certain period of time in my life, and I could continue with this, but my identity (my persona?) is radically different now. I'll still blog (and likely still as sporadically as now) but I'm going to transfer over to a new blog that better reflects me. I'm still going to keep this up, if for no other reason than to revisit all the funny stuff that people have said in transit.

As an example, this is my about me section:

"I'm schizophrenic. Therefore, there is much too much about me to fit in a mere 1200. I don't even know everything about all my personalities yet. I shall keep you updated as developments occur. For now (1)Deepayan: Overseer of all personalities. You can call it the mother personality (2)Uberhero: Heroes too big to be merely called a superhero are given the title of Uberhero. So far, I am the only person who has achieved this distinction (3)Confidence Man: Still working on this one (4)Cleo: A LifeSci female at University of Toronto. Unnaturally violent. Her biggest secret? her favorite movie is the Notebook :P (5)Eric: Cleo's boyfriend at Queens. Very athletic; runs, plays rugby and soccer, and gets kicked in the nuts regularly by Cleo."

Oh yeah, and Cleo looks like Erica Durance. It's a coincidence, I swear.

If you're masochistic enough to follow me, I'm now located at http://deanepay.blogspot.com/

Until we meet again, it has been fun.

It's a brand new day, yeah the sun is high, all the angels sing, because YOU'RE GONNA DIE

2009-07-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

I love this song, not just because of its empowering undertones, but also because of its ability to make me feel good no matter what. As sadistic or macabre as it may sound to the uninitiated (that's those of you who don't actually know the context of this song) it's a great tune, with fantastic replay value.

Lyrics;

This appeared as a moral dilemma
Cause at first it was weird though I swore to eliminate
The worst of the plague that devoured humanity
It's true I was vague on the how
So how can it be that you
have shown me the light?

It's a brand new day
And the sun is high
All the birds are singing
That you're going to die
How I hesitated
Now I wonder why
It's a brand new day

All the times that you beat me unconscious, I'll forgive
All the crimes incomplete, listen, honestly I'll live
Mr. Cool, Mr. Right, Mr. Know-It-All is through
Now my future's so bright and I owe it all to you
Who showed me the light

It's a brand new me
I've got no remorse
Now the water's rising
But I know the course
I'm going to shock the world
Going to show Bad Horse
It's a brand new day

And Penny will see the evil me
Not a joke, not a dork, not a failure
And she may cry but her tears will dry
When I hand her the keys to a shiny new Australia

It's a brand new day
Yeah, the sun is high
All the angels singB
Because you're gonna die

Go ahead and laugh
Yeah, I'm a funny guy
Tell everyone goodbye
It's a brand new day

courtesy songmeanings.net, which is from where I blindly copied said lyrics.

Women

2009-01-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

Women are the most beautiful creatures on the Earth.
Not just physically, although a case could be made for that. A woman's smile can make a person's day, her warmth can make any problem seem less daunting,and her confidence can make you reach for the impossible. The beauty that lies in having such abilities is just...wonderful.
I'm not just talking about girlfriends and spouses. Mothers, sisters, cousins, friends, daughters; I pity the man who has not a single woman in his life, for I cannot being to imagine the wretched life he must be living.
I apologise to all women out there who have men that don't fully appreciate their abilities. Men who beat you, who ignore you, who toy with your emotions, who don't understand what a gift they have, I apologise on their behalf.
This is not to say there are bad apples among women. There are women who lie, cheat, and steal, women who use limited skills to go far, women who in general give the gender a bad name. Then there are the ones who (unwittingly, perhaps) promote the literature and media that portrays them in a negative light. And the ones who choose to be miserable, thereby making others miserable around them. There's loads of faults that women have.
But they're still beautiful creatures, just because of all the good they do. A woman can make a guy's life go from good to fantastic, and that outweighs all.
There is no point to this entry (when is there ever with my entries, right?). I just felt the need to show my appreciation for all the wonderful women I've known through the years. Some of them have accomplished extraordinary things, and others are clearly destined for greatness, but every one of them has helped me become a better person. If there is greater beauty anywhere, I fear I wouldn't be able to handle it.
That's all.

Life's a game of inches

2008-12-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

I don’t know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell... one inch at a time. Now I can't do it for ya, I'm too old. I look around, I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I've made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I've pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, when you get old, in life, things get taken from you. I mean, that's... that's... that's a part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin' stuff. You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this, in any fight it's the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I'm gonna have any life anymore it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen, and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?

-Al Pacino, as Coach Tony D'Amato
Any Given Sunday

There's some things in this monologue that resonate with me, and lately it's been the part about not being able to stand the face I see in the mirror. Not enough time to expound on this tonight, but I will, in coming days.

Uberhero of the blog: Return of the poster

2008-11-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

I will start re-using this again.

I put this on hold not because I ran out of things to say; those of you who've had even a passing acquaintance with me will know that when I run out of things to say, that's one sign of the nearing of the apocalypse. Rather, I put this on hold because I felt unable to coherently form what I wanted to say. Doing so required time, and time became a luxury for me at some point (still is, in some ways, but...dammit, there's gotta be a funny metaphor that goes here). Either way, with my dicovery of the RT forums, a lot of what I wanted to say started to go there, partly because the people on RT are an intelligent lot, with whom I could have enlightening discussions on matters slightly less superficial than whom Miley Cyrus is currently dating (Who the hell are the Jonas Brothers? And how many of them are there? Are they like amoeba, is it spontaneous reproduction?) and partly because it was instant. But I think the benefit of a blog is that it is, essentially, a discussion with oneself. This means my thoughts come out here free of any diversions in course by immediate responses. Oftentimes, I've known myself best the same way I've known others best; by just talking to them.

(That came out much worse than I anticipated. See what I mean about being less than coherent?)

Anyhow, I shall begin re-using this. It shall be...fun?

A beautiful scene from LOST

2008-02-29T05:26:00.000-08:00

A little background...Desmond, the man making the call, was exposed to a strong jolt of electromagnetism that jarred his conscoiusness loose in time, meaning he's oscillating back and forth between 1996 and 2004. A physics professor tells him that he'll die of a brain aneurysm unless he can find a Constant, something present both in 1996 and 2004, and make contact with it. Desmond chooses Penny, the love of his life. He finds her in 1996, asks for her phone number, and promises not to call her for 8 years (they're recently broken up at this point, and that's a whole new can of worms, but it has to do with Penny's father telling Desmond he's not worth a glass of scotch, let alone his daughter). She gives her number, and in 2004, on a boat in the middle of God-knows-where (another can of worms), he calls her, knowing that if she doesn't answer, he will die.

Seeing as how it's exam time

2007-12-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

The song's to motivate.
The video's to help with the forced withdrawal.

Enjoy! And yes, this means I'll be updating more often from now on.

So I'm gone

2007-08-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

I'll be in India for the rest of the summer. Don't worry, it's not as exciting as it sounds, and you'll probably be having more fun than me.
I'll see you all in September. Enjoy!

Transit quotes

2007-06-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

On my way home today, I had the (mis)fortune of sitting within hearing distance of two ditzes on the Mississauga Transit bus. While most of their conversation revolved around who liked who and (I suspect, because this was never said explicitly) who's banging who. There was, however, this little nugget ensconced in their conversation.

Ditz 1: You know, Singapore's a lot like Canada
Ditz 2: What's a Singapore?
Me (thinking): You cannot be serious
Ditz 1 (oblivious of friend's question): You know, they're all the way in the east and stuff, but they've got skyscrapers and everything
Ditz 2: Oh, it's a country?
Ditz 1 (continuing to barrel on): I expected that it'd be, like, people going lalalala and it'd be sandy, like that movie
Ditz 2: Aladdin
Ditz 1: Yeah, like Aladdin. But it wasn't like that; they're got skyscrapers and everything. They're almost like Canada.
Me: mentally banging head against hard wall

Uberhero Exclusive Sneak peek

2007-06-12T19:25:00.001-07:00

And now, a passage from Deepayan the Uberhero's unreleased new story, Survival.

Suddenly, there was a thump on the roof. Silence fell on the group fast, in a way that only fear could facilitate.
"We-werewolves?" Stan stammered
"Has to be," Bruce growled in a low voice, "the roof's wood. Wood stops vampires."
The thumping was getting more insistent at this point, accompanied by snarling. The roof, while supported with thick beams, would not hold for much longer. While the thumping seemed random, Bruce had fought enough of these creatures to know that what they were actually looking for was the weak spot in the roof. Until the thumping concentrated onto one spot, Bruce knew he had time. "Harpoons," He hissed at Stan, "get my harpoons."
"What good are they" Stan began
"NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO QUESTION, DAMMIT!" Bruce roared, and immediately regretted. The werewolves had definitely heard, because they paused their thumping for a minute. All was quiet; then a paw broke through the roof near Bruce's head as one werewolf used his claws to splinter through the wood.
Shit, Bruce thought, these wolves aren't out to convert. They're out to feed.
"Go" He hissed at Stan, and stan silently scampered to the storeroom were everyone had kept their weapons. The group's argument of the evening now seemed dangerously petty, for it was the verbal attacks that had made Bruce decide to take all the weapons in the first place.
No time for that now. Gotta kill some wolves.
Bruce grabbed his left thigh and pulled away as the werewolves worked the hole, getting it bigger. Stan returned with the harpoons, his face drained of all color. Wordlessly, Deborah reached out and grabbed one of them. The others followed suit.
Bruce continued to stare upwards, his hand grabbing his left thigh. The hole was big enough now for him to get a good look at the lead wolf; another couple of solid hits and the room would be werewolf-infested.
Crack. Another piece of wood came flying down. Bruce gripped his thigh more tightly. The lead wolf, impatient with his crew's speed, snarled down the hole, coiling himself for a jump.
Bruce tensed himself, feeling the first jolts of adrenaline starting to enter his system. He waited for the werewolf to commit to the jump.
The wolf launched himself.
At the same instant, Bruce pulled his hand away, still gripping his thigh. There was a tearing sound as velcro gave way, and suddenly a gun materialized in his hand. Bruce dove right, both his hands gripping the gun, pumping bullets into the wolf as they both dove to the ground.
The other wolves followed their leader down the hole.
And another battle began.

Let me know what you think

On being 21

2007-06-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you feel
All this you can leave behind

- Walk On, U2

Wow. I haven't written a blog entry in a long time. Well, what better occasion to break the drought than my birthday? Well, belated at this point; I turned the mythical 21 three days ago, ushering in a new year of my life by sneezing and sniffling, visiting my doctor and running family errands. Yes, I'm a maniac. No, I don't know how I'm going to sustain this crazy lifestyle when I get older.
It is a bit of a personal milestone to have reached 21; there were times during my dark days when I thought it was destiny that I'd be dead before now.(based on a statistic my Grade 10 business teacher told us, that before you turned 21, someone you knew in high school would be dead; a statistic I have had the good sense to question, eventually, but not before I thought I would be one of the dead) But in the end, I didn't have the guts to act on that thought process; or I had the guts to not act on it, however you look at it.
I'm not really sure why, though; I've not really achieved anything, not in the traditional sense, at least. Academically, I'm pretty clsoe to a wreck, with no real idea how to apply anything I've learned into making some money. Athletically, I continue to be a klutz; I haven't even played a sport for more than a year now (Wow; that's something I hadn't even realized until now). Socially, where I'm arguably the most successful (thanks to the internet, really), is nothing ground-breaking. I've got a lot of friends who are good people, but I wouldn't expect any of them to take a bullet for me.
But despite all that, I'm not exactly dissapointed with my life. I mean, I'm not quite proud with the way my life has turned out, but I'm satisfied, in a sense. I have done my level best to treat everyone with respect, I try not to piss people off (maybe unsuccessfully sometimes, but it's the thought that counts, right? Besides, who wants to be loved by everybody; I'm just aiming for ambivalent). I've learnt not to cling to things beyond their expiration date (recognizing the expiration date is another matter) and that you have to choose your battles, but not shy away from them. Most of all, I've learnt that I don't know everything, and never really will; it's tough enough remembering what I do know now. So while I may have gotten not much done in strict societal measurements, I think I have made some progress towards being...mature? grown-up? It would be one of those, I think. I suppose what I'm trying to say is I'm not the same person I was a few years ago, and that, to me, is progress. That regardless of where I am, I'm in a different position than I was before which, really, I think is the greatest achievement anyone can accomplish; change.
Of course, that and a buck 50 will get you a coffee at Tim Hortons, but societal markers of success don't work so hot for me, as I outlined above. I think I'm at a point where I can understand that the white picket fence future may not be in the cards for me (Which, while being a dull, soul-sucking existence, is also the most secure, and security is a good thing to have); hell, I don't even know at this point if my genes are going to get passed on. But what I do know is that there's something up ahead for me. I hope, in a year, that the blog entry I write will be from a completely different place mentally than I am now; that will be the only thing I will really measure for change between now and then. Life has made it a bit of a habit of tossing spinners {cricket} and curveballs {baseball} at me every so often, and I hope my mental change can help in dealing with one of those the next time I face them, but as long as it's not regression, I'll consider it progress. And I look forward to the day I can say I'm proud of the life I've lived; that is what I ultimately strive for.
I'll close this blog entry with another quote, this one from American Beauty, a 1999 movie with Kevin Spacey. The movie's always had a special place in my heart, mostly because it shows that you can find happiness and beauty around you if you look hard enough, but also because of these closing lines to the movie. I understand better now what he's talking about than I did the first time I saw the movie three years ago, but I hope to one day understand it fully (before ending up, you know, like the main character) Enjoy, and thank you for making it this far.

I guess I could be really pissed off about what happened to me, but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain. And I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday.

What, grillz aren't close enough anymore?

2007-03-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

So I was at a computer lab at Humber today, sitting opposite this trio of obnoxious girls wasting time on facebook (yeah, yeah, pot calling kettle black, have a good laugh, then let's move on). I know they were on facebook because they felt the need to loudly announce the fact every 5 minutes or so. Anyways, at one point they were going through one guy's facebook profile, being all catty about another poster there, and one of the girls said, and I quote,

"She's all up in his facebook".

Make of that what you will. I have no retort that could possbily make that statement any funnier.

Weird Dream

2007-03-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

So I haven't blogged in a while, mostly because when I had time, I had nothing worthy to blog and when I had something worthy to blog, I had no time :( But I had a weird dream last night, and I finished a majority of stuff that was due this week today, so I decided to subject all of you to my dream. Perhaps some of you psychology students out there can interpret it.
So it started out with me at a hoity-toity rich people's swimming pool (I knew it was hoity-toity becasue there was a separate kiddie pool, and the showers were sparkling clean) I wasn't actually in the pool, and I took three or four trips between the shower and my spot on the side of the pool, never actually going into the showers, just looking in to them. Mind you, this is completely in character for me, because I have always had an irrational dislike for public showers.I don't remember completely, but I think I was checking to see how clean they were.
So anyway, after the last back-and-forth, I lay down on the deck and tapped this woman lounging in the pool on the head. She looked up and I asked her where she was heading. She gave an address which, if I recall correctly, was a garbled version of my old address, and I said I was heading there too (I don't think this was entirely a lie, atleast in my head), and if she wanted to get out of here. She agreed (Yes, I know, this was the part that should ahve tipped me off that this was a dream. You got that out of your system? Good)
Now, what happened next was a little unclear, even right after I woke up, and you'll see why. We went on what seemed like a single, albeit very long, date, (although you'll see later on that circumstances indicate it may have been more than one) walking around, enjoying each other's company, meeting people we knew. At one point, I draped my arm around her shoulders. She didn't seem entirely pleased with the move, so I asked her "Uncomfortable?" She nodded, and I removed my arm. I then asked her if she had someone else in her life. (Mind you, forgetting about a minor detail like this is also entirely in keeping with character for me). She said she had a lot of people, and played a lot of roles; mother, something, something. It wa the mother that caught my ear, because I somehow deduced from that that she was married (I also seemed to instinctively know her child was a daughter, but I suspect it's because all the mothers I know have daughters...I think. I never got confirmation of this from her, though). She confirmed as such upon my asking ( being married)
I dropped her home, and saw her greet her family. I snuck into a corner next to her house, and suddenly there was someone else there with me, who was apparently my friend. He was doing the sneaking, watching her playing recreational games with her family, and I was sitting down, listening to his commentary. At one point, I asked her "Does she look happy?" I don't remember his answer.
But as time elapsed, the crowd seemed to get larger. More and more people began to appear, all of whom seemed to be my friends, some of whom were even standing on the lot that belonged to her house, behind the fence but not very well-hidden, it seemed. The corner where I was got filled up; at the end of the corner was the only person I could recognize upon waking up; my dad. (None of these other "friends" of mine seemed familiar, from university, college or high school) None of these friends seemed particularly interested in the fact that I seemed to be dating (and creepily stalking, now that I think about it) a married woman. They all seemed to be, and this was an expression that came to me while still in the dream, horndogs. They commented on how hot she was, in different ways. I think some of them were actually panting.
At some point, her husband found out, as evidenced by a big fight the two of them had outside their house, in full view of me and everyone else. My dad also was strongly disapproving of my actions; I knew this even though I didn't recall actually discussing it all explicitly. Also at some point, her dad made an appearance, and he was a religious freak. He stormed past me on his way out (although not on his way in), and I thought he was heading for me for a while. I tried to weasel out of the whole thing at one point by leaving, but was stopped by my father, who said that I started it and I should at least see its conclusion. Her mother approached me at one point, as if to say something, then abruptly stopped short while walking, gave me a look and turned away...
..and that's when I woke up. I'm not sure what any of it means, or even whether it's significant or not. Anyone want to venture a guess?

P.S: I'm seeing via blogs that another friend of mine also had a weird dream last night. Was it the moon phase that was causing it?

2007-02-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

No woman, no cry;
No woman, no cry;
No woman, no cry;
No woman, no cry.

Said - said - said: I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown,
Oba - obaserving the 'ypocrites
As they would mingle with the good people we meet.
Good friends we have, oh, good friends we've lost
Along the way.
In this great future, you can't forget your past;
So dry your tears, I seh.

No woman, no cry;
No woman, no cry.
'Ere, little darlin', don't shed no tears:
No woman, no cry.

Said - said - said: I remember when-a we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown.
And then Georgie would make the fire lights,
As it was logwood burnin' through the nights.
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge,
Of which I'll share with you;
My feet is my only carriage,
So I've got to push on through.
But while I'm gone, I mean:
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right!
I said, everything's gonna be all right-a!
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right, now!
Everything's gonna be all right!

So, woman, no cry;
No - no, woman - woman, no cry.
Woman, little sister, don't shed no tears;
No woman, no cry.

I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown.
And then Georgie would make the fire lights,
As it was logwood burnin' through the nights.
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge,
Of which I'll share with you;
My feet is my only carriage,
So I've got to push on through.
But while I'm gone:

No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.
Woman, little darlin', say don't shed no tears;
No, woman, no cry.

Eh! (Little darlin', don't shed no tears!
No, woman, no cry.
Little sister, don't shed no tears!
No, woman, no cry.)
I said it won't be too long whether I'm right or wrong.

- No Woman, No Cry by Bob Marley

Give fate a chance

2007-01-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah, you're just the same the likes of you,
Oh I've set it off again now,
Maybe my mistake for judging you,
Maybe now I'll say I'm wrong

- Sorry Again, Tomi Swick

I wonder sometimes about the concept of fate. I've seen quite a few examples of it myself to not dismiss it completely, but what exactly is the reasoning behind it? I encountered it again over hte last week. On Thursday, we saw bits and pieces of North Country in our Law class, enough to get me intrigued to see the whole thing. (Looking up the bio, I noticed it was largely passed up by award shows, and if Hotel Rwanda is any indication, the losing films are usually better than the winning ones. Which, by the way, if you think Million Dollar Baby was the better movie, please share why)
But I digress. I saw parts of North Country in my law class on Thursday. On friday, I got word from my library that a hold request I had put in had arrived. Now, this arrived at the location close to my house, where I had routed all the hold requests I put during the christmas break. I have since routed all holds to a location closer to Humber that falls on my route. So anyway, this hold comes into my old location. I dropped by there today to pick up my hold and as I'm on my way out (it was Wham Bam Thank you Ma'am; it had to be, I was timing it to catch a bus) when I see one DVD on display near the exit. Guess which one it is? Yep. North Country.
Now I know the argument against fate is that it is nothing more than a series of coincidences, but I have trouble swallowing that concept. I don't believe it's God's hand guiding our life either (God wants me to see North Country? Really? That is the high-priority item on his agenda right now?) but I do think there is some science behind fate. It may be an obscure calculus formula that no human will be able to truly comprehend, but it's there. Like I say, science is perfect; it's our understanding of science that's lacking. I think fate falls in the category of unknown science. There's a series of books by Isaac Asimov, called the Foundation series, where a scientist named Hari Seldon develops a formula that accurately predicts civilization's actions for a great number of years, including otherwise unforseen calamities and windfalls and the like (excellent series, by the way, but it is Asimov, so you expect no less). I think there is, in real life, a similar formula that can predict an individual's actions. I wonder if we'll ever crack it. It's obviously a secondary priority to, you know, curing cancer and showing people Britney Spears' crotch (I'm not sure which one of those is higher priority, though) but it'll be interesting to see if anyone ever cracks that code. Of course, the science vs. religion debate that'll spout over that is something I'm equally not looking forward to.
And there goes the fat lady, so that's all for tonight.

Things you hate about me

2007-01-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

List them out; I want to hear about them. Be honest; you don't need to shoot my kneecap, but don't pull punches either.
Why this kind of note? Just cause. No real reason.
If I don't get too many responses, I'll start tagging people. So get to it :P

I'm too old, err, 'mature' to think up a name for this post

2007-01-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game to
find a way to say that life has just begun

- Stop this Train, John Mayer

I'm getting old, although I prefer to think of it as getting 'mature'. I suppose it's a good thing, as it shows character development and all those other things that platitudes are made of. At the very least, it gave me a chance to make this list, as milestones of a sort that signified that I was getting old. Excuse me, 'mature' :P
So how do you know you're getting old? Here may be some indicators
- U start 2 find ppl hu talk lyke dis all teh time annoyin n jus want to punch dem
- The women you know, when talking about their babies, are referring to their actual progeny and not their boyfriend du jour (this is actually something; I don't think any of my male friends have children. Hmmm)
- You find yourself actually watching Award-winning shows and movies, and finding out what a scam said award shows really are
- You want to go back in time and strangle your old self for your previously horrible taste in music. (That, and you actually remember what CDs are)
- You can recognize historical events they mention on TV because you remember hearing about them when they happened e.g. watching Roger Federer play before he used to massacre every male tennis player to play against him
- You start lists like this with a load of points, only to forget half of them halfway through
- Reading this list sounds more attractive than whatever you're currently doing (As a child, very few things aren't enjoyable. Of course, this may just be because kids always get their way)

On the flip side, if I'm 'maturing', how far away can gray hair and menopause be? Well, I already have gray hair, so I'm just waiting for the menopause at this point. The horror, the horror...
(Yet another sign you're getting old; you quote Marlon Brando instead of 50 cent)
Any other points to add to this? (yet another sign you're getting 'mature'; you begin to actually listen to opposing opinions and thus lose any chance you ever had of getting into politics) Do tell if there are. After all, these milestones must be recognized; whether they are greeted with cake or a pitchfork upon recognition is another matter entirely. (Yet another sign of 'maturity'; you actually recognize the bad jokes you make and continue to make them anyway)

Untitled Story Chapter 3

2007-01-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

"So you're Eddie Martelli?" Martin said, disbelief still plain in his voice. The suited man across the room nodded.
"THE Eddie Martelli?" Another nod
Martin looked over at Lana. She shrugged. "I didn't let them in. I walked into the living room and here they were. They haven't touched anything," she added, "and Joseph's still sleeping."
"How'd you find out about me?" Martin asked, his brow furrowing, carelessly playing with the gun.
"Lewis here," Eddie motioned towards the man sitting on the couch, "took your snapshot the day you saved my daughter. He was very impressed with your prowess and sheer courage.
We know all about you, Martin," he continued, "we know you work as a TTC bus driver. We know you moved out of your parent's house after you graduated high school, forfeiting postsecondary education even though you had scholarships. We know you took in Svetlana when she was pregnant with Joseph, even though you're not the real father. We even know little Joseph is named after Stalin."
Martin shot a quizzical look at Lana at this last statement. She shrugged "He guessed it. I just confirmed."
Martin turned back to Eddie, continuing to play carelessly with the gun. "That's all well and good, but none of it explains why you chose to break into my apartment to talk to me. Seems a little extreme just to thank me for saving your daughter's life, doesn't it?"
Eddie laughed. "A flair for the dramatic is a useful asset in my line of work, Mr. Martin. But you're right, that wasn't the sole reason Lewis and I decided to visit you. Like I said," he continued, "Lewis was impressed by your prowess and sheer courage. And he's not a man who gets impressed easily. I, however, was more impressed with your ability to track and photograph a man who had been able to successfully elude even the federal authorities." Eddie shook the day-old newspaper he was holding in his hand. Splashed across the front was one of the pictures Martin had taken two nights ago in the alley. "You've done something quite extraordinary here."
"Can't be all that extraordinary," Martin responded, "if you were able to duplicate that with me."
"Ah yes, but I'm one of the most powerful figures in the North American underworld, with infinite resources at my disposal. You're a measly bus driver. There's a slight difference between us."
"What are you driving at?"
"Mr. Martin," Eddie leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, "how would you like to work for us?"

P.S: Let me know what y'all think of the new layout

The understanding of sorrow

2007-01-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

It's not a silly little moment
It's not the calm before the storm
This is the deep and dying breath of
this love that we've been working on

- Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, John Mayer

So I watched The Pursuit of Happyness over the break (excellent movie, by the way, one of the rare ones that leave you thinking without showing you something you hadn't seen or considered seriously before). Something's been nagging at me ever since. Now, we say that happiness is relative; but is it the same case for sadness? They showed Chris Gardner going through some pretty brutal times (I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but very few people I know have had to suffer that badly. Some people I know have had to suffer even worse, but that's another story). The question is, if you've never been in that situation yourself, can you really feel his pain? Or would you equate it to something more benign that would probably be extreme to you? I think this is what people tend to do. For example, consider the following scenario; there's a person A, to whom the worst thing that's ever happened is a broken nail. There's also a person B, who lost both his parents before he was 10 years old. Now, if person A heard person B's story, he'd say "I know how that feels; I broke a nail once" So, does that mean that person A can never trult understand person B? Or does it mean that just because the measurements are different, it doesn't mean the scope is?
I suppose this comes down to how emotion works. Does limited experience with sorrow lead to a limited capability of understanding sorrow? We do make leniencies for happiness and joy, after all. If a person derives joy solely from playing music, we don't say she can't understand the level of joy of solving a complex calculus problem on your own. If a person derives joy from understanding chemical reactions, we don't say she is unable to comprehend the level of joy of listening to Pavarotti in peak form. We say they understand joy in different manners, but don't question the range of their joy. So perhaps sorrow works in the same way? Can the level of sorrow felt at failing a course be equal to losing a child? Or is the world doomed to a permanent disconnect because people fail to really grasp what others are going through because they've never gone through it themselves? I fear if it's the latter, because people's experiences are drifting farther and farther apart. So I do hope it's the former. But I wonder...which one is it? And why?

Untitled Story; Chapter 2

2007-01-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

You'll notice that I've removed the title of the story. That's because I had one idea of where the story would go; the story itself, however, had another idea, and wrenched the steerign wheel away from my grip. So I'm going to refrain from naming it until I have an appropriate title for the story. I have another idea now of where it's heading, but it's just as likely to change. Enjoy!

Creeping carefully along the wall, Martin silently cursed himself for not dry-running through his plan at least once. Martin kept a close eye on his target, knowing that he was too busy watching the couple to notice Martin. As the glow from the exit lamp finally hit his face, Martin reached the garbage can he had kept. With his force, he kicked over the can, causing a loud clatter that was like a sonic boom on the quiet road.
After that, everything happened instinctively. The couple and Martin's opponent both turned towards the noise, Martin's opponent caught in the full glare of the light. Martin raised the camera in his left hand and pushed down hard on the shoot button, hoping that keeping it depressed will lead to atleast one good shot. His right hand, the one with the gun, came up at the same time as his opponent's; somehow, Martin got off the first shot, ricocheting it off the wall behind his opponent. As he started shooting back, Martin--still keeping the shoot button firmly pressed--dived behind the garbage can and continued to fire. The couple, initally paralyzed, finally snapped out of it and made a break for their car, their heels making an odd musical accompaniment to the gunfight. Seeing his targets running--Martin made sure to provide an adequate screen so he couldn't run after them--their would-be attacker made a break for it himself in the opposite direction. Martin fired after him, but continued to shoot away, so as not to injure his opponent. After all, he wanted the police to bust him in good health, so he would have no viable defense at the trial. After Martin was convinced his oppenent had fled, Martin got up, dusted his jacket off and proceeded to walk towards the nearest bus stop and get home, so he could upload the first facial pictures anyone had gotten of Toronto's serial killer onto his computer and send them to the newspaper outlets.
Unknown to Martin, someone had witnessed the entire proceedings from another shadow, up until the couple had driven away, at which point he drove away with them. But not until Martin had had his own picture snapped.

End of 2006

2006-12-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

So here's how I end 2006.

Lasts:

Last book read: Completely, it was Trojan Odyssey by Clive Cussler. I'm halfway through The Stand by Stephen King

Last movie watched: English was The Day After Tomorrow. Hindi was Main Hoon Na.

Last song heard: Amsterdam by Coldplay (awesome song, btw)

Last place visited: Price Chopper, for shopping; recreationally, the Mandarin at Yonge & Eglinton for the festivus dinner

Last website visited: Facebook (is anyone really surprised at this? :P)

Favorites:

Favorite movie: English, American Beauty; Hindi, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara

Favorite book: This is a tough one. I like each book differently, so I'll give this one a pass

Favorite author: Stephen King. The man knows how to write a good book.

Favorite TV show: Lost. A very close 2nd, close enough to warrant mention, is 24.

Favorite vacation spot: A small town called Puri, on the eastern coast of India. The breeze that comes off the sea is heavenly, and more potent than any sleeping pill ever invented.

Favorite part of 2006: That's tough too. From the CUSG tournament at the beginning of the year to the unexpectedly good marks at the end, the year had quite a few highs. I'll take a pass on this one too.

Favorite Quote: "There is nothing like the sight of an amputated spirit; there is no prosthetic for that" Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman

The Rest:

Overall opinion on 2006: Can't complain. There were some changes, but change is good.

What would make 2007 better?: World peace (I hope all the people who have seen Miss Congeniality get this joke) In all seriousness, though, if things keep going the way they are, that'll be just fine by me. For others, I hope you all receive the strength to fight whatever troubles may come your way, and the wisdom to use that strength wisely.

Ideal job: Gold digger :P

Best news of 2006: Youtube being sold for $1.65 Billion (US?). I did the math, and it came out to 875 million for each of the two people on the youtube end. It proved that a good education is the best lottery ticket

That covers everything, I suppose. If I think of anything else, I'll edit this blog and add them.

Happy New Year, everyone! I'll see you on the other side.

Apocalypse Now

2006-12-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

I'm currently in the process of reading The Stand and watching The Day After Tomorrow. Both deal with apocalyptic visions that pretty much wipe out mankind (you'll have to read and watch these two to find out how). If you're a naturally happy and perky person, this double dose may not be your thing. But if you're sort of dark and twisted inside, this combination is pretty entertaining and worth a try.
That is all.

Toronto

2006-12-28T10:48:00.000-08:00

I live my life in the city
There's no easy way out
The day's moving just too fast for me
I need some time in the sunshine
I've gotta slow it right down
The day's moving just too fast for me

- Rock 'n' Roll Star, Oasis

Before I start, I forgot to put in one resolution in my list, so I'm putting it here.
My newly added resolution

To stay single, atleast upto Valentine's Day

Moving along; have I ever mentioned how awesome public transit is? When I go to work on the weekend, I travel about two hours on a combination of TTC and Mississauga Transit. Now, in terms of strusture, timing etc, these facilities could do with some work, most notably the Toronto Transit Crap (I dont; find Mississauga Transit all that aggravating, despite everything). Rather, public transit is awesome because it provides a real study of the human psyche. Everyone takes public transit, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, or intelligence. And as an interested observer, it provides a lot of interesting stories. Like this one

Two girls are sitting on the bus. One girl is showing off her phone to another.
Girl 1: This phone cost me 4 bills, yo
Me (thinking): 4 bills? Is that 4 dollars? No, those aren't bills. 20 Dollars? 400 Dollars? I think that's it
Girl 2: Yo, you paid 400 times what that phone's worth, yo, cause that phone is worth zero dollars
Me (thinking): You gotta be kidding me. Seriously. You can't be serious.
Girl 1: Isn't it 400 times 1?
Girl 2: It's not 400 times 0? I'm pretty sure 400 times 0 is 400
Me (thinking): Ah hell.
Girl 1 throws random insult at Girl 2's phone as I bang my head on the pole over the sad state of elementary math education in Canada
Girl 2: That's right, my phone is free cause it's priceless, yo! It's pp. Priceless, yo, it's pp, priceless.
Me (thinking): I'm going to tune out of this conversation now before they say something stupid science-related and my brain explodes

Of course, the flipside is that you sometimes end up standing on a crowded bus next to a pissed-off pixie arguing with her boyfriend on the phone, like I was another day. My bus trip was about 20 minutes; she was on the phone with her boyfriend before the bus arrived, was on the phone during the entire trip, and continued to be on the phone as I got off. The gist of her argument? Why her boyfriend couldn't spare two minutes to talk to her.
Aaaaand that's all I can come up with for now. Enjoy!

Untitled Story; Chapter 1

2006-12-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

His luck was not the best today; in order to keep an eye on the building's exit, he had to face the bitter arctic wind head-on. Martin stamped his feet and pulled on the cigareete in a futile attempt to draw some warmth. The long puff sent him into a coughing fit, and he collapsed on the wall, thumping his chest to get the smoke out. He looked around furtively to see if anyone had spotted him, but didn't notice any movement.
Maybe he's become overconfident, Martin thought. He pushed the idea away, knowing that it was dangerous to overestimate your enemy. If there was one thing this guy didn't need any more of, it was breaks. Martin dropped his cigarette and stamped it out, not wanting to risk another coughing fit. He picked up the burnt stub and pocketed it. As he did so, the door opened and a girl stepped out.
Martin froze, then straightened up. He shot a glance at the shadows opposite, not seeing any movement. Did he slip away? Has he seen me? Did he change his vantage point? Martin's mind spun possibilities, yet somehow his instinct told him the truth; Martin's coughing fit, while not giving him away, had worked against Martin. He was being more aware of his surroundings, and was letting the girl go to ensure the area was secure.
An hour passed in near-agony as Martin barely moved from his position; finally, the exit opened again. Thsi time a couple stepped out, both more than a little drunk. As they weaved towards their car, Martin saw a shadow unfurl itself and begin to move. He pushed off from the wall, his muscles silently protesting the sudden movement, and pulled out his camera and gun.
He silently let his breath out and took a careful step forward, knowing that the next mistake he makes may very well be his last.
---
Yep, I'm starting a new story; let me know what you think.

Of resolutions and umbrellas

2006-12-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

The shackles are undone
The bullets quit the gun
The heat that’s in the sun
Will keep us when there’s none
The rule has been disproved
The stone it has been moved
The grave is now a groove
All debts are removed

- Window in the Skies, U2

Stick a fork in me...I'm a pineapple!! Hehe...although I do think pineapples are underrated. They add just the right amount of sweet to any meal.
So New Year's is coming soon, which means resolutions. I usually don't make resolutions; however, this year I've decided to give it a try. Without further ado, here's my list of new year's resolutions

I resolve to eat whatever looks tasty and exercise just enough to not get a heart attack within the next year
I resolve to continue being a pervert and thinking (and saying) dirty thoughts at inopportune times
I resolve to continue watching an unhealthy amount of Tv, and maybe picking up some new shows along the way (I'm contemplating picking up on Battlestar Galactica, as it comes highly recommended)
And lastly, I resolve to keep all my resolutions

So now I have an excuse to stuff my face and watch TV all day. Hey, this resolution stuff is fun!
Moving onto other matters...in my next blog. This one is already 3 days overdue, and I have been threatened to be beaten with a broken umbrella. It's not the beating that scares me, but rather the thought of seeign a broken umbrella. The horror, the Horror.

A note of thanks

2006-11-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

To all those that read my blog, and especially to those who comment on it. (Hello Dan, Hello Vic, Hello Stephen...even though I haven't seen you around here in a while. Not interesting enough for ya? :P ) I know I don't acknowledge you all, but your continued support of my verbal diarrhea is much appreciated.
Thanks.

P.S: Those of you who read without commenting, feel free to make the transition. I won't stalk you...well, I might. But I probably already do anyways, so don't let that stop you.

2006-11-12T18:57:00.001-08:00

When your day is long
and the night,
the night is yours alone,
when you're sure you've had enough
of this life, well hang on.
Don't let yourself go,
'cause everybody cries
and everybody hurts
sometimes.

Sometimes everything is wrong.
Now it's time to sing along--
When your day is night alone, hold on
if you feel like letting go,
if you think you've had too much
of this life, well hang on.

‘cause everybody hurts.
Take comfort in your friends.
Everybody hurts.

Don't throw your hand. Oh, no.
Don't throw your hand.
If you feel like you're alone,
no, no, no, you are not alone

If you're on your own
in this life,
the days and nights are long,
when you think you've had too much
of this life to hang on.
Well, everybody hurts--
sometimes--
everybody cries.
everybody hurts, sometimes.
everybody hurts, sometimes.
So, hold on, hold on.

- Everybody Hurts, REM

Mysterious Ways

2006-11-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

The night is full of holes
As bullets rip the sky
Of ink with gold
They twinkle as the
Boys play rock and roll
They know they can’t dance
At least they know

- Vertigo, U2

Yes, the lyrics chosen today are reflective of my biome name. Let's put that to rest right away.
Apparently, in 2004, 1 in 7 postsecondary students in Canada dropped out. It's not an alarming statistic, but it is worrisome, especially as jobs and employers are looking for more education, not less. Add in the number of people who don't go on to post-secondary education, and those who drop out of high school, and you've got yourself quite a crowd. The question is, are job opportunities going to change to reflect this? Or is this the norm, rather than a trend? Only time will tell.
I was reading a (rare) negative review of Borat's new movie recently, and one point the critic made was that making fun of jews was not right, even though Sasha Baron Cohen, who plays borat, is himself jewish. This struck me as odd, because if Cohen makes fun of jewish people, isn't he effectively making fun of himself? And if he can successfully laugh at himself, shouldn't he be able to do that? In fact, isn't that a good thing? I fail to understand the logic of these types of people sometimes. These are very sensitive topics, so let's be straight-laced and anal about them so they take on almost mythical taboo-like proportions instead of breaking them down and blunting the insults with humor, because that's never a good thing. So what about comics who make fun of their family? (Chris Rock comes to mind) Is that also off-limits?
To be continued...or to be discarded in favor of another topic. What will it be? Tune in to find out. DUN DUN DUN

2006-10-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

A drowning sorrow floods the deepest grief
How long now
Until a weather change condemns belief
How long now
When the night watchman is in the fleet
What's wrong now?

- The Saints are Coming, The Skids
resung by U2 and Green Day

I was on the subway today, coming home from work, and there was this couple in the same carriage as me, standing and essentially making out. Both were good-looking, and within each others leagues, plus or minus. The odd thing about them (not the making out; if you haven't seen people make out on the TTC, you've never been on the TTC) was the guy; as he's feeling the girl up and she's swallowing his neck, he was looking around, seeing if anyone else was watching them. It's like he wanted desperately to brag "Look at me, I got a hot girlfriend and you don't, so take that, bitches!" and, in absence of doing that, was hoping people were getting jealous. I'm not sure if that was his motivation for getting together with the girl in the first place; to get attention. Sure looked that way. Also looked like it failed miserably. I saw another, similar, couple at Square One, yesterday while comign home from work, a hot asian girl sucking face with a pimply asian geek. When not snogging (and man, were they going at it. You'd think the girl's biological clock was down to its final minutes) the guy was similarly looking around, seeing if anyone is noticing him with this girl who would normally be above his league. I hope he knows the only reason he scored her is cause of asian incest, and not any other reason, otherwise he's in for a world of emotional pain. And because he was hoping people would notice, I'll stand and laugh at him instead of feeling sorry when he does go down that road. Becasue I'm mean like that *pops Vicodin pill*
Another disturbing thing I see on the TTC; every Friday, I take the train south from Finch instead of up from Yonge as I do on Sat and Sun. And at Sheppard-Yonge, I encounter a group of private school kids who load onto the train. It's a funny thing about this group; they're about 80% white and 20% asian. When they get onto the train, all the white kids go to one side of the carriage, where they talk obnoxiously loud about how Jake's like, so embarrassing and Kathy's like, totally different now, while the asian kids go to the other side, where they sit, silently, with this haughty "I'm too good for the likes of you" expression on their faces (If you've never seen this look before, think Blue Steel done by someone in all seriousness. If you don't know Blue Steel, google it up or think Zoolander) What disturbs me about this social arrangement is how, without fail, this segregation occurs. The whites and asians don't even mistakenly acknowledge each others' presence. I would say it's not natural, but this is the way it has been for years and years. But our generation was supposed to change that, yet every friday I see proof that it's not happening. It's not like these kids are willfully racist, as they don't have a problem sitting next to any other person on the bus. They seem to be more subconsciously racist, which is even more dangerous. And the parents of these kids, whites and asians alike? What exactly is their motivation for sending their children to a school like this? I know what it is; this is exactly what they're aiming for. I hope I'm wrong. I really, really hope I'm wrong.
And now onto things I don't see on my commute. First up, Christopher Reeve. It's really sad that Reeve is dead, because now that the stem cell debate has been blown open all over again, his presence is really being missed. Michael J. Fox is good, but Reeve was Reeve. And Reeve and Fox together was the best combo fighting for stem cell research in a while.
I wonder when they'll make a biopic about Christopher Reeve (with the stuff they churn out these days, and with biopics winning big at the Oscars, it's pretty much a guarantee at this point) and who they'd cast in the role. Maybe Ben Affleck again? Who knows.
Speaking of movies, the apartheid drama Catch a Fire opened recently. It's funny, people have almost forgotten about apartheid, yet still remember Nazism. At its core, both followed the same principles. So what makes one so much more atrocious than the other? The number of people? Do you mean to tell me that just because x people are persecuted in one system and x+2 people are persecuted in another, that system 2 becomes more horrendous and system 1 not so much? Why did apartheid exist in the first place; isn't that the kind of thing the UN was set up to stop? Well, the UN has become a running joke now, and will continue to be as long as names like Ban Ki-Moon and Louise Arbour are bandied about as Secretary General instead of names like Nelson Mandela or Romeo Dallaire.And if the private school children on the subway are any indication, that change is still a long way away.
Hell of a long and somewhat depressing blog. Hope this makes up for the months of inactivity.

Halloween

2006-10-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Can someone please fill me in on what's the protocol for Halloween? What if you're cheap and don't want to give candies to annoying little kids? If canides are the treat, what the hell is the trick? It's the first time I'll be facing Halloween from a house; ny advice and/or suggestions are appreciated and will be rewarded with a Thank You.
So, someone? Anyone?

Elevation

2006-10-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Let him know that you know best

Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Give him a list of what is wrong
Things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you

- How to save a Life, The Fray

Friday are when my Humber midterm marks officially get submitted. I have a rough idea of how things will look, and so far, so good. Let's just hope I can keep it up, knock on stainless steel. Why stainless steel? Get with the times, people :P
Speaking of getting with the times, I find the recent uproar in the Canadian press over Peter McKay supposedly referring to Belinda Stronach as a 'dog' in parliament. Putting aside the argument of whether or not this actually happened--I'm pretty sure most of the people on all parties were asleep at the time; there is a reason CPAC is not a very popular channel, you know--the attention given to it is rather ridiculous. A bitter ex? Now I've seen everything! What's next, cop eating a donut? And somehow, the opposition has managed to spin this into an attack on all women, as if Belinda Stronach is somehow representative of the average Canadian woman. Because, you know, the average Canadian woman is the daughter of a multimillionaire entrepreneur with blonde hair who has affairs with popular married hockey players. I walk down my street, I see ten of them. The most absurd part of all this? That this is the most important issue in canadian news right now. Seriously. This is important? Is there no real pressing issue for these elected government officials to handle? Is everything in the country in tip-top shape? Okay, then. Let's work on stuff that actually affects people then, eh?
More later. I'm suffering from a combiantion of writer's block (blogger's block? Blogblock? Blogck?) and lack of time. Enjoy!

The Truth

2006-10-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

So, having satisfied myself that people care about the things I do, I have decided the time is ripe to update all y'all on what I'm upto these days.
For starters, I'm not at U of T anymore, at least for now. Why? Well, because my marks, while satisfactory, are not quite where I would like them to be. The straw that essentially broke the camel's back was my bio250 summer mark. I got a 70, which was a fairly decent mark and above the class average; however, all things considered, it was a dissapointment. It was the only course I was working on, I wasn't employed, a lot of people I knew had already taken the course and were helping me out, Prof. French and my TA were both helpful; all things considered, a 4.0 in that course was quite attainable.
Typing it out, it sounds awfully like a quarter-life crisis, and perhaps it is; after all, it was triggered by questioning where I'm going to be in a few years. It's kind of difficult to explain it out, but I'm pretty sure you all have an inkling of what I'm talking about. And if you don't don't worry; you will someday.
So what am I doing now? College, namely Humber college. Two reasons for that; college is cheaper, way cheaper, and Humber is close to my new home (more on that in a minute). I'm exploring one of the other two career choices I had in mind two years ago, business. So far, it's been good. No ROSI, and that's never a bad thing. No Biome equivalent here, though. Speaking of which, I didn't register on biome because I didn't pay fees to U of T this year and I feel that I haven't quite paid my dues enough to use biome for free, the way U of T alumni have.
So, yeah, new home; I am now officially a resident of Mississauga. Let the exodus out of here begin! :P I'm about 15 minutes away from Square One by bus. It's a sweet location, with a Price Chopper about a stone's throw away and Heartland within walking distance.
So, yeah. That's what I've been upto the last month or so. Any questions?

Major revelation coming soon

2006-09-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Haven't updated for a long time, and there's a reason for that.
Major revelation coming soon. Stay tuned.
Want a hint? It's related to my lack of presence on biome and around campus.

That time of year again

2006-08-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

Good luck to me and everyone else writing exams this week. An additional helping of luck to those facing the dreaded MCAT next Saturday.
I'll see everyone on the other side.

Playboy

2006-07-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Your skin,
oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful

- Yellow, Coldplay

I was watching a Coldplay concert yesterday (small venue in which the band was quite interactive with the audience; looked quite fun) in which Chris Martin was saying that the inspiration for the title of "Yellow" was the yellow pages, because while writing the song, he looked up and it was the first book he saw. And then he said "In an alternate Universe, this song would be called Playboy" Hence the title of this blog.
In other news; John Irving, a noted American author, said in an interview that he is saving Dickens' famous novel, Our Mutual Friend, as the last thing he reads before he dies. (Fans of Lost will recognize Desmond as having the same intention with the same book; Lost's writers have credited Irving with the idea) This idea has intrigued me; it would make for something to look forward to when you die, perhaps dulling the pain if it is a long and/or painful one. At any rate, it would be interesting to see if this is a viable idea; after all, rarely is one sure when they're going to die. And if you died without reading the book you planned to read, that would, I assume, make you quite a restless spirit. Also, if the book was sub-par, you'd die dissapointed and/or pissed. But the notion is original, nonetheless.
Moving along; I recently discovered that Rogers had bumped the Golf Channel in favor of MTV. Seeing as how MuchMusic has been sub-par, I decided to give MTV a try. Oddly enough, however, in roughly a week of watching it, I have yet to see MTV playing a single music video. For a TV station whose full name is Music TeleVision, they seem to find a remarkable plethora of talk shows, gossip shows and reality shows to play in place of music. One program in particular stood out to me; it seemed to be a program where mothers spent time with a guy, and the guy would assess, from the mother, whether he'd want to date her daughter or not. Putting aside the diluted arranged marriage that this essentially is, and the glorified pimping that it seems to be as well, the daughters are all hot. Not beautiful, but hot. (The difference being beautiful women are romanced over a period of time, and hot women are one-night stand-worthy) I find it nearly impossible to believe that these so-called daughters would be unable to get a date just by going clubbing any given night. Of course, this was my opinion on watching the program in mute. Upon turning the sound on, I discovered that the women--3 mothers and 3 daughters--had a combined IQ of 3.14 and an intelligence level of preschool, maybe less. The moral of the story? Women are always better on mute :P
Well, that ends my ramblings for today. Tune in later for more (or maybe I'll go for a serious post again; who knows? Tune in to find out :P )

K'Naan

2006-07-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/knaan.html

Intelligent piece in CBC on a bright young rapper from Toronto who has smart lyrics and down-to-Earth beats. Defintiely an artist worth checking out.
For some of his full-length songs

http://www.myspace.com/knaanmusic

Perspective

2006-07-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Dialogue from LOST; Season 2, Episode 3, titled Orientation

---

FRANCINE: My mother stole again from me this week. I don't even keep money in my purse anymore. I've been hiding it. But when she wants a drink -- she stole 30 dollars. I know it may not seem like a lot of money to some of you, but it's a lot to me. And I want it back.

[Locke sort of chuckles.]

MODERATOR: Something you want to say? [Locke gestures to indicate no.] John, you've been coming here for a month now...

LOCKE: I just don't think 30 dollars is worth getting angry about.

MODERATOR: Well, Francine feels like 30 dollars...

LOCKE: Francine feels a little too much, if you ask me. You all do. I mean, seriously -- so-and-so never called me back -- my mother stole 30 dollars from me. I never even knew who my parents were. A couple of years ago my birth mother found me, and uh, she told me I was special. And through her I met my real father. Great news, right? Well, he pretended to love me just long enough to steal my kidney because he had to have a transplant. And then he dropped me back in the world like a piece of trash -- just like he did on the day that I was born. You want your damned 30 dollars back? I want my kidney back!

---

Thanks to www.lost-tv.com for the transcript

Yippie-ki-yay, mother...lover

2006-07-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them.

- Bill Maher

Well, this post is dedicated to the Rammer, because she dedicated one to me, although I guess that means I'll have to dedicate one to you too, cuz. Next one, maybe. Maybe :P

The headbutt has become my new most favorite method of resolving issues, courtesy Zidane. I did feel sorry for him, as it was his last game, and that was a crappy way for him to go. In fact, almost all the players who retired at this world cup went out badly; Raul went out against France in a game that everyone expected Spain to win, and nobody realized until the next day that it was actually Raul's last match. Beckham went out with an injured knee, and Ronaldo had just one game with flashes of his old self. Figo and Kahn both went out gracefully, if nto heroically, but that's about it. However, seeing the next crop of "stars"; Wayne "I'm a sodding football God, even though I've done nothing to prove it" Rooney and Christiano "I was unable to make the Olympic diving team, so I practice on the football pitch instead" Ronaldo, makes me hope that some of these players decide to come back for one last hurrah. Lionel Messi from Argentina was the only one who lived somewhat up to the hype. Even Ronaldinho dissapointed.
In other news, I recently saw The Believer. It's an indie flick, starring Ryan Gosling, about a Jewish Neo-Nazi. The premise was interesting, but the ending was a bit of a cop-out in my opinion. I'm currently watching The Motorcycle Diaries, a movie purportedly based on the memoirs of one Ernesto Guevera de la Serna, better known as the Cuban revolutionary/militant Che Guevera. The movie chronicles his pre-world changing life, or a part of it. As shocking as it may sound to those of you reading this blog, I have yet to watch Superman Returns. Circumstances don't look good for me to catch it in theatres, so I shall wait for it to come on DVD, secure in the knowledge that I could probably get it right now at Pacific Mall if I so desired.
What else? Well, class is going smoothly, as hoped. I always liked summer classes better than regular year ones, because of the more relaxed profs and TAs. Of course, the final will be a bitch and I'll be singing a different tune. But until then, I <3 summer courses. Which is just as well, considering my ROSI start time is a glorious 3:15 pm. But I've adjusted accordingly, and the inclusion of waitlists definitely can't hurt. People tend to complain a lot about ROSI, and justifiably so, but I find it almost entertaining trying to land a course; of course, as long as it doesn't threaten my degree in any way.
Well, that's all I can think of tonight. More to come* later at some point.

*Coming not guaranteed. If you have problems with coming, see your doctor. Side effects may include blindness, nausea, diarrhaea, death, paralysis, a hankering to see chick flicks if you're male, a hankering to see action flicks if you're female and so on.

Stereotyping 2: The sequel

2006-07-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty

- Mahatma Gandhi

Ethnocentrism is the idea of looking at every culture from the viewpoint that they are inferior to yours. Cultural relativism, on the other hand, is the idea that every culture should be viewed within its own context to be truly understood. These two are concepts I learned in ant100, but they are such fundamentally relevant ideas that I think they should be taught at an elementary level. For stereotypes are an exaggeration of ethnocentric viewpoints, so if children can be taught an alternative way of thinking at an early age, that may go a long way towards removing stereotypes.
It would be extremely difficult, however. Humans, as a whole, have divided themselves into meaningless cultures and sub-cultures; and each one perpetuates ethnocentrism; some, in fact survives on ethnocentrism. Take religion, for example; every major religion is split into tiny little factions that are all told they are the closest faction to God. The fact that the Vatican, a purely fundamentalist place that runs solely on Christianity, is an autonomous body is a testament to how far ethnocentrism can take an institution. And it is highly necessary for this ethnocentrism to survive, so that these institutions survive. The byproduct of stereotyping is, in all likelihood, considered more of a benefit.
The question is, would an attack on ethnocentrism be considered an attack on individuality and culture? Perhaps people consider stereotyping an essential ingredient, a necessary evil in maintaining diversity. People need to hate each other to a degree, among other things, otherwise we become a bland, uniform society, which is dangerous evolution-wise. But is this really true? And if it is, is this price worth paying?

Stereotypes

2006-06-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

The only remedies against race and prejudice are enlightenment and education. This is a slow and painstaking process

- Albert Einstein

The recent rumblings of Superman possibly being gay led me to think about streotyping. Stereotyping is, ironically, a bonding point among people, since stereotypes tend to be uniform among people. Men are expected to be manly and muscular, women are expected to be petite and airheaded. Gay men are expected to prance around in tights and tutus whenever they're in public, and lesbian women are expected to be, well, petite and airheaded, with the added bonus of bursting into spontaneous makeout sessions in the presence of men. Black men are expected to be either meek and obedient, or criminally bent, and black women are expected to be the black version of white trash. People of other skin colors; well, they're sorta expected not to exist at all. Women who play sports are called butch; men who cook are called fruity. Non-white people who like country music are deemed white-washed; white people who enjoy hip-hop are labeled wiggers. I could go on and on; after all, there is no shortage of stereotypes, and I've just listed the popular ones. We could give it cute names, such as racial profiling, and pretend it doesn't exist or it has been eradicated, but it still stays, maybe in our subconscious, maybe even closer. The real question, I suppose, is that every generation rejects all or most of the ideas that came from the previous one. Music tastes, fashion, attitudes, even political opinions change. What is it in stereotypes that keeps them enduring through generations?

I think one big thing that keeps stereotypes going is that, for a lot of them, people don't realize they are stereotyping. I had a friend of mine recently tell me, quite flippantly, that white boys only go for white girls and vice versa. Knowing both mixed couples and mixed children, this statement naturally struck me as odd and, upon further questioning, I discovered that this idea was one that she had no proof of, in fact admitting to not even knowing any white boys. While there could not be a more textbook example of stereotyping, she really didn't think of this line of thought as being odd, even going as far as to defend it. Now how do you go about convincing a person that this train of thought is not that far removed from the idea that people should know their places in society and not move above it? After all, is it much of a stretch to go from "people do certain things" to "people should do certain things"?
To be continued...

Good luck

2006-06-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

one more time around, to me and everyone else doing summer school.
Slightly late, but better late than never.

Musings

2006-06-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on Waiting
Waiting on the World to change

- Waiting on the world to change, John Mayer

The above lyrics are from the new single from John Mayer's next album, titled Continuum. Purely by fluke, I stumbled across this song. Just like Mayer's other stuff, this song is not Muchmusic or MTV-rated (due to it actually being a SONG, as opposed to...whatever it is Jessica Simpson and Chris Brown put out) so I'm not holding out hope of hearing this on TV or radio anytime soon. Long live the Internet.
Moving on, the shine has worn off of being 20. Although the benefit seems to be that an extra level of maturity doesn't seem to be expected from me as initial polls seemed to show. This could indicate that either people have given up on me ever possibly being mature, or people are wise enough to know that 20 is less of a milestone and more of a marker.
I have, however, taken the opportunity to look back at the boy I used to be. It stuns me, quite, the things I used to do and the ideas I used to believe in. I'm not entirely sure that, if I were to meet my old self, I'd recognize myself. Although I suppose that's a good thing; the real scare would be realizing that you're the exact same person you were 10 years ago. Change is good; and though I'm sure that one day, through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia, those days will seem spectacular, for now I am happy that I'm moving forward instead of backward. At the end of the day, I suppose that's all that matters.

Reflections on being a 20-year veteran of the ultimate game

2006-06-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

You know you're old when you begin to anticipate your birthdays with a sense of dread rather than joy. While I haven't approached that stage yet, still feeling a sense of glee this morning at realizing I survived 20 years, I felt oddly content with the lack of celebration this year. After all, my birthday, while no doubt a momentous occasion that was so energetically demanding that a shuttle had to blow up in the atmosphere and a nuclear reactor had to melt to make way for me on this planet, my birthday has already come 19 times and thus can't really be that unique. This is not to say that I won't welcome any celebrations that come my way; just that, for now, I consider studying for my upcoming bio lab a perfectly fine way to spend my birthday. Sheesh, I AM getting old. The day I really dread is when the number of candles needed to signify my age conquer my windpower at said age. (I am aware that windpower is not a real word; dont' get all english-y on me :P ) If my birthday has taught me one thing, though, it is that people who haven't talked to me in ages or ever will have something nice to say. And that makes it all worthwhile.

2006-06-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame?
You say one love, one life, when it's one need in the night.
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you baby if you don't care for it.

Did I disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love and you want me to go without.
Well, it's too late tonight to drag the past out into the light.
We're one, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other... one

Have you come here for forgiveness,
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much, more than a lot
You gave me nothing, now it's all I got.
We're one, but we're not the same.
Well, we hurt each other, then we do it again.

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law.
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt.

One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.
One life with each other: sisters, brothers.
One life, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other.
One, one.

- One, U2

The day after

2006-05-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

In a little while
I won't be blown by every breeze

- U2, In a Little While

Well, the TTC decided to go on strike yesterday to get a long weekend...I mean, fight for better working conditions. I never understand the reasoning behind a strike by government employees, be they TTC workers or public school teachers or any other public sector. It's like they're saying the government doesn't appreciate us, so let's punish the people who do. I had nowhere to go yesterday and that makes me a lucky minority. This is definitely not the way for them to go about gathering support; I just wish the employees would've understood that. But then again, that would entail them understanding that the union is playing them for fools. Obviously (and sadly), that's not happening anytime soon.
In other news, there's still a genocide going on in Sudan, but that's secondary news on that continent to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's superbaby, whose initial saliva is expected to cure cancer and whose first words are going to disprove Newton's second law of motion...wait, what? It's not actually expected to do any of those things? What? It's only going to look good? Is it a human being or a wax statue? Hmmm....it's funny how even the media can wear blinders every so often. Stuck in Namibia for four months awaiting the arrival of a baby, not one major (or minor) network finds the stamina to hop over to neighbouring South Africa and put together a major report on how that country is developing 16 years after Apartheid. Not ot mention the bounty on the baby's picture; $5 Million US. Really? Cause I've got some old baby pics of me that I'm willing to let you have for half a mil instead. I mean, honestly, it's a baby; to the best of my knowledge, all newborn babies look the same. I suppose the tabloids are expecting this one to look different, have extremely pouty lips perhaps. The real question is How on earth do they have $5 million US to spend on 1 baby picture? This is contrasted quite starkly by the fact that Pitt and Jolie asked for and willingly received complete privacy from the Namibian media; apparently they don't consider the baby that special.
Well, those are all the ramblings I have time to put onscreen today; more to come eventually sometime.

2006-05-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world ... mad world
Enlarging your world
Mad world

- Mad World, originally sung by Tears for Fears
covered by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews

Love Song for no one

2006-05-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err

- Mahatma Gandhi

The title of this blog, of course, is blatantly lifted from a John Mayer song (a very good one, more so in this day and age of Ashlee Simpson and Nick Lachey) For those who have yet to hear Mayer, he is an excellent guitarist, arguably the best among his generation of musicians.
Moving along, I ended exams on May 9th and began summer classes on May 16th, enjoying my 1 week of summer rather better than I expected. I made my first ever foray into Pacific Mall and was rather impressed, despite noticing that it was East Asian fob central. East Asian fobs are not aggressive fobs, unlike South Asian fobs, (who will act like fobs even if they're born here) South Asian fobs view any sort of attempt to enter their perceived domain as unwanted intrusion, amybe even for the purpose of invasion. Where they get this idea, I do not understand; thankfully, they don't act on it besides a few words here and there. Yet.
Of course, it may be possible that East Asian fobs also have this mentality, and that you must be East Asian to see it. But it didn't seem like it to me. And besides, a lot of non-East Asian people know of and regularly visit Pacific Mall; no South Asian store or mall has that level of popularity.
Well, back to my activities, summer school is not turning out too badly. I had my first bio250 lab on Tuesday, and our lab TA, much to my surprise, has a sense of humor. This was confirmed by the fact that I was about to draw water from his waer bottle, thinking it was ethanol, and he said "That would be kind of funny" I'll allow you a moment to let that sink in.
The class also seems fun; the one class I did attend (there were two, but I was sick for the first one) our professor spent the pre-class time talking to the students. So far, it has cracked up to be all I expected; the first test, however, will be the real barometer. Oh well, we shall see.
And that's all the time we have today, folks. Tune in...sometime in the future, same place, time unsure. Drive safe, Ladies and Gentlemen, and enjoy your long weekend.

Good Luck

2006-04-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

To me and to everyone about to write exams. Enjoy.

Jumping on the indie music bandwagon

2006-04-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.emimusic.ca/thelittlewillies/

Here's a group that HASN'T been played on the OC *shock* recorded in a home studio and have a touring schedule comprised of New York clubs, thus making them true indie, not indie as stamped by MTV and MuchMusic. Enjoy.

P.S: Bonus points for identifying the lead female singer

P.P.S: I realize the indie bandwagon is made up of fans of MTV-approved, OC-soundtrack bands I showed my love for, but I figure if I'm going to do something, might as well do it right.

2006-04-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

I am unwritten,
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your INHIBITIONS

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh, oh

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way

oh, oh

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your INHIBITIONS

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your INHIBITIONS

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
treat yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
the rest is still unwritten

- Unwritten, by Natasha Bedingfield

Pretty girls are impressed with big...umbrellas

2006-04-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

As was evidenced by me today on my way home from school. Making the short trek from the bus stop to my dwelling, I came upon two girls sharing a large umbrella themselves. This nonetheless did not stop them from twittering about the size of my umbrella, which led to banter amongst the three of us. It was rather sad that they were travelling in the opposite direction, for it made the encounter short-lived but nonetheless blog-worthy.
In other news, I have attended my last class this month. The next class day I'm staring down is May 15th, when I shall find myself back in the Earth Sciences auditorium attempting to conquer the seeming force of bio250. But before all that comes about, there are 3 exams to worry about. One, ant203, is already out of the way as of last night, (not a bad exam; more matching questions than I expected and would have liked, but otherwise nothing to lose sleep over) and I can't complain about the schedule handed to me, as I get at least 6 days between exams. The downside to this is that I only get 6 days of summer, which I'd say is a fair price to pay for a reduction of year-round stress.
And with that, I walk into the mouth of the tunnel that feeds on light, among other things; the tunnel that must be crossed bi-yearly, the tunnel known as exam time (Odd thing, that; meeting an old friend from York on the subway today, she was shocked to learn that my exam period hadn't even started, hers having comfortably been wrapped up already). I shall continue to update my blog during this time, so never fear! Unless you fear the prospect of me actually updating, in which case be afraid, I suppose, if that's what rocks your boat. No, wait, rocking boat=not good thing. Floats your boat, then. Rides your bike. Rocks your trailer. Plays your sax.And so on and so on...

For Audrey Hepburn was a woman not to be sexy, but to fall in love with.

2006-04-07T05:14:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4884428.stm

A BBC review on why Audrey Hepburn consistently tops 'Most Beautiful Woman' polls, it deserves a blog entry all on its own.

Are you like a crazy person?

2006-03-27T18:31:00.000-08:00

Remember, remember
The fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

-Evey Hammond, V for Vendetta

Well, quite by accident, I fell into the V for Vendetta bandwagon, having a length of 3 hours to spare and it being the only movie playing in that timeslot. I must say, the movie was indeed quite good, fleshing out the characters and story and portraying conflict in more than black and white terms, showing an officer caught in between the pursuit of truth and his loyalty to the government.
Quite a few parallels are drawn between the fictional English government in the movie and everyone's favorite Bush administration; hell, even what seems to be a representation of Bill Maher made it in. But what was also shown was the tricks with which "revolutionaries" manipulate their followers. V, the lead revolutionary, (Hugo Weaving) puts Evey, the protagonist, (Natalie Portman) through gruelling conditions, which he later justifies to her as helping her overcome her fear. And although they show him as a a true believer at the end, the ease with which he could have (some would say did) brainwashed Evey is clearly shown. Hopefully, people pick up on both sides of this story.
One thing about the movie was the treatment of the soldiers. Soldiers who just happen to be in V's way by order are cut down like flies. It made me think, what would be the real crime of these people? They are merely doing their job, perhaps forced into it by circumstances. Not everyone has the luxury of following their ideals; some people have obligations to fulfill, people depending on them, situations they must remedy. Is it fair to take these people down in a war?
And now onto the more superficial aspects of the movie :P. The acting was done really well, as was the directing. I heard some complaints of a lack of action, but there was a well-constucted conspiracy mystery for those who wished to overlook the political message. In my opinion, the surprise good performance came from Stephen Rea, the aforementioned officer caught between a rock and a hard place. He was quite good as a man just trying to do his job, but getting caught up in the politics of it all, someone who had no vested interest in tipping the instability either way. Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman, of course, were also quite good, Weaving acting without the benefit of facial expression, solely by voice and body language. Portman is developing into a next-generation leading actress, and there may be an Oscar down the line for her, definitely some nominations. Stephen Fry was also quite good in his brief time onscreen, a victim of circumstances who makes light of all situations because it's the only way he knows how to combat it.
One thing that stunned me about this movie near the beginning was Natalie Portman's clothes (What? I'm a guy, after all :P ) I am unfortunately unable to find any pictures to support my claim, but the first time they show her going in to work, she wears this shirt that's tight around her waist, tight enough to show strain on the buttons. The thought that ran through my mind was "She's skinny as a twig! How on Earth did they find a shirt that was too SMALL for her?" This thought still befuddles me. If anyone has the answer, please, I'd love to know.
Exam season is coming soon, which means I shall be updating on trivial matters once again. Therefore, until next time, Strength Through Unity, Unity Through Faith (This was the slogan of the ruling government in V for Vendetta)

Stiff students Part 3

2006-03-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

"You got a suspect in mind already?" Even with his faith in David's abilities, he couldn't completely hide the incredulity in his voice.
David had been pacing the spacious room. At Jonathan's comment, he turned on a dime "Not a suspect," he corrected, "a person of interest. Someone who knew the dead girl, possibly intimately." He began pacing again, abruptly stopping and turned
"Do you take Con Hall pictures?"
"Of course. Haven't you noticed how scenic it is?"
"Doesn't quite float my boat, but hey, you're the dean"
"And you're the one who asked for pictures"
"Indeed. But I'm a simple man, plain surveillance pictures will suffice for me"
"We do keep those. That comes under the heading of new things I learnt when the police investigated"
"How old is the cache, any idea?"
"Two weeks."
"Excellent. How soon can you get them to me?"
"They're being loaded to my computer as we speak. Just out of curiosity, what are we looking for?"
"Stalkers."
"Amateurs or professionals?"
"Please. No professional worth their salt would work here; it's like takign candy from a baby. No, I'm talking infatuation-level stalker"
"Who you think did it?"
"No. That level of stalking doesn't lead to the level of planning that went into this murder. No, this is more of a person of interest."
"Here they are," Jonathan leaned in, "here's today's picture"
David came over to the other side of the desk and looked at the screen. He tapped one boy sitting in the first floor balcony "Scan through the pictures and find him"
Jonathan did so "He has no real pattern of sitting"
"Indeed. But scan through to when Rita was still alive"
"I'm still not seeing a pattern"
"Relative to her, genius"
"Damn...He's her stalker!"
"Indeed, he is. Adn that makes him our person of interest," David pulled away from the desk and crossed the desk again, "Can you get me an ID?"
"I'm asking tech. They should be able to match him to a Tcard," Jonathan looked at David, "You're going to interrogate him?"
"Not interrogate," David resumed his pacing, "just find out a few things. I'm counting on him being a good stalker."
"Until we get a match," David said, "humor me and walk me through the case one more time, please?"

The end of an Era

2006-02-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind

- Walk on, U2

Today brings about the end of that famed period of false security officially known as reading week. (Yes, Stephen, I know you have no reading week, but I'll say it again, you're a doctor, the regular rules don't apply to you :P ) It has also shown a total disconnect between parts of me, as all the carefully mapped plans I had to catch up and get ahead were left by the wayside. There is a little part inside me that now probably understands what the mother of a large family feels like; on a smaller scale, of course. (I say in an attempt to ward off the imminent biting off of my head that I foresee as soon as Angela sees this :P ) Hopefully I can take this as a lesson and a stepping-stone and begin pursuing a path towards greater discipline.
I gave some thought during this week also to the current state of music, brought about by Bob Marley. I wonder, if Bob Marley were an up and coming artist today, would he be as successful as he was in the 70s? I would hope so, but I can't be too sure in a day and age where 50 cent is hugely successful. The fact that Marley is popular today is a good sign, of course.
I wonder if there will ever be a day when they start selling copies of Marley's "Africa Unite" and use the proceeds to arm the fighting tribes in Africa, in the same way Tommy Hilfiger or any other designer makes millions of dollars by stamping Che Guevera's face on T-shirts; the same way people pay and accept bribes using banknotes with Gandhi's face stamped on them. Which leads me to think what these people would say if they saw themselves being exploited to promote the very same things they fought against. Surely that indignity is worse than death; and surely suffering that indignity after death is the most humiliating of all.
Under the current projections, the population of Africa promises to wipe itself out in 100 years. It seemed a slightly far-fetched concept to me until I saw 'Hotel Rwanda' which, for all its Hollywood glitter, showed some naked truths, like how a call to the French army got the rebel fighters to retreat in a matter of minutes. I wonder sometimes how it is possible to have such disrespect for human life; for the humiliation of Guevera and Gandhi and the killing of people you do not know rank on the same scale of disrespect for humans, the only difference being specific vs. generalised. It is one thing, of course, for a creature like Paul Bernardo to have no respect shown towards him (Or is it? Does one give up the right to respect at any time? Bernardo disrespected his victims, but do two wrongs make a right?)
A rather depressing note to end reading week. Who knew the imminent return to Unviersity would trigger such emotions?

2006-02-18T08:57:00.000-08:00

Parent: "He is Doctor"
Girl: "But he's gay!"
Parent: "But he is Doctor"
Girl: "But he's GAY!"
Parent: "BUT, he is Doctor. And there is no such thign as gay. He just needs the right woman, like you"
Girl: "Fuck. If it weren't for the movies and the food, I'd denounce my brownness right now."

- My take on a conversation between a South Asian mother and daughter on a prospect for arranged marriage

Well, I figured it was time for a new post, seeing as how my Super Rosi was so bad, Stephen didn't even comment on it until I pointed it out. :P
A byproduct of my Windsor trip has been a newfound liking of the music of Oasis. Noel Gallagher, lead singer of Oasis, once insulted U2 for rehearsing too much, but after the Tom Cruise Scientology fiasco,(truth to say, it was after the Allen Iverson gangsta fiasco that started the realization) I've adapted myself to ignoring anything that is not an onstage/onscreen/oncourt product. Thus, if Oasis makes music like this, I shall simply shut my ears to anything he says that's not accompanied by music :D
As reading week is finally upon us, I look back on the past week and discover I have finished two midterms and a midterm essay. I have left now one assignment, one test and a 10 page paper. Fascinating stuff.

Super ROSI

2006-01-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

What a way to start off the year

2006-01-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

Toronto Red Hot
Toronto Red Hot
Toronto R-E-D Red H-O-T Hot
We can't help the stuff we got
Uh huh Uh huh
Uh huh Uh huh Uh huh

- Team U of T cheer at CUSG 2006

This post is long overdue, seeing as how the Canadian University Science Games has ben the most memorable event for me since I started this blog, nay, since I came to U of T in September of 2004. Four days of amazing, all-expenses paid fun in Windsor; and all-expenses paid included VIA travel and Holiday Inn accomodations. And that was the least of the positives of this entire trip.
As I'm sitting here trying to write this blog, I'm coming to the realization that words may not be adequate enough to express this trip in its full glory. (I'm also coming to the realization that I can't type straight to save my life, but that was just a matter of time) There were 20 of us, a small team compared to Ottawa's 80 or Western's 60, but we were a powerful force nonetheless. We placed first in trivia, second in the scavenger hunt and third in debate. Our cascade was most definitely tampered with, as our 6V battery was drained when we entered the competition room, but we still had a fantastic challenge set up, and our team members answered the questions thrown at us by the judges with ease. Our art challenge was also superior to most, and our spirit, although not displayed in the form of coordinated cheers, was present in huge dollops, as was evidenced by the large number of croaking voices on the way back. All in all, we were a fantastic team, and the team members were all truly great to work with.
The organization of the events was also done quite well, the only consistent weak point being the food, although that problem was patched up relatively well once the catering restaurants decided to handle the food distribution themselves. We enjoyed nightclub visits, arcades, Tim Hortons breakfasts, free Bell payphones; and that is not counting the events we as a team made up ourselves, such as the pillow fights and the downtown travel (more out of necessity for the scavenger hunt, but fun nonetheless) the night-long discussions we had, multiple times...good times were had by one and all. The only sour note was hit at the closing ceremonies, where the University of Windsor rigged the final results to give their home team the Grand Prize, despite having questionably placed in only one event: but no worries. It originally had me confused, then pissed, but hey, we had loads of fun, and to me, that is the real prize.

Facts about me

2006-01-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

Courtesy Mihir; he posted this on biome earlier today, and I figured it was blog-worthy

Facts about Deepayan:

There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Deepayan allows to live.

Deepayan can slam a revolving door.

When Deepayan goes to donate blood, he declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.

When Deepayan was born, the nurse said, "Holy crap! That's Deepayan!" Then she had had sex with him. At that point, she was the third girl he had slept with.

In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Deepayan could use to kill you, including the room itself.

The popular videogame "Doom" is based loosely around the time Satan borrowed two bucks from Deepayan and forgot to pay him back.

Deepayan played Russian Roulete with a fully loaded gun and won.

Deepayan can divide by zero.

In fine print at on the last page of the Guiness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Deepayan, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone has ever come to matching him.

Deepayan is the reason why Waldo is hiding.

Deepayan can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.

Deepayan is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.

The eternal conundrum "what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object" was finally solved when Deepayan punched himself in the face.

When Deepayan deletes files from his computer, he doesn't send them to the Recycle Bin. He sends them to hell.

Deepayan invented black. In fact, he invented the entire spectrum of visible light. Except pink. Tom Cruise invented pink.

When Deepayan does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the Earth down.

stolen from http://www.4q.cc/vin/index.php?topthirty

Stiff students part 2

2005-12-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

David took a moment to stand in front of Con Hall, allowing the wave of memories to wash over him before he entered the building. He had long since exorcised his demons and had no qualms about being in Con Hall again; however, he needed to figure out what to ask the professor, and what phrasing of questions would extract the best answers. He took a deep breath and opened the door. As he did, another memory wave hit him, catching him unawares
Sir?
Yes
Are you David Pincet?
Yes. What's the problem, Officer?
You are charged with first degree murder of Katherine Holson, daughter of Jeremiah Holson.
What? You think I killed the dean's daughter? What the hell?
But it was too late. And in hindsight, it was probably for the best. Running after bail and going on a hunt for the real killer had been his first bounty hunt, in a sense. Many people thought that David didn't return to University because of hurt or anger, or perhaps a combination of the two. Those who knew him well knew, however, that he had found his true calling; a calling that had now brought him back to where it all began.
David shook his head and strode onto the stage. He turned and looked at the students as they, slowly, realized that the replacement professor was not the stuffy individual they expected. He slowly reached for the mike and put it on
"Good morning, students," he boomed, shocking the rest of the oblivious students "I'm your replacement professor"
And for one of you, he thought, class is now over.

The day after the day after the big day

2005-12-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

My father taught me well to shun the gates of Hell
But against him I rebelled as I sailed
He shoved a bible in my hand but I left it in the sand
As I pulled away from land as I sailed

- Captain Kidd, Great Big Sea

Well, I wrote the last of my midterms on Wednesday, a bioethics test which was easier than it could have been. Although my ideas of what he was going to ask were slightly off, I still had enough ammunition to fill a few pages and make coherent arguments in the time given. And now I don't have to worry about exams until...february. Damn you, U of T. Damn you to hell.
Following the test, I spent about two hours socializing in Gerstein. (If you're not sure you're a nerd or not, here's a great litmus test; if you have a likely chance of meeting quite a few friends at the library, then you're a nerd. I have learnt this the hard way :P ) Soon, a group of us headed off to Medsci to meet up with others for our planned Festivus dinner.
The dinner was quite a success, even more so than I had hoped. There were some last-minute cancellations, but no no-shows, and I was surprisingly able to break the Biome committing jinx I seem to have had last year. I hope that's for good. The food itself was quite good. turkey+pasta+chocolate+pina colada=too much to eat.
After dinner, I headed over to the pubnight, walking the length of distance from Union station to Spadina. Unfortunately, I was unable to stay too long, as I entered the pub at 9:45 after telling my parents I'd be home at 9. I met a few people, then proceeded to leave with the two auntijis; you know who you two are :P
Overall, quite a good day. These must be done more often. Of course, with two doctors it would have been more entertaining, Stephen! :P

Number of :P in this blog: 3, plus the one in this sentence, thus 4.

Stiff students part 1

2005-12-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

This is actually a story I began a while back, but discarded when i realized it was not really going anywhere. Now, with a few tweaks, I think it is good enough to be completed. As to whether or nto it will actually be completed...well, time will tell. It may not be an epic with boy wizards and orcs, but it's more my type of tale; gritty psychological study of human character. Kind of. I'll shut up now; enjoy the tale

P.S: Apologies for spelling errors and crappy title.
---

Lights will guiiiiiide you home
and igniiiiiite your bones
and I will try to fix you

Click. David turned his system off and swivelled his chair just as his old friend stepped in through the open doorway. He brushed off his cap and grinned at David
"Coldplay? You're getting soft, man. What's next, chick flicks?"
"Actually, I caught an early screening of Brokeback Mountain already. Does that constitute as a chick flick?"
"If I want to go see it, it is not a chick flick"
"If you wish it was your life story, it is most definitely a chick flick"
"What? What's wrong with wanting to be married to Anne Hathaway?"
"Oooh, extramarital affair thoughts. Don't they fire you for those kinds of things?"
Jonathan rolled his eyes "I wanted to be a priest. Emphasis on wanted. past tense. Besides, what would she have with me? I am not the one who has saved her from dangerous stalkers"
"You're dean of one of the most prestigious unviersities in the world. Some very attractive women find that kind of intellect quite stimulating"
"I'm sure. I'm also sure those same women would be repulsed at my total befuddlement should I find myself in the streets of Cairo looking for a father who has made away with his daughter"
"That's what I'm around for. Speaking of which, " David waved at one of the two chairs facing him and leaned forward, "Explain what made you remember me after so many months"
Jonathan--he was stringent about being addressed as Jonathan, abhorring the common shortening to Johnny that people tended to do--took off his coat and took a chair slightly to David's right.
"Actually," Jonathan began, "I was wondering if you were willing to offer your services to the University"
"You got my attention. I'm hoping this is about the murder case making its rounds in the papers, cause otherwise you're in deeper excretion than it looks on the surface"
Jonathan grinned at David's deft sidestep of swearing "No worries, that's the only non-academic issue I'm facing. But I could use some help"
"Aren't the police on it?"
Jonathan spread his hands in an exasperated gesture "Have you ever worked with the police? Most of them view the University of Toronto as either a hulking monolith akin to Clarke's vision in Space Odyssey, or a group of pretentious dirtbags to be despised. Either way, they're no help"
Now it was David's turn to grin "Well well. The University now comes to me for help. This is something I never saw coming. Everyone else agree to this?"
"What they don't know won't hurt them" Jonathan said with a sly smile.
David leaned forward "Alright. Tell me about this murder then"

Speed of Sound

2005-12-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

Creep on in
Creep on in
And once it has begun
Won't stop until it's done
Sneaking in

- Creepin' in, Norah Jones featuring Dolly Parton

ll, it' finally happeninfMy trusty wireles keyord inwhichIhavenot had to changebatteriessince i started usignit nearly a year ago,isfinally beginningto showa need for mo juice. 's rty go, onsidring hat or hte accompaning irelss mouse, I've ha to chang baties nerl6or 7 tiems alady.

The above paragraph reads like this
"Well, it's finally happening. My trusty wireless keyboard, in which I have not had to change batteries since I started using it nearly a year ago, is finally beginning to show a need for more juice. that's pretty good, considering taht for the accompanying wireless mouse, I've had to change batteries nearly 6 or 7 times already." The top was typed off the aforementioned wireless keyboard, the latter off the regular keyboard, which I haven't used often in recent months. The old workhorse gave me some good mileage, I must admit. I am impressed.

In other events, it's good to be able to go back to the library. I was on a 3-month hiatus from the Toronto Public library, on account of beign cheap. Let me explain; I borrowed books from the Public library for my eng237 class. The books, however, were due back at the library nearly 3 months before they were due to be read in class. So, I deactivated all my holds and hid myself in my house, not going anywhere near the Public library. I ended up paying about $30 in fines, which is still cheaper than any of the books bought individually. Hey, what can I say, I'm brown. :P
Anyways, upon re-activating my holds, they began coming in, to the point that I now have a choice from Coldplay, Ray Charles and Norah Jones to listen to, a choice between Lord of the Rings, The Notebook and Hotel Rwanda to watch from and a choice between Clive Cussler, Stepehn King and John Grisham to read from. I must say, the Public library is one of the rare government operations that is not completely mucked up. In fact, they have significantly improved in the last two years, and with the discovery of a location on campus, it has become rather easy for me to access the library resources. Huzzah! (And that shall be my last use of the word Huzzah, as I'm not completely sure what that even means)
I also saw, for the first time, the case of the Saugeen stripper in UWO. Now, frankly, if I were the UWO administration , I would not be too worried about this, as it's well in keeping with their reputation. It jsut shows how out-of-touch the old men runnign the institution are with today's youth that they consider this an issue. At the very most, a big farce shall be made, some uproar from the parents shall be heard, perhaps the girl in question and a few guys shall be expelled, and everyone shall go home happy that the demonic forces lurking in the UWO dorm have been exorcised, Hallelujah, Amen. The problem, however, will not go away. I was reminded of hearing earlier this year of the then incoming dean of U of T, David Naylor, sitting in on a PHY110 class. I thought, nay hoped that the prof would have the guts to fire a conceptual question at the dean, see if he could handle it. The basic problem, of course, is that the adminsitrations suffer from the delusion that they understand the students, which couldn't be further from the truth. Because nobody in their right minds would schedule the labs of a major class at 8:30 in the morning, as is the case with chm247. But they are not in their right minds. There will always be a lag in the system; when the current admin were studetns in the 70s, the Universities were run by guidelines fit for the 50s. Now the Universities are run by guidelines fit for the 70s. Why? Becuae the admin aren't looking at the present or even the future; they're looking at the past, or their remembrance of it. And that simply doesn't work. Proof of that is this Saugeen stripper. It comes as no real shock to any undergraduate student in U of T; why is it a shock to the administration of UWO?
So how do they fix this problem? Either communicate with the students, or insert moles amongst them. But do something, this stopped being funny a long tie eago and now it's just alarming.

And that is all for tonight. I'm surprised at the length of this entry. If brevity is the soul of wit, I certainly have earned no accolades for brainpower this night. But no worries. Chicks dig non-witty guys. :P

You want your $30 back? I want my damn Kidney back!

2005-12-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

And this is it now,
everybody get down
This is all I can take
This is how a heart breaks

- How a Heart breaks, Rob Thomas

It's sequel week for me. I just finished watching 2 Fast 2 Furious (more on that in a moment) and am currently watching LOTR: The two towers. I never found the books particularly fascinating; their intensity for detail always seemed to me to be designed for an audience with an IQ level resembling that of Jessica Simpson. For the rest of us, it's unnecessary to say that the house was built using 128 strands of No. 2 thatched hay, as opposed to the house opposite which was built with 147 strands of No. 5 thatched hay and thus burned more easily. We have an imagination, and we'd like to fill in some of the details ourselves. But, on the other hand, one can say that Tolkien was the world's first scriptwriter, considering the vivd detail meant that the writer's vision, the reader's vision and the director's vision all match, making it the rare movie adaptation that satisfies lovers of the book.
2 Fast 2 Furious was campy fun, exactly the kind of flick I was looking for. Fast cars, loose women and gunplay abound. Very testosterone-friendly :D Facts I discovered

Tyrese Gibson cannot say the letter O. All this bros cam out Brah, and I never heard him say One, but I'm sure it would come out An
Paul Walker uses too much hair conditioner to ever be convincingly from a poor neighbourhood. I saw Paul Walker in Joy Ride previously (Very good thriller, along the lines of Red Eye; do see it if you get the chance) and he was moderately good, same as he was here. But when he leans over and goes ghetto to Tyrese, saying "Pockets ain't empty, cuz" I burst out laughing. I couldn't help myself, it was just too funny.
Vin Diesel has screen presence, at least more than Tyrese.He's not like Al Pacino, who can be onscreen with Kevin Spacey and Jack Lemmon at the same time and still take the scene, but he carries himself better than most. He may make something out of himself yet. He certainly has potential.
(By the way, that movie with Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey is Glengarry Glen Ross. It's more of a character drama, all shot in studio, and it really lets the actors flourish.)
Eva Mendes is hot. I never realized it before;Training Day didn't exactly focus on her body.

A whole bunch of Summer 2006 movie trailers have also hit the web, among which there is Superman Returns, The Davinci Code, Mission Impossible 3, X-Men 3 and others. As it's late and I'm sleepy, I shall review these tomorrow.

Shoutout to Stephen. How's med school post-midterms?

Looking backwards into the future

2005-12-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
And who would've thought, it figures

-Ironic, Alanis Morrisette

I realized, in the process of this cleaning expedition I have undertaken, how much I have changed since entering University. I found, for example, my calculator buried under a pile of papers I haven't looked at since Grade 12. This was odd, because in high school I used to rely on my calculator to the point I recall asking it the meaning of life a few times (much to the chagrin on my parents, but it's not my fault I didn't inherit my dad's ability to do complicated binary calculations in his head or my mom's ability to rattle off multiplication tables of triple digits off the top of my head) In University, however, since MAT135 forbid the use of calculators, I eventually conditioned myself to do whatever small calculations I needed to do in other subjects in ym head or along the margins of the paper, like I used to before I got the calculator. I suppose one reason I got used to the calculator is because it was a very good one, simple to use, yet it could do 5 gazillion types of calculations. Plus, it survived all the abuse I threw at it, which tends to be rare amongst things I own.
Another thing I stumbled upon was my digital diary. I remember this thing being the thing to have back in Grade 5, a precursor to the Palm pilot, in a sense. I was never much into fads, but this one caught my fancy. To my credit, I did keep it after the craze had died out, and dutifully continued to use it until I received an upgrade a few years ago.
I should make a time capsule, and look back on it once I've graduated from U of T. At the very least, it would be fascinating to see the kind of man I used to be.

A Burning Ring of Fire

2005-12-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

You speak of signs and wonders
I need something other
I would believe if I was able
But I’m waiting on the crumbs from your table

-Crumbs from your table, U2

Johnny Cash and U2. How do you like that. Anyways, I had a blog all typed up yesterday, but being the doofus that I am, I closed the window wihtout publishing it, making it 5 days since my last update.
I had the second of my three exams on Thursday, english this time. It was not quite like the anthro midterm i.e. no surprise question styles. In fact, in hindsight the professor gave away one of the questions in class. Somehow, the idea of an 8 mark Multiple choice didn't seem as insane on this final as it did last year in the Physics tests. Of course, that may be because there was one MC, and it was the easiest 8 marks in the whole final, as opposed to 8 incredibly difficult questions making up 64% of the marks in a subject with the potential for part marks cruelly torn away. But I'm not bitter, oh no. I shouldn't be. After all, by all indications, the current first years have it worse. And that makes the sadist in me very happy :D If there are any first years who read this, you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. Don't worry. You will someday.
(Those last three sentences were from American Beauty, one of my personal favorites)
The last exam I face down is Bioethics. I shall start work on that on Monday, if that. Tuesday, more likely. I shall still have 8 days to write 7 essays, a comfortable margin. After that...well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
It's actually surprising all the things I needed to do around the house that suddenly came out of the woodwork, so to speak. Cleaning was the big one; arranging, dusting etc etc. Being the lazy bum that I am, I still have plenty of cleaning to do, but at least I have some sort of handle on it.

That is surprisingly all I can think of. More tomorrow, as I come up with it.

Caught the Snitch

2005-12-05T16:15:00.000-08:00

Went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire yesterday, in IMAX. After the inital shock of not having the 3D glasses that I was supplied at my last IMAX experience (I got over it once I realized they did not rip us off, it was a different machine) I hunkered down and enjoyed the movie. It was not done too shabbily, and Daniel Radcliffe was better then I expected. Although major points in the story were cut from the movie, as an independant entity it stood well. Miranda Richardson was particularly good as Rita Skeeter, giving the impression of really relishing the role. And Ralph Fiennes, well, Ralph delivered the goods. It wqs quite surprising to see Daniel holding his own against him, and it leads me to think that perhaps Radcliffe may be able to break out of the Potter role successfully once he needs to, unlike Mark Hamill or Christopher Reeve. Emma Watson, as the previews indicated, looked good, expecially in 3D, but her character was too diluted, spending most of the time running around doe-eyed and girly instead of self-confident and inquisitive like Hermione in the novels. That was, however, more of an editing fault than any fault on the part of Emma. Perhaps more of Rita Skeeter would have been beneficial, both for the character development of Hermione and more screen-time for Miranda Richardson. Michael Gambon as Dumbledore showed all of the wise wizard with none of the father figure. As it played out, though, it wasn't half-bad, and some parts were amazing, like the first Triwizard task. And Katie Leung looked much better on screen than her publicity photos. Cho, I can imagine being the girl of Harry's dreams. Katie, not so much. Ah, the wonders of makeup.
The next movie should garner at least an Oscar nomination for Alan Rickman. Though he barely had any screen time in this movie, the one scene Harry had with Snape was excellent. We shall see.

Saturday night (blogging) fever

2005-12-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

I was asked by another person today why I choose to befriend them. Don't get me wrong, I don't resent that; it's a reasonable quetion, and I would be a little suspicious if this was not inquired of me. It just reflects on the sad state of humanity as a whole that a question like this is the norm. Of course, this may not be a flaw in the human race; I am learning of strictly enforced lineage hierarchies in primates as well. And we all know evolution is a relative concept. After all, if the handgun could be invented 70 years before the toilet flush, one wonders in which direction we truly are travelling. Where exactly is it that we are running? And are we getting anywhere good? It would be nice to imagine that the whole world, all 6 billion plus of it, would just stop, take a deep breath, and take a look around them, adjust and fix anything askew (like the direction) and then continue.
This is something I shoud've comented on earlier; On Thursday, when I went to drop my friend off at the anthro 100 class, there were two people outside collecting donations for the victims of Pakistani earthquake. I knew one of them as well, in fact have known her since Grade 7, though I lost touch with her over the years. I still don't trust, however, these grassroots donation movements. I saw too many scams after the Bhuj earthquake (if you want to know about this, follow the BBC news link to the right, then type in Bhuj in the upper right hand corner search box; they covered it pretty well) money that was donated but never reached the survivors. And it happens all the time; people benefit from disasters in this way. You can bet anything there were 5 scams for every honest donation agency in the aftermath of Katrina in USA. Why not? It's lucrative, easy tax-free money that you will never be held accountable for. People who genuinely want to help make the trip down to the actual location and physically help, in intangible ways you don't need a tax receipt for. Very rarely do they stand in a doorway and collect donations. Even if location help is not quite possible, they are somewhere in the line of helpers. Real charities never ask for money; they ask for supplies. That's one way to wed out the scams; scammers can do nothing with quilts and sweaters. Or they cannot do as much as they could with cold, hard cash.
Speaking of Katrina, whatever happened to the relief efforts of Hurrican Juan? If there's anythign Canadian media sucks at, it's reporting on Canadian news. Except for politics and hockey. Then they're all over it, over-analyzing and nitpicking. Which would be great, if
a) not 80% of hockey teams would be American
b) not all canadian politicians were the same
But I guess I may ask for world peace while I'm at it, because that would be an easier deliverable than requesting a change of those two up there.
Speaking of hockey...I got nothing. Isn't there a Leafs game on now? Meh; I used to be a hockey fan, but I find it difficult to watch a sport which encourages blind violence. Soccer (Football for everyone who speaks proper english) Cricket and Basketball for the win. Especially the concept of superstar protection in soccer. In hockey, you blindside Mario Lemieux (yes, I'm looking at you, Scott Stevens) you don't suffer any penalty. In soccer, you tackle Zinedine Zidane, you pay. Moving on, I want to expand on the topic of the music of 2005 that I briefly touched upon in my last blog (Okay, that was definitely the influence of too many lectures) We did see albums and/or tours from almost every big name. U2 toured, Rolling Stones released an Album, Madonna released an album, Maroon 5 toured, Sheryl Crow released an album, 50 cent released an album, Eminem will soon release an album, Kanye West released an album, Green Day toured, Coldplay released an album, Faith Hil released an album, Sarah McLachlan toured, Oasis released an album, John Mayer released an album, Bruce Springsteen released an album, K-Os toured, Alicia Keys released an album...heck, even Will Smith and Shakira released albums. What am I saying, the Backstreet Boys released an album. Norah Jones is, I think, the only big name we didn't hear from in 2005. Her and Evanescence, but they seem to have disappeared into thin air. So what does that leave for us in 2006? I guess only time will tell.
Martina Hingis is returning to tennis. This is very good news, as her playing style is a throwback to an era of finesse in women's tennis, an era that the Williams brothers effectively demolished. It would be fun to see, though, how she adapts against the next generation of players, players who can hit hard and gracefully, Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Hardenne being the two biggest examples. They take out Venus and Serena quite easily, and Hingis always struggled against them, but you never know. I mean, if Navratilova can win championships at 50+, Hingis is only 25, less than half that age. (For people who want to know more about women's tennis, try www.wtatour.com )
I do believe that's all I have to say. I commend you if you've stuck with me thus far, and do feel free to leave comments. I don't bite, that job is retained exclusively for my umbrella.

Words will go from Poetry to Prose

2005-12-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

I found out today that Abhishek Bachchan shall be playing the lead role in Mira Nair's movie adaptation of 'The Namesake'. Needless to say, the decision has left me rather dissapointed. The movie had some solid potential, the book being the cult hit that it is, but this lead selection squanders that away. Keeping Bachchan's acting skills aside for a moment, one cannot honestly expect him to understand and emulate the first-generation/immigrant experience, since he's never lived that himself. There's a different mindset to the whole thing; their thought patterns are shaped differently, their music tastes vary, their outlook on life is different; it's the difference between white wine and red wine.
Moving along, the federal election is in full sway, and Jack Layton is already infuriarating me with his claims that the majority of Canadians don't want tax cuts. Wtf? I'd like to keep the money I earn, thank you very much.
I found out yesterday, as we near the theatrical release of Spielberg's 'Munich' that it may be a safe bet to say that the general population isn't aware that the 1976 Olympics are particularly significant. And why should they? I mean, 1976 is not used as an emotional bludgeon, it's just kind of swept under the rug. I wonder even how many new-generation Israelis know about it.

Other thoughts

Saw the White Stripes on Jon Stewart's show. Still can't like them, and I'm pretty sure there's some form of incest going on there.
Paris Hilton is in the news again. And again, I'm forced to ask "Who cares?"
I wonder what kind of music 2006 will bring. Most major stars had albums and/or tours to keep them busy. Exceptions include John Mayer and Norah Jones. Perhaps we shall hear from them soon.

Still here? Then your procrastination may have reached frantic levels. Just a friendly warning.

The unexpected blog

2005-12-01T19:53:00.000-08:00

"In the dark
On the phone
You tell me the names of your brothers
And your favorite colours
I'm learning you"

There's no particular reason for the quote above; I just have the song stuck in my head. FYI, it's St. Patrick's Day by John Mayer.
Day was not too bad. Finally handed in my englsih World-building assignment, so that's done. By next week this time, english will be done altogether. Then bioethics will be all that'll be left.

Need to find more time to write these. Too sleepy now to put anymore in. Tomorrow shall bring a longer post.

UofT, brings the December exam period On!!

2005-11-30T18:30:00.000-08:00

A little late, as this was necessary before yesterday. However, it's ready now, and the exams and assignments shall fall before me the way the warriors fell before Achilles.
Today was, on the whole, less eventful than yesterday. Owing to my english assignment being due tomorrow, I went to school, went to class, and came right back home. I did, however, meet an old friend on the TTC from my highschool volunteering days, and we caught up. Messed up the Sudoku puzzle in Metro again. I think I'm going to henceforth stick to puzles on the internet that indicate whether you're on the right track or not. Much easier to do. And yes, I'm copping out. Sue me.
Actually, to say yesterday was uneventful is a bit of an injustice. I spent a rather interesting hour at SEC (and was stalked there by Payam, or at least at one point saw someone out the window who looked like Payam) Also met another Biomer at Gerstein. You know you're at U of T when the library is the place to be.
Ah yes, I also met Amanda today. She told me about her hot TA and I planted seeds of doubt about his sexual orientation in her mind. Ahh, women. So naive. Usually, if a man is too good to be true, out of 10 times, 7 times he'll be gay, 1 time he'll be taken, 1 time it'll be a cover, and 1 time it'll be your true love. It's true; you only have a 10% likelihood of meeting your soulmate. Ask the realistic woemn, they'll say the same thing. The stats are the same for men as well, but we really don't care. We just want some booty. Eloquent, I know.
I have more to say, but not enough time to say it. Next update will likely be Friday. Enjoy, everyone.

Point to ponder: Women chase after doctors the way men chase after models. They want someone with knowledge of the body; we just want the body - Jerry Seinfeld
Ladies, is this true?

And so the midterm battle begins

2005-11-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well, the anthropology midterm I had today was not quite what I expected. The last two "quizzes" we had--the term 'quiz' applied to a paper with 134 questions, and the term 'test' applied to one with 139--were pure multiple choice and matching. So, having studied accordingly, I exhausted the material and, quite frankly, was rather confident going into this test.
Coming out, however, not so much. We faced a lot of fill in the blanks, where they gave us a blank diagram and we had to label the parts correctly. I suspect, seeing as how the quiz averages have been in the mid 70s, that this was a ploy to lower the class average. However, in hindsight, it may not have been as hard as it seemed during the exam. We shall see. Next mountatin to conquer; the english final assignment. Having done 12 our of a maximum of 15 pages already, this is not quite so stressful.
That pretty much sums up my day. There was some walking and some meeting of people, but nothing extraordinary. Perhaps tomorrow shall be more eventful. Or perhaps not.

People with strollers on the TTC and other thoughts

2005-11-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, first of all, I'd like to say that strollers are highly unnecessary and I believe they are detrimental to the development of a child. If a child can't walk, then they are small enough to be carried and should be done so; it keeps the child well-adjusted to be so close to their parents, and a well-adjusted child grows up to be a well-adjusted adult.
If they can walk, then they need to walk. Develop the walking muscles, plus they just discovered it; they probably want to do this new thing they just discovered they are capable of. If they don't, then carry them.
However, it's perfectly understandable that I may be perfectly wrong; after all, to the best of my knowledge, I do not have any children, so it's entirely possible that my ideas are juvenile and immature. One thing I do know, however, is that strollers and TTC buses are a bad bad mix. On my route today, I boarded to see THREE strollers right next to each other. It was all I could do to somehow squeeze through them. Others with bigger loads were not so fortunate and had to stand perilously close to the door. And if that wasn't enough, at the very next stop awaits another lady with another stroller. Fortunately, the driver had o wait for the next bus, then he had the decency to radio the dispatch station or whatever to hurry the next bus. He's a throwback to older TTC drivers; or maybe that's how all the novice ones are.

Other thoughts:

Eminem's new song is another classic. Well-written, and surprisingly only one expetive that I could detect. He's still nowhere close to K-Os in the brillinace of his lyrics, but he's better than most.
Staying on the subject of rap, Liberal MP Dan McTeague wants to ban 50 cent from performing in Canada because he says fiddy promotes a message of violence that the urban youth don't need to hear. I'd love to ask Mr. McTeague to name 3 uban youths that he even knows. It's almost like he's just blowing hot air about a subject he knows nothing about and doesn't really want to fix to gain liking from the population. There's a word to describe him; what am I looking for here; Doctor? No, that's not it. Engineer? No. Comedian? No. Appealing, but no. Insulting to comics as well. What is it...oh, that's right, he's a typical Politician. You know one, you know them all, practically.
Staying on the subject of politics, in less than an hour we shall know if there's another election coming or not (most likely yes, unless one of the parties backstabs the other, which I can see happening). I personally was never comfortable with the concept of a minority government. It always did, and still does, strike me as an oxymoron; besides, the larger party always caters to the smaller one to preserve the coalition, as we saw here. There's one in India as well, which is showing signs of strain in a much shorter period of time, thank goodness. The state of Indian politics, however, is the subject for another blog entirely; for those who don't follow it, the leader of India is currently an Italian. She is not the official leader, but nearly all the official leaders report to her, with the only notable exception being the president, who is a former nuclear scientist. I shall dedicate a blog to this in the near future, as it causes me no small amount of chagrin.
Two documentaries on Wal-Mart come out soon, one glorifying it, the other demonizing it. Now I don't know much about Wal-Mart, but I do know that they have the best prices on things, they store everything under one roof, their corporate executives don't take multimillion dollar bonuses each year and their trucks were one of the first to enter New Orleans after Katrina, despite never being able to open a store there without opposition. Unless they have proof that the Wal-Mart owners eat little children for breakfast, I fail to see hwo or why they would demonize such a corporation. I could be wrong; there may be things I don't know. I'd love to be enlightened.
Kiera Knightley was on Jon Stewart last night. Now she's cute as is, and she was wearing a red dress which didn't hurt, but when she opened her mouth and that british accent spilled out, I dont know how or why, but her cuteness factor went through the roof. I do envy her. One year older than me, and she already has an established career as an A-list star. But I also respect her that she did it all on her own, without any offscreen dramas or onscreen 'wardrobe malfunctions'. Bill Gates, she is not, but at least she's better than Ashlee Simpson.

Still with me? I'm stunned and flattered. Thank you for reading this far, and I leave you with this point to ponder: Can you appreciate the beauty of a song if you do not understand the language it's sung in?

And I'm back

2005-11-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

In all fairness that did take longer than 15 minutes; so perhaps the procrastination is wearing off.
The procrastination is wearing off. The procrastination is wearing off. Nope, it looks weird no matter how many times I write it.
Had another violent dream. Most people are acquainted with my first violent dream, the Saving Private Ryan style UofT war conducted across King's College Field. For those who aren't, I had a dream where we were fighting a violent Saving Private Ryan style battle across King's College, with a sniper at the UC tower picking us off.
Well, this second dream involved me stumbling across what seemed to be a hotel lobby carrying a sawed-off shotgun. I fell, propped myself up with the gun. I was having an out-of-body experience, and I could see my right cheek was a bloody pulp. I stumbled out of the door of the hotel, found a guy having sex with a prostitute across the street in his car, and stole said car. I also found a bottle of wine on the passenger seat and used it to disinfect my cheek and other, smaller wounds on my face. I was chasing a van, and somehow the prevailing thought was that I had to stop it from crossing the border. I remember pulling up to it, ramming it once, then pulling out my shotgun and blowing the grey matter out of the guy in the van's passenger seat, blinding the driver in the process. A second ram dropped the van to the side of the now-deserted road. And I woke up.
The hotel and border lead me to think the setting was Windsor; one just hopes this is not what is in store, literally or figuratively, for the CUSG participants come January. But if it is, I apparently know what to do O_O

Thought of the day

Shakira has two videos out from her latest album, one spanish, one english. In the spanish one, she's the cheating mistress and in the english one, she's the vengeful girlfriend. How does that work? Was she cheating on herself with herself? Is that even considered cheating?

Back with more later. Maybe.

Procrastination

2005-11-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

"And I can't wait to figure out what's wrong with me
So I can say this is the way that I used to be"

I have a midterm next Tuesday and an assignment next Thursday, so naturally, creating a blog is of high priority right now :P Do leave comments, whoever visits. During the creation of htis blog, a sense of foreboding and urgency hit me, thus I shall return to studying. When thsi passes (give it some 15 odd minutes) I shall be back.