rants and ramblings of utter randomness

• For the five or so people who haven't seen this, here's the video version of Jian Ghomeshi's interview with Hugh Dillon on CBC's Q:
  
  
  
  
  
• CHURCHFAIL: I missed church today because I mistakenly thought the service started at 9:30, when it actually started at 9. I got there at like 9:03 and didn't want to barge into choir without having rehearsed this morning OR on Wednesday night (which was thankfully an excused absence) so I left without even getting out of my car. There was an 11:00 service I could have gone to but I was too embarrassed to do it. Hopefully I can explain myself adequately this Wednesday.
  
  
• Yesterday I saw Capitalism: A Love Story at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge. As much as Michael Moore has his issues, I'm usually charmed and informed by his movies, and this one was no exception. I still might make a more indepth post about it, but the best thing I learned was what an amazing guy FDR was, and how radically different the world would be if he had lived to make his dream of a Second Bill of Rights real.
  
  
• After the movie I went to Shabu-ya in Harvard Square for dinner. I had been looking for Shilla, where I always go when I'm in Harvard Square; apparently it has recently merged with another place owned by the same family into a shabu-shabu restaurant. Since I had no idea what shabu-shabu was or even that this particular place served it, I went with maguro sashimi and yummy seafood-scallion pancake. Nom nom. I sort of hate the Star Trek TOS-type decor, but the food was really good, so I'll definitely go back.
  
  
• Firefox has been sucking recently--constantly crashing on me for no apparent reason. Is anyone else having the same problem or is it something to do with my computer? I suppose I should reinstall it to see if that helps, but I've been lazy about it.
  
  
• Dear Flashpoint: Cop shows aren't supposed to make me cry. I forgive you completely, however, because you are love with a side of awesomesauce.
  
  
  
• Which brings me to the Song of the Day:
  
  

It's kind of obviously about residential schools (as much as any Hip song can be said to be about any one specific thing), but it also fits in with the themes of the episode really well. ♥Flashpoint

Can someone tell me where I can find a copy of this for less than a zillion dollars? I've been looking EVERYWHERE for AGES. Help?

I don't know why this is here or how long it will be here, but Michael Moore's Sicko is up on Google video. I debated whether I wanted to see it now, but then I decided I would, since I'm sure I'm going to end up seeing it on the big screen anyway.
I'm just ten minutes into it, so I don't have a review.

Whether or not you're a fan of his, it's about time someone in popular media addressed the subject of healthcare in the US. It's one of the main issues, if not THE main issue, that's going to affect my choice for President this time. Those of you who live in a country with a national health system (read: every other developed country in the WORLD), I'd especially like to know what y'all think of the film.

ETA: Um, yeah. Watch this, if you have any time at all. It's not perfect, but it's hella revealing, and it's about time.

topaz7 wins everything in the world for this icon. It made my decade, at least.

Also, melpemone, much with the yay, for everything worked (including my DL manager)! All is good. So good, in fact that I wrote a review on IMDB (which hasn't showed up yet). I can't imagine they won't approve it, since the last review was posted three years ago, and most of the reviews on the site suck. *g*

I love Maury Chaykin thiiiiis much, even when he's all psychopathic and evil. I could go on and on and on about how much I loved this film. Loved, as in the same way I loved Silence of the Lambs, but still, OMG, yes.

ETA: My review is up! I think this is the direct link. The ones in the comments aren't, I find. Alas, earwaxI'm so psyched, I feel like a published author. *g*

Question:

Is this available for download anywhere? I'm going to try for a torrent, but it'd be easier if someone actually had the file.

My inner Incredible Geeking Woman and my ever-growing adoration for the brilliance that is Don McKellar would be ever so grateful.

In other news, I want to stay home and write, not go to work. llassah and I were discussing pastiche!fic, and of course strayed OT, and now I've got "Geoffrey Tennant and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" stuck in my head as a title, which I'll probably leave to her to write because she's so much better at it than I am. :) This idea is not quite as brain 'splodey as the idea of Geoffrey as a contestant on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me's "Not My Job" section, which sam80853 thinks I should write.

I was going to make a version of this post earlier, but LJ ate it, which was probably good, because it involved cat food, which really has nothing to do with anything.

Okay, so the omelet. Boursin cream cheese, tomatoes, smoked salmon, and the best tasting eggs ever, topped with a balsamic reduction. It was the omelet special of the day at the Brickway on Wickenden, and it's called the Nova Scotia Omelet. I couldn't possibly have turned it down, and I'm very glad I didn't. Add some home fries, rye toast (even though I ordered wheat, wtf?), not-too-shabby coffee, my book and a sunny window looking out onto Wickenden Street. Lovely. Then I went home and slept for four hours, because I'd been working all night.

Keeping with the Nova Scotia theme, I finally saw Buried on Sunday, which should make malnpudl feel better, as she has been bugging cajoling suggesting that I do so for some time now. I wasn't prepared to love it. A lot of reviews were pretty lukewarm, not that I pay a lot of attention to reviews.

But OMG, I was sucked right in by the dry wit and social commentary and (mostly) ensemble cast. Nuclear warheads as comedy! An old salt storyteller! And the CCCP! In 1992! Also, apparently Maury Chaykin has a thing for appearing in films set on tiny islands off the coast of Nova Scotia. His character in this one's much more likeable than the one he played in Wilby Wonderful.

One of my favourite scenes is the whole thing with the Prime Minister talking to the American VICE President and being all wimpy. I love the scene because of the satire and the self-mocking that's representative of the whole film, but ouch. It still made me wince, which I imagine was the intent of the writer.

Martha Burns should have been in this. She would have done better in the lead female role and had nicer hair.

I think another reason I got a lot of the small-town stuff is that I actually lived on a small island off the coast, and I think that coastal RI isn't all that far removed culturally from coastal Atlantic Canada. Not identical, but close. Although not exactly, because Block Island's fishing industry was pretty much wiped out with the 1938 Hurricane. But while I was living there the island did threaten to secede from Rhode Island. Colorado wanted us, I hear, so they could have a coastline. *g* I'm also fairly certain, having lived there for sixteen years, that we never had a First Warden who came even close to anything even close to resembling baby!Geoffrey Tennant.

Also (for various reasons), I'm both intensely relieved and sorely disappointed that I'm not likely to be inches above a hydrogen bomb. :)

Also#2 (Actually, #3, but who's counting)? My current music should so be part of the BoS soundtrack. Listen for yourself:

Elton John - Where To Now, St. Peter? I can think of at least two characters it would fit. I should quit my day job and go to work as a musical consultant for the film industry. I'd make a fortune; I'd be sought-after by zillions!

So, yeah, it's very cool to find that I love something I wasn't even sure I'd like. :) What took me so long?

ETA: How dorky is it that I not only just edited this post to change a semicolon to a comma in the SUBJECT, but also that I posted an ETA EXPLAINING IT? Dear Lord.

Good article about the censorship of Helen Keller's life story here:

The Truth About Helen Keller

I read The Story of Helen Keller when I was no older than nine (and yay, that's my review on top! I am a geekdork. I also give my real name out on Amazon.com, go me). I completely fell for her because of this book, another one called Helen Keller's Teacher, and the novelisation of The Miracle Worker.

None of those books told me anything about Helen's life and work as a socialist and activist for suffrage and pacifism. She protested WWI, and maybe that's why this part of her biography was censored, I dunno. I didn't find out about the activism stuff until much, much later, and it pisses me off. No matter what someone's political opinion is, or even a nations opinion, shutting off an important part of someone's life story is pretty close to evil.

Oh, and speaking of WWI, Dan Radcliffe will be starring in My Boy Jack, which is about Rudyard Kipling and his son and WWI (thanks to taradiane for the link). Considering my lefty/pacifist leanings, it's ironic that I love a good war film. Well, that is if they're done right and not lying about being a war film like Pearl Harbor (ewwewwewwwww) did, or promoting an agenda like most of John Wayne's films did. I loved M*A*S*H, film AND TV series, both of which had an agenda the size of Spain. But hey, it's an agenda I agree with! I never said I wasn't petty.

So. With Dan's movie (or is it a TV-film?) coming out the same year as Passchendaele (which I'm almost positive is a definite thing. Right? Right?), there will be two films about war that *gasp!* aren't coming from America, or even about Americans, for that matter. Which will mean that I migh not even get to see My Boy Jack until the DVD is released (if it is), and I'm going to have to Travel for Passchendaele, because most likely "A theatre near you" means somewhere in New Brunswick. Not that traveling to the Maritimes is a BAD thing, but I'm already going there the month before.

I'm not holding out for a U.S. release of either of these films (if Dan's movie is a cinema production). The American public as a whole just ain't gonna turn out in droves for a couple of war films made in other countries about battles they weren't even invited to (it's interesting that neither film is up at imdb.com, which lists everything, even movies that *might* be made). I would, but I'm a history dork. mr_t00by likes history, too. There's hope for the next generation after all. :)

*fangirls Current Music* I haven't listened to the Cranberries for ages. Apparently I'm going through a '90s music phase. *headbangs*

P.S. and completely OT: I'm stuck on this fic I'm writing. I made the mistake of going back and reading what I've written so far, and have decided I suck like a big sucking thing. I might think better of it tomorrow. I hope I do. I'm waay too wordy, and so is the fic. I desparately need sure could use a beta. I know patchfire will help me with grammar and style and getting rid of the Wordy McWord, but I'm still gonna need someone besides who knows the characters.

Anyway, it's DS, F/K, post COTW (Woah, that looks like a code). There is also Stella, who I do not kill off. And RayV. Iced tea makes an appearance. I should look at one of those beta lists floating around. Tomorrow. Domani.

Dear Canadian TV Costuming People:

I love you, really I do. But honestly, isn't it possible that there might have been ONE family in the Ukraine somewhere with blue eyes?

Say sorry, but the brown contacts? Do not please me. Anachronistic isn't the exact word I'm searching for, here, but it's close. So is sacrilegous.

I forgive you on the basis of a decent story (from 1990, no less), k.d. lang and the Reclines (ZOMG!), the reappearance of the toothpick, the fact that Alexei is called Sascha (OMGYES), and the fact that thirteen years later you gave me us Geoffrey Tennant (who, thankfully, has lovely, half-crazy blue eyes).

And of course I'm not forgetting about Benton Fraser and his blue, blue eyes. Or Ray Kowalski and his mercurial iced-turquoise ones, either.

And okay, Nicholas Lea is one of yours. How could I not love you and forgive you a thousandfold?

So, in conclusion,

Ray Kowalski

Love anyway,

Me

Also, in a semi-related topic (once removed), take a look at this:

( Ka like a wheel )



Oh, and Red Sox? I am not a happy fan at the moment. Papi came through, WHERE WERE THE REST OF YOU? Grrr.

Geh. Must really go to bed. If I keep stopping to write dorky LJ posts, I'll never finish this movie. :/

Day off tomorrow, with much to accomplish. *stumbles to bed*