a broken lull.

Previously on 24.


maybe it's because i just sat through three straight episodes of the second season of 24 (watching it for the second time; watching it with the roommate who i hooked on the series last spring with the first season box set) but this comment section from Daily Kos, "Guardian: Rove did it", is looking pretty spectacular right now. i can't say i'm not definitely enjoying at least the thought of what could be done to Rove if this turns out to be true. this is looking more and more like a whodunit :)

it feels as though the 24 Buzz is working overtime in my head, so please excuse the joy i'm getting out of this.
although, to be totally fair, i'm only getting joy out of reading about this; i know full well this won't be going too far. not if Karl has his say. but -- it's fun for now.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:43 PM |

Xenophobia - n. Hatred or Dread of Foreigners.


found by Steve Gilliard, here's a cool little article i wish more americans would accustom themselves with.
Baghdad Burning: "Sheikhs and Tribes..."

When people hear the word ‘tribe’ or ‘sheikh’, they instantly imagine, I’m sure, Bedouins on camels and scenes from Lawrence of Arabia.

to be fair, he then goes into how the u.s. took great steps into including all the different tribes. but then, you know that's not how the u.s. will leave this, right?

Apparently, the sheikhs were blacklisted because, of late, their houses are being targeted. They are raided in the middle of the night with armored cars, troops and helicopters. The sheikh and his immediate family members are pushed to the ground with a booted foot and held there at gunpoint. The house is searched and often looted and the sheikh and his sons are dragged off with hands behind their backs and bags covering their heads. The whole family is left outraged and incredulous: the most respected member of the tribe is being imprisoned for no particular reason except that they may need him for questioning.

Posted by Anonymous | 6:50 PM |

Join Arnold.


LMFAO!
this is funnier than the penis pic. and waaaaaay funnier than Batman & Robin.

what? the fucker's in The Rundown? the imdb says he's got an uncredited role.

::

well, i finally subscribed to another online dvd rental service. this is to hold me until rentadvd comes back. i already miss it dearly. anyway, CinemaFlow is the name. i could barely string 10 titles together for my list so i'm gonna try the free two-week trial period and then that's it. yay, free movies.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:14 AM |

Dreamcatcher | lawrence kasdan, 2003

am i the only one who saw a homoerotic subtext to this thing?
i truly did. (although, a disturbingly weird, crooked one.)

okay. first off - the movie is not as crappy as those awful reviews made it out to be. come to think of it, if i hadn't read those reviews, i don't think i would've seen too many things wrong with the film. but the flack it got when it was originally released made it out to be this whipping boy for Gigli-wannabes.

i don't know what made me see it differently than those reviewers/filmgoers but i got into it. of course there are a couple of things i would've done differently (most notably, cut morgan freeman out - his performance was as weird and out of place as those bushy eyebrows he had on) but those are really minor things. minor things.

the film - and story (as i have to mention that i haven't read the book) - are a mix of human drama (childhood, male relationships, and, as with every Stephen King story, the subconscious) and invasion of the body snatchers, which i think is the part most people had problems with. but if you accept it as what it is, you're fine.

the actual standout in this film has got to be actor Damian Lewis, who plays jonesy. i won't spoil the fun but this man impressed, not only because i didn't know him but because of what he did with his performance. you'll see.

the special effects are cool but, thank god, mostly unobtrusive. there's only a minute of sillyness towards the beginning but once that's over with, it's high-flying all the way to the end.

i think that's all i wanted to say.

the dvd picture is good, although not as crisp as i expected, but everything works fine. no grain. solid colors and blacks. sound is really good, too. and the sub gets put to good use, finally.

extras are sparse - three featurettes (although not all-out fluff) (an interview with Stephen King, a feature on the production of the film, and something about the special effects), the teaser trailer, and cast and crew (no bios, just a one-page thing).

i really didn't see much of anything wrong with the film. maybe, as i read in one review today, it just plays better on tv than on the big screen. maybe. it would have made a cool 4-part miniseries, but as it stands i give it my renting approval.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:59 PM |

Canada Gets punk'd!


i haven't heard a thing about it, thank god i got the tv schedule last night at work -- CTV's got punk'd.
series premiere tonight at 8 (et).

that came out of leftfield, but i guess it makes sense since they're the ones who brought the osbournes to canada two years ago.


in other news, the Bowie tickets for Montreal are going on-sale in just under an hour out here.
i'm still not sure if i'm going. i gotta call the roommate up at work to see if one of her friends wants to go, and see if she wants to go. it's $80. i wouldn't mind paying that for Bowie but it's not like i have that kind of money lying around here.


is Scrubs coming back?????
i was looking through the tv schedule last night and saw that NBC has it in the same tme slot it was last year. could this be true? and why do networks insist on either cancelling amazing shows (Sports Night, Futurama, Twin Peaks, etc) or put them back on the air but with no publicity at all?

btw, if you follow that link for Scrubs you will see that NBC did decide to order a new season. this is weird.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:12 AM |

okya, nothing's really been happening here for the past few days - work, work, rentadvd (the best canadian online dvd rental place) folding temporarily, ...
i was just reading Late-Night Political Jokes & Funny Quotes this morning and they had too many good quotes in there (and some surprising ones from Leno, usually known as a softballer) so i'm sharing them here:

"Last night during the California gubernatorial debate, Arianna Huffington accused Arnold Schwarzenegger of not treating women well. Huffington may have a point because Arnold's response was 'shut up bitch.'" —Conan O'Brien

"So, Arnold chooses to dispel rumors of misogyny by implying that he will kill Arianna Huffington in his next movie. Excellent." —Jon Stewart, after Schwarzenegger said he had a perfect role for Huffington in "Terminator 4"

"In a brand new poll where New Yorkers were asked if Hillary Clinton should run for president next year, 69 percent said no. After hearing this, Bill Clinton said 'Please don't ever say Hillary in the same sentence as 69." —Conan O'Brien

"According to a new CNN poll, President Bush's approval rating has dropped to its lowest level ever, rating at 50 percent. The last time he had a 50 percent, he was taking his finals at Yale." —Jay Leno

"They had the big debates tonight, with Arnold and Cruz, and they got the questions beforehand. Even Miss America contestants don't get the questions beforehand. It's like Jeopardy for dumb people." —Jay Leno

"Bush's approval rating has fallen to its lowest levels ever. Let me tell you, it's going to be hard on President Bush if he is a one-term president. His father was a one-term president, but at least his father got elected once." —Jay Leno

"President Bush spoke to the United Nations yesterday and it didn't go well. Many of its members accused him of unilateralism. Bush was angry when he heard this and even angrier when he was told what it meant." —Conan O'Brien

"Yesterday, President Bush spoke to the U.N. and asked the world to help Iraq write a constitution. Today, John Ashcroft said 'What's a constitution?'" —Jay Leno

Posted by Anonymous | 10:49 AM |

"Now Throw your Hands in the Air... and Wave 'Em Like You Just Don't Cay..re....."


as we all know, Karl Rove (doesn't that name look like a good '40s film noir villain?), the shadow behind the furious money machine that no one elected, might've overstepped the legal bounds of sanity. as we all know now, Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife Valerie Plame got "outed" as a CIA agent earlier this year to discredit Wilson's claims about the Niger documents. well, of course outing an agent is not permitted and Joe is seeing that the person responsible will get his due.
and it looks like this will not, like every other Bush controversy, go away.
could this be the moment we've all been waiting for? somehow i have a lot of faith in Joe seeing this goes all the way.

Joe Wilson: I don't think this will be dropped. At the end of the day, it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words.

i really like that last line.

[ via daily kos ]

Posted by Anonymous | 10:29 AM |

How ...Appropriate...


rentadvd.ca once again came through for me. this is what i got from them today:

the life and death of colonel blimp (criterion collection) (powell/pressburger, 1943)
close encounters of the third kind (collector's edition, two-disc set) (spielberg, 1977)

but check out this description of colonel blimp from allmovie.com:

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's drama criticizing a British Army out of touch with the new realities of World War II was controversial when released, with the British government denying its cooperation to the filmmakers and with Powell and Pressberger accused in some quarters of being pro-German.

ha. reminds you of anything?
a film like this would never be made right now in the u.s.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:30 PM |

As Far As I Know I'm Always in the Dark.


oh my fuck! thomas' fabulous oh, manchester, so much to answer for moved to a new address weeks ago!
i figured thomas had slipped on some icy patch in the middle of a road somewhere. goodness gracious.

thank you for giving me back my submeat :)

Posted by Anonymous | 10:31 AM |

oops... (again)


great reporting that you will never hear about on this continent:
blah3.com - "heeeey......."

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice confirmed in early 2001 that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been disarmed and was no threat.

tonight i rented James Mangold's Identity. i'd seen the trailer and it looked at least interesting and had an outstanding cast.
the film starts out really cheesy (sub-Final Destination; that's saying something) with poor characterizations but it actually builds up speed at about the halfway point. glad i saw it but i won't be going on that ride again.

also, Amanda Peet is now my new lovely wife.


i binged today. musically. it always is, anyway.
but at least i binged at a used record store, so that hurts a bit less.

here's what i managed to find - much much much to my astounding surprise:

jay-z - vol.3... life and times of s. carter
lox - we are the streets
playa - cheers 2 u
ruff ryders compilation - ryde or die vol. ii

the playa album i never even thought i'd see in my whole damn life.
just a lot of good ole timbaland in the house :)

Posted by Anonymous | 11:12 PM |

Our Laws Protect Us; They Don't Put Us in Jail or Make 12-Year-Old Girls Pay $2,000.


i was aware of the tax - and of course it doesn't bother us much - but what i was absolutely oblivious to was the extremely cool consequence of having that tax put in.

why are the u.s. institutions such bastards in your country?

Tech Central Station - "Blame Canada"

Posted by Anonymous | 2:14 PM |

As the Village Idiot Walked Back Into the Dragon's Lair...


Yahoo News: Bush to Tell U.N. He Made 'Right Decision' on Iraq

"I will make it clear that I made the right decision and that the others that joined us made the right decision. The world is a better place without Saddam Hussein"

technically, the world would also be a better place without you, mr president.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:21 PM |

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!, "The Morons Are Still in Charge!"


Yahoo News - "U.S. Soldier Shoots Tiger at Baghdad Zoo"

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. soldier shot and killed a tiger at the Baghdad zoo after it bit another soldier who had reached through the bars of its cage to feed it, a zoo security guard said Saturday.

thanks to billmon for the news.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:49 AM |

seven nation army.


when did michael moore find time to write another book???
"dude, where's my country?" hits bookstores october 7th.


the white stripes have a new video out, this one's for the hardest button to button.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:36 PM |

blogs blogs blogs blogs.


Daily Kos mentioned the other day that the Democratic National Committee now has a blog. i went and checked it out myself as i'm always on the lookout for good "left"-y blogs - and it's now part of my bookmarks. make it part of yours today:

DNC: Kicking Ass

(i'm not kidding. that's the title of their blog.)
they have great daily content on the bush administration.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:10 PM |

just a little faster now.


go and order the ikea 2004 catalogue.
(this one's for the canadian site)

they also have an online version of the catalogue on that page. go check it out.

**

btw, speaking of once upon a time in mexico, of course the film was made before the war in iraq (the bulk of it anyway) but one really can't help but draw some amazingly clear lines between the two on the main story plot point of the film: people standing up for themselves and taking back their country - the people's country - against a coup d'état by a military force.

pretty startling stuff.

the dead are rising.

you know what? i'm finding that there's a lot of stuff to like in that film.

**

can someone please get me this:
the silver mt. zion memorial orchestra & tra-la-la band "this is our punk-rock," thee rusted satellites gather + sing,

thank you.

**

oh, i almost forgot about this one.
chad kilger (from the montreal canadiens) got hit in the eye during training camp. he's probably gonna lose his left eye over this. how fucking freaky is this?? i couldn't believe it when i heard it.

thanks to tenorman for the reminder.

the canadiens start their season october 9th in ottawa (and then on the 11th they're in toronto). very cool.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:58 AM |

a robert rodriguez flick.


so i went and saw me some Once Upon a Time in Mexico tonight.
if nothing else, robert rodriguez is always a lot of fun. a thousand times more entertaining and pure than the normal hollywood fare. that's why i go to him and trust him.

the film is violent. truly. astoundingly so.
and the effects are amazing for a bootleg film like this one - inventive and creative.
it makes you laughs, makes you squirm, makes you giddy with pride and joy.

and there's an actual story to the film.
a complex one, too. but it's not fucked up just to be hip, you know. it has a point. a history.

johnny depp just knows what to do with a camera. he can do anything.

and hurrah for eva mendes for proving me right in that she doesn't necessarily want to be the 'next hot thing' but a working actress.

well, that's pretty much it, really.
guitars, violence, shoot 'em ups.
bravado galore - but without the arrogance that sinks most action films.

it's a cool and fun film. remember how fun Dusk till Dawn was to watch? this one has that.
i don't know how robert does it, really. he just infuses a lot of fun spirit in his films. it seems so effortless to him.

i won't be staying up nights dreaming about the impending dvd but it's one hell of a ride if you're into it.

ps. enrique iglesias does not screw the film up.
i'd read that somewhere but he actually gives a performance other than 'enrique iglesias'.

pps. bravo to robert for putting the most infectious manu chao song in one scene. yummy.

ppps. beef: no Kill Bill trailer before the film.
woulda been fitting.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:34 PM |

well, when he's not drinking or snorting coke, he's lying, so...


we should have seen this coming - earlier this year bush took the only good decision of his whole presidency and said he was giving africa $15 billion for emergency aids relief.
that wasn't the whole truth.

even though i 'knew' it was based more on appearances than out of a genuine sense of compassion ("compa-wha?"), i can't believe he'd actually go back - after appearing in front of the world with this (one and only) generous and positive action - and change things behind our collective back.
now how does that make him look, really? i mean, he could've just said he was giving them $10 billion in the first place and he woulda been King Boy to everyone.
what the fuck's wrong with this presidency?


i want to take this opportunity to point out two relatively new sites today:

moveon.org's misleader.org
dick gephardt's a miserable failure

Posted by Anonymous | 10:34 AM |

a reality for montreal.


yep. it's now official official -- bowie's playing the montreal bell centre saturday december 13th (tickets on-sale september 29th at 10 am).

Posted by Anonymous | 11:18 PM |

my bitches.


i think everyone should go read this article right now as it poses some very interesting questions about the bush administration and what happened on 9/11:

the philadelphia daily news - "why don't we have answers to these 9/11 questions?"

Posted by Anonymous | 1:07 PM |

watching the sunday morning political talk shows.


i caught the george stephanopolous show this morning and towards the end they introduced a new segment (i assume) called "the funnies" in which they show the best political punchlines from the previous week's late night tv shows.

here's the best stab at the iraq mess i've heard on national american tv yet:

"President Bush is asking Congress for $80 billion dollars to re-build Iraq.
And when you make out that check, remember there are two L's in Halliburton."

David Letterman

here's where i finally managed to find the quote (a very cool archival page that just earned itself a top spot in my links section on the right): late-night political jokes and funny quotes (updated daily)

Posted by Anonymous | 12:30 PM |

fucking with nature.


greenpeace obtains smoking-gun memo: white house/exxon link | 09.09.03

Posted by Anonymous | 10:47 AM |

media bias.


it's about the people who import the drugs from canada - it sure as hell not about the highly-inflated prices the u.s. drug companies get away with. no, not that...

move on, please.

it's always about terrorists creating fear - but the very same tactics are being used on a daily basis by the bush administration and the media doesn't seem to want to see it.

you see what you wanna see.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:22 PM |

hurt...


johnny cash is dead.

and john ritter got ill on the set of 8 simple rules and was rushed to the hospital -- and he fucking died!

this is a weird-ass morning.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:14 PM |

providence.


whoa.
i just witnessed one peculiar sight on cnn.
i caught rumsfeld giving a live speech when you hear a woman scream something off to the side.
rumsfeld turns to listen, and, lo and behold, the cnn camera turns to two women on a balcony (inside the conference room) with a sign saying 'bloody hands' with red handprints all over.
the women tell rumsfeld that this war unjustified (or something like that). the cameras are still rolling and no one's stopping them at this point, which was mesmerizing to me. and they start asking rumsfeld when the troops are coming back because they're dying out there, etc. she managed to get all of that in. amazing.

they white house must be thankful it was rumsfeld up on the podium and not the idiot president.
he let them talk and they were escorted out.
rumsfeld came back with talk about iraq and how now there's free press with 100 newspapers over there, etc etc.
he said they was free speech, something they hadn't had in years -- all of this while the two women were briskly escorted out of earshot ...

uh..........hypocrisy, anyone?

but you can bet your sweet ass this is gonna be replayed over and over.
i hope so.
and i hope it won't be 'two women disturb rumsfeld speech'. i hope the banner and their message is gonna be given at least 10 seconds on the air.
open up your eyes, america.

that was something. :)

Posted by Anonymous | 1:44 PM |

i'm sending him a 4 page letter


this is just the best quote. i couldn't pass it up:

"If you voted for Bush you can't take a dump here. Your asshole is in Washington."
- Men's room Outback Steakhouse, Tacoma, Washington

posted on bartcop.com.

***

this is the day, folks. go get your 24 - the complete second season box set -- now.
today's the day.
have fun.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:06 AM |

give me your poor.


he said he needed $87 billion ...
i was actually speechless. me -the jaded/hate to watch him get to talk to the nation with no one arguing from the other side- gasped when he mentioned the number. that was suicide. we wanted honesty, but this was a little bit too honest.
wow.

he'll definitely need his jack daniels tonight and for the next couple of days.

shit.
$50 - maybe $60 - billion was what we were going for.
but $87 billion???
thank you, mr bush. your speech was boring as hell but this will blow you out in tomorrow morning's newspapers.
thank you.

and i missed the very beginning of the speech -- did he even mention the u.s. economy??

and he had that fucking dear-in-the-headlights look on.
but the smirk made a special appearance when he started talking about good ole american pride.
i wanted him to give in and grin from ear-to-ear. but no. he won't give me that satisfaction.
rove must've been standing behind him with a prodding rod or something.

oh, just one point i wanted to make.
i kept seeing the bush administration doing the weekend tv rounds and saying that winning the war in iraq is central to the war on terror.
well, duh - of course it is, you jumped right in before thinking and now it's a cesspool for terrorists who want your ass. you can't pull out now.
you started this fight. 9/11 had nothing to do with it.

never forget - these guys started this invasion as the whole world stood against it and said no.
never forget this when they keep saying that more money is needed.
this war on terrorism is a monumental disaster. a fake war. and a failure even at that.

how many terrorist attacks do you remember happening on u.s. soil in the last 20 years?
there were no pre-emptive strikes against "terrorist nations" and the u.s. seemed like a pretty safe place to me.

just remember this in 2004.
please.
we are counting on you.
the world is counting on you.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:24 PM |

no lines are drawn.


"messiah's need people dying in their name"
tori amos, pancake

president bush is gonna talk to the nation tonight at 8:30 eastern. be there.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:47 PM |

wtf? ... there was a blackout??

let's see if i can remember how to do this.
i feel the need to apologize for not updating the blog this past week.
you see, netscape 7.1 doesn't really like windows 98. in fact, it simply crashes it. and they don't tell you that when you're about to download this puppy.

so, here i am. a week later, but i'm now working with mozilla (which, btw, is not a good idea to install on top of the faulty netscape. keep that in mind when you try it at home).

so, to recap - if you find yourself in the same situation as i was last week, netscape freezes your windows and there's nothing to do but to reboot every fucking time. this is due to a resource leak that netscape creates and can't shut off.

here are some good starting points to solving your crappy combination:
resource leak - netscape 7.1
"netscape uses up all my resources"

what worked for me - delete as many superfluous programs from your taskbar as possible. they use up resources.
then open up your windows resource meter < start. programs. accessories. system tools. resource meter. >, this will become your best friend against computer-assisted suicide. this helps you understand how your resources are used.

i haven't had any problem with mine since i did my little clean-up. an extremely quick and easy solution to a supremely frustrating problem.

**

great article about the iraqi governing council: body and soul: look what i found in the cabinet

**

biggest news of the past week for me (that i don't really feel into great detail over) -- my brother surprised the hell out of me monday. he drove the fuck through canada for 3 days to come and see me :) we hadn't seen each other in well over 18 months. my mother just spent 10 days with him over there and she picked him up in montreal after she landed.
there's nothing like spending time with your brother to remind you about who you really are. great times, i tell ya. and a huge confidence booster for me.

the bands on the left (hey, look at me, i'm listening to emo) that have no album titles next to them are my brother's. they're cd-r's and they don't have titles on them so i don't know which album they are but i'm really liking tommy guerrero.

**

canned laughter: bush will be "speaking" to americans tonight (sunday).
get your dictionaries ready.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:09 AM |