Went to see Transformers at the Drive-in last night with Ray. (Damn that Michael Bay.) It rained a splash, but it worked out well for us.
We could shout at the screen all we wanted and not bother anyone.
Month: July 2007
play, watch, erase and rewind : an exercise in memory
Fifteen after one in the morning, the phone rings.
“Hello.”
“Hallo. How are you?”
“I just got in about ten minutes ago. How’re you?”
“I am drunk beyond my capacity for being drunk.”
“That sounds dreadful.”
“Why’s that?”
“You have work tomorrow morning.”
“That’ll be fine. It’s inconsequential.”
“Are you still staying the night?”
“Am I welcome?”
“Of course you are. How long will it take you to get here?”
“Well, that depends on if I walk or if I drive.”
“Didn’t you just say you were incredibly drunk?”
“I believe it was the first thing I said.”
“Then you certainly shouldn’t be driving. I vote you walk.”
“Well, I don’t have a vehicle, so that rules out driving. My consolation is that I’m only about a half hour walk away. However, if I convince someone to drive me, I might only take ten minutes.”
“Ah, well, if it makes you feel better, it’s only a fifteen minute walk, not half an hour.”
“Good to know. I’m still going to try to expedite matters though.”
“I’ll stay up for you. Try not to wake my roommate with the bell, instead shout up to the window as quietly as you can.”
“Alright, I’ll do that. See you soon.”
“See you soon.”
The phone is placed back in its cradle. Almost aloud, she says to herself, “that man is stupidly erudite for someone so blitzed.”
our production meeting went past midnight.
How William Gibson discovered science fiction.
He sits on my bed, talking to his mother on the phone, his car keys plugged into my computer, taxidermy birds at his feet, familiar with my room. I have already met his scientist father and taken pictures of them both. Possibly this makes me uncomfortable.
We have been reacquainting ourselves after six years apart in the same city. It has been interesting, though unexpected. We are very different people than when we first spent time together in the almost perpetual darkness of the constant heaven threatening raves and parties that we used to work at. (We met, like Shane and I, (and Jacques and T. Paul), as part of the first incarnation of C.R.’s Fr8-train Land.) I think we have far more in common now than we ever might have then.
Perched on the roof of his truck, we watched the night occlude the city from Spanish Banks and discussed stars and noise, art and engineering, information architecture, and how to wire lights to make bursts of sound, constellations of old ideas polished into new. When we drove back into town, swaggered into the bar, and kidnapped Shane to star-crash on my couch, it was like we completed a circle that took almost a decade to make.
Human After All.
History begins now.
At work, my boy haunts the hallway from months in the past. A reflection of when we sat here over our greasy chinese picnic and laughed over chopsticks and our mismatched everythings. His eager grin and long legs folded, the mischief in his eyes conspiring against my cleverness. It’s difficult to be there some days. I catch my ears bent listening and I almost have to close my eyes against the superimposed image of his voice sitting next to me. He’s hung up the mirror-ball I gave him for his birthday and sent me a picture from L.A. It looks like the perfect accessory. As consolation, it beats a drum within me like the clapper in a bell. We had a good thing. He remains the happiest part of my dreams.
Robert Silverberg on Philip K. Dick.
These long summer evenings have been both good and bad for me. I’ve been getting up early, it being too sticky hot to stay in bed, but as the day molasses crawls down the windowpane of the sky, I don’t feel I’m accomplishing as much as I could be. I want to be as busy as sin, not living this meandering odd-jobs existence I seem to be dreaming up daily. Tuesday I’m on set again, but I haven’t heard about call-times yet. It’s still too early to say. My flashing re-boot of a film career is suffering from the drop in the American dollar. Crews are being pared down. It’s not as cheap to shoot here as it was five years ago. I’ve been keeping my fists up, but it proves to be difficult. The industry’s not being kind to any of us. It might be time to side-step into the Jolt and Doritos fuelled modern fortress of video games, like James wants me to.
William Gibson explains why science fiction is about the present.
Tillie’s love’s playing in this
waterfight flashmob
Saturday, July 14, 2007
1:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Stanley Park
Yahoo Maps
Google Maps
event takes place at the Lumbermans arch/kids waterpark in Stanley Park
Stanley Park Drive
Vancouver, British Columbia
London, Frankfurt, Scotland, Toronto and Victoria are having their waterfights as well. There have been over 3400 RSVPs to this event so it might be a record turnout. Weather forecast for tomorrow is scorchio so it’ll be a great way to cool off.
MORE DETAILS HERE
yahoo events
facebook events
flashmob on facebook
BASIC RULES
DRESS PROPERLY
Bikinis, shorts, water wings, whatever. You’re going to get drenched so don’t be bringing nothing you don’t want getting all wettified.
NO DYES IN THE WATER
Don’t want to be permanently screwing up anyone’s clothing and/or the pavement. That’s vandalism. We want fun.
NO REAL LOOKING GUNS
Don’t want the cops coming and arresting suspected terrorists. Make sure your water guns are brightly-coloured, transparent, what-have-you.
RESPECT NON-COMBATANTS
This is only for people that want to take part. Don’t attack innocent bystanders. Let’s not ruin it by making kids cry and parents angry or something like that. : )
PICK UP AFTER YOURSELF
If you bring water balloons and the like, make sure to clean up the shreds as best you can. We want to leave the area clean, wet, and happy.
CAMERAS
If you bring a camera and participate, it will get wet and you will have an camera-shaped paperweight after the fight is over. There will be photographers present who’s sole job will be to stay out of the way of water and take pictures. Don’t risk your cameras if you want to take part.
Tickets up for grabs now!!
(x-posted from Duncan’s journal)
It’s that time of year again.
Boca Del Lupo is putting on another show. Last year, in Stanley Park, they performed the slavic fairy tale, The Shoes That Danced Themselves To Pieces. The cast was on ropes and pulleys and flew from tree to tree. The audience was led from site to site through the woods. The whole experience was magical.
In the Spring, they performed a Winterruption piece down in Granville Island about condominium apartment living. It was a wonderful idea and a pleasure to behold.
This August, they’re performing this lovely piece of work from August the 10th to the 25th on Squamish Reserve #6 underneath the Burrard Street Bridge near the Civic Marina. It’s FREE but you NEED TO RESERVE TICKETS. Opening night is already sold out.
Or The Bell Ringer of Our Lady of Peace
To celebrate its 10th anniversary season, Boca del Lupo will produce its fifth free, outdoor, all-ages roving spectacular this summer. With the generous support of Vancouver Opera, the Squamish Nation and a multi-talented cast and crew, Boca del Lupo will delight audiences with an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris set amongst the high foundational arches that support the Burrard Street Bridge.
The show is free but group sizes are limited and while we do take walk-ups, advance bookings are strongly advised. The best way to reserve a spot is to click on ->BOOK NOW<-, select a date, and fill out the required information. If you prefer the phone, please call 604.684.2622. Public bookings are available at 12:00pm on Wednesday July 11th, 2007.
First published over 150 years ago, Hugo’s story is just as pertinent today. With the recent Paris riots and the latest transgression of sanctuary to arrest an Iranian refugee from Vancouver’s own St. Michael’s Anglican Church, issues of immigration as they relate to civil rights and class are more relevant than ever.
It’s going to be great and I highly, highly recommend you all come out and see it at least once but ->BOOK NOW<-! Tickets went on sale ->TODAY<- and they’re already selling out. Remember, it’s ->FREE<- and ->AWESOME<-!!
Thank you. Spread the word. It’d be a shame to miss this great piece of Vancouver outdoor creativity. It needs to be encouraged.
EDIT: I have reserved 6 tickets for Wednesday, August 15 at 7pm.
there will be silence or there will be Words
I’ve just discovered that a friend’s girlfriend has completely destroyed the first piece of jewellery I ever made. In and of itself, that would mean very little. It was non-descript, a choker that didn’t generally deserve a second look. However, the pendant was the only thing I carried with me from Toronto, from Joseph, the first time I ever fell in love, the first time I ever discovered that I capable of being happy. It was transcendent, I had never properly smiled before, until then.
She took it to a park after he fell asleep and smashed it into pieces with a ball peen hammer because she believed her boyfriend was sending me love letters. (He wasn’t).
I am, shall we say, unimpressed.
She wasn’t the one to tell me, he was. He said he felt physically sick to see what remained after she was done. The leather had been cut, the metals scattered, the pendant twisted, all the stones pried out. I asked for the pieces back, only to discover that they may have been scattered wildly in a dirty park downtown. The only saving grace remaining is that perhaps, possibly, she kept the stones. He has begged a couple of days from me in which to bring it up with her, as he is almost certain she doesn’t realize what she’s done. Personally, I am failing to see it matters, but for our friendship, I’ve agreed, though I was loathe to do it. My immediate reaction is to find out the precise spot she did this and go comb the grass right away. That someone might come across one of my polished garnets is nigh unbearable. They are only polished because I wore them for so very long. I never should have allowed him to borrow it, I suppose, but trust is trust.
There are very few objects I have ever cared for, but this one little thing remained on the top of the list.