Author: foxtongue

I just wanted to see adrian brody punch more dinosaurs

I’m finding the newest Predators movie bizarre, as the formulaic genre pick-them-off is more than a teensy bit hilarious, (really, you just pulled out his entire spine with bonus! attached skull, okay then, and your leader wears a plastic goth-lego helmet with gold teeth on it, uh-huh), yet slathered with genuine moments of spookiness. Not what I was expecting.

p.s.
The Social Network aka the facebook movie:
1. I had no idea I’m only two degrees away from Mark Zuckerberg.
2. WTF is up with that freakishly shallow portrayal of women!! For reals, people. Sad!

p.p.s.
Yes, this is my literacy level at 4 a.m. I have a detailed and complex reduction of the various issues, but not the wherewithal to care enough to shove myself into the wakeful mental state required to properly unpack and spell them all out. Not that there’s anything wrong with “reals”, because there isn’t. At all.

p.p.p.s.
I mean, seriously, fail! It didn’t even, at bare minimum, pass the Bechdel Test.

p.p.p.p.s.
Beautifully shot though. Breathtaking. Truly masters of the craft. Fingers crossed that such movies will put an end to the loathesome blue/orange oversat nightmare that’s cursed this decade.

EDIT: Aaron Sorkin explais the misogyny.

whipping couch potatos

  • The furthest you can get from a McDonald’s in the continental United States is 115 miles.
  • Costco now offers a 12 month survivalist food supply for 1 person, on sale now for for $800.
  • Neiman Marcus is selling edible life-sized gingerbread play houses, complete with interior lollipop tree, for $15,000.00.

    As part of a resolution to attempt to get more exercise, now that I’m an unemployed blob that hardly leaves the apartment, I’ve joined HealthMonth, a beta stage on-line game that let’s you choose customizible health rules and then tracks your progress as you follow them through a month, (or don’t). My rules are fairly simple: Exercise for at least 30 minutes three times a week; write 750 words in a journal four times a week; and Ride my bike at least 20 miles a week. My progress is a little spotty, as I forgot about it until now, a full week in, and I should have chosen one of my rules better, as due to my glasses, I can’t bike in rain, (one of the more unfortunate side-effects of Octoberism). Instead I should have made a rule about my diet, as all I’ve been eating at home are microwavable cup-a-noodles, an entire Costco flat of them. On the plus side, food has been entering my body at regular intervals, on the other, even I have to admit that’s an extremely shoddy definition of “food”.

    Speaking of food, Esme recently introduced me to the most pornographic food blog I’ve ever seen, Tastespotting, a Trendspotting for your mouth and belly. Just scanning the page starts saliva flowing, as well as the profound desire to push technology to the point where it’s possible to to reach through the screen and pick up delicious baked goods. Nom. It’s not as internet classic as whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com, or as useful as Recipe Matcher, which makes suggestions based on what ingredients you have, but it’s certainly more inspiring.

    • if my seed will find purchase in your soil

    Cleaning: Boxes of misc. need to be sorted, tidied, reintegrated into my room.
    Driving: Signed up for Young Drivers of Canada classes, Oct 13th – Nov 8th.
    Education: Social Services may pay for a First Aid certificate, but not school. Need to research student loans.
    Employment: Still on welfare. Still applying to everything possible. No recent job prospects or call-backs, no upcoming interviews.
    Finances: Income = rent minus $25. Immediate Debt = $9000. Approx. complete and total debt = $27,500.
    Health: Degloved toe is almost better, with the possibility it may not even scar. Need new contacts.
    Photography: Continuing to slowly finish Foxtongue.com, update Etsy store, Thread of Grace.
    Repairs: All hard-drives are with Tony, being backed up. Coat rack still broken.
    Taxes: Need to have an accountant double-check my paperwork.

    -::-

    Tony and I have reached a new place in our relationship. Gone are the stressful plans to move me down there, fighting the system for permits, trying to game immigration. Instead he’s decided to start looking into moving back to Canada, the country that birthed him, until I can find a way to sharpen my skills to the point when I can claim a job in the United States. Of all the options available to us to live together, it seems the easiest way. Microsoft has appropriate work for him here and David and I are willing to shuffle everything required to make him fit. It’s been a rough direction for me, as it feels like defeat, like I’m giving in to this horrible city, but I’m trying to remain optimistic. No matter how much I hate it here, wherever we’re together is automagically a better place, so already I’ve been making a list of what furniture will need to go, as well as what I’ll need to forge myself a border-crossing future.

    To start, I’ve been researching available classes, the sort that would give me a foundation of skills upon which to build an actual career. Painfully, the only one that I’ve found that teaches precisely what I want to learn is a year long VanArts course with the currently insurmountable price-tag of about $35,000 once basic living expenses are added in. $35,000 is a terrible lot of money, especially while unemployed. If I had that kind of dosh sitting in a bank account, I could easily put a down payment on a cute little house in Seattle and be done with it. Alternatives, however, are tricky to come by, as the only local school/course that’s better costs the same plus the expense of moving to the Comox Valley, which is even more beyond my means. (Unless I attempt to live with my not-actually-aunt who wants me to have her baby.) So the next step is looking into student loans and what sort of financing is available, as well as attempting, somehow, to teach myself some of the skills required, even though I don’t have those resources either. Yes, this last week has been full of terror, why do you ask?

    Tomorrow I’m attending an information session for the tuition-free BCIT Business Skills Training Program, with intent to enroll. In a perfect world, it will help everything fall in line. Training that leads to a job that leads to enough money to pay for school that leads to a better job that pays enough for me to leave Vancouver. Talk about a happy ending.

    there is no such thing as too much devotion

    Crash Test Dummies Crash Test Dummies

    At my insistance, Tony and I blew off all of our other plans to go to the Crash Test Dummies concert at the Chan last night, which turned out to be an acoustic show promoting their new album, Ooh Lah Lah, the first music they’ve released in six years. (Also for sale, Ellen Reid’s out-of-print opus, Cinderellen, which we also scored. Purr.)

    It was epic. I am inspired.

    Oh my stars.

    That is all.

    VIFF is love

    The Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off this week, running from September 30 – October 15. I haven’t given the VIFF Film Guide & Schedule my usual care this year, but I’ve managed to find a number of interesting films through word of mouth, with thanks especially to Andrew and Keith. If there’s anything you think I might fancy that I don’t have listed, please feel free to make suggestions.

    Sat, Oct 2nd: Win/Win, 10:45 am, Empire Granville. The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy, 10:45 am, Pacific Cinematheque. The Red Chapel, 12:30 pm, Empire Granville, (rush only). Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, 9:45 pm, Empire Granville.
    Sun, Oct 3rd: The Red Chapel, 10:45 am, Pacific Cinematheque. The Sleeping Beauty, 6:40pm, Empire Granville.
    Mon, Oct 4th: Ride, Rise, Roar, 9:30 pm, Empire Granville.
    Tue, Oct 5th: Turn It Loose, 1:15 pm, Empire Granville. Into Eternity, 3 pm, Empire Granville.
    Wed, Oct 6th: The Sleeping Beauty, 10:30am, Empire Granville. Transfer, 9:15 pm, Empire Granville.
    Thu, Oct 7th: Transfer, 1:15 pm, Empire Granville. The Sleeping Beauty, 4:15pm, Empire Granville.
    Fri, Oct 8th: Into Eternity, 1:50 pm, Empire Granville. Win/Win, 4:00 pm, Empire Granville.
    Sat, Oct 9th: My Words, My Lies – My Love, 9:00 pm, Empire Granville. Into Eternity, 9:30 pm, Vancity Theatre.
    Sun, Oct 10th: Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, 11:00 am, Vancity Theater. Ride, Rise, Roar, 2:30 pm, Empire Granville.
    Mon, Oct 11th: My Words, My Lies – My Love, 3:00 pm, Park Theater.
    Tue, Oct 12th: Ride, Rise, Roar, 6:40 pm, Empire Granville.
    Thu, Oct 14th: The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy, 9:30 pm, Empire Granville.
    Fri, Oct 15th: The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy, noon, Empire Granville. The Illusionist, 9:45, Empire Granville.

    Of everything listed, the one I’m most invested in is The Illusionist, a film I’ve been enchanted with since the trailer leaked on-line last spring. “Based on an unfilmed screenplay by Jacques Tati, Sylvain Chomet’s animated follow-up to his worldwide triumph The Triplets of Belleville is a less manic and even more beautifully realized story of a down-on-his-luck magician in the 1950s and the young girl who is innocent enough to be spellbound by his talents. A true gem of whimsy and melancholy, graced by an extraordinary musical score.”

    this weekend tis of geek

  • 50 years of cyborgs: I have not the words.
  • First footage of this year’s Dr. Who christmas special.

    I had the excellent luck of sharing the train back to Vancouver from Seattle with Cherie yesterday morning, as she happens to be the Guest of Honor at Vcon this weekend. It was a delightful treat to see her again, it’s been wretchedly long since we’ve cut up a dance floor. She’s been too busy promoting her steampunk novel, Boneshaker, and being nominated for the Hugo to be social. Luckily, with such delightful reasons for absence, the heart can only grow fonder. The sequel, her latest book, Dreadnought, just dropped this week, and I’d recommend snagging as soon as you can. I brought Boneshaker to Burning Man and read it three times just on the ride there.

    I’m also going to be attending Vcon this year for the first time. So many friends are involved that it’s more than a little silly that I’ve never been. (For example, Micheal, the fellow that picked Cherie and I up from the train station, brought us to my place, interviewed her, then took us for lunch, turned out to be Pauline’s father, because Vancouver is small and the sci-fi geek population even smaller than that.) It starts this afternoon and goes until Sunday, with a Steampunk themed dance on Saturday night.

    • cleaning and driving lessons, satisfaction and fear

    A user’s guide to websites, part 1: If it wasn’t broken why fix it?

    Last day in Seattle, I’m using it up the best I can, tidying the chaos, taking on the bedroom, battling the entropy Tony’s apartment seems to have developed in my absence. (This entire trip has been well spent: conquering the post-burning man disaster, finally introducing Tony to Jake Appelbaum, running into Rafael, bringing a successful dinner to newly-pregnant Becca…) It comforts me, seeing how much of my influence is still embedded here, even as I’ve been feeling shut out, trapped in Canada, by sickness, injuries and finances.

    So far I’ve unearthed six full loads of laundry, a number of books we’ve been meaning to read, two previously buried suitcases, two large boxes of miscellany, a full length mirror, a bed canopy, and the floor. Also, I must admit, a significant amount of housewifely satisfaction. There’s a possibility that he may not notice how much effort I put into improving his surroundings, but it brings me comfort anyway, just to be able to give back.

    I also signed up for driving lessons with Young Drivers of Canada today. My mother’s ex, Pat, offered a few months ago to pay for driving lessons, and now that I’m on the dole, I can afford to take the time to follow through. My first class is on Wednesday, October 13th, somewhere out by Metrotown, and continue for a total of eight classes, Monday and Wednesday evenings, until November 8th. I’m vaguely terrified, given that cars are big, speedy, heavy death machines, but on the other hand, if that idiot down the street who catcalls me at the bus-stop can learn to drive, so can I.