King Arthur Movie Tristan

There's something magical in those old Ingmar Bergman movies, something about the way he tells the story, weaves the narration that draws a viewer in. So many directors attempt it, so few have succeeded. Among them, 1957's Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället) has always been a favourite of mine.

Farväl herr Bergman.

Note: The amazing Michelangelo Antonioni (1912 - 2007) would pass on the same day.

Colby Cash has done an amazing write up on both deaths.

It's drug tainted and hard to like, but Alberto Contador is a likable winner. More specifically, it's easier to cheer for a guy who three years ago underwent "risky surgery and a long, painful road to recovery" after he was diagnosed a blood clot n his brain.

But I also like the way the tour threw out so many possible winners, the yellow jacket that signifies the tour leader sometimes seeming like a target rather than a symbol of success. But, hard as it seems now, and I know one cycling fan who is disappointed in the pro tour right now, the amount of riders booted from the tour should be good for the tour eventually. Every year it becomes clearer that doping is not the way to win the tour and sooner or later that information will sink in to the riders. Sooner or later the riders will decide on their own not to dope. As long as the tour, and the professional associations associated with biking, keep making it clear that no doping will be tolerated, doping will decrease in the sport. Eventually.

Meanwhile, anyone who thinks that sports should just legalize doping and we can cheer for whichever drugged up trotter coming up the straightaway at the Derby that we choose, should read this piece from the Freakonomics blog:

Why Legalizing Sports Doping Won’t Work

It’s worth considering, as the Tour de France practically grinds to a halt as one after another top competitor is removed from the race under suspicion of doping, whether we might just throw the doors of the pharmacy wide open and say have at it.

Or is that such a good idea? If we play Prometheus to cycling’s mortals, what happens?

First, let’s set aside two logistical problems.

One, not all cyclists dope, nor do they want to... Second, not all doping techniques are created equal...

Read the whole thing, it's a solid argument against opening the door to a "gladiator class" of athletics, including pointing out that even if you did open up the door, many doping techniques are also illegal, so you would have the same problem, you just moved the goal posts.

**warning spoilers**





Well, like the millions of other Potter fans, I've been eagerly awating the last installment of the wonderful story.

I had my copy on reserve and the only reason I couldn't go to the bookstore on Saturday at midnight when book 7 was officially released is because I was away on vacation. So late Sunday evening when I was finally back home, barely unpacked and off the plane, I asked hubby to drive me to Borders Books to get my copy.



It's been bittersweet reading it, since I knew this was the final one.
I finished reading it today since I took my time and enjoyed it.
I'm very happy with the ending. Yes, I was at tears twice while reading. But all in all, Rowling did an amazing job as usual.


In my previous post, click here to read

I had predicted a few things.

I was mostly wrong, but right about some! lol...but we were expecting 2 major deaths....instead there were 6 major characters deaths and more died that were not major characters in the books.

I always thought Snape was a good man....and yes he really was.
He's been my favorite Hogwarts teacher since I started reading HP and I was happy to see how it all ended with him.

I'll be reading book 7 again soon.



this book has also been reviewed by:

nymeth

Today's Sun media has a back and forth with Rachel Marsden and (supposed) democrat Bernie Goldberg, Doing the D.C. Dash, about the front runners for the next US Presidential election. No big deal there, but this line by Goldberg, in response to Marsden's comment that "those photos of Rudy Giuliani in drag... should freak out the enemy a bit":

I can picture Osama bin Laden sitting around the cave, checking out YouTube on the iPhone he just got at Crazy Ahmed’s Electronic Store in downtown Nut-Jobistan and saying, “Let’s see if I have this right, Zawahiri: Some bald guy running for president in the land of Satan puts on a dress, high heels and lipstick — in public! — and they say we’re crazy But you know what, Z? Just between us. He’s kind of cute. I hope he’s not Jewish.”

"Crazy Ahmed’s Electronic Store in downtown Nut-Jobistan." One of the funniest lines I have read in a long time.

When it comes to global warming, there are three questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Is the global climate warming?
2. Will it be catastrophic?
3. Is it anthropomorphic (man made).

If you answered no to any or all of the above questions, then continue on with life. If, however, you answered yes, yes and well... yes, STOP! what you are doing and fix it now.

You see, those who believe, they are coming, and they will try to change everything. And equivocators, who want to straddle the fence, are emboldening them.

How else to explain such a piece as Pat Watson's in todays Toronto Sun: Will It Be Your Money Or Your Life?

And sure we can assuage our guilt by throwing our empty plastic water bottles into the recycling bins and switching to compact fluorescent bulbs. But what we need to get into our "new" way of thinking is that trying to do the old actions with some slight new twist is not really going to turn this behemoth around. It's not recycling bottles and plastics that will really help, but not using them at all.

Plastic -- and there are myriad products made from it -- is a petroleum by-product. And while it has revolutionized the consumer industry, it has put us in all kinds of peril. Take a look at the rising incidence of cancer worldwide and the relationship between that and the chemicals found in plastic products.

What is so frustrating is there is a critical mass emerging that wants change and wants to change, but the system of our lives is so tied to subsequent environmental damage that it will take more than separating our garbage into different bins to make it happen.

Critical Mass emerging? That's you equivocators. Eliminate plastic, even though it has revolutionized, not just the consumer industry, but the world. (What is the consumer industry anyway?) But the worst is yet to come:

In this 21st century we face a real fork in the road that in truth really means we would have to completely change the way we exist on Earth.

It means not wanting or giving value to the things we used to. It means pantyhose can no longer be an option for looking well dressed. It means the use of nail polish has to end. It means no longer packaging water in plastic bottles. It means air travel as we now know it can no longer be seen as the way to go. It means when we talk about the advantages of hosting something like a grand prix race for two days we should have better reasons for allowing it and the kind of pollution that comes with it then it will bring an estimated $50 million to the city.

The main reason given for so much of why we cannot accelerate the changes to save the planet, and by extension our sorry selves, is it will be a shock to the (economic) system: Job losses, tax losses and the like.

Here's the thing, as if it's not too obvious: It's the way we are making money that is killing this planet and causing an increase in preventable diseases. So what's it going to be: Your money or your life?

See, no pantyhose, nail polish, air travel, car races (not to mention cars, which she somehow neglected, but it's the obvious end result).

So what is it going to be people, your way of life, your ability to feed your family, or save the planet from yourself and your family?

There is no fence here. People like Pat Watson want to take away everything you have, and will succeed if we just sit around waiting for it to blow over.

The boomer generation has created financial havoc in their wake since they entered the workforce. The 70's small car boom can be attributed to a huge number of young workers, needing inexpensive transportation, as much as the oil crisis of that decade. In the 80's housing prices began to jump, as the boom generation started spending their earnings on housing. Add in, for the first time, double income families, and it's no surprise housing prices skyrocketed. and other than a correction somewhat in the early 90's, they have fairly consistently risen since.

The 90's saw the price of health care skyrocket, and the stock market has been strong since the '87 crash, with the exception of the implosion of the dot-com bubble.

I have long believed that the stock market will crash badly sometime between 2012 and 2017 as boomers remove their retirement money from the market, into safer havens and to finance their retirements. Huge amounts of money leaving the market can only cause a crash, and the only possibility of saving it, as one financial analyst once argued with me, is the addition of pools of inheritance money into the market.

But no doubt, where the boomers money goes, so goes our economic activity. It is with this in mind that I point out a brilliant piece by Andrew Coyne, From 2037, a cautionary tale, in today's National Post. His argument? A pension crisis, a health care crisis, a rising deficit, rising taxes and "youth flight." All serious possibilities, and as he points out, all foreseeable and predictable.

His medicine? Improved productivity through better facilitation of labour and capital movement, and adding competitive forces to infrastructure improvement. All sound ideas, all would cause the left to go ape. And Coyne is right, without such medicine, Canada is heading for some serious problems.

Congratulations to Queen guitarist Brian May, who on Wednesday received his Ph.D. in Astrophysics.

The guitarist began his thesis in 1970, but back-burnered the project when he got busy being a rich/famous/brilliant guitarist.

For great reading, by the way, visit Brian May's website, and specifically his blog, or soapbox, as they call it.

Interesting there is a couple of posts re: Toronto in his July posts, including one entitled RIP Ed Mirvish.

Back in March, my posts fell off the Blogging Tories aggregator. No reason given, no reply to e-mails I sent. Ne response, even, from this post:

Is there anybody out there who is on good terms with Stephen Taylor or Craig Smith, who run the Blogging Tories? My posts have not been showing up on their aggregator for three weeks now, and I can't get a response as to why. I have e-mailed both guys three times, but never a reply, and no solving of the problem.

So it was with interest I read this weekend that Halls of Macademia had been "blackballed from the Blogging Tories aggregator...", and by today had been re-instated.

I received an email from Stephen Taylor at Blogging Tories early this morning, letting me know that I have been reinstated.

An e-mail from Stephen Taylor? What makes him so F***ing special?!?

So this morning I sent a note to Stephen Taylor myself:

Hi Stephen.

I have been following the issue of access to the BT aggregator. My blog, At Home in Hespeler (http://www.hespeler.blogspot.com/) has been off the aggregator for months now. I have e-mailed previously about this, but received no reply, either from you or Craig Smith.

Is it possible to get reinstated on the aggregator, please. If not, please remove me from the blogroll, as I really don't like being a partial member of the BT's. Either way, if it's not too much trouble, could you let me know what your response is.

I eagerly await response, but it may be time for At Home in Hespeler to move on to a new phase. I will keep you updated.

Update: Everything is now sorted out and back to normal. Thanks to Stephen Taylor for getting this sorted out.

From a Liberal Party of Canada mailer:

There’s no question that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives’ $22.8 million cuts to arts programs like the Public Diplomacy Program (PDP) and international arts touring are putting at risk thousands of artists’ livelihoods and are hurting our arts and cultural community.

Last week at a roundtable discussion with arts and culture groups like the Writers’ Union of Canada, Mr. Dion pledged to restore the full $22.8 million cut by the Conservatives.

What is it that makes politicians think the Government of Canada, and specifically the Taxpayers of Canada, owe artists a livelihood? And as William Watson points out in today's Financial Post:

The real reason our governments pay out all these subsides is not pseudo-scientific economic calculation but naked political fear of offending lovers of jazz or comedy or fast cars, or the hundreds of other different activities modern governments subsidize. Wouldn't it make more sense if we all used our own money to directly support the activities we each favour?

And if some artist can't create a livelihood under those conditions? Hey, there's an oil patch out in Alberta that has all sorts of livelihoods available.

1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq .
2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!
3. Noah built the ark in Iraq .
4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq
5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq !
6. Isaac's wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq !
7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq .
8. Jonah preached in Nineveh - Which is in Iraq .
9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel .
10 Amos cried out in Iraq !
11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem .
12. Daniel was in the lion's den in Iraq !
13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus hadbeen in Iraq also as the fourth person in the Fiery Furnace!)
14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the "writing on the wall"in Iraq .
15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq .
16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq .
17. The wise men were from Iraq .
18. Peter preached in Iraq .
19. The "Empire of Man" described in Revelation is called Babylon,which was a city in Iraq!

And you have probably seen this one: Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible.
But do you know which nation is second? It is Iraq !
However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible.
The names used in the Bible are Babylon , Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia .
The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris And Euphrates Rivers .
The name Iraq , means country with deep roots.
Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significant country in the Bible.
No other nation, except Israel , has more history and prophecyassociated With it than Iraq . And also, This is something to think about: SinceAmerica is typically represented by an eagle. Saddam should have readup on his Muslim passages... The following verse is from the Koran, (the Islamic Bible)
Koran ( 9:11 ) - For it is written that a son of Arabia wouldawaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be feltthroughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the peopletrembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eaglecleansed the lands of Allah; And there was peace.
(Note the verse number!) Hmmmmmmm?!

I work for Chrysler, and we are always told "buy Chrysler, it protects your job, it's good for your community &tc." We hear it from Chrysler, we hear it from the union. Makes sense, really.

Until now. Since Chinese Chery is going to be building cars that Chrysler will sell in North America, if I buy one of these "Chrysler" cars, aren't I supporting outsourcing my job? And isn't my community better served if I buy a Corolla, which is built here in Cambridge?

It seems the CAW has been awfully quiet on this one. C'mon Buzz, where's the guidance?

I have thrown Tater Tots, an orange, a shrimp ring, a donut and pickles at Gerry Nicholls and Rondi Adamson. They have countered in similar fashion, although that ice cream that Gerry threw was cold.

I mention this because both had columns in today's papers, Gerry in the Sun media, Vote For None of the Above, the first of a regular column this summer (and hopefully beyond). Rondi's is in the Globe, but is firewalled. However, I can report that I saw it, read it, thought well of it.

Congratulations to both of you for fine work, it is an honour to be allowed to throw Tandoori Chicken at you.

I got a head start and read On Writing A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King so far.


rating: five out of five:





Excellent! I'm a big S.K. fan. I became a bit obsessed with his books after I read 'Needful Things'. I've been hooked since then. I buy his books often, even if I just leave them on my bookshelf for reading later. He's the author I always go back to read and usually don't get disappointed...but he's also the author that pisses me off...ie: 'It', 'The Library Policeman' and 'Black House'. But I won't get into that right now. S.K. novels for me are like chocolate...I can never get enough.


Anyway, I read 'On Writing' and enjoyed it immensely. Some parts made me laugh out loud. S.K. talks a bit about his childhood, where he grew up, his family and about being a writer. Then he goes on to the actual process of writing, he gives his advice and mentions where he gets his ideas from for certain stories. I found it absolutely fascinating. Partly because I'm a S.K. fan but also because I'm a nosy person at heart. I like reading about others lives, if it is interesting enough, which this time it was. He dishes out some great advice in this book, even goes into grammar at one point and gives several examples as he goes along. He gives examples of bad writing verses good writing, he even gives a writing exercise at one point.
He shows how he edits his first draft and even goes into detail about being stuck by a car while going on his daily 4 mile walk.
I highly recommend this read, I didn't want to put the book down once I got started.
And I kind of felt like I got a lesson in writing as well. At the end he lists a few of his reading choices (Harry Potter included).

It's 10:48 Saturday night, I'm bored and decided to search for a few good memes....here they are:


******************************


thats my answer
Sleepy Saturday

So, tell us, do you do anything in particular just as you fall asleep?


For some bizzarre reason, I rub my legs on my mattress as I fall asleep.
I know that sounds odd, but I've done it as long as I can remember. I think it's the equivalent of a baby sucking it's thumb to fall asleep.




******************************


unconscious mutterings

I say, you think:

1. Partner ::
man


2. News ::
tv


3. Foam ::
water


4. Paycheck ::
money


5. Me ::
computer


6. Eight ::
number


7. Dairy ::
milk


8. Exciting ::
wow


9. Hockey ::
puck


10. Socialite ::
lady

******************************


daydreaming on paper


List celebrities about whom you do not want to hear another word.


OMG, where do I begin? :

1. Paris Hilton

2. Britney Spears


3. Jessica Simpson

4. TomCat





******************************



Writer's Digest Prompts


6/26/2007: It's your first time back to the grocery since the manager, in a not-so-kind manner, told you never to bring your kids into his store again. You're secretly relieved to have to leave them home with your spouse. Thirty minutes later, you return home--without groceries. Egg yolk is dripping from your hair, chocolate syrup is smeared across your shirt, and smashed produce is sticking to your shoes. What happened? You can post your response (500 words or fewer) here:




I wouldn't be surprised if this actually happend to me, as I often joke around and say that one day my children will get themselves banned from the grocery store.
here goes:


I went to the local grocery store on Saturday morning as I usually do, but this time I left the kids home with their father since the manager told me last weekend my kids are not welcomed there anymore. Well, as I drove to the store I kept thinking about how unjust it was of him to ask me to keep my children out of his store.
First of all, that is just insulting. So what if my kids tend to run around a bit and argue loudly? I always yell at them to stop. And I'm a regular at the store, you would think the manager appreciates my business. And this being a free country, he has no right to ask me to keep my children out of his store. By the time I arrived in the parking lot, I was a bit ill tempered. I parked the car, and walked inside the store. I didn't even bother to grab a shopping cart. I marched right up to the courtesy counter and asked the pimply faced girl wearing the green smock for the manager. She called him on the pager thingy and he arrived within a minute or two.




He looked at me through his large glasses with annoyed recognition. He resembeled a large insect. 'I just wanted to tell you that I will be contacting my lawyer about what you told me last week. I refuse to keep my children out of this store for no good reason, they are children for Christ's sake! If you think you can get away with telling me not to bring them here, you are dead wrong.' I said it all very slowy and loudly as if I was speaking to a senile person with hearing problems.

At this point a line of two people formed behind me, they watched me intently as did a few other customers in the store. 'Maam, do want you want. Your children can't behave themselves properly and as store manager I have to keep the peace in my shop.
It's not my fault you can't control them', he said stiffly and began to walk away.




He actually tried to tell me I can't control my own children, then walk away from me! Oh well, I can hardly be held responsible for what happened next.



'Excuse me!' I hollared as I turned around and grabbed a carton of eggs from the ladys cart behind me. I opened the styrofoam container and hurled 3 eggs consecutively right at mister bug eyes. He tried to avoid begin hit, but he only missed one egg. The other two hit him square in the chest.

Before he could say another word, I grabbed whatever I could get my hands on from the cart, which turned out to be chocolate cake fresh from the bakery section I'm guessing. I threw it as hard as I could at him as he was running away. It hit him square in the back and splattered all over his red button down shirt. 'Ha' I yelled, almost like a madwoman. Next thing I know, I grabbed a gallon of milk, opened it up, and attempted to pour it over his head. Instead I got some of it down the front of my blouse and the rest on the floor. I ran toward the exit, slipped and fell once on the spilled milk, which was also mixed with the cake and eggs I threw but made it to my car in no time.




I won't be going back to that store again, but now I feel so much better about it.





******************************






I even played my own meme, is that tacky?



randomness...feed your mind and your blog

week of July 8: Vacationing



I'll be going on vacation next week, so that inspires this weeks meme:

1. What is your favorite vacation spot?

Disney World



2. Would you rather drive or fly?
Fly, but I do like a good road trip once in a while.

3. Have you ever been on a cruise? Would you want to go on one?

I've never been on a cruise, and would like to go on one someday.

4. What has been your best/worst vacation?

I like vacationing where there's a beach. Last years Florida trip was alot of fun. I also love going to Puerto Rico.

5. How long do you think is long enough for a vacation?

1 week away from home is more than enough. 2 weeks away from work is heavenly.

6. Do you spend alot of money while on vacation? yes!
Do you buy alot of souvenires?
What's the coolest one you've gotten?
I love souvenires. Coolest might be my stuffed E.T. doll I bought at Universal Studios over 10 years ago.

7. If money were no object, where would you go on vacation?

Hmmm...Egypt to visit the pyramids, Hawaii....and of course Paris.




till next time...

From the Black Eyed Peas Will I Am, looking like he ran his hummer into a retard tree, at Goreapalooza (sorry, but I'm paraphrasing).

We have to force our corporations to make better products for us to consume.

OK, I'll start.

Dear corporate entity known as the Black Eyed Peas: please stop making shite music!

But really, I think Mr. Gore would say it's your responsibility to consume less.

Maybe Jack Layton is right, maybe the time to pull out of Afghanistan is right now. With polls constantly showing a majority of Canadians want our forces out of Afghanistan, with a Parliamentary majority making it clear that extension of the mission will not be supported, and with Stephen Harper saying a Parliamentary majority will be needed to extend the mission, why should anymore soldiers die in a lost cause?

Let me be clear. I support this mission, I think we should be there until the bitter end, however long that takes. I think Afghani's want us there, I think we are doing what's good and right and I think we are making Canada safer by being there.

The results of pulling out? Well, we lose, we are at greater threat. Those who pretend to understand history, and recite the mantra that we created these guys in the late 70's and through the eighties, need to understand this: We did not create them by helping them; We created them by discarding them as soon as they served our needs. Not finishing the job is what got us into this mess, much like not finishing the job in Iraq in the 90's opened us up to the current war there. Not finishing the job in Viet Nam led to Pol Pot's Cambodian massacres of the mid-late 70's, not finishing the job in Korea in the 50's led us to a world were an insane lunatic like Kim Jong-il has the bomb. Not finishing the job in Afghanistan will be a disaster. Anyone who doesn't think pulling out will increase, not decrease the terrorist threat in Canada, anyone who doesn't understand that these terrorists prey on the weak, and a pull out is a show of weakness, is an idiot of the simpering variety.

But we, as a country, seem determined to not finish the job. Yesterday six soldiers tragically lost there lives in Afghanistan. If it is a lost cause, then the tragedy is greater yet. And if it is a lost cause, then every soldier who dies hence will be that much more tragic.

So Jack Layton is right. If we aren't going to finish the job, then lets get out now.

After reading this quote in this story:

...one nudist I met offered me a tour. (He knew the area well -- he happens to also work for the NCC.)

I thought "thank God Gerry Nicholls isn't with them anymore."

Then I realized they meant the National Capital Commision, not the National Citizens Coalition.

Whew!

I finished reading Dean Koontz's 'The Husband'


Gardener Mitch Rafferty receives a cell phone call one afternoon from a stranger saying that his wife Holly has been kidnapped and that he has less than three days to come up with $2 million in cash. The kidnapper tells Mitch he must not involve the police or else Holly will be tortured slowly then murdered. Yikes!



Sounding good? It gets better. Mitch tries explaining that he is just a gardener and has no way of getting 2 mil, but then the kidnapper shoots a guy on the street just to make sure Mitch knows they are serious.



Once the police arrive, Mitch tries to seem calm and doesn't mention that his wife has been kidnapped. But the one detective doesn't seem too convinced.


As the story unravels, Mitch goes home to find he will be framed for his wifes murder if he tries to go to the police, since the kidnappers set up his home to make it seem Mitch murdered her.....


**********************************



It's a great read and I recommend it. I'm partial to Dean Koontz novels though.
I like the love story between Mitch and his wife. I also like the impossible scenario Mitch is in and how you wonder how the heck will he get 2mil for the ransom. I also like Mitch's background and how he is just a plain ol' good guy, even though he had such twisted parents.





rating : 4 out of 5