There’s a light on, in Toronto…

Mo’ money, no problems
As hurricane-force winds and rain tear their way through Bradford, I sit by with a smile and tally up the pledges I’ve raised for the Run For Canada tomorrow in Toronto. Thanks to many of you reading this, I’ve managed to raise $367.25 in support of Canadian amateur athletes.

So in no particular order, thank you very, very much to: Greta, Slava, Mandy, Laura, Tom and Marie, Chris (thanks again for taking my form around to others), Tammy, Andrew, Rob G., Tammie, Shirley, Brandon, Jaime, Luc, Edwin, Keith, Cynthia, Brenda, Josey, Michael, Sean, Jamie, Ian, Nancy, Blaine, Bev, Ward, Rob R., Chuck, Lisa, Paula, Clint, Ryan T., Ryan R., Susan, Derek, and everyone else who’s wished me luck.

So then, all that’s left is to escape the elements in town to get to Toronto to pick up my runners’ pack, and do the run tomorrow. Wish me luck, reader. Wish me luck.

Kickass lyric of the day

What’s all this talk about planning for the crisis
I’m not thinking like that at all
Smiling faces are like my Dionysis
I’m not thinking clear at all

Yeah as much as I can say, it’s hard for me to stay away
Ever and ever – yeah, as far as any eye can see
You’re looking pretty fine to me
Better and better, yeah, as far as I can tell
We’re on the road to brighter hell

The Watchmen, “Brighter Hell”

24 hours

Young man, old man… you ain’t better than the rest
So… wow. I woke up to this blinding pain in my neck on Sunday night, between 2:00-3:00 am, and ended up phoning Telehealth Ontario(the 24-hr nurses hotline) about it, but in the end only took a painkiller and was able to fall asleep.

Yesterday morning, I woke up without any real residual pain, and was able to drive Mikey and Jules to the station to take them home, but then the pain started coming back and culminated around lunchtime, with nausea, dizziness, and excessive sweating. So… off to the hospital.

I arrived at Southlake Regional Health Centre around 1:00 pm to begin what would be a 14-hr visit to attempt to discover the problem. All dizzy and pained, it was a day of firsts for me: my first IV, first CAT scan, first (and second, third) spinal tap, and first medical mystery.

For lack of a better place to start, it was treated as a migraine, but they were asking me a lot if I had a history (or family history) of aneurysms, heart problems like angina, if I’d ever had a heart attack or stroke, etc. I was pretty freaked out. In the end, there aren’t many answers, although I take some comfort in the fact that the CAT scan revealed no problems whatsoever and the lumbar punctures indicated no bleeding.

So… they gave me super-strong painkillers and discharged me, sometime around 3:00 am. Here’s hoping the problem will correct itself with time and medication, I guess…

Slava Ukraini!
About the only plus side to being at the hospital was the fact I got warded with my own television and was able to watch Ukraine conquer Switzerland out of the Round of 16. It all came down to goaltending prowess, and huge, huge props are owed to Ukrainian netminder Oleksandr Shovkovskyi for closing the door on every Suisse attempt, while his teammates humiliated Pascal Zuberbeuhler.

And not to be nasty, but I was especially happy watching Switzerland lose after being annoyed to hell all game by the Suisse team (and in particular, Ludovic Magnin #3) acting like a big bitch. But then, the only channel showing the game wasn’t in English, so I had no commentary to fall back on…

10K Run For Canada Countdown
Only 4 more days until I run 10K to raise money for Canadian athletes. Please click here if you are interested in sponsoring my effort. Cos even if I’m forced to walk it now, I’m still going to do it.

Kickass lyric of the day

I’m not sure what’s worse
The waiting or the waiting room
“You’re next sir” becomes a cruel taunt to you
Recycled air, the smell of sleep and disinfectant
Your god is a two door elevator

Do they even cure you (cut me open, drug me)
Or is it just to humour us before we die (repair all my defects)
If only we could heal ourselves…
We wouldn’t need to be hooked up to these machines.

Alexisonfire, “Accidents”

Everybody’s workin’ for the weekend.

My boy’s gonna play in the big leagues…
This weekend belongs to my baby brother Graeme, 13 years old, celebrating his bar mitzvah. My brother Mikey and his lady friend Julia came down all the way from Marathon, Ontario, to bear witness to the occasion as well.

While there, I was asked to do a reading during the event, and shot some video for my Dad. Exciting stuff. But what a party… as I’m not Jewish, it was interesting to be invited/included in such an event. Quite the cool thing.

Oh, and Graeme: I was zooming in on your face pretty much the whole time, so there’s some 45 minutes of you singing off-key and rolling your eyes. I enjoyed it very much, and hope that you will, too.

Afterwards, there was a seemingly endless supply of delicious food, and a very entertaining musical act whose name I don’t know. I will post back on that soon, excepting to say that it was impossible to keep my daughter still during the performace; she kept dragging me on to the floor to dance, and even joined the keyboard player (a lovely Romanian woman named Mena, or Mina, or something) for a song. She was truly priceless. I’m going to be harassing my father for photos of that very soon.

And then, of course, we retired back home to some drinking and tomfoolery. What a late night/rocky morning that turned into… but that seems like another story for another time.

Rated ‘M’ for ‘you Must be joking…’
So today was all about kicking back and taking it easy… and watching England eliminate Ecuador, of course. Inevitably, we ended up at the mall, and I decided to spend a gift card Mandy got for me by getting some video games at Toys R Us.

So after some careful scrutinization, I chose XIII (Thirteen), Constantine, and this one I’d never heard of called Siren - which I later found is going to be a movie by Spider-man director Sam Raimi – and the three cost some $10-$15 apiece, so good for me.

At any rate, all three games are rated ‘M’ (mature, 18+) and when I took them to the counter, well…

Dude: Are you over 17?
Me: What? Of course.
Dude: How old are you?
Me: I’m 24.
Dude (looks unconvinced): Do you have any photo ID?
Me (incredulous): You can’t be serious.
Dude: Seriously.
Me (produce license): Okay…
Woman (checks ID): That’s a different haircut than you have now…
Me: I know.
Woman (can’t find birthdate): Where is it?
Dude: There… 1982. Well… alright…

WTF? Maybe at times I look young, sure, but come on… there’s no chance I look SO young that such a situation should’ve taken place. It therefore descends below any level of flattery (and to be honest, I’m very rarely flattered when I get carded for anything) to sheer annoyance.

Please refer to Dante’s lesser known diagram of the levels of customer service hell, aka ‘all-of-our-operators-are-currently-busy-thank-you-for-your-patience-your-call-is-important-to-us-please-stay-on-the-line’ hell.

10K Run For Canada Countdown
Only 6 more days until I run 10K to raise money for Canadian athletes. Please click here if you are interested in sponsoring my effort. Otherwise, you know… quit wasting my time.

Kickass lyric of the day

Would things have changed if I could’ve stayed?
Would you have loved me either way?
Dressed to the blues, day to day
With my collar up…

Decision sits so make it quick
A breath inhaled from an air so sick
I cursed the day I had learned of the web you spun.

Coheed & Cambria, “The Suffering”

Olé, olé olé olé!

Beckham redeems himself
After several (very) disappointing free kicks, David Beckham was able to find the back of the net unassisted to give England a 1:0 lead over Ecuador. Hang in there, boys.

What a goal, too… what a goal.

Força! Força!

This is where I’d sing the Arsenal fight song, if I knew the words…
Man oh man, it’s hard not to get right into the craziness of the 2006 Fifa World Cup. It’s amazing to see how the world comes alive for this game – sure, Canadians love their hockey, but I think it’s safe to say we’re not as fanatic about our game as the rest of the world is about football.


Miroslav Klose, about to score against Ecuador.

And with the onslaught of matches to watch (the majority of which I’m unfortunately forced to miss due to my work schedule), another wonderful beacon of light appears on the horizon: the Fifa World Cup on Rogers On Demand.

As a regular digital cable subscriber, I have access to On Demand service, which features every football match of the tournament, any time of day or night, without commercials, completely free of charge. In fact, at this very minute I’m watching Spain own Ukraine, a match from last week.

So I needn’t miss any step along the way for my beloved England squad (although drawing with Sweden the other day was a bit of a surprise), and I can keep an eye on Ukraine, and any of the other teams that have caught my eye, namely Germany, a squad I hadn’t expected to be so very good (Go, Klose!).

So cheers, world. Be good to one another. Tip a pint with your mates and watch a game or two. ‘Tis the season for some great soccer (particularly since the Stanley Cup Finals are over, and the Cup has gone to yet another American team…)

Re:reading
I have to say, I’ve become quite fond of Dan Brown’s novels – which have been quite the pleasure after reading as far into the Harry Potter series as I dare – only I’m finding myself in the frustrating position of looking for something to read. Indeed, once I’m finished a couple of books by Anne Carson (Men In The Off Hours and The Beauty Of The Husband), I’ll face a horrible decision…

Should I read something by one of the authors Mandy really likes? Works by Sidney Sheldon, Mary Higgins Clark, Nicholas Sparks and the like don’t appeal too very much to me. Or will I end up re-reading some of the favourites I have lying around the house? War Of The Worlds, Brave New World, The Hobbit, etc., etc.

When it boils down, I need something fascinating to read. What say you, Slava? Vlad? Ian? I need some recommendations.

10K Run For Canada Countdown
Only 9 more days until I run 10K to raise money for Canadian athletes. Please click here if you are interested in sponsoring my effort. Cos if the situation were reversed, I’d sponsor you…

Kickass lyric of the day

Brave men tell the truth
A wise man’s tools are analogies and puzzles
A woman holds her tongue -
Knowing silence will speak for her

So now I’ll never know,
As you will only sleep beside me,
And everywhere I go…

Will remind, will remind, will remind me

Royksopp, “Remind Me”

"Smelling lilac… eating lilac!"

The boys of summer and co.
Although summer doesn’t officially begin until the arrival of the June solstice (this Wednesday night), you can always tell it’s summertime when Vlad, Slava and I get together and begin our yearly hijinx.

In celebration of Vlad’s birthday, we assembled in Vaughan and got right to work on drinking, eating wonderful foods (and desserts) and laughing about every little random thing. Oh, and watching a couple of World Cup matches. Poor Australia…

Luckily, Slava had his digital camera at the ready, and captured many of the memorable moments. Here are a few photos, as can be seen on his Flickr account.

I wanna say a word of thanks here too, to Vlad for inviting my family and I out to share his birthday with him. A total blast, as is most every time we hook up. And to Magda also – it was a pleasure meeting you. Here’s looking forward to a long summer of getting together. Cheers.

When in doubt, stuff in crotch.
I will never forget this. And I’ll see to it that Magda doesn’t, either.

When in doubt, put in crotch. That’s the way it is. I’m always putting things in my crotch… I get my hands full, and then I have to, you know? Don’t you put things in your crotch?

10K Run For Canada Countdown
Only 12 more days until I run 10K to raise money for Canadian athletes. Please click here if you are interested in sponsoring my effort. All the cool kids are doing it. Don’t you want to be cool?

Kickass lyric of the day

Listen.
I can’t make a sound or feel fine, I kissed the lies.
Why must they be so kissable?
Under the summer rain, I burnt away.

AFI, “Summer Shudder”

Another year older, another beer colder

Bonne fête
Happy birthday to Vlad. If you’re reading this, we’re looking forward to spending the weekend with you. All the best. I like this picture, by the way. Did I ever mention that?

10K Run For Canada Countdown
Only 17 more days until I run 10K to raise money for Canadian athletes. Please click here if you’re interested in sponsoring me. If you need convincing, leave a comment and I will crush you with dumbfounding rhetoric. Just cos I can.

Kickass lyric of the day

Airs and social graces, elocution so divine
I’ll stick to my needle, and my favourite waste of time
Both spineless and sublime

Since I was born I started to decay
Now nothing ever, ever goes my way.

Placebo, “Teenage Angst”

19 days and counting…

Great things for Canada
I’m going to use this platform as an opportunity to declare that I’m going to participate in the HBC Run For Canada on Canada Day, July 1st, 2006. I will take part in the 10K run, the proceeds of which go to support over 200 Canadian athletes across the country in their pursuit of international competition.

As you may know, Canadian athletes have to stay at the amateur level to participate in most international events, like the Olympics. That means they can’t have any kind of official or corporate sponsorship, and yet due to their rigorous training schedules, they can’t get full-time jobs.

The run that I’m going to do takes place in Toronto, along the scenic waterfront. The run begins at (what appears to be) Ontario Place, and goes 5K westward along the Martin Goodman Trail and back.

I’ve little doubt I’ll speak to most everyone reading this about the run and sponsoring my efforts, but just in case, I have an online profile for the run through which you can pledge me or view more information on this event. Anyone can sponsor me in this event, whether they live in Canada, the U.S., or… I don’t know… Holland…

Click here to go directly to the online pedge form.

Rock and roll ain’t noise pollution
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Online Guitar Archives (Olga.net) turns 14 years old today! Olga got its beginnings in newsgroups and bulletin board systems in and around the University of Las Vegas (UNLV), and despite being shut down for a short time in 1998, has endured to emerge as the #1 online resource for guitar players. Olga outdates the Internet itself.

The dating just happens to be due to the fact that a couple of years ago, the current archivist discovered that the earliest file in the database was dated June 12th, 1992. Today, Olga boasts over 32,000 individual chord and tablature files for guitarists’ free use, 24/7.

Kickass lyric of the day

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away…
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be
There’s a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

The Beatles, “Yesterday”

So dark the con of man

The D. Vin. Code.
Yesterday, Mandy and I went to see The Da Vinci Code in theaters, director Ron Howard’s abbreviated film version of the bestselling book. It stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellan, Paul Bettany, and Alfred Molina.

Normally, I personally recommend to friends and family to see a film (based upon a novel) before reading the book. I believe the principle to be a solid one: films are invariably different from their novel counterparts, abridged and adapted to suit the Hollywood framework of distinctive scenes of action and development, distilled to an offering some 90-130 minutes in length.

By viewing the movie first, the book can be appreciated all the more, offering a kind of extended version of the story, in many cases with different settings, circumstances, even periods in time.

Take for example the Harry Potter series: the movies are a good example of film-making, with impressive performances and captivating visuals, yet they don’t stand up to the depth and range of the books. Also, the books are weigh in at some 700-1000 pages, simply not an option for the big screen. Which is why I haven’t read past The Goblet Of Fire.

But in the case of The Da Vinci Code, by former English professor Dan Brown, I think it’s an excellent idea to read the book first. Brown’s novels are almost educational in the sense that they’re so painstakingly researched, and that the element of fictitious characters and their interactions are based on an unwavering foundation of historical fact and theoretical accuracy.

Where the movie is forced to lay out the theories and necessary information to progress the plot, the book fleshes out historical fact and biblical references to inform the reader not only of the background information for the various twists and turns, but also extrapolates the theological theories to include implications on society and its fanatical and thinning dependency on faith. I also applaud the books’ entirely objective stance on its multi-dimensional discussions on religion and the various institutions within in pages.

All that said, I believe the movie is very well done, albeit unfortunately abbreviated to fit within the 2.5 hour window. Hanks and Tautou have a brilliant camaraderie onscreen, and Ian McKellan is especially fun to watch as the animated British historian.

Also, various scenes in the movie surpass the mind’s eye using stunning visual aids and illustrations, truly enhancing the experience for anyone. I especially enjoyed the sequence in Westminster Abbey in which shots of the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton is brilliantly super-imposed over the characters in a critical scene.

You won’t regret watching it. You may, however, regret not reading the book first.

Kickass lyric of the day

‘Why does she always have bruises?
They’d be much happier apart…’
The fact is, you’ve always been clumsy
Be it with tables at your work or with my heart.

Arab Strap, “Act Of War”

Back to it.

I disappeared today, and I went under, if only for a second
So after what’s turned out to be a hectic few weeks, I’m trying to get back to life as usual. Well, reasonably usual… my little brother is having his bar mitzvah in a few weeks, and it’s looking as though July is going to bring about our annual summer vacation in Southern Ontario.

Barring that, though, things as usual. Except that it seems to have taken a few weeks of travelling and adventure to make me realize that things as usual have me interacting with a lot of freakin’ crazy people… maybe it’s partly due to the recent weather being in consistent excess of 25 degrees (having hit well over 30 a few times, capping 40 after the humidex), but people seem to be saying and doing a lot of random crap.

For example, I just finished reading The Da Vinci Code, but those few days I was carrying it around with me, I got a lot of attention. Sadly, the conversation invariably went something like this:

Woman (usually) : Oh, you’re reading The Da Vinci Code?
Me: Yep.
Woman: How is it?
Me: It’s, uh… it’s good. Have you read it?
Woman: No, but I’ve been meaning to.
Me: Why haven’t you?
Woman: I don’t know. I will, I guess.
Me: Okay…
Woman: So what’s it about? Da Vinci?
Me (hesitant) : Well, a little…
Woman: Da Vinci could see into the future, you know.
Me: Get out.
Woman: Serious – he taught that Nostradamus guy to do it too. And then he predicted World War I.
Me: Wow. (awkward silence) Well… I’m going to get back to it.
Woman: Oh, for sure. Have you gotten to any predictions yet?

What is it with this book that makes it such a status symbol? I’d understand if I knew anyone who’d actually read it, but no one has… I’m not sure if any of them saw or followed the movie, either.

But it gets crazier, too… take today, for example:

Man: You ever hear the story about the owl?
Me: The owl? I doubt it.
Man: It goes like this… ‘there was a wise owl, sat up in an oak / the more he saw, the less he spoke / the less he spoke, the more he heard / why can’t everyone be like that bird?’
Me: Ahh… nice.
Man: It’s a true story, you know. There are human owls…
Me: Okay, you mean like, people who’ll just shut up and listen?
Man (looks at me like I’m a genius) : Yes! Exactly! You’re a f-cking educated man, aren’t you? You take philosophy in school?
Me: Oh, for sure, yeah. (I didn’t)
Man: There’s always an owl, you know? In every situation.
Me: Someone who sees and hears more than anyone else?
Man (didn’t hear me, I guess) : You always gotta know who the owls are. Keep your eye on the owls.
Me: Okay, yeah, I will.

So yeah, there seems to be something about me, or something in the air that causing people to wig out. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s trying not to laugh sometimes.

Questions of science, science of progress…
I was on Answers.com the other day, and decided to run a search for my name. The result was a bit surprising, though incredibly intriguing. Robert A. Foley, fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and current Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies.

Robert A. Foley is the author of six books covering various aspects and levels of human evolution throughout history. Though his page is little more than a stat card, it lists several projects he is currently heading/participating in, and they’re all fairly fascinating, to be completely honest. And his books, dating back to 1981, sound fairly fascinating also.

So I guess it goes to show that you never know where exactly the Internet will take you. I only hope that when I become a world-renowned rock star, it won’t cause him any grief or affect his studies in any way.

Kickass lyric of the day

Now it seems I’m fading
All my dreams are not worth saving
I’ve done my share of waiting
And I’ve still got nowhere else to go
So I wait for you to take me all the way…

Seems you’re wanting me to stay
But my dreams would surely waste away
And I’d still have nowhere else to go…

Three Days Grace, “Take Me Under”