Well, it looks like I'm sick again. Last time this happened was a little over a month ago... oh immunity system, how little I knew thee.

In my downtime I decided to finish off the Red Dwarf: Back To Earth three-part special, which was surprisingly great! It's a bit jarring at first, since the writing initially comes off as being very dry with no laugh track whatsoever, but the payoff is ultimately worth it. I found it to be a great send-off overall. It's downright confounding at times, but extremely funny. It constantly manages to be surprising, and constantly evades the risk of descending into a cliched, self-referential story that invalidates the series in a St. Elsewhere fashion. And naturally, I totally dug the elaborate Blade Runner references.

It's not really what anyone was expecting for a Red Dwarf finale in the sense that nothing is really resolved. In terms of plot progress, the most it does is set the series' status quo back to roughly what it was at the end of series 5. And hey, it's way better than what the series 8 finale gave us. Despite this, everything ends on a surprisingly profound note, albeit one that addresses the series more as an entity than a narrative.

I was going to finish off the SakuraCon report tonight, but it's probably better if I get to sleep early. Of course, chances are I'm just going to be sicker in the morning anyway, but such is life.

Because I can't seem to provide you people with enough! Seriously, how many shows have an elaborate, ten minute three-way crimelord fight set to Rigoletto?

The final three episodes are airing in Australia, and all I can do is sit around and anticipate the next one. I think my need to procrastinate on this assignment has forced me to become more of a junkie than ever.

What's this? My head is clearing, my sinuses are no longer infuriating, and I'm now sitting around doing nothing out of pure laziness rather than illness! I think I might finally be feeling better! About damned time too. How I miss being able to boast about being able to get over an illness within 72 hours at most, and only having to do so about once a year. In any case, I hope I can at least get some sleep tonight. I wasn't able to grab any sleep at all on Sunday night, and while I took a sleeping pill on Monday night, I still only got about four hours. It's better than nothing, although you'd think a sleeping pill would offer a little more than that.

What's worst about this is that I've had to miss an entire week of karate classes, and my black belt test is only a couple of weeks away! I have yet to see if I'll even be ready for it after losing so much time for training. It wouldn't be the worst thing the world if I have to delay it yet again, but I kind of wanted to actually take a crack at it for once and not have to be concerned about preparing for it over the summer. Of course, I'll still have to worry about my Honours project either way! Choosing to finish off with that thing in the fall was either the smartest move ever or the dumbest. I haven't determined that yet.

My gift to all of you!

( A Christmas story for everyone! )

We've had a few people coming into work asking for "The Black Knight". Of course, they all meant that psychodrama about a guy in a batsuit, but the first time this happened I honestly thought they were looking for Black Knight. You know, this movie:


Unfortunately, we didn't have any copies of it in, so I wasn't able to ruin Christmas morning for anyone who asked their out-of-touch grannies for their favourite new movie. I wonder if sales of Black Knight are actually increasing right now? 20th Century Fox could've made a killing if they re-released it to take advantage of the senile market. It could have been enough to revitalize Martin Lawrence's career!

I was talking with my manager today and pointed out that if we had gotten in as many copies of Mamma-Mia as we did The Dark Knight (which was between 150-200 - more than we've ever gotten for any movie), we still wouldn't have enough to meet demand. Theoretically, Mamma-Mia would totally be kicking The Dark Knight's ass in terms of sales. When I came to this realization, the first thing that popped into my head was Batman engaged in a heated battle with ABBA.

Man, that would be epic.

Great scot! What has happened to the sixth floor AQ? This used to be my personal hideaway where I could optimize my concentration and commitment to getting work done. The one barren place on campus where I could get in touch with my suppressed keen enthusiasm for education and actually get work done while enjoying a picturesque view of the Convo Mall, the place where I managed to finish that wretched 25 page paper on community radio in, like, three days last year... now filled with people! Seriously, do first years have to inject life into every area of campus?

The radio intervention project totally spiraled out of control. I'm... really not sure what I was thinking giving myself one day to get that whole thing done. But after working straight until 6am today, I got it finished and submitted to CJSF in time for them to fill an empty slot in their schedule. I hope that not too many of you had to suffer through all the lip-smacking that got picked up over my crappy desktop mic, but in case you do have some perverse interest in listening to my 22 minute piece that I probably laboured over far too much for what it's ultimately worth, let me know.

I only got about three hours of sleep afterward. I nearly didn't bother to rest, but it's good that I did; otherwise I wouldn't have been about to expunge all the neurotic paranoia I had wracked up over the course of the night. But now my head is a bit clearer and I can concentrate on getting caught up on my other assignments. It shouldn't be too hard to get my honours draft nailed down, but I'm not sure if I'm going to have time to deal with ethics for my method overview. We'll see what Catherine thinks of that. She did give me an extension on the CMNS-432 paper until December 5, so at least I can concentrate on more important things right now. Of course, this means that my goal of getting everything done by December 2 will be tarnished, but I'm not exactly in any position to spoil myself right now.

However, I can probably expect all of you to! Since certain individuals won't stop pestering me about this, I'm going to post my Christmas list a little early. Here are things that I want:

Affordable stuff:
- A NEW POWER CORD FOR MY PS2! - I would definitely prefer this sooner or later. I would be ever so grateful if someone could lend me theirs for a while until a proper replacement can be procured. Remember I have the new, smaller PS2, which has a different power cable from the old clunky one.
- PS1 memory card - because I can't play any downloaded PS1 games without one!
- Futurama movies DVDs (NOT the Blu-Ray versions): The Best With a Billion Backs or Bender's Game. The former is on sale at HMV, I believe.
- Any books would be good. I especially wouldn't mind some Douglas Coupland.

Expensive stuff I'm not actually expecting from anyone reading this:
- Avatar season 3 boxset - Yeah, I still want to get it despite the FAIL ending.
- 1TB portable hard drive - Probably asking my dad for this.
- Sonic Unleashed on PS3 - If this game actually winds up being excellent, which actually seems possible for once. If it doesn't stack up, I want no part of it.

(Also, I should request no surprise DVDs or anything. I have enough to watch!)

Intangible, feel good stuff:
- Some SOCIAL activity with people! I really haven't been going out, having fun, or seeing enough movies lately. We also need to find some new restaurants!
- Maybe some lessons in using Ubuntu when I get that going towards the end of the year.
- A successful Christmas party! Yeah, here's hoping!

OK, enough procrastinating. Let's do this.

I've allowed myself to be tied down to quite a stringent series of deadlines for the next two weeks, so I'm going to have to finally cave and set a very strict itinerary for that timeframe.

Friday, November 21 - Gather sources, write fairly strong outline for final CMNS-432 paper (5-6 pages)
Saturday, November 22 - Conduct Skype interview with Geof. Assuming nothing goes wrong, get the entire thing edited together and e-mailed to CJSF by night. (Thank god I have a Saturday off for once!) A little work on CMNS-432 paper if possible.
Sunday, November 23 - Complete first draft for Honours write-up. Get started on the Focus Panel itinerary if possible.
Monday, November 24 - Work on CMNS-432 paper. (Also, make sure the grant application for the Christmas party is submitted, make sure room is booked for Fair Copyright meeting, and call James Moore's office!)
Tuesday, November 25 - Consult with Catherine about online polling, try and get Focus Panel itinerary nailed down. Don't forget to buy food for Geof's speech!
Wednesday, November 26 - Start putting together Honours presentation. Get itineraries to ethics if at all possible.
Thursday, November 27 - Try not to get too distracted.
Friday, November 28 - Have CMNS-432 paper finished.
Saturday, November 29 - Get that damn presentation done!
Sunday, November 30 - Final touches on Honours paper. Integrate as much method proposal stuff as possible.
Monday, December 1 - Make sure I'm 100% ready for presentation the next day.
Tuesday, December 2 - Give the presentation, hand in both papers, recover.
December 3 - December 15 - Plan the best damned Christmas party ever.

There does seem to be a bit of wiggle room now that I've laid it all out, but please feel free to ridicule me if I veer even slightly off track.

So, today I accidentally slept through the moment of silence at 11:11! When I did wake up, I discovered that a small wound on my chest had broken open, creating a splotch of blood on the left side of my shirt roughly in the shape of a poppy.

Freaky.

If you're having a bad day at work, just be thankful that you don't have to watch this horror show on continuous loop:



I was, quite frankly, appalled when I found out that this was an actual music video and not some twisted fascimile created for Panasonic's latest Blu-Ray demo disc. The name "Pipettes" was apparently devised to emphasize the fact that the band was developed in a lab. You really need to see it in high def to understand. Personally, I think it should be marked as a fire hazard, primarily because there is a very legitimate possibility that it may cause the retinas of some more visually sensitive individuals to burst into flames.

In other news, I'm finally planning on going to Parker Place in Richmond on Wednesday to get my PS2 modded! Who wants to come and help me navigate through this foreign land?

OK people. Fireworks on Wednesday the 30th. Who's in?

Oh, and thanks to everyone who came out on Monday. I had a great time, especially at the hammock shop.

First off, I must apologize if anyone has found me to be irrational, angry, or just plain awkward in the past few days. I have not been at the top of my game. (But then again, am I ever?) The fact that I got what may very well likely be my first sunburn EVER yesterday isn't helping. But hey, I would say that a trip to Playland was worth it, even if they have gotten rid of a bunch of rides and slowed down a couple more.

Anyway, to make up for it, here is a series of Ouran AMVs set to the entire soundtrack of Sweeny Todd which Ian found:



This person has posted the entire series on YouTube. The journey continues through the posted responses, starting here.

Well, that English class Ogden had planned for next semester has been wiped off the face of the planet. This disappointed me greatly, since I want to get that damn minor out of the way. But what should I discover shortly after finding this out? My favourite prof of all time (ie: the one who taught my broadcast policy class) will be teaching a new class about politics and propaganda in media next semester! I am SO taking that! Because, you know, clearly my perspective on society hasn't been warped enough.

On a related note, I can't help but wonder how long it's going to take for someone to do a feminist critique of WALL-E. I can totally see them ripping that one apart like wet cardboard.

Enjoy this WALL-E/ Metal Gear Solid 3 cross-over art I found, if you haven't seen it yet.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have cracked the platypus genome.

No longer will have to stay up at night engulfed in endless curiosity over just how the existence of such a creature has been able to persist throughout the ages with such defiance. We can now rest easy and take the time to understand ourselves a little better.

This morning I was happy to wake up to some divine song in the radio. It seemed vaguely familiar, definitely something I had heard before, but had never gotten a terribly good impression of before. This made me excited, since this is how I'd stumbled upon some of my favourite songs of all time in the past. Unfortunately, while I had every intention to go and do a search based on the lyrics, I had completely neglected to do so by the time I bothered to get out of bed. By the time I realized my folly, any vague memory of the lyrics or melody of the song had been completely flushed out of my mind. If you had seen me at any point today, you probably could've told that I never quite got over the disappointment. Certainly not a good way to kick off what was already destined to be a sufficiently lousy day.

Now it's just lost in time.


"Like tears in the rain"

You said it, Rutger.

I hate doing these things, but it seems that I'll be paying a bit more for gifts this year than I had anticipated. So, I'll list off a few things that I'd like, in case anyone wanted to know:

Video
- Princess Tutu Complete DVD Collection (should be at Sakura Media. And no, It doesn't have ninjas wailing on guitars on the cover.)

Manga
- Shonan Junai Gumi (GTO: The Early Years) vol.5
- The Drifting Classroom - anything from volume 7 onwards
- Monster vol. 12
- Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 15

I'll add some more stuff if I can think of anything.

YTV is airing He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special on Saturday at 7pm.

All is right with the world.

Endlessly repeating the following phrases account for 97% of my job:

- "iPods are in the Electronics Department"
- "London Drugs does not carry Nintendo Wii"
- "You'll have to ask the Computer Department"
- "We are currently sold out of the Planet Earth DVD boxset"
- "No, we cannot match the American price"

In other words: please tell your friends and family to go and buy some home theatre equipment at London Drugs. Seriously, it shouldn't be this boring at this time of year! Also, it seems I missed He-Man Lady during my break today. Good to know she's not giving up so easily.

Well now. Not only did CBC edit nearly 30 minutes of material out of Spirited Away last night in order to fit it into a 2 hour timeslot, but it looks like they're also going to be airing a censored version of The Tudors, despite the fact that it airs after watershed!

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/261401

The Star has learned CBC technicians have been judiciously cutting and pruning the Canadian/Irish/U.S. co-production of some of its scandalous nudity and its compendium of filthy words.

Some scenes from the mini, which has already aired on the U.S. cable channel Showtime, were shot twice and need no cutting. But nude scenes have been darkened or slashed out altogether, and an elaborate system of redubbing nasty words has made the story suitable for the mass audience CBC hopes to attract.

That's it, I'm finishing that CBC article. They will feel my internet rage!

So, today I got to watch my prof play on Neopets during lecture. Yes, he was trying to demonstrate to us the chilling reality of advertising to children on the internet through the compelling Flash adventures of Lucky the Leprechaun through the full-ingrained world of coincidental cereal advertisements that have been imbued within the Neopets universe. That's understandable, but I still can't help but find endless amusement in the fact that he actually made himself an account to demonstrate this to the class. While we had a few interesting lectures over the course of the semester, I honestly didn't like this prof... but this one incident almost made up for the previous twelves weeks of heavy-handed vindications against the world of private markets.

Last night, I decided to recklessly break my usual routine of going to karate and do my long neglected volunteer participation with recording city council meetings for Shaw Cable. I always did that once or twice a week throughout my last year of high school, and while I rarely pop in to see what's going on in the world of recording municipal politics these days, it was good to see everyone still there after so long. Lou Sekora was feisty as ever with his "back when I was mayor" quips.

Of course, the only reason I went last night was because it was the last meeting before the summer, and I wanted to make sure my existence was established at least once this year. But I don't know... maybe it's about time I did start looking into other volunteer work. Helping out with Shaw was really the only thing I ever settled down with, especially since all of my other experiences amounted to "we're out of real jobs, so we'll make up some crap for you to do"-type affairs. Man, I really hate reminding myself that I'm still not even close to stretching myself out far enough as it is.

Well, I finally finished my twenty page Political Science paper yesterday morning. I suppose I did technically sleep the night before it was due, but the quantity of said sleep amounted to little more than a three hour nap taken between paragraphs. If you were to ask me whether or not the conclusion was any good, I don't think I'd be able to tell you. It just kind of happened.

The paper is done and over with, but I still haven't quite gotten over it. When my mind wanders, it still defaults to strategising methods of reformating paragraphs, or better integrating quotes into my essay. This leads to me grinding my head between my fists and screaming "NO! IT'S OVER! The relationship between Australia and Indonesia no longer has any bearing on your life! Let it go!" The five hour break which followed my class did not make me a particularly thoughtful contributor to the radio show that afternoon. I really should've gone home to get some sleep, but instead I went to the gym, which just sort of made things worse.

But at the end of the day, my mom took me down to Swiss Chalet for a belated birthday dinner. That made for a decent resolution.

On Tuesday, we are planning to engage in various activities in observation of my birthday last week. We will probably meet around 5, eat at 6, and then do whatever afterwards. (Probably karaoke). If you're reading this right now, you are openly invited! I will also go to look at some glasses frames before hand at that eyeglass store on Austin. If for some reason you want to come and criticize my fashion sense, you are free to.

If you can't make it Tuesday... would anyone be interested in fireworks? The idea of going on Wednesday has been thrown around, and going on a Wednesday would be better for me, regardless of the week. Any suggestions?