Sunday, April 30, 2006

What are you going to say?

The same thing a man with two penises says when the taylor asks him if he hangs to left or to the right...

I saw Lucky Number Slevin last night. Brilliant movie, far surpassing my expectations for a movie of its type. There's nothing like a gritty story, mingled with a heap of revenge, with a topping of dry, brutal humour.

Yes, I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately, I can't go into any detail about the movie without spoiling it, but I must urge all who have not seen it yet to do so promptly.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Wii Might have a Problem

You guys have got to see this.

For a second, I thought Wii was just the new subtitle for Nintendo's Wireless network integration, but alas, it's the official name for the Revolution.

Oh boy.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Big City Lights III

I can imagine I'm getting pretty tiresome about now. I hate when people are so polite.


This is some kind of business complex. I don't know what kind. Probably some seedy sub-company of an oil-and-gas parent.


The parking complex of a nearby transit station. It's lit up well into the night, even though it only sees maybe five people every hour.


Just some random exit sign. Had some really cool spagetti trails in the background, but I just realized I got a little overzealous with the colour correction and they're barely visible now.


Possibly one of my best night shots to date, I got the headlights coming, the spaghetti trails, and even after all that, you can still read the street signs.

That's all for now.

Bonus round:


Yeah, it's pretty tasty. Yes, that is the french side of the label. Racinette is french for "Tastes better than sex."

Monday, April 24, 2006

Nap Time

It must be summer. We're not even a week in, and already everybody's going. Either that, or I've been communally banned from MSN, and I must now go and talk to people in real life. Oh the horror. As long as I can have a five-foot beating stick for when somebody says something stupid, I should be okay.

I do understand I haven't been updating as frequently as I should be. There's a very simple reason for that.

I'm running out of things to say. Or rather, I'm running out of things to say that won't come back to bite me. Blogging is indeed supposed to be about expression, and mine has been... eclectic, emotional, humerous, and at times, aggravating to certain people. However, the scope of things I've put up on here has decayed greatly in the last while, for reasons I'd prefer not discuss here.

Politics? Boring, there's enough politico blogs in the crazy-sphere out there to satiate even the most ravenous citizen.

Emotions? As much as I would like to discuss what I'm feeling, I'm sure none of you want to hear about it, much less read about it, even less discuss it.

Music? I can only beat that dead horse so many times before it rises in unholy undeath to spite me.

Artistic errata? Please. Not naming any names, but if all the interpretations come up as suicide, I really, really think it's time for a change.

Movies? Don't watch any.

TV? Don't watch any.

So I guess the last two beg the question, just what do I do all day?
Most don't believe me when I tell them, so I guess I'll just lay down the stereotype here and now. Of course. I've got nothing better to do than play videogames all day in my basement. I do nothing else and have no higher aspirations for my life then melding with the couches and achieving level 30.

I can't think of any of my friends that honestly believe that, but it seems there's no end to the people who will preach it.

I'm heading out again tonight, with my camera. I'm hoping to have another post before 2a.m. detailing the fruits of my labour.

Until then, I'm going to be napping.

Good night, oh you twisted mockery of a world.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Forget I said anything

I didn't mean for the last post to devolve into an argument.

Apologies to everyone involved. I'll keep my employment worries to myself from now on.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Lassiter

Yes, and yes. I'm up before midday. It's a strange feeling, really. I was in bed before midnight last night, and I had to force myself to sleep. Tossed and turned most of the night too.

But anyway, here I am. I'm going in this morning for a visit to my Chiropractor. Before anyone goes off the deep end and starts ordering me a funeral or a wheelchair, just let me say this. All that horseshit about chiropractors not doing anything, or causing people to die is just that. Utter fetid horseshit. In my entire life, I've only heard of two people dying from chiropractic treatment, and that's pretty good considering I've heard of hundreds of people dying from malpractice during surgery or chemotherapy.

So, consider it next time you're having those kidneys checked out. If your back hurts (as mine does right now) it might not be such a bad thing to have a professional check it out, rather than denying there's a problem.

Rant over.

Otherwise, I got quite a bit of work to do today. I'm not saying anything for sure, but don't be surprised if I'm not online at all.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Discipline wasn't in the Job Description

I'm about ready to declare a WoW boycott in my house. It's gotten to the point where I just want to take a rusty chainsaw to the computer, and then when I'm done with that, turn it on whoever's nearby it.

My sis, who is a lazy and foul-tempered broad most of the time, seems to supplement her generally foul mood with a terminal World of Warcraft addiction. Her sloth and vile has gotten so bad that she can't even be bothered to answer the goddamned phone when it's ringing (it's right beside her). Her excuse? "Can't you see I'm f*cking busy on the f*cking computer? What are you doing that you can't answer the phone?"

Besides the fact that I'm in the basement, where there is no phone, and the act of A) Detecting a phone ringing, and then (B) Making a mad dash for it while trying not to kill myself flying up the stairs, not a whole lot, but that is beside the point. She's got the phone right there, so I made a point of telling her, take the headset off, and just answer the phone.

Simple solution. What's her answer?

She threw the phone at me.

I'm not getting paid anything to tend to my parent's children. If nothing else, I should be getting hazard pay. I'm wondering where it was that I diverged so badly from my siblings to the point I'm ashamed to call them family.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Big City Lights II

On the edge of the core, there is an office tower dedicated to an oil and gas company. It is crafted from dark blue marble, and stands as an ominous offshoot to a metropolitan area built largely of concrete and glass.


Across the street, neon lights glow. Testament that, despite a company's policy, no nocturnal life fluorishes in the neon prescence. There are no owls here.


Another shot of that same intersection. Here, somebody bumped into my tripod as the exposure was taking place. I will forever curse his clumsy left foot.


These are pictures from the same bunch I shot earlier. I didn't think they were very good, but since you guys wanted more, I threw them up anyway. School's wrapping up soon, so I should be able to get more free time to wander around and do my thing.

My thing. It sounds so alien when I say it.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Big City Lights

When I drive all alone at night...


I see the streetlights as fairgrounds...


And I tried around a hundred times...


To see the road signs as dayglow...




11:30 at night. Downtown Calgary. Just me, my camera, my tripod, and two camera lenses. And some people I know. It was warm, and the sky was a veiled overcast. You couldn't see the clouds unless you took an exposure longer than 20 seconds. Everything was kind of close and quiet, and the river kind of slid by. I'd be tempted to do it again sometime, on a different part of town. I'd go alone next time. Night shots are great unless you've got some dimwad trying trying to do poorly executed kung fu in front of your camera while it's taking a long exposure.

You might think it's funny, possibly even hysterical... but really.

I think I should go alone whenever I'm out. I just makes more sense that way. No idiots. No delays. No insults.

Just me and the camera.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Obliterator

I haven't been able to think lately, my mind's locked up. My nocturnal tendencies have let me see the sun rise and the mind set, and I haven't been able to awaken the choice of words within me. Anxiety and fear, my oldest travelling companions are, as always, riding my shoulders, reading what I write, and whispering in my ear.

I ignore them. I've been listening to something else. The earth under my feet has been speaking, talking, screaming. Hurricanes and earthquakes, tornadoes and droughts. We've become less at home and more a pest, and our hostility toward the planet is being brought back. The mood of the planet is one of revulsion. Every step on green grass, I feel more and more I should not be here, that my mere prescense is a barely tolerated insult.

This voice of concern overwhelms at time. But I cannot say Yes. I cannot fix this problem, because I am part of it. This is not a win-win situation for anyone except those who will be dead before the worst comes to pass. The earth will endure. We will not.

And yet, I still cannot put to words how I feel, and what is in my mind. Convolution has taken over evolution, and sense has gone out of the world. I've been searching for inspiration, and reading advice on where this elusive quarry might be found.

Some say I should look to God for answers, for inspiration. That I need only accept Him and everything will become clear. Necrophelia has never been a part of me, and it's not so much a matter of accepting Him as becoming subservient to those who dispense Him like cheap sodas on a Sunday afternoon. Christianity is big business to the peddlers of faith, and I will not become part of, nor associate myself with, that hypocricy.

Inspiration comes from deeper places of light and dark. Where the cataclysm hits and black and white meet; this is where shades of gray are born and words and images take shape. On the brink of despair is where hope is born, and from this juxtaposition of opposing emotion... this is where inspiration springs. In a world of despair, there is no reason or wont to write, to record. In a world of hope, nobody worries about their thoughts being forgotten.

And from the words come music. Music from the mind or music from the heart or music from the instrument. Raindrops thrumming on the ceiling or drumsticks tapping out the arhythmic tempo, 1,2... 1,2,3. Music is the evolution of inspiration. From words and base sounds come music, and from music comes culture.

And suddenly, I'm on the brink. From culture comes humanity... so then with the writers block, then does humanity falter, and with humanity faltering, does the earth not reject us?

We must stop denying that everything is okay. We must find our inspiration.

Look there. A crack has formed.

Remember, Remember

... the 5th of November.

Whoops, spoiler warning for those intending to go and see V for Vendetta. V's a kind of politically charged drama/action movie. E, you were interested in Natalie Portman's role, and I'll tell you straight off, it was a supporting one (despite the fact that she's supposed to be a main character). Much improved over her roles in Star Wars, but whenever it was just her on the screen, it felt like we were waiting for "V" to make his next explosive (or cunning) appearance.

Not to spoil too much, but he is in the movie more than most think, but we're just not aware of it. Curse my observance, but most people would only pick up on that on their second time through the movie.

I rather enjoyed how it used lots of literature and history to futher the points of the story.

Otherwise... there's not a whole lot I can say on it without spoiling the whole experience. If you haven't yet, GO SEE IT.

I've got to do something about this writer's block.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

John Dies at 56

Music is a great thing, but its sad that some of the best of it will never reach the light of day.

John Dies at 56 is in fact, not an obituary, but rather the name of a song. It's sitting on a very talented musician's desk right now, and will never reach the radio or speakers in our cars. It will never find itself ripped unceremoniously onto a computer. It will never be pirated, copied, bragged about, or enjoyed.

It's the name of a song that Mogwai and Neverending White Lights produced. I can't think of a better team, and I practically salivated at the prospect...

But the label backed out.

So now it's on Daniel Victor's desk.

This is proof that there is no God. Or if there is, he's teasing us.

Monday, April 03, 2006

A Minor Detail

I went to see V for Vendetta tonight. It was a very compelling movie, very intriguing. There's few movies that are that long, and yet hold my attention right through to the end.

As a minor afterthough, after daylight savings time is factored in, it is indeed 2:00 in the morning. And I am not the least bit tired. The sun went down late today, and even then, the skies refused to don their darkest garb, as the moon's brilliant crescent broached the heavens.

To put it bluntly, it's just not dark, and I feel I should be up and doing something while there is still enough light for my eyes to see. I'm waiting, and any moment now, someone in the household will utilize their sixth sense to realize I'm not in bed by this point, and will make a point of rousing themselves from sleep to come and harangue me about my nocturnal tendency. All the while complaining about how early we all have to be up tommorrow, when really, my prescence - or lack thereof - is of no consequence any other time than when it is of the least importance.

Rant aside, I swear on my wristwatch that I will take some pictures tommorrow. The weather has been oscillating between overcast and gorgeous, and it would just not be fitting to let another 24 hours go by without a photograph being taken. Who knows? Maybe a certain face will catch the light just so, and allow me to immortalize it in a digital photograph.

One can only wish.

Also as a minor detail, one would believe that the power of words have any kind of sway, but all the verbose charm in the world has never succeeded like drunken charisma and a set of washboard abs.

For shame.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Publitopia

I'm just realizing how badly my poor blog needs a revamp. I've got too much shit and unused space down the right side there, and I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of the double spacing under the blogs and other links. Naturally, nothing co-operates, because HTML is designed to be the least direct means of making a computer do what you want it to.

More work to do on it tommorrow. I'm also hoping to throw in a background, or something... We'll have a look-see of what needs to be done tommorrow.

For now, I need sleep.

Edit:

Fuck yeah. Cleaner than a whistle. I think some credit should go to D. He unwittingly helped me by having super-tight code on his blog, which I read and implemented on mine. Hats off to you.

Oh, and to Trevor too. A project like Nintopia seriously takes some balls and backbone on your guys' part. 'Gratz.