Monday, June 2nd, 2003
You ever get the stupid idea in your head that you’ve left a stove element on, and even though you KNOW that you turned it off before you left the house, that nagging little voice in the back of your head insists you go back and make sure that you did, and when you visually confirm that you did, you feel like a paranoid chump? Yeah.
Okay, net long-term damage from yesterday? Doesn’t seem to be too bad. My left knee is feeling a little wonky but we’ll see if that goes away in a little time. But stairs should be avoided for the next little while, I think. I barely made it up the three flights to work this morning.
I aniticipate today’s net output at work will be pretty much zero. A sensible person would have gone home after the ride yesterday and slept. Recuperated. Recovered. Etc. Instead, I was back out barely an hour after getting home, catching Brendan Benson’s very brief but impressive in-store at Soundscapes. I enjoyed it enough to decide I would go to the show at the ‘Shoe that night. We will call that a gross overestimation of my energy levels, but anyway.
There was some time to kill, so Kyle and I met up with Sarah and went to see The Italian Job. I was concerned going in that after seeing the trailer, I’d already seen the whole film but thankfully, that’s not the case. There’s no shocking twists, but it’s just a good, fun summer film. I realize I love a good caper film. It didn’t aspire to too much, but delivered on every note it intended. It’s like a roller-coaster – you know where you’re going to end up as soon as you get on, but it’s fun anyway. And Charlize Theron. Um, yes. Ahem.
The gravy was for one reel, the projecter went out of sync so the top and bottom of the film was cut off for about four minutes. It wasn’t a crucial scene or anything, just a little annoying, but once the problem was corrected, you forgot all about it. However, at the end of the film, a couple of Paramount droogs were at the exit handing out free passes and apologizing profusely. Good stuff – free movie and I didn’t even feel I should have been entitled to one because of the technical SNAFU. I will instead pretend that this pass comes from them apologizing for The Matrix sucking so hard.
Brendan Benson’s show at the ‘Shoe was quite good, a much stronger turnout than I’d expected for a Sunday night. He and his outfit, the Wellfed Boys, put on a very tight and entertaining set, even if by their own admission they were a little sloppy. I’d only heard Lapalco once previously, so I was basing my judgement of them almost entirely on the performance, and I was impressed. There was definitely some Robyn Hitchcock influence going on, confirmed when they covered “Listening to the Higson’s” in the encore. At first I thought it was Elf Power, but I realized after a bit that EP had covered the same song on Nothing’s Going To Happen. Anyway, it was a relatively short set – maybe 1h10m including encore, but that suited me fine since I had been dead on my feet since around 9pm anyway.
np – Steve Earle / I Feel Alright
Sunday, June 1st, 2003
There are not the words to accurately describe how my legs feel right now. I have just ridden approximately 60 km along the freeways on the south and east side of Toronto for the Becel Ride For Heart. That’s almost 40 miles for our American readers. And I should qualify this by mentioning that I AM NOT IN SHAPE. Exercise for me is something that happens incidentally, not intentionally.
But, I did manage to not only complete the entire 50 km course, but cycle from home down to the Exhibition grounds (the starting point) and back. My thighs are just killing me, and my ass feels like I just finished a five-year sentence at Oz. Note to self – investigate new bike saddles. But I did get the best workout I’ve probably ever had, and honestly, my cardio held up a lot better than I expected. The killer was the steep hills up the DVP and the intense headwind taking away any momentum I gained on the downhill portions. There was some serious agony in first gear trying to get up those hills, but I am proud of the fact that not once did I get off my bike and walk any of it. There were some breaks at the rest areas, but those are acceptable. In total, my time was 3:10, including around half an hour of the rest areas waiting for people to catch up.
So now I am bushed, but at least showered and cleaned up. And I am waiting for Kyle to show up so we can go to the Brendan Benson instore at Soundscapes. Probably see a movie to kill time between that and the show at the Horseshoe. I am going to be so dead tomorrow… I don’t know if I even want to ride my bike to work. I don’t know if I’ll be able to.
I love Get Fuzzy – today’s strip is hysterical. There is an interview with creator Darby Conley here.
np – Low / Trust
Saturday, May 31st, 2003
Today. Vacuumed. Made an appointment to go see an apartment next week, excited about that. Even if I don’t like it, it’s actually going out and looking at places instead of just talking about it. This is progress. Did some work. Watched some baseball. Played some guitar. Put the old Telecaster up for sale, though only half-heartedly. I will have to do better than that. Went out to dinner with Azra, whom I hadn’t seen in a couple months. Watched The Recruit. Eh. I don’t like Colin Farrell. Have to go to bed early tonight so I can get up early tomorrow morning, bike down the Exhibition, THEN bike 50 km along the Gardiner and up and down the Don Valley Parkway, then back to the Exhibition. THEN haul my ass back home. Good times.
np – My Bloody Valentine / Loveless
Saturday, May 31st, 2003
np – Mojave 3 / Excuses For Travellers
Friday, May 30th, 2003
This summer hours thing is the bomb-diggy. Noon on a beautiful Spring afternoon and I am set loose on the world. A leisurely jaunt through the Annex got me the new Lucinda Williams, Bedhead’s Beheaded and the debut from local outfit Space Elevator, as well as a fine sushi lunch and the copy of V For Vendetta I had on hold at the library.
The Bloor Cinema has a terrific lineup of films this month, I’m going to have to explicitly pencil them all into my calendar so that I don’t miss anything. Screening in June that I’d like to see are The Good Thief, All The Real Girls, City Of God, Laurel Canyon, Just An American Boy (a Steve Earle documentary screening as part of NXNE), Lost In La Mancha, The Pianist and A Mighty Wind. How convenient that as soon as television season ends, my nights are chock full of movies.
Comics fans – Fantagraphics needs your help. Visit their website to see what you can do.
Remarkable – Pitchfork likes Kathleen Edwards.
np – Bedhead / Beheaded
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