The title of this post could refer to me. Last week, when Jess and I were heading down to watch the screening of Behind Closed Doors, we walked down a really steep hill on our way to the movie theatre. I commented that if we were to walk up that hill on a regular basis, it wouldn’t be long before we started to get in good shape.
Well, tonight we went up that hill for the first time since we talked about it. It was as difficult as we first thought it would be. This particular hill is quite steep, and it was a good workout. I admit that I was short of breath at the top, but I do think that if we do this on a regular basis, we’ll be in pretty great shape.
The picture above is the sign of one of my favourite restaurants: The Golden Gate - better known as the Goof. The Goof was one of the first Chinese restaurants in the area, and the food is really great. The place got its nickname from its sign. For many years, the neon sign you see above had several letters burned out, so that all that was lit was: GOO F. The name stuck. I’m almost sad that the sign is in good working order these days.
So, the other day I happened to post a picture of Jess that was not very flattering. It was a very honest moment, but it wasn’t one in which she looked her best. And she called me a jerk for posting it.
And punched me in the arm. Not hard. But that wasn’t the point.
So I wanted to make it up to her, by posting a picture of her that shows her looking quite good.
I have, in the past, been something of an olympics junkie. In past years, I have sat up and watched a lot of events, some of which (I admit) I didn’t really care all that much about. I’ve sat watching equestrian events and who knows what else, into the wee hours of the morning, just because the olympics were on. I’ll admit: its worse with the winter games.
This year, however, I don’t have a television. This makes it difficult for me to stay up trying to watch the olympics live…which is probably healthier for me. It does leave me at a loss, however.
One of my (many) favourite podcasts the Moth Podcast. The moth is an event where people get up and tell stories, usually true stories, without notes. It can be quite engaging.
Today’s podcast was a story told by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is an engaging storyteller (as shown by his wonderful readings of his own books and stories).
I highly recommend his Moth story for fans of his work.
Yesterday Jess and I went out to watch the Dark Knight. First thing we did was wisely go to get our tickets. We had wanted to see the film in IMAX, but the show we wanted to see was sold out. The next available show was 7PM, which would have had us wandering around for over 4 hours waiting to see the movie. I figured that was a bit much, so we got tickets to a non-IMAX showing. Then we went for lunch at a new-ish Japanese place on Queen West.
I don’t know if it was a downside to all the hype, but I left feeling…a bit let down. Not that the film wasn’t good: it was. But it didn’t blow me away.
Heath Ledger was excellent as the Joker, and personally I think that character should just be put on the shelf and considered done. I don’t think anyone else could ever create a better Joker. His joker was truly insane and terrifying, and I don’t think anyone else could ever create a better interpretation.
After the movie, Jess and I walked for a bit. It wasn’t too hot out and Jess wanted a coffee, so we went in search of a Starbucks that was open on the holiday Monday. We did not want to go to the one at Queen and John, which is always annoyingly crowded with teenagers. So we walked East. We were psyched out by one that we saw from a distance at Bay and Adelaide, which looked like it might be open till we got to it. We walked along Adelaide towards the one we knew would be open at King and Yonge.
As we passed the Fairweather on Adelaide, Jess stopped in her tracks and started walking towards the window. I thought that she spotted a dress in the window that she liked. I knew I was wrong when I saw her move to the side of the window. She wasn’t looking at the dresses. She was looking down. She was looking at the lights. She wanted to see what kind of lights they were using in the window [She’s studying theatre tech, so she comes by the curiousity about light being used honestly].
This is Jess realizing that she’s been busted looking at the lights in the window.
She’ll hate me for posting that, but it was too hawesome to leave out.
This is video from a museum in LA, where they had a “live” dinosaur wandering the halls. Its not CG. If you look closely at the dinosaur, you’ll see what’s going on.
The last month or so, I noticed something: I seem to still think like a smoker. What do I mean by this? I mean that I find myself looking at Zippo lighters thinking that they look cool. I find myself walking down the street thinking that a smoke would be really good right now. That’s the toughest one: I still crave cigarettes. Its actually quite annoying. I’ll crave a smoke, and wonder “why am I wanting this?” and I have to fight the craving. I keep wondering, when the cravings will finally go away, and I keep hoping that I won’t be fighting cravings indefinitely.
All you ex-smokers who may be reading this: Do you still get cravings?
In other news, gave the dog a much-needed bath yesterday. Bathing a large dog is an athletic exercise, since most dogs don’t tend to enjoy baths. Getting the dog into the tub was one battle, keeping him there is another, as he’ll try to get out of the tub every time you take your hands off him. And so, when it was all over, the bathroom was pretty much soaked, and I was covered in all the excess hair that came off the dog, and neither of us were happy.
Finally, over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be shooting some scenes for a werewolf movie. Its going to include a new experience for me: special effects make up.
Phil Rickaby, an actor, writer, playwright, director, producer, dreamer, storyteller, blogger, web designer, poet, pet owner, people watcher, Canadian, avid reader, nerd, geek. You can find his home page @ http://philrickaby.com
