La Guide de La Petite Vengeance

On Tuesday, November 28, 2006, I went to see the movie la Guide de La Petite Vengeance. This story is a dark comedy about an accountant, and his accomplice, who claimed to have worked for the same jeweler as the accountant. It turns out however, that this accomplice is the store owner's son.

This movie is about the very well thought out plan on how to rob the jewelry store. It also shows how nasty the boss is!

This movie had some funny moments, and the ending is very good, but I guess I haven't wrapped my mind around dark humour yet.

My mother does not know how to read English

I love my mother. I mean, like any son, you love the mother who gave you life... However, sometimes it's annoying, since I feel like I am repeating myself over and over and over and over again.

I had asked her to help me find some CDs by an artist called Jade. So, she asked a family friend who's in Hong Kong to help me look for them. However, when she told me that the only CD that can be found is not the one I want, I told her, "Don't bother with it... I can get the CD here myself". And what happened? Tonight, when I got in, she left a message asking me to clarify if I wanted the CD or not...

How much more clear do I have to make it? I have already said at least twice that if the only CD you can find is Jade - Banned in America, and not the self-titled debut album called Jade, then that's not what I'm looking for.

Well, well, well... Look at the tea calling the kettle black...

I just read an article regarding the Conservatives' motion to recognize Quebec as an independent nation within Canada. At first, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois was against this motion, but now he, has taken Quebec's best interest at heart, and now supports what Harper is doing...

This of course, is coming from our Prime Minister, the man who six months ago, called the Liberals, who were still in power, a dirty party because they had the support of the Bloc for the Gay Marriage bill... My my, Mr. Harper, isn't the tea calling the kettle black... You openly declared that Bill C-38 was Separatist legislation, because it had the support of the Bloc, and that you would never side with the Bloc... But what are you doing now? You're siding with the Bloc. Well, I suppose technically, if one looked at the English language grammar definition, you're not siding with the Bloc. It's the reverse, the Bloc are siding with you. So, technically speaking, you're not siding with them, and therefore you are fine... In my books, this is exactly the same thing as siding with them. It takes two sides to come together...

Yet another election promise you've broken, Mr. Harper. Good job.

Some political people say that by doing so, he has eliminated the need of the Bloc Quebecois, which is a wise move, since that way, people in Quebec will have one less choice for the federal election, and thus, he can steal support from the Bloc in order to finally achieve his majority government. What I see is that the Bloc will still exist, but now, instead they will even have more power, because they will already have the status of a "nation" within Canada. They will keep pushing for a referandum, and then when they get their vote (which I hope they never get), they'll even have more firepower! Don't get me wrong, I love Quebec, and I think their culture is very, very unique. I like their culture a lot as well. I just think that separating is the wrong way to go about keeping the culture. I think the way for them to keep their culture alive is by bringing it to other parts of Canada, to other parts of the world. That would be a more positive way, in my opinion. This was also the approach that Jean Charest has taken.

Stranger Than Fiction

On Tuesday, November 21, 2006, I went to see the film Stranger Than Fiction, featuring Will Farrell, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Emma Thompson. This was a very clever comedy that talks about Farrell's character, Mr. Crick, an IRS agent with a relatively mundane life. This changes, however when he starts hearing a lady narrate his everyday activities, and how he falls in love with one of the people that he's supposed to edit.

This movie was different than any Will Farrell movie. Personally, I have not seen any Will Farrell movies, since I don't really care for him as an actor. I really saw this movie because of Emma Thompson, and because there was a possibility of Will Farrell's character dying. I won't tell you if he dies at the end or not, because that would spoil the movie. However, in this film, Will Farrell really is more serious than any of his other movies. This is definitely one step in the right direction, in my opinion.

There were lots of funny moments in the film, and the script is very clever. Emma Thompson, playing the writer who suffers writer's block, is superb. But then, I always enjoy Emma Thompson (the last one I saw her in was Nanny McPhee, and she was great in there too. In fact, for that particular movie, she wrote the script - she didn't write the script for this one, however)

I also feel that Queen Latifah didn't get much opportunity to shine in this film. True, granted she did play a smaller role, and the film is mostly focused on Will Farrell, but some other actors got more airplay than others, like Dustin Hoffman. But the cast in this movie is good, if you're looking for an intelligent movie that is packed full of laughs, this is the movie that encases all that.

The Queen

On Tuesday, November 14, 2006, I went to see the movie The Queen. This was a drama-documentary about the week following the death of Princess Diana in the tragic car accident.

Rotten tomatoes has rated it very high, and many film reviewers have liked this film. I agree with the critics whole-heartedly. The script was very well written, but Helen Mirren's acting was superb, and was the icing on the cake for the film. I agree with my friend when he told me that Helen Mirren should be getting the Oscar for best female lead. And I think this film has great contention for the best picture of the year.

I cried during this film. Granted, this wasn't a Brokeback Mountain cry, it was a cry, nonetheless. Helen Mirren really chewed the fat on her character, Queen Elizabeth II, but there were other actors who portrayed good characters as well, like Tony Blair. And I have to say, the make-up on Helen Mirren made her look really like Queen Elizabeth the II. As well, Prince Philip is such a bastard! He's so firmly rooted in his definitions of what the monarchy does!

Oh gosh, army boys...

On Sunday, November 12, 2006, I met up with some of Roman's friends who are doing training with him on the army base. They were in town for the weekend (or for the day), so I decided to tag along and meet them. Roman assured me that they are not as bad as the army boys that I have envisioned, or the stereotypical ones.

The first sign of trouble was the fact that we met up at a Shisha shop... They were smoking flavoured tobacco... And then, they went barhopping. Between them, they each had a pint of beer, and then two shots of whiskey, and then went to another pub to get food and another two pitchers... And they have been drinking since about 1:00 p.m. that afternoon.

They were all (except one) all brutally straight as an arrow. The guy who was an exception was more in between, but I still don't think he was gay. Someone stated how Sapporo is not a good tasting beer. This was a comment however, after having Sapporo with sushi. Now, in my opinion, Sapporo doesn't go with sushi... Sake does... Anyone with a slight hint of metrosexuality (in my opinion) would have been able to tell you that, or at least that the sushi goes with a red wine...

And then of course, you have your typical comments and jokes about being lost in Montreal, and venturing into the village, and someone actually said that they saw "fags" and rainbow flags. Though, the word fag was only mentioned once. I just decided to bite my tongue, because I didn't want to attract attention, etc.

Is this the typical activity of the army boys? All they do is drink, smoke, follow orders when they are supposed to? These are the future defenders of our country? Are we breeding a bunch of yes men who are not taught to think, but to obey? The only thing I can see is that the pay is attractive, but that's because this line of work is dangerous!

So yes, army boys, they may be hot, well some of them, and they would have to be in non-army clothes, because army fatigues just don't do it for me, but it appears that they have nothing up there. They are like empty barrels, they make a lot of sound, but are hollow inside. Also somewhat hollow in the head... The brain exists perhaps solely to stop the skull from caving in...

All I can say is, the beer that I got made the experience tolerable. If not, I would have probably rammed my head against the wall, many, many, many times.

Fried chicken... Comfort Food

Tonight, after Jeunesse Lambda, a group of us got some food at Staff du village, a restaurant in the village. And I got four pieces of fried chicken with fries... I kind of needed this comfort food, because I found out that even Flavio is seeing someone who lives close to him, and they are hanging out together...

I feel like I'm going to have like 50 cats and be a spinster. * Sigh *

There is a guy there, whose name is Stephane, and he seems to like me. He however is Separatist, so I don't know if he's just being friendly, or he's showing more and more signs that he likes me. I mean, if it's that case, I'm flattered, and he's a nice guy, and not too shabby looking. But we'll see where this takes me.

Babel

On Tuesday, November 7, 2006, I went to see the movie Babel. This movie featured Brad Pitt, Kate Blanchett and lots of other international stars...

This movie was well done, and well worth it for the two hours and twenty-two minutes. Although, the end felt a bit long. Also, the storyline is not linear, like most movies. This was done in the style of 20th Century novelists, who write in chunks... The story jumped all over the place, the timeline wasn't consistent, and the whole story supposed to have lasted five days. This however, was very difficult to detect, because of all the jumping around.

There was a lot of emphasis about communication: Different types of commnication, languages, verbal vs. non-verbal. Silence versus noise... The Japanese deaf girl kept showing her hairy vagina... That was not what I was looking for in a movie... She also hit on the dentist, and took off all her clothes for this detective.

The other thing that bugged me was how people of all other cultures seemed to ban together, but whites seemed to not do that... The other people in this culture handed together, and helped each other in need, and put others' needs first before their own. However, with the whites, it was the other way around. They put their own needs before others'. This sort of reminds me of the tale that my brother told me. He said that someone was taking a tour of heaven, and there, he noticed that people were healthy, and they were happy. There were lots of plates of great food in the centre, and there were these super long chopsticks. And then in hell, it was the same thing, great food in the centre, super long chopsticks. However, the people were miserable and were starving.

The reason why the people in heaven weren't starving, was because they used the chopsticks and fed each other, they put others' needs before their own. However, in hell, people tried to feed themselves with these long chopsticks which were not going to work.

The other thing that bugged me about the movie was the power trip of American border officials... It's like they have nothing else better to do than to harass people coming into the American border. How do these people sleep at night, have they no heart, no conscience?

I can just imagine this film, Babel, being the next Crash. I mean, all they need to do is give copies on DVD to people, and then they would be sure to be guaranteed the best picture of the year, 2006!

Internet Explorer 7.0

Today, my Windows Updater told me that I had new things I had to download to my computer so that I have the most up to date version of Windows, etc. I was thinking, oh this may be a patch that I need to download or something. So, I checked for the things that needed to be installed. I found out that it was Internet Explorer 7.0 that needed to be installed. Now, if I didn't install it, then the updater would keep harassing me and reminding me that I have this to install. I thought, instead of doing that, and being annoyed, I might as well do it now, and then I could use Internet Explorer 7.0 as my third browser, if I for some odd reason didn't feel like using my first two... So, I downloaded this software and installed it.

And my opinion of Internet Explorer 7.0? It's a piece of shit. In my opinion, if you cannot load yourself for me to browse some websites and this is after installation, then its value is worth less than toilet paper, or Nortel stock. (Or rather, max (toilet paper, Nortel stock)) Way to go Microsoft, you've created another piece of shit that I won't be using.

Jeunesse Lambda in ten years?

On November 3, 2006, I had to go to Jeunesse Lambda, because I was doing l'accueil (welcome) there. There wasn't anyone new, so I didn't have to do l'accueil, but the topic we were discussing was about the future, and how coming out has changed it. One of the questions that were asked was, "How do you see Jeunesse Lambda in ten years?"

My response that I wanted to give, but which I bit my tongue was, "Well, maybe in ten years, Jeunesse lambda would be an organization where people with some brain power will go to, who will actually elect people deserving of the position, as opposed to just voting for the person who looks the hottest." I decided not to say this, because either the people would be too dumb to get it, or they will just think I'm a sore loser. I will not give them this pleasure.

To be honest with you, I think Jeunesse lambda will just continue to deteriorate, until it gets better, if at all. As Flavio nicely put it, Jeunesse lambda will have an unofficial cut off at 20, because no one who is older than that can stand the lack of brainpower and the immaturity of the group.

You will survive, don't cry.

Today, I went to have a coffee with Claude at a café near Mont-Royal metro. Claude looked tired, and a bit dishevelled, but perhaps it's because he's taking three hard-core math courses. Anyway, we chatted over coffee, and he's doing well, and me as well. We were just catching up.

Behind us, there were two people, who were also sitting together. And at one point in the evening, the girl started having red eyes and was crying... She also had a ring which she took back and put in her purse... Now, I'm assuming that it wasn't tears of joy (but who knows, it could have been), and I'm assuming it's more tears of sadness, tears of break-up.

I feel the pain of this young woman. I have had more heart torn to pieces in a café before. Don't despair, your heart will heal, and you will find someone who is deserving of you, and your emotions. You will survive!

My thoughts go out to this woman tonight, as well as those who were dumped in a café, and am looking for real love, and a stable relationship. It takes guts to put your heart on the line. And people who have found love, they are really lucky. I believe that sometimes, they forget how lucky they are.

Man of the Year

On Tuesday, October 31, 2006, Flavio and I went to see the movie Man of the Year.

This movie was a lot better than RV, Robin Williams' last comedy. This comedy is about Robin Williams' who is a talk-show critic (like Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Jay Leno) and critiques everything the politicians do. His public suggested that he run for President of the United States, and he reluctantly does it. He never expected to win, of course, but he ends up winning!

However, there is a problem with the electorial process, and part of the movie is dedicated to this storyline about how to cover up the problem, and one woman's quest to try and do the democratic thing and uncover the truth about the electorial process.

This movie was very funny. However, when they followed the second storyline about the coverup, they turned the movie into kind of a drama, which killed it, I believe. I went into the movie expecting a comedy, and I got a comedy, which was well done, mixed with drama/action, which was not that well done.

Granted of course, Robin Williams' acting was really good, considering this was done in the period where he was abusing alcohol again.

This was a fun movie, but let's just leave it at that.