Blockbusted

I learned today that our local Blockbuster store will be closing soon. It has been here for as long as I can remember, and I have rented hundreds of video tapes, DVDs and blu-rays. Of course after it closes it won't be hard to still get movies. There are a couple of independent video stores in the neighbourhood, and they should survive for awhile. But when they are gone it will be all VOD or downloading. Kurt Vonnegut once wrote a blurb about how he would go down to the newsstand periodically to get a large manila envelope. When asked why he didn't just keep a stack of envelopes in his desk drawer he replied that he preferred the routine of getting them as needed from his friendly neighbourhood newsman. As he put it "we are born to fart around." Going to Blockbuster has been one of my favourite ways to fart around for the past 12 years. Guess I'm going to have to change the routine.

Gem in I

Yesterday I found out I've been nominated for a Gemini for editing on SYTYCDC. If I were one of those people that believed that everything happens for a reason I might think the universe is trying to tell me something. Irena felt the previous post was a bit self-indulgent and she has a point. In any case, I'm feeling pretty good. The new job starts soon and the old job keeps on giving. Today I got a gift basket from SFA Productions as a congrats. I've got to admit, they sure do take care of their people on that show. Feeling pretty lucky. Maja is safe in her bed and all is well.


UPDATE-We didn't win. F**k Jesus.

A Parent Looks at 40

Coming up on 38 in a few days. Lately I have been feeling restless and anxious to move on to a new phase of life. Ready for a new job. Ready for our daughter to be a little more grown up. Ready to move out of the very nice house that we have shared for 12 years. I have been doing a lot of real estate fantasizing, occasionally dragging Irena out to an open house. She has no interest in moving though, and I don't have enough enthusiasm or cunning to push her into it. We also have a vague interest in buying an income property, but like everything else, a vague interest is insufficient to make anything happen.
The other day we looked at a house that would be a good fit for us. But it had no parking. It's always something.

Summer is coming to an end. Last winter we did some curling, which was rather enjoyable. But now that it's time to sign back up I find I am hesitant. Another vague interest. I am starting to realize that nothing will magically reach out and become fascinating. You have to just decide that you are interested in something, which really amounts to making a choice to be enthusiastic about some random thing or another.

I also took a stab at taking up jogging. Haven't been out lately though. I thought about taking a filmmaking workshop, or a drawing class, or a french class or getting some tickets to the film festival. Then I thought, meh.

I do feel like a change will come. This will be the last few weeks I ever spend on the dance show. Starting a new gig soon.
Need to restoke the fire in the belly. Better get my shit together. Here comes 40.

i say no to iphone

I have recently been thinking a lot about phones. We have just one cellphone in our family which my wife and I pass back and forth as needed. Everyone at work has either an iphone or blackberry or both, and I've been suffering from phone envy. So today, with time on my hands and feeling bored, I came closer than ever before to walking over to the mall and pulling the trigger on an iphone or Palm Pre. What saved me was the realization that I could go to the movies instead of phone shopping-which I did. The movie was Inglourious Basterds, which I liked quite a bit. I also found that, after the movie, my thoughts on the phone matter had changed. As I rode up to work on the subway, I found that my mind was wandering...thinking about the movie, my daughter, my wife, work, vacations, and lots of other stuff, and it occurred to me that all of the thoughts I was having were facilitated by NOT having a glowing LCD screen in my hand to play with.
So, I have decided not to donate any extra money to Rogers or Bell. For today anyway.

Don't Get Mad. Get Orange!

See, we really did go to the rally!

Down to the Wire

Tomorrow I'm heading off to a pep-rally for Howard Hampton. I have been very busy with work lately and haven't had the inclination to spend any of my few free hours canvassing for the NDP, but after Howie's admirable outburst yesterday I really feel the least I can do is show up at the event down the street.
I must admit I'm allowing myself to buy in (slightly) to the hype here in Davenport that Peter Ferierra has a shot at knocking off Tony Ruprecht. I know it's a long shot, but hey, you never know.
Later we're planning to finish painting the third floor room that took ALL SUMMER to get renovated. The colour is red, which was chosen by our daughter. Hope that doesn't make her a Liberal.
In other news, both Buzz Hargrove and Bob Rae took shots at Hampton today. Raising the ire of those two douchebags can only help if you ask me.
So, here's hoping the NDP does OK this time out (as in better than dismal). Also keeping fingers crossed for Sid Ryan to win and Kathleen Wynne to lose. I guess it's probably too late to hope for Dalton to be denied a majority, but maybe he'll surprise us and manage to screw himself at the last minute.
Dare to dream.
Eat the kitten, Dalton. Eat it!!!!

Maja begins to remember

Yesterday was our daughter Maja's 4th birthday party. We had about a dozen kids in the backyard and the house is now filled with more toys, games and junk food than we know what to do with. To me, this is a really significant birthday, because my first memory is of turning 4. I remember I was running down a dirt path in my bare feet, heading away from our family's house, which was located smack dab in the middle of the boonies. I just remember the packed brown soil under my feet, and running as fast as I could, and thinking, very proudly, "I'm four, I'm four, I'm four." I have kept this memory for over 30 years now, and I have always thought of it as my first memory. At this point however, it is impossible to separate what part of it is a real memory from what might have been made up in my mind over the years. In any case, whether the image in my head is real or imagined, I am certain the gist of it was real.
So, now my daughter is 4. I think it's time to assume that anything from this point on, she's likely to remember for the rest of her life. Even something as insignificant as running down a dirt path, or throwing a water balloon at her Dad.

A Tankless Job

Last month we got the unwelcome news that our furnace needed replacing. After doing some research I eventually ended up talking Irena into going with a "Tankless Water Heater", a wall-mounted unit that vents out the wall and heats both our hot water for our taps and the radiators that heat the house.
The installation was a bit tricky, but a few days ago they finally got the job finished. The final product is a mixed bag. On the one hand we feel great about being more environmentally friendly and saving on our gas bills. The unit is much higher efficiency than our old one (from 1977!) and because it only heats water as needed it doesn't waste energy keeping a big tank of water hot. On the down side, it vents out the back under our deck and, while not too objectionable, it is smelly enough that you wouldn't want to lounge on the South side of the deck while a load of laundry is washing. Also, it takes longer for the water to get hot out of the taps. Sometimes a lot longer, depending on how recently the unit last fired up. And the water pressure seems a bit lower.
Still, as Irena pointed out, waiting a few extra seconds for hot water serves to remind us what a privilege it is to have hot water at our fingertips in the first place. Considering she was the skeptic, and could pile on the I told you so's if she so chose, that's a pretty good attitude.

Boys Club

It was reported today that Justin Trudeau may face a tough battle to secure the Liberal nomination in Papineau.
Good!
Just like in Gerard Kennedy in Parkdale, a star candidate is trying to elbow aside a pre-existing female candidate to secure the nomination. The difference is that Mary Deros isn't going quietly, and may band together with the other candidate Basilio Giordano to try to block Trudeau. They also had a good candidate in Toronto Centre who had to be pushed aside for that pompous windbag Bob Rae.
It seems to me the Liberal party is only interested in increasing its female representation when it's convenient.
Go Peggy Nash!

Anti Dentite Propaganda

Yesterday I went to the dentist to pick up a nightguard-a little piece of plastic to protect teeth from grinding in my sleep. The whole thing took 2 visits and about 10 minutes of the staffs time. The cost? $380.00
Is it any wonder people resent dentists? That fee is an obscenity.
And yet, although I can afford this sum it will cost me nothing, as my wife's insurance will cover it. Those less fortunate would of course be uninsured and expected to pay the full amount.
It's high time dental coverage be included in Medicare.

Too Late for the Oscars

Our friend Cameron was over for a visit last week and I mentioned that maybe we should have an Oscar party.
"Nah, too late," he said.
But he didn't mean the day on the calendar-he meant that now that all of us are nearing the wrong side of 35 (if not there already), that nobody cares anymore.
He's got a point.
In the old days, the emails would be flying back and forth. In the really old days the phone would be ringing.
Not this year.
Sure, we'll tune in-starting late so we can speed through the commercials on the PVR-and we'll root for Scorsese and have a bit of a laugh.
But there won't be many of us watching with an eye towards being there someday.
Not anymore.

(I do still dream of GOING TO SEE A MOVIE someday. Of the Oscar Best Picture Nominees, I've seen 2, only one in the theatre. My 20 year old self would be shocked.)

In other news, we are considering buying a new house, Maja is starting to take a serious interest in learning to read, I have an upcoming job editing a popular TV show, Irena got a raise and promotion at CityTV, my parents have a new company, my sister's baby is cute as a button and we're all getting ready to head out to a kids birthday party today. So life is good. Ordinary, yes, but good.

Feeling the Heat

My daughter and I were out for walk today and I noticed some of the trees are getting green buds on them. The trees think it is spring! This cannot be good.
What happens when winter finally sets in? Will the trees be ruined? We need a blast of cold, and fast.

Happy New Year, Baby

Just past midnight last night I got the call from my Mom: My sister Cree had just delivered an 8lb baby girl. She waited just long enough to be a 2007 baby. They still are trying to decide on a name as of this morning. It's a pretty incredible day for someone's first day on Earth. Sunny and about 9 degrees. (Or else it's a sign of global warming and we're all screwed, but let's save that worry for another day.)
Congratulations Cree and Darcy and welcome Baby Morrish.

2006 was a very good year for us. My wife Irena got a promotion at CityTV and is doing interesting work, even if the hours are still long. I had lots of work editing TV shows of varying quality, and Maja started preschool. Hard to believe we will need to start scoping out local public schools this winter. My parents moved closer to us, relocating from Bancroft to a beautiful country estate in the Hamilton area.

And we finally managed to make a film, after years of neglecting that side of our lives. We have only shown it at a couple of very modest local festivals so far, but it was immensely satisfying to make it, regardless of the audience it ultimately reaches.

Goals for 2007: Get in better shape-give up Coke and cut down on sugar. Improve my French. Make another film. Teach Maja to read.

Favourite political moment of 2006: Adam Vaughan beats Helen kennedy for City Council in Trinity Spadina.

Political hopes for 2007: Please no federal election for a while. And when it does come, let the NDP hold the Balance of Power. I hope McGuinty gets humbled by Hampton in the October election. Let's get out of Afghanistan. Impeach Bush (unlikely, I know). Al Gore. please enter the race for President (if only to keep it entertaining). And as for all this global warming, genocide, disease, poverty and terrorism business, personally, I'm against it.

Dion da one dat won.

I think Jack just dodged a bullet. If Rae had won I think the NDP would have been in big trouble going into the next election. Ignatieff probably would have been best for Jack, since he would have had a clear field against two war-mongering lunatics, but unfortunatley one of those lunatics would still probably have won the next election.
So, I'm pretty happy tonight to see Dion take the prize. Not only does he not spell disaster for the NDP, but his strong environmentalism might just take the wind out of the sails of those pesky Greens.

US done, bring on the Local "race"

I was very happy to see that the Senate is in Democratic hands, even if they do need to count Lieberman to make put them over the top. I'm tempted to taunt my conservative American relatives, but I guess I can't be bothered. I hope this forces the Dems to finally come up with some solutions. I suppose politically it made more sense to stand back and let the GOP shoot themselves in the foot, but the Dems are still awfully timid. Howard Dean and John Kerry must both be breathing a sigh of relief-if they had blown this both their careers would be over. Well, Kerry's probably is anyway.

Locally, just a few days to go until the municipal election. I'm trying to decide whether to give Miller my vote. If I thought he needed it, I would, but he doesn't. Royson James has an article in the Star today suggesting sending a message to Miller by voting for one of the also-rans. Something to consider. The botched World's Fair thing was pretty pathetic. As for councillor here in Ward 18-I say let the Wookey win. I like his environmental aspirations and think he'd probably be profoundly adequate.

Politics is back

After a long summer dedicated to work and family outings, the world of politics is creeping back into my consciousness.
There were a couple of new polls out yesterday. Federally the Liberals have pulled even with the Conservatives, leaving the NDP at its usual 17%, which is disappointing. The Liberals are a mess. If there were ever a time for the NDP to take over as the real alternative to Harper, it would be now. My sister has a bumper sticker on her car that says "Jack Layton's NDP-The REAL Opposition." That might be the case in the HofC, but the message sure isn't filtering down to Joe Sixpack.
Maybe it's the stagnant polls, or Jack & Olivia's annoying meddling in Toronto municipal politics, but personally I'm becoming more shy about saying I'm an NDPer. I certainly wouldn't advertise it on my car-but good for you sis for being bolder than me.
In Ontario, the NDP has made gains putting them at 18% or so. Still, we will need to crack 20 to make a real breakthrough. I'm sick of the NDP celebrating not being annhialated.
There is talk today of ousted MP Garth Turner joining the Greens. Jack did his usual routine about crossing the floor being ungroovy, but I'd like to see it happen. I don't much like the Greens as I think they are just in the way, but I do have a soft spot for Turner and it would certainly make things interesting.
Locally, I've been wrestling with who to vote for for City Councillour here in Davenport. Incumbent Adam Giambrone has been annoying-repeatedly failing to address people's concerns on a variety of issues, including some controversial building developments and a ridiculous outhouse project that the granola munching set wants to build for the kids in the park. Do I hold my nose and be a good NDPer and vote for Giambrone again, or go for Simon Wookey, who is a lot more appealing even though he has the support of (ugh) Mario Silva. In the end, his campaign slogan put me over the top. "Let the Wookey Win". (If you don't get the reference, you need to watch Star Wars again.)
I declined to participate in the recent by-election over in Parkdale as well as the current Municipal race (where I'd be inclined to work for Adam Vaughan if anyone). Politics seems to be more of a spectator sport these days.
Lots of good shows ahead.

Odds & Ends

I haven't posted in ages, so here are some stream of consciousness thoughts...

I've been driving through the Parkdale neighbourhood on my way to work and signs have started popping up for candidates for Toronto city council.

Oops-I have to edit this post as it was pointed out that there is a provincial by-election happening. Missed that. This must be to replace Gerrard Kennedy. Silly me.

Still, I stand by my theory that the NDP should stay out of municipal politics...

Even as an NDPer, an orange sign would make me LESS likely to support a candidate in a local race. I just don't see why I would want my local city councillour having his/her hands tied by having to toe a party line.
I think independent candidate Adam Vaughan (Trinity-Spadina) said it best. The problem is incumbancy and the solution is turnover. As much as I support the NDP, I think the casual NDP clique that runs city hall is a little too comfortable and needs to be broken up by some people with some vision. Go Vaughan. Go Sewell. And Jack and Olivia-you finally made it to Ottawa-good for you-stay there.

One more thing on an unrelated topic-not that I have anything original or insightful to add, but I was dismayed that the latest Israel/Lebanon "cease-fire" lasted a scant 5 days. To quote George Bernard Shaw, "Cease firing, damn you!" The whole mess reminds me of the Star Trek episode where two warring planets wage virtual war, with the citizens reporting to disintegration chambers as prescribed by the computer. Not that the middle east war is virtual-but it has become an accepted part of daily life, and that's not acceptable. Where's Jim Kirk when you need him?

We went to see Snakes on a Plane the other day. Pretty bad, of course. This has been one of the worst movie summers I can remember. Hopefully the Film Festival will provide a much needed drink of water after a long drought. (I'm not holding a grudge even though they rejected our film this year-the bastards).

The show I've been working on, "Patent Bending" starts airing tonight on Discovery. It's one of those rare jobs where I might actaully watch the show even if I hadn't worked on it. It started as a science show but has been moving more in the direction of a comedy. Luckily the show has no agenda other than to entertain, so we have been pretty free in the editing room to go where the material takes us.

In other news, my daughter Maja has taken an interest in making paper spiders. Off to make another one right now...

Gays are Super!

Last night I was staying up late watching the tube, and Larry King came on, interviewing Brandon Routh about his role in the new Superman movie. The original Superman was the first movie I ever saw as a kid and I am really keen on this new flick, so I decided to stay up a bit longer to watch. It was all the standard movie promo type chat, until from out of left field Larry asked Brandon what he thought of Superman's status as a gay icon. This shouldn't be a hard question to answer. He's a big muscular handsome guy in tights and a cape. Of course it's going to appeal to the gay crowd. Duh, Larry! But Routh got all squirmy and basically just said he didn't think there was anything gay about Superman, and if anyone did he was man enough to handle it. And oh, yeah, he has a girlfriend.
OK, he's just a kid who's new to the publicity machine and was caught off guard. Fair enough. But then Bryan Singer comes out, gets the same question, and handles it the same way. "Oh, Larry, that's silly. This is the most heterosexual movie I've ever made."

As we head into Pride weekend here in Toronto it occurs to me that we still have a long way to go. The rest of last night, watching TV, I noticed a lot of gay-phobic content, boiling just below the surface. Example: A bud light commercial-"Hey bro-don't toast with your bottles at the top-our saliva will touch-that's like kissing-eewwwww, just touch the bottoms. Oh no, touch bottoms? Ewwwww. hee hee hee)

With the Harper government about to re-open the same sex marriage debate (and the Americans getting nowhere with the same issue), this Pride weekend seems a good time to stop and reflect what we really think about gays. Is being gay some kind of yucky fetish, or simply a natural aspect of the human condition? If we believe the latter, tolerance is not adequate.

Let's show some genuine respect.

End of an Era-again

I was sad to learn that a number of Festival Cinemas, including The Paradise which is just steps away from our house, will be closing at the end of June. Apparently it's just impossible to make a go of "the Nabes" these days. If I had an extra couple million dollars lying around I would be tempted to buy The Paradise and give it a go. You would need a completely new business model, but it seems like there must be a way to make these little local movie houses profitable. I think one factor would have to be really great projection and sound as well as comfort and style. The Paradise never had any of that, but I still loved to be able to go across the street and see a film on the big screen.
The Paradise closed once a few years ago and came back. I hope it can happen again, but I have my doubts. I wonder if it could be run as a non-profit community project.

Driving Slowly

I've just started a new job which requires a daily commute from Toronto to Oakville. If there is light traffic it can be done in 25 minutes, but most mornings it takes 35-40 and evenings 45-50. I have never been a commuter before and it's a real eye opener just how bad it is on the roads these days. Yesterday on the way home there was a bad crash with one car tipped on its side in the middle of the QEW. So, the daily trek is scary and tedious all at the same time.
I'm glad this job ends in September.

In driving related news, this movie looks interesting.