August 14, 2011

"Is it being unable to see that makes you weary of life?"

"No, being able to hear."

--Kung Fu

Marge: "I never realized history was so filthy!"--The Simpsons

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin.  I played Kill Mister Lucky (sort of a prequel to Clue) and Guillotine (where I tied for first).

    On the way home, I travelled on one of the new subway trains that aren't divided into cars.  When the train's route curves, you can look toward the other end and see it bend!

    Dinner was ham quiche.

    Saw the DVD of "Besieged," a double episode of Kung Fu set entirely in China, guest-starring David Carradine's real-life girlfriend Barbara Hershey. (It's one of the episodes from the third season, which I hardly saw at all back at the time.)

August 13, 2011

"Talk to the wind, Chinaman!"--Kung Fu

Homer: "They did it that way because they're stupid!  That's why everybody does everything"--The Simpsons

    Went to an Asperger's Meetup at the Tim Horton's east of Yonge & Bloor.  They talked about the summer autism retreat a couple of them went to. (Should I go next year?) [I didn't.]

    Dinner was tortellini.

August 12, 2011

    Baked white bread, but it came out funny. (Why?)

    Yesterday I had a big headache.  Maybe it came from switching to caffeine-free Pepsi.

    Dinner was linguini primavera.

    Went to Mary's games night. (I played Say Anything and Balderdash.)

August 10, 2011

On a bald prospective husband: "You want hair?  Marry a monkey!"--Fiddler on the Roof

    Dreamed of groups of young people sailing around the world at the same time as part of a big project; finding out that years ago someone published a paper using my research, and not caring.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was ham.

    Saw Norman Jewison's movie of Fiddler on the Roof (for the fourth time) with the Toronto Social Group Meetup at an outdoor screening next to Roy Thomson Hall. (I should have brought a pillow!) It's a strong, worthy adaptation of the classic Broadway musical.  The scene with the ghosts still gives me the willies!  I should read Sholom Aleichem's stories. [When Motl the mousy tailor was getting up the nerve to tell Tevye he loved the latter's daughter, someone in the audience shouted "You can do it, Motl!"]

August 9, 2011

"What do you want from me?  My heart? my blood? my soul?"

"Your absence!"

--The Pick-Up Artist

    Yesterday I saw the DVD of Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus.  I liked Marianne Faithfull's "Something Better." (I don't think I'd ever heard "Jumpin' Jack Flash" before!)

    Dreamed of waking up early in the morning at our old home in Sackville, N.B.

    Dinner was steak.

    Saw the DVD of James Toback's The Pick-Up Artist.  Robert Downey Jr. (in his debut) had a Harlequin-like appeal, but the Molly Ringwald character didn't really make sense.

August 7, 2011

    Yesterday we saw the DVD of Blue Valentine.  A Cassavetes-style domestic drama, very depressing.

    I've started translating another of my Spanish-language Mortadelo y Filemon comic books.  This one's title is "Armas con Bicho," which translates as "critter weapons"!

    Dinner was corn.

    I was going to see a documentary at the Projection Booth, about a veteran New York Times fashion photographer.  But transit was screwed up by the Taste of the Danforth street festival, and I waited over ten minutes for the Pape bus before figuring out that it wasn't running.  I didn't want to be late, so I went home.

August 5, 2011

Elisha Cook Jr. (pulling a knife out): "The moral is, don't hire detectives!"--Born to Kill

    Dinner was tortellini.

    Saw the DVD of Robert Wise's Born to Kill, a classic sexy film noir.

    Then we saw the DVD of the TV play Days of Wine and Roses.