December 18, 2010

Hardy: "How did you get down here so quickly?"

Laurel: "I fell out the window."

--Babes in Toyland

Laurel: "Upset?  I'm housebroken."--ibid.

 Dreamed of riding behind someone oon a motorcycle and the drivwer encouraging me to try driving it. (One of the Trash Palace films I saw last night was about motorcycle safety, narrated by Easy Rider star Peter Fonda.)

    Saw Babes in Toyland, a.k.a. The March of the Wooden Soldiers (for the second time) at the Revue.  The Victor Herbert nursery-rhyme operetta here became an unlikely Laurel & Hardy vehicle.  All the L&H scenes are great, but the rest is precious.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of the Ken Burns documentary The Civil War (yet again). Often gnomic but excellent overall.

December 17, 2010

    On Wednesday we had spicy Indian food to lessen Moira's cold.

    Last night I saw David Fincher's The Social Network at the Cumberland.  Smoothly directed, but I was left unsure what to think of the whole business.

    Dinner was pork chops.

    Saw some more educational films at the Trash Palace.  I got glossy photos of Ava Gardner and Chow Yun-fat and won a Frightenstein T-shirt in a raffle.

    Our internet connection wasn't working, so I couldn't get online until I got home after midnight.  I expected a big crop failure in Frontierville, but there was hardly any withering! (I was able to use unwither on the Farmville crops.)

December 9, 2010

    Dreamed of visiting the campus of my alma mater Mt. Allison University; meeting a woman teaching a drama class and wishing I could stay.

    Baked whole wheat bread.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    Went to a Canadian Opera Company talk at the North York Central Library about their upcoming productions of The Magic Flute and Nixon in China.  It was a Classical Music Meetup event, but I couldn't find the rest of the group.

    Saw the DVD of William Friedkin's 1920s burlesque comedy The Night They Raided Minsky's (meretricious title!).  It got pretty frantic toward the end. (Giuseppe my singing teacher would like it.  He's probably seen it!)

December 7, 2010

"Never return what you've stolen.  People will know that you stole it!"--South Pacific

    The other night I dreamed of finding some rare Rip Kirby Sundays in my comic-strip collection. (Rare, indeed:  Rip Kirby was actually a daily strip only!)

    Went shopping. (I wore my winter boots for the first time this season.)

    Saw the DVD of the Mission:  Impossible episode where they faked a fountain of youth (which I saw at the time).

    Dinner was curried shrimps.

    Joined the Classical Music Meetup at Bill's condo party room and saw the DVD of Joshua Logan's movie of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific.  Kinda pedestrian.

December 5, 2010

Dreamed of watching the movie This Boy's Life on DVD; switching to the extras after reaching the scene where Robert de Niro gives Leo di Caprio a beating; being in Great Britain and not knowing when I was going to return home; wishing my Ph.D. thesis hadn't been a dead end; finding some DVDs from zip.ca that we hadn't seen, which got packed away.

    Last night I went to the Classical Music Meetup Christmas party. (I baked some gingerbread for it.) Some people from the Guitar Society of Toronto performed for us.

    Met Evghenia and Dave (from the Aspergers Meetup) at the latter's place on Ellsworth Avenue to play The Amazeing Labyrinth. (We played five games!

    Hope I'm not getting a cold...

    Dinner was stir-fry.

     

November 30, 2011

Rhoda's mother: "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Don't go up there!"

--Rhoda

    Dreamed of reaching the end of my diary volume; Sammy Davis Jr. ordering cocktails but skipping the vodka martini.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was samosas.

    Went to the last opera rehearsal before the new year.  I have my parts largely memorized.

November 29, 2010

Brenda: "Lenny, you promised no toe talk in front of strangers!"--Rhoda

    Dreamed of preparing to fly to Los Angeles; a tycoon's hard-pressed secretary about to give him a piece of her mind just as a group of old classmates came to visit.

    Dinner was tuna casserole. (Father tried a new recipe.)

    At choir practice we went through the Christmas program in order.