August 26, 2009

Henpecked husband: "A lesson to all:  never fall in love during a solar eclipse!"--A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Dreamed of a convention of the Monkees and their fans attracting controversy because of underage groupies.

We went to Stratford and saw some plays in the afternoon.  We lunched on egg salad sandwiches and bought some used books (though they're rather pricey there).

While the others saw Chekhov's The Three Sisters, I saw the musical farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  It was really funny!

On the way back we stopped at Orchard Home Farm and picked Gravenstein apples just before closing time. (Dinner was Arby's at nearby Brantford.)

Now I think I've learned the "Vaga Luna" words.

August 25, 2009

(Mortadelo is saying "Boss, they're all out of lock-picking equipment...)

"You think I'm going to leave you alone with that Italian?  He could be a tenor!"--The Gay Divorcee

Dreamed of the movie The Wild Bunch.

Baked white bread. (I ran out of all-purpose flour, so over half of it was pastry flour!)

Dinner was turkey pie.

Started typing a translation of the Spanish Mortadelo & Filemon comic "The Atomic Sulfate." (I read a French translation when I was young.)

Saw the DVD of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical The Gay Divorcee.  It has two classic songs: "Night and Day" and "The Continental."

 

August 24, 2009

"They laughed at Edison."

"Only when he was serious."

--The Avengers

Dreamed of a prequel to Sex & the City with the characters as little girls; being bitten on the leg by a rat who wouldn't let go.

Went to see Dr. Hassan.  I figured he'd be interested in the sex issue of Lapham's Quarterly and offered to lend him my copy, but he was so interested that he decided to buy his own copy online!

Dinner was turkey.

Went to the NDP nomination meeting for the provincial byelection. (As I expected, Julian Heller got nominated again.) Leader Andrea Horwath and live-wire MPP Peter Kormos gave speeches.

August 23, 2009

Parrot trainer (on a stolen parrot): "He's... a parrot paragon!"

Mrs. Peel: "Well, now he's a Polly gone."

--The Avengers

Dreamed of seeing a tower collapse on the campus of Mt. Allison University; meeting actor Eddie Albert.

Performed the mass with Coro Verdi at Villa Colombo.

Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin.  I played Hey!  That's My Fish--a game involving penguins getting fish on an ice floe that's melting away--and Guillotine, where I won the second game. (The key is getting enough palace guard cards:  the first is worth one point, the second three, the third five...)

On the way back I vixited Stuart Parker's open house, and told him I'd vote for him at tomorrow night's NDP nomination meeting. (I like his Green background.)

John and Kathrine came over for dinner, which was pizza.

August 22, 2009

"Some people might enjoy drain water if they were told it was vodka"--Flannery O'Connor

Dreamed of a late night comedy sketch with Chevy Chase as a clueless American in Somalia being berated by those with more experience.

Went to a Games Meetup at the Duke of Somerset.  I played Carcassone (two games), Blokus and Puerto Rico.  I was helpless at Puerto Rico this time!  Didn't get home till 18:30.

Dinner was Swiss Chalet.

August 21, 2009

"Poor folk are already in hell!"--Bread, Love and Dreams

Dreamed of visiting our old home in Sackville, N.B., and finding it burnt down; dating a really short woman and walking in a crouch.

Copied the "Avant de Quitter Ces Lieux" score and returned it to the Reference Library.  I found a score there with "Widmung" in its original key and borrowed it for more copying.

Dinner was McDonald's.

Saw the 1950s Italian romantic comedy Bread, Love and Dreams at the Cinematheque.  Gina Lollobrigida was dazzling! (Sex appeal is in the moves.)

August 20, 2009

Cop: "Why don't you get lost?"

Police department critic: "And depend on you jokers to find me?  Fat chance!"

--Boomerang

Dreamed of British comics annual publications.

Went shopping.

Dinner was pizza.

I've decided to start singing "Bella Siccome un Angelo" (from Donizetti's Don Pasquale) with the full cadenza.

Went to a Games Meetup at Jeffrey's townhouse.  We played the Lovecraft-inspired game Arkham Horror, but it was too complicated for my taste. (My character was an academic with a high sanity rating.) The game went on for over four hours and we finally cut it short.

August 19, 2009

Would-be lyncher: "What if we take him?"

Cop: "Then quite a few people will be hurt.  Wanna be first?"

--Boomerang!

Dreamed of being in Amherst, N.S. (near my hometown of Sackville, N.B.) in winter weather in August(!); the "daughter-in-law elect" number from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado.

Headache.

Saw the DVD of Elia Kazan's real-life procedural courtroom drama Boomerang!  Clever.

Dinner was curry.

Went to an Uptown Friends Meetup devoted to food and talk.  It was going to be at the Lebanese Cafe near the Ellesmere station, but the place turned out to be closed so we moved to Alexandria on the Arab strip along Lawrence Avenue.  We were going to talk about travel, but the talk went all over the place.  I smoked a hookah for the first time (with a mixed-fruit flavour). I can take it or leave it.

August 18, 2009

Dreamed of travelling with Father in an airplane that was like a luxury hotel inside; listing movie songs I liked more that the movie they were in. (So after I woke up I posted such a list at mrcranky.com.)

Finally finished printing the "Avant de Quitter Ces Lieux" score.

Dinner was frozen Indian food (which I'd gone out and bought.)

Went to a Games Meetup at the Ryerson student centre.  We played Settlers of Catan and had as many as five games going at the same time!  Two of them were complicated expansion versions and went on forever.  I played three games (they were short because we only played to seven points) and won the third, for the first time ever!

 

August 17, 2009

 Dreamed of noticing that a jogger on Pickard Place (near my old home in Sackville, N.B.) had broken a leg; Puccini's "E Lucevan le Stelle."

I'm using the Finale softward to change "Avant de Quitter Ces Lieux" from E flat to C.  It's slow work.  Now that I think of it, I could sing "Widmung" in its original key. (The high note of G flat is a challenge, but it's doable.)

Dinner was steak.

Coro Verdi rehearsed next Sunday's mass.  Giuseppe is still recuperating from his knee operation, so soprano soloist Oksana conducted us.

August 16, 2009

I think I've finally memorized the words of "Vi Ravviso." ("Vagha Luna" is next.)

Went to a Games Meetup at the Foxes Den.  I played Smallworld, where my races were alchemist trolls and mounted sorcerers.  Then I played a fun new game called Carcassone, which involves matching tile edes to form farms and cities and roads.  I was cautious and only got 49 points.

Dinner was KFC.

Saw the DVD of some episodes of the 1970s game show Match Game, which I remember watching at the time.  Richard Dawson was pretty sharp.

For the first time I did a shorter version of my singing practice, skipping the older songs.  I plan on doing the complete version twice a week (instead of three times) and the shorter one two or three times.

August 15, 2009

"Since schools have no death penalty, Dargelos was expelled and the principal was sent to the infirmary"--Les Enfants Terribles

Dreamed of visiting Canterbury, England; feeling that the previous year of my life had been largely wasted.

Went to a new Brunch Club Meetup at Chez Cora's near the College station.  I had a raspberry crepe and a strawberry-banana smoothie.

In the afternoon I went to a Games Meetup at K.C. McFly's near Lawrence and Victoria Park, but Jag and I were the only ones who came. (Too far from the subway.) He gave me a lift to the subway in his car, which has a GPS device!

Dinner was McDonald's.

Saw the first part of Jean-Pierre Melville's Les Enfants Terribles (based on Jean Cocteau's book) at the Cinematheque.  It was just too strange for me!

August 14, 2009

Dreamed of writing a story for a creative writing class about a family going through a science fiction transformation to a new order of magnitude, told from the perspective of the underachieving middle son, who dies afterward.

Baked multigrain bread.

Dinner was Chinese food. (My fortune said "You are welcome at all gatherings.")

Moira taped the new-key accompaniment for "Ich Liebe Dich."

Saw the DVD of the 1950s Technicolor version of King Solomon's Mines.  Enjoyable adventure, though for my money the 1930s Paul Robeson version has the edge.  Cool African music.

August 13, 2009

"Meeting [women] is a matter of mathematical probability"--My Night at Maud's

In the early morning we went to Whittamore Farm and picked some late strawberries. (It turned out that the place only opens at 09:00 now, so we killed some time at a Tim Horton's full of Asians.) I also got a dozen ears of corn at their store.

They've been pouring cement to re-lay the street near our house.

Napped in the afternoon.

Dinner was lasagna.

Saw Eric Rohmer's My Night at Maud's at the Cinematheque.  Tasty talk, though a bit long, from the time when Frenchmen still wore ties! (I googled Pascal's Wager afterward.)

August 12, 2009

 Went shopping.

Finished The Story of French.

Went to a Games Meetup at Susan's flat.  We played the movie trivia game Scene It, which I'm pretty good at.  They also played a game of CatchPhrase, but I didn't stay for it.

Saw the DVD of a History Channel documentary about the War of 1812.  There wasn't much about Canada. (It was mostly about the last part of the war, with Americans defending their own soil.)

August 11, 2009

"Charlie, you're drunk."

"Confidentially, so am I!"

--Old Acquaintance

Went to the Reference Library and borrowed the score of Gounod's Faust. (Giuseppe suggested the song "Avant de Quitter Ces Lieux.") I can never remember whether it's the books with the yellow sticker or the ones without that you can take out!

Went to another Games Meetup at the Foxes Den.  We played the European Ticket to Ride again.  I completed all my tickets, just managing the biggest one on my last turn!  I tried to stay for a SmallWorld game, but the setup took so long (two players were new to it) that I didn't have time.

Dinner was roast chicken.

Saw the DVD of the Bette Davis melodrama Old Acquaintance.  It was a little much...

August 10, 2009

"She's only interested in you because you're the Chosen One!"

"Well, I am the Chosen One."

--Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Today was my last singing lesson for a while. (Giuseppe's having a knee operation on Wednesday.) We were late getting started because there was a girl auditioning for the Toronto City Opera, who'd missed last weekend's audition session.  The student who came after me heard me singing "Le Veau d'Or" and was impressed.

Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

Saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (in Imax and with the first scene in 3-D) at the Paramount.  I was going to see it with some Movie Meetup people but I couldn't find them.  The film could have used a bit more Snape and a bit less teenage romance.

August 9, 2009

Confederate soldier Yosemite Sam: "Gotta burn my boots--I got Yankee soil on them!"--Southern Fried Rabbit

Saw Nora Ephron's Julia Child movie Julie and Julia at the Yonge & Dundas with the Movie Meetup.  Entertaining. (Afterward they lunched at a wings and ribs place, but that didn't suit my taste so I went home instead.)

Dinner was pork steak.

August 8, 2009

"Let's go."

"Mr. Pendleton, I'm the one who says 'Let's go.' Let's go."

--Here Comes Mr. Jordan

Dreamed of an epic story about Canadian children caught in eastern Europe at the outset of World War II and ending up in a refuge in Finland that burned down; a movie about the life of Michael Jackson that was too long for me to sit through.

Baked raisin bread.

Went to a Games Meetup where we played Scrabble. (I'd scheduled a DBE event to talk about Dreams From My Father, but cancelled it because only one other person RSVPed yes.) On the way to the subway, I helped out a Hispanic woman by pushing her wheelchair to Loblaw's.

We played Scrabble on the rooftop at the Rosemont apartment building.  In the first game, Jackie used all seven letters twice! (I didn't have a chance.) The second game I won narrowly.

Dinner was McDonald's.

Saw the DVD of the screwball comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan.  Pretty strange.

August 7, 2009

"Maybe I can't send you flowers, baby, but I can... [suggestively] send you!"

Daughter: "I'm only 19." Mother: "And next year you'll be 20, then 21, then--forty!"

--Picnic

Printed out the score for "Ich Liebe Dich" in its original key of G.

Dinner was ham.

Went to Loblaw's and bought some peaches.  Of course, it turned out that Father had bought some too!

Saw the DVD of Joshua Logan's movie of the William Inge play Picnic (for the third time). An entertaining if slightly lurid slice of 1950s small-town life, though William Holden was a bit too old to be playing a drifter stud.  Kim Novak was radiantly sexy, especially in the dance scene.

August 6, 2009

Dreamed of travelling by train overnight to Kingston; my eyesight failing.

Saw the DVD of Disney's 101 Dalmatians (for the second time). Cute and funny.

Went to a Games Meetup at Jeffrey's townhouse.  We played the European version of Ticket to Ride on two boards, and my group played two games.  In the first one I was too cautious about building tunnel lines and didn't have time to finish all my routes.  In the second I scored 100 points and lost narrowly:  the other guy depended on having the longest road for his margin of victory.  Afterward we played Inca Gold a bit.

August 5, 2009

"He's stupid.  Thinks with his feet....  But I trust those feet!"

"I'll say this much for him:  he has the courage of his ignorance."

--A Face in the Crowd

The New Yorker critic Pauline Kael on the A Face in the Crowd cast: "They should all take a cold shower."

Dreamed of the summer of 1979.

They're now tearing up the south side of St. Clair Avenue near our house.

Spent a long time sorting the comic strips I've been recently buying online.

Dinner was spaghetti (which I cooked).

Saw the DVD of the Elia Kazan-Budd Schulberg satire A Face in the Crowd. (When I went online afterward, it turned out that Schulberg had just died!) Quintessential 1950s cynicism, melodramatic but often sharp.

August 4, 2009

Drunk pair: "What does your watch say?" "It says, 'Tick, tick, tick, tick..."

"Tell me the truth--do I look bad to you?" "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know you well enough to tell you the truth."

"Well, I seldom change boats in mid-ocean."

--Shall We Dance?

Dreamed of Trixie, a non-existent sitcom from the early 1960s about a finishing school teacher barely older than her pupils.

We got a huge pile of mail, including five DVDs from zip.ca.

Went shopping.

Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).

Saw the DVD of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical Shall We Dance?  It has some famous Gershwin songs, but the story's very thin--involving a false rumour that they're married--and much of the comedy is unfunny. (Stuff like people saying "Ssh!" to each other.) The final number, bizarrely, has a dozen chorus girls wearing Ginger Rogers masks.

August 3, 2009

"I saw Tony Curtis in the men's room!" "Handing out towels?"

"Mommy doesn't like to eat."

"I sell products, not advertising."

"Stop counting other people's money!"

--Mad Men

Last night John, Kathrine and Donald came over for dinner, which was pizza.

Dreamed of a couple sailing to Haiti a century ago and planning to take over the country.

My voice was rusty at today's singing lesson.  I ended up singing my two Bellini songs because they're easy on the throat.

Dinner was pancakes with fresh blueberries.

Saw the last four episodes of the second season of Mad Men.

August 1, 2009

"Students for a Democratic Society--that's one helluva focus group!"--Mad Men

Another early start.  We listened to the first part of a CD recording of Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. (I'm really not sure whether I want to read more of it!)

We had lunch at Arby's in Kingston.  We arrived home at about 13:50.

I got a big pile of Ebay comics. (Two packages I picked up at a post office on Bathurst & Eglinton.)

Dinner was KFC.

Dreamed of a black cop directing a quotable putdown at his actor friend.

Rented more episodes of Mad Men.

July 31, 2009

We left our P.E.I. motel just after 06:00.  On the way, we listened to the rest of Gilead. (I ought to read it on paper.)

Lunch was McDonald's in Edmundston, N.B.  In the afternoon we listened to the rest of Imperial Ambitions.

We stopped at the Motel Blanchet in Drummondville, Quebec. (They have an internet room, where I went online.) We had dinner at the St. Hubert chicken place.

July 30, 2009

Dreamed of meeting Father late at night in an airport in Seattle; starting to make the friendly acquaintance of a Chinese girl.

On our last day in P.E.I. we drove to Summerside and visited the local art gallery.  We had lunch at a local restaurant called Link's. (I had fish and chips, the latter being McCain's oven-ready French fries.)

For dinner we got a takeout pizza from Pizza Delight.

I think this will be my last trip to the Maritimes with the family. [It was.] I'm a bit too conscious of the effort it takes.

 

July 29, 2009

Today was a lazy day. (Father could use the rest anyway.) Lunch was the rest of the hamburgers.  I suggested we try Cavendish Beach again, but Moira was afraid the water was still too cold.

We had dinner at the New London Seafood Restaurant.  I had the seafood combo and the ice cream crepe.

In the evening the internet was back on, after a two-day interruption, and I spent hours on it again.

July 28, 2009

Dreamed of holding a light in front of Diane Keaton unsteadily and her saying "Do you conform to any other stereotypes?"; arguing with Mother because she wanted us to have dinner at breakfast time.

Our internet connection is on the blink. (That must be because of yesterday's thunderstorms.)

We drove to Charlottetown and Moira and I went on a walking tour led by a guy in a 19th-century costume. (There were just five of us.) He told some funny stories.

We had lunch at McDonald's again, and this time I had a lobster roll.

Then we visited Fort Amherst and went on a tour there.  We returned by another scenic route.

Dinner was microwaved lasagna.

July 27, 2009

"He wouldn't know Babe Ruth from Humpty Dumpty"--CBC sports analyst

In the morning we drove to Hunter River and Moira and I walked on the Confederation Trail for a few miles. (I took a few more pictures.) We drove back the long scenic way via Kensington.  There was a forest fire in the area that I could smell back at the motel.

For lunch we made hamburgers.  Then we had a pretty lazy afternoon.

We had lobster suppers at the famous New Glasgow establishment.  They still make good cake.

I have a big pile of loose change to get rid of, so we'll have to watch for a vending machine.

In the afternoon there was a pretty big thunderstorm. (One bolt was uncomfortably close to us.)

July 26, 2009

Dreamed of punching Father in the stomach(!); the TV show The White Shadow.

In the morning we drove to the National Park.  Moira went running and I walked along a trail to Cavendish Beach and back, taking several pictures.

We had lunch at Joe's. (I had an omelette and seafood chowder.)

Father and I tried to go swimming at Cavendish Beach, but the water was too darn cold!

Late in the afternoon Moira and I walked along another trail in the park.

Dinner was frozen pizza which we got in a store across the road.

Of course, I'm spending a lot of time online.

July 25, 2009

We had breakfast at Connor's Family Restaurant, and picked up some used books at an Amherst clothing store called Frenchy's. (We also picked up some papers.  The Moncton Times & Transcript weekend paper now has a section titled "Whatever"!)

Then we drove the rest of the way to P.E.I.  We heard some more of Gilead, and a CD of really early rock & roll. (I photographed an Anne of Green Gables statue at the island end of the Confederation Bridge.)

We had lunch at McDonald's. (The others had lobster rolls, but I had a Big Mac!) Then we found the Silverwood Motel in Cavendish.  I set up Moira's laptop and we got a wireless internet connection.

We had dinner at the nearby restaurant Chez Yvonne's. (I had halibut.)

July 24, 2009

We crossed New Brunswick to Amherst, N.S., where we got a room at Victorian Motel.  We listened to more of the Gilead audio book, and CDs of classic doo-wop and Bill Cosby. (We stopped at Fredericton, to find a Tim Horton's, and Father got lost just like last time!)

We had lunch in Moncton at Hynes' Restaurant, which has good lobster rolls.

After reaching Amherst we went back to my hometown of Sackville, N.B. to look around the place (except Moira, who stayed at the motel). I took some pictures of our old house, which lost its bow window and now has pink shingles, but still has that area under the eaves painted blue.

We had dinner at Bella's Cafe in Amherst. (I had baked salmon.) There were a coupld of folk singers performing live!  We were talking to them during their break.