July 26, 2010

    Dreamed of actress Candice Bergen; rehearsing the opera Carmen.

    Started reading the second volume of Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Modern World (which we bought in St. Catherine's the other day). Great stuff!

    Saw a DVD of the 1950s country music show Town Hall Party, with an appearance by the great Johnny Cash!

    Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

    Bought a ticket online to see Carmen in the cinema in a few weeks.  This time I had to get through the Verified by Visa process, which meant phoning the Visa people because my info didn't match theirs.  But it got straightened out in the end. (I accidentally bought a second Aida ticket.  Hope Moira will go with me!)

July 25, 2010

    Dreamed of the movie Forrest Gump; seeing a picture of actress Suzanne Pleshette and thinking her name was Susan Pavlov.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin.  I played Agricola and Puerto Rico. (The Agricola cards were against me!)

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine.

    Finished Don't Know Much About the Civil War.

July 24, 2010

    Dreamed of writing a story about a guy who became a recluse after finishing school, then eventually became head of the fire department.

    Today's Mother's 91st birthday. (But she doesn't believe in celebrating...)

    Went to an Asperger's Meetup at Nipsa's apartment. (I can remember that her call tone is 211 because that's the year Roman emperor Septimus Severus died.) I brought my board game The Amazeing Labyrinth at her request, and we played it again.

    Dinner was lobster rolls.

    Went to a Classical Music Meetup.  Allegria performed without Mary (whose arm is still injured), and Jonah did some guitar pieces.

July 23, 2010

 Dreamed of getting a trivia question about the kind of shoe used in a non-existent scene involving Lee Grant in Shampoo; guessing it was  a sneaker; finding out it was a stiletto-heeled shoe.

    Baked whole wheat bread.

    Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).

    Saw the start of a DVD of Warner Brothers cartoons directed by the great Bob Clampett!

July 22, 2010

Daughter: "Being buried in prayer is like being buried alive."

Mother: "That's blasphemous.  He will hear you!"

"Let him hear."

--Bluebeard

    Dreamed of hearing that people were wading across the Northumberland Strait to P.E.I.; the quote [wrongly attributed to Gandhi] "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"; the Moncton, N.B. public library back when it was on Highfield Street (before they built a new one in 1989).

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    Saw Catherine Breillat's Bluebeard at the Cinematheque.  Pretty stylish.

    Saw another Unseen Cinema DVD of early avant-garde films. (Stuff like silent films of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher.")

July 21, 2010

    Dreamed of travelling near Seattle and being about to drive south to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

    Dinner was rice and beans.

    Saw the first cartoons on a DVD of Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation.

    Went to the Wednesday Games Meetup.  I played Jeffrey's new Warhammer game Chaos in the Old World.  We were all soil gods out to destroy the world. (I was the god of pestilence and finished last...)

    Afterward I had a hamburger because the rice and beans wasn't enough for me.

July 20, 2010

"How terrible is knowledge when there is nothing to do with it!"--Oedipus Rex

    Dreamed of the Brigadoon song "Go Home to Bonny Jean"; a man speaking with the voice of a computer, in discrete unstressed syllables; a non-existent scene in Mad Men involving someone in a devil costume (which would actually be inspired!).

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was the rest of the Indian food they ordered when I was out Sunday.

    Saw Pasolini's Oedipus Rex.  Pretty primal.

    Saw the DVD of the first episodes of the silent serial Tarzan the Tiger.

July 19, 2010

Prayer: "Please make my mother smart"--Dodes'kaden

    Dreamed of Carmen, a brunette in my choir, as a blonde.

    Dinner was tortellini.

    Saw Kurosawa's Dodes'kaden, an episodic drama about a slum community that reminded m of the people needed in a park in Kurosawa's Ikiru.  Oddly life-affirming, with a 1960s countercultural tone.

July 18, 2010

"Man is born crying.  When he's cried enough, he dies"--Ran

"In a mad world only the mad are truly sane"--ibid.

"Will you pull me from my grave?"--ibid.

    Dreamed of an oil rig blowout in the Cumberland Basin near my hometown Sackville, N.B.; flying in as a human helicopter but having no place to land.

    Saw Kurosawa's Ran at the Cinematheque (for the second time). Powerful, powerful.  Some scenes are like silent film.

    Started reading Don't Know Much About the Civil War, which we bought yesterday at the St. Catherines book warehouse. (I haven't finished my current Lapham's Quarterly, but that can wait.)

July 17, 2010

"Anna and I are above love"--The Cherry Orchard

"You've been expelled from university twice.  Students are supposed to be clever, not smart"--ibid.

    Dreamed of a non-existent Finnish war correspondent getting drunk on the radio while reporting on the Russo-Finnish War in a 1940 Tintin adventure; telling Frank DeJongh [whom I knew from my opera group] about it (he's Dutch-Canadian, not Finnish!); discussing the English people in India with experts.

    This weekend is the noisy Salsa on St. Clair, so the parents and I went to see Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  On the way there we stopped at a big book warehouse in St. Catherines and bought a few books.

    It took a while to find the theatre, which was hidden behind the old courthouse.  Wonderful play.

    On the way back we had dinner at a huge Mandarin restaurant in St. Catherines.

July 16, 2010

"Of the ten men sent, four returned.  Of those four, three wrote books about what happened.  Of those three, two were published.  Of those two, one just got a movie deal"--Tropic Thunder

"Speedman's a dying star.  A white dwarf headed for a black hole.  That's physics.  It's inevitable"--ibid.

"I don't read the script.  The script reads me"--ibid.

"Now I want you to take a step back--and literally fuck your own face!"--ibid.

 Dreamed of Upstairs, Downstairs and the documentary series about silent Hollywood being on TV at the same time late Sunday night; planning to record both shows.

    Went to see Dr. Ang.  She's puzzled about my chronically low blood-iron level.

    Dinner was chicken curry.

    Rented the DVD of Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder (for the second time). Really funny!

July 15, 2010

    Dreamed of Mr. T.; corn on the cob.

    Baked white bread.

    Finished the corn we picked the other day for lunch. (And I burned my mouth!)

    Dinner was pork steak.

    Saw Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew at the Cinematheque (for maybe the third time). It's a masterpiece, the finest Bible movie.

    There's a leak in our refrigerator connection that would explain why our icemaker hasn't been working.

    At night I heard a mouse gnawing the wall near my room. (It kept me awake a little while.)

July 14, 2010

 Dreamed of the movie director John Frankenheimer; playing the saxophone (which I briefly did in my youth); the song "The Age of Aquarius"; recalling that most of the Arabian Nights stories were originally Persian. [It's true.]

    Dinner was corn on the cob (part of the corn we bought at Whittamore's Farm the other day).

    Instead of going to the regular Wednesday Games Meetup I attended a new one at the Starbuck's just west of High Park.  But only one other person showed up!

    So I went to 401 Games after all, but only had time for one game.  It was Blue Moon City, a game involving cards where you collect crystals and dragon scales.

July 13, 2010

"He isn't the sharpest knife in... the place where they keep knives"--Toy Story 3

Barbie to Ken: "Nice as-cot!"--ibid.

    Dreamed of playing Gandhi in a Bollywood musical and "flying" on a wire like Peter Pan; another remake of Frankenstein; movie director Garry Marshall performing popular songs on an organ.

    Dinner was scallops. (The peas we picked yesterday didn't last long!)

    Saw Toy Story 3 at the Varsity.  Another clever entry in a clever series.

July 12, 2010

    Woke up early and drove to Whittamore's Farm.  We picked raspberries and bought corn and peas at the store.

    After we got home I went back to bed for a few more hours.

    Dinner was beef stroganoff.

    Went to meeting on re-structuring the Coro Verdi choir. (About 20 people came.) I volunteered to serve on the Welcome Committee for new members and a group that'll help Ennio file all our scores in one place.

July 11, 2010

    Dreamed of the TV show Moonlighting (which I've never watched); playing the title role in the musical The Music Man.

    Went to a Classical Music Meetup at Metropolitan United Church.  We listened to a carillon concert out in front of the church. (I lay in the grass in the shade.) The music included "Danny Boy," Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" and--urrgh!--"The Phantom of the Opera."

    Afterward I went on a tour of the bell tower. (The tour guide was the carillon player I met at Mary's games night the other month.) At one point he let us play the smaller practice instrument, and I pushed the lowest brass pedal.

    Dinner was KFC.

July 10, 2010

On the wedding cake Homer bought Marge: "To a whale of a wife!"--The Simpsons

    Dreamed of preparing to get off a train in my hometown Sackville, N.B.; the Jules Verne novel Mysterious Island (which I haven't read); the short-lived 1975 Chinese-American cop show Khan.

    Went to an Arts Meetup in the afternoon.  We wandered around the exhibits being displayed at Nathan Phillips Square.

    Saw the first part of Pasolini's Teorema at the Cinematheque.  Too strange for me.

July 9, 2010

Marge (to Homer): "If anything happens, use your best judg--just do what I'd do!"--The Simpsons

    Finally resumed baking bread. (I baked multigrain bread, after checking my diary to see which type I baked last.)

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    Went to Mary's games night.  I played The Amazeing Labyrinth twice, winning the first game.  Then I played Smallworld, where my races were stout skeletons, mounted halflings and seafaring tritons.  I was told that Damien has a new games group now.

July 8, 2010

"You must die as best you see fit"--The Master Builder

"A wild bird doesn't fly into a cage"--ibid.

Marge: "Next to spring and winter, fall is my favorite season!"--The Simpsons 

    Dreamed of the baseball comedy Major League (which I've never seen); waiting to register at an Australian high school.

    Dinner was KFC.

    I found some caffeine-free non-diet Pepsi!

    Saw a more recent BBC production of The Master Builder (on the same disc as the earlier one), with Leo McKern and Miranda Richardson.  It's a tour de force.

July 7, 2010

Moe: "Hey, if you're going to beat up my friend in my bar, there's a two-drink minimum!"--The Simpsons

    Dreamed of a comic-book guide to London; an opera being performed at London's National Gallery; debunking the romantic myth of Paul Gauguin's life.

    Slept without my pajama top.

    Set up the attic fan in my room to blow out the hot air. (At first I had it blowing in the wrong direction!)

    Dinner was chicken curry.

    Went to an Introvert Meetup (instead of the Games Meetup). We joined a Royal Ontario Museum walking tour of Parkdale and learned about some building styles.

July 6, 2010

"That's what we get for living in a state founded by circus freaks!"--The Simpsons

    Slept on top of the blankets because of the heat.

    Dreamed of riding a bicycle (which I haven't done for years); actor Ken Howard (whom I'd just seen in 1776); the New York Times paragraph of a war criminal in the Bosnian conflict over 15 years ago.

    Went shopping. (I also got a new pair of slippers at Zeller's.)

    Dinner was pork steak.

    Saw the DVD of the Mystery Science Theatre version of First Spaceship on Venus.

July 5, 2010

    Dreamed of looking up Roger Ebert's movie reviews for films he gave zero stars to (which I have done online); the Charles Bronson western From Noon Till Three.

    When I got my blood tested a month ago, they forgot to check the iron level!  So I came back today and gave them another sample. (I would have done it earlier but I misplaced the form Dr. Ang gave me.)

    The power went off for a few hours, but was still on at the pizza place at the corner, so that was our dinner.

    Saw the DVD Acting Shakespeare, with Ian McKellen doing a one-man show about the Bard, performing famous scenes.  He's in rare form here!

    Moira liked the Games Meetup people who came here yesterday.

July 4, 2010

John Adams (on a portrait of Benjamin Franklin): "The artist is no Botticelli."

Franklin: "The subject is no Venus."

--1776

"Mapmakers everywhere await your decision"--ibid.

    Dreamed of the moment in the Warner Brothers cartoon Hare We Go where Christopher Columbus exclaims "Oh, ravioli!"; ordering breakfast in a restaurant, choosing scrambled eggs and sausages, but being told that was on the dinner menu.

    Today the Games Meetup came to our house.  There were eight people, including me.  We had a lot of strawberries, but few people were interested.  First we played Poo twice, a card game about primates throwing excrement at each other.  Then I played Powergrid for the first time, which is an interesting game.  I also played a dice game called Ra, and Ticket to Ride. (The other group played a very long Agricola game.)

Dinner was McDonald's.

    Saw the musical 1776 (for the second time), taped off TCM.  Intelligent though often stagey.

July 3, 2010

    Dreamed of the song "Let's Hear It for the Boy"; hiking west through the mountains to a town in Washington state; a wife-swapping rogue who became the special agent of General Halftrack in the comic strip Beetle Bailey, telling him which officers to purge from his unit; the song "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey."

    Dinner was Indian food. (I wish we'd have it once when John isn't around, so we could get more meat dishes.)

July 2, 2010

Homer: "Space aliens!  Don't eat me, I have a wife and children!  Eat them!"

--The Simpsons

    Dreamed of the TV version of Brideshead Revisited (its stars Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews are in the last episodes of The Pallisers); wondering why the Monkees were in it (they weren't); the song Streets of Laredo (I just saw Bang the Drum Slowly, in which they were singing it); comic strip antihero Mike Nomad.

    Dinner was KFC.

    Another lazy day.  I got out of bed around 14:00 and didn't do much of anything.

    Finished The Pallisers.  My favourite episodes were the ones involving Phineas Finn.

July 1, 2010

 Dreamed of the Expo '67 song "Ca-Na-Da!"; visiting Norway; mowing the back yard of our old home in Sackville, N.B., into nighttime.

    I still don't have much energy.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Ryerson Pod, where I played Dominion, Settlers of Catan and Carcassone. (It was my first time playing Dominion, but I managed second place!)

    Dinner was curried pork.

    Saw a DVD of a 1958 production of Ibsen's The Master Builder. 

June 30, 2010

"I'm very careful."
"That's what a lot of people say.  And that's why the hospitals are full of babies!"

--Bang the Drum Slowly

"'Nothing to speak of' has a way of turning into something that has to be spoken of, and very painfully"--The Pallisers

    Dreamed of a memoir by a non-existent Holocaust survivor from Greece; the early 19th-century English practice of burning hay ricks as a political protest, which was punished by hanging.

    Dinner was fish and chips. (The parents went out and bought a ton of strawberries, so we had strawberry shortcake too.)

    I was going to go out to the reopene Carlton cinema and try to catch one of the free movies, but I didn't feel up to it.

    Saw the DVD of Bang the Drum Slowly, with Robert de Niro as a dying baseball player.  Some good dialogue, though I recall preferring the TV play version.

June 29, 2010

    Dreamed of arriving at a Vancouver hotel; a new Harry Potter mystery that everyone was reading.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    Since I upgraded my browser to Safari 5, it's become really erratic! (Hope they update it soon...)

June 28, 2010

    Dreamed of the cartoon series Daria (which I've only seen once); reflecting on the song Do They Know It's Christmas? and considering that most Ethiopian Christians are in the Coptic church which still uses the Julian calendar, so Christmas would come a couple of weeks later for them.

    The sun room is now painted blue.

    Dinner was curried shrimp. (This time, Mother was the one too sick to eat.)

June 27, 2010

"You don't trust me a yard, do you, Wharton?"

"Not a millimetre, Lopes!"

--The Pallisers

    Dreamed of mixing different flavours of pudding.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin.

    My first game was Smallworld, where my races were mounted skeletons, berserk humans and wealthy amazons.  The second was Ticket to Ride, where I smoked 'em with 129 points!

    John came over for dinner, which was pork roast.

    

June 26, 2010

Eddie Albert: "Charlie's my name, charm's my game!"--Carrie

    Dreamed of a non-existent slapstick comedy with pupils rebelling against an oppressive school, with a roller coaster climax; an actual incident where Jenny Lind gave a concert in 1850s Toronto and scalpers ended up having to resell tickets at a discount; Laurence Alma-Tadema's actual poem "If No-One Ever Marries Me."

    Dinner was pizza.

    I was going to attend a Karaoke Meetup at Bar Plus, but the whole downtown has become inaccessible because of the G-20 Conference!  I don't blame the anarchists; I'd rather blame the G20 for inconveniencing everyone with these big, pointless exercises.

    Saw the DVD of William Wyler's Carrie, from Theodore Dreiser's powerful novel Sister Carrie.  Wyler was an expert director.  Laurence Olivier is far sexier here than in Rebecca, and Jennifer Jones is better than usual.

June 25, 2010

    Dreamed of the SCTV sketch "The Sammy Maudlin Show"; a non-existent ribald exchange at the end of the movie The Candidate. (It actually ended with the line "What do we do now?")

    We ate out at the Red Lobster with Donald. (I was going to attend an Asperger's Meetup, but decided this was a higher priority.)

    In the evening I got sick again. (More phlegm, presumably.  I hope this is the turning point!)

June 24, 2010

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.

    Patron Tony Fusco treated the Coro Verdi committee to dinner at the Boccaccio restaurant in Columbus Centre. (I had minestrone soup, salmon and tiramisu.) We talked a lot about plans for the choir.

    On the bus on the way there, I stretched my fee and accidentally brushed against the foot of a woman sitting near me.  She yelled "Stop kicking my legs!" and made a big scene.