"It was all going great, until it wasn't"--ibid.
Dreamed of a non-existent story in the comic strip Mary Perkins on Stage set in rural Canada and culminating in a barn being set on fire; the scene in the Fiddler on the Roof movie where the Fiddler comes down to the ground.
Dinner was roast chicken.
Went to Blockbuster and rented the DVD of the first episodes of the fourth season of Mad Men.
Drug cartel man: "Either you eat the bear, or the bear eats you"--Weeds
Went shopping.
Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes.
Saw the DVD of William Wellman's The High and the Mighty. Entertaining '50s hokum with John Wayne in his element.
Dreamed of the western High Noon; reflecting that the townspeople balked at supporting Gary Cooper because the plot required them to; the TV show The Sopranos.
Poor Michael Ignatieff! He even lost his own seat. (The NDP should set up a coalition with the Liberals and Greens.)
Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).
Saw the DVD of Charlie Chan in Egypt. I always liked Warner Oland in that role. [Rita Cansino later became Rita Hayworth!]
"Hope for sun, get ready for rain"--Weeds
Dreamed of a murder mystery set in Shanghai's International Settlement; a square couch with an ad promoting a breed of apple.
Voted [in Canada's federal election] early in the afternoon. I thought my health card would be enough, but I had to go back and bring a bank statement with my address on it.
Went to a clinic near College & Euclid and got an abdominal ultrasound and a chest X-ray. All the doctors there seem to be Chinese.
Dinner was pork steak.
At choir practice I told Giuseppe I was putting my singing lessons on hiatus for now.
--Troy
Dreamed of visiting the junior high school in my hometown Sackville, N.B., with Moira; telling her "I'll never be doing lab experiments in there again."
Dinner was McDonald's.
Saw the DVD of Wolfgang Petersen's Troy. A pretty intelligent script, though I wish the Achilles-Briseis relationship had been fleshed out a bit more.
Went to the clinic at St. Clair & Bathurst and gave them a urine sample. (No doubt they want to see if my kidney's causing the trouble.)
Dinner was lobster rolls.
Saw the DVD of Tony Kaye's pretty disturbing American History X. Could have used fewer arty touches (like slow motion and choral music).
Phoned Giuseppe and cancelled next week's singing lesson. (My energy level is low.)
Went to see Dr. Ang again. This time she was in, though I had to wait a couple of hours. She arranged for me to get an X-ray and ultrasound.
Dinner was spaghetti and riceballs.
Saw the video of Jamboree, a 1950s rock & roll movie featuring performers from Count Basie to Silm Whitman, with cameos by DJs like Dick Clark. (Too bad about the dorky romance in the foreground.)
Babe: "You're Matt Helm."
"That's good enough for me!"
--The Silencers
Baked raisin bread.
Tried to go see Dr. Ang about my "stitch," but she isn't in on Thursdays.
Did some more campaign leafletting along Arlington and Rushton streets, which I'd planned to do two days ago.
I was late getting home for dinner, which was fish.
In the evening I finished the area west of Christie Street. (We need a new doorbell! I forgot my house key, and when I came home I rang five times, but they only heard me when I banged on the door!)
Saw Phil Karlson's The Silencers, the first of the secret agent series featuring Matt Helm. A languid spoof of James Bond with an emphasis on the drinking and womanizing, it's very much a Dean Martin vehicle. What a 1960s artifact!
Dreamed of getting published in a periodical; a murder scandal involving a wealthy Edwardian widow that was made into a silent movie.
Got another blood test at the Bloor & Bathurst clinic (for the haematologist).
Dinner was salmon.
I've had a "stitch" in my side since yesterday evening.
At choir practice we're now concentrating on Nabucco. A Canadian Opera Company chorus baritone came and gave us a lift.
We've now finished the Peyton Place episodes they released on DVD. (Hope they release some more! Mother really enjoys it.)
"Rodney the Righteous, armored in ignorance and spoiling for a fight!"--Peyton Place
Dreamed of seeing skyscrapers blow up; starting to write about someone starting a worldwide trade network; York University campus with new train connections.
Went shopping.
Dinner was more turkey pie.
Headache.
Saw a DVD of The Queen and the Skipper, a CBC Canadian Experience documentary about the Bluenose.
Once again, I went to bed early, then woke up for several hours in the middle of the night.
Dreamed of a movie comedy about a bunch of slobs in college.
At today's singing lesson Giuseppe was going to lend me a book about Verdi for Moira but I forgot to ask for it.
Dinner was turkey pie.
Dreamed of Flash Gordon being on a train on a path that seemed to be circular (like in Hanna-Barbera cartoons).
Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin. I played a new game called Factory Manager, a spinoff from Power Grid. Then I played Ticket to Ride.
Donald came over for dinner, which was turkey.
Felt sleepy after dinner and napped for three hours.
"Whatever you write just remember that once, I was your good friend."
"I remember that once, Lucifer was an angel."
--Peyton Place
Dreamed of a letter to an advice columnist from a man whose sister-in-law was obsessed with expensive learning (from a reprint of decades-old advice columns).
The weather's warmer, and I went out and dropped NDP campaign leaflets in my neighborhood. People were saying things like "Give Layton a chance."
Dinner was ham.
Saw the DVD of Beyond the Prairie, a TV movie about the "true" story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House books. It wasn't very good.
"Your religion is bullshit. It's just another excuse for people to fuck around!"--Big Love
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm eating cereal."
--Weeds
"Try not to look homeless"--ibid.
Dreamed of the movie A Clockwork Orange; the comic strip Steve Canyon.
Dinner was chicken and rice.
The Coro Verdi performed The Seven Last Words of Christ at the Blythwood Baptist church. (It's in the same area where we rented a Lytton Boulevard house for about six months back in 1982.) Giovanni and John George made sure I had a stool to sit on for much of the concert.
I've started a new Facebook game called Superhero City, which is said to be addictive.
"It's Fruit Loops time!"--Big Love
"My cope bin is full, do you hear? Full!"--ibid.
"Don't talk to me about love. It only opens you up to hurt"--ibid.
"I wish you wouldn't make 'killing her' sound so much like killing her!"--Weeds
Baked whole wheat bread.
Father and I went to see Dr. Hassan. We discussed how I should go about getting into the Ontario disability Support Program. [I only noticed how tall my shrink was when he was next to my father.]
Dinner was lasagna.
To a customs inspector at the U.S.-Mexico border: "You think there's a tiny little immigrant inside my lipstick?"--Weeds
Dreamed of taking a date to see a movie in the morning at a non-existent cinema just east of the actual Vogue Cinema in my hometown Sackville, N.B.; seeing an airplane in Cape Breton skirt the horizon in a complete circle and crash-land; rushing to give first aid.
Went to see Dr. Ang. They're going to send me to a haematologist!
Finally did my taxes. (None to pay again this year.)
Dinner was pork chops.
Went to the Open Minds Cafe. I suggested the topics "Who are your heroes?" and "What are your favourite TV shows?" but few people seem interested in what I suggest.
Dreamed of coming to rehearse for a recital but not knowing what I was going to sing; the Donizetti aria "Una Furtiva Lagrima."
Went canvassing with William in the Wychwood & Louise area. People seemed receptive. There were several Jewish residents and we had to be careful about disturbing Passover. (One said she couldn't vote NDP because we're anti-Israel.)
Dinner was vegetable stew.
We dress-rehearsed our Easter concert at Blythwood Baptist Church. I'd been walking so much that I had to sit for much of the rehearsal!
Dreamed of a school quiz where the questions were so cryptic that nobody could answer them; the British heist comedy The Ladykillers.
At today's singing lesson Giuseppe was complaining about singing teachers who don't know the repertoire.
Dinner was boneless chicken with the rest of the Indian food.
At choir practice we learned a difficult part of Nabucco.
"Behind every man is an exhausted woman"--Big Love
"I don't care if you're Minnie the Moocher!"--ibid.
Dreamed of a movie about Batman's origins with a rural setting full of bright sunshine, and the hero surviving a summary execution of all his brothers.
Went to a Walking Meetup. (Felice has taken over from Anita as organizer.) We visited Allen Gardens, then walked to City Hall and Easter Around the World, where a dozen ethnic groups were selling Easter food! If I'd stayed to 16:00, I could have got a lot for free.
Snow on Palm Sunday!
Dinner was more of the Indian food.
"Another day, another revelation"--Big Love
Dreamed of a non-existent 1979 movie with nonstop action and an English villainess; both of my eyeglasses lenses falling out of their frame and getting chipped; trying to remember the second verse of "Danny Boy"; meeting one of the new owners of our old house in Sackville, N.B.; telling her how I often dreamed about it and felt I was invading their privacy!
I've been watching a DVD of first episodes of Saturday morning TV series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. [One of them died just a few days ago.] I remember watching H.R. Pufnstuf and Lidsville at the time. They must have smoked some high-grade dope!
Baked rye bread.
Dinner was more pork and rice (and the rest of the lasagna).
"Why's he in the freezer?"
"Because he's dead."
--Big Love
"I don't want to hurt you. I just want to kill you"--ibid.
In the morning Father drove me to the endoscopy clinic north of Keele & Sheppard for my endoscopy. (He had to cancel a medical appointment of his own, which wasn't as urgent.)
I went through the procedure 14 years ago, and got to see inside my bowels. (It looked like a triangular prism, as in a Toblerone box, but flexible like a hose.) This time they gave me a sedative strong enough to knock me out through the whole procedure, and leave me groggy afterward. When I got home I slept for almost three hours.
Dinner was pork and rice.
Saw the DVD of the first episode of the Niall Ferguson documentary series of The Ascent of Money.
Then I got the DVD for the first episode of the latest season of Big Love. I don't know why they changed that great opening credits sequence!
Homer Simpson: "Homer no function without beer well"--The Simpsons
Dreamed of staying a while in Halifax instead of our old home in Sackville, N.B.; telling Mother I was glad of the decision (despite early uncertainty).
Fasted all day (except for some Jell-O) to prepare for tomorrow's test. I also drank the diarrhea potion in two hours instead of four. I'm surprised how little I miss eating...
Chief Wiggum: "Sure, we'll help you. Just sit down and wait here for Detective Likeigiveadamn!"--The Simpsons
"You wrecked Hitler's car! What did he ever do to you?"--ibid.
Dreamed of the Anne Murray song "Snowbird"; the George Michael song "Careless Whisper" (someone was singing it at karaoke the other night); a non-existent relative called Aunt Hatfield.
Dinner was spaghetti.
Dreamed of wondering how to write a novel to show people what the 1920s was really like.
At today's singing lesson I was still feeling dizzy. Giuseppe's really curious about my medical treatment.
Went to see Dr. Ang again. It turns out my haemoglobin level has dropped sharply. There'll be more tests, including a colonoscopy on Thursday. The heartscan results still aren't in. (Funny, I thought that would come quicker than the blood test results...)
Dinner was spaghetti.
At choir practice we did some of Verdi's Nabucco. (The others started it last week, so I had some catching up to do.)
In the online game Kings of Camelot there's been another merger and I'm now in the Thundering Dragons alliance.
Terry-Thomas: "I am not going to have a good time!"
--The Naked Truth
Homer (watching the musical western Paint Your Wagon): "They're singing, Marge. Why aren't they killing each other?"
--The Simpsons
Sideshow Mel: "You only live once!"
Apu: "Speak for yourself."
--ibid.
Dreamed of a Spider-Man movie sequel where a man made his daughter into a honey trap to catch the hero; dropping a pencil on the sidewalk and picking up several more; rolling a stolen manhole cover a short distance.
Dinner was McDonald's.
Saw the DVD of The Naked Truth, a rather vulgar British farce about blackmail by a tabloid publisher. Peter Sellers has some brilliant moments.
"If language is what makes us human, it is languages that make us superhuman"--preface, Empire of the Word
Dreamed of meeting Anthony Hopkins in London; hearing a long-winded speech from him about being Brad Pitt's mentor and being delayed on the way to the airport; joining a Meetup-type group that was going to grow crops.
Went to the NDP campaign office and got a sign to put up on the lawn.
Dinner was roast pork.
Finished the book about Scottish-Canadians and started reading Nicholas Ostler's Empire of the Word: A Language History of the World. Looks fascinating.
Went to a Kaaoke Meetup at Bar Plus. I sang the duet "I Got You, Babe" with a woman.
Dreamed of walking through a park near the Pacific coast with fast-changing weather; lying on the ground naked with a thin layer of powdery snow.
Headache!
Baked multigrain bread.
I've found out where the NDP campaign office is (the old place on Vaughan Road), but it isn't open yet.
Dinner was pork steak.
Went to Mary's games night. I played Agricola and scored 29 points (personal best!). Then I played a new game called Say Anything (finished last). A woman in a purple dress provided some good cupcakes.
In the online game Glory of Rome I've joined a new alliance called Bharatiya. (My old alliance was moribund.) The other members are largely East Indian.
Ned Flanders: "Science is like the blabbermouth who ruins the movie by telling you how it ends"--The Simpsons
Homer: "Trying is the first step to failure"--ibid.
Dreamed of the Laurence Olivier movie of the Harold Robbins potboiler The Betsy (which I haven't seen); saying how much I liked the Gary Cooper Quaker movie The Friendly Persuasion. [IMHO it's better than his High Noon.]
Went to the clinic near Bathurst station and did a blood sample and a heart test.
Dinner was undercooked salmon.
Wanted to visit the NDP campaign office, but I couldn't find the place.
I tried to practice all my songs for the first time since June, but I wasn't quite up to it.
"If you ask me, a cross that big is for a Lord with a tiny dick!"--Weeds
Saw a DVD in a series of early avant-garde films, devoted to amateur auteurs (i.e. home movies). It included a film showing Chaim Gross carving a big wooden sculpture of a woman's head.
Dinner was goulash fettucine (which I cooked).
Went to the Wednesday Games Meetup for the first time in months. I RSVPed that I was going, then decided I didn't have the time. But we had to have dinner early (Father had an appointment to replace a dental filling), so I decided to go after all. Then I couldn't find my Metropass so it looked like I couldn't go anyway, but it soon turned up.
I played Smallworld--where my races were bivouacking trolls, forest elves and flying wizards-- and a new game called Castle Ravencroft. It's a board game in the style of a D&D campaign, and I was a ranger human.
"Doug, we need a word."
"OK, how about 'Die'?"
--Weeds
Yesterday I was telling Giuseppe, my singing teacher, about how Velazquez' Rokeby Venus painting got slashed by a suffragette a century ago. [She didn't like how men were leering at it.] And now it turns out that some madwoman attacked a Gauguin in a Washington gallery! [It was "Two Tahitian Women" at the National Gallery, but she was stopped by its plexiglass cover.]
Went shopping.
Dinner was shrimp linguini.
Saw the DVD of Robert Siodmak's thriller The Spiral Staircase. Pretty scary. (I had to see most of the last third a second time because George Brent's voice made me sleepy!)
I remembered the doctor in The Spiral Staircase [Kent Smith] from some role where he was older, and it turned out I was thinking of his role (also a doctor) in the TV series of Peyton Place.
Had another singing lesson. (Again I quit a bit early because of dizziness.) It snowed last night so I wore my fall coat, but by afternoon it was mild again!
Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes.
Skipped choir practice to attend the St. Paul's riding's NDP nomination meeting. (The nominee looks a bit preppy.)
Saw the DVD of "Influenza 1918," a PBS American Experience documentary about the epidemic at the end of the Great War.
Dreamed of going to a second-rate Al Pacino movie in Halifax, N.S.; sleeping in a non-existent woodshed near our old house in Sackville, N.B.; thinking "J'aime la Canada."
Didn't do much today. (I still have a headache.)
Dinner was fish.
Dreamed of the cottage near our old home in Sackville, N.B., being about to be moved to a new location.
Brought out my spring jacket.
Went on a Queen Street art walk. I suggested to Betty Anne doing a similar walk along St. Clair Avenue West near my neighbourhood, and now it looks like we're going to organize one together. [It didn't materialize.]
Dinner was ravioli.
Saw the DVD of Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (for the third time). It's really funny, especially Sig Ruman as the Gestapo commander!
Moira had lunch with Puitak and Gordon at the Little India restaurant. First I visited their new Simcoe Street apartment for the first time.
Then I went to see Dr. Ang about my dizzy spells. First I had to wait two and a half hours!
Dinner was lobster rolls.
Baked cheese bread.
Went shopping.
Dinner was roast chicken.
I was going to see some Mary Pickford movies at the silent film festival, but I had a headache.
We saw another episode from that series about days that changed America (this one was about Shay's Rebellion), but I dozed off at times.
Dreamed of Bart Simpson making a friend at a workplace; visiting a location where the Libyan movie Lion of the Desert was filmed.
Saw the cinemacast of a Royal Opera production of Carmen at the Empress Walk in 3-D, which didn't add much: it was substantially the same production I attended in person in London three years ago, and you can't improve on that! Anyway, my glasses frame lost its bolt during the intermission and I watched the rest with naked eye. (This reminded me of my acid test for opera direction: without the subtitles, would you still know what's going on?) Glad I know the opera well.
On the way back, I stopped at Hakim Optical and they gave me a new bolt for free, which was pretty nice of them considering that you can find those tiny bolts just anywhere!
Dinner was tuna casserole.
"There's no reason to be afraid. The nation is right behind our Fuhrer!"
"Yes, but how far behind?"
--Night Train to Munich
Caldecott: "A crook wouldn't play for the gentleman."
Charters: "Raffles did."
--ibid.
Headache!
Dinner was pork steak.
Saw the DVD of Carol Reed's World War II spy thriller Night Train to Munich. War movies can be pretty shameless! Moira's right about Rex Harrison: he is annoying, especially when he "sings." (Did he actually win an Oscar for My Fair Lady?) The best part was Charters and Caldicott, thrown in from The Lady Vanishes.
Colin Powell: "Americans solve problems. We don't ignore problems"--10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America
(What about global warming?)
Dreamed of meeting a non-existent aunt about to get married; hearing that President Obama had been forced to resign.
Went to Giuseppe's for my first singing lesson in a while. I felt dizzy at times but was in good voice. (He compared the human mouth to a cornucopia shape.)
Dinner was lasagna.
At choir practice we turned to Theodore Dubois' The Seven Last Words of Christ and some other stuff we're doing in the Easter concert.
Saw the DVD of the first episode of another The History Channel series, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America.
The othher day when I told Moira about the Les Miserables song going through my head ("Empty Chairs and Empty Tables"), she said she had "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from Donizetti's The Magic Elixir of Love going through hers. (She's been playing a library CD of Jussi Bjorling arias.) Now that song is going through my head!
Went to a book and poster show at Wychwood Barns, but didn't buy anything. (I thought they might have comics there, but they didn't.)
Dinner was salmon.
Coro Verdi performed Rigoletto again, this time with my family in the audience. Afterward Moira said "Why didn't you tell us you had such great singers?" Mother liked the chorus too.
Dreamed of waking up in the morning and being unable to open my eyes; a new BBC radio theme that started out with conventional stateliness but turned into banjo music.
I've started reading How the Scots Invented Canada. It has a lot of stuff I didn't know.
Saw the DVD of the first episode of the American history series America: A History of US. Too many comments by celebrities like Donald Trump.
Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).
Saw the DVD of the NFB documentary White Thunder, about Varick Frissell and the tragedy that accompanied his making of the Newfoundland sealing movie The Viking. (Thirty years ago Moira researched the disaster in Newfoundland.)
Then I saw the Ken Burns documentary about Louisiana demagogue Huey Long. At times I had trouble keeping my eyes open (like in the dream).
Dreamed of finding that zip.ca had sent us the DVD of Se7en months ago (I have no interest in serial killer movies); considering how I came to dislike the character of Claire in the last two seasons of Six Feet Under (a charmless combination of ruthlessness and self-pity).
Baked whole wheat bread.
That Les Miserables song someone sang in last night's masterclass concert ("Empty Chairs and Empty Tables") is going through my head. Such kitschy music!
Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes.
Performed Rigoletto with Coro Verdi. Turns out we're going to perform Verdi's Nabucco in June.
Finally started a new city in the online game Glory of Rome. I asked the leaders of my Pandora's Box alliance where I should place it, but got no answer, so I basically took a shot in the dark. I've called it Basilopolis.
Dreamed of meeting a soothsayer on an airplane who predicted I'd marry a man. [Hasn't happened yet!]
I've been thinking about how heroic the Fukushima reactor workers are, risking their health and their lives to stop the meltdown, not just for Japan but to protect the whole world. It reminds me of Churchill's line "Never before have so many owed so much to so few!" [The people who contained the Covid epidemic come to mind too.]
Went shopping.
Dinner was fish sticks.
Performed in the master class concert. Because I had a red shirt, on a whim I wore a black bowtie instead of my red necktie. I carelessly came onstage before Beatrice had introduced my songs. Mother and Moira weren't up to it, but Father came. (So did Tiffany from the Asperger's Meetup.)
Finished Anne of Windy Poplars in the wings before the concert started.
"Mr. Westcott, please hear me through patiently before--"
"I am patient... very patient. Proceed!"
--Anne of Windy Poplars
"You're not a foot, Andy"--Weeds
Dreamed of meeting the Celtic band The Chieftains; one of them playing an instrument that looked like a stout whistle.
Headache!
Snow today. (I'm not yet finished with my winter boots.)
Dinner was more stir-fry.
Saw the DVD of the National Film Board documentary of Douglas Coupland's Souvenir of Canada. Pretty lightweight. (At least there was no Trudeaumania stuff...)
Dress-rehearsed the master class concert. Giuseppe said that Beatrice was vaccinated with a phonograph needle!
"Next time you're in my face, gargle!"--Weeds
Dreamed of Paul Newman in the police drama Fort Apache, the Bronx (which I haven't seen); actors Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman insulting each other while working together.
Dinner was shrimp linguine.
Went to a master calss rehearsal. Carrie's doing a Nabucco aria, fortunately at the end of the show. (She's a hard act to follow!) (We rehearsed on the stage, and it's humbling to sing in front of an auditorium with a big vacuum that requires talent to even half-fill. Giuseppe said we'll have singing lessons Mondays at noon again.
The Toronto City Opera is condering doing Lucia di Lamermoor, The Merry Widow and The Barber of Seville next year.
Weeds rather went off the deep end in its third season! [For me, the "jump the shark" moment was with the summer school run by religious nuts...]
Dreamed of Father attending a labour demonstration in London; Father trying to make orange juice through a slow drip method; going to a zoo in London, Ontario; trying to climb a sloped surface behind the back row of an auditorium but finding it too steep; trying to distribute a complicated system of counters to start playing a board game.
Dinner was steak and the rest of the Chinese food.
I was uncharacteristically late for choir practice, where we were dress-rehearsing Rigoletto. (Long wait for the bus...)
My glasses frame came undone again, and I had a devil of a time redoing it! (The tiny screw I needed to drive in kept being drawn toward a nearby magnetic part.)
I put my winter boots aside and started wearing sneakers again.
Went to an Art Meetup at the Spence Gallery in Mirvish Village where we met South American artist Marcelo Suasquabar. He's a pretty outre surrealist who likes checkerboard surfaces.
Afterward I went to Book City nearby and bought a few books, including Ken McGoogan's How the Scots Invented Canada. (Mother will probably want to read that one.)
Dinner was Chinese food. (My fortune cookie said "Use your charm and personality to your advantage.")
Saw the DVD of the World War I silent The Unbeliever, which was pretty shameless (especially the scenes with Beastly Hun Erich Von Stroheim). I'm annoyed by movies that conflate patriotism with religion. Were women prettier 100 years ago?
"Sticky!"
--The Man in the White Suit
"I'd never dream of letting you marry me in the heat of the moment, before you can do it in cold blood"--ibid.
Dreamed of a slapstick comedy where someone gets attacked by five guys at once but made short work of them; visiting the old Arthur Murray dance studio [where I took lessons at age 40] and pretending I was interested in buying more lessons.
Dinner was stir-fry, which Moira made the way our Chinese friend Puitak makes it!
Finally saw the DVD of Alexander MacKendrick's The Man in the White Suit (for the second time), after zip.ca sent us a new copy. Classic Ealing Studios Alec Guiness vehicle.
Dinner was roast pork (undercooked in the middle).
Went to an Art Meetup at the Gardiner Ceramics Museum. They had a special exhibit of Sarah Woodman's work. I bought Mother a guide to the museum. [She was interested in antiques.]
I finally got a fifth cohort in the computer game Glory of Rome, so now I can build a second city.
Baked raisin bread.
Dinner was fish.
Captain Video is closing down so I went out without a sweater (first time this year!) and bought some cheap DVDs, including Troy, American History X (which I still haven't seen!) and the first season of Miami Vice.
Saw the DVD of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo. It was another masterpiece from animation's greatest auteur since Walt Disney. (The story involves an eerily prophetic tsunami.) Looks like that creepy American practice of kids calling parents by their first name has spread to Japan too.
"You talk in the language of the violets, Miss Shirley"--Anne of Windy Poplars
"Hearts will never be practicable until they invent one that's unbreakable"--The Wizard of Oz
Dreamed of meeting a famous Argentinian writer; trying to tell him how much I resented Britain's New Labour government for passively accepting even the worst privatizations.
Went shopping. (I'm now wearing my spring cap!)
I had to have dinner early and Moira had to have it late, so I ate on my own (McDonald's, of course).
Saw The Wizard of Oz (for the fifth time) at the Paramount with the Movie Meetup group. It's a classic despite all the cheesy touches (especially the scenes involving the Witch). My favourite part has always been the tornado sequence.
Tried to watch The Man in the White Suit, but the DVD proved to be unplayable.
Finished our used-book business accounts.
Dinner was the rest of the Indian food.
Saw the DVD of the movie of Carson McCullers' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Nicely atmospheric, with Alan Arkin in fine form.
