August 16, 2011

"It looks quiet."

"Like a graveyard"

--Attack!

On a group of German POWs: "The mean one's the captain.  Just like in any army"--ibid.

    Dreamed of a movie about the destruction of a bridge off the northern coast of Jutland in Denmark, with Angelina playing a Nazi in jodhpurs and riding boots.

    Dinner was curried shrimp.

    Saw the DVD of Robert Aldrich's Attack!  It's one of the better 1950s war movies, gripping and straightforward. (The ending was a bit ambiguous.) Jack Palance and Lee Marvin came from the age of Real Men!

August 15, 2011

    Dreamed of asking how tall you had to be, to be a general in the army.

    Went to Evgenia's apartment for an Asperger's Meetup, but there was nobody there.

    My Metropass for August got lost in the mail.  Today I finally got around to going to Davisville station, where they gave me a replacement.

    Dinner was linguini pesto (which I cooked).

    I was going to participate in a Ticket to Ride tournament at Snakes and Lattes--even brought my game set--but I was 20 minutes late and the tournament was already full! (I should have asked Father to drive me there, but he'd already driven me in th morning.) Moira's been having a bad day too.

    Saw the DVD of the 2003 revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, with Paul Newman as the narrator.  It gets pretty sad.

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.

August 4, 2011

"I'm not rapey enough for you"--Weeds

    Dreamed of travelling in southern Cape Breton; climbing the highest local peak, with a view for miles around; visiting a notorious Russian; writing on a wall; the movie Untamed Heart.

    Baked multigrain bread.

    Dinner was steak.

    Picked up a couple of bonds at Scotiabank.

August 3, 2011

    Went shopping.

    Dreamed of recalling Father saying he didn't care for Steve McQueen (which he really did say).

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    Saw the cinemacast of Franco Zeffirelli's Met production of Puccini's opera Turandot at the Sheppard Grande with the Classical Music Meetup group.  The first two acts are pretty good, but it gets masochistic in the third. ("Pain is sweetness to me...")

August 2, 2011

"He skeeves people off, like midgets"--Weeds

    Dreamed of trying to remember what town I was born in. (It was Sackville, N.B.)

    Dinner was salmon.

    Saw the DVD of Rod Serling's 1957 TV play The Comedian.  Mickey Rooney was disturbingly well-cast as the eponymous loud-mouthed bully!

August 1, 2011

"So you two, do you... fondue?"--Captain America

    Dreamed of driving from Halifax to my hometown Sackville, N.B.; wondering whether I'd get to see any of the August movies being shown at the Projection Booth. [I didn't.]

    Dinner was churrasco chicken.

    Saw Joe Johnson's Captain America:  The First Avenger at the Yonge & Eglinton. (I was going to see the last Harry Potter movie, but the TTC was slower than I expected.) It was a pretty good little-boy adventure.  They were showing it in 3-D, but my Scene card had enough points for a free admission anyway.

    In The Huffington Post I commented (paraphrasing Churchill on Neville Chamberlain) that Obama had the choice of bankruptcy or dishonour:  he chose dishonour, and he'll get bankruptcy.

July 31, 2011

    Dreamed of seeing the first part of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in a library in a Moncton shopping centre; trying to remember what movies were released in May and June, 1980.

    Had lunch with the Mad About Movies Meetup group at Spin. (I ate fresh fruit crepes.) Afterward we walked through Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where I spotted journalist Norman DePoe's grave.

    Dinner was the rest of the corn on the cob. (This time I poured cold water on it before eating, and didn't burn my mouth.)

    Started two new cities in my computer games:  Heathead in Kingdoms of Camelot, and Strathdunum (Celtic for "fort in the valley") in Glory of Rome.

July 30, 2011

Homer: "I don't have the discipline to be a hippie!"--The Simpsons

    Had dinner at the Golden Thai restaurant with the Aspergers Meetup group.  I ate special fried rice and cashew chicken.  Bea tells me that the St. Michael's Hospital, where my examination will be next month, has good haematologists. (She used to work in hospital administration.)

    Finally sprang for new cities in the computer games Glory of Rome and Kingdoms of Camelot. (I've also started a new Facebook game called Millionaire Boss.)

    John Slattery (who plays Roger Sterling on Mad Men) is six months younger than me!

July 29, 2011

    Baked raisin bread.

    Dinner was frozen pizza.

    Saw a La Scala production of Verdi's Nabucco in an open-air screening at the Italian Consulate, with the Classical Music Meetup group.

July 28, 2011

Homer: "When was the last time Barbra Streisand cleaned your garage?"--The Simpsons

    Dreamed of trying to drive a car [I've never learned]; filling a washing machine; the 1980s CBC comedy series Seeing Things (which I never watched).

    Went shopping. (We replenished the ice.)

    Dinner was corn on the cob (which I bought at Whittamore Farm yesterday). I think I burnt my mouth!

    I was going to go on an Art Walk Meetup, but I wasn't quite up to it.

July 27, 2011

Marge: "Nelson Muntz is a troubled, lonely, sad little boy.  He needs to be isolated from everyone!"--The Simpsons

    Dreamed of the British sitcom Steptoe and Son (the basis for Sanford and Son).

    We went out to Whittamore Farm in the morning and picked raspberries, along with peas and beans.

    Went back to bed and dreamed of dolls of Bonnie and Clyde.

    Saw a DVD of classroom films with a safety theme, including the Sid Davis classic Live and Learn.

    Donald had dinner with us at Red Lobster.

July 26, 2011

Lisa: "I know it's true!  I read it on a restaurant placemat"--The Simpsons

    Puitak and Gordon came over and brought lunch.

    Drove down to the lakeshore with the parents. (I don't usually accompany them.)

    Dinner was the rest of the Chinese food.

July 25, 2001

"What kind of dame marries a hood?"

"All kinds."

--The Narrow Margin

"You make me sick to my stomach!"

"Well, not in my sink."

--ibid.

    I feel like I'm getting a cold.

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine.

    Saw the DVD of Richard Fleischer's train thriller The Narrow Margin.  That was quite a twist! (They should have taken a plane.)

July 24, 2001

On Musetta: "She's well-dressed."

"Angels are naked."

--La Boheme

    Went to a Classical Music Meetup at a fancy townhouse on Sheppard Avenue. (I took the bus east from Downsview station.) We saw a Blu-Ray DVD of a production of Puccini's La Boheme by Madrid's Teatro Real, and had a big-screen set to see it on!  Laura Giordano was a gorgeous Musetta!

    Dinner was lobster rolls.

    Went to bed early.

    Dreamed of finding an underground civilization with a lower level of development and causing a civil war there; checking different TV channels around midnight Saturday; Dvorak's "Songs My Mother Taught Me"; Moira learning the Armenian language. [She knows German and Russian.]