musings

I didn’t know him personally, but Stan was a fixture at the Sanctuary Vampire Sex Bar and, after Sanctuary closed, at The Vatikan. In fact, he was the life and soul of both clubs. I can’t imagine clubbing and not seeing him there. This sucks. I’m going to miss him.

Cheers, mate, I enjoyed watching you dance for all those years. It’s not going to be the same without you.

A message from John Cleese to all Americans.

Frequent Thievery Corporation collaborator Pam Bricker has passed away. According to this article in the Washington Post, she committed suicide this past Sunday. I’ve never heard her own work, but I loved her work with Thievery Corporation. Her passing is a sad loss, indeed.

Gonzo journalism pioneer Hunter S. Thompson is dead. Apparently he fatally shot himself on Sunday night in his home near Aspen, Colorado. I came to read Thompson quite late – only a few years ago, in fact, but I loved his work. His wit, his irreverance, and his ability to write things that seemed to make sense even though they were put down during a drug-fueled haze. Rest in peace, man, you’ll be missed.

Last night I saw Ong-Bak and I was floored. It’s an amazing movie – some of the best action I’ve seen in years. In terms of grand production, it’s not anywhere near the scope of a film like Hero or House of Flying Daggers, but as a low-budget fast action movie it can’t be beat.

The only mar on the night? A couple of idiots who insisted on carrying conversations on their cell phones during the movie. One guy, in particular, took something like three or four calls, and carried on conversations loudly. How self-centered must you be to think that this kind of behaviour is acceptable? If I’d been sitting next to the guy, he’d have been wearing my drink. After a lot of yelling by angry moviegoers, finally somebody complained to management and this knucklehead (and a few other morons) were escorted out of the theatre to the delight (and applause) of the rest of us. Some people. Gah.

I saw Shivaree play at the Lula Lounge here in Toronto tonight. Nice venue – a dinner theatre. The show was great. Now, Shivaree is not normally the kind of music I listen to – very bluesy. Very bluesy. In fact, without their singer, they’d be merely a competent blues band. With their singer (a sultry charmer with the seemingly unlikely name Ambrosia Parsley) they’re exceptional. She’s got this husky, breathy drawl when she sings that she sometimes trades for a falsetto. Captivating. And she’s a great performer too – before every song she told a little story, every one of which was entertaining. (The title of this post is a quote from one – not that I don’t hate republicans. On the contrary, I do hate republicans – they’re just one of many things I hate more than people who kiss and tell.) Given how amazing they were, I’m surprised how little attention they get – I might never have even heard of them, had it not been for one of their songs appearing on the Kill Bill 2 soundtrack. And to think “American Idol” gets bazillions of viewers every week for the same old recycled garbage.

Eh. Got sick of the blue. Got sick of the sidebar down the left. Other than that, naught’s different – same fonts, same basic layout. I need to do something with this. I’m a bit gun-shy of investing too much into this current setup, because when WordPress hits v1.5, there’ll be a theme facility, and from the look of it so far, it’s much more flexible than the current layout css page. I think I’ll wait ’til that’s ready before I go too nuts. In the meantime, I want to set up a photo gallery page. Anyone recommend anything? Rochen has installers for 4Images, Coppermine and Gallery. Are any of those worth using? Ideally I’d like something I can customize without too much effort.

I’ve upgraded WordPress to 1.2.2, so if you notice any anomalies (like the stylesheet screwage I was having a few weeks ago) please let me know. Thanks!

I saw Assault on Precinct 13 tonight. I’d not heard great things about it, but I figured between Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne and Gabriel Byrne I might at least see some decent performances. Nope. Just a very boring and predictable movie. Give this one a miss. Don’t even rent it.