Vancity
So, I'm in Vancouver, no messing about.
Headed to some fine sushi dining straight from the airport. Partied with some old buddies first night before crashing at Arash's. Today, pre-partying at our new place in Yaletown (I'm in love with this place, why didn't we live here when I was in Van?!) with bro and friends before heading out again. Checked out a stupid Persian party first, very mediocre and not a good crowd, so we headed out and went to a real party instead.
Back home now, listening to some fine Zero 7 music (I'm loving them more and more) Parents coming back from Cali tomorrow, will see dad after a year. Probably more partying tomorrow night, and on Monday, I'll be going to the Zero 7 concert (again) with my gal ayeh and the F.A.B. gang.
I'm gonna be more of a wreck when I leave here in a week than the wreck I was when I came. But good times, ... good times.
that's great
I'm leaving for Vancouver in, umm ... about 5 hours, that's 7:30 AM, and I'm writing this from the office !! Just for the heck of it, I guess. I was trying to renew the already overdue books I had signed out from home (online) and it told me some idiot has put one of them on hold and I can't renew.
And I totally didn't feel like paying a week's worth of accumulating overdue charges to the stupid library, and I didn't mind a nice quiet 2 AM walk, so I grabbed the book and headed to school. Of course I couldn't get into the SF building, cuz it was locked and I guess you can't open the doors with your T-card, so I just figured I'd come to the office and leave it on my desk and write a note for a colleague to drop it off for me.
But you have no idea how amazing the weather is. It feels like Shomal, and there's a GREAT smell of fresh blossoms - or whatever - in the air, and I have to walk by Queen's park to get to the office - the notorious Queen's park- so it was amazingly refreshing. Hmm, I guess I'll head back now. I don't feel like sleeping, mostly cuz I'm afraid I wouldn't get up in time to catch my flight.
And this post was great ...
... for me to poop on.
p.s. I discovered an amazing new photoblog from Iran.
Perishable
Well, my bro asked me to get rid of all the perishables in the house before leaving for Vancouver tomorrow. Of course I have to listen to my brother. So ... on to dispensing the perishables ... the beer and left over wine are taken care of. Next perishable to be downed: Bacardi.
5 obstructions
i really want to see this.
Actually, I don't. I mean I do, but not that badly, it just seems interesting + it has animation. Otherwise scandinavians freak me out.
What I do want to do, or at least I'm thinking about doing, is going to the Zero 7 gig again while I'm in Vancouver! A pretty stupid idea I guess, but there are people there I really want to go to this concert with.
word of the day: Sadomasochism
random lyrics bit of the day: You fill other people's parking meters
Top CD of the pile of the day: Drakan - order of the flame
Laundry bag level: low
Object lying on the ground of the day: socks - belt
Sanity level alert: yellow
speed dial no. 2
Just came home from the Zero 7 gig. Amazing performance, but I'm too tired to write about it ... maybe Ehsan or Hoder will write something later ... or maybe not.
Butterfly
I just saw the Butterfly Effect. I'm so fuckin' surprised I never heard anything good about this flick earlier. Sort of like Memento I guess, never got the run it deserved in the theatres, but at least Memento was hailed by the critics. "Butterfly" got ravaged by the critics, which is absolutely shocking ... I mean the only possible explanation for it is that the none of the freakin' stupid critics had the brain power to digest the movie and understand it.
It's one of the most amazing movies I've seen, if not THE most. I have never thought about any movie this hard and analyzed it this deeply. We tore this down with Ehsan after watching it, trying to figure all the details and see if there were any plot holes, and we kept surprising each other by coming up with new revelations, each after a good deal of mental processing and reflecting.
Anyway, fantastic ... I agree acting wasn't superb, but I mean, the plot, is damn solid, the ending is perfect too, when you have such a solid story mediocre acting cannot ruin it much.
And more amazingly is the actual concept of the Butterfly Effect, which relates to Chaos theory (which was the subject of one of the courses I took last term and it's actually very interesting ). Check out this little explanation/background on it if you're interested.
This is an illustration of the butterfly effect - the idea in meteorology that the flapping of a butterfly's wing will create a disturbance that in the chaotic motion of the atmosphere will become amplified eventually to change the large scale atmospheric motion, so that the long term behavior becomes impossible to forecast.The "Butterfly Effect" is often ascribed to Lorenz. In a paper in 1963 given to the New York Academy of Sciences he remarks:
One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings would be enough to alter the course of the weather forever.
respect
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Ehsan
He spins that Sabzi Polo faster than you can say Jaaaaa[...], and that's not his only talent. Introducing the weblog of my good friend Ehsan (aka mighty Afroman).
celeb spotting
Guess who I saw at the Paeez lounge the other night? Lawrence Fishbourne, aka the great MORPHEUS.
That's right, he's shooting a flick in TO, and apparently Paeez is his fave hangout spot. He was there alone, with a newspaper, picked the darkest corner where no-one was sitting, apparently he hates people approaching him, so I didn't talk to him.
I did use the washroom right after him though.
Imam
I have the eye-brows of an Imam.
A Tale of Two Children
23 years ago, on the same day, yesterday, two children were born, half way across the globe.
Last year, when they first met, one was living in Mexico City, the other in Vancouver, and they were both at a terrible point in their lives. They helped each other a lot.
Now, a year later, one is in Toronto, the other in London, and neither of them could be happier, they almost can't believe how far they've become from where they were, geographically, and emmotionally.
Happy birthday sweet Paola!
au revoir long hair
I had had long hair for more than three years now ... it sort of became a part of my personality. Everyone I knew, knew me with my long hair. Most of my friends had even forgotten how I looked like when I had short hair. So, yeah, Pendar meant the dude with long hair, usually tied at the back ... the pony-tailed guy.
Well, I cut it. Here's to the beginning of something new.
quebequeer
stupid site was down all day. Anyway ... Solid weekend in Montreal (checkout the photoblog) ... back in TO now, drowning in tons of projects of different nature ... and experimenting with my intuos (checkout the sketchpad).
Why am i living in
Why am i living in the sixties?
p.s. I'll be away for the weekend.
Intuos
Been way to busy to post anything, and I don't really feel like writing anything either ... sort of wary of sharing personal stuff here anymore.
In any case, I finally ordered my intuos 2 tablet yesterday. It's the worst time cash-wise, and I had to settle for the 6x8 eventhough i REALLY wanted to get the 9x11, but it was $200 more expensive and I don't know, spending $700 on a tablet didn't feel right.
Anyway, I hope it was a good investment tho, I know it takes some time getting used to, a totally different hand-eye coordination thing (you no longer look at the "paper" you draw on, gotta look at the screen while drawing on the pad, quite tough, and controlling it is really difficult too, at least when I tried it out once, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it). But it's gonna improve the stuff i do tremendously if I get used to it, so here's to that.
Links
I'll try to set up a linkdump soon, but til then, enjoy some fine links:
Bitkraft
Light American Bar (is that Iranian music i hear?)
Arkam
Ollie
Here's my latest obsession: Techdeck 96 mm skateboards. Thanks to my friend's younger brother, who is a skateboarder (real life) and also a techdeck champion, I'm hooked.
Basically, it's skateboarding on a miniature skateboard, with your fingers. But, as geeky as it sounds, it's the most fascinating thing i've seen in the longest time. You can do all the tricks in real life skating, and more, using your fingers, and it takes an OVERWHELMING amount of skill, it's unbelievable. Some of the moves almost defy the laws of physics.
Anyway, I just got my series 11 techdeck (pictured). It's got tools, extra wheels and bolts, you can adjust everything, like how loose the wheels are, or other stuff, and it's got a super-flex trick board which is easier to manipulate. After half a day of practice, I finally can make the board jump, but I still don't have much control over it. I have to master the ollie first, and eventhough it's such an elementary trick it's so frustratingly difficult to get a hang of ...
anyway ... as if keyboarding wasn't enough, this is just another way to screw my fingers ... but i love it ... *ahem* ... yes ... and I'm not ashamed to admit it ...
P.S. you might be watching the videos and think to yourself "well this is ridiculously easy" ... but trust me, it's NOT ... it's no way nearly as easy as it seems ... just trying to get the board off the ground takes hours of practice.