On the move

1/15/2006 04:27:00 p.m.

So I've bought a domain name and hosting and all that good stuff. I've copied all my blog posts to the new site, and from here on out I think that'll be where I'll be updating stuff. The new address is http://www.patrickjohanneson.com/deardiary/ . Hope to see you there!

-pat

Happy B-Day...

1/13/2006 09:03:00 p.m.

...to Trogdor.

Three years old today.


Yeah, I'm a nerd.

brief movie reviews

1/11/2006 04:54:00 p.m.

In the last week and a half I've seen two movies, Thumbsucker and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. What did I think of them? Well, Thumbsucker was an adolescent-angst movie that proved to me that while Keanu Reeves may not be a brilliant thespian, at least he can act like someone other than Ted Theodore Logan. Also, just because you fill a movie with Big Names doesn't mean it's going to be great. The film was solidly OK in my book, though a couple of the characters were full-out unsympathetic and the teenage hero gets toyed with by more than a couple of people. It was a decent film, but I don't know if I'd watch it again.

Narnia was well-done, with some stunning visuals and great acting, especially from the kids that went through the looking-glass wardrobe into the Other World. The animals were all brilliantly done, and ran the gamut from cute and cuddly to regal to downright spooky. The White Witch (played by Tilda Swinton, who was also the mother in Thumbsucker) was cold and cruel. There were moments when I could tell that it was based on a childrens' book, moments where things went a little too easily or took a little too much on faith for my taste, but it was still a good, solid movie. I'd probably watch it again.

My friend Kevin has a simple binary scale for movies: It sucked or It didn't suck. Neither of these two movies sucked, though Thumbsucker had me concerned for a while there.

Looking forward now to the new Underworld film. I just hope I'm not expecting too much from it...

Ramblin' man

1/05/2006 11:07:00 p.m.

Well, the Evans starts up again soon, so my weekends are getting crowded again. We had coffee with a bunch of the Evans crew tonight, after supper (home-made lasagna--mm mm good).

It's a little weird. In the summer, when the Evans doesn't run, I rent movies every week or so, but when the Evans is on, I usually don't bother. Maybe it's not so weird, given that I volunteer at the Evans, which means my movies are free...

How many more times will I type Evans before I put this one to bed? About that many, I guess.

G'night. I'm tired and maybe a little stupid.

---

O wait, one more thing. I had an epiphany tonight, a moment where things in one of my projects suddenly rotated, and a piece I didn't even know was missing slid into place, and the whole thing, for a moment, shone like silver. Tomorrow, I'll start outlining; I think I have enough to at least start. I have an ending (which is usually a moving target, but I've learned that without an ending, even a tentative one, I shouldn't write the beginning), and now I think I have a coherent theme. And of course I have a title: Everything that Never Happened.

Et maintenant, bonsoir, mes amis et mes amies.

Happy New Year!

1/02/2006 11:29:00 a.m.

Well, I certainly have been slack so far this year. We had a bunch of people over for New Year's Eve, and then yesterday we went south with Kathleen's parents for a Sprott New Year's Day fest.

And this year I hope to do at least a page a day of writing, if not more. I have to figure out some way to force myself to keep to a schedule, though. Suggestions?

Funny SNL skit

12/24/2005 10:10:00 a.m.

...which sounds like an oxymoron, I know. I haven't watched Saturday Night Live since, oh, forever. Sometime in the middle '90s I gave up on them, when I realized that they really couldn't do a skit in less than twelve minutes.

But a cow-orker sent me this link, which has apparently become an Internet hit. Enjoy it, if you haven't already seen it.

Note: It's a "rap video", so if you're in the I like all music but rap and opera* camp, you have been warned.

* Or country.

New submission

12/23/2005 07:45:00 p.m.

I submitted "Outside, Looking In" to the Intergalactic Medicine Show about two minutes ago. Wish me luck!

And speaking of writing: Check out The Writer's Database. Online submissions tracking! Nice!

Better late than never

12/21/2005 11:23:00 p.m.

...really late. Our tree is up now.

And I listened to the Christmas CD I made a few years ago, with such classics as What's This? by Jack Skellington, Ça Bergers by Some French Chick, All I Vant for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth by The Count, and about a dozen others. Having grown up in French immersion school, a lot of the carols I know are really hard to find. Ça Bergers is a long-time favourite; Vive le Vent (a French version of Jingle Bells) is cheery too.

Happy holidays to all, and here's to longer days and warmer weather.

All uphill from here

12/21/2005 07:44:00 a.m.

It's the shortest day of the year, here in the Northen Hemisphere. From here on out the days just get longer.

Maybe someday I'll be headed to work after the sun has risen, and go home before it sets. At least I've got windows to look out of during the day.

Reminiscences, #3

12/10/2005 09:59:00 p.m.

I don't know why I was thinking about this one today, but here it is.

Geography Primer—At the university where I work, my cow-orkers and I often sit on an indoor bench on a fairly well-used pathway during our coffee breaks. This allows us to all sit together—there are about eight or ten of us on the bench at a given time, usually—and it also affords the people-watchers among us a rich tapestry of students to observe. Okay.

The Set-up—The university has a program called EAP, or English for Academic Purposes—essentially English as a Second Language. We have a significant population of foreign students attending our fair school, from places like Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Mexico, and so forth, and sometimes they need help with their English. All right.

The Story—I'd noticed in particular that one girl, from Mexico (at least I assumed she was from Mexico; I'd heard her talking with friends on several occasions, in what sure sounded like Spanish) seemed to be giving me the eye on occasion. I admit, I was flattered, but I'm also married.

So one day, for whatever reason, I was alone on the bench for my coffee break. I can't remember exactly why, but most likely I was early or my cow-orkers were late. Anyway, a fellow University employee—let's call her Kate—swoops in, sits down next to me, and says, "We have to talk."

Alarm bells go off in my head. I'm friends with Kate, but she's got two jobs at the U: Administrative Secretary to the President, and Sexual Harassment Officer. So when she says, in a serious voice, "We have to talk," my insides get a little crawly.

"O-o-o-kay," says I, the paragon of eloquence.

"I need to know your age and marital status," says Kate.

This conversation has taken a left turn, I think. "Uh, twenty-seven and married," says I.

"Yeah," she says, "thought so." She gets up.

"Wait on a second," says I. "What's this all about, anyways?"

She says, "Well, there's a couple of girls from Mexico." (Did I mention that Kate also helped out with EAP? Well, she did.) "They were asking about the guy that sits on the bench with the devil beard." (I had a goatee at the time...) "And I tried to think, 'devil beard'? Who would that be? And then I saw you here today, and..."

"Okay," I say. "And?"

"Oh." She smiles. "And they have wicked crushes on you." She sighs. "Well, gotta go break some señoritas' hearts."

And she walked away.