Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Shortly after seeing Super-Size Me, I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the Jim Carrey-Kate Winslett vehicle from Charlie Kaufmann (the guy who wrote Adaptation., Being John Malkovich, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind). Certainly made Morgan Spurlock's binge-eating film look even poorer by comparison.

First, trust me, do not let anyone try to explain this movie to you. Please. He'll spend so much time trying to explain the plot, that you won't want to see it and you'll miss a great movie. This is, first and foremost, a love story. It's about two people (Carrey and Winslett) who break up, and, through the miracle of science, rediscover what it is about one another that they love. I won't go any farther into the plot, or, like I said, you won't want to watch it any more.

Michel Gondry - who mostly works on music videos, that's probably why the name doesn't ring a bell - directs the movie, and, above all else, does an amazing job with the lighting. Every mood is reflected perfectly by the brightness or dimness of the lights. He also coaxes great performances out of Carrey and Winslett, who play off one another stunningly and bring the most to their characters.

Carrey, for the most part, is dramatic, but he definitely displays some of the physical comedy he is known best for - even if it is just a flailing limb or two. Winslett is the free-spirited comedic entity in the movie, although her wild mood swings do seem to take her to some pretty depressed levels.

Tom Wilkinson, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo - exactly how many movies did he make this year? 18, 19? - and Kirsten Dunst all co-star, and, even in reduced roles, make the movie better by their performances.

See this movie.

Super Size Me

I watched the movie/documentary Super-Size Me last night, and, may I say, don't really know if I get the hype.

I mean, it was alright, and he definitely opens your eyes to just how bad fast food can be for you. The only problem is, he shows you how bad fast food is if you eat it three times a day for 30 days. That's 90 times a month - probably more, his rule was that he could only eat McDonald's, so any snacks were McSnacks. Who didn't know that? Honestly, did we need this movie?

Plus, writer/director Morgan Spurlock really seems to think he's onto something here. Well, no, not really. At the end of the movie, he even implied (almost outright said) that his film was the reason that McDonald's introduced it's salads. Well, no, not really. In case he hadn't noticed, he wasn't the only person who was trying to eat healthy at the time.

Another particularly annoying part of the movie was Spurlock's vegan girlfriend. Now, I don't necessarily dislike vegans, I dislike the fact that they seem to dislike us. Which was exactly what this girl was like. She wasn't so much upset that Morgan was ingesting all this food, but rather, the fact that he was eating meat, eggs, etc. Oh yeah, that's kind. You're getting fat, and I'm not as concerned about that as about the fact that you're eating meat. Nice.

Basically, it's not a bad movie - even if everyone in it is pretty pompous - but come on, isn't it kinda common sense?

My grampa's memorial

We had my grampa's memorial service on Thursday - what would have been his 78th birthday. There was of course an very obvious tone of sadness, but, all in all, it was very upbeat - exactly how he would have wanted it.

My dad was the MC, and started it off really well, talking about some of his best memories of his father-in-law, and that pretty well set the tone for everything else. There was nothing particularly sad that was remembered, and my Aunt Sharon's husband Pat sung "My Way" and "Fly Me To The Moon", and did an excellent job of them. Plus, my great-uncle Graham - grampa's brother - spoke, and they hadn't spoken to each other in years.

The weather was beautiful, which was exactly why grampa would want us to finish the bloody thing off and get outside. God knows the man wouldn't have wanted us making that big of a deal about it.

So, happy birthday grampa, rest in peace.

Apologies

Sorry for the lack of recent activity, apparently too damn many people are reading this exciting and encapsulating blog, that I'm just soaring dodo-like over my bandwidth limit, thus I have been unable to publish for about four days.

But I'm back!

Could the carb fab be over?

Health Canada has instituted new food labelling rules that will no longer allow food products to be advertised as low-carb or carb-reduced. We won't start seeing the changes until December, 2005, but it's a start.

Thank God!

Here's an excerpt from the Toronto Star:

"Valerie Steele, a Toronto registered dietitian, says the changes are based on U.S. Institute of Medicine guidelines, which in 2002 recommended that adults consume 45 to 65 per cent of their daily calories from carbohydrates, 20 to 35 per cent from fats and 10 to 35 per cent from protein.

"So to hit 40 per cent of calories from carbohydrates, an average woman, who needs about 1,600 calories a day, could eat a serving of mixed bean chilli, with about 38 grams of carbs (for 215 calories), and four average slices of bread for 80 grams of carbohydrate (280 calories), plus a berry shake at 44 grams of carbs (250 calories), along with a few pieces of fruit — easily achieving her carb requirement."

See? Now, the Atkins diet (for example, of course, not saying that's a noticeably stupid part of the craze) says you should start with 20 grams of carbs, later move up to 50, and, to maintain, 90 grams. That example from the Star has 162 carbs in it.

Hopefully all this carb-conscious crap will finally end. You want to know the side effects of a high-protein, low-carb diet? Sure, you might be losing weight, but no one's going to see it. Why? Because when you don't eat any carbs, you have no energy! That's what your body converts to energy, damn it. Where do you think it comes from?

It's all just a matter of knowing what you're eating. Just pay attention, don't eat crap, and you won't need to worry about any fads.

EB Games

I've now worked two shifts - 10 hours - at EB Games. It is so much better, but so much worse than Blockbuster.

For one, I don't obviously know much of the staff yet, but it will take a long time for me to feel as comfortable with them as I did with Carley, or Ben, or Andrew, or Chris, or Jordan, or anyone else that I worked with.

Plus, I know more about movies than I do about games, and feel a little uncomfortable with games, even though I have a GameCube. I mean, it's easy enough, and I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it's a little off-putting sometimes.

And, of course, the staff there hardly talk, so the time goes by really slowly, whereas at Blockbuster we'd all be joking around, and eight hours would go by in no time.

As for the good, they're dead. Dead dead. It means we can get lots of stuff done, and you never feel like a chicken with your head cut off. I'm sure it'll be a little bit more hectic around Christmas, but really, when you've dealt with the money and customers we had at Christmas, this one should be a breeze.

Eric John Denman (Sep. 23, 1926-Sep. 18, 2004)

My grampa passed away on Saturday.

It's over, it's finally over

As of about 4:30 am on Sunday, September 19th (3 years, and two weeks since I started there), I clocked out at Blockbuster for the last time ever. Of course, it couldn't be easy, as I had to sustain one final inventory, which was particularly unpleasant as it was with Matt, who really still isn't sure what he's doing. Plus, my stupid scanner wouldn't work.

Now, the night started off alright, Matt wound up working a Saturday close and getting absolutely hammered, so when I came in, he took me aside and told me that he never realized how busy we were, and that he was very impressed with how well we ran the store considering the circumstances. It's always nice to have someone higher up than me tell me that I did a good job. The last time was in about January. Hmmm...remind me again why I left Blockbuster.

So, yes, the Blockbuster odyssey is over. I'm considering beginning work on a Blockbuster book, I'll let you know if I actually get to work on it.

I will miss you all tons! Good luck in the Matt Era.

Second Last Day at Blockbuster

It was my second last shift at Blockbuster, a close with Chris, Kris, and Brittany. I made amends to make it a very happy shift, lots of fun, not much hard work, but, of course, Matt did his best to make me feel like an idiot and to make sure I knew he expects the least from me.

Of course, there was the obligatory need to sell Rewards (after he set us up with a whopping 0 in the morning), and the walkthrough of the new things that he's changed with the store and how they must be maintained, and the warning that even though I was almost done, I still needed to work hard (remind me again why I'm leaving).

But no, other than that, very fun night. I didn't have any bad customers, and everyone was in a good mood. We did a fair whack of money, and a nice healthy 14 Rewards! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

I will definitely miss working with both Chris and Kris, I've never seen two people who can both make me laugh for such completely opposite reasons - Kris because she makes her life seem so awful, and Chris because he really just is that funny.

Plus, Jordan came in at around 10 or so, and stayed until well after midnight and we just talked. We're hiring seven new people, and I think Jordan would really like the opportunity to train some of them; he mentioned that a few times.

So, I'm down to one final shift, a close/inventory (there's a nice way to end one's tenure at a job, staying up till 6 AM). Both Chris and I are particularly concerned about this inventory, as both of us know we should have four people doing it, not three, and that it will take well into the dawn hours. Yech.

EB Games, Part 3

I got the job!

Keep on rockin' in the free world

From the Toronto Star, September 17, 2004:

"Moore foes offer DVD swap

A right-wing American publisher is trying to save the world from Michael Moore, one DVD at a time.

California-based World Ahead Publishing is offering to exchange copies of Moore's controversial film, Fahrenheit 9/11, which comes out on DVD on Oct. 5, for a copy of its latest book, Thank You President Bush: Reflections on the War on Terror, Defense of the Family, and Revival of the Economy.

"In urban areas, city leaders periodically sponsor gun `buy-back' programs to help reduce gun violence," the publishing company said in a release leaked to the Star last night. "Similarly, the Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD Buy-Back program is designed to protect Americans from harm, especially young children who might accidentally slip this dangerous propaganda into the living room DVD player."

The book, which the publisher says "focuses on the facts," including chapters discussing George W. Bush's first term in office written by the president's brother, Jeb Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, the U.S. attorney general, John Ashcroft, former members of the Reagan administration and commentators such as James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, an American pro-life lobby.

"Moore's work isn't a documentary. It's a dangerous weapon that shouldn't be left lying around the house," said Aman Verjee, co-editor of the anthology.

"Send us your DVD with Moore's lies and we'll give you the truth on President Bush's record and policies. We want to give people who unsuspectingly buy Moore's propaganda a chance to trade it in for a book that's positive and insightful."

The Star did not reach Moore for comment last night."

EB Games, Part 2

Wednesday, 5:30 pm. It's official now.

We are the champions!

After four games in two days, and a increasingly more painful sunburn, the White Sox are the Orangeville Little League City Champions. We finished 3-1 in the playoffs, including a big-time win over the Yankees in the final.

It was quite flattering that at the end of the final when we were handing out the trophies, I was the only coach who got cheered by his players. I also received a nice keychain, and a nicely framed team picture, as I was the only coach without a kid in the league, so I would not be able to have one. Oh yeah, and the dumping of water on my head was a nice touch. Thanks Josh!

I won't bore you with the details of the games - instead I'll just scan the newspaper articles and put them up.

Instead, I'll simply say thank you to all the kids who came out week in and week out - Darius, Troy, Ryan, Charles, Dave, Jesse, Josh, Josh, and Mitchell, and also to Johnathan and Kyle, who, although they didn't come out as often, were still there when possible. I would also like to thank all the parents who made it possible, the umpires - Brett is possibly the the best umpire I have ever seen - and all the players on the other teams who helped our team out during the regular season - Ty, Brendan, Kirkland, Sean, Christian, and anyone else who's names escape me.

Thank you thank you thank you everyone for an amazing season!

EB Games

Today, I was supposed to have an interview at EB games. Oh, how wrong I was.

So, here's what happened: When I was originally called about the interview, I wasn't sure about whether or not I would be able to attend, due to baseball. I worked it out, and that night, went into the store and told one of the employees to pass on the message that I would be able to make it. Here's how today's conversation went:

Me: "Hi, I'm here for an interview."
Guy: "Um...yeah...you didn't call us..."
Me: "I talked to Mike the night you called me. I told him that I could make it."
Guy: "Yeah, I don't think he passed it on. You know, you should really have talked to a manager or something, not just some part-timer."

Now, this particular part-timer was the only person there on a close, and works about five times a week. Ummm...yeah...sounds like "some part-timer" to me.

Strangely, I talked to Mike tonight at Blockbuster, and, basically it just sounds like a big miscommunication. He did indeed pass the message along, but it got jumbled along the way, so instead of the manager taking it to mean that I would be there on Sunday, he took it to mean that they were holding interviews on Sunday...yeeeeah.

The good news is that he said he'd call me later this week to rearrange an interview time, so I certainly hope he does. Once again, wish me luck!

Organized Bloody Confusion

OK, so I've found something that Humber has on Georgian - the bookstore. Humber's bookstore is expansive, very well organized and, even at its fullest, was never lined up more than a few people.

At Georgian, however, it is, as the title hints, organized bloody confusion. Good Lord! They basically emptied out a big room, put the books up - in alphabetical order, not in order by course - and let a couple of people in at a time. There was about a dozen people there when I went in (think about that, a dozen) and there was no room to move. It did go by very fast, and the three cashier ladies are very nice, but really, you'd figure they'd be able to find a better system for a bookstore.

And, a note about the annoyance of everything being in alphabetical order - think of how many books start with "Introduction To...".

I have an interview and you-ou do-on't!

Ha! After days of fearing that I would be out of work for the first time since I was 15 once my two weeks is up at Blockbuster, I got a call yesterday for an interview at EB Games. Boo-yeah! So, yeah, it's still in customer service, but they actually operate on normal hours (they don't close later than 9 pm) and, here's a novel idea - they're closed on statutory holidays.

(Sidenote: Oooh, that reminds me, I still have one for Labour Day. Alrighty, gets me one more vacation day to get paid out for.)

I'm looking forward to it, as I haven't done a job interview in a while, and they're actually kinda fun. Having conducted them, I now know what they'll be looking for, so I should be able to control my body language well.

The job will mean a pay cut (hopefully not to minimum wage, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes), but it should be a lot less stress and I know a couple of people who work there.

So, wish me luck, Sunday at 5 pm!

What I hate about Blockbuster:

People who don't wait in line. It's like a bank. Just wait.

Georgian v. Humber

Today was everyone's first day back at school. Yaaaaaaaaaay*cough*. Actually, I really enjoyed my first day, even though I had to run off and miss my last class. Damn it.

So far, Georgian has two things on Humber:

• A part of the school with actual chairs to sit on. Humber had these great concrete benches covered in low-pile carpet which was comfortable for all of about 18 seconds. Georgian has cushy comfy chairs right around the corner from my classes
• I spent $178 for a year's worth of parking. Humber cost nearly $400. Yeah, that's fair.

The random musings of an ex-Blockbuster employee

On Saturday, September 4th, and about 11 am or so - one day short of my three-year anniversary - I handed in my notice at Blockbuster.

I've finally had enough of Blockbuster, the people (the customers, not employees), and the management structure. Honestly, I think it was my LP interview on Thursday, and Jim Murphy's comment, "From what I understand, up till now, you've been an excellent employee," that sealed the deal.

I'd been considering leaving ever since Janet came back and I knew I'd be going back to school but still be expected to work full-time and do everything, and over the last two weeks, my impression of the company has turned sour.

So, that is it, as of September 20th, I will no longer be an employee of Blockbuster Canada. I'll leave as an AM, instead of a shift that couldn't handle it (which is what everyone seems to make me want to feel like). Over the two weeks, I'm going to try to do daily updates on work, and what I'm going to miss and not miss as I leave.

Oh, and anyone with a job they want to give me, you know where to find me!