A flogging good time

My attempts to settle up on revamping the Rogers phone plan were delayed this week. I'm still looking into upgrading my mobile device to get a decent video camera and mobile internet, but I think I've given up on being able to bundle that with a phone. You can get a top of the line machine with all the bells and whistles for about $550 without an expensive plan, a $300-400 phone which lists the same basic features, but may have lower quality or some quality hangups, or for under $250 I can get an Ipod touch; a top of the line device which lacks radio and a phone. I think it makes more sense to keep my current phone and get the Ipod touch, with which I can substitute Skype for phone use more. Yet... my current music device does work, and it does bother me a little that I would still be leaving unaccounted for certain features that I'd like in the same unit. Maybe I'll put off anything for a bit longer. See if there's an upcoming sale.

While investigating devices I remembered that RBC has an incentive program where various deals are offered through other retailers. Up to 10% off the list price at Apple stores for example. Rogers does have a deal with RBC, but unfortunately when I tried to call the representative, he wasn't there. I guess Rogers sales agents are off by 4pm or something.

Seriously. Where you at Dawg? The whole city's behind you!

I have been examining the possibilities of reducing the Rogers bill; possibly through reducing the channels I have. (Though there's so much bad television you need a lot of chanels or lower standards) I think the most immediate concern is changing the phone plans. The offer indicated as being exclusive to RBC employees looks like a good bet for reducing the bill, but I'm also examining the pay as you go plans.

Its clear to me that my own phone should be on a Pay-Go plan as they reduce the fixed monthly costs a great deal, and I 've even generated some spreadsheets to examine the plan performance using my own data from the last nine months. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much voice mail time is used in a month as they don't indicate it on the bill, so I've had to make some estimates there. This the data I've been looking over. It may also be the case that its a better deal for Dad's phone. It may be a close thing though when compared to the RBC discount plan.


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Its a nice day, but I feel bad because I was out so much yesterday, and I've got stuff to do around here. Washing the futon cover seems impossible as while there are zippers, it does not seem to be like my duvet where it removable with the stuffing being damaged or just coming apart. I'm going to vacuum the surface as it seems really dusty.

I wonder why I don't like Macaroni and Cheese unless it comes out of a box with powered cheese. Maybe I'll try to make a genuine version later this week. I wish cheese weren't so damn expensive.


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Two movies were on television today and neither was very good. Jurassic Park III and one of those hand animated Disney movies from a decade ago when the well ran dry: Road to Eldorado.

The latter contains some really annoying and crummy characters and singing, and I didn't even want to watch all of it. The best part came early on; Tulio and Miguel have been caught as trespassers on the ship of the famous Spanish explorer Cortez and are brought before him:

"My crew was chosen with as much care as the disciples of Christ. I will not tolerate stowaways. You will be flogged and when we put into Cuba ...God willing, you will be flogged some more."

Shoulda ended the movie with that.


I have memories of Jurassic Park III being better than the annoying The Lost World due to the lack of the anti-zoo BS and mini Godzilla nonsense. So I was a little surprised watching it today how stupid much of it is. When a hang gliding adventure over a dangerous island goes predictably wrong, two estranged parents decide to hire three, count 'em three mercenaries and fool Dr. Grant, (With money they don't have) to illegally go to the island to rescue their son. When it turns out that three mercenaries with automatic rifles can neither set up a perimeter nor fight a giant lizard.

Fuh fuh fuh!

I suppose its possible their plan wasn't to wander into the jungle and start shooting at the first large predator they saw with weapons that were insufficient to kill it, it may indeed be that the only way this family could fool mercenaries to work for them was if they were really stupid mercenaries. Expendables if you will. Or it may be that their plans for a safe perimeter were ruined by Tea Leoni shouting into the jungle with a megaphone from the landing strip. Lady ...you're on an island filled with Dinosaurs, not in a hedge maze. Why the stupid plan instead of trying to just get the media and government to find your missing kid? No movie then I suppose.

Urgent Update!

Canada's new national soccer team jersey!

What do you think?

I don't want alarm anyone, but this is the truck they're delivered in:



Remember this? I correctly predicted the Superbowl attendees back in... just before October. Week three. Not bad considering I was guessing...and got the Grey Cup wrong. I wish I'd put money on that.

I've put off talking about the movies I saw with Steve: Rare Exports and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. In part because I think Steve may be the only one reading regularly, and because I'm not sure what to say.

Rare Exports is the kind of economic and original fun movie that Canada should be able to make but seldom does. It comes from Finland and is about a pagan Santa Claus that is unearthed by fortune seekers and descends on a local rural town. It starts off scary and then sort of transitions into more madcap escapades. The culture clash is a large part of the appeal of the movie; as all our characters are gun-toting men or boys living in the wintery wilderness of Finland. I think this is a good example of a director able to put together a good looking and simple movie on a budget while almost never giving that budget limitation away.

The movie ramps up the fear by keeping you in the dark and using exposition like a picture book to fuel the imagination. There's a significant twist and the weirdness of the whole dangerous Santa is played up in a way that exploitation movies from the US don't. I mean, Goldberg in a Santa Suit or some 80s slasher psycho in a Santa suit aren't exactly as creepy as a naked old guy who bites people, can smell gingerbread and children, and doesn't talk or look anybody in the eye. It's a lot less brazen even though one could argue that it's a similar inspiration to that of Santa's Slay. (Both are black comedies too) Where one was an adventure, the other was just a crass parody.


The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a movie that is built on the ironic enjoyment of b-movies. Its funny in a very dry way. Intentionally poor acting, dialogue, effects, and strange plot choices aren't all that it has though. The writers are able to add in some bits that aren't really ironically funny:

In one scene, the aliens impersonating humans and an evil scientist and his human-animal hybrid companion Animala are both trying independently to lower the guard of the scientist and his wife by posing as guests; (Wow that's a lot of exposition...) As they settle into dinner, the confused aliens figure they can just do whatever the other humans do to eat. Animala promptly puts her face to the plate to eat hands-free and the aliens imitate her. Of course, the actual humans are all taken aback by the genuinely unrelated people all doing the same bizarre thing.

The dinner scene may actually be the highlight of the movie as it contains all of the best elements of the movie. The scientist has another classic deadpan dialogue moment where he brushes off the aliens' crazy theory about lost skeletons. While the evil scientist (who's in league with the skeleton) coughs and tries to cover up his nervousness, the aliens are just baffled. It's funny not just because the scientist is doing that classic mocking superstition-that-turns-out-to-be-true, but more so because what the aliens never said anything about skeletons and have no idea what he's talking about. As if the scientist is on a script full of holes and they are merely in character caught totally unawares.

The Skeleton himself also telepathically interjects with his trademark casual rudeness and complete lack of gravitas. It is as if the voice actor (intentionally of course) is phoning in a very brusque performance that matches the cheap skeleton...'effect'. (Strings are effects right?)

Really good movie.

The sweet smell of success

I was told at work I stink.

Not at my job mind you. What worries me is the timing. While some of you have much light of my hygiene, I can't help but notice that I'm hearing of this the same week as my new neighbors earned my ire for their heavy marijuana use. Every night I can smell their stink seep in from the hallway. It seems to pass quickly, but it is rank nonetheless. I advised the concierge of my complaint, but I'm not sure if anyone actually is going to look into it.

Either way I can't smell anything on me, so I don't know if someone just got tired of me after three years or if it is just my neighbor's habit that people are smelling; which I might not be able to do anything about. (I know what you're about to say to yourself, reminding of my own hygiene even though I already mentioned it above... don't bother, I already know...)


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I looked at my investments portfolio. I do not want to ever think of doing that again.

Oh, I haven't really lost money per se lately-- I have a growth of 0% over the last six months, which is just temporary fluctuations in a fixed growth portfolio anyway. What made me really angry, (Though I haven't had a good day in general) was looking at my old portfolio:

Average growth over six months: +20%. None of the securities growing less than 11%. Some as high as +26%.

F*** me.

This wasn't some random stocks that did well... or even something someone advised me to invest in. This WAS my portfolio six months ago! That I picked MYSELF... until I got cold feet and switched to something else. Just in time to miss out. What the F! This happens to me every-time I change anything! (Just usually not so spectacularly) I didn't even lose as much in the recession as I missed out on here!

Why can't I get ahead?

I know... I KNOW that I will somehow jump in again when things go sideways again. I don't even know what to do. With my luck, even sitting around on fixed income will just result in huge inflation and surging economic growth. (For those who don't know --that would be bad for my holdings)

I guess the right thing to do is nothing, since I want to do something.


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Here are some people jumping Camels:

Cheese problem

I tried a cheese recommended in the Globe: Devil's Rock blue. Mostly just because the reviewer made me curious with her suggestions of a buttery finish and of eating the cheese with a spoon. I was intrigued, but really it just tasted like a mild blue cheese. Really sour. Not bad, considering its blue cheese, but not particularly good. I had a bit of a cheese called Grey Owl, which was a smooth creamy cheese, which wasn't sour at all. But I guess that's just kind of like cream cheese isn't it? Usually when I've tried cheeses I've looked for something that wasn't so acrid but tasted different from the standards; swiss, cheddar, feta, and the rest. I haven't had that much luck.

Back on the front burner

I have been really lax in my blogging of late. In part I couldn't type for a while, but really I think when stuff piles up, I sort of get less active in taking care of it.

I made a lot of stuff this weekend, and while there have been rumours of a great potato salad, I think of equal interest may be that I have successfully made a high sugar, poorly tasting substitute for grocery store brand cola. Don't do that y'all. In my experimenting with high value ingredients, I have made use of corn tortillas and tried truffle infused olive oil. The store bought corn tortillas were inferior to whole wheat, as they had to be cooked through to be edible at all. My potato salad is pretty good, especially considering how little I like boiled potatoes, but the saffron I think is overrated. It may be more fragrant than some other herbs but it doesn't seem better or all that different really.

I got some black truffle infused olive oil for use in a risotto. I always hear great things about truffles from the guys on television with unreasonable budgets, and I knew eventually I had to give the world's most expensive ingredient some kind of try. The vial of infused olive oil was the cheapest option. It is extremely pungent. It reminds of mussels or oysters canned in oil --but earthy and pungent. I guess this is a pretty strong umami flavour. Unlike saffron, truffles seem to be the real deal.

I've been looking at Rogers' Cable packages to see if I can save some money. Unfortunately, it really seems like anything below Digital Plus drops almost everything I watch, and even Digital Plus drops almost half of what I watch. Cable options stink. I really don't understand why Game Show TV is in almost every package, while the Comedy network requires VIP. I don't get that at all. Well, I have assumptions, I just don't like the implications.

As this week progresses, I plan to regale you with tales of the movies I have seen. Perhaps I'll do some of that sooner rather than later.