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Monthly Archives: October 2006

I have no pictures, but trust me, it was great


Kommune thanksgiving aught-six was a smashing success. I mostly organized it, and picked the menu, trying to use foods native to Canada, and everybody pitched in. The biggest task ended up being the half-dozen trips to various stores for all the things I’d forgotten to buy. Attendees? Long-term Kommunist Hendrik, master parabola-polisher Abhi, L’Oreal hair scientist Florence, and Kommune West End rep (and Ericbrother) Tyson.

We had to start around noon, making the stuffing and preparing the turkey, but somehow, it still wasn’t until 2 PM that the bird went in the oven. For six hours (this is an 8 kilo bird we’re talkin’ about). Then it was a matter of preparing all the sides and sauces and timing everything so that it would all be ready simultaneously. Or at least, within the same hour. There was a slight burnage of the butternut squash, and we ended up with approximately a gallon of cranberry relish, but overall, I’d call it a resounding success. We ate til we could eat no more, drank multiple bottles of wine, and discussed the state of international education and the Navier-Stokes equations. And then ate pie. And then everybody watched The Office, except that I can’t drink red wine and stay conscious for long, so I passed out and missed it.

Many pictures were taken, but not by me. But hopefully, somebody will put some on Flickr, and I’ll post ’em here.

so a German, an Indian, a Frenchwoman and a Canadian walk into a supermarket…


Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at die Kommune.

  • Manitoba turkey with mushroom and red wine stuffing, served with cranberry-orange-ginger relish
  • roasted carrots, yams, and sweet potatoes
  • boiled new Yukon potatoes
  • Ontario brussel spouts in olive oil, lemon juice and seasoned bread crumbs
  • locally-grown butternut squash, braised with garlic
  • German potato salad
  • Bordeaux and BC red wine, TBA
  • gravy
  • apple pie, pumpkin pie and ice cream

pick tickets, buy tickets, throw tickets away


RenaissanceSometimes, I marvel at my own suckitude. So far, out of the tickets I bought for the Vancouver International Film Festival, I’ve managed to make it to two. The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema I got the time wrong for. Colour Me Kubrick, I decided after reading a bit more about it, was not worth spending over an hour on the bus for. Syndromes and a Century, I forgot my ticket for. Hana, I bought my ticket forgetting that I already had a ticket for TV on the Radio (which was a rockin’ show, BTW). Big Bang Love, I was dying to see, but I had to fix a very last-minute bug for in my work for the art gallery (that one was the most annoying). Woman on the Beach was the same night as the art gallery opening for the Emily Carr exhibit (which I ended up not going to anyway).

And so, at this point, what two films did I end up paying approximately $30 each to see? Renaissance, which was a gorgeous-looking, tedious mess of anime-inspired cliches; and The Root of All Evil?, which turned a promising show about a very smart man talking about important philosophical ideas into a series of freaks and soundbites.

I should really learn to plan things better. And yet, I doubt I ever will.

adventures across the Pacific


Dick Rock SnipThese last few weeks have been pretty stressful, but what’s kept me going is thinking about taking a trip to Asia this winter. And today, as my Vancouver Art Gallery project “soft-launches” and I limit myself to two hats — PhD student and start-up-iste — I bought my ticket.

The plan is to leave Vancouver on December 16, meet up with my friend Janelle in Bangkok, travel around Thailand and Vietnam for a bit, and then stop off for a few days in Osaka on my way back to catch up with fellow Saskatchewan expats Tyler and Carla and possibly Meghan, returning to Vancouver on January 14, at which point, I’ll immediately be throwing myself into completing a paper for ICML, and then trying to complete my PhD proposal (tentatively titled Random Things I Have Researched, Hastily Wedged into a Common Framework) not so ridiculously late that people start wondering if I should be be given the boot.

How’s that for a plan? Thought you’d like it.

You’re darned tootin’!


Fargo-Snip-1The No More Marriages! film blog has a survey on the best American fiction film of the last twenty-five years. Go tell them, and then come back and tell me what you picked. Or just tell me.

Seriously! If you’re reading this, I wanna know your pick. I won’t laugh. Just click that little http://ifcus.org/2014/10/28/over-mountains/ [x] Comments link up there. C’moooooonnn. Please? I’m curious how you, my faithful fans, and therefore people of exceptional taste, will vote.

My choice, on the left. I defy you, my faithful fans, to pick a better film.