Materials

"1 1/2" copper coupling, 1 length of ABS pipe, 1 Moon Troll, 1 co- wait, what the fuuuuuu...."

HP

HP has the worst business practices. I'm trying to get a somewhat older HP printer - the HP PSC 2410 - to work. All I want to do is fax. But the ink cartridge in the printer has a built in expiry date. Now the printer won't let me do ANYTHING unless I replace this cartridge. I don't even NEED ink for scanning and faxing. I don't intend to buy HP products in the future.

Inception - Movie as Metaphor for Dreaming

We've seen in Nolan films that he likes to structure the movie in such a way that the medium becomes the message. In "Memento", the backwards dynamic recreates the protagonist's short-term memory and confusion. In "The Prestige", the film itself plays out like a magic trick. In "Inception" the movie itself brings to light how many movie tropes are like a dream. Consider:

- In movies, like in dreams, we don't see how the characters get from place to place. Often the scenes start in the middle of action. We don't see characters go to the bathroom or sleep.

- In movies, like dreams, which take place in real time over several hours, entire months or years can transpire. Time is perceived differently.

- In movies, like in dreams, the reality is not quite right, details sometimes don't make sense, but we suspend our disbelief and make the world feel real. We take our own preconceived notions and projections into movies and dreams.

- The irony of this is that even if Cobb did wake up in the end, the world is not real because it transpires inside Nolan's movie.

Stupid Commercials, Part 1

Just saw a commercial for "Extra" gum where a woman kept trying to clean her teeth by putting Scotch tape over her teeth and ripping it off. Could you spare us "Extra", this is disgusting.

Customer Service

I called WSIB to get a clearance certificate and the women who answered on the phone was surly and I'm pretty sure chewing bubble gum as well. She was being uncooperative so I just said I'd call back. The next woman who answered was extremely polite and helpful and didn't make me jump through hoops. If you ever get a terrible customer service agent on the phone, just hang up and call again.

Go to hell, Rogers.

Great article on Wired explaining why ISPs like Rogers are total money grubbing assholes. You Don't want ISPs to Innovate.

Get Off My Lawn

I was walking my dog earlier this evening. As I was passing by a house, an old woman sitting on a lawn-chair started yelling at me to move my dog off her lawn. Actually, she was yelling at my dog.

"MOVE DOG! GET OUT OF HERE DOG, GO! STUPID DOG! I'M AN OLD CUNT!"

I'm paraphrasing there but you get the picture. I didn't say anything. She was likely afraid that my dog would take a shit on her lawn. I just kept moving. After my dog had done his business somewhere else, I bagged it and headed back. When I reached her house I lifted the bag up and yelled "WAS THIS WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR?" and threw the bag at her. It hit her squarely in the face, leaving a streak of shit on her forehead. She rose up to chase me but her kneecap buckled and she fell on her lawn... where she lies to this day, quietly crying about her sad pathetic life.