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I swore there was a way that you could post private entries onto this blog…does anyone know how to set a posting to private in Blogger?

Thanks.

Last night after a grueling day of training at work along with my regular class at U of O, I headed out to Mike’s place for his surprise birthday party (not roommate Mike).

When I arrived I noticed the lights were off which tipped me off that Mike had not arrived yet which scared me because I didn’t want to be in his driveway when he showed up!

In the end, he was surprised, everyone was happy and cake was served. Along with pizza and sushi. It was a good night to chat with a bunch of people I haven’t seen in awhile (like Jen! When’s the last time I saw her?!). I heard tales of the upcoming Hallowe’en party, the quest for our Ghostbusters costume ONCE AGAIN falling through the cracks, and a review of the wagon ride to Saunders Farm (which I’ll have to try someday).

I’m sure Mike had a great time and fun times were had. Heck, you can’t go wrong with people showing up for your birthday.

I am gearing up for my favourite holiday – Hallowe’en! Unfortunately I will be in school for the better part of the night so I won’t be able to hand out candies to the little ones. But there will be a wicked shindig at Duncan’s (aka my old homestead with me going as a zombie!).

In no particular order, my Top 10 list of horror films to whet your appetite. I shall try and group them into what genre they are in because there are clearly some different genres of horror. For example, slasher horror (where there is a main villain and all he does is kill people), or science fiction horror (where they are battling some evil-doer…usually in space!).

The Shining – My parents picked this up for me as a Christmas gift. I had never even heard of it and we watched it on Christmas morning. Good lord. Those twin girls drove me nuts. REDRUM! Category: Psychological Horror.

28 Days Later – The world, or at least the UK is overcome by a rage virus which makes people into zombie like creatures who just run around maniacally and feed on the living. I personally love this film and it’s probably in my Top 3. I just the dichotomy between the first half of the film being about the crazy zombies, but then the other half being about the crazy survivors of the virus. Very cool. I also enjoyed the fact that the zombies aren’t really zombies and they are super-hyperactive and can move like the wind. That scares the bejeezus out of me. Category: Newage Zombie Horror.

Hallowe’en – The king of the king! Hallowe’en is always underated compared to Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th, but Michael Myers has a place in my heart. I love the lumbering figure coming across the street with a William Shatner mask and a knife. It’s my favourite slasher flick of all…and the Rob Zombie remake was decent, although I must admit I don’t need to know every little detail about the childhood of some crazed killer. I want to know as little as possible! Category: Slasher horror.

House of 1000 Corpses – Rob Zombie’s first film was a doozy. It nabbed the feel of the old school slasher flicks and it nabbed it well. Pulling from ideas from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a little sci-fi horror, the film is an excellent addition to the new-age horror genre. PLUS you get to see some excellent death sequences! Category: New-age Slasher Horror.

Evil Dead – I really don’t know what I can say about this film that hasn’t already been said on this site. Bruce Campbell is the king and Sam Raimi ain’t too shabby himself. I have a fear of the woods at night and it is common knowledge that I would be in college trying to watch this film at night and have to turn it off 20 minutes into it because it was so creepy! I would watch the film over the entire week because I couldn’t handle it alone in my room. Yes, I am a baby. If you like a film revolving around some college kids going to a cabin in the woods where a supernatural force takes over the living and then Bruce Campbell has to kick some ass…this is the film for you. Honourable Mention goes to Evil Dead II (which, was essentially a remake of the first one) and Army of Darkness (which basically drove the series into slapstick comeday whereas the first one is straight out horror). Category: Supernatural Horror.

Event Horizon – I still remember the first time watching this and freaking out. This was an intense movie and it really messed with your head with the dark imagery and the blackness of space. Morpheus (aka Lawrence Fishburne) appears in this sci-fi horror film where the crew is on the search for a ship called the Event Horizon. Only, when they get there, they wish they hadn’t. Category: This one is all over the map – sci-fi, with some good psychological horror with it.

Aliens – Please note the pluralization of Alien. We’re talking about the sequel here which was the greatest Alien film there ever was. While I am not denouncing Alien considering it spearheaded the franchise and was pretty darn good on its own, the sequel was just as good. Sigourney Weaver battling some aliens in outer space who have acid for blood…what more can you ask for? Category: Sci-fi Horror.

Blair Witch Project – Ok, ok, you have me. This can’t be in the Top 10 list! It’s not really that great! Well, it is really great if you don’t know what the movie is about. I went to see it on my birthday years ago and had no idea what to expect. I was on the edge of my seat in fear for the entire film and it never let up. It had to do with the fact that it took part in the woods at night. Ack! That’s my kryptonite! Documenting a group’s search for the Blair Witch, they encounter horrors at every turn. Category: Psychological Horror.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: This is, and always will be one of the great films that bring the horror genre up in status. I don’t know what’s scarier – the chainsaw wielding maniac (Leatherface!!!) or his family. Both are equally creepy. I especially love the sequences where they are filming at night and you can’t really see what’s happening and all you hear is a chainsaw in the frame. Beautiful. I don’t know if that is on purpose or if it was because of the low budget times. Either way, it gave the film an eerie feel to it. Category: Slasher horror.

Friday the 13th Part 2 – Mmm…with some trepidation have I put this film on here instead of Part IV because I really can’t remember a lot about Part IV but I do remember it was great. I may have to update this list when I watch it again. Anyhow, this film has the introduction of Jason Voorhees in all his pillow-case toting glory. It has everything I love about the series – Camp Crystal Lake, gratuitious nudity, and some maniac running around killing people. What more can you ask for? Category: Slasher horror.

Haute Tension: Oh ho! The French invade the horror landscape with this truly awe-inspiring horror film! One may say it’s the best movie ever! Revolving around two college students coming home for a holiday only to find some random guy coming in to kill the family. It is brutal in every fashion and I honestly couldn’t handle my first viewing while at Katie’s cottage one year. I had to leave the room as it was freaking me out too much. But it has turned out to be one of my favourite horror films. I intend to branch out and watch a lot more foreign films, especially considering I heard the Japanese know how to make some good horror. Category: Slasher/Psychological Horror.

In Singapore, there is a dragon boat league.

On this league, there is a Canadian Dragon Boat Team.

My uncle Gerry is part of this team.

While the membership is not entirely Canadian, but more of “Whoever loves Canadians may join this team”, my grandmother has created the ultimate team uniform – toques!

Here is a photo of her displaying some of her Team Canada toques! She knit 50 of them but she can’t fathom them wearing them considering it is 32 degrees celcius down in Singapore!

I, for one, am hoping to see a photo of the team in action on the water while wearing their toques! That would make the front page of the Globe and Mail for sure!

***update*** Here’s the photos!

The subject line was uttered by Christopher Plummer (the actor) yesterday at the National Arts Center. He was receiving an honourary doctorate from the University of Ottawa at the same graduation that Vero was taking part in.

Sunday morning arrived and I got up early to head to a comic book convention. Last time I went with Benoit, I managed to pick up Volume 2 of WildCats which was/is an excellent series that I lost touch with.

I headed down to Lansdowne Park and after scouring the area, I finally found the sports cards/comic book show and meandered around the booths. I have been toying around with the idea of getting back into the comic book world, but more from a ‘I want to make money off of it” standpoint. I shall continue my thoughts of the comic scene in a future entry.

After the convention, I went home to get a bite to eat and then headed out to the NAC to watch Vero graduate. Mike was gracious enough to lend me his great digital camera which had me feeling like Peter Parker every time I held it. That zoom is incredible! I was on the Mezzanine level at the NAC and the zoom allowed me to see people from afar easily.

Now, the only graduation I’ve ever been to have been my own. So, as a guest, it’s a different experience altogether.

As in, it’s kind of lacking in excitement. 😉

You’re sitting there waiting for one person in 500 to hit the stage. I must admit I enjoyed Christopher Plummer’s speech and he compared the graduating students to inmates who were escaping prison. He was a great speaker and had an energy to him.

Another highlight was being witness to the first Aboriginal in Canada to receive a University doctorate. Although, after hearing some employees speak after the graduation about how the claim was not true (or partially true), I’ll have to wait to see what the news has to say about it to get the real scoop. It was a moving moment though, I was taking part in history!

Vero finally took the stage and I yelled out a “Go Vero!” but I don’t think she heard it. I managed to get a few good pictures of her walking across the stage AND a picture of her shaking Christopher Plummer’s hand!

After the graduation, we headed outside to take some photos with Marie-Claude and Jean-Francois and then we headed out to Cam Kong for a bite to eat (hey Cam Kong, when the heck did you raise your prices?!).

I’m very proud of Vero to be finally done her higher education (the first incarnation of it at least). She is the hardest worker I have ever met. There were times where I just looked at her and wondered how she handled it all – school, her job, having an amazing, good looking boyfriend who is also witty and eloquent with his speech…congrats Vero on making it through! Plus you got Cum Laude which the Latin language defines as “with honor” This must mean that she didn’t do too bad.

I’m sure everyone has had one of these days. Mine occurred yesterday.

I had my written exam for a promotion yesterday which was grueling. Argh. I couldn’t get my head around it. Alright, maybe it wasn’t that bad but I was on high gear for the full four hours.

After that was completed and my brain was swollen, I had to head over to the University to get some literature to review for my report which is due on Monday. I’m going to do a sociological report on how women tend to work more in social program/policy areas than men. When I say ‘more, I mean in terms of sheer numbers of people, not the load of work they do (although I’m sure there are some theories on that!). So I have to find some literature to back that up.

The problem with this is that at the library, they have a search feature but it’s more about searching for an actual journal, not articles within a journal. That can’t narrow my search! Plus, when I finally found the link which said “Want to search for articles in a journal?” it turned out ot be a dead link and I tried a few different computers. Knowing that the search function was on their website, I figured I could just log into a computer with outside access and use that…but I needed a user name and for the life of me, I do not know my University user name as I had never needed to use it. Argh!

Tail between my legs, I admitted defeat and decided to go home, search the Internet for my sources and hopefully write my report last night.

On my way home, I pass by Mike in his truck, wave to him and continue on home. When I get to the front door I realize my house key is not on my key chain. Whaaa? Turns out that I had forgotten it in my jogging shorts the other day. I take it off the chain so I don’t have to have a ring of keys in my backside while out for a jog. Clearly, this worked against me and I was locked out of my house.

I figured that Mike must be out getting groceries or something so I just sat in the car, read The Lies of Locke Lamora for awhile, then decided to take a nap. When I awoke, it was an hour later and I realized that Mike must be gone for good. So much for my plans to work on my report!

I headed over to Rob and Jan’s place where I found a cornucopia of Hallowe’en decorations! Donna was also there which was a nice surprise since I hadn’t seen her in a few years. She now has a house out in Carp RIGHT NEXT DOOR to her parents. Imagine that! She gets the bonus of a lifetime – free food all the time!

I hung out at Rob’s place until around 9PM when Mike called and said he was back home. I sauntered into the house and called it a night as I was frustrated with the whole ordeal. It was still nice to see Rob, Janice and the kids but in the back of my head I was screaming “Oh man, if only I could have got that report done tonight!”

Case in point – get two sets of keys made and drop them off at two sets of friends close by.

The scoop is…I hate studying. After a disastrous midterm on Monday, I have lost the will to continue. When I say disastrous, I probably got a good mark, but it wasn’t due to studying. It will occur from blind luck. What the heck? Here’s my beef – So you have a textbook that you read 4 chapters out of. Then you go to class where the Professor lectures on a given chapter pinpointing KEY CONCEPTS for your brain to digest. That’s what they are there for right? To point out WHAT YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING?

That being said, considering that my Prof gives us plenty of lecture notes, I studied them. Beauty. I was on top of the world.

In the end, the multiple choice test had nothing really to do with the lecture notes and in the end, turned out to be something that looked suspiciously like it could have been lifted directly from the textbook. Argh! I hate it when they do that. There’s only so much a person can study…I can’t be expected to memorize 100 pages of text!

So last night, in the midst of cracking the textbook for my other midterm tonight, I finally had enough and had to put everything away. I couldn’t do it anymore. Critical Thinking…argh, the bane of my existence. Reasons, conclusions, arguments…who cares?!

At this point it’s very important to realize that in the end, I’ve done pretty well over the years on midterms and everything else, so this is just my need to rant and afterwards, all will be good.

All tongue in cheek aside, I did have a moment of pure creativity where I pulled out the laptop, plugged in the guitar and within the next hour laid down some drum tracks, added some effects and voila! I have a new demo. My demos are just ideas to flesh out a bigger part of a song that will form. I love my recording equipment. It allows me to hold onto these memories. My only problem now is the fact that I was thinking of some lyrics/melody and realized I was humming the vocals of The Arcade Fire’s Keep The Car Running. Uh oh. Did I just copy someone’s entire song musically? Dang. I’ll have to go back and check that out!

In other random news while I just blabber on, I finally got around to ordering the two 7″ Smashing Pumpkins singles from their new album Zeitgeist. I’m really starting to like vinyl and I wish Canada had some which was easily accessible. I ended up ordering this from the United Kingdom (where the Pound is double the worth of the Canadian dollar. Yikes!). I figure I got a good deal on the singles, so that’s what counts. But I was tempted to pick up the Year Zero album on vinyl, but for $40 + shipping…not really worth it. Does anyone know of anywhere in Canada with some good NEW vinyl for sale?

iplaying: (AntiChrist Television Blues) – The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible