Tonight I plan to watch “Spirited-Away”… a motivating movie about the ideologies that lay behind the working world.
As we get closer to the launch of Curiosity, the more excited and interested I become. I think I first saw the video above in 2008, and was quite impressed- but on July 9th, 2010, engineers have installed and rotated Curiosity’s wheels for the first time! It’s hard to even fathom those wheels will travel the 4.16ish light minutes through the vacuum of space to eventually tear up untouched Martian soil. It gives me hope that one day we will be able to reach our potential as human beings.
Mario is My Lonesome Cowboy...
Mario is “My Lonesome Cowboy”… if you have recently visited the excellent “Pop Life” exhibit at the National Gallery… you’ll know exactly what I mean.
The curators did a superb job choosing and exhibiting from a variety of collections and artists– centred around a multiplicity of themes. Leaving the gallery, I had a new appreciation for pop-art (except for perhaps Jeff Koons).
The exhibit had some great stuff: from Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Maurizio Cattelan, and others. Despite this fantastic exhibit, one of the disconcerting elements of the gallery is its mismanagement. The overseers of the gallery, in their magnanimity, have decided to secure funding from both the government, through a redistribution of taxes, and through the collection of admissions from Canadian citizens and sojournists. The money is seemingly wasted on guards, which are situated in nearly every room.
I know the guards are simply doing their jobs and I want to avoid critiquing them, but frankly they ruin the experience. They do not blend in– from their black fascismo uniforms to their oafish surveillance techniques. They furtively follow you around, watching you as you watch the art… until, of course, you are deemed to be yet another boring patron, whereafter they return to their perch… awaiting the next group of recently debited aesthetes. Beyond the guards you will also find nearly every room has a closed circuit surveillance system– both seem grossly unnecessary.
My appreciation for the management of the gallery may be attenuated from my experience, and I sincerely apologize if guards were foisted upon the gallery by the government as an impotent attempt at pork-barrelling. The fact remains that this is both wasteful, and counter to the concept of a public gallery… you may as well handcuff patrons, and put all the art behind bars… or redesign the gallery so that it becomes a disney-style ride on rails… whoever is to blame, turning a gallery in to a panopticon serves no-one. Finally, the gallery minus special exhibitions should be free to Canadian citizens– this could probably be accomplished through the reduction of spending on wages. The upshot is that patrons would be able to enjoy the exhibits without the feeling of being on exhibit themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Vu3m_0odY
This is mankind’s only known defense against obesity. Just complete this routine 300 times every morning. You will not only improve your physical state, but also become mentally superior and better looking.
Finally, do not let the “Jetman workout” fall into the wrong hands, its power is unusual and murderous… you have been warned.
I was sitting around minding my business when suddenly things started shaking, almost as if a large truck was driving by the building. The vibration became stronger, then suddenly the entire building started to jerk and my coffee spilled everywhere. I decided to get out of this old apartment and take a walk with my camera. I am definitely going to be sleeping in pyjamas with my bags packed tonight.
Courthouses in Ottawa after the earthquake.
City Hall appears to have been evacuated.
Although it's hard to tell from this picture, the streets were packed with cars and the sidewalks overflowing with people.
Ottawa actually felt like a real city for once, people were outside, the city felt bustling.
I took this opportunity to grab lunch from this pulled pork stand on Sparks Street...
Yum a delicious pulled pork sandwich!
I took my sandwich to Parliament Hill and found it had been evacuated as well.
There was a mixture of tourists, locals, and senators all trying to figure out what to do.
I waited around on Parliament Hill- my canary in the coal mine was security letting the parliamentarians back to work. Cell/3G service was spotty, making it hard to get information. The perks sitting on Parliament Hill were: an abundance of security, and no chance of anything falling on me sitting in the grass.
Destined to be born to protect the beloved world,
We won’t let anyone stand in the way of that dream.Ready to flap our wings… we become one
and aim for the peace of the world!As far as our lives can go, We keep the hope alive.
The future is inside you, tomorrow will Shine brighter…Etch those overflowing feelings in you,
Spread your wings of courage.
You may easily mistake this beautiful poem as a work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, or perhaps the rhymes of Sir Walter Scott… you would be mistaken, this poetic masterpiece is the work of Toei Company Ltd’s Tensou Sentai Goseiger. Please, don’t forget to purchase your Gosei Power Cast off Device Tensouder & Gosei Card Buckle Set.
He may just be a Giant Spider Crab, but he learnt an important lesson living in his plastic blue container- Dress For Your Size!
Yasujiro Ozu presents a germ of wisdom in an excellent dialogue from his film, Late Spring. He is one of my favourite film makers.
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