Kiite.

Song Quote

Name the song/artist(s):

"...it's one for you nineteen for me...

posted by Mark @ 2:23 AM Comments: 2

Movie Trivia

Name the movie that this quite is from and I'll buy you a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. Unless you use google, in which case I'll buy you a bottle of tap-water.

"You've got one religious maniac, one malignant dwarf, two near-idiots, and the rest I don't even wanna think about!"

posted by Mark @ 5:34 AM Comments: 7

Discretion and Being The Nexus

So I'm known for a couple of things among my friends and family. A certain amount of clumsiness - usually involving red wine - is one such characteristic that I think many will enthusiastically claim I possess. Certainly the wine stain on my shirt from last night's party at Steve's is evidence of that.

The other is indiscretion. Admitedly I have opened my mouth and blurted out stuff that I'm not supposed to, or that, three beers before, I would have kept to myself. The most famous story, second only to the tale of the token, is the guitar story. I bought Eric a guitar for Christmas a few years ago and hid it in my office at home. I told him to stay out of the office because otherwise he'd spoil the surprise. I came home a few hours later and asked him if he'd been in the office, he swore he hadn't. "Good," I said. "Because I thought I'd come home to hear you playing guitar....oh shit Merry Christmas."

But even though most would not believe it, I AM discreet, really. Because despite all the crap I blurt out, there is a TON i do not blurt. I'd tell you what that is, but that would be indiscreet. But one area that I am discreet, and I'm getting a bit miffed at having to be, is when people say shit around me that, annoyingly, puts me into a situation.

I have one acquaintance who is poitically someplace to the right of the Pope, he blurts out such right-wing shite as to make a fascist blush, and I'm left to choosing to either get into it with him, thereby getting us both into a long, boring and hopeless conversation or shutting up - making him think (and say to my friends) that I agree with him. And the conversation IS hopeless because let's face it, I'm not moving to the right, and he's not moving to the left, so why bother. And he's not stupid, so he's being intentionally inflamatory.

There's another category of stuff people say that I'm forced to be around. When two people in my life (let's for the sake of argument say they're family members - and at times they have been) are pissed at each other, or cranky or fighting or whatnot. And one of them bitches at me about the other one. Now my choices are 1. agree and beat up on the absent one, 2. defend the absent person thereby getting into a row 3. shut up and seethe.

I'm not talking about when someone comes to you to rant a bit about an incident, or for advice on dealing with a bit of a conflict. No, that's fine, we've all been there , and that's human, right? I'm talking about when all they want, all they're committed to is bitching about and shitting on the other person. They're not interested in resolution or getting past it, but just in winding you up about this other person and generating agreement about how bad/wrong/awful this other person is.

It's annoying. Don't do it. Oh, and to be utterly clear (and to paraphrase Carly Simon) if you think this blog is about you... it probably is.

posted by Mark @ 9:17 AM Comments: 0

Me, Me, Me!

Earlier this month I read at the Pontiac Quarterly and it went well (they loved "the gay guy"). So I'm going back and doing another one. Last time the theme was "Contempt" and I read "The Internet Broke My Bathhouse" This time the theme is "Vibrations" and I am going to do something called "The sex is casual, the arrangements are not." So if you are free (and in Toronto) on Wednesday, January 17th , 2007, then come see me.

posted by Mark @ 10:24 PM Comments: 2

Home

2300 - bed
0100 - call front desk to complain about noise
0130 - sleep
0400 - wake up
0440 - shuttle to ATL
0540 - boarding
0615 - take off
0840 - landing YYZ
0900 - shuttle to parking
0930 - work
1700 - home
2200 - tired

posted by Mark @ 11:00 AM Comments: 0

Stuck

The airline cancelled our flight - I was going to get mad, but it was a hydrolic leak that caused the plane to be grounded so instead I was just happy I wasn't on the flight when it happened. They put us up at an airport hotel. When she asked if we needed one room or three (we're travelling with a friend), we all answered (in unison) THREE!!! We love each other, but 5 days in one hotel room, with two double beds... well let's just say I'm going to enjoy my king-sized bed tonight. Sleep well! (i know I will!!)

posted by Mark @ 12:17 PM Comments: 0

Georgia on My Mind

I've been in Atlanta since Wednesday night last week. I came down for a course over the weekend and extended it out until today to see a bit of the place and enjoy it. Just like I did in Chicago and New York City. Here are my observations on Atlanta.

1. Smoke. They still smoke in bars here. I know I sound like Hamish now, but fuck it's really gross. More than gross, it's extra laundry. ugh. oh and after nearly a year smoke free, this was the first time I actually wanted one.

2. Pointy Buildings. They have a few fairly tall skyscrapers in the city, nice ones actually. And in most ways they are reasonably non-descript, except for the pointy tops. Take a look at this image and see what I mean. There is no explanation for why they are into making really elaborate tops, but it's cool.

3. Waiters. The waiters and waitresses are the best in this city. Without exception they have been smart, nice, personable, outgoing and super efficient. Holy crap these people do NOT know how to be surly!!

4. Cold. The South is not as warm as we're led to beleive. Or at least it wasn't for us. It was below freezing for three days here and just finally got warm yesterday. As the guy at the car rental place said "It's been cold, but not as cold as all y'all are used to, but for us, it's cold."

5. Accent. I can't hear all the variations and differenes in southern accents, but i can tell North Carolina from Texas from Georgia. But man they are sweet. There are probably rural or ghetto accents that are harsher, but to my ear the accents I've heard have been like a warm blanket.

6. Grits & Biscuits. Okay here's the thing, I've tried grits, I really, really have. I thought I didn't like them, then I came to the South and tried them again to be sure, because I'm sure a Yankee version of grits (from NYC or Chicago) would be anathema to a real Southerner. But you know what? While admittedly creamier and with a nicer texture, they were still fucking awful. They were what I imagine PolyFilla to taste like. The biscuits, on the other hand are a different story. I have always liked biscuits. I buy one most mornings from Tim Horton's with my coffee. So when we went to the local diner in the gay area we're staying in for breakfast on Friday, I knew I was in for a treat. The Flying Biscuit Café promises, from its name alone, a Southern biscuit experience. And it delivers. These things are little flowery, buttery, flakey, fluffy pucks of pure joy. I buttered it and sat chewing, nearly weeping at how good it was and as I stared at it I knew then that I could never - ever - give up carbs.

7. Fat. We had a dessert at Nikimoto's (great sushi place) that consisted of a piece of angel food cake battered and deep fried and then served with a banana 'compote' (which is French for hot jam, not to be confused with a coulis, which is French for runny jam). It was good. We pointed out to the waiter that the very idea of deep fried cake is precisely why Americans are fat.

8. Drink. Do not drink with amateurs. My travelling companion is spectacularly hungover today. It's quite funny really. I drank more than he and I feel good. I think I'm just going to leave his sorry ass here and go back to They Flying Biscuit Café and have nothing but coffee & biscuits for breakfast.

I'm flying home on a late flight tonight.

posted by Mark @ 10:01 PM Comments: 2

Who Are You

For the last year and a half or whatever I've been running this blog, the traffic has been relatively steady. It was consistent what with all the people who I know are reading it, and often commenting, as well as those who don't comment but read anyway, would generate as traffic.

But in the last 6 weeks or so, traffic has exploded. As I mention below, November saw a tripling of the stats. And already 5 days into December, I'm at the point i was half way through September. Now, I thought the problem was all the pics I have on the page. That every time you arrive here, you load up the page and download a million pics, using up band-with. So, I cut down on the number of pics etc. But that would only mean bandwith usage, the 'hits' or visits should be about the same right? Nope.

Visits
Sept: 4222
Oct: 7096
Nov: 22002
Dec: 3548 (so far)

So I did a little digging Hamish suggested that I must have a phrase on my blog that is turning up in search string for people. He suggested it was something like "naked japanese bondage girls" or something (great now the traffic will spike even further!) But it isn't that at all. It's one entry from a while back. I can't tell you what it is, because that would actually increase the likelihood my blog would be found again. So I'll describe it to you. The entry was for a movie star, who was picked to replace Pierce Brosnan in a popular recurring spy role.

Yup, I even posted a pic of him. Of course the movie opened in November and I got stuck with the traffic. I'm deleting the entry now, I really don't want to pay for the extra bandwith because teen girls want to see if he's as hot as he seems.

*sigh* and here's me thinking I was popular.

posted by Mark @ 10:32 PM Comments: 2

HTML

Yah, so inspired by Hame's new look, I tried to figure out how to adjust my template, but anything i do to it fucks it up. so you're stuck looking at this, unless some HTML geeeenius out there can help.

posted by Mark @ 5:10 AM Comments: 1