Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Posts from beyond: 2002

January 2002

January's always quite a month for me. Not only do I celebrate my own birthday, but also that of my brother Barry.

What happened this particular January? Well, after doing absolutely NOTHING for New Year's Eve (I laid on the couch, eating chips, drinking pop and watching Unbreakable), I decided I needed to be more sociable. When my birthday rolled around I was in Kitchener with my good friends, eating, drinking, carousing and generally having a great time. This has been followed by many weekends of clubbing and socializing, and I'm very happy about that...

Theatre:

Lord Of The Rings - saw it two more times (for a total of three) with friends who hadn't managed to see it before

Impostor - Gary Sinise never disappoints, but even so this movie really felt like it was meant to be much shorter and was stretched. Wait a minute, it was...

DVDs:

Ravenous, which I've had on my list since last summer. 

A Perfect Murder is better than you might think.
Finally replaced Withnail & I with the Criterion edition, worth every penny.

And, of course, the most momentous thing: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension...

New Music:

David Bowie's Christiane F - Christmas present from John and Liz

February 2002

February was pretty cool - went to a double bill of Buckaroo Banzai and Big Trouble In Little China at a friend's house, ended up in Kitchener quite a lot, reacquainted myself with Savage Garden (the goth industrial bar, not the pop band).

Didn't make too many purchases this month really, Oh, I did buy the sexiest boots ever made, totally Liza's fault, but I can't really wear them for too long as they've got 4-1/2" heels. I tried though - lasted three hours before I had to change shoes. But they only cost $30, so who's complaining?...

March 2002

March has been great so far, I saw Steven Wright live in Hamilton – and he is still the funniest man on the planet! Woo hoo! Also saw Daniel Ash at a very small venue, great show. More Kitchener outings, and a visit from my niece Jennifer, who is now 16 (am I really getting this old?). Also met up with a couple of friends I haven't seen in, literally, years... Scary thing about this month though is that I have to cover a co-worker's job for the next couple of weeks on top of my own duties, and I just know I'm gonna screw something up. I hope I don't though, I just passed my one-year anniversary with Cassels Brock and I'd like to stay for a while... [ps - I did fine while she was gone, it was a bit easier than I expected - maybe I have more skills than I give myself credit for?]

Theatre:

Queen Of The Damned - Didn't originally want to see it but then I found out Paul McGann was in it and, well, that's all she wrote. The movie was shallow, but it looked good. Don't waste your money.

Time Machine - Predictable, but then again, it's not a new story. Well acted, good costumes, effects, etc.

Ice Age - See this movie, it was so funny!

New Music:
Finally got that Placebo album I've been wanting for a couple of years (Without You I'm Nothing) and also Covenant's United States of Mind. Also a Devo double-cd, Duty Now For The Future/New Traditionalists.

DVDs:

Tron - 20th Anniversary Edition

Ginger Snaps - Collector's Edition

April 2002

Finally did my taxes, glad to get that out of the way. In celebration I've purchased a new pair of shoes - yellow monkeyboots, woo hoo! Went back to Savage again, been too long, must do this more. Further plans for this month include a trip to Kitchener to celebrate a friend's birthday and a trip to the movies to celebrate another one. My T'ai Chi course has started, it's pretty cool - lots of room, you travel a lot. Yang style...

New Music:

Peter Murphy's new album is out - Dust. I love it. Beautiful melodies, very Turkish. I don't know what he might use for a single off this one though...

DVDs:

Highlander (Remastered) - There can be only one...

Clerks (Collector's edition)
Mallrats (Collector's edition)

Chasing Amy (Criterion edition) - The New Jersey Trilogy

The Awful Truth: Season Two

Theatre:

Panic Room - Pretty good flick, Jodie Foster was a wonderful choice - I heard Sharon Stone was originally up for the role, she wouldn't have been nearly as believable. The opening titles were pretty original. Also, I really want that house.

Amélie - Can't say enough about this movie - if you haven't seen it yet, GO...

Gosford Park - A bit confusing in the first 20 minutes, but quite a treat.

May 2002

So far so good - saw Peter Murphy at The Phoenix on the 6th in support of Dust, what a great show! I don't know what I expected, considering his new album is so mellow, but it was wonderful! Went to Welland for Mother's day of course, visited with the folks. Finally got bridesmaid dresses for Lisa's wedding in August, jewellry too.

New Music:

Budd/Raymonde/Guthrie/Fraser: The Moon And The Melodies - the only Cocteau Twins I didn't already have

The Pixies: Death To The Pixies - a best of collection with a bonus live album!

Lush: Ciao! - another best of collection, a great one too!

The Who: Who's Better, Who's Best - collection, again...

The Eurythmics: Greatest Hits - ...do you sense a trend here?

Rush: Grace Under Pressure - I refuse to apologize for liking Rush, I'm Canadian...

DVDs:

The Cell - finally!

The Legend Of Bagger Vance

Jaws Collector's Edition

Mystery Men - finally!

T2

Fire: Walk With Me

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - of course!

From Hell

Ultraviolet - BBC miniseries, vampires, pretty cool...

Theatre:

Spider-Man twice, once with my Dad and once with Todd. A fun movie actually, Tobey did a much better job than I had expected. Also saw About A Boy twice, such a good flick! Hugh Grant is wonderful in it, and so is the young boy, so natural...

June 2002

Had a good visit with folks in Kitchener and with folks in Welland so far. Also a fun birthday party, which held a few surprises, one of which was particularly wonderful. The deck party was fabulous - final body count of 29 including me and Jody. Much alcohol was had by all... Getting psyched for the cruise. And of course Pride Day comes at the end of the month, the biggest party in North America...

DVDs:

Men In Black (Collector's Series)

Logan's Run

Keeping The Faith

Moby: Play The DVD

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Theatre:

Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones - hmm. Better plot than Episode I, better effects, less JarJar Binks, too many cliché lines. What did I think of it overall? Well, worth seeing once, not twice though.

Sum Of All Fears - much better than I expected, worth a viewing.

The Bourne Identity - also, much better than I expected. Franka Potente rocks.

Minority Report - pretty cool flick: good special effects, some of which were a bit goofy; good acting from all involved; good premise - although it could have ended about 15 minutes before it did. What is it with Spielberg, all his movies keep on going and going...

July 2002

The cruise was amazing! Seven days of hilarity, and a week afterwards of feeling like Toronto floats! See the full writeup here. [note: there was a link here to the full thing, I'm gonna put it as its own post] Quite busy, way too much to do. Two bridal showers for Lisa, and I'm going cottaging at the end of the month!

New Music:

They Might Be Giants: No!

Cat Stevens: Teaser & The Firecat

Rupert Hine: Waving Not Drowning

DVDs:

Das Boot: Directors' Cut

The Ninth Gate

Boiler Room

Saving Private Ryan


Theatre:
Men In Black II - fun. Tasted a bit of Contractual Obligation, but still lots of fun.

Reign Of Fire - over before I knew it! Lotsa action...

K19: The Widowmaker - very very cool - I haven't seen a serious movie in a long time so I wasn't sure how to feel coming out...

Stuart Little 2 - I know, I know, but it was fun! The animation was wonderful!

August 2002

Well, cottaging was wonderful, went up to Killarney with a few friends and spent five days doing NOTHING, yay! Read a couple of novels, watched a couple of movies, found a home for a dog who ended up on the porch, watched the hummingbirds. Wonderful.

Lisa and JuYong's wedding was great - even though every step was a bit late. Pics are up now. The happy couple are in the Maritimes spending ten days seeing the sights.

The second deck party was cool, a little more laid back. A few people made it who had never been here, including Jordan and Dave & Elyse, so that was really cool. Jenn & Pete's end-of-summer deck party was pretty keen as well, lots of new faces.

DVDs:

The Mummy & The Mummy Returns, Collector's Editions

Memento Special Edition

The Edge - have you seen this one? Fabulous...

Tapeheads - early John Cusak/Tim Robbins flick, goofy fun

Midnight Oil: 20,000 Watt RSL video collection, quite wonderful!

Theatre:

xXx - seen it twice now! Oooh, just love that Vin Diesel. James Bond is too starched.

Dream In High Park: A Midsummer Night's Dream - CanStage is at it again. Open-air performance in High Park, their 20th anniversary.

September 2002

Everyone's back to school, poor kids. CNE's done, I was just a bit disappointed this year - for some reason I couldn't find the prize-winning plants in the succulent category, which is always my favourite. But I went on rides with my friend Jordo, which I haven't done in a number of years. I've had lunch with my pal Trevor a couple of times this month, I haven't seen him for eleven years. Finally met my friends' kitten, a perfectly behaved little gentleman. Celebrated a couple of birthdays, and attended the Clothing Show and the North Market antique show.

New Music:

INXS: The Swing - not new actually, more like 18 years old!

The Fixx: Phantoms - replacing my cassette copy

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Reconstructed - remixes by various folks like 808 State, Orbital and The Orb

Consolidated: Friendly Fascism - not their best, but still fun.

DVDs:

Schoolhouse Rock: Special 30th Anniversary Edition

Rex The Runt: Discover The Joy Of Rex - both seasons, woo hoo!

Theatre:

Signs - go on, it's better than the critics would like you to believe.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding - oh boy, this one was sooo much fun! It's a keeper...

Apollo 13: IMAX - not bad, not bad...

October 2002

Phew! Went to a housewarming party up near Barrie, what a drive! Fabulous place, good time, but boy was I wiped when I got home!

Thanksgiving was very relaxing, I went home to visit the folks and did pretty much nothing. We went bowling before I came back - five-pin, of course - and I suffered for a few days, I really need to get back into that. My Mum's birthday is this month, I hope she has something good!

Hallowe'en is this month, I don't think I'll be dressing up this year. That's right, it's my favourite holiday and I'm not going to celebrate. I'm just too pooped! Went to Velvet Underground with the human pincushion and we had a wonderful time - I've actually done quite a lot of catching up with him, which is extra nice. Got out to Savage again too, had a lot of fun - but I've learned my lesson about wearing really high heels if I'm not just sitting! Also had dinner made for me this month, what a nice treat.

Theatre:

Secretary - this was amazing! A really weird little flick, ran in the Toronto International Film Festival last month. James Spader doesn't disappoint.

The Transporter - Jason Statham does a really good job in this one, really looks like he knows what he's doing - but his female lead/counterpart chick just screams a lot.

November 2002

I've been quite happy, new man in my life and everything's groovy, as the song says. Am I getting too mushy? *grin*

Okay, so what's been going on this month? A lot really, my parents' 39th anniversary, a fabulous housewarming party at Janelle's, one birthday dinner, another (anti)birthday party, a trip out to Savage (lots of entertainment that night, woo hoo!), an impromptu trip to KW, movies, when will it ever end? Oh, and of course lots of visits with the new beau... oops, there I go again, just ignore that ;-) ooh, he met the parents this month too and it went really well. We also went to a surprise birthday party in Niagara Falls for a friend and had a great time.

Last weekend was really cool, Jordan and I went up to Kitchener and visited wih his best friend and his family, who are really great, and with J&P and the Flying Innuendo Brothers, then went out to Abstract and we had Sunday Brunch at Oscar's before coming home. What a great weekend! Having a 2-person whirlpool in your hotel room doesn't hurt either ;-) This past weekend was busy too, but I felt like death, I got so ill this week and I've been trying to fight it off. I seem to be okay now, just a very runny nose but at least I don't feel like I'm dying anymore! Went to my first hockey game, actually enjoyed it too which worries me ;-)

Theatre:

I Spy - yes, it's dumb, but it's a fun kinda dumb. Owen Wilson's got the Midas touch!

Bowling For Columbine - Michael Moore's up to it again. Oh, and apparently my neighbourhood is an example of a 'Canadian Slum'...

The Ring - oh. my. god. About 2/3 through the movie I started thinking maybe I shouldn't have come to see it, I thought for sure I was going to have nightmares. This was a really good movie, and not for the faint of heart...

Die Another Day - the latest Bond flick, predictable but at the same time quite a departure. Fun.

December 2002

Well here we go, home stretch. Started the month off with a bang (in a few ways!) by going to dinner with Jordan and my Grammy up the CN Tower! I highly recommend that, the food was great and the view, well, there is nothing to compare. Lots of other visits with friends and family. Christmas was wonderful this year, I think the best it's been in a long long time. I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy. *sigh*

Theatre:

Star Trek: Nemesis - this was a good one. Sure, there were holes you could drive a truck through, and lots of convenient stuff, but there wasn't a single one of those little catchphrases in it ("assimilate this!", "lock and load", etc.)

Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers - aaaaah...

DVDs (all for Christmas):

Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring - super duper fantasmo version with the Stop In The Name Of Love statuettes (from Mum & Dad)

Ice Age (from Mum & Dad)

Bandits (from Barry)

Amélie (from Jordan)

Shrek (from Jordan)

Koyaanisqatsi (from Jordan)

Powaqqatsi (from Jordan)

The Fast And The Furious (from Todd)

The Arrival/The Arrival II

The Mask


[note: this post rescued from certain death at my old website - transplanted here July 20, 2010]

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