Thursday, May 29, 2008

PS

As a follow up to my last post:

Is anyone else interested in changing the English language to include a single hyphonated "that-that" whenever you need to use the word "that" twice in a row? It's kind of how you say it, and MS Word always gets angry at me for repeating the same word twice.

Also, I have located my saltine. It's at Future Shop and contains special commentary on the episode "My Musical". Mmmmm Scrubs...

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Clone Scrubs

Sign #27 Liz has lost all touch with reality: She's decided that Scrubs is actually just all of the characters from Clone High grown up and working in a Hospital.























































(Don't agree? Count how many times Elliot says "Come on you guys" in that nagging voice)



















(OK, that one was kind of cheating...)


















Oh Bill Lawrence... it's like your only desire in life is to appeal to exactly my sense of humour (and have some bizarre portal into my head to determine exactly what I think its funny, even if it completely perplexes or even frightens other people)

Why is it that that isn't the first time I've had that very strange thought?

Also... I wonder where I left my saltine cracker...?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Sound of Settling

I was listening to the 102.1 The Edge a couple of days ago and I heard the new Death Cab for Cutie single. I can't really say that it made me want the CD. I thought it was boring and lacked the simplicity and creative lyrics of their earlier work, and made me wonder why we didn't see a Postal Service CD instead.

I havne't listened to the rest of the CD though... does anyone have it, and have a better impression of it?

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Training Day

I went for some staff training two days ago (and for fans of the UK Office- yes we did do role playing involving listening skills, and no I did not "get their attention" despite the urge). I had to kill some time after arriving on GO Transit, because as usual with public transit I had the choice of being 1 hour early or 5 minutes late. I went into the nearby South Common "Mall". The term is clearly being used loosely. I noticed what ended up being only the second strangest sign in the mall:


"Arian Shoes"


Now I do realize that this is probably someone's name and that even if it were spelt "Aryan" it wouldn't necissarily have the negative connotations that I was taking it to have- still it seemed like a strange choice for a name.

The sign that I felt eclipsed "Arian Shoes" was in the Dollar Mart:


"Yes, we sell British Products"


With a picture of the British flag. Actually, I was just interested in whether or not you sold pens- but yes British pens will be satisfactory...



I should probably get some sleep.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Sign #47 that I have Totally Lost Touch with Reality

I want to give Wilson a hug.





Stay tuned for the full "Signs 1-50 Liz has lost touch with reality". Only about six of them involve House. Most of them are about my insistence that I can use The Force or my ability to solve crimes to the tune of The Who.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

My Problem with Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia. hmmmm

I quite liked the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I'm not sure I like the series as a whole. I went to see the movie Prince Caspian and I think I've figured out my problem with Narnia.

While the religious symbolism in Narnia is about as subtle as a blunt axe, it didn't bother me so much in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It's not that Christianity bothers me per se- it's CS Lewis's view of it.

What begins to happen in Prince Caspian, and essentially the rest of the saga is that Aslan=God begins to promote an ideaology that I do not feel is consistent with either the bible or of my experience with Christiantiy, but rather the elements of fundamentalist Christianity which I am most uncomfortable with. Chiefly that the best kind of faith is blind faith. Lucy can see Aslan because she believes in him unconditionally, where as the other children question his presence- not his existence, but his presence. They don't understand how he could allow bad things to happen in Narnia, and wonder where he is. This is basically held up as the wrong way of viewing things. Lucy, who does not question Aslan is exalted and basically made out to be the great hero.
If Aslan=God then what follows is, "Believe in God and don't question His divine wisdom or presence". Thinking "How could god allow suffering in the world?" is bad, because God has a plan, and if you just have faith in him everything will turn out fine. This is essentially what I got from Prince Caspian (That and the fact that it is apparently necissary to cram a love story into every movie with an actress over the age of 14).

The idea that blind faith is the best kind of faith isn't consistent with the bible. It's not even consistent with Jesus. The mythology of Narnia becomes increasingly wrapped up in religious symbolism as the stories go on, and the more it becomes overtly 'Aslan is God', 'Narnia is the kingdom of Heaven' and so forth, the harder it is to ignore the moral preaching of the stories. Again I have no problems with Christian morality- I really dig love thy neighbor as thy self- but no matter what spiritual force you understand to be at work, or what value system you adhere to it should never be a simple question of believing or not believing. I can think of few things worse than blind faith in anything. This is why I seem to keep falling into the "agnostic" category in many people's views (despite the fact that that I do think that there's a higher power and believe very strongly in many elements of Christianity, Buddism, Islam, Judaism and others). I simply cannot justify blind faith logically or theologically.


Part II: My Bias

I like the character Susan the best of all of the Narnia kids. This will shock no one that knows me. Susan, Lisa Simpson, Kyle Broflaski, Hermione Granger... who ever that nagging voice of reason is, I am always drawn to. It's not that I value intelligence above all else, I'm a big fan of bravery, honesty and kindness ahead of reason- but the sensible/intelligent/nagging characters are also the ones who challenge authority, question why things are the way they are and stand up against injustice. Sometimes they take it over board or can be self-righteous, but that voice of reason is also the voice of change and sometimes greatly needed truth. Susan has that potential, but in the world of Narnia her voice of reason and truth is painted as a negative. That she questions Aslan, that she questions whether or not the children should proceed into Narnia or fight in the great battle are seen as weaknesses. In another story she might be a hero, but in Narnia she is, at best, a foil for Lucy.

For anyone who hasn't read the complete Chronicles I won't give away Susan's fate, but you've most likely gathered from this that I'm not impressed.
Lucy is great, fine. She is kind and innocent and very brave, but in another story Susan would be her great ally, not her foil. Because let's face it, without the nagging voice of reason Harry would still be wandering around the forest with Ron looking for Horocruxes, Bart would have been done in by Side Show Bob, and Stan and Kenny would have been thrown in a giant pit of lava at the Airport Hilton ("Everything OK? Got enough Buffet items? Do you have enough lava?").



Oh right the film...

Ummmmm why did Susan and Caspian have a random love story? What the hell was that song at the end? And please cut it out with all the shots of the Pevensie children staring at each other meaningfully as if thinking something very deep in the middle of every battle scene for no apparent reason.

"Uh, Liz it is just a kids film... maybe you could take it a little easy?"

No. Because I think that complacency with children's entertainment is what led to Pokeman and Air Bud. Just because something is for kids doesn't mean it can suck. Jim Henson didn't think kids stuff should suck and neither do I. So there.


Friday, May 09, 2008

Tim Horton's on the Defence

I did not read one article that thought of that pun.

You don't even get it do you?

Sigh...here.


Employee fired over free Timbit getting job back

London, Ont. woman will be getting her job at Tim Hortons back after being fired for giving a free Timbit to a toddler.

A statement issued by the company's head office Thursday said the person who fired Nicole Lilliman, 27, went too far and that the single mother of four has been reinstated.

"Unfortunately the action of the manager of this location was not appropriate," the statement read. "With an apology from management Ms. Lilliman has been rehired by the franchisee. We sincerely apologize to our customers for this unfortunate incident."

Tim Hortons customers interviewed in London were less than impressed upon hearing of the firing.

"They're not going to go broke giving a child a Timbit," one woman told A-Channel London. "Shame on them."

Timbits are small balls of glazed dough that sell for $0.16.

Lilliman has said she didn't think much about giving the Timbit to the 11-month-old child, who came in with a regular customer on Monday. She said staff members often give Timbits to pets and children and that she was trying to calm the child.

Lilliman had worked at the store for about three years. She said was greeted by three managers when she arrived at work on Wednesday, who confronted her about the free gift after watching surveillance footage taken in the restaurant.

Uncomfortable with returning to the store from which she was fired, Lilliman will now work at another Tim Hortons location just down the street, company spokesperson Rachel Douglas told the Canadian Press on Thursday.

No decision has been made on whether action will be taken against the manager who fired Lilliman, said Douglas, adding she does not believe the manager's actions are ground for dismissal.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Sequel?

Farce book



I always knew that was a really brilliant joke.

Monday, May 05, 2008

"Good. Do you have magical powers?"

So every once in a while a movie totally passes under my radar and I can't even blame anyone else for saying "Nah, I don't really want to see that". It just seems that I totally missed the boat on this movie and my life has been the poorer for it, until now:





This is a top 10er. I don't really know which spot, or which movie I'm dethroning, but I know it's there.

A few things:

1) Will Farrel can act? I mean apart from shouting who he is prior to delivering every line ("I'm John Rocker!") or doing an alteration of his President Bush impersonation. I completely forgot it was Will Farrel within minutes. Not only did his performance have layers and subtlety it had humour that wasn't over-stated or ridiculous. It was honest and very touching.

2) I am in love with Emma Thompson




















"Liz, please stop calling me"


3) I've been trying to think of a way to describe this film: It's like the love child of Adaptation and Hamlet.

"Hamlet: Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew...
McKee: ...and God help you if you use soliloquy in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a soliloquy to explain the thoughts of a character."

Ok, maybe that's not right.









In case you haven't guessed, I highly recommend this film. If you've seen it, and disagree with my proclaiming it wonderful, I invite you to bite me. Just kidding. Write me a comment. But I'll probably just tell you to bite me.