Yesterday I met someone who shares all of my musical interests. She doesn't look like much, but she's knowledgeable, organized, and easy to turn on.

Meet Lacie:


"Lacie" is the name of the company that makes the drive as well as the friendly name that pops up whenever her USB cable is connected. That's right - she's completely plug and play. And one day she'll hold my entire music collection. That is, if my CD burner can take it. I doubt it's looking forward to ripping all of that material. I tried to go entirely digital about three years ago and all of that music is currently sitting on the hard drive of a desktop PC that, last time I checked, is suffering severe problems. The process took me a long time. But I miss not having all of my music at my immediate disposal, so I'm starting the trek all over again.

I wrote the scene analysis for The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, which is an excellent film. I had a lot of fun picking it apart. It's been awhile since I've done a scene analysis and it really opens up a whole new way of watching the film. I imagine I could sit down and analyze a film shot-by-shot and come up with literally hundreds of pages of material. That's the beauty of the moving visual image and its relationship with the senses.

I had a much better Wednesday yesterday than what has proven usual lately. Class was stimulating. It snowed really hard, which gave being on campus one of those "last of the population left alive" qualities. Lots of work to do this weekend.

I have Douglas Coupland's email address. It's surprisingly plain and straightforward. I googled it and it isn't posted anywhere on the Internet. I've been informed that he'd be interested in talking to me after Professor Sullivan pitched the PhD thesis angle. Now it's a matter of drafting a formal letter that I can send to him and his agent to hopefully set up a time and mode of interview.

No wonder I can't sleep.

My analysis on Knud Rasmussen is due at 6 PM today and I still have to watch the bloody film. It's a scene analysis, though, which typically writes quickly. I just have to make sure I put more of me in it. That's my new strategy for the semester. No more summaries. Me me me. You want my opinion, you've got it.

To work.

Tired. Coffee.

Last night Andrea and I talked on the phone and I found out that there are twelve weeks left until May begins, which means that my stay in Toronto is essentially two-thirds of the way complete. Not that I'm counting.

I found out that the Ontario Arts Council will not be giving me any money to fund any art shows this summer. I was disappointed but also a bit relieved to hear it. As much work as I put into that grant application, I don't feel as committed to the project as I used to. Time away from Ottawa is changing some of my attitudes. Maybe things will snap back into place when I return. In any event I'm trying very hard to learn to be honest with myself about what I want in all facets of life. There are still three months of experience and consideration to be had before my time here is up.

Of course, big life events such as discovering I won't be funded drive me to do things like put resumes together, so I revived my account at monster.ca. I'm going to throw myself full force into a job hunt once school is over with and I won't stop until I grab something that pays well. God knows I'll have spent enough time in school.

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which wasn't as murky or complicated as I remember. Davy Jones is a great character and I still go nuts for the ending. The first time I saw the movie I used a pass I'd won from the staff Oscar competition at 3-Way Street. It was one of the few times I've sat in the very back of a theatre.

The new chair is a vast improvement. I wish I could spend the day sleeping in it. To work...

I ordered a new desk chair from Staples, and they should be delivering it today. I just remembered that I didn't give them a buzzer number for the apartment. Jason is in the electronic directory, but I'm not. I don't even know what the buzzer number is. Hopefully the delivery guy isn't too simple and can find his way in.

Yesterday I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. I love the series. I've seen the first film a handful of times, but I haven't seen either of the sequels since theatres, so I'm going to try and get to them over the next few days. I have to write a response for Tragedy tonight and finally watch The Journals of Knud Rasmussen. I have it on my computer but I don't have enough hard drive space to unpack the rar files, so I'll have to watch it compressed, which means that I'll have to keep turning on the subtitles every 39 seconds. Maybe I'll wait until Jay gets home and see if he can burn the movie to a disc.

I ordered an external hard drive from Future Shop. 320 gigs. Hopefully I won't have that problem again.

I'm hungover this morning (afternoon). I spent the evening at Matt's apartment and Whelan's Irish pub drinking my face off, playing Wii and just generally having a good time before walking home.

I'm trying to download a movie called The Journals of Knud Rasmussen because I need to analyze a scene of it for Race and Cinema. It's at 98.8%. I hope it doesn't foul up in any way because I really don't want to go searching for it. I know the Blockbuster on St. Clair doesn't have it thanks to the clueless employee I talked to on the phone yesterday. He didn't even ask me how to spell "Knud."

I messed around a bit with MadTracker yesterday and wrote a bit of a song using piano and drum samples. I feel more comfortable using trackers than other software because I'm more used to how it operates. Hopefully I'll give it greater attention. I'd really like to mix and master a song right on my computer, but it takes some figuring out.

It's Groundhog Day. Depending on whether you believe Wiarton Willie or Punxsutawny Phil, you can take your pick of when winter's history. I wonder how global warming will impact Groundhog Day. Shadow. Shadow. Shadow. It's enough to make me switch to canvas shopping bags.

I did watch Groundhog Day yesterday. A fantastic film that always makes me laugh. My favorite exchange:

Rita: What should we drink to?
Phil: To the groundhog!
Rita: I always drink to world peace.
(NEXT DAY)
Rita: What should we drink to?
Phil: I like to say a prayer and drink to world peace.
Rita: ...to world peace.
Phil: To world peace. *pause* Amen.

I finished Achebe's book and also read Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Here's a great depiction of the latter by Charles François Jalabert:


I finished my Avant-Garde readings on Dada. What blows me away is the movement's foray into nihilism, particularly Francis Picabia. Richter lets off lines like this about him: "In spite of the fanatical, truly desperate battle that he waged against art, in spite of the theoretical anathemas he hurled at art, he never escaped from it." He also talks about condemning the "life-impulse" that forces artists to create. I don't BUY artistic nihilism. If the creative force within you is so strong that you HAVE to create in spite of your desire not to, the entire concept of nihilism can't apply to your output. Who the hell in their complete freedom of expression hates art so much that they feel as though they have to create against their will? It's complete bullshit. If you're a nihilist, don't create. All you're doing by creating is saying that you wish you weren't creating, and that's the most pretentious state of being possible.

Yesterday was Kim's birthday, and she and Matt are having a bunch of people over tonight after a pub stop. I have to pick up beer.

No way I'm going outside today. It's funny, just last night I was thinking, "this sure has been a dry winter." I should stop thinking.

Yesterday I read about two-third's of Chinua Achebe's "Thing Falls Apart" and I'll finish it up today on the comfort of the couch. I watched some X-Files and the Obama/Clinton debate on CNN.com. I love being able to watch stuff like that on my computer. I may not ever order cable television again. Why should I when I can watch certain shows online and buy DVD collections of the show I really want? No reason, that's why.

I need a new computer chair. The one I took from Andrea has been okay but it's getting a weird bump on the seat that makes it uncomfortable to sit on. With three months to go in Toronto (officially!) I want to make sure my money stays healthy. At the same time, I want to make sure my butt follows suit.