28 July 2010

The ending was a bit of a let-down

I’ve always liked to write. When I was in elementary school, I’d write these long, hand-written novels about families with lots of kids. Back then I wanted a big family, apparently. Then I graduated to stories about young girls dying from various diseases and then in high school I was writing long, hand-written novels that had plots suspiciously similar to my favourite shows and movies. Once I got to University I kind of slowed down, then eventually stopped. Then I started with the web logs and this is what I write now.

I never let anyone read them. Once I let a friend read part of one and it was so nerve wracking that I never did it again. My writing was so personal to me that I didn’t want to hear even the slightest negative comment. Any criticisms I got would stay with me. For instance, I remember a short story I wrote in Grade 10, and the teacher said the ending was “a bit of a let-down.” That bothered me for years. I don’t write much by way of pure fiction anymore, but I’m still just as attached to my writing. I still find it hard to give drafts of papers to my superiors.

Someone told me about this site called I Write Like. You give it a piece of your writing and it uses “statistical analysis” to see which famous author’s style is most like your own. I had to try it right away. I cut-and-pasted my recent Revenge Willy post and waited a few seconds for my analysis. Imagine my horror when I got the following result:

27 July 2010

I was told there'd be cup holders

I bought a car. I've told most of y'all, but haven't made any sort of official announcement. I suppose if I was being accurate, I'd announce that I will be buying a car for the next 5 years (but it's good debt, right?). At the end of June, I shopped for and bought a car over the course of a week. I rushed it to beat the dreaded HST increase. (Oh, and Ontario: quit whining! We've had HST for forever!). I would describe having a car as "non-stop greatness." For someone who spent practically the last 10 years taking transit, it really is just sheer greatness. It's just...so...damned awesome. Really, the words escape me.

My car is a civic, dark gray, and is a girl. I haven't named her yet, but in my head I think of her as "Car-car," which is what my nephew used to call cars. Actually, he called them "car-car beep-beep," and it was way more adorable in person than it looks on the computer screen, I swear.

I'm currently accepting suggestions for names.

16 July 2010

Revenge Willy

We’re going old school for this one, to a movie that’s even older than me. To a movie that doesn’t have any computer generated effects because computers in those days took up entire buildings and took 2 days to compute the multiplications table. Yes, we’re taking it all the way back to 1977, to a little known (to me) movie entitled Orca: The Killer Whale. As far as my requirement for descriptive titles goes, this one wins points for brevity, but looses points for being inaccurate. It should have been called Orca: The Killer Dolphin or Orca: The Evil Mastermind, I would have accepted either.

11 July 2010

Dear Zachary/The Cove

Alej has this idea that I love sad movies. It's really that I appreciate endings that are real, and things don't always end happily in real life. So a movie that ends sadly, or on a non-happy note, doesn't make me angry. That being said, I really have to psych myself up to watch some documentaries because I know they're going to be sad, and that they will probably make me angry and make me cry. Okay, I have seen some docs lately that didn't make me cry, like  Man On Wire, It Might Get Loud, and Wordplay. However, with other movies, like Sharkwater and The End of the Line it's a forgone conclusion that I will get upset.  So, when I decided to watch The Cove, I knew what I was in for. Dear Zachary, on the other hand, had a compelling trailer and I didn't really know what to expect going into it.

07 July 2010


At the most recent Made-For-TV Movie About Deadly Animals Awards gala (the “Crappies,” as they are affectionately known), Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus took home the Best Fake Science Award. It also won the Best Misrepresentation of the Life of Government Scientist Award, Best Recycling of FX Shots, and the coveted Has No Idea What Oceanographers Actually Do Award. Some of these wins were controversial, and the producers of Kraken have already launched a smear campaign in the press. I’m here to tell you why Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus is completely deserving of these awards.

06 July 2010

Fleet Review

Sorry it’s taken so long to get this up. Deb especially has been asking for it. My pictures are pretty crappy, I admit. I’ve pilfered one from someone at work, I hope they don’t mind…

The weather the morning of the Fleet Review was typical Halimouth: gray and rainy, foggy and cool. A few ships started to anchor in the basin the day before, and it was fun watching them come in.


01 July 2010

For She's a Jolly Good Country

I'm trying to enjoy my Canada Day long weekend and not dwelling on the thought that I should be in Ontario getting ready to see U2.

We're having decent weather for the holiday, not fantastic but not rainy. At least, not yet.