Yeatsian Revival
It was oscar night. I wouldn't have known it... except that I got a phone call early in the morning inviting me to an "oscar party"... the conversation went something like this:
-Hey, what are you doing tonight?
-Uh. Nothing?
-It's oscar night tonight.
-What's that? (thinking, for some reason, that it has something to do with food)
-Tonight's the oscars.
-What? (still thinking about food)
-The academy awards. You know, oscars. Movies.
-OH!
-I guess you don't really follow that.
-Uh... no...
And then I was told that in this town... many people make a big deal of the oscars... they put together stacks of televisions, dress up, serve oscar themed food (so I was right about the food, afterall), and generally party it up.
I did not partake of the festivities... mainly because I've been living in a movie-less cave for the last little while. I haven't even seen a trailer or a movie poster for any of the nominees. I can't even name one actor/actress/director who has been nominated. Actually, the last time I saw any part of the oscars, it was that year with Roberto Benigni winning best foreign film for La vita e bella (a wiki search tells me that that was 10 years ago!)... and the next oscar moment was in 2004, in the kitchen at work at Dorval during an evening shift, where everyone in the room was ecstatic that Les invasion barbare had won... unfortunately, among all the proud and ecstatic French Canadians, none had seen the movie...
I do know that a movie called "No Country for Old Men" has been nominated for best picture this year... reason why I know is that there's been a lot of mention of this movie lately... and it happens to be one of my favourite lines. I haven't any idea what the movie is about... all I know is that it is not, as was my first guess, a bio-pic of William Butler Yeats... whatever it is, though, it's probably quite good... I googled "oscars" and discovered that it had won several awards. I guess I'll have to wait until it comes out on video... and then rent it from The Groovy Movie Store.
In celebration of the win... here is Yeats's "Sailing to Byzantium":
THAT is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
Okay... that's it. I'm going to bed... going to go for an early surf in the morning before work. The surf forecast said it was going to be smaller today... so I went to Cox Bay instead of North Chesterman. I still have salt water coming out of my nose... and I've been out of the water since 11AM. I need to surf better... and soon, too... and I need to stop freaking myself out by paddling to the lip of some gigantic wave pretending that there's even a chance I could make any sort of a drop. Why do I do that? It doesn't give me anything but a sinus rinse.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Imported Facebook Note
THIS is no country for old men
It's official, Tofino is now REALLY on the map. I was having a conversation with someone inside an office, and noticed that there were a group of young Asian men and women wearing brightly coloured T-shirts and rubber gloves prancing about on the main street (which, incidentally, is not called "main street" here... our "Main Street" is not nearly as "main" as "Campbell Street")... they had stacks of pamphlets printed on flourescent paper... one dude's t-shirt said "God Loves You"... yes yes... Korean Evangelists are now in Tofino. I went and picked up one of the pamphlets left on the cop car's windshield... and sure enough... it was from the Vancouver Korean Presbyterian Church. Being so far away, I'm not sure how they plan to save my soul... but if there's going to be singing and general good cheer, then by god, count me in as long as they provide the OCD rubber gloves!
It's official, Tofino is now REALLY on the map. I was having a conversation with someone inside an office, and noticed that there were a group of young Asian men and women wearing brightly coloured T-shirts and rubber gloves prancing about on the main street (which, incidentally, is not called "main street" here... our "Main Street" is not nearly as "main" as "Campbell Street")... they had stacks of pamphlets printed on flourescent paper... one dude's t-shirt said "God Loves You"... yes yes... Korean Evangelists are now in Tofino. I went and picked up one of the pamphlets left on the cop car's windshield... and sure enough... it was from the Vancouver Korean Presbyterian Church. Being so far away, I'm not sure how they plan to save my soul... but if there's going to be singing and general good cheer, then by god, count me in as long as they provide the OCD rubber gloves!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Imported Facebook Note
Psychotropic Mould Advisory
There is (and possibly has always been) a psychotropic mould present in Tofino. Prolonged exposure (4 months or longer) may cause the following:
-loss of short term memory
-loss of sense of time
-loss of ambition
-inability to process spatial information
-inability to reason
-inability to focus or concentrate
-impairment of mental flexibility and spontaneity
-loss of social decorum
-inertia
-irritability
-forgetfulness
-paranoia
-loud talking
-inappropriate laughter
-poor judgement
-agression
-mood swings
-seclusive behaviour
-perseveration or general frontal lobe dysfunction
These symptoms can be alleviated or mitigated by regularly performing sinus rinses, thereby reducing the build-up of the psychotropic mould in the sinus cavities, most notably in the sinus frontalis, which is adjacent to the frontal lobe and therefore likely to affect its function if contaminated by the psychotropic mould spores. Sinus rinses are available in commercial preparations and kits or can be improvised by mixing an appropriate amount of sodium bicarbonate with water for nasal irrigation. An effective and natural rinsing of the sinuses can be achieved by surfing. In short, surf more to avoid going insane.
There is (and possibly has always been) a psychotropic mould present in Tofino. Prolonged exposure (4 months or longer) may cause the following:
-loss of short term memory
-loss of sense of time
-loss of ambition
-inability to process spatial information
-inability to reason
-inability to focus or concentrate
-impairment of mental flexibility and spontaneity
-loss of social decorum
-inertia
-irritability
-forgetfulness
-paranoia
-loud talking
-inappropriate laughter
-poor judgement
-agression
-mood swings
-seclusive behaviour
-perseveration or general frontal lobe dysfunction
These symptoms can be alleviated or mitigated by regularly performing sinus rinses, thereby reducing the build-up of the psychotropic mould in the sinus cavities, most notably in the sinus frontalis, which is adjacent to the frontal lobe and therefore likely to affect its function if contaminated by the psychotropic mould spores. Sinus rinses are available in commercial preparations and kits or can be improvised by mixing an appropriate amount of sodium bicarbonate with water for nasal irrigation. An effective and natural rinsing of the sinuses can be achieved by surfing. In short, surf more to avoid going insane.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Imported Facebook Note
A note in the day time
The surf was small today... so I took out my gigantic board this morning... only to discover (after three weeks of surfing almost everyday exclusively on the little board) that the gigantic board is really gigantic... at 25-3/4 inches, it's really, really wide. It was a struggle and I felt like a total loser (except those mitts really do help with the paddling). After about an hour and a half, I decided to decide that it wasn't a good day for surfing and came home...
...but it was too beautiful a day to be inside... so I went out for a bike ride... aside from the frost-bite paranoia (it's not actually *that* cold... but there's still snow everywhere, and I only had bike shorts, not bike pants) it was almost like summer. It was an excellent ride, though after coming up what looks like only a little hill on my street but is in reality an overwhelmingly long, steep, mountainous incline, it was definitely time for hot chocolate. (that my neighbour across the street manages to do it seemingly effortlessly while hauling a baby (or two, who knows) in a bike trailer does not make me feel in anyway inadequate)
I wanted some papadams with my hot chocolate... and so was going to use up the rest of the expensive package ($2.49 at the 4th street market, $.99 at superstore... exact same stuff, by the way... that "Golden Boy" stuff in the plastic bag with that creepy looking pink rabbit and the kid... there's no complaining though... I'm sure $.99 would be considered a ridiculous rip off in India)... anyway... here's an important lesson I learnt: you cannot fry papadams in olive oil... for some reason, the oil seems to soak right through to the other side of the papadam, and the the pools of olive oil just don't go away... even if you scott-towel the heck out of them... (what are scott towels called now? I don't remember... ) and they also stay perfectly flat... which could be a good thing if it actually cooks, but it didn't.... and it tastes really odd... kind of like sausages (now you're going to want to try this, I know)...
Anyway... just thought I'd write a note in the day time as I'm enjoying my hot chocolate... now I'm going back out in the sun to harvest more vitamin D... going to go for a walk... maybe into town...
The surf was small today... so I took out my gigantic board this morning... only to discover (after three weeks of surfing almost everyday exclusively on the little board) that the gigantic board is really gigantic... at 25-3/4 inches, it's really, really wide. It was a struggle and I felt like a total loser (except those mitts really do help with the paddling). After about an hour and a half, I decided to decide that it wasn't a good day for surfing and came home...
...but it was too beautiful a day to be inside... so I went out for a bike ride... aside from the frost-bite paranoia (it's not actually *that* cold... but there's still snow everywhere, and I only had bike shorts, not bike pants) it was almost like summer. It was an excellent ride, though after coming up what looks like only a little hill on my street but is in reality an overwhelmingly long, steep, mountainous incline, it was definitely time for hot chocolate. (that my neighbour across the street manages to do it seemingly effortlessly while hauling a baby (or two, who knows) in a bike trailer does not make me feel in anyway inadequate)
I wanted some papadams with my hot chocolate... and so was going to use up the rest of the expensive package ($2.49 at the 4th street market, $.99 at superstore... exact same stuff, by the way... that "Golden Boy" stuff in the plastic bag with that creepy looking pink rabbit and the kid... there's no complaining though... I'm sure $.99 would be considered a ridiculous rip off in India)... anyway... here's an important lesson I learnt: you cannot fry papadams in olive oil... for some reason, the oil seems to soak right through to the other side of the papadam, and the the pools of olive oil just don't go away... even if you scott-towel the heck out of them... (what are scott towels called now? I don't remember... ) and they also stay perfectly flat... which could be a good thing if it actually cooks, but it didn't.... and it tastes really odd... kind of like sausages (now you're going to want to try this, I know)...
Anyway... just thought I'd write a note in the day time as I'm enjoying my hot chocolate... now I'm going back out in the sun to harvest more vitamin D... going to go for a walk... maybe into town...
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