What is Stephen Harper reading?

Inspired by a "tribute" author Yann Martel (Life of Pi) got an idea and that idea has a website. In his words:

...For as long as Stephen Harper is Prime Minister of Canada, I vow to send him every two weeks, mailed on a Monday, a book that has been known to expand stillness. That book will be inscribed and will be accompanied by a letter I will have written. I will faithfully report on every new book, every inscription, every letter, and any response I might get from the Prime Minister...

Book #1: The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy, sent April 16 2007.

Book #2: Animal Farm by George Orwell, sent today.

Overheard in Vancouver

A loud teen boy as he approaches a group of teen boys: Hey, wassup fuckin' faggot?

--41st & Fraser

overheard by: me and almost certainly the two boys in our care, ages 6 and 8

"Congrats! You're Going To Yesterday's Show!"

I entered an online contest. Draw date is April 29th and event date is May 1st. "Winners will be notified within 5 business days of the drawing date." How about within 2 business days?

Everything's Gone Green

I'm about to go to Tinseltown to watch Everything's Gone Green. Here's what screenwriter Douglas Coupland has to say about the flick in this week's Straight:

“I mean, I'd like to say this film is about 'a boy, a girl, a city', you know? I think in general I just saw one Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper box too many in town on film sets, and thought 'Let's do something here—where here is here.' Our main character, Ryan [Costanzo] works for a mythical magazine that they might give you when you buy lottery tickets. The lottery is a metaphor for the whole nature of living here. I mean, honestly, living in Vancouver at the late part of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st is one of the great lottery wins of all time. So the whole film is actually about Vancouver and the things that make this city different than any other city on Earth that I know of. It's the only city in North America that never got freeway'd; we were on the ball enough to stop all that from happening in the '70s. As a result, all these little nodes around the city have been allowed to remain distinct. We're one of the youngest cities on the planet and we haven't achieved our final form yet.”

A Joke

After an Air Canada flight reached its cruising altitude the captain announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard Flight 293, non-stop from St. John's to Toronto. The weather ahead is good so we should have a smooth un-eventful flight. So sit back, relax, and OH MY GOD!"

After a few moments of silence the captain came back on the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry if I scared you but while I was talking a flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!" One passenger from Newfoundland yelled out, "Lard tunderin Jesus, you should come here and see the BACK of MINE!"

WestEnder Fan Mail

Dear jblueafterglow,

Caught your piece on page eleven in today's WestEnder - awesome stuff dude. I know you're not too keen on writing letters to the editor, but this one had to be written. Here are the Avs and the Flames in a gritty and entertaining battle for the 8th and final playoff spot in the west, and this guy writes that the Avs have already been eliminated from contention. The nerve! There were two games left and the Avs were just three points behind, putting them very much in the race as you so eloquently put. The fact that the Avs were eventually knocked out in no way lessens the importance of your letter. Anyway, just wanted to say saw it, appreciated it, recycled it.

Yours always,

An anonymous admirer

PS. My nephew loved the J. Sparrow pseudonym. You forgot one very important thing mate, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Arrrrrrr.

Reading Time; Biweekly*

Ever since I added bookmark holder to my sidebar many months ago, the link-image hasn't been changed much at all. That's because my bookmark holder hasn't changed much at all. I have so many books on my shelves that I want to get to, but with the daily Vancouver Sun (started a cheap 3-month trial on Wednesday), weekly Sports Illustrated (article on Luongo in this week's edition), weekly Georgia Straight (quality, entertaining writing), weekly Westender (entertaining writing), biweekly* Vancouver Courier (letters and kudos & kvetches always fun), textbooks (no comment), and life beyond the written word (facebook ain't helping none neither) all competing for my attention, my bookmark holder continually gets shafted. I am actively pursuing ways that I can give my bookmark holder more attention. Suggestions welcome. Taking my bookmark holder to read while standing in line-ups won't help as I seldom find myself standing in line-ups.

* I did a quick search to see if "biweekly" was the word I wanted to use here, to represent twice-a-week, as I've never grasped if biweekly means twice-a-week or once-every-two-weeks. After typing in "biweekly" at dictionary.com, which gave both options, and after reading this page, my confusion is warranted. Everybody, from now on "biweekly" means twice-a-week, and "fortnightly" means once-every-two-weeks. Not just here, everywhere. Correct others if you hear "biweekly" used incorrectly, and make them clarify if it's used ambiguously, and then correct them if they clarify wrongly. Eventually "biweekly" will no longer be ambiguous and "fortnightly" will be used with more frequency, which will be great as I love the word "fortnight", probably from reading The Famous Five a lot as a kid. This endeavor will take some time, but we can do it.

Like

I like how a character on Robson Arms is named Sault. "My name is Sault, as in Sault Ste. Marie."

edited a month later: it just came to my attention that her full name is in fact Sault Ste. Marie.

Dislike

I dislike being dealt pocket jacks when others at the table are dealt pocket queens, pocket kings, and pocket aces all on the same hand.