Category Archives: Personal Bits

Just things from my personal life

I Will Be The Richard Ouzounian Of Xbox360

Celebs and Media, Gaming, Personal Bits

jellycarThings have been quiet here at Dead Robot Heavy Industries. I have been very busy at work due to the whole “travel industry reacts with panic when bad things happen in the world” so stealing time from my company to entertain you monkeys has been seriously curtailed.

And my new job on the side has been stewing on the back burner: I am AndPop.com’s newest game reviewer.

I am waiting on the contract but it’s an email done deal as of this morning. I will be posting a new weekly (?) feature of iPhone gaming app reviews (mostly free!) and the odd Xbox/PS3/Wii review as they send the games to me. I’ll be posting my first entry with the next day or two. Woot! I’m going to be all 733t!

Of course that means more burn in time for the TV. I wonder if I can write it off?

Howard Hughes Invented a Bra For Me

Personal Bits, Queer stuff

I just scanned one of my flickr friend’s weekend pics and it made me a bit nostalgic for the days when SharkBoy and I use to run around like spies, tearing up the town.

However, would I say that the honeymoon is over, headed into our third year? I would say no.

Yesterday, SharkBoy took me to a movie. That in itself sounds staid but it was a mystery movie.

We were up early and our chores done and he got me showered and dressed for the early shows at AMC ($6 before noon!). We get to the theatre and I think “Cool! JCVD! That will be fun.” But no, he instructs me to purchase Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

“Serious?”

“We’re getting into the Disney spirit,” He beams.

I can’t love him any more.

At 1130am, we had the whole theatre to ourselves. We made loud comments at the screen like Howard Hughes screaming at Jane Russell’s tits.

Weekend Update

Distractions, Personal Bits, Queer stuff, Toronto

Friday: Bond movie. I was worried that all the gadget porn on the screen (The British have full scale Microsoft Surface computers in MI6!) that people would be flipping open their own inadequate cell phones during the movie. Not one person did, and the movie theatre was packed. As well, no yappy people around us, which was good because this movie moves unapologetically fast so pay attention. I would have to say it’s better than Casino Royale, which makes it my favorite Bond film to date.

Saturday: We both got called into work. SharkBoy was pulling overtime while I had to shoot off an emergency press release for cheap 2 for 1 airline tickets to Australia. I got a day off in lieu so I was happy. I got back home to a big bag of laundry that bitched at me from the hallway the entire time I was on the Xbox.

“Clean me!”

“Fuck you! I’m nearly done this level!”

At 4pm, I walked past the bag of laundry, out the door, to meet SharkBoy and we went off to Imperial tattoo where the finishing touches are all but done on my Sci Fi back piece. Now that the robot is dark again after 10 years of fade, I want the astronaut a tad darker. But I’m going to take a break. The reworking we did was just 12 days after having stuff done so it was super painful. My back still feels like I was dragged behind an Arkansas General Lee truck for a mile or two.

Sunday: We did some selfish Xmas shopping for ourselves. SharkBoy got a belt, a hat and new gloves that popped a button 20 minutes away from the store. I got new gloves from Marks Work Warehouse. It’s obvious our styles are utterly different from each other when it comes to accessories. SharkBoy’s gloves are smooth black leather while mine are flashy white/gray/black skin tight workman’s gloves designed to grip tools. Neither of our gloves operate an iPhone, however. Sharkboy had to make concessions because it was those flashy gloves or the Baseball hat with the LED embedded in the brim.

We were going to head over to the Photogs for a housewarming party but their dog, Mickey, was ill and they cancelled last minute. I’m hoping he’s doing ok today.

Instead we sat at home with a good DVD: The History Channel’s Modern Marvels show about Disney World.

{aside}
Did I mention we’re going back in June 2009 for Gay Days? No? Don’t you read Sharkboy.ca? We’ve rebooked the same hotel (Pop Century), same flights (WestJet) but with an extra day where we might spend at the Kennedy Space Center to look at rockets. But the meat of the week will be oggling bears at Tidal Wave and showing Prop 8 Supporters that Canada’s society hasn’t unraveled due to gay marriages as we wander the parks in our red shirts (I think we’ll be doing different red shirts per park this year). You going? Let us know!
{/aside}

Anyway, one thing I want to mention on the video was one park developer actually choked up when discussing Walt’s death nearly 40 years after his passing. That’s a hell of a boss to make that strong of an impression on a staff. Sort of like Jesusevlis!

That evening, we totally vegged further on the couch and watched bits of Bond films, Amazing Race and a touch of Clone Wars.

Things that made us laugh this weekend:

Impersonating Faye Dunaway. If you get the chance, watch Gia, one of Angelina Jolie’s first movies. Ms Dunaway plays a mumbling, scene chewing Wilhelmina Cooper. Possibly drunk the entire movie shoot. You too can play: mumble for about 20 seconds and then throw in a coherent clear laugh.

Bond Movie Effects Dummies: I’m pretty sure the effects department used the same cloth dummy for View to a Kill and Licence to Kill. Both dummies got thrown from a great height, both had their elbows and knees bend in impossible directions as they floated earthward.

Happy Anniversary SharkBoy

Personal Bits

Another year has passed and I love you as much now as I did the night you fell asleep on my arm in the back of that truck on the way home from a parade. Or when we talked for hours in your car. Or when you spontaneously bought us lightsabres at Disney. Or when you showed me the moonlight on the navy blue waters of the Caribbean. Or when you roll over and hug me every night.

You bring me so much joy and comfort and love that I would be lost without you.

And now… a year in review!

Reconnecting

Distractions, Personal Bits
Here Be Dave

Here Be Dave

In the fall of 1981 I met Dave while doing props for a community youth theatre show. A few of us went over to his house for lunch on a break between rehearsals and while I was chewing away on a sandwich, Dave concocted a 2-second blood pack of ketchup and a ziplock bag, behind an open fridge door. He tried to throw at me as a joke and it didn’t work so he resorted to exploding it across his chest. Dave was obsessed with horror movies, you see. Not sure what happened, but when the prank failed miserably, I thought his cunning was a thing to be reckoned with.

Dave was one of two friends I did acid with for the first time. And was the reason I will never be 100% welcome back into his house by his mother. She’s convinced I shoved the tab into Dave’s pure and vestal mouth, when it was Dave who upped the ante with pot and a few drinks at his sister’s house while we waited for the drug to kick in. And kick in it did. When the acid refused to recede from our reality, Dave called his Dad to come get him before he “died”. What ensued was a comedy of sorts, seen through the fog of teenage drama, heightened by LSD: Police were going to be called; one friend’s career in the RCMP was going to be ruined; my mom would find out and I would cease to exist with one glare.

Things sorted themselves out when Dave’s older sister stepped in and told his mom that time will bring Dave down (he had tread a groove in his bedroom carpet walking off the acid) and that everyone should just calm down.

As you’ve probably guessed, Dave was the fearless one in our circle of friends. He would try anything if it meant getting a reaction from anyone.

And fearless he is. He has a wife and two kids and a house in the Beaches and is now sporting a huge CSI/Grisham-style beard because “it pisses everyone off”. Glad we were able to reconnect!

A Night of Art-ness

Celebs and Media, Distractions, Personal Bits, Toronto

Da At Art With HeartLast night was a busy one for me. Da and I decided to do some Father/Son bonding while hobnobbing (what the hell does that word mean, anyway?) with Toronto’s art elite at Art With Heart.

Da’s never been in the Carlu and was curious as to it’s grandeur. It didn’t disappoint. It’s a beautiful deco setting and the art that was placed throughout was amazing (the website doesn’t convey the demanding presence some pieces command). I have to comment here that the volunteer staff were clockwork perfect. Pleasant, informed docets docents (Andrew helps me spelling!) cheerfully provided information on the art and never patronized. In all, a very organized successful event… I hope. I haven’t heard any numbers back yet, but the joint was packed, and considering Fashion sCares is this Saturday, I hope they made their target numbers!

Find My Brother!Then we shuffled down to Canadian Stage to see my brother in Frost/Nixon. I have to admit that due to some of the reviews coming out of Vancouver, I wasn’t hopeful for this production. But when the curtain fell, I can tell you I was very entertained and greatly surprised. They have worked out all the problems mentioned in previous reviews, except the worrisome opinion that Len Cariou’s Nixon was not satisfactorily mimicking enough, which I tend to agree. I yearned to see the Nixon I remembered as a kid but got a sketch of that ideal. Not saying he did a bad job, he was captivating, but there was no jowly “Rich Little” kind of character play (which my brother does rather spookily at one point).

Oddly enough most of the cast and crew had been in science fiction TV shows (Battlestar, Stargate, RoboCop), including my brother, at one point in their career. Does this say something about Canadian culture?

Tonight, Sharkboy and I are off to see A Chorus Line with Mumsey! I’m being exposed to more culture than an open chest wound in an emergency ward!