They really should make another movie together.
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And everybody wants to be special here
They call your name out loud and clear
Here comes a regular
Call out your name
Here comes a regular
Am I the only one here today?
I bathed in a hot spring with a Japanese snow monkey. Screw everything else in my life.
You win.Quoting Winston* (view post)
“What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, er... an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks and that's all.”
No Japanese snow monkeys, but I did the Hot Springs, went Ice Fishing, sledding, and hung out in a cabin with some of my best friends.
Probably the best New Year's I've ever had. Fuck that going out to bars idea now.
Leaving today to visit Vancouver till Saturday. Hoping to check out some Chinese Gardens, some nature trails, super-duper big trees, and other assorted stuff. Everyone, take care in the meantime...
The Boat People - 9
The Power of the Dog - 7.5
The King of Pigs - 7
Vancouver is awesome and their gardens are fantastic. I did a 10 mile bike trail on a whim.
The public gardens are great but also buy an admission ticket for the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen scholar garden. Take a self-guided tour. Absolutely worth it; I was there for a couple hours but could have spent my whole afternoon.
Giving up in 2020. Who cares.
maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
Night Hunter (David Raymond) *
Totally. That garden is great.
Also, the Chinatown is amazing. TONS of bootleg and Hong Kong DVDs.
Stay away from the downtown core on Friday or Saturday night, though, unless you love being surrounded by some of the douchiest clubhoppers known to mankind.
To the Americans here on MC:
There's an ongoing joke in The Simpsons and Futurama, wherein Gerald Ford is portrayed as being kind of...er...slow.
I've done Google and Wiki searches and can't find anything to explain the background of this joke.
Does anyone here know why they always have Ford talking about movies and nachos, and basically being the Homer Simpson of the country's presidents?
That characterization was in place long before Simpsons. This is the root of it:
Talk shows, SNL, etc started stereotyping him as a dumb clumsy slapstick guy after that.
Even Alan Moore did it in Watchmen.
Movie Theater Diary
He has a rep as a stumblebum and oaf from his time in office. Chevy Chase & Saturday Night Live made their bones taking shots at him.
He's also an easy target because no one of any political persuasion wants to claim him as their own.
Very cool. Thanks guys!
Anyone fluent in French?
Has anyone ever had one of those "how shitty can things get" days? Or weeks even? I'm experiencing one right now, and it's almost gotten to Precious(:Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire) level.
As you may know, after my time in Shanghai, I moved to Berlin with my girlfriend. I started working in this company, but at one point had no clue anymore what my manager desired of me. Two weeks before Christmas (like the Sugar Man song) she fired me.
Fair enough, whatever. I was told welfare was no problem, and that I could talk to the administration team in English. I get to the office, they tell me English is not allowed, only German.
I need a German. Unfortunately I've been super social with English people, but not so much with Germans. I eventually find this awesomely helpful guy on Reddit, who joins me there.
Turns out I can't get normal welfare, as I haven't worked 360 days in Germany. (I'm at ten months, included another job I had left for this one). I can apply for social welfare however, which is like a third the amount. I start my process to apply for it.
To get some income, I consider freelancing. Problem is, I only have a Mastercard in Belgium, and I can't see the amount Paypal deposits to check if your account is real. I need a German VISA card, so I apply for it.
I go to Sweden to visit my girlfriend's family for a while. I come back, and notice the mailbox looks damaged. I immediately check the VISA statements online, but can see no money withdrawn. The card wouldn't have arrived that soon anyway, at least that's what the bank told me when I applied. It's also a few days after Christmas, so I decide to wait a few more days.
I contact the woman we're subleasing from, to let her know the mailbox is broken. She contacts the landlord. In the mean time I manage to set up a job interview.
We're waiting for our internet to be set up. It was supposed to be done the 29th of December. We contact the company, and are told they delayed the appointment to the 12th of January. I buy an internet stick instead, even if it's more pricey and has a much lower amount of data usage allowed. I need internet to apply for jobs, after all.
Then yesterday happens. The woman we're renting from contacts us, letting us know she contacted the landlord about the mailbox and in return he told her she can't sublet. We're getting kicked out at the end of March. I ask her if she can just ask him if we can rent from him directly. She says no. Then my girlfriend receives notice her grandmother has had a stroke.
I have another appointment with the social welfare office tomorrow. I email my German contact and ask him to help me with the paperwork in the morning. He doesn't show up. Didn't hear his alarm. I am looking at German paperwork on my own.
I'm getting ready to prep for my interview at 5.30PM. I still haven't received my VISA card and am getting a bit worried. I check my bank account and notice 1.500 EUR has been withdrawn. I rush to the bank, where they tell me the VISA card has been used in gas stations and McDonalds "restaurants" throughout Berlin. I urge them to block it. I am now running low on savings, and realize this is only the money they stole from me in December. I can't see the January part so far. Worst of all: this is money my dad sent me for Christmas. He never sent me this much before, but I think he was just happy I was back in Europe, and was there when he had health issues this year.
I come home, I prep for the interview. I only have one hour left. I get on the bus, and midway through my journey it breaks down. I have to run, and make it just in time. I do the job interview, and it turns out to be quite unstructured. No going through my CV, just a conversation about what the job entails. I try to focus, but am distracted by what happened today. They tell me they'll let me know.
I am now looking at German paperwork again. It's been a surreal last couple of weeks.
Last movies seen
Frank: Good
Mistaken for Strangers: Good
Guardians of the Galaxy: Good
Last TV seasons watched
Treme (S04): Good
The Legend of Korra (S03): Good
Currently reading
This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showth...l=1#post531845
Apparently if you don't post an essay about it an internet forum it gets ignored.
Well, what happened?
Last movies seen
Frank: Good
Mistaken for Strangers: Good
Guardians of the Galaxy: Good
Last TV seasons watched
Treme (S04): Good
The Legend of Korra (S03): Good
Currently reading
This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Not to sound like I'm vague-booking or looking for attention (which I fully admit I was 2 weeks ago), but that time has passed for me to discuss anything on the matter. I wanted to talk about it 2 weeks ago and today I don't.
I just wanted to sympathize with you and ETM saying we've (at least I've) been there. Life hands you lemons sometimes and it's about learning and becoming stronger to move on. So hang in there. You sound in good spirit.
Sorry for your troubles, guys. That blows.
I suppose I maybe should raise my eyebrows a bit over the thirty-year age difference between Stephen Fry and his soon-to-be husband, but instead I'm all like "YOU GET YOURS, STEPHEN" because I love him.
...and the milk's in me.
Thanks for commenting about our need to see the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver, guys. We hit it up this afternoon and it was lovely;the docent there was wonderfully detailed and helped us understand the degrees of symmetry and balance placed into the architectural design. Amazing to think how little of modern architectural styles are woven into the building... And the sights there were just tranquil. Definitely one of the better tourist experiences we've had on a trip. Otherwise, we went to a tasty Chinese restauarant for hand-dragged noodles with lamb and cumin, the Vancouver Public Library (just a wonderful Greek design), and about four hours of walking.
Tomorrow we're off to Granville Island, Hudson Bay shopping, and Stanley Park.
The Boat People - 9
The Power of the Dog - 7.5
The King of Pigs - 7
![[ETM]'s Avatar](image.php?s=0e27b07b2fd70c1202a0d5f5ce78432f&u=101&dateline=1465337646 "[ETM]'s Avatar")
Friends from Norway stayed over with us for New Year's Eve. They brought this with them:
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It's brunost, caramelized goat cheese, and it's seriously addictive. They apparently drown in this stuff over there.
Remember when that truck caught fire in a tunnel over there last year? They couldn't put it out until it all burned down because it's highly flammable? This is it.
Sounds like something I'd like, but the packaging makes it so unappetizing. Cheese in tubes reminds me of the American abomination known as Easy Cheese. If I saw that in a store in Norway I'd assume it were lotion.
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