In The Mood

Another weekend, another batch of films. Unfortunately, I've hit my zip.ca account's eleven-film limit for the month again, and I'm only two weeks in. So, I had to head over to Blockbuster to rent 'In the Mood for Love'. I'm not the biggest Wong Kar Wai fan, but I loved 'Chungking Express', so it was time to finally see this movie; I almost went to see it in the theatre in Boston, back in early 2001, but never made it. Anyways, perhaps the plot was a bit slow, and not much 'happened', but it did deal some nice emotion, especially towards the end. Nothing like some repression of love and desire to make you connect with a character. Best of all, though, had to be Maggie Cheung's hair and cheongsams. A lot of love was obviously put into making those dresses and filming them; it appears that they were all tailored by one guy, Leung Long Kong, a tailor in Hong Kong (the only information about whom I can find, is directed at Korean tourists). Tony Leung's suits and ties were pretty inspirational as well.

'2046' is sitting on my desk at home...

Cohen

Yesterday, I got Leonard Cohen's newest book in the mail: 'Book of Longing'. The first 1000 people to preorder it through Chapters/Indigo got a signed copy, so Leonard's sig is right there on the title page. :)

I just read the first few poems, though, as I had other forms of entertainment on my agenda. First, I finished watching the loooong television version of Ingmar Bergman's 'Fanny och Alexander', which was good. I wonder if I should still bother to see the theatre-release version. Next, I watched 'Crash'. No, not the Oscar-winner from last year, but the David Cronenberg movie. Wow, that was one screwed up movie. Fun to pick out the filming locations around Toronto, though. Playing 'spot Boyd Banks' was fun too!

Ice Cream

I went for ice cream with Rococo yesterday afternoon (after getting my meningococcus and yellow fever vaccinations). We drove to the southwest, to a place highly recommended by peers. Well, it was okay, but nothing special, ice-cream-wise. It was, however, incredibly expensive, given that it is run-of-the-mill ice cream. More expensive than going for ice cream at Harvard Square, maybe 1/3 higher in price.

Some googling has revealed three more ice cream places in Calgary, and one way out in Cochrane. The Cochrane place I heard about as a teenager already, and I can't recall if I ever actually went there at some point in my distant history. The thing is, I don't really want to drive 75 km round-trip, just to get ice cream.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I have to admit, my hope for good ice cream in Calgary is fading fast.

Diet time

Last week, I couldn't take it anymore, so I got rid of the beard, and went and got a haircut on Saturday (after it stopped snowing). When your beard is always getting in the way of eating, and your hair is always in your eyes when you're trying to do some physical exam, it is pretty annoying, to say the least. Anyways, after the haircut, I went straight to a photo shop to get a couple of passport photos.

I saw two more movies over the weekend. First, 'Deadly Outlaw: Rekka', which was another unbelievable Takashi Miike movie. Next was 'Super Size Me'. We were going to get dinner from McDonalds to eat while watching, but instead picked up a BBQ chicken dinner from a local supermarket, along with an apple pie and a four-litre bucket of cheap ice cream. It was fat enough to make all three of us pretty ill, especially as we watched Morgan Spurlock go downhill. I have to say, it really made me feel sick. I swore I'd take up running again the next day. Of course, it was too cold on Sunday morning, so I successfully sidestepped the movie's effect. :)

Fore!

You know you're in meds when you get you start getting invitations to golf tournaments in the mail. Got my first one last week. Should have listened when I was told to start playing golf, back in Boston. At least I bought a glove at that time, even though I never actually hit a ball.

Saw another two movies last night. 'Fantastic Four', which was a real stinker, and 'The Delicate Art of Parking', which was a low-budget mockumentary filmed in Vancouver, and wow, a funny movie that caught me completely off guard. I'd never heard of it before. I also saw 'Omen' on Wednesday night: who knew that there were Thai boy bands big enough to have movies made purely to showcase them ('D2B' in this case)?

Stress: The Wellman Agenda

Well, had an intense day so far today. Last night at 2 a.m., I finally figured out that I don't owe US taxes for last year, which was nice. Once that was done, I was able to study for the 'well man' thing I was scheduled for this morning. It turned out to be good, and I shouldn't have gotten so stressed out over it...

Not that I was stressed out enough to hunker down and work harder over the weekend. I still fit in 'Madagascar' and 'Derailed'. Madagascar was pretty funny, and was everything that 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' was not. 'Derailed' was a bit of a dud. We rented it under the impression that it was some kind of relationship drama or something, and instead was more of a crime movie. What sucked, was that the major plot twist was completely predictable. I mean, I love Jen as much as any North American, but it wasn't really worth it.

Speaking of Jen, I finished 'Friends' season six, and realized that I hadn't actually seen season seven yet. So, my future still holds some excitement.

The Week in Review

Hmm, I forgot to post about so much stuff this week.

First of all, I finally got my plane ticket to Tanzania. I had waited too long to book it, and was about to get screwed on the price. I woke up Monday morning, and got a call from a classmate: she had found a cheap ticket, had gone ahead and booked it for me (it was the last seat out of Dar at the end of August), and all I had to do was pay for it. Sweet! No effort required on my part, just the way I like it. She even got the dates right on the stopover I wanted in Frankfurt.

Next, on Wednesday, I had a class in a room that I rarely enter, and when I put my bag down in the corner of the room, I saw the scarf that I had lost on March 1st, just sitting there, neatly folded, in a window bay. I loved that scarf, and was pretty depressed about it disappearing, and now, it had come back to me, after six weeks. Nice!

Anyways, I spent the rest of the week happy about the weather, and getting psyched about summertime. What to do in my two weeks of vacation while I'm in Tanzania? Ngorongoro? Serengeti? Zanzibar? Kilimanjaro? Kilimanjaro is probably out; I don't think I have enough free days in a row to make it up.

I even got excited about a one-night stopover in Dubai. It will end up being a big pain, though, since I'm only there for nine hours.

Anyways, this morning I woke up, and thought that it was Monday and I'd slept in. That meant, I had to run to school ASAP and perform a DRE for the first time. Oh man, was I glad when I realized that it was still Sunday... things aren't looking so rosy for tomorrow.

Spring

I finally saw 'Hotel Rwanda' on Thursday night. A powerful movie. It's incredible what some people are capable of doing. Talk about courage. Last night, I went to see 'Ice Age: The Meltdown'. Another story of courage, but somehow not as powerful.

This morning, I went for a ride on my bike. I noted that the run-off from the snow in my back alley had almost completely dried up. This afternoon, it was snowing again. Big, fat, coarse chunks of snow.

Relaxation

I was happy to get renal exams over with last week. The weekend was a time to relax a bit. I watched 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Robots'; despite being an Ang Lee fan, I preferred 'Robots'. Also, I started on 'Friends' season six, the last season I haven't seen. Finally, I slept a lot, and ate quite a bit: Saturday night was tanuki udon. Nice, although not Toronto quality.

Finally, to bring a bit more excitement to my life, I decided to shake things up in the shampoo department. I had a set of shampoo and conditioner given to us by some local salon during the first week of school, and I busted them out of the closet. The shampoo had an intense coconut smell, and when I put it in my hair, it lathered up like crazy, unlike any shampoo I've tried before. The result was, that I was able to mold my hair up into a single big white spike on top of my head. It was fun. I thought at that moment, what a pity it was that there was nobody there to see it.

When I told a couple of classmates my shampoo story, it was suggested that I wash my hair in a sink, so that other people could enjoy the big white spike. I have to say, that statement really made me realize that there is a serious lack of quality entertainment around here.

Anatomy

I've got my renal/urology anatomy/histology/pathology exam this afternoon. At the moment, I'm sitting in a café, listening to Prince, and doing some last minute studying. I'm currently wondering what the other customers think about the powerpoint slides I'm looking at...

Saturday, Saturday

It's a beautiful day out there. The sky is blue, with just a few clouds on the horizon. The grass fields on the valley wall have acquired a greenish hue. The puddles are covered with a thin layer of ice, but the ice will be gone soon...

Finished 'Lost' season one yesterday. I'll grab some breakfast now, finish 'Zouzou', and then hit the books for my renal/urology exams. :( Rococo refused to lend me 'Friends' season six until after this weeks exams were over. :(