This Year's Best Line Award

[television]

Best line delivered in this year's Doctor Who series? The award goes to "Captain" Jack Harkness:

Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, "ooh, this could be a little more sonic?"

Bluster, Bluster

[politics]

Really, it's a bit rich that the Conservatives are accusing the Liberals of enjoying support from an illegitimate source, when it was from that very same source that the Conservatives themselves enjoyed support in their efforts to overturn the government just a few weeks ago.

I have a certain amount of cynicism and realism about our confrontational system of democracy and the circus that it can lead to. The truth gets stretched, cheap political points get played, rhetoric spouted, on both sides. But this is getting to be too much. If I were a Conservative, I'd be keenly embarrassed.

Life, the Planet, and Everything

[personal]

Batman Begins depicts the story of a man who, driven to something just short of madness by the tragedy, injustice and suffering he has experienced, and having both training and stupendous means at his disposal, decides to fight the evil he sees around him. And fight it head-on.

I am, in general, an optimist. But when I see the horrible injustices in the world around me - one only need mention names like Sudan... and Rwanda - I occasionally fall in the grip of a quiet but black despair over the apparent absence of goodness in the hearts of the people of the world. It's a mood that is often accompanied by a certain amount of introspection, which usually leads me to view my own pampered life with contempt and disgust.

And in those times - although I'm rather embarrassed to admit it - the dark knight's simplistic pursuit of justice in his comic book world holds a great deal of attraction to me. Like Bruce Wayne, I am surely capable of doing something about the wrongs of the world. In fact, am I not obliged to do something about the wrongs of the world? It is in those times I doubt the value of the profession I've chosen.

Obviously, I don't imagine myself donning a costume and kicking people around. And, of course, I don't imagine myself living in the comic book city of Gotham. In the real world, no one is evil, and there are no easy answers. But at the same time, I must admit to a small degree of yearning to make a name for myself by doing something, well... more substantial, with my life.

I don't know what it will be. Perhaps it will end up being something as mundane as giving more donations or doing volunteer work. Sometimes I ponder public office, but I know I'm not cut out for that life. Maybe someday I will be struck with an idea and I'll find my own path of the caped crusader - although, I suspect it will be without his notoriety.

Batman Begins

[movies]

I just saw "Batman Begins." I think they needed more star power.

Yes, that was sarcasm... Lessee, off the top of my head: Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer, Katie Holmes. Okay, Katie Holmes is not in the same league as the others... but she made a splash with "Dawson's Creek," or so I understand. And she was the leading female character. Well actually, she was the only female character in this movie.

There are no big surprises; it's very traditional in its plot. But it's done quite well, mostly. Just don't expect anything from the love story. And don't think too hard about the science.

I'm coming across very negative, but actually, I enjoyed it very much.

If you don't think it's your kind of movie, you probably won't like it. But if you do, then you probably will.

BSG Season Two

[television]

Spoilers!

Ron D. Moore said: "[Some troops from Galactica] shoot a bunch of civilians. It's a whole nightmare, and Laura (the former president, thrown in jail after a military coup last season -Ed.) starts an insurrection and the fleet divides. There's a lot of fallout from the events of the last season."

Ho. Lee.

Galactica is possibly the best television I have ever seen, and it looks like it's just going to get better.

Jackon Acquitted

[diversions]

On all charges.

Please, let it be over now. That's all I have to say.

Working Furiously to Reduce Stress

[personal]

I was going to go to Westfest yesterday, but the terrible heat and humidity compelled me to stay in.

Over the last week or two, I'd been feeling rather stretched thin. Work is in a not-too-exciting phase, and it's hard to get motivated, so I fall behind, and that's stressful. The workload for Taiko has eased off, thankfully, although not to the point that it's really comfortable. And here in my apartment, laundry was piling up, letters, papers and bills were accumulating, my garbage and recycling were starting to overflow, and a half-finished job of reorganization had been rendering my living area inaccessible for about a month.

So, yesterday, I "took the phone off the hook," in a manner of speaking (that is, I simply ignored it), and spent half the day unwinding, and the other half cleaning up and organizing.

But that wasn't enough, so I spent half the night reorganizing, too. Today, I'm feeling a bit wasted, which is admittedly counter to my original aim, but I have a sense of accomplishment such as I haven't felt in a while. Look at my beautiful files!

The trick now, of course, is to maintain this organization in the future. If they end up in disarray, I'll have to do this reorganization blitz again someday, and then, I'll have to deal with a lingering feeling of failure, on top of the mess of files I have to clean up.

Doors Open, Part III

[photos]

On Sunday, I chose two more buildings to visit. I'd seen a picture of the Lemieux Island Water Purification Plant when I was at the Fleet Street Pumping Station the day before, and it seemed stunningly beautiful - completely unexpected for a public works building. Just imagine what Tim Burton might have wanted in his Batman movie for the Gotham City water purification plant, if that building were being featured.

The main building has this viewing hall with windows on both sides where you can see the tanks of water. At one end of the hall are a clock, two meters (flow rate and water level), and three indicator lights. It's all art deco, and so majestic it's staggering. If the government tried to put this much money into a municipal building today, they'd never get away with it. After seeing this building, though, I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing.

The other place I went was the Ottawa Main Mosque. I was just in time to witness a prayer, which was cool; I quietly snapped the photo on the right. The exterior of the building is a comfortable mixture of traditional and modern, not flashy, but very obviously a mosque. It's very tasteful. The interior is perhaps a bit more ascetic than the exterior. But that's not to say ugly - it's generally quietly decorated, with the exception of an enormous chandelier that hangs in the middle of the dome.

And that ended by "Doors Open" adventure. It was fun!

Doors Open, Part II

[photos]

I wrote a little bit yesterday about my Saturday activities; maybe I should have mentioned briefly that Doors Open has been happening for a couple of years now in Ottawa, but this was the first time I took advantage of it. If you look under "Participating Buildings" in that website, you'll see that it's become quite a huge event.

After the former Union Station, I went to the East Block of Parliament. The second floor of the building has some rooms, in particular, the offices of Sir John A. MacDonald and George-Étienne Cartier, that have been restored and are being preserved as they might have been around the time of confederation. Of interest is also the privy council chamber, pictured right; this room is still used today by the PM to meet with his cabinet.

I went back to the CBC building at this point, but the line was still too long for me to suffer alone in the blistering heat, so I went to the Sparks Street branch of the CIBC. That was nothing special, as I believe it's still currently in use as a bank branch. However, it was an opportunity to take some pictures without raising suspicions. Here is a photo of a plaque and a panel of switches next to the vault.

I also visited the Library of Parliament, which has its temporary home in another bank building, the former Bank of Nova Scotia. The large space was completely filled in with shelves and walkways, and it was very modern and utilitarian, being a temporary location, so it wasn't all that interesting. I would love to see the "real" Library of Parliament building after the extension and renovations are complete. That should be a sight to see.

I was going to call it a day at that point, but on the bus ride home, I was passing through Lebreton Flats and I decided to make a stop at the Fleet Street Water Pumping Station. That was mildly interesting; the building dates from the 1870's, but it's still being used to pump water somewhere. The machinery is obviously modern; it was running furiously when I was there.

At the pumping station, I noticed there was a second floor, and I inquired about it. The gentleman told me it was an abandoned floor, and there's nothing there. If anything, this increased my interest. He generously guided me up and opened the locked door to give me a peek and waited as I took some pictures. It was difficult because of the dimness, but a couple of non-horrible shots are in the flickr set.

That was all for Saturday; I went to see a couple of more buildings on Sunday, and I'll write about them later.

Doors Open, Part I

[photos]

On the weekend, I was at "Doors Open Ottawa" and visited some interesting buildings that are not usually open to the public. I made a set over on flickr with a bunch of photos I took.

First, there was a performance by the National Capital Concert Band, to celebrate the grand opening of the new CBC/Radio-Canada Broadcast Centre on Sparks Street. I wanted to view the interior of that building, too, but the lineup was huge and I abandoned that idea.

After that decision, my first destination was the federal government's Conference Centre, which used to be Ottawa's Union Station. I'd always been curious to see what that building looks like on the inside, so I wasn't going to miss this chance. I wasn't disapointed; it's beautiful. It's a shame this once-public space is now visible only by VIPs.

I'm running out of time at the moment, so I'll continue this posting later.

Entertain Us

[music]

Okay, so CBC radio just played a track from Paul Anka's new album, "Rock Swings." And I'm speechless.

It's Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

The big band is swinging away, and Anka is crooning away, "here we are now, entertain us; I feel stupid..."

Speechless.