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The rumours were true -- my company was purchased and I now work for a much larger software/tech company. More responsibilities, not much more pay. Closer office, but without many of the comforts I've grown accustomed to: rooftop patio, private bathrooms and kitchen, varied lunch options that didn't come out of an assembly line. That last one I still feel deeply, as our new watering hole, The Duke of Devon, has all the charm of a fake Rolex, and at about the same price. My day includes brushing elbows with financial types, and a lot of elevator etiquette. At least I finagled a window cubicle. Do I like the job, you ask? It's still too early to say. Certainly I've become disillusioned with my previous job's work of late, needing a shake-up. Whether this move is it is yet to be seen, but I do have some amount of hope. We only moved offices last week, so I'm still getting a lay of the land, so to speak, still in "new employee"-mode. Time will tell. Sp...

Summary: Inventor Nathan (Oscar Isaac) has his employee Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) test an artificial intelligence (complete with humanoid body) named Ava (Alicia Vikander), through a week of one-on-one conversations in a remote, isolated laboratory. The interviews lead Caleb to a plan of his own. Reaction: I was blown away by Ex Machina: The emotions it invoked surprised me, the A.I. was believable, the tension palpable. The style, the music! To say it moved me is an understatement -- I was haunted, remain haunted, by the ideas it conveyed, the insight it gave. Spoils follow: Beware ye who should look beyond their place in time! Follow-up thoughts: The brilliance of the film is in having an unnervingly life-like yet fragile gendered automaton that humanizes itself before us, drawing us in, encouraging us to marvel at its transformation and share in its hope to be human. And then finally, utterly, shattering that perception, revealing how little it shares with humans, a sociop...

Spring, it seems, has finally reared its windy, rainy head. What a joy it is to be outside without that biting chill we have endured for so long. The seasons pass and I trudge along, forgetting more and more each day, memories falling like so many grains of sand slipping through my clenched fist. I saw Chappie on Easter Friday and thought it was decent; not perfect by any means, but I enjoyed it. I'm sure others will pick on the acting, the plot, and the corny voice and mannerisms of the titular robot, but I was particularly troubled by the simplification of what's involved in writing an artificial intelligence! The brain is not a blank slate that can be filled easily; it has built-in tendencies and algorithms -- Chappie displayed a sense of right and wrong, of justice, of community, and these are not simple things to describe, let alone develop a script for. Additionally, if the programmer built an algorithm to grow a brain, can he not make many more thinking machines? That ...

Ingredients 1 napa cabbage 1 Korean daikon radish 4 yellow onions, medium 1 tablespoon sweet rice flour 1 teaspoon ginger, minced 6 cloves of garlic 1 teaspoon salted fermented shrimp ("Saeujeot") 1/8 cup fish sauce 1/2 cup Korean red pepper flakes ("Gochugaru") salt couple tubs or extra-large bowls, food-handling gloves jars or tubs to store kimchi 2. Chopping cabbage into squares 2. Chopping napa cabbage halves 3. Layering cabbage with salt 5. Rinsing cabbage, draining Prepare napa cabbage Fill up a tub with cold water. Chop up cabbage: Halves, halves...

What? It's been a week since my last post, and.. I don't have news. Oh no wait, I DID get one of those fancy Japanese toilet seats, the kind that washes your nether regions with warm water. Yup, while you barbarians are still scratching your poop-encrusted asses with paper I'll be enjoying a lovely butt shower, as well as a heated seat. The installation was, in theory, easy, but in practice a bit of an ordeal, mostly due to a) the seat not fitting my target toilet after I'd taken it apart (damn your bold look, Kohler!), and then b) the difficulty in changing the nozzle of the other toilet, as it's partially blocked by a storage closet. I had thought about getting one of these seats years back, when I first heard about them but the price put me off and I eventually forgot about it. Very recently, I saw an article in the New York Times ( Wet Wipes Box Says Flush. New York’s Sewer System Says Don’t ) saying that "flushable" wipes aren't flushable at all...

I've been keeping busy! Perhaps a little too much drinking, but can ya blame me? Played some pool Sunday night, that oft frustrating hobby; a joy when done well, a bore otherwise. Saturday was a solidarity rally with the university of Toronto and York teaching assistants, and possibly the largest action I've had the pleasure of marching with. A bright and at times brisk day, and spirits were high. That night was an acquaintance's birthday, where I mostly kept my manners up and my drink down, an evening ending with me buying a box of fried chicken and falling asleep with my clothes on. Friday night I participating in an open sparring event, wherein people of various fighting backgrounds went at it in a casual, non-competitive atmosphere. I fared well enough, and left with some bruises for my trouble, though I did catch a toe in the eye and someone's backfist to my chin. A good practice, and useful gauge against other martial arts misfits, as I think of them. Though it ...

Another year, another Board Game Jam . This was the fourth appearance for Jenning and me, and I have to say it felt like our weakest attempt. Not that we didn't try, but I was not happy with what we came up with, a derivative of many other popular, more fun worker placement games. I suppose not every year can be a great success in creativity. The event itself was much the same as last year -- same workshop space at George Brown College, same party space at Mill Street Brew Pub, same format of introduction lesson, building and playtesting. The theme was "How do we know what we know?", which I probably put too much emphasis on. Thinking on it now, it makes sense to simply work on our previous unfinished works, which are otherwise sitting collecting dust on shelves, unplayed and forgotten for months and months. It takes two to build a village The weather has turned! And what a quick turn it was, spring kicking down signs left and right of winter. I've taken to ridi...