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My father had his surgery and is recovering, his quality of life diminished, though his spirits have mostly returned. My sister and I have been squeezing a bit more time in for family. The fate of the cancer remains to be seen. Mother seems to bear it well, all things considered. I have been going on a few dates, so that is something. Saw a few movies (Inside Out, Ant-Man, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation). Went sailing around the island with friends. Didn't much notice the Pan Am games, despite the warnings. I caught some preliminary archery on July 16th, which was fun enough. Oh right I injured my knee! Not terribly, but enough to keep me from going to karate. We suspect it's a  meniscal tear , and an ultrasound and X-ray showed it's likely not more than that, if that. It happened during sparring -- my leg got caught as my partner and I wrestled for position and gave out, a sharp, sudden pain freezing my body. It doesn't bother me too much now, and is seemingly ge...

Summer and still no decisions on my vacation. I have given thought to taking every Monday or Friday off for a month to at least use up the days. Even then, how would I spend the time? Is this what a mid-life crisis looks like? A loss of direction, a mule pulled toward every promise of hay? O.K., I'll allot some time to think about this. I saw Amy Schumer and friends at Massey Hall, part of their "Trainwreck" tour. A fun, funny night: Vanessa Bayer likeable and passable; Mike Birbiglia polished, his material barely worn; I didn't care for Colin Quinn's jabs at the environment, cheek or no; Dave Atell remains that dirty uncle, no subject safe; Judd Apatow pleasantly surprising. And Schumer satisfied, quick and smart and completely comfortable. I will however note three annoyances: 1. The tickets were $100, which I thought a bit high; 2. The seats were in MH's balcony section, which are too thin, too shallow, too hard AND too far; 3. The show gave proceeds to...

I see only the mistakes Yeah, I guess I really like archery. From what I've tried it's rather a lot like golf in that one's form, at least in the beginning, is a lot more important than hitting the target. Consistency over accuracy. I got my first real taste a couple weekends ago, when I drove out to Kitchener to celebrate Andrea's birthday with her and her crew. If I find the time I can see myself taking this up, I really do. My time since my last entry is mostly taken up with karate and FutureLearn. Gosh I just really do enjoy those on-line classes. I suppose I've been up to other stuff too -- installed and put a few hours into Heroes of the Storm, the new Blizzard online RTS arena game. Yeah, I guess some things never change. I suppose you're wondering how work is, and the answer is that it's complicated. I still feel at times lost, my routine for the past ten years thrown out of whack, swimming upstream against a current of training, administrati...

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...

I've been participating in an on-line course, Explore Filmmaking: from Script to Screen , and I feel like I've gotten quite a bit out of it. On top of having to think about how films are made, there have also been practical exercises, some of which I've had a blast with. For a lighting experiment I made this short video: It came out a lot darker than I'd hoped, and the audio quality is lousy, but overall I'm happy with the results. I pretty much made do with the equipment available to me -- a desk lamp, a towel, and a battery-powered tea light. I'm impressed that I did it all on my iPhone 6! I'd no idea iMovie did so much. Here's a couple more videos I did on a lark (not for the course): Well, I like them, although I suppose the cat one is the equivalent of me sharing a cheesy family video. Whatever dude! I had fun making them.