Passchendale

I just finished reading the book Passchendale, based on the recent Canadian movie of the same name. The question I have to ask myself is why wouldn't more folks want to see this movie? It is wonderful that the government provided significant grants that allowed this film to be made, but it would be nice to have seen an equally large marketing budget so that the film could actually be seen.

Here I am talking like this and I havn't even seen the film. The problem is, the only place I heard it even played is at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year. It sure as hell is not going to play in the backwater of Chatham, Ontario (the closest theatre to my rural home).

So I am forced to check The Pirate Bay every could days in hopes that eventually it will show up as a Torrent. Shhh... don't tell anybody. If I do download it I'll mail the cost of a movie ticket to Paul Gross.

If you are lucky enough to live in a major urban center, and you find Passchendale playing at your local theatre, please check it out.

BROTHERLY LOVE

Just got back from a business trip to Philadelphia. It was a quick in-and-out affair, which was a shame because Philly is a beautiful and historic city and I would have loved to take some time to do all the 'touristy' things. I really wanted to run up those steps and jump around "Rocky style" but didn't get the chance. I could see from my hotel balcony a steady stream of folks attempting this at all hours of the day or night.

The real purpose of the trip was to attend a Christmas party where my company entertained some clients. It was a pretty casual affair, buffet dinner, drinks, etc. at Dave & Buster's. If you don't know Dave & Buster's it is kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese for adults. If you don't know Chuck E. Cheese then I can't help you.

I was under orders from the regional VP to be on my best behaviour. Thankfully the clients were under no such orders, and got themselves good and loaded courtesy of our open bar. I hung back and paced myself, probably only had 4 pints. Managed to play lots of video games, burning thru 2 x $50 play cards.

Around 11pm the clients decided we needed to experience a taste of Philadelphia so we all grabbed cabs over to 4th & South and the institution known as Jim's Steaks. If you have never had a Philly Cheesesteak you are not missing much. Its really just shaved sirloin beef steak fried and mixed with onions and cheese, served in a soft Italian roll. The locals like it with Cheez Whiz, which is a processed goop that glows in the dark and comes in a can. I had mine with Provolone. Don't get me wrong, they are pretty damn tasty and Jim's is apparently the best of the best.

We wandered down South Street and ended up at a little Irish pub called, suprise suprise, Murphy's. The clients were talking about how we were in a "bad part of town" and "needed to be careful". South street looked pretty cool to me. Tattoo parlors, live music venues, used clothing and record stores, groovy stores, and lots of hip young people wandering around and having a great time. It reminded me of Toronto's Queen West or New York's Greenwich village.

By this point the clients were really messy, spilling drinks on themselves and harrassing the cute waitress with a big rack. I ordered a Sierra Nevada and they were teasing me. You go ahead and enjoy your Bud Light to Nascar watching redneck, I'll enjoy my microbrew. I also had the opportunity to try a local brew called Yuengling lager, which is apparently America's oldest brewery. It was pretty good... for an American lager.

STUPID DRIVER

That would be myself. Stupid Driver. I put my car in the ditch on the way home from work today. It had been raining in London and a bit of snow on the drive home. Then the snow cleared and the roads "looked" dry. I was booting along, talking on my mobile with the wife, going about 80km in a 90km/h stretch. I came into a corner, just past a bridge and instantly knew I was in trouble. I hit a patch of black ice, back end of the car started skidding out, I took my foot off the gas, started pumping the brakes, and turned into the skid. Hit another patch of black ice and knew at that instant I was going into the ditch, only question was how bad it was going to be.

Did I mention I was yelling "NO, NO, SHIT SHIT SHIT" at the top of my lungs? And I was still on the phone with my wife.

Car skidded 180 and I ended up in the opposite ditch, facing the direction I had come, and stuck good. No way I was driving out, frankly I was lucky I had not flipped the car.

First thing I did was pick up my mobile and tell the wife I was fine. Once I pulled myself out of the car (which was very difficult considering it was sitting at a 60 degree angle) and made it up to the side of the road I called a tow truck and hunkered down for the wait.

Not the wait for the tow truck. The wait for all the folks who were going to stop and ask if I needed help. Its simply what happens when you end up in the ditch around here. Small town Ontario. Literally every single car that drove past stopped to see if I was OK. The only ones who didn't were the ones who passed while someone else was already stopped.

At one point a car went screaming past, then slammed on the brakes, swerved, and nearly ended up in the ditch beside me. A guy jumped out and came running towards me. "I'm a student Paramedic, is anybody injured?" He was salivating like a dog at the thought of giving someone an emergency tracheotomy with his ballpoint pen. He nearly caused another accident when he drove off moments later, clearly disappointed that I had not so much as spilled my Diet Pepsi.

So I am now home safe, the car is at my father-in-law's garage for an inspection before I take it out on the road again, and I am writing my first post in about two weeks. What can I say, I get into the routine of the day job and neglect the blog, which is stupid since writing in this dumb thing is one of the things I truly enjoy.

WISH I LIVED IN ENGLAND

Sometimes I really wish I lived in the United Kingdom, and not just because my ancestors trace back to Stromness, Scotland and Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

Not only because it seems many of my readers are from "across the pond", so to speak. Also not because English beer is far superior to all others and I really love beer.

It is because I stumbled across a store called Lom Bok. I'll admit, I am a huge fan of home design and decor magazines and I often browse furniture shops and websites just looking for ideas and inspiration. I admire solid craftsmanship and top-quality design but it really seems these days you are limited to two choices, either 'cheesy modern' or 'country kitch'. Then I discovered the store I have been looking for.

Lom Bok brings classic and timeless designs to life, and successfully merges the old world of Colonial England with an Asian flair. When you think about it, many of the best aspects of English culture are what they adapted from others during the glory days when the sun never set on the British Empire. Everybody knows the the best curry in the world comes from London, and everybody also knows that the best beer for drinking with curry is an English Bitter. I rest my case.

If your going to be eating some good British curry, I can't think of a better place then some of these dining table sets. The Malang is my personal favourite, as influenced by the classic American Mission style as it is by anything Eastern.

I've already fallen in love with the Planter's Chair, (pictured left) which is part of their Colonial Collection. As soon as I saw the picture I imagined myself sitting in it while drinking a Mint Julip.

Check out the wide variety of chests of drawers, I specifically like the Canton collection. The wife and I have sort of an Eastern theme going on in our Master Bedroom already and those pieces are exactly the kind of look we are going for.

Speaking of bedrooms, these handmade wooden beds are all made of teak or oak and will last for generations. My favourite is the Seba.

Even better, and very important in our eco-conscious times, is that Lom Bok prides itself on being an environmentally friendly company. Not only do they work with suppliers to ensure sustainable practices for their furniture construction but they operate a furniture trade-in program that ensures your former Lom Bok furniture ends up in a loving home instead of a landfill. More info about the company, its history, and business practices can be found on their website.

It is not all furniture obviously. They are really marketing a lifestyle, with a variety of accessories, light fixtures, lamps, rugs, etc. are all available and (suprise, suprise) match their collections perfectly. They have 8 stores in the London area and new locations opening all over England.

While not available in Canada, they do arrange for shipping both within the UK and overseas, so I'll just put the Planter's Chair on my Christmas wish list. Now if only I had a rich benefactor...

POST #85

This marks the 85th post on The Stupid Neighbour Blog for 2008. Why is this significant? In a nutshell I started this blog in 2002 because I wanted to share some stories about the stupid things my neighbour was doing. I never really did much with it, posting sporadically at best over the years. When 2008 started I promised myself I would try to do a better job of making this blog something worth while (slightly).

So since the beginning of 2008 I've managed to write as many posts as I had in the previous 5 years combined. I figure probably 10% were actually funny, and another 10% may have been slightly informative.

I've managed to get about 25,000 hits total over the last year, averaging anywhere between 25-50 per day depending on if I have updated the content. I havn't checked my RSS feed in awhile but last time I looked I was very suprised to discover I actually had more subscribers then I have fingers.

So a big thank you to all of the regular readers, despite me still not really being sure why you are here. My goal for 2009 will be to double the # of posts again, so depending on the pace I set for the rest of November and December I'll be aiming for somewhere around 200.

DOG DAYS OF NOVEMBER

L.A. County, California - The Assistant Fire Chief of L.A. County has been placed on 'Administrative Leave' after accusations that he murdered his neighbours dog. His claims of "self defence" have been cast in doubt by eye witness accounts who claim he "snapped" and started beating the dog with a large walk after becoming upset that it had escaped its owners yard. It is unknown at this time if there was a history of unscooped poop or other incidents between the neighbours.

Chicago, Illinois - A Chicago man has been sentenced to 75 years in jail for shooting a neighbour who was walking his dog past the man's house at 3am. Apparently he was upset that the dog was barking and this was disturbing his sleep. He is going to be disturbed by a lot more then just barking while spending the rest of his life in prison.

Little River, Australia - A local farmer was charged with shooting his neighbours dog. Not exactly the first time you've read about a similar story here. The twist is the dog had just attacked his flock of sheep. So perhaps the shooting was warranted. The farmer probably have avoided any trouble had he stopped at that point. Instead he tracked the wounded dog back to a shed on his neighbours property and shot it again. Then shot it a final time for good measure as it attempted to escape into its house. Suprisingly the dog survived.