Assorted Nonsense

Thanks to Sandra Kasturi for pointing out this wonderful little bit of statistical analysis:

Rest in peace, Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan…

Just when I was getting back into blogging, I foolishly upgraded Wordpress, which introduced a whole host of problems into my posts that I don’t have time to sort out. Dagnabit. But I ain’t givin’ up. So here’s a dinky little post on a flick I saw this past weekend, Frost/Nixon. Now, these days I only get out to see a flick in an actual movie theatre about once a year, which is sad, real sad, and explains the increasingly kickass home theatre setup I’ve got in the basement. But I managed to get out with a couple of friends and catch Frost/Nixon this past Saturday night.

I thought it would be interesting but I wasn’t quite prepared for just how good it was. A part of this is because it resonated with my broadcasting background. I’ve worked with many people like Frost, and witnessed many interviews, sometimes even of a calibre of someone like Nixon. While not enormously instructional on the nitty gritty of interviewing technique, this is still a film that I think would be of some interest to anyone in broadcasting.

Dramatically it was fairly predictable, especially considering it’s relating verbatim an interview that actually happened, and you know going in that it will culminate in Frost skewering Nixon. But also because you know that after countless hours of Frost not getting the goods, something has to happen to impel Frost to dig a little deeper into himself and Nixon to make the climax happen. Sure enough the pivotal scene transpires as predicted, right on schedule, setting up the climax, and I was left wondering: did the events this scene depict actually occur, or was this scene dreamed up because it was necessary to set up the climax?

I have nothing against requisite dramatic structure, in fact I am all for it, but I prefer a subtler version of it, or perhaps a more compelling narrative to provide more effective misdirection.

All that said, the film was engaging and boasted a terrific performance by Frank Langella which alone is worth the price of admission.

Tune in again around this time next year for the next time I manage to get out and actually see something on the big screen (sniff!).

Got a call from some service centre recently, a woman wanting to review the contents of a contract I recently signed. “Did you receive the contract?” she asked.

“Yep,” I told her.

“Is that a yes, then?” she asked.

“Uh huh,” I said.

“Is that a yes?” she repeated.

“Yes,” I said, wondering if we had a bad connection or something.

“Are you happy with the terms of the contract?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Is that a yes?” she asked.

“Mm hmm,” I agreed.

“Is that a yes, sir?” she asked.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “You actually require me to say yes?”

“Yep,” she replied, rather ironically.

“Is that a yes?” I asked her.

“We need to know unequivocally that you agree with the terms of the contract,” she informed me.

“Okay,” I said, thinking it a bit of a silly rule.

And with that the post abruptly ended.

Took the family to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this afternoon. It proved an eventful day.

The performance was in Toronto at the old Pantages Theatre, now called the Canon theatre. I remember seeing movies there back when it was a movie theatre… I saw the original Die Hard there, it was around Christmas, possibly New Year’s Day if memory serves, many years ago. A beautiful theatre then and a beautiful theatre now.

On the way there one of my daughter’s asked me a question as we were driving down Brock to get onto the 401. To answer her I had to look at the clock on the dashboard and my lack of attention to the road caused me to almost rearend the car in front of me. I breathed a sigh of relief, resolved to pay closer attention, and looked in the rearview mirror just as the car behind me slammed on the brakes. They skidded about twenty metres, and I thought, They’re going to make it.

But they didn’t. The car rear ended us just as I almost rear ended the car in front of me.

No one was hurt, though it was quite a thump. We both pulled into an adjacent parking lot and surveyed the damage. As luck would have it, there was none. Maybe a tiny scratch on the rear of our Toyota Sienna, possibly one that was already there. The driver of the other car, a young woman, was quite gracious and apologetic and gave us her phone number, which we’ll never use.

We got back in our cars and somehow I contrived to almost ram into them myself as we were both pulling out of the parking lot (I didn’t, fortunately).

We made it to the show without further incident and quite enjoyed it, though the Toronto Star only gave it a mediocre review. What do they know.

Afterward we enjoyed the window displays at Sears, then attempted to grab some supper at Fran’s restaurant. We stood in line for twenty minutes before some other customers stormed out and informed us that they had waited half an hour to be seated, then another hour without being served. Why the hostess or manager hadn’t been upfront with us about the problems they were having (shorthanded,possibly nobody with any ability manning the kitchen) is beyond me. So we went up the street to Eggspectations, where the service was slow (they hadn’t anticipated all the overflow from Fran’s) but otherwise superb.  (I highly recommend their Mango burger!)

Then home again by eight pm.

Seeing a live performance, sometimes catching the Sears window displays, and possibly catching a supper out has become a yearly Christmas tradition for us (last year Aladdin at the Elgin, the year before that Cinderella). We can’t actually afford the (often) outrageously expensive tickets, but we feel compelled to do our little bit to restore the economy, at least until the money (credit?) runs out.

Looking forward to next year’s show, whatever it may be.