What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
(and remember, you can always e-mail me if you love or loathe anything you're about to read)...


   Friday, July 11, 2008

   ALAS, POOR BLOG

I love a good Letter to the Editor and this week, my friend James Ip wrote:

Scottie - why don't you blog anymore? I checked your site and the last thing was from the fall?...

Sigh. True, so true. What started out as a slight Christmas break became a full-fledged shutdown.

Not that I was lazy. Being the managing editor of fab was always more work than most people assumed a fluffy gay rag would need but, as rumours of a buyout from Xtra became louder and louder, the urge to write about my life or state of mind became quieter and quieter. I endured months of paranoia and aggravation until the hammer came down in February and who wants to read about all that? You, my kind readers, had already endured the entirety of 2005 (aka The Year George W. Bush Made Me Insane)!

In the end though, it kind of worked out. Well, if you can call getting fired along with virtually everyone at the magazine 'working out' but I'm now writing for three gay magazines, including the one that fired me. At the time, it felt a bit like being dumped and then asked for rebound sex but, in the sunshine of a Toronto summer, that water has flowed well past the bridge.

I wrote a massive piece on the first year of the new gay and lesbian radio station and was offered the 'daily roundup' blog on Xtra's website, where I get to put on my Jon Stewart hat and have a bit of fun with the news. That and the ever-addictive Facebook have stolen from this page, my first love, but I think it's time to see just how promiscuous I can be. Now that I'm out of work and freelancing, it's important to just keep writing, writing, writing (preferably for money) and I think this blog could function well as an ongoing 'progress report,' just to let everybody know what I'm up to.

It's a little scary to be living like a journalist without necessarily feeling like one but, in times of self-doubt, I turn to the lovely people who post videos like these on YouTube:


How Not to Start an Interview


Blind, not gay


Disastrous Holly Hunter interview

So yeah, underemployed or not, it looks like the world still needs me! So I'm getting back to work and you'll see more of it here (along with a website revamp, hopefully soon).

Coming up: the 10th annual Friends for Life Bike Rally! Yes, I'm back in the saddle and you'll hear more on that soon...

Labels: fab, George W Bush, homo-a-go-go, introspective, money - lack thereof, repair, working girl, writing

Amazing how Cusack can so charmingly deliver the final ego-deflater.

-- Reply posted by  Whisky Prajer at July 17, 2008

 

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Look out, everybody -- here comes an Old Man Rant!
Years ago, I found this great little lamp in Chinatown. It's a little brown cube with rice paper sides and even a scented oil warmer up top (adorable!). It appears in that first 'day in the life' video I made:


Thursday, September 22, 2006

A few months ago, tragedy struck. The halogen bulb burned out and those are tricky to replace. I went to Canadian Tire, showed them the old bulb and left with a recommended replacement -- one that instantly popped and burned out when I plugged it in. I went back, got no further advice from them and began trying a couple bulb variations but with no luck.

I began to think the lamp itself might be the problem so, earlier this week, I brought it to Dudley's Hardware in my neighbourhood. Frank, I'm told, does small appliance repair. He explained to me that the wiring in the lamp is fine but the voltage of the bulbs I'd been recommended was too low. Since this little store doesn't carry such bulbs, I went back to Canadian Tire. I had questions about some other things too but, for the first time in a while, I found the staff there even less help than usual. Everyone just kept passing me off to someone else who didn't know either -- my favourite being the girl who directed me to an empty counter. "Just wait around here," she said. "He'll come back." When I got home, the new bulbs didn't work either.

In desperation, I decided to schlep out to Gerrard Square, where there's a Home Depot. I loathe Wal-Mart and its big-box ilk but here I found someone who instantly took an interest in my wiring problem, hooking my lamp cord up to an electrical reader and testing the bulbs. Everything worked fine, just not together, and he too was stumped. Another Home Depot employee came over to see if he could figure it out. In the end, nothing was solved but it still felt great just to have people at least try to help. And during my time spent in the store, I could see a much more interesting and varied collection of things for the home than at CT. I hate having to lose a perfectly good prejudice but Home Depot won me over.

Monday, I'm going to Paul Wolf industrial lighting supply. They're my last hope. In the meantime, however, I'll remember that Frank at Dudley's looked at my lamp the same day, gave me solid advice and didn't even charge me a nickel. I certainly know where I'll go next time.

Labels: money - lack thereof, repair, technology, Trawna, tributes

Oh, I completely felt for u for the C.T. comments. I shop there all the time due to their weekly sales and wide variety of choices. However, their staff are just so little trained. They always point me into a totally wrong direction when I asked to find something. Furthermore, sometimes they're just too exhausted or too rude to even talk to me. They told me to wait there and just left to finish their work, leaving me standing there waiting like a fool.

Since then, whenever I shop at C.T., I depend on my own senses and observation and it worked better than their staff most of the time. ;-P I could be more familiar with the shelves and location of products at the downtown and Queensway store than some staff there... lol

Good luck, Scott!

Wingo

-- Reply posted by  Anonymous at November 19, 2007

 

I generally prefer Home Hardware to Ca-knucklehead Tire, partly out of convenience (got one in the village) but also because they're usually smaller stores with a staff that's geared to help in any way they can. After all, they're competing against the big Home Cheap-os and all their ilk.

-- Reply posted by  Whisky Prajer at November 19, 2007

 

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CAN YOU FEEL IT?
DEEP DOWN IN YOUR WALLET?

The timing isn't great but I can't seem to care -- during a particularly-tight money week, a special order I sent out months ago finally arrived at the store.

To be honest, I'd just about forgot about it, but the 4-CD set from Rhino Records called Soul Spectacular is worth the harsh reminder.

The first CD begins with Ray Charles' "What'd I Say (Parts 1 & 2)" and the fourth CD features Al Green's "Let's Stay Together". Do I need to go on?

Poorer but happier, I'm off to turn the lights low, the volume up...

Labels: money - lack thereof, music

BEST. WEEKEND. EVER.

Here's my ten-point plan for the best weekend in months:

1. Work the dull-but-not-horrible 10 pm - 2 am shift at the pub, but no others. This ensures that only Friday night is taken up, yet money for bills will still be forthcoming.

2. Sleep in very late on Saturday morning, then stay in bed all afternoon reading a collection of Thomas Friedman essays.

3. Grab the collection of tickets to various movies at this year's Toronto International Film Festival that a well-connected friend generously gave you out of the blue. Chat with a movie-loving married couple from Philadelphia in the soothing Isabel Bader theatre while waiting for the lights to go down for "Emile," a lovely Canadian film starring Ian McKellen, Deborah Kara Unger, and the scenery of Victoria, BC. Delight in McKellen himself sitting three rows directly in front of you throughout, and the entire cast answering questions after the film.

4. Walk briskly over to Yonge Street, grabbing a cup of yogurt and a banana on the way, to get in line for your second movie of the day. Laugh with another couple at the titles of that theatre's screenings: while those with tickets for "Bright Future" can go right in, those of us there for "Sexual Dependency" have to wait. Thrill to the movie itself -- a picked-from-the-book-at-random gamble that pays off in spades with a challenging, sexy, harrowing film experience. Watch the young first-time director from Bolivia score a distribution deal with Alliance Atlantis on the spot. Grab a cup of tea and take a long stroll home on a pleasant summer night, going to bed before 1 am to prepare for a long Sunday.

5. Get up early, grab your yoga mat and head to King's College Circle at U of T, where actor Woody Harrelson hosts a massive outdoor yoga class at 10 am. Obey the instructors from Downward Dog yoga studio for ninety minutes of meditation, stretching and balancing. Realize at one point that the sun is so much hotter than the weather channel predicted but that you're enjoying the cool breeze on your back too much to care about the inevitable sunburn.

6. Race home for the fastest shower/shave ever so you're not too late to meet your friend Gil for a great lunch at the Green Mango. Thank Gil for inviting you to "Lost in Translation," the film with arguably the most buzz at this year's fest. Run into a friend from university whom you haven't seen in over a decade -- he invites you into his spot in line. Remember how you once had a useless crush on him and smile at how he remembers you fondly. Save seats down in front for him, his wife and her friend to return the spot-in-line favour.

7. Thoroughly enjoy the movie -- a melancholy, funny romance that features Bill Murray's best work since "Rushmore." Head over to the Indigo bookstore with Gil afterward to natter about the movie over juice and a sandwich.

8. Walk a mere flight upward in the Manulife centre to the Varsity theatre for your fourth film in two days -- a British, realist take on "Fight Club" called "The Principles of Lust." Feel the movie's lost main character hit a little too close to home and note that every film you've seen this weekend is in some way about the need to connect with others. Ponder how little it successfully happens in these films and less so in your own life. Wonder how you'll resolve that, while loving at how film can so often and so neatly provide a focusing lens in such a way.

9. Arrive late at the Opera House with the ticket you purchased weeks ago to see the Dandy Warhols in concert. Grumble about the lousy sound and amateurish effort by the band until you find your colleague at the record store and discover that he feels the same way. Enthuse at how both you and Thom are proven wrong once the band starts to find its footing and raise your fists in the air when the band starts to seriously rock. Marvel at how the setlist features less hit singles and songs from the new album -- which you're really enjoying -- and more of their earlier prog-rock album material which you haven't heard. This makes you love them even more. Thank Thom's bandmate and friend Kyle who buys you a beer for no reason at all and leap up and down like an idiot to "Bohemian Like You," a frickin' great song.

10. Get home late, ready for work the next morning, and spend some time applying soothing aloe vera lotion to your sun-burned body as you consider that these past two days have soothed your soul as well.

Labels: bookworm, Canada, friends, health, introspective, money - lack thereof, movies, music, Trawna, working girl

DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Danielle and I went to see Down With Love this past Tuesday, which was fun and fluffy but too strange to recommend. Was it a loving homage to 1960's romantic comedies or a oddly synthetic parody of them? Or both? We were too busy fighting over who gets to claim Ewan McGregor as their future husband and marvelling at the $8.25 price tag for our "cheap Tuesday" movie.

See, there's a phrase people have got to stop using -- Tuesdays just aren't cheap anymore. When a woman who's still under the age of 30 says, "Whatever happened to '$2.50 Tuesdays'?", we have a problem. And it's not just the movies, either.

It's been over a decade since I moved to Toronto and I've realized that, in that time, movie tickets have more than doubled, the broccoli at the supermarket has gone from one dollar to two, my phone and cable bills have increased by well over 40% and my rent-controlled (controlled!) apartment costs, yes, more than double what I was first paying when I moved here.

Life in the big city, I suppose, until you ask yourself what you were making ten years ago. Is it now twice that? Probably not, I'm guessing. And will it be double ten years from now? Probably not, I speculate. We can safely bet, however, that our expenses will be. In the meantime, let's go catch a movie on "Horrifyingly Expensive Wednesday to Mondays."

Labels: friends, money - lack thereof, movies, Trawna

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

Have you checked the parents? Being so busy, I hadn't called mine for a couple of weeks. One more thing for Captain Procrastinator here to get around to, I figured, even as my father was leaving me one of those plaintive answering machine messages of his ("Hey bud...[long pause]...it's your father...[longer pause]...just checking to see if you're alive...").

Meanwhile, I'd also neglected to deposit a paycheque at the bank. Using their ATM machines has led to bounced cheques on more than one occasion (I'm looking at you, TD Canada Trust!) so these days I insist on speaking to an actual teller. Due to my dallying, however, I'd missed a loan payment and, after waiting over a week, the bank decided to check their contact list and phone my father to ask about me. With that call (and my lack of the same), my dad was nearly convinced I was dead. Much reassuring ensued.

It's particularly bad timing on my part since this has been a rough day for him -- the Republican wins in last night's US midterm elections have my dad worried for the wildlife in Alaska, potential victims of our lust for oil. With no Democrat majority to hold him back any longer, Bush is looking northward and ready to drill. I'm as worried as my father is about this, even if I'm not phoning to tell him so.

Labels: family, George W Bush, introspective, money - lack thereof

AFFRONT ROW

Joining my voice to the chorus of people I've listened to for two weeks now ask, "Why are concert tickets so damn expensive now?" Ten years ago, I passed up seeing Peter Gabriel at the Skydome because I thought the decent seats were too pricey at $40. Foolish me -- these days, tickets for Enrique Iglesias (and you know how little I think of him...) are selling for $120! And let's not discuss the floor seats for the Rolling Stones that sell for $300. Insanity, pure and simple.

At any rate, I'm still happy, since I snagged some OK balcony seats to Tony Bennett at Roy Thompson Hall. Tony'll be there November 22nd, the day before my dad's birthday, and that seemed like too good a coincidence to pass up. Hopefully, he'll be happy enough to make me forget that these nosebleed seats were $80 apiece!

Labels: money - lack thereof, music