theMediaman.com

Dammit. Syl’s already installed Neverwinter Nights, has started playing (and crashing) his computer. I want to start playing, but I have to reinstall my Windows XP, and before that, I have to back up my data, and before that I have to stand being in my apartment!

My apartment still smells, but it’s bearable now. I still can’t spend a night in there probably, and the dehumidifier is sucking a bucket of water a day out of the air.

In less than 24 hours, it filled a 20″x10″x5″ pan full of water… all from the water in my apartment… and this is after filling one and a half before.

I stayed with M&D in Barrie for the weekend. Fairly quiet, and we stayed inside most of the weekend - avoiding the vicious, sweltering goo outside that was the stale, humid air. We went out a couple of times for one reason or another, but not for long. They both left for the cottage this morning the same time I left to drive down to 404 & Steeles for work… not a fun commute!

I’m probably going to stay at Paul’s tonight, since I also want to take him his new computer. He doesn’t know that he’s getting it yet! I had enough parts from three old computers to build two computers - and since I already had everything I wanted to stuff into Kenmore200, I put everything else into a P120 I got from work.

If I felt like it, I could probably put the 166 proc in there. It’s not doing anything but collecting dust. However, that would require more work, and it took me long enuf just to get the floppy, hard drive and CD-ROM to all work. It took me two and a half nights just to get the thing up, running and all the software installed, so I’m not going to “fix what’s not broken” by trying to get the 166 to work. It could take me 30 minutes, or another three nights… so it’s just not worth it.

I took money from Paul last week, told him to “trust me” and bought $10 keyboard and mouse at Future Shop. He’s got a high-speed connection in the apartment where he’s living for at least another month, so I feel he has to take advantage of it. He wanted to buy a new computer after he paid off his car, but with him on sick-leave it may be a while longer…

…plus, he’s considering going back to work Tuesday if he feels fine today. Idiot. Now I know what Eric Lindros’ best friend feels like.

My apartment stinks… literally.

For those of you who haven’t been in South Central Ontario for the last week (you know who you are) our three week 30+ degree weather drought was followed by almost 36 solid hours of terrential downpour. You know those rainstorms that come fast and hard and last for five minutes? This one lasted for periods hours long, several times over a span of two and a half days.

I have never seen so much rain fall before. From late Monday night to early Wednesday morning, we had about 3.3 inches of rain fall. That number may be accurate or not. From what I found on the Internet, 3.3 inches falling was what happened. Unfortunately, I think the water backed up in my basement apartment. It stinks a musty smell that’s not gone away in two days. I have to call my landlord about this, since I just can’t be living in there right now. I’ll probably go up to the cottage this weekend if for no other reason than to not be spending to much time in what is probably a spore-ladden livingroom.

Oh good, and it’s raining again today. Nothing as severe, but until I find out where the water is coming through (under the carpet), I’m fearing every drop of rain that falls.

This sucks. I love rainstorms - it’s one of my favourite quirks. Now I fear more water damage under the carpet lining.

OK, returning to my entry about the Summer Films coming out, I haven’t updated it past the first week of July.

Men In Black 2 got bad reviews from critics and friends alike, with the most common phrase being “It’s almost exactly like the first movie, only not as funny”.

The season started off with a bang, with Spider-man and Episode II opening a week apart. Follow that up with the Spielberg/Cruise flick “Minority Report”, and the long-awaited MIB sequel, and this looked like a great summer. Well, to give you an idea of how excited I’ve been about the wide choices this summer, I’ve beaten my old record of “most movies seen twice in one year”. So far, I’ve seen Spider-man, Episode II and even Minority Report twice. Right now, the only films in theatres that peak my interest are “Lilo & Stitch” and “Crocodile Hunter” - both of which I’ve already seen once.

John’s in Japan and missed the opening weeks of Episode II, but other than that he hasn’t missed much. If there was ever a year to live in another country and miss the Summer blockbusters, this is it.

Last year, we had sequels, remakes, re-releases and video game conversions. We had Jurassic Park III and American Pie 2, Planet of the Apes and Oceans Eleven, Apocalypse Now Redux, Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy. It was also the first year we were pelted with multiple Computer Generated movies, including Shrek, Monsters Inc., that kids movie Jimmy Neutron, and the aforementioned Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within. There were enough CG movies to generate an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film… although Final Fantasy wasn’t included in the list - possibly due to the large percentage of production in Japan.

This year, I’m tempted to find a theatre that’s still showing Jason X.

This week’s releases didn’t even make a dent in the box-office. Stuart Little 2 only brought in $15 Million over the weekend - slow returns considering that all the kids are out of school right now. K-19 (which Harrison Ford called “a stupid title”) only brought in $13 million in it’s first weekend placing it fourth behind MIB2, Stuart Little 2 and Road to Perdition.

…and how about Road to Perdition? Proof that Tom Hanks is a drawing power. No one actually knows what the film is about, but it’s already brought in $50 million in ten days - making it number 1. I’m sure it’s a good movie, but how devoid are the theatres of raw entertainment when this sits in the number one spot for two weeks?

This Friday, Austin Powers 3 is coming out. With the lack of anything decent (we’re supposed to still be basking in the fallout of MIB2) AP3 is going to clean up. We’re definately going to see a fourth movie after this weekend. Personally, I don’t get the Austin Powers movies. However, it certainly appeals to the mass audience. Again, they wouldn’t have to spend a dime on advertising, and people’s preconceived notions of what’s good in movies would draw them to this one.

On the opposite end of the scale, those same preconceived notions keep people away from Crocodile Hunter. Every review was the same - “It’s just him and Terry doing their show, with some basic plot thrown in to keep things moving - but I give it 3/5 stars, 4/5 stars, two thumbs up, whatever”. This movie got better reviews than Men In Black 2, Mr. Deeds and even Spider-man, but it hasn’t even brought in $20 million yet. It’s already been passed by Halloween: Resurrection - which gives me more ammo on the popularity of “preconceived notions”…

…H:R is part satire on reality-TV. However, the fact that it’s doing ten times better than Jason X is yet more proof that the masses are drawn to anything Reality-TV, Reality-TV based, Reality-TV-like or Reality-TV farce.

I implore anyone reading this, to go see Crocodile Hunter instead of Mr. Deeds. Adam Sandler already has his $100 million from this movie, and the proceeds from Crocodile Hunter goes to wildlife conservatories. If you’re in the mood to sink with K-19 or burn with Reign of Fire, then go see those. If you’re in the mood to see something a little more humourous go see Crocodile Hunter. I’ll pay you back your ten bucks if you didn’t like it*.

*Cheques will not be honoured.

Yet more proof of how things always seem to balance out for Paul.

The boy has been needing a vacation for a while now. Since the beginning of the Spring, he’s been working five or six days a week for up to 12 hours a day installing sprinkler systems. On Tuesday he tried to loosen a pipe using his hands, but it came right out and clocked him above the left eye, knocking him out.

After a black-out or two, he got to the hospital to get stitches. Unfortunately he wasn’t working with anyone that day, so he was completely alone each time he blacked out. In typical Paul fashion, the solder that was on the end of the pipe was acidic. The acid caused a burn that cauderized the wound, otherwise he would have woken up with his face covered in blood. Only with Paul would two bad-luck things cancel one-another out.

Now Paul’s taking some time off, doesn’t drink coffee or beer and has a reduced appetite - Paul’s equivelency of “losing your appetite” - where he now eats the same amount as an average human. I took a slew of videos over to his apartment - he has a difficult time standing up, much less going out. This way he should be able to stay inside, away from the smog of Toronto, and get some well-deserved rest…

…still, it was a very Paul thing to do.

The Jays game was great. Even without the field-level tix, the game was an exciting one. No scoring in the first few innings, tons of back-and-forth in the middle of the game, and a three-run homer late in the game put the Blue Jays up by four runs. The final score was 11-8. Here’s the (really, really wicked) pictures from the game.

Over the last seven days, I’ve barbequed four times. The first was at the massive get-together at Simone’s place last Sunday. Thursday night, I helped cook up the remaining burgers for Simone, her sister Sabrina and a recovering Paul. Friday, I cooked on a charcoal grill for the first time at a Livewire beach party (not as exciting as it sounds, but still better than working on a sunny Friday afternoon). Yesterday, I was called once again to the grill at a birthday party for one of Simone’s friends.

All in all, I’ve cooked (by memory) 20 hotdogs, 22 sausages, 8 veggie burgers and 64 hamburgers.

Things I’ve learned:

• Charcoal grills are much, much, much hotter than propane grills. Hot enough to burn all the burgers faster than you can imagine!
  
• I’m still not very good at barbequing chicken
  
• A barbeque with a hookup directly to the gas-line in the house is really cool.
  
• Barbequing is fun.