- I dreamed I was cleaning out my ears with bobby pins. I’m sure it wasn’t the beer; it was the heat.
- I saw Rattlesnake Island, where Eddie Mansour came to grief, ultimately snapping and taking the staff of the Canadian Embassy in Lebanon hostage, because that is what you do when a clique of white good ol’ boys ruins your dream of a camel-shaped resort (with bonus pyramid!) on Okanagan Lake.
- Saw Eddie’s Castle (or Eddie’s Folly) the monstrously tacky, 70’s style, pink stucco B&B overlooking Rattlesnake Island, where Eddie slowly, and against all odds, recovered his wits and lost what remained of his fortune. If memory (of his autobiography, From Nuthouse to Castle) serves, several suites had circular beds, one was revolving, and of course there were heart-shaped jacuzzis. Available now for a round $1million, it looks as if it is haunted by the ghost of Robert Goulet: one balcony has fallen off entirely, sliding down the cliff face onto the highway. The once-beautiful view is marred by the semitransparent mist of organisms growing on the windows, and the land is slowly falling, piece by piece, into the lake. It would be a wonderful place to retire and slowly go insane. Perhaps I shall save up enough one day.
- I saw a double rainbow over Westbank and can now definitively state that the rainbow ends at Canadian Tire. Picture to follow.
- My only goals for this vacation were A) a sunburn and B) a hangover. A was accomplished the first day. And the second. I have high hopes that Winery Tour Day will allow me to tick off B as well.
- I can now identify, having towed it for several hours, a ’61 Nash Metropolitan.
Category Archives: Historical
knitiloids!
Two Squid-related posts in one day!!! Can you fucking stand it???
Pretty thrilling, eh?
From Knitie, via BoingBoing, comes news of these adorable knitting patterns. Craft your very own tentacled beauty from a vanished era; I prefer the longer, more squid-like version, but then I’m a size queen when it comes to Squid.
Hey, sometimes a Squid is just a Squid.
Every scary prehistoric beast should be made into a huggable toy, and I say it’s the nautiloid’s turn.
Their living relatives include the squid, the octopus, and the famous chambered nautilus.
Henry VIII: first known casualty of Atkins diet
From Fortean Times. I have friends who’ve been on the Atkins diet, megaprotein, zero carbs, avoid carrots and many other veggies, as they’re terribly starchy; each and every one of them swears it works. And each and every one of them is overweight. What do they teach them in school nowadays? (besides math)
June 28. Henry VIII, the king who destroyed the fabric of monastic England and most of its sacred shrines, was born today in 1491. It used to be thought that he died of syphilis, but it was malnutrition that did him in, according to historian Susan Maclean Kybett; specifically, he didn’t eat his greens. It seemed that scurvy, caused by vitamin C deficiency, is the only disease that fits his symptoms – ulcerated legs, bad breath, collapsed nose etc. There was a prejudice at the time that only lower orders ate vegetables; the rich could afford more exiting things like venison.
Thank god that particular fad is over. I’m a little tired of going to restaurants with people who smell like abatoirs and who insist on ordering three courses and then whining about how they can’t eat two of them.
On the bright side, I’ve much enjoyed the extra servings of dessert and even convinced one poor sap that Martinis are high in carbs…here, let me get rid of that so it doesn’t bother you. You can have the twist, though.
fuddle duddle, the VIDEO!!!
One day in February, 1971: A great moment in Canadian history. Someone once said that in Pierre Elliott Trudeau Canada has at last produced a political leader worth of assassination, and love him or hate him you just have to agree. Watch the video and make up your own mind.
Thanks to Raj for grabbing and re-formatting, cropping, and uploading. God knows I’m far too lazy to do all that myself.
Plus bonus: The October Crisis, the Kidnapping of Pierre Laporte
This is so damn earnest, it just may be the most Canadian thing I’ve ever seen.
What say you all?
deja vu all over again…tissue?
Here’s a report from the GalleyCat blog on MediaBistro, of all places, on what Alan Moore’s up to now. This should be good for what we in the biz call “coverage.” Wide coverage.
Peter Pan Heirs Protest Wendy’s Porn Comic
Moore’s latest project, Lost Girls: a “porno-graphic” novel in which Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz meets Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Wendy from Peter Pan, and (as near as I can make out from the descriptions) they tell each other X-rated versions of their stories while having hot sex with each other.
Well, near as I can make out this is actually just a retread of Ellie Dee in the Land of Woz, which is an old comic book from the XXX Cherry Poptart comic juggernaut by Larry Welz, and which is still around here somewhere, no doubt under all the unpaid bills and piles of Vanity Fair back issues. That comic featured Cherry’s geeky friend Ellie falling through a wormhole in her laptop or somesuch and ending up in the land of Woz, ie Steve Wozniak, inventor of the Apple computer. The Wicked Witch of the West was a dominatrix and the Tin Man was a horny robot. Sorry, pix will have to wait. Strangely, it seems the Vancouver Public Library computers aren’t too terribly fond of such illustrations as I wish to lay on you. All better now.
The Times of London reports that Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children is saying permission must be sought to write about Wendy, and it doesn’t sound like they’re inclined to give it.
Moore is unmoved: “I don’t see that you can ban anything in this day and age,” he tells the Times.
There’s a quote for the ages. If his lawyers can successfully defend it, back up goes my Mentos and Diet Coke video, stat.
Mentos, Diet Coke, cascading fountains of pop fizz, children’s literature, and porn. That would be a video for the ages. At least, all of them over eighteen.
raincoaster 