J town
The delightful Julia + John are in town starting tonight. Oh, there will be revelry.
Labels: friends
Comments (0)
Tea and figs
Friday, December 15, 2006
Pan
We saw Pan's Labyrinth last night, and I still feel as though I'm recovering. I loved the film, though I'm not sure I could watch it again. It's a kind of inverted children's story (and definitely not for children). What I mean is that the harsh reality that causes children to produce escapist fantasy lands (WWII in Narnia, horrible relatives in everything Roald Dahl ever wrote) is displayed in full, brutal detail. The film takes place in rural Spain during the civil war, as a girl and her fragile, pregnant mother go to live with her new husband, who's a captain in Franco's army. Del Toro paints monsters (both real and imagined) with nightmarish clarity -- and Jer thought that the Captain was the best evil character he has seen in a long time. Don't go to this film expecting a fairy tale; this is a story about how war affects children, and left me quite emotionally raw.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Svensk!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
CYD
My friend Mike sent this around recently, and I think it's a reasonable, straightforward request. I was with him on one of the Queen Street jogs, shocking that alongside GAP and other megaretailers, one of the offenders was Pages Books.
I am disturbed by the number of retailers who leave their doors open while
running their air conditioning / heating. A casual audit of Queen Street
West tonight showed that 1/4 stores leave their doors wide open in near
freezing temperatures.
I find this unacceptable for several reasons: 1) There is no compelling
reason to do this, it's simply wasteful; 2) the high levels of power
consumption in the city require the use of 'dirty' power generation
including coal-fired plants that put smog and carcinogens like mercury into
our air and water; 3) the price of electricity is subsidized by the province
and taxpayers.
On occasion, I have spoken with store managers and contacted corporations
regarding this issue. Generally, I find that people are concerned and
responsive once the problem is understood. The Gap has been very responsive
and all of their stores in downtown Toronto seem to comply with corporate
policy on this issue.
I think lack of awareness is the main issue and I would like to ask all of
you to forward this email to others, to write your local representatives,
and to speak up when you are in a store that keeps their doors propper open
and their heaters / AC blasting.
Thanks. I'll hop down from my soapbox now.
Close Your Doors
Mike Cheng